Stories and other stuff

 I love God, and I mean that.  I mean, with my whole heart, love God.  Not perfectly, but i'm trying harder and harder to not try so hard.  By that, I mean I'm just trying these days to just do the things God is asking me to do so that I can be closer to Him.  It was an interesting week for me.  It became somewhat evident that I was going to be taking a week off from the things I'd normally do, but not by my own choice.  Where my choice came in was to see what God was doing and saying yes to that, even though it meant having to do without the things I really enjoy getting to do. This last week for me has been kind of like a performance review.  I have a better understanding of some things I need to change about the way I'm doing things.  The first one starts with taking off the name tags.  By that, I mean the things that identify what I do (like job titles).  I'm not this or that.  I'm me.  I get to do this or that and onl...

 Why do we forget sometimes that God is Sovereign? I had occasion to ask myself that question earlier today in response to a conversation I had with someone else the previous evening.  I explained to said someone that I quit fighting something in my life a while ago.  Every time I tried to change the situation I found myself in, I explained, it was a disaster, so I quit fighting it. Doing that was a choice, but for me, it was a choice of whether or not God was Sovereign and was I going to let Jesus be Lord of my life, or was I going to just try to go my own way? In the book of Acts, a man named Saul was fighting God, all the while thinking he was defending God by persecuting Christians.  But Saul met a man named Jesus.  Acts 26:4 describes the encounter this way:   Acts 26:4 (NIV)  We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice  saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ Back ...

My son asked me today why I make my bed each day.  I was pretty good at that for the longest time, but I have been slacking.  I noticed the other day I'd been slacking on a lot of things.  Not intentionally, but the slip had been happening.  I replied that I try to do that because it means I've accomplished one thing during the day.  I never quite understood the importance of making my bed until I started doing it.  It looks nice and it's a nice thing to climb into a made bed each night instead of climbing into the crumpled mess it winds up each morning after myself and the dog mess it up during the night. Attention to details in life matter.  If you don't stay on top of the dust, things get dirty.  If you don't take out the trash when it's full, it overflows.  If you don't clean the shower, you get pink stuff growing in it.  If you don't put things where they go when you're done with them, then they become clutter and then you can't fin...

 Once a month there is a prayer meeting on a Friday evening that is hosted by one of the local churches.  It moves from church to church each month and the purpose is to bring people from all the local churches together for a time of worship and prayer. Last night, it was at a church a friend of mine attends and I'm so glad I went.  Sometimes life gets hard and we just need to find some time and a place to just get away from whatever is pulling on us and just let out some worship. I did that last night.  Got my hands up and everything.  For me, lifting both hands up in worship is not an easy thing to do because I get a little self-conscious.  But not last night.  Last night, I just worshiped God with a bunch of other believers who were there to do the same. I saw a man on his face last night.  Others were singing and signing the words they were singing.  Hands were lifted up, voices were lifted up, and petitions for our community, our leaders...

 My goal is to write a blog post three times a week.  I find myself falling very short of that mark these days.  It's not because I don't have the time.  It's mostly because I don't make the time and get busy with other things and before I know it, the day is gone.   I get convicted about things like this from the Holy Spirit.  It's not because the things that keep me busy aren't good.  They are.  It's a matter for me to use some discernment about what is best and start formulating a priority list based on that.   The Lord Jesus has some words about this that he spoke to one of two sisters.  One was listening to Jesus, the other was about the house trying to prepare things for her guests that day, including the Lord.  When she complained to Jesus, this was His reply:  (Luke 10:41-42) 41  “Martha, Martha,”  the Lord answered,  “you are worried   and upset about many things,   42  but few t...

 It was a blessing to be invited to speak at a Resurrection Sunday Sunrise service over the weekend.  I was doubly blessed to bring the message at the main church service as well, but today's post is about the sunrise service. Speaking in public can be scary, especially when you're not very good at speaking off the top of your head.  For the service, the Holy Spirit gave me some remarks that were appropriate for the occasion and and led into the service.  Before I left the house I made sure I had the remarks separated from the main message and off we went. The gentleman I was with told me rain was in the forecast but not until mid-morning.  When we arrived there were quite a few people gathered.  All total, we had 22. Someone had built a nice fire.  We sang a couple of hymns a-capella and then it was my turn. Ever tried to read wet paper?  Because when it was my turn, it started raining for real so I did what anybody would...crumpled up the papers...

 Today is Maunday Thursday.  Today we commemorate the last full day of the life and ministry on earth of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It's also Passover.  Our Jewish brethren celebrate this night as the night death passed them over.   What should be a time of peace and celebration is anything but this year.  As I write this, news reports are saying that Israelis are conducting airstrikes on Palestinian positions.  This is after Israeli police had to restore order at one of the mosques that sit on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.  It's considered an affront to the Islamic world to have Jews enter their holy site.  The temple mount is administered  of the Jordanian Government. While nobody knows the day or the hour that the Lord Jesus will make good on His promise to return, events sure seem to be leading that way in a hurry.  One thing we know for certain is that, in the process of remembering the last week of His life, His death on th...

 I had to embarrass myself today because I said something that wasn't true.  At the time, I thought it was, but I was mistaken.  I could have kept it quiet and nobody on the planet but me and Jesus would have known that I'd mis-spoken.  The thing is that I believed what I said about the day I got saved.  The only problem is that the day that was probably "the day" was six days later.  I just happen to be bringing the message on the day I thought it was, which just happens to be Resurrection Sunday. I'd rather look stupid than live out a lie, even if it wasn't an intentional one.  It was an unintentional sin of commission, instead of an intentional one and I took the opportunity to make it right.  I'm gonna have to tell that again at least one more time. One of the things I've learned is that it's better to correct a mistake and admit to it rather than cover it up.  It's always the cover-up that leads to more and more lies and it makes things ...