We are more    

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Danny Maldonado

It’s time to stop living a shallow life; this was never the intention for us, this was never the design for our existence. Remember the first time you went to the beach? You approached the shore and got your feet wet. It might have been cold and as you sat there for a while, a little scared of the immensity of what was in front of you, you started to walk in a little further. Your feet were feeling the water and the sand, and you took another step. And while the water was cold, your body started to assimilate the temperature, and it felt good. But it wasn’t until you threw yourself in completely, and the water embraced your entire body and covered your head, that the refreshing feeling overtook you and let you wanting more. The reason: shallow waters never give a refreshing experience. We are designed to submerge deep and be drenched, soaked and delighted.

But we have lowered the standard, we have conformed to the menial, and we have inclined our soul to the feet of mediocrity and reality. Surrendering to the least resistance pathway, has domineered our minds. Our eyes have been covered by cataracts, and we have become numb to the wonder before us. Our words utter the expressions that describe a soul who has given up. A soul that its only purpose is to “ride along,” to fill space, to create just the enough effort to “get-by” the day’s work or tasks.

Dreams have become fables in our minds. They are good for children that have not experienced life, good for entertainment, to have fun with and do what children do, but they are not good for us. We have killed them. We have become the passerby that sees abuse happening right before their eyes, and chooses to do nothing. Reality has made its throne in our soul, and it plans to stay there.

Jesus was amazed at his creation and reflected it back to us in Matthew 6:28-29 “And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Wow! The most amazing life is unfolding in front of our eyes, and we don’t get it. I don’t get it. When did we drift? Why did we drift? What has happened? Is there a disconnect internally? Is there a core issue that just impedes us of reaching our potential? Is the love for what we see, blind us from the real, palpable things unseen? The staleness of life comes from the fight we constantly have with king reality. He is a dictator, a merciless ruler. But his reign is not meant to last. We have been tricked and lied to, that his rule over us is a dictatorship and that we can’t do anything about it. But it’s not. We are more; we are created for more.

We are created to experience the wonder of life and to show that wonder to others. It’s that amazing experience that rekindles in us the desire to live, create and dream. We are more. When that thought enters deep into our mind, heart, and soul, we understand that the Creator of the universe endowed us with greatness and purpose.  There is a coup planned on king reality. There is an uprising coming. Wonder, possibility, awe, hope and dreams, are the knights rushing in to dethrone him. To reshape the life we have conformed to, way too long. The coup will be public, the coup will be big, and things will never be the same. We will be drenched in the refreshing waters again. The dreams of a what can be will assault us in ways that we will not be able to contain. There will be no boundaries; king reality will become a peasant. We might check with him from time to time, but not to ask permission, just to check realism. He might have some “wins”, but we will do bigger and greater things in the name of possibility. Wonder will be unleashed upon us. We will become, “anything-is-possible” kind of people.

We are more.

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© Copyright Danny Maldonado, 2015

“If you can?”

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Danny Maldonado

“It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

If you can? That was the question/response Jesus gave to the father of the boy that had a tormenting spirit. This got me thinking. How broken was his spirit to question his beliefs? I have to admit, at times I have mustered the same expression of this father, “Lord I believe, please help my unbelief”. His situation was so dire and so persistent, that he was not looking for a complete fix, just a respite. His expectations of life as he knew it, had come down to survival, to merely exist. He was not expecting God´s best and instead he lowered God to his human level. Life was hard and his son was suffering. “But if you can do anything”. It was an expression of desperation from a father that needed and pleaded for help.

I know the feeling, not of a tormenting spirit, but the angst and despair of feeling helpless and without a door to go. Any light will do, any sign of help will suffice, any handout would be great. Any move that would appease the pain will be welcomed. Dreams, potential and yes, even hope are a distant idea because reality has set in. And it is hard. It crushes your spirit and it breaks your heart. We try everything, anything, even the failed shallow attempt of hands that fall short of becoming the solution to our needs because its inconvenient or too much trouble.

The shorthanded help of people just won’t do it. Our human spirit is reduced to accept less, and it’s hard. The turmoil, the tension, the despair that is felt is so persistent that any expectation of things getting better are low to non-existent. And we reach to the “people that can help”, and sometimes we just get what we have always gotten; failed attempts and a weary tired hurt heart. It seems like the places we go and doors we knock, are pathways to empty rooms and dry hopes. Those around don’t understand the pain or don’t even seem to be prepared to help. And in our desperation we lower our lives to mere existential fixes, we become addicts of the immediate. Have you felt this way?

In the words of Martin Luther to his contemporary Erasmus, “Your thoughts of God are too human”. Our thoughts of Almighty God, all powerful Lord, need to raise to the place where they are to be. Only Jesus. He is the only one that can help the soul and turn all things around. We shouldn’t let the fallen world make our image of God, a fallen one.

He is asking us this question again today, “If I can?”, like if he was stating, “Are you kidding me? Do you know who you are talking to? Do you understand the power and the might you are facing this very moment? I created you, I know your most inner thoughts and everything about you. And I love you, as no one you can think of, loves you. I understand your pain, I see your suffering, and I cry at your persistent angst. But I am God and I am here to make all things new. Many have tried to help you, but have fallen short. I want you to know that I want you to come directly to me. Your source, your God, your I CAN!”

“I can solve your pain, I will wipe your tears, I can do and have done all things new. I will change your mourning into dancing”.

“If you can? You ask. I say, if you believe, anything and everything is possible.’’ Jesus.

“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”

© Copyright Danny Maldonado, 2015

Welcome home!

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Danny Maldonado

He opened his eyes and woke up. It had been another restless night. His heart was aching. Was it all a dream? As he could, he hurried to his son’s room. There it was as the day before, an empty bed, and the ache became even more pronounced. Walking slowly around the room he wondered why he had left. He had given him everything he needed and had loved him everyday since the day he was born. “Why would he leave a place of love for a place of lavish life?” He asked himself. How many nights this room was a witness of the laughter and the stories, and yes, the tears. Back then this room was warm place. He laid down on the bed and cried himself to sleep, hoping that it would become a warm place again. How much he wanted a chance to mess his son’s hair again, while he was sleeping, embrace him and kiss him. After a while he opened his eyes as the sun started to raise, warming up the room where he was; but not warm enough as to erase the cold feeling of the empty space in his heart.

And as the other days went, tending to the farm, the flock and his servants maintained him distracted, which was good. But from time to time he caught himself glancing at the distance, longing, hoping. How many times had he done this and nothing? Should he just give up to the fact that his son was not coming back? But this love was so deep, so wide, that kindled this hope constantly.

As his servants where informing about the days work, he glanced to the distance once again and then and there he saw something he had not seen before. A silhouette he was very familiar with. Could it be? Could this be his son? Wiping his eyes as he was seeing a vision, he peeked out to see clearly, leaving everyone still talking. And his heart bursted, filled with love and compassion as never before. It was him! With no regard of how he would look, or what would anyone think, he ran desperately to his son, nothing else mattered, his son had returned. With tears in his eyes and trying to catch his breath, he embraced him and kissed him in a way like he would never let go again. His son was dirty, malnourished and hurt. But now he was home and everything would be ok. The one that was lost had been found.

This could be you. On the outside, a smile is always seen in your face, but in the inside you are lacking and wanting. You are hurting and you desperately want to come home. Take courage and do so, it will all be good. So go ahead, return to your father, to the one that loves you in a way that surpasses any understanding.

He has been longing for your return, and is waiting for you.

And when He gets a glimpse of you, he will run to you, embrace you and kiss you and say, Welcome home my child, Welcome home!

So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. – Luke 15:20

“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”

© Copyright Danny Maldonado, 2012
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved

Come to the well

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Danny Maldonado

She was thirsty. More than she really knew or wanted to admit. Her broken heart was pounding in her chest faster and faster. She could not understand why she felt the way she did. So she sat at the table. Her eyes glancing to nowhere, but her mind traveled back in time, wondering, wishing. She questioned everything. What was it that made her the way she was? Was it the lack of love created by the constant rejection of her parents? Could it had been that the religious teachings ingrained in her past, created this void? Rules, restrictions and no relationship? She had learned about love in the way many others had, but no true love. Perhaps the lack inside was the force that had her looking for acceptance in all of the wrong places. The pain resurfaced as she realized that she had searched for love in all of the dry places.

Suddenly, the voices from the road snapped her out of this inside glimpse. So she looked out the window, making certain that everyone had already returned. Her shame had refrained her from venturing out to the well. In a corner, the empty waterpot, the utensil she had depended on so much. And then the road to the well, the road she knew by heart. That path mimicked the story of her life; always wanting, always needing more and more but at the end, an unquenched soul remained. “There is no point,” she said to herself, “this will never end”. As she left, the door made a squeaking sound as it closed behind her, and with very step came a memory, and with every memory came more pain.

Every unsuccessful attempt in her life to be loved, to be filled and to be accepted, would end today. This day would be remembered for ever. Love was waiting by the well. Life was waiting just for her. It was that day where her soul spoke the words she had wanted to say all of her life. The words that would changed her life finally came out like a prisoner set free: “Please, sir, give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.” That day she left her waterpot behind because, she left a life of emptiness and rejection because she went to the well.

Today your life can be changed too. That embrace you have been longing for is at the well. The man from Galilee that walked on water, raised the dead and defeated sin, is waiting for you with his arms wide open. He will quench that deep thirst you have inside you and no matter what you have done, all will be new.

This is the day, just come to the well.

“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”

You can purchase a beautiful song called The Well or the album Come to the Well, written and perfumed by Casting Crowns following this link.

A true friend

Posted on July 3, 2011 by Danny Maldonado

by DP

A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity. – Proverbs 17:17 NKJV

The proverb states it clearly, a friend loves at all times. Not only on the good, plentiful and drama free times, but in the stressful, shameful and shunning moments. The times when everyplace we look at, the only thing we see is everybody’s back walking away from us. It is in those bleak, gray and shady moments in which we don’t know or understand all of the facts, that true friendship flourishes.

It is a privilege to be a true friend. It requires character, love and an unyielding commitment to remain a friend. A friend is needed the most in the times when anguish and finger pointing is the order of the day. When being associated, equates to staining your image, your judgement, and your possibilities.

But being a friend is much more. It is opening your heart to the spirit of love, compassion, and of a better future. It is knowing that maybe showing support may bring consequences, but in spite of them, you still do it. Being a friend is not ignoring the truth, but in spite of the truth, you love, you care, and you lift another soul. You help them amend their life. You make them dream, and hope again. Being a friend, is becoming vulnerable.

Being a friend is guiding, restoring, and lifting someone else that has drifted, that has been broken and has fallen. Being a friend is always remembering that it could be you seeking for friendship, when the colors of the world turn gray and the smiles of men, turn to stone cold walls.

Being a true friend, is very powerful. You get to witness the transformation of a shunned life, to a shinning star. You get to see the love of God transforming not only the recipient of your friendship, but also your own life.

Being a friend, is loving yourself. We should all learn how to be, a true friend.

“The power of friendship is not in the desire to have a friend, but in the commitment to be one” – Eddie Lee Long

“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”

Want this inspiration of coffee by email every morning? Enter your e-mail to subscribe at the top right of this page under the box for “Subscribe”. Like this writing and want share it? Just add your comment below on “Leave a Reply” or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or by email using any of the buttons next to “Share this:”

© Copyright DP, 2011
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Leave the waterpot

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Danny Maldonado

by DP

The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,… – John 4:28

Much has been written and said about this encounter between Jesus and the samaritan woman at the water-well. A woman that had a religious belief, evidenced by her declaration of where worship should take place. But what was evidently clear, was the thirst she had in her life. Her past and her present were a constant reminder of it. And in this scene we see her being asked for some water by the same One that could quench the thirst of her soul and change the direction of her life.

Her mind was referencing a different kind of life. She was using her current status, her current thirst, her current lack, to interpret the words that Jesus was speaking into her life. If she only knew, who was speaking to her! But after this encounter her eyes were opened and her life was changed. She had been confronted with the truth and had been loved at the same time. She had been seeking for love in many places and from many men, to be left every time thirsty and unloved. But today this was different. The way she satisfied her thirst was new to her. That day she left at the well, her old way of fulfilling her thirst, of fulfilling her soul. She left the waterpot. She left her old ways when she was confronted with the Water of Life.

You might be in a moment of life where you are tired of trying and trying many different ways of fulfilling your soul. You are tired of the same situation, you are tired of the struggle, of realizing that being religious does not satisfy your deep desire for relationship; a relationship with God. When we realize that what we need is more, we leave our old ways of fulfilling our needs. We need to open our hearts and surrender it to God.

The call to action today is not a religious ceremony, nor a penitence to show your devotion, but a step of surrender. A conscious action of leaving the ways that you relied upon to fill your soul. An act of leaving the waterpot you have been carrying all of your life. You won’t need it anymore. So today, leave it at the well and go on with a new direction.

No more thirst, no more emptiness, no more despair nor sorrow. Leave the waterpot of empty promises for the The Water of Life that will fill your waterless soul with unending love. Leave the waterpot.

The Masters hand

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Danny Maldonado

by DP

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.” Luke 4:18-19

There is a song written by Wayne Watson called the The touch of the Masters hand. It depicts an auction of which the last one to be sold was an old violin. Even the expert auctioneer didn’t find much worth in it by it’s appearance and started off the auction at one dollar. When the bids had come to three dollars and the auction was about to close, a gray haired man stood up from the back and walked to the front. He picked up the violin, brushed the dust from it. He adjusted the strings, picked up the bow and started to play. What came out from that violin, was music that not even angels could sing.

Then the auction resumed. The auctioneer started it’s cry and said, “One thousand dollars, two thousand dollars, three thousand dollars”. When the auction finished, the people asked, what changed it’s worth? And the auctioneer said, “It was the touch of the Masters hand”.

Like that old violin, your might feel shunned and forgotten. People might look at you and find no worth, no significance and no future. They might even label you, and limit you by what they see. It is hard, it is tough and it is taking a toll on you. But if you decide to give yourself the opportunity, you will find that the Master is watching intently. If you let Him, he will clean your life and adjust your soul. The sound that will be heard, will show that the Master’s hand has been upon you. And the sound will be melodious.

Open your heart, lift up your eyes, you will see the Master walking towards you wanting to restore you. And anything He touches, is changed. And anything He touches, is made worthy and extraordinary. He came to release the captives, free the oppressed and to heal the sick. This is no ordinary hand, it is the Master’s hand.

“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”

You can hear and purchase this song titled “Ths touch of the Masters Hand, by Wayne Watson from iTunes following this link.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The old story is the only story

Posted on April 24, 2011 by Danny Maldonado

by DP

We all like and want new and improved, of everything. The freshness of something different always catches our attention, but I would submit to you this thought: The old story is the only story. Salomon said it in the book of Ecclesiastes, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun”. But as we continue to pursue the next best thing, or keep up with the latest trend, we find ourselves in an endless race of nothingness.

We believe that if we create a trend, a movement or even a brand we are redefining how things are done. And I have to concede that things today are done different and that we have been able to create many improvements. The way we approach business, the way we raise our family, the way we even do church has changed and in many ways and in doing so, we have found many new ways of doing practically everything. But when we go deep, there is really nothing new.

That brings me to the central theme of this conversation: The old story is still, the only story. The story of forgiveness, sacrifice and empowerment that was performed at Calvary, is the only story. Today we live in an extremely visual generation, in all that we talk, express and share. There are so many choices that we can literally be overwhelmed. And what about our choices of churches, we can sit everyday and even depending on our mood, we could choose what church to watch over the internet, or even go to. But the story is still the same; He loved us in such a way, that he gave his only son for our sins, no matter what they are. And to accept this sacrifice and surrender our lives to him, is the point of the story.

You see, it really doesn’t matter the form, the style, the mood or the place, Jesus sacrifice can clean you of your sins today, if you surrender. You will be made new. He is able, He is waiting and He has done all that is necessary so you could have life, and life abundantly. The form you might be hearing the story could be different, but the essence of the story is the same. You could go around and around trying many other “stories” and still continue to feel empty and lost. This is the story: He loved you so much, that he gave it all and that is why the old story is still the only story.

“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”

BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE boldly

A compilation of thoughts and ideas to inspire you to achieve your God given potential

Category Archives: Restoration

We are more

“If you can?”

Welcome home!

Come to the well

A true friend

Leave the waterpot

The Masters hand

The old story is the only story