Freeing My Mind

So, I’m starting a blog. I’ve gone through some drastic changes in my life as of late. Most of you reading this will know that I’m, for lack of better words, a speaker/minister. I have been for about 5 years now. I’d have to say that I’m pretty good at. In fact, I know I’m good at it. Although, over the past while (vagueness intended), I have grown increasingly frustrated with my where we are as a ministry. You see, my desire isn’t the same as many of my counterparts. I don’t want just a big ministry that does what every other ministry has done, but my passion is that which has never been. Something different. Therefore, frustration is a part of my life. Although, that frustration also is what keeps me moving forward.

Now, back to the drastic change. So, about 3 weeks ago I was in Alberta, Canada. Over a period of about 24 hours I began to feel a change inside me. I can’t really explain it. In the past, during drastic changes in my life, I was able to explain just exactly what happened. This wasn’t like that. I still can’t tell you exactly what happened, but something did. One night, during this process, I was watching the UFC on my computer just before bed. If you don’t know what the UFC is, it’s a mixed martial arts organization that has grown in popularity 10 times over in the past few years. Anyway, when I was about 15 years old I started watching the UFC. At this time there were a few fighters who were completely dominate. They never lost and seemingly couldn’t lose. Many of these fighters are back fighting now. During this one particular fight a fighter by the name of BJ Penn was being discussed by the commentators. BJ was one of these dominate fighters during the early days of the UFC. In fact, they nicknamed him, “The Prodigy”. He was good, really good and the thiing about BJ Penn was that he didn’t really train. He didn’t have to, hence the name “Prodigy”. Anyway, during this particular fight, Joe Rogan commented that BJ was having to train now. The fighters around him had caught up to his natural talent and he found himself having to put in hard work in order to keep up with the growing talent within MMA as a sport. As soon as I heard this comment, I also heard the voice of the Lord. He simply said, “Craig, that’s you.” Those words hit me hard. I knew it was true.  You see, I’m good at what I do. I’m talented. I’m gifted. Many people would even say that it isn’t “fair’. Although, what is “fair”? But, I have never had to put effort into it. What God was saying is, “If you add hard work and effort to your natural abilities, nothing could stop you.”

The next morning I woke up different. Changed. Completely. I felt as if I had been born again, again. Certainly, drastic change. I came home more focused than ever. It’s not that I just decided to change. It was as if God’s voice change me. Just His words, they created something new within me. I imagine our whole team is thankful. I have had more fun in the past few weeks brainstorming, creating and changing with our whole Awake “family”. I’ve never had so much vision and belief in what is in my heart. I think we’ve got more projects in our heart that we can even keep up with. The good thing is that, now, we are trying to keep up with them.  I’ve said all of that to say, here’s my blog. A part of that change. I’ve committed myself to writing more. I’ve got more formal writing projects in the works, but I want to use this as an avenue to express my day to day  thought process. At times it should be somewhat insightful and at other times it might simply be random thoughts and goings-on within my life.  Seriously, thanks for taking the time to read. Feel free to comment. much love