God's Timing

Regardless of how I would like to view myself sometimes, I am not a patient person.  One of my biggest pet peeves are long, and unnecessary lines.  They always seem to be the worst when you are in the biggest hurry as well.  For example, I walked into the local Wal-Mart last week to pick up two or three items.  (Yes, I made it in and out without anything extra)  It took me maybe four minutes total to find what I needed, and I thought to myself, this is going to be a quick trip.  Boy was I wrong.  Out of over 20 registers at the front of the store, only four were open and checking out customers.  FOUR!  The lines were long, and I waited almost half an hour before I got out of the store.  I am proud to say that I kept my cool, because I did realize that it was not the poor girl's fault who checked me out, and she did not deserve some of the comments that she was receiving about the lines.  But, it was still ridiculous.  Then, on the way home I pulled up to a red light, when it turned green five cars got through before it changed back to red.  And guess who was the first one to have to stop, THIS GUY.  I did not think it would ever turn green.  I especially got fed up when there was at least a full minute and a half when no traffic was coming through the green light!

I wonder sometimes if we have this same attitude towards God as we experience things in our lives.  It seems like we are always in a hurry to be in a relationship, to get that new job, or buy a new home.  And when it does not happen, we either try to force the issue or question God as to why.  Not only this, but we tend to demand answers of Him.

Psalm 46:10
"Cease striving and know that I am God;"

Some translations also use the phrase "Be still."  We can also look at a point of being patient.  We should not put so much in making things try to happen the way we want, and just be patient.  And what should we do while being patient.  Know that He is God.  Know that He knows what He is doing.  Trust in the fact that He is sovereign over all things.  Have faith in His will for your life.

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."

We must seek His will in our lives, and trust that He knows exactly what to do in our best interest.  Through this, we draw closer to Him.  What do we do in the time being, we serve.  We stay faithful in the areas in which we currently find ourselves, and we work hard until He is ready to move us where He wants us to be.

Thanks for reading, and I pray that God will continue to bless you all!

Praise You in This Storm

This has been a devastating week for my home, and community.  On Friday, October 7th we started seeing the early rain bands of Hurricane Matthew.  This rain and wind continued until Saturday night.  All in all, we received around 15 inches of rain at my house, and some areas around us received more.  Dams have give way, and many of the communities in my county are underwater.  Many have been without power for almost a week now.  Many of our roads are closed due to flooding, and some have even been washed away.  And even more sadly, there have been some in my community to lose their lives as a result of this storm.

With all of this loss, I know many people would ask the question of why these things happen?  Why does God allow things of this nature to occur?  Let me give you my humble opinion to these questions.

#1 - My God is always in control.
It is not my place to question why things happen in this world.  I serve a wonderful loving God who has a perfect will, and a perfect purpose for all things.  And, it is not my place to understand until he is ready for me to understand.  He knows everything in my future, and has a reason for the here and now.  Maybe, just maybe, what I go through now is preparing me for what may come in the future.  And because of this moment, I will be prepare for what He needs me to do when that time comes.

Isaiah 55:8-9
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts."

#2 - We seek the Lord through humility.

Do we really live our lives with the true understanding of who our Lord truly is?  God is not a buddy, nor a relative we only speak of during certain occasions.  He is our Lord, and our Creator.  Regardless of how we may see Him, He is the Almighty.  It is only by His grace that we have the right to His forgiveness, the right to pray to Him, and the right to be His children.  When we come to Him, it should be done humbly, without pride.  I believe that sometimes God allows things to happen to get our attention.  Maybe He is trying to show us how much we really need the peace and comfort that only He can give.  We when become proud and comfortable, we lose sight on our need for our Savior.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

"And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."

#3 - A chance to witness
One thing I have been amazed of in this time of struggles, is the number of Christians I see reaching out to those in need.  I have seen where many are volunteering to help with damage to homes, offering hot showers and meals to those without power, and others taking their own boats into flooded areas to rescue those that were stranded.  As Christians, we have to understand that our actions are our greatest witness.  Many people can quote scriptures at the drop of a hat, but the real question is, can you show them in your life?  As we said when I was growing up, you can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?  Times like these give us a real chance to show the love of God that lives inside of us.  Are we taking the chance to share that with those around us?

James 1:22

"But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves"

I choose to praise God for this storm that we are living through.  Because I know, that even in the midst of struggle and loss, my God is right there beside me.  He never left my side.  And I know that He has a perfect purpose.  I choose to look for the opportunities He has provided me, instead of looking at all the bad that is around.  I choose to trust in the one who knows what my future holds, and who has ordained all of my steps.  What do you choose?

Thanks for reading, and I pray that God will bless you all!

Ready for the Unexpected

Today was an interesting day for me.  Upon reaching work this morning, I arrived to the main office of the school in which I work with an inch of water covering the floors.  Earlier this morning we had a huge downpour, and there were two buildings with water coming in.  I called in an extra custodian, took my dress shirt and tie off, and went to work with a mop and a bucket.  I will say this is not something I was expecting to find when I got to work today.  The other Assistant Principal and I worked for almost two hours with the custodians to get the water out of the office.

Life has a way of throwing us a twist when we are not expecting it.  We just have to be ready, and deal with them as they come.  Something similar happened to Abraham in Genesis 12.

Genesis 12:1-5

"Now the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse.  And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”  So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan."

Abraham was probably not expecting this when he woke up that morning.  This is even more extraordinary being his advanced years.  However, without question or complaint, he trusted and obeyed God's command.  This is true faith in action.  He did not know exactly what laid ahead of him on this journey, but he had the assurance from God that he would be fine.

Do we have the faith of Abraham when God puts us in unexpected?  Are we ready to serve when called upon?  It is easy in this day and time to make excuses for why we cannot do what God asks of us.  Most of them come in the form of fear, or just plain selfishness.  To combat this, we need to strengthen our faith so that we are ready for whatever comes our way, whenever it comes our way.  To do this we need a healthy prayer life, devoted study time, and focus on the work that God has put before us at the current time.  Hopefully, if we truly work in this manner, we may have a time to shine for God like Abraham did.  What a witness that would be.

Thanks for reading, and I pray that God will bless you all this week!

What Would Your Letter Say?

Hi all!  It feels good to have the opportunity to write again.  Lots of things have been going on that have left me unable to post for a while, but with a small bit of free time, I felt that today would be a good day to begin again.  I have recently begun to question many things about my life.  No, I am not having a mid-life crisis.  That would be kind of sad to think that I would only live to see 60.  But more so, If I could have a one on one conversation with God, what would He say about me.  How would He feel about the way I am living and the things that I am doing.  While reading through my bible, I came across an interesting set of scripture.

Romans 1:7-10
"to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you."

 Wouldn't it be cool to get a letter from one of the Apostles?  Or even better, from God?  The book of Romans is nothing more than a letter that Paul wrote to the church at Rome.  We know that this letter was intended for the church(body of believers) because it is addressed to those called as saints.  In the same fashion as he does with all of his letters, Paul includes a message of grace to those in which he writes.  But the next part is what struck me.  He made sure to let them know that he was thanking God for them!  WOW!  Now there is a way to make a believer feel good.  But why?  Because their faith was being proclaimed throughout the whole world.  At this point in time, Paul was in Corinth which is around 1000 miles away.  And he was getting news of the faith of that church and its spread.  The people were sharing the Gospel and maturing in their faith.  And this gave Paul a since of pride, even though He, at this point, had never been to Rome.

What would your letter say?  Would you be praised for your faith, and all of the good things that you are doing?  What would it say?

Thanks for reading, and God bless you all!

Getting Older

WOW!  Time sure does seem to fly by.  There are so many things going on in our lives that we sometimes forget to stop and look at what is going on around us.  Two weeks ago, I hit a milestone in my life.  I graduated into a new decade in my life.  I finally turned 30.  I will be honest, it was not something that I was looking forward to at first.  But, then I realized that it was just another marker in my life.  Something that I could definitely use as sort of a window to my past and to my future.  So what I am going to do in this post is to examine the decades in which I have lived, and then, look to the future as to where God would have me go.

0-10 years

Luke 18:15-17
"And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”

These were the great years.  These are the days that we all as adults wish that we could go back to sometimes, because life was simply and easy compared to what we go through today.  There was no worry on bills to pay, no job to rush to, no "responsibility" whatsoever.  I had a pretty good childhood.  I did not have as much as everyone else did.  But, my parents worked hard to provide a good life for us.  There was never a time that I had to wonder whether I was loved or not.  I also did not have an understanding of the world that my parents had.  Everything seemed so simple and easy to me.  Much the same as a new believer.  The concept of faith in Christ is not truly a hard concept to understand from a child's perspective.  Many times you can tell a child that something is true and they will just blindly trust you.  We need to be the same in our walk with Christ.  We need to be at a point that we put our full faith and trust in Christ, and all that He teaches.  And we cannot try to put our own spin on our salvation.

11-20 years

Psalms 25:6-8

"Remember, O Lord, Your compassion and Your lovingkindnesses, For they have been from of old.  Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; According to Your lovingkindness remember me, For Your goodness’ sake, O Lord.  Good and upright is the Lord; Therefore He instructs sinners in the way."

These were the hard years.  This is the time in my life where I truly started to question God and His promise.  No longer was I satisfied with the "just because it says so" answer.  I lost my childhood faith as I grew.  I found that this was a time of many mistakes and repentance.  I rebelled against what I was taught, and surly gave my family some sleepless nights.  But such is true of all those that are of the world.  It wasn't until I was 14 when God truly opened my eyes to who He was.  And how bad that I needed Him.  And I gave my life to Him.  And it was at this time that I failed the most.  I was pulled by the things and temptations of the world.  Much is the same for a new believer.  There are going to be many trials in the beginning.  Temptations seem to be stronger as we begin our faith.  But, those mistakes are not necessarily a bad thing.

21-30 years

Philippians 1:6
"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." 

This was a time of growth for me.  I had matured out of the foolishness of my thoughts and actions.  I moved to a point that I knew that I was responsible for my faith, and I knew that I had to act on it.  Did I still make mistakes?  Yes, numerous.  However, I found that my mistakes were important to me.  They showed me where my sins were.  They showed me the way in which I needed to turn.  It is much like the Old Testament Law.  It is not there to condemn us, but to show our sins to us.  I saw the sins of my youth, and I worked hard in these years to learn and increase in my faith.  My mistakes were also a way to show that God was still there.  Because no matter the sin I committed, God was right there with me.  I felt conviction from the Spirit inside of me to repent.  With all this in mind, I began to grow.  I began to study more to seek out God's will in my life.  I also looked to find where my shortcomings were, based on past experience, so that I could make the necessary changes.  This represents the time in a believer's life where they begin to need the meat of understanding.  They have moved on from the milk as described in 1 Corinthians 3 and Hebrews 5.

30+ years

Philippians 1:9-11
"And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."

And I still have a lot to learn.  I find that there are new ways that I can grow everyday.  Our journey never ends while we are here on this earth.  What does the rest of my life hold?  I have no idea.  But one thing that I am certain in is that I will never be alone.  God has brought me this far, and no matter what, He will always be there for me.  Why?  Because I have put all my faith and hope in Him, and not in anything else.  I depend on Him for everything.  I need His guidance, and His forgiveness.  And my job is to keep on serving to the best of my ability until it is time for me to go home.  As I look to the future now, it is not in fear, but in hope, and anticipation.  What is God going to show me?  What is He going to help me through?  When I look back on these years, what will I have learned?  It is rather kind of exciting now.

Never again will I look at aging as something to be afraid of.  Yet, more of an adventure that is continuing in my life.  My story is not over.  Now, I do know how the story ends, and I take comfort in that.  What is exciting now is what is going to take place between here and then.  Because nothing is more important than my relationship with my Lord.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless You all this week. 

    

How to Survive

Hello again to you all.  I am thankful once again for the opportunity to write again.  As I stated in my last posting, there are a lot of things going on in my life.  There are many new challenges that have to be faced, as all of us have.  And it seems like it never ends.  There always seems to be something changing or going wrong that we have to deal with.  And when it seems like nothing else could possibly go wrong, it does.  And many times in the heat of the moment we may question why God allowed certain things to happen.  We question that if He loved us, that He would not let those things happen to us.  But this is simply not the case.  Sometimes God uses those instances to get us to lean on Him more.  The question that we have to ask ourselves, is what do we really place our trust in.  And I am not saying this flippantly like I know that many do, but I want you to truly ask yourself, when the struggles of this life are upon you, what is the first thing that you do?

Matthew 7:24-27
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

How many times in our lives do bad things happen, and the first thing we do is try to figure it out on our own?  Or we turn to that friend, or family member for support and guidance.  Yet we systematically tune out God in the situation.  Or the thought of what God would have us do completely slips our minds.  And when the situation is bad enough, we crack under the weight of it.  But, for the one that has his/her foundation fully settled on the Word of God, we find comfort in the midst of the storm.

About a month ago, our school was shaken with the tragic death of one of our students.  Thanks be to God that he had been saved before the accident.  But the school was in shambles.  It forced all of us to take a good look at our lives in light of eternity.  For no one thought that death could come to them because of their youth.  Many of them had no idea of where to turn for comfort.  No one could fathom the reason for his untimely death.  But was his death "untimely"?  Or was it something that God allowed for a purpose?  I was able to share with a large group of students about the importance of a relationship with Jesus.  About who He was, and what He did for us.  Many of the students that were believers had a certain peace about them that was evident.  They were sad, but at peace knowing that their friend was in the presence of God.  And some of the students took note of how they spoke and acted.  The deceased student's pastor was there with me, and though I had to go teach he stayed.  Later own he told me that a couple of students repented, and gave their lives to Christ.

God has a purpose for all the things we go through.  He had a purpose for taking that student home when He did.  I firmly believe He did for those few that were saved because of it.  But it is not for us to question Him.  We just need to trust in Him.

Psalms 46:1-2
"God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change"

I urge you to check your foundation.  If it is based on the Word of God in Christ Jesus, you will be able to stand firm.  If it is based in something else, it will not last.

Thanks for reading, and I pray that God will bless you all this week! 

Chick-Fil-A and the Bible

There has been a lot of controversy these past few weeks concerning the stance of the owner of Chick-fil-a.  The owners of this franchise have always based their business on biblical principles.  One of which is that they are never open on Sunday.  This is one thing that I have admired them for.  They stay closed to give their employees a chance to go to church if they want to.  Recently the head of their company and son of the founder of the Atlanta based company, Dan Cathy, made these comments for the Baptist Press.

"But as an organization we can operate on biblical principles. So that is what we claim to be. [We are] based on biblical principles, asking God and pleading with God to give us wisdom on decisions we make about people and the programs and partnerships we have. And He has blessed us."

"We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that."

"We operate as a family business ... our restaurants are typically led by families; some are single. We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that."

"We intend to stay the course," he said. "We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles."


So what is the biblical definition of marriage?  All of the scripture that I have read teaches me that marriage is to be between one man and one woman.  A husband and a wife.  Here are some examples from the old testament.

Genesis 2:21-24

"So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, “ This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”  For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh."

Genesis 34-8

"But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage."

1 Kings 3:1

"Then Solomon formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the LORD and the wall around Jerusalem."

If you want something from the new testament, check out Colossians and Ephesians where the Apostle Paul teaches about how the family unit should work.

Colossians 3:18-21

"Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart."

Ephesians 5:22-33

"Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband."

There is no where in the scriptures that teaches that marriage can be of two people of the same sex.  As a matter of fact the bible does teach that homosexuality is wrong.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10

"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God."

Leviticus 18:22

" You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination." 

Romans 1:24-27

"Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.  For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error."

And this is the reason behind the attacks.  People have turned their backs on God.  There are many out there who do not believe and do not want to.  And further more they attack everyone who speaks about their Christian beliefs.  But why are we surprised?  Christ foretold this while He was on earth.

Matthew 10:22

"You will be hated by all because of My name,.."

John 15:19

"If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you."

But, this is also how we know who truly belongs to Him.  This is where we get some of that eternal security.  If we are hated and mistreated for trusting and putting our faith in Him, we belong to Him and will be blessed.

Luke 6:22

"Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man."

Matthew 5:10-12

"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

I am very proud of the stand that the leaders of the Chick-Fil-A company is taking based on their faith.  I will continue to support them and eat at their restaurants as often as I get a chance.  I pray that other business leaders who believe the same way will let their voice be heard as well.  And I also pray earnestly for all those out there that hate this company and us Christians for what we believe.  I pray that God will open their eyes to the sin in their lives and they repent before it is too late.

Thanks for reading, and God bless you all this week! 

   

How Many Times Do I Have to Tell You?

Sorry that I have missed posting last week.  It was a very busy time around my job and house.  Closing out the school year, doctor's appointments, preparing for Vacation Bible School, and many other things have just seemed to swallow up the time.  But, life goes on.  And boy does it go on when you have four children in the house.  Now, I do only have three, but we have been watching a baby for a friend of our lately that has made life more interesting around the Boyd residence.

One of the problems has been my son this week.  For some reason, he has been very testy with his listening this past week.  I usually do not have this problem with my son.  I don't know if it is a trait that he picked up at school this year, or what.  Maybe since his birthday is today, he has felt that he is old enough to make his own decisions, even if they contradict mine.  And it seems that I have had to repeat myself numerous times to get my point across.  I have even had to be tough on discipline with him lately.  Why has he been so difficult these last few days.  Then, last night at bible school, I was hit with a message.  You know, there is a difference when a lesson from the bible moves you and when it HITS you.  Well, I got hit.

John 11:1-3
"Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”


Now, this family was well known by Christ.  It is recorded three times in the bible where he went to see them and spend time with them.  We also know that there was a special bond with them based on the message that was sent to Christ. "The one you love is sick."  So what do you think Christ did?  He stayed where He was.  WOW!  Why though?


John 11:4-16

"When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”  “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”  Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”  After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”  His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.  So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”  Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”"

Jesus said Himself that this would not end in death, but as a way to glorify God.  So, He waited.  And two days later, He was ready to go.  Then the disciples did it again.  They questioned Him.  And he then rebuked them for their lack of faith.  When Christ then told them that he had died, they thought he was just asleep and needed someone to wake him up.  How frustrating this must have been to our Lord.  So He made it plain and clear.  Lazarus was dead.  But there was a purpose.  There was a plan for the glory of God.  And yet, even after they were told that God would be glorified, and that it would not end that way, Thomas had to go and say, "Well we might as well go to so we can die too.  But it was not just the disciples.  Mary and Martha had their doubts too.

John 11:17-32

"So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off; and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house. Martha then said to Jesus, “ Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus *said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha *said to Him, “ I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “ I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” She *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.”  When she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “ The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she *got up quickly and was coming to Him.  Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.  Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”"

Now, this was not the first time that Mary and Martha had spent time with Christ and learned from Him.  They knew exactly who He was and what He taught.  They had had a meal with Him one time before, in which Christ rebuked Martha for wanting Him to send Mary to the kitchen to help here work.  And yet again, they questioned Christ like the disciples did.  They both went to Him and said that if you would have been here, Lazarus would not have died.  Jesus Himself had to reiterate who He was and asked her if she really believed.

John 11:33-44

"When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?”  So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, *came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus *said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, *said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus *said to her, “ Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “ Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice,“Lazarus, come forth.” The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”"

Here we can see the distress of our Lord.  When it says that He wept, was deeply moved, was troubled, if you study those words and how they were used, Christ was not sad because of the death of His friend.  Remember He said earlier that this would not end in death.  He was upset because of the disbelief of the people.  So many people that He had taught, and spent time with, still did not believe in totality in who He was.  If they did, they would not be questioning Him.  Even Martha again questioned Him when he said to move the stone.  His reply was "Did I not just say....?"  Just a few verses earlier, he rebuked her for her lack of belief.

How many times do we question God?  How many times do we seem to forget His promises to us in our situations?  How many times does He have to remind us who He is.  We have a problem in which we try to find our own way when we are in times of trouble.  We try to fix things ourselves instead of trusting in the promises of God.  And just like Martha and the disciples, we need that reminder over and over.  It is my prayer that I place my full trust in Him, and that I will stop questioning Him when I am in time of stress and struggles.  I hope you will do the same.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless you all this week!

Band Aid to a Broken Heart

I am blessed beyond what I shall ever deserve. I have a beautiful family, a wonderful church, a job doing something that I love, and the list could go on forever. However, today I want to focus on just one of the many blessings I have in my life, my daughter Lauren. I am devoting this week's post to her and her 1st birthday Friday. She is a band aid on a broken heart.

Back in 2008 when our oldest daughter, Morgan, was born, we were not sure if we wanted to be done having children. Along with our son, Keith, two children were a blessing in and of themselves. Our family was growing, but was it time to stop? My wife and I pondered and prayed about this for a long time. Finally we decided that one more might be a good finish if the Lord was willing to grant us that. I remember the day that my wife found out that she was expecting our third child. We were so happy and excited about the newest member of our family. We even went as far as to pick out names that very night.

Then, a few days later, a tragedy occurred. My wife was in the process of a miscarriage. It was the first time she had lost a child. There are no words to describe the pain that my wife and I felt. We were so happy about another child, that we had not entertained the thought of losing one. We were devastated. My wife and I prayed for comfort and peace. Was this a test of our faith? A couple of verses came to mind.

Romans 8:28
" And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

Romans 8:37-39
"But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

So we made it up in our minds that we would glorify God no matter the circumstances. We gave our sorrows over to Him, and trusted in Him that He would see us through.

Philippians 4:13
"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

We cast our cares upon the Lord about our suffering and the question as to was our family complete. And several months later, we had what we believed to be an answer to prayer. Jenny was expecting again. We were so elated at the thought, however, more cautious after what happened with the last pregnancy. Still, it was hard to suppress the excitement. Was this to be our reward for being faithful to God through a great tragedy? Then the news came. We lost this child too. Our hearts were broken. Our spirit was greatly weakened by this next loss. Was it meant for us to even have another child? Why was this happening again? The depression was so much greater this time. Two miscarriages within one year. My wife blamed herself, and I prayed for forgiveness thinking this may be some form of discipline from the Lord. But we still prayed. We gave this to the Lord as well. Every time that we faced this loss again, we prayed for comfort from our Lord.

Psalm 73:28
"But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works."

I was amazed at the chance that these situations gave us to witness to others. Many that I come into contact with were amazed at how at peace we were. They were amazed that we were not angry at God and turn away from our faith. Did we want to try again? Were we afraid of what would happen if we lost another one? What would we do? Around Christmas of 2010, my wife began to be sick. Not sure of what was going on I took her to the doctor. She was pregnant. This one was unplanned. We were not trying to get pregnant again. But, here it was. Fear struck us when some of the tests performed were not so good. We were at the point of extreme despair. We cried all night that night while we waited for the last test results to come in. I remember the chills I felt when the phone rang.

In May, my beautiful daughter Lauren was born. Words cannot describe what this blessing has been to us. Our hearts were broken at the loss of two babies that we will never see on this earth. But, God provided us with a band aid for our broken hearts in the angel that was born almost a year ago today. Not a day goes by that I do not praise God for blessing me beyond what I deserve. Was this a reward for our faithfulness through our time of suffering? I don't know. It sure feels like it though. Watching her grow has been a heart warming experience. Her first tooth, watching her crawl, her first steps on her own, and the first time she called me Da Da, burn in my mind.

I will do everything in my power to be the best Dad I can be to Lauren. I will never forget what she is to my wife and I. And I will never forget to give God the glory, honor and praise for sending her to us.

Lauren, for all that you are now at this age, for all that I hope you to become, know that your Daddy will love and cherish you always.

Happy Birthday.

Thanks for reading, and God bless you all this week!

Dare to be Different

I am exceedingly troubled by the things I see going on around us in society. In North Carolina we have a constitutional amendment on our primary ballot. It is to define marriage as one man and one woman. This amendment of course is under strong attack. And is not just the homosexuals that are attacking it. There are others making claims that this amendment should not be voted for, for many other reasons. They say it will be bad for the economy, make domestic violence cases harder to prosecute, and affect child custody cases. All of these claims are to get people to look at things that have nothing to do with the amendment. They are slamming the churches that support it. But the saddest part are those that say that they are saved, and believe that God's word is inerrant that refuse to vote for it. They are allowing themselves to be swayed by opponents by either being afraid to stand on what they believe, or giving into the arguments which have nothing to do with the amendment and accept a worldly view of things.

It seems that anything with a Christian meaning or even undertone is seen as taboo today. And it seems like we are always under attack for believing the way that we do. Whether it is a malicious attempt towards us, or a subtle ignoring of what we believe, we are labeled as ignorant, or holier than thou. I know of many who claim to be believers that try to play with the world. They do not take a stand on what they believe for fear of the repercussions they would face from those around them that they believe are friends. They do not want to be seen as different. Or, they see nothing wrong with the worldly lifestyle that contradicts what we learn in the Bible. However, that is not what the scripture teaches about those that choose to follow God.

Genesis 6:5-9
"Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God."

Noah was different. Out of all the people on earth at this time, he was the only one who was faithful to God. He did not compromise himself over wanting to fit in with the others in the world. Later in this story we see where he built an ark for him, his family, and the animals to survive a great flood. You can probably imagine what people were saying about him as he did this. But he did not care. He wanted to please God and God alone.

Daniel 1:8-9
"But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials..."


Daniel made a stand. In the midst of imprisonment in a foreign land, he choose to honor God at whatever the cost. No matter what the consequences were, he was going to be faithful. Even the commander who liked Daniel tried to get him to do as every other person imprisoned did. But Daniel held true, and was blessed greatly by God. He faced trials again when he was later thrown in the lions den for refusing to submit to the King as a god. And once again, God rewarded his faith. Daniel chose to be different.

2 Corinthians 11:23-27
"Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure."

Paul suffered for the Gospel. Paul started out as a pharisee. After his conversion, he did not let anything come between him and sharing the Gospel of Christ. He was beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, in danger around any corner, yet he choose to follow Christ no matter the consequences. He did not care what people thought about him or did to him. He dared to be different.

Now this is just a sampling of individuals in the bible that choose to stand on their faith inspite of what people may have said, believed, or done to them. They were not ashamed of what they believed. They did not sit back and hope that no one would ask what they thought. They were courageous. They defended their faith against all odds. There was no doubt in what they believed, as is in the case of people today. They say the believe, but their actions contradict it.

2 Corinthians 5:16-17
"Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

When we receive salvation we are made to be different. A change happens to us that causes us to want to do away with all that we were before. We no longer have a part in the world in a spiritual since. They do not want us. They are always against what we believe. It is not us as a person, it is the message of the One in which we stand.

John 15:18-19
"If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you."


We need not be ashamed of who we are. We have the honor of being claimed sons of God. It is our job to spread the teachings of Jesus regardless of the consequences. We must take a stand on our beliefs no matter what some body else thinks. Why? Because we are different.

I choose to be different. How about you?

Thanks for reading, and God bless you all this week!