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“Your identity is not in who you can be. It is in who you always have been��

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The year is ending.

This year we’ve seen new loves, many losses, and well, I’m sure you at be able to identify with this also, but a whole lot of bad choices.

A New Year’s resolution is often about coming to a determination with our beginning of the year fervency and pronouncements; declaring new hopes for the new year. It’s exciting! A new chance! A fresh start!��There is just something about a blank page. You know exactly what I mean.

Some diet, work out, or even stop drinking Starbucks (Those heathens). All this because we seek something to resolve inside us. But life doesn’t resolve. Life revolves. Somehow in all of our existing, we forget to truly be conscious. In all of your living, don’t forget to live.

The myth created in our society is that you’ll magically find yourself one day. The truth is, you never will, and that is glorious news. Each day you get the amazing opportunity to visit the best museum of all, the greatest structure to sight see from, and a chance to see the most brilliant work of art. YOU! No need for a selfie filter or #dontcare hashtag.

This Work of Art info card can’t be in a 12 point font, and written in 30 words of less explaining who all of the Wonder that you are. Each day is an opportunity for new discovery. The joy of life is in the mystery and wonder of daily self discovery.

One thing you can be sure of is that you are anticipated, you are not an accident. Each day you are destined to learn about yourself and teach others a thing or two about who you truly are.

While many will seek to make resolutions that two & three months down the road will be forgotten or lacked. I challenge you to not make a resolution, but a make personal revolution.��I challenge you to bring discovery and personal insight into your new year.

Have you ever been disappointed with a new year? I’ve been there, many times with ya. We are not happy with the results of a new year resolution or may not have gotten the answers we’ve wanted.

I think instead of making temporary resolutions this year we can seek to become revolutionary beings in our actions, in our households and in our own personal discovery.

Resolution is about achieving, while��revolution is about growing, progressing, and going forward. That is what this New Year can be about. This is your chance to become a better you. Let us press on beyond the past, let us move above the hurt and focus on being better people, to the world and to ourselves.

Revolution isn’t as much about impacting but rather initiating.

I encourage you as this year ends and a new one begins not to seek resolution but to create revolution within yourself. You don’t have to wait for the revolution. You don’t have to wait for that revolutionary. This is isn’t a Marvel Movie, you do not need fireworks and explosions to save yourself.

You are a Revolutionary.

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This above all:

To thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

���� Hamlet, Shakespeare

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In a self help ran world, we are often told that the best way to be ourselves is to copy someone else’s road for success or to look like someone else or even have a similar lifestyle as someone. Their goals cannot be your goals. Their success is not your finish line.

What if life is more than searching for identity through someone else’s eyes?

We love to follow trends, whether it is weight loss or styles. We are constantly changing. Adapting and evolving is great until we begin to talk about who you are.

You are you, that is all you will ever be. You can try to change that and you will always feel empty and “never good enough�� because you are trying to change something that just can’t change.

The word Genuine comes from the word Genu which means “Knee�� it is derived from a cultural tradition in the 1600s in which the father would place a child on his knee to publicly acknowledge his child. In doing this, it was a public affirmation of who they were.

Being happy isn’t about reaching a goal. Fulfillment only comes through acceptance of who you’ve always been.

The roots of the word Genuine allude to birth and ownership of paternity.

Your Identity is not in who you can be. But It is in who you’ve always been. There is no secret to being you other than waking up in your own skin.

So to your own self, Be okay, Be secure and above all else, Be you.

Jesus is coming back Today!

I must admit, I never saw myself posting about the coming of Jesus. Despite my years of Eschatology study a decade ago I still didn���t see it.

I grew up in fundamental churches and went on to more non-denominational churches later in life. I’ve been in Southern Baptist pews and Mega Church padded seats and heard the same message alike, “Jesus is coming! Be Ready!��

My thought was always leaning more towards Jesus saying that no man could predict the time or day of his return. So that was my way of dismissing having to deal with his return.

Many of you have known me or read my writing for a while and know that I stepped away from the church for a long time. I distanced myself and have taken some time in the past away to let God speak for himself. My beliefs are strong and have changed a little bit since those days. However with that said I stay strong in my faith and core beliefs that have stood the test of time and culture.

My mother suddenly collapsed at my house and a week later passed away. Now with her birthday passing and Easter among us, it has made me contemplate the return of Jesus more than ever. I believe it’s vital to this good news we are to proclaim. I believe that Jesus returning is primary to spiritual maturity. So yes, now I am a “Jesus coming back guy��, however I may have to explain what I mean by that.

When is Jesus coming back? Well���� he’s that Grieving family at the hospital. That single mother. That man or women in recovery. That unaccepted son or daughter.

I’ve learned to ask not when Jesus is coming back. But what will he look like when I see him.

See because Jesus did often teach about coming back, but his message wasn’t always one of apocalypse, hell and Kirk Cameron. Often he spoke of coming back as a memory. As a person in need, a prisoner, even a widow or orphan.

The writings of Matthew give us a great first hand example from Jesus himself.

���They also will answer, ���Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?����

���He will reply, ���Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.����

Yes, Jesus taught about coming to him and experiencing him but one of the most prominent ways he spoke of doing that was us being Jesus to those who need it in the way they need.

So, when is Jesus coming back? How bout you decide :)

7 Things I want to teach my kids about Spirituality.

Often I think, the last thing the Internet and blogosphere need is another list. There are always special cases where the words and insights bring us into alignment. Today was my birthday and I received a few emails reminding me to reflect. Well I did, and as always a little too much but I though about my life and what I wanted to share with my kids. Something bigger than morals, something larger than words and books. I want to be able to share with them something that can not be captured in a doctrine but explodes with relevancy.

7. Sex

Sex is one of the most spiritual acts that you can participate in. You are valuable, treasured, and you do not need a purity ring or a “true love waits�� commitment card to find value within yourself and your sexuality. Since the days when I was a child growing up, all I can remember being taught about sex was that bad things happen when someone has sex. I wasn’t taught that sex and my sexuality was something to be valued and treasured.

I remember reading a book called “Kissing Dating Goodbye�� from a guy who I couldn’t for the life of me understand why he couldn’t have any girl he wanted.�� Being taught about not dating from a handsome guy is like being taught about poverty from a rich man.

6.�� Love

Oh I know this one was predictable, but the word Love is used over 500 times in the English Bible. The Qur’an uses the word Love almost 70 times. Whether it is the Greeks Agape or the Middle Easts Hubb or even the French’s Amour, we are encaptured by the need to be loved and give love.

Leonardo Da Vinci said, “Life without love is no life at all.��

Shakespeare Pleaded that we, “Love all…��

Jesus said, “Let me give you a new command: Love�� The Message

Despite our many obvious and veiled differences, we all have the same passion for love in our lives. A baby reaches out with love to a mother it only unconsciously knows. We open a book in search of love. Music, speaking, plays, etc all bring feelings of love. Love, I think is the one thing that is beyond our verbal boundaries of expression.

We must take this Biblical love literally or we cannot take anything literally.

5. Paths

There may indeed be one answer, one way, and one God but one piece of wisdom I’ve gained is that God may use many different paths, methods, and ways to bring people to himself.

But Paths are tricky. See paths can have obstacles and unseen hindrances. And no matter what path you take, you will undoubtedly face turmoil and pain on each path.

My hope for my children, and all those reading this is that while on these many different paths you travel, you exercise patience, grace and love.

4. God is Good

Throughout Churches,I’ve heard one consistent phrase since I was young, and this phrase wasn’t hindered by denominational factions. Southern Baptist though episcopal-all the way through the progressive, I heard the Phrase, “God is Good, and all the time God is Good.�� I love this phrase probably for different reasons than many. I believe it’s meant as an exclamation of God’s goodness towards our lives. I want to teach my kids that above all else, “God is Good.�� He is goodness, good things,and good hopes. In every bit of goodness is an opportunity to experience God.

It is not just a phrase to say, but something to experience everyday.

3.�� Heaven and Hell

Hear me out on this one. I know we are treading some thin lines. But for my kids, I want them to know that one thing the Bible teaches consistently throughout its covers is this concept of a Heaven and a Hell. Definitions, locations, and interpretations can cloud what I think is the real beauty of the reality of a Heaven and Hell idea for Christians and non-Christians alike. (I am using the words Heaven and Hell loosely since few times are they mentioned in the same manner and objective in the scriptures. I am using the modern words as a pointer to a bigger but mainstream concept that we have of Heaven and Hell.)

The reality of Heaven and Hell brings to the surface the intense revelation that this moment �� this life is about more than just this moment. It’s about more than just this life.

Life, it is more than just you. It gives us the revolutionary realization that this moment is more important than we might think because it can affect myself or someone else down the road. My struggles can be my generational burden.

Whether or not our beliefs and doctrines of Heaven and Hell match,�� the literary descriptions, or are even all on the same page, we can find a muse to be more conscious of our actions and deeds. If we live with heaven in mind, we’ll see heaven in our sight.

The notion of Heaven and Hell is somewhat of a reminder for everyone that this day, no matter how bad it may be, has an ending. That in every moment there is a choice to be made; to do good or not.

2.�� God Loves Religion

Religion often gets a bad rap, sometimes understandably so. The news is often so crowded with the stories of abuse and harm that we don’t get to hear the good being done in the names of many god’s spiritual leaders and religions. I am a believer that God loves religion. The Bible gives us a clear statement on what kind of religion pleases God.

James 1:27 Religion that God accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

I think that we can misinterpret what God wants us to be zealous about. It’s not a book, persona, or building. It is people.

In our day of equal rights, mentoring, and giving we can all agree this is the type of religion we need to be focused on. If religion is to be, than it should be an example of charity and assistance. This should be the focus of everyday expressions of God and belief.

Religion is what we would call a tool that assists in connecting us with what we cannot explain. As with anything religion can be perverted. But if you are religious about anything, be religious about serving and loving.

1. Miracles

I spent the past two years visiting over 200 churches while working on a new book and a journey of what I called My Spiritual Re-discovery. In the majority of the churches they spoke about miracles being an essential part of the Life of Jesus. I agree. I think often the biggest miracles of Christ went under shadowed by the more talked about happenings.

This is something I’ve always agreed with. However, my view of a miracle is a little different than what I’ve seen in many churches.

In the Biblical book of Luke, we get a clear description from Jesus himself as to why he was here and what he was focusing on.

“…to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed�� �� Jesus

Jesus had a different view of miracles than I see in many churches today. He repeatedly told the people, “See that no one knows about this.�� Matthew 9:31

What if the real miracles were the forgotten teens Jesus mentored whom we now call disciples? What if the real miracles were the times he served and gave of himself?

I believe Miracles should be a daily part of this life journey we are on. It’s not necessarily a blind man being given sight or the dead being raised. Often times it will be needs being met, service being offered, and assistance with burdens.

You can be someone’s miracle today.

What makes the Bible special is that it isn’t a record of God, because God cannot be contained between two covers and some ink. What ultimately makes the Bible special is that it has the ability to tell the story of the reader, and is as unique to each person as the hair on their head.

What I am saying is, instead of us often taking what the Bible says seriously, we should take what it’s saying to each one of us seriously.

A step is often underestimated. It seems so simple and constant that we begin to pass over the significance of each step coming and even the after effects of that step. Repercussions are rarely considered when taking a step. A step taken is often the least thought about move we make all day, but the most consequential.

It is a step that takes us into that storefront we might one day own. It is a step that connects you to your lifetime partner. It is a step that will begin your journey into your career. It is that step that leads that dance that still brings you to tears.

That simple step, that tiny seemingly insignificant step, is the tipping point to a greater moment.

Mathematicians believe the average person (one who commutes in a vehicle) takes from 5,000 to 8,000 steps in each day.

During those 5,000 to 8,000 steps, we walk into trouble, triumph and tears. This half a second move of the foot in a forward motion can bring you into a better life or help usher you into a bad situation.

In a lifetime, it is estimated that the average person takes somewhere near 136,875,000 steps. In those steps, it’s decided to fail or succeed. In those steps lie the courage to take another step and another.

Your journey begins with the step you take not the words you say.

Your journey will be defined by the steps you take not the words you say or the things you believe.��I can firmly say that a change will be ushered in through a single step in a new direction. All it will take is a step to begin.

A Journey begins with a single Step

Contest

Through the month of April I will be doing a Contest for free shirts and other products. I will choose the winners at the end of April. All you have to do is upload a photo that captures your journey onto your favorite social media account. Use the quote “A journey begins with a single step.�� #Rickymaye

Breaking & Bad Moments.

Ricky Maye

Brokenness is the table where we all meet.

The occasion for each of us may be different. For many it’s hurt, abuse, or abandonment. But, you know what I mean when I say broken; pain and hurt that isn’t necessarily physical, but can transcend anything physical.

This surpasses any boundaries of explanations. Sometimes it can only be expressed by a scream, a shriek, or a sigh. No matter how much eloquence we use to depict this broken feeling, only you can know the word or sound to describe what broken has meant for you.

Over the years of talking to people, I’ve gotten a good description of what it feels like to be broken. Of course we all have our own experiences of feeling broken, and most describe a feeling of something missing. One woman told me “it was like a piece�� of her left. It could have been a divorce, a letdown, or even a bad event.

In ,פָּרַח The Hebrew word for broken, In English it’s pronounced pârach, and .means to bud, to sprout, or blossom

In the plant world, a seed can easily be almost thought of as magic. Its mystical formation from a tiny seed somehow just became a thriving plant to rise above the rough ground it’s saturated in.

In actuality, all plants are born as seeds on the earth. All plants are encaptured with a purpose and the readiness to explode with purpose into the world. However, this seed must wait until its maturity. A seed is never just born into a plant. It’s something that has to reach a certain point.

There comes a moment in the seeds life where it experiences a breaking point. Although this sounds bad it is actually the tipping point of the plants life and purpose. The breaking this seed is going through is a spreading out�� a spouting. This is the moment the seed decides to become a plant. Now this word pârach is making more sense. Why would a breaking mean to be sent out or sprout? Because this breaking you’re feeling is normal. You’re not imagining it. Yes this broken feeling has taken a piece of you away. But, it’s bringing you to fruition. Yes it is painful but it will help purpose burst forth. In the breaking moment you’re one step closer to purpose. You are about to flourish.

A wound is a place where the energy of the world enters you.

I would say we all experience these moments of brokenness. Some to different degrees and some that last longer lengths of time.

Those that aren’t broken haven’t really lived.

In our society we love to embellish the negative. Its easy to call attention to the bad around us. Call me unrealistic, but I think those moments of brokenness can be seen in a new way. A better way. As I said, the word pârach is the word broken in Hebrew, and alludes to a sending out; a sprouting, much like a plant.

I’ve always wondered why we deal with these broken feelings and experiences. I’ve always wondered why we actually feel like something’s broken or something is missing.

Being broken is nothing to be ashamed of. It is an exciting celebration of what will come. Something better is coming along. It’s inevitable; a seed must become a plant. You will grow past this and mature into a bigger and better purpose.

Over the next few weeks I will be discussing my thoughts from the hit show, Breaking Bad, as I go through it. I can’t tell you how many people have told me to watch it. I think there is much wisdom in this modern piece of art. I’d like to see if we can uncover something under the surface.

My last word here will be, that in every breaking moment you are laying down deeper roots of purpose that will be shooting out like beautiful flowers blooming.

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Us the Walking Dead

With acclaimed shows like The Walking Dead and blockbuster movies like World War Z, the discussion over the zombies and the living dead have been running rampant over the Internet and many water coolers.

But what if I told you I didn’t think that many of us were living far from what we see the zombies as being. But this is not a viral strain, disease or mass infection. This is a little bit harder to see; this could be a relationship, work environment or even a bad habit.

I thought it would be interesting to discuss some of the roots and etymology of the word zombie since you all know how fond I am of word roots. But then I decided that I wanted to take this in a different direction.

This living dead perception that we have isn’t necessarily as far from reality as we’d like to think.

We treat life with certain precautions. Life is something that we are careful with. We treasure it, we cherish it and the majority of us understand the fragility of life. You don’t go out and run through the freeway because you know there is a very high chance of you not living through that decision.

See how we unconsciously cherish life and use crosswalks, drive safely and take the right amount of medication. We cherish the life that we are given and it shows in each one of us.

But we also have this emotional life and we have this mental life and the spiritual life. And the life that we have in these moments is just as real and sometimes more real than the life we are living right now. You know those moments when you are overwhelmed with emotions and it feels like you are dying yet you’re still breathing.

Just as we agreed that we wouldn’t see people running through freeways due to the fragility of life, I don’t necessarily see people exercising that same caution with their emotional, mental and spiritual lives.

When I look at the lives of many people I see them slowly killing themselves. Placing themselves in situations that are killing them. Whether it be a job, relationship, struggle. Whatever the situation, it may be slowly killing them, and many of us are in this place right now.

Many will say to each day that it owes them a living yet they aren’t concerned that they haven’t even lived one moment of that day.

You’ve seen these people; they often resembled the zombies that we are so fixated on. They are the walking dead. I’ve been in that place and it is not something I would wish on anyone. They are not feeling nor are they responding but they are dazed and crazed because they are dead inside. It is so easy for us to take part in things that may be killing us. It can easily mean we are taking on too much or placing ourselves in contact with toxic people.

I would encourage you to embrace life in your living. In all of your living don’t forget to live.

You need to stand up and remove the things that are killing you and those things that are taking a negative toll on your life. It’s very easy to get caught up with the standards we set up in our world that we forget to take care of ourselves. We then allow ourselves to be killed slowly and become one of these living dead, one of these zombie characters we watch.

Your life is precious. You wouldn’t gamble your very breath. Just in the same, you might be in a situation that is physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually killing you. For your sake and those who love you, Get out. You are no use to anyone dead, even if it is only emotionally, etc. We don’t need to become a walking dead mom, worker or person. We need to be full of life.

Anyone can die; in fact we all face that fate. Anyone can be unhappy and miserable. Only the determined and strong will truly live. I know that can be you today.

A New Year’s resolution is often about coming to a resolution and declaring new hopes for the new year. Some diet, work out or even stop drinking Starbucks. All this because we seek something to resolve inside us. But life doesn’t resolve. We will never understand why�� We will never have everything we want��

Life just doesn’t resolve. We will always have questions life will always present us with the Mistry, and there will always be wonder.

One thing you can be sure of is that you are anticipated, you are not an accident, you are revolutionary.

While many will seek to make resolutions that five & ten months down the road will be forgotten or lacked.

I’ve been there, many times we are not happy with the results of a new year resolution or may have not gotten the answers we’ve wanted. One thing you can do is be confident in who you are and what you were created to be.

I think instead of making temporary resolutions this year we can seek to become revolutionary beings in our actions.

The word revolution has a tainted past and can bring an unsettled feeling to many. The root for the word revolution is centered around revolving which is a constant ,oving and progression.

Resolution is about becoming complete. While revolution is about growing, progressing, and going forward. That is what this new year will be about you becoming a better you you becoming forgetting where you came from and not experiencing that again

Revolution isn’t as much about impacting but rather initiating.

Let us press on beyond the past, let’s move above the hurt and focus on being better people, to the world and to ourselves.

I often see many homeless men and women and people are aware of the need for change, but revolution isn’t brought by giving change but embracing change. Revolution happen in your life, in our world, in our communities by embracing change and moving forward.

I encourage you as this year ends and a new one begins not to seek resolution but to create revolution within yourself.

You are a Revolutionary.

Ricky Maye

Ricky Maye on Scooby Doo

The Spirituality of Scooby Doo

1969 was filled with heroes of all kinds. It was a year that was bigger than life. Superheroes of all kind ran rampant through all walks of life.

The Beatles were at their height. Man was on the moon for the first time and Music festivals including the infamous Woodstock brought in over 800,000 people together for causes bigger than themselves.

1969 was a year of brave, strong and innovative people shinning in front of a gazing world. Imaginations were being stretched and ordinary people were solving all the worlds�� problems. Or it seemed. This was a wide-eyed generation with many types of Superhero’s to watch.

1969 saw TV shows such as bewitched, Star Trek and The Avengers running through the minds of ordinary people watching at home on the couch.

Amongst all of these heavy hitters, a new show began its run on the airwaves. A revolutionary show that would showcase everyday people changing the world, the broken and fumbled kind of man solving problems, this indeed would be revolutionary in a time of superpowers, bigger than life figures and sci-fi shows. Scooby Doo aired for the first time on September 13th, 1969.

My friend has coined the phrase Ordinary Weakling and I love its appeal and igniting flair. When we look at the spiritual life, for most of us it can be filled with such outlandish expectations and hopes. Personal and metaphorical obstacles that can rival the skyscrapers in some cities can often seem so big we find it hard to get out of the bed each morning.

The beauty of Scooby doo was the bravery of an ordinary group of people to deal with outlandish situations with no help from super powers, radioactive spiders or billionaire contraptions. That day in 1969 was the launch of a new trend in our world and I’d like to share a few things we can gain from this change in pace.

Often the villain we learned in this year of 1969 in The Scooby Doo series wasn’t a mutated super human or a bred from birth personification of evil but a man that often looked just like us.

In the popular cases of Batman and Spiderman facing the demons inside each of themselves we also can relive those unmasking moments in Scooby Doo where it was someone just like them, it wasn’t an “evil��, it was a person.

Sometimes the biggest hindrance to a dream is that which is staring at us in the mirror.��

Maybe our greatest enemy isn’t the evil around us, but the evil inside us.

Below I am sharing a video from a great musician, Derek Webb with a song that ties perfectly into this topic.

Thanks for reading.

Ricky Maye