Grudge

I was reading 2 Timothy the other day and I am just in awe of how much Christ changed Paul's life! Something particular that Paul wrote stuck out and I have continually run it over in my mind. The verse is 2 Timothy4:16, "A my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them." This simple verse means so much. When Paul first began to preach the name of Jesus those closest to him deserted and left him. Here Paul is praying that this will not be counted against them. I wish I had the attitude and humility that Paul portrays here through Christ. Instead of holding a grudge against those who left him and possibly persecuted him, he prays for them and hopes that it will not be held against them in the end. There have been so many times in my life that somebody has wronged me or straight up deserted me and I have held that against them. With Christ dwelling within me, following His example through Paul, I let go of those grudges and pray that it will not be counted against them in the eyes of Christ. Those who have been forgiven much, love and forgive much! Since Christ died for me and became the ultimate sacrifice by which my sins are forgiven, I am called through Him to forgive others as they trespass against me. Have you forgiven?

Where I Was...

After listening and reading several peoples' stories and things that they are thankful for, most of them have a common them/thing, which is a new life in Christ. This got me thinking about my life now that Christ lives compared to the life I was living on my own and where I was and where I would be today. Before I truly gave up my life to Christ, I was completely blinded and submerged and dead in sin. My life was going nowhere, and it was full of sin. The few months/years that stand out the most to me are my last two years of high school. During high school I professed to be a Christian, even though I had no idea what it meant to truly live a Christian life. Yes, I believed in Jesus and claimed Him as Savior, but no I did not devote my life to Him and surrender to His will. Anyways, the life I was living was shameful. The relationship I was in was not edifying, and turned into a relationship based off of and reliant on physicality and physical pleasures, which ultimately tore us apart. From there I found alcohol, which I had sworn I would never touch. For about a month or so alcohol was my safe haven. Anyways, if God would not have intervened and placed Caswell, my family and my Caswell family in my life then I would have continued to spiral downhill and I am afraid to think about where I would be today. Honestly, I would probably still be at Carolina, but I would be one of those college guys that is in school mainly for the drinking and the girls. Thankfully God is an awesome God and by His grace and by faith he saved my life and tore me apart so that Christ took over my life and has completely changed me. Yes, there are hardships and trials and temptations that I have to deal with daily, but I no longer have to worry or stress over them because it is not my life! How awesome is God that he takes a sinner like myself and turns me into a God fearing man that lives for Christ! I write these things to boast for Christ, not for myself and to just show that everyone has a story no matter where you are, believer or not, you have a story. Are you telling your story?

God Bless You

Anybody ever think about why we say "God Bless You" after somebody sneezes? I don't know why, but for some reason I think about these things and am interested to know the reason behind it. So I looked up a few things on the internet to try to figure out why it is that it has become a common response to a sneeze. The most common answer for this is that during the bubonic plague, sneezing was thought to be the first sign of the plague. Therefore, when people would sneeze, others would ask God to bless them in order to halt the onset of the disease. So people would see/hear somebody sneeze and they would ask God to heal them, basically they were praying for their friends, family, and strangers! This old source of a quick prayer/blessing has become an English custom and has lost its value/true meaning. Do we really know that we are asking God to bless a person that sneezes? I didn't think about it that way, I just did it because I thought it was the polite thing to do. While nobody really knows how "God Bless You" became a common saying to a sneeze, it can be taken as a person asking God to bless and heal another brother or sister, which is awesome. Are you praying God's blessings upon others?

Some Simple Words

We went shopping today, which is always an interesting experience being the day after Thanksgiving, and it was fun. I enjoyed the opportunity to just spend some time with my family even though I didn't buy a single thing HAHA! Anyways, as we were shopping, we were in this one store and I saw this piece of art, I guess it would be called art (this thing in a frame). There is a picture of it below, but it said something so simple yet so great! It said, "Having someone to love is family, Having somewhere to go is home, Having both...is a blessing." WOW! Thank you God for people to love who I can call my family, by blood and my friends and thank you for several places that I can call home especially my eternal home with you!

What are you thankful for?

Clarity

Do you ever pray for clarity? I know I have and for some reason still do. I hate the feeling of confusion and just not knowing what is going to happen. Sometimes I wish that I could just look into the future and see what I was going to be, where I was going to live, who I was going to be with and so on. Fortunately, that is not a possibility. Rather I am here and am feeling this state of confusion about everything. There are so many different decisions to make about life that I have no idea what to do or what is going to happen. Thankfully, to Lord does know, and it is in Him that I find rest and comfort. I take joy and comfort in not knowing the future and in knowing that God does and that He is carrying me. So yes, I am confused about everything and it can be frustrating, but the Lord provides and in Him I find peace. I am not restless because the Lord is my shelter, my rock, my comfort!! Where do you find peace?

Drowning

Have you ever thought about what the Bible says about our life before Christ? It says that we are DEAD in our transgressions, not struggling, not floating, but fully submerged and dead! We have already drowned in our sin and Christ comes and breathes life back into us, which is so amazing. I was dead and Christ came and saved me which I am so thankful for. Even though we have been pulled up from the waters, we will continue to struggle, we will keep trying to jump back in and drown ourselves over and over. I don't understand why we do this, but the fact is that we do. This is one of the hardest parts of my life because I feel like I have failed, like I have let God down. I feel like there is no escape from this and that I will continue to struggle. Thankfully, I have been in the arms of grace and do not have to deal with it, rather I give it all to the Lord, EVERY single bit of me is His. In doing so, I yearn to know Him and the Word of God. Since I yearn to know God and his Word, I study it, I live in it and this is what guides my life and drives me. I thirst for the Lord and I hunger to know Him more and I am thankful that He has provided the opportunity for me to do this by reading the Bible and through prayer. My life would be nothing without Christ. The reason I live is because of Jesus, because He sacrificed His life for me, so that I may live abundantly. Yes, sometimes I fall, sometimes I am persecuted, but it is for Christ that I endure all things. I count all of my gain but rubbish for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord! I live for Him, rather He lives through me! I was already dead before Jesus rescued me, He breathed life back into me and it is now Christ who lives. Are you alive or are you still drowning?

Missions

“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't.” The latter is a quote from John Piper in discussing the purpose/goal of the church, which is in fact worship. God does not call us as a body to go out and do missions, rather he calls us to worship and exalt His name! This is something that we as the church have missed completely. Pastor J.D. Greer spoke on this last Sunday and he hit it head on. The great commandment according to Matthew 22:35-40 is to love the Lord with all that you have! The latter is what we term worship, which is unfortunately not happening around the world, but this is the ultimate goal of the church/the body of Christ! On the other hand, the great commission Matthew 28:18-20 is to make disciples to all ends of the earth. The Great Commandment is God centered and is completely focused on Him. However, the Great Commission is man centered and is as Piper terms it "a temporary necessity." Since we are not in complete worship with our God, we have been called by Christ to go and to spread His name and to TEACH others that the greatest commandment for them is to be whole-hearted worshipers!! This is what God has called each one of us to be and as we disciple others and are being discipled this is what we are working towards! We are not focusing solely on teaching others how to go out to different nations and preach, which is very important, but we are supposed to be teaching each other how to be in total worship with the Lord at all times in our life. Since worship, as Piper stated, does not exist, yes we are called to go and to teach and to make disciples so that they will become worshipers, not missionaries. If we are in active worship, then others will see Christ through us. Since worship around the world does not exist, God calls each one of us to go make disciples for Him so that they will come to know true worship. I am really excited about this because our BCM has the opportunity to go nationwide and across the world to spread the name of Christ so that others will become worshipers!! I am planning on going to Argentina with them and I cannot wait to see how God will reveal Himself to these people in order to show them that a life of worship is the only true life! Has God called you to go? Are you living a life of Worship?

Old Friends

Since I am at home for the week for Thanksgiving I was able to catch up with some old friends, some from home and others from Caswell. What a blessing it has been to see these people and to just have some fun. This past weekend was Fall Fling at Caswell and it was great to see and hang out with some Caswell folks! We had some good times and got to watch wrestling pay-per-view at Yam's!!! It was so much fun that I cannot wait for Reunion. Oh and I got to go on stage with BDT for one of their dramas and it was awesome! God was moving in some amazing ways and I watched some of the high school guys from my small group make commitments to Christ which was awesome! Tonight I got to play ultimate frisbee with some friends and it was a whole lot of fun. God has blessed my life with some amazing people and I'm glad that I was able to hang out! Who has God blessed your life with?

Fall Retreat

This past weekend was our fall retreat with the youth group at Summit. It was so flippin awesome and I cannot wait for our next trip! I absolutely love hanging out with those kids and sharing the love of Christ with them and watching them grow in their faith. Matt Orth was our speaker and he brought the Gospel to these kids and it was great! Matt Blair was our worship leader and I enjoyed getting to hang out with him and listen to his music and just have the opportunity to worship with him and our students. It was great getting to know the students better and have fun and be able to learn more about Christ. There's a few pictures below of some of the fun we had! Praise God for those students.



Guys vs. Girls football (guys had to be on their knees)