Do I Deserve

This is a song I wrote approximatley two years ago. It took about 5 minutes to write. My friend, Liviu Cimpoes, prayed about us not deserving God's grace, and later that day I thought about it but disagreed with what he said.

I thought that we did deserve his grace. By me thinking that, I was taking away from the greatness of his willing and sacrificial love which was shown on the cross. The Lord convicted me that night, and this song was born.

This song is a calling to get closer to the Lord. It's a song to come and fall on your knees broken before His Greatness, recognizing the pain that He went through for us.

Heaven is waiting for you,
Jesus is calling you

Cover me with Mercy Lord,
You've covered me with Grace

You're Love has fallen on me
You made me precious to thee

Do I deserve Your Love, Oh Lord?
Do I deserve this Second Chance?

On that Cross, He shed His Blood
There He lay, His Life for thee
How great a Love, I have not seen
He wipes away these lonely tears

Happy New Year!!

Wooohoo 2006 is rolling around!! wooo!! hooo!!! woohooo!!

Happy New Year to all!!

It's about Love

Lately I have been going through a struggle in which I have not been depending on God as much for His Mercy and Grace. This is not where I want to be...I don't want to do things on my own through my Pride, but I want to claim victory in Jesus Christ. If I do things ought of pride, my heart is in the wrong place. I cannot bring pride before God as worship!

The Lord has been showing me how much more I need Him. Pride, which separates me from God, brings me further from God and closer to my own desires, and I have been seeing this affect my life. It sucks waking up and not really caring to read the Bible or pray. I remember when I couldn't go on through the day without His Word and Prayer because that's how much I depended on God.

God has taught me so much this year and took me far from the sin I used to live in. But the thing that I once gave glory to God about has become a thing of pride. I hate writing this because I want to be an example and I want to walk like Christ walked...I am afraid of others hearing about my struggles because I want to be an example to them...this though, is the wrong reason to persevere...because it's pointless if you do something...but don't have the true Love of God...

The thing is, I do struggle with temptation, and it's a battle. I noticed that through my pride, it's a losing battle that drags on...I need to get back to Loving God so much that I realize that every breath that I take is a blessing from God and that I cannot live without Him. From experience, the worst thing in the world is walking around not really depending on God...not thanking God...not needing God...

The point that I have to learn is that everything I do should be sourced from my Love for God...and when I have been doing that for a while, I should not be "prideful because I stand strong" but I should be humble and give all the glory and honor to God. I guess that is the main thing that the Lord is trying to teach me...not to be prideful in perserverance.

This trial that I am going through is a blessing from God because if I didn't go through this trial I would not have learned this very important lesson.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4

Therefore through my trials I cannot be sad and depressed and give up because I am going through a trial, and because it means I am a failure. No! That is the wrong mentality to take.

Through my trials I should be humble and at the feet of God, asking God for wisdom and telling Him how much I do need Him, and asking for forgiveness...and to ask God what He is trying to teach me through this trial. Why is it a joy when we go through trials? Because God is building us up!!

After each trial we will love God more and more and depend on Him more and more.

I should not do things for the reason that I have to meet someones expectations...
Not becuase I don't want to let them down for the purpose of being an example to them.

Through the Love of God I should live and stand. Being an example for someone should not be something that I have to consciously do, but it should be something that naturally steams from the love that I have for God, because God has first Loved me.

Journal Entries from Scornicesti Trip 2003-2004

In the winter of 2003, Danut and I decided to go on a mission trip to Romania for the winter. The mission trip would be located around the town of "Scornicesti", which is the hometown of former Communist Leader Nicolae Ceaucescu.

Scornicesti is a small town of about 5,000 inhabitants located in Oltenia, one of the poorer "counties" of Romania. Oltenia is known for it's Poverty and Orphanages. In Scornicesti, they have a few factories where they make jeans, and this is one of the main occupations of the residents that live there.

The city is not well kept, and in fact it looks like a city that has gone through a war (though I doubt it has). Romania in general feels like a country stuck in time. If Romanians are reading this, I apologize if I make your city or country sound poor, but it's fact. For the Americans reading this I would like to say that we, as Americans, live in Extreme Luxury. Kids here drive cars and can go eat out at restaurants every day if they wanted to and still have money left over to be well off. The people in Scornicesti have to worry about what they will eat and whether or not they will have heat for the winter season.

One last fact about Scornicesti, I don't know if this changed, but running water for the faucet or bath works for 4 hours every day, 2 in the morning and 2 at night. They are trying to "conserve" water, though most people fill up their bathtubs with water for daily water use throughout the day (probably wasting more water if anything).

Scornicesti has one orthodox church and a christian church which is hopefully completed by now.

Part of the purpose of the mission trip was to help set up the "Zile de Bucurie," which means the "Days of Joy" translated. This Christmas celebration is a 3 day festival held in the Town's Cultural House during the evening hours. The other purpose of the trip was to visit the many Orphanages throughout the country. The visits to the Orphanages was one of the most shocking parts of Romania and changed my life.

I will be entering random journal entries from my Trip to Romania. I never had the intent of sharing these when I wrote them, but I hope they make sense. There might be more personal stuff that I will not include in the blog. Just so you know, the entries have an overall "sad" tone to them.

I created a new blog to hold my journal entries and it is found at the following address
http://daysofjoy.blogspot.com

This is me taking a comfy nap...I sleep like that every night! 

back to bloggin'

I think I will start this bloggin' thing again because it's such a great way to keep a journal. I think it's also an excellent way to encourage friends and to share how God works in your life...

i'm excited about this so I plan to re-blog soon!

By the way, I have dropped my coke addiction! I cannot believe that! Since my last blog in December so much has changed that I cannot even begin to describe!

The Lord has blessed me with an awesome job at Motorola where I work with my brother (this is an answer to prayer and fasting! it's seriously a miracle!). This past year the Lord has drawn me so much closer to Him and he has released me from the sin that bound me far from the Lord. Through that God has given me peace, and now I know what it means to be at peace and content with Him. This doesn't mean that I never go through hard times, it just means that I am dependent on God and realize that He is my only source of Strength and that the Bible is my source of Truth.

-mic

Coke Addict

I think i truly am addicted to coke. At work a week ago I had to have coke every 30 minutes! I would just drink some because I would be thirsty then my throat would start to get really dry and I would have to drink some more!
I found out that the caffeine in the coke actually dehydrates you? I don't know how correct that is, but that's exactly how I felt!

mmm, Coke...
Looks like Sarah is also addicted to soft drinks!
http://ladybraica.blogspot.com/2004/12/hi-my-name-is-sarah-braica-and-i-am.html

how will i stop?

mic

"...'Look at you! You have to change!' And then he saw Christ and realized ' wow, I need to change...' "

Based on a sermon by Bunian Cocar

John the Baptist was a man who would always look at other people and tell them their mistakes and what they needed to change in their life. He would always tell them, "look at you, you are a hypocrite, change that! Look at you, you do this too much, and do this too little. Look at you, you do not love!" And then one day he saw Jesus Christ and realized "My Lord, it is I who needs to change!"

You can always find something in someone else that needs to change. You can influence another person, but you could never change them, that is their decision. That is why we should look at ourselves, and find out what we need to change about ourselves.

Change yourself, and through this other people will change.
My Lord, it is I who needs to change!