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Showing posts with label comedian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comedian. Show all posts

Monday, April 25, 2016

Not Just WHAT, but WHY and WHO

It's a dose of "merry heart" medicine when Michael Jr. speaks. He's a renown Christian comedian and he delivers his straight-faced, low-key humor with a style all his own, and right in the middle of it....he conveys God's Word that brings revelation while putting comedy snug between truths. He did that this weekend at Life.Church.

The truths between the comedy this weekend helped us to see that it's not just WHAT we do, but WHY we do what we do. He said a lot of guys ask him WHAT they need to do to pursue a career in comedy. But the key isn't "WHAT", it's WHY. That's with all of us. If we know our WHY, we have more options on WHAT we do. Michael Jr. said his WHY is to use his comedy to inspire people to walk in their divine purpose. His WHAT looks like stand-up comedy, movies (he starred in "War Room"), his own TV show. He said, "I have a lot of options for WHAT, but my WHY never changes. When you understand your WHY, your WHAT has more impact." He showed us a clip of a meeting where he was helping people understand their why. He picked out a man in the audience who said he is a music director. Michael asked him to sing "Amazing Grace" and in a rich, baritone voice, he sang it beautifully. But then Michael Jr. said, "Now, give me the version as if your uncle just got out of jail, you got shot in the back as a kid, but you're okay -- let us hear "The Hood" version." This time the music director sang "Amazing Grace" with vibrato and gusto and conviction about those words that rocked the house. The first time Michael Jr. asked him to sing, he knew WHAT he was doing, the second time he sang -- he knew WHY he was doing it. The key is to understand the WHY.

But, to know the WHY, we must know the WHO. The WHO is key to all of it. He went on to share how he and his wife were looking at some video footage of the birth of their baby girl. Michael Jr. actually took the video but never looked at it until that day. He showed us clips from the video. When the baby was 2 minutes old, she was crying so hard, yet when Michael Jr. gently talked to her, she immediately stopped crying. Three minutes later, she started crying even harder, and when Michael Jr. spoke to her again and said "I love you" -- she completely stopped crying and even opened her eyes as if to see her Daddy. She heard her Daddy's voice.

WHAT I do is teach and do a daily blog, but my WHY is to encourage, inspire, cheer up and build faith and hope in my readers and listeners. My WHO is my Daddy, Father God, and listening to His voice each day. And the key for us when things are out of control and we don't understand what's going on.....we need to be still and listen to THE FATHER'S voice. He is talking to you and me. He loves us. Like Michael Jr.'s little baby girl, all we have to do is hear his voice and open our eyes to the wonders of not just WHAT we do, but WHY and WHO has us in the palm of His hands. His voice will calm ALL our fears.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Celebrating the Cycle of Life

Day 6 of 365 Photo -- Celebrating the Cycle of Life --  Meet Emma, who I'm holding, and her friend, Max, who Lexi is holding.

Events in the last couple of days were planned by my granddaughter, Lexi, whose goal is to attend her Dad's alma mater, Texas A&M, one day.  And, she plans to study and graduate as a veterinarian. I remember as just a baby how much she loved animals and had no fear around them.  She's been an equestrian horse rider and she LOVES her little 6 pound Yorkie, Emma.  Two days ago we went to the Vet to get Emma checked out to be sure she would be okay to have another litter of puppies, and, indeed, she got a clean bill of health.  So yesterday, I had the joy of being with Lexi and Denise Gerrich  to take Emma to be with her mate, "Max".

Max is a 4 pound darling Yorkie.  It was love at first sight, and the rest I'll leave to the imagination.  But I watched my granddaughter, who is quite typically a laugh-a-minute comedian, be poised, supportive, involved, and listened to Max's very knowledgeable owner explain, in detail, the process of breeding.  She has been breeding Yorkies for many years.

I'm so thrilled I "seized the moment" for this beautiful experience.   I was amazed as I saw my granddaughter go from her usual quirky and hilarious self, to a very mature, logical and tender pet owner (responsible and caring).  I was witnessing, first hand, the cycle of life -- in my granddaughter and her little Yorkie:  birth, growth, maturity.   I saw God's cycle of life for creatures and us -- in such a profound way.  It made me think once again about the magnitude of His genius.  He created fish, reptiles and birds to be born alive or hatched from eggs.  And I thought about the WOW  animals (like a butterly) that they go to bed looking one way and wake up a different creature. And I thought about animals....and US.

God is such an AWESOME God, and the more I get to know about Him, the more He astounds me.   The more I study His ways, absorb His presence into my very being.....He shows up in my world and keeps giving me  "AHA" moments like I had yesterday.  I urge you to go to that place as often as you can -- you don't need headphones, a trip to some exclusive paradise location, a yoga experience, a church or synogogue to find Him. You'll find Him, like I do, in MOMENTS -- those moments when we open our eyes and heart to His wonders all around us.  #SeizeTheMoment #AwesomeGod