|simonsSAYS|

Simons is a thinker. innovator. leader. teacher. preacher. theologian. father. son. brother. follower of Jesus. His approach to impacting lives is simple... empower others to see beyond every limitation.

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He will know that Jesus died for him and his generation.... Love my son @isaiahsimons_16! He will be a leader and a voice in his generation! Fathers make sure your children know and feel that you love them! #GoodFriday

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#MrCheeks @isaiahsimons_16 gives His best in praise and worship!!! He likes it loud!!! #resurrectionpower #ohclapyourhands #nofear #palmsunday

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#simonssays know your worth....

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Shake be gone! #herbalife chocolatereesecupshake #killedit #lovingit #down10pounds

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Shake be gone! #herbalife chocolatereesecupshake #killedit #lovingit #down10pounds #feelinggreat #lookinggreat #planonutrition #healthylunch

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Sometimes we don't seek out the true purpose of a relationship usually we get trapped in a realm of superficial fragments of emotionalism, which are empty portals of unmet expectations. When our emotional needs are not consistently met we tend to transform into innocent animals in the wilderness searching for food... Not out of greed but pure survival. Life is filled with so many invisible barriers, no filters, no barbwire fence in our minds to keep us from entering forbidden areas of unspoken euphoria! So we try to force ourselves into places that were only camoflauged with invitations of peace and pleasantries later to find that even there lies temporal euphoric pleasures that can never satisfy your soul and never nourish the spirit with in! When we are unable to discern the real meaning we become, more than ever, desperate! Desperate to be accepted! A person becomes filled with desperation for attention even if the person, substance, or materialism is destructive to ones well-being! Therefore, imaginatively we become like children again sitting impatiently in front of a puzzle (like shown) innocently ignorant trying to force a square into a hole only meant for a circle. #simonsSAYS "No matter how much you want IT to fit, the truth is that IT will never fit..." #simonsSAYS "No matter how much you want THEM to FIT in your life, the TRUTH is that THEY never WILL..." @travis_simons "my morning thoughts..."

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Hold on...

As I desperately tried to quickly dash out of the house yesterday morning it was interrupted by the sound my daughter, Sydney's voice.  As she frantically ran toward me she inquisitively asked, "Daddy! Daddy!  Daddy, where are you going?"  I replied, "Now baby girl you know daddy has to go to work."  With no hesitation she  wrapped her arms tightly around my left leg and said with desperation in her voice, "No daddy don't leave.  I want you to stay with me. Don't go!"  

       Now if any parent has ever encountered a moment like this, then you would agree that this is a moment of emotional confusion.  You're sadden that you have to leave, and yet not wanting this moment of love to never end.  In these moments, your bond with your child is reaffirmed igniting delightful words, hugs, and kisses of comfort.  I don't know about you but I live for these moments.  I always want Sydney and Isaiah to know that Nina and I love them dearly, more than they will ever know.  And just as much as they don't want to be without us, we don't want to be without them. 

As I finally pried her off my leg and negotiated my escape I couldn't help but think of Psalms 63:8(MSG) "I hold on to you for dear life, and you hold me steady as a post."  As I drove out of the driveway I felt like maybe the moment that I just experienced with Sydney happened to reaffirm that our posture toward Jesus should always be as little children ( Luke18:17) approaching Jesus with humility, joy, and pure desperation through which we hold on for life.  We don't hold on in fear of men but we hold on in complete surrender to following Jesus because He is our source of life. His desire is to give us life, strength, hope, faith, and grace.  He wants to fill our lives with everything we need. 

 And you hold me steady as a post... I love this! In an age, of so much instability we need something that is firmly fixed in our lives.  Jesus wants to be that firm fixture in our lives. Life has a way of blowing some crazy winds and horrific storms our way. There are times when we want Jesus to rebuke our storms but He doesn't always rebuke them.  Why? Sometimes He would rather prove to you that He can stabilize you in it rather than rebuking it.  So, if you feel like you are weak, your life is unstable, or out of balance please believe that Jesus wants to do for you what you can't do for yourself. Today, He is your strength, stabilizer, the enhancer, the counselor, and the regulator.  Hold on with everything you've got! 

Be blessed

tjs 

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Leading in the Driver's Seat

Over the last two and a half years, as the Director of Young Adults at The Potter’s House of Dallas I have gained a tremendous amount of insight and wisdom as a leader. I want to use this blog to share some of these insights with you!

A wise man once told me that “tour bus drivers can feel the tires, the road, a flat tire, any and everything from the drivers seat”.

Before I stepped into the role there were not many apparent challenges however, when I stepped into the role I discovered challenges. Although I wished I would have seen them sooner but I honestly didn't see them.  Was I naive?  Blind? In my estimation, I was only privilege to see them when I sat in the driver’s seat.

What's truly disheartening is how people unknowingly express their negative opinions of matters without having a clue of what it feels like to be in the “DRIVERS SEAT”! That’s why as leaders we must be extremely careful how we judge and criticize others (from IG, Facebook, twitter, blogs, etc) when we've never been in their driver’s seat.

Also, as leaders we can get trapped into an emotional conundrum trying to get people to feel what you feel and sense what you sense when they’ve never been where you’ve been.

So here are some tools every leader should lead with:

Lead with CHRIST: lead knowing that Christ called us and has equipped us to fulfill His plan. Also, what a privilege and and honor that you were chosen to serve His people. As leaders we are called to serve as Christ did on our knees with towels and not on thrones with scepters.

Lead with COMPASSION:

In divinity school, we learned an extensive amount about psychology and also personality types. (Extremely valuable information on how to engage with different types of people.) However as leaders, don’t allow your prejudices or preconceived notions of a person dictate how you help a person. We are called to lead with hearts that love people, loving them in their lowest places, high places, walk with them through their sins, hurts, struggles, and continually praying for them.

Lead with COURAGE:

I think people use this word too lightly. The best way to understand COURAGE is like this. Picture yourself standing at a thermostat, its on auto, on cool, room temperature is at 73 but temperature is set at 75. The air is not going to click on until the desired temperature is below the room temperature. Get it! For me, courage doesn’t kick in until you’ve reached a low enough level of discouragement, doubt or fear!

Courage can also be understood as persevering through every obstacle and setback. God grants us the the courage to be strong in The Lord and in the power of not our own might but His might!

LEAD with COMMITMENT to EXCELLENCE:

“If we’re going to do it let’s do it right.” Having a plan is great but empowering people to execute the plan is even better. Excellence is not talent! Excellence is having the right people, right plan, clear objectives, continually working together to make what we do honorable.

You have to stay committed to excellence even when your team isn’t. In excellence there is room errors but even more room for improvement. In excellence, there is room for style but even more room for service. Serve knowing that we are serving the Lord that will not reward us based on our talent but on our commitment to the cause.  

So stay and lead in the driver's seat...

tjs

P. S. to be continued....

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The Yellow Robe

While some may attribute the shift of momentum to Lebron James losing his headband I disagree.

With 20sec on the clock, Miami Heat fans had begun to exit the arena…at the same time, Tim Duncan was getting into position out of bounds to pass the ball inbounds, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t due to the presence of a yellow robe. Yellow rope? What is the yellow rope for? The yellow rope is there to help secure the court from fans that may try and rush the court at the end of game.

To the Miami Heat that Yellow Rope did not represent “security” it represented “FAILURE”. It serves as a sign that through all of the hard work they would come up short. How devastating? They are faced with the Fear of FAILURE.  Sometimes it is the “Fear of Failure” that drives us to press beyond fatigue, pain, and discouragement to achieve the goal that’s set before us.

Recently I was talking to a friend and I expressed some of the challenges that I face in life and ministry and as I shared then I did not feel FAITH arise I felt FEAR arise. I remember looking him in the eyes and saying,” God did not bring me here to FAIL! I will not FAIL!!!” I scared myself. But I believed it. I think the "Fear of Failure" drove me toward finding the strength to continue to give my best!

Now there are times when you will fail and you come out with an “L” !

Although people may be like some of the Miami Heat fans shaking their heads in disbelieve and begin to walk out of your life. Let them go but make sure you don't follow them!!!

You were born to win in this season! You are here to reach beyond every obstacle and possess victory! Don’t let go and don’t give in! Just because you see failure doesn’t mean you have to submit to it. ! Let your FEARS drive you toward FAITH!!!!

tjs

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Single people take note

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2 Corninthians 12:9 we live we die by this... #instaGRACE is #InstaSufficient (Taken with Instagram)

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I wish you would lay down and give up now, you've got too much in you... So FIGHT BACK!!! GIVE IT ALL YOU GOT!!! #secondround #secondwind (Taken with Instagram)

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Candle light dinner at the FOX... #Unforgettablenight (Taken with Instagram at Silver Fox Steakhouse)

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Begin here. Don't end here. #growthbeyondlimitation (Taken with Instagram)

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Never. Give. Up. (Taken with Instagram)

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Breaking The Silence: A Real Confession

Let me begin by saying it’s been over a year and I think too much time has been gone by without any communication.  I’ve spent a few months praying, thinking, and reflecting on our situation trying to figure out where we went wrong and what really happened.  But the other night I had an epiphany, yes an epiphany that has given me a clear perspective on your situation.   So here I am writing to you to share my deepest thoughts and feelings on the complexities of our predicament and hopefully provide some clarity of the dilemma from my own perspective.  Now I know you may be saying to yourself, “This is unnecessary… I’ve moved on.” But in my heart I felt like a portion of your heart is feeling just like mine… searching for clarity.  So hear me out! 

 As I reflect, let me just say I'm sorry we got off to a not so pretty start. We can both agree that the start was divine yet definitely complicated. Filled with purpose but also filled with a tremendous amount of pain.  It felt divine because I never saw you coming and you never saw me coming.  Divine because of how God moved us like pawns on chessboard… planning the exodus of your ex and my abrupt entry to where you were. Can you imagine the trepidation?  It was just… Overwhelming.  No matter how overwhelming it was,  I still went with it not knowing that I would reach the promise land and gaze upon the beauty of your face and comfort of your tender heart.  How could you plan for something like this? I never planned this. How can you see what you didn’t plan?  I never saw it, or saw you.  But we were here standing before each other with an array of emotions feeling shocked, angry, fearful, numb to the news, and confused by the move…. Why now? Yes this was complicated…  If it were up to you, your ex would have stayed with you.  You were broken by his departure.  You were shattered in places that would take God a day in eternity to have a board meeting with angels to strategize a healing antidote for you.

 We were all shattered by the break up.  Everybody was tore up.  I felt it in your embrace but what could I say?   I could feel the torn pieces rumbling around inside of you and most of the time it moved me to a heavy silence were I myself was speechless and felt that anything I conjured up to say was reachless.  Reachless.  My wisdom was reach-less.  My prayers were reach-less.  My embrace was reach-less… My hug was reach-less… Always extending to mend those broken pieces of you but always falling short.

As time went on I think we both felt the prematurity of our relationship. We moved too soon, we rushed it. For you it was a way to cover up the hurt and distract you from the pain and me thinking my personality could replace your ex. But to be totally honest through all your smiles and laughs I felt like you never really gave me a chance.  Not a real chance to really show you how I could help.  You didn’t want my help. Often times you made me feel like you were disinterested and not satisfied, gazing into the lenses of your past hoping and praying your ex would walk back in the door and rescue you from the pain of your heart being abruptly ripped from normalcy into vulnerability.  

On another hand, I think I underestimated the depth of your hurt.  In all the things I attempted to show you I was trying to prove to you that I could be the man that I thought you needed.  Everything calculated.  Everything prayerfully thought through.  The majority of what I tried to do for you had to be by divine inspiration because it would come after I would pray for you. I would just pray "God help me".  I fought for you spiritually and also naturally.  I knew people were talking about us because they knew your history and didn’t know my motive. Some people said you would crumble and we would not last.  But I kept fighting.  I fought for us, even when you introduced me to your friends, although they didn't say it phonetically, they made sure that I felt and knew that I wasn't no where near as good as your ex but yet still I fought for us. 

 Now I don’t like to get into “hearsay” but a mutual friend of ours said that the time we spent together was awkward and that you peeped some arrogance in me.  But I beg to differ, what you perceived to be arrogance was really me trying to be strong for you and me.  Me trying to wear a face of confident and capability to show that I was unaffected by the whispers that went on behind our back. Oh yes, eventually I wanted you to move on and us to move out of that place of mourning from the thing that would never come back to you. I knew that I could not spoon-feed you and I knew we had to grow up from our hurts and pains.  I thought you were spiritually strong and would use all of the words you poured into me as a multivitamin pack for your own self. Well you know, we tend to preach to others what we don't preach to ourselves.  I guess your words were good enough for me but not good enough for you.  Moreover, I guess being hurt really jaded your perspective of seeing my hands reaching out to you. They were not hands raised for you to be praised but hands to comfort you.  Let me be honest you read me the way you wanted to read me but I read you as someone that overlooked what God had given you reaching for what left you.  That’s a real dangerous place to be in. 

You know I don’t mind telling you the truth but with all honesty I really do think you didn’t want the truth. Wait hear me out. Maybe in the moment you didn't need TRUTH in Love as much as you needed me to just show you love.  You know I’m a talker and I thought my words could bring solace but it kept the womb open until you didn’t want to hear from me, and then you became silent.  I called, no answer.  I sent tweets, no retweets.  I sent you a message on facebook but no reply.  So I realized that you wanted no part of me…no part of what was complicated but yet divine.  Did you know that hurt me.  Hurt me deep.  Hurt me so deep that I wanted to quit.  Quit loving, quit caring, quit sharing my life.  So in the end we both ended up hurt. You without what you had, and me hurt because who I am was not enough. So you loss, I loss. You hurt, I was hurt. Although we don’t talk, I still feel you.   I still feel like you’re near.

Some days you pop up in my mind and I smile still thinking about all the things I wanted to share, and all the things that were planned that we never got to do.   I still pray for you.  Our mutual friend told me that a part of you has neglected your spiritual walk and have picked back some old habits that you swore God had delivered you from, but I guess the depth of the transition drove you back into that dark place.  But that was not God’s intensions for you, but you chose that.  Come home.  It's time for you to come on home.  Luke 15:11-32 you know the story... 

  So where do we go from here?  It’s my hope that we can “let bygones be bygones”. Even if you decide never to see me again, I do not like that conclusion but I will respect that resolution.

  P.S. I love you!

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Taken with Instagram