There is a Man

There was a man that once roamed this earth

Who provided us a way to be free

Free from the shackles of darkness and sin

And created a light for all to see

This very same man carved a path for us

And holds out His hand for us to take

If we just reach out and take that hand

He’ll pour us a foundation that’s not easy to shake

If we let this man come into our hearts

Our problems won’t just melt away

But He’ll build us a shelter that is full of grace

And walk with us every step of the way

His mercy and grace seem to never end

No matter how many times we fail

And He welcomes us back with open arms

For His unimaginable love will prevail

He is our gateway to the Almighty Father

Without Him we would be doomed

But it is through Him that our sins are forgiven

Through Him our hearts are consumed

Love and forgiveness are what He provides

Jesus Christ is His glorious name

No longer does sin have control of us

No longer must we live in shame

For Jesus came and washed us clean

By taking the punishment that we deserve

And all He asks is that we take His hand

                                            Then our place by His side will be forever reserved.

Before the Fall

We all struggle, but have you ever wondered why? More importantly have you ever thought about why we struggle between what we want and what God wants? I do that a lot. It seems, in theory, that it should be a no-brainer. God is God and He knows everything including what's best for me. But for some reason, There still are times that I think I know better. What else would explain doing what I want as apposed to what He wants. I mean, think about how silly that really sounds. When we decide to do what we want instead of following God, we are really saying, "I know more than God." I do it all the time and it's ridiculous.
Am I really that weak? Maybe, sometimes, but more times than not it comes down to one word...It starts with P and ends with RIDE. It's the very same thing that upsets us when we get embarrassed. It's the same thing that makes us lash out when someone "hurts" us. Sure it doesn't feel good when someone tears us down, but what makes us retaliate is our PRIDE. It makes us angry, it makes us hate, it makes us destroy perfectly good relationships, and worst of all, it makes us feel entitled. I hate that word but it's prevalent in our lives. "I'm entitled to MY opinion...I'm entitled to respect...I'm entitled to a decent paycheck."...etc. SECRET: We are entitled to NOTHING. Nothing belongs to us in the first place. Nothing belongs to us in the second place. Nothing belongs to us. We are His and His alone. Everything belongs to Him. The only thing we are entitled to is hell and because of His grace we can avoid it. Is that justice? No, that my friend, is Mercy.
Here's the deal: I'm out of sugar
If we're Christian and we feel entitled to anything, we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. We have Jesus, what more could we want or need. Being that we do have Jesus and claim to "follow" Him, we must remember one very important thing He said. "If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me." (Luke 9:23) Deny. Many people discuss and even argue the meaning of deny. Here is my version; Get over yourself. Be willing to get rid of every single thing that you think makes you happy, everything you think you need, everything you think you're entitled to. Give it all away and follow Christ, give it all away and serve His people. All comforts, all desires, Everything. “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (Matt. 10:37) Our own children are not more important than Christ, what makes us think that our PRIDE is?
If you are reading this and think that you don't have a problem with pride, when was the last time you thought, "I don't deserve to be treated this way." or, "Why can't I ever catch a break, everyone else seems to.?" PRIDE.
I deserve a better car:PRIDE, I deserve a better job:PRIDE, I deserve a better house:PRIDE, I deserve a better life:PRIDE
Now, that being said, I know we are human, we are imperfect. I know we fail and sin. I am at the top of the list. I know that for all that pride we will be forgiven. But, if you aren't trying to rid your life of it, you should be ashamed. Christ first, always and forever.

It's Hope

It’s believing that people will choose the right way

It’s believing in the place we could end up someday

It’s believing that a child will be given a chance to have life

It’s believing that a husband won’t belittle his wife

It’s believing that depression isn’t your life at the core

It’s believing that daddy won’t hit me anymore

It’s believing that mommy will put down her drink

It’s believing that my brother will soon stop and think

It’s believing that children see life as we should

It’s believing that the rest of my life will be good

It’s believing in a baby born unto the poor

It’s believing in a God who couldn’t love us more

It’s believing in the power of the Spirit within

It’s believing in the blood that washed away sin

It’s believing in the Father who gave up the Son

It’s believing that because of this the battle is won

It’s believing that salvation is the product of grace

It’s believing that His glory rests upon His face

It’s believing that there’s more to our lives than this

It’s believing that the hands that protect us are His

It’s believing in things that we cannot see

It’s believing in people like you and like me

It’s believing in the Father, the Son, and the Spirit

It’s believing in His voice even though we can’t hear it

It’s loving

It’s caring

It’s healing

It’s Hope

Thank you Jesus

So I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to write and suddenly something kinda hit me. If I'm trying to figure out what to write on my blog, that means I can read and write. That also means I have at least some form of education. If I'm blogging that means I have the internet that I pay monthly for. If I have the internet that means I have a computer that is paid for. If I have a computer that means I have electricity that I pay monthly. If I have electricity that means I have running (warm) water. It also means I have heat and air conditioning. (Probably) So it's like this...If I have all of those things then I am in the top 5% of the worlds WEALTH, not just income but of the worlds WEALTH. Now I'm not going to go on a rant about all the starving kids in Africa or all of the child prostitutes in India...I should, but I'm not going to...
What I am going to do however is let you in on a little secret...Not only am I rich because of the love of God, but I am also rich by the standards of the world. You know what, I am kinda gonna go on a rant...The reason we ever feel like we are poor is because we are looking at what we don't have instead of what we do have. If you are reading this then you should never have the thought that you don't have enough. (I'm blunt that way...deal with it) It means you at the very least have access to a computer which in turn means you have more than enough. I am not pointing fingers at anyone, I have no one in particular in mind, but if you are at all upset by this or think I'm being too harsh then you probably have at least some form of a guilty conscience and  should reevaluate your priorities and listen to what the Spirit is telling you right now...I'm just sayin'...
I also want you to understand that I judge no one for what they have or how much they have, at all, whatsoever. If you have a lot, good for you just remember it's always more than you NEED. Whether you have a lot or a little if you have Jesus you have all that you need. I know I do. I used to believe that I needed more crap, more money, more friends, more horsepower, etc. I desired the things of this world much much more than I desired a relationship with Christ. I desired more ME than I desired anything else. You know what that did for me? I overdosed on drugs (more than once) I've stolen from people, including family. My relationships were epic failures. My life was an epic failure.
I was lonely and depressed and in denial about how horrible I had chosen to make my life. No, not a typo, I chose to make my life horrible because I chose to fantasize about how I was making my life awesome. I was kinda dumb.
What happened when I gave my life (literally not just figuratively) to Christ is that a weight was lifted. I no longer was doing it myself nor was I focusing on myself. Christ gave me the light into my darkness and for that I need to thank Him. And by thank Him I mean do as He commands and love Him with all that I am and love His people (all of them) with what I have left. Now back to my rant. I will end it with this...The reason I even went on the rant in the first place is, how can we be obeying His commands if we are whining that we don't have enough. Merely by putting ourselves that far out in front of everyone else (God included) we are already disobeying.

"Good works are not the way to salvation, but the result." I can't remember who said that but it was someone more in tune with Christ than me. We don't do to become saved, we do because we are saved. (that was all me...lol) That is how we thank God for His grace. That is how we thank Him for His mercy. And that is how we thank Him for His Son.

...Also remember that no matter what I put on here or how I put it, I love you, always will.

Becoming

Sarah and Kara were long time friends. One day the two were eating lunch in the park and were just making small talk. Soon Kara asked, “Sarah, your husband is so loyal and good and you guys seem so happy. Where did you find a man who is so committed? They’re so hard to find these days.”
Sarah replied, “I found him in the only place you can find a committed man; a mental hospital.”

            What I want to talk about today are two simple yet very powerful words. Decision and Devotion. My hope is that as a body of believers we will all understand that these words are in no way similar. Sometimes as a society we confuse them or interchange them with each other. And I can honestly say that in a day to day sense, it probably wouldn’t hurt anything. But, in our spiritual walk with Jesus Christ, this would be a mistake. Yes, they both can lead to positive, uplifting things and yes, one most certainly can lead to the other, but I say again, they are not the same.
            First, let’s talk definition. By definition, what is the difference between these two words? We’ll look at decision first.
            Decision: The act of or need for making up ones mind.
            Ok, so it’s basically making a choice. Deciding to do something. This is something that we all do thousands of times a day. From the biggest, most important decisions like, “should I get up and go to work today so I can feed my family and keep a roof over their heads?” to the smallest decisions like, “should I have raisin bran or cocoa puffs for breakfast?”  Sure we may not consciously make these choices because they are part of our everyday life. But, at the core of pretty much everything we do, there is a choice that needs to be made.
            Many times throughout the day we make these decisions, some good, and some bad. Hopefully mostly good. But, of those thousand decisions that we make in a day, how many of them are we completely devoted to? Me personally, I decide to get up and go to work in the morning because it’s necessary and beneficial to my life but, I’m not devoted to my job. Just ask my boss, it’s like pulling teeth to get me to work overtime because I love my time off. I decide to keep pumping money I don’t have into a car I don’t even like because I need it for work and whatever other adventures I want to do around here in the busy town of Bluffton. But, I’m not devoted to my car. I decided to give up my wicked ways and give my life to Christ, but I’m not… you totally thought I was going to say it didn’t you. I can just envision some of the looks on your faces like, “oh my gosh, I can’t believe he’s going to say what I think he’s going to, oh.” Got you. But, in all seriousness though, just because I didn’t say it today doesn’t mean there haven’t been times in my life that I actually could’ve said it. I’m sure there have been plenty I’m just deciding not to share them with you.
            Actually there was this one time where a group of friends and I confused decision with devotion. Back when I was in the military, I was living in the dorms and the dorms are usually about three floors with windows looking out to some sort of courtyard. Well, one weekend, when the instructors weren’t around we decided that it would be a fun idea to gather up as many mattresses as we could and put them in and organized pile and then jump off the roof and land on them. We got them all piled up and realized that the jump was entirely too high and dangerous and that the whole idea was relatively dumb. What we forgot to factor in was the fact that one of our friends had a strong devotion to…well…doing dumb stuff. So as we’re standing there getting ready to take all the mattresses back, we hear this like crazy war cry and look up and John, I’ve changed his name for this story, John is running across the roof yelling like a madman and one of my other friends just goes, “oh nooo.” He then proceeds to quickly tap me on the shoulder and said, “dude, here goes John.” And just as he said that, John was already mid-air, the point of no return. So all we could do is watch this train wreck and hope we didn’t have to explain why this kid had six broken ribs and a torn mattress. Miraculously, he bounced off the mattresses and landed on his, softer side, and walked away with nothing but a couple of bruises and a story. We had all made the decision to do it but apparently he was the only one devoted to it. I had some really crazy friends. (Disclaimer to the youth: DON’T DO THAT IT’S NOT A GOOD IDEA) Ok so that's not a true story but I did have some crazy friends and it's a more family friendly story than the actual stupid things I really did. I digress...

            Ok, so we defined and looked at Decision. Now let’s take a look at Devotion.
            Devotion: Profound dedication or consecration; earnest attachment to a cause, person etc.
            1 Kings 8:61 says this about devotion to Christ.

61 But your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time."

            Earnest attachment, profound dedication. Devotion is where the work comes in. It’s also where the pain comes in. Pain? Isn’t that a bad thing? No, if we are completely devoted to Christ, that pain becomes a tool for strength and perseverance. If we never got hurt by anything how would we ever learn anything? There is always going to be people who try to knock us down when they find out that we’ve devoted our lives to Christ. And why is that? It’s because our lives now have meaning, purpose, and we’re driven like never before. We are no longer like them, empty. They haven’t even made the decision to give their lives to Christ and begin filling the void that dwells within them. Where it can become painful is some of those people might be our family and friends. And that can hurt when we’re excited about something and someone else is being a downer. But that’s the nature of people; they fear what they don’t understand. What they fear they lash out at and they test. Since we have found the one thing that can fill the void, they become jealous. Their insecurities instantly lead them to believe that we think we are better than they are. So they get defensive and lash out.
            It’s our devotion to Christ that gives us the strength to overcome. It’s our devotion that tells God that we’re for real, that we’re not messing around anymore. That same devotion is what allows us to finally say, “God, I truly belong to you, use me as you see fit”. And it’s our devotion that helps us to obliterate the tests man tries to put us through. And to God those tests are petty, but useful. For we know that God will use the tests of man to judge the character and strength of our spirit.
            I was reading an interview with Rick Warren and they were asking questions about his life and hardships and what he thought about it. And one thing that stuck in my mind that he said was, and I’m paraphrasing here, “God isn’t concerned with our comfort level so much as our character during our struggles.” Because this isn’t some algebra exam, as people of Christ we’re working toward making the grade with God, and by God, (I do mean by God) we’re going to pass. And to Satan and his little entourage I say Bring It! Because my guns are bigger than yours. And we can say that with certainty today and every day as long as we are completely devoted to our Lord and Savior.
            So, where does that leave us? We know the difference between the two, now what? How does one lead to the other? I’m glad you asked.
Luke 14:28-33.
28"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
31"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
            Making the decision to follow Christ is an amazing step, but it’s just the first step. For what the bible is saying here starting in verse 29, (repeat reading) if we lay a foundation but don’t build the house, then what really have we accomplished? So now the decision has been made for Christ, now what? Well, taking that leap and deciding to serve God is a lot like winning a championship.     
            A football team was in their locker room celebrating after they had just won the state championship. The coach came in and calmed everyone down so he could talk to them and this is what he told them. He said, “I’m proud of all of you, you’ve worked very hard this season and it paid off. Now, get ready to play some football.” You can imagine the looks on the players’ faces. They’ve just knocked off the king of the mountain, they defeated the defending champs and now they’re being told that’s as easy as it’s going to get. He went on to say, “I tell you this because it’s much easier to beat the champ than it is to be the champ.”
             Beating the champ is the decision, being the champ is staying devoted. We will have targets on our backs and people will always question us. We must stand devoted and continue to depend on God and have faith that He will see us through....Let's get ready to play some football.