Shallow Thoughts by Wes

UFC Widget

2008-09-21T16:08:00.001-07:00

Follow The Only Leader

2008-05-06T12:57:00.000-07:00

Recently I was listening to a TV preacher and he said the following.

"MOSES HAD THE LAW TO FOLLOW. WE HAVE THE BIBLE TO FOLLOW AND WE NEED TO KNOW IT."

I put the quote in all caps to show the intensity and passion that he said it with. The whole time he was swinging the biggest Bible around in the air I have ever seen. While I really appreciate his passion for God I could not disagree with his message more. Moses did not have the Law to follow he had God Himself to follow. Moses would not even have the Law if it were not for his relationship with God. Furthermore the Bible that this pastor said we need to know proclaims that the Law was never meant to be followed, it was an instrument of God to show us our weakness or better yet our lack of ability to be right with a perfect and holy God. The Law was meant to point, draw, or drive us to Him. No one can truly know the Bible unless they first know its Author. It can not be understood without His leading of our hearts. So in short Moses had God to follow and as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ so do we.

Thank You Jesus :::

Alyssa Says

2008-03-04T14:19:00.000-08:00

About 15 minutes after being put down to bed last night Alyssa comes into our room and says,"Daddy you forgot to pray TO US."

How sweet that the lovable little creature would openly admit her desire to be worshipped.

She also says,"Robots can't potty because they don't have butts."

After being disciplined for bad behavior that she knew she was not suppose to be doing she said,"You are a mean Daddy. You don't like children. You are mean to children."

Guess I picked the right toys to take away. Of course this should be an expected response when one who desires to be worshiped does not get her way.

The Charge to the Bride and Groom

2007-07-27T15:18:00.002-07:00

When reading this try to think of much more than a marriage relationship. Think of our relationship to our heavenly Father. Think of what we have been called to in the church as a family of God's Children. This was inspired from a collection of thoughts and learning experiences over my 15 years of walking with the Holy Spirit and just over 1o years now of being married to my bride Christy whom I love dearly. The process of becoming one is one of the hardest yet most rewarding experiences we have in relationships. Hope you all enjoy it. I love you all!!!

The charge of the Bride and Groom: From the wedding of Michael and Hillery Cross June 30, 2007

Michael and Hillery: The charge of the Bride and Groom in marriage is two individual lives becoming one. From now on thinking of yourself means thinking of and for each other. Together you will share one common life. Sharing one common life starts with one act, a very special life long commitment that says to each other I choose you. You could have chosen to give your hearts to anyone but you chose each other. You could have chosen to give your lives to anyone but you chose each other. Never forget this or let it be this stolen from you. Hold the choosing of one another in the deepest part of your hearts and never let it go. This commitment is followed by a continued learning, deepening, and growing with each other in this new life you now share together. Each moment of everyday will be an opportunity to work out the oneness you have joined into. Some of these opportunities will come in the areas we most commonly think of when beginning a marriage. Thoughts of the love, happiness, and the joy you will share together for the rest of your lives. Thoughts of the things you love about the other person. Thoughts of the family and future that lie ahead. The feelings of love and being in love. But fulfilling the commitment of becoming one is much greater and can not stand on these things alone because these thoughts and feelings will come and go. To fulfill your commitment of becoming one it takes growing together in a more intimate vulnerability with each other. Being able to share, listen, and hear beyond the words and emotions that are being shown on the outside and diving into each others hearts. The most intimate of gifts one can give to another is your own heart. Because the heart is the place where our most personal and intimate details are stored. The heart is the place where our greatest fears, deepest secrets, wildest dreams, hopes for the future, inexpressible joy, and past failures, are exposed for what they really are. The giving and receiving of ones heart en-tales the deepest of trust in one another which comes from learning over time that the other is a safe place to expose the depths of our heart with. Because the heart is the one place that only each individual and God the Father truly knows. No one can force you to reveal your heart. You have to willfully open your heart to another. There will be times that it will be hard to open your heart to each other but you must always fight to live from your heart with one another. There will be times that you will make your heart available to each other only to find it gets trampled upon. Facing that hurt together that you may know that it is still safe to make your heart available again instead of closing your heart off to the other is part of becoming one. Always remember that while you became one on this marriage day that the process of becoming one in our daily lives is a continuous choice on our part to make our hearts open to one another. I charge you both to live openly and freely from the heart and to allow each other the freedom to do the same. The charge of giving your hearts fully to one another is not an option but is essential to having a healthy relationship. Always remember that your life is no longer your own but that you belong to another by choice. And finally and most importantly as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ the greatest charge of all to the Bride and Groom in marriage is to manifest the life of Christ to one another in all things. Because allowing Christ to live through you is the only true source of life to your marriage.

Wedding Encouragement 1 John 4:7-11

2007-07-27T15:18:00.001-07:00

From the wedding of Michael Cross and Hillary Gross. June 30, 2007

7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
10. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be an atoning Sacrifice for our sins.
11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

In preparing this message I could not help but remember back when my wife and I got married just over 10 years ago. Our love was a foolish and reckless love. It was a blind love, we really did not know what we were getting into. It was much more like the love of Romeo and Juliet instead of like the love of Christ. Yet to say the least it was a very fun kind of love. But if our love for one another was going to make it for a lifetime and do more than just survive it was going to have to mature.

I picked this passage scripture for this message because it is a call to Gods children to love one another. Though this passage is not about marriage itself the call to love one another involves every aspect of our Christian lives. More importantly it is not the call to love one another but with what measure we are called to love one another with. The love that we are called to in this passage is impossible if we do not do it from the right source. Because the love that is talked about here is agape love. In other words He is asking us to love one another with a supernatural love. Love that only exist because He is Love. He is asking us to love one another with His love just as He has loved us. Let me remind us that His love is void of selfishness, it can not be earned but is freely given even when it is not deserved, He has a perfect love, His love is not conditional, His love recognizes and relates to our differences, it is flawless in every way and He withholds none of His love from us, His love is self sacrificing, it is everlasting, In fact His love is everything that human love is not.

The only conclusion we can draw from this is that if we are going to love as He has loved then we need Him. It is impossible to give or receive true love without Him. The reason He can call us to such a great standard of love such as Himself is because He dwells in us. Our heavenly Father withheld none of His riches from us in that He gave us Himself. He removed the obstacles that kept us from Him and replaced them with Himself. I ask you what kind of love is this? that we now are partakers of His divine nature and love. That we are no longer void of true love but are united to it. And now that we have such a great love within us we are called to be filled with it in such a way that we love one another with it. Being filled with this love takes place in our realizing that we can not reach such a high standard by trusting in what we have know to be love before having true love. Our old ways of loving others must fade away as we depend upon the Father to teach us our new way of life in Him. We must allow the Father to love in and through us.

Bad News/Good News 1

2007-04-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

Paul had not been to Rome before he wrote his letter to them (1:13). He was eager to share the gospel (1:15) with the Romans and presented the good news of Christ to all. The book is filled with the bad news of humanity left to itself without God. More importantly it is filled with the good news of how He loved us His creation so much that He stormed out of heaven in His Son Jesus Christ to redeem those who would receive Him as Savior and Life. I thought that it would be neat to look at some of the bad news/good news that I have learned in the first 8 chapters of the book. This by no means is an exhaustive list but what comes to mind as I recall what Father has taught me.

Romans 1

Bad news: for the gentiles
1. The wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. (18)
2. Man having access to the truth because God has made it know in them, to them, and in creation clearly and they are without excuse. (19-20) In other words no one has an excuse.
3. By not acknowledging, honoring, or giving thanks to God their foolish hearts were darkened. Man professing to be wise (on their own without God), became fools. (21-22)
4. As a result of the foolishness man they worshipped everything except for God the only one who was worthy of praise. (23,24)
5. God gave man over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity (24), to degrading passions (26), to a depraved mind (28), to do those thing which are not proper.

Man who was designed by God to need Him and Him only rejects Him even after being shown that they are in need of Him. God created man out of His love, showed them their need for Him out of His love, and turns them over to their sin out of His love. Everyone was born in sin and death (death meaning without Gods life) because all are born in Adam (5:12-21). Being born in sin and death Man needed to realize his or her need for a perfectly holy God. Having been show their need for God by God rejecting it out of their own pride God gives them over to their sin that they may turn to Him in their desperation seeing their inability in and of themselves to ever be right with God. The good news is that loved us enough to let us fall flat on our faces that we may surrender ourselves to our greatest need Himself.

Close To Home 2

2007-04-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

More pictures from the Louisana trip.

I saw this box at a hole in the wall BBQ place on our way to LA. The good news is that they don't have God in a box, but that did not stop them from making Jesus into a box.

Sweet ride! I would not be telling the truth if I said that the thought to steal it did not cross my mind. It was even more tempting because I know that it is not hard to hot-wire. Unfortunately for my flesh I am a new creature in Christ and I know it.

Great food and fellowship. Joel is the man. I think he must of ate 8,000 craw fish before they ran out.

Tim Chalas

Curtis and Todd

Sean Mann

Tim Chalas, youth pastor of Grace Life Fellowship in Baton Rouge, showing his "wild at heart" side on the guys trip. I call him Hero because that is what he has been in my life. A living hero of faith in Christ. In the 5 or 6 years I have know him I have never seen him be able to take a nap.

Some of the guys thought that it would be great to put a cigar in this buffalo's mouth that was hanging in the main lodge. I said, "The thing commands it." Hope the owners find it as funny as we did.

Close To Home

2007-04-19T06:53:00.000-07:00

Took a road trip to Vinton, LA with a couple of friends for a men's weekend (April the 13th through the 15th.) There were about 60 guys this year. In the evenings we broke up into small groups for a intimate time of fellowship. I got to lead one of the groups it was awesome getting to know some new people. We shared our testimonies, talked about deepening our relationship with Father and each other, and someone asked the question, "Do we (Christians) have a sin nature?" Of course if you know me then you know that I led the discussion by kicking back a couple of questions to the group. "How do you define sin nature?" and more importantly, "How does God define sin nature?"

When Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for us in heaven I am sure He meant He was going to plant this tree in my yard. Yes, I am going to have a yard in heaven. I miss South Louisana, these big trees, and the moss. TEXAS SUCKS! Just kidding, its ok as far as states go!

I really dislike fishing. You never know if you are going to catch anything. I don't know how people can just sit around and catch nothing all day. My idea of a good time is almost having my hand bit off by a gator, having a moccasin chase me, or being chased by something large. Only because I am not bright enough to carry a gun when I go places like this. Otherwise my idea of a good time would be shooting whatever tried to chase me. Anyway back to the picture! So I see these guys throwing out lines and immediately catching these little fish. So I decided to give it a try and I caught one. My kind of fishing... bate the hook, throw the line, fish bites, pull it in, and it's over. Been there done that!

Here is a boar that some of the guys caught. It weighted about 270 to 300 lbs. It is alive in this picture, hog tied, and pissed off. It tried to get anyone who got near it. We talked about letting it loose in the camp. Could have been a good time!

We heard that there was a small gator in this area. So Curtis and I decided that we should investigate. We took a spin in the pirogue for a look around. Can you take a spin in a pirogue? This is my blog and I can take a spin in anything I want!

My chauffeur, Curtis! There was only one paddle so Curtis did most of the work.

Air boats!

Todd on the air boat!

Me on the air boat! The driver is on the right side of the picture.

Cowboy Week At School

2007-04-11T07:43:00.000-07:00

Cowboy week at Nathan Adams Elementary school.

While dropping Ethan off at school one day I found this wanted poster. Seems Ethan has trouble keeping still in class and now has a warrant out for his arrest with a $2000.00 reward. I could use the $2000.00 in reward money but he is worth so much more.

We had a family project to create a cowboy with different materials we had around the house. Ethan is coloring in the back ground. He did such a great job. I am so proud of him!

This cowboy looks just like Ethan! Maybe I can turn him in for the reward and still get to keep the real one.

Easter Celebration On Saturday

2007-04-10T14:42:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday our church had a Easter Celebration. A time of enjoying one another. We had a family picnic at the church, the kids enjoyed face painting, an Easter egg hunt, playing in inflatable slides and jumpers, a petting zoo. THANK YOU IBC! We appreciate you!

The kids chased this poor duck non-stop.

I am surprised that it did not die from exhaustion.

I'm not really sure if the kids are running to get eggs or out of fear because daddy's butt is facing them!

Tigers after the great hunt!

Tigers at rest!

Tigers at play!

Tigers at play inside the inflatable train!

You Are Loved!

2007-03-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I had about an hour long drive to make alone. (Well, those who are in Christ are never really alone.) As I was driving I said, "Father I am going to remain completely quiet during this drive and I am open to hear whatever you would like to tell me." Instantly the thought "I love you" flooded my mind. For that hour long drive that is the only thing I believe He said to me. I asked Father to talk to me about whatever He wanted and the only thing He said to me was "I love you." It still blows my mind. He could have told me I was speeding, (I more than likely was doing so) brought up a verse for me to dwell on, been silent, He could have done or said anything, But He chose to say, "I love you". I believed then and I believe it now.

You are His chosen beloved child! I hope that you know He loves you! Can you receive His love?

You are loved!

Family Portrait Time By Ethan

2007-03-20T15:42:00.000-07:00

Ethan at age 6 March "07"

It's Great To Be Ministered Too!

2007-03-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

Our ministry received a support check recently with the comment "money with a mission" in the memo box. It was very uplifting to receive.

A Different Perception

2007-03-19T08:49:00.000-07:00

I was buckling Alyssa (3) into her car seat when she looked at my new shirt and said, "Dad, look at your shirt, it's a mess." She is used to me wearing black or white t-shirts without a design on them. It does look like someone just got paint all over it. It was very cute to say the least.

She knows her daddy. He normally wears plain black and he is messy.

Another Alyssa story: Christy made the kids a grilled cheese sandwich then asked Alyssa, "Would you like me to cut yours into triangles or squares?" Alyssa said, "circles" to which Christy responded, "I can not make circles would you like triangles or squares." Alyssa responded, "octagons".

The Clean Up

2007-03-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

Wait a minute, hold that thought. I know what your thinking. Wes is dealing again. But this is not a can full of Marijuana but insulation from the ceiling falling in.

If your ceiling is going to fall down then it is helpful and convenient when it fills your trash can up.

However it is not so helpful or convenient when it fills the toilet. The only thing in this project that was worst than cleaning out the insulation that fell into the toilet was having to wear a face mask while having a sinus infection. YUK!

I am not going to repair the ceiling until we can get someone out to repair the leak in the ceiling. So we are sharing the kids bathroom to shower. I was wondering how this would effect Ethan's life after the toilet incident.

Ethan said "good thing we can still use both toilets." I guess having to share the tub in their bathroom does not have the same effect on his life as having to share a toilet.

Change of plans for the day

2007-03-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

(This is my bathroom ceiling.)

(This is were it belongs.)

Well we had some rain last night and now we have discovered that we have a leak in the roof. It was the ceiling laying on the floor that gave it away. Christy and I had just gotten out of the shower and while we were in the other rooms we heard a crash.

To Know Him and That's It

2007-03-07T06:52:00.000-08:00

In church this past weekend we sang one of my favorite songs. In that song is a verse that goes like this:

"All of life comes down to just one thing
that's to know you O' Jesus
and make you known"

Now I know that I am not the sharpest sword in God's armory, but isn't that two things? To know Jesus AND make Him known. I agree with the song to the point that our entire lives come down to one thing and that is to know Jesus. Part of the fruit of really knowing Jesus is that He manifests His life through ours. So to make Him known is a natural product of getting to know Him. In other words the fruit of knowing Christ, walking with Him, or better yet actively having a relationship with Him is that He manifests Himself through me making Himself known to others. In fact, the only way that I am going to make Him known is to know Him, anything else is just my own self-righteous flesh that can not produce the fruit of the Spirit. He does not need us to make Him known. He chooses to use us as His method of making Himself known to others. In order to know Him we need to depend on Him like my little children depend on me. If I don't feed, cloth, or give them water to drink they will die. If we do not depend on Him then the fruit of our labor that others may know Him will be dead also.

He desires for you to walk with Him. Tell Him your deepest hurts, greatest joys, tell Him those silly little thoughts you don't want anyone else to hear, tell Him your struggles, pains, when you're upset because you got cut off in the car, your fears, intimate details, secrets, if you are mad at Him, etc... He wants all of you. Talk to him as if He is right there with you because He is. He wants to mourn your hurts with you and leap with excitement in your joy. He wants to be apart of your daily life. Every moment of it.

Thanks you Jesus for wanting to be apart of our lives. We were unable to get to You so you came to us and made a way for us when we had none. You withheld nothing from us in that you gave us yourself. May we in turn give You all of ourselves. I love You! Thank You Father!

My Everything for God

2007-02-23T06:37:00.000-08:00

Ethan has the opportunity to earn a free pass to six flags by reading some books. One of the books that we have read from is Jesus Wants All of Me by Phil A. Smouse. It is a devotional for kids based off of Oswald Chambers My Utmost For His Highest.

The first devotion is call my everything for God. I have written it below.

I am God's. My heart is His heart. My mind is His mind. My eyes will look for Him. My ears will listen for His voice. My hands will do His will. I am God's!

He starts out with our belonging to God. I am God's. I am His very own. I am His child. He is my daddy.

Then he writes of our being unified with God in heart. My heart is His heart. He has changed my heart. He owns my heart. He has made my heart like His own. I have a new heart. I now desire the things that God desires.

Next he writes of our minds being unified with God in mind. My mind is His mind. I have a new mind. It is the very mind of God. I can know God's will for me. God's thoughts are now my own.

Then he writes my eyes will look for Him. Now that I am God's. Being His and having a new heart and mind I can desire to look for Him, recognize Him, follow Him, I can set my eyes upon Him, know what He looks like, and know what His actions look like.

My ears will listen for His voice because now I can hear Him. I know His voice when I hear it. He is calling for me. His voice leads me, comforts me, praises me, and tells me I am His. His voice is pleasant to my ears. I desire to hear from Him. To hear His voice. To know that He is always with me.

My hands will do His will because I am His, I have His heart, His mind, can look for Him in all things, and I can hear His voice to follow Him. Now I can not only just know His will but also do His will with my hands. By His strength I can do His will. I am now useful to God. He uses me to do His will. He uses me to carry out His desires. He uses that which was used for bad now for His own Goodness. I can do His will.

Finally he finishes with I am Gods! Praise God! I was His enemy but now I am His. My heart was made of stone but now has been made new. My mind was black with hate for the things of God but now it has been made new. My eyes were could not look to Him before but now they look for God. My ears could not hear His voice before but now they hear the voice of God. My hands could not be used by God before but now He guides them and uses them for His will.

If we as adults would only become like little children and see the simplicity of the gospel. We tend to make everything so complicated. God has done all of the work in Christ on the cross and when I surrender my will to His by faith then and only then will I be able to give My Everything for God.

Proper Source

2007-02-22T05:39:00.000-08:00

Proper Source: doing from God for God

We must come to know that we can do nothing for God and that He does not need us. If we do not believe this then we will never be able to do anything for Him. That is we will not be able to do anything that matters to or even is recognized by God. Not that what we do does not matter to God or can not be recognized by Him but the source of what we do for God makes it matter to and able to be recognized by Him.

Once we believe that we can do nothing for Him and that He does not need us only then are we in a place where we may actually be used by God. When we are able to be used by Him only then will we be able to do anything for Him. It is in our own bankruptcy that we find our strength in Him. In our inability we find that He has made us able in Christ because in Him we have His strength and our true self is only found in Christ. All self effort in the flesh really is not self effort at all because our true selves are in Christ not in the flesh. All self effort in the flesh is actually our living out of a source that is not from Christ.

God does not want us to do anything for Him unless we do it from Him. If you have not first learned to do from God then you have missed or skipped the only thing that will make it possible for you to truly do anything for Him. In other words we can do nothing for God unless we first learn to do it from God.

Think of it this way. In order to use a hose for the service of washing your car then you will first need to hook it up to a water source. If you try to hook it up to a different source (electrical, gas,)then it can not be used for the washing your car. But when hooked up to what it was designed to be hooked up to a faucet then you can use it to wash the car. Now you are not a hose but a living breathing child of God who was designed to only operate properly from Him.

Read the words of Paul speaking of his own ministry to the Romans.

Romans 15:18 For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me,

The only thing that Paul chooses to speak of are that which Christ has done through him. Meaning that the only work that Paul did for God that was worth speaking of he did from God.

Modern Day Pharisees

2007-02-16T10:45:00.000-08:00

The great theologian Christy Plaisance shared a verse with me last night that I wanted to share with you. She pointed out to me that Jesus is ministering to those who trusted not in Him for righteousness but in their own good flesh, which compared to God's goodness is not good at all.

Luke 18:9 "And He (Jesus) also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt."

I have really ugly flesh. Even the world looks poorly on people with my flesh . But let's be real, if we are all born into this world in Adam which means that we are not in Christ then is not all flesh bad even if it appears to be good? If the world who is not in Christ looks down on those with bad fleshly behavior are they not just looking down on them from a moral high ground that is tainted.

Here's an example: Once I was sharing my testimony with a friend and after doing so a women who was next to us that heard me telling my conversion experience said, "yea but you needed something." That something was Christ and we all need Him in order to be alive to God. She was about fifty and lived a really good life. Her statement to me implied that she believed that she was so good that she did not need Christ. While she had lived a very good moral life compared to God it was as filthy as someone who was a murderer, thief, drug addict, etc...

Those who are trusting in their own goodness in the flesh are in great danger of dieing without ever receiving Christ because their pride blinds them and it is arrogance before the Lord. Any who say to Jesus, "we don't need you" have been deceived and have become fools before a Holy God. They are modern day pharisees.

Have you confessed of your goodness?

Ethan's Thought of The Day

2007-02-15T06:23:00.000-08:00

"It should be against the law to go outside when it is cold."

I could not agree more!

Father's Love

2007-02-14T08:34:00.000-08:00

We need God,
He does not need us,
We were designed to need His love,
He loves us not out of need but because He chooses too!

How special is a love that is not out of need? How special is a love that is without need? Maybe the real question is how special are you to be chosen to be the recipicant of this love?

Eternally Floored

2007-02-12T17:59:00.000-08:00

Father is always blowing my mind. Seems like just as I know Him in a deeper more intimate way and can't imagine it getting any better, it does. If our experience of the relationship that we have with Father can be so amazing now what will it be like when we can experience it without distraction?

I use to think that heaven sounded boring after hearing different people's thoughts and teachings on what heaven will really be like. Some believe that we will know all things, kneel in worship of our Father 24/7, or angels will serve us. But I believe that when we leave the consciousness of time into the full consciousness of eternal life it will be more glorious than we can imagine.

Once we are fully glorified, free from the presence of sin, free from this present world, free from all that distracts us from God. We will be free for the first time to be completely focused on our glorious Lord without fail. I am unable to describe in words what the depths our relationship with our Creator, Savior, Lord, Father, Provider, Redeemer, Source of Life, will truly be like. But I know that it will have no barriers.

Heaven does not sound so boring now. We never become God. We will not even be little gods. We will not know all things that is something that is reserved for Him and only Him. But what we will know is the One who knows all things and worship will have less to do with being on our knees and more to do with walking with Him as He shows us the depths of Himself.

Do you get it? We get to spend eternity knowing our Father the Source of Life. For all of eternity He will be blowing our minds. He will never run out of more to share of Himself with us and we will never get tired of Him or be able to receive enough. We will be fully dependent on Him.

Thank you Father I love You so much! I appreciate You and all that You have done for us! You amaze me!

Thank You Father

2007-02-05T20:00:00.000-08:00

Thank you Father for who you are.
Thank you even more for who you have made us to be.
You were always going to be perfect and holy.
But if you had not chose to make a way for us to you
then we would have forever been just lost sinners.
But now in Christ we are alive with Him to you for eternity.

Looking for a Miracle

2007-02-03T06:53:00.000-08:00

Every time a person receives Christ as Savior a miracle has taken place. Not only do they receive undeserved mercy, grace, and the forgiveness of sins but God changes that person from being a sinner into being a holy and righteous saint. From being darkness to light. From being His enemy to being His child and much much more.

You are one of God's miracles!

Hidden Where?

2007-02-02T08:19:00.000-08:00

What if I said that I hid seven million dollars in Six Flags over Texas and whoever finds it gets to keep it? How many people do you think would head out to look for the money in Six Flags over Georgia, or at the New Orleans Zoo, or how about the Hurricane Harbor across from Six Flags in Texas? NONE! They would not have a chance to find the money at all if they went someplace other than where it is hidden.

Paul said in Colossians 3:3 "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

God vs the Devil

2007-01-31T18:01:00.000-08:00

Star Wars is an all time favorite in our house. We love the explosive battles, lightsabers, guns blasting, fast ships, and best of all the fight between light and darkness. The light and the darkness are both sides of the force that seem to be not only opposites but also equals. At times one side of the force may have more control than the other but neither can ever gain complete control over the other. Even though it makes for great movies the struggle for control is pointless to those who are dependent on that force. Imagine being in a battle where each side has two equally powerful gladiators that are not only unable to defeat one another but are dependent upon each other. What would it be like to be dependent upon a higher power that was both light and darkness?

Thankfully, we serve a God who does not have an opposite. There is nothing and no one who is equal to or greater than He. In fact there is no one who is even on or even close to the same playing field as Him. Not even the Devil. God is the only one who is self sufficient. Everyone else is dependent on Him, even Satan. So there is no such thing God vs the Devil. Satan is His puppet. While he is allowed to think and act on his own he can do nothing without God's approval. God is the creator and everyone else is His creation.

Alyssa and the Ant

2007-01-30T14:16:00.000-08:00

Last night Alyssa went to the bathroom. While she was there she had an encounter with an ant. She screams at the top of her lungs, "MOM THERE'S AN ANT ON THE FLOOR." Before either of us could respond we heard her say with great disgust, "I spit on you ant." Christy was cooking and responded to Alyssa saying, "Just leave the ant alone and he will leave you alone." To which Alyssa responded, "He's dead." So ants beware of the three year old in the house.

Another favorite by Alyssa:

"Mom, go vacuum your own room."

Out of focus

2007-01-25T14:34:00.000-08:00

In Ephesians 5:18 we are told, "And do not be drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit." I can not tell you how many times I have heard "do not be drunk with wine" quoted. The number is HUGE as one of my good friends would say. Yet very few times have I heard "be filled with the Spirit." Why is it that we focus so much on the "do nots" of the Bible instead of what we can do, "be filled"?

Seems like the real importance here is to be filled with the Spirit. Of course "do not be drunk with wine" is important. Because if you are drunk with wine then you are under the control of something other than the Spirit and that is certainly not being filled with the Spirit. But with the majority of the focus being on the "do not" it would make it seem more important than what we can do. In my opinion the last thing we need is a bunch of Christians who know what not to do instead of what to do.

Be filled with the Spirit. Drink of the Spirit until your heart's desire is full and then drink some more. In fact, be intoxicated with Him. Leave no room for anything else to fill you. Drink until your mind is full. Drink until your emotions are full. Drink until your body is full. Drink until you are overflowing with Him. Drink until others can see you have been drinking of Him. Drink until it affects the lives of those who see that you are overflowing with Him. Drink until you forget about all of the other things you use to try to quench your thirst which left you thirsty for more. Drink of the only living water that quenches. Drink and be drunk with the Spirit. Because if you do, you will not be thirsty for anything else not even wine.

Beware of those who only point to the "do nots" but do not lead you to the Living Water.

God's work, not man's

2007-01-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

If a Christian does not believe in the actual death, burial, and resurrection of him or herself with Christ at the time of their conversion. Then they are not trusting in the work of God, but in the work of man.

Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Galatians 3:3

The truth about Christ likeness

2007-01-23T12:29:00.000-08:00

The Christian walk is not about behavior modification but about a continuous deepening of our relationship with the Father that was made possible in and through Christ Jesus.

Motivation of a sinner?

2007-01-22T00:17:00.000-08:00

In the past four months I have been in bible studies, community groups, or church services in which the teacher has referred to Christians as being sinners and/or having a sin nature at least six times.

If believers receive this kind of teaching as truth then the affect will be no different than that of a parent who constantly calls their child a worthless loser. That child would more than likely grow up believing that he or she is a worthless loser. What kind of motivation does someone who believes that they are a worthless loser have to achieve anything other than failing in life? Why would a failure even need to try if he or she is already defeated?

The effect on the church is no different. What motivation does a saint have if he or she has already been defeated with the lie of being a sinner?

If you are in Christ (a Christian) then you are no longer a sinner. By God's grace He has transformed you from being a sinner into a saint. A sinner can do nothing other than sin but a saint is the holiness of God Himself.

What would the motivation of the church be if we actually taught them the truth that they are the righteous saints of God?

For as he thinks winthin himself, so he is. Proverbs 23:7

Thoughts of a six year old

2007-01-17T09:24:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share a few of Ethan's thoughts from the last two months:

He came to Christy and I saying "my life started out pretty good but it has not been so good since I turned 5 and 6. It's not so good anymore". When asked why he said "because the toilet in my bathroom has been broken and we now just have one."

Keep in mind that the toilet has been broken for about two months but the effect of having to share a toilet with the rest of the family or lack of convenience has taken away from his good experience for past couple of years.

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After seeing a person dressed up as Santa Claus he asked, "Hey Mom and Dad is Santa Claus real?" "No, he is not real" we replied. To which he responded by saying "I am going to believe in him anyways."

My interpretation goes something like this.. Just because I asked what you thought does not mean I care what you think.

Walk with God

2006-12-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

The life of Enoch (Genesis 5:18-24) fascinates me more than any other. It is my favorite story in the Bible.

18 Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and became the father of Enoch.
19 Then Jared lived eight hundred years after he became the father of Enoch, and he had other sons and daughters.
20 So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died.
21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah.
22 Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters.
23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

The reason I love this story so much is because we know very little about Enoch but what we know is earth shattering. In his life story of three hundred and sixty-five years God chooses to tell us that Enoch was born, become a father to Methuselah as well as other children, but most importantly he walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

We find out later in Hebrews 11:5 that Enoch did not see death. God took him because he was pleased with him. God was pleased because Enoch walked with God by faith. This is all that our Father has ever required of His Children that we walk with Him by faith.

Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

Truly Living???

2006-07-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

I was in a Christian bookstore yesterday and while I was looking around I noticed that the Christian living section was at least three times larger than all the other book sections. This led me to ask the question, why?

Numerous thoughts ran though my mind. Maybe Christians are growing so fast in their faith that there is a great need for new material to devour? Or maybe there are tons of new believers desiring to learn how to live the Christian life? But what if it's because there are lots of Christians who are not living the life in Christ that they always wanted and are trying to figure it out? Could it be true that we do not truly know how to live the Christian life?

Is there possible evidence written on the front of our last top seller in Christian books? On the cover of The Purpose Driven Life Rick Warren asks "What on Earth am I here for?". Do we not know why we are here? Do we not know our purpose?

Are we as Christians truly living or desperately trying harder and harder to find new methods to keep from living a life of failure?

Have we become like junkies and drug addicts always searching for that next high? Coming down harder from each high leaving us desperate to seek for a greater one. Going from book to book for new excitement in our Christian lives instead of having continued excitement from our Father by faith in Christ. These are questions of the heart that only each individual can answer for themselves. What are our motives for that which we do? Is there a lack of evidence of our dependence on Christ in that we have not turned the world upside down, but it has us turned upside down.

Are you Truly living? Is your purpose derived from Life (Jesus) or are you heavily seeking in other places?

So that's how it's going to be!

2006-07-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

I remembered a funny story today from when Alyssa (now 2) was born. She was born on 11/11/03. Just minutes after her birth I looked over at that adorable little girl and believe it or not she shot me the middle finger. Now I'm not talking about what could look like the middle finger but three fingers and a thumb peeled back perfectly with the middle one sticking straight out. Of course no one else saw it and others laughed accusing me of making it up.

So then we got the lovable little creature home and she does it again. Of course I was the only one around to see it this time too. "So that's how it's going to be!" I said as I was thinking that this cute little tyke was only four days old and had already flicked her dad off twice. Not to mention making me look and feel like a fool for being the only one she does it to. This time I did not tell a soul in light of getting laughed at in disbelief the last time.

It happened a few more times over the course of the next few weeks. I was always the only one to see it happen. By now I was beginning to take it a little personal (in a funny way). Even though she did this many times somehow I kept myself from shooting one back at her (you more than likely don't believe that either). After all she was only a month or so old. I did try again to tell some other folks about it and everyone thought I made it up to be funny. But then one day we were traveling somewhere, I don't even remember where. I was driving and Christy sat in the front with me. The kids were in the back and a friend of ours sat in between them. That's when I heard those sweet words "Hey, this baby just shot me the middle finger". I could not believe it! I almost wrecked the car I was so excited. To this day I still don't know if I was more excited because someone else saw it justifying my earlier accounts or if it was because Alyssa had that message for someone other than me. Either way how fun to remember.

Humbling Reflection

2006-07-03T15:17:00.000-07:00

Today Ethan (5) was playing a game on the PS2 when Alyssa (2) asked him a question about what he was doing. He answered her question politely. I don't know if she was dissatisfied with his answer, wanted to annoy him (she is his little sister), did not hear him, or what! But she asked her question again. This time he was anything but polite as he raised his voice and said "I ALREADY ANSWERED THAT QUESTION".

Now being the father of these two sweet and cute little pagans I know them both very well. Ethan is the number one offender of asking the same question over and over again even though he has already been given an answer. So in reaction to his impolite response jokingly I said, "I don't know anyone else who acts like that in this house". My joke was to show him that the very thing he complained of was a reflection of what he himself does so that he may lighten up on his sister. That's when it happened. My own personal humbling reflection (surely from my Father). His short response to being asked the same question twice was learned by guess who, ME. So many times I have reacted shortly, impolitely, and undeservingly to this poor child and now he is a reflection of me. I am the number one offender of being short to already answered questions in this house.