Annie

My little dog, Annie, is getting old. Not an astounding statement, just the truth. To those of you who don't care about animals, you will not understand my feelings. Deana looked at Annie the other day and made the statement, "she's been a good friend". I don't want you to take this wrong because we are not expecting Annie to die right now but she can't do the things she used to do and her joints and muscles hurt her a lot. I have to say after reading that last statement it sounds like me. Annie has been a good friend! I was listening to the radio this morning and the talkshow host read a list of differences between your wife and your dog. The last one on the list was lock your wife and dog in a closet and leave them there for four hours and see which one will be glad to see you when you let them out. This is probably not a good test! His point is that your dog will always be glad to see you. I think that is why so many people have adopted their pets as one of the family, they are looking for unconditional love. Unfortunately, most of us do not love unconditionally. Our love comes with a to-do-list! If you will do "this" then I'll love you. Aren't you glad that God loves us so much even if we don't love Him!

Thoughts on Easter

I've tried to write several different times today but none of them seem right. I think I will just tell you about some of the things that happened yesterday. As most of you know yesterday we celebrated the resurection of Jesus Christ! This is the highlight of the year for those of us who believe in this miracle. Nothing sets our God apart from other gods as much as His Resurrection! I never grow tired of telling others about Jesus!
We were blessed to have Josh and his fiance with us in church and also for lunch at our house. Josh's fiance Katie has a little girl, Alaina, who just turned two. Someone told me the other day that I had better be careful she would wrap me around her finger and I think that has already happened. It has been awhile since Deana and I have hid Easter eggs around the house but we had a good time hiding them for Alaina.
We finished our day by watching Josh baptize a young lady who had asked Jesus into her heart. It was truly exciting to see the family of God increase and also to see our family increase.
I hope you had a great day too!

Life not Death

HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!
We don't usually associate death with a time of celebration but every year at Easter it should be. I don't enjoy thinking about the price Jesus paid for our sins but I will be eternally grateful that He did! I've watched the movie " The Passion of the Christ" at least 4 times since it came out a few years ago. I still cannot stand to watch the scene where Jesus is beaten unmercifully and to imagine that He did it for me and you. I was talking to a lady the other day and she was telling me all of her aches and pains and I began to tell her what Jesus had did so that she could be healed. Peter tells us in his writings: "who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness- by whose stripes you were healed." I think sometimes we have forgotten what Jesus actually did for us. This Easter season I hope you will take the time to thank Him (Jesus) for what He did for you and receive the gift of salvation, healing and life!

Rats

This week Josh and I had the great honor of cleaning out the storage building behind his house. Let me tell you, this was an eye opening experience. As we stepped into the building the first thing that hit you in the face was the terrible smell. It seems that over the winter a family of mice decided they liked the nice house that was there for the taking. But as we went in further we found snake skins from snakes that had followed the mice into the building. If you know anything about me, you know snakes are my least favorite of God's creation. We began taking everything out of the shed- piece by piece- until we had everything out. If you can picture us with a hoe in one hand and picking up the boxes with the other. I just dared that box to move! We were finally able to reclaim our building. Isn't it funny how fast things can get out of sorts in our lives with just a little neglect. We may think about doing a good cleaning in the buildings of our life. We may even look at a particular part of our live each day and have good intentions to check on it or clean it up. All it takes is a little neglect for parts of our lives to fall apart. Make sure you don't neglect your spiritual life and allow the rats to get in!

What's next?

I was sitting here in my office thinking about all the things that have happened these past few weeks and I was just asking God, "what next?" I wasn't meaning it in a bad way, just a question, what's next? I know that my wants are not always His wants for me. I may want to run away sometimes and like a ostrich just stick my head in the sand and pretend no one can see me. When I do that it just means my butt has a big bullseye on it and I will probably get shot. So what do we do? In the Bible I don't know how many times the characters asked God, what's next? In most of the cases we see God just waiting for them to realize they needed Him. There is not a magic formula or magic saying that brings everything into focus. In Moses' case, he spent 40 years in the wilderness until God came a knocking and gave him his mission. I'm not very good at waiting, or you? I want the answer to my prayer when I say "Amen" if not before! I'm like the man who prayed for patience and he told God, "I want it NOW!!! I don't know if this makes any sense but I guess I'm learning to wait on God. Still not very patient!

Change

As I drove into the church this morning, I noticed the church sign we have been working on. It has been some time since our sign was knocked down by a drunk driver. I remember how excited we were to be able to put that new sign up and then in less than a month it was knocked down. Isn't it funny how our lives are similar to that sign. We work real hard to make something of ourselves and then overnight it can be torn down. This week a young man that's real close to me was let go from his job and in an instance his life changed. All the plans he had made had to be revisited and put into perpective of his new situation. Years ago I was working for a company and I was very content to spend the rest of my life there but one day my boss called me into his office and told me to get my things together because I no longer worked there. Wow! What a wake up call! Thirteen years later I'm so grateful for the fresh opportunity that that change allowed. Change isn't always welcome but in most cases it is necessary. Today ask God to change you. Ask Him to make you look and act more like Him!

Cause of Death

During the week I work part time at a funeral home. My main responsibility is to drop off death certificates at the doctor's office and then pick them up after they have been signed and take them to the courthouse to file them. I admit it's not a hard job but I enjoy getting to meet so many new people each day. One of my duties is to read over the form and make sure it is filled out properly. I get to see how each individual died or what the cause of death was. I'm amazed at the ages of the ones who have died. They go from 1-100 and no age is left out. In my line of work as a pastor, I've heard lots of reasons why, "I'm not ready to think about God or death". No one I know says, "I want to die today" but we never know. I turned on the tv last night and watched the story unfold about the killings in Alabama. Last Sunday the pastor that was shot as he preached his message in Illinois. And then this morning the young man in Germany that took 15 lives. I would like to say you don't have to worry about anything like that happening to you but I could never make that promise. How 'bout today let's make things right with God? I would like my death certificate to read he died of old age wouldn't you? God Bless!

Reflections

Here are a few thoughts on the weekend.

Yesterday I continued our study of the Book of Joshua. We had made it to the fourth chapter where it talks about the children of Israel gathering 12 stones out of the Jordan River to remember God's help. I had asked several people to share what God had done in their life. I told the church at the end that I didn't want anyone to ever accuse me of being long-winded again. We were only able to get half way through the ones who were going to share. I guess the one thing that sticks with me this morning is how many great things we have experienced. The testimonies we heard dealt with salvations, healings, and miracles. One lady told about a financial miracle and another told us how she had been unable to have a baby but miraculously they had a 10 year old boy. I watched a man tell us how he had been saved and continue on about how God had helped him time and again. As he talked I could sense his faith increasing because he is going through some tough times right now. I think sometimes we need to remind ourselves how big our God really is!!

I think it's so wrong for Atlanta to get more snow than we did!

To Give Up or Continue?

I don't know about you but there are some things I struggle with. My greatest battle is with my weight. This morning I got up and was excited to get on the scales because I was so good yesterday. I just knew I had dropped at the very least 1 pound but I was guessing 2 or more. Guess what? I had gained 2 pounds! I wanted to shake my fists at God and demand to know why He had made me this way! It was really frustrating because I was thinking I could eat what I like and still gain 2lbs. I could sit on the couch instead of walking up the mountain and still just gain 2lbs. Then I thought of what Paul says in the Bible - " the things I ought to do, I don't do and the things I shouldn't do, I do". I know what I'm doing is not producing the results I desire right now but eventually if I keep on going I will reach my goal. To quote Paul again- " forgetting those things that are behind I press toward the goal"! I realize that I cannot get to my goal over night but I can get there one step at a time. I did win a victory this morning though. Instead of getting discouraged and going to get me a breakfast burrito from Sonic (YUM YUM!), I stuck to my diet! Thank you Jesus for your help!!!

I'm really excited about the service this week at NCC! We will be continuing our study of Joshua and this week we will bring out our stones of remembrance with the help of the church. If you don't have plans please come and join us!

Clean Slate

I know it's been a long time since I've written anything here on my blog. I started a new series last week on Joshua. The first sermon had to do with God giving the children of Israel a new beginning. If you remember, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt (where they had been slaves) and their destination was supposed to be the Promised Land. However they lost their faith in God and they ended up wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. Moses had died and now it was time to enter the land that God had promised them. I believe so many people today are at the same place that Joshua and the Israelites were at - standing at the cross roads of their life. The one thing that struck me as I read last week is that God took the record of all their rebellions and gripes and complaints and just cleaned the slate. It truly was a new beginning! Could you use a fresh beginning?
If anybody deserved what they had coming it was the children of Israel. If you go back and study their behavior after Moses had gotten them out of Egypt and after God had miraculously saved them time and time again, you would agree with me. But how many of us do the same thing? It's amazing that God doesn't give up on us! And believe me He hasn't!!