Take the step through

   These are thoughts about how God leads us on a daily basis, and how Satan uses our faith against us.   I can only speak for myself and my experiences as I share these thoughts. 
  I believe in a God that takes care of us, knows us, and wants great things for us. How do I achieve these great things? Do I wait for an obvious sign to pursue something? In my opinion we don't have to wait for this obvious sign from God, there is no door that we are supposed to walk through. This is where Satan gets us, and makes us think we shouldn't take chances. 
   Satan wants us to wait for as long as possible for an answer from God about a specific opportunity. I believe he wants this because it takes away the power of our self confidence and creates confusion and doubt when we don't get the answer we are looking for. On the opposite side, God is so much more dynamic and "multi-leveled" that He can move with us when we make our own decisions. He is us, we are Him. Step through the door you want to go in, and He is there with you. Changing, molding, strengthening, etc. 
   Satan leads us to believe that we have to possess strong enough faith in God and wait for Him to usher us into whatever we are looking for. When this happens it creates a mental divide between us and God. We then become alone, waiting, watching, unsure of what's next. A sniper is only effective in picking off a single target that is unaware of his presence. Satan is the sniper that creates a target by using doubt of ourselves and shattered self confidence. God, on the other hand, creates a community with Himself and us when He gives us confidence and assurance that the Holy Spirit is there at all times. This neutralizes the threat of a sniper, and Satan can no longer pick out the unsure individual that is lost. 
   I guess what I'm trying to point out is that when you want to do something, don't be afraid of waiting on an answer. If there are multiple doors opening, then focus on each with confidence in yourself (which is actually a community of the Holy Trinity) and step through. Your journey might change along the way, but God changes with you. He created this life and let's us choose. So make a choice and enjoy it as He moves along with you. 
   

The EPL Boys

This is a brief and comical breakdown of the dudes that love the EPL.  This is to be treated as lighthearted and not meant to be mean. Jokes all around! The people are listed in alphabetical order of their favorite team, and I will pick where I think each team will finish by the end of the year. 

      Aston Villa - This is tricky because there are 2 fans.  First we have Michael Priest.  You can bank on the fact that Michael will tweet a cheer after Villa scores the opening goal, but quickly follows the cheer with a statement about giving up the lead.  Sure enough by the 93rd minute...a draw...You can feel the frustration emanating from his twitter account and start to feel bad for the guy. He now waits for KU basketball to fire up again.
Craig - It is almost impossible to talk trash to this dude because of how freaking nice he is to everybody.  It could be that he is just more mature than the rest of us, but then again, he can instigate some dirty conversations if the opportunity presents itself.  He barely talks about Aston Villa and sometimes I wanna rag on him for it, but when I see him on Sunday he is talking to an elderly woman and making her feel like a million bucks. Just too freaking nice! Prediction - Middle of the table, won't be in the relegation zone.
      Chelsea - Mike has put up with more crap about being a Chelsea fan than anyone rooting for any other team of any other sport that I know, and guess who gives him all the grief...  Mike gets to enjoy things like winning the Champions League when the ENTIRE world gave them no chance.  Still can't believe that happened.  When The Blues win a game I want to blow up my tv and turn off twitter forever, yet the next day when I see Mike he is in the mix of a conversation with pretty much whoever, and I can't help but feel happy for him. Not his blues, just Mike, get that straight. Prediction - Winners of the EPL.
      Fulham - Chris W. I remember when we went to Honduras he randomly bought an Inter Milan jersey and decided to follow them. This has nothing to do with the EPL, but thought it was funny. Now that Chris has decided we are not suitable for his life, he has moved on to a career in Kansas Missouri City State-ville, or wherever he is now. Seriously though, not being able to chat about games on Sundays is crappy. Anyways, I find myself pulling for Fulham sometimes.  Maybe its because they play in a Cottage and that just sounds warm and fuzzy.  There would be many Sundays when his talks about Fulham would end with "oh my gosh what are we doing?" or "its just so frustrating, you know?" Prediction - Lower half of the table
      Liverpool - Chris M. This guy is a f&*#ing douche. Prediction - 6th
      Tottenham - Shane picked The Spurs not too long ago and I was very happy to have him in the mix. That was until his team kept beating LFC all the time. You can pick someone else...its not too late! Any time I think about talking noise to my bro about Tottenham, I am afraid he is going to write a blog about Jesus and somehow he is going to tie me into it and it will 1) blow my mind and rekindle my spirit. 2) put the fear of God in me and never say a bad thing about Spurs again.  Prediction - 2nd...assuming they keep Bale
      West Ham - Eric.  Good luck stringing together 2 sentences with this guy when talking about soccer. If Eric was a playable guy in FIFA '13 his top stat would be "Interruption".  This guy shows more passion about his team than any of us, which is pretty darn cool if you ask me.  Even when The Hammers were relegated he was proud to be a West Ham supporter and that pretty much captures why the EPL fans are the best in the world.  Eric has this way of making you feel better about your team too.  He will randomly ask how LFC looks this year, and when I tell him, I walk away feeling good.  This could be a jedi mind trick and he is inflating our heads so that when things don't go as planned he can watch the meltdown.  Prediction - 7th


      So there ya go.  Some random thoughts about my friends...or maybe after reading this, former friends. Enjoy the season boys!

     

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