The Key to an Abundant Life

The key to an abundant life is not to store up material possessions but instead, treasures in the heart; because, when the big moment comes I’ll be ready for it. So what I’m trying to say is that if I store up peace and love in my heart, peace and love are what will come out in difficult circumstances.

My mom told me a story this morning about a girl that had Leukemia and she was ten years old when she died. The mom later went home, got on Facebook and what she wrote was proof that she had been storing up all those amazing moments – treasures of peace and love – so that she wouldn’t be emotionally and spiritually bankrupt. She wrote, “Today is a good day. My baby is with Jesus.” WOW. How amazing is that! I mean, most people probably would have gone into a deep depression or gone delusional. But the only reason why this mom was able to cope with such a loss is because she had been storing up and storing up, so when the moment came she was able to allow God’s peace to radically comfort her.

There’s this other story of an old man one Christmas in Romania that Tim Huff met. The man appeared ancient. As their ministry group sang Silent Night, the old man reached for something in the drawer next to him. He couldn’t exactly reach the item and so Tim Huff helped him, noticing it was a harmonica. He handed it to the old man who began to play along with everything in him! When the song was done the old man slid back into his covers and went back to resting.

What is it in an old man that makes him able to play the harmonica despite the state he was in? Or what makes a person feel like they could fly when they can barely muster their strength? It’s that noble feeling of love, passion, and humility – stored up in the heart over many moments. That old man was no way in heck playing for himself but for the King of Kings.

Real Men

Now a days it's pretty hard to be a "Real Man" because masculinity is determined by the things we have or don't have, whether it be a nice car or a girlfriend or money or any amount of things. It's not only things though, it's also actions or certain language like not keeping your purity or cussing. I mean why is being a "man" measured by how much money you have or how often you get drunk. Right now I'm reading the book "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge. He talks about what a true man needs and I've agreed with every word he's said about how a man needs to have adventure or do the dangerously hard thing -- and that is definitely true for me and every man on earth. So it doesn't matter if you work in a office or free run everywhere you go, every man craves adventure and danger deep down inside; but so often the wild heart in a man is killed due to things like being told they're worthless or dumb.

 Austria

 Our village in Germany

The man that is wild at heart will always and forever take risks. It doesn't matter who he is or what he's done he will always be Wild at heart. But that brings something else up, why do people tell boys or men to tone it down or to always be polite or proper?  There's nothing wrong with being proper or polite, but if people are constantly telling the future men to tone it down there won't be any more real men.

I looove to run and jump more than just about anything! I, for one, love adventure and hard situations where I will have to run up a wall or vault  over something in order to "escape" or get out in one piece! Sometimes I tell my mom that I wish bullies would chase me just so I could use my free running skills to get away, don't all of us men wish that could happen to us every now and then? Or to chase the bad guy. After all why would God put that desire deep down inside of us if he didn't want us to change the world. And why do you think that us men love movies like BraveHEART or Gladiator or the Lord Of the Rings series... because God made us defenders and warriors, in order to kill the enemy.

 Me jumping as far as I can off a bench!!!

 (Brugge, Belgium)

 This was one of the highest jumps I've ever done; It was awesome!

I love to live at a hundred miles an hour.  I love to live extreme.

I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences

I can't look at hobbles and I can't stand fences

Don't fence me in.

-Cole Porter

                                                                 "Don't fence me in"