The final piece for peace

So we've talked most of the week about what it takes to endure, and find strength for each day. We discussed briefly about Jesus and what He told us in Matthew about worrying, and letting tomorrow worry about itself. Well, there's one piece of the puzzle that is very important and can make all the difference in the world. A Barnabas! Everyone needs a Barnabas, I'm talking about an encourager, someone who can push you when needed and support you through thick and thin. I'm not talking about a cheerleader who cheers through the bad times and doesn't take into account how real and hard life can be. I'm talking about someone who is there with an encouraging word and most importantly someone who is supportive.
Barnabas bring so many characteristics to the table that we need in an encourager. He was one of the first in Acts chapter 4 to sell his possessions and give the proceeds to the church. He was the first to travel with Paul and his missionary team, he was an encourager to everyone he came in contact with, and he was called an apostle even though he rarely spoke publicly or gave a sermon.
Acts 11:23-24 captures a lot of this, "WHen he arrived and saw the evidence of grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy SPirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord."
There you have it, what seems to be the secret of being a true encourager, that person who truly lifts people up? Evidences of grace!
Think about that, how can we pick ourselves up when we are down, discouraged and feel like we are at the end of our rope? By realizing God's grace in our lives, by seeing evidences of grace in our lives and in others. I know every day I can look in the mirror and see someone who is a sinner, someone who makes mistakes, and someone who struggles in the battle of God's will over my pride. In doing so I see a lot of grace, a God who would love a sinner, who would allow His Son to go through the torment that He did, for a sinner such as I is mind boggling.
So don't worry about tomorrow, use up your strength day by day as God provides it and make sure that you surround yourself with people who will encourage you in your walk with Christ. Find your Barnabas, it will make all the difference.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Power and patience for today

So someone has messed with the browsers and the cookie setting s on my work computer system so that the blog was typed, and published incorrectly and the system had not saved it. My original title was power for today, but patience had to be added as I am on a strict schedule today and retyping this blog.
I want to tell you about my Wednesday. Not to toot my own horn, not to complain but to exemplify what I am trying to get accross with week with the words of JEsus in Matthew, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself."
There is a dynamic with that verse that we often don't think about. Power and energy, each day we are given energy and power from God to complete the tasks He has planned for us. We are given enough to sustain ourselves perfectly until those tasks we are called to do are complete.
Yesterday, I was up and out of the house by 6:45 and off to the office. I did some studying, some reading, some praying and then some blogging. After completing the blog I was off to the Character Counts Champions Breakfast at Ketterlinus Elementary School where my presence was requested. After which, I was scheduled to do 5, 1 hour presentations for grades 1 through 5. I completed each of these talks, and presentations had a little late lunch and then off to the church to fix some things. I fixed what I needed to fix, and then rushed over to softball practice until 5. At 5 I left softball and rushed back to the church to get the van and start picking up kids. I was able to pick up a van full, then back to the church to hang out some. After that we did out BIble study, followed up by some High-low talk and then back in the van to take kids home. I got home and told Tara I was pooped. It was 9:30 and I was as tired as I can remember being in a long time.
I went to bed with one thing on my mind. SLeep. I wasn't worried about Thursday, or having enough power to get through Thursday, I was worried about sleep. You see one thing that comes from those verses is the comfort of knowing that God gives us enough strength for each day. You are spiritually recharged each evening and morning so taht you can complete His plans for you that day. You need not worry.
Think about it like the manna that God supplied for the Israelites in teh wilderness. Each day they were given just enough to eat, not enough to stock pile for the month, not enough to save some for later, enough to give them strength and nourishment for the following day.
It's like that with God's power, we can go to bed and rest assured that God will refill us and give us the sustaining power to get through the day.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

What's missing in teenagers today?

A question I am often asked as I go to the schools and speak is what is missing in teenagers today? I can't account for teenagers over the past century, but I can tell you what appears to be missing in most teens. It's empathy. It's that ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes. It's those times when you are faced with a problem and and the solution involves understanding the other person.
I have teenagers in our youth ministry that we have picked up along the way. They have grown up in the inner city, the roughest parts of town. They are constantly in survival mode. They get mad when they feel like they have been done wrong, and then they realize later that the other person was no more wrong than they were. I want so desparately to own a remote like Adam Sandler had in his movie "CLick"and fast forward to the part where they realize what really went on, and then rewind it and help them avoid the whole conflict.
But wait, it doesn't just happen in those kids lives. We have our share of what I would call "priviledged" kids, those kids who have a loving home, a great family, and everything they need, as well as most of what they want. These kids exemplify the same problem, the inability to see life through the eyes of others. Even older stronger, teenagers and college students as well as adults do it. We're in a hurry driving to work, or an appointment of some sort. We are cutting in and out of traffic trying desparately to make it in time. Then, someone cuts in front of us, guess what! They are probably in a hurry to get somewhere too. But we don't think about that, we selfishly think about getting ourselves there.
Jesus was approached by the scribes and pharisees in Matthew. He was asked, "What then is the greatest commandment?" His reply was the basis of how we should strive to live day to day, "To love the Lord your God, with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind." And the second is to love your neighbor as yourself."
Wouldn't that seemingly fix the problem. If we teach young men and women and teenagers to love God with all they have, that will set the bar high for them to love others.
That's what loving your neighbor as yourself really is, it's putting yourself in their shoes. None of us have much trouble loving ourselves, taking care of ourselves and putting ourselves first. What if we put God first, the person we are in conversation with second and ourselves third in every situation? Well, then Jesus' advice would be lived out.
So put others in front of yourself and watch your life blossom.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Boasting

Go along with Matthew the 6th chapter from yesterday. The first part of the group of verses is 25 and it says "Do not worry about your life" , then Jesus closes this series out with 6:304 where He tells us, "do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself."
Where does worry actually come from? What causes it, and what is it that we do it so much?
First of all worry comes from 2 things.
1. Worry comes from the fact that we forget who is in control. We often times get wrapped up in all that we are doing, all that we are trying to accomplish whether it be for God or not, that we forget God is in control. Nothing happens in this world by chance, therefore nothing in this world can happen without God knowing first that it is coming. He is in control, He is all knowing and all powerful. The second you think something won't get done in the church because you won't do it, you are completely wrong. Because the church is the body of Christ, and Christ takes care of His body.
2. Worry comes from looking too far ahead. We look ahead and plan ahead and put things together with the idea that we can or cannot handle them. We think about things based on how prepared we are for them, instead of based on the fact that God is completely prepared for them.
James 4:13-16 Now listen, you who say, "TOday or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." "Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow, life is a mistthat appears for a while and then vanishes. You instad ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will we will life and do this or that."
There it is, we need to stop saying what we will do tomorrow, especially if we can do it today. There is no promise of tomorrow, it's like a mist.
I'll admit there are a lot of times that Tara and I have worried about paying the bills. We've laid out a plan and prepared to execute it only to find out that we were silly for doing so. We get all wrapped up in how we are going to fix it that we overlook the fact that God has it under control. Not one single time have we been able to execute our plans completely. Either the problem is fixed by God half way through the plan, or life changes so rapidly that the plan doesn't work.
That's how it is with God, He is waiting and willing to overwhelm you if you'll trust Him and Him alone.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

The worry wart

I talked briefly in my sermon yesterday about peace, and about the way God gives it. It is absolutely 100% effective, it is not circumstancial and it is not in portions. It is poured out on you, and it is up to you to receive it.
I have met a lot of worry warts in my lifetime. People who contantly worry about this and worry about that. I have found that it is usually the people who have the most to worry about that don't worry.
In perspective let's break people down into 3 groups.
Group 1 is those people who have everything, they are wealthy, they can afford everything that the world throws at them and then some. They are people who worry.
Group 2 is people who have nothing. These are the people who cannot pay their bills, cannot afford to do anything extra and cannot afford any problem or breakdown that might occur. These people worry the least.
Group 3 is people who are in the middle. They have a little bit of money put away to help out with bills that might come up. These people live comfortably if there is something special they want, usually they find a way to get it. These people worry the most.
Matthew 6:30(you should read 25-31 for the full effect) "If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"
In an earlier verse Jesus tells how birds take care of themselves and their young. They don't have barns to store food away in, they don't even have a permanent dwelling yet they are taken care of. In v. 30 Jesus talks about he grass and how it is taken care of by God, but we are made in His image and we must understand that we are priority #1 to Him in the creation scale. So if He takes care of the birds and the grass, how much more will He provide for us!
I listed groups earlier, I believe each of those findings to be true, you may feel otherwise. Those who have, tend to worry. Those who do not have tend to rely on God for comfort and peace more often which lends them to worry less.
So don't worry about tomorrow, or even today. Understand that it is all in GOd's hands and He is patiently awaiting the day you ask Him to take that worry from you. He'll do it in a heartbeat and life will be good with or without any circumstancial changes.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Youth ministry Myth busted!

So I have been all these years in full understanding of youth ministry and many of its workings. I have always been focused on leading our young people into a deeper relationship and understanding of God and His Word. I have never been one to water things down so that our youth are entertained, or not too stimulated. But, I must admit with my current youth ministry the temptation is there. I am oftern tempted to not go so in depth because our youth ministry is usually 75% kids who have not been in church for long, most of which do not know the Lord, and many have never been in a church before about 6-12 months ago. So I am sure you can see my dilemma, the want to simplify everything so that they will have no choice but to get it. Then I remind myself it is not my job, God has it all in control. While I may have physically picked them up and driven them to church, God is the sole reason they are there.
Hebrews 5:12-14 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still and infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
There it is, if I keep all of them on milk alone, the older ones will stagnate and eventually lose interest. If all I give the young ones, and the new ones to church is milk then eventually they will grow accustomed to milk, become dependent on it and they too will not grow to reach their potential in Christ.
So we have to give them meat. I am learning this because 2 weeks ago I went pretty deep with the lesson and I felt like I went over many of their heads, yet, that was the lesson that some of our church (infants) commented more on. Because they were being spurred on. And, the light came on that this is how I have always done it, don't change now.
If you get right down to it, that is what their life is all about. As students they are conditioned to learn and grow each day. As athletes and musicians as well, they are conditioned to learn and grow each day. Why should it be any different at church?

the biggest loser

So we all are familiar with the show, "The biggest loser". In this show contestants agree to go on television, be weighed and then compete with other contestants to see who can lose the most weight. It's a play on words in a sense because the "biggest loser" is actually the winner. In the world, people will call us losers for many different reasons. That in a sense is a play on words, and for a Christian it is also a complement to be a loser in the world's eyes.
The world tells us to be successful, to be rich, to hurt or step on whoever needed to get to the top. We need power, prestige and lots of possessions to look like a winner in the world's eyes. We need to have pride, egos and lots of power in every area of our lives. We need to look like a million dollars every time we leave the house(mansion). But, God tells us different.
John 3:30 says, "I must decrease so that He can increase."
That means that the less people think of us, the less they see of us, the more Christ can grow in us. It's the complete opposite of what the world tells us. Jesus, tells us we need to become as humble and silent as possible in our own lives, so that His life can shine through. We are shown numerous times the ways that God lifts the humble, and tells us to live this way. God's greatest servants were just that, servants.
So throw off your own life, and allow God to grow inside of you so that He can be the majority leader in your personality and lifestyle. THen and only then can we truly be successful and share the Gospel uninhibited.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

FInishing strong

I used to work out a lot in high school. I would work out lifting weights for countless hours in the weightroom, go throw the baseball for a while and do some hitting and then some running. All the while keeping in the back of my mind the importance of finishing strong. Every day that I didn't get better, someone else did. Every time I didn't finish strong, someone else did and passed me. That was my mindset throughout the whole process. From freshman year to graduation. I was living with so much fear that someone would work harder or show more determination.
I was so fearful of those things,but once I took that baseball glove off for the last time, where did all of that energy and drive go?
Today I would have to say it goes into my ministry. Each day I want to be the first up and the first in the Word. I want to be the first one working and the one finishing the strongest. Today, it's funny that I am sharing this as I am typing my blog about 2 hours later than usual because of situations. I went to the hospital this morning to be with Brad, one of our youth who was having a procedure done. I had to be there at 6:30am so that set me back about 2 hours on my blogging and studying this morning.
Not to worry, I survived. But, perseverance is important.
James 1:4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete.
Yesterday we talked about how to get the perseverance and how God uses circumstances to build it within us. But finishing strong is important. Any time we quit in the midst of our struggles and trials we are not allowing God to finish out what He started by allowing that trial into our lives to start with.
So the longer the struggle, the greater the trial, the better your faith and perseverance will be. Walk through the trials, keep your head up and allow God to finish what He started in you.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Perseverance

We have a lot of tricks that we do to make things harder on our girls at softball. We do a lot of things in a way that it puts a little added pressure on them to do things correctly and with hustle. One of the things that I have noticed is that the girls that start off rough, and unable to accomplish a lot of what they need to are the ones that end up making better game day players. Let me explain.
We have this drill that after they are done warming up their arms they get a distance of third base to second apart. They then throw back and forth to one another 10 times as fast as they can. When they have completed that they take a knee and the winner doesn't have to run, do push-ups or sit-ups. The rest do. So it has extra added incentive. But, in our findings the girls that finish somewhere in the middle between about the 4th group to about the 8th group are the ones that don't seem to get much better. The ones that finish in the last few groups tend to eventually succeed even more in their own little ways. Mainly because they are new to the teams, new to the coaches, already nervous and now they are having to make the throws with every coach and player watching them. It's pressure that pushes them to succeed. THen, in game times those girls,(the later finishers) after developing the proper techniques and skills will start to come through in game situations.
James 1:2-3 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
There it is, in our faith walk we need some high pressure tests. The people who have been tested the most, and passed it the most will eventually be the ones who come through for God in major ways. It's the people that crumble with every minor little detail that end up having problems no matter how strong the appear to be. God sends trials, He allows us to be tested so that our faith has something to stand on. Your belief grows every time you shake off a little bit of doubt and face whatever life throws at you with a confident faith.
So stand tall in the face of trials, and take that one step farther. James says we should, "Consider it pure joy" because that trial is God making and growing a stronger faith inside of you.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Glory hogs

Who do you work for? I work for God, Freedom Baptist Church and the Betty Griffin House so my work is somewhat different than most. Humility is a little harder to seek and acquire in this setting.
I have friends who work for different companies, automotive shops, air condition companies, banks, and so on. You work for a company and when you work for that company who gets the glory for your accomplishments?
Football teams play, the players come together and work hard and hopefully become a family. Then soon after that they win and accomplish great things, but in the end it's the coach that gets the majority of the glory. And in most circumstances whether in the business world, or sports arena we are okay with that. We are okay with the fact that we work our fingers to the bone, and our bosses get the credit. We're okay that we practice, work out, eat right, take care of our bodies and our coaches get the credit. Why is it then, that when great things happen in our lives that we know are not under our complete control we hog the glory?
We do it, even when we don't openly admit it. There were times when in youth ministry things would go really great, we would look back and try to decide what we did to make that happen. Or when I had great things happen to me financially, or physically or so on. I immediately start trying to decide what I had done to make that happen. When in reality we should start out our endeavors, jobs what have you with God in mind.
1 Corinthians 10:31 says, So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. DO everything you do right down to the bare essentials to the glory of God and things will put themselves into place.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

the return

I talk with Christians all the time that miss the gift. They tell me they live the way God wants them to, they do all the things a Christian should do, but they still don't get blessed the way others do. They go to church every Sunday, Wednesday, volunteer at youth events, work in the nursery, tithe above and beyond the 10%, pray for the church and those who are in need, feed the hungry, care for the homeless and so on. They feel like they are doing everything they can to be blessed with great things. When in reality, they are cultivating a works based faith. They are becoming weary with well-doing. They have lost their passion for the cross.
I just finished a book I would recommend to everyone. The Cross-Centered life by C.J. muhaney is a great book, in it is everything that I try to explain to people every Sunday. From, the chasing after the wind, to the chasing after God's glory we miss out if we don't focus on the Gospel. The fact that Jesus Christ, bled, and hung on a cross, after enduring torch and mocking just for you, a sinner. Paul focuses on it regulary when he calls himself the world's greatest sinner.
We need to focus on our life as non-Christians and the things that we did, and balance that with the riches we have in knowing Christ.
Jeremiah 45:5 says, "Do you seek great things for yourself?"
Well do you? THere's an old non-Christians song that I like a lot. I like it mostly because I grew up in the era of Rocky movies. I loved "Eye of the Tiger" and I still have it on my IPOD today. If you listen to the lyrics it makes the point I am making here today. It says far too often we trade our passion for glory.
Think about that. Have you traded your passion for the cross, and for JEsus Christ for glory? I can tell you as a Pastor it is easy to do at times. I have to make sure I read over my resolutions for the year in every area. I have 8 areas of life, that's 8 different people that I am and 8 different hats that I wear. From Christian, father, husband, pastor, community educator, chaplain, coach, and racer. And I have them listed in that particular order because that is the order God has helped me place them in. First, and foremost I am a beliver and every day I make sure I don't replace my passion for the Cross and for God's glory for my own fleshly glory.
So again I ask you like Jeremiah says, Are you seeking great things for yourself? If you are, you're missing out on the greatest thing, Jesus!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

the white elephant

So I'm sure we have all been to a party where you bring a white elephant gift. You know you bring kind of a gift, of a certain value, yet it's to no one in particular. I must admit my family and I go to my dad's work Christmas party each year, we get in the gift exchange and together the 6 of us walk away with a lot of good stuff. We watch and calculate what we can give up, in order to get what we want. We publicize certain things to draw attention to them so that what we really want will be low key. THis year we walked away with hot chocolate sets that the girls wanted and movie tickets so that we could take the girls to see bolt on Christmas Eve. We planned it, we calculated it and we executed.
Romans 6:8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.
Think about those verses, and what God is asking us to do. We are to die with Christ so that we can be alive in Him. We have to give up something meaningless to gain what is meaningful. At the Christmas party we gave up countless things such as a pair of coffee mugs, I personally got rid of a cooking thermometer, mom got rid of some sort of a plant, and Tara traded a candle set for her movie tickets. It was planned and executed to perfection.
That's what Romans 6:8 is telling us, to let go of our lives, our sins, our desires, and become alive in CHrist. There has to be a time in your life when you turn over a meaningless and empty life to God so that you can receive new life in Christ. A vibrant and extremely meaningful restart to life. A new start, a new chance that is far better than that little restart we think we get at New Years.
So think back, is there a time in life that you can pinpoint that you absolutely laid down the old things, gave them to God so that He could fill you with new life? I hope so, if not, attend a church this very Sunday and make that public, allow others to celebrate in your white elephant gift, your life.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

BOLDness, or ignorance?

Tara likes to watch CSI Miami, she's a semi-regular watcher of CSI the original but for whatever reason, she just prefers CSI Miami. I watch it with her on occasion and it's interesting to watch the characters on there. They will get a warrant and go search people's houses, some times the officers try to search without a warrant. The come up on several types of people.
First, there are those who have genuinely done nothing wrong. They immediately let the Investigators know that they can search anything they need to and can count on their full cooperation. These people are without any sign of guilt so they let them right in to do the full search.
Then, you have the people who are guilty but think that no one will figure it out. They too immediately let the investigators know that they can search anything they need to and can count on their full cooperation. These people are full of guilt, but doing everything they can to make it seem as though they are completely innocent. They think that either they have committed the crime in a way that it won't be found out, or they think they have swept the place clean of any and all incriminating evidence.
Finally, we have the people who are guilty, who will not let anyone in without a warrant and even then they make things difficult. They know that they will be found out or they are unsure of their abilities and the abilities of others to keep the crime concealed.
Psalm 139 closes out with verses that strike at my very soul. I think they are probably the boldest statements in the BIble made toward God that don't need to be said. Let me re-state that. These are the boldest words spoken by man that don't need to be spoken.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
I can't imagine me, a well published sinner ever telling God to search me and see if there is anything incriminating about me. But, then I know I don't have to. God sees it when it happens, he sees the temptation before it appears and sees me act on it before it is complete. So why would I say that? Why would the Psalmist say that?
Is it just plain bold? Is he really one of the criminals who thinks he can pull one over on God? Or is he ignorant in believing that God does not already know all those things.
I'm sticking with boldness. He is in affect saying, "I know you know my thoughts, my actions and my every move, but I want you to search them and create conviction in my life so that I might bring more honor and glory to you God!"
So when is the last time you asked God to search you, to dig into the things that we do reglularly and reveal to you the things that are offensive and hold you back from intimacy with God?
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

children

I have two lovely little girls. I don't know if you have noticed but the majority of my happiness here on earth is derived from them. As we all know, much of the aggravation in life comes from there too, but I am willing to weigh it out to the good side.
There are a lot of times when I see P.J. heading out of the room, and I can tell her "Don't you go and ......" and she'll reply okay, or yes sir! The same goes with Alexa, she'll go to bed at night and without even opening the door I will walk by in about 15 minutes and tell her to put her book up, because I know she will be reading.(I will discuss this in my other blog further).
That type of attitude is easy as a parent because we know our kids. We know how to read them and we usually know what they are about to go get into. But if we are really honest with ourselves, it is usually an educated guess. We don't know what they are going to do, if we did they wouldn't get into half of the trouble that they do. We don't know what they are doing at all times and if we did, we probably wouldn't like it. That's the cold hard truth.
God knows what is going to happen, what we think, what we are going to think and what we are going to say about what we think. He knows this not just about a select few, but about the entire world. I can figure out Alexa and P.J. and on occasion Tara(I'm being honest) but I can't figure out other people's children, they stay the night and I just look at Tara and say, "What's up with her, why is she acting that way?" and so on. Simply because I don't know them well enough to read them and understand where they are coming from. My kids, they are open book most times.
Psalm 139:4-6 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hadn upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
There it is, GOd knows everyone's children's ideas, thoughts and actions before they happen. Why? Because He is just that intimate with everyone. Think about who you share your actual thoughts with. For some of us that is a short list of about 2 or 3 people. For others, it's a list that contains only ourselves and maybe, just maybe our spouse. Think about how much trust there has to be before you will share your thoughts with someone, that is true 100% intimacy. THat is exactly what we have with God, if we will just acknowledge it and build on it in other areas of our life we will become one iwth God.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Breaking it down further

I love the 139 Psalm. It's one of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible. I read it aloud to our congregation just yesterday because it so perfectly complemented the message about Cornelius' and Peter's visions in the 10th chapter of Acts. The two of them were in essence living out Psalm 139 in the fact that God knows long before it happens, and has a plan for it to bring about good in your life.

O Lord, you have searched me and you know me
You know when I sit and when I rise;
You perceive my thoughts from afar.

The first 2 verses the Psalmist starts out by telling us how well God knows us. It says you searched me and you know me. It's kind of like a interogation without the bright lights and the shouting people, you know the ones you watch on dateline and the court tv channel. You see men standing over suspects forcing them to spill their guts about what took place, trying to force the truth out of them about the exact goings on in their particular cases. Only, with God He knows it all. He doesn't just know what's going on, He doesn't just know what's going to happen in advance, He knows every detail of it. From when you sit to when you rise, to when you're thinking about sitting or rising.
It is pivotal that we understand this chapter in order for us to understand how God takes care of us. We hear all the time that God is in control, that all things happen for a reason, and so on. rarely do we really, trully want to hear those things. When we do hear them, unless we understand this particular chapter in Psalms we will not get the peace of knowing the truth.
God knows what's happening, what is going to happen and what has already happened. We can't fully process it, but we can rest assured in knowing these facts. Then and only then can we place full control in His hands and stop trying to micro manage and dissect every thing that happens in our lives.
He has a plan, His plan, and His timing are perfect!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

deeper than we can understand, deeper than we sometimes want

There are several things that we can never fully understand as Believers. I think one of the toughest ones is the actual availability and knowledge of God. He knows every detail of our lives, I often think about things I shouldn't. I stop those things right dead in their tracks as thoughts, yet God already knew it was coming! I do things in the privacy of my office or own home and no matter what they are God knows them. This has an upside to it as well, because it is the substance of true humility. If you truly live a lifestyle of "Audience of One", He is all you are concerned with, and if He is all you are concerned with you never have to say, "Hey look what I did" or do anything at all to draw attention to yourself. It's a tough road sometimes as a believer trying to be truly humble, we accomplish something major and immediately we want to tell someone. But, we're humble, we don't tell anyone we just do it in a way that others see it. That way we humbly act it out and at the same time others know about it, that isn't humility at all.
Psalm 139 tells us all that I am trying to explain right here.

O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be, How precious to me are your thoughts, How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

So remember, He knows it, and when you realize He knows about it, it's too late. So live for Him, live a life of cleanliness and purity and know that even if the world never notices, God does and that is all that matters.
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Take heart

STand by, chill for a minute, wait right here! These are all things that are told of people when they are seeking help. For the most part they are things I have told my kids when they are absolutely "Dying of thirst or hunger daddy!". I know you've had those times, P.J. is honestly hungry most of the day, the majority of her afternoon consists of snacks, candy, drinks, popsicles and whatever she can get her hands on. Then she eats all of her dinner, only to hunt down some dessert and sometimes want more dessert because, "I'm still berry, berry hungry daddy!" Is she? Is she really hungry, is she always starving as her dramatic representation would make you think? I fall for it all the time, I get home from work and Tara is at the computer paying bills or doing something, Alexa is coloring or reading and P.J. greets me with a "I'm hungry daddy!" Now, I haven't been home for a while so I buy it, I say, "Well, what can I get you P.J.?" "Let me show you daddy." She'll say. Then from the living room I hear, "She's already had ....... and ......." She can't be that hungry", Tara will exclaim.
We sit here on earth in our pity, thinking that things are bad, thinking that things are out of control and spiralling downward. Jesus must be sitting back thinking about how many times He has "fed us" or "or brought us comfort" recently, yet we are again begging for more.
Jesus made this statement in John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Take heart, not chill, wait right there, relax or stand by. Take heart! I have overcome the world.
JEsus has overcome all that we will ever face, He has done it in human form and in Spirit form repeatedly in our very own lives, yet we beg for more. Jesus wants you to realize that whatever it is in your life that is dragging you down, has already been conquered, it's up to you to realize that and move on from it. So Take heart! It's under control, and you are no where close to as needy as you think you are!
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Pitch your tent

Let my life song sing to you! That is the chorus to a song that Casting Crowns did several years ago. It was a huge hit, but I don't think a lot of people really paid attention to the words of the song, or what they really meant. It meant to live your life in a way that people would naturally give God credit for anything that you do. Sure, it's easy to experience a great victory, to win at something, to excell in life and thank God for what He has given you the abilities to accomplish. But, how many people can you honestly say that other people give God the credit.
Here's what I mean. A young man is gifted with athletic ability, he shines and succeeds on the biggest stages, in the toughest situations and in the face of millions of doubters. Afterwards he gives God the glory and thanks God for all that he is able to accomplish. The next day everyone is talking about what he did, the amazing things that he was able to do with his own body, the way he led his team to victory. There are those select few however, that the following day people are talking about what a blessing they are. How they are blessed to have had God accomplish those things through them.
Genesis 12:8 says, "He moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord"
This is the chronicle of the first travels of Abraham out of the area of Haran. He was proud that God had called him to do great things, God had just told him he would make him great, that out of him would come great nations. So what did Abraham do? He got out of town and built and altar to worship God. So that when everything was accomlished that God had mentioned, God would receive 100% of the credit.
That's what a true life of worship is about. Giving God all of the glory before and after our great accomplishments in a way that people realize we were nothing more than a vessel that God used to accomplish His will.
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Context is everything

I hear a lot of people quote scripture in situations. I hear them do a great job and at times I hear them do a terrible job. The important thing when quoting scripture or committing it to memory is that we know the context in which God intended as well as the context it was written in. There are many times in the BIble that God allows the writer to share what someone has said, or stated in an instance. There are examples all through the BIble, some humorous like Zechariah 5:7-8 and others easy to twist and misuse like Job 4:7-8.
Zechariah 5:7-8 says, "Then teh cover of the lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! He said, 'This is wickedness,' and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed the lead cover over its mouth."

Job 4:7 - 8 says, "Consider now: Who, being innocent has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it."

There are two very different passages that can be easily misinterpreted. The first one just incriminates women even more. I mean we already know they started Adam on his pathway to sin. Women started the whole thing, and now Zechariah is telling us that they are evil. What more can I say?
Then, in Job Eliphaz simply mispeaks. Job talks about it later, but basically he is trying to make a point that evil people do evil things and bring about their own sorts of evil in their lives. You reap what you sow is basically what he is saying, he just got a little carried away in making it sound like good people never have bad things happen and bad people always will. We know each of those are untrue.
So there you have it, 2 sets of verses when miss-spoken can cause a world of hurt. So as you commit scripture to memory, and plan to call on it when you're in a pinch, make sure you've got the context. WIthout the true context of the verses, you can get yourself into a lot of trouble, much like I did in the paragraph on Zechariah's words.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

2009, It's heeerrrreee!

So, today is my first official day on my day job and my first official blog of the new year. It's so exciting isn't it, new years eve, the promise of a new start a new year. But what really changes? I still got up today and went to work, I'm still blogging, I'm still doing the things that I usually do. What changes is actually in our minds. We come to a place where psychologically we believe we are getting a fresh start, a new clean slate. Think about how refreshing those thoughts are, a fresh start and a new beginning.
I will confess I set goals and made resolutions to help me set those goals for this year. I fasted the final 3 days of the year so that I could make sure that I set goals based on what God wants for my life, and not what I want for me. There are a lot of different aspects I needed to face and each area comes with different jobs which bring about different types of expectations. My life basically breaks down into about 9 different areas. Christian, Father, Husband, Son, Pastor, Community Educator, Football team chaplain, Girls' softball coach, and drag racer. Each area carries with it different situations. But all of them are focused right now on new starts.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
THere it is, in order for all things to become new, all old things must pass away. I had to put to rest some habits and laziness in my life before I could focus on any area of my life for the new year.
Christianity is becoming a new creation. It is offereing to others what we ahve, a fresh new start on life that puts far, far behind us the things of our old lifestyles and allows us to focus on life fresh and new.
So face the new year with excitement, with goals and resolutions, but make sure they are in line with Christ. Make sure one of the top ones is to reach your loved ones and your friends with the Gospel and offer them a fresh start on life.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!