Happy Holidays... All of them

My wife was recently reading a blog about Santa Claus. The blogger was asking how people had been told there really wasn't a Santa, but of course it was a Christian blog so people turned it to the typical "Christians shouldn't celebrate Santa." It seems to me that someone somewhere in the Christian world always has a problem with one of the Holidays be it Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving or whatever. In our house we celebrate them all and they all have special meaning. Most people don't even look at the reason xmas is xmas before they scream that the world is trying to take Christ out of Christmas. There are so many good reasons for the x one being that it is the greek letter for Christ or it represents the cross of Christ. Long before Christmas was made into the shopping Holiday it is today there was Xmas. I recently heard of a sermon about the kneeling Santa and how each part of the costume represented certain parts of salvation, easter eggs represent new beginnings in Christ, pumpkins represent the shell of who we were before the light was put in us, Xmas trees represent the everliving promise of God. Heres the thing that we need to look at as Christians, who are we going to believe? According to the oldest written historys the flood was brought on by old gods who got mad at most humans except of course the one he had to build a boat. Sound Familar? There are so many of the Bibles stories that have other secular content but we know the truth of things. The Flood was sent by God after he had Noah build a boat. So should we stop telling it because the pagans have somthing similar? Or should we loudly proclaim the truth? I think the reason for any season is Chirst and any season has a way to proclaim him so I will continue to carve my pumpkins, have Xmas trees, color Easter eggs and even tell my kids about Santa... A man who actually followed Christ teaching of selling everything he had and giving to the poor... A man who attended the council of Nicea and helped Christianity become what it is today... A man. I read this today "Those people who say "Bah humbug" to Christmas fun should find a way to transform holiday traditions into instruments of God's love." Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Take my Life

You know the past few months of our life has been really tough to live out each day for God while it seems that everything is going against you. A couple of nights ago I was taking my nightly walk with the dog and a song by Third Day came on. The words go Please take from me my life when I don't have the strength to give it away to you; please take from me my life when I don't have the strength to give it away to you Jesus. I remember looking at my wife and saying we would ride in God's hands as long as it took to recover our loss, that he would be everything we needed never realizing how hard even that simple task was going to be for us. Yet everything continues to work out well for us, we are blessed despite our despair. God is there!

Today is the Best day of the Year!

On this day 9 years ago Chrissy and I became husband and wife. Things get better every year and I thought that nothing could compare to that day to be honest. She has been the best partner a man could ask for.

I can now say I'm done..

With the semester that is lol, I have turned in my last paper and I am actually caught up with everything I was behind on. I honestly didn't think I would ever get everything done. Now we can take a break and just breath as a family, with everything that has happened over the last few months that has been really hard to do.. just breath. But you know God has brought us through a lot of rough water so I know the journey isn't over in fact I am looking for something great in the next year!

I can now say I'm done..

God's Protection

OK its 2am and here I am wide awake and blogging, yes I said 2am. I have told you before how we have felt that Satan has been attacking our family personally ever since we publicly declared that we were going into a full time pastorate, well tonight we believe that another of those attacks may have been thwarted by God.
My wife's mother has been in the hospital and Christina really wanted to go down and see her, however with all of our schedules with school(both ours and Ainsley) it was really difficult to see how she could get down there. We hatched a plan for her to leave after Sunday night church service, drive to Huntsville and stay with a friend of ours, then see her mom on Monday leaving around lunch to get back here in time to see Ainsley cheer for the first time in a real game(more on that in a different post I'm sure..if not mine read Chrissy's lol). I took the dog outside for a walk and the thought came to me that I would never see her again, within seconds all the details flashed before me sending chills up my spine. I shrugged it off as just a bad thought associated with just normal fears. I came back in the house and she had half way decided there was no way she could do the trip so the whole thought just left me. Later that evening she mentioned still going and this time we were considering her taking Renah so that Renah would have a special trip with mommy. Once again I took the dog out and I was hit with the same thought, only this time Renah was gone too. I don't know why but I didn't tell Chrissy any of this but I said a prayer for God to protect them and went on with our daily plans. Fast forward a bit and we were laying in bed, neither of us seemed able to sleep so I rolled over to her and asked her what was on her mind. Without even skipping a beat she said "That if she went to Huntsville she wouldn't come back" Like a ton of bricks it all came back to me so I questioned her further as to what she meant. She had a thought that someone was going to hurt her and she wasn't going to come back alive. I then told her what I had thought earlier to which she replied I had just prayed to God for a sign right before you asked me what was on my mind and I really feel this is it. i don't know how to tell you what I felt in those next few moments, I don't even know that you would understand. Many people will try to tell me that its just coincidence but I'm telling you that it was a warning from God for her not to go which just further proves to us that God has a calling on our lives. She almost went last Sunday morning but the car had messed up the night before. Everything we have tried over the last week to get her down there has failed, this time it wouldn't have but my partner would not have come back! I know full well what just happened and it is miraculous divine intervention in my opinion. I don't know what else it could be but God. If you read my blog at all then you know we have had a rough couple of months please pray God's continued protection over my family.

Point Blank! Everything is going to be Alright

From the title of my blog you would think I was referring to the election like every other McCain backer over the last few days, but in fact that is referring to a statement given to my wife and I by a minister. Last Sunday he was at our church to preach, but in our service he didn't get the opportunity as God moved in a very powerful way. As God started to move there was a call to come down if you needed anything from God. Chrissy and I came to a separate decision to not go down for prayer again for whatever reason. You know that feeling that you are being looked at, but you avoid looking in that direction no matter what happens you focus on something else? Well that was much the feeling I had as Floyd Lahaun walked down the aisle. It seemed that he made a bee line straight for me, and as he tapped me for prayer I moved out into the aisle with the thought I will not go down. For those that don't understand that, I meant get slain in the spirit which used to happen alot in pentecostal Church's. Now I observe a lot of things in church services and I do recognize the move of God when it happens, and there are times that people do what is expected. They dance, get slain whatever the "format" of the service is. I know that most are right on but there are always fakes in every crowd. I have always been careful with the spirit especially since I know I could do better imitations of the move of God than most. So there I was thinking to myself I won't go down. He prayed for what seemed a few minutes and I felt the push to go down. Then he stopped and touched my heart and said "Point Blank son I don't know what you are dealing with but God wants to consume you he wants you to give him everything you have including your problems and your fears." Now as much as I would like that to be a direct quote I was already sobbing so hard I could hardly breathe just after he used my own catch phrase against est me, point blank" As he touched my forehead again I remember my knees buckling and then I was coming to next to my wife, who apparently had also had an experience. As we stood up and moved back into our seat who should come back down the aisle but Floyd Lahaun, this time with a mike. He came up to us and started telling us that what he had to say no one in the church may understand, but that he knew God had words for us directly. Those words were Point Blank,everything is going to be alright. That no matter what had happened that God said it was going to be alright. Then of course he touched me with the red Bible again and I went down without even a thought in my head, I do know I was crying like a kid again. My wife told me later that she had been forced to a seat by me because I had such a tight hug on her. He had her stand up to put her back down again. For those of you that know what we have been through here recently and many in the audience that day, the immediate thought is the miscarriage. For my wife and I there was so much more that ran through our minds. The ministry we are getting ready to embark on and all the issues like our finances that are involved getting there. Yes the miscarriage was in our mind, bigger in Chrissy's than mine, but God had already showed us peace in that. You would think that after two knockouts from God that our day would be over but no at that evenings service he came down the aisle to us again and asked if we were the same couple from across the aisle that morning, of course we were. He told us that God had had us on his mind all day! Then he told us again, everything is going to be alright. This time I ended up on my face before God, half crying half laughing it seemed. I know this God is good, I never felt so relieved as I did that day. I know now that everything is going to be alright... Point Blank