a little overview

I am finally finding myself with enough time to blog once again, like I did almost 10 years ago. Interestingly enough I looked at my last few blogs which were dated june 2010 and I can remember typing them and a lot of the circumstances I was dealing with at the time. I am going to use this blog a little differenty for now. I am going to do my best to keep to somewhat of a schedule as we move forward. On mondays I am going to basically post the sermon from the day before that I shared at Freedom Church in St Augustine. On Tuesdays I am going to give a bit of an overlook into what my last weekend was like and a little window into my feelings and emotions moving forward. Wednesdays will be about the week and a little kickstarter to the second half of the week getting us over the "hump", Thursdays I will post my message from youth at Freedom the night before.Fridays will be just a fun day of sharing something great that happened in my ministry over the past week. Now that I have posted these plans I have actively opened myself up to all types of problems. Internet, computer, sermon prep they will all in some way affect what I have posted here because as we all know according to Proverbs 16:9 Man can make their plans, but the it is the Lord that determines their steps. So if it isn't here, know that it was out of my abilities and powers to make it happen. For instance today, I am typing much later than usual as I had internet issues at my office. Another reason for this blog is for me to be able to unblock some people and avoid some of the hurts that are inflicted on Facebook. As a Pastor I am called to be the shepherd of God's people at Freedom and almost daily I was bombarded with people posting things that were anything but Christian on their walls, tweets, instagrams and so on. I even went so far as to block some of them who were considered leaders in days past so that I wouldn't be frustrated by their actions every day. I am going to continue to have all of the social media sites, I will use them, I will check them each day but I will not scroll through them regularly. It just isn't in my best interest to see pictures of people tagged in places they shouldn't be, posting links to things with language that is not CHrist like, and having people I pray for on a regular basis, visit in the hospital, do my best to take care of any need that I can, asking people about other church's service times and ministries. All of those things are hurtful and I cannot help but take them personal so I am better off taking a breather from Facebook. I have prayed hard about these matters, and I feel this is best for me. I realized that my depression is mostly attributed to the pain I feel of seeing others making mistakes in their lives, I am not judging them I am hurting because I cannot stop them and they don't wish to be stopped. No matter how many times I ask how they are doing or how often I pray for them and with them, they tell me they don't go to church because people are judging them. And the reallity is they are judging themselves. So all that having been said, I love my ministry, I love my family, I love my life and I most importantly love my God. I will post updates on Facebook, twitter and instagram of things happening in my life but if you want me to see something you have going on you will have to send it to me, tag me in it or reply to one of my threads. The last year at Freedom we have been blessed with some of the most amazing families and I want to take a minute to thank them. We have our childrens' ministry headed in the direction it should be, we have people who are cleaning the church and allowing Tara and I more family time on a weekly basis, we have people who are taking care of the lawn again blessing me with more family time and more time ministering to our community. Without these people, the prayers of our church members and the sacrificial servants hearts of these nameless servants of God Freedom would not be the place it is, thank you to all of you and GOd Bless!