Sundays

   Oh Sundays…. I always enjoy Sundays.  Being around people that have the same purpose in their life as I do is very refreshing.  Today our lesson in Sunday school was about our purpose in life and how to live it.  Our verses were out of Ephesians 5, and one stuck hard with me.

¹⁸ Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

   After I graduated from high school and started off in college, I got caught up in a “drinking” crowd.  I have to be honest, I was a mess.  I’ve seen my family pretty hurt by the decisions I have made while drinking.  Brother Steve explained it pretty well, he said:  To be filled with alcohol your body and mind poor out actions that you cant explain or help, but the same is also true with the Holy Spirit.  You actions come out of your love for Christ and the will he has for you.  How great is that?  You cant help but exude the love of Christ and the will he has in store for you when you are powered by the Spirit.  I love the emotion that I receive when I feel the Holy Spirit, although most of the time it comes out in tears.  The power you feel when you know the hand of God is with you is unmatchable.  I went to a MercyMe concert about 3 weeks ago and the power that was in the building as hundreds of people raised their voice in one purpose was too much for me.  I cried, Daisy cried, mom cried, and I think if you didn’t cry you weren’t singing the words I was.  Especially this song.

   The word of God does speak because it is living!  It lives in me and in the body of Christ.  At many times I am at a loss of words.  Not because I'm emotionless, but because there is no way to describe my God and how he does speak to us or how he speaks through us.  I hope Bryan Benedict doesn't get mad at me for using his name, but God speaks through him, more than he even knows.  He is a true man of God and a great role model, but never do simpler words mean so much as they do when God speaks through him.  I want to be in that relationship with God where he wants to speak through me too.  I don't even know if Bryan will ever read this, but just in case, thank you for being the man you are.  

   Another topic we discussed was the urgency in which we should live this life. In verse 16 of Ephesians 5 is says to make the most out of your time, or in other translations, your every opportunity.  How much time have I wasted with being foolish?  How much time have you wasted?  For Jesus is coming.  We talked about your spiritual "bucket list."  What would you do if you knew Jesus would return in a month?  This is how we are suppose to live our life.  I pray that God forgives me for the time I have thrown away.

Snatched God's beauty on my camera hunting a month ago.

   Lets not forget that every sunrise is a gift and every single day is time not to be wasted.  God will provide you a life's purpose and will if you just let his spirit fill you.  Priceless amazing grace.

Second Chances

(Psalms 30:2-5 NIV) O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. O LORD, you brought me up from the grave ; you spared me from going down into the pit. Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.




   When David wrote these words, he was talking about God's grace toward him. He never would have thought that these words would be his song of redemption for his affair with Bathsheba.  God gave David a second chance and delivered him out of his own wallow.


   God is a God of second chance, lucky for us.  


   For the past 5 month is have been spending a lot of my time with my family and my girlfriend, Daisy.  Having a change of pace in my life has caused most of the change I am feeling.  It all started when me and Daisy started talking.  I just moved back in with my parents and my life was upside down.  Daisy has a beautiful daughter, Maddie, and I was having a lot of trouble dealing with that.  I sat down with my mom one night and had a serious conversation about what I was feeling and how she would feel about having a child around.  It took mother a couple days to come back with an answer, but here is what I got: No matter who you are and what your situation is, God is a redeeming God and everyone has a redeemable soul.  She said as long as the quality instilled within the girl is worth the risk, go for it. Not too much longer we started dating and I don't think mom could ever give Mads up now.


   This thought stuck with me though.  Who am I to not ask for redemption?  For God says to live this life in his likeness and he also says for us to forgive our brother for wronging us seventy times seven times.  This means that God will forgive us an infinite times more if we just ask for it.  No trouble in life is bigger than my God.  For even out of travesty, God can create total bliss....

Priceless

    On a side note, thank you to everyone that sent me a word of encouragement.  It means a lot.  

Beginnings

  I guess it is always custom to share a little but of me and my life in my first post, so here we go.  I am a 21 year old trying to find my way back to the cross from a world that so easily pulls you closer to the fire.  I have been very involved in church since a young age and have always known the savior I serve lives, but in the past five years I have made a fool out of myself and have lost touch with my relationship with God.  The past couple of months have hit me like a ton of bricks!  For as much as I have seen God move in my life, I have acted like he does not exists.

   One look at the sky tonight tells me different, my Jesus is in that. 

  Now, I tell you all of that to tell you this, I am turning a new page in my life.  Out with the old, in with the new, for my sake, for my family's sake, and most of all His sake.

For their sake too. :)

  I leave you with this thought....

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. -Romans 5:2-5

...priceless