Freedom

I was reading an article about Harriet Tubman today, no, not because of Black History Month but because she was a free slave who risked her life to free other slaves. While traveling there would be times when people would get scared and nervous and want to go back but she wouldn't let them. Tubman would pulled out a gun and said, "You'll be free or die a slave!" 

She risked everything to lead slaves to freedom and she wouldn't let them go back. That's what we're told to do, go and free others. I was once a slave to sin but now I am free!

Am I Living Full?

Someone asked me today what it meant to live a full life. Is it living a life full of hype & excitement? Is it living a life full of daring stunts & extreme activities? Is it living a life full of deep thinking & philosophizing? Is it living a life where you become extremely successful in your field of study? What is it to have & live a full life? My response was simple - A full life is a life full of Jesus.

John 10:10b - "...I have come that they may have life, & have it to the full."

We could go through life and do all of those things listed & still not be satisfied. Jesus is the only one that will fill that void. He satisfies our hunger even better than a Snickers. A "full" life isn't about accomplishments & accolades its about surrender. Life can't be full without Jesus directing it.

"Brothers & sisters, if Christ is not life, we have to do the work; but if he is life, then we do not need to struggle." 

"Repeatedly we say that life is Christ himself, & work can never substitute life." - Watchman Nee

To live a full life I must live a life that truly meets with God daily, that holds absolutely nothing back, and that enjoys the moments I have. When people look at my life they should see a full one - they should want what I have. Like a gatorade commercial Christ must seep from my life & others must see him.

living,

Coach Luis 

Warriors...

Judges 11:3 - So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a group of ADVENTURERS gathered around him and followed him.

1 Sam. 22:1-2 - David left Gath & escaped to the cave Adullam. When his brothers and his father's household heard about it, they went down to him there. 2 All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, & he became their leader.

True warriors are attracted to real warriors. Wherever God has called you & whoever he has called you to serve do your absolute best. When you get into those times when you want to throw in the towel you must remember the call, go back to that moment & remember why you are there. Fight to the end!

In the fight...

Coach Luis

No Regrets!

Regret - To feel sorry or remorse for an act (or lack there of), fault, disappointment, etc.

I was reading today about a guy who lived with no regrets. We don't get a lot about Jonathan in the Bible but the few things we do read about his life tell a great deal of the kind of guy he was. In this particular instance he and his armor bearer took on a whole army.

1 Sam. 14:6 (1-14) - Jonathan said to his young armor bearer, "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. PERHAPS the Lord will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many of by few."

Jonathan wasn't prepared to live the rest of his life wondering what would've happened had he attacked, he just did it. When we cast out lot in with Jesus life becomes more than a game of chance, it becomes a life of destiny. I don't want to get to the end of the day wishing I would've done one thing different, I want to know that I did it all! 

Ps. 39:5 - You have made my days a mere handbreath; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath.

Make every choice count - make it matter!

No Regrets...

Coach Luis

I'm hungry...

So we are near the end of our 40 day fast and its been amazing! Someone asked me if I was really hungry from fasting so long (although there were several days that the fast was broken) and I said yes. I am hungry. In fact, I'm very hungry, but not for the things that I once was hungry for. I've found that as I've spent time with God my appetite has changed. See, its like people who stop eating fast food. You go so long without it that even the thought of it makes you sick. What you once found very tasty & satisfying you now find utterly gross & disgusting, not to mention extremely unhealthy.

I've found that my appetite has changed. My diet can't go back to being what it once was, it must continue to be transformed by God. No, what I eat, although I believe that God is changing my actually eating habits, but the things I put into my body & mind.

Phil. 3:7 - 11 -7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

As I get closer to Christ I realize how much I need him.

Coach Luis