good days...

it has been a great day... drive conference has been good, i am very thankful to be here... we had a painter lead worship tonight... it was amazing...
i love to see how God uses different mediums to communicate His love and grace...

check it out... http://www.jesuspainter.com/

i think you'll like it...

God is Green... Are You?

I would say yes... God is green. He does care about the planet. God does have an opinion on how we treat the world we live in...
The problem is that being "green" has become a political issue... a way to find out if someone is liberal or conservative... whether they are democratic or republican... Being green should not be reduced to some arbitrary indicator that reveals a person's political slant...
Being green should be more about caring for the creation that God has provided for us all to enjoy - As a Christian, caring for the environment is a part of my devotion to Him. A tangible way for me to reflect that I care about what I believe God cares about.
So I ask you... Is God Green?

I believe God is Green... Are You?

Spirituality For All The Wrong Reasons

The other day I was reading an article by Eugene Peterson, Spirituality for all The Wrong Reasons, and it got me thinking about why I follow Christ. Am I seeking the heart of Christ for all that He can give me or am I walking in the reality of a true relationship with Him.

I think I am very selfish in my spirituality. It seems that most of us are for that matter. It seems that most of the time all that we humans think about are ourselves.

Tomorrow I will get up and begin looking for ways I can satisfy this drive I have and then I will seek to satisfy my hunger and then I will try to feel important and manipulate a favorable comment or two and that is not even the half of it.

I guess that it comes down to placing our lives before Jesus and asking Him to give us the humility that He displayed on that curiously glorious day He left the friendly confines of Heaven. We would all be better off, the world and all of us in it, if we thought less of ourselves and more about others. Our spirituality would be more on target if Jesus was more the aim...

Book Review - Too Busy Not Pray, by Bill Hybels

Over the past couple of weeks I have been rereading a book that I first read in 1993 as a senior in college. I can remember reading it and thinking, Lord help me never put prayer aside. Well, several years later, I picked it up again because I felt the Lord telling me that I had forgotten just how vital prayer is. The book is an easy read. You could easily read it in a week, but I recommend taking time to just walk through it a little at a time. Don't rush through it, rather take you time and truly practice the discipline of prayer as you read it. Certainly, there are many classics written on the topic of prayer, but Hybels in a very simple way reminded me that prayer is the vehicle by which God releases His power to us. We all want to live lives that are characterized by the power of God, but we seldom take the time to pray. So I encourage you over the next five days to pray every day and experience the difference that it will make in your life. Your circumstances may or may not change in five days, but I know that your life will be affected. God will give you a sense of His nearness... and that is just what we need in world that will never satisfy our soul cravings.

The Life of Faith

What does it mean to live a life of faith? I mean, what does it mean to live - not by sight but by being led by the Spirit of God?
Paul tells us in Galatians... "Sense we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." How can I keep in step with the Spirit? I want to live a life that is characterized by a distinct leading of the Christ.
When Simon Peter stepped out of the boat onto the water... this is what I long for. I want to step out of the boat and to give myself to more than just what I can give myself too. I desire for the Lord to empower me to do more than just what I am capable of in my own strength.

Why do we resist challenges in our lives? I am not sure. But I do know that the Lord is always at work in us and around us to develop our faith... without any pressure we will slowly experience faith atrophy.

Looking Around the Trash Pile

I take out the trash every two or three days at the house. Except when Julie prepares a chicken dish, then I take it out the very next day, because raw chicken smells very bad after a while. You know that smell. It is putrid and suffocating. I wonder what the tomb smelled like when the ladies went to put the spices on Jesus. He was not there, but was there a lingering smell of decay or was the smell whisked away in the Resurrection? I just wonder?
A little further on in this same passage, I just love what the angel speaks to the ladies; "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" I think that they must have been taken a back to say the least and wondering what must have happened. They expected to find the body of Jesus in the tomb but He was nowhere to be found. He is alive... they said, just like He told you!
What a strong reminder that in my life that the life that Jesus offers in not where I often look for it. I must let Him lead me to the life that is only found in him. I look too many times in the wrong places, only to find that I am not satisfied in the end.

Looking Around the Trash Pile
Longing for Life
Haunted by Emptiness
Surprised by Grace
Filled with the Eternal

Lord lead me to the path daily that leads to life. I want to experience the life you offer even it takes me down a path that I am unfamiliar with or that I don't naturally consider. Jesus I need you and long for you!
This is my prayer... is it yours?

the normal routine of life

In Luke 22:39 we are told that Jesus goes out to pray on the Mount of Olives. We are told that this happens "as usual". I think that this is significant because Jesus is going to the cross and he goes out to commune with the Father as he normally does. Jesus found the strength to go to the cross during his usual communal moments.
All of this speaks to me for it is out of the normal routine of life that the craziness of life takes hold of us. We are completely caught off guard when we arise to shower and feel that lump that was not there before or we the phone call come as the unexpected has happened to a loved one. The job promotions comes on Friday and over the weekend you realize that you must move and uproot your family.
Regardless of the challenging events that happen in our lives, many of them arise during the normal routine of life. As Jesus found his strength during usual time with the Father, I too am encouraged to make sure that I find my way to the Father so that I am not at a loss when life goes into a spin... I want to experience the intimacy of the Father when life goes up or down.
May we each find our way to Father's side and deepen our walk with Him daily...