Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Everything is meaningless

I start my Bible reading today in Ecclesiastes 1 and was blown away that it started like this; everything is meaningless.
Solomon the man who had everything literally and he starts his writing with' it is all meaningless. i do not know if i never noticed this verse before or if it just stuck out for the first time.

We pursue and work but for what? It is like chasing the wind. Wow if this does not sum up America I do not what does. We are all chasing something jobs, career, success, acceptance, fame, and much more. The question is why? Why do we chase these things when will we learn the only thing that satisfies is Christ. The only thing that fixes that hole is our Maker.
Here is Solomon pouring out his soul that everything you can possible pursue in life I mean everything is meaningless and he know because he did and it brought nothing but pain and sorrow.

So what are you pursuing is it God or something else? Take some time this week and see where your priorities are at, where does your time go, and if God barley gets 15 minutes each day you may want to rethink your priorities.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Storms why do we run from them? I do not mean storms in the natural sense, but the storms of life. The storms we face mold us, shape us, and define our character, so why do we run?
I believe it is because to face storms we have to depend on God. We do not like that we like to be in control, comfortable, and map out our life, so when these storms of life come along we have to admit we are not in control, we have to let The Father lead and totally surrender.
This a hard thing to do yet it is something we all can work on. God wants us to depend on him to call out his name to fully rely on his support.
So the next time you have a storm in your life call on Jesus, surrender, and be broken. You never know you might learn something and even grow a little bit.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Crazy Love

I have been reading Francis Chan's book Crazy Love. Wow you want a challenge and stretched i suggest you pick this book up.

Today as i read there was a verse from Isaiah 64:6 " All our righteous acts are like filthy rags"
the rags, refers to the rags from a woman's menstrual cycle; that stop me dead in my reading. In God's eyes all my good intentions deeds are used tampons, yet we try so hard to earn God's love by what we do, who we serve, and how much we give.

This is a problem we humans have struggled with forever; i guess that is why Francis calls the book crazy love. All our good ideas are filthy rags yet God loves us anyway, that is crazy. I really do not think we can begin to ever understand this love, but i believe as a parent we get a glimpse of it. If you are not a parent i am not sure you can begin to grasp this. I still remember the birth of Jada my oldest; I cried like a baby and have cried at every birth of my five children. Gifts from above that I have been in trusted to raise and render for our Maker.

As these little ones grow and begin to test the waters of discipline, it is amazing that everything they have done I never stop loving them. I get angry, frustrated, laugh, bury my face, but the love never fails and I never want to give up on them.

I think this is how God feels when he watches over us from above every emotion must go through him as he watches us stumble and fall yet he never stops loving us and providing forgiveness. That is crazy love and I am glad he models it for us.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

nothing really changes

I have now been in Pennsylvania for 8 months and all I have really discovered is students are students. Church is church. The problems whether here or in Indiana are the same, because humans are involved everywhere. So even though I did not want to move 500 miles away from my home the reassuring thing is the only thing that changed were the faces of the people.

I know I am where God wants me and he reassures me of that regularly it is amazing as I left my comfort zone how much I actually relayed on God and how close we are in this season of my life. I actually listen and obey him, because he is the only friend I had besides my wife.
Now as I am making friends and becoming comfortable I need to remember to continue to relay on him and not myself.