God Blessed the Broken Road that led me...up this mountaintop to tell the world about it!

At the beginning of service where I attend church, generally they open up the floor and ask if there are any testimonies/praise reports/special singing. This morning when they asked, I spoke up just thanking God for an awesome week (this week, one thing I've been praying for for a good while started to work through a process of coming about--plus it was just an enjoyable week with great weather). But after I got done speaking, I thought--why do I limit God to just that?...He's done vastly SO much more than that for me. Why is it that we are ready to praise God on Sundays during 'praise report time,' but we don't always take it to the streets in our everyday lives? As Christians, why/how/when did we let praising God constantly and consistently as part of our everyday routine become less than the social norm?--almost counter cultural to do this? When this world of sinners has been so blessed with the opportunity of salvation, why don't we give God praise more often--especially if we've accepted Him into our heart and know Him as a personal friend, leader, and savior?

Think about it like this: when we recieve salvation, God grants us eternal life in Heaven..so essentially, your life has been saved. Now, imagine that John Doe and you are out fishing one day, the boat flips, you knock you head unconscious on a rock, and he saves you life by pulling you out of the water to safety...would you not then tell everyone you know--John Doe saved my life!! God's done that and SO much more for us--we should be constantly praising Him, and full of His joy for all that He's done for us--so much so it bubbles over and we have to tell someone. Imagine the following scenarios and how you have/do/would react to them:
-you get a new car/new accessories or rims for your car (guys night out becomes the 'gather round my rims' social)
-you get engaged/new boyfriend or girlfriend ($500 engagement pictures, perhaps)
-you get promoted at work (brag, brag, brag?)
-you win the Nobel Peace Prize or some other phenomenal award (even the newspapers would cover this)
-your kids get Honor Roll (...bumper stickers last forever)
-you're pregnant! ('let me show you my ultrasound!')
-you buy a new house (house warming party anyone?)
...so do you see that? You spread the word! Why? Because you're excited! Because life is good, things are happening, goals are being met! I will tell you I have yet to experience some of those situations, but you better believe my girl pals stay up to date on whether or not the guy I'm interested in has finally asked me to be his girlfriend (btw, hasn't happened yet...see, I'm even telling my blog readers...). Love makes us giggly and silly and excited, etc. I declare that a relationship with Christ is a love relationship--it makes us feel special and requires effort just like a dating/marriage relationship. So why don't we get giggly for God? Why don't we just bubble over to the point where its like--"I don't care if I've told you this story 6 times, I'm just so excited about it, I want to tell it again!" (ever done that with any of the issues above)...even better though is that God is constantly blessing us and providing us with new things to get excited about...each day of life brings new stories. If you are sitting there thinking you are not blessed, look around you at health, family, food...internet access (yeah, we don't realize this sometimes, but that's a huge luxury--even if it's coming from a local library). Point is we are blessed each day with new breath and new life...and new opportunities to tackle more ground for God--so let's get excited, people of God, let's spread the word and joy that we have. Once you've accepted Christ into your life and recieved salvation, you've got something AWESOME! (the most awesome thing, out of this world!)...don't you want others to see how awesome it is so that they can grab onto the opportunity as well? Therefore, doesn't it make us selfish if we don't share it and let everyone know about it?

Recently on the Living Word with Dave Stone (a Southeast Christian radio ministry), Dave related a story about a couple that accepted Christ into their life, and as new Christians were so excited and telling all of their friends--they were relating their new lives with another couple who replied that they knew, they were Christians too and had been for a while. The newly saved couple was completely shocked and almost offended and upset that their friends who were Christians had never told them about this awesome thing that they had in their lives. Don't let that be you. Don't live in your little shell and carry your Christianity in a sealed bag, only to let it out in the church building, and to quickly conceal it again after service is over. You have been blessed beyond compare (even better than $2000 rims or a new baby) you've got eternal life--you've got a love worth sharing, so get out there and get to it!

I leave you with some scripture to reflect on--Philippians 4:4 which tells us to ALWAYS be full of joy in the Lord, and to always rejoice in Him (mind you that doesn't mean that you are always happy, for trials will come, but rather be full of joy in God and what He's done for you--knowing there are better days promised ahead if you've accepted salvation through Christ). Also, take a look at Matthew 9:27-31. This is the story of where Jesus heals 2 blind men because of their faith and then tells them to go and tell no one...yet they spread the news all over the region. Just imagine someone gives you back your sight after years of blindness, and their request is that you keep it to yourself...yet, you go and tell everyone...these men were so excited and so confident in their healer that they wanted EVERYONE to know about Him and His wonderous powers. We should be that way every day--it should not take sickness, near death experiences, a new car, or what have you for us to shout it from the rooftops that our God IS great--in fact, the greatest!

Rascal Flatts, a popular country group said it well about a dating/marriage relationship when they said "I'm gunna stand on a rooftop, climb up a mountaintop, baby, scream and shout. I want to sing it on the radio, show it on a video, baby, leave no doubt. I want the whole world to know, just what I'm all about. I love to love you out loud!" Christ is coming back for His bride (an illustration used throughout the Bible symbolizing the church--the entire body of Christian believers throughout the world), thus, we sould be singing about this marriage relationship just like Rascal Flatts did--whether you have to climb a mountain, stand on a roof (be careful!), etc...do whatever it takes and whatever God leads you to do to let His love for all and your love for Him be known.