It's A Small World

Traveling half way around the world I saw tucked away in the corner of a Sunday school classroom some familiar boxes. These boxes were small and many of you have participated in the incredible ministry of stuffing them full with goodies for children. Years ago when my adventures saw these shoe boxes in that small church in Ukraine I thought how amazing our God is and I was able to see the lives of those impacted by this ministry.

Years later Chelsea an I still stuff these shoeboxes ad send them out with love and prayer. This year we chose to take advantage of a program that Samaritan's Purse offers to those who join them. You can print out a label from their website that allows you to attach a barcode to your gift. With this barcode you can find out where in the world a child might receive your gift. Just a few days ago I relieved an email letting me know that a child has received our gift, and in all places, in Ukraine. It was such a blessing to see God use this gift in such a way and strategically place our box in a country that I am already specifically praying for. It is no coincidence that God has burdened me with the country of Ukraine an taken this small token of love and placed it there.

I wanted to share this story with all of you who pack shoeboxes to know that God makes a difference and uses these little gifts. I don't know specifically what child received our box but I know that God is good and His glory is beyond what we can imagine. He not only decided to use this gift to change the life of a child hit to bless us for giving. Let God use you, especially in the small things because serving Christ is the best thing you can do.

Free From Ourselves

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. (1 Peter 2:16 ESV)

Grace is a beautiful thing and something undeserved. Being undeserved by nature it should be precious to its owner. Graciously our God stepped out of heaven to be born into this world and we often take that for granted. We hear the Christmas story year after year to the point can become numbly familiar. It is in this story we find the grace that has set us free. It is in this story we find our hope. Yet it is in this freedom we can find a deceiving twist that tells us we are free and we can do that which we choose. We are forgiven, Christ came down and we can go about our lives as we wish. How rotting this twist of truth really is. Satan wants us to think we are free to do our will when in reality we are free from his chains to do the will of God. We are no longer bound by the evil nature that once ruled who we were. Remember brothers and sisters that though we are free and forgiven we are servants of Christ. Our will should be His and our desires should be His desires.

I say we and pray that as you read you are included in this we. We are the redeemed and you can be too. If you find yourself reading this post, especially in the Christmas season, ask the Lord if he is your King who has come to set you free. Is He the King who gives you hope? I would be happy to talk to you more if you want to know about Christ and what He did by being born as a man of a virgin. Please let me know if you have questions.

Good night and God bless.

If I don't write again this week I wish you a Merry Christmas!

God Uses All For Good

Recently on Liberty University's campus a stir of frustration bellowed through the student body. This wave of flustered students began with the announcement that one of the renowned speakers for convocation, chapel to those outside the world of Liberty University, was Donald Trump. Why would Trump seem like a worthy fit at Liberty University during a worship service? This question plagued many, including myself. He came and went and I stopped questioning his visit. Until now.

Let me set the stage for you. As many of you know this summer brought a disastrous storm that swept through Virginia. This storm left thousands without power and Liberty reached out as a means to provide food, shelter and a place to get out of the heat since it never lost power in the midst of this summer storm. Now we can move forward.

My wife alerted me to the news that he was so impacted by Liberty University that he opened some of his property to house those who have been struck with the disaster of hurricane Sandy. It was our efforts this summer impacted Trump to open his property to those in need while New York is suffering a far worse blow than Virginia took this summer.

Despite my wondering why Trump was brought to campus, I now see God's plan that left an impact on this man to be used by Him. His heart was touched by what God did here and if he ever gives God the credit for what e has done I won't know. But what I Di know is that our God is a creative God who shows His love in unexpected ways.

Romans 8:28

Dirt and Gravel Roads

Knowing God is in charge is one thing in the good times when the road is smooth. But when your path takes you down those gravel and dirt roads, sometimes down the roads that aren't even there yet, it's harder to know that God is in charge. The gravel scratches your paint and kicks itself under the body. The dirt finds its way into the engine causing clogging and malfunction. If we don't remember to take care of these problems we could find our cars in an early retirement. Why not take the same care of ourselves during the gravel roads an dirt paths that life takes us down? Only God can maintain our body an soul during these rough patches but if we don't go to Him we could find ourselves driving ourselves into the ground. The fact of the matter is though that whether we go to Him or not He has a plan and can be our mechanic, car wash, body shop ad so much more. Don't take this as me saying that we are to pray for God to pull a "Pimp My Ride" in our lives, but rather that we jus need to go to Him and rely on Him in everythinG, no matter what road we go down.

Psalm 46:10

10,000 Reason by Matt Redman

Matt Redman has set the stage for my next several blogs and quite frankly a marathon of journaling. “You're rich in love and you're slow to anger You’re name is great and your heart is kind For all your goodness I will keep on singing 10,000 reasons for my heart to find” These are the words he sings in his latest song which pushed my mind to the question I have been pondering for a few weeks now. Why not try to find 10,000 reasons to love, praise and glorify my God. His love is endless so my list should be as well. Upon answering this question I have set forth a challenge for myself, a few friends and anyone who wants to take up this lengthy list of God’s love. I am setting forth to write 10,000 reasons that I love my God, things He has done for me and ways He has shown Himself to me. Rising up to the challenge of a marathon and not a sprint, I want these items to be specific and detailed. I want to be able to look back at remember why my God is great! When I have kids in the future, I want this to be a legacy passed on to them to remember why God is the God of the Universe. If I were to write one a day this would take almost 28 years. At five a week this would take almost 39 years. For any of you who take this challenge on, it is not to be a religious activity to add to your checklist of you and Jesus time. Rather I want this to be something that you mediate on as the Bible tells us to think about things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and worthy of praise. (Phil 4:8) This is where my passion to do this stems from, a desire to always be looking for the blessings and the true in life rather than in my flesh finding the faults in life. With this being said, it is only fitting to start my blog by praising my God with one of these many reasons. I have started this list already and plan to continue it until it is done. But where do I start on here because God has provided so much and been so amazing. I guess I will start with the fact that I am typing this. I am alive. As many of you know I took my car airborne several years ago. Not only did I take it airborne, I decided it would be fun to do some stunts as well. Ok, so this wasn’t just for kicks and giggles but a real accident. Driving down the highway, a patch of black ice wanted to test me by spinning me out of control and then the ditch on the edge of the road caused my car to flip end over end. I’ll admit that I was enjoying the most chaotic ride of my life because it felt like it was straight out of a movie. But the fact is I am alive. I should not have survived that crash but I did. What is more amazing is that I walked away without a scratch. God provided me through that experience with a car that was more trustworthy (until now) and was paid off entirely from the insurance money from the accident. What’s your reason to be thankful today? What has God done in His great love to show you His glory and His might?

Silent to Listen

Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."

This verse has beenrunning through my mind all evening as I watched 'The Biggest Loser' because of one particular contestant. The contestant was knly on the show for two weeks and I have seen in these two episodes more oppotunities to prove truth inthe verse than I could have imagined. Coming into the show after it had already gained momentum for the season, he began to run his mouth as if he owned the place. As he mentioned frequently, he was not welcomed into the game with arms wide open and blamed everyone but himself for that. And I think that Satan was using this as a foothold because two members of this man's team are pastors. The two pastors have, according to what producers have allowed tk be seen, beenmen of incredible poise, wisdom and courage, even to the point of trting to talk man to man with this disgruntled contestant and share his wisdom. Yet with ears shut off and words already on his tongue, the new comer battled the pastor and refused his wisdom.

I take the time to explain just a small fraction of this situation to tie it in to what I feel God putting on my heart which is this verse in Proverbs. How often has humans to we refuse wisdom when it is given? Stubborn tendancies in my life tend to lock out words of advice or criticism because I have already set in stone that I'm right and no ta thing can change that. But I'm human, so by that very nature I am far from perfect on my own accord. I would like to say that I have learned to shut my mouth and open my heart when someone has something to teach me, but I know there is always room for improvement.

I don't know who you are but I really feel like God wanted me to say something about this verse for someone out there. Thank you for reading an dI hope this was an encouragement to you.

Weddings

Weddings are such a great time to reflect on the love of your life. I know I have only been married to my beautful wife for only a year and 3 months now, but attending my friend's wedding this evening granted me the perfect opportunity to ponder our wedding day and what brought us together. Our relationship was formed over time as God gave us times to grow as best freinds before we stepped forward into dating, much less into our marriage. But tonight was like a mirror for me, reminding me of the fact that I'm committed to one woman and I'm proud of that. You see my wife was ill so she stayed home. I found myself sitting a table where I was the only maried man. I dare say I was the only man. Boys will be boys, yes. But when boys are in their 20's it is high time to grow up. Not everyone finds love right out of high school or even right out of college, but if you grow up it is more likely to find you.

Now coming back from this rabbit trail, which I may follow again some day, my main point tonight is my friend's eyes lighting up when he saw his bride, his joy that poured out as he spoke and his love for his new wife reminded me of my love for my wife and how blessed I truly am to have her in my life. God knew what He was doing when He created Eve for Adam. He created us for companionship and He wants us to be cared for and to reciprocate that care. If your married, remember why it is you said those two little words "I do." It's not just about the ceremony, however detailed, simple, ornate, traditional, contemporary or whatever it may be. It is about a growing love between the two people that said "I do." Again I say, I count myself blessed to have the wife the Lord has given to me.