Spreading The News

Something to think about?

2012-01-05T15:10:00.001-06:00

A man went to visit his preacher and was wondering why no one seemed to care about him. "What do you mean?" asked the preacher. "No one has knocked on my door to see about me. Not one person. No one cares about how I feel, or how I'm doing, or even if I am alive or not." The preacher apologized for the church's neglect of this man and asked forgiveness for the wrongs done that hurt the man.

The man was at church that next Sunday and the preacher saw him and told him how glad he was to see him at worship. The preacher asked, “Can you go and visit Brother Thomas? I noticed he wasn’t here today.” “I would, but I have a really busy day planned today,” replied the man. “Well, what about tomorrow?” asked the preacher. “Well, tomorrow I have to take care of some things around my house.” “Then what about Tuesday?” asked the preacher once again and once again the man was too busy to go to visit brother Thomas.

I hope you don’t find yourself in either of these men’s shoes. The man who was offended, the preacher or brother Thomas. All of these men could have been hurt by the actions or lack of action of a brother in Christ. How are we doing?

In Him,
Joe

Questions

2011-02-01T20:24:00.001-06:00

There was a time in my life when I felt completely clueless about computers and other forms of technology. I remember sitting in college classes thinking there was no way I would be able to use a computer to its fullest. Slowly I asked enough questions to the right people and I started to learn what button to select, how to copy and paste (thought this was a life savior), how to email, how to search on the internet, and more each day. I learned that the computer could help me accomplish certain task and what not much benefit with others. Eventually technology sparked my interest enough that I completely change my degree plan (don’t act like you have never done that) and go after a degree in network engineering. I was the one in the class that everyone could expect a Q&A session from at the end of each theory class. Although it’s not my comfort zone to speak in front of a large group of people I put that aside in order to learn all I could so that one day I would be marketable in the work place. Lesson learned ask questions in order to succeed.

The same goes for Christianity. So many times we don’t want to ask the questions we have out of fear that someone will look down on us, or maybe we don’t want the answer because of what changes we might have to make in our lives. Seems there was a rich man in the bible that asks what he must do in order to be saved and didn’t like the answer he got.

There was another character in the bible named David knows as the man after God’s own heart. He constantly went straight to God with his difficulties and got his answers.

Did you also know that one of the most famous verses in the Bible came about as the result of someone asking a question? Check it out:

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked. "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:1-16)

I might be completely wrong about this but I am sure you have some questions about God and his word. Here is something I recommend you try with all your questions:

1. Go to God – Trust me there is not a question that you have that he hasn’t heard. More importantly there is not a question you have that he won’t have the answer to.

2. Ask a minister, elder, deacon, or teacher at church. Let them minister to your spiritual needs.

3. Know that there are some questions that we all have that will remain a mystery until we meet our maker.

In Him,

Joe

New Routine

2011-01-13T10:45:00.000-06:00

STORY

There’s a true story of a man I have worked with who has spent his entire life believing that his ears were not symmetrical and therefore sunglasses always looked crooked on his face. He came to accept this over time, until he came in touch with mindfulness practice.

One day as he was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom he chose to take a moment to come down from his busy mind, become present, and really look at himself. What he noticed was astonishing.

He suddenly realized that he had not been standing straight and that one shoulder was slightly lower than the other. In that moment, he chose to stand up straight and low and behold his eyeglasses were no longer crooked on his face. All this time he thought his face was lopsided in some way when in effect, it was his posture.

This story is just a metaphor for the rest of us in our lives. Over time, what do we just get used to and learn to accept that keeps us limited in how we see things? What in our lives has become routine to a point that we have lost our sense of wonder in this world?

LESSON

Do you ever get that feeling that you’re tired of the same old routine? Your tired of getting up going to work or school accomplishing the task that are placed in front of you only to go home and do the same thing you did the night before. Maybe you go home and watch TV until you fall asleep, or play games, or maybe you clean house or do chores. Whatever you do most of us have some type of routine that we fall into.

We stop and pause from time to time and have a urge to just get away from it all. See something or do something new for a change, but most of us don’t we stick to the routine. It’s that so wrong? It’s not like it’s going to upset the balance of the earth if for a change you just drive home a different way from work, or walk a different path on the way to class. Maybe instead of watching TV when you get home you will go outside and take a walk.

Jesus lived a life that I would say was far from routine. Maybe the only one and true routine that he might have would be to seek and save the lost, but each day there seemed to be a different path in which he would go. Why do you think that is? His goal was to meet as many people as possible and to save them. To share his story with them and let them decided to follow him.

How is it that if we are charged with the same instruction as Jesus (to seek and save the lost) we are not meeting more people? Why do we not go out of our way to meet someone new each day? When is the last time you meet someone new? It’s really hard to meet new people when we are stuck in our routines.

The world tells us that our time is our time and everyone else can wait. That understanding is the complete opposite of Christ. He tells us that we are here to serve others and by doing so we are to give them our time.

If we rely on human reasoning to get through life, we'll eventually be led astray. Sometimes a choice or an option appeals to us or seems right, but it really isn't. We need spiritual discernment from God to help us understand what's truly good and what isn't.

¹² There is a way that appears to be right,
but in the end it leads to death.

The Umbrella of Faith

2011-01-03T19:36:00.001-06:00

“A rural church in the middle of farming country, much like the one many of us attend, had a special service to pray for rain. The drought had hit the area hard and the farmers and community were suffering financially and spiritually. Many people came to the service to pray and as the pastor looked out over the crowd he was encouraged. However, the thing that inspired him most was a little girl sitting in the front pew, holding a bright red umbrella. Everyone had come to pray for rain, but only the little girl believed enough to bring an umbrella.”

I love this story and I was reminded of it while discussing prayer in our small group. One person in our group told us how a lot of the times we go to God in prayer asking for something only to give God an out. We ask for someone to be healed and then say God if that’s your will. Maybe we ask for rain and then say God only if you see fit. Yes God will do what he wants to do. His will is his plan but it’fs not up to us to determine what that plan is exactly. He told us to ask for the things we needs to seek and we shall find to knock and the door shall be open.

Next time you pray say the prayer like you mean it. Pray only for the things that you have faith in. As another once told me “there is really no need in praying for something if you don’t have enough faith to believe in it”. How true that statement is.

God knew what he was talking about when he said that we should come to him as little children. Children do not doubt their father. They know his purpose is to take care of them the best way possible.

In Him,

Joe

Sin Popsicle

2010-12-28T11:47:00.001-06:00

Up in the arctic circle there is tribe of Eskimo's who have learned to set a very simple yet effective trap for wolves. First they sharpen a knife razor sharp. Then they dip it in the blood of a seal they have killed. (you see seals are fairly easy to trap but wolves are very dangerous). After dipping the knife in blood they set it outside in the cold so the blood freezes on the knife. After if freezes (a matter of minutes) they dip it again into the seal blood and again take it out an let the blood freeze. Layer after layer they make a blood popsicle. When they are done, the knife's blade is hidden inside just like a popsicle stick. Now they take the knife out into the wilderness where they think a wolf might be. There the bury the handle of the knife in the snow leaving the blood popsicle standing up and they leave.

Now after a while a wolf will come along guided by his sense of smell and find the "bloodsicle". He will being licking it, enjoying every taste. Over and over he licks the knife and soon his tongue is so cold he cannot feel it any longer. It's numb. But his taste for blood is growing and he is not getting as much as he wants - you see, popsicles are slow eating. Finally his licking exposes the razor sharp edge of the knife. It cuts into his tongue again and again but he does not even notice for his tongue can no longer feel anything. The wolfs own blood now flows from his cut tongue. The wolf is thrilled, blood is now more plentiful and he continues to lick more and more.

Soon he notices something is wrong, he is getting weaker not stronger. Since he knows blood as food he increases his efforts to feed on the ever increasing flow of blood. His last thoughts are of how good the now warm blood tastes. Within minutes he licks his last and collapse next to the now fully exposed knife. Here the Eskimo knows he will find the wolfs body the next morning.

Now Satan's is capable of much more elegant schemes to trap us and injure us with sin than the Eskimo and we are often less wise than the Wolf. So Peter and Paul have both written to encourage us. They write -

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Pet 5:8 (NIV)

The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. ......, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. 2 Cor 2:9 &11 (NIV)

The Bible teaches us that temptation itself is not sin. (see Heb 4:15). It begins with our natural desires and Satan. Satan knows about our sin nature just as the Eskimo knows of the wolves desire for blood. He then sets a trap for us and lies to us to convince us we must act outside of God will in some area of our life.

Pepaw takes aim

2010-12-23T21:04:00.001-06:00

As an elementary kid one summer I remember working side by side my grandfather, dad, brother and uncle. It was at a time when we were all pitching in with helping hands to get ready a piece of land and house for my uncle and his family. My brother and I were very distracted throughout the day with a large family of cotton tail rabbits that were living on the piece of land. There had to be a dozen of them running around, and every time we moved something or made room for something there would be a rabbit or two. They didn’t seem fearful of us and that made it even worse. Let me tell you we were two country boys who had been raised to hunt all animals and this was torture. Several times during the day we would pick up rocks or sticks to chunk at the rabbits but were unable to bring home the bacon. I remember us both making comments about wishing we had our guns, or bows, or knifes, or slingshots, or anything that could be used for ammunition. Watching us all throughout the day was our grandfather (Pepaw). Never too far away from us but not once did he say a word to us at all of our failed attempts. Finally as the day was losing sunlight and we had gathered around the truck our Pepaw asked us both if we were able to bag some supper. Both of us feeling a little down on ourselves shook our heads no. Just then a daring rabbit hopped out about twenty feet from us and with lightning speed Pepaw pulled his trusty old pliers from his back pocket stepped and threw. This throw would have made Nolan Ryan weak in the knees. Pepaw walked over picked up the rabbit and brought it over to us. He didn’t gloat about it or show boat to us. He simply said, “You know when I was a kid if you missed your shot you didn’t get to eat”, and then we all laughed. My brother and I tried several times to get Pepaw to take aim again at another rabbit, but to no avail. He just didn’t believe in taking more than you needed or he thought there is no way I could make that same throw again (Scott and I believe that latter).

Really even though this may be a little rough or gory for some this was one of my fondest memories. I have told this story to several people due to the rarity of the great shot. Call it a hunting story for the books!

Have you ever taken aimed at something? There are a few people in the bible I can think of who took aim. Some hit the target dead on and other’s not so much. David would be my first pick and probably most obvious to most as he took aim with just a stone and defeated goliath. What a day that must have been. I know how much I looked up to my Pepaw for his shot with the trusties pliers, but those watching David had a story to tell. Another person who took aim was Moses. Maybe not so much with a slingshot or bow but he had a target of the promise land and he aimed himself along with several Israelites on the path. I don’t think any of us who know this story would say Moses made a bull’s eye here. It to me is one of the saddest stories about Moses. All the hard work he put forth lost due to what God says is trust in him.

Numbers 20:9-12

⁹ So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as he commanded him. ¹⁰ He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

¹² But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

We read of the mistake Moses makes here and can’t believe he would lose trust in his creator.

Have you ever lost trust in God? Your immediate response to that question is “No way.” But really it’s not that far out there. Losing trust in God happens when we feel like we don’t need God no matter the task at hand. For some of us we tend to lean on God when things are hard in our lives but on a day to day we let God take a break and handle our lives by ourselves. What are we truly saying? Maybe we too don’t trust God enough to give him full control of everything in our lives.

As you finish reading this try and make this week be about taking aim on the right target. My real shot in this life is to aim to finish what God has left here for me to do, and that is to take his word live it and share it with as many people as possible. I pray to God that I don’t miss my target.

Acts 20:24

²⁴ However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

Experience Understanding

2010-12-15T12:46:00.001-06:00

Just try reading this without laughing till you cry!!!

Pocket Tazer Stun Gun, a great gift for the wife. A guy who purchased his lovely wife a pocket Tazer for their anniversary submitted this:

Last weekend I saw something at Larry's Pistol & Pawn Shop that sparked my interest. The occasion was our 15th anniversary and I was looking for a little something extra for my wife Julie. What I came across was a 100,000-volt, pocket/purse- sized tazer. The effects of the tazer were supposed to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety....??

WAY TOO COOL! Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two AAA batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button. Nothing! I was disappointed. I learned, however, that if I pushed the button and pressed it against a metal surface at the same time; I'd get the blue arc of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs.

AWESOME!!!

Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to Julie what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave.

Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn't be all that bad with only two triple-A batteries, right? There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target. I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second) and thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong?

So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, and tazer in another. The directions said that a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water. Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries.

All the while I'm looking at this little device measuring about 5" long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference; pretty cute really and (loaded with two itsy, bitsy triple-A batteries) thinking to myself, 'no possible way!' What happened next is almost beyond description, but I'll do my best.

I'm sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side as to say, 'don't do it dummy,' reasoning that a one second burst from such a tiny little ole thing couldn't hurt all that bad. I decided to give myself a one second burst just for grins. I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and . .

OH MY WORD . . WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION . . . WHAT IN THE WORLD!!!

I'm pretty sure Mike Tyson ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs? The cat was making meowing sounds I had never heard before, clinging to a picture frame hanging above the fireplace, obviously in an attempt to avoid getting slammed by my body flopping all over the living room.

Note: If you ever feel compelled to 'mug' yourself with a tazer, one note of caution: there is no such thing as a one second burst when you zap yourself! You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor. A three second burst would be considered conservative?

A minute or so later (I can't be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace. The recliner was upside down and about 8 feet or so from where it originally was. My triceps, right thigh and chest were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs. I had no control over the drooling.

Apparently I pooped on myself, but was too numb to know for sure and my sense of smell was gone. I saw a faint smoke cloud above my head which I believe came from my hair.

P.s... My wife, can't stop laughing about my experience, loved the gift, and now regularly threatens me with it!

Now to try and relate this story to our Christian walk with God. Let’s face it this is something that is going to be hard to follow.

There is probably a time in your life (I know there was in mine) when I did something that I thought was the right thing to do, but the consciences told me otherwise. There are several examples in the bible of the same thing like when Jonah decided to not go to Nineveh and spent some time in a big fish, or there was the time when people wouldn’t listen to Noah and lost their lives in a big flood, and then there was the time when Lot’s wife was determined to turn and look back and became a pillar of salt. I could go on forever with all the examples we have and reading them I can’t help but wonder why people have to be so stupid. Why couldn’t they have just listened to what God and his prophets told them to do? The answer is the same for them as it is for us today. The reason we don’t obey God’s word from time to time is because we think we know better.

So you tell me is it wise of us to try and experience things that God has told us to steer clear of or do we need to go ahead and tazer ourselves to find out the real answers.

If you think following God’s word is difficult, try doing this whole life thing on your own!

Searching for God

2010-12-08T14:16:00.001-06:00

The story is told of a man who was walking along a highway one evening who saw the strangest thing. In a large field next to the highway was a large drove of hogs with their ears pricked up running first one way, and then another. They seemed to be terribly confused! The man observing this had no idea as to why this was happening.

The man kept walking and soon came to a farmhouse. He stopped and asked the old man on the porch, “Are those your hogs out there in that lot?” The old man replied, “Yes, they’re mine.”

“Well, there is something wrong with them. They’re acting crazy. They run in one direction for awhile and then they run in another direction with their heads and ears up. I’ve never seen anything like it,” the visitor replied.

The farmer then said, “Well, mister, I’ll tell you what’s wrong. You see. It’s about feeding time. Before I lost my voice, I would take a basket of corn up there and give a call or two, and they would come running to me. But since I have lost my voice, I just take my cane and knock on a nearby tree. When they hear me, they come running over to eat. But for the last week or two some woodpeckers have been coming to the trees in the field and when the hogs hear them, they think it is my knock and get confused.”

There is a lesson we can learn from this story. People are running around in different directions today religiously speaking. They are hearing people say all kinds of things about this religion is the right way, and you need to do this to be saved. They hear some people saying that God loves all and just want you to be happy while others are telling them that one sin will send you straight to hell. There is talk about grace, love, and forgiveness and then there are those they don’t even have these words in their religion. With all this talk it makes it really difficult for the average person to determine the best course of action. What is the solution? The solution is to look at the bible and follow an example we have in Acts 17:10-12

¹⁰ As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. ¹¹ Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. ¹² As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.

The Berean’s have it down. They searched the scriptures daily to see if Paul was teaching them the truth. They didn’t just trust their eternity to a man, even though he proclaimed to be this great apostle. They didn’t wait for Paul to tell them what they should believe but they figured it out themselves through studying the scriptures.

I have a feeling that if everyone did that today there would be less confusion with what it is God wants from us. So many times today we are reading our bibles through the mouths of our ministers and that is not how God wants us to learn his will. He didn’t hand the bible to each of us so that we could put it on the shelf.

Do yourself a favor that will last an eternity and learn what God’s position is on salvation. It’s his position that only truly matters. He will answer your entire questions through your studying of the bible.

In Him,

Joe

Why Worry?

2010-12-06T11:25:00.000-06:00

In a small group class this past week we studied some well know and very wise scriptures from Mathew chapter 6:25-34.

After a lot of discussion on these verses we concluded the following:

All of us worry to some degree and for some people worrying is a struggle that they deal with on a weekly, daily, or even hourly basis. It’s something that we all struggle with, but we wanted to know why it is we all struggle with it and how we could be better at not worrying. Also there was a question as to what all is included in the act of worrying.

Sometimes we worry due to a lack of faith. The fact that God is always in control of the big picture is sometimes really hard to see. There is no denying it that for us to worry sometimes shows a lack in faith. We all want to increase our faith so before we get to far what all does worrying actually included? Specifically is there a difference in worrying about something and planning/thinking things through?

Do we worry about our day at work or do we plan our day? Do we worry about our retirement or do we plan for the time in our lives when we will not be able to work? Do we worry about monthly bills or payments to or creditors or do we plan for those payments? To plan your day at work is not saying you are worrying about your day. It means that as Christians we should always do the best that we can to fulfill our obligations. We do that by planning our actions in order to be successful. Also we discussed the fact that planning for the future like retirement, end of year payments, or month to month bills is something that God wants us to do. In no way does God want us to NOT consider our debts, or our future. We decided that in order to make sure that all of our affairs are taken care of we must plan for them and do the best we can to be prepared. Planning and worrying are two completely things so you can cross planning off your worry list.

The next thing to consider is do we have the same priorities in our lives today that the people in the bible times had? We concluded that no we do not, and that there are a lot more things to consider now then there where back then. The people during the bible time period where concerned about what they would eat and drink on a daily basis while people today have several other things that they could be worrying about. Really does it make it wrong or right? Not really we are told to still not worry about things, but it was an observation of the class.

Overall we agreed that putting God first daily with all the small things in our lives will allow us to not worry and put God first with the big things in our lives. We also agreed that it’s easier said than done and something that we all need to work on. This week we all need to pray for God to increase our faith, and open our eyes more to see him working in our lives so that we can cross all the things off our list of worries.

In Him,
Joe

2010-12-06T09:36:00.001-06:00

Mobile blog test

Soldiers of Christ Arise

2010-11-30T11:43:00.004-06:00

“The story is told about an elderly man who retired after many years in the Army. One day a man who knew about his long and distinguished military career decided to play a prank on him. As the old soldier walked down the street with his arms full of packages, the jokester sneaked up behind him and shouted, "Attention!" Without hesitation, the military man dropped his arms to his side, and every package went tumbling to the sidewalk. Without a conscious thought, the veteran was doing what comes naturally for a soldier.”
As Christian who believe in all that Jesus has taught us we to should act in a similar manner. We should be able to act more and more like the life of Christ. We still deal with temptations and sinful desires that come up, and because of that we need to train ourselves to act as God wants us to be. Like a solider or athlete in training we need to practice repeatedly until doing what’s right comes naturally without conscious thought.
There will be times in all of our lives where we make a big choice for God or for Satan. Maybe it’s going to be a choice of a person you marry, a item you buy, a job you take, or maybe you will be asked to deny Christ. In order for us to make that choice for God we need to be training ourselves daily on the small things in life.
With your faith in God and all that he has taught us, with your understanding in Christ in how he has shown us to live, we should all be developing habits of submitting to God’s word. Then in every situation of life we will find that obeying God’s will is doing what comes naturally.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Gift of Jesus

2010-11-30T11:43:00.003-06:00

There is so much giving going on this time of year. It could be that you are helping with the feast of sharing giving time and/or food to those in need, or maybe you are purchasing gifts to fill the need of a child, maybe you have noticed a person in need that you work with and have helped in some way. Whatever it is giving a gift is a special thing and we all love it when someone thinks enough of us to give us a gift.
This time of year more than ever people’s hearts seem to be at least open to some discussion as to what Jesus is all about. Maybe it is due to all the giving, the idea of Christmas, or a little holiday cheer, but something has people more aware that there is a higher power in control. You will be around kids at school, co-workers, family members and other while preparing and celebrating the holidays. Take advantage of those moments to share the love of Christ with those who are lost.
My challenge to all of us is that while you are busy with the various things you will be doing in the coming weeks, don’t forget to add sharing Christ with others to that list. It has been my experience that hearts are never more open or more receptive than during these seasons. This can be the greatest holiday ever in regards to allowing God to use you to touch others for Him. Pray about it and ask for his help in guiding your efforts to affect the lives of the people you come in contact with.
As we all know sharing a gift with someone is a special occasion, but sharing the greatest gift that God has ever given, the gift of his son with someone else is priceless.
I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday.
Joe

Messed Up Big Time

2010-11-30T11:43:00.001-06:00

I want to remind you about a man of God who messed up completely in a big way. He committed sins that you wouldn’t think a good man would commit. This wasn’t one of those times were he accidentally committed the sins either. He committed them and then tried to cover them up with a great deal of effort. When all was said and done, two families were destroyed. The most amazing part of this whole story is that this didn’t ruin the man. He was able to recover from his mistakes and get back on his feet.
You probably already know which man of God I am talking about. He is none other than King David. He is the one in the bible referred to as the man after God’s own heart.
One evening, King David had a hard time going to sleep, so he went out on the balcony of his palace to take a walk. Off in the distance he saw a beautiful woman named Bethsheba taking a bath. When he found out that her husband, Uriah, was a soldier and was away at war, David sent for her and seduced her. Sometime later she told him that she was going to have a baby. In an attempt to cover his tracks, David had Uriah brought in from the battlefield for a time of "R&R". David suggested that Uriah go home and spend time with his wife. Uriah politely refused; going home to his wife during a time of war would have been an act of disloyalty to his fellow soldiers. Since Uriah couldn’t be persuaded to compromise, David sent him back to battle with a letter to deliver to the commanding officer. Uriah didn’t know it, but he was delivering his own death warrant. The letter told the CO to put Uriah on the front lines and withdraw the other troops so Uriah would be sure to die. This is exactly what happened. Uriah was killed in battle and David married Bethsheba.
No one in Israel knew the story behind the story, but the Bible says, in 2 Samuel 11:27 that…The Lord was very displeased with what David had done.
It wasn’t long before a prophet named Nathan confronted David with his sin. David knew that he had done wrong, and I’m sure that deep down he knew he couldn’t get away with it. To make matters worse, David and Bethsheba’s newborn child was very sick, and Nathan said it was all David’s fault. He said to David, "Because of what you have done, this baby is going to die." Imagine how David felt about that. He couldn’t hide it any longer. He had messed up big time and now he had to face what he had done.
David did face the music. He made things right with God and got his life back on track. At some point during this time, he wrote Psalm 51. This Psalm is all about "What To Do When You’ve Blown It." We can learn from David’s example how to make things right whenever we make a little or big mistake. When that happens, we often make the mistake of thinking that God hates us because of what we’ve done. The truth is, He loves us no matter what. When we sin, even when we sin big, He wants to forgive us and help us get back on our feet.

Get your Fill

2010-11-10T08:38:00.001-06:00

Imagine that you have set down to a very large table that was piled high from end to end with a feast for thanksgiving dinner. Not too hard to imagine with the date so close to Thanksgiving. You pull up your chair to a table struggling to hold all of the turkey and dressing, potatoes, bread, carrot cake, pumpkin pie, vegetables, and anything else you can think of. Your host tells you to take your fill of anything you see.

Thank you very much you say. I think I will have half a cranberry.
Your astonished friend nearly chokes on a candied yam and replies,
'Please have all you would like. That's why I invited you! You're hungry, and here is everything you need to get full.'

'Thank you so very much,' you say. 'Perhaps I will have a sip of water.'
That’s Crazy! Who would ever act like that? If it were us, we'd gobble up so much food they'd have to use a bulldozer to move us out.

Why is it, then, that when it comes to getting full spiritually, we settle for a half a cranberry? What is it that we are putting in our lives that keeps us continually so full of Christ that we can only stand maybe a service or two at church a week?

You find all the time people trying to convince us that we need to go and do this, or we need to be a part of this program, or get our kids involved in this activity. All of these things in themselves are not bad things but anytime you are ask to take part in something that is going to draw your attention further away from God then that one thing becomes a stumbling block for you. That one thing starts filling you instead of what should be our top priority God.
The extent to which you need something else to fill you full is the extent to which you find Christ non-filling. If you find Christ non-filling, then you have found something in contradiction of Scripture, which says that in Christ all the fullness of Deity resides in bodily form.

We've got to decide, is it true that in Christ we have all that we need? Do we really not have to go and fill ourselves with things of this world to be satisfied?
Beware! Scripture declares that in Christ is all fullness, and if you are related to him, you have been given all fullness. We don't need something super-added, extra-plus to Christ. What we need is to daily discover all that we already have in him.

How much have you eaten off of Christ's banquet table? How full are you?"

Plan A or Plan B

2010-10-14T10:35:00.000-05:00

Sometimes even the best laid out plans don’t work out the way we want them to. Think about your dreams as a child as to what you thought you would grow up to be. You dreamed about being a doctor, fireman, policeman, or other jobs and you planned it out. This plan became your plan A and how you wanted to live your life. You spent time deciding how you would accomplish it, but things got in the way and it just didn’t work out and now your living plan B. Sometimes we can look at our plans that have crumbled before us and it feels like failure. However that doesn’t mean that God is absent in your struggles for your plans. So many times Plan “B” is the plan that God has for us and we don’t even know it.

God is in control of us if we allow him to be and that is the biggest fear for most of us. Giving up the control and the power we have for our own lives. Wouldn’t it be nice if we all had a burning bush that we used to talked to God. You would wake up, pour a cup of coffee, step out onto my porch, look to the left and say, “So what’s on the agenda for today Lord?” The bush in the planter would light up, and God would give you your list complete with boxes for checking upon completion.

What I have begun to realize is that he did give me and you a burning bush, We just can’t see the bush through the forest. Too many things, are obscuring our view and confusing our hearing, but the bush was there all along. Things like bills, homework, practice, and test to study for block Our hearing. Then add meetings, entertainment, other commitments, and our day is full enough without the bush! When a crisis strips us, the tree’s get cleared and We can see the bush. When are we going to Wake up and discover that Our career experiences, schooling, and training are useless to use unless we learn how to thin the trees. One thing I do know, is that God is in the business of writing our resumes. And he makes sure that we have the experience and expertise required to fulfill the purpose of His will, not ours…
Let’s answer these three questions:

Who’s in control? What do we have to offer? Who needs our help?

Blurry Vision

2010-10-06T15:01:00.000-05:00

A nice Saturday Morning my family and I were all packed in the car headed out on a trip. We had been gone from the house a total of 5 minutes and I already felt as if this trip was going to be a success. The kids were all buckled in and the bags were all packed and Lori and I felt confident that we had not forgotten a thing we needed for this 4 day mini-vacation (Thank is a success within itself). We had planned the trip, prepared ourselves and the kids, and our vision was clear we were going to have a blast. Three seconds latter things changed. We were driving directly in the sun and I made the mistake of pushing the windshield wiper fluid button. You wouldn’t think something as harmless windshield cleaner would be a problem. The window was nasty and I wanted to be able to see better and I thought this was my best option. Little did I know that window cleaning fluid and direct sunlight just don’t mix and my vision for the road suddenly became so distorted that I had to bring the car to a complete halt. As I was drying the window off on the side of the road and I realized that even though we had a vision of what the trip was to be and had spent time planning and preparing, right then and there we could have had a wreck and everything would have changed. I know my vision is important but at that moment having the right vision meant everything.

Look at Nehemiah 1 and we can find some answer about what we can do when we lose God’s vision for our lives. There's a great prayer there that God was so impressed with that He put it in the Bible. And it's a real-life model of what the ultimate purpose of prayer is. Obviously, our purpose is to get whatever we're praying about, but God's purpose is to give us His vision.

Nehemiah has a heavy burden on his heart. It's the news that God's people and God's city are a mess. And it drives him to his knees for weeks of praying about it. I don't know what's weighing heavy on your heart right now, but I hope it's driven you to your knees. Maybe like Nehemiah, you feel powerless to solve this one. Then you'll be interested in how he ends up praying after initially focusing on the situation. Praying about the situation changes how he looks at almost everything. After heavy duty praying, he's seeing things much more clearly - through God's vision. And that's what the ultimate purpose of praying is, not getting an answer, but getting God's perspective - which often leads to the answer.

It's that burden on your heart that gets you to praying. But if you will persist before God, you will notice your vision starting to clear up. The Divine Ophthalmologist will be giving you glasses to see Him, and yourself, and the people around you, and the real issues, and your next step as you've never seen them before. When you go to your knees, you get God's glasses. And suddenly, things look so much clearer!

In Him,
Joe

Do you smell that?

2010-09-28T18:32:00.001-05:00

Sometimes that can be a good question like when you walk into the house and your mom has just pulled a chocolate cake from the oven. Other times the question of smell is not such a good thing like when you open the refrigerator and something has gone bad? Either way when we smell things we react.

There is a new company that seems to be taking over the market using the power of scents to get people to open their wallets and pull out their check books. The scents they use are very strong and for the most part I would say the company is on to something that appeals to most people. I have developed a love/hate relationship with the company and their ability to rule my nose. There have been several times when I have walked into the house and after a few seconds my mouth waters from the smell of homemade blueberry muffins or the smell of fresh fruit only to be completely disappointed when I have tracked down the scents source. For sitting where there should be a hot pastry, cake, or bowl of fresh cut fruit there is a small warmer full of liquid wax. Even though it might be tempting due to the intensity of the smell I would never sample the wax like I might if it was frosting from a cake. So you can see my dilemma with these fake smells! I can think of another time when a fake smell created a problem for someone.

Genesis 27 (read the whole chapter)
27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,
"Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field
that the LORD has blessed.

Jacob saw himself in a desperate moment. He feared losing his father’s blessings to his brother Esau. He chose to be fake using his brother name, his brother’s clothes, and even his brother’s SMELL. A fake smell is what took any doubt his father might have had about Jacob being anyone other than Esau. We read this chapter in disbelief we are easy to judge Jacob for being a fake person especially to his father. How often are we fake in order to profit from so much less than this.
In desperate moments we have all at some point used fake attitudes, love, actions, and maybe even a fake smell in order to profit something. Being fake in its simplest form is a lie and although we all know being fake is not what God wants from us it can be easy sin to slip into for personal gain.

This week focus on being real and not fake. Show true love in your attitude and in your actions as you meet and encourage people to live a life for Christ.

In Him,
Joe

Keeping your Focus

2010-09-21T10:52:00.002-05:00

You might not know this but I love to hunt. I don’t really care what it is I’m hunting for I just want to be out spending time outdoors and hunting for game. The problem is a lot of times no matter what planning and preparing I have done in order to be successful hunting I sometimes lose my focus and miss my target.

Not too long ago I decided to go deer hunting early in the morning. I arrived at my prepared location and with layers of clothes bundled up for warmth I waited for the sun to rise in hopes of seeing a nice buck. As I waited patiently in the dark my body was telling me how tired I was and I drifted off to sleep. When I awoke it was about an hour past sunrise and I was extremely aggravated with myself for falling asleep. I open my eyes wide and began searching the area for any deer that might have slipped in while I was getting some shut eye. There were no deer but there was a red fox about 50 yards from where I was sitting. I began to watch the fox as he was hunting some prey himself. It was extremely interesting to watch him. He was a skilled hunter and after sometime he was able to catch his prey and ran off with it. I once again notice that I had been focused so much on the fox that I had missed any opportunity of seeing a deer. Packing up that morning I knew that the main reason I was unable to be successful was I didn’t keep my focus on the target. At that point it didn’t matter that I had spent weeks finding the perfect spot to hunt, that I had spent hours on setting up a camouflage ground blind so that I wouldn’t be seen, that I had made sure to sight my gun in, and do all the other preparation. It was all lost due to me not staying focused on the task at hand.

Deuteronomy 4:29 "But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Why is it so easy to lose our focus? I remember a story in the bible where Peter was able to walk on water by faith, until he took his eyes off Jesus, looking at the storm around him instead. Not staying focused can cause us to take our eyes off the Lord. Maybe we lose our focus due to friends with the wrong intentions, rude people, unfair situations, or just life’s problems. People will either on purpose or innocently cause to stray from doing what God has called you to do. Remember that our lives here on this earth have a purpose to serve God and no one else. Our lives are not aimless, but they are to have a purpose and direction, and we are to stay focused on the purpose, running straight at that goal. Keep focused on the purpose for which God has created you.

We all want to be able to say like Paul, “I am running straight to the goal with purpose in every Step.” 1 Corinthians 9:26

In Him,
Joe

You are a Tool, What is your Job?

2010-09-14T10:01:00.000-05:00

Many Christian people today are not living the successful lives that God intended for them because they have missed the purpose for their life.

Eph 2:10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

If you are going to live successfully, you have to know what it is you are all about. What’s your job? What functionality do you have? You need to know the answers to those questions so that you as a tool are not used for something other than what you were created for. We all know that tools that are used for things that they were not created for run the risk of getting damaged.

The other day I was asked to hang a framed family photo on our living room wall by my wife. I of course oblige and went searching for a nail to use. Once I found the right size nail for this over sized picture frame I then started looking for a hammer. I looked for about five minutes and due to my laziness I decided that a medium size wrench would do the job for me (don’t get too self-righteous, you’ve done it too!). Sometimes being lazy causes us to use whatever is handy and not always what is right in order to get the job done.

With the wrench I knew I could get the nail in the wall, but I was not completely for sure how effective I was going to be with it. There’s a chance I could dent the wall, bend the nail, or scratch up the wrench.

Too many times Christians today are not functioning or flowing in the thing they were created for, and consequently, they are not effective. And sometime they two get hurt and damaged.

You do have a purpose. The bible tells us all that in Eph 2. This week pray that God shows you that purpose, and then develop the gifts God have given you to fulfill that purpose.

Are You Just Swinging the Handle?

2010-09-08T11:30:00.002-05:00

As you look at your life today in honesty and transparency, you might say to yourself I have lost that edge I once had, that excitement, that fire, that spiritual passion I once had about Church and working for God.

If indeed you have lost your edge, how can you get it back?

2 Kings 6:4-5
4 And he went with them.
They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!"

This very thing happened to me one time. Well it wasn’t a borrowed ax but I lost the ax head.

Growing up we had a wood burning stove in our house for heat. I personally had a love/hate relationship with the stove. I loved the fact that it produced a great amount of heat on the cold winter days, but I hated when it was time to go and split wood. It always seemed that we would run out of wood at the most inopportune times. I would bundle up and go outside to find the ax and chop out a few pieces to bring back in. One time in particular I will never forget. I was aggravated because it was my turn again to go and chop wood in the cold and it seemed that everything that could go wrong did. I came down hard with the ax and halfway through my swing the ax head came off and went shoring through the air leaving a nice size whole in the side of the barn. I had never seen anything like that happen before. I was at a complete loss for words and stood staring at the whole.

Later on I learned that the only possible reason the ax head could have come off the handle was because it had not been taken care of properly. This must have been the case for the guy in 2 Kings 6 who lost the ax head. It’s a responsibility thing really. If you are going to own a tool such as an ax then you are responsible for keep the ax sharp and the head on the handle.

At this point it would have made no sense at all for this man to keep on chopping on trees with just a wooded handle would it? He would have made no progress at all.

A lot of time Christians can do the same thing today. You lose your cutting edge, and you are just going through the motions, making no progress at all.

You are chopping away with just a wooden handle!

The thought processes goes something like this. Well, I know I’m supposed to go to church, so I will go. As long as I stay looking busy and not in anyone’s way then nobody’s going to know the state my heart is in. The sad part is this can go on for days, weeks, or months, but some people have been doing this for years.

No progress, No Growth. They are just swinging the handle without an ax head.

If this is you, do not just keep swinging the ax handle. If you are not making progress, admit it. Until you are willing to face up to the fact that you have not been growing, you can never regain your spiritual edge.

In Him,
Joe

There’s an App for That!

2010-08-31T15:20:00.002-05:00

All iphone, itouch, and ipad users have a common saying and that is “there’s an app for that”. There are a total of 52,060 active software applications that are written for these devices. With that astonishing number you would think there is an application for anything you might need. There is a app that will help you find the closes restaurant to your current location, one that allows you to take a picture of a plant and then tells you what kind of plant it is and how to take care of it, there several gaming apps that allow you to play with your friends and family from any location, there are voice recorder apps and text to speech apps, there are apps that allow you to read your bible, listen to Christian music, and read Christian literature online. Most of these apps were written in order to help take care of a problem or challenge that someone faces. Maybe one day there will be an app to help us make all the decision we have in our life. Or has that app already been developed?
II Timothy 3:15-17 15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
It seems that the bible app is just what we need in order to help us make decision for everything in our life. We know that all scriptures were created by God as a guide for us. All too often the problem we have is not having the right source of knowledge, but User Error by not looking first at his words of wisdom before jumping feet first into our decisions we make.
Although the most expensive application you can buy from the iTunes store is $999.99 (BarMax: California study guide to the bar exam). The free app of the bible will always help you the most. Check in on God’s word this week either by using your electronic device or grabbing your leather bound pages and see just what application you can get from it for your life
In Him, Joe

Kindness is a Action

2010-08-24T10:54:00.001-05:00

When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people. --Abraham Joshua Heschel

There are numerous examples of the kindness of Christ. He was kind to the lepers by healing them of their disease; he was kind to those who did not like him by praying for them, he was kind to those who were unthankful by reminding us that even God is kind to the unthankful and evil, he was kind to the poor by meeting their needs.

You can have all the knowledge in the world and never save a soul if you don’t first show a person kindness. Showing kindness is one of the best ways that we can minister to people. The most fun I have had with people in ministry has been when we have worked together to help other people. I remember as a teenager working with our church on Saturdays to paint a elderly families home, working in a widow’s yards, watching children for a family who needed a break, and taking grocery’s to those in need. We did this as a church and those times I remember being as productive as we were reaching out in our community. We strengthen our relationship as a church as we worked together young and old and we were saving the lost by first showing them kindness. You should have seen the faces of those we offered to help. They were shocked and amazed and then the questions came:

Why would you take your Saturday and come and work for me?

Who is paying for all of this?

What makes a person want to be so kind?

Those are all leading question that create open doors to share the word of God with people, and that is what we are all looking for.

This week I pray that you will be given an open door to share your salvation. I challenge you to show anyone and everyone kindness just as the examples we have of Jesus.

In Him,
Joe

Tenderness

2010-08-18T16:45:00.002-05:00

Isaiah 40:11
He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.

There are no greater pasture’s than God’s own backyard…

From the Heart
God looks at us as one of his precious lambs. He knows all there is to know about our nature and who we are. Like a sheep that easily wanders astray, when you cry it brings him to your side in a moment. When you are hurting, he does not push you further away, but you feel his soothing love and tender touch, healing all your wounds. When you cannot walk by yourself he will carry you gently until you have safely reached green pastures again. Be grateful that you have a compassionate father. Without him our lives would be so much harder.

There is always a lot of opportunity’s for you to wander astray from the path that God has ask you to be on. Be aware of what it is that is a temptation for you and protect yourself from it. Use your Christian friends, family, and prayer to stay focused. Always remember that if you do stumble and sin that God will always be there to forgive you and love you. So many times we allow the guilt of our sins and our own pride to keep us away from the truth.

SIMPLICITY

2010-08-11T20:45:00.000-05:00

Mathew 8:18-20

The Cost of Following Jesus
18When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
20Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

FROM THE HEART
So many times are wants far exceeds our needs. Things of this world will never be able to fill the gap that is in our soul. There is only one person who can fill those depths and that is God. We are all craving for a simple life with God.
How many times have you stopped and looked at your life and wanted it to just be simple. We organizing our lives, adjust our schedule, and purchase items to make our lives as simple as possible, but at the same time we create all kinds of turmoil in our lives by sliding things in the place of God. We just don’t understand how to have a simple life. A life like Jesus lived.
How do we just enjoy the things that God has blessed us with, but still know that there is only one thing we all need and that is God. We must treasure our relationship with him and understand the importance of it. We have to let it influence every other relationship with have here on this earth, and every decision or commitment that we make. True simplicity is allowing God to have full control of your life.

Let’s look at Jesus….
He had no home to call his own, no place to lay his head, no savings account, and no closet full of clothes. If the son of God could live such a simple life, then why can’t we? He has shown us that the simple things are the best.
Simplicity is not a fad-i-tude, but an attitude of heart.

Bent Pipe

2010-04-21T11:29:00.000-05:00

Isaiah 42:3 - "He will not break a bent twig. He will not put out a dimly burning flame. He will be faithful and make everything right."

Have you at some time tried to straighten out a bent pipe? Or have you tried to glue a broken piece of porcelain back on to a coffee cup?

In these cases we usually don’t make the effort to fix them. Usually we just throw them away because they are unusable and the effort to fix them is not worth the time.

It is different with God. He does not simply throw away the worthless, because it has some sort of defect. He keeps it in fact alive. And this is a great promise for you. In spite of your doubts, your inabilities, your faults and your many small failings – God stands by you.

Others gave up (threw you away) on you long ago. For them you carry the stamp of a loser, oddball, disbeliever, etc.

Even if you often feel useless and incompetent, God stands by you. He simply doesn’t throw you away, but holds you in his hand. Even when you consider yourself to be worthless, and you would rather throw your life away, God considers you valuable.

Church know that our God Don’t make no junk!

What have you done to be saved?

2010-04-14T11:29:00.001-05:00

From an AOL survey 9 out of 10 people say what about the key to getting into heaven?
• Living a good life. 65.5%
• Having connections to someone at the top. 26.7%
• Helping old ladies cross the street. 2.7%
• Slipping St. Peter $20.00. 1.9%
• Having a strong letter of reference. 0.5%
• Making a deal with the devil. 1.2%
• Telling a really good lie. 0.5%
With the question: Are you going to heaven?
• Yes. 89.8%
• No. 10.2%
Total votes 143,309
(Source: www.aol.com)

Apparently, nearly 9 out of 10 people believe they are going to heaven, but many of them don't know and/or don't care why. That’s a scary thought.

Our job as Christian is to go out and explain to the lost how they can trully be saved, but we are up against what seems to be the impossible. People that do not want to know the true way to Christ.

With this mind set Satan’s job becomes fairly easy. He does not have to go out and convert people to his ways. All he simple has to do is stretch the truth a little. Make people believe that they are saved when in fact their not. If 65.5% of people feel like living a good life is all they have to do in order to be saved then Satan has won the victory in the battle of their soul.

As you go out this week realize that the field is ripe for finding the lost. Yes, you may be turned down by those that simply do not care why or how to go to heaven. Don’t let Satan us the fear of rejection to silence you.

Love,
Joe

Have I Grown Today?

2010-04-09T08:31:00.002-05:00

Have you ever looked at a mature Christian and said I wish I could be like him or her? Wouldn’t it be great if I knew my bible as well as they did, or if I could just pray as well is they do, or be a leader as much as they are, or just be as good at expression joy and love?

Most of us want to have instant growth. We want to wake up one morning and have it all, but what we forget is that we all have a person inside of us that is going through struggles and trials every day.

The only way we are going to become a mature Christian is through practicing spiritual disciplines like

• Reading our bible
• Praying often
• Fellowshipping with one another
• Giving back to God
• Serving God

Garden Question
Have you ever had a garden before or have you ever planted something before that you started from a seed. When you went out to plant the seed what were your intentions? Are you committed to the seed? Do you want to see it grow? Of course you do. You don’t plant a seed to not see it grow. There been a few times you were probably doubtful that it would grow.

God is committed to see us Grow
1 cor. 3:6-7 “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”

Right there it tells us that he is the one that planted the seed. We are the seed.

Isaiah 60:21: “They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor.” When we grow we show His splendor.

What responsibility do we have for our growth?
• 2 Peter 3:18 – Talks about us growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus
• 1 peter 2:2 – Tells us to grow up in our salvation
• 2 Cor. 10:15 – Paul talks about when our faith grows the activity of the church will grow to

It’s just not all up to God and it’s not all up to us. God has designed it so that we work in a partnership with him.

Philippians 2:12-13 - Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling [that’s our part] for it is God who works in you [that’s God’s part] to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

Vapor in Time

2010-04-07T11:21:00.000-05:00

A guy rented out a whole movie theater for a new movie coming up that he was the Star in. He sent out invitations to several people and on the invitation he explained that the new movie was about him and he wanted all his friends and family to come and watch him in action.
As the movie was more than half way over people felt that all though it was great show their friend was nowhere to be seen in the movie, and there was no way he was the star of the show.
You see he was an extra 1 of a thousand or more that were sitting in the background in one of the scenes. He might have been on the screen for less than half a second.
You can imagine the weird looks this guy was getting as people left the theater and he asked them about his acting skills.

What was this guy thinking?

So many of us do exactly what this guy did with our own lives. No, we don’t rent out a theater and invite people to a movie that we say we were the star in, but we act like our life is the center of the universe. That the reason the earth turns is because we are breathing.

We look at the things we are doing and put them at the top of the list of importance, and then try to press that importance on the people that are around us.

We are a Vapor in time
James 4:14 (New International Version) - 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

In the grand scheme of history, human life is short. This verse reminds us that all of our plans and schemes amount to little more than mist or vapor when held up against the backdrop of eternity.

Servant of God

2010-04-05T09:45:00.001-05:00

Satan is the entity in our lives that is good at yanking our chains and messing with our daily walk with God. Sometimes we get his action confused with God’s action and place blame on God when in fact it is Satan that is causing us all the dilemmas in our lives.
Let me give you an example: A person strives daily to do good deeds by helping others, he prays for wisdom, strength, and support in hopes that all will be fine in his life. Then out of no-where in the middle of doing all these good deeds an obstacle is presented in his life that causes him to ask the question. Is this God challenging my faith? Why is that God did this to me?
Questions like this have probably come to all of us at one point or another. They cause us to re-evaluate who we are and who God is, and how he is working in our lives. When you do question God’s plan for you get back to the bible. As you read you will began to reassure yourself of his true plan for all his followers.
God loves you and wants you to become matures always looking to Him for peace and guidance. We know that in the bible Jesus said “in this world you will have trouble”. It’s not you may have trouble, but you will have trouble. The trouble can seem very confusing when your actions and prayers are based on sincere faith. If you feel like someone is causing pain and grief in your life consider that it could be the enemy using condemnation. Condemnation comes in the form of an accusation it’s never kind and often is a sound bite from our past. Maybe something like "You can't do anything right." You could respond to that thought with frustration or instead remember and say "That is not true!" Also the enemy uses opposition. Opposition is when you are doing what God wants you to do and Satan wants you to give up! Don't stop and you will see why. Remember when God corrects us, it is called conviction. Conviction can be very uncomfortable but is always kind and the yank is in our very best interest, like a loving parent. Conviction leads us to the true heart of God. My hope is that you can be built up and strengthened in Christ this week.
In Him,
Joe

Gift from the Giver

2010-03-30T11:25:00.000-05:00

When I was younger I had a passion as a lot of my friends to collect baseball cards. We would buy tons of them from the store, get them as gifts for our birthday and Christmas, and trade them with one another. I stored all of my cards in three ring binders with protective sleeves. That was the cool thing to do back then and we all loved it.

I would keep my most prized cards locked up tight and only bring them out every once in a while to show off. I remember several Saturdays we would all sit around going through the cards and putting a value to each of them using a price guide. I had several Nolan Ryan’s being a big fan of his. I think the most valuable card I had was worth around $10, but it meant the world to me.

While at my grandparents house my brother and I had just bought a box of cards together and we were going through them talking about them. My grandfather walked in the room with us and talked about the cards. Right off I guess he could tell the importance the cards were in our lives. He left and then soon after called us into his office. When we walked in the room he handed us both an envelope. Inside the envelope were baseball cards that he had. I opened my envelope and there was a 1955 Topps Sandy Koufax Rookie Card. I remember grabbing my pricing guide and at that time it was worth over $200.00. I couldn’t believe it. I gave my granddad a big hug and my brother and I were so excited about the cards that we talked about it for weeks. We showed the cards off to our friends and then I made a special place for it in my locked cabinet. To this day I still have most of my cards including this one and from time to time I will take it out and think about my granddad and the gift he gave me. There was no way I could pay for this card; there was no card or cards that I had that would be the same value as this card. It was an extravagant gift of love.
The resurrection of Jesus was an extravagant gift of life. Make no mistake—it was not a fair exchange. God saw the distress of his people, their brokenness, their hopelessness; and God gave them the one thing they needed: Jesus.

We can give our money, gifts, and time. We can dress up and go to worship on Sunday. We can offer our services to the poor and needy people in our town. We can give gifts to people that will change their situation for the better. We can give gifts to the church in order to progress God’s work, and we can be sure they bring joy to God’s heart. But the gift of Jesus, God’s son, is a no-trade-possible gift. All we can do is receive the gift and then latch on to the giver in some attempt to say thank you.

It is part of your nature to forgive

2010-03-23T09:49:00.000-05:00

Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Devotional
The Lord has commanded us to Love one another. Although people may hurt us, and at times we my feel rejected by them, we have been instructed to forgive 70 x 7 times. If someone is continually hurtful to you, your responsibility is to forgive them. Take the opportunity talk to them about how their behavior is hurting you. This is a task that when written in black and white seems so easy but when done in life can be one of the most challenging thing we do.

Forgiveness is something that is vital to us as Christians. God tells us that he will forgive us just as we have forgiven others. That makes forgiveness high on the priority list for us. When someone does something wrong towards you immediately find a way to forgive them. Remember like most things in our lives practice makes perfect.

I have heard people say it’s completely against our nature to not retaliate on those who harm us, but it just can’t be. God made us in his image and he has forgiven sins beyond belief. He has created you with the will and the strength to forgive others when they do wrong to you. Take that as your encouragement as you work on forgiving others.

Do it Yourself Plan

2010-03-17T12:12:00.001-05:00

We all know that if you want to get better at something you practice, surround yourself with people that support you, find someone to teach you, and sharpen your skills daily. We see it with people who are successful in sports, with their work, with school, and with life. We understand that practice makes perfect or at least real close. We all believe in theory, because we have seen it work time and time again. The problem is we don’t often bring that same thinking into our Christian walk.
How do you feel you will become the best follower of Christ? Will you face all the struggles, temptations, and fears all on your own? Or will you put into practice the act of sharpening your skills, surrounding yourself by people who love you and support you, attend class so that someone can help teach you, attend worship to be encouraged and to encourage others? What is your plan to follow Christ? Will you try the “do it yourself plan”? God never intended us to be “do it yourself” people. He tells over and over to surround ourselves with other Christian people in order to overcome the sin in the world.
Proverbs 27:17
17 As iron sharpens iron,
so one man sharpens another.
If you haven’t been to church in a while know that your church family is missing you. They are waiting with open arms for your return. If you are waiting for the right time, the right Sunday to come back, make it this Sunday.
Hope to see you there.
Love,
Joe

Google It

2010-03-10T10:39:00.001-06:00

I often say to people when asked a question about something, “I don’t know the answer, but we can Google it”. It’s become a part of my everyday life when I run into a problem with technology, when I have a question about how to fix something, when we need a recipe, when we want to see what movies are out, when we want directions to somewhere, if we need a phone number, and the list goes on. I say the phrase “Google it” so often that the people around me have made comment’s about it. They say things like “I think you Google everything or is there anything that you haven’t looked up on Google”. With the internet at our finger tips a large percentage of the day for a lot of us it’s become our way of finding information to help us make better decisions.

When traveling to Bryan the other day my son asked if Lori and I knew the answer to a question he had. It was something about a Nintendo game and we both were stumped. We said no, and he responded with… you guessed it. Why don’t you “Google it” Dad. Laughing about his response I started thinking that I probably look at Google more then I look at my bible. When looking for direction in my life my goal should be to not look at Google but look at the bible for my answers. Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not saying that Google is bad, but what I am saying is maybe we should all start taking more time to look at the bible for answers about how we should live our life. God has given us every answer we need and all the information to be a loving and faithful Christian. Maybe the next time you are wanting to know how to do something the right way, or which path to take along your journey in life, or what the answer is for a question we will turn to God’s word and Bible it. “Bible it” let’s make that our new response when question come to us in life.
Joe

Pure Gospel

2010-02-22T08:14:00.000-06:00

Most of us drink at least 1 bottle of water a week. For some of us its at least one bottle a day. Others its 3 and 4 bottles a day. As I bring another case of water home from the store this past week I had to ask myself why is it that we buy bottled water? Why is it that most people buy bottled water?
Of course it because we want pure water, free from impurities or anything that would give it bad taste. I honestly like the way our water taste that comes directly from the tap (and I drink it often), but I’m uncertain about the impurities and chemicals that’s put in the water.
When I buy water the first thing I do is look at the label, to see where it is from, what is the source of the water, and if anything is added.
You have to do that anymore because of the bottled water industry and the turn they have taken. Instead of only pure water, you can now find all kinds of bottled water with all kinds of things added to it. Such things like flavoring to give it a different taste, coloring to make it look pretty, and chemicals to make it last longer.
The gospel of Christ also started pure. The source was Jesus himself. But men tried to change the gospel of Christ too. In Galatians chapter 1, the Apostle Paul said he was astonished that the brothers were turning to a different gospel that was created by man. He gave a warning, “If we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned.”

Paul had a servant’s desire to keep the gospel pure, free from additives or alterations. You may call him the Gospel Quality Control Apostle. There is but one gospel, that which came from Jesus himself and as preached by the apostles. Any different gospel preached by anybody or revealed to anyone after that is not from God, but is from man. We must only put our faith in the pure gospel of Christ.
Live your life this week purely for God.

Training Day

2010-02-15T15:00:00.001-06:00

Training Day
I have been watching the winter Olympics this week and have really been enjoying all the events. Lori and I were on the edge of our seats as Apollo Ohno took second place in the short track. Then there was Kearney Hannah who took first place in the ladies moguls as the last person to ski in the event. In total as of today there have been 6 gold medals won by the US. What an exciting time for all the competitors, families, friends, and Fans. Speaking of gold it took until day three of their third time hosting the Winter Olympic Games, but Canada has finally won home gold. Bilodeau Alexandre a Canadian moguls competitor won the first gold medal for Canada that has every been won on their home turf. The Canadian fans roared with excitement as his points came across the screen.
Amongst all the images following Bilodeau’s win, one stood out in my mind. That was the image of Bilodeau’s older brother Fredric.
Fredric suffers from cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair. When his little brother won Olympic gold, Frederic cheered and screamed madly from his wheelchair behind the fence near the bottom of the course.
The joy and pride on Fredirc’s face was unmistakable. Alexandre says that Frederic is his idol and best friend.
This is a quote from Alexandre’s feelings about his brother and his disability that sum’s it all up, “It puts everything back into perspective. I’ve got that chance to train, and maybe one day will be an Olympic champion, and I’ll take it. Even if it’s raining, I’ll take it. I’ll go train. He doesn’t even have that chance, and he has a smile. Every morning he wakes up, and he’s got all the right to complain, and he never complains.…We can learn from those people.”
God has a plan for all of us doesn’t he.
Have you ever thought about how different your life would be if you were born in another country? What about in another town? Or even if you were born just 3 houses down, how much different would your life be? What if you had some type of physical disability, would you be able to wake up everyday with a smile on your face happy to be alive?
We have been given the blessing of knowing Jesus our savior. Some many times we take it for granted though. If it’s raining problems in our lives we use them as an excuse to turn our back on God. If things are not just how we planned we use them as an excuse to point fingers. Sometimes we have no excuse and still we are determined not to take what God has given us and train to be a better Christian.
Let’s count our blessings one by one and train to be better Christian’s today. Let’s take our blessings and share them so that all of us can receive God’s gold standing on his podium listening to him award us with “well done my good and faithful servant”.

Just Five More Minutes

2010-02-11T08:15:00.000-06:00

The alarm blaring startled me awake. Just five more minutes, I told myself, as I banged around on the headboard and finally found the snooze button.
I hit the snooze button another 3 times after that and when I finally did decide to get up I was way late.
Have you ever done that before?
I haven't decided if the snooze button is a great invention or a curse. I know it impacts me, because I'll play mind games with it. I'll set my alarm ten minutes early because, I can "sneak" a few extra minutes of sleep in when it goes off.
The quality of the sleep isn't very good, but it seems so much better because it is some sleep I've managed to "steal". Truth be known, I would have slept better if I had set the alarm for the right time and simply got up with it.
I wondered how often God has been calling us and we hit our internal snooze button instead. Just wait a little longer God, just a little longer, just a little longer. Suddenly were running way behind and missed out on the opportunity to listen or to serve.
God puts someone on our hearts and says give them a call or drop them a note. Okay God, just as soon as we get done with .... and then it's weeks later. You find out later they had been going through a crisis time and really could have used some encouragement.
We all do it. I think I do it less now than I used to earlier in my walk, but I'm far from perfect. I'm so glad He is a loving, patient and merciful God.
He's used to people putting other things ahead of time with Him or in obedience to Him.
Why do we do put God on the back burner?
When will you make time to listen and obey?

A LETTER TO YOU FROM SATAN

2010-02-11T08:13:00.000-06:00

I saw you yesterday as you began your daily chores. You awoke without kneeling to pray. As a matter of fact, you didn't even bless your meals, or pray before going to bed last night. You are so unthankful, I like that about you.
I cannot tell you how glad I am that you have not changed your way of living, Fool, you are mine.
Remember, you and I have been going steady for years. And I still don't love you yet. As a matter of fact, I hate you, because I hate God. I am only using you to get even with God. He kicked me out of heaven, and I'm going to use you as long as possible to pay him back.
You see, Fool, GOD LOVES YOU and HE has great plans in store for you. But you have yielded your life to me, and I'm going to turn your life upside down. This will really hurt God.
Thanks to you, I'm really showing Him who's boss in your life with all of the good times we've had. We have been watching bad movies, cursing people out, stealing, lying, being hypocritical, fornicating, overeating, telling dirty jokes, gossiping, being judgmental, back stabbing people, disrespecting adults, and those in leadership positions, no respect for the Church, bad attitudes.
SURELY you don't want to give all this up. Come on, Fool, let's burn together forever. I've got some hot plans for us. This is just a letter of appreciation from me to you. I'd like to say "THANKS" for letting me use you for most of your foolish life. You are so gullible, I laugh at you.
When you are tempted to sin, you give in HA HA HA, you make me sick. Sin is beginning to take its toll on your life. You look 20 years older, and now, I need new blood. So go ahead and teach some children how to sin. All you have to do is get drunk or drink while under-aged, cheat, gamble, gossip, fornicate, and live being as selfish as possible. Do all of this in the presence of children and they will do it too. Kids are like that.
Well, Fool, I have to let you go for now. I'll be back in a couple of seconds to tempt you again. If you were smart, you would run somewhere, confess you sins, and live for God with what little bit of life that you have left. It's not my nature to warn anyone. Don't get me wrong, I still hate you. IT'S JUST THAT YOU'D MAKE A BETTER FOOL FOR CHRIST.
Your Enemy,
Satan
Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour. (I Peter 5:8)

Wake up in your Fathers Arms

2010-02-11T08:12:00.000-06:00

You know I have learned that with kids you don’t really need an alarm clock especially on Saturday mornings. They are hard to put to sleep some nights but in the morning they are ready to go. Most morning we are awaken by at least one of them.
What is really interesting to me about it is that when our kids wake up, they don’t wonder if we’ll be there in our bed. They come running and jumping, eagerly and expectantly to see us, Sleepy-eyed, bad-breath’d, and morning haried as we may be. They don’t wake up worrying about what they’ll wear today or whether they’ll be warm enough – they expect that they’ll be changed and dressed up nice and warm when it’s cold. They don’t worry about if or what they’re going to eat – they expect that we’ll know that they’re hungry and will serve them a yummy, nutritious breakfast. When they fall down (and mine do a lot) they look towards us – holding out their hands to receive our hugs and kisses to make it “all better”. It amazing how well that really works. They don’t question whether or not we love them – they’re sure of it! They have no worries. They expect that we will take care of their every need.
Don’t you wish you could go back sometimes? No worries – getting pampered and hugged and kissed. Well, I have good news for you… you ARE a baby! Stay with me on this. You are the Lord’s baby! We are his children and he loves us with an everlasting and perfect love. He cares for us just like we care for our little children – in fact, even much, much more than that! It’s hard to believe that God can love you more than your mom and dad or that he can love your own kids more than you do, but he does.
Start on the next morning and come to the Lord as we are – His Children. We need not to worry about anything. Our Father is waiting for the time when we put total trust in Him. He loves us and He knows every one of our needs before even a word is on our lips. Let’s practice putting our worries aside and determine to expect our God to meet our every need. Don’t forget to take some time out of each day to say Father, thank you for loving me.
Mathew 6:32-33
32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Are you hungry for Christ?

2009-06-10T11:52:00.000-05:00

A question we should all ask ourselves is: Are you hungry for Christ? Almost every believer that is asked that question would say YES, of course I am hungry for Christ. But, let me ask the question again while you look at your heart, Are YOU hungry for CHRIST? Is it him who you seek daily? Is it him who you truly desire in your life? Or, is your hunger for what Christ can give you? There is a difference you know. Are you hungry from him or for the gifts that he gives? If the Lord were to visit you this moment and he brought no gifts; if he came to you empty handed having no miracle of healing for your sick body, or money for your finical burdens; if he came having no answer for your failing relationships; If he were to visit you this moment having NOTHING to offer you except his unfailing love, would you be ready to receive it? Or would you walk away in disappointment because your expectations were for something other than just His love. Throughout the Word of God there are countless promises of such that as many as would believe, they would receive, but what if there were NO promises other than the promise of His love? What if there were no promises of extra blessings, of healing, of help with our finical burdens, of blessing to fulfill our hearts desires, honestly ask your self would His love be sufficient? Would it be enough to sustain you? For you, would you choose his love OVER the things you seek from him? Is HE greater than your hearts desires? In fact, is He a part of your hearts desires? When you seek him, ARE YOU SEEKING HIM or something else?
During the time of Jesus ministry here on the earth, large numbers of people followed him everywhere (Mark Ch. 3). Thousands upon thousands came to only get a glimpse of him, to hear him, to just touch his clothes. What gave him such the popularity? Was it his great words of wisdom and teaching ability? Was it that they knew he was Christ the son of God? Was it because He was and is the way, the truth, and the life and just being with him brought peace and happiness to people? Was it their hunger and thirst for righteousness, or their desire to learn and know the things God had for them? It should have been all these reasons they followed Jesus, but sadly for most of them their desire for him was based upon what he could give them. They had heard of his miracles of healing people, they had heard of him bringing people back from the dead, they had heard of him feeding thousands of people, and they had heard of all the things they could benefit from him if they could only be in his presences. The people were hungry for the things that they could see, and not for the things that they couldn’t see, for what they could receive outwardly and not the benefits of the blessing received inwardly.
The song Standing on the Promises of God is true and there is nothing wrong with a believer standing on the promises of God for his/her life. The area of concern is when we get stuck on the promises of gifts and miss the Lord. To seek not the Lord, but the power of which he possess.
Yes, there are many promises and many blessing the Lord desires to give His Children, but you must seek him first. Don’t just see his hand with the gifts nestled in it, but see his heart consumed with LOVE for you. He will fulfill every promise he made in his word, but “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you…”
Love you all,
Joe

Old Timer

2009-01-05T19:42:00.000-06:00

Do you carry a pocketknife? Security concerns have made it a little more difficult to carry even a small pocketknife. I always carry one when and where I can because I've always loved the usefulness of knives. They can be very handy.
I once knew a great guy named Bobby Bramlett. Bobby was single, in his early forties, and he was left completely blind following a tragic accident. He was also quite a character. One year our church had a Fall Festival. Bobby wanted to sit in the dunking booth. He sat on the platform above a large container of water and waited for our festival-goers to toss baseballs at the target. When hit, the target would throw a switch and Bobby would fall into the water. In order to prevent disorientation, Bobby tied a thin rope from his waist to the side of the tank. All seemed well till the first dunk. Bobby flailed to the surface gasping and choking! His rope had become tangled round his neck, and disaster seemed imminent. Fortunately, I remembered my trusty pocketknife. With shaking hands I opened it, cut the taut rope, and Bobby was free. I'm glad I had it with me! The knife was a Schrade "Oldtimer."
Since that episode, I've acquired several knives by different makers, but they all have two things in common. First, they must serve a purpose or they are useless. Second, they all have an "edge." I keep them sharp.
After many years in ministry, I realize something: I'm an Old Timer. You may be one, too. And the same two principles of usefulness apply to us if we are going to effectively serve God.
First, we must serve God's Purpose for us. How are you useful to God? We can know His will for us. Here are a few things He wants of us:
• Do all things to His Glory (1 Corinthians 10:31)
• Bring others to Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20)

• Build one another up (Ephesians 4:13)
• Help others in Jesus' name (Matthew 10:42)
Second, God also has special and specific plans for each of us. (Psalm 139:13-16) He wants to use us in His service with our own special gifts, talents, personalities, culture, and relationships. Each day is an adventure of discovery as He reveals His special plans for us as we live through the struggles, challenges, opportunities, joys, and sorrows of our lives.
Finally, we need to keep our edge or we become dull and can't really serve His purpose. We stay sharp by letting His Word sharpen us each day (Hebrews 4:12), by the sharpening of others through genuine relationship (Proverbs 27:17), and by devoting ourselves to prayer and service to Him each day.
Take it from me, it's THE way to live! There's nothing better. No matter what age you are, make it your goal to become an Old Timer in His Service.

Discipline

2009-01-05T19:36:00.000-06:00

Discipline is normally not an action that any of us like. Most of the time we think of being punished during discipline, things taken away from us to teach us a lesson. Parent’s use discipline to mold their children and the bible teaches Parent’s to use discipline. But the people who hate discipline the most are not children but those who are older. One of the main reason children are so ready to leave the nest is for all the freedom of choice and no discipline. Well if you think you are going to grow old enough to not be disciplined then you are completely wrong.
Look at it this way
As a person you are either a thermometer or you’re a thermostat. Thermometer people tend to reflect temperature of the people around them. If you’re hot, I’m hot. If you’re cool then I’m cool. If you’re nice then I’m nice. If you yell then I will yell to. If you are mean to people then I will be mean as well. What most of us would like to be is thermostat person – Someone who controls the temperature in our situation.
Your family, friends, and church need you to be a thermostat. Look at your friends, family, and people in this church and you know that they need someone in their life that has it all under control. There are not a lot of us that are willing to be thermostat people. Although we are all capable of it many of us are not willing to put forth the discipline.
How Jesus teaches us to be disciplined “Stressful Situation”
John 14:27 Jesus is talking to His closest friends on the most stressful night of his life, just before His arrest and execution. It’s on the edge of what is about to be the most stressful chapter in their lives. If stressful is a fair description of your life right now, these words from Jesus are for you, too.
His words exactly were: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
Another Time
Luke 5:16 Before any change in your life take time to stop and pray. Why is it that we don’t make praying a priority especially when faced with challenges in our lives? It was once said that when you think nothing is going to happen to you, you start thinking that nothing can touch you, and that’s when everything goes wrong. Make prayer part of you.
I think the key to being a disciplined person is knowing Jesus and knowing that you belong to him.
When you know you belong to Him, you can be a thermostat instead of a thermometer because you know you have an identity and a security that is rooted in something you can't lose. It is the freedom of knowing that whatever is at stake in this situation isn't all there is; you're anchored to Jesus Christ, His unconditional love, and His unstoppable plans.
It's the relationship you were made for, but you've been missing because your sin has cut you off from your Creator. It's the relationship that Jesus died to give you by paying for your sin on His cross. If you're ready to let Jesus bring peace to that storm inside you, tell Him you are trusting Him to be your Savior from your sin. Jesus can turn any thermometer person into a thermostat. He gives them inner power to be in control of all situations that they face.

2008-05-01T20:04:00.000-05:00

I am just starting this. Go figure someone like me with all the technology around me and just starting a blog. The funny thing is with all the technology in my world I rarely get to use it for my own fun.

I am really wondering how often I will be able to keep this up to date but who knows.

Thats all for now
Until next time
J