God knows your name...

God knows you by name. You are not a nameless face in the crowd. He knew you when you were just a thought. When you were in your mother's womb, he formed you. He has a plan for your life--a plan to prosper you--plans of good and not of evil.

The enemy would like nothing more than to steal your identity. He wants to steal your purpose and your destiny. He knows if he can steal your identity, then you will wander aimlessly through life always questioning who you are and what your purpose is for living.

In order to know who you are, you must first know Who created you. God--the Creator--has the manual. He knows who you are and what you were created for. He longs to share these mysteries with you. In order to find your identity and purpose you must first have a relationship with the One who formed and fashioned you. We are always running to self-help books when we should be running to God. Do we know more than God? Is it by our power that we came into being? Then why are we always seeking after the wisdom of man instead of God's wisdom? In doing so, we elevate man's wisdom above God's.

Want to know who you are? Want to know what your purpose in life is? Want to get off the merry-go-round of life? Let God be the center of your universe. He will bring balance and meaning to your life. He will reveal the hidden things and the mysteries that have kept you questioning your existence. He has the answers and He's just waiting for you to ask Him the questions....

Why do we crash into one another?

I watched the movie Crash yesterday. Wow! Talk about intense! It's a real eye opener. The main thing I kept seeing over and over is the need for connection and relationships in our lives. The whole movie was about how we are all looking for those connections in our lives and how we crash into one another in our desperate attempts to have some type of contact with one another.

More than any other time in history, our world has become disconnected. We have become a world of technology in which we would rather connect over the internet than in person. We pass one another by barely saying hello. You can see the effect it has taken on society. With the divorce rate as high as it is, you can see the disconnection between husbands and wives. Fathers and Mothers have gotten disconnected from their children. Brothers and sisters. And on down the family tree. We can see it in the spiritual world too. The church has gotten disconnected from the world and has become irrelevant and ineffective in reaching the lost. On a personal basis we have disconnected from those we come in contact with every day. As a result crime rates have increased. There is no accountability and corruption abounds.

More than ever there is a need for connection--for us to reach out and touch one another. United we stand, divided we fall. The first word of our nation's name is united. But we have become a divided nation. We have allowed racism, politics, religion, and everything else to divide us. Sometimes it takes time of chaos to unite people. We can see what happened at 9/11 and in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. We began to see the power of connection. That when one of us hurts, we all hurt. That we need to reach out to one another and lend a helping hand. I think it is these times of chaos that shake us. They wake us up to our need for unity--that we need each other.

In Genesis, God said it was not good for man to live alone. God knows the importance of connection and relationships. It is not healthy for us to be disconnected from one another. It can cause all kinds of emotional and even physical problems. There is something about the touch of love. Babies that grow up without being held or loved cannot develop as they should. Their development is slowed.

Within all of us is the need for connection--to be touched. In love, there is healing. In love, we grow--we mature. In love, we find our purpose. There cannot be love without connection. Love is more than words--it is touching one another. It is connecting on a personal level. Now more than ever, we need to begin to reach out to one another and make connections.

No man is an island. We need to begin building bridges and seek to restore broken relationships. This is a year for making new connections and for restoring broken connections. We need to reunite as a people and as a nation. Without unity, chaos will abound. We will slowly self-destruct. It is time to join together. Reach out and touch someone. Reconnect with lost friends. Seek to mend broken relationships. For if we will do so we will see healing come to our land.