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.
Risking everything means suffering will happen. But there's hope and there is purpose. Let's look at three purposes for our suffering that will hopefully encourage us and fuel us to risk everything for the sake of Jesus.
My daughter is almost two and we are already beginning to start asking her some of these basic questions. As a simple example, we are asking her, "Who Made You?" and the answer is simply "God".
Not many of us like to think about suffering. When we do suffer we try to end that process as quickly as we possibly can. It makes sense, right? It's uncomfortable and downright painful at times to experience suffering. No one wants to suffer. Everyone wants to be comfortable. However, when we examine what is said in the Bible, we can't get around the fact that it makes plain that Christians will suffer.
One of the worst aspects of this sickness is trying to give her medicine. As parents, we know the medicine helps her rest better and helps her little body not feel as bad. As a toddler, she knows the medicine tastes terrible and she's being forced to do something she doesn't want to do. She's sick, tired, and why would she want one more unenjoyable thing forced on her? Taking medicine is a really simple act that leads to a great outcome, but she fights it tooth and nail.
People can have a tendency to see the Bible as a disjointed collection of books and stories. Even more so, people tend to separate the Old and New Testaments going so far as to say there is almost a different God between the two or that God really changed once Jesus showed up. That's why I think Nancy Guthrie's new book, Even Better Than Eden is a valuable resource that most Christians need to take the time to read.
Kids who grow up in Christian homes are blessed because they have parents who love Jesus and can show them what it means to love and follow Jesus. In fact, the Bible says that parents are supposed to be the primary teachers and disciplers of their children. If we're honest though, sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start. Below are four easy ways to start intentionally teaching your kids about following Christ.
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 had the privilege of preaching 1 Peter chapter 4 to my home church. In this chapter, Peter makes it clear that we are to glorify God in every aspect of our lives and he especially deals with the topic of suffering for following Christ. If you'd like to give it a listen, I've shared it below.
It happened again, I found out another tragic revelation about one of my favorite bands/musicians/songwriters… Unfortunately, this has been a trend all too often happening among Christian artists. I was really into the Christian music scene when I was younger. Simply put, many of the artists I looked up to aren't Christian anymore.
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.
