Perseverance

We are promised in God's word that we will be persecuted. I hear those who preach the "health and wealth gospel" and wonder if they have ever read the book of James. 
That promise of persecution isn't punishment or payment, it's preparation. It is the thing that makes our faith strong. I'm reminded of the Damascus type shotgun barrels that received their strength from heating, beating, bending and twisting...over and over. Ironic that the name sake for those old barrels is the place that Saul was headed when he met the Lord. 
In that encounter, Paul was blinded, made weak. Led by the hand into town. Through this shaping set of circumstances, he was to be the most influential writer in history. 
So, PREACH IT! JAMES, tell the world of the strength that comes through being weak, persevering, and being molded into God's image.   

The Flow

I am daily trying to better understand and live in God's flow. I guess I could also call it "God's Will for Me". It's about being who he intended me to be, influencing people for Him, living for Him... being Him, in my personality. Using all the weirdness of Matt to be Jesus today.

I know that when I am most like Jesus, I am most content. I am most happy. I am most productive.
I keep trying harder, but I read a new term yesterday...Try SOFTER. Hmmm, maybe I try too hard at times. 
I remember playing music with a guy who would say, "Relax, we are playing like we are constipated." It was funny, but I knew what he meant.
Maybe God is telling me that I am living like I'm constipated. Trying too hard. 
I want to be able to live effortlessly in God's flow.

Near death...

Well, as I encountered what felt like the threshold of death, I was thinking: will I be scared when I actually face death face to face?
Right now, I joke and say that I can't wait. But will that be the case? Will my faith prove strong in that moment? I think so. I have faced many scary things in my life but the power of God always wins the battle.
Jesus promised that. He promised that he would be with us always. Fear isn't always the sign of a lack of faith. 
I think back to when Jessica was little. We would ride the 4-wheeler out in the woods and there was this one tall stump, maybe 5 feet tall. I would stand her up on it and she would jump into my arms. I could see the fear in her little eyes, but she jumped. She had faith in me.
I'm pretty sure that God is much more deserving of my trust than I ever could be, even for my own child.
Maybe I do look look forward to jumping out of this world into His arms.

"love one another"

I'm sitting here with the breeze blowing through the living room thinking what a beautiful evening it is. My heart and mind are taken back to the Thursday before Jesus' crucifixion. 
Many refer to it as Maundy Thursday. It's a day that is celebrated a couple different ways.Through feet washing and/or meals shared together. Maundy meaning "to love one another". 
In the realm of Christianity we celebrate a lot of things. But I'm not sure that there is a time that should evoke celebrating more than this. 
As this marvelous wind blows through, I reminisce the good times and all of the incredible people that God has allowed to accompany me on this winding road. 
I am blessed. 

Grace

God's grace. What is grace? I would define it using the level of intellect that I possess as "the taking away of deserved consequences". That definition works when I get stopped by a policeman and he lets me off. It works when Jeremiah doesn't complete an assigned shore and I don't punish him. It even works if I don't pay my electric bill on time. 
How does it work for a God that created everything, becoming a man, walking in absolute perfection, being tortured, dying, resurrecting Himself and returning to Heaven...so that I can do wrong and be forgiven do wrong again and be forgiven and again and again? 
How does that work? In my own mind that factors things against fairness, it doesn't work. It's not fair. I was taught as a youngster to play fair. I expect the judicial branch of our government to be fair. Employers to treat their workers fair. 
Grace isn't fair. Not to God. Grace isn't fair to people. I know some people who are followers of Christ that are "good" people. Haven't done much of anything wrong. They were obedient children, good students, hard workers, church-attenders, on and on. I know others who have awful pasts. Murderers, drunks, child-molesters, cheaters. All of the above are equally forgiven and grace covers them. 
Nope, grace isn't fair. But as a middle-of-the-roader on all of this "goodness", I'm glad. 
I smile, look to the heavens and sing almost daily beaming with gratitude that my God loves me enough to allow me access to grace. Grace that I cannot nearly define.  
  

Me

God has created me to be a specific way, a one-of-a-kind person. A little more energized than the average guy, a little louder, more emotional, less than timid, compassionate on occasion...me.
Today, I long to take all that I am and be the best me that I can. I can't do it. I have to enter into God's flow and be swept to it. I have to allow Him control.
I believe that there are some people in this world, though I don't always know who they are, that  only I will be able to influence for the Lord. Some people that will respond to the person that God has created me to be.
I need to be me.

Who I Am

I am:
the son of a good ole boy and an old-fashioned gal...
the brother of a red-neck and a metro...
a lover of a Proverbs 31-caliber woman...
father of a soft-hearted angel and a mischievous missionary...
a connoisseur of beef...
a preacher of the Gospel...
mentally mechanical...
sensitive to people.


This is who I am. 
Lord, take all of me and make me into something better than before.


"Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all I that do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!"