My Father.

My Father.

today is my dad's birthday. he was born exactly 48 years ago. i always love how he is almost exactly 30 years older than i am (because i never have to think twice to remember how many wise years he owns).

i have an amazing papa - and i have come to repect and admire him a whole bunch. i can easily fill a book with all that he has taught me, his funny quirks, and his life experiences (and one day, maybe i will); but right now, i think i will just boast (or brag) a little with all this pride i feel. =)

my father loves God. he loves Him with all his heart, and you can tell when you watch him pray. you can also see it when he worships (often singing off key). ;) one day i want to capture that look, but many times it seems so reverent and too special to interrupt with the sound of a shutter.

my dad is a teacher. when 'my old man' (no offense!) has a passion for something, i want to be the first one to sit down and learn what he hast to say! if there were 2 words that would be his 'soundtrack'.....so to say....it would be Carpe Diem. seize the day. i was taught that seizing today starts with glorifying God, then is closly followed up with how i relate to my family, my friends, and even total strangers.

my papa is handsome! (...notice the exclamation point) and he is almost all mine. =D You see, i have to share him with 2 other girls here. Well - technically - he's my mom's. but she has to share....a little bit.

i can easily to on and on about his amazing adjectives. i feel so luck to be a daughter to a really amazing guy! i get to have my inbox filled an amazing quote, and i also get to see him serve on a regular basis. i get to be the one doubling over in laughter because of an impromptu song, and i also get to see him when he is grumpy with bed hair. ;) all in all = i am so thankful!

i pray that i grow to be as patient, funny, smart, creative, discerning, tactful, and as much of a leader as him. Gary Anthony Wayne. MY dad.

here is an email that he sent this month....so you all get to be inspired - in his own words. ;D enjoy!

~~~~

"Great minds have purpose, others have wishes."  -- Washington Irving, American Author

Gang,

Do you think you have “purpose” in your life? Do you have “wishes” that you hope will come true someday?

Ask yourself the following questions: “Am I living my life with purpose – actually intentionally living with certain actions & behaviors that I am in control of? Or am I living my life more as a general floating around without my direct control with hopes & wishes that might become reality some day if I get lucky?

Most of the world lives within the realm of the second question above. God wants us to live our lives each & every day with a “yes” answer to the first question above. We have the choice as to the mindset we want to implement – and when we implement the correct & godly mindset, then God has more active involvement in our lives and the Holy Spirit can move more powerfully. All we need to do is be open to God’s Spirit by intentionally inviting Him into our lives each day and having control over our emotions & our actions. If we align our actions with God’s commands, He will bless us and we will live a fuller & more abundant & peaceful life. If we live according to our emotions and we live more selfishly, then God will allow natural circumstances to pervade our lives and it will not be peaceful and it will not be in deep fellowship or communion with Him.

In other words, we will reap the life that we sow. So let’s plant seeds of purposeful thought. Seeds of actions & behaviors that God will be pleased with and that will honor Him. Seeds of living life with a definite purpose that great minds possess.

Are we living life or letting life happen to us?

Let’s have the mind of Yeshua. Let’s ask God to develop our minds into His purpose – a great purpose!

Love you all,


Papa

.my favorite quotes

i love quotes. every day i find myself jotting another one down into my 'quote book;' and i continue to look back occasionally just to feel that wow moment again. i think that my dad taught it to me, because - almost every day -  he sends a 'quote of the day'....and with each quote he writes a short, compact little devotion. in his folder i have over 200 emails, and the majority are those passion filled little paragraphs that i have come to love. =)  there are so many times that i don't know how to word things and find myself borrowing from some pretty amazing heros of mine. so here are just a couple that i love, and i'm sure that there will be many many more to come!

oh, and feel free to comment with some of your fav. quotes, too. =)


"Take this rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself." ^Susanna Wesley

"One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving." -Amy Carmichael

"The nature of Christ's salvation is woefully misrepresented by the present-day evangelist. He announces a Savior from hell rather than a Savior from sin. And that is why so many are fatally deceived, for there are multitudes who wish to escape the Lake of Fire who have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness." ^A.W. Pink

“Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves. When our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little. When we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord.” ^Francis Drake

"Carnal Christians profess Christ as their redeemer but their actions and decisions are for the sake of their own interests and who they are in themselves rather than God's interests and who He is. Their minds are still the workshops of the devil, for he can persuade countless numbers of professing Christians to try to be Christians without Christ." ^Ian Thomas

"Loneliness is a required course for leadership." ^Elisabeth Elliot

"American Christians have fallen for a counterfeit peace and joy. Instead of going to God and understanding experientially that in His presence is the fullness of joy we go to Hollywood, we go to the music industry, we go to professional sports - and that's where we get our rush and our sense of fulfillment." ^Leonard Ravenhill

"All your circumstances are in the hand of God, therefore never think it strange concerning the circumstances you are in. Your part in intercessory prayer is not to enter into the agony of intercession, but to utilize the common-sense circumstances God puts you in, and the common-sense people He puts you amongst by His providence, to bring them before God's throne and give the Spirit in you a chance to intercede for them. In this way God is going to sweep the whole world with His saints." ^Oswald chambers

I truly believe that when God says no its always because there is a greater yes in the future.

"Follow Me beyond what you can control, beyond where your own strength and competencies can take you, and beyond what is affirmed and risked by the crowd, and you will experience ME, and My power, and My wisdom, and My love." ^Gary a Haugen

"Books are missionaries, they work even while you are sleeping." ^Marlyn Hickey

"God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me...That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave." ^General Thomas ''Stonewall'' Jackson

"It is a safe thing to trust God with the desires of your heart, because they are the desires He has created." ^Amy Carmichael

"A pure heart is one to which all that is not of God is strange and jarring" ^Tauler

"What is the secret of great living? Entire separation to Christ and devotion to Him. Thus speaks every man and woman whose life has made more than a passing flicker in the spiritual realm. It is the life that has no time for trifling that counts." ^Amy Carmichael

"The preoccupations of young women don't seem to change much from generation to generation. But in every generation there see to be a few who make other choices." ^Elisabeth Elliot

"When we deliberately choose to obey God, He will tax the remotest star and the last grain of sand to assist us with all His almighty power." ^Oswald Chambers

“I have rightfully no other business each day but to do God’s work as a servant, constantly regarding His pleasure. May I have grace to live above every human motive, simply with God and to God.” ^Henry Martyn (missionary to India)

“God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks to our conscience, but shouts in our pain. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” ^C.S. Lewis