Don't. Give. Up!

 Every year the city that I live in hosts a Pumpkin Festival. It starts on a Wednesday and culminates with a 10K race and then a parade on Sunday. Both are quite popular. The race begins early in the morning, so the city starts closing off roads so that the runners will be safe without vehicle traffic around them. Our church is located right in the middle of the course, for both the run and parade. We decided to only have one service that Sunday morning to give people a chance to get out of dodge before the parade and road closings start. That service began @ 8:00AM.

As I head out down the road towards church, I discover that they already have the road closed. They had a detour sign up. You could go left (East) or right (West). I'm thinking that I only need to get across the main road to get to the back streets. So I decided to go left. I get to the next street, closed. Arghhh! So I continue on to the next. Same thing. For the next few streets, they were all closed. Next thing I know I am heading way out of town. I thought "I'm not going that far to go around." So I turn around and say to myself "not today Satan!" Not keeping me from church.

So I turn around and get back into the traffic that was steadily getting worse every second. I look at the clock on my dash, 7:55. Only five minutes to get through all this traffic and get to church. I was determined to make it, if even being late. I could have given up and just gone back home. The way home wasn't blocked. It was wide open. Everyone was heading into town, not out. It reminded me of the story in The Bible about the road to hell being wide open, and the path to Heaven being narrow. (Matthew7:13-14)

So I get to another road block and I encounter a couple of officers. They ask me where do I think that I am going? I told them that I am trying to get to the church that was literally a block away, and was going to park in the lot next to it. They let me through and I parked. I walked into church. Guess what time? Exactly 8:00. Wasn't late at all. It reminded me of another Bible story about God making time stand still. (Joshua 10: 12-14)

I thought a lot of things during this short but long trip to get to church. I could have just given up and gone home. That was not an option for me.

Hebrews 10:25 New Living Translation

25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, 

I thought about the paralyzed man whose friends lowered him down through the roof of a house to get him in front of Jesus. It was to crowded outside. They didn't give up. They came up with a plan to get their friend to Jesus. Guess what? He was healed. (Mark 2:3-11)

I thought about the woman with the issue of blood. If she could only fight her way through the crowd and just touch His garment, she would be healed. Crowd was thick around Jesus. It looked like there was no way she could get to Him. But she didn't give up. She kept pushing her way through till she reached Him. (Mark 5:24-34)

Then later that night, I went to see Don Beebe speak at a men's event. Bro night it was called. He talked about the infamous Super Bowl play where he chased down an opposing player and prevented him from scoring a touch down. He never gave up. That's what his message was to all the men in the room.

So I encourage you. Don't ever give up. No matter what you are facing, don't give up. It might look bleak and undoable, but God!

Matthew 19:26 New Living Translation

26 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”

God bless.

Rev. Kev.

20,874

 You may be asking yourself what that number means. Glad that you asked. Let me tell you. It is the number of days that God has allowed me to be alive! To be able live a life that I am thankful for! Everyday is a gift, that I never want to take for granted.

I've done some stupid stuff in the past while I was growing up that should have put me in the ground. The only explanation is God. Even when I didn't believe, He was looking out for me. Watching over me. I didn't know it then, but He had a plan for me. Still not really sure what it is, but I am alive because He kept me that way!

Jeremiah 29:11 New Living Translation

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope

I didn't always make the wisest decisions.  Not that I got in a lot of trouble, just made some dumb choices that most certainly could have and should have lead to my downfall. But GOD! Like I said, I wasn't even walking with Him yet, and He still protected me. Even when things did go sideways, it could have always been worse! I think about some of the things that I have done all the time. I whisper to myself, "you should be dead." But GOD!!

God has allowed me to live through some things. Some very good and some very bad! I didn't know it for a very long time, but He was there with me. The fourth Man in the fire if you will.

I know now that His promises are true. He will never leave me (us) or forsake me (us). He is my hope and future. No matter how fallen this world gets, Jesus is in control. He promises that He is coming back to get us. We just need to be ready!

John 14:2-3 New Living Translation

2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.[a] If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?[b] 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

So when you look back at your life and think about some things that you have done, that you shouldn't have survived, thank Jesus. It was Him, all along! He wants us.

Zephaniah 3:17 Amplified Bible

 “The Lord your God is in your midst, A Warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with joy; He will be quiet in His love [making no mention of your past sins], He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

So, I'm grateful for everyone of those 20,000+ days. I'm looking forward to at least a few more, giving praise, honor and glory to whom it is deserved. Jesus!!

God bless.

Rev. Kev.

Jeep Duck.

 Who knew that exchanging Jeep ducks in the parking lot of a funeral home would lead to an intimate conversation about Jesus, God The Father & church? 

That is exactly what happened last night at a funeral home as I was leaving. I'm walking across the parking lot towards my Jeep, when I notice another Jeep a few spots away from mine. I'm thinking "wow, that sure is a sharp looking Jeep." As I walk past I notice a woman is sitting inside. I get her attention and mention what a cool looking Jeep she had. She thanked me and I kept on walking. As I got to my Jeep, I heard the Holy Spirit saying to give her a Jeep duck. In case you are wondering, I keep a case of them under the back seat. I open the back door, grab the case to get a duck out. I'm trying to decide on what color to hand her. I chose pink.

As I'm walking back towards her Jeep, she jumps out with a bag of her own. She is reaching inside it when she notices me coming towards her. She was like "you too, huh?" I said "yep, here ya go." She continues to search through her bag saying that she was looking for a cool one to give me. She found one that was a police one. She asks me if I'm a cop? I told her no, I'm a pastor. Okay. She found one that she thought was worthy enough to give me and hands it to me. We both thank each other for the ducks that we exchanged and go our separate ways.

I get in my Jeep and start it up. As I'm buckling up, here comes that lady across the parking lot right towards me. I roll my window down and we start talking. She asks me what church I attend. I tell her and she says that she'll have to come and visit. I told her she is more than welcome, anytime! Then she wanted to know what denomination it was. I told her Assembly of God. It is Pentecostal. She told me that she used to attend a Pentecostal church with her mom, before she passed. Then she goes on to tell me her whole story about her experience with church, Jesus and her mom. She just really needed someone to talk to. I told her that it wasn't a coincidence that we were talking at that exact moment. Our paths crossed for a reason.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 The Message

3 There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:

I'm not sure what God had planned with me and the Jeep lady crossing paths, but I'm sure it will be something awesome! His timing is perfect, always! Not sure if she'll come to church or not, time will tell. God knows!

So a couple of Jeep ducks drew two people together for something other than the love of Jeeps. Because of those ducks, I was able to witness and tell her more about my faith. We'll see where it leads.

Colossians 4:5 Living Bible

5 Make the most of your chances to tell others the Good News. Be wise in all your contacts with them

God bless.

Rev. Kev.

Baby Rabbit.

 Isn't The Lord funny how He'll have you recall a memory from awhile ago. He did this to me last week. About a year ago or so, upon opening our garage door to come in for the night, a baby rabbit ran inside, and would not come out. We tried to corner it, making it head towards the door. Nope. He just hunkered down further in the garage. We went around making all kinds of noise to get it to leave. Nope! Stubborn little fellow.

We're like "fine, you're in here for the night." The next morning upon opening the door to leave for work, hoping I would see it run as fast as it could out the open door. Again, nope! "Okay bro, you're in here all day now!"

The Lord brought this memory up to me again this week, not sure why. Then He revealed it to me. He showed me that like that baby rabbit, we humans will turn and run to a hiding place and not go out the open door, which is Jesus! 

He provides us with the open door, fresh air, sunlight, freedom from our bondage, but we turn and run back to where we thought it was safe for us to hide! We think that hiding will be better than what Jesus is offering. We'd rather be stuck in the dark and afraid, then walk out the open door into freedom.

So the baby rabbit was in our garage for about a day and half until my daughter found it dead on the floor. I'm sure that it died from lack of food and water. Even though we tried to provide all kinds of way out, the poor baby rabbit wouldn't choose the exit. So it perished in our garage because of fear of going out the open door, into the freedom that awaited it.

Isn't that like us? We hide and hide from God, refusing to come out and end up passing away from lack of food or water.

But isn't that what Jesus promises us? He is living water. He is the bread of life!

John 6:35 New Living Translation

35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 4:10 New Living Translation

10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”

All Jesus asks of us is to believe in Him. He has the ultimate gift for us. If that baby rabbit would have only trusted us, like we need to trust in Jesus, he would have gotten out and lived a little longer. 

My challenge to you is turn from your sin (the garage) and run towards the open door (Jesus). 

Deuteronomy 30:19 New Living Translation

19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

God bless.

Rev. Kev.