"My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it." -Brennan Manning

Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Gotta Love the Frolf
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Under Construction
Well, Here it goes!
Excitement is not the only thing that has been building recently. God has decided to bless us with the opportunity to build a new home in our new home town. It has been 8 months so far that we have been staying in a temporary home (in-laws...God Bless them!) and it will be another 3-4 months before we are moved in but we are eager in anticipation of getting our material possessions out of storage and into use again. I think God has been grooming us to rely on Him. OK, Already! We rely, we rely! So, for those who want a peek at progress, enjoy the pictures. Hopefully I'll add to them as we go... 




Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The Know-ability of God
Have you ever lay on the grass outside and starred up into the clear sky? Have you looked at all the stars…maybe you saw a shooting star or two. I have. Everything in that moment seems to melt away. I would begin to ask myself questions like: How far away are those stars? How old are they? I bet Jesus looked at the same stars like I am doing right now. Is God is bigger than I ever thought of Him to be? It is in those very moments that I begin to recognize that I am not the center of the universe like I am so apt to thinking. The same can be said about standing on the very top of a mountain or staring into the crevasse of the Grand Canyon. These are humbling experiences. In that very moment we realize that we, after all, are very small indeed.
We have grown up in the United States to think “If I study hard enough, or work hard enough, nothing is impossible.” And “If I choose to make a single subject my life’s study, I can know all there is to know about any given subject” In many situations, this is very true. Unfortunately, I think we can sometimes group God into this same category. To think, “Our pastors have figured it out because they seem to know everything about God” or “If I wanted to, I could get all kinds of Biblical degrees and become an expert on knowing God.” This is so very far from the truth.
Where Paul did say to us in Romans 1 “what may be known of God is plain to us” he did not say that all of God is made plain to us. There are 2 very important truths to understand when we consider what it means to know God.
1) God is infinite
2) We are finite or limited
God is said to be Incomprehensible. Not that we don’t have the ability to know God, but that we are unable to understand God fully or completely.
Psalm 145:3 says “Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom.”
Psalm 147:5 “Great is our Lord and abundant in power; His understanding is beyond measure.”
I believe that even David, a man after God’s own heart could have been starring into the night sky when he authored Psalm 139:6 “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” and then later in verse 17 he continues: “How precious are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them they would outnumber the grains of sand.”
If we would begin to ponder God, really press into Him, we would all be forced to draw the same conclusion; that there is no way we can understand God completely or fully. But even more than that I think we can draw even another conclusion from these very same passages: We can never understand any one single attribute of God either. His understanding, His greatness, His knowledge are all too vast to comprehend. We may be able to know something about God’s love, His power, or His purposes, but to know these things fully would mean that we would have minds on equal standing with God himself.
For those of us that find our satisfaction from intellectual pride, this might seem limiting or even a little hopeless of ever achieving that mark of completion or accomplishment. We won’t ever be able to check the knowledge of God off our list of study, but there is one very amazing thing about this very relationship between God and man.
There will never be a moment in time that we know “too much” about God. We will never grow tired in delighting in the expanse of His attributes. Whenever we get “bowled over” in amazement of God’s love, for example, we can rest assured that our revelation is only the tip of the iceberg in comparison of God’s overwhelming love. And this can be applied to every one of God’s attributes.
This means that for all eternity we will never be able to stop increasing our knowledge of Him and delighting in His character.
The apostle Paul in Colossians 1:9 asks God to “…fill us with the knowledge of His will, through all spiritual wisdom and understanding…growing in the knowledge of God.”
So, can God be known? Yes. Can we ever know God completely? No. Is this great news for us? Absolutely.
We have grown up in the United States to think “If I study hard enough, or work hard enough, nothing is impossible.” And “If I choose to make a single subject my life’s study, I can know all there is to know about any given subject” In many situations, this is very true. Unfortunately, I think we can sometimes group God into this same category. To think, “Our pastors have figured it out because they seem to know everything about God” or “If I wanted to, I could get all kinds of Biblical degrees and become an expert on knowing God.” This is so very far from the truth.
Where Paul did say to us in Romans 1 “what may be known of God is plain to us” he did not say that all of God is made plain to us. There are 2 very important truths to understand when we consider what it means to know God.
1) God is infinite
2) We are finite or limited
God is said to be Incomprehensible. Not that we don’t have the ability to know God, but that we are unable to understand God fully or completely.
Psalm 145:3 says “Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom.”
Psalm 147:5 “Great is our Lord and abundant in power; His understanding is beyond measure.”
I believe that even David, a man after God’s own heart could have been starring into the night sky when he authored Psalm 139:6 “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” and then later in verse 17 he continues: “How precious are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them they would outnumber the grains of sand.”
If we would begin to ponder God, really press into Him, we would all be forced to draw the same conclusion; that there is no way we can understand God completely or fully. But even more than that I think we can draw even another conclusion from these very same passages: We can never understand any one single attribute of God either. His understanding, His greatness, His knowledge are all too vast to comprehend. We may be able to know something about God’s love, His power, or His purposes, but to know these things fully would mean that we would have minds on equal standing with God himself.
For those of us that find our satisfaction from intellectual pride, this might seem limiting or even a little hopeless of ever achieving that mark of completion or accomplishment. We won’t ever be able to check the knowledge of God off our list of study, but there is one very amazing thing about this very relationship between God and man.
There will never be a moment in time that we know “too much” about God. We will never grow tired in delighting in the expanse of His attributes. Whenever we get “bowled over” in amazement of God’s love, for example, we can rest assured that our revelation is only the tip of the iceberg in comparison of God’s overwhelming love. And this can be applied to every one of God’s attributes.
This means that for all eternity we will never be able to stop increasing our knowledge of Him and delighting in His character.
The apostle Paul in Colossians 1:9 asks God to “…fill us with the knowledge of His will, through all spiritual wisdom and understanding…growing in the knowledge of God.”
So, can God be known? Yes. Can we ever know God completely? No. Is this great news for us? Absolutely.
Friday, December 18, 2009
The FULL Armor
Have you ever thought that you were made for something greater than this? Maybe we have suppressed the heart of a hero for so long under our guise of responsibilities, job titles, PTA meetings, and our TV vegetation times that we have forgotton who we really are... warriors.
Christians, peel back the clouds of the seen and discover that a war wages on for our life. Is the enemy winning? Has the enemy neutered your effectiveness as a Christian. Brother, sister take up your armor again! Heed the call in Ephesians 6.
Use the belt of truth to stand firm when you can no longer stand on your own. Cover your heart with the breastplate of Righteousness that associates you as the King's own. Make sure your feet are fitted with readiness, eager to go, eager to respond. The gospel of Peace ensures our readiness because we will know the directions from the father if we are quiet and aware.
Do not be caught off-guard by the flaming arrows of the enemy, but use your shield of faith to thwart the attack. Place on your head the helmet of salvation, the mark of those redeemed from death to battle alongside God's elect.
And finally, DONT BE PASSIVE! Our job is not to just fend off the evil one. FIGHT BACK. The Lord has given us the Spirit as his sword to be used to take ground. "Pray in the Spirit on all occasions and with all kinds of prayers and requests" v.18
Put on the FULL armor. Not just the convienient peices or you will be vulnerable to attack. Your heart was created with the very fabric of a warrior. Do not rest until the glorification of our Father in heaven. Perservere till death, but take heart, Jesus has overcome the world.
Christians, peel back the clouds of the seen and discover that a war wages on for our life. Is the enemy winning? Has the enemy neutered your effectiveness as a Christian. Brother, sister take up your armor again! Heed the call in Ephesians 6.
Use the belt of truth to stand firm when you can no longer stand on your own. Cover your heart with the breastplate of Righteousness that associates you as the King's own. Make sure your feet are fitted with readiness, eager to go, eager to respond. The gospel of Peace ensures our readiness because we will know the directions from the father if we are quiet and aware.
Do not be caught off-guard by the flaming arrows of the enemy, but use your shield of faith to thwart the attack. Place on your head the helmet of salvation, the mark of those redeemed from death to battle alongside God's elect.
And finally, DONT BE PASSIVE! Our job is not to just fend off the evil one. FIGHT BACK. The Lord has given us the Spirit as his sword to be used to take ground. "Pray in the Spirit on all occasions and with all kinds of prayers and requests" v.18
Put on the FULL armor. Not just the convienient peices or you will be vulnerable to attack. Your heart was created with the very fabric of a warrior. Do not rest until the glorification of our Father in heaven. Perservere till death, but take heart, Jesus has overcome the world.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Stillness
"When we experiance ourselves as someone deeply loved by God, it comes as such a surprise because the love of God is s radically different from our natural way of loving. In the Church, we tend to produce amatuer theologians rather than witnesses of Jesus who have really experianced Him...If we become still, we will begin to experiance. The wisdom of God is to become still. We need to still the noise and the clamor and the chatter of our lives and just wait. He will make us aware of His presence." ~Brennan Manning (The Ragamuffin Gospel)
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The Battle Against the Unseen
Today, I have hit every feeling one can posess. Can guys have mood swings too? Maybe so. I am usually upbeat and full of excitement on Sundays but today was different. I woke up tired and unmotivated. Church this morning was great and encouraging, but then out of nowhere I get what my wife calls "the grumps." I turn into a person nobody seems to like, including myself. I become snippy and sarcastic. I think we prayed at least 4 times today to release the attack of "the grumps". I was woefully behind with my preparations for discipleship night with our students and I felt hurried and inturrupted. A Shift in moods occured again when we went to my neice's 4 yr birthday party. We dressed as characters from the wizard of OZ. What great times with those girls!

Tonight we discussed solitude during discipleship night. We lit candles, turned on worship music, and just got alone with God. God showed up tonight in front of our unusually light crowd. The Lord ministered to my heart. I was getting ready to teach these students about solitude when I haven't had any all day. The Lord spoke through me tonight because in my exhaustion, I just had to release it to Him. I am proud of our students and I am amazed by our God!
But the night was not over. The enemy must know that we are taking territory from him because he has been speaking lies and attacking us from every angle. We are truly fighting a battle with the forces of the unseen. I thank the Lord for my amazing wife. She can speak truth to me, help me claim God's promises, and praise the Lord with me like no other. I am resting in God's grace tonight. Pray for our Students and the ministry at Legacy. May God be glorified above all!
Friday, October 23, 2009
La Hacienda Review

Ok, so the other day I decided to embark on a new literary journey. I am going to be starting a new hobby as an amatuer food critic. I have no idea where this is going to go other than the fact that I thought that it might be somewhat fun. I will be judging the "restaurant of the month" on 8 characteristics: Atmosphere, Taste, Presentation, Portion Size, Service, Return Factor, Price, and of course Bathrooms.
The first stop on my travels across Fayette County was at the La Hacienda restaurant in Fayetteville. A nice ourdoor patio invites you to take in the crisp fall air as the tiki torches becon entrance onto the mexican oasis. As I walk in the front doors, I notice a large poster advertising a Halloween costume contest. I realize that the restaurant is concerned more about fun than fine dining.
We were ushered to a booth and after a moments time, my wife returns and gives me the "thumbs up" sign. In her words, "the bathrooms are super cute" She rated them an 8 on style but docked them 2 points because the toilet was difficult to flush.
The menu was a pleasant surprise in this mexican restaurant. Maybe it is my lack of culinary expertise but I rarely know the difference between combos 1-30. (I think you know what I mean) The menu had pictures to describe various entrees, but it was bound by very thick leather binding. The menu was litterally very large and heavy.
The chips and Salsa suited my taste with warm thicker chips and fresh tasting salsa, but did not give me the "wow" factor. The meal was very tasty. Flavor was very good. I found myself wanting more.
Service was adequate as the waiter was eager to comply with any of our requests, food was served quickly, but was not very observant as our drinks and chips eventually became empty and unrefilled.
Overall, good company and great tasting food made this visit a success. Our grades are:
Atmosphere: 7 -very colorful and music was not too loud.
Taste: 9 -was very surpised at the great taste
Presentation: 6 -Average, but no complaints
Portion Size: 8 -not too large but not too small
Service: 7 -speedy but unaware
Price: 8 - price was comperable to typical mexican fare
Bathrooms: 8 - "Super Cute" according to Brie
Return Factor: 6 - Lacking the "wow" factor that brings a casual customer back, we would frequent the restaurant on a casual basis.
Check back for more reviews of local restaurants. Yum!
The first stop on my travels across Fayette County was at the La Hacienda restaurant in Fayetteville. A nice ourdoor patio invites you to take in the crisp fall air as the tiki torches becon entrance onto the mexican oasis. As I walk in the front doors, I notice a large poster advertising a Halloween costume contest. I realize that the restaurant is concerned more about fun than fine dining.
We were ushered to a booth and after a moments time, my wife returns and gives me the "thumbs up" sign. In her words, "the bathrooms are super cute" She rated them an 8 on style but docked them 2 points because the toilet was difficult to flush.
The menu was a pleasant surprise in this mexican restaurant. Maybe it is my lack of culinary expertise but I rarely know the difference between combos 1-30. (I think you know what I mean) The menu had pictures to describe various entrees, but it was bound by very thick leather binding. The menu was litterally very large and heavy.
The chips and Salsa suited my taste with warm thicker chips and fresh tasting salsa, but did not give me the "wow" factor. The meal was very tasty. Flavor was very good. I found myself wanting more.
Service was adequate as the waiter was eager to comply with any of our requests, food was served quickly, but was not very observant as our drinks and chips eventually became empty and unrefilled.
Overall, good company and great tasting food made this visit a success. Our grades are:
Atmosphere: 7 -very colorful and music was not too loud.
Taste: 9 -was very surpised at the great taste
Presentation: 6 -Average, but no complaints
Portion Size: 8 -not too large but not too small
Service: 7 -speedy but unaware
Price: 8 - price was comperable to typical mexican fare
Bathrooms: 8 - "Super Cute" according to Brie
Return Factor: 6 - Lacking the "wow" factor that brings a casual customer back, we would frequent the restaurant on a casual basis.
Check back for more reviews of local restaurants. Yum!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Skate on!

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