Great advice...

Have a great weekend!!

Can a church go blind?

As God's people and his church do we see the "real" world around us?

Do we talk about this in our churches? Do we pray about this in elders meetings? Are we challenging our youth groups to change the world for the glory of His name? Will we go home and share what's on our hearts with those we love? Will we do anything? Or have we gone blind? Have we forgotten what it means to be rescued? At times I feel lost, confused, scared and blind to what is going on around me?
May we be the church that Jesus died for and may we move!!

Death, beaches and wedding bells...

This weekend has been completely crazy. Last week I had something every night and when it came to the weekend I thought I would have time to slow down and just relax. God had other plans for me! Over the last couple of months I have been visiting a friend of mine named Cat who recently found out that she had lung cancer and would only live 3 months. She is only in her 30's and has a 2 year old son. I have tired to make it to the hospital at least once a week to talk to her and get to know her better. She has the greatest laugh and is a fighter. Friday night I got a call that she went into cardiac arrest and the family was asking for me. I arrived and of course the family was upset and surprised at the turn of events their daughter had taken.  She was on life support and in a coma and the doctors were coming to speak with the family.  A few minutes later the doctors informed us that there was nothing they could do and the best way to treat her was to take her off life support.  The family talked about it and discussed it and asked many questions. The doctors told the family, "When you take her off life support she probably won't wake up."  The family decided that Saturday they would take her off life support.  I asked the family if they would like for me to be there, but they thought that I had done enough so they declined.  

Saturday afternoon I get a text that says, "Get to the hospital!"  I raced over there and of course many of the family members are in the ICU room waiting.  I began to speak with Cat's stepmother and she tells me that after they pulled the life support Cat woke up.  She asked me if I wanted to see her and talk with her.  We walked in the room and to my surprise there lay Cat eye's open, smile on her face and hand reaching to hold mine.  She couldn't speak but she could communicate.  

I left the hospital that day blown away by the power of God, of prayer and just amazed by life itself.  I have to tell you that when I see someone going through that I think how short life is.  I think of her seeing Jesus in days.  Death is such a mystery to me.  To be honest, it scares me a little and yet in someways I have peace about it.  Her dad and I were reading a handbook that the hospital gave them about someone in her condition.  It said things like this...

The patient may sleep a lot.  The patient may talk to people that have been dead for a long time.  The patient may have moments of pure joy and moments of sadness.  The patient may talk about seeing the unknown and how great that place seems.   Her father looked at me and said, "They call it the unknown, we know exactly what that place is don't we?"  I replied, "YES WE DO!"  

When we arrive at eternity shores, 

Where death is just a memory, tears are no more,

We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring, 

Your bride will come together and we'll sing, 

You're Beautiful...

  

Free stuff!!

If you are like me then you love free stuff. Someone can give me something free and it will make my day. Isn't it great to get something that is really good for free. I like the free stickers and pens but when someone gives you a free CD or DVD then it feels like all is right with the world. Well in honor of making things right with the world today I will share with you some FREE STUFF!! If you have never heard of Phil Wickham then it is time to get to know him. I saw him live last year at the Tabernacle in Atlanta and it was amazing. He came out with a acoustic guitar and just sang and praised God. I have never heard such a powerful voice come through speakers before. Months later on his website he recorded a live CD and gave it out for free. This amazing secret has not stopped playing on my iPhone since. Below is the opening song to the live CD and the link were you may download it for FREE!! ENJOY!!
P.S My favorite song is True Love...

Download the Free CD here... http://philwickham.com/


This song is my prayer almost everyday!

Seriously Ridiculous!!

Have you ever really thought about how powerful God is?  The fact that God could leave heaven and come to Earth and live with us.  The very fact that God could wrap himself in a human body and be what we are.  That he would allow himself to be tempted and face the same things that we face.  Jesus knew what it meant to be gossiped about, to have friends break his heart, to laugh, to cry and to face scary moments in life.  Most of the time when I just think of Jesus being God, it is so hard to comprehend.  It is hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that Jesus was in many ways like you and me.  In my sermon series this month I am showing videos of different scriptures and each week we are trying to get a full handle on what it says.  

Since God came to our rescue in such away what does that mean for your life?  I believe that God has this power and much more, but I wonder in this amazing thing that he has done what could he do in the lives of his people?  How could his power be displayed in your life?  It seems to be in God's nature to do what we think is impossible on a daily basis.  God's power is Seriously Ridiculous!!

My Favorite President...

In honor of President's Day I thought I would offer my favorite president and why...

Facts about Abraham Lincoln maybe you didn't know.  

1.  In this picture his hair is awesome.  (That might be considered opinion but I think it is a fact)

2. His mother died when he was 9 because of milk sickness.

3. He was the first Republican president.  

4  He did not have a good relationship with his dad.    

5. He had 4 children but only one lived until he was an adult.  

6. His first love died of a fever.  

7. Lincoln was a lawyer before a politician.  

8. The president had malaria, frostbite, smallpox and syphilis.     

9. After being shot the president lie in a coma for 9 hours and then died.

10. The bullet was found to be 6 inches inside his brain.  Most would have died instantly.  

A Real American Idol

I feel like the only one on Earth who has not watched American idol. Out of all the singers who have won and the people who have voted and cheered for them I have never seen an episode. I did watch William Hung on YouTube and I have a Kelly Clarkson song on my iPhone but that's about it. I came across this video and thought to myself, "Wow this guy seems so genuine and real." I listened to his story and wanted to share it with all of you.

God has touched and moved in so many lives, that it is almost overwhelming to think about. What I am blown away by is the calling of God and where that leads us. Some will be youth ministers others will go on American Idol. God calls some to work in business and others to mop floors. Some will live in trailers others in mansions. There will be those who are well known and those who you will never see nor hear about. God's kingdom is so big and so many do so many different things that I am humbled and awed just to be apart of it. If I can echo the words of so many others, in God's kingdom we are all second...

Flip Flops and hospitals...

The past week has been great so I wanted to recap for you what has happened. 

1.  Sunday was such a great day.  Our high school focus group was packed in the morning and we had a great conversation about homosexuality.  

2.  I went bowling on Saturday and did not score a 200, I scored a 120.  I will say that I tried hard the first game and the second game I goofed off but had the same score.  Not sure what that says about my bowling skills. 

3.  Natalie and I had all of the youth workers over for dinner last night so that we could start our ministry models.  We are starting nine models at once and I can't wait to see what God is going to do in the lives of these students and youth workers.

4.  I put the final touches on Emma Grace's room this weekend and I can't wait to meet her this month.  

5.  Kayla (student leader) baptized Amanda (new Christian) Sunday in our service and afterwards Amanda's parents came up to Kayla and thanked her for all that she had done in their child's life.  I have never been more proud to be a student life minister...

6.  I visited a woman in the hospital this week who is in her 30's.  She has cancer and just learned that she has only 3 months to live.  I am continually praying for her and showing her the love of Jesus.  I can't even fathom knowing that I would see Jesus face to face in three months.

7.  I think Stan (our senior minister) and myself have been banned from the county wide ministers meeting for laughing to much in the meeting.  

8.  I am seeing in my own life how powerful God's word is and how much day by day I need to be in it more.  

9.  I am still learning that I am second and Jesus is first in all circumstances and situations. 

10.  Our new church website is going to be amazing.

11.  I was able to wear my flip flops last week, PRAISE GOD!!

 

One last thing!  Over a 1,000 people have visited this blog in exactly one month.  I wanted to thank all of you for reading and I hope you keep coming back.  I love you guys...

Updates...

Nine quick things about my life as of now...

1.  Many voted and a overwhelming of you prefer puppies rather than kittens.

2.  Little Emma Grace enters this world in T-minus 22 days.  

3.  I am so pumped for Sunday because we are having a student baptize another student she lead to Christ.  

4.  Tonight we are having a staff dinner that will include food, laughter, games and a donkey.  (Don't ask, trust me)

5.  I have been going to the gym this past week and I hate it.  No wonder I am chubby!

6.  I am going bowling Saturday and my goal is a 200.  

7.  Youth group has been growing like crazy and I am so proud of our students sharing their faith.

8.  We have a new guitarist in the praise band and he is sick!!

9.  I feel so inadequate to do this job most of the time but I am thankful God uses me.  

Is the church in Exile?

I finished a book a couple of months ago by Rob Bell titled, Jesus wants to save the Christians.  The whole point of the book seems to be why he thinks the church of today is in exile.  Through the first couple of chapters he talks about God's people in exile in Egypt and Babylon.  He then continues to say that many times in history the people of God have forgotten what exactly God wants from them in life.  He mentions many OT characters then goes onto say that he believes the church of today is not really doing what God has called them to do and how we think only of ourselves.  His preface reads this way... Down the street a church just built a new education building for 30 million dollars.  1 in 5 people in our city live in poverty.  The most interesting part of the book is the facts that he states...

* 1 billion people in the world do not have access to clean water.

* 1 billion people live on less than a dollar a day.

* The average teenager spends 150 dollars a week.

* 40% of people in the world don't have basic sanitation, while 49 million diapers are thrown away a day in America. 

* 1.6 billion people do not have electricity.

* 1 billion people cannot read nor write their name.

* By far most people in the world do not own a car, while one third of Americans have 3.

* 158 million children in the world work just to live. 

* America spends more annually on trash bags than nearly half of the world does on all goods.

Human history has never witnessed the abundance that we consider normal.  God bless America, God has...

So my question to you!  Is the church in exile?  Are we doing what God has called us to do?  Are we truly the hands and feet of Jesus to the world?  As people in the church what would God want us to do?  How should the church respond?  How do we live in world without giving into that world?  

Funniest Super Bowl Commercial!!

I know two videos in a row but this by far was the best commercial last night at the Super Bowl.


I promise I will actually put thought into my next blog...