Bright Glow

My daughter and I were returning home from getting dinner the other night, when I noticed something, something that I never noticed before. We were heading south on route 23 from Genoa, when we could see a very bright glow in the south west. I asked my daughter what that might be. She told me it was probably NIU's football stadium lights. I kind of agreed at first, but then thought. Why would they have the stadium lights lit up this time of year, this time of night. We hit a flat spot on the road where you can see for miles and miles. As we looked, it turned out that the bright glow that we were seeing was actually the city of DeKalb. I have driven this way home many, many times and have never seen it glow like that before. I don't know if it was the cold crisp night, or what, but it was glowing pretty good. Now I know that DeKalb doesn't sit on a hill, but from that spot on route 23 it sure looked like it did. So of course where does my brain go? To comparing it to Jerusalem. I'm not comparing the cities to each other, not at all. Just thinking about how Jerusalem is a city on hill it's light can be seen for miles and miles around. A city on a hill that can be easily seen. Then I started thinking about myself. I don't want to hide the light of Jesus. I want to let it shine brightly. I don't want to cover it with a bushel or basket or anything else. I want to put it on a stand for everyone to see. Just like that old song "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine". So when people look at my house or even at me and my family and they see a bright glow, I want them to ask "what is that bright light, and where is it coming from?" The answer is Jesus. He is the light within us. He is the light of the world, He lights our paths and He lights up our lives. Praise The Lord!!

Seriously!!

This may be a long post, so bear with me. Our daughter is set to attend a Christian university in Springfield, MO. this coming fall. Our family went down for our first initial visit last April (2015). She decided that weekend that she would love to attend there. So she applied and has been accepted. The second visit down there was for a Fine Arts weekend. She was to read something that she had written to possibly get a fine arts scholarship. Before my wife and daughter could get to the school, they had an electrical problem with the car. Wouldn't start, alarm going off, doors wouldn't unlock, etc, etc. Attack number one. This past weekend my daughter and I drove down for her third visit. She had been invited for an interview to possibly receive a Founders scholarship. This is a very prestigious scholarship, that not everyone is invited to receive. We left on Thursday night and made it down there no problem. We went to have dinner at Lamberts (YUM). On our way to the hotel while on the interstate, we got a flat tire. I exited on the ramp and stopped in a parking lot, got out and looked. Sure enough, we had a flat. I was like "Seriously"? Attack number two. The enemy is sure trying to keep her from doing her thing at the college. John 10:10. First electrical problems and now a flat tire. Guess what Satan? Our God is bigger than our problems. John 16:33. You tried to stop us from attending the interview, but alas we got a cab in the morning to get her to the university. I was able to secure a tow truck to get my van to a place where I could get the tire replaced. I was able to meet back up with my daughter at lunch and everything continued on as normal. So Satan, you may have knocked me down, but you did not knock me out. If my God is for me, who can be against me? We as a family have a saying that goes like this. "The closer we get to God, or are in His perfect will, the more the enemy will attack". So God must be going to use her, the university or even us, in a mighty way. He has great things planned for her/us. Jeremiah 29:11. We just can't wait to see what it is. I should mention, that all of this started after she applied to and was accepted at this college. To God be the Glory!! Forever and ever. Amen!!

Black Out!

This could be a cool post about my favorite Scorpions album, but it's not. It's a post about losing power at work last week, and being in total darkness except for the occasional emergency lighting. It's amazing how much we rely on electricity. When it goes out we're like "what do we do?" So anyway. This power outage got me to thinking about life without Jesus. Jesus is the Light of the world, and without Him, we would be in total darkness. Not knowing which way to go or turn. Getting lost and flustered. Tripping over things, running into things. Just plain dangerous. Well that's what it is like to live without Jesus. Just plain dangerous. He is the light for my path. He directs my steps and holds my hand along the way. So I never get lost or turned around. I have the light of Christ in me at all times. Not just an occasional emergency light shining here and there, temporarily. Watching my co-workers stumble around in the dark, trying to find the stair case to get to the lunchroom, or even trying to find their way out of the building was difficult. It reminded me of people who are stumbling through life without Jesus. No light to guide them, not knowing where or when to turn. Obstacles in their paths. Jesus' light does all that for us! For that I am thankful. Thank You Jesus, for never having to live in the dark ever again. You are the light in my and my family's life!

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!!