Home from Guatemala

After coming home from Guatemala I am quickly realizing that God has again chosen to change my perspective on all aspects of life. I truly would have never dreamed that a week could change my life so much. In short, our trip was absolutely amazing. We met so many wonderful people who were full of life, completely selfless, and yet most of them had next to nothing in material possessions.

If you think you are able to understand what this means by watching HD Net broadcast world relief programs in high definition or you can relate because you have vacationed in other parts of the world and gone beyond the “Hotel Zone”, think again. Sadly enough this is exactly what I thought before going on our Mission to Guatemala. Being submersed in the environment and living with people who have found Christ in spite of their absence of material possessions is by far the most humbling experience that I have ever had. You quickly realize that having too much is in many ways worse than having too little.

Although we are warned many times in the Bible about possessions and how they can divide our mind and control our direction in life; being born in America makes it very difficult to accept. In fact, without venturing outside of our society’s cocoon it seems almost impossible. Once your eyes begin to open and you are able to understand that simply being born on American soil puts us in the vast minority of the rest of the world, things really begin to change. You begin to see the very truth to which you were once blinded by.

You will begin to question why our society is so unhappy, why our families continue to grow apart, and why we find it so difficult to know Christ? The simple reason is material possessions, just as the Bible tells us they blind us from the truth. Our sinful ways sought after these possessions and for many of us they become our gods. They become the force that drives us and we find ourselves wanting to acquire more which pushes God’s truth further and further away.

Now comes the very important question, how do we fix this? How do we put an end to a world that is completely unbalanced? I will not for a moment claim to fully understand the answer to this and I am almost certain I never will. But I am compelled to write what God pours into my heart. I fully believe that each and every one of us plays a very special role, as we are all God’s children and we have all been given special gifts. It’s up to us to accept these gifts and through prayer follow God’s plan to share His grace throughout.

Let’s face it; God did not leave the world hungry. Right now at this very moment there is more than enough food to feed the entire planet, yet many people are unable to eat. It is up to all of us to find the means necessary to feed all God’s children with the abundance of food that He has provided. In the next few weeks as my mind continues to unwrap all that I took in, I pray that God will allow me to find the right words to articulate all that has been revealed to me.


In Jesus Name

Amen

Easter 2008

Today marks a very special day, for one its Easter Sunday the day Christ resurrected from the dead and gave eternal life to all of His believers. (Matthew 28:1-20) Easter is also the anniversary of my Christian faith; after all it was 3 years ago today that I attended my first Frontline service which has proven to change my life forever. There is truly no doubt in my mind that Christ has grown me more in the last 3 years than I have grown in the last 33 years of my life.

As I search for words to write in this blog I am compelled to pray; to give thanks for all that God has given to me and to my family. In less than 48 hours I will be departing to Guatemala with my men’s Bible study group on our first mission’s trip together. Although I am filled with excitement I also know that God will use this trip to continue to grow each of us and my human instincts are over flowing with curiosity as to what exactly that means?

Only He knows what lies ahead and I continue to pray that He will give me the words and knowledge to share with each and every person that I meet in Guatemala. Although we may come from a completely different world and we may never endure many of the hardships that the Guatemalan’s face we do share something in common. We are brothers and sisters in Christ; we serve the same God, a God of mercy, a God of justice, a God of grace, and a God of glory.

With this we can learn from each other as God has provided us all with different talents and skills to ultimately bring Glory to His name. As I look out across the Church tonight during Easter service I will be reflecting on how amazing the last 3 years of my life have truly been. I will wonder how many others will be taking their first Christian steps as I did 3 years ago. I will be praying that God pours into each and every one of them as He continues to do for me. God is truly an Awesome God and I praise Him above all else on this very special day.


In Jesus Name,

Amen

Stress

For most of my life I chose to live completely stressed and quick to snap when faced with worldly issues. This is probably the reason it upsets me so much when I see my family and loved ones get so STRESSED OUT! We are all faced with difficult situations however God is ultimately in control so if we choose to allow these situations to stress us out we are falling directly into Satan’s plan. In fact, stressing out will only make these situations worse. In addition there are literally hundreds of health related problems directly associated with stress. Sadly enough I learned about many of these problems first hand. Not too long ago I allowed my stress levels to become so high that I developed three ulcers in my stomach which led to a four month extensive treatment.

For many years I continued to allow stress to fill my life and consistently found inadequate excuses to justify each of my stressful situations. Today I have learned the only real reason for all the stress in my life was ME! I am not trying to imply by any means that I no longer deal with stress, I am simply saying that God has opened my eyes and allowed me to begin correcting this part of my life. My worldly perspectives have completely changed as I now fully understand that God has given me all I need to handle even the darkest hours.

When I do begin to feel stressed about worldly issues I simply stop what I am doing and reflect on this scripture "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). I then take a moment to give thanks for everything I have including the stressful situation that I may be going through at that time. God may choose to use any and all experiences to bring glory to His name. Even when we find it nearly impossible to see the light, we must hold tightly to our faith and proudly submit to His honor.

Stress comes in many forms and will decompose our lives if we allow it. I would like to ask each and every one of you to pray along with me, God allow me to submit to your glory during the difficult situations that this world may put upon my shoulders. Give me the strength to handle even the most stressful events and allow me to remain close to Your word even in the darkest hours. Your grace is larger than anything I know, In Jesus name I pray. Amen