No Updates?

Ok so I've been pretty lousy at updating my blog ever since I started work again. I just am so fricken busy that when I get home (about 10ish) I'm just about starving, then I pass out....

So blogging time has been cut down alot. Basically since I started back at work again God has been spoiling me and lavishing me with blessings. While I still don't feel back to my full self as far as my sales presentation, I've been doing extremely well. My store hit and then maxed out budget for the month (huge deal) and people have been buying from me despite my rusty skills.....all I can say is that when I depend on God he always comes through!

I actually have had a few customers comment on my Bible (I bring it to work when I'm at a slower store) and my Christian Fish tie clip....all very positive. I even had one customer who just straight out bought after he asked me what I was doing reading a Bible and I told him it was my life manual.

Funny thing how God works...I talked to the guy and he ended up calling me dad to ask for financial advice. Turns out he has some big bucks and is retired. Overall I'm feeling very satisfied right now. God has really given me a platform to lift up his name and this time I won't squander it. I've been telling everyone who asks me about my success that I trust in him and he comes through for me.

It feels wonderful to finally give Him the due praise and glory he deserves. I don't ever want to steal it again....because I know deep down where all my blessings come from.

Back at the Firm

Ok so its been awhile since my last post and I wanted to make an update since a lot has happened. Without trying to write everything....God answered my prayer. He spoke in a way that was so clear and obvious that I knew it was him. And he was leading me back to Mattress Firm.

Its where I have the most leverage career-wise, leverage and influence I can use to spread the gospel. I'm not sure what that's going to look like yet, but I've been back for over a week now and I can say that God is really blessing me tremendously! While my sales presentation is a bit lacking and I'm having to relearn how to close ect ect....my prayers are being answered and God is just pouring down blessings. My first two days back I made it to the Top Ten Sellers list in the country!
Definitely a God thing!

I feel so much peace in following where he leads. I don't know exactly what he wants me to do next, as far as career path or anything, but I'm eagerly anticipating whatever he plans to do through me. One great blessing about coming back is my days off.... I really felt strongly that if this was the Lord leading me back then I shouldn't be working on Sundays. However, every Mattress Firm salesman is required to work Sundays, but even more so than that I wouldn't even want to work on Sundays during HUGE sale weekends like Labor Day. Well I can tell you that no salesman in the country gets those Sundays off, let alone any Sundays on a permanent type basis....but I felt strongly about it that if it truly was God leading me back that he'd work it out somehow. Well, he did. I am now the only salesman at Mattress Firm in the country who gets off every single Sunday, no matter what sale, no iffs ands or butts!!!

Amazing, and definitely a God thing for sure!! I also get a half day on Wednesday so I can continue to go to my Small Group! I'm happy to say that after being back for a week now, despite the huge amount of stress the job used to create, I am completely content in the Lord. Its a great thing that I can finally find contentment in something outside of circumstances....outside of my situation....outside of the world. It comes supernaturally.

Hollywood Doesn't Like Jesus

I'm at a crossroads. Anyone who knows me well knows that I've been pursuing a career in acting for the last year or so. Its been a passion of mine for a long time. I quit my job at Mattress Firm back in December of 2009, not to act but to join my dads business. Well the recession kind of took care of that, along with the fact that I refused to lie on the profiling test and say that I knew a bunch of rich people. So I then decided for the first time to go for my passion which has always been acting.

I had saved up enough money to pay the bills while I essentially got to pursue this while not working... very blessed for that. I have done of couple things here and there, and have greatly improved my acting skills thanks to Sandra Dorsey Studios. Now I'm at the point where I feel I have the confidence in my acting ability (method acting is intense) to get head shots and an agent. The sky is the limit for Chris Freed!......or is it?

You see, I have changed very much as a person during this nice hiatus from the real world. Will tons of free time I have come much closer in my relationship to God. More than I ever have been. In fact, I've become hopelessly obsessed with him. And I'm happier than ever about that. I don't ever want to go back. I have a peace that is indescribable. Knowing God is the only thing that matters. GOD, the creator of earth, of the universe, of atoms, of space-time, of reality. What else really matters? So here is my new reality. I want to live for him. I want my life to give him glory. I don't want this out of guilt; out of a sense of obligation; no, I want this because he is my everything.

And I've come to the point where I am having major issues seeing how a career in acting could possibly glorify him. Hollywood doesn't like Jesus, and is not shy about that. I will not take any roles in anything where the message conflicts with the teachings of the Bible. So where does that leave me? Not much. Mindless commercials? Perhaps. Christian movies? Do those even exist anymore? Secular movies with a good message? Not likely. SO, what do I do?

I love God more than acting. I won't compromise. So what does a career in acting that glorifies the Lord look like? I'm having trouble picturing it. Now could I use my status....fame...position to glorify him? Of course, and I'd love to do that. But I refuse to climb up a mountain of sin to do it. Am I being too judgmental?...I mean its not all bad right? Stop being such a hard-nosed legalist Chris, right? No. This is my life, not anyone else's. No one will be there at the end of my life when I bow in his presence. None of the directors will be there. None of my friends will be there. No one to blame as I give account for my life. Just me and God. And I want to hear these precious words:

"Well done, good and faithful servant" - Matthew 25:21

What does it look like to live a life for him? Does it mean I become a preacher and start a church? No, not necessarily. I've had a few non-believer friends suggest it. And I think its a sad state the Church is in these days if anyone who is serious about living for God is so extreme that they must become a preacher. Shouldn't all Christians have that same passion for him? I think there are enough preachers. Becoming a pastor is a calling God puts on your life, not a passion for Jesus. I think there are enough churches. But I don't think there are enough Christians who just live for Jesus in their day-to-day lives. And I want to be one.

So what will I do? Do I continue with the acting path? Do I go back to my old job and use my success to glorify him? Do I get a new job, or move somewhere? I'll keep praying and he'll give me the next step. I have no idea where this path will lead me, but he does.

Growing Faith and Making Eggs

I learned something that I want to share. One of the biggest prayers for myself that I ask God for is for more faith. I've been praying this for a long time. Not faith in his existence, of that I'm sure of; but rather faith in his Word and his Power.

From the time I was a child I grew up learning about all the ancient "Bible Heroes" who did incredible supernatural things. Moses parted the red sea. Elijah called down fire from heaven. Joshua made the sun stand still. Abraham conceived a child at nearly 100 years old. Peter and Paul healed people. On and on it goes. And the more I grew up and read the Bible for myself I read how these were just normal people.

"Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years." James 5:17

The only thing that they have over us was faith. And if you read some of my earlier blogs you remember how I learned how the Bible itself says all things are possible with faith. Faith is limitless, and there are so many examples in the Bible of godly men stepping out in faith in God's power and doing incredible things. Lets be clear, it wasn't them, it was rather that God works through faith. Faith is the gateway to God's supernatural power.

So this is why I always pray for more faith, but I was reading a book I recently bought on the subject and God revealed a startling revelation to me. He doesn't give us faith through prayer, but rather tells us that faith comes through hearing the word of God.

"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10:17

I never knew that. I had always imagined I could just pray for more faith and he would give it out as he pleased. This changes everything, because now that I realize that purely studying and reading the Bible grows my faith I can actively pursue doing so! This is very exciting to me! It's one of God's promises, and those are rock solid! One other thing I'll share that this book taught me was the meaning behind the book of James in the Bible.

Anyone who reads the book of James probably can't help but feel a little convicted, myself included. Basically it talks about works. Its a legalistic christian's foundational scripture. Probably the essential verse that sums up the book is this:

"So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." James 2:17

I was always a little unsure of what this meant since all other parts of the Gospels teach that we are saved by grace, not works. Well what I learned was that REAL faith WILL have works (or actions). Its not a matter us making sure we have action with our faith, its a complete and absolute --it will happen-- type of thing to identify true faith! We don't even need to focus at all on the works/actions itself, b/c real faith will naturally produce them! Here's an analogy that I feel God gave me to explain this (remember the cake analogy...well God must know how I like food...)

There are two people who grew up on an island and have never seen eggs before. They are both starving. God comes to each of them and hands them a carton full of eggs. He says, "If you crack these eggs over a pan, and cook them, they will make food for you." The first man has faith in what God said. So he cracks the eggs, cooks them, eats, and lives. The second man also says he has faith in what God said. He does nothing. He keeps saying over and over how he believes God. He eventually dies of starvation.

The second man obviously didn't really have faith in what God said, why?....because if he did he would have cracked the eggs, cooked, and eaten! REAL faith has ACTION! The first man proved his faith through his action/works. That is what James 2:17 really means!

When Push Comes to Shove...

I had a GREAT Christmas and I hope everyone else did as well! I got a TON of iTunes gift-cards so now I can start getting music again (recently deleted 90% of my music). I decided to download all the worship music I like off of 104.7 the fish and from Northpoint/Buckhead Church. Its time I listened to positive music instead of the filth and garbage I've been shoving in my ears since I was a teen. Its been putting me in a much better mood actually, and the funny thing is now that I look back at my old old livejournal I'm noticing that I posted all the songs I was listening to at the time. And no big surprise, its all super depressing, negative, angry, and moody rock. Go figure...Jesus was right about how what goes into your ears and eyes affect your heart. DUH

Anyhow, there was a reason besides the update that I wanted to make this blog. I read something in the Bible that really impacted me recently. I found this verse because I was listening to Francis Chan on YouTube....who is AMAZING by the way. If you haven't heard him go listen to him. I read one of his books for my small group which is how I heard of him in the first place. If you looked up the last guy I mentioned (Doug Batchelor) and compared them, I'd say Doug is an incredible Teacher while Francis is a man COMPLETELY in love with God. Its very refreshing to hear him speak. But anyhow, one of his messages was just so powerful to me. Its about how when we choose Jesus, we die to the world. And that its a great trade, not something we should ever feel sorrowful for or that we got the short end of the stick. And that's what brought me to this verse....

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." (Matthew 10:32-33)

I read this and I asked myself, would I stand before everyone I know and proclaim that Jesus is Lord? Really really, when push comes to shove, would I stand up for him? Well when I get to heaven I want...no I NEED him to stand up for me! I won't be able to speak in the presence of God the Father, his glory will be too much. I need Jesus to stand by me and acknowledge me then. There have been sooo many time in my life where I've 'pulled a Peter" and denied him. I either downplayed my faith, or shut up when I could have stood up for him. Well I felt a burning desire to stand up for him in front of my peers so I decided to post it on my facebook status. Goes to every person I know (for the most part).

But the hard part of doing this is that I knew when it came down to it that I would lose a lot of "worldy credibility" for doing this. I knew I might lose friends. I knew I'd be looked on as a moron. I mean who believes the Bible in this day and age of Ipods and cellphones? With all this science and technology...who actually for real believes the old stuff that the Bible says is actually true? I do.

And then I found this verse....

"If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you." (1 Peter 4:14)

So really every-time I'm put down in this world because of the name of Jesus I'm BLESSED! That's FRICKEN awesome! Because I'm absolutely sure that the overwhelming majority of the world will "insult" me because of my belief. Now this is God promising....and I love God's promises because they are rock solid; that I'll be blessed because of it! Amazing! I hope that many more insults come my way because of Christ so I am even more blessed!

Too Much Nog

Santa turns into Satan by moving one letter over...
Learned that the other day, heh. Christmas time is here and I just love it. I remember lots of previous Christmases where I just didn't "feel it". But this year I really do and its very nice. My family just had our Christmas Eve tradition of having take-out chinese food for dinner. Don't laugh, its a tradition we've done since I was a baby...not an afterthought. Christmas Eve just wouldn't be the same without Lo mein...

Meanwhile I'm super stuffed, had an entire thing of cookies after dinner and tomorrow should be a food festival to give even Thanksgiving a run for its money! Huge lunch with Dad and the fam then over to Mom's for the famous Prime Rib Dinner that Tom makes once a year...eggnog...pumpkin pie...haystack cookies. I'm gonna be enormous at this rate. Its scary what two days of just being a complete glutton will do to your body, I feel super bloated. Gonna hit the gym hard for sure after this.

Oh yeah, one thing I wanted to mention tonight in my blog. I've noticed a pattern this week, especially today. People are either in a super good mood or bad mood. There's no real in between. For example, the lady at the store was super happy and joyful...the lady at church giving out hot chocolate was a complete grumpy grinch... I guess the holidays really press people in one direction or another. And I'm sure the people in lousy moods are super annoyed at all us happy people. Too bad =) Jesus died for me, so I get to be happy. Those are the rules.

Oh and one more thing...have people COMPLETELY forgotten how to drive all the sudden? Have they had too much eggnog today or WHAT? I almost got hit like seven times today because everyone is all over the road. I think people on holidays turn their brains off sometimes.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Very Odd

So I was just thinking about some stuff the other day... We all grew up in a world where technology is normal. I remember growing up and my parents getting their first computer. They had no idea how to use it or set it up. So as an eight year old I figured it out, set it up, and even connected our printer to it. I think we can all relate to how quickly we all figure out new technology....email...cell phones...text messaging...facebook...google...ect. But here is the thought that grabbed my attention....

Does anyone else think its odd....VERY odd that for thousands and thousands of years civilizations had nearly the same technology and then very recently (I'd say probably starting in the Industrial Revolution) we have this EXPLOSION of knowledge and advancements in technology? The problem with grasping this is that its so normal to us. We can't imagine a world without our cell phones. But if we are objective and take a step back and look at human history its extremely odd.

Now I know there are a few exceptions to this....like how ancient Egyptians built the pyramids or how the Mayans had a super understanding of stars and calendars and such....but you have to admit that a pyramid....while really advanced, has absolutely NOTHING on an iPad....like not even close. Do we think its because our generation, or the past few generations of human beings are just SUPER smart? That all of the sudden we became brilliant? How arrogant. I've read a few books by guys written a century or more ago and they were just as smart as we are, in fact sometimes they seem smarter. We can't attest it to that in my opinion. I mean, if you were put on an island and started a new civilization, could you even come close to making an iphone? How about a microwave? How about a car? Sure if someone had the knowledge to make these things beforehand and was put on an island they might do pretty well or come close with enough time, resources, and man power....But what about YOU? Someone without the current knowledge of how these things work? From scratch....it wouldn't happen. That's what I'm getting at. Where did this sudden knowledge come from? Seriously.

Galileo was brilliant. No laptops from him. I'm sure there were even smarter guys back in the time of Egypt...Babylon...the Aztecs...the Mayans... And this idea that science just keeps "building on itself" and that eventually it reaches laptops and stuff isn't really sound because it was pretty much the same for thousands and thousands of years. Otherwise there should have been a slow increase. We should have had cars hundreds of years before streaming HD movies on mobile devices. In ancient Mesopotamia they used animals for travel. Thousands of years later early Americans .... used horses for travel. THE SAME. Sure there were a few differences in agriculture or whatnot but basically the SAME OLD TECHNOLOGY. Then suddenly in the span of a little more than only 100 or so years we have super sonic jets, atomic bombs, global instant communication, space travel, microwaves, ect ect..... Does no one else find this Extremely odd??? What the heck is going on here!

People have NOT gotten suddenly smarter in the last few hundred years, I guarantee you that. So how is this mega explosion of knowledge and technology happening?? Seriously, ask yourself that. And its not slowing down, technology is progressing at a TREMENDOUSLY rapid pace. I predict in thirty years we will have technology that my generation couldn't even have fathomed...when we are getting close to retirement with college aged kids and all that....we won't even believe it ourselves. And our kids will think it normal. Well STEP BACK, because its not normal!

....its just that everyone who could have told us this isn't normal is dead. Those previous generations who lived their entire lives without any major jumps in any technology whatsoever are not around to say....hey guys, this is NOT NORMAL. And maybe our kids won't even believe us either. "Son, you take for granted that you can stream your college lectures wirelessly into your brain, I used to have to go to class and hear people explain it to me in words and take notes with a pen and paper."

Whats the answer? Here is my opinion:

But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase. (Daniel 12:4)