Lord Prepare Me....

I have been reading the Old Testament for the last couple of months. All the talk about the Sanctuary and how much attention and detail God put into it is just amazing. Then, we read in 1 Corinthians 6:19 "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?" Then, I look in a mirror. I am so out of shape and God expects the temple to be in good working order. With God's help I hope to see some renovations soon, so please pray for me. The one song that keeps coming to my mind (I know it has nothing to do with the physical) seems to describe me spirtually and physically right now:

Lord, prepare me

To be a sanctuary

Pure and holy

Tried and true

With Thanksgiving

I'll be a living

Sanctuary

For You

God Bless.

What Are You Going To Do About It?

I had a great weekend. I had a good Saturday at work....tips were good. I got to play Vinny in Kidstuf, to which I should have gotten best supporting actor....ok, I was on stage all of ten seconds....seriously. It was all good though since I saved the day. In the script.

I was reading Deuteronomy this week and read some awesome verses. Moses gives the law he received from God to the Israelites, after which he recites a song that God gave Moses to tell the Israelites. That was awesome, but then Moses said in chapter 32:46-47.....

He said to them, "Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you—they are your life."

I thought about that for a minute....This word, God's word is our life. We should eat it, drink it, sleep it. Moses said, "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Have I made God's word that significant in my life. It is my LIFE! But, in turn, that got me thinking again....What does the New Testament say about the word? John 1:1 ..."In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus is the word...Jesus is my life. I want to please God more each day. I don't need to add anything to this, but to ask is the word your life?

Sunday I got to go to NewSpring in Anderson. I read Perry Noble's blog all the time and wanted to hear him speak. He spoke about Generosity and challenged us to put skin on Christ. He said a lot of people had the attitude "What is the least amount I have to do to be Christ-like?" I thought that was a great question. Our churches are filled with people with this attitude, we often forget even the Son of Man was sent to serve, not be served. Perry made some great points in his sermon, one from Luke.....

John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
"What should we do then?" the crowd asked.
John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."

What do you have two of that someone else has none of?

Perry also reminded us that giving is living. 1 Timothy 6:19. Overall, a great message. It is exciting to see so many people on fire for Christ.

I pray that we will be Christ to those who need it the most this week, after all, He is our life.

TGIF!!!

Thank the good Lord it is Friday. This has been a long week.

Melanie and I were reading "The Pupose Driven Life" last night and during day nine it talks about 5 lessons we can learn from Noah. It brought out some interesting things about Noah that I never thought of before that proves there is a God......at least to me.

1. Noah did not live near the water/ocean. Noah built a boat at least a hundred miles from the nearest water source big enough for a boat. Now in order for that boat to end up on Mt. Ararat a miracle had to occur. Not likely that they hitched up a boat that big to a couple oxen and dragged it.

2. Noah's son's believed as well. Just think, if they didn't do you think they would have really been around? I mean seriously, their dad was building a boat in their front yeard. Embarrassing if you ask me. I could just see my dad building an igloo in our front yard saying their is going to be a freeze....yeah, right dad. Good luck with that. I am having NO part. However, Noah's sons trusted their father and believed.

3. Noah made God smile. That's it. Noah was so faithful and obedient, even when no one else was, that it made God smile. I pray I am obedient enough to God, that He looks down on me and smiles. Man, to bring that much pleasure to my Lord.

May God bless you!

What God Has Taught Me Today....

1. I can find God anywhere.

I am a cat person. Crazy, I know, but I love cats. I had a cat growing up-we'll call him George, cause....it's his name. George loved me! George was my cat. If I was at home, George was on me. He sat on my lap, my bed, where ever I was, there was George. When I got married 5 years ago I would come back to my parents' home and George would run to me seeking my immediate attention; however, as the years passed by George would run to me less and less, till now I have to seek him to have anything to do with him.

Last year, I found a cat. Actually, it found me. It came to me one day while I was outside using the phone and he hasn't left since. He has become my cat. That cat will follow me where ever I go. He makes Melanie mad because he completely ignores her. This cat loves me, he is always wanting my attention, but his love does not fill the void left by George. I mean, this cat wants to be petted, not held.

How much are we like these cats? George's focus is not on me anymore and he will only come to me when I seek him. How I wish George still sought after me. Do we still seek God, or do we have to wait til God seek's after us?

My other cat loves me and wants me to be a part of his life, but only at arms length. Are we keeping God at arms length even though we love Him? He longs to hold us and be closer to us than we could ever imagine. Imagine how much love God could show us, if we would just let Him hold us.

2. I should be a pleasing aroma to God.

In Leviticus, during the different voluntary sacrifices/offerings the priest would burn the fat of the bull/dove/pigeon/goat-whichever the case may be-over a fire on the altar....It said that the aroma it produced was a pleasing aroma to God. I thought about that. What made the aroma so pleasant? Did God actually smell it? Not positive. I think what made the aroma so pleasing was the people's obedience to God. They desired to be in fellowship with God and thankful for what He had done.

Am I that obedient to God, that my life is a pleasant aroma? I pray it will be.

3. We are set apart for His glory.

Reading Leviticus, it shows us that we are set apart from other people on this planet. We are to be different....for a purpose. Again I started thinking...Melanie and I just began trying to have kids, which in turn got me thinking about my own birth. I wasn't supposed to be here. My parents got married in 1974. Soon afterwards they began trying to get pregnant, but things became difficult. The doctor's eventually told my mother it would be "impossible" for her to have kids. So what was left? Adoption; however, it just so happened ;) not to work out. A couple of weeks later and guess what...right, mom found out she was pregnant. With me. There was a reason God opened my mother's womb and for that reason I am set apart. Just as you are set apart. God set us apart for a reason. We were set apart to worship Him, to be Holy, to be in fellowship with Him.

I also realized to be set apart I had to set apart. When I met Melanie and fell in love with her I did whatever necessary to meet with her. Skip class-No problem, Eat in the caf(trust me-it was harder than it sounds)-No problem. I did whatever it took to be with her. I set apart my time. I realized it is the same with God. I need to set apart time to spend with Him. Get up early-No problem, turn off the tv-No problem. Why? Because I love God and want to know Him inside and out and let His love radiate from me. So in order to be set apart I need to set apart.

Thank you, God, for showing me these truths.

Long Time, No Blog.....

Ok, I have been doing a lot of reading, thinking, and just wondering lately. There are three things I can not seem to shake lately and I thought I would get them off my chest...

1. What is God's plan for me? I have been giving that a lot of thought lately. I want to know what God's will is in my life. I know God will show me exactly what it is when the time comes....I even feel he might have already started showing me, but for some reason I want confirmation. Is that wrong? Am I crazy? Help....anybody....


2. Are we taking time out to pay attention to God like we should? I read Velvet Elvis and wanted to know more about what things were like in Jesus' time. Rob Bell highlighted some Jewish beliefs and customs that made me want to understand more. So I checked out a book Rob Bell recommended...."Jewish Spirituality" by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner. He brought out a point about God and Moses. In Genesis, when God talks to people, there is no doubt they were talking to God, except when Jacob wrestled the mysterious person (God/Jesus/Angel). But, when God first appeared to Moses it was in a burning bush. The Rabbi pointed out that Moses did not see the bush and run towards it, however he studied the bush and realized it was not being consumed by the fire and found that interesting enough to take a closer look. It was in that closer look that Moses talked to God. What if Moses had just passed it off as another burning bush? What if Moses did not pay close attention to the fire? What if I didn't stop and look for God everywhere? What if God wanted me to watch Him that closely? What if God wanted me to focus on Him like that?

3. Do we reach out to non-christians like we should? The Rabbi told a story that he said was legendary to Jews... It was about a rich man not paying attention during a message at the synagogue and kept dozing off. The man thought he heard God(It was actually the people in the synagogue chanting Leviticus 24:5-6) tell him to bake twelve loaves of Challah (A twisted egg bread) and place it in the ark in the front of the synagogue. The man did as he felt God wanted. A couple hours after he did this a poor man, who so happened ;) to be the janitor, prayed to God for food. When he cleaned the ark he found the bread. To make a long story short this went on for twenty years, at which point the Rabbi caught them and chastised them for doing this saying "God does not eat Challah or bake Challah" When the rich man asked if they should stop the Rabbi responded:

"No. Each of you, look at your hands. Yours," he said turning to the rich man, "are the hands of God giving food to the poor. And yours," said the rabbi to the poor man, "also are the hands of God, receiving gifts from the rich. God can still be present in your lives. Continue baking and continue taking. Your hands are the hands of God."

Wow. My hands are the hands of God. Wow.....speechless. I never looked at it that way before....Am I being God's hands to everybody? Am I meeting the needs of others?

God, thank you for the opportunity to be your hands...may I do them justice, for I know I am not worthy.