Stopping to Think

Psalm 42 (ESV) As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants  my soul for you, O God.   My soul thirsts for God, for  the living God. When shall I come and  appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”   These things I remember, as I  pour out my soul: how I would go  with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you  in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation   6  and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I  remember you from the land of Jordan and of  Hermon, from Mount Mizar.   Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your  waves have gone over me.   By day the  Lor...

The title describes exactly what I want to do.  Two years ago today a young man who has left an undeniable mark on many lives, was taken home by his Heavenly Father.  Why God decided Alex needed to go so soon, I honestly have no idea.  But the impact he made and the lives he touched in his short time here, is undeniable. Now I realize, as I hope you do, that Facebook is a poor measure of reality.  But I could not help but noticed as I pulled up my home page today, the number of statuses reading something to the affect of  "Alex, we love and miss you, RIP."  Obviously everyone put their own twist and touch on it, but that was the sentiment.  How does one person touch so many? Part of it was simply a function of his personality.  The dude was a show-off.  And he was good at it.  He loved attention, he loved the spotlight, and more than that, he loved to make people laugh and have fun.   Making people smile was something Alex absol...

Disclaimer: If any of you recognize or remember this, it's because I wrote it over a year ago.  I read it tonight and saw some changes that needed to be made and thought I'd add a link to the video.  Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV) -“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” I tend to struggle a lot with anxiousness in my life. And I choose the word anxiousness instead of worry, because it’s not necessarily a conscious thing, so much as it is a subliminal or mindset based problem. I don’t necessarily waste my day worrying about how this thing or that is going to turn out. It’s something that has taken up residence, “set up shop”, if you will, in my mind. And it shows up in everything from what I think about, to how I think about it, and eventually flowing into my actions. And all of t...