Merry Christmas!

Just a quick post to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  In the midst of the stress of travelling, shopping, partying, and visiting, remember our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ.  Celebrate Him and be blessed!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Merry Christmas!

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3, NASB) My purpose in life is to know God and to make Him known; to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love others as I love myself.  I often get caught up in the "other things" of life, a plethora of daily activities most of which are necessary to live out this life here on earth.  But all that is really required is my relationship with Jesus.  I am not saying that those other things are bad in and of themselves, indeed they are necessary, but when they become the focus at the expense of the greater thing (my personal relationship with Jesus), then they become evil, or at the very least, meaningless endeavors. With each new day I become more acutely aware of my need for Jesus.  Spending time with Him in Bible reading, prayer, and self-examination is not a luxury I allow myself or a simple ritual, rather it is basic.  It is...
Read more

Cruise Control

I have gone on sort of a cruise control in my life for the last two years.  In November of 2011 I began serving as ministry leader for the Celebrate Recovery ministry at my church.  Since that time I have been blessed to grow tremendously in my own recovery and to see the miraculous changes God has made in the lives of many men and women who "keep coming back" each week.  As a leader I have had to do some things that are well outside of my comfort zone, things that have challenged me in the area of codependency, control, and relating with people in general.  All in all it has been an extraordinary journey.  However, I feel as if I have settled into a groove and gotten comfortable with where I am in my spiritual journey.  I do understand that a lot of ministry work is simply mundane, day-to-day activities that have to be accomplished, and I do those things with the joy of the Lord.  However, I cannot help but think about Jesus' own words about those who...
Read more

Am I Convinced of the Love and Goodness of God?

It is a very important question.  For me, the question easily could have been "Am I convinced of the love and goodness of my wife, my father, my friends?"  My wife and I during a recent argument (which I like to refer to as "passionate discussions") discussed this very issue as it related to us.  The honest answer for me was, no I am not 100% convinced of the love anyone says they have for me, not 100% of the time.  The reason I say that is that my actions indicate that I am not convinced.  I think it is just a moment to moment thing.  In a weak moment when I am feeling threatened in some way, or someone sins against me, or inadvertently does something that wrongs me in some way, it is easy to feel unloved.  This happens to me all the time.  It is a learned behavior.  My defenses go up immediately and I try to protect myself by distancing myself from the offender.  I assume they do not love me and don't care so I tell myself this person ...
Read more