The Joys of Life

I learned something today!! Actually, I think I re-learned something. But we'll pretend.

I read through the first half of Matthew 7. Jesus was not at all like I tend to picture him. He was a call-it-like-it-is kinda guy. He presented truth in a way that I haven't heard truth presented very often, plainly. In my church planting class this week, we had a guy who works for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. He is heading up the organic church movement in Texas. I think that means he goes around and educates people on what the organic church is and why it is necessary. One of the things he talked about was how we always want to jazz-up everything. We see stories of people, like Jesus, who simply present truth plainly to those who will hear, and leave the rest in the dark. We state in out doctrine this idea that God is the only one who can initiate change in the hearts of men, then we beg and plead with men to change. We say that God's truth is the only thing that can penetrate the hearts of men, then we power point the crap out of things trying to make it appealing for anyone who might possibly be listening. Jesus wasn't about that stuff at all. He just went out and told it like it is to people who would never have had a chance to hear it from anyone else. He went places he wasn't supposed to go, and did things he wasn't supposed to do, and didn't care about what anyone else thought about it. He knew the truth, was the truth, and knew his purpose in life. We look at the disciples and at the 1st century church and wonder how is Christianity supposed to look in our lives today. We look at real discipleship, which involves spending every day with a younger Christian and teaching him everything you know and showing him everything you do as a Christian, and then wonder why our weekly meetings don't go so well and we aren't seeing the results we had hoped for. We have lost our joy in God and replaced it with joy in doing things for God.
Anyways, I just thought I'd share what I got from spending a little time with God this evening. I do love how God is bigger than my circumstances. No matter what's going on in my life, God is still working.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Granddad

Yesterday my 86 year old granddad went home to God. I've been trying to figure out how I feel and how I'm supposed to feel, if there is even such a thing. I genuinely prayed that God would take him home because he wasn't living anymore, but I really miss him. He was truly an awesome man. The chaplain came in and was talking to my grammy and asked what the secret is to being together for 62 years, and she said, "There needs to be more men like my husband." Wow! What a testament to his life. Sure, he wasn't perfect, but he did a lot of things better than most people. He loved his family. Getting the fam together at holidays or random days gave me some of my best childhood memories because my family is amazingly wonderful. I credit most of that to Granddad. He knew how to love people. I have heard story after story these past couple of weeks about people whose lives were touched many years ago by Granddad, and they will never forget him. That blew me away. I knew that he was an awesome man, but I didn't know how far his influence reached.
All in all, I really miss him, but I think I'm more excited for him and where he is. He knows what Jesus looks like! I can't wait to see him again!

Also, I would really appreciate your prayers for Grammy. This is the first time in 62 years she's been without a husband. Pray that she would still find joy in this life, and that this whole thing will pull her even closer to God.

A Litle Pick-me-up

Psalm 118:1
"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His love endures forever."
Psalm 107:1
"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His love endures forever."
Psalm 106:1
"Praise the LORD.
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His love endures forever."

Why do so many of the psalms start out this way?

We forget over and over again that God loves us, and we live our lives in such a way that fails to show others the love of God. The psalmists wrote this as a praise to God, and for others to remember that we can always rejoice and we can always give thanks to the LORD because He loves us and always will. I am beginning to understand how Paul found joy in all situations. Paul understood one simple truth: God is love. He knew that whatever mess he found himself in, whatever beating he took, that God still loved him and that's how he had joy that surpassed all understanding.

Remember today that God loves you. Let this fact shine so brightly through life that it touches someone else today.

What is Love?

Webster's defines love as an affection or feeling towards someone or something.
The Bible defines love as laying down one's life for another.

What does this mean to us? Even if we do figure out some way to define love, how do we do it? How can I love another person? How do I love God?

I am a prideful person. I think of myself as someone who has things pretty much figured out. I am smart, athletic, tall, and posses many qualities seen by the world as good qualities to posses. At the same time, I know that by myself, I am nothing. I am not bad, good, or anywhere in between, I am just nothing. Without the saving knowledge of Christ and Him crucified I am absolutely nothing. Without Christ, nothing I ever do will ever mean anything, nor will it amount to anything of any significance or importance. On the flip side, with Christ everything I do is meant to have eternal significance and importance. I am centering my life and career around this fact and hope that God will use me in some manner for His glory and for the furthering of His kingdom here on Earth.

All that to say that I find myself at times looking at other people who have such a skewed view of God and judging them. I think somehow that I am better than them because God chose me, when in reality, I did nothing to earn this salvation, and I am no better than anyone else ever. God chose me because He wanted to. I did nothing to earn His favor or His grace, He simply loves me and called me to be His son. I am writing to confess my pride and ask that you will pray that somehow I get it through my head that God is everything and I am nothing. I am asked to do things for God and that is what I do. He tells me to love, not judge, so that I what I need to be doing.

That being said, how do I love someone who has such a skewed view of God? Do I simply love them and live my life out in front of them hoping that they will see the truths about God lived out in my life? Do I talk to them in a kind and understanding way about why they believe what they believe? Do I, like Jesus, turn over the tables of their wicked ways and call sin what it is?

In talking this out, I see my pride coming through and have discovered what I need to do. I need to throw myself on the grace and mercy of Christ and pray that God will pull me closer and closer to Him, and that through my getting closer to Him, He will shine through me in ways I can't quite comprehend.

What is love? Love is submitting my life to Christ who called me out of the ashes and letting Him love through me.

Friends

We had some old friends over last night and it was awesome. There are so few people in this world that we really click with instantly and bond with and the Howers are some of those people. Brock and Heather Hower are missionaries in Mexico running a camp and conference center. We have known them for a few years now and have been to their camp a couple of times. They were in town for a day on their way back to Mexico from their home in New Orleans and just had a couple of hours to spend with us, but we loved it. They brought their youngest two kiddos, Rueben and Annie, which was awesome because they are around the same ages as our kids, so they had fun playing with each other. Talking to the Brocks (as I often refer to them) was refreshing because we are so like minded. We both love God and desire to serve Him in a culture other than our own. I love how God gives us people like them to come along side us and rejuvinate our spirits as we make the long journey toward Heaven.

On a crappier side of things, I had my first classes today and it's going to be a rough four months.

Vision

What is vision?

I started reading a book with a buddy of mine called "Visioneering." The book is pretty awesome so far. It helps me put words to a lot of thoughts I've been having. This book's goal seems to be to help the reader understand what having a vision for life is and how to discern that vision through the lenses of Christ in one's life. I will definitely write more on my vision as we progress in the book, but for now I am going to try my best to blog everyday. It may not be great, but it will be from the heart and will hopefully be an encouragement to all my reader.

Today I learned about humility. I tend to be a proud man. I have some really cool skills (like numchucks) and gifts, and a lot of the time I tend to rely on my own gifts to get by in life instead of recognizing that I am really nothing and Christ is the only way anything in my life will have any impact on anything. As I was having a conversation over lunch, I began to see why I'm not ready to be a pastor. I hate it, but the guy I was talking to was right. He told me how I need to be humbled leading adults to understand how to lead. I didn't want to hear it at the time, but I do desperately need humility in order for me to get out of the way of God in my life. I saw this again tonight at my small group Bible study. We were talking about prayer requests and I began to think to myself, "I'm way closer to God than all these guys." In reality, I've been somewhat depressed lately because I haven't been spending time with God reading and praying and meditating on Him because I've been too wrapped up in video games and movies. God smacked me in the face tonight. I can only hope and pray that I will learn from this experience and that God will continue to teach me that I am nothing without Him.


Thanks for reading

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Update

To all my reader out there, I've been really busy lately with finishing this semester and working a ton and trying to get some sort of ministry in that I haven't had time to write. I am still learning and still doing whatever I can to further the Kingdom of God in this world, although it feels as though other things have snuck up and taken priority. I know this is wrong, but it's what I'm dealing with at this time in my life. This next semester, I will be attempting to graduate college so I will be taking a ton of classes and I will also be attempting to put food on the table at home so I will be working a ton of hours, so I'm sorry in advance for not writing much over the next few months. That being said, I have had some awesome opportunities to share Christ with a few co-workers, although it hasn't turned out like I wanted it to. I also have an awesome opportunity to preach this week at my church, Grace Bible Church, here in Killeen, TX. I will be talking about John the Baptist, specifically in Matthew 3, and examining his life and ministry. I appreciate your prayers and love during this stressful season in my life and also for my preaching, that I would get out of the way and let God speak through me. Anyways, I'll try to write as much as I can.