Summer's Here

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trails of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. James 1:2

I am certainly looking forward to short work week because of Independence Day as I feel that our family has been on the 'GO' the past several months due to multiple sports and the end of the school year.  We've have already gone to camp, enjoyed some vacation, and I have began to travel more for work.  Needless to say, I am past due for a "staycation."  The point being, when I rely on my own limited resources, I simply don’t have what it takes to make it. 

The more I learn about God, the more I am understand that He wants me to come to a place of dependence on Him, every single day, in fact every single hour of every single day to be exact.

This world wants you to believe that being self-sufficient is the way live, but the truth is, we need to rely more on God’s all-powerful and never-ending strength.

Let us rejoice in our insufficiency knowing that God’s power is made perfect in our weakness.

Walk With Me

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.  Hebrews 10:23

 

In my walk of faith, there are occasions that, if left to my own devices, I begin to become selfish in pursuing what makes me feel happy, and I only hear what I want to hear.  I can always tell when I am beginning to veer “off path,” because I tend to be short-tempered, impatient and combative with my family and friends.  I can typically pinpoint the “off path” beginnings by my shortened and unfocused prayers, lack of reading God’s Word, and going through the motions of worship at church.

It’s when we live according to God’s divine wisdom that we walk by faith and not by our own sight.  We begin to make decisions as God would have us make them instead of based upon how we feel, and what makes us feel “good.”

We must let the Holy Spirit guide us, not our impulses and emotions.  We must walk with God daily and allow His divine wisdom to reign supreme in our lives.

Opportunities

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, clearly no one else is as intelligent or wise as you are.  You will be in charge of my court, and all my people will take orders from you.  Only I, sitting on my throne, will have a rank higher than yours.”  Genesis 41: 39-40

Without a doubt, responsibility is one of the keys to opening the doors of opportunity.  In the above passage from Genesis, Joseph was unjustly thrown into prison and could have easily become bitter and done nothing.  Instead, he utilized every opportunity to earn other people’s trust because of his responsibility and eventually rose to great prominence in Egypt.

We too must learn to conduct the mundane and minor aspects of our everyday lives in such a manner so that we will also be given greater opportunities. 

Both of our children have the responsibility of doing chores around the house to earn a weekly allowance (or as they say, money for skins for Fortnight)  The boys are learning that they will be rewarded for doing simple tasks such as cleaning up their rooms and making their beds each day in addition to learning the value of money.

As adults and believers in the body of faith, we must also go about our daily routines with responsibility so that we can expect greater opportunities in the future.

Man On The Corner

"Zacchaeus, come down quickly, because I must stay at your house today."...And when the people saw it, they all complained, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner."  Luke 19:5, 7
 

Have you ever been in a public place and noticed people with expressions on their faces like they were zombies or the walking dead?   I was recently in Market Square in Knoxville and couldn’t help but notice people that looked miserable walking around the downtown area.

It got me thinking about a song that our children learned at their daycare about Zacchaeus.  You see, Zacchaeus was hated and rejected by many of the local folks in Jericho because he was a tax collector, not to mention he was also pretty wealthy.  When Jesus arrived in Jericho,  he singled out the "short man hanging from the tree" from the rather large crowd of people. 

Regardless of being rich, Jesus recognized that Zacchaeus was desperately missing something in his life.  Notice that Jesus did not try to fix Zacchaeus or correct him before joining him at his home.  This, of course, outraged the crowd as Jesus was hanging with a known 'sinner.' 

How many people do you pass by in a given day that are 'hanging from a tree?" We are not called to fix people, but share the good news of the gospel with others.  We must slow down and open our eyes to the people in need all around us.  When we do, we begin to follow God's will for our lives, and serve others just like Jesus did.

The Love You Save

I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it.  Revelation 3:8

In the most simplest of statements, God’s purpose for each of us is to receive His love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness and then turn around and express it to others.  He wants a relationship with us so that we can experience His love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness on a daily basis.  When our focus is directed inwards, it is hard to share God’s love with others. 

We all need our alone time and Jesus often spent time by Himself after teaching or performing miracles.  It’s when our focus is strictly on seeking our own personal pleasure at the expense of relationships with family and friends that we are not following God’s master plan.

We are all promised eternal life with our Father in heaven, so our days on this earth are numbered.  Make the most of everyday by putting your relationship with Jesus first, other people second, and yourself last.

Vacation

 

Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Matthew 11:28

It’s been a wonderful, but extremely busy summer with some major and blessed changes taking place personally as of late. I know I am not alone when I say that I could really use yet another vacation as it's good for the soul to sometimes 'unplug.'

All of the extra stress has left me with very little peace as of late.  I know that I will be fine and that God will not let me down in this circumstance, but I cannot help but feel stressed.

Through the Cross, God has made Himself available to us at ALL times.  Jesus invites us to come into the presence of God to find the grace, mercy, and peace that we so desperately need.  We need no middle-man to speak to God either; it's as simple as getting on our knees to pray.  God is always there and ready to listen to your inner most groaning and moaning.

God loves you and is available to you whenever you need Him...

It's A Real Good Thing

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.  He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.  Psalm 103:8-10

Being the proud father of two wonderful and strong-willed sons, I have recently found myself having to be very patient and forgiving with our oldest, who is often times hot-tempered with me when it comes time to be disciplined.

Why is it so easy for us to say hurtful things to the people we love the most, especially our family? The more I reflect on the things Elliott has said to me out of anger, I can't help but be overwhelmed by how loving, forgiving, and slow to anger God is with me.  What if God actually gave us what we deserved?  What if God kept a list of our wrongdoings and we were repaid according to our sins?  Thankfully, the ultimate price has been paid for our sins and we will never have to experience God's wrath for our shortcomings and iniquities.

Just has God forgives us, we are to extend forgiveness to others who have hurt or wronged us.  It's not as easy as it seems, but it's the only way to mend and repair a broken relationship and move forward in love.

Surrender

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  Therefore submit to God.  James 4: 6-7

Our sons are both growing up too fast-Elliott just turned 12 earlier this month and Elijah will be 9 in August, but along with all of the fun, they are both capable of also showing immature attitudes at any given moment. I feel like a ‘broken record’ at times, reminding them to brush their teeth every morning and evening, asking them not to eat like cavemen without utensils, etc. My personal favorite was rounding the boys up for their baseball games, which were played four nights during the week for several months. Some of the last games of the baseball season and it's like these two don't know that they need their baseball uniforms, bats, gloves, cups...you catch my drift. Despite our many efforts to stay on them, they are both stubborn and usually don't yield to what Alicia and I ask of them. 

 

The same principle holds true in our relationship with the Holy Spirit.  If a drowning man thinks he can help himself, he becomes dangerous to anyone who attempts to rescue him.  Until we surrender to God and give him full authority to reign supreme in our lives, we are not in any position to be helped either.  We may not realize it, but when we aren't following his lead, we are listening to ourselves and being disobedient.

To truly follow God, we must make his will our own and it starts by surrendering our own will!

Twist

"Because of God's tender mercy the dawn will break upon is from on high to give light to those who sit in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."  Luke 1:78-79

I am a creature of habit and like to have a schedule of events or at least some sort of plan for each day.  I do occasionally like to change things up a bit, but by no means am I a fan of my daily path taking unexpected twists and turns.  This type of stubbornness can be difficult in a marriage, the employee benefit business and especially with young children at home. 

You see, when we live our lives under the false belief that we are actually in control, we are not allowing God to help us through each day. We must stay alert to His Presence so that when our lives make that occasional detour or we run into 'bumps' in the road, we can lean on our Father to help us overcome the problems we encounter, with strength and peace.

Thank God for each day that doesn't turn out the way you anticipated it to!

Reelin' In The Years

When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other.  Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.  Ecclesiastes 7:14

Have you ever found yourself in a “funk?”  I am not talking about jamming out to James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, or Parliament, but more along the lines of just going through the motions of life-marriage, parenting, work, etc…

God allows both good and bad times to come to everyone.  He blends both of them together in each of our lives in such a way that we can't possibly predict our futures or count on our own wisdom and power.  We usually take credit for the good times and blame God for the bad without taking the time to thank Him for all of the good that can come from them.

We must not become too comfortable when times are seemingly good and seem controllable.  God may allow bad times to cause us to seek Him again.  On the flip side, when times are difficult or painful, don't despair; God is always in control of every situation and will bring good results out of bad times.

I Started Something I Couldn't Finish

Let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, looking away from all that will distract to Jesus. Just think of Him so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds. Hebrews 12:1-3

There have been plenty of times that I have started something, given up and then quit something. For instance, I really wanted to learn to play the banjo and was determined to start a bluegrass band, so I purchased one along with an instructional book and DVD. I attempted to play the banjo along with the video and became so frustrated, that I quickly gave up and returned everything back to the music store.  (I think Belá Fleck was teaching the lesson on the DVD...) If only I had given the instrument just a little more effort and practiced more, maybe I could have learned to play the banjo.  Who knows? I could have been in a bluegrass band by now….okay, maybe not, but it never hurts to daydream!

Our lives are much the same, particularly our walk with Christ. There are plenty of times that we are faced with difficult situations that wear us down and make us want to give up, but once we have Christ in our lives, He gives us His never-ending strength and energy to endure.

We must keep looking to Him and seeking His strength when we feel like giving up and saying "I quit." We must follow His example and keep on pressing no matter what we are facing!  

Feel Like A Stranger

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, and he went out without understanding where he was going.  By faith he lived as a foreigner in the promised land as though it were a foreign country…Abraham died in faith without receiving the things promised, but he saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that he was a stranger and foreigner on this earth.  Hebrews 11:8, 13

I always enjoy ‘people watching,’ especially while travelling for work or on vacation.  Recently, following an out-of-town meeting with a client, I stopped for a bite to eat and couldn't help but feel like an "outsider" in the restaurant I was in. Regardless, it was a great trip and when I read the above passage from Hebrews, it reminded of how we are all different from each other and 'foreigners' here on this earth.

One of my favorite stories from the Bible is Abraham leading the exiles out of Egypt into the wilderness for years and years in the pursuit of the promised land.  (By the way, it’s also a great passage to read when you are struggling with impatience.)  Abraham never actually saw the end destination-the promised land, but yet remained steadfast and continually obeyed God’s command despite the years of searching and the endless complaining and anger from the impatient exiles he was leading.

We are all here on this earth for a short time and this is not our final destination-we are essentially strangers in a strange land living with the promise of what’s to come in the next life-eternity with God in heaven. It's easy to become frustrated and defeated when our needs are not met immediately, but this world is simply not our home.

Let us not be so attached to this world's desires and possessions that we can't move out at God's command.  

The Walk

Make me know Your ways, O LORD ; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day.  Psalm 25: 4-5

Waiting on God’s perfect timing is difficult for any believer.  I have certainly had my share of experience in waiting on God and looking back, those times helped me to grow in my faith and dependence on Him.  

I have been blessed with some lifelong friendships and one friend in particular recently confided in me about being patient with a difficult situation at work.  You see, my friend has worked tirelessly for the same company for several years now and has never been given a raise.  With our nation’s economy finally making signs of improvement and with an increased workload year in and year out, my friend finally worked up the courage to sit down with his boss and make a case for an increased salary.

The meeting seemed to go well and I was impressed with my friend’s courage to be bold and ask for a raise in the first place.  Courage is often times associated with bravery, but I am referring to my friend’s ability to patiently wait for God’s voice instead of only following the advice of their family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.  Doing this requires great faith, humility, and patience, all of which are the other characteristics needed for successful waiting.

I am pleased to write that the conversation took place and things are looking promising for a pay increase.   My friend just needs to continue to patiently surrender to God’s plan for his life…

Thanks be to God for blessing us with such amazing friends!!

My Way

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  Therefore submit to God.  James 4: 6-7

Our youngest son, Elijah, is growing up way too fast (he’ll be nine years old this August) but along with all of the fun, he is very stubborn and strong-willed.  Outside of sweets, he eats enough food to sustain life.  The other night, we enjoyed 'Taco Tuesday' together as a family.  While trying to help him position taco so he could eat it without making too much of a mess, the hard taco shell started to break apart and all of the taco ended up on the floor, much to our Dorkie, Linus' delight.  Of course, Elijah refused to eat the taco and started protested dinner because the “taco was broken!” 

The same principle holds true in our relationship with the Holy Spirit.  If a drowning man thinks he can help himself, he becomes dangerous to anyone who attempts to rescue him.  Until we surrender to God and give him full authority to reign supreme in our lives, we are not in any position to be helped either.  We may not realize it, but when we aren't following his lead, we are listening to ourselves and being disobedient.

To truly follow God, we must make his will our own and it starts by surrendering our own will!

My Father's Eyes

Take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your week knees.  Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.  Hebrews 12: 12-13

We all model something to someone else.  Being a father, this has never been more apparent to me in all of my lifetime.  There are times that I set good examples for our children; other times, I wish I that could take backsomething that I have either said or done. After all, these two are going to be in our home for only a few more years is a becoming a hard reality because once they are off to college, I feel like we won't see them on a daily basis as much...

After 44 years, I have really come to appreciate all of the wisdom, advice, and love that my father has given me through the years.  The Bible promises us the way we live our lives will influence others; it may be for good or bad, for Christ or the enemy, so ask yourself what kind of example you have been setting for others lately.

I hope that one day our two sons will look back and realize that I tried to set a good example for them to live by, just like my father has for me...

Trouble Me

And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose… Romans 8:28

I read something that struck a chord with me just the other day in the excellent book, Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.  Friday’s devotional was about being thankful and praising God even we are facing difficulties.

When we face turmoil, we begin to realize just how much we need God in our lives.  I firmly believe that God allows difficult circumstances to make us realize our dependence on Him.  You see, when things are going  well, we grow idle in our faith and falsely begin to believe that we are self-sufficient in our own minds. Our Father allows these times to shake our foundations so that we are humbled and reach out to Him in need and in love.

We must turn every aspect of our lives over to God-our children, our relationships, our jobs, finances, health; anything that we try to manage without dependence on Him is prideful and will surely not stand the test of time.

Even if it feels strange and foreign to you, praise God even when you are experiencing trouble…it just may all be part of His perfect plan to bring you into a closer relationship with Him!

Lengthwise

Certainly you made my mind and heart; you wove me together in my mother’s womb.  I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing.  You knew me thoroughly… Psalms 139:13

Ah, summertime.  It’s great to enjoy the long days and what a better time to work on projects around the home… 

A few years ago, we had a screened in porch built and two summers later, we laid the concrete for a patio that has provided us a place for our grill and some lawn chairs.   We now have a trampoline in the back yard which is the 'hang out' for many of our neighbor's kids.  Until we had a concrete pad, our grill was stored inside our screened in porch and it drove Alicia crazy. (Not to mention, I burned some of the vinyl siding off of the side of our house, but that’s a story for another day and time.)  The contractor that worked on both of our home improvement projects amazes me.  He knew exactly what materials and tools he needed to complete each project and worked efficiently on both until completion.  I know a lot of folks who are quite handy, but I am certainly not one of them.  I cannot build a Lego set correctly without the instruction manual….oh well!

God is like the ‘master builder’ when it comes to each of our lives.  He knows what work needs to be done and just how He will use His beloved children to finish the job.   You see, each of us are wonderfully and fearfully made to serve as His vessels while we are on this earth.   From before we were born, He has known us and the plans He has in store for us.

Praise His holy name!!!

Walk With Me

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.  Hebrews 10:23

In my walk of faith, there are occasions that if left to my own devices, I begin to become selfish in pursuing what makes me feel happy, and I only hear what I want to hear.  I can always tell when I am beginning to veer “off path,” because I tend to be short-tempered, impatient and combative with my family and friends.  I can typically pinpoint the “off path” beginnings by my shortened and unfocused prayers, lack of reading God’s Word, and going through the motions of worship at church.

It’s when we live according to God’s divine wisdom that we walk by faith and not by our own sight.  We begin to make decisions as God would have us make them instead of based upon how we feel, and what makes us feel “good.”

We must let the Holy Spirit guide us, not our impulses and emotions.  We must walk with God daily and allow His divine wisdom to reign supreme in our lives.

Just The Two of Us

The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.  All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs the motives.  Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established.  Proverbs 16: 1-3

As summer has kicked into high gear and both boys are still playing baseball, it has become clear to me that I desperately need to spend more time in prayer, connecting with our Lord and Savior.  I have also been travelling the past two weekends and unable to attend worship, so I really do feel out of touch..

Finding the right balance in life always proves to be more difficult than it sounds.  For us to live up to our true potential and follow the plans God has made for us, we must seek to achieve balance in our lives.

Our first priority should always be to seek the Lord each and every day, though prayer, reading of the Word and worshiping on a regular basis. Working a full-time career and adding young children to the mix can certainly take away from any quiet time to pray or read the Bible, so I do at least try to save a few minutes each morning to start my day on the good foot.  

I know too many people that consider Sunday their day of rest and will make up any excuse to not go to church.  I honestly look forward to going to church each week and feel like something is off if I am out of town or miss a service.

Despite our busy schedules, we must make the time each and every day to devote to our Loving Father!!

Velvet Sea

 Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side.  Matthew 14:22

In the gospel of Matthew, Chapter 14, Jesus asked the disciples to board the boat before Him and He promised that He would meet them on the other side.  He never gave any specific details nor did He bother to tell them just how He was going to cross the Sea of Galilee.

Sometimes we just have to trust God without knowing any of the specific details.  If you are like me, this is proves to be very difficult as I like to know "who", "what", "where", "when", and "why."

The Lord may not give us every detail of His plan so we should not require to know every detail or know all things either.  We just need to obey Him and trust that His timing is perfect and good, as it always is.

Amazing Grace

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  Romans 10:13

We celebrated our oldest son, Elliott's, 12th birthday over the weekend. Another item that blows my mind is that he is a rising 6th grader...Man, time continues to fly by at light speed.  I have noticed that the older he becomes, the more expensive the gifts, right?  He racked up (as usual) and while he was opening his bountiful loot and I could tell little brother, Elijah was a little jealous.  I mean, who what child doesn't want an iPhone?    

I can still recall when my little sister got what seemed to be 'cool' gifts that I was always a bit jealous of when we were growing up.  My parents surprised her with a sweet Ford Mustang GT Convertible when she turned sixteen. One year, she was given a ATV/4 wheeler for Christmas from Santa Claus, and if I am being honest, I expected something similar or equally as 'cool' from my parents/Santa. 

To some extent, we are all childish with the gifts we expect to receive, but there is one gift that is given freely to each one of us-the perfect gift-the gift of God's grace. 

There is nothing you need to do to receive this gift other than calling the name of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and accepting that His death on the cross is that which saves you from sin.

If you haven't accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, what are you waiting for? 

People Are People

The sun is glorious in one way, the moon is glorious in another way, and the stars are glorious in their own distinctive way; for one star differs from and surpasses another in its beauty and brilliance.  1 Corinthians 15:41

As our two sons continue to grow up (way too fast, I might add), the differences between him and his older brother are astounding.  For instance, Elliott, while a great athlete on his terms, is into music much the way I was at his age.  Elijah, on the other hand, enjoys music, but is a natural athlete, like my younger sister was.  Elliott in now 12 years old and only eats vanilla ice cream like his mother; Elijah on the other hand will eat any flavor; but is prefers chocolate like me.  Point in case, we are each uniquely made and thankfully created by God to be different from one another.

To truly live the lives God intended us to live, we are to accept who we are as individuals and fit into His great plan rather than comparing ourselves with others and trying to fit into everyone else's plans.

Each of has been uniquely made to fill a need and we are ALL part of God's master plan.  Make it a personal goal of yours to find out what you are individually supposed to be and then succeed at being yourself.  It's okay to be different, in fact, God made you that way!