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Michael Hindes

Kingdom Living in a Post-Modern World
Michael Hindes
One Great Wife
Three Awesome Sons
A Beautiful Daughter-in Law
A Dog Afraid of Storms
A Passion for The Kingdom and Discipleship...
Completely Overwhelmed by GRACE!!!
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  • March 19, 2012 9:30 am

    Reminding Yourself of You…

    Sometimes we get confused, just plain lost.  We forget who we are, why we’re here, and what we’re supposed to be up to.

    This happens for a few reasons:
    Fear that we’ll fail - Nothing like the good old fear that we’ll just really suck at being us

    Too many voices - from parents, to teachers, to bosses, to mentors, and friends; it seems that everyone has opinion of who we are.  Sometimes these opinions are helpful, sometimes they’re driven by control, so learn to discern

    The “good enough” principle - we start doing the good things, the close enough things, the right in front of us now things.  This isn’t necessarily always bad, but we can actually lose out on the real thing we’ve been called to

    Laziness - occasionally we need a good swift kick in the butt (so consider this yours if you’re in need)

    Here’s a few triggers to get us moving in the right direction:
    Stay in the Spirit - keep praying in the Spirit, it really helps to block out the other voices

    Prophecy over yourself - speak truth about who and what you are, remind yourself the prophecies that have been spoken over you by others

    Stay connected with people who bring out the best in you - we all need people who will tell us the truth about how we’re really functioning and progressing

    Get around leaders who have a habit of getting people to maturity and destiny - avoid at all costs big promises from people who won’t get their hands dirty with your messiness.

    Learn to be thankful for every open door - your future’s directly impacted by your gratefulness 

    ___________________________________

    This inspiration was brought to you by the awesome atmosphere of the Nairobi Java house - remember to keep us in your prayers.

    Love and miss you all…

  • 3:26 am

    Reminding Yourself of You…

    Sometimes we get confused, just plain lost.  We forget who we are, why we’re here, and what we’re supposed to be up to.

    This happens for a few reasons:
    Fear that we’ll fail - Nothing like the good old fear that we’ll just really suck at being us

    Too many voices - from parents, to teachers, to bosses, to mentors, and friends; it seems that everyone has opinion of who we are.  Sometimes these opinions are helpful, sometimes they’re driven by control, so learn to discern

    The “good enough” principle - we start doing the good things, the close enough things, the right in front of us now things.  This isn’t necessarily always bad, but we can actually lose out on the real thing we’ve been called to

    Laziness - occasionally we need a good swift kick in the butt (so consider this yours if you’re in need)

    Here’s a few triggers to get us moving in the right direction:
    Stay in the Spirit - keep praying in the Spirit, it really helps to block out the other voices

    Prophecy over yourself - speak truth about who and what you are, remind yourself the prophecies that have been spoken over you by others

    Stay connected with people who bring out the best in you - we all need people who will tell us the truth about how we’re really functioning and progressing

    Get around leaders who have a habit of getting people to maturity and destiny - avoid at all costs big promises from people who won’t get their hands dirty with your messiness.

    Learn to be thankful for every open door - your future’s directly impacted by your gratefulness 

    ___________________________________

    This inspiration was brought to you by the awesome atmosphere of the Nairobi Java House - remember to keep us in your prayers.

    Love and miss you all…

  • February 3, 2012 9:03 am

    Mature for My Age

    Today my oldest son, Nicholas, is guest posting. Real as always, Nicholas shares openly about his struggle to reach acceptance, maturation, and sonship.


    I’ve shared my story. Or really, a few chapters of my story. The quest for sonship/adoption from the Father was a fight. It was a struggle to move past individuals who, at various intervals, succeeded in impeding my attempts to achieve adoption. It sounds harsh. Well, it was harsh. I cannot apologize for the tone used here. This is my story. I am sticking to it.


    This quest for sonship and adoption caused me to grow up. That is such a generality. I have felt so often that I was robbed of my youth. I lost my innocence. I lost all hope at being average, of this sense of normalcy. It crumbled into dust at my feet. At twelve, I had an effervescent spotlight cast upon me highlighting every single movement and action I took. I stood out on the front stage, alone and watched by the glistening eyes of the masses.

    I became a pastor’s son. Stamped and labeled. Wearing the “Hello, my name is…” nametag perpetually. Their vigilant eyes were always watching. Always waiting. Never blinking.

    I now had to fit someone’s expectations.

    I wanted to be normal. Average. Regular. Plain. I wanted out from the limelight. I felt bombarded with questions. Why did I have to be held to higher standards? Why couldn’t I hangout with this group of friends? Why did I have to be active in serving the church? Why did I have to be the first to participate? Why couldn’t I say these phrases? Why couldn’t I talk about these books I read, or movies I’ve watched? Why was everyone so uptight when I was around? Did I do something wrong? Why was there a look of disgust when I made a mistake? Was I a failure? Did I screw up so badly? Was I beyond forgiveness?

    It always intrigued me how grace was extended to every other person and yet I seemed to be without. I would curse, get into a scuffle, or worse, I had my ears pierced. One single step out of line and everyone knew. I was a poor example. Worse, my parents were seen as terrible role models. All because I had my ears pierced. What a joke! Or the time I obtained a Blink 182 album (I believe it was Enema of the State). Such uproar of disgust and horror was never heard before. By their standards, it was appalling. I was subsequently labeled, a bad seed. Whatever that means. Words.

    I didn’t fit the model. I was different. I never seemed to fulfill any of their expectations. I just seemed to fail. Came up short. Time and time again. Cyclical. You get the picture?

    I tried to measure up, but always came up short. Why was I different? I always wanted to know why.

    The answers are never what you expect and subsequently, never what you want to hear. God has a knack for those sorts of answers. Simply stated, I was set apart. Beyond simplicity, I was being trained to pastor. I was being taught through situation and circumstance, how to extend grace to people who would much rather see me punished, than to be let off the hook. I learned how to love people despite their overbearing opinions and criticisms of what they thought about me. I learned how to be Christ in the midst of seekers.

    I didn’t fit the model. Neither did he. I failed people’s expectation. So did he. His story and mine intersect quite a lot.

    Being a pastor’s son, taught me how to be more like Him than I would have ever believed.

    Who would have thought? I know I didn’t.

  • January 16, 2012 3:25 pm

    Living With Side Effects

    I went on antibiotics this past weekend for an ear infection.  I seem to get the same infection every year at this time.  A friend, who’s a PA, visited and prescribed some antibiotics.  It appears to be helping, but yuck

    My stomach is really funky – nausea ;(

    Of course that’s part of taking medications, right?  All medicines have side effects.  I once got a script for sinus headaches that listed “headaches” as a side effect, wth?

    The pills they advertise on TV are loaded with side effects.  Rather than just ignoring or muting, actually listen to one of them next time– its unbelievable.

    There’s a fat blocker pill that lowers cholesterol but causes “anal leaking” – I’m pretty sure I’d rather be fat, just saying.  That side effect isn’t worth the benefit.

    One of my closest friends is battling cancer right now.  He’s on chemo twice a month - it’s decreasing the size of his tumor and lessening the cancer markers.  Which is great news!  But he’s nauseated all of the time and has lost most of his hair.  He told me the other day over the phone that he looked like Gollum from Lord of the Rings.  But if he’s winning, the side effects are definitely worth it.

    Pretty much everything has side effects.  And a not just medication, anything beneficial usually has some sort of one off challenge or struggle.

    Maturity requires us to stop being selfish and blaming others

    Loving requires us to put others’ needs ahead of your own

    Physical Health requires restraint and discipline

    Building requires plans, preparation, implementation, and work

    Budgeting requires impulse control

    Living requires dying

    Leading requires following

    Service requires serving

    You get the point, right?  Everything has a side effect - a price of admission so to speak.

    The question is, “are we willing to live with the side effects required to improve our health”?