Am I serving God?

I had the privilege of going to a small group last night and listening to Peggy, one of our churches leaders, speak (actually I know that God wanted me there last night). Peggy talked about serving values and why we serve God and how we go about doing that, she also had many amazing stories that she shared with us. What really hit me the hardest, there were a couple of things that perked my ears but this was the biggest, is her question of “are we prepared for Sunday mornings when we come into church, are we prayed up for it?”
I use to think I was prepared for Sunday mornings; I get to church a little early so that I can go around and talk with many of my friends and then I go into the big room and worship God through music, tithing and the message. Sounds pretty good right? Wrong! I was making it about me. I wanted to talk to my friends; I wanted to worship God for me alone. I wanted MY seat and I even got a little upset last Sunday because someone moved MY bulletins in MY seats and they sat in MY spot. I didn’t know who those two people were who so rudely stole MY seat. See all of the “MY” there? My. What a selfish word. I didn’t think about who those people were, I didn’t introduce myself to them and I am guessing I probably didn’t have a very warm and welcoming look on my face. What if these people were new to church or at least new to Blue Ridge? Did they know God and if they didn’t they sure would not have seen Him too clearly in me at that moment. Some body of Christ I was acting like at that moment. God may have had them there because He wanted me to meet them and talk with them. I hope they were not visitors looking for an excuse to not come back because I very likely could have been the reason they chose.
I don’t serve on Sunday mornings; no car parking, kid community or greeting but I am a part of the church and I am representing the church and while I do not have an assigned place to serve on Sunday mornings I am always serving my God and savior. I don’t pray during the week for Sunday service, true many people come to Christ throughout the week but Sundays are the biggest gatherings of people in one spot who are drawn by God. I pray that God will use me and I often make myself available but often I am very selfish on Sunday mornings. I have a new outlook on Sunday service now. I will come prepared for the spiritual warfare that will be taking place and I will open my ears for God to speak to me. I will let Him lead me to where I will sit and who I will talk to and stop thinking just about me. I will serve God by serving others and I pray that people will see God through me and if I seem to be closing off Gods light I ask that my fellow believers will tell me, no matter how harsh the words may seem. This is a battle for lost souls, who cares if I have to sit in a different seat this week.

Happy Birthday

December 25th marks the day we celebrate Jesus Christ’s birthday. My son asked if Jesus is 2,008 years old this year (out of the mouths of babes). The bible tells us that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning”1 and a few verses later that “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”2 So Jesus has always existed but this year we will celebrate the 2,008th birthday of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the day that the eternal God put on human flesh and came down to us, being born in a manger over two thousand years ago. “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”3 God left His throne in Heaven to come down to us and was born in a manger. A manger? The God who created everything humbled Himself and was born in a manger because there was no room for God in the inn.
No room for God, oh how often is that the case with us? Thanks for coming God but there is no room in my life for you, why don’t you just go wait over there. Is your life too full for God to have a place to stay in you? Is Christmas too full for Jesus to have a place in it? Christmas is a day of celebrating the birthday of Jesus Christ. He came to us! His birthday and yet He was the gift. The bible says “but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!”4 Don’t be afraid there is good news, a great joy, a savior –the long awaited messiah- and this gift is for everyone. The gift is for all who will receive it, but you have to open the gift to have it. What good is a wrapped gift sitting in the corner collecting dust? Sure it may look nice over there and maybe that is what you want from God. You like to look at the wrapped gift He has given you but there is no room to open it in your life right now so you will keep it under wraps. That’s insane! You have to open the gift to enjoy it, to use it.
This Christmas let us celebrate the birthday of all birthdays; the birthday of Jesus Christ leaving Heaven and dwelling among us to redeem us. While you are exchanging gifts this year with one another don’t forget whose day it is and the meaning behind it. And don’t forget to give Jesus a gift this year. After all it is His birthday, isn’t He the one who should be getting presents? I say we should all write down something we are going to give to God this year. Maybe it’s something that is holding you back from fully devoting your life to Him. Perhaps it is the forgiveness of someone who has wronged you, maybe its money, time; an addiction, your marriage or maybe it is your life. If you have never given your life to God what better time then now, what better place then here? This is why Jesus came here. Maybe it is time you open your gift from Him.




Notes 1. John 1:1(NIV) 2. John 1:14(NIV) 3. Luke 2:6-7(NIV) 4: Luke 4:10-11(NIV)

Christmas, X-mas or Happy Holidays

Many years ago this wouldn’t have even been a question or concern; December was the Christmas holiday season. Now amongst the outcry of intolerance December is mainly for Happy Holidays.

Season greetings, happy holidays and Winter break have replaced the word Christmas and we, those who call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ, should be concerned. Those who do not recognize the deity of Jesus Christ will not be celebrating the birth of the messiah and yet many of them will be exchanging gifts on December 25th. Sadly many “Christians” celebrate Christmas no differently then anyone else. The 25th is filled with Christmas trees, gifts, stockings, Santa, elves, Rudolph, Frosty and an abundance of eggnog and yet little if no celebration of God taking the form of a man to live with us and reconcile us to Himself.

Many people will be out shopping this time of the year for the must have gift and yet so many are missing out on the only “must have gift”, one that is free to receive, one that cost the most from the giver and the one that only really matters. That is the free gift of Salvation given by the one who’s day of birth we have replaced with Santa.

I love this time of year, and I especially love the Christmas story. No, not the one where Ralphie convinces his parents to buy him a Red Ryder BB gun (I wonder how many of you immediately thought of this story when I said that?). I am talking about the Christmas story found in Luke chapter Two. There is no Santa Clause; no lamp made out of a leg and no Red Ryder BB gun in this Christmas story but there is hope. Hope for the weary and the lost. Hope for sinners to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. There is a reason for the season.

December 25th will come and go. Trees, stockings and tinsel will be packaged away until next year. Families will return home leftovers from dinner in tow. The must have toys and gadgets will be forgotten and discarded. School and work will resume and life will continue. But Christ will remain. Don’t X out Christ this Christmas. Isn’t it time to hold onto something that will last? Isn’t it time to celebrate now and forever that Jesus is King? I want to leave you with some lyrics from one of my favorite Christmas Carols; O Holy Night. This wraps up why this time of year is so wonderful to me.

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Noise

Ever been in a crowded room with everyone talking at one time? It’s enough to drive you insane isn’t it? Why that is enough to drive you crazy but a room full of people each playing a different musical instrument (I am basing this on the assumption that these people are actually talented and know what they are doing) actually sounds beautiful? I think the differences lie in the fact that with the music everyone is actually playing together and are in unison with one another whereas in the room with people talking they are each saying there own thing and each one gets louder then the other in an attempt to be overheard by everyone else.

I was in a class today and prior to the start there were about 20 people each having different conversations. I attempted to listen because the noise was just making my head hurt but no matter how hard I tried I could not focus on just one conversation, it was all just unintelligible noise. Immediately I got to thinking (as well as jotting down a few notes to use latter for this) and I realized that many of us have this same problem with God. We want to hear from God, we want to hear what He has to say so that we can act on what we have heard but far too often all we get is noise.

God speaks to His children; that is not the problem. His children can’t hear what God is saying; that is the problem. We have too many other voices competing with God, trying to be heard over Him, that we cannot distinguish what He is telling us. Work, family, addiction, pride, comfort and fear are just a few of the voices that raise the volume attempting to drown out Gods voice. If we do not learn to silence these voices or at least get them to play in unison with what God has to say, well; we may just miss out on hearing from God.

My BUT, your BUT

Woody gave an excellent sermon last Sunday; fairly humorous as well. He spoke on King Uzziah out of 2 Chronicles 26 with the key passage being verse 16a which reads “But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall…” One word; BUT. How our lives are filled with this seemingly nonchalant word.

I was going to go to church BUT I slept in. I was going to go visit my sick mother BUT there was too much cleaning to do. I wanted to spend more time with my family BUT overtime was more important. I wanted to go where God was calling me BUT life was comfortable. BUT, But… but!

Our “buts” can be simple things that just have a small effect or they may be quite large and keep us from living to the full potential that God has for us. What is your but that is holding you back from what God wants for you? I don’t know about you but I want to kick mine and see where God is going to take me.

I probably could have written much more on this but I think Woody did a great job and you should hear it first hand. www.blue-ridge.org

Crossroads and a GPS

Have you ever had the opportunity to use a GPS unit? They come in many shapes and sizes and offer a variety of features but the general idea is the same on all of them; turn by turn directions from where you are to where you want to go and all you have to do is punch in your destination. You never have to get lost again; just don’t tell my dad that.

Several months ago my dad bought himself a GPS and had it installed in his truck. Not long after that he and my mom headed on a trip to Tennessee, GPS in hand. They got lost. I mean seriously how do you get lost with a GPS? It has a map on the screen, it gives you a warning before you get to your turn and it tells you when to turn; and if you do miss a turn it recalculates and gives you a new route to get to your destination. So how do you get lost when you have something giving you correct directions? It is actually quite simple. You may be doing something else instead of listening to the directions or maybe you just weren’t listening. There is also the possibility that you heard the directions and knew what you were suppose to do but you still wanted to go your own way, maybe you saw something down the road that looked appealing and you drove to it instead.

The Bible is our GPS, it has all the directions we will ever need, guiding us to where we are supposed to go, but we all start out lost and many of us lose our way even after we get on the right path. We hear the directions and know where we are supposed to go but perhaps we are doing something to distract us from our directions and we miss a turn. Perhaps our ears have grown deaf to the directions and we either just don’t hear them or we question what we hear. Maybe you saw the turn you were meant to take but something down the road looked more appealing to you. Or maybe you have turned off the GPS and are driving blindly down the road, not knowing where you are headed. In any case the recalculation has already been made and all you need to do is follow the directions.

Sometimes the directions lead us down some tough to navigate roads, maybe because you missed the turn you were meant to take or maybe because this is the best road to get you to where you are going, but if you stay the course you will arrive at your destination. True you may get dirty or banged up on the way but isn’t that better then never getting where God wants you to go?

* I want to thank my mom for this idea; I hope I did it justice for her. I love you MOM!

Lost Purse

Have you ever lost something important to you? A few months ago BRCC (Blue Ridge Community Church) organized a clothing giveaway event for people in need of clothes. The event was a huge success with enough clothes donated to rival The Rugged Warehouse and despite torrential rain, members of the community poured in quicker then the weather. No doubt many families were touched through this outreach yet I believe one of the most moving stories was not that of free clothes received but that of a purse found.

One woman, her name eludes me, did not stand out in the crowd of the masses searching through pants, shirts, dresses and every size style and type of clothing but her story is the one that stuck with me. Medication, keys, money and many personal possessions were what was in her purse; a purse that was lost in the crowd. After more then an hour of searching including dozens of volunteers and loudspeaker announcements the purse was gone, likely a prize claimed by a random visitor. The woman was not ready to give up, she couldn’t – her life was in that purse and she couldn’t go home without it. One final search through her vehicle in the hopes that it was overlooked the last time she searched, and one unlikely “saint” to help her search. A former atheist, Will, offered to walk her to her vehicle to search for that which she knew would not be there.

After an emotional breakdown in front of a man she had never met before, Will told her he wanted to pray for her (this in itself took a great deal of courage and obedience to God). After Will finished praying he looked at her and told her “I am going to go and get your purse”, in his retelling of this account he couldn’t believe he had said this, he knew the purse was lost but now he had made a vow to this woman (God only knows what strange thoughts she was having about Will at this time) and he knew that he had to deliver. As Will walked back into the church he prayed to God saying “OK God I made this promise and I think it was from you so I could really use that purse now”. What Will did not know was that while he was outside, praying with the woman, the purse was found. As Will entered the church he was handed the purse to take to the woman; a miracle had been performed, God had answered a prayer and a life was touched.

I do not know what has become of the woman since that day but I do know that she was touched by God and after you are touched by Him you are never the same. So many people were touched by this story and it has spread from out of the church and into the world; my dad had the opportunity to share it with a nurse that was attending to him during a recent hospital visit for some tests. I may never know what has become of the woman who lost her purse and ended up finding much more then she lost, I will also likely never know how this story has affected others who have heard it but what I do know is God is at work all around us and is constantly touching lives. Have you ever been touched by God? If not, maybe you should ask yourself why.

Turkey Day

Turkey Day, does this depiction of Thanksgiving pluck anyone else’s nerves like it does mine? I hope it does. Why do all of our holidays end up so far from their original meanings? Easter turns into a day celebrating a bunny that lays eggs instead of a day remembering the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ; Christmas has went from a day acknowledging Immanuel (God taking the form of a mortal body to be with us) to a day where people expect gifts under a tree in their living room; and Thanksgiving, a day so filled with meaning, has turned into Turkey Day – Football game watching day – and perhaps the biggest, the day before Black Friday. How many people truly reminisce all that they are thankful for on this day of Thanksgiving? I have a suspicion that more people complain during this time of year then any other and yet it is suppose to be a day to be thankful.

Let us entertain the idea that there is much to be unthankful for. Long lines in grocery stores trying to buy food for all of our family that many of you do not really want to spend time with anyways. Bumper to bumper traffic in a car that continually costs more and more to fuel up; your annoying in-laws or siblings, overcooked turkey, having to work on the holidays and let us not forget all the annoying people you will be running into on Black Friday that are in your way taking the last item that you had to have to give to a family member (that you probably only talk to during this time of year) for Christmas. So much to grumble about during this holiday season, is there anything to be thankful for at all? I think I just made a list of many of the things to be thankful for.

You have money and means to go to the grocery store to buy food for your family, while not perfect (no family is perfect) it is still uniquely yours. A car that gets you from place to place and money to put gas in that vehicle, your in-laws and siblings (I am sure if you try really, really hard you can find much to be thankful for with them-even your in-law who fills their plate then comfortably positions themselves on your couch watching a football game on your TV while you clean up the left overs) the overcooked turkey that was provided to you; true it may be a little dry but we can’t all be Emeril. Maybe you are stuck at work for the holiday while your extended family is sitting in your home (yet another thing to be thankful for) eating your food and watching your TV but you do have a job, something that not everyone can say. And to those of you who are working (Police, Fire, Hospital employees, Food Service, and the biggest of all our TROOPS) I am thankful for you and I want you to know that I appreciate your service and the time you are spending away from your family to serve your community and your country – Thank you. And you have something to be thankful for as well, while you may not like having to spend your holiday in a Police car, Fire Dept, Hospital or another country you are employed which many people cannot say. You even have something to be thankful for when you missed out on a great sale because the old smelly person, or young rude kid grabbed the last item on display; you have the means and money to be out shopping for yet another holiday that you have likely forgotten the true meaning of.

Yes, there is much to be thankful for when you look at it through a different set of eyes. If you are reading this you can even be thankful for a computer and Internet access. But what if you have no money, no car; no family, no TV, no house, no food, no job and you have accessed this through an Internet café or public library. What do you have to be thankful for? You may have more to be thankful then you realize. I could say that you have your health, but you may have just gotten news that you only have a few months to live. You are alive, I think that would be a safe assumption as you are reading this but you may not be thankful for that and you may even wish you weren’t alive. So what is there to be thankful for if you are in this situation? If you are a child of God you have more to be thankful for then someone who is not His child but does have a job, food, car, house, and health and so on. Your current situation may seem bleak but God sacrificed Himself for you when none of us deserved it. No matter the baggage of your past or your current situation you can be thankful that God has given you eternal life. One of the first known Thanksgiving feasts that we know of in America was celebrated by a bunch of people who left their homes for an unknown and dangerous place and many of their friends and family did not make it through even the first winter. And yet they celebrated Thanksgiving. They celebrated for what they had even though the list of what they didn’t have was much longer. What can we learn from this Thanksgiving?

I had the privilege of delivering food baskets, distributed through my church, to people in need, some which thought they would not be having a Thanksgiving feast at all. Through this I was touched more then those who received the baskets. I remember one family in particular. They lived in a single wide trailer with busted windows and rags attempting to stop the harsh wind from entering their “home”. They had two small dogs which looked like overgrown rats (actually they may have been rats) and one of the family members was on oxygen. Not much to be thankful for at all and yet they were smiling and shouted out a big “Praise the Lord” when we delivered a basket of food that will get them through one meal. No, you may not have a fancy car, big house, flat screen TV, a job or even food but that doesn’t meant that you cannot be thankful for that which you do have – no matter how little.

Maybe you have much to be thankful for but for some reason you aren’t. If that is the case maybe you are looking for peace and joy in all the wrong places. Why can someone who has nothing (at least in the world’s standards) be so joyful and thankful while someone who has the world is so negative and unthankful? Perhaps it is your soul that bankrupt, jobless and desperate for something else. John 10:10 says that “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (NIV) Do you have life to the full? If not then perhaps what is missing is not money or possessions but maybe you are missing He who came to give life. Maybe it is time to reach out for something that truly matters, something that will last through times of need and times of blessing. Is it time for you to take up your cross and follow Christ?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Journey into the world of Blogging

OK, so I have had this incurable appetite to write but I hate journals, my hand cramps after a few minutes and to keep myself from going insane due to boredom I am making an attempt at blogging. Writing has always interested me, in fact English was one of the only classes I truly enjoyed at college. I believe anyone who has ever truly enjoyed reading, especially on a leisurely level, has always had the idea of writing professionally in the back of their minds. Perhaps you have even made attempts at writing books or articles and many of you may even have some published works. Well I would love to be able to write professionally, who wouldn't want to get paid for what you enjoy, and I have actually begun work on a book.

The problem with writing, at least for me, is that I see what I want in my head but often times the impact is lost in translation. When i was into drawing I would see this beautiful work of art in my head but my hands were incapable of taking that which was in my head and get it onto a medium. Sigh. I know that there are naturally born artists and writers but the majority of them are people who took time, practice, patience and hard work. This is where the blog comes in, I need to practice and learn how to get my thoughts and ideas out of my head and onto a medium (in this case a blog) in a way where it makes sense and I can look at it and go, wow!

This first entry is just me saying hello and giving a little insight into my reasoning behind the blog. I am not keeping my family up to date with the latest fiasco that my little three year old princess has managed to cause or how my eldest is a human calender, but I am here for the straggler that for whatever reason fell into my blog. I will attempt to write regularly, which is highly unlikely but if I want to hone my skills I will need to practice. So the journey has begun and now it is up to me to drive ever forward. I will be interested to see if anyone comes across this in your random Internet searches from lol cats and social networking. Have a wonderful day, whatever day this is. God bless.