July 31, 1984.
This was the day I went forward at a vacation Bible school in East
Tennessee, repented of my sins and asked Jesus to be my Lord and
Savior.
Like most new believers, I was filled with zeal and wanted to learn all I
could about the Lord. I began reading my Bible fervently, attending
every service and trying to be a good Christian.
I now know I was not properly discipled.
I began reading my Bible from the beginning. (That's where you start a
book right?) I breezed through Genesis and Exodus, bogged down in
Leviticus and gave up in Numbers. It took me awhile to get back on
track. I finally had a fellow believer point me to the NT where I spent
a season before eventually reading the whole Bible.
I had a huge fascination with end times theology and read everything I
could get my hand on. I loved to debate (argue) the Bible and felt I
had to defend God to the death! I even made sure to hand a Bible tract
to a kid who was holding a switchblade to my throat...so that I could at
least die a martyr!
Ah, youth....
Nearly 31 years since my life changing decision, I have come to learn
that less is more. I have seen the highs and lows of faith. The good,
the bad and the ugly. The older I get, the more comfortable I am with
my faith. I no longer feel the need to debate every line of
Scripture. In fact, I don't debate at all.
As I reflect over my relationship with the Lord, I find comfort and peace in who He is and who I am in Him.
After 31 years, this I know:
Prov. 3:5-6 - "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."
The first Scripture that really challenged me. I tried for too long to
lean on my own understanding. Now, I know that I know nothing. I have
found that as I lean on Him, look to Him, trust in Him...He truly does
direct my path. From TN to TX, Russia to Croatia, the US to Canada, God
has directed my path, my days, my life. I wouldn't have it any other
way.
Jesus, Only Jesus - I remember hearing this quoted often by a man
God used to impact my life. He often said it boiled down to just
that. I used to think he was being so cliche. Now I know, I truly want
Jesus, only Jesus!
Jesus Christ and Him Crucified - "For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."
This passage in 1 Cor. 2:2 has become more and more important to me. I
don't care to debate how long it took God to create the Heavens and
Earth. My opinion on when Jesus is coming back is just that, my
opinion. What I am determined to know is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Galatians 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives
in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
The verse that changed my life. In my darkest days, God reached out to a
man contemplating his own mortality, He broke through the darkness when
suicide seemed like the only way out, and He taught me who I am in
Him.
I'm not God - I am not called to judge. I no longer see the need
to point out the stick in your eye while ignoring the log in mine. I
now endeavor to speak truth in love and show the same grace and mercy
that Jesus Christ has shown me.
The Two Greatest Commandments - Jesus is quoted in Matthew
22:36-40 as saying that the two greatest commandments in which are
contained the whole law of God is to love the
Lord with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our
neighbor as we do our self! It really is that simple. We over
complicate Christianity and Jesus boiled it down to this!
Jesus Loves Me - This I know. I can rest in that.
Showing posts with label Numbers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Numbers. Show all posts
3/2/15
10/5/13
Here There be Giants
Reading through the book of Numbers, I got caught up in the story (ch.
13) of the 1st time the Israelites were about to enter the promised
land. They were there, on the cusp of entering the place God had told
them He would give them. He had prepared them for this...the promised
land. He directed Moses to send out spies (scouts) to check out the
land and to report back. Moses chose 12 men and sent them out to with
instructions to report on the land (the trees, food sources, layout,
etc) and the people. He wasn't asking for an assessment on what he
thought their chances were, just a report on the DETAILS of what they
saw.
These 12 men spent 40 days spying out the lay of the land. They came back and the Israelites gathered to hear their report. Ten men praised the land but focused on the fact that they saw GIANTS! Tall men of big build who would eat the nation of Israel alive. They told the people that the land would devour them and it was hopeless. Despite the fact that God said he was giving them this land, the 10 spies told stories that made the Israelites knees turn to jelly. However, 2 spies went counter to this narrative. Joshua and Caleb spoke truth. they said, Yes there are giants there but we can do this. God is giving us the land, let's take it.
No one else was wanting to take them up on this. The people doubted God and wanted to turn back. The Lord told Moses that because of this, they would wander around until this generation died off and that it would be their descendents who inherited the land. All except Joshua and Caleb who gave the true report and had the faith that God would do what He said he would do. It took 40 years, but the people did end up taking the land after the previous generation passed.
I read that story and I think about God's call on my life. There have been times that I have faced giants. Obstacles that would seem to say I should not pass. Yet I knew God called and I had to precede.
When I was living in East Tennessee, I had a good job and though we were not well off, we were making ends meet. I was moving up the ladder at work and new opportunities were presenting themselves. However, my wife and I felt the Lord calling us to Canada. It was not an easy choice. We spent months in prayer. We wrestled with the decision and wanted to make sure God was calling us to make it. There came a point where we knew, yes this was the direction God was calling us in.
That did not go down easy with everyone. I remember being counseled by some to turn back from this decision. I was leaving a "good job and a home" to go to a place where we had neither. To top it off, we felt the Lord calling Sarah to go 3 months ahead of me. She did and as soon as she departed, the Lord opened new doors for both of us. Sarah was able to present her testimony in ways she had never had before. I had an opportunity to begin lay counseling training without distractions. Later, when we reunited in Canada, we had what looked like many giants before us. I was unemployed for the first 2 years as I sought landed immigrant status. God saw us through this time and opened the door for me to find work with the Salvation Army in Smithers. I began running the local food bank part time and did that for nearly 4 years while my wife worked part time at the local Christian bookstore. There came a point where I needed full time work as Sarah was pregnant with our second child. Just as I thought I would need to look elsewhere for employment, God orchestrated events in a way that I was promoted to full time work at the exact moment Sarah had to stop working.
Three years later and he has expanded our ministry even more as we both became soldiers in the Salvation Army.
It would have been easy to say, Here there be Giants and to turn back from obvious obstacles. Instead, we persevered and have seen God expand our family, our calling, our ministry outreach and our love for Him and each other.
If God has called you, then press forward despite the giants! Let Him take you into the place He has called you to be.
These 12 men spent 40 days spying out the lay of the land. They came back and the Israelites gathered to hear their report. Ten men praised the land but focused on the fact that they saw GIANTS! Tall men of big build who would eat the nation of Israel alive. They told the people that the land would devour them and it was hopeless. Despite the fact that God said he was giving them this land, the 10 spies told stories that made the Israelites knees turn to jelly. However, 2 spies went counter to this narrative. Joshua and Caleb spoke truth. they said, Yes there are giants there but we can do this. God is giving us the land, let's take it.
No one else was wanting to take them up on this. The people doubted God and wanted to turn back. The Lord told Moses that because of this, they would wander around until this generation died off and that it would be their descendents who inherited the land. All except Joshua and Caleb who gave the true report and had the faith that God would do what He said he would do. It took 40 years, but the people did end up taking the land after the previous generation passed.
I read that story and I think about God's call on my life. There have been times that I have faced giants. Obstacles that would seem to say I should not pass. Yet I knew God called and I had to precede.
When I was living in East Tennessee, I had a good job and though we were not well off, we were making ends meet. I was moving up the ladder at work and new opportunities were presenting themselves. However, my wife and I felt the Lord calling us to Canada. It was not an easy choice. We spent months in prayer. We wrestled with the decision and wanted to make sure God was calling us to make it. There came a point where we knew, yes this was the direction God was calling us in.
That did not go down easy with everyone. I remember being counseled by some to turn back from this decision. I was leaving a "good job and a home" to go to a place where we had neither. To top it off, we felt the Lord calling Sarah to go 3 months ahead of me. She did and as soon as she departed, the Lord opened new doors for both of us. Sarah was able to present her testimony in ways she had never had before. I had an opportunity to begin lay counseling training without distractions. Later, when we reunited in Canada, we had what looked like many giants before us. I was unemployed for the first 2 years as I sought landed immigrant status. God saw us through this time and opened the door for me to find work with the Salvation Army in Smithers. I began running the local food bank part time and did that for nearly 4 years while my wife worked part time at the local Christian bookstore. There came a point where I needed full time work as Sarah was pregnant with our second child. Just as I thought I would need to look elsewhere for employment, God orchestrated events in a way that I was promoted to full time work at the exact moment Sarah had to stop working.
Three years later and he has expanded our ministry even more as we both became soldiers in the Salvation Army.
It would have been easy to say, Here there be Giants and to turn back from obvious obstacles. Instead, we persevered and have seen God expand our family, our calling, our ministry outreach and our love for Him and each other.
If God has called you, then press forward despite the giants! Let Him take you into the place He has called you to be.
7/2/10
Moonshine Madness
There are places in Tennessee where, if you know the right person, you can still acquire a big ol' jar of corn liquor, known to most people as moonshine. Now these places usually involve back roads, car trunks and late night meetings.
One place you would NOT expect to be able to acquire this illegal brew is a major theme park. It's been a few years ago now, but that was exactly what happened at a park in the hills of TN. During a festival celebrating old time culture a still had been set up for "Educational" purposes. Only water was to be run through the machine to show tourists how it "used to be!" The gentleman they had running the display, well he thought he would make a bit of brew on the side. He was going along fairly well for awhile and then made the "mistake" of letting a few folks sample his wares.
That was when the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) team rolled up and took him and parts of the still away.
"You have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out." Numbers 32:23
How often we try to hide our sins. Not many are brazen enough to conduct their sin in broad daylight for all to see. Oh some are, but most of us like to do our sinning in private.
The thing about sin is it has a way of bubbling to the surface like a festering wound. Eventually it's going to pop and the gunk will ooze out for all to see. Nasty description isn't it? Sin is just as nasty.
I have heard to many storied of people who feel sorry for their sin only AFTER they are caught. I was that way myself.
Proverbs 10:9 says, "Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out."
Are you walking securely or glancing over your shoulder hoping no one sees you sinning?
Do you have peace of mind or fear?
Do you act like a believer in private as well as public?
Only you know the answer to that. Well, you and God!
One place you would NOT expect to be able to acquire this illegal brew is a major theme park. It's been a few years ago now, but that was exactly what happened at a park in the hills of TN. During a festival celebrating old time culture a still had been set up for "Educational" purposes. Only water was to be run through the machine to show tourists how it "used to be!" The gentleman they had running the display, well he thought he would make a bit of brew on the side. He was going along fairly well for awhile and then made the "mistake" of letting a few folks sample his wares.
That was when the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) team rolled up and took him and parts of the still away.
"You have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out." Numbers 32:23
How often we try to hide our sins. Not many are brazen enough to conduct their sin in broad daylight for all to see. Oh some are, but most of us like to do our sinning in private.
The thing about sin is it has a way of bubbling to the surface like a festering wound. Eventually it's going to pop and the gunk will ooze out for all to see. Nasty description isn't it? Sin is just as nasty.
I have heard to many storied of people who feel sorry for their sin only AFTER they are caught. I was that way myself.
Proverbs 10:9 says, "Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out."
Are you walking securely or glancing over your shoulder hoping no one sees you sinning?
Do you have peace of mind or fear?
Do you act like a believer in private as well as public?
Only you know the answer to that. Well, you and God!
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