Seeking God's Guidance???

How do we find genuine godly guidance? Seven words may help us.
CLEANSING, SURRENDERING, ASKING, MEDITATING, BELIEVING, WAITING, and RECEIVING

The first is cleansing. We need to ask: "What is there in my life that hinders me from hearing what You are saying?" Cleansing comes by confession (1 John 1:9).

The second word is surrendering. Surrender is both a humbling and uplifting experience (1 Peter 5:6).

Next is asking. God promises that when we ask according to His will, He hears us. And when we know that He hears us, we know that He has answered (1 John 5:14-15), though the answer may come quickly or over a long period of time.

The fourth word is meditating. God promises that His Word will be a light to our paths (Psalm 119:105), so the more we think about His Word, the clearer the path will be.

The next word is believing. Mark 11:22-24 tells us that when we ask, we must believe that He is going to give us what we have requested.

Sixth is waiting. In Isaiah 64:4, God promises that He acts on our behalf when we wait for Him. If we get ahead of Him, run in and try to fix things, or manipulate circumstances, we can have it our way. But if we wait on the Lord, our sovereign, divine, omnipotent God will act on our behalf.

And all that will be left is receiving His guidance (Matthew 7:7-8). Perhaps no one else in the world will understand or agree with your decision - but you will have heard from the One who matters most.

the college years (part 2)...

SPORTS:
I started the year playing soccer (midfield as usual, but I got moved up to forward)-got injured and stopped enjoying it. The coach was horrible. I tried out for the club volleyball team, but i found myself short on time with other things. Didn't run track til my junior year. why? we built a new sports complex with a new 200m bouncy track. Now during this time, I found out that I had a heart condition-myopic pulmonary valve problem. See the value normally flips up and down as it gushes your blood out and then stays above the artery, mine however, after strenuous workouts sinks in. Thus causing longer recouping times (ex. running 400m. typical is 5 min cooldown, I take 30 min)or overheating. And sometime down the road-irregular hearbeats.

SO, if you ever see me tired or ppl telling me to rest or drink lots of water, its for me to recoup and not overheat

FRATERNITY LIFE:
joined a fraternity- Sigma Pi. WHY? All the other soccer guys were on team, it was so close to my dorm, all the guys around our freshmen dorm room joined, and the 2 other guys i knew from high school joined. Plus, this was the house the campus ppl admired. we were the above-average joe house (not the very cool house or the jock house). a place where you could feel comfortable and just hang out.

I lived in the house for 3 years. By far the most diguesting place to live. Here's just an example, can you imagine 40 guys living in a dormer at night. (don't get me wrong, we did have our own personal rooms to study and relax in.) thank goodness i lived by the exit door so I didnt have to smell the odor. and thank God there was a nice heater and a nice A/C machine next to my bed. Some interesting stories here (like the bad bar of ummm "candy", the dorm raids, the downstairs party speakers aimed underneath your bed, and ummm other stuff that cant be mentioned here).

I was treasurer (third counselor) for 2 years and a pledge trainer for a semester.

and yes for those of you wondering...this is where I learned to play poker. you name it, we probably played. I remember not going to psych (8am) or calc class (9am) for the month of october. its not a great highlight of my college days, but its something I learned from.

worked at a sorority house (Alpha Gamma Delta-AGD the grey squirrels) for 3 1/2 years. It paid for my board (part of room and board). And I got to meet a bunch of great girls. Albeit snobby at very formal events, but most of them were in my classes, going out with my friends, or over at the house a lot.

And for those missing details about fraternity life. I can't tell you about I-Week...so don't ask and I can't say other things...like about parties or after hours or yeah...I'll stop there. You can ask me in person and depending on who you are and how old, I'll give you more details.

For the good note to end on. With lots of prayer and help, God helped us start an IV greek bible study after my sophomore year. we had about 5-8 guys attend. 1 person accepted Christ. and we got to represent the house at Greek Conference in Indianopolis.

to be continued...

the college years (part I)...
so I applied to 10 schools and I got 10 acceptance letters. I didn't really know where to go from there. I thought God would just show me where to go. Anyways, I had to narrow things down a little (big vs small, location-close or far away from home, scholarship, play sports?, academic reputation, friends, major, christian community).

I ulitimately decided on Illinois Wesleyan University. It was relatively close to home, I could play both soccer and run track, it was small in size so I could get more personal attention in the classroom, 5 friends from high school were going, close enough to U of I, easy to double major, it was #1 in the Midwest for small liberal arts colleges/universities, and there was a Intervarsity Christian Fellowship on campus. I would also have to say that I didnt choose to go to U of I because my church friends were there and I wanted to be diffrent. I also decided not to go to U of I, U of M, IU or MSU because I really dont like big schools. Plus, I wasnt good enough to play soccer in Div I or run too fast to be in Div I either. =(

to be continued...

my high school days...
i really dont know who wants to know this information, but I thought I'd post it so you can know a little bit more about me. I'll try to do a follow up blog on my college days as well. So, lets start off with some basic information.

I moved to Homewood, IL in 1989 from Dublin, OH. I attended Homewood-Flossmoor High School (thats also where Ronnie and my sister Debbie went). So, basically I didnt know anyone and had to develop new friends again. I played soccer and ran tracknfield for 4 years. Wrestled my freshman year and tried out for the volleyball team my soph year (had the starting setter position, but decided to stay with track-only time HF has ever won a boys conference title in tracknfield, we just so happen to be in toughest conference- I mean how many ppl get to compete against Thornwood 5 times a year with their world championship atheletes). Didn't take any AP classes and wasnt on NHS. Had a really poor freshman year. =P But, I managed to finish out in top 20% (which is still not crazy for asians). I don't recall any clubs...sports took up too much time. Man, was a considered a jock then? Aiya!
Okay, continuing with the story, I didnt attend any dances at HF (I did attend one up at DGS my senior year). And if you're wondering about PROM. well, there is that pack I made with the other senior guys and gals not to go. I guess I could have went to Prom, but I would have killed Ronnie (having fun with that story) or it could have been interesting at either NNHS or HCHS. See...dances or rather dancing is just not my thing.
So, I think thats about it. dating you ask? well...I did, but that was during the summer after I graduated high school. so yes Mike didnt date til after high school.

Now that I've embarassed myself and regret typing this, I hope you enjoy it.

a weekend to rest and praise God for...
oh yes, finally, a weekend to rest and enjoy a personal life that God has given me. what does that mean exactly? it means mike gets to sleep in past 10am (i woke up at noon). do some needed household chores. hang out with friends. and eat good meals.

But before i go on, I truly am blessed by God. Cry Ice Tea was awesome and amazing. I know I was busy with the stuff behind the scenes and trying to get the video to work, but seeing the youth come in and singing during praise time at the end and watching all the performances, I can only say Amen Lord! and I hope you were praised and glorified through all of this.

And then to top that off, Sunday worship together at Willowbrook was also amazing. I mean if my 14+ years at CCMC I have never seen the pews packed for Sunday worship ever! So Praise God. you are doing an awesome work here. Thanks for the privileage of being able to serve.