Good morning and happy Friday. Today is a special day for me. There are, on average, 257 weekdays in a year. Today is the first of a new year. Since I started blogging this post I have posted a years worth. Today is a new day of a new year. It is also my wife's Birthday. She has been the calm in my storm since the day we met. It's amazing to me how when you meet someone you just get those feelings. I can't wait to meet Jesus face to face. To quote an 80's song, "What a feeling". "I can only imagine". It's like the expecting of a good friend you haven't seen in a long time and your at the airport waiting, only a thousand times better. One day the world will see Him in all His glory. We will meet and have conversation and all that stuff. I hope and pray that we all find our way home and continue in helping others, who have gotten off the path, back on track and headed home again. I love the fact that it's our job to be a servant to the one who came and served us all before we ever knew Him. Thank you for reading what God lays on a sinners heart. Thank you for a year of joy and tears as we relate to each other in our daily lives. We've all set Jesus as head of our lives and holding each other accountable for it too. I love you all so much and I thank God for you being in my life. You mean the world to mean. Tana, thank you for your love and support. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Thursday. Do you have enough gas to get to the end? Can you go the distance? I was so blessed to be able to coach my daughter's teams as they grew up. I helped with the oldest and headed up the youngest. I used to have them run lines like we did when they were little. They hated the end of practice. They knew they were gonna run. In a tight game once they saw the difference. The other team had their heads down trying to find air. My girls were just fine and had plenty of stamina left for another quarter. They were ready for how ever long this was gonna take. Are you ready to go the distance? To see a friend through a rough spot in their life? To deal with an aging loved one in their last days? To watch a child suffer through an illness that will take them home soon? To be there when a family needs you more than ever before at a dark late hour of the night? It can wear you out and put you in a place of feeling like it's not worth a thing anymore. Our metal will be tested. But if we have been through the refining process of the Lord and our core is the Holy Spirit, then bring it on. Life, if we let it, can wear us out. But that's why we don't depend on ourselves for the strength we really need. If your tired from life's circumstances, then you're not getting your strength from God and taking refuge in Him. If you're feeling run down and run over, then fall down on your knees and get the real strength back that only He can provide. Have the gas to go the distance of life. Find it in God and not search yourself for it. The world around you needs you to. In love always <><
Good morning and happy Wednesday. I love trees and to see the shape they have taken on over the years of their growth. You can tell the ones that were pruned and cared for and those that have been neglected. There is a story in that neglect. To see a tree that made to full grown while not really being cared for is pretty amazing. But there had to be a little bit of care or it wouldn't have made it. All of us have a story to tell that is unique to ourselves. But that story is just what you've brought with you through a storm in life. The molding and shaping of us as we grew through the mess. Just like a tree if we have a good root we can make it. We may not be like the others but that's when people ask how and why. That's when testimony happens. Peoples lives are changed in those moments. Both of em really. It comes from a willingness to share and help others. I've got stories others don't. Proud of them or not they may be what someone else needs to know so they can see there is hope. "If someone like him can make it then I know I can". That used to bother me as I was going through changes but not anymore. I see how God has taken my bad choices and made them a good thing for someone else. A friend of mine says "Our mess is our message". Truer words could not be spoken. But we have to be among those needing to hear the message. Sunday school and life group people are already on the path back home. Be ready to share with those you don't know. It may be all they need. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Tuesday. What is your fears? How do they own you? How do they keep you from the things you know you need to be doing? Fear is the biggest, heaviest, and most powerful but subtle weapon Satan has to use against us. Only he uses it to control because in God there is no fear. I hear people say they don't hear God talk to them. Maybe it's that they are afraid of what He's saying. I hear people say they can't lead this group. People say I can't talk to a stranger about Jesus. I'm afraid to quit doing this to myself. I'm afraid to let go and let God. It's a nice slogan but it's hard to do. We've said this before at some point in our lives, 10-20 years ago or yesterday, it doesn't matter, fear can bind us. So back on the whole team theme of last week, this is how we help each other lean deeper into the truth of God's promises. He will be there with you and He will never let you go. It's the job of the fearful to find the refuge He is providing. It's the job of all of us to help those in need do just that. I don't know any one who would just let someone fall into a pit or float away to drown. Why would we not then do the same for their soul? In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Monday. I had a great night Saturday at a church here in town. The soulful praise and worship was out of this world. Turns out a lady my wife works with sang that night. We were there with some others from there school where they teach, and no one knew about her singing. At school she is a humble woman that doesn't say a thing about her gift of singing. Yet when she sings it's beautiful. Heartfelt passion for her Lord and Savior. You can't help but feel it. " those who raise themselves up will be humbled, those who humble themselves will be exalted". We are servants of the Lord. We are here to do His work in bringing others home to Him. To share the Good News with the people around us. But done so in humility and servanthood. That's a hard thing in this self serving egotistical world which tells us to excel at all cost. Well the cost is the ultimate price. An eternity in a lake of fire and torment beyond imagination. It all boils down to a choice; right or wrong. God or not. Our world promotes self reliability. Dependent on no one but ourselves. That's disaster. We are fully His and should be humble in our serving Him. That's when your the strongest voice for Christ. Scream His praises in your humble and silent service. In love always. <><
