The life and trials of a growing - Day One Hundred Twenty Three

I think God used my three year old son, Samuel, to teach me a lesson tonight. We were out in the garden getting it ready to plant some peppers and squash tomorrow and I couldn't keep him from trampling the other vegetables. It seemed like every ten minutes (sometimes less) I had to stop what I was doing and go get him out of our just sprouting green beans or stop him from shaking tomato cages or go get him out of the onions. It was either that or I had to go and get him out of the freshly dug holes that were awaiting compost. Finally, after asking and telling and sternly telling I went over to him and spanked him. He cried as if I had beat him half to death but of course, I didn't. Then I picked him up, took him over to the stoop and tried to explain why he had just gotten spanked followed with a big hug, kiss, and an "I love you."
So, you might ask "where's the lesson in that?" Well, God tells us all the time not to do a lot of the things that we do, either through His word, sermons at church, other Christians or just about anything. But more often than not we ( I ) just keep on doing what we've just been told not to do or not doing what we've just been told to do. Often times it takes God's rebuke's to get our (my) attention and then... Well, then comes the crying and the complaining but it's usually made all better with a big hug, kiss, and that wonderful "I love you."
Yes, God used my little Samuel to teach me a lesson tonight, and that lesson is that I'm no different than him and I'll never be too "big" or "grown up" to receive a good ole fashioned tail whoppen  from my heavenly Father, and I'll never outgrow the need to feel his hug and kiss and hear "I love you Brian."

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Twenty Two

Today was my first day back to work after ten days off. I was well rested but a little out of the swing of things. I'm sure that by the middle of the week everything will be back to normal. Anyhow, the entire time I was there, I was pining for my family. I really had a great time just being with them. The only thing that would have made it better is if my daughter had been here as well. I haven't been able to see her for close to three years now.
I also thought about just how blessed I am to have the wife that God has given me. She's not perfect, but she is perfect for me. She loves me in spite of all my shortcomings which are probably countless. She also defends me whether I'm right or not, and that means the world to me. Sometimes I feel as if I don't deserve her and sometimes, I probably don't. I'm so glad that I have her to spend the rest of my life with and I only hope that I can grow into a better husband and father.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Twenty One

For the past couple nights my mind has been going a hundred miles an hour and yet when I get behind the keyboard it's as if I'm unable to write anything. I've been sitting here for forty five minutes and this is my big masterpiece. I feel as if I've been cut off at the knee and now I'm just struggling to get up. Oh well, I'm going to bed, tomorrow is my first day back to work after a week of vacation.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Twenty

I've been sitting at this computer for an hour wrestling with myself over what I'm going to write, in fact, I've written and erased four or five different things. It's not that I don't know what I want to write, it's that I don't want to anger or hurt anybody. So, I guess I'll write about daisies and bunny rabbits and how everything is peachy. I can't do that either, so I'll just thank God for the gift of another day and close.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Ninteen

My daughter called me today crying and upset that a classmate of hers had fallen asleep at the wheel, woke up, over corrected and hit a tree, instantly dieing. I hated to hear her so upset and I wasn't able to do anything to console her. All I could do was tell her that I was sorry and to try to learn a lesson from it. In fact, there are many lessons that could be learned from it. One is about the fragility of life and how it can end in an instant. No one knows when they will die. Teenagers tend to think that they are invincible when in all reality they are naive, vulnerable and overconfident in their own abilities. It wasn't too long ago that I was a teenager and young adult and I remember pretty well how I never had any respect for the frailty of life and how I always thought that it was a shame when people died prematurely but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it wouldn't or couldn't happen to me. That couldn't have been further from the truth. The only reason why I'm here writing this is because God has allowed me to. Life is God's to give and His to take and all we have is a few, quick years so we need to make the best of them. When I say this, I mean that we all need to accept Jesus and serve our Lord while we can because it can all be over in the blink of an eye. I know my daughter is probably going to read this and I hope that she doesn't think that I'm being insensitive to her because it's definitely not my intention. It's out of love that I'm saying this. I don't want to see anything like this happen to her, and I certainly don't want her to remain an atheist. 

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Eighteen

Today I was drilling holes in some PVC pipe to use for vents in our compost pile. While doing it, my cordless drill got really hot and started smoking. It smelled like crack does when being smoked and for a second or two I caught myself thinking that it smelled good. Then I came to my senses and walked away from it and when I came back it smelled nauseating. I felt sick to my stomach for the next hour or so and I'm so glad that I did. It reminded me of how sickening that part of my life was and how I don't ever want to go back to it. Like the smoke that came out of my drill and disappeared so was all that time that I wasted drinking and getting high.
I'm not that guy anymore and it's because of the work that the Holy Spirit has accomplished in me due to my faith in Jesus. It's funny, if I were still smoking that crap that smell would have been the very thing to make me want some but now it just made me sick. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
I really am a new creation and I owe it all to Jesus!

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Seventeen

Tonight, while praying for guidance from the Lord on what to write about, speaking in tongues immediately came to my mind; Before I could even finish my prayer. So, here we go. I really haven't seen anybody speak in tongues except on TV and I really don't understand it. I know that in Acts 2 they were all speaking in tongues but it was other known languages. Later Paul says in 1 Corinthians that someone speaking in unknown tongues is speaking to God and not man. But a few verses after that he says that he wishes all could speak in tongues but even more, that they could prophesy, unless they could interpret so the entire church could be edified. Later in the same chapter (14) of 1 Corinthians Paul says that he, himself speaks in tongues but it is better that he speak five words that are understandable than ten thousand in tongues.
It seems like this is more of a stumbling block than a gift to me. What I mean is some churches look down on a person if they don't speak in tongues and some churches look down on people who do. Personally, I think that a lot of people pretend to be speaking in tongues so they'll be accepted. They say it's uncontrollable but I often wonder why it only happens in churches or around others who accept it. Why don't people just break out speaking tongues in at work or the mall or while driving down the road? Like I said, I just don't understand.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Sixteen

I really can't understand how somebody who claims to know or have known Jesus could just walk away from Him. I talked on facebook tonight to somebody who said that he was raised in a Christian home and would defend and share his faith anytime he could. That is until he started thinking in a "self-directed way." So he just up and quit on Jesus. He said that he "suddenly had the will to abandon any belief, no matter how dear." It's as if there were a switch on him and it suddenly got flipped to the off position. So my question is; did he ever really have a faith in Jesus or did he just regurgitate what his parents taught him? He also said that if he realized that something was "morally unacceptable or unjustifiable logically it led to his unbelief." Again I wonder; who's morals are he using? His, his friends, or the worlds? The same can be asked about the logic he's applying. Who's logic? I asked him if he would be open to slowly and methodically reading the book of John and he said that he had slowly and methodically read the entire bible and that's what had led him to turn away from God.
I've debated (I use that term loosely) this guy before and he's really smart, way smarter and more educated than stupid ole me, and yet he can't seem to understand the word of God. I'm not saying that I know or understand the entire bible because I certainly don't, but I know that God created everything including man in six days and rested on the seventh. I know that the first two people were tricked by Satan (the serpent) into disobeying God which is why there is sin and death in the world. I know that Jesus the Christ is God's son and yet God also and that He was born of a virgin and lived a sinless life and died and was raised from death saving all who would repent and be baptized from death and hell.
All I can figure is that he thinks himself to be too smart to buy into God, Jesus and the bible.The bible says in 1Corinthians 2:20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Jesus is the only way to salvation. That might sound foolish, far fetched, too easy, or just plain not possible but it is. I have put my life on it, and I wouldn't just do that for maybe or could be. I hope that the man I talked to and everyone like him would reopen their hearts to Jesus and trust in Him and not in their own wisdom and abilities.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Fifteen

Today I was able to go to church for the morning service which is unusual because I'm always at work on Sunday mornings. It was great! In fact I believe I've changed my mind about wanting to leave our church. I guess I should backtrack a little bit. For a while now, I've been struggling with being unhappy with the way things have been going at church, and I can't really say that much has changed with the church but I can say that I've regained the hope that some changes will be made.
I also think that my missing almost every Sunday morning has been a hard blow to the way in which I've been looking at things. When I first started working on Sundays I did it with a sense of loss in my heart. But then, like so many things, it got easier and easier. Soon I started feeling like a stranger. I still go on Sunday and Wednesday night but that morning worship is just so much more. Anyhow, I've been crying and whining about how I haven't been fed and it's true I haven't, but I also haven't been going to the table hungry either. What I mean is, I haven't exactly been making the time I do get at church a time of learning and growth. My attitude has been pretty crappy, I guess because I've been too worried about what I'll get or not get instead of what I'll give.
It's funny; yesterday I read about Saul's conversion and how Ananias laid hands on him which filled him with the Holy Spirit and returned his sight, and today it feels as if the scales have fallen from my eyes.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Fourteen

Yesterday my wife, son, dog and I all piled up on the couch and watched a movie (Dolphin Tail) together. It was without a doubt one of the best times I've ever had. Most people reading this might think "Huh, he's always with his family what's the big deal?", and they'd be right, I am always with my family but yesterday was special. I can't put my finger on it, but it was just great. My wife was on the right end of the couch with my son between us but sitting back in my arm, and the dog was stretched out on my left side, we had a good family movie on and my heart was just contented. Maybe it was because my hyper three year old sat good and still for most of the movie (a first). Maybe it was because I didn't have to worry about turning it off because of bad language or theme. Maybe it was because for the first time in a while I didn't concern myself with anything but the moment we were in. I just relaxed and enjoyed the blessing. I'm welling with tears thinking of how loved I am, and just how great of a memory we made out of something so ordinary. I never thought I'd ever be so dog gone sappy but God has given me more than I ever thought I deserved and I truly treasure my family.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Thirteen

This morning I read some of the book of Acts and was hit up side the head with the obvious. Acts 5:34 Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a while. 35 And he said to them; "Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. 36 For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was slain and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. 37 After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed.38 "And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; 39 but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it- lest you even be found to fight against God.

The man Gamaliel, who taught Paul (Acts 22:3) everything he knew about the law, was right on the button. If Jesus really didn't rise from death giving all who would believe and confess and be baptized in His name eternal life in heaven, Christianity would be dead by now. If all of those who were beaten and martyred for His name's sake had done it in vein, Christianity would just be something to read about in the history books. But, it's obvious that the accounts of the bible are true and accurate because here we are now, almost two thousand years later still fighting the good fight and running the race, handing the baton to the next generation to do the same. It seems like the more people try to stop the spread of the gospel, the more it spreads. If it were untrue in any way, it wouldn't exist, period. You just can't kill the truth!

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Twelve

I'm going to do an experiment. I'm going to close my eyes, open my bible, and point to a scripture. Which ever one I land on, I will type out. I will do this twice and put them together and see what it says. My guess is probably nothing that makes any sense. The reason why I'm doing this is because lots of people look up random scriptures every day and try to apply them to their lives. I'm not saying that the Holy Spirit can't speak to somebody by just opening the bible and reading it, but I think that Satan can too. It might sound a little harsh for me to say that, but I'm pretty sure that Satan knows the bible far better than we do.Anyhow, here goes.
Isaiah 3:24 And so shall it be: Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench; Instead of a sash, a rope; Instead of a well-set hair; baldness; Instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. Psalm 39:6 Surly every man walks about like a shadow; Surly they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up riches, And does not know who will gather them.
This didn't turn out quite the way I thought it would. These two scriptures kind of compliment each other but is that just random, divine, or other. I'll do it again and see.
Jonah 1:8 Then they said to him, "Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And what people do you come from? Luke 20:38 For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.
So... This was just random. I guess that what I'm trying to say and prove is that scripture needs to be read, in context with it's self. In other words, read a whole chapter, or at least an entire section of a chapter. Don't leave it up to chance. What if someone looked up Mathew 27:5 Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. Luke 10:37 And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
Would they be led to hang them self? Who knows? We just can't take the chance. Scripture isn't meant to be picked at like a chicken picks at grain but devoured like a shark swallowing a seal.

The ife and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Eleven

My wife is looking at and reading a sales magazine from a local Christian store. If I had a Christian business I wouldn't sell all of this junk to my fellow Christians, in fact, I probably would go out of business in the first couple of months. I just think that so much of this stuff is nothing more than junky, made in China, crap designed to part Christian people from their hard earned money. How much kingdom work could be done with the money that people spend on junky little trinkets? My guess is millions.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundren Ten

Today, as I was out working in the garden my neighbor's niece (who is staying with him due to his age and health) started talking to me. She made it a point, as always, to share some of her infinite knowledge of everything with me. (If that sounds sarcastic, it was meant to.) Every time I talk to her she makes sure to let me know that she knows more about what I'm doing or talking about than I do. It's getting to the point that when I see her coming, I want to run into the house until she goes into hers but I know that that's not what Jesus would do. So, I do my best to smile and be as nice as I possibly can, the entire time wishing she would just go inside and bother her poor old uncle instead of me.
I hate feeling this way about somebody but I just do. How do people manage to be genuinely loving to people that they just can't stand? It can only be by the direction of the Holy Spirit. I want to be able to be like that. I want to have patience, I want to literally love my neighbor....

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Nine

The past couple of days I've been trying to hurry up and get my garden planted so it'll be ready for the rain that's supposed to move in tomorrow night. I'm half way there and off from work tomorrow so I don't think that it'll be a problem but you never know until it's done. I tilled all of the rows where I'm planting yesterday but it reminded me of a scripture today. Luke 9:62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God."
Using that tiller was a perfect illustration for this scripture. If I were to have looked back when I was tilling my rows, I would have probably ran over some of my other plants and killed them. Now that I'm a Christian, I have no need to look back to the life I used to live. If I had one foot pointed backward and one forward I would just fall flat on my face. I wouldn't be able to go anywhere, and I certainly wouldn't be able to do anything for the kingdom of God which would make me unfit.
I think that there are a lot of people in that condition at one time or another in their walk. Satan has a great way of tricking people into believing that they can be a follower of Christ and still live exactly like they did before they believed. That couldn't be further from the truth. The main goal of a Christian is to become as much like Christ as possible. How can anyone do that if they are still living the old sinful life that they've always been in? It can't be done. We must put our shoulder to the plow and go forward, not looking back at where we've been but ahead to where we're going.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Eight

I'm having a really difficult trying to write this tonight. The TV is on and seems louder than usual even though it's not. My son is still up because he had a late nap today and he doesn't seem to be able to calm down, and my wife is steadily talking to me. When all of these things come together you get a perfect recipe for an inability to concentrate, at least, tonight anyway.
It's now that I keep thinking Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
This verse is so versatile! No matter what the circumstance or the situation a person finds them self in, this verse can and should be used, so instead of struggling to write or losing my temper and telling everybody to shut up, when they are just doing what they always do, I think I'll just "Be still, and know that I (He) am (is) God.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Seven

Today I got a coworker to help me by hauling some compost for my garden. He brought it here and talked to me for an hour or more. I found out that he had been all over the country and that he had been in the military and been all over Asia as well. He also told me that he was newly sober, he had been so for six months. I told him that I have been clean and sober for almost six years and his jaw dropped. There was a time when mine would have done the same thing. Just thinking about going that long when your freshly dried out seems unfathomable but now I'm looking forward to sobriety for the rest of my life. When your newly sober six days seems like an eternity, let alone six months. He said that he's fighting bouts of depression and that sometimes the urge to drink is strong. Just for a few days but strong none the less. We talked about his family and all kinds of things. But then something terrible happened, when he went to leave he scraped the side of his truck going through the narrow opening of my gate which put a big dent and a bunch of white scratches on it, and he also broke his mirror on the corner of my house. I feel terrible. Here I am asking for help and he was nice enough to give it to me and then this. He said he wasn't mad and that it was only a truck but we'll see tomorrow.
I was really hoping to be able to share Jesus with him and I don't want this or anything else to get in the way. 

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Six

A couple weeks ago I wrote about tithing. More importantly, I wrote about my own dilemma of whether I would tithe and be late on my mortgage and possibly start a snowball of missed bills or not tithe and pay the mortgage on time but live with the guilt that I couldn't or didn't trust God in what He promised in Malachi 3:10 "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this", Says the Lord of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out such a blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it."
I gave my tithe. I just knew that if I did, God would provide a blessing. That blessing came last week in the form of eight hours of over time which was on today's paycheck! I was able to (of course) set aside money for my tithe, catch up all the bills and even pay one a little early. I had enough left over to buy some tomato plants for the garden and I will even be able to fill the gas tank up with some of that liquid gold commonly known as gasoline! God has opened His storehouse and I'm very grateful!
It's really easy to look back and say "I knew He would come through just in the nick of time as always" but when we were going through it and didn't know how or when the blessing would come it was pretty hard to take that leap of faith, but I'm so glad we did.
Now we can breathe easier for a couple of weeks... That is, until we need to take the next leap of faith....

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Five

Today I was out picking a few radishes from our garden and I got to thinking. I've written about some of the things that I've done, had done to me, and some of the feelings that I am burdened with. I don't seem to be able to hide them very well, and really, I don't think that I should. My life is a tremendous work in progress that seems to go in every direction other than the one that I want it to but it's still a huge improvement over the way it was before I opened myself to Jesus. What I want to know is... Do other Christians go through all of these crazy emotions and struggles? All the Christian people I meet seem to have it all together, like they're invincible to the temptations of Satan and that they're just so strong, so sure of everything. Then when I tell them what I'm thinking or going through they just act like it's nothing or like I'm just some kind of weirdo or something and go on back to being perfect Christian people. I don't want to be judgmental but it seems like they just don't want to be bothered with me. Aside from my wife, who I love dearly and have deep respect for, I don't have any Christian friends that I'm really comfortable talking to. There are a few people at my church but our age difference is twenty years or better, and they don't come from the background I come from so it's almost like talking to someone in a foreign language, they can understand a little but the rest is lost in translation.
This walk that I'm on is sometimes rugged, sometimes lonely, and sometimes it just seems downright impassable.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Four

I got a letter and a tract today from a woman representing the Watchtower, AKA, Jehovah's Witness. I'm not sure if she randomly picked our address or if she sent it to us because we have a big cross in our yard (her return address is right up the road, so it could be either, or). I read the letter which was very nice, she even offered to help counsel anybody who had any questions.I opened the tract and immediately looked at the back where I saw the Watchtower logo. Needless to say, the tract went into the trash.
Every now and then, we will get a knock at the door and it will be some Watchtower people who are always very nice, but I tell them that I'm not interested. I also see pairs of young Mormon men riding their bikes proselytizing anyone who will listen.
Both of these groups are not biblical groups, they are cults. They have different versions of the bible and the Mormons even have extra books (The book of Mormon & The pearl of great price). The bible says in Revelation 22:18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to these things, God will add to them the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
That sounds pretty straight forward to me; Don't add to or take away from the bible. If a group has to have their own "version" of the bible, they are lairs, no matter how nice they are and are leading themselves and anybody who joins them straight to hell!
I will give them a compliment though. They are doing something to further what they believe in. They are fearless and relentless in their desire and action to spread and grow what they believe in. They are growing, they are influencing Christians that aren't rooted deeply or who don't know any better, or who are tired of doing nothing and see the kind nature and the motivation and action of these groups.
I don't ever get a knock on the door from any of the several local churches, and sadly I don't ever do any knocking of my own. What happened to people of the church pairing up and going out and doing exactly what these cults are doing? Why do they have such dedication and motivation? I don't quite have any answers to either one of these questions but I do know that if we don't do something we're doing nothing and that just doesn't work.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundren Three

Almost every Tuesday I post something concerning my Tuesday morning bible study and this Tuesday isn't any different. The man who was scheduled to lead us today was ill due to a tick bite and is recovering under a doctors care. The man who ended up leading the study spoke about family and how if a family isn't Christ centered it's bound to be dysfunctional. Someone else spoke up and brought up a scripture. Luke 12: 49 " I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! 51 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. 52 For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. 53 Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
The gospel is an offense to a lot of people and it's certainly evident in many families. Plenty of people have raised their children in the church yet those children do everything they can to deny and renounce any teaching they've been given. Some people get married as non-believers and one will come to Christ and the other won't. Whatever the scenario, there are always struggles going on in families where some believe and some don't. The non-believers want to call the believers judgmental or hypocritical but I believe that it's because they are, in a lot of cases, living a life of sin and that it's their defense or justification of that sinful lifestyle. We believers want nothing more than to make our loved ones believe in God and that Jesus is His son who died on a cross and rose from the grave insuring all who believe and are baptized eternal life in heaven.
You can't shake someone until they believe, you also can't sit there idly and do nothing. There lays the conflict, whatever we do we're wrong in somebodies eyes. If we keep presenting the gospel of Christ to our loved ones we will, without a doubt, find ourselves on the receiving end of their anger. But, if we don't try to evangelize our families we will certainly anger, or more to the point, let down our Lord.
I guess I know what my options are and that I can only choose to follow the Lord Jesus at any and every cost.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred Two

As we all know, yesterday was Easter, I hope everybody reading this had a great one, and more importantly, I hope everyone lifted up and praised Jesus! After all, it is all about Him isn't it? I've thought about it all day and I think that we need to treat every day as if it's Easter. We can't praise Jesus one day and be just so so the next. We need to be in a constant state of praise and worship. He didn't just rise from death to do some magic trick, He did it to save us from eternal damnation. He did it because He loves us more than we will ever be able to fathom. So the least we can do is show Him and everyone how much we appreciate this gift. Every day. After creation, the resurrection is the single most important event of all time and while we might not understand exactly why it had to be we know that it happened. So, is Easter more important than today or tomorrow or three Fridays after this one? No, only the first one is. Is every day equal? Yes. If we are breathing and conscious and know where we're going when we enter into eternity we need to thank the Lord for it! Always!

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred One

Today is Easter, the day that the empty tomb was discovered! The day that most Christians really look forward to. Not because of the candy and treats for the children or the big dinners or even the fellowship with family. No, although these things are nice, the real meaning of Easter is the resurrection of Christ, and the work that He finished. When He arose from that grave, the power of death and sin was defeated once and for all. Up until that first Easter Sunday every person who had ever lived was a slave to sin but after the resurrection all who would believe were set free from sins power. Praise Jesus!

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day One Hundred

Well, it's the night before Easter and I can't help but to think about how the apostles must have felt. They had no clue that in a few short hours they would discover the empty tomb. All I can figure is that they had to have felt let down. That they had put all their faith and trust in Jesus and He was now dead. These men had given all of themselves to Christ. Three years of their lives were spent following His every move and listening to and serving Him. I can only think that they might be confused, scared, and even angry.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day Ninty Nine

Today is Good Friday, the commemoration of the day in which our Savior willingly gave His life that all who would believe in Him would be saved from the bondage of sin and hell. Amen! It's a sad day in that the Creator was executed by His own creation, but it's so joyful because of the victory that was won. This was the plan from the beginning, if it weren't it wouldn't say in Genesis 3:15b He shall bruise your head and, and you shall bruise His heal.
God said this to Satan after he lied and coerced Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge. (Not that they didn't have a choice, they just chose to sin like we all do)
Jesus took the sin of all the world on His head and took our punishment. He was beaten, spit upon, mocked, cursed, whipped until His insides were exposed, He had a crown twisted from thorns put upon his head, and was forced to carry His own cross (the very method of His execution) as far as He could before being hung upon it. We teased Him as He hung there dieing, gasping for breath. I say we in reference to the human race not that we were physically there. I can imagine that the devil was there also, gloating over Him, thinking that he had defeated God once and for all only to find that his own fate had been sealed.
Yes, this is truly a Good Friday, the best of them all.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day Ninty Eight

Tonight, after I finish writing, I'm going to go outside and take the purple cloth off of our cross and put on the black one. It's eight forty five PM right now. Just think, it could have been at this time in the evening that Jesus told James, John, and Peter, Mathew 26:41 "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the body is weak."
Or it could be the exact time of night when He prayed, Luke 22:42 saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."
So many things happened to Him on this night so many years ago. He was betrayed, His disciples whom He called His friends deserted Him and one (Peter) even denied knowing Him, just as He predicted. He was falsely arrested and taken from place to place because they all wanted Him dead but none of them had the guts to convict Him and do it themselves. They all claimed that He was from the others jurisdiction and ultimately took Him to Pilate saying that he had to put Jesus to death because it was unlawful for them (the Jews) to do so. I think that if they weren't worried about Him really being the Messiah as He said He was, that they would have found a way to kill Him themselves regardless of what the Roman law was. Think about it, these were educated people, people who had studied the scriptures their entire lives. They had to see the similarities between Jesus and the scriptures.
Our Lord was punched, and falsely accused, He was all alone and He was denied sleep on the night before His crucifixion. All the while He knew that He could at any time call legions of angels to save Him, yet He stayed and silently took all the torture and all the hatred of man who, ironically, He created.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day Ninty Seven

I was very happy to see my preacher back in the pulpit this evening. He had taken an extended leave due to his wife's failing health and eventual death. But tonight he was back leading our Wednesday night prayer meeting and bible study. We studied some of Joshua and then talked about obedience.
My preacher is a pillar of obedience and I look up to him in a lot of things. I'm not one of those people who put preachers on a pedestal, in fact I probably put them under more scrutiny than I should. I have seen his strengths and weaknesses and I know that he strives to walk the walk instead of just talking the talk. He tirelessly goes and visits the sick and dieing. He's soft spoken but won't compromise God's word in any way, whether it offends anybody or not. He has a very kind and gentle demeanor yet God has used him in a very powerful way and I'm just super glad to see him back.  

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day Ninty Six

Today has been a great day! It started with my usual Tuesday morning bible study which was great. The woman who led the study was a little shy to speak in public which made what she had to say that much more impact-full. She spoke about running a marathon which is probably the most difficult thing to do in the sports world. She brought up a particular man (who's name escapes me) who had run a few marathons and (I think) six or seven triathlons all in one summer/fall season. She said that he was on his last marathon of the year in Texas and he started to hurt pretty bad in his leg, but he kept on going. By the time he got to the twenty mile marker he was in excruciating pain and looked up and saw a big bud light truck giving out "cold liquid refreshment" to runners who were dropping out of the race like flies. He looked over to his running partner and asked him what he wanted to do; they both decided to keep going the last six point two miles to the finish line which they made it to. That was the last race the man was able to run.... He had torn something in his knee and would never be able to run any distance again.
She compared the race to faith, much like the apostle Paul did, in fact she brought up those verses where he mentioned "running the race". She brought up things that could be that "bud light truck" and even confessed a few things that get in her way and tempt her to give up. One was that she didn't think that she was good enough to be leading that study or doing anything else for Jesus. I really relate to that one and it comforted me to hear that someone else suffered from one of the same things as me. It also gave me some hope because she was running right past that "bud light truck" of doubt and fear.
For the rest of the day I could feel the blessing I received from hearing her speak. I got some work done in the garden and had a wonderful time watching my son dig up worms and chasing butterflies.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day Ninty Five

What in the world is going on? I'm listening to the news and all that I'm hearing this evening is bad things happening to Christians. First, a man has shot some students at a Korean Christian collage in Oakland California. Seven were killed and two others were injured. Apparently the shooter used to attend classes there, but there hasn't been an explanation as to why he did what he did. Second, a girl at a church here in Virginia got sexually harassed by a man who was supposed to a preacher. She didn't get physically harassed (thank God!) but the man did proposition her and harass her over the phone, which is bad enough.
I just don't see why people feel the need to do these kinds of things. Are Christians easy prey, or is it out of a hatred for Jesus? I don't know, maybe it's a combination of both but it's heartbreaking to hear about. I know that as time goes on it will get much, much worse. Christians in other countries are already going through terrible persecutions which, I believe are a precursor to what the entire world's population of Christians are going to go through pretty soon. I pray that we will lean on Jesus for the strength to endure these coming times and the courage to run the race until the finish.

The life and trials of a growing Christian - Day Ninty Four

Well, today is April 1st or April fools Day to many. I don't find a lot of humor in this day because it's the seventeenth anniversary of my father's death. He wasn't my birth father but he was good to me. He wasn't perfect, but again, he was good to me, he loved me. I remember when I got beat up pretty bad by three people, he showed up at the hospital and saw me all bloody with stitches, a broken tooth, and a broken nose and he got so livid that I thought he was going to go out looking for the people who did it and kill them. I know it hurt him to see me all swollen and disfigured. I also remember when we moved from Northern Virginia to Caroline, which is in Central Virginia. We were at a little country store a couple of weeks after hunting season started so you can kind of guess what kind of people were also there and I called out "hey dad can I get some chips?", which wouldn't have been a big deal except my dad was black and I'm white. Seeing all of those people stare at us with their mouths dropped wide open with those hateful looks on their faces was priceless.
My dad didn't teach me a whole lot about doing things with my hands, because he didn't do things with his hands but I remember getting all of those late night lectures at the dinner table, and I wish I would have listened to a lot more of them than I did.
When I was twenty, I got married. My ex-wife and I just got up and went to the justice of the peace and got married. I called my parents and told them about it and my relationship with my dad was never the same after that. He wanted to give us a wedding party and it hurt him that I didn't tell him first. Less than a year after that, he was in a hospital bed dieing. I never got to make amends with my dad and that stinks.
What's worse than that is my dad wasn't saved. He was Catholic as a child but I don't remember him ever talking about Jesus or salvation. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am.