New Site!!

I have NEW SITE up and running now. Feel free to head over and check it out, because I would love some feedback! So if you have this bookmarked or RSS’d, don’t forget to switch them over. Also, if you have an iphone, I made a sweet little icon you can put on your homepage. Just go to aaroncoury.com and bookmark click the + sign, then “add to home screen”. Pretty awesome. Let me know what you think! Thanks.

Merry Christmas!

I’ve noticed a difference in the American heart this year.  I was even talking to my friend about it last night.  It seems to me that people are buying less, and are focussing on the more important things this year.  I’ve heard many people say, “We’re not doing much, just thankful to have a job”.  Turmoil has always taught us to be thankful for the things that last.

Family.

Friends.

God’s love.

I wasn’t sure if I would get to go home this year to see my family, and a lot of people were praying about it.  My sister just had a baby a little over a month ago, and I haven’t seen her yet.  Our family has been fortunate enough to have spent every Christmas together up until this year.  But I have a new job and, well, you know how that works.  But God worked it out.  I’ll be leaving Sunday and coming back Thursday and I can’t explain how grateful I am to the Lord for allowing me to go home.  This was a huge year for our family in so many ways.

But on to my wish for you:

I wish that you would be able to look back at this year, and remember all of the GOOD things the Lord has blessed you with.  I wish that you would look at who you are doing life with RIGHT NOW knowing that they are the most important things in the world, remembering that the souls of men will last forever.  I wish that you would have hope for next year.  LOOK FORWARD with an expectancy of God doing unimaginably great things in your life.  And then I wish you would believe that “He who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it.”

I’m thankful for all of you who read my blog and continually support and encourage me.  Life wouldn’t be the same without you.  Merry Christmas.

Seventy Four Hours.

Our church just finished doing something incredible.  It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of a church doing this, and at it’s conclusion, I think it’s something every church should consider.  We read through the whole Bible in 74 hours.  Non-stop.  They put up a sign up sheet with 15 minute time slots starting on Thursday and going thru Saturday.  They placed a Bible on a podium on the stage of the church.  Once the first person started reading, they read until they were relieved by the next person who would pick up where they left off.  We finished on Saturday with worship and communion.  I absolutely loved going by the church those three days because there was always, no matter what time of day, a car or two there.  It’s pretty comforting to know that the church I go places priority on reading through the Word of God every year.

I wanted to share quickly something that happened to me that I thought was awesome.  About a month or so ago I was reading in Job, I got to the part where Job’s friend, Eliphaz, tries to encourage him after his life had fallen apart (Job 4, 5).  I won’t go into detail of all that he says (you should read it yourself) but know that he dropped some truth down on Job.  He reminds his friend of who God really is, and I remember reading it and thinking, “I like that guy”.

So, last week as I was thinking about reading through the Bible with the church, I was wondering where I would be reading.  I didn’t know if I would get stuck in the geneologys or if I would be reading all the prophecies in Isaiah (I figured I would be in the Old Testament because of where I signed up).  A quick thought ran through my head, “that would be totally cool if I read through that same passage in Job”.

My time to read was 1:00 am Friday morning.  So, I decided to go about an hour early and listen to the person reading and pray a little.  I was just asking the Lord for direction in my life concerning different circumstances and thanking Him for all that He’s been doing in me and with me here in Ocala.  I wasn’t paying attention to the person reading, and I had no idea where they were reading because you don’t know until you get up there.  But as I was praying, once again, that Job passage popped up in my head, and again I thought, “I really would love to read that again”.  Then I kept praying.  When I finished up praying I decided to try to figure out where the person was reading, finally after a while I realized it was in Ester…and it still didn’t click yet.

When it was my turn to read, I went up and relieved the person (who had been reading for 45 minutes because someone didn’t show )and started on my 30 minutes.  As soon as I sat down, I realized there were only two chapters of Ester left, and as I turned the last page of the book of Ester I realized, “Holy Cra*, I’m going to get to read Job 4, 5!”  It was awesome!  I think I smiled a few times while I was reading it and more truth stuck out to me than did the first time.  Unbelievable.

I don’t know why God decided to do all that, but I thinks it’s pretty rad.  I haven’t learned any crazy lessons from it yet other than the fact that God loves us so much, He even cares about the little details that make us smile.

What are the little details in your life today?

Leadership & Misc

So, I’ve continued my study of leadership.  I’ve done a little bit of reading on Martin Luther King Jr and Hitler and I’ll soon be checking out people such as Mother Theresa and Abraham Lincoln.  As you can see, I’m trying to get a wide range of people.  I guess my goal at this point is just to know a little more about these people.  I’ve really enjoyed the historical facts and learning a little more about these leaders.  I’m finding out some good things and some not-so good things.  But I believe the more I read about these people, who had consequently had an incredible impact on our world today, the more I am learning about leadership.  I decided it maybe wasn’t the greatest idea for me to jot down info about people I don’t know that much about.  But I will be writing insights into leadership as I learn them.

A quick update on my life:

• I am still working at Starbucks and have officially finished my training.  Supposedly Friday I will be getting my certified barista blah blah blah.
• I’ve been cutting a good bit of hair lately in my spare time.  Mostly people from church.  It’s been nice having the extra cash.
• In the last week I have had two possible salon job opportunities to look in to.  I have almost finished my paperwork for getting my license switched over, hopefully I’ll be able to knock that out today.
• I’ve been able to carve out some time to shoot some pictures lately and that’s been awesome.  You can click on the Flickr link on the right side if you want to see more.  I’ve met a few people into photography lately and been able to help them with some basics.  It’s been fun.
• I’ve really enjoyed being a part this church.  The people are super friendly and have welcomed me with open arms.  And I’m really enjoyed Allen’s teaching on Sunday, he is not afraid to bring it, and you know I love that.

Keep me in your prayers.  I’m still trying to figure out where I fit in down here.  Feel free to tell me how you’re doing.  Just leave a comment, I read them all.  Peace.

Leadership, It’s Not a One Man Show – Part 1

I’ve started a new study on leadership, except I’ve started this study different than have in the past.  Because normally I would look up all the verses in the Bible on a particular topic and then read those passages until something really popped.  This time I’ve decided to change things up a bit.  I will definitely get to studying in the Bible  because the greatest amount of knowledge on leadership is in there, but first I wanted to find out WHO people consider to be leaders and WHY.  So I started the same place everyone would…google.  I simply typed in ‘greatest world leaders’.

The first person I decided to read on was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, aka, Gandhi.  I didn’t know very much about him going in to it, so I went in with a clean slate.  He was a spiritual and political leader of India for many years.  I learned that he played a major role in granting India their freedom through satyagraha. I’d never heard of it either.  Simply put, satyagraha is ‘resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience’.  He led many protests and campaigns, and had quite the following.  He also undertook many long fasts both for self-purification and social protest.  He had some very solid life principles:  Truth, Nonviolence, Vegetarianism, Simplicity, Faith, Swaraj (self-government, ‘home rule’).  He did have this one principle I had to strongly disagree with though.  It’s called Brahmacharya.  Now, I won’t go into detail for a few reasons:

1.  I don’t know that much about it.

2.  I’d rather you study it yourself and come to your own conclusion.

From what I gathered from my reading on the subject, the end result is pure, it’s the process of getting there I disagree with.  Moving on.  My brief conclusion on Gandhi is that he was an extremely influencial man who said many profound things.  He was striving for a life of purity, freedom, wisdom, and equality.  He helped shape a nation, and inspired many past and present leaders.

Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi the tactics. – Martin Luther King Jr, 1955

Please feel free to add your comments on Gandhi, I know I barely even touched the tip of the iceberg of who he was and what he accomplished.

“I Will Hold Your Hand”

Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it:  ’I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house.  I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, not My praise to carved images.  Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.’

That was Isaiah 42:5-9.  As I read through my daily Psalm today, I close the Bible, and the passage Isaiah 42:6 flashed in my mind.  I decided to check it out because I didn’t know what it said.  Go back and re-read that amazing promise.  Verse 6 is the one in bold.

It was especially encouraging to me this morning because I’ve been feeling a little lost down here recently.  I want to see people with passion and I just can’t seem to find that yet here in Ocala.  I was blessed in Atlanta with people that had like passions as me.  All over.  I don’t think I ever took that for granted, and I seriously miss my family there already.  But it’s been very noticeable not having close friends down here, and I can see how much of a blessing they were in my life.

BUT GOD.

He promised me this morning that he will hold my hand.  He has a purpose for me being down here, and whether I ever have community like I did in Atlanta, I know I have a friend that sticks closer than a brother.

…and everyone said:  AMEN.

Great News.

After an interesting turn of events yesterday, I was informed that I got the job at Starbucks.  I will start tomorrow. Here’s how it went down:

Yesterday morning I woke up at 8:00 and decided I wanted some pancakes.  However, I did not have the necessary ingredients, so I decided to ride my bike to the nearest food mart.  It just so happens that it is a Walgreens.  I needed butter, syrup and salt.  After I had gathered what I needed, I headed toward the checkout counter.  At that time I received a phone call from Manpower (they are a job placement agency I had applied with last week).  Stacie informed me that there was an opening for a seasonal job stocking shelves.  I informed Stacie that I was waiting to hear back from Starbucks as to whether I had received the job or not.  Stacie informed me that if I wanted the seasonal job I needed to be there by noon with a pair of khaki’s and a blue polo shirt on.  I told Stacie I would call her back.  She said asap.  I said ok.  I checked out.  I went outside and called Starbucks.  The nice lady that answered told me Steve was unavailable because he was getting ready for Christmas, or something.  I informed her I was inquiring on whether I had received the job or not, and then let her know it was important that I speak to Steve.  I told her it was a matter of life and death.  No I didn’t.  She told me Steve would call me back asap.  I then rode my bike home.  Steve called about 10 minutes later.  He informed me the position was still available if I would like to take it.  I said yes.  I then called Stacie back and declined the job.  She was happy for me.  And so was I.  The end.

Thank you for your prayers.  Getting a job right now is always a gift from God.  I know He wants me down here, and now I can focus on what it is He wants to do.

PS – I have been doing quite a few haircuts also which has provided a little extra cash.  The ladies at church have been spreading my name like wildfire in a windstorm.