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I see white people, uh, I mean mini-vans?

I see white people Honda's.

Odyssey's to be specific. I see them everywhere. In fact I think one winked at me yesterday outside a coffee house. It's the most bizarre thing...

Ever since my wife and I started researching mini-vans, Honda's specifically, I literally see them in every lane, street, road or parking lot, so either there's an unusually super high spike in the ownership of Honda's in the last month or it's true what they say...

We only see what we are looking for.

In 12 years of living in this city I've never once thought "oh man, there are so many Honda drivers in Toledo." NEVER.

But now I see Honda's everywhere because I'm looking for Honda's.

We only see what we are looking for.

The moral of the story? Start looking for what you want to see.

6 months ago after I was hired as the young adult pastor at North Point Church, I started praying that God could give me a heart for young adults in this city.

Instead of just saying God be glorified in this city (I'd like a vehicle), I narrowed it down to where and how I wanted him to be glorified (I don't just want a vehicle, I want a Honda Odyssey). I asked him to use me to reach young adults in Toledo.

Well, guess what's happening? I can't go anywhere without seeing young adults.

I'm at a Wendy's drive-through wondering if the person passing me fries is a young adult and if she is, does she know Jesus? Is she connected everywhere?

What about the dude smoking outside the bowling alley? Hmm... He looks like he's younger than 30. I wonder if he's married, engaged or single. Does he have a community that's sharing life with him?

We only see what we are looking for.

This principle also works in our personal life.

There's nothing wrong with praying God help me be more like Jesus but do you know what happens the moment you start praying for God to help you be more like Jesus specifically in the area of patience or generosity?

You'll start to see a million opportunities to exercise patience and be generous. Here's one more.

Don't just pray that God changes your marriage, pray he lets you see what a gift your spouse is.

You do that and I promise you, even with circumstances staying exactly the same, you'll develop a new tremendous value for your spouse because you'll see something in 'em (value) that you maybe haven't seen in a while because you weren't looking for it. 

We only see what...

Okay, you get it. Here's today's question.

What do you want to see? In your church? In your family? In your own life?
What do you want to start seeing?