A new day...

               So after starting our new bible study"The Good and Beautiful God" at church  last night, we are practicing the spiritual “Soul training” exercises that are part of each chapter.  The one for this week is trying to get 8 hours of sleep a night so that we can feel refreshed during our day.  It also is to help us so that we are not stressed out all the time due to pure exhaustion.  So at 9:00pm Maggie and I climbed into bed and read our new couples devotional “Night Light” by the James and Shirley Dobson.  After finishing our 45 minute discussion that followed our reading, we finally turned out the light and went to sleep.  Maggie gets up every morning at 4am so that she may spend time with our Lord as well as get ready to leave to drive bus at 630.

               At this point, as you can figure by the calculation of time, we are both looking at about 6 hours of sleep anyway.  We are already behind in our training.  So we make a pact to try harder the next night.  Only problem is, as any parent with small children knows…things happen.  At 215am our son Andrew walks into the room and states in a matter of fact voice…”Harley (our dog) got into the garbage and I have a cold and cannot stop coughing!”   So as we do many nights for one reason or another, a child was added to our bed.  After 15 minutes of listening to forced coughing, I took Andrew upstairs to have him do a breathing treatment and get some cough medicine.  After the treatment was done, he decided it was time to stay up with Daddy until at 345 I sent him back to bed.

               I say all this to bring attention to a point.  When we try to do the things that God wants us to do, when we try to get closer to Him, satan will do whatever necessary to get us distracted. When we face the battle of trying to find time in our lives to get 8 hours of sleep, it is a mirror image of  the struggle that we face  to find time to spend those precious, much needed moments with God.  Our lives are so busy that we feel as if we cannot take the time to spend with God.  So this week I am trying something new…

               I am getting up at 4am with Maggie.  I am using our tread-climber to get back into physical shape.  But I am also going to get back into shape spiritually.  I have developed a habit while in Washington of checking my facebook constantly for updates from family back home, to catch up on the latest “events” and just to kill time.  Unfortunately this is a habit that followed me home and I find myself on the site a lot more than I care to admit.  So this week every time I would normally spend on facebook, I am going to, as my friend Phil Horne would tell the youth at Arran Lake Baptist Church, "face the Book".  I am going to set my Bible on top of my laptop, so that in order for me to open it, I first have to pick up the Word.  I am hoping that by doing this, I can change a narrative that has been running in my life. 

               I challenge you today to please think of a way that you too can draw closer to God, as He so desires to draw closer to you. May God bless you and guide you as you Seek after Him.

I'm sorry

                As I sit writing this post, I am undergoing an excruciating battle in my soul and in my heart.  It has come to my attention that my posts can be seen as angry and harsh.  I need to apologize to anyone that has read my posts and gotten that “vibe” from them.  I am not angry when I post the things that I do, I am heart broken.  Sometimes it appears that my passion comes across as anger.

               I do not believe in sugar coating things and being all about warm “fuzzies” all the time when it comes to things of Christ. I feel that this has gone on for too long in churches across the nation. When we base a relationship with God on emotion and mountain top experiences, then we are destined for disaster. We are so afraid of offending anyone that we are backing down and compromising things so that we can remain popular.  I don’t care about being PC or politically correct, I care about being CC…Christ correct. 

               I know that all things that we do are to be done out of love.  But let me illustrate where I am coming from.  I have three small children, ages 6, 4, and 3.   I see one of them heading towards the electrical outlet with a butter knife, knowing that their intent is to stick the knife in the socket.  I don’t take the time at that moment to let them know that I love them and that God loves them and go through all of the niceties involved, I simply cry out to them to stop before they get hurt. It is the same thing I am doing now.  I see the people around me heading for hell with their lives.  I see them heading in directions that will lead to destruction.  So I cry out to them to stop, before they get hurt. 

               For those teenagers that have been with me, both in the past or this past summer, I have told you on many occasions that I love you and that God loves you.  I am sorry if it is not repeated every week, for I understand that some of you have never heard me say it.  But please know that everything that I do is done out of love.  It may not be in the same fashion that others do, but it is still out of love.

               So please let me say again…I love each and every one of you, but more than that God loves you.  He loves you more than I ever could.  I apologize if what has been posted here in the past has come across as anger. It was simply a cry in the wilderness. 

Who's to blame??

               This post is not so much about a teaching message as it is an inquisitive one.  I experienced something yesterday morning while teaching Sunday school that was a real eye opener for me.  I had said to the class that we were going to have a discussion that morning as we explored the passage of scripture that dealt with building on a solid foundation. 

               The only problem was… NO ONE WOULD ANSWER MY QUESTIONS! Prior to class the youth who were in attendance were talking and laughing, but as soon as I said ok let’s begin not another word was said.  Finally I just asked them, after many questions were met with silence, if they really cared about what I was teaching or not, which ironically was met with more silence.  Is that what the youth of today have become?? Apathetic people who really don’t care about having a relationship with Christ?  If this is the case…then we have failed tremendously in the realm of Youth Ministry.  We have failed to ignite a fire in the lives of these kids and have allowed them to become complacent.  We have failed to be on our knees in prayer for them, crying out to God that HE would do a great work in them.

               I know for a fact that this is not the case with all youth, as I know that there are at least two churches that I have had the privilege of working with that have a living breathing youth ministry full of kids that love God and strive to serve Him.  So the question I had to ask myself was this…what is the root cause?  I know that some people who might read this will think that I am being judgmental, but I cannot help but share some concerns and observations.

               What makes such a big difference between youth groups?  I honestly believe it has to do with the dedication level of the parents.  There I have said it.  Parents…you are the cause of the problem.  When you show your children that church is an option, that having a relationship with Christ is something that you can turn on and off, then you are the cause of this cancer of apathy.  I’m sorry if that sounds harsh, but sometimes the truth hurts.  I know that when parents SHOW the example of living a life with Christ, then it makes a huge difference in the lives of their children. I know this from experience.

               My Mom and Dad are Godly people. They have stood for God and the things that are taught in His word my entire life.  Now as a teenager I didn’t always like that, but now as an adult I thank God that they never wavered. I know that I am the person I am today because of their example.  They showed me that living a life for God was very important and was something that needed to be a priority.  It was not to be viewed as something that was an interruption to my life.  It was to be my life. 

Is that how God is viewed today? An interruption? An inconvenience?  If so then we have lost the battle, however; we have not lost the war. We have an opportunity to regain the ground that we have lost, but it will take a fire being ignited in the hearts and lives of our adults.

 I do not want this post to come across with the message that I have it all together. However; on the same morning when faced with being sick and covered from head to toe with hives, my son Andrew still wanted to go to church and could not understand why he had to stay home. This is the type of thing that can happen when you teach your children that God is a priority.  Even as I type this, he is sitting on the floor at my feet singing praise songs in between coughs and sniffles.

We need to show them what it means to love God and to live for Him.  As I normally try to do I want to end this with a few questions for you…

1.      What is the example you are setting for your children? 

2.      Is it one of dedication or apathy?

3.      Are you ready to get back into the battle and get your priorities straight?

May God lead and guide you as you seek after Him for the answers.

               

some questions to answer

As I was reading my devotions this morning in Hebrews 3:16-19 God brought something to my mind.  Why when we have such a clear example of what happened to those that did not trust God and obey Him, do we still follow the same path of mistrust and disobedience?

The Bible clearly shows throughout its pages what happens when we choose to ignore God and follow our own ways.  The children of Israel, as seen in Numbers 14, had a complete disbelief in God’s words and promises.  He had promised them a land that was flowing with milk and honey, but all they seemed to focus on were the “giants” that were in the way.  Why do we always focus on our problems and not the One who holds all the solutions?

God had already shown them that He would provide for them with food as can be seen in Exodus chapter 16!  First, God provided bread from Heaven, something that the people only had to go out and collect, no other work involved.  But then they had to start complaining about that, so God in His mercy provided them with quail.  However, even with something this miraculous happening for them, they still did not trust God!!  What more did they need to see in order to believe?  The better question is…what more do we need to see to believe?? 

If we call ourselves a Christian and we believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, then why do we have such a hard time believing it and learning from what is contained in its pages?  We make the same mistakes of unbelief and mistrust and disobedience that the Israelites did.   We don’t learn from their mistakes? Do we feel that we have to make our own mistakes in order to learn from them? Why do we love to put ourselves through the pain and heartache? Do we honestly think that our outcome will be different?  Do we think that we will slip one past God? 

My prayer for us today and every day that we draw a breath on this earth is that we will stop trying to rewrite history and learn from it.  The generation of Israelites that did not trust God lost their promised land. They died off wandering in the wilderness, never to see the land that was simply theirs for the taking.  How many mistakes that they made are we going to repeat daily before we learn? I pray that we can learn from the history and truth contained in the pages of scripture, so that we may be able to serve God better.

This one is for the Parents

               This post is not so much for the teenagers out there, but for my fellow parents.  I know that some that read this post will not like what they read and they will call me an inexperienced kid who has a lot to learn; however, I feel that a big part of Youth Ministry is also being a resource for the parents as well, not just teaching our students.   I pray that while you read this you will truly search your heart to see if God is trying to teach you something, or if it is just a good reminder.

               Over the past few days God has been dealing with me on a particular issue in my own life.  I have found myself getting upset with my children for acting in ways that I have shown them.  I found myself getting after them for exhibiting these behaviors, only to have them say to me “But Daddy, you did it!”  Wow…talk about a dose of reality.  We often find ourselves exhibiting behaviors for our children that are not the most desirable.

               Now is where this post turns to the unpopular.  How many times have we exhibited behavior to our children regarding God which is not even close to desirable?  Do we exhibit for them what it means to have a daily quiet time with God? Do they see us pray more often than just at meal times or at all?  Do they see us attending church even when we don’t always feel like it?  Or are we teaching our children to have a relationship of convenience with God?

               As I mulled these questions over, God brought some passages from His Word to my mind and I want to share them with you.  Colossians 3:18-25 speaks on family relations, and I searched many different versions and translations for the best wording, and for this application I have found that the New American Standard is a good one, but please feel free to look it up for yourself. In fact I challenge you to do so, just as I challenge the youth that I teach to do.  So please allow me to expound on these verses.

               Verses 18 and 19 deal with the relationship between husbands and wives, and that’s a subject for a different post. However the verses that follow are the ones that pack some punch.

20 “Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.” 

Now this is the verse that we parents love to quote to our children to get them back in line, and we tend to have the attitude of “Let’s see you fight against God’s words!”  However we tend to not include the following verse because it gets after us as parents:

21    “Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.” 

It is the responsibility of the parents to not cause their child to become frustrated and therefore lose heart. We are to live a life that leads them to God, not make them frustrated with Him because we proclaim Him with our mouth, but not our lives.  There is a book out there right now titled “The Christian Atheist” which deals with the subject of those that say we believe in God, but yet we live like He does not exist.  When we are not living our lives according to God’s word, but expect our children to, we ironically get angry with them when they follow our example. 

22 “Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”

We who claim Christ as our Savior are now bondservants to Him. We may have some masters here on earth that we strive so hard to please (our bosses, our friends etc.), that we forget our Master who reigns in Heaven.  We are not to put on a show for those around us, but we are to live a life that is totally devoted to Him.  We are not supposed to just put on the mask of sincerity for Sunday mornings, but we are to have that devotion through every day and in all things.  When we strive to serve God first and foremost all the other things in life will fall into place. 

I submit to you that when we strive to serve God with all that we have and to exemplify Him in all that we do, we will have no problem whatsoever showing our children how to live the Christian life.  There will be no issues with commitment to God, feeling it a burden to show up at church or even to fulfill the obligations we have there.  When we make God first in our lives, we will see a change in our homes.  Behaviors will be different, attitudes will be sweeter and most of all God will be exalted as He should be.  I pray that you allow God to become exalted in your homes, and that He will become a priority in your life, not just an afterthought.

The Battlefield

For some who will read this blog, it will seem ironic that not only have I followed in my father's footsteps by graduating from nursing school this past April, but also now, I am following in my mother's footsteps by blogging my thoughts about God and having a desire to share them with others.

For those of who that do not know my heart, please allow me to share it with you now.  Back in 1995 a desire was born within me to reach the youth of this nation with the liberating freedom of God's word. Due to circumstances that happened where God called people away for His purposes, I was privileged at that time as well to start to help lead the youth of my home church in Sodus, NY.  So as of today I have been doing Youth Ministry in some form or fashion for the past 16 years.  I attended Liberty University and studied Youth Ministry there, in hopes of being able to become a Youth Pastor at a church.  For some reason beyond my knowledge and understanding this has yet to become a reality for me.  So I have decided that since I cannot find a church that wants to hire me, then I will take my message to the youth of today through this blog!!

We have an epidemic that is spreading throughout our churches and our student ministries that is a cause for great concern.  Our people are becoming complacent and are satisfied with mediocre faith, if any faith at all.  These are the same people that sit in a pew every Sunday morning and nod their head in agreement with the Pastor, but then walk out of the service as lost as when they came in.  I fear that many people will miss Heaven by 18 inches...the distance from their head to their heart. They have the head knowledge because they have heard the truth, but have never committed their hearts to Christ out of fear that they may have to change.

When those of us who stand for God try to help them in the process of coming to the realization that this head knowledge needs to make it to the heart, the people we are trying to help get mad and fight against us.  The sadly ironic thing that I have found is that those who need to have this epiphany the most are the same ones that have no desire to get to know God better.  They are so steeped in the complacency that ruins their lives that they get mad at anyone who comes in and sheds light on it.  Not only do they allow the complacency to ruin their own lives, but they try to infect others with the same complacency.  They do this so that they do not have to face the reality that their own so called faith is nothing more than lip service and that they don’t truly have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

I know that some people feel that I am too strict in the way that I do things.  They feel that rules that are in accordance with the Word of God, rules and principles that are established and taught in the hope of creating a safer God filled environment, only makes kids not want to attend. To these people I can only say one thing...if we are more concerned with attendance than teaching our children and teenagers the truth about what it means to be a Christian, then what are even having them come to church for?  If we are having churches and youth groups for the sole purpose of having people attend, but care nothing about challenging our people to first, have a relationship with God, but secondly to live a life committed to Him and allowing Him to be the Lord of their life in every aspect and facet, then we should close the doors and take the name "church" off of the building and replace it with social club, or frat house.

This is the battlefield that I am engaged on.  One that is part of an epic war that has been waging for centuries. The battle for the heart of man.  A tug of war between satan and his power of sin, and God, the only One that can free us from the bondage of sin.  The sad thing is that so many people are in bondage to sin, and are happy with that.  I hope that through sharing my thoughts with ya'll we might be able to break those bonds and bring freedom to the hearts of many. God Bless!