I have not blogged in some time…..I feel like there has been so much that has taken place over the last weeks or months that I don’t know where to start! I find myself this time of year trying to reflect on the last 11 months wondering, thinking, dissecting to see if I could have done better, made less mistakes or in some way made more of impact on those around me. I answer my own question with a resounding YES! I preach, teach, and do what I say is my very best to model what authentic Christianity is and yet I know way down that I could have given more, prayer more, acted more…….Christ like. I think if we all took a moment to reflect on the past year that we would all say the same thing, at least I hope that I’m not alone!
This year has been, well its been tough. I know that those who read this probably feel the same way, but it is in these times that I learn what I am really made of…..and the reality is that I am a man. A man formed in the image of one who is in a word magnificent! My mom used to tell my that I had a lot of what it takes to get along. I have come to the place where I am aware that in all actuality I have a lot less than what it takes to get along, but there is one who is in a word magnificent!
I had a friend that some time ago he said ” at Christmas time I turn into an 8 year old kid.” I have used this over the years to describe how much I love any holiday involving presents, especially when they were for me, but this year I am incredibly grateful to have been able to buy presents for my boys who like their father love opening presents.
When the Bible says that he who finds a wife finds a good thing, I think that I have the best! I have two sons who love me and a group of students who are hungry for more of God. My prayer as this year ends is that my wife would see in me the man of God that I so desperately want to be, that my boys would know that I love them more than any words could possibly express, and that the students at Thrive would know beyond a shadow of doubt that they have captured the heart of this youth pastor and that the best is just ahead of us!
Merry Christmas to all.
Category: life
I have been pondering Gethsemane for sometime. I wonder what it must have been like for Jesus to feel literally the weight of the world on His shoulders. Being all God I’m sure it wasn’t not a problem, but the all man side that I would imagine was a whole other story. Hebrews tell us that for the joy set before Him He endured the cross. Have you ever thought about that. You are His joy, and to me that is refreshing, reassuring, and comforting. We have been in Alabama for almost a year, how time as flown, we have made new friends while not forgetting our old friends. We have experienced more intimate moments with the Lord and a drawing of His presence unlike anything before. There have been times of where we have felt like we were being pressed on every side, but He is faithful and we are…..and you are His joy.
Tomorrow I’m tanking four of my students for three days in the woods. We are hiking a 33 mile section of the Appalachian trail in North Carolina. should be a good time with great weather and great talks. I love where God has me right now! Not just the job and church and amazing students who challenge me and teach me all the time, but personally what He has been showing me about who I am, what He has for me and how I get to be a part of what He is about to do here in Florence and I believe around the globe. God is………just fill in the blank! He is all that you need Him to be and you re His joy today.
For the students who read this know that this has been the best year of my life and largely because of all of you. love you guys.
I have been thinking a great deal about grace. Have you ever though about it? “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” Their was this, if you will great transaction that took place on the cross where this Jesus, who knew no sin BECAME sin for us 2 Corinthians 5:13-21. Did you here that He became sin. It’s not like He just passed by our sin and forgave us, He became our sin! “Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”
Grace as been used to excuse poor behavior, when it was intended to set us free. Grace is uncomprehending much like the love of God. the same God who cast the stars in the sky, separated dry land from the sea, is the same God who came to earth to display this grace that we all would be hopelessly lost without. “Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” Take a moment to think about grace and what it cost.
Have you ever given thought about how majestic He is. All of creation displays His majesty. Its quite overwhelming, to think about and ponder the beauty that He creates for us His sons and daughters to enjoy. With a word He created the heavens and the stars. With a word He told water where to stop and dry land to begin. As if this isn’t enough, we see His majesty displayed in full view in the life of a child. More times than not I find myself at a loss for words when I try to express how awesome, magnificent, and holy He is. To worship Him in spirit and truth is to identify with the death and resurrection of Christ. The Lamb slain before the foundations of the world in all His majesty, beauty, and holiness. That is simple put majestic!
I sit here at my desk typing this post, and having to really make sure I believe it. I trust you God. It is a mystery that we trust and rely on a God who we cannot see with our natural eyes. I sat on the couch and uttered those very words, “I trust you God.” As I did I was flooded with images of times when I was younger and times when Lauren and I were first married, and then times when Micah was born and then some more when Kaleb was born. Despite all that Lauren and I have been through, and continue to go through I can say with all the confidence in the world that “I trust you God”.
He is a good God who is faithful. I refuse to believe anything else. I remember what a Pastor that I was under when I first started this journey used to say….”without a test there can be no testimony.” I remember what my Pastor from back home used say……”when it looks like you’re down to nothing, look up because God is up to something.” He has never sen the righteous forsaken nor His seed begging for bread, and He will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory. what do you have need of today? Maybe its healing, Maybe its financial breakthrough, maybe its the love of the father. Whatever it is trust HIM for it for He will never let you down.
I have been thinking a lot about one’s potential lately. I would gather that people who believe in God would say that He is a creative being. If we say we believe in God, I would argue that we would have to believe in the Bible. Seems really simple i know, but you would be surprised at how many people say they believe in God, but don’t believe the Bible is His infallible Word.
My point is this Scripture says that we are made in the image and likeness of God, and that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. If we hold these things to be true then our potential is only limited to the limitations we place on ourselves through our unbelief or sinful lifestyle. We have the creator of the heavens and the earth living on the inside of us. WOW!!! That is incredible to think about. I mentioned in a previous post how our creativity is tied to our spirituality, and this has everything to do with our potential. When we allow ourselves to first and foremost dream, and secondly allow the Holy Spirit to breath upon our dreams God places His anointing on our potential and creativity is the result.
The question I would pose today is are you living up to your potential, and if not what is holding you back? Potential lies in between what is, and what is not. Today as you set out, grab hold of your potential and let nothing keep you from creating life you have dreamed about. Your dreams are not going to come true with you just sitting back and saying “well if God wants it to happen, it will happen.” He wants you to dream and create, because He Himself is a dreamer.
I just got done reading one of my students blogs and it was really well written. I thought that I would for the sake of love write on this topic as well. We are often mislead about love. We have good reason for that. All the movies that we watch, the magazines on the stands in the stores and even the interaction in daily life gives us a false image, or misrepresentation of what love really is. I think about movies…a lot, and there are some that come to mind that display a better picture of what love is. the first and really a rather obscure movie is Mr. Hollands Opus a movie about a man who had a dream to be a professional musician and great conductor and writer of music, but instead finds himself working as a high school music teacher. It was just supposed to be a “temporary” job. He ends up staying at the school and becoming a force of change in his students life. At the end his students from years past and present perform a symphony that he had wrote. Love first and foremost bears much fruit. It is a force to be reckoned with. There is no stopping love. we can build barriers and put up walls, but love never fails.
The second movie, one more recognizable is Braveheart. A movie about love from start to finish. William Wallace was a man who was deeply passionate and was willing to lay down his life for that love. He fought to avenge the murder of his love, but more than that he fought for Scotland! A land which he loved until he died with the final words not just whispered, but shouted at the top of his lungs…”Freedom.’ The second things is love will always set us free! This doesn’t always mean we’ll be happy, but we will be free.
Our lives are surrounded by people who have no idea what or more accurately who love is. I have a friend who some years ago wrote a poem called Love hung on a tree. This statement couldn’t be more true. Love hung on a tree, died a death that was meant for us. He paid a debt he didn’t owe, and we owed a debt that we couldn’t pay with a thousand lifetimes. I am humbled, as should you be that He loves us that much. Love is more than just words…..it’s action. He acted on His love and sent His son to die a selfless, obedient, but glorious death, and because of that we are part of the fruit of that love. I want to love like that. to my students at Thrive that read this, know today that PL and I pray for you often and think that you are amazing and you made the move worth it! we LOVE you guys!
Have you ever pondered the idea that we are creative beings? We were created by the ultimate Creator, but he doesn’t expect us to all be the same. Nor does He want us to be robots who are made to mind their master. He wants us to want to mind Him. We can see that we are made to create from a couple of passages of scripture. The one I would like to focus on is found in Matthew 25:14-30. We find here a man who goes on a long journey and leaves some money with three servants. Five bags of gold with one, two bags with another and one bag with a third. He gives them responsibility over them; he entrusts these bags to them. We notice the master didn’t given them specific instructions on what to do with money, only to be responsible.
We see that all but the servant with the least amount of responsibility was both willing to take the risk and attempt to make his master more money and He was undoubtedly creative in doing so. The servant who did nothing, but bury his masters money say back and did nothing. the one with the mos to lose risk much more than the others and was richly rewarded, although not looked at with any greater joy or love from the master.
Creativity is a natural result of spirituality. The closer we get to The Creator the more creative we become. The master was not looking to see who out of the three servant won, he was looking to see which of them lived! When we are alive to Christ, then we will walk in a creativity that this world has not seen. Creativity isn’t a luxury of artist, but a calling of humanity. In my office at work I have a TV which my boys occasionally watch movies on. the one they have been watching lately is Wall-E. There is a line in the movie where the captain of the Axiom says ” I don’t want to survive, I want to live.” Isn’t that the cry of our hearts? I want to know what it is to truly live. Today as we set out on whatever lies ahead for us, lets create the life we have always dreamed of. Like the servants in the parable, let us go an create that our Master might say “enter into the my joy, be my partner.” Go and create!
I found myself pondering this question last night. What would it be like to wake up in the White House? I think that it is safe to say that while President Bush was a great man, a godly man, our country is in shambles. The challenges that our new President faces are in his words great and many. The reason that I bring it up, is not to show my political stances, or try and bring on a debate with some, but rather to point out that I would not want to be in his shoes. It is our responsibility to pray for him. I remember watching the inauguration on my computer as two companies facebook and CNN collaborated to bring it to us live and seeing some of the comments of fellow followers of Christ and ministers of the sacred gospel and being disappointed. Let me make it clear and say that I do not agree with all of his views, but we have to know that God is really in control and that He will see to it that His will is accomplished. I don’t put my trust in a man in an office, I put my trust in the one who created the Heavens and the Earth, the Bright and Morning Star, the Alpha and the Omega, the Prince of Peace, The Christ the son of the Living God, Jesus.
Waking up in the White House today for the first full day of service would be an unbelievable feeling. Emotions would be high and expectations higher. The entire world watching you as you make your first move. The challenges he faces are huge and people everywhere are waiting to see how he will handle the pressure. I want to commit to pray for our president, not that he would just do the “right thing,” but that He would find God in a new way. That Jesus would reveal himself in such a way that it would be undeniable.
