Grace of the Lord poured out on me

Yesterday, was a really good day. Some days are not like yesterday though. We struggle to discern God's plan or in being patient with others and we succumb to fleshly desires through anger, greed, pride, and many other sins. It is in those difficult days and in the best of days that we echo with the apostle Paul, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

God's grace is always amazing. We can become fickle with our emotions and lives but God is always faithful. As I was reading and answering emails a few nights ago, I saw this excellent blog post by Kelley Brown entitled, "Out of the Ashes Beauty will Rise" and was reminded again of God's redemptive plan that shows mercy to us as wretched sinners.

Immediately, I thought, "Let me tweet this or put a link on facebook or on my blog!" Then, I thought instead of pouring my heart out on the blogosphere or to the Internet I should spend some time in prayer thanking God and pouring my heart out to Him. It was a sweet time of prayer. I encourage you to spend a moment or two in prayer thanking God for his mercy to you even now. The blogging world and twitbook can be a great place to encourage other believers and to point others to the grace and mercy at the Cross but the technological world can have its drawbacks. Without a doubt, it doesn't take the place of having a personal relationship with Christ and being committed to His bride, the Church. It is through the church and small groups (community groups, core groups, life groups, etc.) that we can truly live out what it means to follow Christ by loving, encouraging, correcting, admonishing, and strengthening one another as Scripture tells us to do. Instead, at times, I find myself running away from believers instead of to them (obviously a source of pride). We see through the life of Paul how he longed to be with and learn from his sisters and brothers in Christ. Paul (the man who knew hardship, persecution, adversity and was a theological giant) knew well God's design for the church because at one time he was persecuting it himself. He saw how they lived in radical contradiction to the world and in deep love for one another. It was the type of love that is in response to Christ's love. Paul's perspective of what it means to follow Christ is always encouraging because he doesn't hold back what he is thinking nor mask his emotions in generic prayer requests. He runs the race in response to God's unfathomable and irresistible grace.

But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service

coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. -- Philippians 2:17

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. -- Romans 12:1

Acts

A funny video to remind us how the Spirit of God moved in the church after Christ's resurrection.

Enjoy!!

The Cross

Shai Linne has quickly become one of my favorite musicians on the planet. His talent is amazing and definitely a gift from God. Here is a youtube video of one of my favorite tracks...

Savoring in the mystery and wonder of the Cross today. Join me!

Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

Today, has been quite the day. It started with me almost breaking my arm and ended with me listening to a phenomenal sermon by Ken Whitten entitled "Is God Fair?"

It reminded me that God has shown me mercy and grace time and time again. It also reminded me to celebrate in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, my Savior.

Some that I have talked with in the past who are skeptics, atheists, or just plain curious have asked why Jesus had to die if God was and is a loving God. It is because of His love that Jesus died on the cross.

Let my brother, Thabiti Anyabwile, explain.

Tempted and Tried

This looks like a great new book by Dr. Russell Moore. He is one of my favorite teachers and preachers of the Word. Check out this trailer...

Snake in the House

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens,^[e] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. --- Hebrews 4:14-16

This is Talladega

Well, it has been an interesting weekend. God has taught me much over the weekend and especially during our transition from Canada to Alabama. I will be including a post soon on many things God has taught me over the past few months soon. Now, back to this weekend. It is a weekend that my owner at Best Western has been anticipating for months now. Why? This is because it was time to make money from the Talladega race fans. In case you didn't know (I didn't), Talladega is kind of a big deal in Alabama and for NASCAR fans around the world. Yes, we had some fans at our hotel from Canada and Australia this weekend. There are over 100,000 people who attend this race because it is the grand-daddy (or at least close) to one of the best tracks. This is all new to me! We had a couple of NASCAR drivers (Mike Harmon and Jennifer Jo Cobb) who stayed at our hotel along with some other notable people. Anyway, after striking up some conversation with one guy and setting his wake-up call, he said to me, "Hey, I've got some extra tickets for Saturday and Sunday if you know someone who wants them." It was right as I was leaving and I was thinking, "Who can I give these tickets to?" Well, I tried. I contacted several people who I thought might enjoy them and everyone was busy with one thing or another. Needless to say, I am not a NASCAR fan. Well, I didn't want the tickets to go to waste so I took Steven Hershael and Mr. Dennis to the early morning race on Saturday.

What was it like? CRAZY, LOUD, and INTERESTING. I was glad to be able to take Hersh man there and for him to see a race but what was sad was the fascination in man. It was the ol' tower of babel (Genesis 11) just in a different form. Without a doubt, I have fallen to the sin of idolatry when it comes to sports. I do love the Cardinals, Rams, Spurs, and NCAA Basketball but when it consumes the heart we have fallen prey to the desires of the world. As followers of Christ, we are prone to easily get distracted (just ask Peter).

While at the race track, we were able to talk a bit with the Joe Gibbs sponsored booth called

I AM SECOND. They were passing out tracts and pointing to the reality that God is FIRST and should always worship Him above all other things.

Darrin Patrick says it well when he writes, "The problem is that human beings not only fail to love God as he requires, but that we love to create other substitute gods to worship in the place of God. This is the essence of what we need to be saved from—sin. So, the essence of sin is idolatry, whereby we removed God from the altar of our hearts and replace him with functional gods of our own choosing. What does it mean to be saved? It means that Jesus came to satisfy the righteous requirements of the law so that sinners and idolaters could be reconciled to fellowship with God.”

So, I am thankful for a fast-paced and free NASCAR ticket weekend but even more thankful for God reminding me of the foolishness that comes when we idolize man instead of worshiping the God-man, Jesus Christ.

This is what the LORD says:

“Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD (Jeremiah 9:23-24).

A few more...

Sons are a heritage from the LORD,

children a reward from him. --- Psalm 127:3 ---

Recent pics

Here is some pics of the family outside across the street and then when we went to Noccalula Falls with Mr. Dennis. It was a lot of fun.

Psalm 8:1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

America's Funniest Home Videos

Well, we weren't able to get to go to Noccalula Falls like we thought we were to tonight. Instead, we are going to try and make it tomorrow. It still was a good day with great weather outside. I got some good pics that I will put up later. In the meantime, check out this funny video from lunchtime.

Precious Moments

I have enjoyed spending time with the kids today. Tonight, we have a special family fun night planned. Hopefully, I will have more to share and possibly some pics. In the meantime, some of my favorite words are when the kids say, "Right, dad" and "I Love you very much!"

FYI -- I'm not a Mormon

Just in case you wondered, I'm not a Mormon. I thought it was funny at first and then annonying that a youtube video advertising for the Mormon church was on my blog. As a result, I have tried to modify my advertisements and will probably be getting rid of them altogether. The Internet can be a wonderful tool but also a thorn in my flesh!

¹² Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” -- Acts 4:12 --

Salvation is only found in Jesus Christ. It is by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone that we are saved.

Waffle House

Well, it has been a long day. It has definitely been a roller-coaster day but God always sustains us and gives us the strength to carry on. Tonight, before coming home I decided to stop in at Waffle House to get some waffles as a surprise for the kids tomorrow. Of course, they had the stereotypical waitress there from the South who said to me, "Hun, what'chya gonna have tonight" as I was about to sit on the barstool. After I ordered my waffles, I looked around the restaurant and was humbled. Since our family has moved to Attalla, we have really seen how hard the economic woes have hit this part of the United States. I have really lived a spoiled life and have never (I repeat never) lived in poverty. I have talked to numerous people who are unemployed and/or have been laid off from work.

As I am about to go to sleep, I am reminded of the wisdom found in the book of Ecclesiastes that says, "When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other." God is so merciful to me and I pray that I will show mercy to others. Speaking of mercy, this book by Tim Keller is very good and I highly recommend it to you. Keller is a very gifted speaker and writer. The thing that is most impressive to me is his authentic way of relating to others with genuine humility. Humility is something I strive for but all too often fall short because of my pride and self-centered worldview at times. I am thankful for the forgiveness at the Cross and His mercy that is new every morning.

The Word of God is powerful

Today, I was talking with a lady who recently got out of prison. She was convicted for drug addictions in her past and was telling me about her devotion time this morning. We will call her Sally for the purpose of this post. Sally came to Christ while in prison. She is now ALIVE and zealous to tell many about Christ. In her words, "I love my Jesus!" Today, she was excited to tell me about where she was reading in the Bible. With an enthusiastic voice, she said, "I am in Deuteronomy 28 and am enjoying reading about the blessings and curses for God's children. Deuteronomy is great." How is that for a young believer? She is loving up on the Old Testament. Isn't that the way it is supposed to be? God's word transforms us and makes us more like Christ.

Recently, a friend of mine was highlighting in his Bible when Steven Hershael noticed him. Hersh said, "Why are you doing that?" He responded by saying, "I really like this part. It is important." Of course, Hersh said, "It is all important!" Yes, son, you are right.

Right now, I am in Ecclesiastes during my study time in the Word. I pray that I look forward to getting truth each day like my new friend Sally.

Here is a link to someone who is a tad passionate about the Word of God.

Looking forward to tomorrow by trusting in His plan...

Day 2

Well, I have started this blog last night and am going to try and use it to flesh out some thoughts of the day, encourage others, and hopefully keep me focused on the gospel. If the gospel is first and foremost in my life, then my role as a husband, father, son, friend, and so on will be more Christ-centered.

In light of the above, when reading Philippians yesterday, I was encouraged but mostly convicted by Paul's words in verse nine of chapter four that said, "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me-put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

Without a doubt, I need more self-discipline in my life. I hope and pray that I can put into practice the things I have learned from the Word over the upcoming weeks and months. Do you have any advice on not just being a hearer of the Word but also being a doer of the Word?

Heading to Jack's (It's a Southern thing!)...

MARCH MADNESS

Well, it is late here in Alabama and I can't sleep. Normally, I can sleep through anything. We are experiencing some decent thunderstorms so maybe that is a contributor. Regardless, my mind is racing from meetings tomorrow, friends who are struggling, the uncertainty of the future, God's amazing grace, the end to the NCAA tournament, and wondering if I should get some Cookies N Cream Ice Cream.

Yes, I know that those thoughts are random! However, tonight I was sadly disappointed when the Butler men's basketball team lost to UCONN. Of course, I have nothing against UCONN nor Jim Calhoun because he is a great coach. It is just that they have won the championship multiple times. Butler was humiliated this year and suffered the agony of defeat last year. Through all of this, it pointed me to the reality of the gospel, Jesus Christ was humbled and defeated at the cross for our sake and in obedience to His Father's commands. It reminded me of Philippians 2:5-8 that says, "⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature^[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature^[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

Yet, as a believer who is united to Christ, the beauty is that God vindicated his Son in the resurrection. The chapter goes on by further saying...

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

I look forward to the day when Christ returns. In the meantime, I hope my life is consumed by something greater than March madness. How about the madness that Christ shed his blood on the cross for a wretched sinner such as I? It is hard to take in at times.

2 Corinthians 5:21

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

God is gracious.