RevedUp's Blog

I am trying to get back to normal and get life moving again. After two deaths in the same year and within a few months of each other it is hard to get back to normal. This has been the hardest year of my life but I press on to the calling of my life. Just before all this happened I was starting a ministry outlet here on GodTube to create video bible studies. I was starting an outreach ministry with some friends and website 2LIVE4GOD.COM. and I was serving in the children's ministry at church. Well I have been back at the children's ministry for a couple of months now and that is all I have been able to do in ministry. As I was praying one time last month about life God showed me something that made me realize about the seasons in life. And in one sense I have come full circle.



I remembered back to when I was 10 or 11 years old. My mother, brother and I were living in a modest neighborhood on the outskirts of Orlando Florida. I was always curious about God as a child. Well I met a friend in the neighborhood or in class I'm not sure. Its funny I can remember his face but not his name. And he use to go to Baptist Sunday School. So he invited me to church and I accepted. My mom usually worked all the time and we didn't go to church except on holidays to the Episcopal Church. I remember being excited to go because the Baptist Church had a bus that would come around and pick up kids and elderly that didn't have transportation.



I don't remember much about the church or the classes but I liked it. The thing I do remember is that the Sunday school teacher would ask if anyone wanted to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior and that I would accept and say the prayer over and over again for several weeks during that season. We usually had to moved every year and I was in 6th grade then and we moved out of that neighborhood and started in a new Junior High School the next year.



Well this year in my church I lead the Large Group of Kindergarten and 1st graders and after I finish the story I pray with the children and I ask them to say the Prayer of Salvation. The cool thing is that they all say it with me and most of the kids come every week. They say it over and over again.



When the Lord showed me that the seed that the church had sown in me was now was returning a crop back to this Baptist Church I am in awe. Its funny because I consider myself a non/multi denominational or Full Gospel Christian. I have come full circle.



This last month I have asked the children how many of them are first time guests and a few raise their hands. Then I think of myself as a child and how they might be like me and my heart smiles. Its also interesting that I haven't shared this with anyone yet other than now but the church started a couple of weeks ago putting wristbands on visitors and the friend who brought them.



I just thought that was cool! God is still working and is in control of our lives even when we think he's not.



Invite a friend to church this week and if you have children let them invite a friend and plant the seeds in the life of others even in the early years. I wonder how many of them will remember praying with me when they get older even if they don't remember Mr. Lee they will remember praying to God to become part of the family of God.



The main thing that has gotten me through losing my step-daughter is that during an Easter service when she was 6 or 7 they had an alter call and Emily asked me what are all those people doing? So I told her and asked her if she wanted to go up and accept Jesus as her Lord and she said yes. We were going to Calvary Chapel at the time and they had the holiday services at a baseball staduim in Ft Lauderdale. So remember putting her on my shoulders because it was a long walk and her saying the Prayer of Salvation.



Pray for me that next year, 2009 will be a breakthrough year and that God will open doors for me in work and ministry hopefully both together. I hope to be putting up new videos soon!

Emily Zaun was my stepdaughter. She was 4 years old when I married her mother and she was as cute as a button. She brought a lot of joy to my life and it was a privilege to help bring her up. After having a tough childhood I wanted to help another little one experience a full family. I was also afraid to have my own children at first because of the heavy responsibilities. But she was so wonderful I couldn't wait to have more children. She was just about to start her 2nd year at Florida Atlantic University when she passed away on July 27, 2008 at the age of 20 years old.<br />

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She had asthma most of her life. And that was the cause of her death. Emily was on vacation with her boyfriend for three days in SE Georgia. She was having an attack and was 30 minutes from the hospital. Emily couldn't breath and collapsed from clogged airways about half way to the hospital. Her heart stopped and it took too long to revive her. The paramedics got her heart beating again but she never came out of the coma.<br />

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After the death of her Nana she wrote a report for college about donating organs. And she thought everyone should. So the family had her organs donated as she wanted and she was able to save 3 lives with her kidneys and liver. Her life surely is still giving life to others. <br />

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She stayed close to her family and is missed deeply by us ALL! Words just can't explain the hurt, sorrow and pain you feel when you lose a child. I thought I had been through everything but nothing compares to this. She was small, slim and truly beautiful but bold and outspoken. Yet she was insecure and always needed to be reassured and praised. She was caught up in the material world like most of the friends she grew up with in school and the neighborhood but she wasn't stuck up. She was kind, loving and sensitive and needed that from others too. <br />

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It was great to see her transform from a clueless teenager to a vibrant young woman. Her favorite movie was the wedding planner and I would have loved to see her marry (a good man) and have children of her own. Her grandma (Nana) had just passed away in April 2008 (3 months ago) and along with her mom the three of them were very close all their life. The family says that Nana wanted company up in heaven.<br />

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My greatest comfort through this is knowing that I walked her down the aisle to receive Jesus as her Lord and Eternal Life during an Easter service when she was about 6 or 7 years old! I know that she is in a better place than this with no more tears, heartaches, or hurts. <br />

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There are so many great memories and pictures to help feel she is close. Love never fails or stops. And although she isn't with us physically she is in our hearts and minds. And I know I will see her on the other side. This affliction is only temporary. The next phase of life will be forever and we will be reunited with our loved ones.<br />

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Come Lord Jesus Come!<br />

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We hear about a child being missing and/or dying too often on the news. You really don't know what their family is going through. Please give your help, comfort and prayers to those who go through this painful event.

The month of April was probably one of the hardest in my life. And yet even harder for my wife because she lost her mother on the 12 of April after a 4 year long battle with a blood cancer. Besides both their birthdays are in April. The past year her mom was limited to living in a recliner chair and going back and forth to the hospital and the doctors.

I can't explain all the suffering she went thru but she started having many complications last year when she woke up one morning and on her way to the bathroom either her hip broke and then her ankle or the other way around. One broke then the other from the weight of her fall. the cancer eats away at her bones and different bones would break just under normal conditions. She was a rather heavy woman and was to turn 78 on april 22. Well she had to have a double surgery and got thru that. She was also going back and getting blood transfusions once to twice a week because her blood wasn't reproducing. And it seemed like every month she spent a week or two in the hospital. She also went thru kemo, radiation and a lot of other medicines. It would take a 100 pages to tell you all she went thru the last year. It was a tough last year. And she spent the last 4 weeks in the hospital before passing away.

My wife who is her youngest of 5 children would spend half the day taking care of her mom . My wife would get the children ready for school and then drop them off and go to her moms to take care of her too so her step-father could go to work. She stayed there from 8:20 to 1:40 almost every weekday because she had to pick up the kids at 2 from school. They lived about 20 minutes away from us. Her step-father could only work half a day because someone had to be with her all day and they couldn't afford a nurse.

My work in real rstate has been slow and my wife had to take care of 2 homes so you can see all the stress, depression and pressures. Its been like a season of Job in the bible. Thank God that during this time I have been getting my bachelors degree in theology and have been emersed in the word studying intensely. In fact I just fininshed it, April was the last semester.

I want to share with you an important lesson I have learned from my mother in law (I should say my 2nd mom). I have really learned many lessons but here is one. I have been pondering the purpose and meaning of life which is not really clear to most people and is weaved thru over a 1000 pages of the Bible.

There are many people in the world that define success in life or work and will tell you that success in life is obtaining material wealth. The secret to success or how to be rich and they think that this is the answer. I have read many of these books thru the years on business success and how to be a millionaire from people like Donald Trump, Anthony Robbins, just to name a couple. I went to a friends church and heard them say that God wants every Christian to be a millionaire. My spirit cringed....... because God has shown me sooooo clearly that many have fallen prey to the Gospel of Mammon and the bible says that you will either serve one or the other, you can not serve both.

God has shown me thru the Holy Spirit the true meaning of life and true success in life as I have gone thru this season of Job. And I bet you are wondering what it is? Alright I'll get to the point. I should say the purpose of life and when you find that you will have a successful life. And my mother in law helped in this thru her death.

The core of the purpose of life is to have a right relationship to God and to the people in your life or world and it doesn't matter how big or small your world or your reach is. Jesus summed it up with the two GREATEST Commandments, Love God and Love your Neighbor as your self, everything else in life revolves around these 2 directives of life. Jesus stated it so clearly and simply. Why in the world are so many christians trying to conform to the ways of the world today instead of being transformed by the Spirit of Love. Success in life comes from right relationships and obedience to God's Word. Many are srtiving for selfish gain and material wealth instead of seeking after God, holiness and love for others. I will be creating messages going over the purpose of life so stay tuned to this channel.

My mother in law helped me see this in her life and death. She died fairly poor by most standards yet she was rich spiritually. She grew up in West Virginia 78 years ago and was orphaned around 11 when her parents died and was seperated from her other 3 siblings although they kept in contact. She told me that the foster homes made her do the house work for them and she didn't get an education, she does remember going to school barefooted. She went thru 3 tough marriages and had 5 children. Her children were the most important things in her life, it was all she really had. They are are all in their 40's to their 60's and her two girls have lived mostly in the same city and they talked everyday and the boys usually twice a week. She only had one life long friend when died. But she was always there encouraging and being there to help her children and prayed everyday for them.

She knew and loved the Lord and I think all but one of her Kids are christian (the one may be too but not practicing). One son even became an associate pastor. He gave the message for the memorial service. She may not have been able to reach a lot of people in her life but the ones she did reach, she did it right and that what matters. Even all her in laws could see that and felt her special love. I knew that God recieved her in heaven, she was saved and she was a wonderful mother and grandmother (Nana). She did her best with what she had. And that is all God asks us to do.

He is a loving father who is there everyday for you to talk to and guide you. And he wants you to share his unconditional love with those in your life. And usually that is one of the hardest things to do. But if you do these 2 things you will have a successful life. We need to be reminded that the riches of eternity far out weigh the ones in this life. The bible says if you strive after and hord the riches here in this life you will miss the ones in Heaven. So be RICH toward God and your Neighbors and don't worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will take care of itself.

God Bless and REMEMBER Be a Blessing! (stop looking for them and be one and they will overtake you we've got it backwards:) )

He asked me if I've always been so motivated and always a christian, Dude I'm in my 40's there is no short answer to this sorry but .....

Here it is:
That's a tough question always is a long time. Did you read my blog post "So much to do?" I've had a drive for business for about last 10 or so years or so with some setbacks. It's like ideas keep flying through my head, check out my goldkeypower.com website. Just the past two years God has been focusing my goals and talents for ministry.

I had a prophetic dream just about a year ago then a really cool or strange confirmation in a photo and a couple of other things happen last year like a dear christian friend dying at 35. She was a rock that brought back some of my old christian friends from 20 yrs ago.

I'm am trying to do a testamony video but it's hard because there are so many twists and turns. I'll TRY to be brief but maybe this is an outline for it. I remember being invited to Baptist Sunday school by a neighbor when I was about 11 and going a few times and getting saved each time LOL. [from about age 10-20, I had really crooked front teeth that my mom couldn't afford to fix, so I was really quiet, shy and did'nt talk much I was kind of a ugly duck or school outcast So..]. [I got into] all kinds of drugs from age 15 to 17 then I got saved (1977) in a little country church,an Assemblies of God (Faith Assembly) just outside of Orlando,Fla I didn't have many christian friends and fell back into the worldly scene for a while, My mom had to move us out of there and we came back to Hollywood, Fla where from 18 to 24 I was pretty much back in the world with going to church on and off but still reading my bible and watching TBN. I was bartending at a local bar for about 3 years and selling stuff on the side, I got involved with the organized family (if you know what I mean) for a while then on one Saturday Night it was Aug 5, 1984. I had the night off and went out drinking and partying. I got on my motorcycle (Honda750) and went down the main road in Hollywood (US1) and crashed at Young Circle. I passed a tow truck driver about 2am and he said I passed him up doing over 100 mph then he came up to the circle (a round about in the center of town) and he radioed his dispatch and got an ambulance there fast. I would have bled to death if it wasn't for him (my angel).
I laid in the hospital for just over a month. I should have been killed. I went flying like a cannon into the park circle where a parking meter stopped me & almost tore off my left leg, ( I have a wide scar from my hip to my knee) and my gold chain ripped through my neck just missing my jugglar (i still have that scar). I started going back to school for about six months while recovering on cruches. Thank God I walk normal to this day with no problems. I took real estate clesses and literally got into real estate by "accident" LOL. I think it was one of the worst & best things in my life! so from about 21 to 24 in 1981-1984 I was a bartender/biker/dealer/front man WOW looking back I can't believe it. I almost killed myself but God Saved My life, I still wonder why sometimes? [ I think God had kept me from being a real addict, I was more a weekend warrior] and after the crash I really gave up All that stuff. God had a plan for me and I thank him that he looks out young lost souls and has had his hand on my life thru it all. I believe that God allows and uses the bad things in your life to be able to have more compassion for people and the trageties they go thru. Not that you have to go thru them. But when God brings you out of captivity and into the promised land you know He is Omnipotent and you ( I ) can share from experience, the Power of God!

Well, I got involved in a Spirit
Filled Baptist Church in Ft. Lauderdale where I grew greatly (the best years of my life)where I attended for about 8 years that's where I met my wife of 15 (up & down) years now. I have 2 precious girls Ashley 8 and Rebecca 10 that I can't get enough of. I want to give them what I never had growing up a whole family, love and guidance +++++.

Well the last church I went to for about another 8 years had over 3000 people, the Pastor got deflocked because he fell into adultry and eventually married the woman and started another small church. The Baptist Church I went to previously had a split up of the Worship Pastor & Head Pastor and ruined the church that also had to do with immorality and money. Now in between these two churches I helped a new Pastor start (and became right hand man) a new Assembly of God Church where I live now in Ft Lauderdale, FL whos wife left him for a musician in the Praise team. He was devistated and left the ministry and town. I helped him through it for a while. I hope I'm not boring you or going too long but you asked a long question Ha Ha! Most people put the pastor on a pedestal but God showed me to keep my eyes on Him not man.

also inbetween the two 8 year churches I went to Calvary Chapel Ft Lauderdale for about 3 and a half years where I was fed the most and seen the most salvations but it was a long drive for my family. For the last 4 years I pretty much gave up on church and God and just went to different churches here and there not finding a home. I believe I was wondering in the wilderness of disbelief. Mostly everyone I knew was in the Prosperity movement which has a lot of error and problems and God has shown me many things about that. Then I found a church I have been going to for about a year and a half that is really nice and helped rekindle the fire of God in me even though it is not Spirit Filled. It's a baptist church called Flamingo Road. Can you imagine that? But I thank God for them. I use to be involvd in about 4 lay ministries at a time mostly in outreach and led them. Feeding the Homeless, Single Parent Outreach, Prayer and Bible StudyGroups. I have been a christian for 30 years and study the bible intensely. There is so much in this living word that you get more light everytime you re-read passages.

God has been really moving in my Heart & Spirit for the last two years. I think I didn't get involved in full time ministry earlier so I would have more experience and wisdom (I hope) and not fall into the same traps. I think I have finally found the meaning of Life and Success and its so simple Success in life is in "relationships". If you have a good relationship with the people in your life and a good relationship with God you will be successful in life. and have Eternal Life as a crown - Awesome.

My goals now are to create training / teaching messages on the full spectrum of what it means to be a christ follower for a pattern for other believers. and I hope a church will hire me to do teaching & training to accomplish this. I would be great if you would hold me up in prayer about this Bro. I would like to start a global Prayer movement through the website & internet that we can all pray for more power of the Holy Spirit in our Lives, Churches and Countries. Check it out and let me know what you think. www.CalledtoPower.com

Now you know why I'm so Reved Up LOL!
Pressing On, Lee

There is so much to do yet so little time. And one thing leads to another. I am so fustrated. There is that which you have to do, there is that which you want to do and there is that which God wants you to to but you don't seem to get much accomplished. And oh we live in a time of accomplishment, we are measured by it. Why do we have to sleep why can't we just go 24 hours a day. Days go by so fast now and it seems like I'm not making much progress. What is one to do?

I love starting businesses, I have a small yet successful Real Estate company for many years which has been dead for the last 2 years here in S. Fla and I started a marketing company for RE agents and Brokers 5 years ago which has been dead also for the last 2 years and so I started a RE School which I spent the last 2 years struggling. At the peak of the boom wrote a pretty good book on RE which I self published and have had a hard time selling because of the economy, just living on fumes. I want to leave RE, 20 yrs is enuf! But 30 yrs as a believer isn't I want MORE!

Since Real Estate is virtually dead in S Fla I have spent nights working on my bachelors degree in Ministry and should be finished in a couple of months. I have had a few confirmations about going into full time ministry which I am Reved Up about! ha ha... I have another idea for a christian book or 2. I learned and made about 6 websites in the last 6 months, one for this online ministry. I feel God is calling me to do Teaching on the full spectrum of being a christian which I just started learning and posting video blogs/messages on You Tube and God Tube. And Sooooo many messages to put together. My mind just keeps on going, Lord please give me strength, wisdom and efficiency, resources and about 4 assistants. I pray that God will open the door to a full or part time ministry in a local church so I can focus on expanding His Kingdom more or totally.