Just wanted to say hi and see if anyone was still out there that might read this.  I started this blog because a friend talked me into it and actually enjoyed the writing and the discussions that it prompted for about a year.  During that year I was sitting at home, doing nothing but getting fat, old and weak due to a lack of work.  Cabinets are hard to sell during this current economic situation.  This is what actually led to a major decision I made, also prompted by friends and my wife.  I enrolled in the University of Alabama at Birmingham as a pre-nursing major at the age of forty-nine.  Then my life changed drastically.

I had to quit teaching Sunday school and a Wednesday night adult class at my church.  I ultimately did not even have much time to attend church.  I also decided to check out some other denominations when I could, not looking for anything in particular, just wanting to see if any of the things I had read about in my studies for classes were true or false.  I also attempted to get as far as possible in my freshman year of college to free up my summer to try to find some work, completing 37 credit hours in these two semesters.  My wife and I have to rely on God more and more as the financial resources are finally gone.  We have seen some awesome signs of Christ in some of those we know and love during the past few months.  Thank God for his people.

We have had some personal tragedies during the past few months that have also affected our lives in ways that we could have never foreseen.  One occurrence in particular is life-changing and will never be over until we enter eternity.  Again, some of Gods children have been there for us and I believe they always will be.  I am thankful for the concern, the support and the prayers of these saints every day.

I want to write some more this summer if I have some time.  I need work though, so that will be my priority.  I start my second year of college in August if the money to pay our bills is available.  This post is short and rambling and is really just an attempt to re-enter the waters.  It is also a simple thank you to all that read this and know of our plight and continue to pray for us.  We covet these prayers. We know that God is here, even if he does not seem to be at times.  We need you, we need God, and we

Love you all

Tags: blog, Christ, Discussion, Eternity, friend, God, Love, Personal, personal tragedies, Prayer, School, university of alabama at birmingham, Work, Writing

I asked some questions about denominations on Tuesday.  Since I have only been in one, the Church of God-Tennessee, these were real questions I wanted a little discussion about.  Not many seemed to have anything to say.  I was mainly wondering why some people seem to have an overwhelming love for the institutions of man.  Some of the comments and conversations I have read and heard put some peoples love and views of their denominations on a level close to idolatry, in my opinion.

I didn’t join my church because it was in the Church of God.  I didn’t join it because I felt all of the beliefs and commitments were so much better or different than others.  I did make sure they were not claiming anything blatantly unbiblical.  But after that the doctrine of this denomination did not make me jump up and down and declare, this is it, I’ve found the right one.  As a matter of fact, the more I have learned and grown I am pretty certain we have a couple of things wrong.  It is okay though because everyone does.

So why did I join and stay, you might be asking.

I did it primarily because I sensed the love of God in the people of my local assembly.  After being here for seven years, I now not only sense it, I know it.  There are a lot of people in my church that love people.  But we still have a problem.

I have become more and more concerned with the people outside the walls of my church building, the people in the community that surrounds us every Sunday.  Those citizens in Alabaster that sleep in, or go hunting, or wash their clothes and cars, or finish those little home improvement chores, or visit family, or just lay around their homes enjoying the day off; these are the ones I am concerned about because while all of these things may seem harmless, they are really things that serve our adversary and his kingdom and are actually going to cause these people to end up with an eternal sentence that my King does not want.  And if my King does not want it, then I don’t either.

So what is our problem at Alabaster?

It is the same problem a lot of churches have.  We are okay at dispensing the love God commands of us to most of those that darken our doorways.  Visitors are generally welcome and not even ignored by most.  And when someone decides to come for a while most do show them some love.  We even brainstorm and pray about how to get more people to come.  Special programs, holiday fellowships, kid’s crusades, and other ideas are tossed about and some even performed and we have a bigger crowd that day.  But that is it; we have a bigger crowd that day.

I am not against these things.  I am not against asking everyone we see to come to church.  Programs are tools for us to use.  They are just not the essence of the mission.  I am against our attitudes that reflect that we think we have achieved great things for the Kingdom by doing these things.  That we have somehow succeeded at our mission.

The mission our Lord left us with was simple.  Jesus told us to go.  He told us to make disciples, feed the hungry, care for the widowed, the orphaned, and the imprisoned.  We can and should be doing some of this in our churches when they do come.  But if you haven’t noticed, most are not coming, even when we ask.

That is why we must start doing the first part.  We must go, go where they are, and do the work He would have us do and stop waiting till they show up where we are.  So what does this really have to do with denominations?

I just wish some of those that display such passionate devotion to their denominations would display at least the same amount of passion for the true Church, Jesus’ Church, the ekklesia, and for the mission He left us.  I just wish more of us were passionate about going.

Love you all

Tags: adversary, alabaster, attitudes, Belief, Church, Church of God, denomination, Fellowship, God, Kingdom, mission, Work

I am constantly amazed with the way God seems to enrich my life.  I have played a small part recently in the development of a young adult fellowship in my church.  It was sorely needed so that relationships, growth, and  discipleship could be established among the few couples and singles that we have in attendance.  A few of them did not have a lot of opportunities for these things in church because of worldly interference such as work and children or mission interference such as working in the children’s departments and ministries.

The new group has a name and it is The Bridge.  This name was chosen because a bridge is something that connects.  A few people in my church have looked at this new group with concern, having let their minds go to thoughts such as division, separation or even revolution.  The Bridge has none of these things as an agenda.  The Bridge is a place for fellowship, for accountability, for biblical discussion amongst peers, and simply to celebrate our King in a way that is relevant to their age group.  As a bridge it is decidedly connective.  Connecting the individuals in this group to each other and the group to the lost in the community of like mind and interest and finally to the older generations in our church are the main goals we have in mind.  As one of the group, Wayne, put it; The Bridge is an addition and not a subtraction in our church.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Heb 10:25NIV

As some of you already know, I used to be a loner.  I was introverted and pretty much hated everyone.  Then I met Jesus and entered his Kingdom as a child and servant of God and started the process of change.  As all of us know, God sometimes makes supernatural changes in us in certain ways immediately but he seems to do this in various ways.  Some may be miraculously delivered from addictions to tobacco for instance while another may not.  One way I was not changed was in my attitude towards assemblies, groups, fellowships, and even church.

I immediately started going to church but only for the Word of God, not for the people.  I would be the first to my vehicle when church was over, waiting sometimes not very patiently for my wife to finally be ready to leave.  I did not need anyone but Jesus and that was fine with me.  The roles have now reversed.  My wife often is waiting on me.  Somewhere along the line in my concerted attempt to love everyone, a bridge was built.  I was connected to the rest of the Body.

As the verse in Hebrews states, we all need to be connected to each other and never stop meeting or assembling with each other.  Why is this so important?

The main reason is, of course, the mission.  We are not a bunch of spiritual Rambo’s, furtively making our way through the jungles of life attacking all the spiritual forces we find aligned against us.  We are instead part of a unit of elite, trusted soldiers that must train, fight, and rest together.  The enemy is out there and he likes nothing better than finding one of us cut off and alone.  We cannot make it alone, even if God is there with us, simply because God decided long ago to work through us.  And the work he does through us is for others, not ourselves.

Another reason is the thing that brought this post about.  We need each other for the joy it can bring.  The relationships between believers enrich us, fulfill us, and mature us.  I was pretty good at being alone at one time.  But most of you probably don’t need to be told, being alone is not very fun or fulfilling.  Some of you also know the terrible, depressing feelings that come from loneliness.  I no longer fight depression.

And love is simply amazing.  Not the emotion but the true attribute called agape.  Intentional love, as it grows from being something we make ourselves do, to something we want to do, and finally to that thing we just do, does so much good for each of us individually and for the Kingdom that it just naturally spills over and flows out.  It is contagious.  It is life changing.  It is life enhancing.  It is rewarding and enriches not only ourselves but others, and especially the Body of Christ.

We need each other and even more so as we see the Day approaching because the enemy’s activities are ramping up.  I believe the final onslaught is here.  For our adversary, it is all or nothing.  We must stand and even more, continue to advance the Kingdom and we cannot do it or make it alone.

Build a bridge.  Be a bridge.  Protect your bridge.

Blowing up bridges is one way all enemies seek to divide and conquer.

Love you all

Tags: accountability, Believe, Body of Christ, Church, Enemy, Fellowship, jesus, joy, Kingdom, Life, loner, Love, mission, peers, Relationships, Relevant, Servant, Trust, Work

I asked a question a couple of days ago and invited all of you to participate.  The response was not overwhelming and I kind of expected that.  The question, while simple, was a decidedly hard one to answer.  Not because most of us do not know the answer but because we are not that willing to share it.  The question was, “What is wrong with you?”

The simple facts surrounding the answer to this question is that most of us are unwilling to share with others what we feel are our deficiencies, flaws or defects.  And there are some who do not even recognize that they have any.  I know that I do and I also believe when we wake up to the fact that we have these shortcomings, we can begin to deal with them.  Further, I believe when we are transparent about them, when we share them with others in our Kingdom family, we can not only find help in dealing with them but we will find out we can help someone also.  A lot of us might think we are the only ones dealing with a certain flaw.  That is not so.  We all have them and there are a lot more of us than there are flaws.  So someone out there has the same problem that you and I have.

I am going to share one of my own here.  I am at times too confrontational.  I sometimes feel that I do not come across as the loving person that I want to become known as.  I teach a couple of classes a week at my church and I am sometimes too direct and always very plain spoken.  I might occasionally use a “big” word but it is usually because I am trying to incorporate it into my speech.  It is not to impress and definitely not to confuse.  If there is one thing I want it is that I want everyone to understand or “get” what I am saying.

I am also passionate about the things of God.  I get loud and even heated sometimes even when there is no one arguing, disagreeing, or even talking for that matter.  And I have told my class many times that I don’t care.

When I say those words, I don’t care, my wife hates it.  She is the one that cares about me the most and she does not ever want anyone to think less of me or see me in a negative light.  And I just don’t care.  She has scolded me and offered suggestions for better ways to say what I mean such as “it doesn’t matter.”  And believe me, I have tried.  But it doesn’t matter because I don’t care.

No one has to say anything to me to get me to declare this and it is not what you may think.  I blurt out those words when I think that some might have an objection to what I am saying.  I also use them when I am describing something a well known theologian or an early church father has said and I believe they are wrong.  An example would be; I don’t care what John Calvin concluded, God is not some sovereign, unloving toymaker in the sky remotely causing every act that people perpetrate on this planet.

Sure, it doesn’t matter might sound better in this instance but is there really any difference.  I don’t think so and I don’t really care if there is.  I am blunt sometimes, to the point and even a little hurtful.  I wish I wasn’t.  I have a friend, Shannon, that seems to be able to respond in a way that is not confrontational to everything and everyone.  He can comment about things that I know are directly opposite of what he believes in a way that lets you know he disagrees but you still come away with a smile.  With me it is probably a frown.

One of my flaws that I am working on is to be less confrontational and to not be quite as blunt as I am.  I am not overly concerned about this though because of one thing.  That is that my Lord and King could be blunt at times to.  I believe Jesus did not really care about Peter’s feelings when He said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” in Mark 8:33.  Or at least it didn’t matter.

Even if this is a flaw that I have, a defect in my speaking technique, it is something that I can live with while I try to change.  And as Jesus demonstrates, sometimes we just have to not care whether feelings are hurt when eternity is at stake.

When I am teaching or discussing the things that pertain to the Kingdom and I say that I don’t care it is actually because I do care.

Love you all

Tags: Calvin, deficiencies, Eternity, God, Kingdom, Love, shortcomings, Work