not safe...but worth it!

"I've come to start a fire on this earth—how I wish it were blazing right now! I've come to change everything, turn everything rightside up—how I long for it to be finished! Do you think I came to smooth things over and make everything nice? Not so. I've come to disrupt and confront! From now on, when you find five in a house, it will be— Three against two, and two against three; Father against son, and son against father; Mother against daughter, and daughter against mother; Mother-in-law against bride, and bride against mother-in-law."

---Luke 12:49-53 (the message bible)

For any of you, who have seen the movie "The Chronicles of Narnia" (or read the book), there is this pivotal scene in where the kids first come in contact with Aslan the Lion. Before getting close to Aslan, they asked those around them "Is He safe?"

A question any one might ask before getting close to a beast like a Lion.

And their reply..."No He's not safe...but He's worth it!"

There are some that preach the message, come to Christ and everything works itself out. Everything is great from then on out. That could not be further from the truth. Don't get me wrong the christian relationship is great, it is good, it is beautiful. But those words seem to take on new meanings.

When Jesus came to earth, He did seek to bring unity and peace to that which was broken. But He also did something else...He turned everything upside down.

Those who are last will be first, the weak are strong...He uses the foolish things to confuse the wise...Jesus, the long awaited king was born in a stable, not a kingdom palace...rode a donkey for a parade not a horse and chariot...instead of coming to rule, He came to serve... a king sacrificed his position in heaven to die on a cross for humanity...

He even went and overthrew the tables in the temple to bring it back to His Father's house of prayer.

During that time, people were so deep into traditions and legalism ( maybe today too). Jeus came and shook that all up.

He questioned those in authority (pharisees). He did something never done before. He accused them of being "white washed tombs". Basically saying that they appeared all nice and neat on the outside, but dead on the inside. They were all about living by the Law, and Jesus all about living by grace.

Once you come to Christ, things will become different. Things that you once held so dear, now you are asked to sacrifice. To get rid of. Put the old self to death. You may be ridiculed and people who loved you may turn their backs on you.

And this is the very thing that people have died for over the years. Put their own life on the line for, over seas and even here in our own country.

Just look at Paul. Shipwrecked, imprisioned (too many times to count), health sticken, almost everything imagineable all for the cause of Christ. Stephen stoned in the open square, the list goes on...

But why then do we keep on living this way? Because we know their is something greater at stake. There is a hope and a joy found in Christ.

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. "---{ Romans 8:18 nkjv}

If you are looking for a safe religion...keep looking...this is a relationship...and

No He is not safe...but He is worth it, so worth it!

For there is no joy as to that which is found in Him!

fearfully and wonderfully made

"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance;in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them."---{psalm 139-13:16}

Wow! This is a first glimpse of me and my wife's child... a little girl to be exact. Sitting in the doctor's office while they were doing the sonogram, it just took a little while to sink in. There it was up on the screen. A human being being formed in its mother's womb. Where we all start from...

I take a look at other pictures, and I can see the spine, the skull, and even the toes and fingers. (they are real tiny!!!) To think...that God was so gracious, and His endless glory made us as humans able to reproduce life. He saw this baby before it was even in the womb. Knit it together, with all it would need to complete His plan. He even had all the days of her life written out, all before she was made.

Before I hold my baby girl in my hands...she was held in the hands of the almighty God. Creator of Heaven and Earth. How gracious He is to allow me and my wife the privelage of having this child.

Don't get me wrong. At times I get nervous. I wonder if I will be able to provide. Then I come back to those verses and then look at that sonogram. He knows what He is doing. He had this all planned in advance. (He even knows what I need before I even ask! )

Can't wait to see what will happen...

To think that is how we all started out at one time...a baby in a womb...knit together by the Lord almighty. He put in you everything you would ever need. Had your days written out. He loves you...He held you first...and when you fall He holds you then, He holds you when you sleep, and one day in heaven... He will hold you in His arms again!

No matter what media tells you, no matter what the world tells you...let it fall on deaf ears. You are fearfully and wonderfully made!

cravings and chicken trucks

It all started a few years back. There I am at college in a little place called Franklin Springs, Ga. Not much to do, but go and shop at Commerce. I got into this habit that I would always try and make a stop at Zaxby's, when we got there. And on this day it was no exception, I was in the mood for some chicken. In a way, I guess you could say that I desired it...my empty stomach craved it...

That was until it happened. I was almost at the commerce exit and Zaxby's was just in reach...when from out of no where, I ended up behind a large chicken truck.

Have you ever gotten behind a chicken truck? These things smell (they have this rotten smell that is all their own). I rolled up my windows to avoid the smell as best as I could. There they are feathers flying from the back of the truck, the eyes of the chickens looking back at you (as if to say "do you really want to eat me?"), and the smell that makes you think that you have just passed a city dump.

Oh yeah the craving for Zaxby's was officially gone at the moment. To this day it still is a little hard to eat chicken...

But back to the subject at hand. I craved, desired chicken. It wasn't until I saw it up close. Until I saw my craving, my desire up close, that I saw it for what it really was...a smelly bird that is glaring back at me...did I mention the awful smell?

We all have cravings. We think we need a certain things to be complete. But it's not till we get face to face with it, do we see how valuable it actually is. We all at one time or another desire the things of this world. It is not until we see it in the light that we see if it is good or not.

The bible says , "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."

It almost seems like a freebie. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you what ever you want...what ever your heart desires. Though what I've come to find out, is that when you begin to really delight yourself in the Lord...really immerse yourself in His presence...set aside time just for Him and you...His desires become your desires. You desire to see the lost saved. Your heart beats right along side His. Takes joy in His joy. Seeks right in the midst of wrong.

The things we desire seem to be in contrast to God's.

There is an old hymn that sums it up.

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus/ look full in His wonderful face/ and the things of earth will grow strangley dim/ in the light of His glory and grace"

Look at your craving again. Is it still worth it? Look at it in the light of His glory and grace.

Don't get to the point to where you are like me and you're stuck behind a chicken truck.

live cd and baptisms

First of all let me invite everyone to a live worship cd recording at Stevens Creek Church. It will be on Sunday, May 20th at 7 pm. Come and have an awesome time praising God as the band records a live cd! If you need directions go to www.stevenscreek.net

I have to say that I enjoy going to church. It's weird but I can't wait till wed. night and Sunday morning! It just keeps getting better and better each time. You can go and get refreshed and refueled to go into the world!

Tonight we saw many come and get baptized! It was awesome. People coming and through baptism showing their obedience to Christ. The old life being washed away and leaving nothing but a new life. Amazing grace!

It was really cool before the baptism. Those who were getting baptized came and nailed their life's story to the cross, while the band played "Grace like Rain" by Todd Agnew. It was really a great way to celebrate this special time!

I hope ya'll have a great day! God bless!

Jealous Lover

"For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." --{Deutoronomy4:24}

To be honest with you, when used to think of words that describe God, I did not think about "jealousy". For I thought how could God be jealous? God is good. He could never be jealous, because jealousy is wrong. Or so I thought...

That is until I heard about when it is good jealousy. There are times when it is okay to be jealous. Times when it is bad and even harmful. When it came to God, it was a holy anger that burned and was a consuming fire. God's jealousy would be so great that it would be a consuming fire. Think about that everything that He touches was consumed with His holy anger, and His holy jealousy. Have you ever been so jealous? so angry ? that it seems like it consumes you it takes over what you think and do?

It's like a spouse who has just realized that the other is having an affair. One is cheating on the other. One who is giving their all to make things work, has just found out that the other would rather find their love somewhere else. So jealousy consumes the one and takes over all you do. No matter what that spouse does, all they can think about is the other and how they betrayed them. Picturing how they were wronged in their mind and playing it over and over. It consumes their everyday life.

The Israelites came to know God's jealousy first hand. Moses had just led the children of Israel out of Egypt, and all the practices of Egyptians. All the of their evil rituals towards small "gods".

Though even though after all they had seen and experienced, God do for them...the plagues, the splitting of the Red Sea, the manna from heaven...

They still turned to their old ways. Turned to other "gods", other idols. They gave their worship to all those except the one true God.

It is something that still true today. After all we see all God does for us, after it all...we turn our attention to our small "gods", our idols if you will. An idol is anything that you put before God. So what do you make your idol?

When Moses went up to get the ten commandments, God put one that dealt with this subject.

"You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, But showing mercy and steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments."---{Exodus 20:5-6}

He tells them to not bow down and serve other gods. To remember the good that God has done for them. How far He has brought them out of slavery. He remembers those who have done good in His name and those who hate Him, and all that He stands for.

Do we remember all that He has done for us? How far He has brought us? and even though we go back to the small gods, He still comes and rescues us. He still loves us.

"The Lord is a jealous God and avenging; the Lord avenges and He is full of wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries and reserves wrath for His enemies." ---{Nahum 1:2}

Sometimes we need a wake up. Yes, God is slow to anger, but He also can act in holy anger. If we let it go on too long, that jealousy becomes a hard lesson. God may use various things to get our attention. Things that shake our foundations and at times bring us to where we have nothing, but the realization that we need God. Let's not wait for it to get that bad, that we need God to do something drastic to get our full attention...

Our God is a jealous God. He wants our love, He wants it more than anything. He wants our worship. (Important note to think about, that...He doesn't "need it"...for He is never is in need...He "wants it")God is a jealous God. "Man's chief end is to glorify God" (Piper) He will be glorified one way or another.

He loves us so much that He could not leave us where we are. He saw where we were going, on our own...so He chose to send His son to die on the cross and save us from our sins. So that way we can be in Heaven with Him.

He wants you. He wants our love. He wants to have a relationship with you. He wants your worship.

So much that it consumes Him...

He is a jealous lover!!!

be still

"Be still, and know that I am God.I will be exalted among the nations,I will be exalted in the earth! " =Psalm 46:10 (esv)

The other day, I was able to spend the day with my Mom. We took time to catch up on all sorts of certain subjects. My mom also told me a story about something she saw while she had been out shopping earlier in the day.

She said she saw this mom out shopping with her two sons. One of the sons was in a stroller and the other close to five. The five year old was trying to get the mother's attention, and the mother seemed to be getting a little frustrated at the time and she turned around and said "be quiet!"

About that time the little one started crying and the Mother decided to cut their shopping trip short. She started pushing that stroller fast on her way out the door. The point of this story that got me, is that at that moment the five year old said with a upbeat voice, as they left...

"I love you Mommy!"

Though the mother was too busy to notice and just kept going.

My mom said at that moment, God showed her something, that sometimes life gets so fast...we get so fast...so caught up that we don't hear the little things. At times we get so busy that we don't hear God say "I love you", we just keep pushing our way through...

Be still...be quiet...rest...reflect on God. Drink of His love, drink deep, drink often.

It seems life is never quiet any more. We seem to fill in the silence with music, talking, computer and anything else... We have come to the point that we can't stand silence.

Are we afraid that if we are quiet, we might hear something we don't want to hear?

we might become vulnerable?

We seem to also busy ourselves. I remember having something that involved church almost each night of the week. Somewhere I thought the more that I take on,the more that I do...The more spiritual I must be. Though I was running myself ragged. For those became empty and meant nothing. For they became fleshly,wordly...instead of doing it for God, I was doing it for self. For some it's church and for others many other various things.

Maybe if we busy ourselves enough we won't have to acknowledge our weaknesses our flaws, that we all have by the way...which shows how much our need for God.

Life doesn't have to be so complicated...Simplify. Cut back on empty rituals...and get back to God.

Everything buys for our attention. What will you allow to have yours? Surrender yourself to God.

Take time to quiet yourself...read your bible...focus on God and all He has done. Let things that need your attention wait (if truly possible)...let yourself rest and reflect and see what is truly important in life. Be quiet and hear God say

"I love you"

Put your head on His chest. If you are quiet enough...you can also hear His heart beating strong for you.

sam's

This sunday afternoon we went to one of the greatest places...Sam's!!!

They have everything there. Everything you could ever want and nothing that you need. When you get there you feel like you want it all though, I mean where else can you get 50 rolls of 2-ply for $3.97!? Don't forget about the free samples!!!

Do we need it?...No but it's there and it looks so good, that we want it, or we think we do...

It's just with in reach.

I could spend all day in there. And spend all my money in there as well. So many ailses, like a never ending labrynth.

Which makes me think...

Here in America. We have everything we could ever want. Think about it. Everything is at our finger tips. We have become a culture that wants more and more. We never really seem to be satisfied.

I also mean that about me. I have a bad habit with music. I like to buy cds. I can never seem to get enough of them. When a new music cd comes out, I can't wait to buy it.

Such much stuff...too much stuff...

Thank goodness that God is everything we need, and He does not always give us what we want (for at times it wouldn't benefit us and bring glory to Him).

We may not always get what we want, But thanks be to God we have everything we need.

In Him, we have joy, we have peace, we have strength, we have favor, we have the power of the living God inside of us.

Why not give to those who do not have everything they need? Sacrifice what you want.

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