11.5.2009

Reading to my kids the story of Jonah this morning, I came across verse 8 in chapter 1 which says, “Those who cling to worthless idols forsake faithful love.”  This verse was part of the prayer Jonah prayed while in the belly of the whale. Jonah had 3 days of ordained reflection were he mulled over his life and realized he had forfeited the faithful love of God by clinging to the worthless idols of the world. 

As I read his prayer, I again pondered how our circumstances and attitudes are reflected in our prayer life.   Jonah’s prayer would not have sounded the same if he had made it to Tarshish!  He would have missed the blessing of the revelation that changed his life.

Thank you Lord for the times in our lives that are tough but that sharpen us and mold us more into Your likeness.

11.3.2009

“Today, recognize and keep in mind that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other.” Deuteronomy 4:39

I met a man this morning who shared this scripture with me.  I appreciated him doing so and felt led to pass it on!

10.29.2009

This morning God gave me the opportunity to witness something I will never forget.  I need to set the scene up for you by giving you some background.  I have an employee in his mid 20’s who has had some tremendous adversity in his young life.  I could see that he was hurting and searching for something to ease his pain and bring meaning to this life.  Recently, I have been able to share the story of my faith journey and what it means to my life daily.  These conversations where sometimes difficult for both he and I.  I really felt burdened for him and began to pray for him and then  invited him to go to Kairos with me. (Tuesday night service at my church!)  He started going about a month ago and made statements that he was really enjoying it. 

Yesterday I got a text from him inquiring where I was.  I text him back and told him I was out of pocket to which he replied, ” I need to get with you.  I have a box with some symbolic things in it that I need you to help me through in the dumpster.”  I text him back and told him I would follow up.  This morning while I was in my corporate office my phone buzzed.  When I looked at it, the text simply said, “Are you at corporate?”  I replied, yes…come by and see me!  Within a minute a reply came back letting me know that he was pulling in the parking lot.  I went out to greet him and what followed I will never forget!

He greeted me with a handshake and said, “Since you were a part of me coming to this place in my life, I wanted you to be a part of what I am fixing to do.”  I followed him to the van where he took out a wooden box with a lock on it.  It was painted and had the initials R.I.P. on the outside.  He handed it to me and I proceeded to lead him to the dumpster.  As we got to the dumpster, I looked at him and could see the emotion in his eyes.  I said, “You know I can’t help you throw this locked box in the dumpster without asking you what’s inside.”  What he said next is what I will never forget!!!!  “Joey, In this box are pills, drugs, and other things that plagued my life until Tuesday night.”  I immediately asked, did you asked Jesus into your heart?  “On Tuesday Night!”, he replied with a deep sigh of relief.  I grabbed him and we just stood there and hugged with the wooden box laying at our feet.  I asked if I could pray with him before we proceeded with throwing Satan and his lies in the dumpster.  We prayed, picked up the box, and together we threw it as hard as we could against the back wall of the dumpster.

I can’t tell you the emotions ran through me in that moment.  I put one hand on his shoulder and raised the other one towards heaven and said….”To God be the Glory”.  It was all I could say in that moment!   

Today, I witnessed one of the purest pictures of the freedom Christ brings when He enters into a life ravaged by Satan and his demons.  Hallelujah!!!

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened by a yoke of slavery.”   Galatians 5:1.

10.16.2009

Tonight, I post from our house in Destin, FL.  We arrived here last night about 9:30 and have had a marvelous day on the beach.  When we got down to the ocean’s edge this morning, I called the kids over and read Genesis 1:9 to them.  The verse says, “Then God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.”  As we stood at the water’s edge, I pointed out to sea and said to the kids, “Just like that, God commanded land to appear and now here we stand!”  If that don’t cause you to think a little, I don’t know what will. 

Courtney said later, “Joey, this is my deer stand.  You know how you feel when you get high in your tree and behold all God has created?  You know how that makes you feel?  Thats how I feel here on the beach.”  I sat back and thought about her statement.  Although the places are different, both of them do the same thing.  They bring us to worship!  My deer stand and her feet in the sand at the ocean scream to us the power and majesty of  Almighty God. 

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”      John Muir

10.13.2009

The end of Mark chapter 4 tells the all to famous story of Jesus at sea with His disciples and encountering a fierce storm.  When it became evident that a miracle was going to be needed to save them, the disciples woke Jesus up and asked, “Don’t you care that we’re going to die?” (v.38)

When I read this, something about their comment was familar to me.  I recognized after re-reading it that the tone of my prayers often resemble that of the disciples in verse 38.  When I find myself without answers, I tend to pray a similar prayer.  Something like…..Dear God….Help! I remind you that I am in this aweful situation.  Please intervene on my behalf!   Historically,  I get really serious with my prayer life when life is in the ditch.  Even pagans start praying when life takes that unexpected turn.

I have become more and more convicted concerning the shallowness of my prayer life.  There is a direct correlation between the tone of my prayer life and the depth of my faith.  As I type this post, I pray that God would create in me a consistent yearning to go deeper in my conversations with Him.  By doing this, I will find a level of faith I have never known.

10.5.2009

In Matthew 16:26 Jesus asked the question, “What will a man give in exchange for his life?” 

When I thought about this a minute, I realized that we often sell ourselves for cheap, perishable, pleasures/stuff.  Things with no eternal value!  If I were to do an inventory of the way I have spent the 31 years of my life, how much eternal value would be associated with my existence.   Would I want to stick my head in a hole?  Probably!!!!  Consciousness of this may help me better utilize my time the next 31 years.  Maybe I won’t continue to sell myself so cheap.

10.4.2009

These pictures are of a chapel in the mountains of South Carolina.  Our family has a house in Sunset, South Carolina and my mom took us to see this chapel while we were there in July.  I remember walking into it and literally being caught offguard by it’s beauty.  The windows in the rear of the chapel are from ceiling to floor and through them you see some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. (Top Picture)  When I walked into this chapel, I was so overwhelmed and all I could to do was kneel down humbly before the Creator and worship His majesty.  I remembered these pictures today when I read Romans 1:20.  Paul writes, “From the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made.  As a result, people are without excuse.” 

9.28.2009

Since my last post, alot has happened in our family.  Barron turned 2, we moved up 8 spots on our adoption #, and we think Briley’s 3 front teeth may finally be coming in.

Life around our house is exciting to say the least.  We are getting close to the “greatly anticipated” day when we travel 13 flight hours to pick up Bristol.  I layed in bed last night thinking about Barron and how he would respond to his parents being gone for 10-14 days.  He doesn’t know and doesn’t care what Bristol or Ethiopia means.  All he cares about is having his mommy and daddy tuck him in every night when he goes to bed and having them here when he wakes up.  I am praying for him already.  I pray that God will give him an over-whelming sense of peace while we are away. 

We have alot of transition taking place in our family over the next few months. (To say the least!) Please continue to pray for us!

9.17.2009

“Israel, prepare to meet your God!  He is here:  the One who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals His thoughts to man, the One who makes the dawn out of darkness and strides on the heights of the earth.  Yahweh, the God of Host is His name”  Amos 4:13

Israel had forsaken the ways of God and started doing things their own way.  In the above verse, Amos started with a statement that reminded me of something I heard often throughout my childhood.  My mom would say, “Boys, you wait till your dad gets home!”  It’s amazing how fast those words would shape-up my brother and I.  We would immediately accept responsibility for our actions and begin our plea-bargaining process hoping to prevent dad from finding out about our disobedience.   This healthy fear we had for our dad caused an immediate response. 

I believe that we have mislead many into accepting God as friend but not as Lord.  There is a huge difference.  God as friend doesn’t initiate immediate corrective responses to things we are doing wrong.   My mom never said, “Boys, you wait until your friend gets here!”  We would have laughted her out of the room and continued on with our mischevious behavior.

Amos was not telling them that God their friend was there for coffee and donuts.  He was warning them that God their Lord was there to bring judgment!  BIG DIFFERENCE!!!

9.15.2009

Every once and a while, I get tired of putting my thoughts out here on this blog.   The last few weeks has been just one of those times.  I am in my 4th week of school which is consuming  a lot of my time.  My church suggested a “Missions Perspectives” course that I enrolled in and started 4 weeks ago.  It is from 6:30 to 9:30 on Monday nights.  My accessment of the course……IT HAS BLOWN ME AWAY!  There is a different speaker each week from a different background.  I am learning about world religions, christianity, God’s Kingdom, and Jesus’ master plan to bring His Father’s Kingdom to earth.  It has been engaging and has pushed me deeper in my exploration of God’s call on my life.  In going deeper, my questions are being answered.     Questions like:  Go Where?  Why Me?  Give up what?  For Who?  Does it matter?  Will I really make a difference?  Isn’t someone out there more qualified? Can’t it wait?  How about this????

With every answered question, the basis of all human existence is becoming  more and more obvious to me.  Every person is and was created to bring glory to God and everyone will ultimately do this.  One way or another, glory will be given to the One it is due.  My responses to the above questions will determine which route I take to do what I am going to do regardless.  Give God Glory!  I will either do it now in my life or later in my death but I will do it.