"You're not alone"

Nope, I'm not talking about aliens, ghosts, or the voices inside your head.  I'm talking about things much deeper than any of those things.

Today, as I write my blog, my heart is heavy for some friends and family.  There is so much pain, worry, lack of energy, and just down-right loneliness.  I mean, let's face it.  There are so many times we feel so alone in this world.  There are so many factors that can drive us to this feeling and force us into believing the lie that, "I am alone".  Well, from the very beginning, you're not alone.  In Genesis 2:18, God said, "It is not good that man should be alone" so what happened next?  He created Adam his very own hottie!!  Ok, I'll be serious.  God did create Eve because he saw that Adam was alone.  Of course, he knew that Adam was alone because he built Adam to desire a relationship.  Now, you may be reading this blog and feel alone in a dating or marital relationship, but what I want to really hit with this blog, is the feeling that we have no one to confide in and the sense of hopelessness that this feeling can bring.  The important thing to see here, is that God doesn't want you to feel this way; you were not created to be alone. He loves us SO much, and I fail to find words that can possibly express his love for us.  Do you find yourself feeling despair? Hopeless?

Life can dish out a heck of a hand so many times and there are so many factors that can cause us to feel alone.  Would you believe that one of the major causes of loneliness (in the Bible) is guilt?  Just read Genesis and some of David's Psalms.  David had everything going for him, and I mean EVERYTHING!  Read Psalms 3:1,2 " ¹ LORD, how many are my foes!  How many rise up against me! ² Many are saying of me,
   “God will not deliver him.” Can you hear David's loneliness?  Now remember, the people in the Bible weren't Super Heroes; they were just like you and me.  David was no different, yet he felt alone.  In the passage above, David was actually on the run from his own son, Absalom.  Now the Bible says that David was a man after God's on heart and that David, well he was special to God.  As David rose in power and stature, he fell victim to his own power and essentially went on the run.  Now, after God has blessed him with everything, he is now alone and filled with regret.  Can you imagine having everything and then wasting it all away?  David lost everything; his family, his kingdom, his wealth, and much more.

My encouragement to you today is that God loves you more than anything.  Even in David's time of trial, he writes this in Psalm 4:8, "In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe."  God the Father is listening to you and he hears your cry!  Wouldn't today be a great day to spend some time talking with him and sharing your heart with Christ?  No need for a fancy prayer, just tell him how you feel.  He wants to share your burden and pains.  Look at my previous blog where Jesus tells us how to rest.

I will leave you with a link to a YouTube video.  For those of you that follow me via RSS, search for the song, "Where Your Heart Belongs" by Mainstay.  It is a wonderful message that accurately describes this blog.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cxMiw9hh-I 

Lord, I ask you to demonstrate your love to my friends as they read this blog.  Remind them they are not alone and that you do care for even the simplest of problems they face.  Remind them that you loved us enough to share your very own Son with us.  I love you Lord and I ask you help me be an encouragement to more people.

Stress you say?

Today, "stress" has been on my mind.  I generally deal with stress fairly well, but occasionally, I get to the point where I feel like throwing my hands up, shaking my head, saying out loud, "What's the use?"  Stress for me comes in many shapes, colors, people, things, emotions, places, and others; many of which I have no direct control over.  If you're like me, once you start to get stressed, it's next to impossible to get de-stressed without a good nights rest or other significant events to take my mind off of things. 

But seriously, how many of you feel over-whelmed right now?  There are so many things in our culture that induce stress that it would be impossible to list them in one blog.  Some of the things that stress us are somewhat self induced.  We feel such a need to have, "stuff" that we dig one huge debt hole buying stuff we don't "need".  We make horrible life choices in the interest of "me" and "I", then wonder why things are so screwed up.  Oh, did I mention that our best self chosen course of action is to blame somebody else for our bad decisions then expect the government to bail us out? 

Yet, there are those people in our culture that have been dealt a bad hand and forced to deal with it.  Maybe you're one of those that have been laid off after 20+ years of loyalty looking for work?  Maybe you're a single parent with such a burden to simply put food on the table?  Maybe you're reading this and find yourself in the middle of a divorce?  Maybe, you feel as though your life just isn't worth anything to anybody because you can't seem to get things right?  Let me assure you that our Lord and friend Jesus wants nothing more to help you, if you'll let him.  So, what does the bible say about stress?

Now, I'm not going to bore you with the part of the bible where Jesus talks about the birds of the air not having to worry, rather I'm going to tell you about the love and healing power of Christ.  Take a look at Matthew 11:28 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt%2011:28&version=NASB . Jesus offers some serious encouragement to us here when he says, "Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laiden, for I will give you rest."  WOW! Did you read that?!  There are no stipulations, no contracts to sign, no requirements to be a certain weight, look, hair style, or drive a certain type of car!  He loves us enough to pick us up when we are weak.  He loves us enough to give us rest when we have no more to give.  Again, I like The Message translation and it reads, "Are you tire? Worn out? Burned out on religion?  Come to me.  Get away with me and you'll recover your life.  I'll show you how to take a real rest."  Man, what a God to serve!  The trick is learning to let go and let God take over for us.  It's not easy and many times we will fail, but we MUST try to let God lead every part of our life.

If you are reading this right now and feel overwhelmed and burdened, please take a moment to tell God about it.  You don't need to pray a fancy prayer with a bunch of "Our Father's" or "Lord God's", rather just talk to our Lord as if you were talking to me.  "Lord, I am completely done.  I have nothing left to give and I don't have the energy to take.  I want to give up.  I need help and I need your love.  I cannot go any farther without you.  Please take my burden and my stress and help me learn to leave it with you. I love you Lord!"

Sometimes I Feel Like Such a Failure...

Today is the first day of 2012 and I've started it off with a bang!  First, I didn't stay up to bring in the New Year or participate in any of the New Year traditions.  We've been working on a complete tear out and rebuild of our hallway bathroom which has consumed most of my time during my vacation.  Don't get me wrong, it has gone really well and I've really enjoyed it, but I was tired last night.  To get back on topic, it's the morning of 1 JAN 2012 and I woke up around 10:45 to find that my wife and kids were gone to church; without me....  I woke up the first time around 02:30am and remained awake for at least an hour or more.  You see, I'm one of those people that once I get woke up, I'm done (in most cases) no matter how much or little sleep I get.  The missing point here however, is that my wife was awake, and I assume she had been awake for some time yet she still managed to get up, get the kids ready and off to Church for the 09:15 service.  So as I sat here on the couch drinking a cup of coffee feeling convicted, I started praying.  In fact, while I laid in bed last night wide awake, I began to pray.  Now I won't bore you with the details of what was going on, but suffice it to say there were yet another of life's trials keeping us up.

The late Ike Brissey and I used to talk about this type of thing often and I remember discussing, "Boy, if I had the faith of the disciples and could just walk with Jesus, I would be so much more faithful and reliable to Christ."  As Ike reminded me, the disciples were just like you and me; ordinary.  They were lower class individuals who were allowed to take part in many miraculous things.  And, after spending a lifetime on Earth with Jesus, at the moment of truth, some of them hid and denied even knowing Jesus(MAT26:31-34).  In fact, Jesus knew that Judas would betray him and even identified it at the last supper (MAT 26:21) before Judas sold Jesus out to the Romans.  These men literally walked and talked with Christ in the flesh!  They saw many amazing things first hand (many of them even wrote books of the Bible telling their own account) yet the Bible let's us in on a little preached about, even known, little secret; the Disciples were human....  Yep, they were just like me, ordinary.  While Jesus knew a horrible death was coming, he demonstrates how human he is later in MAT 26 when, as he was talking with Peter, James, and John and said, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.  Stay here and keep watch with me." (MAT26: 38 NIV)

I tell you all these things to tell you that I am very burdened as I write this blog.  Realizing that I slept through Church (be assured, my guilt is not out of obligation to be at Church, rather it is out of knowing we have such a wonderful Church where lives are changed every single service), was not together with my wife when I should've been, and did not set the proper example for my children.  Some of you may be thinking, "What's the big deal?"  You see, I accepted a free relationship with Christ who has blessed me and my family with SO MUCH!  As I've said in my other blogs, God doesn't want to beat me up and be a dictator, he wants to enjoy a relationship with me.  I've asked God for the blessings in life without being willing to man up when I'm tired.  And this folks, translates to, "sin".  How do I recover?  Simple; "Lord, I am sorry.  I don't mean to take your love for me for granted.  Please forgive me and help me remember how wonderful you are.  Help me man up when I'm tired.  I love you Lord!"

My goal for this year? Step up, man up, and be more, "Courageous" all for the cause of Christ!

Hey Joseph! I'm pregnant!

Tonight is Christmas Eve and it is the time we celebrate Christ's birth.  Not to mention, it's the largest sales season for the retail market thanks to all of us for buying stuff.  But let's talk about the real reason for the season, and consider some things we often overlook.

Now the Bible tells us that an angel appeared to Mary and told her that she would become conceive and give birth to a son, whom she was to name, "Jesus".  Then, an angel appeared to Joseph, Mary's fiancee, to tell him that Mary had conceived and that they were to be married.  Now let's be serious for a minute.  Guys, can you imagine having your girlfriend tell you they were expecting and that the baby was going to be the Son of God?  Better yet, can you imagine telling all of your family and friends that your girlfriend was pregnant, but you swear the two of you haven't been doing the, "The Wild Thang"?  "Really, I swear, it's not my baby!"  Kind of give new meaning to the phrase, "My baby's mamma"

During Mary and Joseph's time, the reality is that Joseph could have denied Mary, accused her of having sex with another man, and Mary would have been stoned to death.  And Joseph, well he could have just found him another girl and moved on.  But we all know that's not what happened.  I think it's really easy for all of us to comfort ourselves and say that it was easier for them back then.  I submit that it was much harder and that the people that God chose to use, were people of extreme faith in him. I also think they faced serious persecution and the threat of persecution.  Let's face it, Mary knew she could've been stoned but trusted God to deliver her.

As you hang out with your family this year, let's consider the cost of why we celebrate and remember to honor God in a way that give him all of the credit!!  Merry Christmas!!

Encouragement?

"Edify stupid!! Edify!" When I was in college at North Greenville (at that time it was a College) University, I had a group of friends with whom we used to jokingly use the above statement.  The word "Edify" means to uplift, enlighten, and inform.  For those of you that know me, you can already sense the sarcasm in the phrase.  However, our aim was at, "Church People" and how "Church People" were almost always the first people to kick a brother while he was down!  For the record, there is a huge difference between "Church People" and "Christians" (or as my Pastor Dean Herman calls it, Radical Followers of Christ) which has been explained in previous blogs.

When Paul wrote the first letter to the Church of Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians), we see Paul's heart and passion for encouraging others.  The Church of Thessalonica, was a very young Church and was experiencing sever persecution, confusion about Jesus' return, and many people returning to an evil way of life.  To put it in today's terms, they were victim of politics, rumors, and peer pressure.  The difference between now and then is that Paul chose to encourage and uplift, "Edify", his young brothers and sisters in Christ instead of brow beating them from the pulpit of another Church.  In 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Paul writes, "So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you'll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind.  I know you're already doing this; just keep doing it. (The Message Translation)" 

Many times I find myself wanting to smack somebody in the back of the head and ask, "Do you know how to use your head from more than a helmet rest?!"  But the reality is, if we truely want to reach our community for Christ, we must learn to love like Christ!  And one of the ways Christ loved, was through encouragement.  We must, no I must, learn to encourage others if I am to reach my community!  My challenge to you is that you will make a special effort to encourage somebody today!

"You're Going to Hell if...."

"You're going to hell if....."  Now how many of us have heard that statement before?  If you live in the South, no doubt you've heard that statement many times.  "You're going to hell if you don't quit smoking", "You're going to hell if you don't quit drinking.", and "You're going to hell if you don't go to church on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday night." rank among my favorites.  If you've read my posts prior to this one, you've no doubt read my comments about the differences between "church people" and "Christians".  My Pastor, Dean Herman, speaks of this difference on nearly every service.  There is such a difference, the main stream media even had fun with "Church People" back in the 1990's with the Saturday Night Live sketch, "The Church Lady".  What most Church People choose not to see, is that in God's eyes, sin is sin.  Now don't freak out, because the same God that recognizes that sin is sin, is the same God that loved us enough to send his Son to die for us. 

God isn't some all powerful Greek God-like being that is sitting on the high throne with a baseball bat waiting to whack us in the head every time we mess up.  God does have a plan for each us that is designed to prosper us and not to harm us (Jeremiah 29:11).  I know I do my share of messing up; makes me wonder if God looks on me and shakes his head from time to time as if to say, "Dang boy, you really thought that one through didn't you?  But remember, sin is sin.  Any sin in our lives separate us from communication with God since God cannot look on sin (which by the way is why he sent his son to die on the cross for OUR sins).  There is no such thing as big or little sins.  God DOES NOT have a grading scale for sin; it is what it is.  The fact of the matter is, the only thing that will send us straight to Hell, is not accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior (This is what Church people call, "Being Saved"). Everything else are things that, in my words, hurt God's feelings.  Romans 6:23 says, (I like the New Life Translation for this one) "You get what is coming to you when you sin. It is death! But God’s free gift is life that lasts forever. It is given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ."  The God that has so richly blessed us with so many things, only wants to have a relationship with each of us.  And when we sin, WAIT! Let me tell you what sin really is!  Sin is things like lying, cheating, stealing, overeating, overworking, neglect, disrespect, being a dead beat dad or mom, gossip, lust, hate, bad attitudes, and many more! Did I mention GOSSIP?  Anyway, when we sin, it's like slapping God in the face and saying, "Thanks God for letting your son be starved, tortured, and then murdered on public display, but I've got an image to keep..."  I mean, how long would it take us to dump a friend or spouse if they treated us the way we treat God?  Good thing he doesn't measure us with expectation the way we measure others.

If you've managed to read this far, I hope you find my blog useful.and encouraging.  My challenge to myself and all of you, is to work on forgiveness and compassion for the coming year.  My goal is to love everyone around me just as Christ has loved me!  After all, how can we ask God to love and bless us, if we're not willing to do the same?

Revival What?!

I grew up in a culture where Revival was something that happened at least once a year.  Revival is was what the culture we were around called a full week of church services that lasted sometimes two hours a night.  Sometimes they would have guest speakers and music.  As a child, I hated revival because we were expected to sit in the service quietly and listen to what God had to say to us.  Now let's be realistic for a minute...How well do you think that worked out for an ADHD child like me?!?!  "Not too good" is how.  I mean even Jesus had a special way of dealing with children, but the Church of my time didn't see it that way.  As the years went on, the revival sessions became shorter and shorter.  In fairness, the most memorable revival times I remember were the old fashion tent revivals.  In my memory, there were more salvations in those tents than there ever were inside the Church.  Now don't get me wrong, my life changing experience came from a Revival service on February 6th, 2008.  My main point here is that Revival is SO MUCH MORE than a ritual series of services.

So what is Revival?  Our Church, 5Point Church in Easley, SC (http://www.5ptchurch.us/) is currently experiencing "Revival".  Our Pastor, Dean Herman (deanhermanonline.com) is leading the charge for Revival in our area.  Last Sunday, there were 46 Salvations and five salvations this morning during the first service alone!!  God is moving, simply because hearts are broken for the lost.  So what do I mean by Revival?  The "Free Dictionary Online" lists the word "revival" as,
re·viv·al  (r-vvl)

n.

1.

a. The act or an instance of reviving.

b. The condition of being revived.

2. A restoration to use, acceptance, activity, or vigor after a period of obscurity or quiescence.

3. A new presentation of an old play, movie, opera, ballet, or similar vehicle.

4.

a. A time of reawakened interest in religion.

b. A meeting or series of meetings for the purpose of reawakening religious faith, often characterized by impassioned preaching and public testimony.

5. Law Renewal of validity or effect, as of a contract or judicial decision.

I think number two would be most applicable to us.  You see, Revival, in my opinion, is the next closest thing to Salvation.  Revival is a life changing experience that should shaken our very foundation.  It should remind us of how comfortable we've become and how awesome of a God we serve!  It should remind us of the love God has for us and cause us to want to share him with everybody!  Revival should remind us of how blessed we are, how much God has given us, and how much we owe him.  Pastor Dean spent a lot of time this morning talking about Saul's (you may know him better as Paul) salvation and everything leading up to that salvation.  Dean reminded all of us that today is the day we should share Christ with others.  He took it a step further and taught the church how to develop and share your testimony.

I wonder, do people see a good reflection of Christ in me?  I think that is the heart of revival; change my heart o God!!!!