I am excited apathy is not as widespread as I thought

In the aftermath of 9-11 I saw people looking to God for help and I saw many amazing things. I know God is not the author of evil, but that He can use all for His will and purpose and I was blown away at the sacrifices people made during 9-11 from firemen, police, people giving their own, and the loved ones left make sense of it all. Today after dropping my daughter off at preschool I was driving home, back to Timblin, and I passed an elimentary school where I saw teachers gathering all the students, those little elimentary school kids, and I was glad at first and started getting excited thinking about how little 9-11 is talked about, remembered, or the grace of God in the midst of it celebrated and honored. I looked back at those people around the flagpole and got excited because apathy is not as widespread as I thought it was and I thought about a passage in scripture where Jesus talks about letting the little ones come to him for such as these belong the kingdom of heaven. For us to honestly and purely come before God, admitting we are weak and need help, looking to God to answer our prayers, and honor as well as celebrate God's hand in the midst of hurt, reminds me we can no longer live the days of doing nothing, of having faith, that only affects our lives when we walk through the church doors and into the sanctuary, but must permiate every aspect of our lives down to whatever is inside the protons, neutrons, and electrons, inside every cell of our bodies.

I hope you look around this September 11th and see whatever God wants you to see and share it with someone else.

Getting back to the heart of worship

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I remember hearing about the story that surrounds the song "Heart Of Worship' by Matt Redman and thinking about what it means to have an innocent, pure, simple, and humble heart that seeks after Jesus, that continually connects and remains in Love with Jesus, Our Lord and Savior.

Two days ago I was amazed again as God reminded me of this same thing. I was getting my daughter ready to leave the house and you have to remember she is only 3 years old. We were all ready except she did not want to come down stairs, put on her shoes, and actually leave. So I run upstairs get the phone I left up there, but more importantly to remind her it is time to go and as I approach her at the top of the stairs I hear in a sweet, soft, and beautiful voice, "I am sorry, My Jesus". Pearl reminded me of how my relationship with Jesus needs to be.

What did my three year old do, say, or think that she wanted to tell her Jesus she was sorry I may never know, but what I do know is that I want to encourage her to continue this and maybe I need to set aside the busyness of life and like the song get back to the heart of worship. Worship is not just at the Sunday service or on Saturdays or Sundays alone, but every single day and should be during everything we do no matter what.

We could all be so blessed as to say today, "I am sorry, My Jesus" and get back to the heart of worship.

Sometimes it is easy to talk or preach about the greatest commandment, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." from Matthew 22:37 the NIV which references Deuteronomy 6:5. I mention this because it is not always easy to point the way for people to walk more deeply with Jesus, to love Him more deeply, to fill our minds completely, or have all of being focused on Jesus, but maybe, just maybe it is the things we consider little like coming before Jesus and being sorry, your Jesus, my Jesus, the Jesus that died so that all who believe may have everlasting life as John 3:16 proclaims moves us along the journey of better loving the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.




{ Picture from http://www.nhim.org/Lessons/Lesson%20Files/ChildrenPraying.jpg }

Worship God Tonight

Tonight we went to worship with our Christian family at Concord UMC for Saturday Celebration. Usually Corben is up front and pearl and I are in the pews with me trying to keep her quiet and there and Pearl wanting to either get up front with her dad or to the nursery to play. Not tonight. Tonight during the beginning of worship, a time of singing praises to God, Pearl wanted her Dad to hold her while we praised God. Corben was holding Pearl with one hand and raised his other hand while he sang praises to God. Pearl was looking at him and than the next thing I knew she put her hand in the air and was singing. I do not know what she was saying, but I am sure God knows. Pearl than went to the nursery to play, which is staffed, at Bridgewater if Pearl has to go to the nursery than so do I. So I got to actually sit and listen to the sermon. Which was great. The title of the sermon was "I did it my way---and still got to heaven! Why Mike is not a Christian." A few of the things that I want to remember from the sermon tonight are: 1)Know that Jesus is the ONLY way. 2) Know the truth and be concerned that others know the truth. 3) Be ready to give reason for my belief in a respectful way. It was a great evening and a truly needed worship time.