Just a quick thought!

I was talking with someone today and they were so excited about their new girlfriend. I also noticed that on their blog they had written something about how they had such a terrible life; just because things didn't go their way in the realm of relationships.
An un original thought jutted its way to the forefront of my mind. "If you are not happy with yourself you will never be happy with even a husband or a wife"

We need Christ to help us daily and help us to see ourselves as fearfully and wonderfully made.

I pray that God will make us to become more soberly minded as we continue to live on this earth with a divinely inspired quest. May he be glorified in us with great totality!

Faith to Move

It is funny how there is always something there to keep us from letting go of the familiar. If its not one thing in life it is another. God told Abraham to move and he picked up and went. Faith to Move. I am facing this at an awesome time in my life. Is there some kind of pattern to all of these opportunities. I know that many times our God is pattern-less, wild, and free. I love that about God; however, I wish He could tell me exactly what to do. A few years ago there was one excuse and today it is a new one. It is good to know that my list has gotten smaller than before. I wonder what I will do. I really need prayer.

Have you ever taken a journey back to the past? Well, tonight I have been taken down memories lane. I for some reason stumbled upon the Happy Goodman’s. It seems as I listen to this music it takes me back to the “singins” that my grandmother used to take me to. The same pattern that the chords that I used to hear bring back this sense of comfort. I didn’t totally understand the true theology as a child but I knew that what I was hearing was pure.

It brings back the memories of the food that we would eat after the “singin”. Sitting here I can even smell the food we were about to eat.

I always heard granny talk about the “good ole’ days”, and now it is easy to understand what she meant. This was the “good ole’ days” that God shared with me. This music makes me miss my grandmother so much.

I wonder if I will see her in heaven. If I do I know that she will be as a dear friend and sister in Christ. Isn’t it amazing how music can bring back such amazing times in our lives and make us think about the pure and lovely things in life.

The Joy of the Lord: The three year journey, thus far!

Today I have so much Joy! I am overwhelmed at God’s presence because it has been overflowing in my life. I just don’t know how to thank Him enough. This weekend has been so amazing. I have never felt so loved and cared for by God. I know that this week is no different from the weeks of the past. 

Is this a time of praise and thanksgiving, is this a moment of celebration because of who he is? I am reminded of the song of Mary where she says, “My soul shall magnify the Lord!”.  It is my prayer that He would always keep me sensitive to His movement in my life and in the lives of others.

 I can not praise him enough. My life was a complete wreck about four years ago. It all started out of the blue. I had miss used money and didn’t understand how it should handled.

I lived on impulse and on what I thought I needed at the time. There was a moment when I knew that I was going to be chastened. I felt it coming like one of my grandmothers that could feel the storm approaching. Her bones would ache. There was a time when I cried out in my living room that God would allow me to know him, that he would let me experience His embrace. Being desperate for the presence of God will cause you to do this. The Bible says that out of the Overflow of the Heart the Mouth speaks.

I had tears in my eyes because I was desperate for him to do something in my life. 

At that moment I had no idea what I was asking for. These three to four years have been a huge time of chastening and correction. I can remember times when I would get down on the floor and cry huge tears because I didn’t know how I was going to pay the next bill. 

Things were piling up and I didn’t know what the next step would be. I can surely sit here and tell you that the verse where it says, “God is able to supply all your needs according to His riches in glory” is very true.  I never went without a meal and I know he carried me through this time.

He has always been carrying through this life that I have been called to live. It is in the rough and scary times that we are more aware of this. Beth More says that you need to know who God and his word down into the marrow of your bones.  The marrow of the bones is where our nutrition and rich blood is stored and manufactured. If I am wrong please correct me. However, it makes sense that she would want us to know the Word and God to that intensity. 

You can tell others about the experiences that you have had and they might look at you funny. They may look away especially if what you are saying is hitting home and they want to deny that is it happening to them. When we talk about suffering many don’t care to talk about it because they are persuaded that life is supposed to be fun and as close to heaven as possible. 

They don’t understand that where it says that we are coheirs of Christ that it means that we are also heirs of suffering as well. 

God allows His children to suffer because He knows what the outcome will be. His heart probably breaks because of the pain we are experiencing. It broke His heart when Christ died on the cross for our sins but he knew the good that would come from it. 

Let me ask you a question. Are you suffering at the moment and do you know of anyone who is? How are you making it? Are you more aware of the presence of God in your life? Are you sensitive to his Spirit? 

I truly know that these times build a memorial of God and how he brought us out of it.  He is not able to allow His children to live lives that are unchanged and the same.

He loves to much to leave us the way we are.  

A Meeting with God: In the Most Unusual Place

Have you ever had one of those days when you spent some mind-blowing time in the presence of God? This happened to while I was walking around a track at work. We take our students out for daily walks for their P.E. if the weather is nice. The students were finished walking and they had another teacher sitting with them. I decided that I would walk because it helps to relieve stress and I have been pretty sedentary lately.

I needed a small break because I am with the students constantly from the time I arrive and the time I leave. I do get the allotted time for lunch and bathroom breaks, but I would rather follow the students to lunch to help them with any need that may arise. By the way, I have two of the best bosses any man could ask for.

I usually only walk a mile around the track but Tuesday was different. I usually start out and with talking to God. During this time my mind is so scattered that having a conversation with God is very difficult. I sometimes feel like a two year old that has not learned how to speak clearly and make full sentences.

A song came to my mind and I started to sing that song because it was a place of release. Some may not believe that a song can be a place of but they can take you to places that you need to go. This song became my servant. It took me into the presence of God. I just kept singing it over and over again. While I was singing I began to feel the Lord healing me. He began helping me to relax and think on spiritual things and there was a gentleman that was lining the soccer field. From what I gathered. He would wave at me and he would smile. I was probably singing so loud that he heard me. But, I just did not care because this was my time with the Lord and I wasn’t going to throw it away.

If he heard my singing I pray that it helped him to draw close to God or helped convict him. However, it was a nice exchange of smiles and waves. Enough about that nice man lining the Soccer Field.

During this time I began to pray for people in complete sentences and thoughts. I was FIRED UP! I am still amazed to know that God can be accessed in any area of our lives, work, home, car and etc. The thing is I have always known this but Tuesday I gained full access to that power.

I ended up walking two miles. This is a big deal for me because I am lucky if I get one mile in.

I went to a friends house on Saturday and we had a great time talking and visiting with each other. I was looking at the CDs that he had. He put some of the music on while we were sitting around the computer. There was a CD that was focused around communion and it was Hill song. They are one of my most favorite praise bands. This music got me in to the spirit. I was ready to have “church” but I refrained because we were talking about various matters.

Well it was time to make some lunch and I was pretty excited about it because we were going to fry up some shrimp and other scrumptious items. While he was putting items in the fry daddy I started swaying to the music being emitted from down the hall. I then raised my hands and closed my eyes and he looked at me with eyes wide open and said your not at church.

I was almost offended , actually I was mad that he had been fed some kind of compartmentalized garbage and we are to only raise our hands at church. My spirit was furious! I proceeded to tell him that where ever we go we can worship and praise God no matter what. I said God inhabits the praises of his people. That is also a scripture that Chonda Pierce quotes when she talks about her terrible moments of depression.

I wasn’t angry at him, the thing that made me angry was that he had some how been taught that we are to only have this kind of worship at church. That is what made me say everything I did. It is my prayer that he would see that we are God’s and so is everything in the earth.

He told me that I was different or more dedicated to God. This kind of hurt as well because I don’t see why every one who has been called according to His purposes can not do the same thing. God does give each one of us a measure of Faith, but I by no means consider mine to be better than anyone else.

It is the cry of my heart that He would touch my friends heart and help him to realize how amazing it is to be free.

I love my friend so much because he is like a dear brother to me. He has done so much for me that I would not be able to pay him back in currency.


So, It is possible to have meetings with God in the most Unusual Places. I hope that you have an unscheduled meeting with him this week. The presence of God is a beautiful thing. Those who are called according to his purposes are going to experience it for an eternity. I am so excited about that and I hope you can come along with us.

Shalom!

An Invitation: Two places in one night.

Tonight I had two invitations.
The first invitation was to go eat at August Moon with a friend from High School in which I was in Marching Band with. It was so nice to talk about lessons that God had been teaching us both.

While I was at the restaurant I saw some coaches from the High School and one asked me if I was going to the game. I was honest and said no. (I don't believe we should sugar coat things.) The same way if you don't plan on going to church when someone asks you.

However, during this I told my friend about the game across the road at the RSEC. He said, "you better go if you don't have anything else to do." Well I thought about it and how it felt to get what seemed like an invitation. When I went back to my car to leave I decided to go to the RSEC and face the dilemma of not finding a good parking spot.
Something that amazed me about the trek across the road is there was someone pulling out of a spot that was closest to the building. I am still amazed at this!

Something that I have never done before is go to a Ballgame by myself. If I go with someone I don't pay attention to the game cause I am talking to them or they talk to me. Well, tonight was so awesome! I watched a whole ballgame by myself with out hardly any distractions. I was the only person in my row excluding the people ten seats down from me.

It was so awesome being able to concentrate on something that I have always had a hard time doing. Some people have the ability to do all of it at the same time; however, this man is different!

I also thought about what it was like to be taken to church and sit by yourself on a few occasions without anyone there that you knew around you. Some people wouldn't be able to handle it ; I however loved that type of adventure.

These were the times that God spoke the most to me. I experienced what true solitude was even though I was in a room full of people. It is so amazing to experience the presence of God with no distractions. There are days when I see why God gave me a desire to go to church without anyone to go with.

He does these things in our lives to build character and teach us to fully rely on Him. He teaches us how to build our faith and fully rely on him. Through all of this we develop a dependence on God. We are also torn from depending on the faith of our parents and begin to develop our own.

So, tonight I think about how these invitations are somewhat similar to the invitation to follow Christ.

I am so thankful that Christ extended the invitation for me to follow him and to make me a fisher of men. I am so thankful that he would regenerate a disgusting soul and give me a new heart that would follow after his will and desires.

I can't get over the plan of Christ and how pursues me still today. My life has been changed by invitations!
Thank you Lord, I humbly accept!