Living – Page 20 – John Markum

Traffic Rock-Out

Posted on June 28, 2011 by johnmarkum

I got stared down in traffic the other day while rocking out to some Skillet on my iPod. Awake, good CD! Anyway… I’m certain that I looked ridiculous in traffic playing a crazy air guitar and drum solo. The truck next to me in traffic had two little girls and their Dad getting a good laugh at me rocking out in our minivan.

I’m sure you don’t look nearly as bizarre as me in traffic, but have you ever felt the same way? Like you were excited and passionate about something you felt God wanted you to do, but others were just getting a laugh at your enthusiasm? Or maybe you have something compelling that God has put on your heart, but you’re apprehensive of sharing it with someone else because you don’t think they would get it?

Truth is, you’re probably right. The reason? The same reason I look like a moron in traffic. The people in the other car can’t hear what I hear. And the people critical of your calling don’t hear what God is telling you to do either. If the people in traffic could hear what I was hearing, then maybe they would be moving like I was moving.

If God was telling other people the same thing He was telling you, then maybe they would share your enthusiasm.

But God didn’t tell them. He told you. It doesn’t have to get others excited. Just you. Don’t wait for other people to approve of God’s calling on your life before you obey. And pay no attention to those who don’t get it.

My response to the other people in the other lane, laughing at my traffic time rock-out? I smiled, waved, and kept jamming out.

The music was just too good to stop for the sake of the opinion of someone else.

Blessings,

John

God took my lollipop!

Posted on June 24, 2011 by johnmarkum

My kids like lollipops. But not nearly as much as they love ice cream. And that only makes sense. No kid in their right mind would ever pick a lollipop over ice cream. I remember one occasion when Emilee, my 5 year old, had helped herself to a sucker from a bag of candy after dinner. I had already headed toward the fridge to get her an ice cream fudge pop for finishing her food, but I was not going to let her have both. Before presenting her with the ice cream, I insisted that she give me back the sucker she taken (without permission, by the way). I had to convince her that I had something better for her before she trusted me enough to give up her sucker.

I find that we are often the same way as my 5 year. We will hold onto what we have now, instead of letting go and trusting God to deliver something better for us. It happens all the time:

– A single person stays in a dead end relationship from fear of being alone. They miss out on someone more equally yoked.

– A married couple gets themselves tied up in debt. They miss the opportunity to invest in the kingdom of God.

– A student stays with the same bad influences and tries to pretend they’re not pulling him down. He misses the chance to have true friends.

– An alcoholic refuses to accept that his drinking is out of control. He misses out on his family, friends, career, and finances.

Isn’t it ridiculous when I refuse to let God take my lollipop, because I think He doesn’t have something better for me?!? God has always cared more about me than I have for myself. As long as I fill my hands with my insignificant, fickle infatuations, God will not fill them with His much richer blessings. Allow God to remove the things from your life that are keeping you from experiencing all that He has for you.

Only by trusting God to remove the comfortable and familiar do we have the chance to see how much better of a provider He is to us than we are to ourselves.

“‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,’ says the Lord, ‘thoughts of good, and not evil. Of hope and a future.'” Jeremiah 29:11

“So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:7

Blessings,

John

“A 13:13 Moment”

Posted on June 23, 2011 by johnmarkum

Below is a post made by Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church, Charlotte, NC. I read this today and couldn’t help but pass it along to my blog viewers. I hope everyone in my church would embrace the principle of this post.

“You acted foolishly,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if only you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.”
1 Samuel 13:13

It’s a moment you never want to have.
A 13:13 moment.
The moment you realize just what you could have had, if only you had…

What a scary verse this is. Besides the fact that you have a double instance of a bad number (13:13), the thought expressed in it should rattle us to our core. When most people talk about the consequences of sin or disobeying a specific instruction of God, they usually focus on the negative consequences that actively happen to us as a result.

You sleep around, you could get an STD or get pregnant.
You cut a corner at work, you could lose your job.
You ignore God’s calling, you could end up in the wrong career.

Those are definitely bad, but there’s an even scarier thought to consider. And that’s the unprecedented blessing of God you missed out on because you weren’t willing to obey.

The levels of influence you could have had.
The marriage you could have had.
The life you could have had.

I never want to have a 13:13 moment. I never want to hear God say:
If you had been generous, I would have…
If you had not settled, I would have…
If you had stepped out in faith, I would have…
If you had…I would have…

And you don’t either. The last thing you want your life to become is a cautionary tale of what could have been. Whatever God is asking of you, believe me, it’s not about what He wants from you. It’s what He wants for you.

And you can have it, if only you will…