Welcome to my blog. I mostly write about Christian Living, but I enjoy the Kentucky Wildcats, New Orleans Saints, and a good cup of coffee.
All in christian living
When we boil it down to it's foundation, we all have the same story. We were dead in our sins. God made us alive together with Christ because He is rich in mercy and loved us with a great love. We all look forward to that "one shining moment" when we will see our Savior face to face and worship Him because of His immeasurable grace toward us. May Christ receive all glory, honor, and praise!
I recently got into a discussion on Twitter with a pastor in Georgia that I don't know about a topic that can bother me at times. His argument was that true Christians should have a definite salvation experience that they can point to. He said he based his argument on the salvation experiences we see in the New Testament. I, however, do not agree with him.
Yesterday, I borrowed a truck a drove a rather large pallet of bottled water between two towns. I didn't have it tied down and I just drove slow and relied on it's weight to keep it in place. I usually like to drive fast. I want to make the best time possible to get to where I'm going. However, in this case, I wanted to be slow.
In the last two weeks I took students to camp and then went on vacation. My usual routine has been out of sorts and the two services I run each week have been handled by other people. Words can't express how grateful I am for our student volunteers who have kept things running well while I've been away.
Rest isn't optional. In creation, God sets the tone for rest when He rests on the seventh day after creating all things and calling them very good. However, I find that rest is looking different for me these days. Having a toddler, my rest has had to become much more intentional.
The impressive thing was that he didn’t stop there even though he could’ve. He did dishes at the camp cafe. He served food and drinks at the shack late at night. He served students with conversations all throughout the day and he served the staff of Crossings. This guy was the embodiment of serving and no job was too small for him. He could’ve just taught because that’s why he was there, but he led by example and I was incredibly impressed.
I’m at summer camp. When I was in middle/high school I went to a lot of camps and had a lot of interesting experiences. Never in my life did I think I’d be the one taking students to camp. Yet, here I am. This is my third year and third different camp. I’m becoming a pro at the whole camp thing. Sunburns and sicknesses: I’ve dealt with it all. Camp is wild, exhausting, fun, and frustrating all at the same time.
Have you ever been so hungry it made you angry? Your appetite was in overdrive and you felt like the Incredible Hulk just wanting to smash things. Your desire to eat something had escalated from a want to a need and food was all you could think about.
It happened again. I found myself eating until I was too full. I found myself eating when I wasn't hungry. I found myself eating because I was stressed. I found myself eating because it tasted good and I just wanted to experience a little bit of comfort.
The question I want to pose is why do you behave morally? There is no doubt that for some the reward of heaven is what motivates them to try and obey God. For others, it is the fear of hell. In fact, I think for many years I called myself a Christian and tried to obey God because I didn't want to go to hell.
Most people are familiar with "The Parable of the Prodigal Son." We don't often realize though that Jesus didn't name the parable. Really, we should call this the parable of the prodigal sons or the parable of the loving father. Either way, I think we all relate to either one son or the other.
One of my worst fears is becoming a Pharisee. I'm prone to pride. I know the Bible pretty well and at times it can be easy for me to feel like I have it all figured out. I can easily get way too hung up on my head knowledge and leave out the heart and devotion of following Jesus.
