Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord…

Man its good to post again, I’m sorry that it has been so long. This is little intimate insight as to why I post and why I post what I post and when I post it, I’m walking daily to seek after the Lord and so what I talk about in my blog are the things i’m learning and I usually don’t post about it until I’ve actually feel like I’ve learned it because that would just be silly and make all just words of no value. I appreciate you’re patience (if you actually were wondering if this thing even still existed) because the you’re gonna LOVE this one because thats what its all about, Patience.

Its something I’ve never been good at. My parents alway told me that I would never be a good doctor because I would never have any patience [STOP HERE] if that didn’t make any sense to you and read it out loud. If it just wasn’t funny then...well…I tried...

What sucks about being bad at it, is that patience is one of the fruit of the Spirit (also referred to as longsuffering), so in my efforts to follow after the Spirit, if I’m not patient I’M NOT BEING LED BY THE SPIRIT! (Gal. 5:22)

But honestly, what does that even mean to be led by the Spirit? Does that mean we have to do awesome things like running after chariots like Philip? or get to do a Holy Hulk-Smash on buildings and wicked people like Samson? These things happened under the leading of the Spirit, does that mean that if I’m not doing something then I’m not being led? What then would the Spirit be telling me to do and how do I know if need to be doing something else?

Well what if the Spirit tells you to stop? What if the Spirit tells you to be quiet, and tells you to not move? Sometimes, the Spirit moves us around, gives us things to say, allows us opportunities to directly minister BUT SOMETIMES he tells us to go no further until He gives us the word. Believe it or not, sometimes we actually can get to a point to where we are doing what God wants us to do for now, and he doesn’t want us to move on to the next thing just yet. 

EXAMPLE TIME!!

The Children of Israel

I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about the exodus and which direction all those egyptian and arabian cities and places are, but it turns out those maps in the back of your bibles mean something...who knew!? 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marinez12/869074534/

I don’t quite know how accurate this one is but I traced it a good ways with what the Scripture says and saw that God didn’t make the Israelites go straight to the promised land, and though we think thats because they sinned, God tells us in his word why He did that. “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.” Exodus 13:17-18

God knews what was up, He knows his children, and knows how to protect them from things they just may not be ready for. Sometimes he makes them wait, and not go straight to what he wants for them, because he wants them to be prepared for it. So many time we want it now, and we want to progress and go and do and be because THATS what Christians do! In the words of Dwight Shrute, “FALSE.” Christians do no do stuff. Christian FOLLOW Christ by way of the Spirit and sometimes that means wait until  further instruction.

Daniel and the vision (Daniel chapter 10)

Sometimes He doesn’t even have a specific place for us to go, which means we have to do a little waiting/wondering before we get the green light to go onto the next thing. But why are we so impatient and want everything now? Why do we think our spirituality is graded on how much we do? Just maybe, at times, our following after God, really isn’t about God after all. Just maybe, we can’t stand that we’re not doing something because the doing gratifies our flesh to know that God is blessing us or “working through us,” and that makes us feel awesome about us and what we do. Honestly, if it were about God then we would do whatever we’re told—big, small, fun, scary, come rain, sleet, ice, snow, Hell or high water—because when we fear and love God, we do what He says which includes staying still.

I’m not going to copy verses because you just need to read the whole chapter…

But Daniel sought of the Lord to understand what was going to happen to the children of Israel, after the 70 weeks prophesied by Jeremiah. Daniel fasted and prayed for three full weeks and three days until God sent messenger to reveal the answer he had been seeking and to give him understanding. The angel tells him of a fierce battle with the powers of darkness to get the message to Dan that he was seeking for. God wanted to tell him right away, because God is not a big ogre in the sky who like to watch us suffer, but the enemy wanted to get in the way, and while God COULD have stopped it, in the end we know that God’s team always wins and that the demon (who is called the prince of persia) stood no chance from the get-go. 

My point isn’t about visions or prophecies (while that is a cool a topic too) but the point is steadfast waiting on the Lord. Who is man, that he should put time restraints on God? but its often what happens isn’t it? We give God a deadline of when we “need” something by, and then we think he hasn’t heard our prayers when it hasn’t happened yet we give up and then start saying crazy stuff like “God doesn’t care,” or that now we have a reason to be angry with Him, all the while God wants to come directly to our aid and catch us like His kid about to fall off his bike, but as the perfect father He knows that the boo-boo we get, as painful and bloody as it may be, is going to teach us the danger, the risk, the COST of, but also the reward and joy of being able to balance on that bike. (hopefully you got the picture I was painting there. Like I always say, I never metaphor i didn’t like…)

“King” David

Erbody knows King David, the man after God’s own heart. We also know that before he was king that he was the shepherd boy who had a sling-shot that took down Goliath. What we don’t often remember is that a LOT of time passed between killing Goliath and getting the crown. The bible doesn’t EXACTLY say how old david was when he was anointed king by Samuel the prophet, or how old he was when I fought Goliath but by some comparing of scripture we can actually get a pretty good idea.

1.) It was Hebrew law in that day that only able bodied men of at least the age of 20, could go to War (Numbers 1:3) since we know David didn’t go that would have put him in the ring with Goliath at 19 years old at the very oldest.

2.) David was the youngest of Jesse’s 8 sons (the bible never says if there were girls so that could only make him younger) AND only the 3 oldest sons went to fight (1 Sam. 17:12-14) so that means if only those three were able bodied, at the youngest they were 22, 21, and 20. IF David’s mother had a child every year that would make the rest of the 5: 19,18,17,16 which would put David at about 15 at the very oldest to go against the Champion of the philistines. (btw feel free to check my math, its not my strong suit...)

3.) The Bible tells us exactly how old David was when he took the thrown: he was 30 years old (2 Sam. 5:4) ….well thats pretty straight forward so any comment here would just be awkward….oh wait….

So this puts David at anywhere ideally from 15 to 19, and he could have even been younger than that! So that means he waited for 11-15 years to sit on the thrown that was promised him. And by waiting I mean running for his life from King Saul who tried to kill him on quite a few occasions. I’m more than sure David had felt like you and I when we are waiting on the Lord to deliver us into, or out of, or bring a message or clarity, or closure. I’m fully confident in saying that not many of you reading this will ever feel like David did in that period of time. Now I’m not sure when David wrote the 23rd Psalm, but in light of all that David experienced the words are so much more than a pretty sounding poem. 

so what I am really trying to communicate here that its a part of taking up the cross daily, to wait for things. There is a season for everything according to Solomon’s account in Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Which means there is a season for waiting, just from personal experience I can tell you that the more I wait on my food at outback steakhouse, the more excited I am to throw down on that steak and blooming onion. 

Personally, there are a few reasons, catalysts if you will, to how God is CURRENTLY changing my perspective to be more patient. One of which, and probably the biggest one is what in the world is up with my school situation. As a 5th year in college, I’m pretty ancy about when I am going to get out of school. I feel lots of pressure from those around me, that to be a functioning member of society a college education is a requirement and that from that come a direction your life and career is going to come from. Right now I find myself at a familiar place where I have no idea what I want to do with my life, let alone what God would have me to do with it other than what He is asking me to do now. According to the world’s standards, I feel unprepared, unequipped, and unable to “be more than I can be,” because I’m doing all I can just to keep up. But in all reality, (and by reality I mean spiritually) God has equipped me with all that I need, He has made me a fully armored, able-bodied solider on the front lines of battle and as one of my new favorite songs says, “I will not fear the war, I will not fear the storm, my help is on the way…” 

I know this one is a long one, but I hope that you can take away that God is always doing something and so wants us to be a part of it and He has roles for each of us to play, but we HAVE to do them on His terms because He's the only one who can truly see the outcome. Above all, we must daily be humble enough to say, "God, have your way" and not do anything outside of what direction He has given us to do right now.

Much love, ya'll 

Preemptive Conviction

So it really has been a while since my last post, which was something I was really afraid of when I started up the blog. I didn’t want it to be a “thing” for just a few weeks and then it fizzle out. But, I had this little nugget pop into my head the other day and I was actually in the middle of writing a very cynical post about Christians, so hopefully this will soften the blow for that one…

So I, at the beginning of summer, started studying the book of Daniel. I figured with all the recent talk of the rapture and the end of the world, I might as well brush up on some of my yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecy. Another reason, I just really love the story of Daniel’s life. I’m about half to 4/6 of the way done when something about Daniel clicked for me. Sitting under great teachers of the Word, it had been shown to me that Daniel is one of the few characters in the Bible, that has no recorded sin in the scriptures. No where does it say, “But Daniel disobeyed the Lord,” or anything like that. This intrigues me, not because I think Daniel didn’t have any sin, I just think he invested the time to have the character that God would have for him, and that he understood just what affect sin can have on one’s ministry, so that he learned to “possess his vessel in sanctification and honor” (1 Thes. 4:4).

Some skeptics would be lead to think that its simply because Daniel wrote it himself, that he probably just skipped over that part, but really thats just a really lame way to avoid touching the fact that every word of it was inspired by God. Because IF the book is a fake, and Daniel did write on his own without spiritual influence, there is so much historical prophecy in it that has been fulfilled for Daniel to have known, it would make him psychic. So you tell me which is more easy to believe…

Anyway, the answer as to, why Daniel could keep himself in check and openly accountable before God was for a few different reasons I think. Two in particular that are accessible to all who call (and I mean REALLY call…) upon the name of the Lord.

1.) Heat of battle

I think that Daniel, even way back in his time, understood what Paul told of us the battle we face everyday. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Eph. 6:12)

Now I understand that Paul’s message was AFTER Christ’s death, and is in reference to the Spiritual Kingdom of God (which would be a terrible thing to forget when talking about the context) but we must note, Daniel saw some pretty crazy things in his day, and I don’t think anyone can deny that he saw the spirit move, to sustain him and those around him, as well as to reveal dreams and visions. An angel even told him of the spiritual battle between the angels and the forces of darkness for 21 days, over the interpretation of a vision. (Daniel chapter 10) 

Also, while there was still much fighting going on in those days, involving who was going to reign over the world (AND the children of Israel…), Daniel never fought in those. He was taken captive and brought before the king, to be made a servant of the rising Babylonian Empire, so as a follower of Yaweh (God, as we know Him), he was going to be fighting something, somewhere.

Also also (and this is a real quick side note and then I’m gonna continue on with my point) God is eternal, and never changes. Because He is His Word, it never changes either, and so neither do its principles, so Spiritual warfare has been going since on the day there were two sides to fight it.

SO since the war was raging, and Daniel was invited to see it himself, I’m sure that his awareness caused him to understand another principle about the warfare that Paul also gives us. “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” (2 Tim. 2:4)

Daniel was too busy fighting to be caught up in frivolous sin. He had his life threatened on numerous occasions for following after the Lord, not to mention his people were enslaved, so he had more important (eternally significant) things on his mind.

I don’t even have to go there and mention that we as American Christians, get way too caught up on all the wrong things, and totally loose sight of what is really going on this earth. So in short, keep in the battle and you won’t have time to disobey God. The Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18) is one that really takes constant Attention and Intention, when we focus on that, not much else really compares, it also keeps us out of trouble. We like to call that, a Win-win.

2.) preemptive conviction

This is one that after thinking about it, I kind of got less excited about it hitting me so hard. a.) Because it made me realize how much I wasn’t doing it before, and b.) Its something I have heard for years... We all hear at a youth camp, sometime between the ages of 11-16, about how Daniel purposed in his heart to follow after God. “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” (Daniel 1:8) 

Of course this isn’t just an isolated event. Even though, it only says that he purposed in his heart to not defile himself with the king’s food, it should be pretty evident that he just “purposed in his heart not to defile himself….” and in that case, it was with eating things God said were unclean. It should be pretty clear just by giving it more than 2 seconds of though, but also by the example Daniel lived for 90 or so years, through 2 major world empires....

The point here is that Daniel had a purpose, a Pre-conviction to not dishonor the Lord. Not so that people would see it, not for His testimony, not because (to put it into modern terms) “it’s just what Christians do,” but because he was at all cost going to stand before God as blameless as he could help. 

I think we’re all missing a good bit of God-fearing, pre-conviction that goes way beyond just feeling sorry for a sin when we commit it, but that even goes so far to feel so at the instant the thought of disobeying the Lord even comes into play. This purpose, is to strive for righteousness that comes not JUST from the fact that Christ paid for our sin, but because He is able to remove us so far from that bondage, that we can escape having sinned. It’s the type of purpose that allows us to see the weight of acting in accordance to verses like: 

Psalms 1:1 -

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”

Romans 12:1-2 -

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Romans 13:14 -

“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”

The list goes on and on really. I really think, that if we could just get out the rut of thinking that being Justified by grace is all that there is, and seek after the Sanctification that comes by extension of the faith that the Justifying grace comes through, we would see a lot more people come to the Lord and a lot less people fall away.

Grace and Peace.

Its like Spiritual HGTV

Hello friends! Quick word about the past week or so and then I can get to the goods…

Summer has “started,” but the only aspects of summer that I’ve participated in so far is staying up really late (but not getting to sleep in), and sweating like a fat man. SOAR has been really busy as of late but the first session of orientation starts in 8 or so hours and so it’s gonna be awesome. Ministry opportunities out the wazoo! So be praying for me to get use this job as a platform to point some new little Lion cubs to Jesus.

We’re back to 1 Cor. 3 and the analogies Paul gives us about our function as ministers of reconciling man to God. I wrote about our personal significance, based on what we bring to the table: none. The second installment was about viewing our ministry like the newly healed blind man who told Jesus, “I see men as trees, walking” (Mark 8:24) and how we are to take care to nurture these trees’ growth. So no comes the next analogy of the wise builder.

“Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (verses 8-11)

Small point about this section of scripture that I think is cool, but just a nugget compared to the big Mac God was serving me in Africa…

Paul says that he is the Master builder, that laid the foundation (which is Christ). This was written a little south of 2000 years ago. A message of God’s specific revelation to the church, via Paul. It is so amazing to me, to know that throughout the ages, God has preordained a people that would be called his. Followers of Him and inheritors of His Kingdom, who would be led by His word. With all that man has done to try and rule God out and discredit His Word, it has endured and caused its followers to endure as well, and will until Christ comes again. We just had church up in this blog! 

...Back to Corinthians...So since the foundation—Christ—has been laid, it’s time to build a house. “...But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon,” says verse 10. From this one half of a verse is where God began to throw down the message…

If I’m building a house, two very crucial parts of the house are going to be windows and doors. Physically speaking, no one wants to live in a house without either, no one builds a house without either.I mean prisons have them! Its not only important to have them, but also where are you going to put them? Where is the best place that is going to make your house appealing but also going to be practical and functional? Spiritually speaking it is equally important. The shelter part is fantastic, but no windows or doors means you’re life with Christ is in a box, edifying no one on the inside or outside of it and doors or windows in the wrong places are inconvenient or just useless. Putting your front door in your bathroom is not only inconvenient but also awkward and probably against public decency laws. Spiritually, I see the windows and doors of the house as ministry. These are the points where the personal meet the public. But what is so very key is to distinguish the difference between the two. I’ll use my time in Senegal to make all this previous stuff make sense…

I’m sure its pretty standard in the Christian world for most people who go on mission trips or even hear about one to think “Do I need to be a full-time missionary? Is this God’s will for my life?” While in Senegal I fought that feeling of getting caught up into the hype of it all just because I was on the mission field. I certainly felt like I could be there forever, but I can’t tell God what His plan for me is. But while there I caught such a vision and a passion to see the Wolof people come to trust in Jesus. “Surely, it can’t be a bad thing for me to just forget America and come live here and do this!” is what I thought, but I really couldn’t have been more wrong. (Back to the house) Senegal is not my Door. As of now, it is one  of my windows. Because of where I am in my life, I can’t just pick up and go live there. All my money would eventually run out and I would be miserable because God hasn’t called me there. A door is somewhere you go out and get into the world and do work, and bring people into your house as a refuge and to shelter them. A window, is a small opening in which you can serve a little bit at a time, but you don’t put your whole self through a window. The only people who enter and exit through windows are people who are going to or coming from somewhere they don’t need to be. 

I love Senegal and it, along with all of my new family there, will always have a special place in my heart; but it can only be a window for me as of right now. Who knows, in time God may give the go ahead to knock out the window to make way for my front door to go, but until then it can’t be my main ministry. As of now, my door is in Florence to the students at UNA. Its where I am most surrounded by people and have the most influence. It has to be the door until God directs me to change the floor plan. Until then I will serve Senegal by praying and visiting when I can, and will give money to support other global projects, because God has given me some resources to do that with, and I will just focus on where He's got me right now. 

I really hope this idea makes sense because this is a point that we all can get so confused on, seeking for, "Where does God want me? and What am I supposed to be?"

Honestly, if you have to go across the world just to actually start caring about pointing people to Christ, then you’re missing what missions is completely. To quote my beautiful, wise, virtuous mother: “God doesn’t care where your feet are, as much as He cares about where your heart is.” 

Grace and Peace, my fellow-laborers and builders. 

Shut up and rake!

So I left off with one of my meditations from my journey in Senegal, on the first half of 1 Cor. 3. The first bit there talking about understanding what our significance is in this world. In short, its nothing more than being sanctified followers of Jesus and that is the calling on every believer’s life, no matter what you can do, or how well you can do it. Christ is the only significance in us. 

Moving on, let’s pick up in verses 6 and 7…

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 

I thought often about this passage when working in the villages in Senegal. I was kind of  nervous about what sort of message I was sending because I knew that my words and actions could have effects on what non-believers see the gospel as. Because we are the body of Christ, the world will watch and judge what we say and do, because they honestly are fighting their own battle of rejecting or accepting the Truth of Christ, and sometimes we encourage them to take steps of faith, but sometimes we also push people away. I most certainly did not want to give any reason for anyone to see God or His Word (which is Christ) in a negative light.

What I had to learn from this passage however, is very closely linked to the afore mentioned topic of my significance in this world. Since only Christ is significant, I am only a laborer. Now, I don’t mean that in the sense that serving Christ is like slavery. The  Bible makes many references to being an effective body member, to being a laborer in the fields.

I mentioned in my last post, something that I think we all are capable of falling into when trying to minister: Making carbon copies. I don’t think we mean to sometimes, but we get so caught up in “Oh well this passage says this, and that passage says that, Oh and this one book I read has all these things to say about it and last sunday our preacher talked about these seven guidelines to…” and we almost go into over load. 

Now, I’m also not saying that we should talk about Jesus less. What I am saying is that since we are laborers taking care of God’s husbandry (that means a lot of plants and junk) then we need to be smart care-givers to the small plants, in order to nurture them to growing in the Lord.

Going back to verse 6, Paul says that he planted, and Apollos watered but God gave the increase. The growth process is the same in the Spiritual and Physical worlds. It requires a little planting, a little watering, and then comes the increase. 

1.) It is important that we know, no matter how good we can plant or water, that ONLY God can and will give the increase. It is not our job, because it is outside of our capabilities. This should take the pressure of us, and lead us to not trying to instantly grow a tree with anyone we want to see become a strong believer. Which means…

2.) Trees don’t grow over night! If a seed is planted, do you immediately saturate it with gallons of water, so that it will speed up its growth? Heck to the naw! You’ll only drown the seed and kill any potential. Souls are the same. If the seed is planted, it needs a little bit of water and then a good bit of time to take it in. After a while it needs more water, until it gets to the point that the root has taken hold and the tree is able to gather its own water.

This has lead me to my conclusion. We need to stop worrying so much about results based off how well we can communicate and just let the Spirit of God move. Shut up and rake! Plant a few seeds here and there in some good soil (because a good planter, only plants in good soil. Matthew 13) water it a bit at the appropriate times, and watch God make awesome things happen! 

Our call is simple. Jesus told us to make disciples. By His own example, he ministered to 12 men specifically, taking good care to nurture their growth. He did so for 3 years until His work was complete on this earth. 11 of those twelve men became the strong-rooted men who made disciples of others who became strong men and women, whose fruit went to make other disciples who “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6) sharing the Gospel.


Practically, what I took away was this: I may not get to pray with someone, or even be present when someone gives their life to Christ, and that's ok. Because if I am faithful to just plant and water a little, in order to come back and water later or for someone else to do a little watering, God will still give the increase and it's all gravy because I got to take part, but God gets all the glory!

Sit tight, and we may be able to do more then 2 verses next time...but don’t count on it, because God’s word is good like that…

Peace and Grace

Hello, Mr. Stranger-man

Hi neighbor! It's been about 20+ days since i've posted anything and the sad truth of that is because I kind of ran out of things to blog about. All the "deep" thoughts of my brain were about spent on what little topics I touched on and then finals took over all my brain space and then I went off to Africa. 

Good news, the trip was amazing and much needed. More good news, I had gained a lot of perspective on some things and now have new things to share with my friends (at least 3 blog post worth). 

I'll start with this one....

For some reason I had began meditating on 1 Corinthians chapter 3. In the first few verses Paul says that he has to break down the spiritual instruction for the Corinthians, because they couldn't get it straight Paul had to relate the word of God to them. "For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?" (verses 4+ 5) We as the body, fall into this pattern of behavior as well. We get so caught up with following trends and people that we get very sidetracked from the work God has set before us. No knock to guys like Piper or Platt or Giglio or any of the men and women of today who are strong public figures who strive for the mark and push other believers to do the same, but sometimes we deviate from searching out what God has to say to us from His own word, and we borrow and regurgitate someone else's theology. Again, I'm not saying anything against these people except what the Spirit of God moved Paul to write about them. Who are they, but ministers that received the same full measure as any other believer? There is no need for us to be carbon copies of others, and align ourselves with someone else's beliefs. We are to join hand in hand and learn from one another, but ultimately seeking the Lord to teach our hearts. 

But this verse has another twist. Just as there is nothing special about Paul, Apollos, Frances Chan or Driscoll there is also nothing special about us either. We the same are not to try and form our own brand of theology (and by that I mean heresy) just to have our own mind about the Scripture, or going out into the world trying to make carbon copies of ourselves. Instead we are to teach all people the HOW TO SEEK the Lord and hear from Him themselves. The call of every Follower of Christ is the command he gave to us before His ascension. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matt. 28:19-20) 

Maybe we have miss understood what it means to make disciples. We think it means make disciples of ourselves because of the success we've had in our walk. If making disciples is about making someone else think like us, the fruit of that is one of prideful corruption, one that is all about making the tree (us) look good. We are to make disciples of Christ, teaching people to follow Christ. If Christ is the tree and we abide in Him as the vine (John 15:5), the fruit will be of the same. "Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit." (Matt. 12:33) 

I’ll leave you here because this all prefaces what the Lord began to show me on my Journey in Senegal, and transitions really well.

It’s good to be back! Grace and Peace.

Word to ya motha!

Mothers day is coming up, and I can't tell you how thankful I am for my Mama. There's some psychological theory that I can't remember the name of, and isn't really important enough to google, that says: Men look for qualities and character traits that their mothers have, in their ideal mate. It makes sense to me. My mom is the only woman that I know could stand me for 20+ years and not leave or kill me. Only one other woman in the world will be able to say that, in time. "Her children arise up, and call her blessed..." (Prov. 31:28) My mother is a VERY blessed woman, blessed with the Fear and Wisdom of the Lord, and I am so blessed to have her pass it on to me. Though, I'm sure she'll never read this because she doesn't have the best computer skills in the world, maybe she'll get to read this shout out to her.


One great thing about my mother is that I can come to her with absolutely anything. Our relationship over the years has turned into more of a friendship and we both challenge each other and discuss the scripture and seek our what God thinks to bring perspective to one another. And the Reason I am talking my mother up so much, is because of the most recent discussion we had, that has helped me view my place in the eyes of Christ has and given me so much peace.


Does the Lord want me to have victory in my life, to show His Power and Glory? OR Does the Lord want me to stand and endure, to put his Grace on Display? Now of course neither is better than the other, or is more important than the other which means the obvious answer is...both. BUT the problem is, putting so much emphasis on victory is far too easy to make an idol in our lives. I found myself in this place, frustrated because I somehow got to the point that it was all about getting the victory to show that Christ can do anything. And my beautiful, smart mother so loving told me, "Bubba, you're wrong! Thats not it at all!" I came back with other scripture to make my point and I really struggled to see it the other way. But after thinking and praying and reviewing scripture, I learned what she was talking about. I could stop putting so much pressure on myself, and stop taking on what Christ doesn't expect me to take responsibility for.  


1.) God does not need me to show his Victory. His power is on display, and we all have no excuse to dispute it (Romans 1). Also, the Victory is already won, there is nothing I can do that is going to keep Christ from being victorious. He died and was risen, conquering sin and the grave not only for Himself but for all who have received the Spirit.
2.) The only way for me to gain the Victory, is for me to die and finally reach perfection. Death is the only way to get there and In the mean time, I am to stand and endure until the victory is wrought out. "It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22) 


Because His mercies are new, that means DAILY what I deserve is held back from me, so really the only thing I can do is stand against the enemy and make it through the day. In this life, we are to watch and pray for the Lord's returning and so as long as I'm alive and standing I'm winning, because Jesus allows me to be! Its when I fail and don't stand back up that I'm loosing. "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." (Eph. 6:13)


Grace and Peace be upon you...especially if you made it through my longest post yet...

"If grace is an ocean, then we're all sinking"

While the "discussion" that happened on my Facebook status about my view on the news of Osama Bin Laden's death, got turned into semantics battle and my whole point was lost in translation, it honestly revealed a lot of things about religious people that really make me want to punch them in the throat. It's moments like this that I really hate that people can't see that the "God" under which our one nation stands is a cheap, man-made, prosperity-gospel imitation of the true King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

I'll keep it short, get off my soapbox and then move on with this:

Think very hard before the next time you say ANYTHING about the grace of God, and how much he loves you. Christ did what he did to extend the same, full measure of grace to EVERYONE and Bin Laden, or Hitler, or Mother Teresa didn't deserve death or Hell any more or less than YOU or I do.

So anyway, I've obviously been thinking a lot about eternity and why God would want us to stay here after being redeemed. It's so very evident that our lives are a message to the world. A message of repentance, rebirth and redemption. Frankly, I feel we as a the body of Christ really suck at sending that message because we do not strive for consistency in our lives with God's word. We have many times in which we seek our own heart's fleshly desires in the name of Jesus so that we get what we want with His power instead of our own. A quote from John Piper that is so simple, yet describes our distorted view of grace is, "The New Birth is not enjoying the same meal with a different butler!" The new birth implies that a drastic change has been made at the deepest level of our motivations for anything. Once, where our heart sat on the throne, Christ takes reign and becomes the basis we form opinions on and make decisions from. (At least thats the way its SUPPOSED to work...)

YET there are so many practical Christians out there who only indulge in the word of God when it talks about how much He loves them, or what His power can do for them, all the while they have lost the fear of the Lord (if they ever had it) and tread on Holy ground with their shoes still on so that they don't have to feel their toes getting stepped on by the truth of God. (hopefully you were able to follow the mixed metaphor)

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. - John 4:23

I say all of this not as a word of discouragement of "shape up, or ship out." I say this as an encouragement that God's people need to rise up and worship Him. If you have and are, remain steadfast! If you have but aren't anymore or never have, then rise up and stand because the more who do the less crazy we will all feel if we don't have to stand alone.

This message hits me so close to home, because I see in my own life areas that I fail often to give over to the Lord. What's crazy is that sometimes it not even intentional. Its so engrained in my nature to sin BUT that is not unconquerable! The perspective of God's grace and how he is so patient with us in allowing us to grow to know, love, and honor Him, is something I want to take to the people of Senegal, and everywhere I go so that the TRUE message of repentance, rebirth, and redemption will come out in my life in the purest form that my humaness will let me.

Grace and Peace

picking up where I left off...

So yesterday I told you, in my best attempt to describe, how I was feeling the other day and how the Lord brought me through that crazy struggle. He taught me many things through it, and someday I will share with you more about some of them.

But today, is going to be a short one just about a little warfare...

Since I'm hoping to go to Africa in about 2 weeks, I'm supposed to get Yellow Fever, Typphoid, some other shots and start Malaria medication. I had a whole plan worked out for wednesday that after all my classes, I was to go get all of my minor shots taken care of at the health clinic, leave for decatur to see my parents, get a consultation and the big shots from a doctor there and be done with it....And then the tornado came... I knew pretty early on wednesday that my plans for getting this junk taken care off wasn't going to happen and I got a little ticked because I thought, "why in the world, would after all the preparation and willingness to go to Africa, in a culture and language I know very very little of who has maybe 3 Followers of Christ, would this just suddenly all not work out!? If I can't get those shots, the won't let me into the country. BUT shortly after, amidst the storm (coincidence? i think not!) I saw first hand at how mighty God is in this physical universe and just how much His hand is over us all, but from my own lens, how much His hand is over me.

I was spared from any sort of damage, other than a mild affliction of no internet for a day, when the worst series of tornados since the Great depression was running rampant across 7 states. SURELY, God will make a way for me to get a few tiny shots, for diseases which we controls anyway, so that I may serve the people of Senegal. And honestly, if He doesn't want me there then He'll find a way to keep me from going too. There is absolutely NOTHING I can do to get there without his preparation.

Hallelujah Amen. Where's the chicken!?

Grace, Tornados, and Warfare

So I think most people in my are would agree that this week has been crazy. Other than just personal stuff I have been working through this week, and a freak tornado-fest wednesday that has done most damage in Alabama than any other storm since 1974. Everyone either has had at least a part of their hometown destroyed and a lot of people have lost loved ones.

Personally, I am doing fine. My last post was a pretty crazy one I know, but I'm not sure how those crazy feelings came up. But God is faithful and after much prayer (not just from me, btw thank you for all those who prayed for me) I am assured in my heart that I can love other's and that I can show it, I just have to find ways in which to show it in different ways so that more people know it. I'm not going to say that I have that par figured out, but it I know it is possible and I know that it will happen, I just have to learn how.

Its crazy though, how so out of alignment we can get. I have a theory thats what happens when we feel as if something in our relationship with God isn't right. Unless its just some unconfessed sin, we do have times where something seems to be blocking. I personally believe its that some part of us is out of sync with the Holy Spirit. The Holy spirit is a constant, its always true, honest and pure. He teaches us the Word (John 14:26) and so he gives us not just the faith in our heart, but the logic in our minds to perceive the word of God. Its why there are verses in the Bible like Proverbs 28:5 "Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it completely." and Romans 12:12 "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." 


Because the Spirit is the only thing actually constant in a believer's being, the faulty parts like the heart and mind can get out wack. So you may have time were you know the Spirit is telling you the truth, and you believe it in your heart, but it just doesn't make sense in your mind to which proverbs tells us, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding." (Proverbs 3:5). Other times you know in your mind and it makes sense to you what the Spirit tells you, but your heart just can't fully grasp it. Not that you don't believe it, somehow the flesh just steps in and gets scared in which many people fall and then fail out of unbelief. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)


And so its in these times that we are in the valley of the shadow of death, because somewhere, the flesh is causing some sort of disfunction. Its how we get into ruts of just reading our Bibles and going to church but not growing. Sin may not necessarily be the problem. Although the flesh only doubts God, we don't have to give in to it when it does because that is the sin.


So all of that to say this, thats where I was the other day. Out of sync, and even though those times really suck, it's good test to see if in the middle of being a...messy human?--thats a good way to put it-- if I can still stand.


I still have some other stuff to say but I may save it for tomorrow. Keep you interested...


And, thank you again for everyone who prayed for me,


Peace and Grace upon you all 

Is it well with my soul?

I know thats probably a really controversial title to this post, but I know for sure in my carnal, unrelenting heart that we all doubt God’s capabilities or at very least our ability to meet His standard (which really is again just doubt God’s father-like understanding, and endless compassion for us) BUT I can honestly say that today I have experienced some of Satan’s finest work in my life. He has brought his double-A game against me, and while I would tell someone else who would say they felt that kind of warfare, “well that should be encouraging that he feels the need to oppress you so much,” and whether its right to feel this way or not, if this is what it means to be encouraged then right now I really would like no part of it! 

Imagine the greatest victory you ever had in your life—the one that made you so sure of yourself and your ability to rise above anything, to be completely turned upside down almost as if your in some sort of Inception type of nightmare within a nightmare and now have to fight that whole battle over in reverse!!

For those of you who don’t know my personal testimony, I struggled very seriously with feeling unloved, unwanted, and un-needed as a senior in high school. At the pinnacle of adolescent stress of graduating and a bad dating relationship with its own problems, issues that I had with my family (which were internalized for years) were added on top of that and drove me to think of suicide as a rational idea….I apologize for hitting you in the face with that but this is going somewhere….

Now almost 4 years later, of feeling like nothing to could ever bring me down or rise up against me like that and steal my heart of joy, the enemy has called me out and really shown me how smart he is. Because now instead of feeling incapable of being loved, I feel incapable TO love others. I feel like I have no idea how to properly let people know that they can trust me, confide in me, or lean on me in time of trouble. Everything I have tried has not worked and I am a loss for how to do this.

The most frustrating part of all of this, is that with where I am right now, I can’t bring myself to say anything encouraging about the way that I feel other than that God is able, and will make a way. Somewhere in my being, the feelings of my heart that question “Can I love?” are out of line with my mind thats says, “I DO love,” and my Spirit that says, “This is the source of your love.” (Jesus, incase that wasn’t clear)

I ask from anyone who reads this, please continue to pray for me. I know that this is all warfare and the battle is raging on right now. If ever in my life, I need such a double portion of grace right now. Not just to combat this affliction, but to also Glory in it the way God has said to in His word.

“But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” - 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

I didn't forget!

I'm off to a good start, I remembered to return to write about some more stuff. As for the quality of that stuff...well...we're work'n on it...

So I said in the last post that it was going to have to be later days on what I'm learning about people and so today is still not that day because I've still not come to anything solid enough to write about BUT I have more stuff I'm learning about me which I think is going to help with all of that.

If its one thing I do know about people, it;s that we're all different. I am one of them, and so are you, so lets just praise the Lord! Right arm, Lef....sorry. ANYWAY! People are different, and based off of what Carl Jung's 16 personality types test, my type (INTJ) is very uncommon (I'm only like 1-3% of the world!). One of the flaws of this personality type, is a difficulty in responding to things emotionally and as of late I have really noticed it. Descriptions of my personality type says that we often come off as aloof and after I looked up what that word meant, I didn't like it! I don't want to be unfriendly and distant. I had no idea I came off that way, and I really want to find a way to change that. but how do you change the way your brain is hard-wired?

Now, I'm not saying I want to cry more, or take up Interpretive Dancing or something but I want to be able to find a way to show my heart to people and to let them know that I care for their souls, because Christ cares for their souls. So as a start on this journey to "fix" my personality, I am praying for Grace. Grace in the eyes of God, to show me how I can change the way I come off to people, and favorable Grace in the eyes of others that people will at least see that I am trying. What my biggest problem is, is that I honestly don't know how to do this. I'm pretty sure I'm not scared or just don't want to, I just have no idea what I am doing wrong so ff anyone has suggestions on what I can do, I will gladly take them!

Above all else, I ask that you pray for me. Pray that God will break down in me what needs to be broken and build up what needs to be built without any resistance from me.

Peace and Grace!

The Fox says..."and so it begins"

Hopefully this is not just a "thing" that I'll forget about in 3 weeks and never do again because it took me a while to find that cool fox background and think of all that wanna-be clever stuff my profile says...

But mostly I'm doing this so I can have a journal of just what is going on in my mind, what the Lord is doing and how He is working in, through, and around me AND describe how I feel about junk. Even more mostly, this is going to start as a journal to prepare me for my up-coming trip (2 1/2 weeks!!!) to Senegal to spread the love of Jesus to the Wolof people! And so hopefully this blog here, will live past that.

"So whats going on as of late?" you may ask. "Thats and excellent question, thank you for asking," I would say, but then I would say something like....

The Lord is teaching me a lot about perspective of myself and others.

Myself:
      Just in the past few weeks or so, I have invested a lot of thought into where my life is going, what I am doing with it now and if thats where I need to be. I wasn't sure if being in Culinary was right for me, and I kind of want to do Speech Therapy because that would be cool and if I do either of those, where does God want me to live? After a while, I realized that most of that time was wasted and was kind of selfish because when I think about what really is required of me (scripturally) it's black and white what the Bible says are the traits that my life need to be consistent with, to be in the Will of God. (Rom. 12:2, Eph. 6:6, 1 Thes. 4:3, 5: 18, 1 Peter 2:15, 3:17, 4:12. just to name a few.) These have nothing to do with what job I take or what city I live in. Because, as Paul says (in the RIGHT context) to the Philipians "I can do all things through Christ, which strengthen me." That is, not for my gain or what I can accomplish, but what I can to do in order to proclaim the name of Jesus WHEREVER I go. (Can i get and amen!?)
    This means I can be a Chef and can sell food out of a truck on the street or prepare tiny meals with high prices and foreign names, in the name of Jesus. I can be a Speech Therapist and teach people how to speak, in the name of Jesus. I can stay where I am or move to Foxtown, FL (really cool name of a town!) and live for the name of Jesus!

So needless to say, my mind is cleared up of a lot of stuff. It doesn't mean I have it figured out yet, but it's a lot easier for me to not doubt where God has me and chance missing opportunities right in front of me. I'm just waiting until he tells me to move, and until then I will be still and know that He is God.

Later days for what I'm learning about people, because I'm still (with a lot of the Lord's help) sorting it out. Its a trip, man.

Grace and Peace