Man must have a knowledge of self before he is willing to surrender self to God.

Do you see it?  Do you see how we must suffer in our own wisdom and strength before we are prepared for God to reveal Himself to us?  We must first labor in the futility of our own limitations and depravity before we see our need for Christ.  Brokenness is the critical part of transformation as God uses it to strip us of self-sufficiency.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalm 51:17).  It is important to understand that brokenness looks differently for every person, but ultimately it is driven by shame and affliction.
Continue reading “The Sacrifices Of God Are A Broken Spirit” »

By the time I was 19-years-old I had three juvenile felonies under my belt, I was an alcoholic, I had totaled two financed cars, I got my first DUI, and I got my girlfriend pregnant.  I was driven by fear and paralyzed by shame.  Miraculously, I passed an FBI background check, I was hired and worked as an international flight attendant for Pan Am for three years starting at age twenty.

In my desperate search for acceptance and approval I became a chameleon, void of my own personality, without real opinions of my own.  I was skillful at adapting, mirroring, parroting, and conforming to the behaviors, qualities, vocabulary, and dialects of others–here in the U.S. and in other cultures.  I meticulously studied and practiced the mannerisms, mentalities, dispositions, principles, expectations, styles, trends, and wisdom of a wide variety of social, demographical, geographical groups and subgroups of people. Continue reading “Broken” »