Just look for it

It is amazing to me how God will reveal Himself to us if we just look for Him. I prayed Saturday night on my way home from a dinner that God would reveal Himself to me more this week and provide me with more opportunities to serve Him and what do you know, it is happening.
I will start with the revealing. I have seen God working wonders in many of the lives of those around me this week. For starters I received an e-mail yesterday from my cousin who is pregnant. I know that many people are praying for her to have a healthy pregnancy and that she is happy and secure. I can safely say from her e-mail that those prayers seem as if they are being answered currently. Secondly, I have another cousin who is a photographer in Oklahoma. About two weeks ago she and her husband had a great deal of their expensive equipment stolen. To make a long story short, their faith and trust in God never waivered and it all of their equipment has been returned in tact. Watch my blog for a link to this story when they post it on their blog.
Now, on to the opportunities to serve. Where to begin? I guess I will just talk about two opportunities. I had dinner with a friend the other night who is a very strong Christian and who I know has no desire greater than to be a loving Christian. That being said, I could tell that this person was very troubled about a situation in their life. So much so that I felt a great deal of sadness after leaving this dinner. This may seem like nothing much but I knew in my heart that this person needed an encouraging word. A quick e-mail was all I wrote but I know if God was not the master of my life I would not have even thought or noticed the pain they were in. Even more importantly, I would not have thought to do anything about it. To gives kudos to my good friend Jason Jarrett, his sermon on bearing one another's burdens helped with this as well.
The second opportunity to serve came yesterday. I work with a group of people who for the most part fail to censor their language or think about the thought that the words you choose tell people a great deal about your heart (as well as your intelligence, but we won't get in to that). I often find myself retreating to my office and putting on a sermon or Christian music just to filter out some of the world. Yesterday I chose to listed to Dan Chambers sermon from the 2006 Challenge Youth Conference (cyconline.com if you are interested in hearing some really powerful youth driven messages). His sermon was based on the life of Moses and his calling to do God's work in Exodus 3. He focused on the excuses that Moses served up to God when God called him. It was a great message and my friend Jay Boyett (I love you man) who is a fountain of scriptural knowledge, walked in at the end of the lesson and heard the end of it. We were talking about how Moses was chosen to do his job as a baby and discussing the absurdity of any of us thinking we are any different (God has chosen all of us to do great things, I know there's a great sermon in there somewhere) when another co-worker walked in. Jay asked this individual how their faith was coming and this person began to offer up the very same excuses that Moses did in this sermon I just listened. Coincidence, there is no such thing. This was God answering my prayer to serve Him. Without saying much I was able to relate to this person how they sounded like what I had just heard and direct them to the scripture to see what I was talking about.
I would say that God has answered my prayer and he has continued to do so by giving me a very good idea about our youth ministry at church that I plan to implement soon. I can see God in so many different ways and these past few days He has shown Himself in a huge manner. I hope that all who are reading this will also pray for God to not only reveal Himself but to also give you opportunities to serve Him.

Update from Easter Sunday

I read a blog today and noticed that on it there was a post updating those who read on their Easter Sunday events. It reminded me that I should do the same. So, here goes. Easter Sunday was fantastic. Not only did the boys get to dress up and look very handsome (see pictures below), but we also had a great Easter Egg hunt at my uncle and aunt's house. My cousin was there with her child (Davis) as well as an old friend I had not seen in a long, long time was there with her son. Most importantly it is so great to get to take a day out of the year and and reflect on the fact that Jesus Christ conquered the bonds of death. If you have not read it in a while, read Matthew 28 and just think about what a wonderful day that was and how it has affected you and mankind as a whole. The angel told Mary to give the child born of immaculate conception the name Jesus because it meant, "God with us" and in Matthew 28:20 Jesus reminds us that he does live up to his name when he says "I am with you always." I hope that you all had a great Easter and spent time dwelling on the fact that what seperates Christians from all other religions is that we serve a LIVING God who is with us always.

Ethan looking handsome on Easter.

Luke really does not like having his picture made in the cold!

Ethan found the most eggs.

Luke was a close second though.

The afternoon quickly dissolved into a day of chase,

Tackle

and pile on.

that ended with Luke's mouth bleeding and...

he and Davis pretending to be dead.

Pilgrim's Map of the Day

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter. I know that we did. The boys got to play with their cousin and a new friend and they hunted Easter Eggs and ate tons of candy. While it was tiresome for Joy and I, it is always worth it when you can give your kids days that they will always remember. Hopefully I will have picures up soon. In the meantime, here is the pilgrim's map of the day to some good internet finds.

* I thought this was an interesting article regarding the supposed on-screen suicide seen in The Wizard of Oz.

*

Pilgrim's Map of the Day

I am discovering that the only easy thing about keeping up a blog is forgetting to post. I am back now and I aim to soon post the reaminder of my "Because He Loved Him" lesson. In the meantime, enjoy today's map to quality links on the internet.

* (NERD ALERT!!!) Here is a neat little photo essay on the evolution of home video gaming systems. It was a stroll down memory lane for me.

* This next post is primarily for my friend Amber and her daughter Maddy. I thought they would enjoy seeing the Disney imagery that made its way into the movie Enchanted. Click here to see the listing of "easter eggs."

* I just saw the trailer to this movie called The Strangers and if you like chilling scary movies, this one looks like it may be for you (I know I want to see it). Here is a link to the trailer.

Because He Loved HIm Part 2

First off, sorry it has taken me so long to get back with part 2. I was very busy last week and I am struggling to find time to post much. So anyway, here is part 2 of my thoughts.

If you remember, in Part 1 I talked about how we need to decide if we are living the Christian life because we expect some great reward or if we are doing it for the sole reason that we love God. In this post, I am going to talk about the first of four things that I do because I love God.

-Because I love God, I obey Him-

This sounds so simple and so hard at the same time. Even those of us who are trying every day to show our love to God struggle with this one. Let me address fellow Christians first. As Christians you know that we should search the scriptures daily and if you truly love God, this is not a burden, but a privilege. It is your chance to read the mind of God and find answers to any questions that you may be having. To refer back to our original text, Elijah himself tells us that he knows what to do "through His word" (1 Kings 17:5).

One response to this is "but there are so many rules." No, there aren't. If we are living our lives with the sole purpose of expressing our love and adoration to God almighty, there should be no rules, only a ruler. Pay attention: If God is the ruler of my heart then all I have to do to obey Him is measure every action against this ruler. Use God as an actual measuring tool. If you love God, you must obey Him. All of the rules that so many people complain about in daily Christian life are neatly summed up for us in Colossians 3 beginning at verse 11:

11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. 12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

There sure are alot of things you are supposed to do in that passage aren't there? Yes. But notice verse 14. What is the trump card? Love. If you love God, you will love your fellow man and yourself, making every other thing listed in this passage fall right into place. Because I love God, I obey His word to show Him.

To those who may be reading this who may not have put on Christ yet, allow me to talk to you. Your question may be, "If I have yet to put on Christ, then how do I obey Him?" The answer to this is harsh but I feel needs to be said. If you have been taught the word and shown that Jesus does save and that he did die for your sins and was raised again and you have not made the decision to put on Christ for redemption, then you can not even say you believe in God, much less love Him. If you truly believed you would know how great and powerful he is and you could not help but love Him and obey His every command. You are spinning your wheels and waiting for something that will probably never come. You are relying on something else when Jesus himself says that you are foolish and slow of heart (Luke 24:24-27) and that He is willing to teach you should you simply try to believe. You have been told that Jesus conquered every constraint that this Earth could possibly put on him and you can not believe so how will you ever believe spiritual matters (John 3:12). You may think that you are fooling people because you go to church sometimes or you wear a cross around your neck but the truth is you do not even believe in the Lord God, much less love Him. Jesus speaks to you in John 5: 37 & 38 and tells you that He is not abiding in you because you have yet to hear his voice. You can't fool God and Jesus tells you so in verse 42 of that same passage. He says "But I know you..." When I read those words thet make me think of some threatning gangster movie. Those 4 words should call you to action. Jesus knows your heart and if you are fooling yourself into believing that you love and obey God, please search your heart and scripture for the truth.

If you truly recognize God for the power that he is you have no option but to obey Him. Love = Obey. There is the equation for all of us. How hard is that. Yet this world is filled with confusion over such matters as baptism and the Lord's Supper. The word of God says to do it, if you love God you will obey God, do it. Show God your love through your obedient actions.

I hope to post part 3 of this lesson in the near future. Check back often.