We're free from anxiety and worry

Acts 3:6-7
I don’t have silver and gold, but what I do have a give you; in the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk! We are living in a time when everyone is ‘in need’ and many people have gotten to the point where they believe all that is left to do is literally beg. They are begging from the government, from relatives, and others they know.

The lesson for Christians from Peter and John is so enormous in this hour… All fully devoted disciples to the Lord have the best thing to offer those who are begging. In the name of Jesus Christ be free from anxiety and worry!!!

The next time you hear someone talking about how bad things are try a modern day reenactment of Peter. Something like, “I wish I had enough money to pay all your bills or I wish I could give you a few hundred just to help, but I can’t. However, I do have something that has proven helpful to me and I know it can for you to, in the name of Jesus Christ be free from anxiety and worry!!”

In fact, it's probably a good thing to say to ourselves, not that often, maybe... once a day should be helpful.

thanks for your prayers, we felt them

Boden had his surgery on Wednesday and it went great. I can say without a doubt, that Megan and I experienced incredible peace. The worst thing we had to deal with was the fact that we were hungry and since Boden wasn't eating we figured we could support him and go hungry for a while too. When we got home though, I think he ate more than both of us.

Believe

What does it mean today to believe God? If we say we believe in God, we must believe all of his character traits, otherwise we would believe in God that lies and has left us with no way to know anything about him. Unfortunately, so many today say they believe in God, but do not believe certain aspects of the Bible or the things it says about Him.

I think we can learn a lot from Nathaniel. Nathaniel believed simply because God saw him under a tree before Phillip called him (John 1). So I’m wondering today, what does it take for us to believe God is really God and that we can trust and count on his faithfulness. What are we looking for him to tell us about our life? Or has he already and we just weren’t listening?

Quick Update

I'm still here. It has been a while since I have posted anything. These past 3 weeks have been a whirlwind to say the least.

I am taking the most classes ever in seminary, and we have many excited things happening at church. In January we started our second campus in O'Fallon, MO meeting at Warren Elementary School and Megan and I are part of the team helping out there.

Tomorrow morning Boden is having surgery so we are getting ready for that experience (just minor, ear tubes and the removal of his adenoids). I'm pretty sure the worst part is going to be keeping him from eating before the surgery. He normally wakes up asking for food and isn't really happy until he gets some (I have no idea where he gets that from).

Some stats

As many of you have probably heard me say before I am pretty big on statistics and I think they say a lot for where we are as a Church. I just read an article that reinforces many of the scary truths we are witnessing lived out in the church and in America today.

I think we must all challenge ourselves everyday to ensure we are going toward God and His ways on all issues and not being conformed to a world that basically condones everything.

Here is the link to the article. Check out the statistics and what the 84% of Americans who claim to be Christians view as morally acceptable...

Megan is awesome

We just got back from a few days in Lake Tahoe and enjoyed a much needed break, though now I think I need a relaxing vacation, the kind without a toddler :-)

The coolest thing about the trip for me was the one day Megan and I were able to go skiing. What was so great about this day was that my eyes were truly opened to how awesome Megan and I compliment each other as a unit; actually, I guess its simply how Megan makes me a better person.

We had been skiing once before a couple of years ago and we went for only one day and did the beginner lesson, never going on anything but the training hill and a couple of greens or "easies."

This past weekend in Tahoe, they only had a few runs open because they hadn't received much snow yet and all of them were blue or intermediate. Now, everyone I know who is a good skier has always told me to get the lesson each time I go, at least for a while until we get good. So on this trip, I assumed we just wouldn't do much skiing because we would only be able to go into the training area, which wasn't even a hill at all at this resort.

Megan had a different idea. I think her exacts words were, "We know how to ski, we'll be fine." Somehow she convinced me and I believed we could just go skiing on the blue runs even though I had no real idea what to do (I watched a YouTube video on the way up to the lift).

So we rented the equipment and had a blast! I was so thankful that Megan stretched me and kept me from taking the safe route. I never would have gone had Megan not been with me. For me, this was a great example of how God uses her strengths to help me through my weaknesses or fears of doing things I know nothing about!

Oh yeah, the best part was while we were riding up the gondola to get to the lift. We are bundled up, all of our equipment on, and Megan looks at me and says "What are we doing? I have no idea how to ski." I love that girl.

Christian Counter Culture: Two simple differences

I have been writing a research paper on the Beatitudes and came across this simple idea that is a great way to see where we are in our walk with God.

We live in a world that values pride over humility and aggression over mercy. Each time we are prideful and each time we are aggressive (especially when driving in traffic) we are living in the world culture instead of the Christian Counter Culture Jesus has called us to.

hmm...