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
I wanted to take a little time to share about a series that still seems to be releasing titles, but I think can have a big impact on you and your church. The 9Marks Church Questions Series is made up of little books answering big questions. These books can be read in under an hour and are packed with great truth to answer hard questions that you or your church members may have.
A lot of us don’t share our faith if we’re honest. We sit on the sidelines thinking we need to learn just a little more. Maybe we think it’s the pastor’s job. Maybe we just think that others will do it. However, we see in Colossians 1:27 that God wants to make Christ known among not only the Jews, but also the Gentiles. Is God’s plan for only a select few to make this happen? That doesn’t seem likely.
What gives me pause is how Long Hollow is stewarding this massive move of the Spirit. They have totally bought into the online campus model. They consider their live stream a literal online campus. They have prayer groups meeting online, they are pushing online children’s and student (youth) ministries, and they even have an online campus pastor. For all intents and purposes they consider online just as much a campus as the main campus people are physically at when you’re watching online.
I’m sure we’ve all been in a place where we’d like to know the exact will of God for our lives. I’ve found myself there plenty of times. It’s typically a situation where I have a couple of options and I want to know the right one and I just want him to tell me. Sound familiar? At the same time, I worry that if I choose the wrong one then I could totally screw up my life—and now my wife and daughters’ lives as well. Yet, it seems as though God stays silent…
I’d like to posit the question, "Do we look attractive today?" My short answer to that question is, "No." Anyone with eyes can see the United States is a very divided nation right now. A quick glance at Christian Facebook or Twitter reveals the same thing about Christians. We honestly don’t look very different from the world…
I've always wished that God would be super clear in where he is leading and directing me. After college, I was faced with the next step to take in my life. I had to do a short-term, two year mission trip and had also applied to go to seminary. I got approved for both in the same day. The next couple of weeks were excruciatingly painful. I had no idea which of the two I should choose! Couldn't God be more clear about it? Couldn't he just give me the wisdom to make the right choice?
I’m still tired. I was in the hospital taking care of two different children for a total of six days in the span of a week. At least… I think that’s right. It all kind of became a blur. During that time, my wife and I lost a lot of sleep. When we did sleep, it was in a lot of uncomfortable places. But God, in his infinite wisdom, sovereignly ordained that that’s where we would be. Why did he do it? I don’t totally know.
Have you ever realized that something was much better than you thought it was? Maybe it was something like a food. I remember when I had my first fresh mango from a tree in Puerto Rico. My mind was blown. It was like I had never truly tasted a mango before and all other grocery store mangos would now pale in comparison.
I was blessed to grow up in a Christian home. I heard about God and Jesus from the time I was born. I was made to go to church every time the doors were open. As I learned English, I also learned what we might call Christian language. Stories of God and Christian terms were never foreign to me . I had a lot of familiarity when it came to the things of God. I say all that to say that the concept of God becoming a man probably didn’t shock me like it would someone who was saved at an older age. I was blessed to grow up knowing about God.
In our current culture, many statues are being removed that are especially related to racism. People are moving quickly from one thing to the next in this "cancel culture". It did not take long for people to move toward religious statues—even statues of Christ. Some are outraged by this, but many are rightly asking, "Should those statues have ever been put up in the first place?"
When I was younger, I often felt like none of my friends took initiative. I felt as though I kept the friendship going and if we were going to get together or hang out, it would be through my doing. I wanted to go and stay at other people’s houses. I wanted to be invited to go places with them and do things they were doing. However, it seemed that most of the time, I was doing the inviting.
