Chris Merritt...

A huge conviction on my heart lately has been John 13:34-45 which basically says that as Christians we MUST love one another and by our love people will know who we follow.

Those of you that know me you will understand that love is something I can often struggle with.  Sure under all the sarcasm and jokes I really do love people but do I love them all…? And even if I love everyone I am around do I love them always?

That is a tough pill to swallow but it is something I am chasing after.  Hopefully you see it in my life, my actions, my smile, and my heart because that is who I am striving to become.

Today I held ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!! Well actually it was a winning lottery ticket for a million dollars. (Still pretty cool) A coworker bought it this morning and scratched it at his desk. He yelled “I F#ckin WON! Woohoo!” Man it was exciting. We all held the ticket and later celebrated with milkshakes. Soon there after I began to get very angry I had not won instead. Do you know what I could do with that much money?? Buy a house! A new BMW X6 SUV! Tattoos! Designer jeans! I mean there is a lot that could do for me and my wife. We are nice people and we deserve a break like that. Right? After about an hour of being mad that I didn’t win it hit me…

Damn, I am so selfish.

Never did I think about how I could bless others with that much money. How many homeless people I could feed and cloth. How many single moms I could get out of debt. How I could dig wells in Kenya. Man I am selfish… The more it hit me the worse I felt too. I sat in my office and cried for a few minutes and honestly asked God for forgiveness for putting my own kingdom first and neglecting those less fortunate.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a nice guy. I’m not Hitler or anything. I love to help people out and most people would say I am a nice guy (well some would) but that isn’t good enough. As a follower of Jesus I am called to be set apart and my selfishness only points others to why I am cool and deserve their validation, while being selfless points them to Jesus. I hope to be more of the later. Man I have a lot to learn…

Ok for serious I am going to update my Blog more often. Might even mess around and style this thing better.  

Well a lot has changed lately… I moved near downtown and got married.  Life is grand.  

Change is good or so they say. Well we will see I guess and NO this is not a political comment. It’s a life comment. Join me on my new journey won’t you?

Lately we have been thinking about ways to help our community and reach those in need.  My solutions are always the grand and fast paced ones. Like winning the lottery and buying everyone house and motorcycles.  The more I think about that the more i feel challenged to reach my community when it isn’t that easy.  Sure it is easy to love and build community with your neighbors when they like you but what about when they don’t and they think you are weird?

Life has a lot in store for the future with our house and our community.  Keep checking back for details and updates.  I promise I will start to update more often.  Scouts honor.