My Dog Feels This Way About Me

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Walking With Jesus-I Like Life, Life Likes Me

This is the best Christmas Carol movie.  Albert Finney plays a great Ebenezer Scrooge.  It is a musical.  The songs are fun.  I highly recommend it.

Sometimes I feel like old Scrooge, I hate life and life hates me.  But I must drink the milk of human kindness.  We are created in the image of God and no matter how much we have done to deprave ourselves that image is still there.  Ebenezer Scrooge the sins of man are huge.  No one is worse than me.  I must admit life sometimes has it's brighter side as well.   It needs to be salvaged for sure.  The way to do that is loving God with all your heart and loving your neighbor as yourself.  God has given us a good life in a good world among people created in His image, so I like life.


Do you like life?  How could you like life more?  




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Walking With Jesus-Enjoy My Life

Enjoy my life.  The decisions I have made, good and bad, have brought me here.  This is my life and I do not get another.  If there is something that is wrong with my life and if I can change it, I should do my best to change.  By God's grace I will continue to become the person God created me to be. But I need to enjoy the ride.  

Be myself.  I do not have to enjoy what others enjoy. Even if those things are good things. I only have to enjoy what I enjoy.  Even if no one else enjoys that thing or they see it as bad thing.  I am not robbing banks(so to speak) so enjoy.  Enjoy drawing, stand-ups, lifting weights, my dog, rasslin.  I do, so I will.

Don't dislike other people's lives.  The things other people like can get on my nerves, but why should it?   Why anyone would want to listen to Barbra Streisand is beyond me.  And hey, your favorite contemporary Christian album sounds just like all the other contemporary Christian albums you already own.  And how many times can they repeat the same bad theology in a row.  I heard you the first 23 times you sang that phrase.  Anyway, forgetting my point, oh yeah, don't dislike other people's lives. God has really dealt with me about this the past six months.  I am very opinionated.  But God has softened that this year.  I am a lot better now than I was.   So if you like, Go ahead and Rain On My Parade.  Go ahead and  break every chain, break every chain, break every chain, break every chain, break every chain, break every chain....

Don't compare myself to others lives, families, careers, churches.  I am not you, you are not me.  I don't want to be you, you don't want to be me.  You have not been through what I have been through, and vice versa.  So there is no comparison.  So why compare?  My family, career, church, etc has not had the challenges, privileges, opportunities, and time that yours has had, and vice versa.  So why compare?   

So go ahead and enjoy.  Just don't enjoy robbing banks


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It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world hath suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring:
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing.


My wife sang this song during our offering at Living Hope Assembly of God yesterday.  I have never paid attention to this verse before. But when I heard this I was blown away.  

We live in a world of strife(we call it giving our opinions)  But I think we would all be better off if we would just hush the noise. Yesterday was Black Lives Matter.  The Assemblies of God suggested we speak about this during our service.  I followed several of these posts on Facebook, and people lost their minds. The main thoughts were that Black Lives Matter is a political movement(which personally I think it is), It is against police officers(which personally I think it isn't). There was so much noise behind it from both sides, I decided not to mention it.  I did speak about the noise we live in. My hopes are to be a person without strife, maybe hear the angels sing.  

God I pray for unity among blacks and white(I do not think we are there even in the church.  God I pray for unity among red and blues, I know we are not there.  




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Gaudete, Gaudete! Rejoice, Rejoice!

Gaudete, Gaudete! Christus et natus Ex maria virgine, Gaudete!	Rejoice, Rejoice! Christ is born Of the virgin Mary, Rejoice!
Tempus ad est gratiae, Hoc quod optabamus; Carmina laetitiae, Devote redamus.	It is now the time of grace That we have desired; Let us sing songs of joy, Let us give devotion.
Deus homo factus est, Natura mirante; Mundus renovatus est A Christo regnante.	God was made man, And nature marvels; The world was renewed By Christ who is King.
Ezechiellis porta Clausa pertransitur; Unde lux est orta Salus invenitur.	The closed gate of Ezechiel Has been passed through; From where the light rises Salvation is found.
Ergo nostra cantio, Psallat iam in lustro; Benedicat Domino: Salus Regi nostro.	Therefore let our assembly now sing, Sing the Psalms to purify us; Let it praise the Lord: Greetings to our King.

Walking With Jesus-Look, Listen, Silence, Smile

Look- may be my hardest part of walking with jesus.  I get so caught up in myself.  Partly because of my poor eyesight, partly it is easier to not look.  Not to look around at my family, world, beauty.  It is easier to be locked in myself.  But I purposely look at the world.  I want to see beauty.  I want to see people.  I want to see God.

Listen- I am getting better at this.  I think, I better ask my wife.  Hope I listen to what she says.  I want to listen to God.  Don't try and control him.  I don't want to figure everything out every bit of theology.  I have to remind myself of that, because I am a figure it outer.  But I sit with Jesus, and listen to him.  I want to listen to people, especially those closest to me.  I don't want to control people, just listen.  This is hard to learn.  Jesus help me

Silence- We live in a loud world.  I like it quiet.  Especially in the morning.  I am turning down the noise in my life.  I like quiet music.  That goes against my 17 year old self that blasted Enter Sandman.

Smile-Not too many teeth.  Just show some dimples.  My facial expression can change my attitude. Kind of a smirk.  As opposed to a scowl.


What is partly wrong with our country.  We do not look or listen to our enemies.  Looking and listening is loving our enemies.  We have our minds made up.  We yell our well thought out opinions, backed up by our favorite form of 24/7 entertainment choices.  Silence is no where to be heard, so to speak.  And we scowl at them, whoever the them may be.  No courteous smile for a them.




I recommend this sermon by Pastor Brian Zahnd.  http://wolc.com/podcast/echoes-silence-patience-grace/



God bless you.


Check us out at:
www.livinghopeassembly.org

Walking With Jesus: Putting Things In There Place

I have 10 things that I want to do.  I start reading a chapter in a book that I doing for an upcoming sermon series, but while I am in the middle of one paragraph I start thinking about writing this blog. Wait, what did I just read?  My mind is all over the place therefore I am accomplishing nothing. I also am not enjoying the thing I am doing because I am three tasks down the road.

Have you ever been praying, sitting with Jesus, trying to sit quiet, and thinking about the meeting you have at 10 a.m?  Or is that just me.

Interruptions are the worst.  I had a plan, when the phone rang, when my wife texted, or my daughter asked me to help her study.  These things are ruining my plan and ruining my life. Wait a second, maybe they are not ruining my life.  Maybe they are my life.  Maybe if I don't have relationships and a few interruptions, I have nothing to pray, blog, or meet about.  

So I am learning to put things in their place.  One thing at a time. I write down the things that need to be done, and I will get to them.  Or sometimes I won't.  But that is ok too.  The interruptions are my life, they are actually my life, and my to do list is an interruption to my real life.  

So I want to schedule my time rightly.  And when it is time to do a particular task focus on that until it is done or for a particular amount of time.  When my life comes along, the most important things, I put my to do list in it's place.  Yes, Yes, Yes, I know there may be times when I need to knuckle down(whatever that means) and work without any interruptions, but that is the exception not the rule.

I want to put the big stones in the jar first.  My God, then my family, then my relationships, then growing personally, then my job(s).  If I put things in their place I will not feel cramped. 

How do you put things in their place?

God Bless You

Walking With Jesus- Love Your Family, Friends, Church

                                                                           

                                                                           

           

My two greatest roles are to be a husband and a father, but those are not my only roles.

I try to pray daily for my family, friends, and church

I start with my mother and stepfather.  I pray God's blessing upon them.  My stepfather has Alzheimer's and diabetes, so I pray for whatever need he may be having that day.  I move to my three sisters.  They live in South Carolina.  I do not get to see them often, but I still pray for them daily.  If there is another family member who needs a specific prayer, i.e. my nephew and his wife are having a baby, I will pray for them. 

I then move to my wife's side of the family.  Yes I even pray for my in laws.  I pray for Monica's parents, 2 sisters, their children, and her grandparents daily.  And if there is a pressing need for another family member I will pray for that.

I pray for my friends.  Some for salvation.  Some for a need they may have.  All for God's blessing. I focus on one daily, that God would bless them.

Then I pray for my church, Living Hope Assembly of God.  I pray that God would make me a better pastor.  I pray that we would have salvations, water baptisms, be filled with the Spirit, etc.  I also pray for an individual in the church on a daily basis for God to bless them.  Today I prayed for a lady named Mary.  

I do all of this is about 5 to 10 minutes or sometimes longer.  It doesn't take long to do this.  It keeps me focused on the people in my life.  It helps me to love them.  It is hard to be indifferent about people you are praying for.  But mainly I believe God answers my prayers and He reaches out to those I pray for.

How about you?  Whom do you pray for?  How do you pray?  How often do you pray for them?

God bless you      

Walking With Jesus- Love Your Child

One of my greatest privileges is I get to be a father to a beautiful little girl.  I do not take this lightly, because I know there are so many who have not been able to have children or have lost children.  My heart goes out to these people.  I am always careful on mother's day and father's day with my words as a pastor because I have seen people who are mourning on those days.  Two woman I know come to mind.  Lord help them.

I am so grateful I get to be a father.  My daughter is smart, funny, beautiful, and very talented.  She has God given musical and leadership talents.  Music just flows from her.  People follow her, and she is only 10.

The best thing I get to do as a father and I recommend it to every father, is I speak life.  Almost everyday I tell my daughter I love her.  I did not hear those words from a father when I was growing up.  Almost everyday I tell her she is smart, funny, beautiful, talented, God loves her, Jesus loves her, her mother loves her, but I love her more, and on and on I go.  When that first boy tells her how pretty she is I want her to say, "I know, my daddy has told me a million times."  I really believe the life I speak into her will impact her life all of her days.  I also believe it will affect her children if and when she has them.

Maybe speaking life to my daughter is something I should practice with everyone I come in contact with.  Oh it will sound different for everyone depending on the depth of the relationship.  But I believe everyone needs a little life poured on them.

What about you who has spoken life to you?  Who do you speak life to?