Temptation - Part 1

Well in my last post I talked about repentance. But today I want to look at the starting point of repentance – temptation. You see unless we are tempted we do not sin and if we do not sin then there is no need to repent.

So I would like for us to look at this topic of temptation by exploring the most powerful moment of temptation that the world has ever known – the temptation of Christ. In this story from Matthew 4; Mark 1; and Luke 4 we see Jesus having to endure the all-out assault of Satan. The Enemy tempts Christ in three different ways during this encounter.

Now what I think is important to note is that Satan believed that he could get Jesus to sin through these temptations; and if there was the possibility that Christ would sin then it seems obvious that we are almost certain to fail under the same scenario. In fact, I believe that the three temptations of Christ remain the greatest temptations for all of humanity. I believe that it is these three sins that we must guard against above all others. So over the next few days (today, tomorrow, and Friday – I will not be posting on Thursday – I have the chance to go hunting) we will explore these temptations in more detail and see what we must do to avoid falling into the pit that they offer us.

So, let’s start by looking at the beginning of the passage:

Luke 4:1-4 (NIV)
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’”

The first temptation does not seem to be all that applicable to us, I mean doesn’t the simple solution seem to be – DON’T GET THAT HUNGRY! This is an avenue to success that I willingly embrace! But the temptation to make bread and eat is not really the point of Satan’s offer. No, what he is saying is, “You must become the determiner of your own life; you must provide for your own well-being; you can only really trust yourself; you must be the boss of you!” This temptation screams for Christ to not trust His Father, but lean on his own abilities to get through life.

Now this is a temptation that strikes at the core of each of us. Let’s face it, if we really trusted God completely then we would have no fear of sharing the Gospel in our workplaces; tithing would be a simple and delightful act of obedience; and we would never be willing to sacrifice any part of our integrity for the sake of political correctness! No, trust is hard! And the temptation in our hearts screams for us to not do it His way, but to carve out our own path and do it our own way!

You can bet that Christ wanted those rocks to be bread; that He wanted to not be so hungry. But He also knew deep down that the only thing that could really sustain Him; the only thing that would really satisfy was (and is) the Word of God. In fact the Apostle Matthew will record the rest of the words of Christ in this moment when He says this:

Matthew 4:4 (NIV)
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

I think that when this temptation really takes root in our heart is when we think that something can satisfy us more than the blessings of God. You see if I think that only God can really satisfy then I am only concerned with having more of God (which I know comes only through obedience). But if I convince myself that there is something out there worth more than Him then I am willing to try and sidestep Him to get it. This is exactly the issue that confronts Christ and He overcomes it by coming back to the delightfulness of the Word of God. God and God alone satisfies and blesses our lives – so place your hope in Him!

Psalm 130:5 (NIV)
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.


Oh Lord I praise you! You and you alone satisfy! Forgive me when I seek to control my own life thinking that I can bring greater blessings than what flows from your loving hand. I place my trust in you. In you alone I put my hope!

Ecuador Praises!!!

I am so excited about our Ecuador Mission Team!!! Yesterday they had the opportunity to lead 300 people to Christ! I cannot wait to hear the stories and see the power of the flame of the Gospel that they will bring back with them! Please join with me in continuing to pray for them!

If you would like to follow their blog you can access it here: http://fbcprospermissions.blogspot.com

3 Forms of Repentance

I have been thinking of the concept of repentance lately. Did you know that there are three different words in the New Testament Greek that are translated as “repentance?”

The first word (metamelomai) speaks to a change of mind regarding sin. It can even mean that you feel a certain remorse about sin, but it does not mean that you have experienced true Godly repentance. In fact this is the same word that was used to describe Judas’ emotion towards his betrayal of Christ (Matt 27:3). You can dislike your sin, but not be willing to turn from it.

There is another word for repentance (metanoeo). It means that you change your mind about sin as a result of the consequences of the sin. In other words this is the kind of repentance that says, “I wish that I would not have done this or that because it sure did cost me a lot!” This type of repentance is also not true God honoring repentance because it focuses more on the consequence of sin than our passion for our relationship with the Lord. It is the child who hates getting the spanking for stealing the lollipop but refuses to acknowledge that the stealing revealed something of his character.

Finally we have the word for repentance that means that there has been a change of heart, mind and action (metanoia). In this instance we do not just dislike the sin, or the consequence of sin, we are willing to turn from our sin and never return. Then as we acknowledge our own guilt we are apprehended (I love this word when it is used in the context of God’s taking hold of us – let it soak over you for a moment) by the divine mercy of our God!

So here is the question, how are you dealing with your sin today? Do you just hate your sin, but keep right on doing it? Do you hate the consequence of your sin, but repentance is entirely selfish? Or, do you turn from your sin and never return because you have learned that a right relationship with God is to be desired above all other things? If we will turn from our sin we are always APPREHENDED by His love!

I think that too often we settle for one of the first two forms of repentance without going all the way to the third form. We must understand that the first two do not open us to the mercy of God. So what are the steps to repentance? Here is a quick guide: 1) Acknowledge guilt; 2) Begin to hate your sin; 3) Turn from your sin; 4) Condition yourself to never return to your sin; 5) Experience grace!!!

My prayer is that you would experience grace this week as you turn from anything that might hinder your walk with the Lord and enjoy the depth of His grace!

Lord, please help me to notice the sin that hinders my relationship with you; give me the strength to turn from that sin; and help me to enjoy the depth of your grace! You are my treasure my Lord and my God!

One of the Those Days

Every day I try to take some time to write down some thoughts about what the Lord is revealing to me that day, but I have to tell you that I am just out of time today!! I am sorry that I did not have the time to put together a full post - I will do better tomorrow.

My prayer is that each of you would drink deeply of our Lord's goodness today - even if your day is as crazy as mine!!!

DON'T SERVE GOD!!!

Let me ask you a question, “Did you know that God does not want us to serve Him?”

I know what you are thinking, “Yes He does I am supposed to be a servant of Jesus Christ! I mean doesn’t Paul call himself a servant of Christ in Romans 1:1, Philemon 1:1, and Titus 1:1?” Well the answer is, yes he does call himself a servant of Christ. But how do we understand this title of Paul against this statement from Paul:
Acts 17:24-25 (NIV)
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.

How can Paul call himself a servant of Christ and then turn around and say that God is not served by human hands? I think that it all comes down to empowerment:

You see God does not need anything from us. He is not needy or in want. He does not need us to accomplish His will – He is all-powerful. He does not need us to inform Him of anything – He is all knowing. He does not need us for fellowship – He is complete within Himself (He was not lonely for the eternity before He created us). No, God does not NEED us for anything. To think that in some way God needs us to serve Him as though He lacked anything is to place ourselves in a position of power that is not allowed in the scriptures. Remember: he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything…

On the other hand it is clear that we are all called to be servants of God. But I am a servant not because of what I bring to the endeavor, but because of what God has done in me and what He wants to do through me. In my own power I am incapable of serving God (or really participating in anything of eternal value). But because of Christ in me I am empowered to do anything that my Lord might command of me.

So it is not as though I serve my Lord the way that I sometimes serve my family – with a shout of exasperation, “I have to do EVERYTHING around here” (which, if you know my incredible wife, you know that I am COMPLETELY overstating the situation). No, I serve as one who has been empowered by the creator God to participate in endeavors that would be completely out of my reach if left to my own strength. I serve as one who GETS to say, “I cannot believe that I have been given the incredible opportunity to participate in something so divine!” In this scenario God, and God alone, receives all glory because God and God alone has created, empowered, and brought to completion the task!

So today I challenge you to look for how you might participate in the divine; how you might be empowered by our loving Lord to do be involved in the miraculous. Our Lord stands ready to do the miraculous in you and through you – do not miss your chance!!

Lord, thank you that you allow me to participate in your will not because you need me to, but because you love me so much that you give me the gift of involvement. I pray Lord that I would not miss out on the incredible opportunities that you will set in my path today so that I might bring you glory and my heart might be enthralled!!

That's What I am Talkin' 'Bout!!!

Last night I WON a bet with Valinda which has allowed me to put the following on my blog - "I was RIGHT and Valinda was WRONG!!" AHHHHHH... Sweet Victory!!

To reference her contrite admission of defeat see her blog at http://valindak.blogspot.com

WOW!!!

Okay - I know that these are not deep thoughts, but I just wanted to take minute to acknowledge the incredible things that God is doing at FBCP right now. The time together yesterday in worship was AMAZING!! I just love gathering with our church in worship.

Also we had 10, count them 10, families go through our very first Connect First membership class! So many new faces who are so excited about what God is doing at FBCP.

There are times where things are really difficult and I know that God is refining me in the fire. And I want to learn to not dispise those moments but view them as a gift from the Lord as He creates His character in me. But I have to tell you I REALLY love these mountaintop moments!!! I know that He is great and loving when things are hard, but it is REALLY easy to see his greatness and love in times like this!!!

I pray that if you are in the valley that our Lord would strengthen you; and if you are on the mountaintop that you would not fail to recognize HIS majesty as you take in the scenery!

Comments Welcome!

Hey I just noticed that I was not allowing comments on the blog - I have solved the problem, if you would like to add your voice to the discussion the floor is now your's!!

Discovering God's Will - Part 3

Okay, one last time with Romans 12:1-2. I hope I don’t lose you with my ramblings, because this is good stuff, I am just not sure that I can explain it well!!!

Over the last two days we have seen that future revelation begins with obedience to past revelation. Obedience to past revelation changes the way that we live in a broken world. A change in the way that we live in a broken world leads to a change in how we think about life that God has given us. This leads us to the last part of the passage:

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Did you see what Paul just told us? If we will become obedient to past revelation then it will change the way that we think about the commands of God and THEN we will be able to test His will. But how do we know if it passes the test? Because it will seem good, pleasing and perfect to us! In other words, if you are obedient to the revelation of God’s will then your perspective of the world will be so conformed to God’s standard that living in His will is instinctive because we are doing what just seems best and most pleasing to us.

This point is driven home in Psalm 37:4 (NIV)
4 Delight yourself in the Lord
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Paul and the Psalmist have just said the same thing! The Psalmist says that if we will delight ourselves in God above all things (exemplified in our obedience to Him) then He will give us the desires of our heart. The reason that this statement is always true is that if I am delighting in God above all others then HIS desires BECOME my desires and God always does what He most desires!

So take it back to Romans. If I am obedient to past revelation (this is delighting myself in the Lord) then I am transformed in my thinking so that I think like He thinks and see the world the way He sees it. So now I want what He wants and I despise what He despises and it seems like doing that which is most holy and righteous is just the no-brainer thing to do. In fact it seems like the only good, pleasing and perfect thing to do!!

So could it be that if I am unsure of what to do it is because of disobedience? Could it be that the desires of my heart prove the condition of my heart? Could it be that I do not need to worry about whether I am capable of being obedient tomorrow because my obedience today assures me of God’s provision? Could it be that the key to worry free living and good pleasing and perfect lives all begins with a simple commitment to become obedient to the will of God that has already been revealed to me?

Lord, I want to delight myself in you by obeying you! I want to be transformed in every area of my life so that to walk in your will is just instinctive and pleasant! Lord you alone satisfy the deep desires of my heart!

Discovering God's Will - Part 2

Okay let’s return again to our discussion from yesterday. We discovered that the first step in discovering God’s will is not to seek His will but to become obedient to the will that He has already revealed to us. In other words the first step to future revelation is obedience to past revelation. If there is any area of our lives that is currently being lived in disobedience to God then we should abandon our hope for more revelation until we have dealt with that issue in repentance and illustrated that repentance through a changed life.

Now let’s return to our passage from yesterday:

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Did you notice the next step of discovering God’s will? It is found at the beginning of verse 2: 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now this verse is not meant to be understood apart from verse 1. They are intrinsically tied to one another. So, the first step is to become obedient to the past revelation of God’s will; which will lead to a changed life; which leads to a transformed mind.

In other words, as we walk in obedience to the revelation of God it changes the way that we live in the midst of a broken world. No longer do we embrace the things that the world embraces (selfishness, materialism, gluttony, self-advancement, gossip, slander, flattery, or pride – just to name a few). No, now we live for His glory and the advancement of His Kingdom. But here is the key – as we live differently we begin to think differently. This truth is a radical shift from what the world tells us.

The world says that we should change our way of thinking and that will change our way of living. In fact many of the self-help books that litter our shelves are built around this premise – if you think good things then you will live good things. But what Paul has just revealed to us in Romans is that the opposite is actually true when it comes to the will of God. The scriptures tell us that if we will change our way of living then it will change our way of thinking. If you want to become more bold in sharing your faith then start sharing your faith. If you to understand the depth of scripture better, start studying scripture. If you want to find delight in obedience to the command to tithe, then start tithing. If you want to have more love for your spouse, then start showing them more love. Thinking follows living!!!

So here is what we know so far: Future revelation begins with obedience to past revelation. Obedience to past revelation changes the way that we live in a broken world. A change in the way that we live in a broken world leads to a change in how we think about life that God has given us.

Okay we will come back to this passage one more time tomorrow but for today let me encourage you to not wait for your mind or feelings to change about something before you start walking in obedience. Trust the Lord that if you will start walking in obedience that He will change how you feel about things. Today step out in faith, obey the Lord, and experience the change that only God can bring.

Lord, I give you praise for the way in which you order my life. I praise you that your will is not based on my obedience, but my understanding of your will is based on my obedience! Lord, help me to be obedient today! Help me to feel the delight and embrace the reasons that you lead me into uncharted waters as I walk in obedience to your commands! You are the great lover of my soul!

Discovering God’s Will - Part 1

Okay, I know this one is late getting out today – I am sorry – the tyranny of the urgent!!

Have you ever sat and thought about how we can know God’s will? Well over the last few days I have spent A LOT of time wondering how we can know for sure that we are in His will! This morning as I was studying I discovered something that I have never seen before. Now I have read this passage literally hundreds of times and I have never noticed what I want to show you today; but today I feel like God threw back the curtain of understanding.

Let me also add that I was so struck by these truths today that I am probably going to preach on this someday, so please act real surprised and interested when I do!!!

Before we jump into the passage let me point out the process that I think that most of us go through when we are trying to walk in God’s will. First we encounter a problem; second we seek God; and third we head out into action. But look at what this familiar passage from scripture says:

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Did you see the progression in the verses? Let me see if I can break this down quickly:

First Paul tells us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices – what in the world does this mean? Simple, it means to be obedient to the will of God that has ALREADY been revealed to you. In other words the best way to begin to understand the will of God is to do that which He has already commanded. He will not reveal more of His will until you have displayed that you are willing to be obedient to what He has already revealed.

Could it be that the reason we cannot hear from Him about some matter that seems to be pressing in the moment is because we are still disobedient towards something that He has revealed to us in the past? Are we unable to hear today because we have still not shared our faith with that coworker that we know He has laid on our hearts? Are we walking in a fog of confusion because we still refuse to be obedient with our material blessings through the tithe? Are we lost in the chaos of our situation because we want direction for tomorrow without obedience to the direction of yesterday?

You see this passage tells us that obedience to Him is an act of worship. Why is it worship because by obeying God we are communicating that He is the one in control of our lives. It is saying, “You are God, and I am not!” This attitude of the heart is the essence of worship!

So the first step in discovering the will of God is to get active in our obedience to what He has already revealed. It is to not worry about tomorrow until we have first submitted today!

Tomorrow we will continue our search through this passage!

Lord, forgive me for my disobedience to your revealed will. Forgive me that I constantly look for more without submission to what I already have! Please help me to submit to what you have already revealed to me today, and trust that you will reveal more tomorrow!

A SHOUT!

I want to spend a minute looking at the last part of the passage that we explored yesterday from the book of Job. Job has been talking about the greatness of God’s creation and how He upholds that creation with His might. And then he makes this incredible statement:

Job 26:14 (NIV)
14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
how faint the whisper we hear of him!
Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”
(emphasis mine)

As I contemplated this verse throughout the day I was struck with the fact that everything that I know, everything that I think is magnificent; from the vastness of space, to the majesty of the mountains, to the depth of the ocean is but the fringe of what God is capable of doing. That all that I have ever experienced is just God’s whisper to me! Then my mind went to the book of 1 Thessalonians where Paul is describing what it will be like when the Lord returns and we are united with Him forever. Look at what it says:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (NIV)
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
(emphasis mine)

Did you see what just happened? Where all of creation was just God’s whisper to us, when He returns to get us it will no longer be a whisper but it will be A LOUD COMMAND! No longer will our Savior speak in a whisper, then He will speak full voice! No longer will we see dimly, then we will see clearly and His beauty will sustain us forever!

Oh Lord that we might hear your beautiful powerful voice that shakes the mountains and delights the soul! Oh that we might join in the great roar of the multitude as we shout of your greatness!

Revelation 19:6-7 (NIV)
6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
“Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.

Lessons from Crutches - Part 2

Use it or Lose It!

Since I have been on crutches a remarkable thing has happened to my surgically repaired leg – it has wasted away to nothing. I mean my leg looks like a pencil (well except of course for the knee it is still nicely swollen and looks like a canned ham taped to a straw)!! I cannot believe how fast this has happened. I used to have a big leg. I used to be able to lift hundreds of pounds with my leg and now I find it difficult to press the brake hard enough to bring my truck to a complete stop (anyone want to go driving with me)!

The atrophy in my leg got me thinking, “How many other things in life are wasting away because I am not putting them to good use?” This thought process has been very humbling for me. I must confess that I think one of the areas where this really gets me is with my mind. I know that I am too often content to rest on things that I learned while I was in college or seminary. I am prone to just fall back on old discoveries about God instead of constantly discovering new and more amazing truths about our infinite Savior.

Listen to the words of Job:
Job 26:5-14 (NIV)
5 “The dead are in deep anguish,
those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
6 Death is naked before God;
Destruction lies uncovered.
7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.
8 He wraps up the waters in his clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
9 He covers the face of the full moon,
spreading his clouds over it.
10 He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
for a boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens quake,
aghast at his rebuke.
12 By his power he churned up the sea;
by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces.
13 By his breath the skies became fair;
his hand pierced the gliding serpent.
14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
how faint the whisper we hear of him!
Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”

All of the most majestic and miraculous things in creation are but the outer fringe of his works!!! How can I ever be satisfied with old revelation, with stale discovery? Every day I am given the incredible opportunity to discover Him anew, to be confronted with His greatness in a fresh way. Lord forbid that I should forfeit such an opportunity!

Have you discovered something new of the Lord today? Have you been confronted with a fresh measure of His grace; have you delighted in His character and majesty? Have you found yourself more submerged in Him today than you were yesterday? If not, what are you waiting on? There is nothing that satisfies like Him; nothing that is as valuable as Him; and no endeavor that has as much meaning as the pursuit of His depth.

What are you waiting for? Use It or Lost It!

Lord, might I discover you in some new and life-changing way today so that your glory might be displayed in me!

AMAZING!!

Last night I had the opportunity to sit down with a man who has been attending our church for the last few months. He was raised in a Catholic background and agreed to come to FBC because his wife wanted to try it out. He told me that he never really expected to like or agree with us. But he said that over the last few months he has learned more about God than he ever had. He said that he finds himself reading and studying his Bible, something that he never did before.

So last night we talked about the major differences in the Catholic and Protestant faith. We talked about how a personal relationship with Christ is not about what he can do for his salvation, but about what Christ has already done for him on the cross and the GIFT of grace that Christ is offering. You could tell that the Holy Spirit was confirming everything that we were talking about in his heart.

When he left he told me that he just needed to think about everything. I encouraged him that the enemy would try to convince him to hold off for one more day, and then one more month, and then eventually it would just not seem that important to him anymore. He called me today to say that when he got home last night and was trying to spend some time in the Bible that it got really crazy around his house and his first thought was that he would just think about all of this more tomorrow. He said, “At that moment it hit me that it was happening just like you said it would, and I knew that I needed to accept Christ.” So he asked Christ into his life last night. He asked Christ to save him from his sins and be the Lord of his life!

There is nothing finer than knowing that you were allowed the opportunity to participate in the work of the Holy Spirit as He shines a light on the truth of the Gospel in someone’s heart.

Thank you Lord Jesus that you give us this incredible gift of being able to share your Gospel – there is nothing that delights me like you!!!

I Am In Need!

This morning I spent time contemplating these simple words of Christ “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Now I usually approach this text as to what my attitude should be towards my fellow humanity. But if it is true that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” then that means that it goes for God as well as for us.

Now let that sink in… It means that God is most glorified when He is giving to us. This is why Jesus will say, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Why is God most glorified when He is giving to us instead of receiving what we give to Him? Because in constantly and consistently being the giver He reveals that He needs nothing and we need everything; that He is sufficient within Himself and we constantly want more. It reveals that we are absolutely dependant on Him!

But we tend to think that it is the duty of our life to give to God, but the scriptures are clear that we do not give God anything, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:24-25, emphasis mine). No we receive all things from Him even the breath that we breathe.

What an awesome thought that God just wants me to enjoy Him! In fact that it is my highest act of worship for me to just enjoy Him; and to stop thinking that in some way I must repay Him for my neediness.

Lord this day let me rest in my absolute neediness and your ability and delight in meeting every one of my needs!

Lessons From Crutches - Part 1

As many of you know I have been on crutches after knee surgery for the last 5 ½ weeks. When I thought about having the surgery I thought that the most difficult part would be the pain, but after going through this entire ordeal I can tell you that the worst part is the crutches. The big-time pain went away after about 10 days but the crutches have gone on and on and on and (well you get the drift).

My stent on crutches, however, has not been entirely devoid of blessings. One of the biggest things that I have learned is that it is much harder to be taken care of than it is to take care of someone. I cannot tell you how helpless I feel sometimes. When you are on crutches all you are is mobile. You can’t carry a cup of coffee or a book across the room. Unless it fits in your pockets you can’t carry it! I can’t tell you how much it bugs me to have to ask someone in our office to get me coffee every time that I need one!!

And I have noticed that laziness just brings on more laziness. I have found that the more that I lay around the more that I WANT to lay around! I find that I am less and less motivated to do even the small things that I can do just so that I can lay around more. Yesterday in worship I was confronted with this truth head on. Our worship services were PACKED, our Worship Pastor had done an incredible job of creating a time of introspective yet celebrative worship; our Student Pastor has done an incredible job of building our Student Ministry and leading them to get involved in worship; our Executive Pastor had led our people through a successful reorganization of worship and Bible study times (and the seats were full because of it); and I just felt like a slug! I know that I have not worked as hard as they have worked over the last several weeks – and I HATE it!!! Yesterday the Lord pounded on my heart that it is time to get back in the game! My vow this morning is that the times of lying around are over – it is time for me to work and move for HIS glory and to completely fulfill the task that He has set before me.

If you have the chance to pray for me this week ask that the Lord would not let me slip back into those lazy ways and that I would be diligent for His glory!

Taking the Plunge

Okay I have to admit that I have been reluctant to join the blogging community because I was afraid that I would start off with a bang and then get busy and my last post would be 3 years old. But I feel like I am being taught so much by the Holy Spirit right now that I felt that it was probably appropriate for me to invite others to take this journey with me.

My intention is for this blog to be intensely personal because I hope for it to detail my own journey. Lets face it, long journeys are messy endeavors - the car is trashed, you have bed head from sleeping in the car, bad breath and everyone is ready to just get there; but the destination makes it all worth it! I think that this picture accurately represents my own journey of faith - it is messy and hard, but I would not trade the destination for anything in creation - to ultimately hear my Savior say, "Well done!"

So my commitment is to let you share in my messiness. It might not always be pleasant, but the end will always be worth it! Thanks for loving me and our Savior enough to take this journey with me!