Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Rememberance

We go through life each day trying to please someone, whether it be our spouse, parents, a friend, a hopeful girlfriend or boyfriend.  We long to be looked highly upon by others.  We want to be remembered it is in our nature.  I am no exception, I have longed for others to recognize me and appreciate me.  I enjoy when others want to be around me and enjoy my company, when someone calls because they are thinking about me, when my wife does something special just because she loves me.  The thing is, even if I had none of these people, I would still have that one that wants to spend time with me, who longs to be with me, that wants my attention as well….that would be our Lord and Savior.  What’s even better is that His love is unconditional.  He loves us no matter what sin we have committed, whether or not we even pay attention to Him.  He loves us….period.  It is up to us if we accept Him and love him back.  It is a conscious effort that requires no work, no special ceremony, nor a Priest on our behalf to do so.  Just one genuine prayer from us expresses our love and our need for Jesus, and we give our lives to Him.  Many think it is too simple to be true, but it is not.  
     After thinking about this, and reading my daily devotional, I realize that while friends matter, the one true friend we already have matters much more.  When I am gone, I do want friends, family, and others to remember me, that I loved our Lord and was a Godly man, but what I want them to remember the most, is how much God loved me.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Perspective

Perspective- a mental view or outlook.

I have always had trouble with this.  Many times I would dwell on the bad things, the things that happen to me and others that are “wrong” and should not happen.  Here are things that have happened to me and my family over the course of my life that seemed to stand out more than the good things.
  1. In the early 90s while working at Circuit City, I had a customer attack me and knock me out, and when I came to he knocked me out again two more times.  All because he didn’t agree with me that the battery in his car was defective.  
  2. When lifting into place the door on the house I live now, I ruptured two discs in my back from which came excruciating pain.  I have not had an operation to correct this and occasionally hurt my back because of this.
  3. Back in 2008, my wife was new to the Travel business and the company she was booking through quit paying her the commissions that were owed to her along with the IRS, Caesars Palace LV, and many other agents.  Kara was in the top 12 of  money lost.  $24,000 total in which a lot was already spent  (we had just started a bathroom remodel at the time) we never got a dime of it back, while the owner of the company and his wife purchased a million dollar house for his mom, he embezzled the money from the company. As far as I can tell, he has never paid for his crime.
  4. And now I have a brain tumor.

Sounds like a story from the book of Job doesn’t it?  Well not near as bad as Job, but the last one has changed my perspective.  I try not to dwell on the bad things that have happened.  There is no time to let that burden me and it does no good to do so.  Here are things that I want to dwell on.
  1. I became a Christian when I was I believe 9.  My mom took me to talk with the pastor of the church we were attending at the time.  I remember the drive over and pulling into his driveway to talk with him.  After he talked to me about what I believed, he led me in the sinners prayer.  I strayed away from the Lord during High School but when I was just out of high school, I rededicated my life.
  2. I have a mother who while I lived with her, took me to church and through every day led by example by leading a Godly life.
  3. The Lord saw fit to send me a beautiful, Godly wife.  A wife that can’t wait to see me each day when I get home, one that does special things for me for no reason, one that tells me she loves me every day…and means it, and especially stands by me and cheers me on in everything I do. All the while, serving the Lord beside me each day. 
  4. The Lord also saw fit to send me two boys.  Each one has such a great personality.  
Ean is very quiet in reserved as well as very, very smart.  He also knows so much about the bible, especially considering he is only 13, in fact he can tell someone things from the bible much better than I can.  Ean also is very obedient, if we ask him to do something he will do it, no questions asked. I have always felt that God is going to call him into the ministry.  May just be hopeful, but I believe he would be excellent in the ministry.   
Grant is such a people person, he loves to do things for people and loves to perform for others.  He is also fearless, he thinks he can do anything and no one can tell him otherwise, teach him 3 chords on a guitar and he will play those 3 chords with all his heart for anyone that will let him play for them.  He is also an excellent artist and draws much better than I did at his age.  He also has the entrepreneurial spirit that I do, he actually draws comics and kids he knows will buy them from him.  He is always trying to come up with a new invention or new idea that will be the next great thing.  I am sure he will go far in life. 

There are so many other things that have happened to me in my life that far outweigh the negative things.  I was able to be part of starting the church that we attend now.  There are so many things I have gotten to see God do through Northridge over the last 5 years that I am so thankful for.  There are so many people that I have met as well that I have gotten to share life with that I am thankful for as well. I am excited for the future of Northridge and impact on the community it will provide.
            I said all of that to say this….no matter what bad things are going on in your life, don’t let it be what defines your life.  There are way too many good things to worry about the bad.  If you find yourself focusing on the bad, change your perspective.  Dwell on the good.  Life will be much better if you do that.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Random Thoughts

     I have had alot of random thoughts over the last few weeks.  One thing is God knew what He had to do when He sent Jesus to die on the cross to save us.  He knew there would be people like me that even though I know I have a clock ticking down the time I have left, which is alot less than I had hoped, I still revert to my self.  He knew that deep in our hearts we are all sinners and that it would require an offering on our part to bring us back to Him.  This sacrifice would have to be His own son, in order to redeem the sin of great magnitudes  that each one of us continually commit.  It hurts me that knowing my fate I still cannot measure up...but thank God that I don't have to in order to be saved.
     I also feel like I am just treading water sometimes, I wish there was more I could do but I don't know what to do.  I have made a more purposeful attempt to get more involved in others lives.   I want to be there for others and help and pray for them.  I am not sure why I feel this way, it just feels like what the Lord wants me to do right now.  I know I didnt do this in the past because it was easy not to.  I have also become more vocal in my beliefs,  I want others to know that I am a Jesus follower and I dont want to be an idle Christian any more.  Being diagnosed has made me more extroverted instead of introverted for some reason, and now I worry less about myself and more about others,  for this I am grateful that I have become this.  I just wish I could quit feeling like I am waiting so often.  It just makes me feel like I am wasting time.
     I know I have said it in the past, but I want each one of you to know that I appreciate your prayers, they are not "wasted" as I can tell that I am being prayed for.  I pray for many of you too, for your lives and for you to make a difference in others as you have made a difference in my life.  There are so many cool things that have happened lately, my brother in law was in a Physical therapist office the other day and I think he overheard them talking about a guy's blog, and long story short it was my blog.   So cool  (I think :)) I got mail the other day and it was a bulletin from a church in SC that is in a little town I had never heard of, and on the back page was a prayer list with my name on it.  Today, I was speaking to the head of the Arkansas School bus spec committee and he said I was looking like I was doing good, not sure how (Unless I told him and forgot) he knew but he told me he had been keeping up with me.  I have had so many people stop me and ask if I was Greg Elmore and when I said yes they said they were praying for me and my family.  God knows just the right time to send someone like that.  Amazing!
      Well, hopefully all of these random thoughts make some sense.  Kara told me that I need to write something about what is going on with me so people can follow how my life is going at the time.  Maybe it will help someone that has felt this way or feeling this way.  Please continue to pray for me, especially good results for my MRI and check up on June 13. 

Thanks!
Greg
      

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Starting to see some purpose

     Well it has been a while since I have wrote, not much to tell on my health.  Last week on Wednesday and Thursday I felt strange and light headed.  Thursday morning I slept in til about 10 and that helped me feel better.  Other than that not much has changed. 
      I found out today that May is Brain Tumor Awareness month.  Never knew that it even existed.  Kind of hate that I had to find out by the fact I have one.  And along those lines, I have heard and met via email and facebook, alot of people that either have a brain tumor or has a loved one that does.  It is kind of like when you get a new car, and then all of a sudden it seems like everyone is driving one of them. Medical TV shows, the news and many other things have referenced a brain tumor alot lately. (Probably no more than they did before, but I tend to notice it now.)    Never in a million years did I think I would have brain cancer.  Now God has given me this to face, He has also given me a purpose through all of this as well.  Right now I think it is to encourage others that are facing the same thing I am.  Whether it is an encouraging conversation/email, prayer or to just be there for someone.  I have also challenged my community group to be that for our church.  Those that are not plugged into a community group already, but are coming to our church, I would like our group to be there for them in a time in need.  I hope we get many opportunities to fill in the gap when the need arises.  This is nothing new, this is just what God intends us to do, be there for each other. 
     Please continue to pray for my family and pray for me.  It was a great relief when we got the news that the tumor is slow growing, but it is still there.  Please pray for God to intervene in my life. Also, please pray that I get many opportunities to share my story with others as well as be there for those that are finding out for the first time.  Also, please pray for Natalee and also for Michael  both have brain tumors (Which are in worse shape than me) they both have a spouse and children.  They both really need our prayers. 
Thanks for reading, I appreciate each one of you it gives me strength knowing I have so many that care.