Read me first..

My name is Jason Dylan Michel.

I'm a 32 year old father of the most beautiful little girl in the world... and no, I'm not just saying that because I'm her dad.. :-)

When people ask if I'm religious, the answer is always "no.. I just love God a whole bunch." I'm not a fan of religion to be honest, actually I'm quite turned off by it. Religion, to me, is a set of motions we are told to perform to get to God.. Religion has taught me and continues to teach people that we have to jump through hoops and do backflips to be accepted by God, which is not the truth.

I don't necessarily call myself a Christian either. Don't get me wrong, I am a Christ follower - but the term Christian has been ruined over the years, or at least that's what I think. The Christians I grew up watching, weather inside of "church" or outside of church, weren't following God from my point of view at the time. I've been burned by more Christians than I have non Christians in my life, even my first two youth pastors. Hypocritical, judgemental, the list goes on and on.. I ran from God at 16 years old, partially because of the fact I didn't want to be anything like these people. Actually, we Christ followers didn't label ourselves Christians, it was actually the people observing the Christ followers in Antioch that called us that.. would people call us that by viewing how we live today? Some food for thought.

All of this being said, I aspire to follow Christ every day of my life, and could care less about a label that has been ruined. I believe in the gospel, as opposed to religion. The gospel teaches me that I don't have to be perfect to come to Jesus, but rather that He wants me to come as I am, and that the result of a personal relationship with Him will be a change of my heart, and my actions will follow.

I do believe in heaven and hell, but I believe that Jesus commanded us (the greatest commandment actually) to love one another, not to judge who's going to heaven and who's not. I don't believe anyone can be scared into following Jesus. I came back to Jesus as a result of love, not a strong warning about my life. To be quite honest, not only am I completely free of any fear of death, hell doesn't scare me ( I belong to Him ), and I'm not too excited about heaven, though I'm confident it will be indescribable. I've heard so many say how they are looking forward to being done with this life and getting to heaven.. I wonder, can they be serious? If they are, I can't help but think they are really missing out. God created this world.... there is a job here for us, or rather an opportunity. The way I see it, there is so much to be done here.. Embrace the moment, He created it - didn't He?

God has turned my life upside down with His love, and there is nothing more I want to do than for people to experience this love... I want to share it with everyone. You know how you hear a great song on the radio or see a great movie, and you just want everyone to hear or see it? Or how about this.. if you won a billion dollars in the lottery, wouldn't you get excited to share it with some key people in your life? I would.. I'd get real excited. Jesus is so much bigger than a song, movie, or a billion bucks.. He's my best friend, no joke.

I don't necessarily have a purpose in mind as I begin this blog today, but I will tell you what I'm not looking to accomplish - and take no offense, I'll always be real. I'm not looking to teach anything - these are only my opinions, and I challenge you to dig in your Bible to verify weather or not my views are biblical or not.. don't take my word for anything, I'm a VERY flawed human. I'm not looking for praise in anything I write either. I've got a lot of issues, have made a ton of mistakes (which you'll read about over time if you continue to visit my blog), and will keep making them.. I just pray there are less of them as I get closer to Him. If any feelings of praise come about, they should go to God for the fact that I'm not dead as a result from an overdose of who knows what, or that I'm not homeless in some alley with a dirty needle hanging out of my arm.. haha.. I'm not looking for judgement either - You're going to think what you want, and may strongly disagree with me at times for a seemingly extremist point of view, or you may think my thoughts are too loose regarding some subjects.. that's ok, just don't tell me about it. I'm not looking for suggestions or any kind of criticizm either. I have a great group of friends who are walking with me toward Jesus, who's suggestions/criticizm I'm submitting myself to - and I'll just stick with them. :-)

If anything, all I hope to do in this blog is get my ideas out, be able to look back at what God has been doing in my life, and if anyone reads this and realizes that Jesus is so awesome that He actually loves and has a purpose for someone as screwed up as I've been.. well then I guess I'd have to say mission accomplished.

I plan on regular entries, at least 3 weeks out of the month, maybe four.. usually on the weekend.

Oh and one last thing. Before you begin reading, I want to apologize.. If you've been burned by a "Christian," if you had a bible forced down your throat or been told over and over you're going to hell.. well I'm sorry.. I'm sorry there are people like that. Keep one thing in mind, they can't share a love from God that they may not know. Some try to follow Christ becuase they're scared of hell, and some really may love God but have no idea how to show it, or a lack of social skills.. Again, don't get me wrong.. the bible is a wonderful book, it's God's word in fact. It is helping change my life, along with many other things such as prayer and community.. but I'm not going to tell you you better read it or you'll burn in hell.. judging isn't my job, loving is.

Take care, and God bless! And remember.... love wins.