Odd Comparison.

So my family and I went to see the musical 'The Sound of Music' the other night. If you are not familiar with it, it takes place during WWII. During the second half, it depicts the Nazis trying to take over Austria. Forcing everyone to do things the Nazi way and making people display the flag with the swastika on it. The main character Capt. Von Trapp will not have any of this. He will not fly the flag or be heil'd to. He and his family are Austrian and are going to stay that way no matter the consequences. During this time of the play, I started making comparison's in my head to present day Christianity. It seems like the world is trying to take God and Jesus out of everything and make being a Christian a crime. Trying to make us bow down to someone or something that is not our God. This I will not tolerate. I will speak only the name of Jesus and I will not be ashamed of it or Him. Go ahead world and throw me into the fiery furnace for not bowing down to someone else. My family and I will survive just like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego survived with Jesus' help. If there were ever a time that we needed Jesus, it's now! I mean they have taken God and prayer out of our schools. They are trying to take God out of the court room and off of our money. Trying to make pastors turn in their sermons. There are churches I have read about that are hosting two different kinds of services that are being told to take their cross off of, or out of the building. I mean "REALLY!!" We need to take a stand for Jesus. I am wearing a wrist band right now that states "I stand with Christ." It says in the Bible in Matthew 10:33New Living Translation (NLT)33 But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.I pray that our church never has to face that kind of situation. If it does, I hope that it makes it's stand for Christ. We pastors need to stand strong. Keep preaching the gospel, without watering it down. Start telling people what they need to hear instead of what they want to hear. This world is fallen and it's getting worse. Isaiah 5:20New Living Translation (NLT)20 What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil,that dark is light and light is dark that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. Tell me this isn't happening right now! Wow, the things I think about when I attend what was a fun family night out at a musical.

God's Preperation.

Don't you love it when God does something in your life and you have no idea why until something happens and you were like "oh, God was preparing me for that, and I didn't even know it." For example. On Christmas Eve I had planned on relaxing and getting prepped for my sermon at church. I was planning on going out to run a couple of errands and grab some lunch. I went to put on my shoes and.......instead of putting on my slip on shoes, I put on my gym shoes. I thought to myself, "this is weird. I have no idea why I did that." Definitely not normal for me. I never put those shoes on unless I am going to be on my feet for a very long time, or working out. Both which I hadn't planned on doing that day. It was supposed to be a quick run out and back. Well God had other plans for me that afternoon. We have swing doors on our fence, kind of like barn doors that swing open to get access to our back yard. The wind storm that blew in the night before, broke the board that we had holding the gate closed. So the doors where standing wide open. Without my knowledge. I proceeded to let our dog out before going to do my errands. When she didn't come back in right away, I stepped out onto our back deck and saw that the gate was wide open. You guessed it, the dog was gone. Panic settled in as what I should do. I got in the van and drove around looking for her. No luck. Then I set out on foot. For over an hour. I came to realize that after everything was over and our dog was home safe, that God prepared me for all the walking I was going to do looking for the dog, by having me put on my gym shoes. So all I could do was to thank God for bringing the dog home safe (answered prayer) and give Him praise for having me put on the correct shoes for what I was about to do. Thank You Jesus!!

John 10:10

Ha ha Satan. I have my ministry credentials for 2016. You tried to dissuade me several times since last year's renewal. You tried to make me give up or quit the ministry. You kept knocking me down by saying that God doesn't have a use for me. He doesn't have a job for me anywhere. My credentials are just going to waste. Several times I almost listened to you. I was on the verge or edge of just giving in and saying you win. I'm sure glad that I listened to that still small voice of God. He told me that He still has a use for me. He still values me as a minister of His word. He is not finished with me yet, and for that I am thankful. You Satan, tried to steal my joy, kill my enthusiasm and destroy me and my ministry. Jesus on the other hand came to give me life, abundant life! You will not beat me devil. I have God on my side. If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phillipians 4:13

Toe Nails

Interesting title don't you think? Kind of gross to some people. But it's what got me thinking about this post. I was trimming my toe nails the other night and I started thinking, this is kind of cool. You trim your nails and in time they grow back again. Then you do the whole process over again. I started thinking about how we grow in The Lord. We start out as a baby Christian when we first believe, and then grow in our faith as we mature. Then God proceeds to prune us so we can grow some more. Isn't that how it is supposed to be. We are never supposed to stop growing in our faith. God will trim us, knock things off of us, chip away at us, so that we will continue to mature. It says in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 3:2New Living Translation (NLT) 2 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready. God doesn't want us to survive on milk alone. He doesn't want us to continue to be an immature Christian. He wants to nourish us with His word so that we continue to grow to be able to move onto more solid food. So He continues to prune, trim, remove things from our lives that we depend on, so that we depend solely on Him. So that we grow into spiritual maturity. The things I think about while cutting my nails. To God be the Glory!!

Joshua 24:15

About a month ago, we had a volunteer appreciation day at our church. All the people who volunteered in some kind of ministry were called up to the front of the congregation and handed a certificate stating what ministry you volunteered. What was really cool about that was, my daughter, my wife and myself were all up there getting recognized. I thought to myself, "how cool is this, that all three of us are up here for serving the church." Fast forward to this past weekend when the company that I work for hosted a Feed My Starving Children mobile pack event. The event ran from Thursday afternoon till Sunday evening. My family and I packed together on Saturday night. My daughter scooped the first two ingredients into the bag, I dumped the other two. My wife was holding the bag and then weighing them. My daughter and I stood right next to each other and my wife was to my left. All three of us were in close proximity together and it was awesome. Towards the end of the shift it hit me. Between us serving at the church as a family and now packing food as a family, we were really being the definition of Joshua 24:15. Our house will serve The Lord, and that is exactly what we were doing. Oh how I thank You God for giving us a servants heart. Now matter what. To God be the Glory!!

Future Path.

Our daughter is a senior in high school this year. She is going to graduate in the summer. Her plan is to go to college next fall. God has already provided a college for her to go to. What we don't know is, what's going to happen while she is there. Sure she has a plan for her degree, but what is God's plan going to be? We all want her to be successful while she is there, but I want her to be successful in God's eyes, not our frail human eyes. His ways are much better than ours. My wife and I are not pushing her to any one direction. Nor is anyone else telling her that she needs to be a doctor, lawyer, nurse, whatever. We want what God has for her. We want her to be in God's perfect will. No matter what that might be. We will support her in whatever field she goes into. Whatever happens, all the praise to JESUS!!

God & Mowing The Lawn.

I love to mow our lawn. Nothing better than the mower, you and God. It's one of my alone times with God that He requires of us. How can I be alone with God while mowing the yard you may ask. I have an hour and a half of pushing a mower back and forth while talking with God at the same time. Talk to me He does. He gives me ideas for my blog. He gives me ministry ideas. Parental advice, marriage advice, all kinds of stuff. You maybe wondering how I can still hear His still small voice over the noise of the mower. His voice is much louder than the mower. It may be a small voice, but it can be loud when needed to be. I found that out this year on my way to a festival and blasting my music in the van. I heard His voice loud and clear above all the music, and now mowing. I thank Him for the lawn to mow. The mower, the gas for the mower, the energy and strength. The clothes that I am able to wear. Plus the time to do it. In a few short weeks, I will be switching from mowing with God, to snow blowing with God. Not looking to that one as much. I look forward to spending time with God, just not looking forward to the cold and snow. One thing I know for sure is, I thank God for it all.