So yesterday we had a little ice storm in North Texas that ground the wheels of the school system to a halt in McKinney. I already had the day off work and I was looking forward to some quiet time with , my bible and some coffee or tea while the kids where at school; but the LORD felt fit to bring the ice so that was not going to happen. We played, they fought, they watched some movies and would periodically go outside to play in the cold and attempt to make some snow balls from the feeble dusting of snow. It was overall an enjoyable day, but on thing happened that made the day profound for me.

After all day of playing and what not, I just wanted to sit on the couch and watch the rest of a movie I had tivo'd. Madison was in her room playing, and Alexandra had gone outside and was playing, while I was on the couch. After a few minutes, I looked to my right out the window, and what I saw made my heart feel so much love. There was my little girl Alexandra, playing on the deck and she looked like an angel. She looked like a baby and so innocent just trying to gather up the snow. I looked back at the television, and I heard a voice say to me, "turn off the TV and go outside and be with your daughter."

The only way I feel I can explain it is that it was not some unknown voice, it was my own voice and it felt like it originated from my own mind, but there was a tenderness and love in that voice that I know I do not contain. It was a gentle calling, but a calling nonetheless and I knew I had a choice to respond or ignore. So I turned the TV off, stood up, put my shoes on and walked outside. Alexandra's face lit up and she was so happy daddy was there with her. She scraped up some feeble snow, and threw it at me, then scraped up some for me and instructed me to throw it at her. She stood on the step and we just held each other, I dipped her and then gave her a little kiss, and then did it again. It was beauty, I felt like for the first time I was wrapped up in beauty. I was so thankful for the day, so thankful for the ice, so thankful for my children, and so thankful for my Jesus.

Talking on Tuesday night with some friends about obedience, and we were talking about is obedience essential to being a Christian, can you get in with just belief and not actually becoming a disciple of Jesus. Friends, I don't know if you can or not, I won't give any assurances whether you can, but one thing I do know, failing to obey will cause you to miss out on the beauty of the life Jesus offers. I am a struggling disciple, I struggle to obey in even the small things, but yesterday Jesus showed me the beauty of obedience. I experienced tenderness and love for my child that I don't know if I have ever had before. My heart was tenderized with the power of His love for me, by just enjoying what great blessings He has given me. Jesus says that He came to bring us life and life that is beyond our wildest imaginations, an abundant life. We can't get there without following. Yesterday, when I wanted to do what I wanted to do, Jesus by the Spirit called me to see the life that He has made available to me, the life I can receive by responding to His call. Eternal life that comes with discovering the beauty of obedience.

In the spirit of Christmas I wanted to post this very unsung part of the Charles Wesley classic "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"

"Adam's likeness, Lord, efface;
Stamp thy image in its place;
Second Adam from above;
Reinstate us in they love.
Let us thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the life, the inner man;
O, to all thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart."

"It is only because we follow Jesus that we can be genuinely truthful, for then he reveals to us our sin upon the cross. The cross is God's truth about us, and therefore it is the only power which can make us truthful. When we know the cross we are no longer afraid of the truth."

Proverbs 12:27-28 "A lazy man does not roast his prey, but the precious possession of a man is diligence. In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death."

Everyday, make a decision for God...and be pure, be loving, be just, be merciful, be holy....

I was asked my thoughts on this passage, and I thought I would post my response for all to read and comment; if you are inclined to.

2 Corinthians 10:1-6

"Now I, Paul, on my own beg you with the humility and gentleness of Christ - yes, I who am humble with you in person yet bold when away! I ask that when I am with you that I will not need to be bold with the confidence which I believe is necessary to take courage against some that act as though we're still living as part of this carnal world. For even though we live in this carnal and material world, we don't wage wars and conflicts according to material conditions. The 'weapons' of our campaigns are not material, but are still divinely powerful for the destruction of these fortified ideologies [ochuroma]. We are pulling apart baseless speculations and every thought-process that demands to be in front of the knowledge of God, and we are trying to take captive any kind of thought and making it obedient to Christ. We are also willing to punish any disobedience to this - just as soon as your obedience to Christ has become complete."

My response:

My thoughts on this..... I am not the thinker I should be, but I will give you my opinion. Paul was running into quite a bit of resistance when he was bringing this message of the kingdom of God to the Jewish and Pagan world. These ideas ran contrary to the current assumptions and deeply entrenched traditions and ideologies, which got him into a lot of trouble; but on to the meat of it. The ideas and direction of the kingdom of God are in absolute opposition to the system of the world that the "prince of the power of the air" has established. I think what is very interesting is that Jesus told the Pharisees "you search the scriptures and in them you think you have life, but you will not come to Me that you might have life." For me, I see that the Pharisees searched the scriptures and from them drew inferences and traditions that suited their agenda's and established a power base; hence the reason that Jesus said they rule from the seat of Moses and tie heavy binds to the shoulders of men. Jesus then tells the disciples that it is not that way among us, that we are to be known we are to be those who "power under" and do not "lord over" those around us. To live that way to is to live as "carnal" and to live as the "power under" is to live in but not of this carnal world.

As for the "pulling apart" that is what the teaching and seed planting of the kingdom of God is doing, it is pulling apart those baseless speculations (ideologies), and transporting our minds to a different plane of reality, true reality where Jesus is the Lord of all. Now if Jesus is Lord of all, and His kingdom is not of this world (as stated to Pilate) then our weapons are not made of steel and iron, but our weapons are our fruits. Now as to the punishing of disobedience. I see the punishment not as a negative thing, but as grace. What a great shame it would be for us if we were surrounded by fellow lovers of Jesus who never held us accountable for our actions. "Those whom he loves he scourges," as recovering sinners we are prone to wander, and we need a shepherd with a staff who will bring us back into the fold. Paul said of the brother in Corinth who was committing sexual sin "turn him over to Satan that his flesh might be destroyed, so that his soul maybe saved in the last days." May we never get that far, but if we do, may we be bold enough to take a stand against disobedience so that we may as Jude says "snatch each other out of the fire."

Hello Friends and neighbors, I hope all is well. I have started a new adventure in my life and I am going to keep an online journal about it, so here it goes.


Sometimes I wonder what is the best thing to have faith, hope or love? Now I know that all three are very important and without love all other things are worth nothing, but in my life I often find myself holding onto nothing but hope to get me through. Hope that God will strengthen my faith, and hope that God will pour His love into my heart through the Holy Spirit. So today I started my quest in loving on some precious elderly people. I volunteered at Life Care Center of Plano with a heart to just be with those that are most forgotten in our society. Those that are literally in this place just waiting to die. I just want to do what Jesus says to do, and to be salt and light. So I went, moved by the Spirit to go, and it was amazing. They are so sweet and loving, and genuinely touched that someone would care. I found myself feeling flooded with grace and love that I know God was the author of.

I walked around when I first got there, and went from room to room just introducing myself and asking if anyone needed prayer. I was especially touched by 2 of the women, one was Helen and the other Gladys. I walked in quietly to introduce myself to Helen, and there she was laying helpless in her bed with oxygen tubes in her nose. Her prayer requests were that she would have a better attitude while there, and that even though she didn't like the food to much, little children were starving and would love to eat what she had. It was an honor to hold her little feeble hand, and pray for her. I felt so unworthy to hold the hand of this woman, and to speak a blessing over her. When I opened my eyes she was crying, and I saw grace. "While I was yet helpless, Christ died for me."

Then I met Gladys, and again introduced myself and asked if she needed prayer. She said yes please, so I got down and held her hand and spoke a prayer of blessing over her. When we were done she said, it gives me comfort to know where I am going when this is done. I saw hope. Hope on the face of a woman that you could tell wasn't long from the grave. Hope that God was with her, and that God was holding her as His beloved.

I could tell many more stories of just my first day, but I just wanted to share some. I have so many ideas of what I would like to do in this little community of love, but please pray for me that I will listen to God, and that I will do what He bids me to do.

I will update often.

I wanted to share a paragraphs with all of ya'll that I read in Phillip Yancey's flip book version of "What's So Amazing About Grace?"

"Not long ago I received in the mail a postcard from a friend that had on it only six words "I am the one Jesus loves." I smiled when I saw the return address, for my friend excels at these pious slogans. When I called him, though, he told me the slogan came from the author and speaker Brennan Manning. At a seminar, Manning referred to Jesus closest friend on earth, the disciple named John, identified in the Gospels as "the one Jesus loved." Manning said "If John were to be asked "What is your primary identity in life? He wouldn't reply "I am a disciple, an apostle, an evangelist, an author of one of the four Gospels," but rather he would say, "I am the one Jesus loves."

Last night at our Tuesday night accountability meeting this thought was brought up, and a question arose from that discussion.

"What would my life be like if I embraced this as my identity?"

In the early 20^th Century there was a massive push by western white Christians to “bring Jesus” to the pagans of Africa. The major push was into Central Africa, and especially the country of Rwanda. The message that was brought to this area and presented as the gospel was “you are a sinner and to get to heaven when you die, you need Jesus. So invite Jesus into your heart, and when you die you will go to heaven.” Rwanda was the country that really took this message in, and received it. By 1994 a poll showed that 80% of Rwandans were in a Christian church, professing Jesus as their savior. In 1994 there was a tribal war in Rwanda between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority. It is estimated that between 600,000 to 1 million Rwandans were killed by their own countrymen. There are stories of churches killing churches. These deaths were brutal beyond belief, people hacking other people, burnings, shootings, rapes, all committed by professing Christians against their Christian brothers.

This really brings home the unbelievable importance of preaching the gospel that Jesus preached.

If the gospel we present is about getting somewhere when we die, this world greatly suffers.

The sea is to deep
The heaven's to high
I cannot swim
I cannot fly;
I must stay here
I must stay here
Here where I know
How I can know
Here where I know
What I can know

"Yet in the gloom a light glimmers and glows."

The sea has parted. Pharaoh's hosts
Despair, and doubt, and fear, and pride
No longer frighten me.
I must cross over to the other side.
The heaven bows down. With wounded hands
Our exiled God, our Lord of shame
Before us living, breathing, stands;
The Word is near, and calls our name.
New knowing for the doubting mind.
New seeing out of blindness grows;
New trusting may the sceptic find
New hope through that which faith now knows.

"My Lord and my God"

The human body is the focal point of human existence. Jesus had one, we have one. Without the body in the proper place, the pieces of the puzzle of new life in Christ do not realistically fit together, and the idea of really following Him and becoming like Him becomes a practical impossibility.