On Sunday, after we set up for church, I went for about about a 2 mile run outside.  It was a beautiful morning our and it wasn’t too hot yet.  I love to do this.  This is the one time when I can get a way from all the noise and business of everything and just listen to some music (Day of Fire) and run.  I have this habit of running with my mouth open and about half way through my run I swallowed a bug.  This wasn’t just any bug, this was a ginormous bug that literally got caught in my throat.  I wanted to stop running and gag, but I kept on.

Philippians 3:12 says, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”

Every now and then life throws bugs down your throat. (our own doing)  Things come up that we don’t expect that can make us lose focus of what is important.  I have swallowed many bugs that kept me from running.  In fact, sometimes, I just stopped completely.  I’m not perfect and I don’t have all the answers, but I know what it is that I should be pressing on towards.  In life, I will run with my mouth closed and eyes looking forward so that I don’t swallow any bugs.  And if I do happen to slip up and swallow one, I just move on and keep going.

Have you had a hard time with swallowing bugs when you run?

This is Saturday and I thought I would use this as an opportunity to share something that I normally don’t discuss.  I love Twitter.  There I said it and I feel better.  I have been on Twitter for a while now (you can find me here) and I am beginning to think that psychiatrists should use it to diagnose people’s personalities.  Below is a list that I have come up with to help psychiatrists:

• The Peeping Tom:  This is the guy who never shares anything and follows everyone.  They are doing this just to see what’s going on.
• The Generous:  This is the guy who shares everything with everyone.  They are the RT King.  They just can’t share enough.
• The Guy With Anger Issues:  This is the guy who rants and raves upon their soap box about how the “man” is keeping them down.
• The Starved For Attention Guy:  This is the guy who is literally screaming, “Look at me!”
• Halloween Costume Guy:  This is the dude who has essentially fabricated who they are.  They are playing dress up.  (I don’t know anyone like this, but I’m sure they are there)
• A.D.D. Dude:  This is the guy who is all over the place.  One minute they are talking about their cat and the next minute they are talking about world peace.
• I’ll Scratch Your Back If You Scratch Mine Dude:  This is the dude who will follow you if you follow them, or RT you if you RT them. 
• Control Freak:  This is the guy who tells you that you have to check this or that out.
• The I’m Never Satisfied Guy:  This is the dude who is never satisfied with the amount of followers they have.  They have to have more.
• The Professor:  This is the person who has a million followers, but does not follow anyone back.  Nothing anyone says can possibly benefit them. (kinda like my college professors)

I know that not everyone who reads this has a Twitter account, so sorry if this was isolating.  In no way shape of form is this a comprehensive list.  This was meant to poke fun. 

Can you add any to this list?

My wife literally works right across the street from me.  Where we work is downtown in the business area of Midland.  It is a pretty busy place.  She typically walks across the street during lunch and comes up to my office.  Thursday was no different, she came up and we just hung out (my favorite part of the day) 

When lunch was over she left and had to cross the street to get back to work.  She waited for the crosswalk sign to turn green and began to cross.  Evidently, a truck was not paying attention and went through the light.  The truck nicked her.  She did not get hit hard or anything like that, but the truck actually touched her going through the intersection.  It scared April to death. (shook her up)

She didn’t tell me this until the drive home and when she did it made me sick.  I began picturing my life without her.  I wondered what it would be like to be a single dad.  I wondered how I would tell her family.  I wondered what I would tell my son.  My mind raced to things that it shouldn’t. 

This is where I typically turn my post into a lesson.  It just doesn’t feel appropriate here.  All I want to say is:  Thank you Lord, for only letting her get shaken up and not hurt. 

April, I love you.

We don’t watch much television at my house, but occasionally I like to watch a movie.  This is something that we have decided to do so that we can spend more time doing productive things. (it’s so easy to get caught up and waste a few hours) The other day I wanted to watch a movie and was trying to get it to play.  But the television wouldn’t come on.  The DVD player was working, but I was not getting any sound or picture from the television.  I hit the television, I talked sweetly to it, I even changed the batteries to the remote, but none of this would work.  This went on for about 20 minutes…Then I realized it was unplugged.

John 15:5 says, “”I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

I think that when it comes to a relationship with Christ, some are unplugged.  We try everything to make ourselves happy.  We buy things and still feel empty.  We join clubs and still feel lonely.  We fake it, thinking that eventually we will make it.  We buy self help books, thinking that they key to happiness is found within.  We take advice from talk show hosts, thinking they have all the answers.  You get the point.  We are trying to plug into things that won’t bring joy.

If you feel unplugged check to see if your cord is plugged into the right receptacle.

Growing up I was the fast kid.  I was athletic and could run faster than most kids in the area.  It didn’t matter if it was football, baseball, or just an impromptu race, I usually would win.

Looking back at it now I realize that I was running scared.  I was scared that others would catch me.  I was scared that people would not think I was good enough.  I was scared that I would fade away into mediocrity.  There was always someone right behind me, pursuing,  and I was…afraid.

 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us.”

I read the above listed verse the other day and it wrecked me like it never has before.  It says that He loved us first.  We have serve a God that pursues us.  It does not matter how fast we run or what we are running from:  God is pursuing us.  Let that sink in:  God is pursuing you.  So stop running, because He wants a relationship with you.

Are you running?  Look over your shoulder, because He is right there.

Have you ever noticed that some people have to go to the restroom in a group?  Seriously, I cannot tell you how many times I have been out and if one person goes to the restroom, several end up going.  I am not sure why this happens, but I think it’s for protection. 

I mean something bad could happen if they go by themselves right?  A person could run out of tp in their stall and need someone to hand some underneath.  Maybe the boogie man is in there, but won’t attack if there is more than one person.  Maybe it’s just our insecurity of being alone.

Joshua 1:9 says, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

How many times in life do we think we are going to the restroom alone?  God promises to be with us wherever we go.  That’s huge!  There have been so many times in my life when I got up to go to the restroom and I was afraid because I didn’t think anyone was there to go with me.  And all the while, He was right there. 

If you are at a place in your life and you are afraid that you have to go the restroom alone, take comfort because God is there with you.

I have a problem and it’s called kidney stones.  I am 28 years old and for the last 8 years I have had stones quite often.  I have passed two kidney stones the last three days, so I haven’t been the most comfortable.  Why do I get them? I am not real sure, but there are some things that I am supposed to try and avoid: coffee and spinach, both I love, but cannot stop from consuming them. (1 spinach salad per day and 5 pots of coffee)

1 Timothy 6:11 says, “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.”

I think some struggle with “Spiritual Kidney Stones.”  There are some things that we should flee from.  We should literally run as fast away from them as we can and never look back.  But, often times we dabble.  We think that just a little won’t hurt or it will be okay. 

These things (sin) can add up and turn into major Spiritual Kidney Stones.  They can be anything that harms our relationship with God.  Prayer life begins to suffer.  Our devotion life begins to suffer. Our relationship with God begins to suffer.  Before you know it we have a huge, painful Spiritual Kidney Stone on our hands that will take prayer and time to pass it.

Do you have anything that you need to avoid to prevent Spiritual Kidney Stones?

I love to fish.  (actually that is probably an understatement)  Growing up my buddies and I went fishing all the time.  One of my friends, had a pond on his property that we tried to stock.  We would go fishing in a small tributary of the Ohio River.  The fish that we would catch we would take to his pond and let them loose in that. 

One day we were fishing and had caught several catfish.  We put them on a stringer and left them unattended in the water so that we could walk up a little further and fish.  When we came back, the fish were still on the stringer, kind of.  A snapping turtle had came and eaten all of the fish except for their heads. (sorry so gross) We were so upset because we had worked so hard, but neglected to watch them the way that we should.

Psalm 91:15-16 says, “They will call on me, and I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will deliver them and honor them.  With long life I will satisfy them and show them my salvation.”

God promises to protect and watch over us.  Too often we leave ourselves open.  We neglect our relationship with Him and things start to get a little tougher or possibly very bad.  We have to protect our fish (soul).  We have to cry out and ask Him to deliver us from our sins and give us His salvation.  God will protect our fish. 

Have you ever left your fish unprotected?

Why would I move?  I am sure that is a question that some are asking. (especially since last week I asked some to change over to feedburner) I have wanted to move over to a self hosted blog for a while, but it was too expensive.  That’s where Peter Pollock comes in.  Peter is a pastor, connector, and business owner.  He owns New Blog Hosting and it is by far the least expensive hosting site that I have found.  I was a little nervous because I was afraid that I would not be smart enough to set stuff up.  Peter went way beyond what I could even ask for in helping me.  Rather than just taking the money I paid him, he transferred the stuff over and has fixed other issues that have come up.  I don’t think I can ever thank him enough.

Now back to the question:  Why would I switch?  The simple answer is that it gives a lot more freedom.  I have added some functions that I think will help facilitate more conversations and hopefully we all grow from them. (as weird as some of the topics are)  Peter, from the bottom of my heart I wanted to thank you again.

Thank you for even taking the time to stop and read this.  I totally appreciate all of you.

Drip Jesus,

Michael Perkins

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I have an amazing ability to lose my keys.  This is something that I have always done.  At our house we have the sterotypical key-holding-thingy that we can hang our keys on, but I guess mine just get up and walk away in the middle of the night.  It always seems like when I lose them, my wife is sleeping and I have to wake her up to help me find them.  I have found them in all sorts of places:  the refrigerator, my door, my sock drawer, and even in the sink.  They are nearly alwasy misplaced.

Isaiah 40: 26 says, “Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these?  He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”

There is an estimated 10 billion stars in the sky.  That’s just mind boggeling to think of.  The amazing thing is that God knows them all by name and none of them is missing.  How awesome is that?

I come across so many people who feel insignificant.  They don’t feel like they are important.  They feel like God does not care.  They feel like God didn’t put them up on that key-holding-thingy.  Here’s the thing:  God knows who you are and he cares for you more than you can fathom.  You are not misplaced like a set of keys.

Take comfort that the creator of the universe will not and has not ever misplaced you.  You are way too valuable for Him to do that.