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.