Be thankful...

I spent some time this morning reading Romans chapter one, where Paul discusses God's pleasurable salvific power given to the righteous and God's wrath or extreme anger towards the unrighteous.

He defines the"righteous" as those who live by faith, and the "unrighteous" as those who do not live by faith. In fact, he goes further to say (in verse 21) that the unrighteous do not "honor Him as God or give THANKS to Him, but they become futile (unable to produce good) in their thinking..."

Join me this morning as the "righteous" of God, in honoring and giving thanks to God for his "visible attributes that have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world."(Romans 1:20)

So be thankful this morning...

GOD is LOVE...

This is a rock! We all know this is a rock because we know what a rock is. But, what if we had never seen or heard of a rock before (along with everyone else in the world). Imagine your teacher or employer places this object on your desk and say that your job for the next week is to show this "object" to everyone you come in contact with?

This would be a difficult task, because everyone would ask you the same questions, "What is it?" and you would be forced to say, "I don't know!" And then the follow up question would be, "Well, where did it come from?" And again, you would be forced to say, "I don't know!" The final question would probably be, "Well, why in the world are you attempting to show me something that you know nothing about?"

I think it is fair to say, that in order for us to accurately "SHOW" something, we must "KNOW" what it is. Many of you wonder why it is so difficult for us to SHOW love to those around us.Could it be that you do not "KNOW" Love?

 "In order to SHOW LOVE you must KNOW LOVE: GOD IS LOVE."

JOHN 4:7-12 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

What I learned from the homeless...

I had the priviledge of spending a week in Austin, TX with a team of about 20 teenagers on a life changing mission trip. Those of you who know about Austin, know that Austin's motto is "Keep Austin Weird!" And If you have ever been to Austin,TX you know that Austin is just that...WEIRD! From the people you see, to the buildings downtown, to the art on buildings...even the music in Austin is weird.

I LOVE Austin, we did some amazing things while we were there. We saw 1.5 million female bats come from under a bridge at dusk to travel north for food. We went to visit the state capitol, we participated in a ghost tour, we even ate ice cream at the famous Amy's Ice Cream parlor. But, our main goal was to help with the homelessness issue in Austin! According to the most recent studies, on a given night there are about 2,300 Austinians living on the streets of Austin. We got a chance to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the homeless and hungry community of Austin.

During my devotion time, I came across a passage in the bible where Jesus was approached by a scribe in Capernaum. The Scribe began to say how he would follow Jesus wherever he went. Jesus replies to him with some powerful words. He says, "Foxes have holes and birds have nests. But the son of man has nowhere to lay his head!"(Matthew 8:20)

I began to ask myself, "Why would Jesus say this?" Whether it was in the home of one of his followers or on a rock under a tree, Jesus certainly had a place to lay his head.

I think Jesus wants the scribe to understand (you and I also), that though Jesus had a place to lay his head, it was only temporary. Jesus realized that even though he lived on earth, his eternal home was in Heaven, therefore he lived that way.

In Austin, we passed by homeless people everytime we stepped out of our dorms. Something I noticed was that the streets looks different every night. I would see one homeless person sleeping on one corner one night and the next night he was no where to be found. Not necessarily because he was no longer homeless, but because he saw his home as temporary. Could it be that homeless people are closer to Jesus than we are in this sense?

Here are a few questions to ponder with me...

Do you live as though your home (on earth) is temporary?

Do you look forward to your heavenly home or are you overly content with your earthly home?

Philippians 3:20 "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ."

Love to Pray!

Ahhhhhhhhh...Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Almond Granola Bars... I kid you not, just the thought of eating one of these bars makes my mouth water! I don't use this word casually, but I "LOVE" eating them. 

The truth is, I get tremendously excited before eating them. I find myself exhilarated while I am eating them, basking in every bite. I even get sad as I reach that last bite. And as I take that last bite, I begin contemplating the next time I can engage in another salivating experience between me and my Nature Valley bar.

Today, in a Ministry Seminar, the facilitator asked us a question that I have been battling with for the entire day. The question was..."Do you LOVE praying, or is it just a function, an obligation, a way to get what you want from God?"

Can I describe my prayer experiences the same way I describe my Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Almond Granola Bar experience?

Q: Do I get tremendously excited before my prayer time?
Q: Do I find myself exhilarated while praying, basking in every word?
Q: Do I get sad as I reach the end of my prayer time?
Q: Do I find myself contemplating the next time I can engage in another experience between me and The Father?

"Love to pray. Feel often during the day the need for prayer, and take trouble to pray. Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God's gift of Himself. Ask and seek, and your heart will grow big enough to receive him and keep him as your own." -Mother Teresa

Taste them again, for the first time...

It seems like companies don't use as many "catchy" slogans/jingles as they did when I was a kid (SN:Saying"when I was a kid makes me feel old). I can remember jingles like "The best part of waking up, is Folders in your cup." Or "Your not fully clean unless your Zest-fully clean." 

Well, back in the 1990's Kellogg's Corn Flakes began to see a drop in sales in their iconic brand, and decided to ask their faithful customers to come back to the brand; coining the slogan, "Taste them again, for the first time."


This year I decided to read through the entire bible in a year. This is something that I have never done before. Of course, I have read the entire bible before, but never chronologically or even in a years time-span.

Nevertheless, I am doing it and I must say it has got to be one of the most fulfilling things I have ever done. I am using an app on my I-pad called YouVersion and the plan that I am using is simply called "The Bible in a year." I like this plan because I end up reading a chapter from the OT, NT and a Psalm a day.(This works well for me because it gives me variety) 

At any rate, though I have read these passages hundreds of times before, it seems that God is allowing me to "Taste them again, for the first time," things I had never noticed (or tasted) before.

Day three I read Genesis 3. As I was reading, I got to verse 8 which says, -->"They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day..." WHAT? How could I NOT notice this before? I even read the passage in Hebrew. And it said the exact same thing...

I said to myself..."Wait, God was actually there? Like in the flesh?"  That's what the passage says. For all of my life, I was under the impression that Adam and Eve only heard the voice of God from the heavens, or the Holy Spirit was with them, but NO...if my biblical exegesis is correct (which I believe it is) God in the flesh, a.k.a Jesus was present with Adam and Eve in the Garden.

I say all this to say, if you are looking for a great read this year, read the words of God..."Taste them again for the first time." I know I am!