Sitting around reading Max Lucado’s new book “Fearless” this afternoon, I received a phone call from my wife to see if I was tuned in to the news about the shooting on base at Fort Hood, TX.  Then I began getting phone calls and text from an old Army buddy who is now a Drill Sergent.  He was asking me if I had heard about the crap going on at Fort Hood, TX where he & I were stationed together for 4 & a half years.  I quickly turned to the station I hate the most, CNN, because I don’t know my news stations on satellite yet so I couldn’t find Fox News which is by far the best news station if you were ever in Iraq because they didn’t make up crap about us when they would come over and interview us during combat.  So I turned to CNN to find this breaking news story about a shooting just a block away from my home for 3 of the 4 & a half years that I lived there.

As I am writing this post the reports are that there are 12 dead to include the shooter himself, and 31 wounded.  Major Nidal Malik Hasan is the gunman who was killed by Military Police.  Not only is it insanely shocking that this shooting happened, or that it happened just around the corner from where I lived while stationed at Ft. Hood, but that this guy was a MAJOR in the U.S. Army!  This is really a tough rank to get.  On top of all that he was a Mental Health Doctor who opened fire in his own clinic.  Maybe the sane were the ones being treated by the insane, or maybe this guy is a religious extremist.  Nothing about him has been released other than who he was, and what he did.

If you are trying to stay updated on the event, I would ask that you take the time to find Fox News!  CNN is extremely terrible!  In the first 5 minutes of this occurence they had shown the world the map of how to get to Ft. Hood, through the front gate, and all the way to the location on Ft. Hood where the shooting took place.  Then they proceeded to tell exactly how many people live on Ft. Hood, families, where the head quarters are for the 1st Cavalry Div, what the inside set up is of the building where it all went down.  The funny part about it is that their stats were so far from being correct it made them look completely stupid!  They tell you that it’s the biggest military base in the world(which it is) and that it has 40,000 on it.  Are you serious?  40,000 is like a miniature field exercise.  We are talking largest on the planet!  It just amazes me that what the world sees as a major crisis causes them to go slap retarded and start flapping their jaw telling everything they know.  The info they gave out will create all the access needed by any terrorist minded person to be able to plot out anything they wanted to do to Ft. Hood.  They have made this place extremely vulnerable when in fact it was only an inside job that happened and the world could have all been spared of the details of where this place is, how to get there, what building is next door to it, and how many people these buildings will hold.  Fort Hood and it’s soldiers are trained to handle these type of situations whether in Iraq or at home.  Yes, people died, but it doesn’t mean that Ft. Hood doesn’t have control of all this.  Instead CNN takes a place that has control and makes them vulnerable by giving out operational security information that can lead to other events such as the one that took place this afternoon.

I have been on the phone texting, answering calls, and emailing friends who are locked down there all afternoon.  None of them are scared, they just want to get home and get out of Ft. Hood for a night, which is what we all wished for every single day that we lived there

What a terrible time to decide to go nuts!  We are looking at Veterans Day and this guy wants to go and slaughter veterans.  I am really having to hold my tongue from the very unChristian like things that are rolling around in my head.  So all I will say about this guy is that he is in a tough place in the hearts of former and current Soldiers around the country.  There is some good in him being alive and in stable condition because his family has done nothing to deserve losing a son.  I certainly am very interested in Fox News getting an interview with Major Hasan to hear the thoughts that made him think this was all necessary.

Speaking of Veterans Day…just a day?  All Veterans get is a day?  I don’t have anything against Black History, Breast Cancer, or the Holidays, but what in the world did they ever do to get a month?  Don’t take it away from these things, but give a month to these Veterans!  Just about every single person you see in any kind of military uniform these days has been overseas at least once to be apart of a war.  Most have been over there 2 or 3 times.

Please keep these 43 families who have either lost their soldier or have wounded soldiers.  Let’s hope that any of the 31 who need blood can get help from all those around Temple, TX to go in and donate blood so that no more soldiers lose their life as a part of this incident.

For a while now I have long to understand this health, wealth, and prosperity gospel.  I think maybe if I were a bit more materialistic that I could, but Jenny and I did away with all our “golden calves” when we got married.  It was a way of cleansing our hearts and home in starting this new era of our journey.  I wholeheartedly believe in the restoration that Christ mentioned over and over in his life.  It was His purpose to help restore what humans had messed up and help pave the way for His Fathers creation to be reconciled to Him.  We see in Gen 1 that God stood back and saw that everything was perfect, and then again in Rev 22 where it is all perfect again because there is no curse.  So in order for us to get back to being exactly the way God created us to be there is a restoration needed.  Every bit of cleansing that can happen in our lives can lead us all the more closer to that great day of perfection.

So I spoke last night in Calhoun, LA at a Campus Ministry Retreat where the theme was Crave.  The Lord had placed it on my heart that the things that we crave the most we think we have done it all to accomplish and well deserve all the wealth and status that we have, or that we are being extremely punished by God if we have nothing and are poor.

Take a look at Matt 6:19-24.  One of the things that I take away from this passage is how do we handle luxury.  Some people, and I won’t mention names because I do not know them personally, take the talents they have been given and their extreme wealth and think that they have done something favorable in the eyes of God.  They will charge you $9000 just to have them come and speak at your church.  Then there is another person who has an extremely powerful testimony, but you have to pay well into the $2000 range just to have them come so your church can hear it in person.  Talents that come from God being marketed for no other reason then to pad the pocket book.

Then in Matt 6:25-34 we see a challenge to just how we handle the necessary things in life.  If we have very little and sometimes the pavement seems to run out from under us on this road through life, we begin to think that God doesn’t love us or that we have done something extremely wrong and are shunned from the presence of God.  We begin to force things to get what we think we deserve because obviously God isn’t going to help us out any at all.

It doesn’t take much searching in scripture to find that the rich can be condemned, as well as the poor can be condemned.  So the biggest thing for us no matter what the situation we find ourselves in, we come to understand that it all belongs to God.  Since when did we become powerful enough to create a tree, bird, flower, wind, rain, water, ourselves, the materials that are used to build our house, the things that come together to give us a seat to sit on much less the car that the seat is bolted into.  These things have always been God’s.  I believe that the materials that we use to create things today were around in the time of Adam probably, but people were more wrapped up in God, their faith, and their family back then and weren’t as wrapped up in designing so much technology that helps us think all about ourselves.

Here is what I would like for you to think about from all of this.  What if you started realizing that everything you have is because God is saying to you “What will you do with it?”

If I give you money, how will you spend it?  Will you become materialistic?  Will you think only of yourself?  Or will you give it back to Me and My children who need it?

If I give you a job, how will you work?  Will you work at it with all of your might as though working for Me?  Will you think only of yourself and just how high you can get to make yourself known among men?  Or will you see that secretary who is hurting and lonely and tell her about Me?

If I give you a car, how will you handle it?  Will you spend enough money on your vehicle to have fed My children in an entire 3rd world country?  Will you pass by every single homeless person and think of the terrible things that they would do to you if you stopped to give them a ride, or even worse that they might smell up that nice Mercedes of yours?  Or will you hand the keys over to a family that can’t pay their bills because they don’t have a car to get to a job.

Better yet…if I give you a life, what will you do with it?  Will you make it all about you?  Will you abuse it and then take it because things don’t go the way you want them to?  Or will you give it back to Me?

So what are we doing with what God has given us?  He didn’t give it to us because we are more special than someone else, but because He is trusting that we will do something great with what He has placed in our possession.

Proverbs 30:8 & 9 says, “…give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown You and say, `Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God”

It’s time for us to take hold of the restoration that Christ set it motion and begin to evaluate ourselves and be tested by God.  How do we handle what was never ours to begin with?

After doing a search for my blog and finding my blog listed in a top however many of Church of Christ bloggers, I just went with the search and started opening every link that has something to do with this ranking. Although I could care less if my blog is ranked because I didn’t start this blog to be apart of any certain crowd, I did however want to see how this all came about. On one of the links I clicked I found an article written about a certain number of blog users who were all said to be apart of a group that is pushing progressiveness through our movement(Church of Christ) and that this ranking system must have come from someone of this group since that was who was filling the top 25 slots. Since I am apart of that top 25, it really got me to thinking. Since when did I become progressive?

I took a look around a little bit more to just see what made these other bloggers progressive.  What I found were writers who talked more about the scriptures and exactly what was going on in the time of the scripture.  Some of them made it their goal to take on challenging topics that most people shy away from.  They attacked the topics with scripture base only and very little opinion.  Of course some of you will say that I am only saying these things because I myself am “progressive.”  Well if that means all about what scripture is saying and less about opinion then I guess slap my name in the mix.  However, I am not about labels other than Christian and would much rather be called that if you don’t mind.

As far as a “movement” goes…I own Bibles that have nothing on the cover.  Not even Holy Bible.  Does that mean it is less or more of a Bible because of what is or is not written on the cover?  Does it really really matter what you put on the cover of a building other than Christ?  So I don’t believe that the name on the building/sign makes our church any more or less of Christ followers because of what is or is not on the outside.  And please don’t be extreme and say that means that we could put 666 or something on the front cause it doesn’t matter.  You completely understand what this means.

As far as conservative…I am on the other extreme from being progressive.  I believe in baptism as a MUST in order for us to fulfill our journey in becoming committed to Christ and in our surrender to self.  I believe that scripture is the inspired Word of God and that we should not add to or take away from this.  I believe that Christ was born of a virgin, died on a cross, and was raised again on the 3rd day before leaving this earth to be seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  I believe that we should take Communion each week as a body of believers.  I believe that the Old Law speaks to us today and prophesies about the New Law which we live by today.  I believe in Heaven and Hell and that Satan is real.  I believe that we should meet when the Shepherds of the Church say meet, and be willing to follow the Shepherding of these men.  I believe that we, like the disciples, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit which dwells in us to be Christ among the people living from Acts 1 through the end of the earth.  If you have ever heard me preach, you know I preach Christ only and Him crucified.  This is a pattern that I feel I have been called to follow, as well as the only thing I know.  Most of all I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  This is all very conservative things of which I can back up scripturally.

As far as being progressive…if I were to see myself as one it would be because I see my faith moving forward; a faith that is progressive toward what God desires from and for humanity.  My life is about spiritual transformation of which we reach that perfect state that only can happen along the journey with Christ.

I don’t guess I really know the term progressive.  I once heard Don McLaughlin say something to the effect when asked why he was so progressive…If we sat down today and went over all the things I believe, I would bet that I am much more conservative than you because I don’t follow any man made traditions, only the Word of God.

This is what I have come to realize about being labeled is that the ones whose comforts zones are challenged by scripture seem to be the ones who want to give labels.  I can not stand traditions!  I believe they have led us down paths of destruction for many moons!  However, I do believe whole heartedly in scripture!  If it were literally water I would take the longest baths every day and my water bill would be sky high!

As far as traditions…the way we do communion on Sunday nights when only 1 or 2 are doing it and not the whole body?  how we preach on things that from the greek are never mentioned or spoke about such as hand clapping, musical instruments, women’s role being nothing, church buildings, doing mission work everywhere except in our own city/town, not supporting orphan and childrens homes or widows, having to wear suits, ties, and dresses to church, etc…another words preaching where the Bible is silent.

I believe that the reason that the so called progressives are the highest ranked bloggers is because 1)this is the generation of people who are technological 2)many like me started a blog as a spiritual discipline known as journaling and  did not ever intend it for controversy 3)people want to read the Truth without all the man made traditions being forced onto them 4)the people who I know personally in that list mentioned are some of the most Christ centered and Christ loving individuals anyone could ever meet and it comes out in their writings.

Please, don’t label me or anyone else for not standing up and writing or preaching on a subject matter that is nothing more than a man made tradition that dates back no further than the mid to late 1800′s.  I, as well as many others labeled, seek Truth that is much older than the 1800′s, as a matter of fact it’s things that date all the way back to when Christ was still roaming this earth making physical appearances.

If this sounds like I am frustrated…I am not at all.  It is not written with any one particular person in mind and I am just writing this out of concern for people who’s names are being roughed up a bit without ever having met/spoken with.  I love the Church of Christ and will always seek to find one where the Lord leads Jenny and me, wherever I live.  The last 2 churches that I have been apart of are truly amazing places of worship, so I do believe that great churches exist where the truth is uncovered and people are challenged to become more like Christ.

Please, don’t take my word for what the Word means, anyone else on that list, or the preacher where you are right now.  Study it for yourself, but get ready for some eye opening things to appear.  And don’t fight the change that comes with that new found Truth, don’t gripe or complain, just make the change so that the generations that follow will grow up hearing the Truth.

In a world where the divorce rate has gone up 500% since 1990, most people might count down the years in their marriage.

However, NOT IN OUR WORLD!  Jenny and I have had what I consider the best year of my life! We have been blessed beyond measure in the Word of the Lord, grown together spiritually, and connected on many occasions with spiritual mentoring couples, all over the past year. So in our relationship we are counting up as I can not wait to see how high we are able to get in years together in this our great journey to be with God! WE HAVE REACHED THE BIG #1!!!
We have had some awesome moments! This blog post would be far to long if I just get started listing even one of those.
We have also had some tougher moments, in which we have grown to love each other far more once we walk though these than anything else we’ve done.
Jenny is everything I would be willing to lay down my life for, but this blog post isn’t about our past year.
It’s about how we celebrated our 1st year up!
We pulled into the “ponderosa” today after a 5 day trip to Ft. Knox, KY! You see Ft. Knox, if you don’t know history very well, is the place where all of our countries gold is locked, sealed, and heavily guarded deep underground. There is a lot of symbolism in this idea if you haven’t quite caught on yet…she means more than all the gold in the world to me and I would guard her will all my life for history…catch on yet?
There was also another reason we went, which was to get away from the norm and spend time with each other just reflecting back on how wonderful the Lord has been to us over the past year.
Then reason #3 is that a dear friend that was in Iraq with me was recently transferred from Germany to Ft. Knox.

Captain Watson and his wife, Jenny(yes very ironic) recently moved there and had their first child, Caedmon, all at the same time. My wife Jenny had never met these people who mean the world to me, and since Captain Watson was suppose to be my best man but was unable to make it back from Iraq in time to be there, we loaded the car and hit the road!

We arrived on post at Ft. Knox late Sat. night to the sad reality that they are in the Eastern time zone so we lost an hour of sleep and we wanted to be energized for church service Sunday morning.  Jason & Jenny are members of the Muldraugh Baptist Church and it was a very blessed time being able to worship with Jason again.  This was a great body of believers to visit!  I especially enjoyed the message that was delivered by the pastor David Sullivan!  It was one that you don’t get to hear much of from pulpits anymore, about our role in the kingdom work, the pastors role, and how we are called to be encouraging and not complainers.  They were some great people to worship with…enjoyed it thoroughly!  Jason, Jenny, and Caedmon really enjoy it there!

Then after service was over and we went back to Jason & Jenny’s house to have lunch we loaded up Caedmon and headed to Louisville, which is only about 30 miles north of Ft. Knox.  Our 1st stop was the Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum!!!  This was a baseball fans dream place with memorabilia from sluggers all the way back to Babe Ruth to current greats!  I got to swing Rod Carew’s bat and even have one made for Jenny & me!  It was so much fun!

I always said that if I was ever up close to Louisville that I would stop in and visit the church that God built.  What I mean by this is that the man who was Sr. Pastor for many years and watch the membership grown from 125 when he started there, to 21,000 before he retired, wrote a book entitled “When God Builds A Church“.  The name of this place is Southeast Christian Church. We attended their Tuesday night college ministry worship called “the Post”.  It was pretty special and don’t know if I can really put words to how blessed we were by getting to attend this time of worship.

Wednesday morning we got up and toured the Patton Museum there at Ft. Knox, which is obviously named after the famous warrior and military leader, General Patton.

Then we hit the road for our journey home to Beebe, AR.  While on our journey home we stopped off to see another friend, Josh Ross, and worship with him at Sycamore View church of Christ in Memphis, TN.   While there we attended a class called “Aroma” which was a little coffee house type class center around an open discussion of spiritual issues facing churches today.  This particular night they were beginning a discussion on how Art and Culture have an impact on churches from their building designs to how they worship.  It was a wonderful discussion and the teacher did an amazing job of giving us the history of the church all the way back to the 1800′s and showing us how these things impacted our movement even back then.  Afterward we met several people to include John French, a Shepherd there at Sycamore View, and his wife, and had some great conversations.  This was such a wonderful and welcoming place to stop off and worship!

As you can tell, Jenny and I always try to take in more of the spiritual things along our travels than of the many attractions.  We always seem to have so much more fun doing that and those things are always what we return home talking about for a long time!  And we are always anxious to return to worship at places we visit, and maybe someday the Lord will bless us with another journey to do just that.

This is how we spent our 1 year UP celebrating a year under our belts of spiritual growth and loving Christian friends!  Minus mentioning the amazing restaurants we find along the way.

WE ARE SO BLESSED!

As you may have noticed I haven’t written recently.  There has been a mild slump, well now that I think of it I guess any slump in a journey with Christ can not be mild.

Maybe this has happened to you, but here is where I am.

I have posted before about podcast that I enjoy listening to, and I have talked about books that I have enjoyed and grown by reading.  I never knew that this would lead me into a rut, but here I stand.  These people I enjoy listening to for the longest time really pounded on me hard.  They deliver the truth the way that works for me and that is to hold nothing back, the gloves come off and they just start swinging.  After listening to them week after week I start feeling as though our worship is not doing God justice because it doesn’t sound like what I hear and read.  Then I read the story of Martha and Mary and realize this is where I am.  I do many “good” things, but not the one that is “best.”  As John Piper stated it in his book “A Hunger for God”:

The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie.  It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world.  It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night.  For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20).  The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts.  And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth.  For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable,and almost incurable.  Jesus said some people hear the word of God, and a desire for God is awakened in their hearts.  But then, “as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life” (Luke 8:14).  In another place he said, “The desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful”(Mark 4:19).  “The pleasures of this life” and “the desires for other things”—these are not evil in themselves.  These are not vices.  These are gifts of God.  They are your basic meat and potatoes and coffee and gardening and reading and decorating and traveling and investing and TV-watching and Internet-surfing and shopping and exercising and collecting and talking.  And all of them can become deadly substitutes for God.

In this passage it says “they were on their way”.  Sometimes we don’t realize that this relationship doesn’t just happen inside a classroom or a building a few times a week, but it happens in the journey.  Then he says that Mary is doing what is best.  In this I see that this relationship that involves this journey is about discipleship which can only allow us to grow though that one best thing which is time with Jesus.

Who knew that Steve Harvey…a potty mouth comedian would help me open my eyes but here is a video that I would like to share with you in which the reality of who Jesus is brings Steve Harvey to tears, and me as well.

At around 2:34 in the video he drops the microphone after introducing Jesus and the camera pans back and lights begin to swirl and…. and….it makes me realize I am expecting Him(Jesus) to walk out on that stage.  Weird?  I don’t think so.  We are told that we do not know the hour, but to be ready.  I so want to be ready!  I really want Him to come soon, but my answer seems to always be…”Not right now God, not right now.”  I am ready to be rescued from these ruts that I find myself in from time to time!  I realize more everyday that this is not the world where I am meant for, but just the place where I am being held in exile.  That short lived feeling that He was going to appear, felt amazing!

There is a song out by Hillsong called None But Jesus.  This song is a song of assurance to me that has helped me as I walk around singing it, because it’s in these moments of emptiness along this journey that we need words like these.  Well at least I know I do.  I hope that you will read these words and know that in God’s presence we are restored and changed.  This journey has ruts, but the burdens of this life have been trampled and overcome.  There is hope in Christ!

None But Jesus lyrics

In the quiet, in the stillness
I know that you are God
In the secret of your presence
I know there I am restored
When you call I won’t refuse
Each new day, again I’ll choose

There is no one else for me
None but Jesus
Crucified to set me free
Now I live to bring Him praise

In the chaos, in confusion
I know you’re sovereign still
In the moment of my weakness
You give me grace to do your will
When you call I won’t delay
This my song through all my days

There is no one else for me
None but Jesus
Crucified to set me free
Now I live to bring Him praise

I am yours and you are mine…

All my delight is in you Lord
All of my hope
All of my strength
All my delight is in you Lord
Forevermore

Growing up I remember many trips to Meema & Grandys house in Newport, AR.  There actual names were Fred & Ruby Williams.  My grandfather grew up in Oklahoma, and as most raised in that part of the country back then, had Indian blood running deep in his veins.  His mother was full blooded Indian.  All the things that run deep in Indian blood were very evident in my grandfather, such as extremely hard working, wanted nothing handed to him, honor above all things, loyal to his word and everyone he ever came in contact with. Back in his younger days he was a stellar athlete, passionate about his country, and deeply in love with one young lady named Ruby.  As with all of us, the game playing days ended, but the other things never took a break, not for one second.  His passion for his country led him into multiple conflicts that are a major part of this countries history and the freedom we so easily take for granted.  While in the Army Air Corp(what is now known as the U.S. Air Force) he achieved the rank of Command Sergeant Major.  This is not a rank that is just handed out.  This is one that can only be obtained through years of extreme loyalty and hard work.  This is a rank that leaves a person in charge of many soldiers and the fate that lie for them in combat.  He would eventually retire from the military and go to work for the government, but not before receiving many awards and ribbons placed upon his chest for the great accomplishments he endured while bearing the old dirty green uniform.

Those awards have since been taken off that uniform and framed to hang beside his bed as something to be passed each night and every morning as he laid down and awoke each and every day.  He passed away while I was away on one of the many deployments I myself endured while serving my time in the U.S. Army.  For many years I would give him a hug and say goodbye as the years passed from me staying the weekend with Meema & Grandy to when I would make the drive from where ever I was stationed to his home of many years in Newport, AR.  I remember the final time I went to visit him, though at the time I never knew it would be just that.  He spoke to me about what it meant to represent the U.S. for him, as he knew that time was just around the corner for me as I would soon head into the big desert of Iraq.  As always, we hugged and said goodbye and spoke about my next trip to see him.  My only regret with serving in the U.S. Army is that I missed the last year of both of my final grandparents, both grandfathers.

All of my life I would admire the framed representation of years of my grandfathers blood, sweat, and tears.  I dreamed of one day having my own, though I never knew it would mean me going to war as well.  The day finally came when that frame came down off the wall.  It now hangs on the wall of our office at home where I myself see it every morning when I come in to begin studying God’s Word, and each night as I check emails before heading off to bed.  I am working on getting all of my own awards framed to go right below his in our office.  He was a hero to me, and he was a huge reason, along with my father who served during Vietnam, for choosing to dawn the old dirty greens.

This framework doesn’t mean much to Jenny.  Shoot, it doesn’t mean anything to hardly anyone.  However, some day I hope to have a child that I can pass it on to as well and tell them the great story about their great grandfather and hopefully bring them up with many of the great attributes that he had.

However, it will be extremely painful if that child decides it doesn’t mean anything to them and they give it away to someone else or even throw it away.  It will not cause bitterness or hatred, because it is my child.  I can’t have those feelings toward my child.  But the cold hard reality is that someday these will mean nothing to anyone, and it will be extremely painful to comprehend.  Luckily for me, it will be after I pass on hopefully.  However, I will be extremely jealous that they were able to give it away so easily, this family heirloom that I so cherish.

My God is a jealous God.  For many they say they can not understand how He can be a loving God, but yet hold such a feeling as jealousy.  But yet this is our God who gave the one thing he held in the greatest of regard to us as a gift, but sending His one and only Son to the Cross to voluntarily give his life away.  He gave it away in hopes that we would understand it’s value and cherish it as much as He Himself does.  Christ means the world to Him!  He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of the throne so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in Heaven and on earth and under the earth.

I know the feeling and more than likely so do you, of what it’s like to give something that you love to someone and watch them give it away as though it means nothing to them.  We give up God’s one and only Son so easily for silly things such as our own pride, lust, careers, money, houses, vehicles, things that hold no value if tomorrow Christ decides to return.

Yea, I understand God!  I hate that feeling, and I am SO INSANELY SORRY for ever making you feel that way!  So many times I have wanted to relive a moment so that I could choose Christ instead of my own selfish desires, but because of your sacrificial gift to me, your grace and mercy covers me.  Thank you for still calling me your child and not hating me or being bitter toward me.  And so I thank you Jesus for being willing to die!  And I thank you God for being willing to give Him up because you want me to get to spend time with you for eternity.  I can’t say thank you enough, but I hope that in my life I can fulfill your will for me!  In your precious gift, your Son’s name I pray, Amen!

Students have settled back into the dorms and the halls are packed with young men and women who are taking their first steps on their own, ones that their parents sit miles away and hope are ones that will lead to a college degree.
I love being involved on the college campuses here in Conway, AR, because parents don’t send their kids here for a Christian degree. Most students don’t even choose to come here because this is where the Lord called them to, or they haven’t realized it just yet anyway.
This is where the real steps of Christ are taken and you choose Christ without parental influence or being forced to go to a chapel service every day. The students that you see choosing Christ here are truly sold out! There is no need to fake it here because Christianity really isn’t the most popular thing to do to begin with. You can see it on the faces of so many freshmen as they come in, that they are wondering if they continue their journey with Christ and if so how can they do it and be accepted by their friends.
It is nothing short of amazing to see freshman develop into strong men and women of faith before your very eyes. That moment when you witness the light come on for a student and they sell out and step up and throw caution to the wind. Nothing is as special as seeing students change the lives of everyone around them and they don’t even realize it yet.

This is the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year on the campuses of Central Baptist College, Hendrix College, and University of Central Arkansas.  Therefore, this is the beginning of my year, today!

Tomorrow, I have an event on campus where I will be encountering at least 1500 students, then again on Wed where I will be encountering around 3000 students.  This is only the tip of the iceberg as we are working on a mission field of around 18,000 college students every day until the first week in May 2010 when they all pack up and go back home.

We have lots of things planned and lots of praying to do about those things planned.  Would love for you to take this ride with us!  Hold on tight because over the past 3 years we have experienced amazing things, but also some loss.  However, you will be nothing short of blessed as you journey with these students in prayer and in the business of our Father in Heaven.

Follow us at our new website www.uccstudentministries.org, and also at our brand new blog uccstudentministries.wordpress.com

What a Might God we serve!  Can’t wait to get neck deep in what the Lord is doing on these campuses this year, and be used by Him!

Hope you will check us out and be in prayer for us as well!

For the past couple of weeks I have been out at Camp Wyldewood volunteering as a Group Preacher. Over the past 16 years I have been doing volunteer work out there. Seems like my life has been lived through that place. I came to Christ out there back in 1991, took my first group of youth group students out there in 1998, baptized someone for the first time there, met most of my spiritual mentors out there, gave my first devotional there, first time to ever speak at a retreat was there, got married there this past Oct., and now my wife is as active out there as I am.

This year the focus was on the theme “Rise & Walk”. We had some amazing curriculum!!! It was such a blessing to get to be apart of this summer and get to take that curriculum and bring it to life for students from age 9-18. We baptized several! I lost count, but there was 20+.
This year was also really special for me because one of my good friends sent there 3 daughters out there for the first time and they didn’t want to leave they enjoyed it so much. Getting to see students you really care about just growing spiritually before your very eyes is such a blessing!
Also this year we have 4 of our college students working out there as counselors. I had several adults come to me throughout my time there to give strong compliments on how well these guys are going out there.
One of the strongest impacting things of the session was getting to study a mission statement of Jesus out of Isaiah 61:1-4, and deliver it as a commanding officer would deliver our a mission statement for a mission in Iraq. This was my send off to all the students as they packed up and headed home until next summer.

While there this year I did receive some extremely sad news. A lady that has been out there for the past 14 years as full time Kitchen Manager is handing off the spatula and retiring. She has been such a strong Christian woman example to me. You can not spend time with her and not know that she loves the Lord and is strong in her faith. She was the cook for Jenny and my wedding, and refused pay for the tremendous amount of work she did that weekend. Her hot rolls, biscuits and gravy, and well…every meal, will be deeply missed, but most of all her smiling face and beautiful spirit!

So…now it is back to the grindstone getting prepped for all of these college students coming back to me the 16th of this month!!!

However, I have been working on a few things that are really close to being finished and posted, so stay tuned! They are some really great things that have been on my heart for a little while now, but I’ve just been out at camp and unable to get on here and post.

Be blessed!

One of the greatest blessings about being a Christian is the community that you become apart of on your journey through life.
The feelings, emotions, accountability, encouragement, constructive criticism, battle buddies, and lifetime friends, are just some of the powerful things that come with being apart of this community of believers.
Our theme for this coming school year is “After Earth is the After Party.” Our final resting place is a home that is being prepared for us that is perfect, like that of the first place God’s creation lived, the Garden. This is not a goal of ours, but a reward for goals given to us through Christ. He wants us earnestly seeking Him, seeking out others to bring to Him, and loving and encouraging others along this journey. When we don’t rest until doing these things, we get the ultimate resting place of Heaven.

While we are being reconciled to God, we have this Community that helps us in so many ways.

In scripture I believe that we see the perfect layout of the dynamics of this Community.

Barnabas is the example in Pauls life that we need those who are along side us to encourage us.  When we get caught up in our frustrations, business, worries, and rough patches as we strive to do the will of our Father, we desperately need to have a Barnabas in our life.

My wife is a great Barnabas for me.  She is not one to tear anything down, but breath life into it and help it grow.

Timothy is the example of how we need to mentor and be mentored to as his journey consisted of constant mentoring from Paul.  We need to hear the advice from those who have journeyed the path before us and endured the rough patches.  We also need to, in return, help others who are journeying down paths we have taken ourselves.

Our College Group is that for me.  Mostly with our core members, but I strive to spend alone time with them to help them take an easier door to walk through to avoid some of the rough patches they will encounter when reaching out to others and establishing their close bond with God.

Paul is the example of the straight forward, no bones about it, laying it all out there, battle buddy that will give us constructive criticism and accountability.  Without these things we may feel like we do no wrong.  Without this we may continue to make the same mistakes day after day until it completely takes us way off track and we are no longer breathing life, but death into those we are striving to bring to the Lord.

Michael Lincoln has been a wonderful Paul in my life.

Dusty Rush has been one that has helped me change many things about the way I do ministry.

Wes Woodell has been one who is journeying beside me and seeing the traps and pointing many things out to me.

Anthony Wood has been one that has known me the shortest amount of time, but yet is more straight up forward with me than anyone in my life.

You may notice that my list is much longer of Paul’s than the other parts of this Community that I am apart of.  This is because I figured out early in ministry that there are lots of people who will pat you on the back and want to encourage you in my journey.  However, I want to become someone that boast in nothing but in Christ and need the grounding element of this Community to help me see where my true destination leads.

There are others, and maybe you are one of them, who have been in some pretty bad places in life and right now you are desperately needing a strong encourager.  Seek after and pray for that in your Community.  Although, you won’t always be in that place, so always be mindful of the other elements of your Community because you will need them soon as God will not leave you the way He found you.  He will strengthen you past only needing encouragement.  However, our Communities will never outgrow the need for all 3 types of people in our lives.

There is a Community that needs you, and it’s the one the Lord desires to make you apart of today.  Neither you nor I can assign you a Community, but God and God alone.  Let Him lead you to one ASAP because we are all in a battle and we need that warrior(battle buddy in military terms) to our left and right who will always be there to encourage, mentor, and discipline us through our daily journey.

I praise God for the Community that the Lord has blessed me with yesterday, today, and those to come!  Blessed am I beyond measure!  I promise you will feel this way too when you find the people who are placed in your life just for these very same things!

What a kick-off! Campus Ministry United 2009 started off with a BANG with some amazing worship, learned about curriculum, about reaching the forgotten, and got to hear one of the most powerful messages that I ever remember hearing! Buddy Bell from Landmark Church in Montgomery, AL loaded up the punch last night and delivered the knock out with a straight to the point message about how Paul was out of his mind and we should be too!  Jenny and I are really enjoying soaking it all up!!!
Today is a new day and we get to hear Buddy a few more times this weekend along with many other great sessions to learn and grow as we work to discover how to reach college students for Christ.
Be in prayer for us this weekend if you will. Powerful and mighty things are already taking place! Can’t wait to see what lies ahead!!!

I am also on the agenda, so pray for the words that are delivered through me and that the Holy Spirit will help bring about a reshaping, a renewing, and a reintroduction to their walk with God.  They have asked me to be speaking on Spiritual Disciplines as I have mentioned before in earlier post.  I don’t want to just tell them about my experiences or about just the disciplines themselves, but help them encounter and experience the disciplines for themselves through some small exercises.

After it is all over for the weekend and the podcast get put online I will post the links back on this exact post(i will not create a post just for the links, so check back to this post).  Their will be more pics posted as well.

Links:

Buddy Bell – Displaying Strange Behavior: The Value of a Holy Life

Effective Small Groups In Campus Ministries pt. 1

Effective Small Groups In Campus Ministries pt. 2

Anthony Wood – How Evangelism to the Poor Can Equal Evangelism to Your Campus

How Evangelism to the Poor Can Equal Evangelism to Your Campus pt. 2

Is there some level of capacity that we reach where we no longer believe that we can learn more?
Are our minds like a dump truck and can only hold so much before it begins to over flow? Then when we get full we just begin dumping it out over everyone as though we have an eternal load and we never need to be filled up again?

The past few weeks I have learned:

I have learned through Mordecai that we are being invited to be involved in what God is doing.

I have learned through Daniel what it’s like to bury your heal and make a stance.

I have learned through the Israelites what it’s like to live in a place that is not your home.

I have learned from Abraham that it is possible to reach a place in life where you understand where God is leading us.

I have learned from Luke that it is a much better idea to take the blessed road whether we understand why or not.

I have learned from our college group that there are better ways to get people to open up and feel comfortable.

I have learned from Keith Lape what it means to have a child like spirit.

I have learned from Daniel Wolpert how I can connect better with God.

To list a few.

However, I have also learned that there are those who still believe things to be the way they were in the 60′s when they first accepted Christ.  That there are those who believe the part about God being the same today, yesterday, and forever to mean that once we come to know Him that is the way He will always be in our life.

I will try and state it as simple as possible.

If you think you read it once, read it again.  If you think you heard it once, listen again.  If you think you discussed it once, talk it over again.  If you think you learned it right the first time, learn it again.

If I still lived my life based on the things I learned when I first came to know Christ, I wouldn’t know him anymore.  I mean that literally!  I would have walked away from Him a long time ago.

Then there is the encouragement to read, hear, discuss, and learn it all over again week after week.  Learning more everyday has helped to see the light of the world so much brighter, and through learning it gets brighter everyday!

You can be refilled, you have no capacity, and there is always so much more to know about God.  After all He created us to come to know Him more.

Did you ever think that maybe you just got it all wrong? Maybe you prefer to word it as you just missed the point, but either way I feel like there is a WHOLE LOT OF US in the Church that could say, “I got it all wrong!”

This past Sunday night some of the college students, Jenny, and I decided to attend the Arkansas Travelers game because the Springfield Cardinals were in town to play. Jenny and I got there about 15 minutes before everyone else and were waiting at the gate for the rest of the group when I noticed one of my buddies from the River City Ministry. Preston was one of the first people I ever met at River City Ministries a couple of summers ago. He is a really neat guy to just sit and talk to, but you will never get away before you hear him talk about why he gave his life to Christ. It is always such a great time when I get to see Preston. So you can imagine how excited I was that he was sitting outside Dickey Stephens Park as I was going in to cheer on the Cardinals. I walked over and chatted with him for a minute and asked him if he needed anything from me. He told me that he was great, but was just a little bit hungry. Since I couldn’t go into the stadium and come out without having to pay to get back in, I sent Jenny in to get him something. Before I could bring him the hot dog and drink, someone had ran him off from the ball park. For all I know Preston didn’t get anything to eat until Monday afternoon because that is when River City Ministries starts feeding people during the week.
That bugged me all through the game as I watched fan after fan indulging themselves with bar bq nachos, brats, pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, sodas, beer, and candy. The very people that indulge themselves find it fair to keep someone else from eating because they are of a different social status then them.

I know churches and Christians who have thrown fits because a homeless shelter was being put in their town. I know Christians who use the excuse “they might buy drugs or alcohol if I help them”, to keep from “burdening” themselves from having to help someone in need. Even worse, I know Christians who will give you something to use to help a homeless person, but they want nothing to do with them.
They ruin our real estate value, our reputation, or pride, our patients, and our comfort zones. Do you think that if you just ignore them they will just disappear, or better yet that they will just become non-existent?

In Acts 2:42 there are a group of people that had taken Christ on in baptism and felt a need to respond to those in need. This wasn’t because they had a gun to their heads, but because they had Christ in their hearts which spurred a life change in them. They had very little to offer. This wasn’t a group of people who had gotten rich because they chose Christ, or were rich before they chose Christ. This was a group of people who were struggling under Roman authority, but still wanted to help those in need as much as possible. So they gave what little they had to those who had nothing. The feeling the Holy Spirit laid on them because of their actions were feelings of celebration, so they invited everyone to come to celebrate at a feast as a community of believers.
This wasn’t doctrinal, scriptural, or Roman law, this was simply the reaction of hearts changed by the Father, the Son, and the Spirit through knowing they once were lost themselves and someone(God) dared to reach out and rescue them.

Some where along the lines, we lost that pure heart reaction that causes us to understand ALL that we have been rescued from, and how God did not send us here to tear down barns and build bigger. The result has been one of creating distance between Christ and those who are in need. The distance isn’t created by Christ himself, but by those who were called and responsible for delivering Christ to them.

May we stand back and realize the barn we have is enough, and that having a barn at all means we are in the top 1% of the richest people in the world.  Knowing this, may we be a part of that restoration that Christ says happens to us when we truly accept Him.  And once the understand Christ, may we begin living with that pure heart that reaches the lost, feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, and helps deliver life to those who seem to be giving up.

Remember, you are 1 step away from being homeless yourself, so watch your step.  Don’t believe me?  Take time to sit and listen to the story of a homeless man or woman and see how that in their life they were one step away from being successful.  Remember, and then thank God for having rescued you so that you could help rescue others.

The word gospel outside of the biblical way that we understand it, simply means a message expected to have positive reception or effect. A gospel is also a response or reaction to something. Such as the 1st four books of the New Testament are a response to lives being lost in sin by sending Christ to die to wipe away all sin. This is definitely a message expected to have positive reception or effect.

Well here is the reason for writing my gospel…
I have been given far to many health concerns to deal with in my 30′s. As if the kidney disease that I’ve had since I was 5 wasn’t enough, I have a few spinal problems of which include cracked tailbone, & degenerative disks. I have also started developing headaches all the time of which I can’t ever remember getting those before this year. I have a lot of damage to my right shoulder that has already required 2 surgeries and still needs tons of physical therapy. My blood pressure is through the roof! Not to long ago I had a reading of 190/99. Yea, I know, pretty terrible. Due to back problems that stemmed from Iraq, I haven’t really been able to work out very much with pains that never seem to fade.

Here is my response.

I started P90X on June 1st. It is in the works to get back into physical therapy, to finish up my disability documentation, and to get back into shape.

P90X is(has been) a tough workout dvd that is built around the idea of muscle confusion. I have been doing this for a little less than a week now and am having a hard time raising my arms enough to even put a fork in my mouth, so I have quickly discovered how it helps you lose weight. I am just kidding of course, but it is suppose to transform your body into a much stronger, healthier, and stress free way of living.
Alright, so I don’t know if this is the saving element that I need, but it seems as such so far. I will be doing this all summer long and hope to be in much better shape at the end of it all. I don’t guess you would actually call this my gospel until the end of the summer, but I wanted to put this in writing, on the internet, as a blogpost, for the soul purpose of accountability. I see this as a no way out for me. If you know, and I end up giving up, them I will feel the shame that comes with giving up. However, I am truthfully far to young to go on blood pressure medicine, so I need to get in shape to save my life.
This is my attempt!

Hold me to it! If you run into me at any point this summer, challenge me on how its going. If you see me eating foods that are terrible for me, ask me if I have given up already. I desire a life change! I need to be healthy! I don’t really desire to be on earth very long, but if I have to be here then I want to do it as pain free as possible.

Please, hold me accountable! I took before pics and will be taking the after pics, but I will not show them until the end of the summer.

*this is not meant to be an actual gospel of Seth!  believe me if I really wanted to give someone the good news it would be about my Savior!

The gang

– We have come to the close of another school year which brought to us the graduation of our inaugural class of students. We graduated a ton of potential for changing the world. I know that potential means “not yet ripened or happened” and that is exactly what they are. It is extremely easy to see that the Lord has blessed them with spiritual gifts that He can use to continue the Kingdom work. However, they are still maturing in their faith and learning more and more just how the Holy Spirit is wanting to work in and through them. This is where you come in! Please be praying for them, that they may continue to take steps in their faith and that they may grow in wisdom and knowledge of the Word.

– We ended the semester with 4 engaged couples of which 2 have already tied the knot. The other 2 are late in the summer. This is definitely another area where your prayers are needed.

– *Small groups
After sitting down with one of our leaders early in the semester, we decided to try and start a new small group for the guys. It came to be known as UCC Student MANistries to all the guys. It was centered around a book entitled “Seeking the Savior”. This bible study started out in the college room at the church and quickly developed into something we could never imagine, but knew that the Lord could do something so big. We ended up reaching out to the UCA Bear, Southland Conference Champion, football team. When we got some of them to start attending we needed to move it to some space bigger. We ended up moving it to a Division 1 Athletic Training facility. After a month or so of the study, one of the football guys asked if he could maybe lead one night of the study. He came to me and told me that the Lord had laid something on his heart that he just couldn’t hold in.  Well, summer is here now and a majority of the students are gone home, but the football team is all here doing summer workouts and that one player that stepped up to lead is now leading this study for the summer! This is another area where your prayers are needed! Pray that more strong men of faith will step up and be men of God!

– Gulf Coast Getaway was back in January and we took 42 students this year. This seems to be one of those trips that students sign up for because it’s in Panama City Beach, FL, but when they get there and realize the Spirit is alive in that place they keep going back every year for the worship and what the Holy Spirit does inside of each of them.

– Campus Ministry Retreat 09: Power of a Touch
This event I posted about back in Feb. We had 133 students and Campus Ministers attend this year as we tried to take on the task of the inner city of N. Little Rock. What an amazing weekend! Words will never explain how blessed we all were by getting to serve the homeless that whole weekend!

– This summer we are doing a summer of series on Wed nights. During the school year our Wed nights are known as Cleft of the Rock, but during the summer it is just a time to get deep down in scripture and bath in it as much as possible. This is mainly because the students that are involved in the summer are a little bit more grounded in the Word already, so we can just dive in head first!
Our first series is on the Exile that took place throughout all the prophets in the Old Testiment. This series ends this Wed night and we will be led in a totally different series on a totally different study by someone totally different. Actually we have a different student leader for each 3-4 week series. This is something very exciting for me and the students seem to really be enjoying each week.

– This is what is taking place right now or most recently in the UCC Campus Ministry. If you would like more info please just holler at me on here or call our Church Secretary. If you are a future UCA Bear and desire to come to know the Lord or already have taken that huge step and would just like to find a place to connect with others who share your passion for the Lord, come try us out! We would love to have you join us!

*Denotes Highlight of Semester

Washing the feet of the homeless at CM Retreat

I will assume that most of you have a pretty great relationship with your mother, but I know not everyone has this amazing relationship with their mother. I also know that the older you get the more you think that your mother just might be off her rocket a little. She might even continue to try and treat you like a child when you are well into adulthood.

Okay, maybe that is just me, but I bet that it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that in your relationship with your mother there is just something that irks you.
To think about all the times that maybe they kept you from doing something that you desired to do, the times if any where you felt as though they dropped the ball and let you down, or maybe there are those times when you feel she oversteps her boundaries. Well the list might go on for some of you, but the fact of the matter is…she is still your mother. You still love her, still get excited to see the face in the crowd when you are center stage, and if you have children of your own…you really love when she comes to give you a break from child care for moment. If that relationship is good, there are so many wonderful emotions that just override any short comings they might have had with you. This is the woman that took care of your clothing, bandaged your scrapes, kissed your boo boos’. This is the woman who filled oceans with tears for you as you grew up and went on your first date, graduated school, left for college, got married, had children, etc… She is your mother.

The Church is that for us spiritually.  Every Sunday morning since I’ve been alive there is this one assurance that I know when all else fails, the Church will be there.  If I show up, I will not be the only one there.  I will get to celebrate in communion with my family, hear what the Spirit has for me to hear and lift my praises to God, along with hearing the powerful words from scripture.  These are certainties that I have about every Sunday morning, because of the Church.  If I have troubles, or things just seem to hard to bear, I can just pick up the phone and the Church will be there to bandage the scrapes and kiss the boo boos’.  There will be rules set and laid out with Shepherds to direct me.  They will make me upset sometimes by telling me that the answer is no to something that I wanted to do, but they know best.  Sometimes I feel like they let me know.  There have been times where someone thought themselves bigger than the Church and decided to split the Church.  No matter what, the Church goes unharmed.  Feelings will be healed and the word of God will always be delivered.

You see the Church has been here since Christ, and it’s lasted through many persecutions, trials, divisions, and wars.  The Church fought through it all with a few goals urging them on, but one stands out more to me in my life than some of the others, and that is that the Church was going to deliver the Word of God through every generation all the way to my hands.  Oh, it wasn’t just to get to me.  No, the Church is for anyone and everyone and has endured all these things to deliver the Word of the Lord to each and every one of us.  How else would you have known to read this fancy leather bound book?  I know because of my parents, but how did they get the message, and the person before them?  It has been the Church all along, making sure that rain or shine, agreements and disagreements, the Word of the Lord would endure forever.

The Church has saved my life!  It has cared for spiritually, as my mother did for me physically.  The Church has held my hand through some rough days.  During my years of battling alcohol, the Church was there to welcome me home with open arms.  When I went away to war, the Church prayed for me and sent me sermons on cd so that I could still hear the Word.  The most current is the situation with my Aunt Janet.  You see the Church lifted her into the Fathers hands every morning, noon, and night through 2 brain surgeries in a week, and Lord willing the Churches prayers will continue to be lifted as she is set to be in a car on the way back to Conway, AR tomorrow as she has been released from the hospital.

The Church may not always seem like the one that we see in Acts 2:42, but even with it’s many flaws she is still my mother.  There is nothing the Church could do to lose my love, believe me it’s tried a time or 2 I think.  Even though it tells us “No,” when we think other wise, even when we see a parking lot full of golden calves every Sunday morning, even when we show up and everyone looks the same because we live inside that safe little box, I love the Church.  She is my mother.

St. Augustine had an unconditional love for his mother.  He believed that she was the most saintly woman to have ever lived.  Knowing that, and having him say these words, tells me that the Church he was apart of in the 300′s and 400′s is the exact same Church of today that I hear the quote about and agree.  The same Church that he called his mother, a couple thousand years later has become my mother as well.

To think about all the times that maybe it kept you from doing something that you desired to do, the times if any where you felt as though it dropped the ball and let you down, or maybe there are those times when you feel it oversteps it’s boundaries. Well the list might go on for some of you, but the fact of the matter is…she is still our mother. You still love it, still get excited to see the faces in the crowd when you are center stage, and if you have children of your own…you really love when it comes to give you a break from child care for moment during childrens Church. If that relationship is good, there are so many wonderful emotions that just override any short comings it might have had with you. This is the Church that took care of your clothing when you were naked, food when you were hungry, prayed over you when you were enslaved and in prison. This is the Church who filled oceans with tears for you as you grew up and went on your first date, graduated school, left for college, got married, had children, etc… The Church is your mother.

I really hope that this series of post help clear up any weird thoughts you might have had about the quote.  I tend to resort to this quote during times when the Church just doesn’t seem to be living up to all that scripture calls it to be.  So I stop and realize that it has it’s flaws, but it has forever carried the name of Christ to lost souls and rescued lives through the Word of God.

Love to hear your thoughts on this!

Strong enough said?

St Augustine and his mother Monica

Augustine of Hippo, who lived around the years of 354 – 430 and was a part of the protestant reformation, is quoted by Tony Campolo on the soon to be released documentary Lord Save Us From Your Followers.  Campolo doesn’t talk much about Augustine, but his birth mother Monica, was considered by Augustine to have been a saint.

What is meant by this strong and bold statement is this:

“The church is a whore…”
We have literally drug the name of Christ through some pretty trashy places. We have even put Christ name on some pretty crummy things. We have taken on Christ as our Savior and become His bride, and then we turn our backs on Him as though we were never really married in the first place. Maybe for some of us, we never really looked at our relationship with Christ as being his bride. However, the church is the bride of Christ and when we turn our backs on Him we are in a spiritual sense doing to Christ as a whore does to their spouse. We are getting into bed with the swine(not a good place to be right now, especially now!) and selling ourselves into any and every worldly thing without even understanding the consequences. We strive for the American Dream instead of the Heavenly Reality, and when we do this we bring shame upon the message of Christ and the life that He lived.

I was listening to John Piper the other day and heard him talk about how we have twisted the concept of why we are here on earth so much that we will come face to face with God someday and say to Him, “God, here is my cars, my house, my boat, and all of my fancy living…” and then we will hear this very plain and excruciatingly painful words from God, “Who are you, I never knew you.” We prostitute ourselves to all sorts of golden calves, to our careers, to our social groups, to our educations, to our own egos, and these things just taken us further and further away from the Christ that we surrendered our lives to and became a bride.

Readers Digest did an article once on the American Dream. The article talked about this couple and how that before they ever tied the knot they sat down and talked about their plans for how they wanted their lives to end up. This couple had this huge dream of getting these really high paying jobs and to really be able to save up a lot of money so that when they retired they could build their dream home on the beach. They said that they wanted this dream on overlooking the sand and the waves, and to be able to wake up every morning and walk out onto the beach and collect all kind of seashells. The article bragged about how it all came true and how amazing their seashell collection was.

Are we prostituting our souls for “seashells”? Don’t say NO! We are! We sell ourselves to a building to worship in don’t we? We pour tons of money into a building that will eventually decay and fall. We put so much pride in the way it looks that we forget about the hearts inside and outside of it each week.  All effort that could have been given to those suffering in the Dominican, Africa, or even in our own back yard.  Hearts that are starving for hope, but we tuck that hope away inside of us and we can’t give it to others because we have dedicated our lives to monetary things.  Plus homeless people scare us, right.  I was standing at the Kris Allen parade the other day talking to an amazing guy I know who works with a church that meets in a bar.  They don’t have the money for a building, but were given permission to use this bar on Sunday mornings, when they were closed down, to have their services.  They were searching for a place and this was the place that came open to them.  It doesn’t cost them a fortune, and they don’t have to pay for repairs, but every Sunday morning they are praising God from a bar while we are in castles we call church buildings.  What happened to the days of the place of worship being in a tent?  It was good enough for Christ.

When Jenny and I got married, she registered for some little coasters that most people have in their houses. When we registered for these things, I asked why we needed them. She said that she would be very upset with me if I don’t use those things to set my drink on before leaving marks on the furniture. I sorta laughed…OKAY…I laughed a lot! However, I find myself using those things every single time I bring a drink into the bedroom or living room. I don’t use them to protect the furniture though, because this furniture won’t even be ours in 15 or 20 yrs. Who knows, it might even be out in a landfill somewhere continuing to rot away. No, I put those goofy little worthless things under my drinks because I love my wife. We go out of our way for people that we love, but we walk away from Christ for those things that will end up in a landfill. We are so cheap and nasty!

This is a lot, so I will stop here for today.

I will pick back up on ” and she is my mother” in a few days.

I hope that you don’t walk away from this thinking that I believe that everyone in the church is an actual whore. This saying was talking about the fact that we are the bride of Christ, but we don’t stay very faithful to Him in the way we live our lives.

Check back in a few days to figure out what the rest of this all means!!!

Just a few weeks ago Jenny and I traveled to Atlanta, GA for another one of her dermatology conferences which was at The W hotel. We stayed a block away from the old house used in the movie Gone With the Wind. As always we tried to take in as much of the city as we possibly could, but we just didn’t seem to have the time on this trip that we normally do. However, the Cardinals were in town taking on the Braves, so you can bet your sweet bippie we did make time for taking in a game at Turner Field!

Jenny & I w/ Jose & Adrienne

My brother and his wife came on over from Alabama to take in the game with us, then we went back to Alabama and stayed a night with them.  You may notice in the picture that my wife and I are Cardinal fans and my brother and his wife are Braves fans ; )  The Cardinals won, as if you even had to wonder!

While we were in Atlanta we were blessed to worship with an amazing family of believers at North Atlanta Church.  Don McLaughlin, there preaching minister, had a wonderful message and the people there were very loving and friendly people.  It was funny though, because no matter where we go and attend worship service, we always run into people who are from Arkansas originally.

North Atlant church of Christ

After worship we hit the road and headed to my brother and sister-in-laws in Alabama. We worshiped with them at their home congregation on Sunday night. They attend Cullman Church in Cullman, AL. They have a good staff of ministers and it was great to get to hear Ken Forrest speak again.

Cullman church of Christ

So if you are ever traveling to any of these areas you should stop in an worship with these loving members of our spiritual family!

Also, if you are ever traveling to Atlanta….go a day early or stay a day longer so that you can take in all the really cool things that there is to do there!  About the only thing that we did that we really wanted to do was watch the NFL Draft at ESPN Zone restaurant, and go to Underground Atlanta(which is WAY overrated!!!).  Believe me, we will make another trip to Atlanta if we ever get the chance!  We still want to go to the huge Aquarium & Zoo, tour CNN, Coke, & Olympic Stadium, & I would love to see the Civil War Museum.

Jenny and I have been a big part of each others lives since the later part of January of 2007(even though our first “date” was Jan 4, 2007). For the first time in our lives together, we are experiencing some of the tough moments of life. It’s not that we haven’t been there before as individuals. Jenny lost her real father when she was young, has also lost other family members, and had people close to her struggle greatly with health. I, myself, have lost all of my grandparents, lost several friends while in Iraq, almost lost my mother to a brain aneurysm, lost an amazing church family in Temple, TX when I had to move, and even been pretty down myself before.
However, this is our first time together.

Jenny was apart of a crowd while at Harding and what I mean by that is…she was in a sorority.  The one she was in had adults assigned to kinda be mothers to the group. The mother of her group was a lady by the name of Mrs. Terri Rine.  While in this club, Mrs. Rine’s daughter joined and became a big part of the club life.  This is where my wife encountered and came to know Micah Rine Pate.  Being a manly man kinda guy like I am, I don’t understand the relationship feel of the ladies, but I could tell Thursday when Micah was announced missing that Jenny was pretty worried.  Then when she received the news that Micah had not been missing, but had in fact been killed by her husband, Jenny was extremely upset. She has had a lot of thoughts and questions about what all happened and why. So this is her toughness right now.

As for me, I feel like freshman year in college all over again. February 14, 1997 I got the call that my mother was about to have brain surgery. This past week, I got the call that someone else I am extremely close to, Aunt Janet, was about to have brain surgery. She was taken all the way to Houston, TX so it had to be serious. She made it through surgery okay, but things turned out completely different in surgery and it took longer than expected and they didn’t get to dominate the problem the way they were hoping too. However, she is doing pretty good so far since the surgery. Now it’s all a slow process from here.  A lot of time spent waiting, and waiting, and …how do I say that other word….waiting, for things to get better and life to be back to normal with her fixing the amazing meals and having the family all together.

Believe me, this is not meant for a pity party for Jenny and me!!!  A doctor evaluating me for mental issues after returning from Iraq once told me…the reason you don’t feel extreme sorrow is not because your heart is hard, but because you have gained much wisdom and endurance through the trials you’ve endured. I don’t know if that is exactly how it is with me, but I mention that to tell you that we will be okay. Where we do want you to feel sorrow is in your time of pray. Pray that the Lord will show Himself more evident in the life of the Rine family as they battle with losing their 26 yr old daughter in such a tragic way, pray for the husband who shot her that the Lord will heal the scares of his heart and mind that enable him to do this type of thing whether accidental or not, and pray for my Aunt Janet…my Uncle James, cousins Melanie and Brent, and all her close family and friends, that there will be healing of hearts, souls, and especially brains during this time of waiting.   Also you might want to add patience in there at some point as well since there will be a lot of waiting.

I know this blog following is small, but the praying hearts who read this are very BIG. Thank you!

Even still has that new car scent thing going on!

If you haven’t noticed there have been 4 new additions to the Young Old Man blog that I would actually us the word strong in suggesting how much I would encourage you to visit the sites.

1) Amanda Sanders who is the 1st female addition to the Blog roll! This should tell you that she is something! Since women must remain silent in church(sad) she dishes out some spiritual beat downs on a weekly basis through her blog.  Don’t be afraid! It will do nothing short of bless you!

2) Josh Ross is the real deal! He is my kinda people! For those of you who haven’t figured it out, that means he loves to get down with the inner city! Meeting him once inspired me, listened to him speak twice and was blown away, and I can’t wait to catch a Redbirds game with him and his son someday soon!

3) Red Hot Momma is the scandalous guide for Christians. haha   Well, maybe it is just a great Christian view on the matters that we fear to speak about but will not hesitate to hide our face and comment on. I would highly suggest you take a look at this site. If you are a female, I would suggest you subscribe to it weekly!

4) Impacting Resources is not on my Blog roll, it is a whole other page to the blog itself! If you look across the tabs just below the picture at the top, there you will discover the link. This page gives link, opinion, and picture of items that I have found to be of great help to me in my walk with Christ. If you don’t like them…tell someone else!  However, if you are an open minded person with a desire to grow I would just say that these things have put a boot in my rear to help me move in the right direction.  As I continue to read, watch, & discover, I will add things. So check in on that page at least once a month to see what is new and exciting!

These things can all be a benefit to your life.  You may be a busy person and not feel like you have time to read anyone elses blog but mine(really? people do that?), but if you get a moment each week to check out each of the blogs mentioned it will be a blessing to you.  If you like to read…I hope that you might find some of the books I added or will add in the future of as great a blessing to your life as they have been to mine.

Last Sunday morning as Jenny and I were making the long drive to church we were listening to the Rise Up Show with Jon Ritter on my favorite radio station and this verse was read that I can’t even image or begin to count how many times I have heard it in my lifetime and never once did it really truly register.

“Seek first the Kingdom of God!”

Right now you are probably thinking…”Is he kidding me?”

So I will answer you…”NO!”

It is the coolest feeling in the world to me when the Holy Spirit opens your eyes to really see something that you realize when it happens…”Wow, how did I ever make it without knowing that?”

So I should seek (pursue, search, long for) 1st the Kingdom?
This doesn’t fit into any mold that I have ever heard before. All I hear is grow up, graduate high school, go to college, get a degree, get a job, make money, marry, make more money, save up for retirement, have kids, and make money. This is the design, minus a few things I am sure, that people get beaten into their brains from birth almost. Truthfully, I don’t know that I have ever heard someone say when ask what they want in life, I desire the Kingdom of God. NEVER! It’s not apart of the language we use when talking about our goals in life or our “careers”. I have heard the bargaining with God a lot. I’ve also heard the whole spill about God wants me to be rich, beautiful, and powerful, which is all what comes when you are seeking Him. Well, I am just going to be honest with you…
I NEVER WANT TO BE MONETARILY RICH!
I don’t want fancy cars, bug houses, fancy dinner parties, or what I like to call the Golden Calves, not a single bone in my body desires these things. So if I don’t ever have those things does it mean I didn’t seek 1st the Kingdom? As I recall there was the God/man that walked this earth who was sinless and hung out with anything but the rich, dinned anywhere but fancy, walked most places and when he wasn’t he was on a donkey. Last time I checked those things are a lot more stubborn then my Maxima. However, I am most certain that this God/man directed His life in such a way that there was nothing standing in the way of the Kingdom of God. So according to the earthly standards of seeking 1st this Kingdom, Christ was a miserable failure. I hear is all the time with the TV preachers who tell everyone how great their life is and how everyone should get to live like them, and unless you accept Christ you can’t be rich and famous and have that high paying job.

So what happens if we alter the design of life the culture has us following?                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Do we end up failing?(Peter)

Do we wind up homeless?(Jesus)

Do we end up single the rest of our lives?(Paul)

Doesn’t seem to me that those would be such a bad way to go if it meant I never had to encounter Hell, because my life, like theirs, was spent seeking 1st the Kingdom.

Seek 1st! If you are, then nothing can stand in the way of you and the Kingdom. Search your whole life for it! It’s worth the amount of time and effort.  May it pain you to not have it within your grasp.