Allowing The World To Point You To Christ

I woke up with a thought on my mind this morning. I don't know if it is an original thought or if I may have heard it from someone along the way and the dark recesses of my mind only recalled it this day (I will do a search after I am finished writing this post and will let you know at the end of the post if it is an original thought or give credit to the originator).

"Everyone in your life is either pointing you to Christ or trying to discourage your relationship with Christ"

I'm going to have to break that down, because this thought, while often true, doesn't have to be. As Christians we love fellowship with the brothers and sisters that God has put in our lives; our church family, our pastor, our "blood" family, friends on Facebook and even some co-workers. When we think of those that point us to Christ we think of those people and rightfully so, they know Christ as well, our spirits bear witness to one another and we are greatly encouraged with interactions. So, the first part of the quote is a given. But what about the second part?

Along my walk with Christ there has come others that are seemingly there to try and discourage my relationship with my Lord. They, too, could be close friends, professing Christians, family members, co-workers or even the cashier at the grocery store. Sometimes they may call you a "fanatic" or "Jesus Freak" or "Holy Roller", but all in an attempt to try and make you look odd or weird because you actually follow what scripture says; that you love God and love people. This can get you down because we, as humans, still crave acceptance and rejection is not what anyone wants or desires. They offer worldly "fixes" to your problems and do not point to God. What do we do then? Usually lay off a little bit, maybe turn down the volume knob from 11 when around those people. But, I say "Why?". Why would we want to snuff, maybe the only Light these people might ever see? Why allow them to think that a relationship with God should be based on their views or any other view not found in scripture but is rooted in the world view?

I suggest that when these people are placed in our life that it is not coincidental. Instead of allowing them to manipulate our actions, words or deeds when in their presence that we do the same things that we do when we are within the walls of a church building - Praise God. Do not let an attack drive you from Christ, but let it fuel an increased dependency to run TO Christ. Take it as yet another reason to seek His face, to lift this lost person up that they may sing the same praises to God as you.

Remember that we are not fighting against flesh and blood, but against things in the spiritual realm. Most people are under the influence of this world and their views are based on the morality (or lack of) that is set forth by people. Now, I'm not saying all people are possessed by demons, but I do believe a lot are. I believe those that are not have been lulled into the creed of "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law", or more easily understood as "Let me live my life the way I want, you live your life, whatever feels good for you is perfectly fine", which I translate as "There are no absolutes and everyone makes their own truth about everything". This  of course, is not valid if you actually follow the Bible and God as Scripture reveals how a follower of Christ actually is.

Society says that all views are valid, until you start speaking in absolutes. This is self refuting because that statement is an absolute statement. This kind of thinking is better known as "post-modernism", which has infiltrated the "church" (lowercase c). I like to say it has infiltrated the perceived church, or what the world sees as the "church". Now that the World sees professing Christians say that we must question everything in the Bible, that the Word of God is invalid in some areas, that "sin" is not really sin and then see other's say that we must still follow the Word of God and actually still do, they are seen as "radical fundamentalists" or fanatics. I'd just say that they are actually Christians that are still seeking to follow Jesus Christ.

Back to the subject at hand, sorry for the rabbit chasing. Christian! Don't let this world discourage you from a true relationship with God. Seek people that can be a mutual edification between you and them, plant yourself in a true Church Body that loves and seeks after God in all things. Ground yourself in the Word of God. Purge yourself of as much of this world as possible. Seek Jesus Christ. Let the World be a constant reminder of how much you need God, in every step you take, every breath you take, every word you say. Let those that could be discouragement instead be another reason to praise God and call upon Him. Use this world as encouragement, to seek God instead of something that will drag you down and cause spiritual decline.

Seek God in all things. Praise God in all things. Speak of God in all things. Live to God in all things. Allow God to use you to further His Kingdom. Do not conform to this World and allow it to mold you. Let go and let God.

(I just did a fast search and did not find anyone else that had said the original quote of this post. This thought has been building in me over the past few weeks as a current trial has been developing. I have seen God greatly encourage me through the Body, I have heard worldly advise and I have seen attacks from people that claim to have the same Spirit residing in them as I do. I have let the latter affect me, but no more. I know my God is faithful and my God is able. I know that God fights for me and I know that all things He allows in my life are for my good. He has placed His yoke upon me and is carrying my weight  He is directing my path and He is ordering my steps. I have His promises that He will do only good for this situation, that I am not being punished for anything because Christ bore ALL of my punishment on Calvary. I need only trust that He is working all things for my good and just follow His lead. He is in control and I rest in that.)

Allowing The Body To Be The Body

Do you put a blindfold over your eyes when driving down the road? Do you tie your hands behind your back when having dinner? Do you bind your feet when going swimming? I didn't think so. Then why can't we allow the Body of Christ to work as God designed it to?

So many times we (and by "we" I mean "me") want to handicap the Body. I make excuses and have false reasonings  but what it comes down to is sin. God has been gracious to us, His children, to place us into the universal Body of Christ, but it actually goes further than that. He has placed us within local bodies, that must be given the opportunity to function.

I am learning this through a trial that is in my life at this moment. I have no control over anything, which is scary for me. I am a "fixer", I like to know what's going on and I try to figure out all the tangents that my puny mind can think of. Know what? Most of the time I am wrong and things work out differently, so my worries have been for naught. Of course scripture has a lot to say about this and I "know" these things, but only on the occasions that things are out of my control do I learn the lesson all over again. Why can't I seem to remember this in my daily life? Why can't Matthew 6:20-34 sink in without a trial?

Why can't I share my burdens with the rest of the body so they can come along side me in prayer? Why do I feel the need to deprive the plan of God to allow His body to function in the way that He designed? The short answer is, of course, sin. The long answer includes pride, our stubbornness or maybe even just not wanting to burden someone else with what we see as "our issues". I think it is the latter for me as I hear others who are striving and asking for prayer I "feel" that it wouldn't be "fair" to encumber them any more than they already are. Know what I'm finding out? That the saying "Misery loves company" should actually be "Needs need company".
This is wonderfully summed up in Galatians 5:13-14:

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Then Paul goes on to tell us in Galatians 6:2:

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

It really doesn't get much plainer than that. We are to actually take the burdens of others as our own and "bear" them along side. No prerequisite that we are to not have any burdens when someone else does, nothing about not wanting to impose on anyone else, just the admonition to "bear one another's burdens". What does that look like? I can speak from experience that it looks just like it sounds. We all have our "problems" and we all come along side one another and pray, seek God, comfort, hold up, lend a shoulder, cry together, whatever it takes to "bear one another's".

God has been so good to His children. Even in what looks to be a challenging time He has shown His grace and mercies. He is teaching me some things through a current trial, actually re-teaching my stubborn self. I will be sharing in the near future the trials that are before me and my family and ask for you, others in the Body of Christ, to bear our burdens and to function as He designed. He works through His people and He loves to lavish Himself on us. What may seem daunting is nothing for the One who created the Universe. Even if we can't see the end, you can believe that is a sure sign that you should immediately turn it over to Him.

Still learning and still asking for prayer.


Matthew 6:34:

Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I'll Do Better...... Tomorrow

It seems I've fallen into a trap. A self placed trap of laziness, of procrastination. I have largely shucked my "duties" of keeping this blog active for any length of time, other than the "Year in my life through pictures" series that I started on my birthday in 2010 and completed on the day after my birthday in 2011. The "Year in my life" series started out as a great idea, to chronicle a year of my life from a personal level, one picture at a time. It is a great concept, on the idea level, but on the practical level it became very tedious to me and I felt it as a chore rather than something edifying. I would not change the fact that I did it, but in doing it I was kind of jaded at writing (attempting to write) a blog with any consistent pace. So, I stopped pretty much, except for the occasional post here or there to vent or if some world event was unfolding. I became something I really never have been, a procrastinator.

I've usually fared well with tasks at hand. Maybe that is why it became an issue, it was a task to write a post, so I just put it off until later. Sadly the "later" never really materialized and I became a blogger backslider and forsook the very site that I know God has used to His glory. It has to be His work, because I lack many things that are normally required of writers:
1.) Knowing how to actually write
2.) Knowing proper sentence structure
3.) Being entertaining
4.) Ability to spell words correctly
5.) Knowledge to share

See, the only thing I had going into this blog was the desire to see God glorified, to edify brothers and sisters in Christ, to challenge the lost and to vent on occasion to what I saw going on in my world around me. Through the blog I planned on chronicling the quest for a new church home that never really panned out because God saw fit to place my family in the perfect church family. Then over the years I got apathetic and clammed up for not any one reason or another. For that I am sorry, to anyone who has ever read a post here, to myself for stopping and mostly to God for developing a spirit of procrastination.

I am going to look at this "revelation" as another way for me to seek God. It seems like these seemingly "small" issues are what God uses in my life as catalysts to ready me for "bigger" things. I will seek Him for what to clunk out on the keyboard and when. I will seek to glorify Him in what I write. I will seek Him in all aspects of my life on a higher level. These "small" things need tending to in "big" ways. I simply want to tell of the love the Father has for me, for you and for the world. I want to see the false teachers silenced. I want to see sinners repent. I want to see God glorified above all, in all and through all I ever do.

So please partner with me in prayer as I seek the Lord on how to proceed. I know it will be with regular postings as that is a current burden, but other than that I will not speculate. Well, and a new look to the blog which is easier to read. I also ask that if I write anything that goes against the Word of God that you call me out on it, be Bereans and question me. I am nothing apart from Christ and I am probably the most fallible person in the blogosphere, so please help me if you see I need it. I will readily apologize if I am wrong and correct anything that is wrong. I have done this several times and have gained much from doing so.

I cherish your prayers. I cherish your opinions. I cherish your input. Please send them all my way. -Jeff

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Day 366, My Final Day, in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Well, it's over. A full year, plus one day that I have posted a picture or three on this blog. It started off as fun, then turned into a challenge, but I believe that it was a good exercise for me and hopefully gave some insight into a little piece of my life. Yeah, not very exciting most of the time, huh? Today's picture? The neighbors thought they would celebrate my birthday with a fireworks show. Actually, I'm sure they were shooting them off for Independence Day, but I can pretend.

What I really hope to have had accomplished was sharing the love of God, that He has bestowed on me and my household. A lot of times it came easy to transition from my picture of the day into a testimony of God's goodness and grace in my life. Admittedly, some days it was a struggle and I know whose struggle it was, mine, as God is always good - even when we feel otherwise.

Many changes have come to pass through this year. The most recent and most life altering was the addition of baby Elliott. Just last evening Matt and Emily got engaged and today I became one year older. I've gained many gray hairs and I have lost several pounds. I have made new friends and I have had the opportunity to pray with and for a lot of people through the "Prayer Request Station" through Oak Grove's prayer ministry. I have seen God work in my church family's lives. I have seen the devastation that a flood can cause on one hand and see the miracles through the same flood. Through it all God has been there. Through each post God was active in my life and around my life. Sometimes I didn't see Him, sometimes He was quite apparent, but He was there.

Looking forward to the next 365 days and to my next birthday I can't help but wonder what God has in store for me and those around me. I wonder what He will do through Real Truth Matters, Oak Grove, my brothers and sisters at church, my family, my job and just life in general. My prayer lately has been to be able to perceive God along my path, because sometimes we do not have the eyes to see. We must ask for those eyes to see Him, ask for the ears to hear Him and watch expectantly for His work to be manifest so that we may praise His Name. I pray that I can be used in ways that makes it evident it is God doing the work through me. Who knows, quiet and introverted Jeff may be pulled from His comfort zone through the next 12 months. I have a new willingness to be out of my comfort zone, which is definitely not me making that step on my own.

Whatever happens I want to be able to raise the Name of Christ high and mighty. I want to praise Him through the valleys and high on the mountain tops and everywhere in between. Will you join me in that prayer for myself and for your own self? May we all be able to strengthen and edify one another. I know it a struggle sometimes to get along with me and agree with me, but I hope all the readers (all 3 of you) know that I just want the truth of scripture to be magnified. Sometimes I get a little over zealous, but mean well, and actually take rebuke quite well when I am wrong.

Who knows, I may even carry on this series. Of course there will be some major changes. Maybe a "Year In My Life through Pictures:Weekly Edition" as I told a brother yesterday. But thank whoever has read this little slice of the blogosphere. I have never been a writer, which is self evident, but I have learned some things along the way. Hopefully one day I might even be able to write a blog post that is planned out, instead of my normal way of doing them.

Video Countdown

Day 360 in my "Year In My Life through Pictures" blog series

Tonight at church we had the first viewing of the last session of "The History of the Modern Gospel" from our body's ministry - Real Truth Matters. I highly suggest that you watch the whole series, from the introduction, then you will be ready to see this last installment. It will be posted/ released this coming week online.

Real Truth Matters has been working on these videos for a little while now. Over those months Lane Chaplin was gracious enough to post these on his blog and since have been viewed thousands of times each. That is just from his website and not counting the RTM Youtube and Vimeo pages. There is also now a separate webpage for the series, www.historyofthemoderngospel.com. The full series will be released on DVD and there is also going to be a study guide/ book that will go along with the series.

God has really used these videos. He has also proven what Hudson Taylor said, "God's work, done in God's time, will never lack God's supply. What a wonderful quote, one that comes to my mind often when I feel like I am treading water on my own, knowing that God will sustain and supply my efforts if they are in alignment with His will. Currently I am seeking His will about some short video ideas. Actually, I am seeking the components for the videos, trusting that He will lead me to the resources.

Following the video this evening Bro. Michael broke away from our study of Revelation to start discussing some things that have been on his heart about our body. I am looking forward to this series of messages as I have been in a spiritual rut of late. Mostly because I have had an increased awareness of how sinful I really am and how much I let that get in the way of my relationship with Christ. I somehow forget that He has already paid the full price for my sins. Not that I have a ticket to sin, because I don't, but that as a child of God I live under the blood of Christ. I actually hate my sins, I hate that part of my life and I would rather that part of my flesh be ripped from my being. I am slowly realizing that my sinfulness needs to be driving me to Christ instead of me placing barriers up that are not actually there. As a child of God I have bold access to His throne and should not do anything but that. Not in a bold and arrogant way, but in a bold way knowing that my Advocate has paid the price in advance.

Everything Is Better With Bacon

Day 353 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Mmmmmmm bacon. I purchased this behemoth bag from, you guessed it, Sam's Club today. It is a much better deal than I have been paying at Kroger, as I have been consuming my fair share of Bacon these days. It happens to be one of the enjoyable things that I can have on my diet. I know it doesn't seem right to be eating bacon on a diet, but a low/ no carb diet is one that allows for it.

I found the other picture on the internet a long time ago. It mixes two of my favorite things, bacon and Diet Coke. I'm not sure that I would actually like this, but I'd give it a shot. Sadly this is just a parody product. but there are many other bacon products out there. Wendy's has the Baconator burger, which has a pile of bacon on a cheeseburger. Then here recently a restaurant had a bacon promotion and even had a bacon milkshake. I've also heard of chocolate covered bacon, which actually sounds kind of good to me, mixing the saltiness of the bacon with the sweetness of the chocolate. But, then again, I have weird tastes anyway.

Nothing really monumental in my life today. I have recently started praying for folks I know through the day, at least more than I have been of late. I occasionally had someone cross my mind and I would say a quick prayer, but I am working on actually purposefully bringing people to mind and praying for specific things in their life. It is hard to do at work a lot of the time because my mind is preoccupied with thinking about work stuff, but I do get moments where I just go through motions and am then able to recall specific things that I need to be praying for. God delights in our prayers, not that He needs them, but He wants us to bring our requests to Him. I do often, but not nearly often enough. Hopefully He has been working on me and this is not something I am manufacturing, in praying for my brothers and sisters and my family. I also hope that they are praying for me, which may be the way God is working on me.

Washed

Day 334 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Laundry..... not my favorite thing to do, but it is one of those things that must be done. Today I must needs to do my laundry. I was out of shirts and I needed a decent one to wear to church tomorrow when I get off work to help with serving dinner to the flood victims in our area. So, I did a single load and still have about 3 more that need to be done. Yes, that is a lot of clothes. Yes, I do my own laundry.

Looking at the mounds of clothing that is mine I can't help but see how God has blessed me and my family. It's not that I have expensive clothing or anything, but that I have a lot of clothing and many people would be fortunate to have a couple of days worth of clothes. I can go weeks without needing to do laundry, which means I have A LOT of clothes from every category including socks, skivvies, shirts, pants and even work clothes. So, yes I am blessed... greatly.

I do not realize that near as much as I need o. I should be thanking God every time I open the refrigerator, lay down in a nice bed, feel the coolness from the air conditioner, sit down in my car, get a paycheck, think of my wife and kids and turn a light on. I have been blessed by God so much and I am so thankless most of the time. I have "stuff" sitting on other "stuff" that I haven't touched in years, just collecting dust. I had a felt need for something, got it, then forgot about it, which could probably be seen as excessive or wasteful.

Thank God He still shows us things through our life and along our path. He continually sanctifies me (us) as we grow closer to Him. He is Light, so it is His nature to expose the darkness in our lives and the closer we get to Him the more gets exposed, even down to the crevices in the deepest regions of our heart. Praise the Lord He still works on us and is so forgiving and so long-suffering. We each deserve a fiery hell, but His love is extended to us, through Christ every moment of every day. We must continue to preach the gospel to ourselves every minute of every day as we need it as much as the lost man does. Thank God He keeps saving me.

Flooded Ground Ready For Tilling

Day 325 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

This picture is becoming an all too familiar scene. Piles of belongings, now only good to fill land fill space sitting outside of homes and along roadways. The Flood of 2011 has devastated this area, that is for sure. The flood has destroyed homes, made many hardships for families, displaced many families and is constantly racking up the costs as repair efforts continue.

There are, however, many bright spots beneath the mud caked houses. Our church has become a haven for those in one of the hardest hit locations of McCracken County to pick up supplies, have dinner on us and just talk. That's all a lot of people want to do, talk things through as they try to pick up the pieces of their lives and carry on. I would say that the majority are lost and do not know God. I say this because most people that do profess Christ do not know God. Oak Grove Baptist Church is doing what it should, just being there to listen, giving a meek meal to the hungry and wore out folks and most importantly showing the love of Christ to those in need. Is it taking advantage of an opportunity? Sure, and shouldn't any opportunity be used in this way? To show Christ to those that may never see Him otherwise? This is not saying that we are hammering them with the Bible over their heads or getting them to sign membership cards, we are simply showing the love to them that Christ overflows from us.

Maybe it will take a flood or some other condition of this magnitude to see Christ. I say it is worth it then if people see God in the midst of this type of catastrophe. Of course most, if not all, of the folks will never come back to the church again after the meals stop. We are fine with that, as our goal is not church attendance. Our goal is to see Jesus magnified and to show love to a hurting people. That has been and is still being accomplished. Sowing seeds of love in hearts that may be stoney now, but with a little cultivating will readily accept, all in God's timing. Our mission field became a lot closer to home over the past few weeks.

Flooding The Community In Other Ways

Day 314 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Our church, Oak Grove Baptist, here in Paducah today announced that we will be hosting an informational meeting tomorrow evening for those impacted by the local flooding. There will be electrical inspectors and the electric company representatives there to tell the process of getting power restored to a home and to also answer any questions.

This will actually begin a community outreach for anyone that has been impacted by the flood this year. OGBC will be starting a dinner each night for a while to give residents a good hot meal while they work to restore and repair their homes. Without electricity they will not have a lot of options without either going hungry or bringing cold cuts. This will give an opportunity to show the love of Christ to those that have suffered loss through the flood. On their way out of the Oaks Road area, after working hard all day/ evening people will be invited to stop for a little something to eat and for some fellowship. Nothing will be asked for, it's a gift to the community and if you pay for it it is no longer a gift.

Of course the main goal is to glorify the Father, the One whom all blessings flow. We will not push anyone for anything, but we will be sharing Christ in Word and in deed. A lot of these people will be coming in dirty, after working in a muddied house all day, which is fine by everyone. Mud cleans up. As one brother put it tonight that really resounded to me "this gives us an opportunity to wash their feet". Wow! That said a lot. We may not literally wash their muddied feet, but we do have a great chance to serve them without desire of anything in return. We simply want to serve and to show Christ to a community in need.

There are great ideas for this outreach, but we are not inflexible and eagerly await what God is going to do. He has already supplied from some dear brothers and sisters an hour and a half away many cases of bottled water. This was without even sharing a need with them. The Lord laid it on their hearts to do this. I guess this is what Hudson Taylor meant by, "God's work, done it God's time, will never lack God's supply." How very true that is. God will see to it that anything He starts will accomplish what He designed it for, which is always, ultimately His glory.

What an awesome God we serve to take this natural disaster and turn it into a witnessing opportunity. A chance to spread seed and to cultivate hearts to show people just how blessed the children of God are. We love because He first loved us.

Duly Noted

Day 312 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

These are the notes I have been using for the past few weeks while working on a "sermon jam" for Real Truth Matters. Admittedly I have not advanced as fast as I would have liked, but I am gaining momentum as the process ends its completion. It is a very labor intensive process, but it is really fun to do and is also a challenge, since I had no idea what I was doing at first. Well, now is not much better either but I have learned a few things.

My notes are not really notes, but actually a transcript of the audio portion of the video, the "sermon" part of the "sermon jam". The audio I thought would be the most challenging part to do and actually fell in place with ease. The video portion, not so much. It would help if I didn't have a job and we didn't have the flooding recently as it has taken up quite a bit of my time. But, I do what I can, when I can, trying not to alienate my wife too much while I log the hours in my office.

I have set the goal to finish by Friday. I am really shooting for tomorrow and pray that God guides me in the idea department to finish up. It's amazing how a 4 minute video is so hard to fill with different, interesting and pertinent footage and "things". As I have said, it is a learning process that will advance me in knowledge that will be used in future projects. I have told my pastor that I have the ultimate goal of getting a video together within a couple of days of the message so it will be posted on the RTM website and Facebook. This will spark interest (hopefully) in that week's message and point people to the website to download or stream the entire message.

I ask that you join me in prayer that this goal is realized and that God is glorified through my efforts.

Resurrection Day 2011

Day 296 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Resurrection Day 2011, which some call Easter. I think that Resurrection Day is a more appropriate term anyway, after all it is the day that Christians celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord. Without His resurrection Christianity would be just another religion among the others, but Christ arose from the grave and sits at the right hand of the Father and He is coming again. He is coming back one day (looks like soon) for those that trust in Him, not only with lip service but truly trust in Him for everything.

So, it was also an exciting day at church too. Chandra and I were baptized, which has been in the makings for about 2 years. As a child I said the prayer, walked the aisle and was submersed in water, which was just me getting wet. I was not actually converted then and lived like the world until God really showed me who and what I was and who He is. That is when I saw that for 30 years I had relied on my profession of faith as a child, always pointed back to then and was indeed a false convert. I knew I wanted to be baptized, but I didn't want to in the same church I was in, which was also my childhood church. God had been dealing with me about that place anyway, with the man centered messages, the back slapping, buddy system and the sin that ran rampant because most were also false converts. I needed a strong biblical church home and I wasn't getting baptized until I found one.

It didn't take long and God put us at Oak Grove. We started the new members class and through it I remembered that I had never been biblically/ scripturally baptized. With that we agreed, along with the pastor, that Chandra and I would both be baptized with the next baptism service. Well, to make a long story short, Chandra had some health issues at the time set for the first baptism, she was in the hospital, so we weren't able to. Fast forward to the next time and again, she was in the hospital. Today happened to be the next baptismal service set and I told Chandra that there was no way she was going in the hospital this weekend. It worked out well and I got to share about 30 seconds of what I just shared here.

It was a great day indeed. God was good today to us, as always, even though I continually defy Him He keeps loving me. What an awesome God He is and I praise Him for loving me as sinful and dirty as I am. He has done a work in me and continues to do so daily. The closer I get to Him, the more He exposes, the more I see my need to trust Him more and more and turn loose of my flesh. Only by His grace am I where I am and only by His grace do I continue my walk.

Oh, the picture is of one of my favorite hymns that we happened to sing today - "Great Is They Faithfulness"

April Showers

Day 295 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

We had a great day today at Matt and Emily's co-ed baby shower. There was a great turnout and baby Elliott made away with a big haul. Not only was it a fun filled time, it was also a temptation filled time. There was Missy cake there, the best cake that one can possibly put in their mouth, and I had to refrain because of my diet. That's OK, because I'm going to bribe her to make me a "coming off of my diet" cake when I reach my goal. It will be my first hoorah, instead of a last hoorah. It may be my only hoorah, because I might go into a sugar comma.

It will be only 2 more months until I am officially a grandpa. One thing I'm not sure on is what for Elliott to call me when he gets old enough to talk. Of course we have to figure something out, because everyone will be calling me that for him to associate the name with me. If anyone has any cool grandpa names let me know. All I can think of that is non-traditional is "Pap" or maybe just "Jeff" will do. The names "grandfather", "grandaddy" and "papaw" don't really feel right to me for some reason.

On a more serious note, I would ask the readers of this post to pray for Matt, Emily and baby Elliott. Also please pray for both sides of the family as we are joined as one family, that we will always hold Elliott's interests in the forefront. I have seen many families have divisions wedged between them for whatever reason and I really don't want to do that, at all. Ever. Also pray that Elliott will be raised to know who God is and to know the price that He paid for him and that he will come to know Him early in life.

Time Is Not On My Side

Day 289 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

I've been putting in a few hours to get a sermon jam together of last weeks message from Brother Michael of Oak Grove Baptist and Real Truth Matters. Finding time to do so seems to be a little tricky these day. First of all, I'm not very proficient (efficient too) with the Adobe programs, so it is a learn as you go thing. Secondly I have a full time job that takes up most of my daylight hours. Third is family life at the homestead, as I can't take all of my "free" time and spend it tucked away at my desk. Fourth, I have other chores that I need to do around the house like mowing, taking stuff to the dump, doing taxes and all that other fun kind of stuff. So, I have to juggle it all around to be able to do it all and not step on the toes of the others, because all are important.

I suppose that as I work with these programs I will become faster and get the feel of how to chop up messages to compact it into a 3 minute or less version. That's a huge feat because an hour sermon chocked full of great truths is not very easily dissected to give a Cliff's Notes version of. I can't change the message and I can't rip things out of context and must give the viewer the just of the message, or enough that they feel the need to download and listen to the whole sermon.

My goal number one in these projects is the bring glory to the Lord. There are other, lesser, things that are also goals such as deadlines and gaining experience. I will admit that these will probably be really rudimentary and not full of very much fluff for the first few months as I properly learn the tools and techniques. So stay tuned and watch the progress, leave me messages and please give me feedback and HELP if you can give me pointers in After Effects, Premier and/ or Photoshop.

As Hudson Taylor said, "God's work, done in God's time, will never lack God's provision". That is my go to phrase right now as I make myself more readily usable by God. If He is in this then He will supply the knowledge, the time and hopefully the newer version of Adobe CS Suite 5.5. So, if any Adobe execs are reading or if you happen to have some extra cash lying around, send it my way for the newer and easier to work with versions of these programs. Just sayin'.

Gotta run. It's getting late and I have to get up for work in the morning. Thanks for reading and please leave a comment and let me know how you found my blog.

Out With The Old

Day 288 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Another "Free Dump Day" has come and gone here in Paducah. Getting ready for today started, for me, on Thursday evening. I had originally planned that taking a vacation day on Friday would be the best time to start loading stuff up. We ended up having a huge chance for rain for Friday, so I started loading Thursday evening and covered the truck load up with a tarp. Good thing I heeded the weather forecast, because it rained - and it rained a lot.

I ended up making 2 runs to the dump, which saved us about $50 in fees. It was a fairly painless process and I only had to wait with the first load, because everyone in front of me had big trailers full of trash and debris. No big deal, because 15 minutes gave me time to take the tarp off of the truck and quietly watch the goings on.

My picture today was taken while I was waiting for the go ahead to pull into my designated drop off location. These workers were the ones taking the appliances that people were disposing of. Honestly, I didn't see these people working very much while I set there for my 15 minute wait. Not saying that they didn't do anything, but for that 15 minutes they were highly overpaid. The other workers were very friendly and helpful and complimented my old truck. I even had one guy ask me if I wanted to sell it on my second trip, which I declined to do.

I completed the tasks I set out to do this morning. The rest of the day was spent with my beautiful wife and the evening with the whole family. All the boys were here, including Matt, who brought Emily over to visit. She is really showing a lot now at 30 weeks along. So, counting baby Elliott, we had 7 folks here for dinner and a little talking. It was a great day and I thanked God for His provisions throughout the day.

Looking forward to tomorrow now, awaiting what God has in store for services. He is doing something within our body and it is wonderful to see His hands in each family at Oak Grove.

How The Story Goes

Day 265 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Only 100 days more until this blog series is wrapped up. Hopefully after that I will begin to write "normal" posts again. For some reason I can't seem to find the time to write much anymore. I do get ideas and inspirations, but I soon forget them or get sidetracked and re-think writing and decide I should just keep my thoughts to myself. My goal is to start writing again, what is happening in my world and to write about the state of the church these days.

Today's picture is the Bible study that the family is embarking on. The way our schedules are it is difficult to find a consistent time to do anything regularly. That is going to change though. This study is very important to our family and I have been seriously deficient in leading this family. I get frustrated easily, but I need to put those selfish feeling aside and press on toward the goal of leading. After all, I will stand before God and give an account of this family, since He has entrusted them to my care. Not only physical care, but more importantly spiritual care. I have not done so properly and I am tired of making excuses. Even though the excuses are legitimate, they are not reason enough to neglect this much needed study time as a family.

There is a lot of "me" in me. I always look at things from my vantage point, instead of looking at the big picture. I tend to get frustrated, which is just looking at me in self pity. I should always be taking my eyes off of me and placing my gaze upon Christ. I need to see this world filtered through Christ. I fail miserably and it's because of all of the "me". It is a grace that God has shown this to me and a grace that I desire to not be so self motivated. I know through Him and doing the things I have already been commanded to do in scripture for my family that He will be honored and glorified.

Puttin' In The Hours

Day 254 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

I've been working, off and on, with a project for Real Truth Matter. It is a kinetic typography "sermon jam" type of thing. I say "type of" because I am pretty much learning as I go and I am learning quite a bit.

Adobe After Effects is my tool as I dive into tutorials, books and Google searches on how to accomplish the task at hand. I have a higher level of respect for those that pump these things out the way they do. It is very time consuming and an exact science to match everything up perfectly. It is coming together, but it is taking a lot of time. The time of the video is about 8:00 in length, so it is about 4 times as long as the average sermon jam and/ or kinetic typography video.

My hopes are to hone my skills and be a viable asset to the RTM stable. I know this single project will add some knowledge, but also realize it will be an ongoing learning situation. If anyone has any pointers, tips, presets, files, etc send the m my way. I can use all the help I can get with understanding this resource better.

Since first seeing the first examples of kinetic typography I knew that it was something I really wanted to do. I also know that 90% of being used by God is to just make yourself available, so I did. I am not worthy to do the work of the Kingdom, but I desire to make a difference any way that I can. God has been so merciful to me and allowed me to be around some really talented people over the past few years and the greatest part is that they all love the Lord.

My church family is much more than a "church family". Or at least any church family that I have seen my whole life. God has really brought this group of people together, warts and all, and actually makes a body as the Word describes. We all are gifted in different capacities and all are in others lives. It is truly a family in any sense of the word. Out of this body God has also developed a ministry called Real Truth Matters. This was born from Pastor Michael Durhams long standing ministry "Living Priorities" on the media end of things. RTM is purely a ministry devoted to the recovery of New Testament Christianity. It's not just a "tag line" to the ministry, it is the foundational reason it was created.

I highly suggest that you take full advantage of the years worth of resources on the website. All are available free of charge for download and a nominal donation to cover expenses for hard copies. There have also been two Real Truth Matters Conferences that really delve into the issues that Christianity faces these days. Also on that subject is the series titled "History Of The Modern Gospel", which is a very wonderfully made series shot in HD, released on the web and will also be available in hard copies for showings in churches. Our friend, Lane Chaplain, of Lane's Blog, has been very kind to RTM and has posted all of the releases to great "success" (for lack of better words). There are still two or three left in the series and I look forward to viewing each session, almost prodding JT and Joseph to hurry up already.

There are several other facets to RTM that if you look around the website you will see. Oak Grove/ Real Truth Matters host as bi-monthly Pastors Fellowship that is a wonderful resource for pastors in the area. Website design, artwork, photography and audio resources are also a large part of RTM.

Who knows where this ministry will go. Who knows how God will use this way beyond the confines of the walls of the church? Many thousands of people around the globe have viewed the videos and downloaded messages from Brother Michael already. We pray to just be doing what God wants us doing. Join us in prayer for direction by the Lord and for Him to supply the needs of the ministry as He has already. If God is in it , God will supply.

Daytrip To Lebanon

Day 253 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Had a great time today with my beautiful wife, Chandra. We haven't had much time just "us" lately, so we decided to take a little day trip down South. We headed to Lebanon Tennessee to do a little shopping at an outlet mall there.

First thing, outlet malls have changed since the last time I went to one. Biggest change? The prices. They seem to be the same as in any other retail store. Years ago there was a fairly successful outlet mall about 20 miles from Paducah. One of the great stores there was POLO. I remember buying Polo shirts for 1/3 of retail. Now, at the outlet store we visited today the biggest discount they had was 25% off, but still cost as much as the local Dillard's.

Needless to day, we didn't buy very much. But we did have a great time and had a really great conversation on the way down about the effects of the world within our family. Also, I admitted to her that I have failed miserably as a spiritual leader for our family and that I know I need to step up and lead as God intends me to. I will definitely need to lean on Him a lot more now and also the brothers at church. God has placed us in a very loving church body that desires to help each other out, no matter what the need is. I praise God for our church home.

Now, off to bed as it's "Spring Forward" night for Daylight Savings time (YUK).

Sendoff For A Brother

Day 247 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

This evening our church gathered together for a send off party for our brother Josh as he embarks on a military career. He will leave for basic training in about a week then following that will be a candidate for officer training. We are all family at Oak Grove and we all wanted to be there to "officially" wish him well. We prayed for him this morning corporately and I am sure we will all be praying for him throughout this career path. We all met up at Guadalajara Restaurant and filled the place up. The owner, Victor, and his family and employees did a wonderful job in serving us this evening. This restaurant is highly recommended in my book. If you go tell Victor that his "favorite customer" sent you.

He has a wonderful family, which is also our family, so we will all pull together as a body and help his wife and 2 children in whatever way needed. This is the way a family works and this is the first time I have been part of a church body that does this to this extent. Praise God for His mercies on our body of believers to allow this love, His love, to permeate through all of us. Without His love we would not know how to love brothers and sisters the way He has allowed us to.

Please join with Oak Grove as we keep Josh and his family in our prayers. If you are a child of God then he is also your brother and his family is your family too. You may never meet them this side of heaven, but one day in glory you can say, "Hey Josh, I was praying for you and your family when you went into the service of our country".

Day 241 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Well, I did it again. Second time in 3 days I have washed a load of laundry and forgot about it until it was time to go to bed. Needless to say, I did not dry it tonight and it will have to wait until tomorrow. I put it in a laundry basket to let it air dry a little, so I guess that In effect, I am saving energy because of my mess up.

I got too busy tonight working on a project and the time flew by. It was 9:45 before I blinked and I still had not thought about the laundry that I started around 6:30. Hopefully this project will come together soon. I am getting the hang of it a little better, but it is a learning process for me within Adobe After Effects.

I am attempting to make a video from a potion of a sermon to put on the web from my church, Oak Grove Baptist. The full sermons are online, but people do not seem to have the time to listen to a full sermon any more. The typical attention span is less than ....... What was I talking about again? Oh, yeah, attention span. A lot of people, now, want just short bits of information at a time. This is true, even though they stay on the internet and their computer for hours at a time, but only want bits of information from places instead of much information. This is perfect for "sermon jams" and other types of media being used to convey messages.

Some of these shorts clips pack a big punch within just a minute or two. That is my hopes for this sermon clip. It is in the 6 minute range, so it is outside the average length of a video these days, but I do believe the subject matter and the cadence of the message will hold attention.

I still like to listen to the full sermons on the web as much as I can. The short clips just give me a taste of what the message is about. I also want to know if a the particular clip has been lifted out of context or not. I'm sure that there is enough audio files of preachers and speakers out there that you could chop up a few and make the topic and message be whatever you would want it to be. Context is very important in scripture and in preaching from the Word.

Well, I'll post the video when I compete it, but I'm not promising any certain day. It is a time consuming process, but is well worth it to gain experience and to know that I am working for the Lord in doing this. I am depending on Him to guide me to the information I need to use to achieve what He wants the project to be.

See You At The Mall, Y'all

Day 224 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Had a wonderful time with JT and Joseph at the mall tonight. No, we didn't go to hang out or go shopping. We were there with the Oak Grove Prayer Request Station. This is the first time we have set up inside the mall and to be honest it has to be a God thing. Normally the mall is not the nicest to church groups. But, since this is a community service and we do not solicit anything they allowed us to set up. We have a few other dates on the schedule over the next few months as well. This is a great place for us to set up during the winter months.

We also have set up at the yearly BBQ On The River event that is held here in Paducah. Each time we were able to pray with those in need and be the ears they needed, the shoulders they can lean on and also have the privileged in praying for their need right there with them. We also have a prayer group at church that takes the requests and prays over them on a regular basis.

This community outreach is a very non-confrontational way to share the gospel with people. They actually approach you instead of passing a tract or knocking on a door (and I am not knocking either one of those things). It is just a different setting for evangelism. Our main goal is that God will be glorified in this, followed by helping out folks in need and sharing the gospel with as many people as we can. We want to see prayers answered and we want to make disciples.

If you see us out and about in the Paducah area please stop by and say "Hey". We would be honored to pray for you about anything, no matter how large or small the request may seem to you, we will be blessed to pray with you for it. God answers prayers.