Illuminate

Back in 2006 a very moving movie came out called "The Pursuit of Happyness." In the movie Will Smith played the role of a man who was down on his luck with his wife that left him and a son that was needing him. He try selling a product that no one was buying and he found himself homeless. The story takes a turn for the better when he was accepted into an internship that eventually turned out to be a great career. Throughout the video you felt him longing for more. It felt so close but yet so far away the whole time. What is it in our culture that says that we need stuff in order to find happiness? We are never happy until we have this or that. The pursuit of the American dream, whatever that may be for you. I know that I want to own a home, have kids someday, have a nice car, but when does it end? Where does it start? The man in the movie had tried so hard to get all the things of this world by himself, but he never was completely fulfilled. I was watching this show last...

Fall is my favorite season. I love to watch football, watch the thermometer drop a little, and watch the harvest come in from the field. This past week I went out early to help with the Hayride event. Little did I know that I would also be helping Jeff Sims, a farmer, around his farm. I enjoyed it so much though. I did grow up in the country after all and their is nothing like seeing all that golden harvest come into the grain bin. Jeff needed to keep working that day because, as he puts it, he only he has a limited window. The grain only has a certain time to pick it, then it becomes rotten, worthless. That is why a farmer is willing to put in the long hours, get up early, and push himself to get all the harvest in. He knows he only has a small window to get it all done. I have to admit I don't remember a whole lot of sermons but I will never forget one my youth pastor told us when I was a senior in high school. It was the fall season, just like it is now, and he took us near o...

There is a video game that came out a couple of years ago. It was called double agent. In past games you were splinter cell a secret agent sent out to get the bad guys. Well in this game you are serving both the good guys you were sworn to and the bad guys you thought you would never be a part of. This is how the name double agent comes about. Some call it riding the fence, wearing a mask, and any other way that describes a person who wants both parties but eventually will have to make a choice to whom they will follow and serve. Sometimes we act like double agents. Serving two masters at the same time. We think that the other will never find out and we can do whatever we want. Well we cannot serve the world and serve God at the same time. It just does not work. Jesus even says in Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." (NIV) ...

There is the old saying "Garbage in Garbage out." I can also think of the old saying "You are what you eat". Both of these sayings convey the idea that whatever we put into our lives, than that is who we are or who we will become. It is pretty easy to understand but yet so many of us think that is not an issue in our lives. So many of us have been in the garbage so long we think it is treasure! You may not think the garbage is not a big deal, but eventually it will come to the surface whether you want to or not. This principle of garbage in garbage out is very clear in the Bible. In Galatians 6:7-8 it says, " Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." (NIV) Also Jesus addresses this issue when he says in the book of Luke "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, a...