relationship with god

What Comes First?

/ mcalcagno / Leave a comment

In all of our busy lives we typically spend time focusing our energy and effort on what we believe is important.  The question then becomes what is important to you and your life?

There are many things that can be on this list and I have found the most peace, joy and contentment in the world comes when I put “follower and believer in Christ” first on that list. The world will not make this easy for you to do but we were never promised easy that was lost as soon as the fruit was eaten from the tree that was off limits.  We are promised something and that something is only offered by God…

We are promised his Presence, Forgiveness, Mercy, his Grace, his unconditional Love, an answer to Prayers, comfort when were are stressed and so many more gracious gifts.  If only we will choose to put him first in our daily life and spend time reading his Word will learn about and be reminded of all that he offers us.  What comes first can make all the difference for everything else in our lives.

May his Peace be with you!

The Shadow and the Light

/ mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Image

You look around and everywhere you look there is a darkness like a Shadow…you move to the right…Shadow…you move forward swiftly to try to get past it…more Shadow.  You look behind you…Shadow.  No matter what you do or where you go in this life the Shadow is always with you.

You spend so much time in your life looking for a better way…to get away from this Shadow but even when we begin to think we lost it or begin to believe it is gone you realize it is still with you and it really never left.

Many of us spend our entire life trying to get away from this Shadow and then at the end of our life…in our final days…we begin to see…a Light.  We have seen light in the past but this is different…this Light has a comforting sensation…as this Light brightens you begin to notice the silhouette of a person standing next to you…the longer you look the more you begin to realize that the Shadow that has been with you for your entire life is being cast by this figure right by your side.  You also now realize that this Shadow is not to be feared or ignored it is being provided to guide and support you on your journey.

Embrace the Shadow in your life that is being provided to protect you while you live in this world…because that Shadow is your guide to see everlasting Light.

Just Pray

/ mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Image

Sometimes every day feels the same as the one before….we fulfill our “responsibilities” of each day and before we know it the day is over and we need to get to bed so we can get up and start all over….

We fill our lives full of routines and distractions

The alarm goes off

Where are my keys

The car needs gas

Traffic is not moving

I’m so tired

My deadline for a project is tomorrow

Where should we eat lunch

My computer just locked up

What’s for dinner

Stop at the grocery store

I haven’t seen that person for a long time

What time is it

I don’t have any clean clothes for tomorrow

I’m so tired

Did you hear that story on the news

Did we win the game

I am going to bed…. 

Then it starts over again…and different things get added to the list and some fall off depending on the day…no wonder we feel tired, worn out and exhausted.  The thing is we really do have free will to choose to live life differently.  It is up to us to decide that we are really going to pursue the life that God has intended for us.  The hard part is that means we have to let go of some things and start spending time with God every day…not just on Sunday for an hour.

If you feel like there is something more or you feel like there is something missing in your life or if you are realizing you haven’t even stopped long enough to think about it…now is the time.

STOP everything that is routine and distracting and pray to God for wisdom, guidance and courage to pursue the things he has planned for you…just pray, once a day, every day or all day long about everything and anything.

God loves you, he is with you and he would like nothing more than to hear from you.  To show you just how much he wants to be with you he sent his one and only Son into to the world to be sacrificed for you, so that you could turn to him anytime…don’t fill your time with everything except God.  Start each day with God and everything else will be ok.

Peace.

When we ask…Why?

/ mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Image

When you stop and think about events and things that occur in the world and in your own life there is always the natural tendency to ask Why?  Why did this happen?  Why did that not stop?

The questions are normal and if they are asked with positive intentions like when you are seeking to understand, it can be very fruitful to pursue answers for these questions.  Unfortunately, we live in a dark and fallen world and more often than not these questions are being asked in order to seek something else…Blame!  Once again the evil in this world has used a natural God given gift…the ability to seek to understand…and turned it into a hunt for Who is to blame for this?

We get so caught up in the Why becoming about the Who did this…that we lose all sight of the opportunity to learn from things that happen.  The world tells us the Why is all about Who is to blame and if we just punish that person or group of people then these bad things won’t happen anymore…that is just not true.  Yes people are a big part of everything that happens, however, it is important to remember that all people have the same gift in common…free will.  So you can keep focusing on Who is to blame your entire life but that is going to be a life full of negativity, bitterness and anger and that is not the life God has planned for you.

Recently, I made a decision to leave a position I had been in for several years.  It was comfortable and I knew what to expect.  I didn’t pursue the move, it came to me so I was hopeful and looking forward to something new, even though I had nerves about leaving what I knew and what I was very comfortable doing.  The change ended up having unexpected events occur shortly after I started and these were unexpected even for the people I was working with…so needless to say I began to ask Why?…Why did I make this move?  I should have just stayed where I was, doing what I was doing…you see I knew who to blame…me…so I began the negative self-talk and thoroughly began to punish myself in my mind.

Then I did something I have learned to do over the last several years…I asked a Why with positive intentions…I asked God to help me understand What he wants me to learn from this situation and he answered like this…

One of my devotional books by John C. Maxwell had an entry about “A Growing Community”…it mentions that if you’re in an environment that is doing nothing to help you grow you are going to have a hard time reaching the potential planned for your life.  The kind of place that can help you grow should look like this:

  • Others are ahead of you
  • You are still challenged
  • Your focus is forward
  • The atmosphere is affirming
  • You are out of your comfort zone
  • Others are growing
  • There is a willingness to change
  • Growth is modeled and expected

I had become to content with my surroundings…so content I had not written on this blog very much for the last few months.  My lesson is I need to keep seeking growth so that I can become everything God has planned for me to be for him in this world.  One important step in faith is to share what you have learned…I pray this post can help at least one other person who reads it.

Peace to you this day.

He Is With You

/ mcalcagno / 2 Comments

Image

No matter where you are, what you are doing or how you are feeling right now God is with you…

The cross in the photo above shows that all areas of our life are connected to our faith even if we don’t think about them that way.  Every act and interaction is on a string somewhere on the cross.  The hardest part of faith sometimes is courage…courage can be rare in this world.  You can come across many people and sense only fear, anger and bitterness.  I am learning that courage…real courage is truly an act of faith.  Believe God is on your side and no matter what you face each day trust him to hold you in the palm of his hand.

There is a song by a group called “Love & The Outcome” that is entitled He Is With Us and the message in their lyrics state this truth very well.  As usual, I also have a bible verse to share regarding how God is with us…

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

                                                                                                                Isaiah 41:10

As the song states He is with Us, Always…Always.

Peace be with you.

What Path Are You On?

/ mcalcagno / 4 Comments

Image

Life is full of choices and decisions.  We all have been given the gift of free will.  The hardest part of this isn’t necessarily making a decision, rather it is holding yourself accountable for what happens after your decision and being open to changing things as you move forward in life.

Look around you…take inventory.  How are things going in your life?  If it is not good from your perspective…look in a mirror…that is the best place to start to make a change in your life, start with you.  On the other hand, if things look ok or pretty good from your perspective, give thanks and praise and begin to think about how you can share and support others.

No matter what your result, good or bad, we all have made decisions in our past that have led to where we are today…right now.  I encourage you to think about what those decisions have been so you can identify what has put you on this path.  If it has been bad look for ways to improve on your current situation…I caution you here, do not believe you can go back to change a decision that occurred in the past to make things better now…instead, live in the present, learn from the poor decision and make new decisions to improve things going forward.  If you can identify decisions in the past that have been good and led to great things learn what you can and share to help others.

This reflection can be helpful because sometimes when we look back things have changed and what we thought was a good or bad decision at the time it was made might be different now and we can learn things for life going forward.  None of this is easy…we were never promised easy…we have always been promised Hope…and you can have Hope every day, if you choose to believe and follow Jesus.  As always the bible provides instructions in this matter…

“Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

                                                                                                                Matthew 7:13-14

I pray we all ask for wisdom so we can make decisions that will lead to Life.

Peace.

A New Creation

/ mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

                                                2 Corinthians 5:17

“For he says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’  I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”

                                              2 Corinthians 6:2

Peace to you and Happy New Year!

By Faith

/ mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Image

When speaking to someone who has experienced a terrible tragedy or is going through a difficult time of trial some will ask, “How are you getting through this?” and from certain people the answer is “by faith” or “by the grace of God” and when this is the response I am sure some askers may be thinking ‘what does that mean?’

Well for me to understand it better I would go to the Guide Book for Life…the Bible.

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

                                                                                                                Hebrews 11:1

Faith is based on hope and belief…these my friends are both choices in our life.  This is why so many of us struggle with faith while living in this world.  We live with in a world expecting immediate satisfaction, convenience and me first…not to mention the constant presence of evil and temptations.

As I have reflected this week on the passing of Nelson Mandela all I can think is ‘Wow now that is truly a man of faith.’  The world treated him horribly for so long but he never gave up his hope or his beliefs that the world could be a better place and he could contribute to that with God’s help.  Many organizations are printing quotes from Nelson Mandela in the last few days as we all want to know more about a person who worked for justice in the world…here are a few.

“I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”

 -Nelson Mandela

“I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”

-Nelson Mandela

There are many people who will write judgments both positive and negative about Nelson Mandela because of things he did during his life.  I believe by faith that he tried to do what he believed God wanted him to do and he didn’t just wake up one day and decide to do it.  It happened as a part of his journey…his life journey and his faith journey.  He wasn’t perfect, he had his sins just like the rest of us but he also made choices to help others, to be a positive influence and to try and bring justice to other human beings in God’s world.

God has promised many things and it is up to each of us to choose to have hope and to believe in the things we do not see.  We will often fail and fall down but we should never quit.  If we base our faith on how we feel instead of what Christ did for us we will have a difficult time sustaining a faith that is stable and growing.  Faith and life are a journey and we can only live one day at a time on that journey…so I encourage you to embrace each day, thank God for the gift of life and seek what you hope for and what you choose to believe…by faith.

Peace and joy to you this day.