Gifts

With Christmas right around the corner, it made me think of "Where am I putting my thoughts this year?" With the first boy in the house, it will be a new season of gift buying in the sense that it won't all be girly toys, but maybe even some trucks and trains this year. I already setup the Christmas train I bought him last year before he was even born. I was excited :-)


As I thought some more about it this morning I realized all the experiences of Christmas gifts I have had over the years. There were the years I got exactly what I wanted and I was very happy all day long. There were years I got nothing I wanted and was extremely grouchy all day long. But what of the next day or week? We soon forget about what we got and didn't get and it is life as usual. Christmas is in the past and we move on.

This year I want to focus on the real meaning of Christmas, the one that stays All year round. Jesus was born for us on this day many years ago. It's not about the cool gift we get from our parents or spouses, it's not about the gift we should have received for being good but didn't. It's about celebrating His birth and everything that came after it.

We will still buy the presents that will be forgotten about a week after Christmas and whats a Christmas morning without wrapping paper all over the house? Here is something to remember this Christmas season:

Don't forget about the present that won't be under the tree,
it doesn't cost a lot of money, in fact it's actually free.

You're probably wondering what kind of present can this be?
It's the gift of Salvation, free for you and me.

Yesterday I shared a Blog on Facebook that a good Pastor friend of mine shared on divorce, it stirred up some real good comments and responses. My reason for posting was not to call out those who have been through divorce for whatever reason, but to encourage those marriages that might be at the beginning stages of spiritual attack on their marriages.

All of the posts were good in either debating for or against what was stated in my friends blog. The one comment I would like to point out however, came from my own wife. She stated that "If only one wants things to get better and not the other, unfortunately there is nothing you can do. God gave us all the free will to choose.."

This is the point I was trying to make. One person can be all in for a very long time, but if their spouse is not, what can you do? There does come a time when the decision to end things will come, I know because I did make that decision, but I was fortunate enough that she finally wanted to make things work again. We continue to grow closer everyday in our marriage and our relationship with God. Our home is better then it ever has been.


Ephesians 5: 25-33 Speaks to men and how they should love their wives just as Christ loved the church. The Message version says "Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives..." The rest of the chapter is really good as well. Men , I encourage you to read this, pray and then begin loving your wife ALL OUT !!!! You won't be disappointed.

Being Mature As A Christ Foloower

In Ephesians 4, we are given some guidelines on being mature. They really aren't all that hard to abide by:

Be completely humble and gentle
Be patient bearing with one another in love
Keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace
Put off all falsehood and speak truthfully to everyone

In your anger, do not sin
Do not let the son go down while you are still angry
Do not give the devil a foothold

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but build others up according to their needs
Rid yourself of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander and every other form of malice
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you.

I can only guess Paul saved forgiveness for last, because we all will in some way mess up on the earlier ones and end up hurting someone.

Forgiveness is a strange thing. If someone bumps into you, and knocks something out of your hands, we will most always forgive them right away. It's when things start to hurt more that we find it harder to forgive or even forgive at all. The thing of it is though, the bible says forgive, just as we were forgiven...no levels of hurt, just forgive and be genuine in it. God knows your heart.

Yes, forgiveness can be very hard, but with Gods love in us, we can do it, He wants us to.

You Can't Hear If You Don't Listen

How many times do we ask God why, or Where are you? When we do, what are we doing to listen for Him? Are we standing in the midst of our storm with our head hung low? Are we trying to beat up an invisible enemy we can't see? Are we ignoring the things others are telling us about what is going on in our lives? Why not just go right to Gods sources...The Bible and Prayer ? This is where the answers and confirmations come from.

Recently God has shown me some of the weaknesses in my life and told, not asked me to fix them so I can server Him better. For a couple weeks I just did my thing everyday and just tried to be better, I didn't seek any help from His sources. This week I got into the Word again and things really came alive for me. The book of James really showed me what God was talking about for me, made things very clear.

There is one other way to hear from God, and sometimes you don't realize the power from simple lyrics to a song. I posted on Facebook yesterday the fact that I am the Little Drummer Boy. I have played for about 35 years, including being the actual drummer boy in my 5th grade Christmas pageant. After posting this , I went and read the lyrics to the song:

Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

So to honor Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
When we come.

Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That's fit to give the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,
On my drum?

Mary nodded, pa rum pum pum pum
The ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum.

I welled up inside with tears. This really was me. God has given me the gift of being able to play the drums. This is how I want to serve him til I can't play anymore. How can I serve my God but to come and play for Him, play my BEST for HIM. This is what God wants from me right now, my Best ! So I will give it to Him and get myself to the Best I can be.

I encourage you to go find your gift from Him, and serve Him with your Best!

...... "Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum.....Me and my drum."

New Beginnings

Sometimes God has things for us and we don't even realize it because we are so caught up in self. We always want more or better. James 4:3 says "When you ask, you don't receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures"

We need to ask God for the things in our lives that will help us serve Him and serve others, not ourselves. He will provide what we need on a daily basis.

He wants us to have things in life that we like, but He wants us to seek Him first in Everything.

Let me say this, God wants us to have the desires of our hearts, whatever they may be. Sometimes He just wants us to be where He wants us to be before we get these things. We need to put Him first and these things will fall into place, if it is in His will for you.

What Will You Do ?

Ecclesiastes 7:20 (New Living Translation)

²⁰ Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.

With this in mind, how do you handle when someone you know has sinned against you or you are upset by their sin? Jesus calls us to forgive one another for everything. To Him, all sin is just that sin. There are no levels of sin, except for the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit as described in Matthew 12:31-32, which is not forgivable by God.

So, If 99% of sins are forgivable by God, and sins are not labeled with severity levels by God, and we all sin, should we not as Christians forgive each other no matter what the sin was, put it behind us and move on with lives.

Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. ( Wikipedia )

Should we not be able to treat each other as we always have no matter what based on the definition of forgiveness. If someone makes us angry because they sinned against, should not our forgiveness relieve that anger and allow us to once again interact with that person? I say yes and have been down this road. When you truly have forgiven someone with Gods help, it is truly possible to carry on as you once did with someone, I know. I am not saying you won't have reservations or doubts depending on what they have done, but forgiveness does not give any of us the power to judge or label anyone based on a past offense, especially if they have truly repented for what they have done.

Fitness

Summer is here and I can not complain about it being too cold out anymore...although this humidty is awful! I am going to make a huge effort to shed some extra pounds this summer...my means of doing it will be by bike. I am going to combine taking pictures with my new camera with riding my bike ( not at the same time...that would be dangerous. ) I love old rustic farms and rural buildings as well as trains. I figure I can bike to locations with these features and kill to birds with one stone.

If you know of any good place to photograph these things or a great bike route, please feel free to let me know in a comment or email.

Have a great day !

New Year, New Start, New Goals

I woke up this morning and was greeted with a situation in which I really don't know how to make better quickly. I laid in bed and just kept thinking about it. I decided to just get up and go to work early and I told God I really needed to hear from him today.

As I sat in my chair at work I decided to read my Bible, I was a couple days behind on my reading plan so as long as I had some extra time, I read. During the 20 min or so of reading I was able to pull so many things from the Word, but I still didn't feel I had read what I needed. It wasn't until the last 2 verses I read that God showed me how to fix some of the things I needed to.

I love how God can do that for us. Trust in Him with all your heart, and He Will make your path straight.