If you’re like me, you don’t pay too much attention to everything you say. I tend to speak first and think second which gets me into trouble from time to time. It’s amazing how words can be used for good or destruction. Words can lift us up or shut us down. James 3 has alot to say about the words we choose and how we choose to use them.

There are only two more Sundays until December begins, and with it comes the latest issue of LifeMatters. This issue will cover three months of weekly studies. We’ve designed a postcard that you can download and use to send out to young adults in your church or community inviting them to join your weekly discussions.

Where did we ever get the idea that following God would be easy? It NEVER was in the Bible. So is being a Christ-follower worth it? Absolutely. It’s worth anything you’d have to pay, but casual or easy? Definitely not.

How can my faith begin impacting my actions? This isn’t a question that should be asked, because the answer should be obvious. Our faith should impact everything we do and every decision we make. For many churchgoers, faith is a thing that’s talked about but seldom lived. It’s easy to seem “faithful” on Sundays or in your church crowd, but honestly, how often does your faith show up the other 95% of your week?

I love football. This weekend I’ll be pulling for my Hokies to keep the run alive and beat Georgia Tech. While doing my usual pregame activities this week, like reading anything I can find mentioning Virginia Tech football, I ran across several articles talking about our running back, Ryan Williams. You see, from a very young age he loved Walter Payton and even has a tattoo of Payton’s number 34 with the tag, “Little Sweetness” on his forearm. Now that Williams is getting national publicity for his success, many people are comparing him to his hero. They have a similar style and greatness in the way they play the game.

Have you ever watched a movie with low expectations but realized it was actually really good? That happened to me just yesterday when I stayed home sick from work. SportsCenter got old after about five times so I scrolled through the DVR to see what I had saved. There on my list was 10,000 B.C. I didn’t remember hearing a lot about the movie, but there wasn’t much else to do, so I clicked play.

The movie is about a tribe that lived—as the title implies—around the year 10,000 B.C. It’s an epic adventure that had me intrigued the whole time. There was also a level of symbolism that kept jumping out at me. So, my movie suggestion for this week is 10,000 B.C. Rent it and enjoy.

I have something to confess. God taught me this very lesson this week and I didn’t respond right away like I should have. Here’s how it went. I lead a small group at my church. I couldn’t be there last week because my wife was sick, and apparently, we had a new person show up. Based on what I heard later, things didn’t go so well. The pastor was teaching about sex that night, and our very honest visitor was quick to share some things from her past, making things a bit awkward at times. Then, about halfway through discussion time, she began breast-feeding her hungry baby. Needless to say, the public feeding added to the discomfort some of the group members were feeling.

Have you ever gotten angry at God because of something He wanted you to do? Jonah did. Reading through the Book of Jonah, it’s easy to think badly of him for running from God and getting angry about God’s plans for him. But if I’m being honest, I have to admit there are times I‘ve gotten mad at God, and if you’ve been a Christ-follower very long, you probably have too.

Alright, I have a confession to make, I like Nicholas Cage and generally speaking, his movies as well. One of my favorites, that I’ll still watch anytime it’s on TV, is National Treasure. I love the scene when Cage puts on the colored glasses that illuminate different parts of the map as he changes lenses. The invisible becoming visible. Maybe I like the movie so much because I secretly would love to be a treasure hunter. Or maybe I like the idea that there’s a treasure out there and all around me are clues ordinary people never see. But, when you know what to look for, you see things that others don’t.

In trying to understand and answer the question, “What does God want from me?”, you don’t have to dig too deep into His Word to find out. First Thessalonians 4:1-5 explains it much better than I ever could. God has a way of doing that—explaining things so we can understand. God explains it like this: “Walk with Me.” That’s it? What about what college I should go to, or how many children we should have, or who I should marry, or where I should work? All those questions are answered in that little phrase, “Walk with Me.”