I am so glad that my God is not . . .

I was looking for something to watch this past Sunday evening and stumbled upon a channel that I don’t spend much time on – the Ion channel. They were showing a movie about the life of Noah. I thought – this is great, I just taught on this story last week and maybe I can get some new insight. Well – if you have not seen this movie don’t waste your time. The only reason that I would recommend watching this movie was to sit and try to pick out all the liberties that the writers took with scripture and all the things that they just plain had wrong.

As Irene and I flipped between the movie and other things Sunday evening it almost became funny all the things that they had wrong when you matched it up with scripture, but there is one part that really sticks out in my mind. There was a point that Noah and God were carrying on a conversation and God said that He had to go away for a while and think about something and that Noah would be on his own and that he would not be able to have access to God. I looked at Irene and told her that I was so glad that my God was not like the God in that movie.

My God does not leave me on my own, yet He does not force Himself on me. My God is always accessible, yet He longs for me to want to spend time with Him. Although I have not heard God’s audible voice (yet, but I am still waiting), I know that He is always listening – He is always there, he always has time, He is never to busy, and I know that He loves me a great deal. I am so glad that my God is not the God in that movie.

Until next time – Keep your eyes on Jesus and spend a little one on one time with God.

Things we can learn from a dog or a cat . . .

This is not original and it is not mine. I found it in an e-mail - but I found it profound none-the-less.

• Live simply.
• Love generously.
• Care deeply.
• Speak kindly.
• Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:
• When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
• Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
• Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.
• Take naps.
• Stretch before rising.
• Run, romp, and play ! daily
• Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
• Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
• On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
• On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
• When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
• Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
• Be loyal.
• Never pretend to be something you're not.
• If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
• When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.

Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and let's enjoy life while we have it.

Familiarity . . .

Here is a question that I started struggling with this morning and it may just be something that you are to – does familiarity breed apathy? I was reading in Max Lucado this morning and a basic thought that he proposed was that familiarity is a weapon that can be used against us in our daily lives.

My question to you is – do you believe this. If we become familiar with reading our Bible daily – do we become apathetic toward reading and studying God’s word? If we become familiar with praying - do we become apathetic toward prayer and our need for it? If we become familiar with our families – are we in danger of becoming apathetic toward our families and become dangerously close to loosing them? If we become familiar with our church – do we become apathetic toward our commitment to being the body of Christ?

The basic thought is that when something is new – it has our total focus. If you don’t believe this – watch children on Christmas morning and the toys that they play with. Then come back in six months and see what toys they are playing with and which ones they have cast aside. Some of the habits we had as children were placed aside as we grew older and some have been so much harder to break.

I am looking for something to stir our thoughts and start a discussion and maybe this is it. Anyway – until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and seek to keep everything fresh and new.

What we can learn from a wee little man . . .

Now before I end up with every vertically challenged person in the Blog-o-sphere mad at me – this post is about Zacchaeus. I taught this story this past Sunday evening in LIFE Group. Funny thing about it – this may be the first time I have ever taught this story. As I studied I ran across some really great lessons that I thought that I would pass along.

Who was Zacchaeus?

He is called the chief tax collector. This would have set him up as both a thief and a traitor to his own people. Not exactly the person that you would probably seek out as someone to have supper with.

He is referred to as a son of Abraham. Even though he was a Jew – one of God’s chosen people – heritage and genealogy made no difference. He was still separate from a relationship with God until Jesus changed his life.

Being a little undignified is ok if it leads to a meeting with Jesus. Zacchaeus ran and climbed a tree – something very undignified for a grown man of his place in society.

Although Zacchaeus was seeking a look at Jesus – he was the one that was found. He was the host who became the guest. The party was to be at Zacchaeus’ house but it was Jesus that invited Zacchaeus to join Him. Jesus not only met Zacchaeus but He changed him forever. Zacchaeus demonstrated a change within through an outward action.

Zacchaeus’ name means “righteous one”. He may not have been living up to what his name meant in the beginning, but in the end he is right on the mark.

A lot of great lessons for ten verses about a man that most people did not want around them. Maybe these are the people that we should seek out in our society. These are the ones that Jesus says that He came to seek and to save. Until next time – end your eyes on Jesus and let’s climb a tree.

Desperately seeking silence . . .

Cool title – huh? Ok, so it’s not original. I kind of did a knock off from something I heard once. This post started out named seeking quiet – but I opted for something a little cooler. I am sitting here in my dining room on Saturday morning working on a post that I started Tuesday of this past week. Does that give you any idea how this week has gone?

For those of you that read my Blog semi-regularly – the problem that I had not being able to focus, a couple of weeks ago seem to have worked itself out. Now at times I feel almost hyper-focused – thus the problem with getting my posts done in some semblance of timely fashion. Anyway – back to today’s post. Silence, quiet, being still, stop the world and let me off – anyway you want to look at it – it means clearing away all of the noise so that you can listen instead of just hear.

For quite a few days now, when I wake up, I bask in the quiet of my house. Maybe you don’t feel this way, but when I come home at night I feel like I have so much in my head that needs attention and it is just plain loud. For those of you that have experienced this phenomenon, thank you for understanding. Anyway, when I wake up – all I can hear is quiet and I just want to stay there. Over the last couple of weeks – I have turned off talk radio (what I listen to when I am driving) because it just seemed like so much noise. There have been several nights when the TV was never turned on for more than 20 minutes at our house. A lot of the time I would read some and just listen to the quiet. What I have come to the conclusion about is that I have been listening to God as I worked through want I have been reading. It is a wonderful thing when you can hear His voice and know that He is loveing on you. That is the same feeling I was getting in the mornings – when before there was any noise, I was spending time with my Lord. Just maybe that is what it means to be still and know that He is God (is in charge, is leading the way, is supplying all our needs, loves us, knows everything, sees everything, etc.)

Enough for now – the noise has begun and the quiet is fading. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and find you a quiet spot to just listen to the silence.

The quote . . .

"If you ever become what you became when Jesus saved you;
Then, you must believe that you became what you should become."

The above quote was given to me by the guy who is disciplining me. Since then I have given it to several other people and asked them to chew on it and let me know what they think. It takes a little while of thinking about what it is actually saying for it’s meaning to begin to sink in. The scripture reference that I was given helps in applying this statement. I’ll give you the scripture tomorrow, for now just chew on the quote.

I will give you this much of a clue – it does have something to do with living a grace life. That’s where I want to rest for a minute. Do any of us really understand the grace of God? Do we understand what it means to live under and through that grace? Do we even understand what grace is? Grace is a gift from God that we don’t deserve and we could never work long enough or hard enough to earn. Grace is the love of God that comes to us while we are still un-lovable. Grace is the substance that restores a broken relationship with our heavenly Father. Grace is that which makes us righteous (in right standing) so that we can approach God without fear of rejection. Grace is that person that allows us to live an abundant life. I believe that grace can be a substance or a thing, but it is also a person – Jesus – the pure embodiment of grace.

That’s enough for now. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and chew on that quote – it can change the way you look at life.

I’m Back – I think . . .

Have you ever had one of Monday’s where it just seemed that none of your thoughts would connect into any thing that made sense? That is exactly where I am this morning. I am sorry that it has taken me so long to get back to the blogging world. Work has been crazy and I have not had a spare minute that I could focus on this. I really hate it when I don’t get to post over a length of time. I feel like I am letting myself down as well as those who may take the time to read this blog.

Let me take a minute and tell you where I am in my walk with Christ and where I want to go with posts this week. I have been convicted about my own discipleship ever since our trip to Idaho. Everything they do at Real Life Ministries is about intentional discipleship. While I was there I realized that as much as I enjoy disciplining others – I need someone who is disciplining me. I have asked Rev. Tim Lee to be that person and he has agreed. Tim was the last Pastor I worked with at Reedy River Baptist Church several years ago. We had a great relationship then and I look forward to where our relationship will go in the future.

Tim is challenging me about my thinking on grace. That is also what I taught on last night in our L.I.F.E. Group meeting at mine and Irene’s home. What I have come to realize – is that I really don’t understand as much about grace as I think I do. Oh, sure, I understand the basics of salvation by grace, but I don’t believe that I have fully embraced the concept of a grace life. I question sometimes if I am a grace abuser, now I wonder if sometimes I am a grace blocker also.

All of those last thoughts and a few more are things that I want to deal with for a while, so hang on to your hat. The topic is grace and it begins tomorrow. Until then – keep your eyes on Jesus and remember – grace is more than what you say over your meal – it is truly a way of life.

Consumed with a thought . . .

Have you ever been consumed with a thought or a concept? That’s where I’ve been lately – the consumed part. It seems that I hear a word or a concept maybe on a Sunday during a worship service and from then on it seems that it shows up everywhere I look. This week it is the word Grace.

As I sit here typing this I have all of these different meanings to this word grace running through my head:
- it can be a woman’s name
- it is something said before a meal in the south
- a name used in a beach music song – Ms. Grace
- it is something received that is not deserved

In the coming days we’ll look at some of what is said in the scriptures about God’s grace. For now – this is enough – I have work to do. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and when someone uses the word grace – what do you think of?

A quick shout . . .

I just saw this post and thought - people don't need to miss this one. WOW! Just a simple reminder - we are the only physical hands and feet that Jesus has in this world right now. We need to be helpers a little more often than we are note takers. The Pharisees had a tendency to look down on people instead of helping them up and look what that got them.

What does God want – the end – for now . . .

I want to wrap up this line of thought for now. I have posted about what it is that I believe that the scripture says that God wants – a relationship with us. This is not religion – it is relationship. It is knowing and loving God. It is a relationship such as that between a bride and groom. What I find as I continue to search God’s word is that He is all about relationships.

As I type this I go back, in my mind, to this past Sunday and Mike’s sermon on worship. Our worship should be all about our relationship with God. In fact – everything that we do should be about our relationship with God. I look at the woman at the well in John chapter four and this is what I see – a woman whose short relationship with Jesus so impacted her life that she brought a whole community to see Him. Do you remember when your relationship with Jesus so impacted your life that you wanted everyone you knew to know about this man they call Jesus?

Maybe we need to slow our lives down and focus on our relationship with God and remember the impact that His touch made on us. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and spend the time to rediscover your relationship with God.

My head is spinning . . .

My head is definitely spinning after a great weekend. I am going to list the highlights so that this does not turn into a marathon post, so here goes:

Friday morning we were able to meet our deadline at work and I actually got out of the office a little early. I actually found a shade tree at a park near by, rolled the windows down, set the alarm on my phone and took a nap. It was righteous.

Was able to have lunch with Jim Barnes Friday and hear about the trip that Marianne and he took to Pa.

Had my eyes examined and picked out new glasses.

Friday evening I spent the whole evening with my beautiful wife Irene.

Saturday morning I worked in the yard for about three hours. Way to long to work outside in the heat and the ground as hard as it is.

Checked in on the crew at “Hunger Hurts” and carried some can goods down. Great event. Way to go guys!!

That evening had our first meeting with our executive partners. A group of awesome, Godly men who have agreed to come along side the leadership team of The Journey. The first meeting was great. A big Thank you to Marshall Fagg.

Sunday morning we had a joint worship service at Meadowsprings Church on Woodruff Road, with The Journey leading. Great music (way to go Jonathan) and an awesome message on worship from Mike.

Sunday lunch was at mother’s house and supper was at Mike and Karen Thompson’s house. Played Totally 80’s Trivial Pursuit. I know I lived through the 80’s but I don’t seem to remember much.

Today is back to work. I will continue to develop what God wants in the days to come. Until then, keep your eyes on Jesus and pass the brownies please.

What does God want – continued . . .

Please allow me to take a few minutes and continue the thought from yesterday. We started along the thought process that God wanted people to know Him and to love Him. That he was not looking for an acquaintance but someone who really knew Him. He is looking for someone who is actively seeking a relationship with Him. He is looking for someone that will love Him with a faithful love – a never ending love. The same type of love that He shows us.

Now as I am sitting here typing this and developing this thought something has just hit me – God is looking for us to love Him and know Him in the same way a bride knows her groom. Maybe that is the reason that God refers to His church as His bride. DUH!! To speak from my own experience – I do not just go through the motions of being married to my wife. Our relationship (my knowledge of her and my love for her) began to grow the minute that I met her and it is still growing and developing today. I can with all confidence say that I know and love my wife more today than when I met her and I will know and love her more tomorrow. That is my choice. If all I did was go through the motions of being a husband I would be no better than the Pharisees were to the early church. They went through all the motions as religious leaders but they had no relationship with the God they professed to follow.

For now, we’ll stop here since it is Friday, but more to come next week. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and how is your relationship with God?

What does God want . . .

Have you ever wondered what God really wants? I mean – what does He want the most? Well, I ran across something in Hosea that kind of jumped off the page at me at three am yesterday morning. I’m not sure why I woke up – except that my neck was killing me. I guess that was God’s way of waking me up to have a little time with Him, since my neck was fine the night before.

I had been reading in first and second Timothy lately, but that night God directed me to Hosea. Now when I say that He directed me – I did not hear an audible voice, but it was awfully close. When I get that kind of epiphany I generally go where it leads and it led to Hosea. What I did not realize is that it would take two days to get to what God had for me.

In the 6th chapter and the 6th verse you find the following. This is God talking to Judah and Israel and He states pretty clearly what He really wants. What I see here is that God wants two things: 1) He wants a faithful love – a love that lasts, one that is loyal to the very end and – 2) He wants people to know Him – a real relationship with Him, a personal knowledge of Him.

Bear with me for just a couple of quick statements about each of these. God wants us to have a real love for Him. He wants this more than all of our religious acts. He is not impressed by how many times we go to church, how many Sunday School pins we have or how many offices we hold in the church. He wants us to fall in love with the author and creator of love – Himself. Secondly or maybe it needs to come first – God wants us to know Him. I would think that this probably would come before love, but I am writing in the order that I see it in the scriptures. The Message states that God wants us to know Him not go to more prayer meetings. God is looking for a relationship not merely an acquaintance. He is looking for a relationship not more religious duties.

I’ll look more at what God is looking for and develop this thought more next time, but for now – keep your eyes on Jesus and stop all your running around and build a relationship with the creator of the universe.

Pleasing to God . . .

See I told you that I would get back to this subject – what is pleasing to God and how do we please God? Well, in the first two verses of the 12th chapter of Romans we find a couple of ways that we can be pleasing to God.

First we can present our bodies as a living sacrifice – holy and acceptable because that is the way to truly worship God. We can please God through worship, but note the restrictions put on this statement. We are to be a living sacrifice – not dead. Everything that we do should show the life that God has granted us. With a sacrifice we are giving up our control and turning everything over to Him. This sacrifice is to be holy and acceptable. God will accept nothing less than holy – set apart for His use.

Secondly in this verse we find that we can please God by doing His will. Well, you may ask, how do we know what His will is? According to this scripture we will know what His will is by not copying the behavior and customs to the world and allowing God to transform us by changing the way we think. You may say that there is nothing wrong with the way you think. I would say that if the way you think is not in line with God’s word, you have a problem with the way you think.

Enough for today – we’ll revisit this in the days to come, but for now – keep your eyes on Jesus and answer this question – have I been pleasing to God lately?

Pleasing to God . . .

This morning in my study of 1st Timothy, I ran across a statement
about our lives being pleasing to God. That really has got me thinking this morning. What does it mean – to be pleasing to God? Well, let’s start with what it means to be pleasing.

I started with at dictionary.com and searched for definitions of pleasing. What I found is the following: to act to the pleasure or satisfaction of; to be the pleasure or will of; to give pleasure or satisfaction. There were several others but these seemed most applicable to what I want to talk about over the next couple of days.

Over the next couple of posts we’ll take a journey through what it means to be pleasing to God and what the advantages and disadvantages are of being pleasing to God is. Until then – keep your eyes on Jesus and what do you think it takes to be pleasing to God?

To simply love . . .

What we are talking about is love. Specifically, simply love as described in 1st Timothy 1:5 – as read in The Message. This love is to be a “love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God.” In what I read here in this scripture, I see simple love – a love that we have not attached some selfish desire to. Often times we complicate the love of God by attaching some convoluted meaning to it. We need to get back to understanding that God loved us first while we were un-lovable. Love only comes from God – apart from Him we would not have a clue what love really looks like. Love is not self serving – that would be lust.

Also in this scripture I see that love should not be contaminated by counterfeit faith. Often time we say that we have faith and we do – in one form or another. I am sorry to say that the faith that I often see is a faith that professes God with our mouths but deny Him with our lives.

So what does it mean to simply love as seen in the context of this verse in 1st Timothy? To accept people and care for them exactly where they are. And love them enough to allow God to change them without any of us playing Holy Spirit. Should we withhold biblical guidance from someone walking with God – never! Should we withhold our personal opinions that do not stand up in light of God’s word – absolutely! One of my favorite music groups is Casting Crowns. They did a song called “What the World Needs.” They deal with this in music form in a great song – if you have not listened to it – find it and give it a listen.

One last thing and I’ll warp up this post. The last part of the verse that we have been talking about says – “a life open to God.” Honestly – that is the only way that we will ever simply love someone – through a life open to God. If we live a life open to God and His guidance and direction we can simply love people the way that He loves us.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and open up and let God live through you.

Is simple easy ? ? ?

That is the question that I keep kicking around in my head lately – is simple easy? I know that I like it when my life is simple. I also like it when my life is easy. What I don’t understand is that they are mutually exclusive of each other. What I mean is – when my life is easy, it is not necessarily simple. What I have found out is that simple can be hard work at times. Like when we have over complicated things and we are trying to get back to simple. That is one of the thoughts that I had a few weeks back when I read “Simple Church.” How exactly did we complicate church to the point that we have? Anyway, that is another rabbit to chase at another time.

According to what I can find in an on-line dictionary – Simple can be defined as the following – easy to understand or deal with, not elaborate or artificial, unaffected, unassuming, not complicate or complex, not grand or sophisticated, common. I think that I could apply all of these definitions to the love that was shown us by God except common. There is nothing common about the love that God has shown us in order for us to have a relationship with Him. There is nothing common about giving your only Son to die on the cross so that we could have our relationship with God restored.

Next time I talk about what it means to simply love – but until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and tell somebody that you love them. Better yet, show them.

The goal . . .

To start with – I am sorry that it has taken me so long to get back to posting on this site. Honestly – my focus has been so scattered that words would not come together in any way close to a c complete sentence. Maybe with this series of thoughts I can turn the corner for a while.

This past Sunday evening I had the privilege of teaching the bible study during our time together at The Journey. We talked about loving God and loving others based upon the scriptures found in Matthew 22:37 and Mark 12:29-31. This week during my personal study time I have been reading and studying in 1st Timothy. What I found was a verse (verse 5) that has steadied my mind. In this verse it states that the goal of our teaching is love. In The Message it is stated “simply love”. The questions that I have batted around in my head are – what is simple love and does simple mean easy?

Over the next couple of posts we’ll deal with both of these questions, but until next time – I’ll let you chew on the questions yourself. Let me urge you to read Matthew 22:37 and Mark 12:29-31 in light of 1st Timothy 1:5 and chew on it for a while. That being said – keep your eyes on Jesus and Keep it simple.

Yard work and my spiritual walk . . .

Well, we have made it past another Memorial Day weekend and I am stiff and sore. This has traditionally been the weekend that we attack the yard work that we have let go for a while around our house. This weekend I have laid sod, put down stepping stones (which I still have some to put back down where I laid the sod), I have cut back Azaleas, trimmed tree limbs, bought a new gas grill (which I am trilled with) and a new set of chairs and a table for the patio. To be honest and transparent to those who read this blog – I really do not like yard work. That is the reason that I am stiff and sore. If I used these muscles all the time – by doing yard work and enjoying it – I would not be stiff and sore. You have to understand that I have seen all this work that needed to be done for a while – I just kept putting it off. If I didn’t put these things off to the last minute, it would not be so hard to get them done and my body would not have to be put through so much stress. But, I do have to admit, I like the way everything looks after it is done.

I started thinking this morning that sometimes our lives are a lot like Memorial Day weekends. We see things that need to be done in our lives (things that God has revealed to us) that need to be taken care of and yet we just keep putting them off. If we would just deal with those things when God revealed them our lives would be a lot easier and yet, we continue to hang on to them or put of dealing with them. I am far from perfect, and I procrastinate with the best, but I know in my life after these things are dealt with I like the way my life looks after it is done. Even dealing with the stiffness and soreness after dealing with something that God has revealed, the outcome is well worth what we go through. My question to you is this – what has God revealed to you that needs some attention?

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s get the work done.

Living your life out load . . .

Are you living your life out load? Let me tell you what I am talking about. Are you living your life so that it affects those around you to the point that they become followers of Christ? You may say this can’t be done and I would say that you are wrong. I have had men and women who have affected the way I live my life just by the way that they live theirs and I would venture to say that so do you. The real question then is – how do we live our lives so that they affect others and their beliefs?

I ran across a scripture in the book of John this week that has stemmed this line of thought. In John 12:9-11 it is said that the High Priests plotted to kill Lazarus because people were becoming followers of Jesus because of him. Now I do find it strangely funny that they were plotting to kill a man that had already died once. Just by living his life – Lazarus was affecting peoples lives around him for the kingdom of God.

We need to live our lives so that we affect those around us. They need to see that we are regular people who lead regular lives – with one difference – where our faith lies. Our faith as believers lies in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. This should permeate every aspect of our lives to the point that people see Jesus in everything that we do. My question to you is – when people see you living your life – who do they see?

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and live you life out loud.

Who are you, Judas or Mary?

As I sit here this morning, eating pop tarts and getting ready to start a day of work, I’m asking myself, which attitude do I have Judas or Mary. Here’s where I’m coming from. Remember the passage in John 12:1-8. We discussed this last night in our Bible study with The Journey. Jesus has been traveling and stopped by to see Lazarus. Martha was serving supper and Mary poured an expensive bottle of perfume on Jesus’ feet. Judas fussed at her for wasting such and said that she should sell the bottle of perfume and gave the money to the poor. Of course, Jesus told him to be quite because Mary was doing the right thing.
Mary was worshipping in her own way. She cleaned His feet and dried them with her hair. She was at His feet, enjoying His presence. I wonder if she knew that six days later He was going to be hung on a cross.
Judas fussed at Mary because she wasted money by pouring an expensive bottle of perfume on Jesus’ feet. That bottle of perfume was like 11 months wages in that day. Judas was the “chastiser” of the bunch and a thief. He also kept the money bag for the disciples and yes, he embezzled (that’s why he fussed at Mary; he was thinking he was “the poor”). As most of you know this is the same Judas who took money in exchange for turning Jesus in to be crucified. Judas also had a habit like a lot of folks in today’s church. “You shouldn’t do that” or “You can’t come in like that”; “we’ve never done it that way”; “this is the way we’ve always done it”. Need I go on?
In my new church experience with The Journey, I’m learning to have an attitude more like Mary and less like Judas. I use to have an attitude like Judas but now I know that it’s more than the do’s and don’t ‘s. God is not concerned with all of the formalities of worship or going “to church”. He is concerned about worship. God does encourage us to come together as believers to encourage and lift each other up. Worship should be a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year thing. Corporate worship is an overflow of what has taken place during the week. It should never end. It’s never going to end when we get to heaven.
Hopefully this has stirred up something in you like it did me. Give me a shout and let me know what you are thinking. I hope all who has read this will have a wonderful day. Remember to be watching for what God is trying to get your attention about in your life.

How do we impact our world . . .

Do you ever wonder how we impact our world? You know the people that you see everyday. How do you impact them for the kingdom of God? That is one of the things that we are thinking about continuously as we work at planting The Journey. Our focus from the very beginning is to “Love God and Love Others.” But in a practical way how to we do that?

Well, in Mark chapter 6 (which is quickly becoming one of my favorite books to study) in verses 18 – 20 (in The Message), Jesus told the man, that He had cast the Legion (many) demons out of, to "Go home to your own people. Tell them your story—what the Master did, how he had mercy on you." We don’t need to over complicate matters. We each have our own story of what Jesus has done in our lives. We just need to tell our own people – those that we come in contact with everyday what Jesus has done and is doing in our lives.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and who have you told your story too lately? Who’s the next to hear your story? Pray that God would give you the opportunity to tell your story soon.

Nuggets of wisdom . . .

Have you ever stumbled upon something that you were reading in the Bible, maybe in a different translation, and suddenly a light seems to go on? Well, that’s what happened to me this morning. I was reading in the 4th chapter of Mark in the Message this morning and suddenly a light went on. I know that I have read this same scripture lots of time and for some reason never had it hit me the way it did this morning.

This scripture talks about the way that Jesus was teaching the people. It says that He taught in stories to those who did not have the insight to the kingdom of God. By doing so the stories were “creating readiness, nudging them toward receptive insight.” I have been thinking a lot about the way I teach and those around me teach and whether we sometimes over complicate things, especially for those who may not have a relationship with our Lord. The conclusion that I have come to is that we should basically use the model that Jesus used.

Our teaching never should be overly complicated. Teach in stories that apply to the people that we are teaching allowing the Holy Spirit to work in their lives. What do you think? How do you teach? Let me know.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and keep it simple.

Props to my friend Phil . . .

Last night I had the opportunity to go to a reception for one of my very best friends – Phil Edge. The reception was in honor of his retirement at the end of this school year. Phil and I have been friends for 30 years. We have seen each other through some great times and we have seen each other through some hard times. I can truly say that this is someone that I have traveled the roads of life with. Phil is retiring after 36 years in the education system as both a teacher and a principal. The following are a few things that I have seen in the life of my friend . . .

In his life as an educator – what he did was for the kids – not for himself. The kids under his care were what was always the most important. Greenville County schools are loosing a great educator.

Allow others around you to grow and empower them to lead.

Genuinely care about those under your care, especially kids – they can tell.

Look for the great qualities of people from our past and emulate those qualities in your life today.

Bad day fishing is better than a good day at work.

As you walk through God’s creation – keep your head up and focus on the journey and not the destination. If you don’t you will probably miss something great.

Take time to enjoy life.

Love God and love the people around you.

Those are just a few things from 30 years of friendship. I look forward to the next 30 in our journey through life together. Phil has poured a great deal of his life into me over all these years and for that I am eternally grateful. Phil – I love you as a friend and a brother. Blessings to you as you retire and start the list your wife has for you.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and when are we going to try out the new boat?

The road less traveled – revisited . . .

You know, I find it quite fascinating that I consider myself pretty well read and yet I have never seen this poem. I was talking about the latest post that I made with Mike Thompson and he asked if I knew that there was a poem with that name. Since I did not, I Googled it and low and behold there it was. So for others that may not have ever read this poem – here you go . . .

ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet, knowing how way leads onto way

I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence

Two roads diverged in a wood

And I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference

Robert Frost

I’ll revisit this topic again soon, but until the keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s see where this road goes.

Road less traveled . . .

I don’t know how that statement (a road less traveled) jumped in my head earlier this week, but I don’t seem to be able to get it out so . . . that is now our topic of discussion. When I first started thinking about this statement I was thinking of the scripture talking about narrow is the way. Since then I have moved on to a different train of thought.

I’ve been thinking more along the lines of discipleship and relationships. What I have noticed over most of my Journey as a Christian is that discipleship was done in a group and through a program instead of face to face and person to person – basically relationships.

If asked, most people would say that they have many friends. I would say that they have many acquaintances. A true friendship is built around a deep relationship. A disciple of Christ should be actively seeking those that he or she can build a relationship with in order to influence their lives through the touch of the Holy Spirit. So why don’t we do this more often? Because people’s lives are messy. Especially those which are far from God.

I’ll dig deep into this thought and statement in the days to come – but for now keep your eyes on Jesus and see you in Pigeon Forge this weekend. Irene and I will be at the Apple Barn for breakfast.

What a weekend . . .

Just to let you know, in some ways I had a great weekend and in some ways I would have been better off staying in bed most of the weekend. I jsut trying to be honest and transparent to those that read this blog. I am far from perfect and I have bad weekends.

Friday was a great day. I met with one of the guys from The Journey and we had lunch and went to Woodcraft and hung out a little while. Then Irene and I closed on the refinancing on our house.

Saturday started as a problem. Everything that I touched I either dropped, broke, or had to fix to be able to use. I went to Lowes and evidently so did every other oerson in the eastern seaboard. There were no parking places and the walkways were clogged with people. If I had not known better I would have bet I was at the Mall at Christmas time. Saturday evening got better as we met two friends for bar-b-que and later a trip to see the Greenville Drive play baseball. The game was supposed to start at 7:00 pm. There was a rain delay and the first pitch wasn’t thrown until after 9:00 pm. We still had fun jsut being at the part and fellowshipping with our friends. When we left to come home, Greenville was ahead 2 to 0. We checked the paper the next day and they had lost 7 to 2. We should have stayed. Their luck ran out when we left.

Sunday was great. We went to First Baptist Church Fountain Inn and listened to Mike preach a great sermon. After lunch it was nap time and then out again for Bible Study with The Journey. This week we had (23) come to our Bible Study. We had a family offer their home to meet until we ran out of room. We also had someone offer to work with our children during the adult discussion of the Bible Study. God is answering prayers.

Today, I was in the first of a two day training class for work on holding Crucial Conversations. It is a little more that humbling when you realize that you are not as good a communicator as you think you are. But that is OK. I want to get better and this is going to help me do that.

Next weekend Irene and I are heading out of town to Pigeon Forge TN and I can’t wait. I need a couple of days to kick my head out of gear and see if I can get my perspective back.

Tomorrow will be another all day class and then it is back to work on Wednesday. Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s see what the Lord has in store for us in the future.

Things that I am looking forward to . . .

• There are a few things that are coming up soon that I am really looking forward to:
  
  

• Irene and I are closing on the refinancing of our house tomorrow. I am loving it. That will be one step closer to nothing outside of normal household bills.
• Irene and I are celebrating the closing by going to a Greenville Drive baseball game Saturday evening with two of our best friends.
• I am really looking forward to Bible study with The Journey Sunday evening. We had (22) at our house last week. I am praying that it gets more crowded this Sunday.
• Next Monday and Tuesday I will be out of the office at a training session on Crucial Conversations. I am hoping that this will help me with my conversation skills. Especially in those tough conversations.
• Mike is on his way back with a list of things that we need to tackle to begin to move The Journey forward. I look forward to seeing what he has learned at Exponential in Orlando.
• A chance to get back to reading “Church is a Team Sport” by Jim Putman. If you have not read this book yet, get a copy. It is a course changing read.
• Possibly spending a weekend out of town with my beautiful wife in the next coupe of weeks.
• Disney in October. That’s right. Irene and I will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary at Disney. I can’t wait. I haven’t been there since the park was (2) years old.

What are some things that you are looking forward to? Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and where’s Mickey? I want my picture taken with him.

God is so good . . .

God is so good. I just was thinking about how blessed I am. I turned 49 years old a couple of weeks ago and it has me thinking about how God has blessed me.

I have a beautiful wife that pretty much puts up with all of my nonsense.

I have great friends and family that love me and care about me.

I have a great job at a greta company - Devita and Associates, Inc.

My wife and I are closing on refinancing our home and rolling in a couple of bills that we have been trying to get paid off. If all goes as expected, our mortgage payment will go down from what we are paying right now and we are going from a 30 year loan to a 20 year loan.

My wife just called and said that she had discovered some moeny that she had coming to her from a past job that she had when we first met.

I am helpping a friend of mine plant a church here in Greenville.

I could go on and on, but for now that will do. How has God blessed you. Take a few minutes and make a list. Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and count your blessings, name tehm one by one.

A book that I am reading right now . . .

I am reading a book called Crucial Conversations right now. This is something that I would not normally pick up, but maybe I should have earlier in life. You see I have to read this book for a two day class/training session that my job is sending me to next Monday and Tuesday. I am actually looking forward to going. I really hope that it helps me with my communication skills, especially in tuff conversations.

I hate those types of conversations. I had to have a couple of those conversations last week with some guys on my team. I guess that the reason that I hate them is that I don’t think that I do them very well. In fact I now I don’t do them well at all. I probably hate being ion the receiving end of one of those conversations more than the one conducting the conversation. Mostly because I don’t process things very quickly and it is hard for me to know how to respond. Reading this book has caused me to look at the way I communicate and have communicated in the past, especially when I feel threatened.

One thing that it has triggered, unexpectedly, is to look at the way Jesus communicated in tough conversations. He always had the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes asking questions and starting crucial conversations with Him. I like the book that is required for the class. I like the example that Jesus set for us even better. I’ll let you know how they mess after the class next week.

How do you handle crucial (tough) conversations? Let me know. I really am interested. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and your ears open more than your mouth.

A Great Weekend . . .

I was sitting here at the computer on Sunday afternoon, which I normally do not do, and I decided to get off a quick hits list from the weekend. This weekend was great for several reasons, and some of them are as follows:

• Friday evening we clowned at Greenbrier elementary school for their spring fling. We tied balloons for 3.5 hours straight with no breaks. The kids were great as always. My hands have hurt me for two days now. I stand in awe of anyone that can do that everyday.
• Had to work at the office yesterday morning. I am blessed that I have a great job and a great company to work for. I am also blessed that I don’t have to go into the office on Saturdays very often. This was the first time in over a year.
• Last night we had a gathering here at the house to celebrate my birthday. We fired up the charcoal grill for the first time this year and cooked hamburgers and hotdogs. The only thing better than the food was the family and friends that were here at the house to help me celebrate my birthday. I am truly blessed.
• Today was awesome. We had a Sunday morning Bible study for The Journey here in mine and Irene’s home. We had no idea how many would show up. All we knew going in was that we would make contacts and see what happened. God is so good - we had (17) adults, (1) teenager and (4) children show up for Bible study. We worshiped together - Jonathan Whitten led us in some music. Mike brought us a lesson from God’s word that was great and we are going to seek to apply it this week. We had lunch together - baked spaghetti, salad and bread prepare by Irene and Karen (you to girls are da’ bomb). Some desserts were brought and enjoyed. The fellowship was great. One of our first time families even stepped up and offered their home for next weeks meeting.

This weekend was over the top incredible. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us in the upcoming week. Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and what did we do with the left overs from lunch, I’m hungry again.

Why I do what I do . . .

Do you ever just look at your life and think – there must be an easier way of life than this? Why do I do what I do? Well, as someone who can now be consider as a church planter – that question does pop into my mind. I guess that he has for a long time even prior to helping plant a church. That question I guess surfaces in all lines of work, especially if you work with people. But I think that I have stumbled upon the answer and it is not that I am simply a glutton for punishment.

I was reading in Matthew yesterday morning in my Blackaby study bible and came to the scripture where Jesus is talking about being yoked with Him. Blackaby talked about if our work is just wearing us out and beating us down, then chances are we are not yoked with Jesus. To be yoked with Jesus does not mean that our work will not be messy. Dealing with peoples lives will always be messy. What it does mean is that Jesus will ease the work load through His spirit within us. As our relationship with Jesus grows, our passion for working along side Him grows and with passion comes energy. We do not need to work out of a sense of duty but out of a sense of relationship.

I find it funny – since I started helping plant this church, it has been confirmed in my life that all that I have taught is the past about relationships was dead on the money. Our relationship with Christ and relationships with the people that we are surrounded with are tantamount (wow – big word – where did that come from) to doing the work of a disciple. What do you think?

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s put on His yoke. To quote Blackaby – “God does not reward our duty; He blesses our relationship with His Son Jesus.”

A conference fully worth the time . . .

I spent Monday and Tuesday of this week at a conference at White Oak Conference Center and I can say that it was fully worth the time spent there. Now, I have been to conferences in the past and generally always came away with some little tid-bit that I could use in some way. This conference was different!! I came away with several pages of notes in my journal and excitement in my heart. You may ask what breeds this excitement. I finally see a working model of a way to do discipleship that I have been talking about for years.

We had the opportunity to hear Jim Putman and several of his staff talk about a discipleship method (notice I did not say program) that produces disciples that re-produce themselves. It is done in small groups of people and is based in relationships that are built. It is the most biblical model that I have ever seen.

I also was able to see a method of teaching that is probably the most effective way of teaching that I have seen in a long time and it revolves around telling stories. Avery Willis brought this part of the conference. Something that was pointed out and I have recognized for a long time is that people will remember a story and repeat it far more often that they will remember teaching in its other forms. It hit home in a mighty way when one of the speakers asked us to tell him the second point of his talk that he had given just one hour before and we could not, but we could all repeat the story that he led into that point with.

The main excitement that I carry within me right now is because this is the skeleton that we have been trying to put meat on since we started The Journey. I have so much information that I need to process now into a form that we can use in what we seek to join the Lord doing here in Greenville and there is a definite direction to move in now.

Keep watch in the future for updates and information as I get it processed, until then – keep your eyes on Jesus and I do truly love to tell the story.

Mental Picture . . .

Do you ever get a mental picture when someone says a name or you get that passing fragrance that triggers a memory from your past or maybe a song that triggers a thought or a memory? I think that we all do. For me there are certain things that trigger those pictures almost instantly. The name of a school mate and I’m back in school. The smell of sun tan oil that has cocoa butter in it and suddenly I am just out of high school again. Although I am getting a little age on me now, there are times that I am still 21 in my mind.

Now that we all have the same foundation for this thought process, I have a question that I have been kicking around in my mind for a couple of weeks now. When someone says the name Jesus - what picture do you get in your mind? I am going to spend some time, maybe a long time, in various posts talking about a portrait of Jesus. Some times we get part of a picture in our heads, but we leave our other aspects of the picture. To give you an example – we understand that Jesus was fully human. We can see that in birth and death, but do we see him as fully God?

For now, I am going to leave this post with another question that has been kicking around in my head – when people that do not have a relationship with Jesus hear His name used, what mental picture do they have?

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus.

Catch up . . .

Sorry that I have been away so long. My focus is crazy here lately. Let me catch everyone up with what has been happening over the last couple of weeks.

I have been reading a book called “Church Is a Team Sport” by Jim Putman. If you are looking for a great read about how God is still moving within churches today, you really need to pick this one up. I am reading this in preparation for going to a conference that Jim and Avery Willis will be leading. I am really looking forward to this conference and to hear how these men have come up with a unique way to impact communities for Christ through use of the Word of God.

The Journey is going well. We are going through PLACE together. This is a way fro us to discover each others personality traits and spiritual gifts and how they work together for the cause of Christ. It is a lot of fun going through this together and surprisingly we have people showing an interest in joining us in this early part of our Journey together. Continue to pray for our group as we get to know each other better and seek ways that we can serve our Lord most effectively.

My mother is in the hospital with pneumonia. They have been giving her antibiotics and she seems to be getting better a little at a time. We took a walk to the end of the hall and back twice yesterday. It is really important that we keep her strength up as much as possible so that we don’t have more problems with her being self sufficient when she gets home. Please continue to pray for her.

We will be getting our Growth Partners started this week through The Journey. This is the way that we will be growing as Disciples of Christ. I am really looking forward to this. The first topic that we will all be dealing with will be prayer. The group that I am going to be a part of is going to read and discuss Jim Cymbala’s book “Breakthrough Prayer.” I am finally going to be a part of discipleship the way I see it mapped out in God’s word.

I think that I am going back to having just one blog and this may be it. I really like the other format and some of the things that it allows me to do but it is wearing me out trying to keep up with two Blogs. I still have not completely made up my mind and if you would like to have some input into this decision, leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s meet for coffee and talk about it.

P.S. I just noticed - I had my blogging birthday the 16th of March. We should have a party.

Hello world . . .

For those of you that may be wondering why I have not been posting lately – well, I am now trying to keep up with two Blogs. You may be asking yourself, self why would Allen want to try to keep up with two Blogs? I am testing a different blog site and format to see if I like it better. It also helps me keep things a little more separated in my head. Now that may seem a little obscure to you, but it is working, kind of, for me right now. You can read form my other blog by using the link named – Allen’s other blog.

Just to catch everyone up on what has been happening in mine and Irene’s life:

• The Journey was commissioned by Rocky Creek last Sunday evening.
• We have a few families that are committed and others that are still praying about joining up.
• We will start going through a process called PLACE this Sunday evening and I am really looking forward to it. It will be great to learn each others personalities and their spiritual gifts.
• Mike Thompson and I meet weekly to talk through the business of the church and its direction. It is great to watch how God is working in our lives and the life that He is breathing into this church.
• Irene and I have ordered three new windows for our house and they will get put in place over the next week. I love having a brother that knows how to do this stuff that is willing to come down to the house and help.
• We actually have a couple of spring clown events that are coming up in April and May. This is generally a slow time for us.
• Irene and I have booked and are in the process of planning our 10th anniversary trip in October. You may wonder where we are going – Disney World. I have been looking at maps of the park and can hardly wait.
• I still get out in my shop and work from time to time and once spring clean-up around the house is done, I hope to get out there and get a few projects ahead.
  

Well, that’s enough for now. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and full speed ahead number one.

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium . . .

If you have not seen this movie – get a copy and watch it. It is like being a kid again. The movie is absolutely delightful. It is full of wonder and magic that could only be seen through the eyes of a child. The movie surrounds a magical toy shop. The story is fun. Dustin Hoffman does an excellent job is Mr. Magorium. I love the door of many rooms and the dodge ball that can not be dodged. I also thought that the counting mutant was a great concept. There was one statement that I thought was wonderful – “life is an occasion that you have to step up to.” (I think that is correct – I’ll let you know when I watch it again this weekend.) I recommend this movie highly. If you have sent it or after you have seen it, drop me a comment and let me know what you thought of the movie.

Until next time – I think I’ll wear the red fedora today.

Spring Fever . . .

I don’t know about the rest of you, but as for me, I have spring fever. I am now ready for all of the crazy weather to go away and the weather to settle down. These 30 degree temperature changes are killing me. I get up and it’s cold outside, ok, at least it is cool out side and by 3:00 pm it’s 70 plus degrees outside. Now, I’m not really gripping about the temperature right now because it is awesome. I’m gripping because I am at work and it is really nice outside. I am really blessed to have a great job and great people to work for. I still want to be outside on a 70 degree day. I begin to think of all the project that I could be working on at home. Even better yet, since I am struggling right now, a nap in a hammock would be really nice. Now that I am off my soap box, it’s back to work. If you are struggling with this also, send me a comment and we’ll support each other in this pity party.

Until; next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and hang that hammock under the tree.

Where are you ?

If you have been wondering where I have been - I have been developing a new Blog. It is not complete yet, but I am really excited about it. I started this blog when I was a student Pastor and it still holds a specila place in my heart. I will continue to post here from time to time and I am going to encoureage Irene to post here more often. you can get to my new blog here - notes from a traveling man. E-mail me and tell me what you think at adavis1959@gmail.com.

Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and let's keep in touch.

“Quiet Strength” – By Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker

If you are a football fan and have not read this book, run – do not walk – to the nearest book store and buy this book. This is honestly one of the best books that I have read in the last few years. The lessons that can be learned form this book is almost limitless. I just found out that there is a bible study companion to this book and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. The following are a few quotes that hit me where it did some good:

• “It’s not all about football. It’s about the journey – mine and yours – and the lives we can touch, the legacy we can leave, and the world we can change for the better.”
• “Tony, I think you’re at a crossroads” said Donnie (Shell). “You know what life is all about. You profess to be a Christian, and you tell everybody that God has first place in your life. Now, when your career looks like it’s teetering, we’re getting a chance to see what really is in first place for you.”
• “It was the first time I was able to look at football as something that God was allowing me to do, not something that should define me.”
• “I learned three key truths from Nehemiah. First, Nehemiah’s opportunity came in God’s time, not his own. Second, Nehemiah diligently prepared his mind and his heart so he would be ready when God’s time arrived. Third, Nehemiah needed to be prepared to take on the problems, doubt, and adversity that would come his way both from the outside and from within.”
• “I’m a firm believer that the Lord sometimes has to short-circuit even our best plans for our benefit.”
• “Respond to adversity; don’t react.”
• “Be on time. Being late means either it’s not important to you or you can’t be relied upon.”
• “Execute. Do what you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do. Not almost. All the way. Not most of the time. All of the time.”
• “Take ownership.”
• “The competing views of success in our world often create an interesting tension. Society tends to define success in terms of accomplishments and awards, material possessions, and profit margins. In the football business, winning is the only thing that matters.
  God’s Word, however, presents a different definition of success – one centered on a relationship with Jesus Christ and a love for God that allows us to love and serve others. God gives each one of us unique gifts, abilities, and passions. How well we use those qualities to have an impact on the world around us determines how “successful” we really are.”

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s talk football.

Reflections from the weekend . . .

Am I the only one that felt like this past weekend went away in a blink? Here are a few reflections from this past weekend:

• Irene and I both seem to be finally on the mend from the upper respiratory infection.
• I carried mother to have a bronci-scope done Friday, so now maybe she can start to get better. She at least got some rest this weekend.
• I really enjoy being around the people that we are starting The Journey with. Next week we are doing a celebration time together and look at who is serious about becoming a partner in The Journey.
• I finished reading “Quiet Strength” this weekend. I’ll post my thoughts later in the week.
• I hate to say it, but I am hooked on Extreme Home Makeover.
• Did anyone else see the new “Knight Rider” last night? I think that it has real potential.
• NASCAR and racing season is finally back. I love to watch the races – I love the NASCAR naps even more.
• Mike had a great post on “Who would you like to be like?” I may try to tackle that one later in the week.
• Irene informed me that next weekend may be a yard work weekend. If it stays 60 degrees – I think that would be great. If I can get ahead, maybe I can keep up this year.
• Celebrated birthdays with my father in law and sister in law this past weekend. We had great steaks, but the true hit of the weekend was Drake – the nephew. He is def the coolest kid around. I’ll try to post pictures this week.
• Irene and I are trying to get everything ready to go to Disney for our 10th anniversary. I am looking forward to the trip, but not as much as the rest of my life with the woman of my dreams. I Love You – Irene.

Until, next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and I’m going to Disney World.

My Walk in The Journey – Continued . .

Well, it seems like it has taken me forever to get back here to continue the post about The Journey and the part that I play in it. In this post I want to spend a little time on the L.I.F.E. groups. L.I.F.E. groups are the way that we are going to reach our communities for Christ. This all ties back to our neighbors. Our job according to the Great Commission is to go into all the world and make disciples. That seems to be a pretty daunting task for any one person. Then God showed me in His word another daunting task. In the book of Nehemiah the people had to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. That would seem to me a pretty overwhelming task. Unless, you look at it as Nehemiah did – each family is responsible for the wall in front of their home. I believe that we need to be responsible for that part of the world right there where we live. If each of us becomes responsible for that – then the world will be reached for Christ.

Through L.I.F.E. groups we will be concentrating on four basic things:
L – We are going to learn from one another. One of the greatest motivators to learning is the people that we are learning with.
I – we are going to intentionally grow. Where there is no growth – there is no life. We want our children to grow and develop – God wants the same things for His children.
F – We are going to learn to follow biblical principles. We are going to seek out life applications to all of the lessons that we will be studying. God gives us principles to live by to help us live to our full potential.
E – We are going to evangelize through relationships. Through praying for our neighbors, building relationships with them and inviting them to join our L.I.F.E. groups we will evangelize our neighborhoods through relationships. These relationships will be developed when we see our community as Christ does – full of people that He was willing to give up His life for.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and lets focus on what is in front of us.

How would you handle this . . .

For those of you that read this blog and have a heart for working with young people (students, teenagers, youth, etc.) I have a hypothetical situation for you. Let’s say that you have a student (non-church member – one far from God) that is coming to your Wednesday night program. One Wednesday night, this student steals a pair of expensive sunglasses – let’s say $100.00 plus. There is no doubt that this student is the one that did this. How would you handle it? Would it make a difference if the student was a member of your student ministry and a church member?
I am really curious about how others would handle this. If you have a student pastor that does not read my blog and you would like his or her take on this, send a link to this post to them. Comments are open and waiting. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s work through a difficult situation.

Where have I been? ? ?

Sorry that it has taken me so long to post. Since getting back from Meltdown two weeks ago – I have missed (5) days of work because of an upper respiratory infection that went to pneumonia. I am still trying to get me feet back under me. Irene has been sick with the same stuff (we were both out of work at the same time) and she is still dealing with it. My mother has this stuff also and we would appreciate your prayers for her healing. Needless to say this is some nasty stuff.

I am so behind in my posts and I promise to get back to posting more about The Journey and our church plant, but for now I am going to stop and get some work done. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and wash your hands. You do not want this bug that is going around.

Weekend Recap and Looking to the Future . . .

Just a few thoughts from the weekend:

• Irene and I spent the weekend at the Meltdown Student Conference. It was over the top. Thank you Toby for inviting us to come and help out – you are the man.
• We heard Scott Smith speak Friday evening and then heard Adrian Despres and Ken Forester speak on Saturday.
• When we went to breakfast Saturday morning it was snowing.
• 33 Miles was in concert that night and they were fantastic. Rumor is they may open Meltdown ’09.
• We had White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Banana Pudding Saturday Night. Holy Mackerel that was good.
• We saw Jared Hall, a Christian illusionist Saturday night and he was – WOW!! Where did that bowling ball come from??
• We got to spend some time hanging out and eating with Steve, Kim, AJ and Molly Conley and hear about their new church and talk clowning.
• Sunday mornings highlight to me was the splat experience. If you don’t know what that is – check this out.
• We got to eat at the Apple Barn, Alamo Steak House, Calhoun’s, and the Old Mill. I love being married to a woman who likes to eat at good restaurants.
• Why does the ride home from Pigeon Forge always seem longer than the one going up there?

Looking at the future:

• We start training sessions with our prospective core group for the Journey this weekend.
• I talked with a friend of mine about designing me a sweet new background for my blog and the future.
• Mike’s at a training session for the next two days. I can’t wait to hear the great things that he has learned.
• I’m still working on reading the “Simple Church”. Hopefully I’ll have it finished in the next couple of weeks.
• Irene gave me a book for Christmas and that is what I am reading next, just for pleasure.
• I have got to get back in my shop this week. There are projects that are backing up.
• I am having lunch with Robbie Funderburk this Friday. We haven’t had a chance to talk in a couple of months and I am really looking forward to spending some time together.

Next time we’ll spend some time talking about LIFE Groups, but until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and one more white chocolate macadamia nut banana pudding please.

My walk in The Journey . . .

Last time I talked about The Journey and I told you that I would let you know where I fit into The Journey. Well, I have the privilege of being asked to be the Connections Guy at The Journey. You may ask, what is a connections guy and what exactly does he do? As the Connections Guy I am the person in charge of connections – meaning that I will help organize and help to keep on track the L.I.F.E groups, Growth Partners and Ministry Teams of The Journey. I will talk about each of these aspects of The Journey in separate posts.

One of the foundational beliefs of The Journey lies in Matthew 22:37-38. I believe that those of us who follow Christ generally do a pretty good job loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Where we often fail, especially in today’s busy life, is in loving our neighbors as ourselves. More often than not, I have found out that we don’t even know who our neighbors are. I did a series of posts on who our neighbors are in the last couple of months. You can re-visit those posts here, here and here.

Next time we’ll look at how we think we can begin to build relationships with our neighbors through the L.I.F.E. groups at The Journey. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and say hello to your neighbors.

The Journey that I am on . . .

I am finally at the point where I can begin to share the journey that God has been directing me on since leaving New Hope in October. Last night we did our vision cast service at Rocky Creek (our sponsoring church) about the church plant that I am helping with. It is called The Journey and we are calling it a new church experience instead of a church plant. We are calling it a new church experience basically because it is completely new for this area. No one is doing this model of church around here at all. At The Journey we have three things that we focus on – Celebration, Connection, and Commission. I will do individual posts on each of the focus areas but for now I will be brief. We believe that we should celebrate through corporate worship by loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength using every tool available to us today. We should connect by growing together in groups of three (Growth Partners.) And lastly, we are called to fulfill the great commission to reach the world around us through serving others in our neighborhoods (L.I.F.E. Groups) and ministry teams.

This is really one of the biggest faith steps that I have ever taken. We are doing things now that I could never have dreamed about before. I’ve gone from having an office at a church and a youth group to having staff meetings with my pastor at the local coffee shop. Just as a point, if any of you wonder which local coffee shop we have settled on – it is Java Jolt on Butler Road. There are a lot of reasons – but lets just say it is comfortable and it has good coffee. Back on subject – what has my step of faith gotten me into? I have gone from a programs based ministry (which is where most churches are) to a relationship based ministry (which is what I have been teaching for years.) Everything that we do at The Journey will be wrapped up in relationships. For those of you that know me really well will understand what a step of faith that this is for me. I am one who must now lead out building relationships with the people around me, and that is stretching me like never before in my walk with Christ.

Next time I’ll talk about where I fit into The Journey. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and I take a Grande Decaf Skinny Caramel Latte, please.

Sorry . . .

To those who read this blog, I am sorry that I have not been posting like I should. Right now I am way behind in a lot of things. So here are a few of the things that I have been dealing with:

We finally got the big submittal out at the office that I have been working on, so that is one thing off my plate. Now all of the follow-up begins. This is the part of my job that I enjoy the least.

Mike Thompson and I have been meeting a least once a week at area coffee houses trying to find a home for our meetings. I think that we have settled on Java Jolt on Butler Road. The coffee is good and they have WIFI. It is the biggest rush to see how God is directing people into our paths with the same burdens that we have. One thing that I am seeing through all of this is that God has His hand on this and He has a set direction for this Journey.

I will get back to the acrostic on Disciple, I promise. It just seems that the time to finish that up seems to go somewhere else when I get a little spare time. Something else to watch for in the near future is a discussion of our upcoming L.I.F.E. groups through The Journey. I am finally getting my head wrapped around that whole concept.

I have been reading the Simple Church along with a couple of other books. If you have not read this book, get your hands on a copy and start reading. It is a book about how we have over complicated the church with an overload of programs. This is something that I have been feeling deep in my soul for several years and did not have a clue what to do about it. Whether you agree with what is said in this book or not, it is an excellent read.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and try a caramel latte – they are over the top.

D – Develop spiritually

OK, finally I can start trying to explain the acrostic of disciple that a friend gave me. Understanding the foundation that I have laid in the previous posts about the personal responsibility discipleship, today we will look at how a disciple should develop spiritually. Discipleship is a continual walk with Christ. It was always meant to be a growth process that never stops. The same as a child continues to develop until adulthood, our discipleship should be a process of continual spiritual development until we arrive in the presence of Jesus.

Moses called the nation of Israel, in Deuteronomy 5:1, to three distinctive development stages – to hear, to learn and to follow. Let me take a minute to briefly look at each of these. We’ll start with hearing. We need to understand how we hear from God today. He has given us His word and we must spend pointed, focused time in His word each day. When we spend time in His word, He will begin to speak to our hearts things that we need to influence our lives. Hearing is absorbing and accepting information about God.

Once we have heard from God, then we need to move to learning from God. Learning understands what we have heard. We need to understand the meaning of what God has spoken to us and the implications of that meaning and the way those things will impact our lives. We need to grab hold of what God has given us and study it until we fully absorb it until it is a part of us and our way of thinking.

This will lead us to following. Following is putting into action all we have learned and understood. This is simply life application of what God has given us. We need to understand that is God gives us something, we study it, understand it and we don’t live it, our mouths may profess Jesus as Lord but our lives deny Him and His teachings.

As disciples we must develop spiritually in our lives. If we don’t, we all nothing more than children in adult bodies. Until next time – keep you eyes on Jesus and remember a race is not over until we get to the finish line.

Clown Program - report . . .

To those who read the post about the clown program that we did last night in Union, I thought that I would give a brief report. We had the privilege of doing the program at the First Baptist Church. We were invited by our friends Janet and Spencer Ledford. Janet is actually the one who prayed me into clowning, so it is always a special time to gather with them and their family. It was extra special since this is their first ministry as staff at a church. We had a great time and so did all that were in attendance. The best part of the night was that God allowed us to see a harvest for His kingdom. A teenage young lady accepted Christ as her savior last night and we have a new sister to journey through life with. It is always fun to make people smile, laugh and bring joy into a church, but it is special time when you get to see a life changed. We thank the Lord for what He did last night, we give Him the glory and thank Him for the opportunity to join Him in His work. That is what makes all the effort worth while.
Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and keep smiling - people will wonder what you are up to.

Clown Program . . .

For those of you that follow what we are doing as clowns - we have a program with PeeWee and Bumper tomorrow evening at the First Baptist Church in Union, SC. This is Irene's home town. Pray that God will use us in a mighty way to bring joy to the people of this church and even bring a harvest of souls for the kingdom.

Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and smile, there are clowns on this page.

I don't usually . . .

To begin with, I'm sorry that I didn't post yesterday, but things were crazy at work trying to get a project ready to submit. I'll post either later today or tomorrow starting the acrostic on discipleship. As for the title of today's post - I don't usually post things from e-mails but the following struck a cord with me. I don't know if it is true, but I would like to think that it was. So here goes . . .

If you don't know GOD, don't make stupid remarks!!!!!!!

A United States Marine was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the courses had a professor who was an a vowed atheist and a member of the ACLU.

One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, 'God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you exactly 15 minutes.'

The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop. Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, 'Here I am God. I'm still waiting.'

It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him; knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold. The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence.

The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, 'What the heck is the matter with you? Why did you do that?'

The Marine calmly replied, 'God was too busy today protecting America's soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid stuff and act like an idiot. So, He sent me.'

A big thanks to all those in the service that are defending our rights around the world. May God bless you and keep you safe to return to your loved ones. Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and pray for our troops around the world.

Discipleship continued . . .

Last time we looked at what discipleship is not. Now, to look at what discipleship is, we need to look at the followers of Christ and what their lives modeled. What I learned as a definition of a disciple was a person who learned at the master’s feet. This is what I see in scripture, but I also see this going a step farther. Not only do I see disciples learning from the master, but I see what they have given up to do this. Jesus said that in order to follow Him, one must take up their cross daily. Those people that He was speaking to understood that in order to follow Jesus, they would have to give up everything. There were those in scripture that were not willing to do that and they walked away. That was their choice – their personal responsibility. Those that did follow Jesus, took the personal responsibility of doing so and understood the cost.

To take discipleship one step further, Jesus left instructions for those of us that are disciples to make more disciples. Once again, notice that there is personal responsibility involved in this part of discipleship. During this series of posts, I am going to expound on an acrostic that a friend gave me. We’ll take a walk and try to understand what Jesus meant when He commanded us to go into the world and make disciples.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and remember – church is the people, not the building.

Discipleship . . .

Have you ever sat down and thought about what it means to be a disciple of Christ, what discipleship really is or what it might cost? I have been thinking about this a lot over the last couple of months. If the truth be known, most of my adult life has been spent trying to figure out discipleship. I will try to be brief in my conclusions.

Let me start by telling you what discipleship is not. It is not a program in a church. That is what the church has tried to do for years and it hasn’t worked because it was never designed to be a program. Discipleship was designed to be something very personal. I can remember growing up and going to something that was called Training Union. Then the program was renamed and called discipleship training. The problem lies in that discipleship was never designed to be ten people sitting in a room reading parts from a book. By doing what we have been doing in the church, we have removed the personal responsibility of discipleship. Discipleship is not a program, but it is a personal walk with Jesus.

Let me know what you think about this subject. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and a pizza with everything for me please.

A New Year and I’m back . . .

Hello world. I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful start to a New Year. I’m back as I promised from my brief break from blogging. I really needed that break. I had gotten to the point where I could not even put together a complete thought with everything else going on. So let me take a few sentences and catch you up on what I have been up to:
• Completed all of my Christmas projects and everyone that got one as a gift seemed pleased.
• Put my mind in cruise control for a few weeks, no reading, concentrating, major thinking, etc. It was nice.
• Spent some wonderful time with my beautiful wife and loving family over the holidays.
• Watched several movies. Lots of fun-nothing that made me think to hard.
• Helped a friend (Mike Thompson) and his family get moved to the upstate. This included a trip back to the low country to pick up an estimated handful of stuff. This led to some nice fellowship.

With all of that out of the way-what is coming in the New Year?
• Begin working on the church plant that I will be helping with. More on this in the near future.
• Begin to sort out in my head what is really means to be a disciple of Christ. That series of posts begins shortly.
• Spend time building relationships with people that don’t know Christ. This hopefully will lead to an opportunity to share Christ with them. Also to get them plugged into a group of believers that will help them grow in their walk with Christ.
• Learn how to love my wife and family more.
• Grow closer to God.

With all of that said, it is to work I must go. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and follow the yellow brick road.