Illuminate

Sarah and I went camping over Memorial day in Southeast Missouri. After we had set up camp and ate I asked her if she wanted to go night hiking. I wanted to just get out and see the campground a little. She was open to it but still very unsure of what to expect. We took our lantern and headed out to the trail. It was a dark night and the lantern was only able to light our feet and the next few feet in front of us. This was scary for Sarah but we continued to put one foot in front of the other and we had a great time. Though we could not see that next bend in the trail, I could see the next step I needed to take and that was all I really needed. Life can be a lot like that trail that night. Psalms 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path." God's word is there to light our path in a very dark world. I think we get frustrated when we realize that God does not always light the entire path for us. Rather it seems he only lights our feet, that...

When I was in college I always enjoyed going home for the holidays. I enjoyed being with my friends and staying up late, but there was something about going home. Maybe it was the food, or how everyone was excited to see me, but I really think it was the overwhelming feeling of peace and finding rest. In Psalm 84:3 David describes where he finds rest and what that looks like.  " Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young- a place near your alter, Lord Almighty, my King and my God." He finds security at his alter. If you look at the context this can be the House of God which the New Testament would defined as the church. Yes the church is a place that you can find rest, peace, and security. It should be a place that people are welcomed and loved. A place that even the vulnerable know they have a home. That is what God desires for his church. Some of us need to hear that because we have always thought of Go...

I have not written a blog in awhile and I wanted to get back to writing with the start of the school year. There is an old story about two men who decided to have a contest to see who could chop down the most trees. They were both strong men who both had a lot of experience and confidence that they would win. The one man went all day thinking that he would be able to win that way. The other man took a break ever so often, rested, and resharpened his ax. The first man thought this was foolish to stop but who do you think won? Well the man who had taken the time to rest and sharpen his ax. In the bible rest is not a bad word. I think so many times our society and even other people can be pushing us to be like the first man... go, go, go and then you will get everything accomplished. The bible has a lot to say about rest in one word... Sabbath. The word sabbath means rest, ceasing. God took a sabbath after 6 days of creating the world in the creation narrative in Genesis and God conti...

My wife and I heard a song a couple of days ago and it made me really think. The song is called "Mirror" by lil Wayne. Once again I am not a supporter of lil Wayne or his music, but I think looking at the lyrics of the music gives us a glimpse of our culture and of ourselves. Here is an excerpt from the first verse. You looking at me but I'm looking through you I see the blood in your eyes I see the love in disguise I see the pain hidden in your pride I see you're not satisfied And I don't see nobody else I see myself I'm looking at the Mirror on the wall, here we are again We all have moments we truly look at ourselves, even the most popular and so called successful people look at themselves. He was looking past his outward appearance and what he has done and he was looking at what I call our true self. His true self is not satisfied, hides his pain with pride, doesn't really love truly, and really is not pleased with who he is.  I think if...

When I was a kid, I loved to play hide and go seek with my friends and family. It was inevitable that someone would hide in the craziest place. I remember one time someone hid underneath the stage at church! Lets just say it took awhile to find them. The joy of playing the game was finding that person. It usually took time, patience, and some diligence.  Yesterday I was praying for the church. As I was praying a word came to my heart and spirit and that word was seek. The word seek means to attempt to find something or ask for something from someone.  All throughout scripture the word seek is found. In Matthew 7:7 it says. " Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be open to you. " (NIV) God desires that we seek Him. Unlike in the game of hide and go seek he is not hiding from us to somehow frustrate us, even though it may feel like that sometimes. He wants us to seek him because he wants us to show him our desire for h...

I was talking to my mom a few weeks ago. She was telling me a story of something hard they had went through. After the story my mom said a simple phrase that kind of put everything into perspective. She said, "Today's trials are tomorrow's testimonies." I am sure my mom did not come up with this thought but I think it is a principle that we need to get a hold of. To testify or to give a testimony, as described by the dictionary, is evidence or proof provided by the existence or appearance of something. You see we are God's testimony to the world. Not that God cannot prove his existence without our help but we help build the case for Christ with our lives and how we share how God has been a part of it. One aspect that we can testify about our God is through trials. No one has ever gotten something great or gone somewhere great without a few trials. We cannot expect the great things of God unless we are willing to go through the trials. We wouldn't really ...

When I was in my freshman year of High School our art teacher challenged us to create a large project. This would need to be something that would take a considerable amount of time and was personal. I thought about it for awhile and I decided to make a cross. I know that sounds simple but to me it sounded like fun. So my dad helped me as I created a cross made out of cedar. It was about 7 feet tall with multiple layers of wood with a base so it could stand by itself. It looked great but I felt like something was missing. So I decided to put a saying on that cross. The last thing that Jesus said before he died, "It is Finished". That phrase really stood out to me and has stuck with me ever since. That phrase "it is Finished" spoke to so many things. It spoke to the mission of Christ being Finished, it spoke to the enemy being Finished, it spoke to our sin and separation from God being Finished. Last time we were together as a student ministry we looked at Col 2:13-...

I saw the Hunger Games the night it was released. It has quickly become the biggest movie of the year and one of the biggest movies since Twilight. The biggest crowd this movie appeals to is definitely students. So I went to the movie with an open mind. One of the most interesting quotes I heard in the movie was this, "the only thing more powerful than fear is hope."  As soon as I heard that quote I began to think about the power of both fear and hope. Fear has the power to make someone never do something ever again or never try it. There is certainly a good fear and a bad fear. A good fear is found when it helps us avoid things that can harm us. I am talking about the fear that shackles us down from doing the things God has called us to.  What is the emotion that can break that fear, hope. There is power in hope. I heard this past week of a teenager that was adrift in the ocean for 26 days! I wonder what kept him alive? Maybe it was fear, fear of death, fear of neve...

I am very excited to preach this Sunday on reaching out to those who have yet to start a journey of faith. One of the stories that really illustrates the beautiful picture of someone coming back to the Lord is the story of the prodigal son. It gives me hope when I read that story for myself and others. The interesting thing about that story is not only the story of the younger brother that ran away but also the story of the bitter older brother. Now I know what it is like to have a younger brother so I can kind of relate to this story. In the parable Jesus describes a younger brother who takes his inheritance from his father, falls on his face, and returns to his father hoping for a better life. The beautiful part of the story is when the father receives his young son back and celebrates that he has returned. But where is the older brother when all of this is happening? Well he is pouting and being bitter that his father received his younger brother back. I am sure he was asking how ...

I went to the dentist a couple of weeks ago. Just between you and I, I hate going to the dentist! Maybe it is because growing up I had 6 teeth pulled (I was awake for all of them), braces, and a couple of cavities. All of these incidences have brought pain and some resentment about the dentist. Through all of that I now realize that even though there was pain and trouble, that it was all for a good purpose.  Why do people work out? Who would want to experience being sore all the time, because they know it produces a stronger better them. There is an old saying that usually applies to working out and maybe even my dentist appointments, no pain no gain. To many times I think that we as humans want the gain without the pain and we are unwilling to go through the pain to get the gain. The same is very true with God. We want the gain of spiritual growth and maturity but we are unwilling to go through the pain it takes to get there. What I am not saying is God delights putting us thr...

It is almost Valentines once again or as some call it, singles awareness day. Whether someone admits it or not we all want to be loved. We all want to experience love. It does not matter if we have a spouse, serious relationship, family, or friends. A lot of times in order to receive love we have to give love. We also all know that love can be fake or it can be real or true. So the real question is what is "true love" then? Well we have always been taught that we will know it when we see it. Well unfortunately all I see are fake relationships in hollywood and in culture, that are not real or are only for a little while. What about the idea that you will have true love when you have those butterflies and all the bubbles inside of you? Yeah you know those bubbles... Well even if you do have that for someone they honestly go away after awhile. So what are you to do then? I see the greatest example of love, believe it or not, is in the Bible, is in Jesus. Ok it may be cliché....

A couple weeks ago Sarah wanted me to watch "17 Again" with her. I am not to crazy about movies staring Zac Efron but I thought I would give it a try. The story is about how a young man made a choice back in High School that he later regretted his whole life. He choose to marry his High School sweet heart, who was pregnant, instead of pursuing basketball in college. He always blames everything in his life on that. He always says if I could just go back and change that one thing, than everything would be different. In the movie he gets a chance to go back and make the choice again. You would think that he would surely do what he had set out to do, but something else happens. He really sees that he should had been contempt in the position he was in and press forward. He really learned to live without regrets. Well after the movie was over I was thinking to myself, "how many people still live in the past, still live with regrets?" I have talked to many people that l...

When the new year comes it always makes me want to sit down and re think how I lived this past year. How did I do? Did I do all that I wanted to do? It also makes me wonder what are some things that I can change this year to make myself better. I feel like sometimes though it is like we are like two different people in life. The person we want everyone to see and the one that we don't want anyone to know about. Can I ask you, will the real you stand up this year? As Christians we all understand we have failures. It says in scripture, "for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." The question is, what are we doing with these failures, these issues, these sins. Too many times we just except ourselves as we are, try to forget, and hide the issues that we have.  The great thing is that God knows exactly what we are dealing with. So what are we trying to do sweeping these issues away? We cannot fool God, so what are we trying to prove? So why not trying this ...