Heath with a Purpose

Liebster Award Thank you  Alicia Day for nominating my post,  "Influences That Create Who We Are"  for a Liebster Award. I am honoured to be nominated for this award. I just recently heard about this award and what it represents and I think this is a great way to celebrate fellow bloggers. It is not easy putting your thoughts and words out there fearing what may come of them or how readers will respond to them. When we are given support in anything we do it can give us a spark that helps us to continue our work. The same goes for an opposite affect, negative and lack of support can easily put the fire out. Part of the nomination process is to answers some questions about myself and my blog. How would you define success? My perspective of success is shaped by what I make it. The value of anything grows when you invest into it. Success is often the opposite of failure but if success is something we build then failure isn't in the equation nor should it be...

The greatest piece of evidence in support of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for me, is the fact that we can't define him. If this God was created by man then we could comprehend who he is.  Before I was a believer, as I looked from the outside in, my view concerning a relationship with this "almighty" God, was that these people believing this stuff were creating a God that they wanted and on top of that it seemed that people believed in this same God differently. For an example The same God that freed the American slaves in the 1800's was the same God who protected the slave trade. People on both sides of this had a relationship with God, justifying their position yet rejected the other position.  I didn't realize it but I was making a big mistake. I was allowing my little bit of knowledge to determine my opinion, ignoring all of the knowledge that could be understood. This might sound odd but if we're honest, its a lot easier putting our own t...

He said to them,  “Because of your little faith. For  truly, I say to you,  if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed,  you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and  nothing will be impossible for you.”   Matthew 17:20 I don't know about you but after reading what Jesus said to his disciples I feel like I have very little faith. Im not near any mountains but if I were, I feel like I wouldn't be brave enough or would doubt I could move a physical mountain by my command.   When thinking about how much of something we tend to think in quantity. In this remark by Jesus we can notice that he uses such a small item to describe a faith that can move mountains. If one mustard seed of faith can do that I must have less then a 10th of that kind of faith. The trouble with this thinking is that if I want to gain a larger faith I'd need to somehow add to what faith I already have. I can try to work more, pray ...

God knows everything you've done, you're doing, and what you're going to do.  “Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD.” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭23:24‬ ‭NIV ‬‬ When someone says God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient it tends to lead to the question "if God is everywhere, has unlimited  power, and is all knowing then why does he allow bad things to happen?" Most people who don't believe that a God exists struggle with this concept. If God was real and is everywhere,  and he can do anything and  he knows everything why does all of this evil still happen? One mistake we easily make is we put ourselves in the judgement seat. We can see apparent evil and then blame God or use as evidence against such God because he knew that this apparent evil was going to happen but didn't stop it even though he was there and had the power to do so. This would be a fair ju...

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29:13‬ ‭NIV‬‬ “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55:6‬ ‭NIV ‬‬ The gospel is best understood when it's discovered, not when it's told. As christians, our influence on the world has a far greater impact when we live the life scripture calls us to, seeking God first and loving our neighbours. When we are known for telling others what to do and how to live, we are putting ourselves in between them and Christ. We need to be transparent. Our goal should be that when people see us, they really see God. What I'm writing might seem hypocritical, but if anything, by writing this it allows this to be a reminder for myself as well.  The most fulfilling discovery I have ever come across is Jesus Christ. It sounds cliché and I might have lost all, if not most of my readers that don't believe or don't have a relationship with Jesus.  I'm n...

I had a sarcastically exciting night last night. Everything started out great. I went to bed at a decent time, all of my chores were done, my wife was sleeping and I was writing down some teaching ideas.  It was peaceful. I was productive. It was a successful night all around. Then I heard it. Little hacking and gargling coming from the end of the bed.  My wife and I have two pets. A little toy poodle named Chico and a cat named Chip.  I look up fearing what I might see, and there it was. Puke in a pile at the end of the bed travelling over the edge and onto the carpeted floor. I immediately got up and proceeded to clean the duvet cover. It was hopeless. By the grace of God I was able to get the duvet cover off the duvet and not wake my wife. I felt like Houdini. I scrubbed the floor, rinsed the duvet cover, and threw it into the wash.  I thought I was handling it really well. While I was down stairs putting the duvet cover into the wash I noticed...

Jesus refers to himself as the bread of life. Out of all his titles, I find this one the least relevant. I need him to be the Lamb who was slain, the lion, my king, the endless spring of water in my life, the High Priest I confide in, the light for my path. But why the bread? In all the other examples they all are necessities but bread is not. Some people have cut bread out of their diets to be healthier and some people can't eat it without getting sick. I know back when Jesus was walking the earth people didn't count their calories or have the same awareness about the food they ate that we do (then again do we even know what we are eating), but because I believe Jesus knows everything he should of known that eventually we would come to realize that bread isn't necessary. As I read John Chapter 6, the whole picture starts to reveal itself. First you see that Jesus preforms this miraculous miracle feeding the 5000 with a boys lunch, then he is found walking on the wa...

I got caught up reading about Jesus calling his disciples to follow him. Did God call you to follow him? What did it look like? Is the journey what you thought it would be? All these questions flooded my mind as I read how these men just dropped everything to follow Jesus. Some left their work, others left their family. Jesus says " whoever saves their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life to me will save it."   Why did Jesus use the word "loses"? Why not the word "give", or "offer", or "share"? Why lose? Are we playing a game of life with Jesus where he has to win and defeat us so we can also win?   I love games. All kinds of games. Sports, board games, video games etc., but I have a hard time understanding his logic. If I lose I win, but if I win I lose? Very often God's way seems illogical. When I try to understand it from a logical point of view from a human perspective, it just doesn't make sense. But the...

For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. - Colossians 1:27 NLT Christ in you. How is this explained? One of the most confusing statements that non believers don't understand. But as a believer, how amazing is this. Christ is in you. Right now.   Do you feel like Christ in you makes you any different? To be honest there are days where I don't feel any different. I can't deny that I am changed by him but some days his presence seems almost absent.   The other morning   was a good example. I wanted to dive into his word after writing my devotional to my youth kids. I even prayed he'd give me the energy to do so. It didn't happen. I ended up wasting all my time before work. On my way to work, I started to think about what does it mean to love God with all my heart, all my soul, all my strength and all my mind.   Then it dawn...