Monday, December 8, 2014

Things Bigger Than Us...

Have you ever had one of those times where you realized you were so caught up in your own "life" or "agenda" that you completely missed out on what God had in store for you?  I've had a handful of things on my mind lately that I've wanted to Blog about. I'm going to try and incorporate two of those ideas into this one blog today.

Children have been on my mind heavily the last week or so, children being mistreated, and I don't mean not getting enough attention or a parent missing a birthday party, but I'm talking about horrible and unforgivable atrocities against children. Stories I've read lately include one child who was tied up to a stake in the ground with a collar around his neck outside in the cold and watching his parents beat his pet dog to death and another story coming out of Scotland, where a 5 year old child from Botswana literally had his heart ripped out of his chest while was still alive for some sort of a "ritual sacrifice." 

 I'll post links to the stories below if you don't believe me. It is absolute horror. I can't begin to fathom what goes through the minds of people, to hurt and even kill a child. These stories make me think of my own 4 year old son, it brings me to tears to think of something like this happening to him. For those of you who are parents you'll know what I mean when I say I would do anything I possibly could to keep my children from having to experience pain. There is no part of me that ever would want my children to suffer. What in the world is wrong with people that would do these kinds of things to children? 
Only thing I can come back to is that there is an absence of true love, the "Agape" love that our Father in heaven has for us.  John 3:16 is one of the most famous and well-known Bible verses. It has been called the "Gospel in a nutshell" because it is considered a summary of the central doctrines of Christianity. The verb translated "loved" in this verse is ἠγάπησεν (ēgapēsen), past tense of "agapaō".
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
—John 3:16, KJV

 Agape received a broader usage under later Christian writers as the word that specifically denoted "Christian" love or "charity" (1 Corinthians 13:1–8), or even God himself (1 John 4:8, ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν, "God is Love").

 The term agape was used by the early Christians to refer to the self-sacrificing love of God for humanity, which they were committed to reciprocating and practicing towards God and among one another. When 1 John 4:8 says "God is love," the Greek New Testament uses the word agape to describe God's love.

 A self sacrificing love, a love that knows that there are thing more important than our selves, things bigger than "us." Children are to be loved, my son's memory verse for this month is, "Jesus said, 'let the little children come to me' - Matthew 19:14 (in his voice he says Maffew, but I know what he means). The stories mentioned above just ripped my heart out at the cruelty these two children had been shown vs. what they really deserved. 
On another level I felt God speak to me about children, we are all God's children, not just kids, but adults as well. I had a man come by the church today, down and out, homeless at the moment, trying to piece his life back together. Just before Thanksgiving we had done some things to help him and try and get him back on his feet. He's still trying, has a job, but just lost his spot in a shelter he'd been staying in. I didn't really have the ability to help him from our "benevolence" account again this month. He asked if I could at least get him some food, I told him I was sure I could manage that. 

 Now, this all came at a bad time for me in my day, I was on an important phone call when he came in to the church and I had an appointment I was trying to make at 12:30, so I was rushing a bit with this guy. I told him, ok let's go and I'll take you to get some food (in my mind, I'd decided that I 'd take him to get lunch at a buffet somewhere, drop him off, pay for it and still have time to make it to my appointment). So we go outside and load is bike, bag of clothes, backpack, tent, and machete (yes a machete) into my Tahoe and I take him to Western Sizzlin, as I'm going through the line with him (ready to hurry up and pay so I can go), I had a real check in my spirit, "Are you too good to sit down and have lunch with this man? My child?" Yeah, at that moment I felt like a dirt bag, nobody in his situation should have to eat alone, I was about to miss an opportunity to do something bigger than myself, I could encourage this guy, pray with him, maybe make a difference. At least show him that someone, somewhere cared.

 Turns out he's trying to get enough money to be able to take care of his wife who is in a nursing home, the right half of her body is paralyzed and they don't really have any other family to help them out. We had a good lunch, he said that his steak was a little too pink, but the fried chicken was good, he was extremely grateful, said that he never gets to eat in nice places like Western Sizzlin. He "snuck" a few cookies into his jacket to take to his wife, and I dropped him, his bike and all his gear (yes the machete too) off at the nursing home so he could spend some time with his wife before going into work, to try and do his best to take care of his family.
There are things in our life every day that are "Bigger Than Us," don't get too busy and miss out on opportunities God puts in front of you. You have the ability to have a great influence on people around you and make a difference in this world, which is full of people that don't know what true Agape love is, you can show it to them. That Self Sacrificing Love that knows no bounds, and is willing to not just give out of abundance but out of need as well.

 "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
- Matthew 25:40

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Amazing, Miraculous, there aren't really enough words...

Sorry, this is totally not a spiritual post today at all, but I saw a video with a story this week that totally blew my mind! A young man at a college has a chance to win $10,000 by making a layup, a free-throw, a three pointer, and a mid-court shot all in 30 seconds. Basketball is my favorite sport and this video really takes the cake...The video is below, but before you watch it, read the story because it makes the video so much better!

 Gustavo Angel Tamayo had never played basketball in his life before he was in the arena when Tennessee’s Bryan College tipped off their college season Monday night with their annual rally, “The Late Night Roar.” But Tamayo made history by winning an extremely challenging shooting contest and the $10,000 tuition prize.

 Bryan College’s contest is difficult. Participants have to hit a layup, free throw, three-pointer and half-court shot in 30 seconds. Oh, and they have to get their own rebounds.

 By way of BroBible, comes the story of Tamayo’s incredible night. We’ll let twentytwowords.com explain the senior’s backstory and why Monday night was even more unreal:

 The senior gained asylum in England at the age of 6 and grew up there before moving to the U.S. for school. Soccer has always been his favorite sport and he hopes to continue playing professionally after his tenure as the college’s center midfielder is over.

 But inexperience on the hardwood didn’t deter Tamayo, nor did the broken finger on his left hand from a soccer injury. The student stepped up and delivered this incredible performance…

 Tamayo almost seems to have missed the three-pointer, but he gets a nice bounce. All that’s left after sinking a layup and free throw in a single attempt is the simple half-court shot with the clock ticking down…



Simply astounding! The fact Gustavo had never played ball before and had a broken left hand (he’s right-handed, but still) simply adds to the myth. We miss college.

Could you hit 4 shots in 30 seconds?

Originally found on Dime Magazine.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

#TBT: Should You Volunteer In Your Church?

This is a ThrowBackThursday blog post, and you can find this blog in its entirety at the link after this introduction...We are busy with work, family, life, hobbies, side jobs, and needing an occasional rest in between...so why in the world would we or should we even consider devoting more of our time to anything? ...like volunteering in our local church...

 Faith without works is dead...the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few...go into all the world...what you've done to the least of these...

 These are just a few phrases from some powerful Bible verses concerning service. I ask the question, 

 "Should You Volunteer in Your Church?"
Please Read the Rest of this blog HERE

Monday, November 3, 2014

There is Always Hope...

"Rather, the LORD's delight is in those who honor him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love."
- Psalm 147:11
In light of much discussion going around right now concerning suicide and assisted suicide (i.e. Robin Williams and Brittany Maynard) I thought I would share an awesome story of someone facing horrible odds...impending doom, pain and death...yet chose to fight, have faith and allow God to work a couple of miracles. There is always HOPE!


"Heather Knies was given a death sentence at the age of 24. She battled not one, but two brain tumors -- one of them a grade 4 glioblastoma, the same kind of cancer that killed Sen. Edward Kennedy in 2010.
But today, six years later, she is cancer-free, and her doctors at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona cannot explain it. Her latest MRI is clean, and she is neurologically intact.
The now-32-year-old Knies has not only outlived her life expectancy, she has married and become a mother. Her successful parenthood is remarkable, as intense radiation and chemotherapy can render cancer patients infertile.
Knies's daughter, Zoe, who is 7 months old, celebrated her first Christmas in December.
Knies's doctors say that in rare instances, a patient can break the "biological rules." But most often in those cases, the initial pathology of the tumor was suspect.
In her case, the pathology was "not controversial," according to her surgeon, Dr. Robert Spetzler, director of the Barrow Neurological Institute at Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix.
In his 35 years as a neurosurgeon in the United States, Spetzler said he has never seen such a triumph against a stage 4 glioblastoma.
"It's one of the most malignant tumors there is," he said. "Invariably it will come back and pop up somewhere else in the brain and it's uniformly fatal."
"It's not unheard of that that a few survive -- it's a bell curve and there are outliers," he said. "But in her case, not only has she survived, but she is perfectly normal and there is absolutely no evidence of a tumor on her MRI scan."
Knies has a few of her own theories for why she is still alive today.
"One, being God had a plan for me," said Knies. "I also had a great team of doctors and wonderful family and friends with a positive attitude."
"The mind is so much more powerful than anyone can imagine," she said. "People believe that when they get cancer, it will kill them. But I never once thought that."
Spetzler said Knies was "on the young side" for a glioblastoma, but it can occur at any age, "even in infants."
It all began in 2005, when Knies had the first symptom that something was wrong. She had just started a new job as a receptionist at a doctor's office and was driving home from work.
"Suddenly, I didn't understand what the dashed white line meant in the road," said Knies. "I had been driving since I was 15, so I started panicking and called my Mom. She asked, 'Did you take something?'"
Knies could see, but couldn't understand what she was seeing.
"I was only 24 and I was having visual problems," she said. "I can't even describe them."
Her boss, a dermatologist, insisted she see a specialist, and an MRI showed a low-grade tumor that was pressing on the visual reception cord in her brain.
"I had just moved to Phoenix from Missouri. I was just out of college and felt like I had the whole world waiting there for me," said Knies, ever the optimist. "Looking back, it probably grounded me a bit."
She underwent surgery at another institution, and she enrolled in a drug trial for an oral chemotherapy at Duke University, repeating MRIs every three months.
She says doctors told her to, "Go live your life."
But in less than a year one of the scans showed the white flairs of tumor growth.
It turned out the new tumor was aggressive -- a stage 4 glioblastoma and it was sitting on the right side, touching three parts of her brain: the temporal, parietal and occipital lobes.
The lower-grade tumor had turned into a more aggressive one, which is not unusual in a glioblastoma, according to Spetzler, who took over her treatment in 2007.
"I opted not to have the entire tumor removed or my left side would have been paralyzed -- so I asked Dr. Spetzler to debulk it. I didn't want quantity, I wanted quality," she said.
When her mother was brave enough to ask how long she would have to live, one of the doctors said about six months.
"For whatever reason, because of being an athlete or just being mad, I wanted to defy him and the medical world and show that no one is a statistic," Knies said. "I was immediately defiant. I never once thought it would be the death of me."
The tumor caused massive headaches and vomiting from the pain, and on Friday, April 13, 2007, she went into surgery. "Friday the 13th will never scare me again," she said.
Surgery was followed by heavy doses of chemotherapy and radiation. Knies will be monitored with MRIs for the rest of her life, but for now, her brain shows no sign of residual cancer.
"I would not feel comfortable calling it a cure," said Spetzler. "But there is no evidence of a tumor as you would expect with someone who has lived much longer than expected. There is a hole where the tumor was. Her survival is remarkable."
At her cancer diagnosis, her boyfriend at the time had "freaked out," according to Knies. "It makes you very insecure when someone tells you up front they can't handle it -- bye-bye."
But in 2010, she met Joe Knies, now 54, an engineer who was 22 years her senior.
"It didn't even faze him, and it blew me away," she said. "He made a good point -- we can all die in a car crash tomorrow."
They married in October while Knies was still undergoing chemotherapy one week each month. She had always wanted children and was warned the aggressive treatments could have damaged her eggs.
"It was almost as scary for me as hearing about the cancer," she said.
On her oncologist's advice, Knies decided to undergo in vitro fertilization with a surrogate because of the unknowns associated with cancer and pregnancy.
"I prayed hard," she said. "After egg retrieval there were only two follicles and the rest were empty."
In the three days they took to mature, only one was viable. "We had that one, and she is my daughter," said Knies.
"My husband had never been married before or had kids and his parents thought they would never see the day, so it was a miracle to his mother that he now has a child," she said.
"Every morning I wake up and thank God that I can feel my 10 fingers and toes and have a loving daughter and husband," said Knies. "There have been so many miracles. One after another, as my dad said, so many angels must be sitting on my shoulders."
One thing I find particularly amazing about this story, if she had just given up, her amazing little girl would have never existed...the choices we make yesterday, today, and tomorrow have a huge impact on the world around us. There is always HOPE!

This story was originally reported by ABC News HERE

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

That's right...Flying Cars Are a "Thing" Now...

(VIDEO INCLUDED) I've always thought it would be an awesome thing to learn how to fly an airplane, whether it ever happens or not is unclear, but there are now flying cars that are likely going to be on the market in 2015, granted the price will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars initially...but over time it's quite possible in our lifetimes, a flying car may become more common place like a sailboat or ski boat...

 Below is a neat video showcasing this awesome creation!

Monday, October 27, 2014

6 Ways You’re Eating Breakfast Wrong...

So I don't eat breakfast near as often as I would like to, it really is one of my more favorite kind of meals. My wife will be in disbelief, but that's because the first two years we were married we ate breakfast for dinner like 4 nights out of the week and I kind of got burned out for a half a decade or so...But she will also attest to breakfast being one of the better meals I cook.  I burn her bacon just the way she likes it and I make super tasty eggs or omelets...I one time even fried her an egg inside of an onion, I was pretty impressed....

 With that being said, below is an awesome video that will show you some neat takes on some breakfast tricks most of us have been missing out on, they are worth the watch, I promise! - Video originally posted HERE

Saturday, October 25, 2014

12 Ways To Turn A Bad Day Into A Better One (Guest Post)

Here is an awesome blog from our Friends over at Christian Personal Finance - 

 "They are inevitable.

 Bad days happen to everyone.

 But, there are things you can do to make them better.

 Here are a few ideas to get you started.

 Hopefully just reading this post will help, but actually DOING some of the things listed below will!  So be bold and take action!

 1. Play With Kids.

 Even if they are not your own, just kid around kids while they are just being kids.

 2. Give Someone A Compliment.

 Not a fake one, but take the time to see something that someone else is doing well.

 3. Sing In Your Car.

 And sing as loud as you can. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to frown while you are singing?

 4. Read Philippians 4.

 And while you are at it, just think about where Paul was while he was writing it.

 5. Bake Your Favorite Kind Of Cookies.

 Then eat some.

 6. Count Your Blessings.

 I mean it. Start a list of all the things you are thankful for. Write until you can’t write anymore. Staple it to the wall.

 7. Watch People.

 Go find a crowded public area, sit down and watch. Allow yourself to wonder what he ate for breakfast, or what her name is, or where he bought that shirt.

 8. Do Something For Someone You Love.

 Do the dishes for your wife, take your neice out for ice cream, take your mom to Starbucks for a coffee.

 9. Pray.

 It’s #9 because you expected it to be #1. What could be more encouraging that talking to the Creator of the universe?

 10. Think Of The Most Encouraging Person You Know And Call Them.

 But don’t complain. Refrain from telling them how bad your day is and focus on making their day better.

 11. Write A Letter.

 A good old-fashioned paper and ink letter. Bonus: write it to someone who has impacted your life and thank them and let them know how much you appreciate their role/impact in your life.

 12. Remember The Truth.

 That God causes all things to work together for GOOD (Romans 8:28)"

 What do you do when you're having a bad day?

 Let us know in the comments section below!

 Follow Christian Personal Finance HERE on Facebook 

This blog originally appeared HERE

Thursday, September 18, 2014

5 Questions to Ask When Reading the Bible

I'm re-posting this blog post I read today, it was totally on point. Let's read God's Word intentionally and be aware of what it's communicating!

How exactly does the Bible—an ancient book written thousands of years ago—reveal God’s way to people today? There are several key questions we must ask, the answers to which reveal to us the way. Here they are:

1. Is there a command to obey?

The Bible is filled with divine commands for you and me to obey. There is no question what God’s will is in these areas. Our obedience to His commandments leads us precisely into the center of His will.


Click HERE to read more

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

When God Messes With Your Life Plan

We all go through hard times in our life, some more so than others. We don't always know why, and if God loves us, why do these things happen? The ultimate thing is, if we truly and wholeheartedly trust God...then we must trust God.

 He Knows Exactly What He’s Doing

 The moral of the story? God really, truly knows what he is doing. He usually takes longer than we would like. He often leads us through strange territory. Sometimes he defers, or even destroys, our dreams. But God, our loving, tender, delightful Father, knows exactly what he is doing. He is accomplishing more in you and through you than you could ever think or imagine.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Are You A Christian? Are You?

"Christian" - What does that even me? I've always taught that it meant "Christ-Like" and that is what we should strive to be as believers in Jesus. But it means so much more. If you really want to know the truth...read with caution.
"And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." 

 - Acts 11:26

 The word "Christian" shows up only 3 times in the entire New Testament. It was originally a term used to describe a servant and follower of Christ. Today it has become a general term devoid of the original meaning.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Chechnya by way of Atlanta, Amsterdam, Prague, and East Germany...

This was an experience I will never forget. People say that all the time, but I really mean it, I've been to some of the most impoverished places in our country as well as the world (Calcutta, India, Skid Row in Los Angeles, CA, as well as Indian Reservations near Phoenix, AZ), but I've never been moved as deeply as I was today as I interacted with and listened to the stories of those in this refugee camp.

I'm going to post pictures of everybody from today's outreach at the refugee camp, but this blog is going to be mainly focused on the interactions I had with a man named Albert (pronounced - Al - Bear - t). If you weren't aware, Germany is a hot spot for the European Union to send refugees, of the 12,000 refugees Europe got out of Syria alone, 10,000 of those went into Germany. At today's camp alone there were at least 10 different countries represented. War torn areas are no respecters of persons.
We showed up at the refugee camp this afternoon in like 10 vehicles, there were 32 or so of us. We piled out and there were kids waiting on us when we got there. Soccer balls were flying the minute we stepped into the parking lot (soccer is definitely "The International" sport, I've now played it with children in missions work on 3 separate continents)! I hopped in and played goalie while 15 or so refugee kids and 6 or 7 of our team mixed with campers kicking a few balls in my direction. Soccer was definitely an ice breaker with the kids and their parents who initially I feel were watching us apprehensively. It didn't take 5 minutes before several of the girls on our team were walking around holding children and playing games, as the time progressed the parents warmed up to us. Some even started taking video and pictures of us playing with their kids, some of the parent went as far as asking if we wanted them to take pictures for us with our own phones. 

It was really neat to see how the language and even religious barriers came down once they saw that we were just their to love on their kids. Our teams did a few songs for the kids as well as a drama depicting Christ teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven, this was all pretty well received. We had 1 young man as an interpreter who spoke the major language used in the refugee camp which is some sort of a hybrid gypsy dialect, most of the kids however did speak some German.

We were standing around listening to some instructions for a game our group was going to be playing and I felt a little tug on my shoulder, I turned around and there was this beautiful baby in the arms of her father. She was just smiling at me and wanting my attention, so I talked to her a little bit, played some peek-a-boo, and all the other things us dads do with little children. I wasn't sure how much attention to give her, I didn't want to offend her dad or have him feel uncomfortable at all. As soon as that thought went through my head, he smiled and just handed her off to me. It took a few tries before she was convinced to let her daddy go, but she warmed up to me as you can see in the picture. He was very excited to take our picture.

As we spent more time together, I had to find one of our campers to interpret, Albert who was from Chechnya had lived in the refugee camp for just over 3 years and had picked up enough German for us to go back and forth. As we talked, I began to realize the trials of his life. He revealed that his left leg from the knee down had been amputated after a bombing where he lived during Russian insurgency, his brother also lost a leg. His father, a second brother, and a former Chechen president were all executed together about 10 years ago during the height of the second Chechen War. 

Somehow Albert, his wife and 3 of his 4 kids made it out of Chechnya into a refugee camp in Germany (he has 4 kids, his youngest, Dana, was born in Germany 9 months ago). He was happy with the camp they were at, much safer than others they've been at in the past. We talked a little bit about me, not much, as the interpreting was more difficult going from English to German. I said U.S.A., he knew Barack Obama, Texas, and that was about it when it came to the U.S.A.

Before we left I asked if I could pray for him and his family, our interpreter explained that I was a pastor which didn't seem to bother him. But he did not have much of a positive attitude towards God nor much of a clear understanding of who God is, which is more than understandable considering what he has come through and out of. He did agree to let me pray for him and his family, after he made sure I knew that he felt safe at their current camp. I think he felt bad, like he may have been taking advantage of my compassion or something of the sort, you could tell he was very proud. So we prayed, and I prayed for him, his health, for his family, specifically his kids and their health as well as protection and safety in their future. He started to get a little emotional and choked up and told me thank you while I was still praying, he cut me short, but in a very polite manner. I honestly felt like he was about to cry and did not want to do that in front of me. I couldn't blame the guy, it took everything within me not to fall completely apart as I thought about the children there, and what they were growing up in and around.

After we prayed, he spoke a little more with the interpreter and asked if he could get a group picture of all of us, then wanted to get a few pictures of me and him. We hugged, shook hands, then he let me hug his little girl. Shortly after we left, he followed us out of the gated area and waved while holding one of the soccer balls we brought.
Albert and his family of 6, were just one of dozens of families represented at today's refugee camp. Josh and Kayla, as well as the rest of the team had amazing interactions with these families and showed the love of Christ to each of them. Pictures of today's awesome experiences are below.We are such a blessed people, it is amazing to me how happy it made these families that we just came and spent some time with them. We didn't bring them funds, toys, or a solution. We just brought love, kindness, and the Gospel message. Somehow that recipe was able to communicate through 5-6 different languages 4 different religions, and 4 different generations of refugees. God is good my friends...God is good



-Be Blessed,

Ryan

Awesome Relationships and Spiritual Growth!



We had an amazing time yesterday! From the very start of the day in our staff meeting at 7:30 we were praying for walls to come down in the lives of the campers. We were praying that they would be open and receive all that God had for them and for overall spiritual growth and understanding in their lives.

 We had our morning worship session with a powerful testimony from one of the German Camp Staffers followed by our English classes, which continue to go better and better everyday, both our teaching teams and the students are enjoying each session. Its amazing to see them learning English and the Gospel message at the same time!

Click HERE to read the rest of this post!

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Awesome Time so far at the camp!

The lovely view I have at my desk this week 

I intended to write this post earlier in the day while you were all sleeping, but I didn't end up having time, so you are going to get like a 36-48 hour micro synopsis instead of a 24 hour wrap up.


One of our 4 English Classes at work today
Yesterday at camp was phenomenal, we hit the ground running with staff meeting at 7:30, had breakfast, and went straight to work in the English Classes - Josh R., Kayla, and Sarah are all class leaders and a 4th class is led by one of the missionaries, Tiffany, Tim, Becca, Talitha, Israel,and Josh W. are all assisting in the English classes. Day 1 was more challenging than today was, the language barrier obviously presents certain challenges, the classes are ranked in the ability the students already have with the English language.
Click HERE to read the rest of this post!

Monday, August 4, 2014

We made it to CAMP!!!

After roughly 32 hours of consecutive travel around 8:30 p.m. CEST (Central European Summer Time) we arrived at the English Camp in Pockau, German, the name of the camp is Strobel-Mühle.

So much I'd like to say in this first post...

Let's talk about what's happened so far. We seemed to be plagued with small issues to start off, the door of the bus wouldn't stay closed on the way to the airport and once we got there we found out that our flight was being delayed... and then delayed... and then delayed... we started with about a 90 minute layover in Atlanta which shrank drastically by the time we landed. There was major concern about missing our connection, to the point they were working with other airlines to get 5 of us out that night on a flight through Paris and then the other 5 would stay behind and go out to Amsterdam the next day... eeek!

 Fortunately we set a Guiness Book World Record...landed at Terminal B and had to get to F-18 I think it was...from the time we got off our airplane took the train got out at Terminal F and hoofed it to our gate and got on the plan only 15 minutes elapsed, we got on the plan and they closed the door, if you've ever been to Atlanta, you know how big that airport is!
Click HERE to read the rest of the post!

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

What's Important?


Are the things that are important in our lives relative to our current situations or are they absolute?

 I believe the important things in our lives should be absolute, however, we allow our circumstances, emotions, selfish nature to dictate what's important to us at any given minute.

 Truthfully, our relationship with God should be paramount, should be the most important thing day in and day out. But really, how much time to we devote or invest into that relationship? Prayer, study, etc..

Click HERE to read more!

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Priorities...

pri·or·i·tynoun
plural noun: priorities
  1. a thing that is regarded as more important than another.
    "housework didn't figure high on her list of priorities"

 What are your priorities?

 Family? Work? Pay the Bills (Kind of a combo of the first two...), maybe "You" are your priority...
To truly have a successful life, and I don't mean the Billionaire successful life, I mean a life that has a point/goal/purpose/value and will lead you into heaven, to truly do this, God and the things of God must be priorities in your life.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Save $1,000 in a Few Months

1 Timothy 5:8 says, “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” There are very obvious spiritual and moral implications to this verse, but I believe  you can directly apply this to your personal finances as well. If you do not provide well for yourself and your family you are not living up the call of God to be responsible and a good steward of what He has blessed you with.

A very  beneficial and needed aspect of your personal finances is an “emergency" fund. Sometime or another an financial emergency is bound to happen in your life, it's up to you whether you are prepared for it or not. Some people allow these financial hardships to shape or detour their foreseeable fiscal future, and others are able to overcome and move past them due to wise planning and solid execution of a simple plan.

Click HERE to read more... 










Friday, May 9, 2014

Fostering, Adopting, Loving, Caring

A young boy waiting on Hope to show up...
I came across two different personal accounts today dealing specifically with the subject of children without parents. The first story comes from a friend of ours who has her own orphanage and ministry in Ecuador and the second story comes from our Youth Pastor's wife (they've done foster care for some time now and recently adopted a sweet little girl).

 I'm sharing these stories for a couple of reasons; 1 - they touched my heart, deep in my heart, you'll know when you read and 2 - they perfectly illustrate the Word of God, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." - James 1:27.

 If you personally don't have the calling or ability to be active in helping children, you can contribute to either one of the outreaches listed in this post, I give links to their web sites.

 Please take the time to read their personal stories...
Click HERE to read more...