I am thankful for my mom, Joyce Arnold. A godly woman who raised me in the ways that are right and holy even though sometimes I didn't follow the path.
I am thankful for my church family. The support they offer me is immeasurable!
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Day one of 30 days of thanksgiving
Over the next month I will post about one person I am thankful for and why I am. Today's person is Hayden Arnold, my dad. I am thankful that even though I didn't understand it at the time, he taught me how to be a good Christian father and husband. We didn't always see eyebto eye but now I realize it was because he is a good man an I wasn't b
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Haiti-Revisit. By popular demand a repost
There and Back, Again
By: Robie Arnold
As one of my favorite authors wrote a story of Bilbo Baggins, the small hobbit from the Shire who was given a great task to accompany the dwarves on a great mission, I too was given a great task to accompany a group of strangers to a distant land. I was recently called to take a mission trip to the earthquake ravaged island country of Haiti. I was given a great opportunity to share my faith and beliefs through works and assistance to the people there. We left from Atlanta on February 27th by air with a small layover in Miami before we landed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. This was my first ever airplane flight and was an experience all to itself. We were on one of the first commercial flights allowed to land in Port-au-Prince and as we flew over the land the deafening sound of silence held me in awe as everyone looked out of their windows at the devastation below.
Once we had landed we were corralled to buses and driven no more than thirty yards to customs. While in customs the sights and sounds were astounding. There was a group of Haitian singers there singing and playing their banjos, accordions and drums while we waited. After we made it through customs we were once again corralled into a “holding area” to wait for our transport. Once our buses arrived, we met our translators and group guides for the week. We loaded the buses and made our way out of the airport and into the hustle and bustle of the open air markets and through the streets of the city. The city itself was amazing. Even through all of the carnage the people were going about their daily routines of survival. We witnessed many new and exciting things while there. The Tap taps (Creole for taxis) were vividly painted and darting in and out of traffic. Children played in and around the streets as the cars whizzed by barely missing other cars, farm animals, and pedestrians by the looks of some of the bumper guards on the vehicles, “barely” wasn’t always the case as there were few that didn’t have some sort of damage to them.
We arrived at the home of our host for the week, Estecoeur Olistin, a Baptist Minister and senior pastor of ten of the churches in and around the city. His home was surrounded by ten foot walls with barbed wire and broken glass bottles on the top of most of the walls leading to the home. He opened his home to the Score International group that I had volunteered with. We were the fifth group of missionaries to stay at his home since the earthquake. Since most of the roof tops are flat there, we decided that this would be a good place to set up our camp. Our small camp of tents on the Pastor’s home paled in comparison to the huge tent cities that stretched as far as the eye could see along the dried river banks. The UN is currently attempting to relocate these tent cities to more suitable locations due to the onset of the rainy season that is currently beginning.
On our second day we attended church service as the “special guest choir” of Pastor Olisin’s. This was a surprise to us but we adapted and overcame. We sang old stand bys like I’ll Fly Away and Amazing Grace. Of course we sang in English but the wonderful part is the church members soon joined us in French and Creole. We were asked to return for the evening service and to learn to sing in Creole. Our team leader was also asked to speak at the service. Once we returned to our camp we hurriedly found our translators and the kitchen girls and learned a couple of simple “children’s songs” in Creole. I do wish I knew what I was saying now or had some way to record ourselves. At the evening service we stood up and sang our songs to much laughter and applause. Our team leader, Justin Mcworter, gave a short sermon on Psalms 73 in which Pastor Olistin translated to the congregation. We met and had fellowship with many of the members of the church before returning to our tents for the night.
Our first day of work saw us travel to the small village of Penye (this is the phonetic spelling) to continue the work of the past groups. The church in this village was severely damaged by the earthquake and was being razed and a new one built in its place. We assisted the men of the church with the removal of usable concrete blocks and reclaimed re-bar. Once this was finished we dug footings for a new foundation for a larger church. The Haitians have no set building codes and things are done a lot differently than they are done here in the states. Instead of concrete footings we placed large boulders in the hand dug trenches and filled the gaps with smaller ones and then bucket by bucket of concrete that was mixed water thin to conserve costs. We used buckets to move the dirt and concrete due to the fact that the one wheel barrel in the village was commandeered by the children to ride up and down the mountain in.
The children of the village quickly stole our hearts and our water, but that’s another story all together. We played games with the kids and sang songs; they do a good rendition of “Who let the Dogs Out.” The kids made their own kites and flew them with us. There were hardly any toys as we are used to seeing there. One little girl had a naked Barbie and would not let it out of her clutches. It gave me a great appreciation of what my daughter takes for granted with her Santa’s Wish List every year. We had a storage closet that we were keeping our supplies, bottled water and food inside. We kept noticing certain kids would disappear for periods of time and then would return with empty water bottles. They were drinking and then pouring out our water to have the bottles to sword fight with!
We went to an orphanage and school that the church sponsored and helped feed the children there. The church sponsors over 100 children every day. Some are there because they lost parents during the quake and some are there because they have no place else to go. All are welcome as long as they follow the few rules posted. I set up a small clinic to tend some healing wounds ranging from earthquake damage all the way to everyday scrapes and bruises that children get. Soon after we toured the city and saw the damage first hand. There are still collapsed buildings that have not been searched and still thousands unaccounted for. We went to Pitionville the area where Hotel Montana was located. We also saw the Presidential Palace and the Commons where several thousand refugees are staying directly across the way.
Day after day we hiked up the mountain to the church and by the last day our results were applauded by the villagers. The foundation for the new church was complete and ready for the floor to go down. It was sad to leave the people that we had gotten to know personally and especially the children we came in contact with. Our last day with Pastor Olistin, he pleaded with us not to forget what we saw or what we learned. He tasked each of us with coming back to Haiti and coming back to stay with him any time that we could. He said he understood the financial obligations that it took each of us just to make the short journey there but also it would never compare to the lives we touched and the experiences we gained. Would I go back to the 105* heat and less than ideal living arrangements to work harder than I ever had before? I would leave tomorrow if I could.
By: Robie Arnold
As one of my favorite authors wrote a story of Bilbo Baggins, the small hobbit from the Shire who was given a great task to accompany the dwarves on a great mission, I too was given a great task to accompany a group of strangers to a distant land. I was recently called to take a mission trip to the earthquake ravaged island country of Haiti. I was given a great opportunity to share my faith and beliefs through works and assistance to the people there. We left from Atlanta on February 27th by air with a small layover in Miami before we landed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. This was my first ever airplane flight and was an experience all to itself. We were on one of the first commercial flights allowed to land in Port-au-Prince and as we flew over the land the deafening sound of silence held me in awe as everyone looked out of their windows at the devastation below.
Once we had landed we were corralled to buses and driven no more than thirty yards to customs. While in customs the sights and sounds were astounding. There was a group of Haitian singers there singing and playing their banjos, accordions and drums while we waited. After we made it through customs we were once again corralled into a “holding area” to wait for our transport. Once our buses arrived, we met our translators and group guides for the week. We loaded the buses and made our way out of the airport and into the hustle and bustle of the open air markets and through the streets of the city. The city itself was amazing. Even through all of the carnage the people were going about their daily routines of survival. We witnessed many new and exciting things while there. The Tap taps (Creole for taxis) were vividly painted and darting in and out of traffic. Children played in and around the streets as the cars whizzed by barely missing other cars, farm animals, and pedestrians by the looks of some of the bumper guards on the vehicles, “barely” wasn’t always the case as there were few that didn’t have some sort of damage to them.
We arrived at the home of our host for the week, Estecoeur Olistin, a Baptist Minister and senior pastor of ten of the churches in and around the city. His home was surrounded by ten foot walls with barbed wire and broken glass bottles on the top of most of the walls leading to the home. He opened his home to the Score International group that I had volunteered with. We were the fifth group of missionaries to stay at his home since the earthquake. Since most of the roof tops are flat there, we decided that this would be a good place to set up our camp. Our small camp of tents on the Pastor’s home paled in comparison to the huge tent cities that stretched as far as the eye could see along the dried river banks. The UN is currently attempting to relocate these tent cities to more suitable locations due to the onset of the rainy season that is currently beginning.
On our second day we attended church service as the “special guest choir” of Pastor Olisin’s. This was a surprise to us but we adapted and overcame. We sang old stand bys like I’ll Fly Away and Amazing Grace. Of course we sang in English but the wonderful part is the church members soon joined us in French and Creole. We were asked to return for the evening service and to learn to sing in Creole. Our team leader was also asked to speak at the service. Once we returned to our camp we hurriedly found our translators and the kitchen girls and learned a couple of simple “children’s songs” in Creole. I do wish I knew what I was saying now or had some way to record ourselves. At the evening service we stood up and sang our songs to much laughter and applause. Our team leader, Justin Mcworter, gave a short sermon on Psalms 73 in which Pastor Olistin translated to the congregation. We met and had fellowship with many of the members of the church before returning to our tents for the night.
Our first day of work saw us travel to the small village of Penye (this is the phonetic spelling) to continue the work of the past groups. The church in this village was severely damaged by the earthquake and was being razed and a new one built in its place. We assisted the men of the church with the removal of usable concrete blocks and reclaimed re-bar. Once this was finished we dug footings for a new foundation for a larger church. The Haitians have no set building codes and things are done a lot differently than they are done here in the states. Instead of concrete footings we placed large boulders in the hand dug trenches and filled the gaps with smaller ones and then bucket by bucket of concrete that was mixed water thin to conserve costs. We used buckets to move the dirt and concrete due to the fact that the one wheel barrel in the village was commandeered by the children to ride up and down the mountain in.
The children of the village quickly stole our hearts and our water, but that’s another story all together. We played games with the kids and sang songs; they do a good rendition of “Who let the Dogs Out.” The kids made their own kites and flew them with us. There were hardly any toys as we are used to seeing there. One little girl had a naked Barbie and would not let it out of her clutches. It gave me a great appreciation of what my daughter takes for granted with her Santa’s Wish List every year. We had a storage closet that we were keeping our supplies, bottled water and food inside. We kept noticing certain kids would disappear for periods of time and then would return with empty water bottles. They were drinking and then pouring out our water to have the bottles to sword fight with!
We went to an orphanage and school that the church sponsored and helped feed the children there. The church sponsors over 100 children every day. Some are there because they lost parents during the quake and some are there because they have no place else to go. All are welcome as long as they follow the few rules posted. I set up a small clinic to tend some healing wounds ranging from earthquake damage all the way to everyday scrapes and bruises that children get. Soon after we toured the city and saw the damage first hand. There are still collapsed buildings that have not been searched and still thousands unaccounted for. We went to Pitionville the area where Hotel Montana was located. We also saw the Presidential Palace and the Commons where several thousand refugees are staying directly across the way.
Day after day we hiked up the mountain to the church and by the last day our results were applauded by the villagers. The foundation for the new church was complete and ready for the floor to go down. It was sad to leave the people that we had gotten to know personally and especially the children we came in contact with. Our last day with Pastor Olistin, he pleaded with us not to forget what we saw or what we learned. He tasked each of us with coming back to Haiti and coming back to stay with him any time that we could. He said he understood the financial obligations that it took each of us just to make the short journey there but also it would never compare to the lives we touched and the experiences we gained. Would I go back to the 105* heat and less than ideal living arrangements to work harder than I ever had before? I would leave tomorrow if I could.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
How do you communicate the Message?
I was sitting on my front porch reading the other day and you could hear dogs barking in the distance. My oldest daughter was sitting a ways down from me also reading. She looks up at me and says "Dad, why do dogs bark?" I answered "That is how dogs communicate." She sat there quitely pondering what I had said and then says "Dad, I thought dogs communicated by sniffing each other's butts....." John 3:16 NIV
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Austin 3:16 as quoted by Stone Cold after defeating Jake Roberts :
"You sit there and you thump your Bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere! Talk about your Psalms, talk about John 3:16... Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ***!"
For you Greek buffs:
Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν Υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα2 πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς Αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλ᾽ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον
Which translates literally as:
For in this way God loved the world: that he gave the unique son, so that all the ones trusting in him would not perish, but have eternal life.
This is the Gospel of Christ in a nutshell but it isn't the whole story! The story is of Nicodemus and Jesus having a conversation as to how to be reborn. Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin that actually showed favor to Jesus instead of just writing him off as a heretic. He asked Jesus how it was possible to re enter the womb of his mother to be reborn. Some people may think that this was a thick headed question. I do not. Being a member of the Sanhedrin meant that he probably knew a thing or two about the prophecy of the Messiah. And also knew that the Messiah would bring about peace. I think he was curious how this peace would be brought about since Jesus was not the fierce ruler everyone expected, like King David.
How did Jesus communicate this message of peace? Not just in words but also in His actions. Saint Francis of Assisi said "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words." He also said "It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching." It is more than just words on a screen or page. The way we live our lives denotes how we spread the Gospel. Now go sniff some butts......
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Hot or Cold....
Revelation 3:16 Do or Do Not
Soon after the farm boy has a dream of the hermit and is told to find his old teacher. He has to travel through a swamp to reach the teacher. Once he finds the old teacher he soon learns of his much larger role in the scheme of life. He learns that the man who killed the hermit is in fact his long lost father. He is taught many things about good and evil. The main point he learns is to not be lukewarm. Not to do anything half way, either do it or don’t do it. There is no Try.
"No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."
So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
Revelation 3:16
Jesus spoke those same words not to an individual but to a church. The church of Laodicea was having trouble fulfilling their commitment to the Gospels, not fulfilling their commitment to Christ. Just only halfway, half heartedly doing anything, He said that they were wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Not looking for riches in Him but in the world. He told them to repent and that he loves them and he wanted to correct and teach them.
This has been on my mind for a few months now. It’s a story of a young orphaned boy. His mom died in child birth and his dad was a dead beat. He lives with his Aunt and Uncle on a farm. Growing up a farm boy he knew he was destined for so much more but didn’t know exactly what. While he was out getting farm hands trained for their job, he was mugged and by bandits and then picked up by an old hermit and taken to his home. Turns out the hermit knew his father when he was in the military. The farm boy returns home to find that his aunt and uncle have been killed by soldiers looking for the new farmhands. He returns to the hermit and decides to leave the area with him to seek out the former employers of the farmhands.
While on their journey the hermit teaches the farm boy life lessons in right from wrong. They pick up a couple of highway men to help them on the trip. The military is searching for them and soon captures them. They split up and try to escape the compound, while doing so the hermit is killed by the military’s leader who happened to be an old friend turned enemy of the hermit. From this the group joins with a band of straggling rebels and attempts to seek revenge on the army.
"No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."
So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
Revelation 3:16
Jesus spoke those same words not to an individual but to a church. The church of Laodicea was having trouble fulfilling their commitment to the Gospels, not fulfilling their commitment to Christ. Just only halfway, half heartedly doing anything, He said that they were wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Not looking for riches in Him but in the world. He told them to repent and that he loves them and he wanted to correct and teach them.
Be Hot or Cold: Do or Do Not
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
So I got this email....
I work in youth ministry by choice and ask for nothing in return except that the kids get some God out of the lessons and activities. I try to be positive in all challenges and pray daily for guidance and discernment regarding this. The group has grown from two in the beginning to 14 this past weekend, we have outgrown two rooms. As long as we keep God as the focus it will continue to flourish.
To God be the glory. Amen.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Famous people who died broke and alone...
Famous people who died broke and alone:
Oscar Wilde died penniless, the writer and aesthete was a huge celebrity... But he died penniless
and alone in a Paris hotel
Bela Lugosi
Bela Lugosi made nearly 70 more films in the 28 years after he first
sucked blood in Dracula (1931)
few filmgoers today remember him in a single one of them
(except, perhaps, his last, the bizarre cult classic directed by Ed
Wood, Plan Nine from Outer Space, 1959). (..) He died penniless in
1956.
Joe Louis
Joe Louis (boxer) retired from boxing in 1949 after defending his
title 25 times. He came back unsuccessfully in 1950 and re-retired in
1951 when Rocky Marciano defeated him. From retirement to death he
spent most of his life penniless from bad business ventures and legal
problems with the IRS. He died on April 12, 1981 in Las Vegas.
Judy Garland
By the time she died, Judy Garland was over $4 Million in debt. Her
body was stored in a temporary crypt for over a year, because no money
was available to transfer her to a final resting place. Eventually,
her daughter Liza Minelli raised the money for a proper burial.
Michael Jackson
Who? The King of Pop, who died suddenly in June.
Why? Jackson blew the profits from sales of 750 million records on extravagances such as $600,000 necklace for Elizabeth Taylor, to maintaining his $4 million-a-year Neverland Ranch. When he died he had accumulated debts worth an astonishing $400 million.
Edgar Allan Poe
Who? American poet and critic, celebrated for numerous gothic stories including The Murders in the Rue Morgue.
Why? Poe was among the first well-known American writers to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life. He died in 1849 at his tiny cottage in The Bronx, New York, although his cause of death remains a mystery.
Jesus Christ
Who? Our Lord and Savior, the King of Kings, The fulfillment of the Law. Circa April 0033 Crucified dead and buried and rose again on the third day.
Why? For the forgiveness of our sins…..
Its not all Eggs and Bunnies…..
Sunday, April 3, 2011
The stuff in your pockets?
This is the first year that I have done anything for the celebration of Lent. I have given up carbonated drinks for the 40 days (46 if you count Sundays too) leading up to Easter. It has not been an easy task for me but I have been able to do it. I have had help along the way to ensure I stick to it. (thanks Felicia and Kim S!) The idea is to give up something that you long for in order to be closer to God. To break the routine of worship that a lot of us fall in to. Is it working? I have felt better for one so I guess the health benefits are a plus. I have had better communion with Him. I feel more in His presence than I can ever remember too. I am in self denial in order to gain from Him. Penance and Prayer, I have made extra effort to read and study the Word daily. This is going to be a blessing to me and my family. If you have never tried fasting of any kind and long for a closeness to God, by all means, do it. Notice I did not say try I said do....That is a post all unto itself for a later time.
Friday, April 1, 2011
The deep water
When I was a growing up we lived next to a creek with the best swimming hole within three counties. Summer time would come and the kids would come. Friends, family, minor acquaintances, it did not matter they were there to go swimming! Some of my fondest memories are sitting on that creek bank watching the kids swim. Yeah sitting on the bank.... at most I would only get ankle deep in the water. To say I was scared to death of the deep water is the understatement of my childhood. As I grew older I became more comfortable with the deep water, even learning how to swim and have a good time with my cousins.
This correlates to my walk as a Christian. I have stayed in my comfort zone because, well, its comfortable. I know what I am called to do but have barely scraped the surface of it. Like most other areas of my life I have done what I absolutely had to do to get by. It hit me the other day as I was on my way back to Jasper from Gainesville on Hwy 53. I had a visual stimulus flashback to the times I spent watching my cousins and friends instead of swimming with them. I was driving across one of the bridges on Lake Lanier and it hit me. Its time to get off the bank and get in the deep water. Its time to answer the call.
This correlates to my walk as a Christian. I have stayed in my comfort zone because, well, its comfortable. I know what I am called to do but have barely scraped the surface of it. Like most other areas of my life I have done what I absolutely had to do to get by. It hit me the other day as I was on my way back to Jasper from Gainesville on Hwy 53. I had a visual stimulus flashback to the times I spent watching my cousins and friends instead of swimming with them. I was driving across one of the bridges on Lake Lanier and it hit me. Its time to get off the bank and get in the deep water. Its time to answer the call.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Let's talk about how to handle change.There are now over 2000 classified fears in the medical encyclopedia. Many of them are well known but some you’ve probably never heard of. For instance: butterphobia – the fear of peanut butter sticking to the top of your mouth. That is a legitimate fear for some people. Or, Photophobia – the fear that you don’t ever look good in pictures. Some fears we’re very familiar with and some are more obscure. For instance, we all know about agoraphobia – which is the fear of open places. But, some of you don’t know about angora phobia – which is the fear of soft, fuzzy sweaters. We all know about zoophobia, which is the fear of animals. And how about the fear that you are going to spend too much on Christmas – that’s called ho-ho-ho-phobia.Just kidding.But all of us have this fear – and it’s a big one – the fear of change. There are some changes that we love. But when we lose a loved one, or get fired from a job, or experience some changes in other areas of our lives, we cry foul. There are so many changes that come into our lives that we don’t like. We resent change: We don't like it; but we don't do anything about it. We just get upset. We seek for someone to blame. I mean, “How can they just yank us out of OUR room, the room WE spent so much time making OUR OWN?!?” Surely someone is to blame…. But to what good does this anger cause?
Well, if we are to blame anyone, would it be "God" who took us out of Egypt that we made our own and into something unknown and new?
We resist change: we fight it and oppose it.We run from change: We go in the opposite direction. Think about Jonah….What are the positive results of change?
1. It causes us to grow.
2. It takes us places we would never go.
3. Change gets us out of a rut
4. Change gives us a new sense of God's direction
Experts tell us that the most successful people (churches) are the ones who learn how to cope with change.Change can cause frustration in our lives. Stress. PressureChange can cause fear in our lives. We wonder where we are going and that's scary.Change can cause fatigue in our lives. How do you deal with the fear of change?
"There are at least three changes taking place in America that are causing a great deal of anxiety and tension today. Let's try to identify them and then look at what God has to say about some antidotes to help us cope with change. 1. Everything is moving faster. The pace of life is speeding up. Progress, in general, always causes things to go faster.If there is one that defines our modern, technocratic age, it is acceleration.We’ve become a quick-reflexed, channel-flipping, fast-forwarding people.
It's like the story of a man who was out in his front yard mowing his grass when he saw his neighbor come out of the house and head straight to the mailbox. He opened it, then slammed it shut, and stormed back into the house. A little later he came back out of the house and again went to the mailbox, opened it, and slammed it shut again. A couple minutes later, he came out again, marched to the mailbox, opened it, and slammed it harder than ever. The neighbor was puzzled, so he went over to the man and said, “Is there something wrong?” To which he replied, “There certainly is. My stupid computer keeps saying, “You’ve got mail!” Things are changing, aren’t they?
I read this week that King George of England wrote in his diary on July 4, 1776, “Nothing much happened today,” because it took weeks for him to discover that the colonies were in rebellion and there was a full-fledged American revolution going on. Today, King George would hear it instantly on CNN and be flooded by emails and "tweets". And everybody else would be aware of it, too. Things are moving faster.Everything is moving faster.2. Every decision is getting complicated.Even simple decisions are very complicated in our lives. There are a couple reasons for this. One is that technology has connected everything. The world has gotten smaller. Things that happen on the other side of the world affect my life today. But more than that, the real reason life has become complicated, is that we are being inundated with multiple choices. There’s a third thing we’re seeing that’s causing great stress. Not only is everything moving faster, and every decision getting more complicated, but also every value is being challenged.3. Every value is being challenged.We see this everywhere. Right is being called wrong. Wrong is being called right. There are people today that don’t even believe there is such a thing as right and wrong. Every value we have had in America is being challenged by some group in some way today. Political correctness has created all kinds of crazy ideas. We now live in a society where everything is plausible and nothing is certain.
How are we supposed to live in this kind of environment? When things are getting faster and life is getting more frantic, when things are getting more complicated, and when all the values that have held families and society together are now thrown out the window, how in the world are we supposed to live?
God made human beings to be very adaptable and flexible. But, when everything is flying off the wall, coming unglued, and the hurricanes of change are blowing through our lives, we need to have something that does not change. As we face the 21st century and the new millennium, we’ve got to be able to say, “I know a lot of things are going to change around me, but I know these things for sure. I can count on this and this and this.”
Is there anything like that in the world? Are there any islands of stability? My guess is there are probably some things in your life that you thought were unchangeable two or three years ago but have already changed. And they weren’t reliable. Is there anything that never, ever changes?
The Bible says that there are three things that won’t change. 1. GOD’S LOVE NEVER CHANGES.In Malachi 3:6, God says, “I, the Lord, do not change.” There’s a theological term for that called the immutability of God. That means He’s always been the same, He is the same right now, and He will always be the same. Why does God never change? Is it that He can’t? Is it that He doesn’t want to? Is it that He’s stuck in His ways? Why does God never change?It’s because He’s perfect. And because God is perfect, He can’t get any better – and He can’t get any worse. If you’re perfect there is no reason to change, because you are perfect. So God says, “I never change.”In Jeremiah 31:3, He says this “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” You were created as an object of God’s love. You were made to be loved by God. You want to know why you’re here on this earth? You were created to be loved by God. His love is continuous. It is everlasting. It is consistent. The Bible says that God is always unchanging in His love toward us. That is such good news. Because while God is consistent, I an incredibly inconsistent. The Bible teaches that God loves me just as much on my good days as He does on my bad days. He loves me when I feel it and He loves me when I don’t feel it. He loves me when I think I’m close to Him and doing the right thing and He loves me when I’m not close to Him and I’m not doing the right thing. His love is not based on my performance. His love is based on His character. It is consistent. It is continual. It is everlasting. No matter what happens to you in the year 2000, or even tomorrow, there is one thing you can be sure of: God is not going to stop loving you. No matter what you go through, nothing is going to separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Psalm 119:159 proclaims, “Your love never changes.” You can count on God no matter what happens in the new millennium, or even tomorrow, because God is never going to stop loving you. The point is this: We always get into trouble when we doubt God’s love. Always. I never need to doubt His love for me. There are a lot of things I could worry about but I don’t have to worry about that one. No matter how I feel, no matter what I’ve done, or what I’ve thought, God’s love is based on His character.Romans 8:38 is a marvelous verse. Listen to it in the Message translation: “Nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, thinkable or unthinkable -- absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love.” That means you can go to bed tonight, confident of the fact that tomorrow morning when you get up God is not going to have changed His mind about you. You will never be loved by God any more than you are at this very moment. You will never be loved by God any less than you are at this very moment. God’s love never changes. That is something I can anchor my life to.2. GOD’S WORD WILL NEVER CHANGEIn Isaiah 40:8 God says, “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of our God shall stand forever.” It’s timeless, enduring, and eternal. It never withers; it’s always fresh. It doesn’t get stale. God’s Word is never out of date. We believe God’s Word is eternal – it will guide us today and it will lead us into the new millennium. Psalm 119:152 says, “Long ago I learned from Your statues that You established them to last forever.” God’s Word will last forever because it is eternal. Jesus said it like this: “Heaven and earth will pass away but My word will never pass away.” Did you catch the cover of a recent U.S. News and World Report? Alongside a dramatic painting of Adam and Eve, the title of the cover story asks, “Is the Bible True?” Based upon some new archaeological evidence, the article answers the question with a confident, “Yes!” Brothers and sisters, we have nothing to fear from scientific inquiry into the Bible. We should welcome it. Why? Because the Word of God is true and will never change.When the American astronaut Alan Shepherd was getting ready to go up into space for the very first time, a reporter asked him “What are you depending on in this flight?” His answer is classic: “I’m depending upon the fact that God’s laws will not change.” These laws do not change because God’s Word does not change. What would happen if gravity worked every other day? Would that put a crimp in your lifestyle? In the same way, God has established some moral and spiritual laws for the universe. God gives these parameters for our good. When we ignore these spiritual laws, we don’t break them – they break us. We get hurt. Every time I ignore God’s laws, I hurt myself. They’re there for my benefit. When I go against what God says, it causes stress. It causes worry. It causes guilt. It causes anger. It causes conflict in relationships.God says to you and He says to me, “I want you to listen to My word.” Do you know what the most basic fundamental temptation is? It’s the temptation that Adam and Eve had and it’s the same one you have every single day of your life: the temptation to doubt God’s word. We hear it like this: “Did God really say, don’t do that?” If Satan can get you to question God’s Word, you’re going to fall for anything.Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 5:24: “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice, is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Jesus is saying if you want to have a stable home, you’ve got to build it on an unchanging foundation. You’ve got to build on a rock.The same is true for your life. If you want to build your life in a way that is solid and significant and handles the stress and the changes of the 21st century, you’d better build it on the truth of God’s Word, because it is bedrock. It is not going to change. Popular opinion is going to change, psychology books are going to change, what the talk radio hosts talk about is going to change. Everything else changes. But God’s Word does not. So if you want stability, build your life on God’s unchanging truth. Here’s a secret stabilizer from personal experience: if you want to lower the stress and raise the confidence in your life, memorize scripture. That is probably the most significant habit that I can encourage you to develop in the 21st century. As you read the Bible and you find a verse that really speaks to you, take out a pen, write it down on a three by five card and memorize it. Some of you say, “I can’t memorize.” Actually, we memorize what we’re interested in. I know guys who say they can’t memorize but they remember every baseball statistic for the last ten years. 3. GOD’S PURPOSE FOR MY LIFE WILL NEVER CHANGE.that’s the third thing I can understand and know confidently. God’s purpose for my life will never change. 1 Samuel 15:29 teaches that: “God is not a man. He doesn’t change His mind.” I’m really glad for that verse. Long before you were born, God planned you. And that plan has never changed. He created you for a purpose. You were made for a reason. If you are alive today, God has a purpose for your life. Have you noticed that your plans often get changed? Why? There are at least two reasons: One, you can’t see the future. You don’t have foresight. You don’t have the perspective. None of us can know what’s going to happen tomorrow, much less ten years from now. The other reason your plans often get changed is you don’t always have the means to pull them off. You may have a great plan, but you don’t have the time or you don’t have the money, or you don’t have the energy or intelligence or the opportunity or the power to pull it all off. Contrast that with God. God never has to change His plans. Never. Why? Because God is all knowing – He’s omniscient. And God is all-powerful – He’s omnipotent. So God never has to change His plans. He already knows everything that’s going to happen and He already has the power to do anything He wants to do. So He doesn’t ever have to change His plans. His plan for you has never changed – and it never will. Since God says, “I made you for a purpose and that plan doesn’t change,” that brings up three very important questions:1. Can I miss God’s purpose for my life? Absolutely. Of course you can miss it. Millions and millions of people miss God’s purpose for their life all the time. You can miss it by neglect. You can miss God’s purpose for your life by arrogance – by doing your plan and not God’s (we learned about that last week). You can miss it by disobedience, by rebellion, and by laziness. You can live your entire life and never fulfill the reason you were actually put on this earth. That’s a tragedy, but God never forces His purpose on us. It’s a choice where you say, “Jesus Christ, I want You to be my Lord. I want to follow Your plan and purpose for my life.” 2. Can I get back on track after wasting years of my life? Absolutely. Psalm 33:11: “His plans endure forever. His purposes last eternally.” That means that no matter what has happened in your life to date, God’s purpose for your life has not changed because He’s unchanging. His purposes never change. Some of you may say, “But you don’t know about that moral blowout I had three years ago or ten years ago. You don’t know about that sin, that stupid decision I made where I took the wrong turn in life and wasted ten or twenty years or more. You don’t know.” I say this: Regardless of what has happened in your life up to this point – God has not given up on you. And He never will. No matter what’s happened. Let the truth of Proverbs 19:21 penetrate your life: “You can make many plans but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.” That brings up the third question:3. What about all those dumb things I’ve done? What about all those stupid decisions and bad choices? Those things that I regret and wish had never happened and I’d like to go back and do over? Romans 8:28: "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and who have been called according to His purpose.” We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him. It doesn’t say in some things. It doesn’t say in the good things. It says in all things. It does not say that all things are good. No, not all things are good. There is a lot of evil and heartache in the world. I’ve experienced some of it and so have you. It says in all things God works for good. He can take evil and tragedies and turn them around and bring good out of them. He loves to turn crucifixions into resurrections. The Bible says, in all things God works for the good. For everyone? No, this is not a promise for everybody in the whole world. It is a promise for those who love Him, those who are called according to His purpose. Only when you say, “Jesus Christ, I want to be Yours. I want to take all the pieces of my life and let You give me Your peace for my pieces. I want to give You all this.” Think about the biggest disappointment or hurt you’ve ever had. Or think about the thing you regret most in your life. Think about the dumbest thing you’ve ever done, your most unwise choice. Think about the most hurtful thing somebody else has done to you.
God saw it all before it ever happened. And He has found a way to weave it into His plan and purpose for your good, for your growth, and for His glory. What a God! He is good – all the time. No matter what you’ve gone through, whether it was your fault or somebody else’s. God can use it for good if you give Him the pieces. What are you afraid of? When you think about the future, what’s your stomach in a knot about? When you think about the changes that are coming in your life, what is it that causes your back muscles and neck to tense up, or your face to feel flushed, or your mouth to go dry, because you wonder, “I don’t know if I can handle this or not.” Regardless of what it is that’s got you stressed out this morning, why don’t you do what David did in Psalm 56:11: “I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?” Why should I be afraid? I trust in God. Then he says this, “God is our refuge and strength, a tested help [He’s proven reliable] in times of trouble. And so we need not fear even if the world blows up [or Y2K causes some problems] and the mountains crumble into the sea.” The truth is I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know what the next millennium holds and either do you.But I do know three things. And I know if I build my life on these three unchangeable facts, on these three islands of stability, I can handle enormous stress and change in my life. I know this: • God will never stop loving me, even when I feel unlovable. • God’s Word is always true. It may not make sense. It may seem unreasonable and unpopular, but it is always the truth. • God’s purposes are greater than my problems. Any time I start doubting these things – these three grand truths – I get myself in trouble. When I start doubting God’s love, I start disobeying Him. When I start doubting God’s Word, I tend to do my own thing. When I begin doubting that God has a purpose, I start saying “Why are all these problems happening to me? Why me? What’s going on?” And I start doubting that God really is in control. So if you want to face the future confidently and cope victoriously with change, all you need to do is respond. You see, it’s not automatic. God offers us stability, but we must respond in order to activate His power in our lives.3 Responses:• Accept God’s love • Believe God’s Word • Commit to God’s purpose Can you pray with me, "Dear God, I realize there are many things in my life that are beyond my control. You know that sometimes I have a difficult time adjusting to all the difficult changes around me. I need Your stability in my life, Jesus. I want to start focusing on the things that will never change. Thank You that You will never stop loving me. Thank You so much. Today I accept Your love through Jesus Christ. Thank You for Your unchanging word. Help me to learn it and live by it. Thank You for making me for a purpose. In this next year, I want to get to know You better and Your plan for my life. I ask You to forgive me for the years that I’ve wasted, but I want to get back on track today. I open up my life to You, dear Lord. Come in and take control."
Well, if we are to blame anyone, would it be "God" who took us out of Egypt that we made our own and into something unknown and new?
We resist change: we fight it and oppose it.We run from change: We go in the opposite direction. Think about Jonah….What are the positive results of change?
1. It causes us to grow.
2. It takes us places we would never go.
3. Change gets us out of a rut
4. Change gives us a new sense of God's direction
Experts tell us that the most successful people (churches) are the ones who learn how to cope with change.Change can cause frustration in our lives. Stress. PressureChange can cause fear in our lives. We wonder where we are going and that's scary.Change can cause fatigue in our lives. How do you deal with the fear of change?
"There are at least three changes taking place in America that are causing a great deal of anxiety and tension today. Let's try to identify them and then look at what God has to say about some antidotes to help us cope with change. 1. Everything is moving faster. The pace of life is speeding up. Progress, in general, always causes things to go faster.If there is one that defines our modern, technocratic age, it is acceleration.We’ve become a quick-reflexed, channel-flipping, fast-forwarding people.
It's like the story of a man who was out in his front yard mowing his grass when he saw his neighbor come out of the house and head straight to the mailbox. He opened it, then slammed it shut, and stormed back into the house. A little later he came back out of the house and again went to the mailbox, opened it, and slammed it shut again. A couple minutes later, he came out again, marched to the mailbox, opened it, and slammed it harder than ever. The neighbor was puzzled, so he went over to the man and said, “Is there something wrong?” To which he replied, “There certainly is. My stupid computer keeps saying, “You’ve got mail!” Things are changing, aren’t they?
I read this week that King George of England wrote in his diary on July 4, 1776, “Nothing much happened today,” because it took weeks for him to discover that the colonies were in rebellion and there was a full-fledged American revolution going on. Today, King George would hear it instantly on CNN and be flooded by emails and "tweets". And everybody else would be aware of it, too. Things are moving faster.Everything is moving faster.2. Every decision is getting complicated.Even simple decisions are very complicated in our lives. There are a couple reasons for this. One is that technology has connected everything. The world has gotten smaller. Things that happen on the other side of the world affect my life today. But more than that, the real reason life has become complicated, is that we are being inundated with multiple choices. There’s a third thing we’re seeing that’s causing great stress. Not only is everything moving faster, and every decision getting more complicated, but also every value is being challenged.3. Every value is being challenged.We see this everywhere. Right is being called wrong. Wrong is being called right. There are people today that don’t even believe there is such a thing as right and wrong. Every value we have had in America is being challenged by some group in some way today. Political correctness has created all kinds of crazy ideas. We now live in a society where everything is plausible and nothing is certain.
How are we supposed to live in this kind of environment? When things are getting faster and life is getting more frantic, when things are getting more complicated, and when all the values that have held families and society together are now thrown out the window, how in the world are we supposed to live?
God made human beings to be very adaptable and flexible. But, when everything is flying off the wall, coming unglued, and the hurricanes of change are blowing through our lives, we need to have something that does not change. As we face the 21st century and the new millennium, we’ve got to be able to say, “I know a lot of things are going to change around me, but I know these things for sure. I can count on this and this and this.”
Is there anything like that in the world? Are there any islands of stability? My guess is there are probably some things in your life that you thought were unchangeable two or three years ago but have already changed. And they weren’t reliable. Is there anything that never, ever changes?
The Bible says that there are three things that won’t change. 1. GOD’S LOVE NEVER CHANGES.In Malachi 3:6, God says, “I, the Lord, do not change.” There’s a theological term for that called the immutability of God. That means He’s always been the same, He is the same right now, and He will always be the same. Why does God never change? Is it that He can’t? Is it that He doesn’t want to? Is it that He’s stuck in His ways? Why does God never change?It’s because He’s perfect. And because God is perfect, He can’t get any better – and He can’t get any worse. If you’re perfect there is no reason to change, because you are perfect. So God says, “I never change.”In Jeremiah 31:3, He says this “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” You were created as an object of God’s love. You were made to be loved by God. You want to know why you’re here on this earth? You were created to be loved by God. His love is continuous. It is everlasting. It is consistent. The Bible says that God is always unchanging in His love toward us. That is such good news. Because while God is consistent, I an incredibly inconsistent. The Bible teaches that God loves me just as much on my good days as He does on my bad days. He loves me when I feel it and He loves me when I don’t feel it. He loves me when I think I’m close to Him and doing the right thing and He loves me when I’m not close to Him and I’m not doing the right thing. His love is not based on my performance. His love is based on His character. It is consistent. It is continual. It is everlasting. No matter what happens to you in the year 2000, or even tomorrow, there is one thing you can be sure of: God is not going to stop loving you. No matter what you go through, nothing is going to separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Psalm 119:159 proclaims, “Your love never changes.” You can count on God no matter what happens in the new millennium, or even tomorrow, because God is never going to stop loving you. The point is this: We always get into trouble when we doubt God’s love. Always. I never need to doubt His love for me. There are a lot of things I could worry about but I don’t have to worry about that one. No matter how I feel, no matter what I’ve done, or what I’ve thought, God’s love is based on His character.Romans 8:38 is a marvelous verse. Listen to it in the Message translation: “Nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, thinkable or unthinkable -- absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love.” That means you can go to bed tonight, confident of the fact that tomorrow morning when you get up God is not going to have changed His mind about you. You will never be loved by God any more than you are at this very moment. You will never be loved by God any less than you are at this very moment. God’s love never changes. That is something I can anchor my life to.2. GOD’S WORD WILL NEVER CHANGEIn Isaiah 40:8 God says, “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of our God shall stand forever.” It’s timeless, enduring, and eternal. It never withers; it’s always fresh. It doesn’t get stale. God’s Word is never out of date. We believe God’s Word is eternal – it will guide us today and it will lead us into the new millennium. Psalm 119:152 says, “Long ago I learned from Your statues that You established them to last forever.” God’s Word will last forever because it is eternal. Jesus said it like this: “Heaven and earth will pass away but My word will never pass away.” Did you catch the cover of a recent U.S. News and World Report? Alongside a dramatic painting of Adam and Eve, the title of the cover story asks, “Is the Bible True?” Based upon some new archaeological evidence, the article answers the question with a confident, “Yes!” Brothers and sisters, we have nothing to fear from scientific inquiry into the Bible. We should welcome it. Why? Because the Word of God is true and will never change.When the American astronaut Alan Shepherd was getting ready to go up into space for the very first time, a reporter asked him “What are you depending on in this flight?” His answer is classic: “I’m depending upon the fact that God’s laws will not change.” These laws do not change because God’s Word does not change. What would happen if gravity worked every other day? Would that put a crimp in your lifestyle? In the same way, God has established some moral and spiritual laws for the universe. God gives these parameters for our good. When we ignore these spiritual laws, we don’t break them – they break us. We get hurt. Every time I ignore God’s laws, I hurt myself. They’re there for my benefit. When I go against what God says, it causes stress. It causes worry. It causes guilt. It causes anger. It causes conflict in relationships.God says to you and He says to me, “I want you to listen to My word.” Do you know what the most basic fundamental temptation is? It’s the temptation that Adam and Eve had and it’s the same one you have every single day of your life: the temptation to doubt God’s word. We hear it like this: “Did God really say, don’t do that?” If Satan can get you to question God’s Word, you’re going to fall for anything.Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 5:24: “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice, is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Jesus is saying if you want to have a stable home, you’ve got to build it on an unchanging foundation. You’ve got to build on a rock.The same is true for your life. If you want to build your life in a way that is solid and significant and handles the stress and the changes of the 21st century, you’d better build it on the truth of God’s Word, because it is bedrock. It is not going to change. Popular opinion is going to change, psychology books are going to change, what the talk radio hosts talk about is going to change. Everything else changes. But God’s Word does not. So if you want stability, build your life on God’s unchanging truth. Here’s a secret stabilizer from personal experience: if you want to lower the stress and raise the confidence in your life, memorize scripture. That is probably the most significant habit that I can encourage you to develop in the 21st century. As you read the Bible and you find a verse that really speaks to you, take out a pen, write it down on a three by five card and memorize it. Some of you say, “I can’t memorize.” Actually, we memorize what we’re interested in. I know guys who say they can’t memorize but they remember every baseball statistic for the last ten years. 3. GOD’S PURPOSE FOR MY LIFE WILL NEVER CHANGE.that’s the third thing I can understand and know confidently. God’s purpose for my life will never change. 1 Samuel 15:29 teaches that: “God is not a man. He doesn’t change His mind.” I’m really glad for that verse. Long before you were born, God planned you. And that plan has never changed. He created you for a purpose. You were made for a reason. If you are alive today, God has a purpose for your life. Have you noticed that your plans often get changed? Why? There are at least two reasons: One, you can’t see the future. You don’t have foresight. You don’t have the perspective. None of us can know what’s going to happen tomorrow, much less ten years from now. The other reason your plans often get changed is you don’t always have the means to pull them off. You may have a great plan, but you don’t have the time or you don’t have the money, or you don’t have the energy or intelligence or the opportunity or the power to pull it all off. Contrast that with God. God never has to change His plans. Never. Why? Because God is all knowing – He’s omniscient. And God is all-powerful – He’s omnipotent. So God never has to change His plans. He already knows everything that’s going to happen and He already has the power to do anything He wants to do. So He doesn’t ever have to change His plans. His plan for you has never changed – and it never will. Since God says, “I made you for a purpose and that plan doesn’t change,” that brings up three very important questions:1. Can I miss God’s purpose for my life? Absolutely. Of course you can miss it. Millions and millions of people miss God’s purpose for their life all the time. You can miss it by neglect. You can miss God’s purpose for your life by arrogance – by doing your plan and not God’s (we learned about that last week). You can miss it by disobedience, by rebellion, and by laziness. You can live your entire life and never fulfill the reason you were actually put on this earth. That’s a tragedy, but God never forces His purpose on us. It’s a choice where you say, “Jesus Christ, I want You to be my Lord. I want to follow Your plan and purpose for my life.” 2. Can I get back on track after wasting years of my life? Absolutely. Psalm 33:11: “His plans endure forever. His purposes last eternally.” That means that no matter what has happened in your life to date, God’s purpose for your life has not changed because He’s unchanging. His purposes never change. Some of you may say, “But you don’t know about that moral blowout I had three years ago or ten years ago. You don’t know about that sin, that stupid decision I made where I took the wrong turn in life and wasted ten or twenty years or more. You don’t know.” I say this: Regardless of what has happened in your life up to this point – God has not given up on you. And He never will. No matter what’s happened. Let the truth of Proverbs 19:21 penetrate your life: “You can make many plans but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.” That brings up the third question:3. What about all those dumb things I’ve done? What about all those stupid decisions and bad choices? Those things that I regret and wish had never happened and I’d like to go back and do over? Romans 8:28: "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and who have been called according to His purpose.” We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him. It doesn’t say in some things. It doesn’t say in the good things. It says in all things. It does not say that all things are good. No, not all things are good. There is a lot of evil and heartache in the world. I’ve experienced some of it and so have you. It says in all things God works for good. He can take evil and tragedies and turn them around and bring good out of them. He loves to turn crucifixions into resurrections. The Bible says, in all things God works for the good. For everyone? No, this is not a promise for everybody in the whole world. It is a promise for those who love Him, those who are called according to His purpose. Only when you say, “Jesus Christ, I want to be Yours. I want to take all the pieces of my life and let You give me Your peace for my pieces. I want to give You all this.” Think about the biggest disappointment or hurt you’ve ever had. Or think about the thing you regret most in your life. Think about the dumbest thing you’ve ever done, your most unwise choice. Think about the most hurtful thing somebody else has done to you.
God saw it all before it ever happened. And He has found a way to weave it into His plan and purpose for your good, for your growth, and for His glory. What a God! He is good – all the time. No matter what you’ve gone through, whether it was your fault or somebody else’s. God can use it for good if you give Him the pieces. What are you afraid of? When you think about the future, what’s your stomach in a knot about? When you think about the changes that are coming in your life, what is it that causes your back muscles and neck to tense up, or your face to feel flushed, or your mouth to go dry, because you wonder, “I don’t know if I can handle this or not.” Regardless of what it is that’s got you stressed out this morning, why don’t you do what David did in Psalm 56:11: “I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?” Why should I be afraid? I trust in God. Then he says this, “God is our refuge and strength, a tested help [He’s proven reliable] in times of trouble. And so we need not fear even if the world blows up [or Y2K causes some problems] and the mountains crumble into the sea.” The truth is I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know what the next millennium holds and either do you.But I do know three things. And I know if I build my life on these three unchangeable facts, on these three islands of stability, I can handle enormous stress and change in my life. I know this: • God will never stop loving me, even when I feel unlovable. • God’s Word is always true. It may not make sense. It may seem unreasonable and unpopular, but it is always the truth. • God’s purposes are greater than my problems. Any time I start doubting these things – these three grand truths – I get myself in trouble. When I start doubting God’s love, I start disobeying Him. When I start doubting God’s Word, I tend to do my own thing. When I begin doubting that God has a purpose, I start saying “Why are all these problems happening to me? Why me? What’s going on?” And I start doubting that God really is in control. So if you want to face the future confidently and cope victoriously with change, all you need to do is respond. You see, it’s not automatic. God offers us stability, but we must respond in order to activate His power in our lives.3 Responses:• Accept God’s love • Believe God’s Word • Commit to God’s purpose Can you pray with me, "Dear God, I realize there are many things in my life that are beyond my control. You know that sometimes I have a difficult time adjusting to all the difficult changes around me. I need Your stability in my life, Jesus. I want to start focusing on the things that will never change. Thank You that You will never stop loving me. Thank You so much. Today I accept Your love through Jesus Christ. Thank You for Your unchanging word. Help me to learn it and live by it. Thank You for making me for a purpose. In this next year, I want to get to know You better and Your plan for my life. I ask You to forgive me for the years that I’ve wasted, but I want to get back on track today. I open up my life to You, dear Lord. Come in and take control."
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Brick by brick
When I received my salvation, it was like a ton of bricks had been lifted off of me. I was young somewhere around twelve, when this happened. Over the years I placed all of those bricks back one by one. Somewhere around a year ago, I rededicated my life to the Lord. The bricks were gone again. I felt on top of the world and on fire for Christ. Slowly the bricks started coming back again. I was losing my way and I knew it. I attended church every Sunday, Wednesday and any other time the doors were open but still the bricks were there. Then it hit me, the bricks will always be there as a reminder of who I was and who I am now. It is up to me how I stack the bricks; how I let the bricks block my way. It took being hit by one of these bricks recently to realize this. My pastor was giving a sermon on regrets and what we regretted from the past year and how to fix these regrets.
As I sat there and listened to the sermon I realized that I had lost my focus. I was rather upset with myself for letting this happen. I resolved that I know that I will struggle in my walk but that I will strive to realize when I am struggling and seek help. We cannot walk alone. Christians need fellowship and need to build each other up, need to hold each other accountable.
As I sat there and listened to the sermon I realized that I had lost my focus. I was rather upset with myself for letting this happen. I resolved that I know that I will struggle in my walk but that I will strive to realize when I am struggling and seek help. We cannot walk alone. Christians need fellowship and need to build each other up, need to hold each other accountable.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The Truant Christian pt1
I haven’t “blogged” in a while and I apologize for it. I have been Truant in many ways in my life. A truant blogger is the least of these. If I just list all of the ways in my life that I have been lackadaisical, it would be a long list. I think one way to wrap it all up is that I have been a Truant Christian. Truant by definition: as a noun Truant is a student who stays away without permission or a person who shirks or neglects his or her duty. Now I have been to church every time the doors are opened and services conducted. I have led Sunday school, filled in on Wednesday night bible study even led worship on Sunday Morning. I have even attended seminary to gain knowledge to better my grasp on Christianity. In all of this I have shirked my responsibility as a Christian. I have not followed through with the seeds that I attempted to plant. This in turn has led me not necessarily astray but to stop my journey.
My New Year resolution is to turn away from my Truancy and be the Christian God intends for me to be. I need accountability and strive to hold my brothers and sisters accountable as well. I am not going to be a fru-fru tutu wearing good guy Christian and tell you that it’s all going to be alright. Do not claim to me to be a Christian on Sunday Morning and then live your life how you and the world see fit the rest of the week. I will call you on it. My family is proof positive that if you give up and give to God and live the way He designed us to live that He WILL reward you.
We were struggling to make it as a family when we started attending church and “living right.” He blessed us with a stronger marriage. We were struggling to find our calling then a terrible disaster hit Haiti and I was called to serve there. We were struggling to add to our family when we started tithing and we got pregnant. We were struggling financially with two incomes living week to week, my wife became unemployed and our income was cut in over half, we put our faith in Him and we have been paying bills early and actually have a little to put back each check. Then we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter, Delilah Joyce. This is what brought me back to where I need to be as a Christian…
I will continue to update this blog as much as possible and continue to post on FB. I will continue to hold not only myself but YOU accountable. I will pray for you and help you in whatever way that I can. I am going to strive to be the best Christian brother that I can be all that I ask is for you to do the same. Strive to be the best Christian that you can. Strive to shed the Truant Christian title.
My New Year resolution is to turn away from my Truancy and be the Christian God intends for me to be. I need accountability and strive to hold my brothers and sisters accountable as well. I am not going to be a fru-fru tutu wearing good guy Christian and tell you that it’s all going to be alright. Do not claim to me to be a Christian on Sunday Morning and then live your life how you and the world see fit the rest of the week. I will call you on it. My family is proof positive that if you give up and give to God and live the way He designed us to live that He WILL reward you.
We were struggling to make it as a family when we started attending church and “living right.” He blessed us with a stronger marriage. We were struggling to find our calling then a terrible disaster hit Haiti and I was called to serve there. We were struggling to add to our family when we started tithing and we got pregnant. We were struggling financially with two incomes living week to week, my wife became unemployed and our income was cut in over half, we put our faith in Him and we have been paying bills early and actually have a little to put back each check. Then we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter, Delilah Joyce. This is what brought me back to where I need to be as a Christian…
I will continue to update this blog as much as possible and continue to post on FB. I will continue to hold not only myself but YOU accountable. I will pray for you and help you in whatever way that I can. I am going to strive to be the best Christian brother that I can be all that I ask is for you to do the same. Strive to be the best Christian that you can. Strive to shed the Truant Christian title.
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