Are You Living a Philippians 4:8 Life?

Today, my wife and I enjoyed a day on the town to celebrate her birthday.  We had fun hanging out, watching a movie, shopping at baby stores, and eating at the Cheesecake Factory.  We truly had a wonderful day together to enjoy celebrating the life of my wife and also the life of our coming baby.  We enjoyed being able to relax and just hang out.  It was so nice to not have to worry about homework, chores, or bills during our outing.

While we were out, we went to both baby and maternity stores to check out all the many baby items and things we would need to consider over the next five months in preparation for the baby's arrival.  We had a lot of fun but we also were highly overwhelmed by the experience.  The whole idea of the shear volume of products and accessories for babies, not to mention the exorbitant prices, made both our heads spin.  From this shopping experience, we truly came to grips with the reality that our baby will be hear soon!  We were really beginning to doubt whether we could handle such a great responsibility.  We felt increasing fear on whether we could afford to raise a baby.  It all felt like too much to consider at once.  After escaping the baby stores, much of our fears subsided and we were able to enjoy the rest of the evening together.

On our way home, we talked about God's will for our lives and how we feel Him moving right now.  Now that our day was mostly over, the reality of being without a church home, feeling the distance from our families, the mountain of bills, the many household chores, and so much more were weighing heavy on our hearts.  So we discussed how God has been moving in the past few months.  Through our conversation together, we were able to identify the many great things God has been doing in us.  God has been constantly working in our hearts and preparing us for what He has in store even through the many struggles we have encountered.

We were able to agree that we feel peace about our choice to leave our former church and feel joy at the prospect of the new church home He is preparing for us.  We were able to see the ministries the Lord has given us at this time through my blog and our young adults small group.  Through talking, we were able to identify the blessings from our jobs and coworkers, new friends through a class I am taking, loving people who have came into our lives who support and encourage us, even when we feel far from our families, and most importantly we have been able to identify that God is constantly moving and working though us exactly where we are.

Though I do not know how everything is going to work out with this baby, I find peace in knowing that God does.  He has constantly been teaching me that He is in control and that I am not.  There is nothing I can do that will bring more blessing into my life than simply trusting and following Jesus' will and leadership in my life.  There is nothing I can do to pay the bills any better than when I trust Him with my finances and handle them the way He is leading me to.  I know some people view God as this distant detached being looking down on us but I am hear to proclaim that He is here and He wants to be intimately involved with each person's life.  I love the chorus to the Newsboys new song saying, "Our God's not dead, He's surely alive.  He's living on the inside, roaring like a lion."

Do I have many struggles in my life?  Yes.  Are there many times that I am unsure how everything is going to work out and wonder what direction I am supposed to take for my life?  Yes.  Do either of these things preclude God working in my life?  No!  My fears show my weakness and lack of faith but in no way speak to God's lack of strength or movement in my life.  When I sit down and examine my life, I can see the fingerprints of Jesus all over my life.  I know without a doubt that He is alive and moving in me, my wife, and the many friends and family in my life who also depend on Him for direction and strength.

So today, I just wanted to share with you that I understand how easy it is to see the struggles, the bad times, and the areas where you are lacking in your life.  The devil works so hard to bring us down by trying to make us focus on the things that we do wrong such as: missed devotions, not enough prayer in a day, missed opportunities, and so much more.  I hope that instead you will take the time to check out the blessings in your life.  I hope you will be able to identify how God has been and is working in your life, where He is lifting you up, and be able to realize that He is always ready to help heal and restore your heart to Him.  My hope is that you can realize how good and worthwhile focusing on those things are.  I leave you with this verse from Philippians 4:8 stating, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

Blessings,

Greg

Gasoline

(Disclaimer: This photo was not taken the same day as this story)

Today as I was out doing my errands for work, I ended up getting sprayed with gasoline while filling one of the mower containers.  I had not put the tip of the dispenser far enough into the container hence it sprayed everywhere when I pulled the trigger.  A pretty decent amount of gasoline covered my left hand, my left arm, and my left leg.  I was none to pleased, of course, and proceeded to figure out a way to remove it from my clothes.  I found that there was nothing I could do till I got home and could change to wash the clothes.  It turns out that it is easy to be covered with gasoline and yet difficult to remove it.  I noticed that the fumes from the gas were quite noxious and I ended up with a hurting throat by the time I made it home for lunch to change.  I had visible stains on my clothes and anyone passing by could immediately tell that I was not someone to stand close to.


When I was covered by the gasoline I was embarrassed because of the mistake I had made and worried about how people would perceive me.  The gas had soaked through my clothes in the places it had sprayed me and I had to also wash my skin to remove the substance and smell.  I could not just use soap and water to remove the gasoline.  I had to use a special soap to remove it from my skin and clothes.  While I had the gasoline on my skin and clothes I was a walking time bomb.  All it would take was a spark to severely hurt or possibly kill me.  All I could think about till I was out of the clothes was what would happen if I came across this spark or flame.

Isn't interesting that many of the parallels of gasoline work also with sin.  It is easy to get in to but hard to get out of.  It affects you body, mind, and soul.  It requires the Lord to remove the soiled parts of your heart for a deep cleaning.  It affects those around you and put off an aroma that typically repels them from you or in sin's case maybe entices them to you.  Sin invades your thoughts and clouds your judgment.

The Bible says these things about sin.  John 3:20, "For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed."  Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  Jeremiah 2:22, "Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God."  Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."  John 3:16-17, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."  Romans 5:8-10, "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life."


Sin is something we have all be covered with.  No one can remove it but Jesus, who has conquered all sin.  All we have to do is ask forgiveness for our sins and believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior and He will come in and cleanse us of our sin.  Though we are justified, which means we are presented as completely spotless and worthy of heaven before God because of Christ, it takes the rest of our life's to be sanctified, which is the Holy Spirit completing a continual work in us to bring us into a closer and closer likeness to Christ taking the rest of our life and only being completed upon our arrival to heaven.  I hope you will lay your sins at Jesus' feet today and trust Him to do a good work in you and produce spiritual fruit in you for the rest of your life.  If you choose to do this or choose to recommit yourself to Christ today, remember what Jesus said to His disciples at the end of Matthew about how we should live as followers of Christ, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."   


Blessings,


Greg

Who is on Your Heart Throne?

Have you ever discovered that the days you try the hardest to be perfect or keep your thought life pure is the very same day you stumble the most?   I have been experiencing these ups and downs since watching the movie Courageous.  I know that James says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds" but I wish that the trials didn't increase at the very moment you begin to work on walking more like Christ.  One thing I have discovered, is that much of the time when I experience stumbling, it is because I am trying to walk rightly on my own instead of allowing Jesus to perform a sanctifying work in me.  


Why is it then that I seem to struggle so much with allowing Jesus to change my heart and life.  Why do I constantly live like I need to rise above my sin and accomplish perfection on my own?  I know the answer to this question, which is my sinful nature is trying to walk as if I am my own God instead of acknowledging my need for God and inability to live rightly without God.  I know these things to be true and yet I still struggle with letting Jesus have complete reign of my heart. 

Have you ever been there?  Have you ever punished yourself for the many sins you commit each day and your inability to be pure for even a minute, let alone an hour?  Have you ever felt unworthy of being a follower of Jesus because of how often you stumble and because it seems to be an incurable condition?  Each one of these actions is due to your sin nature and temptations of the Devil.  Becoming a Christian, does not make you instantly pure and sinless like Christ but allows Jesus' purity and sinlessness become your covering, which allows you to be admitted into heaven through Christ's atonement on the cross.  Let me simplify that for you.  When you become a Christian you become a sinner saved by grace not a person who is now sinless and will never struggle with sin again.  

I find it enlightening the way Paul, in Galatians, talks about this battle in reference to our need for the Holy Spirit.  Paul says, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do."  In order to walk a more sanctified life we have to, "walk by the Spirit."  Only through doing this can we expect to see a change in our behaviors, thoughts, and actions.  Paul puts it this way in an earlier part of Galatians saying, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."     

So each morning we have to remember to rely completely on the Holy Spirit to help us walk in Jesus each day.  Every time we try and put ourself before the Holy Spirit, we will continue to stumble.  So let Jesus have full reign of your heart's throne today.  In your surrender to Jesus, the fruits of the spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control, will begin to grow and flourish in you.  Also the sin that plagues you will continue to make you stumble less.  I do not believe you will ever reach a state of perfect sinlessness in this world but the Holy Spirit will continue to bring you into a closer walk with Christ daily till the day you do become perfectly cleansed and sinless upon your arrival into heaven.  


I ask that you also pray for me that I would lay down my life daily so that it is not I living but Christ living in me each day.  I want each of you to know that I am so thankful to be able to share with you each day.  I continue to hope that through my struggles, and the lessons the Lord teaches me through them, you may be blessed, encouraged, and strengthened in your own daily walk with Christ.  

Blessings,

Greg  (www.realchristianwalk.com)


P.S.  I wanted to share with you all another beautiful Indiana fall photo today. I hope it brings you peace and joy.  :)

Magnificent Creator

I do believe that my favorite time of the year is Fall.  Fall is one thing that Indiana does very well.  I absolutely love driving along country roads and seeing the plethora of vibrant colors that seem to explode from each tree.  I love how some trees look as though they are on fire as they slowly become a vibrant red from the bottom up.  I love the blazing oranges, crisp yellows, and breathtaking reds and purples.  Wouldn't it be amazing if the trees stayed in their most beautiful fall state all the time.  Could you imagine being able to see these myriad of colors in spring, summer, and fall.  As a painter, I find nothing more fascinating than to try and reproduce the brilliance of fall trees and a sunset sky.

Even if I never read the Bible, I would know that God exists solely from the exquisite beauty of this world.  The Lord has brought me to my knees in absolute praise of Him many times through the uniqueness and awesomeness of His creation.  My heart jumped in praise as the Lord blessed me with meteorites across the sky.  My Lord has stopped me in my tracks through multiple sunsets accompanied by the most beautiful blending of colors I have ever seen.  My mouth has dropped in awe on many occasion at the beauty and power of storm clouds and the lightning jumping across them in all it's splendor.  I have literally sat in silence drinking in the beauty of cascading mountains, each formed by God's own hand.  Many rivers  and creeks have brought me intense joy as I experience the wonder of discovering something new and amazing around each bend and turn.  Our God has signed His beautiful autograph on each part of this world and He made it for us.

Psalm 19:1-6 says,

"The heavens declare the glory of God,
   and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
   and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
   whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
   and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
   which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
    Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
   and there is nothing hidden from its heat."

I hope you will take the time to see the many blessings our gracious Lord and God will create for you this week.  Pay attention to the brilliant blue sky enhanced by the ever changing and drifting clouds.  See how many colors you can discover as the trees begin their transition to their Fall splendor.  Spend a few evenings outside expectantly waiting to see God's glory shown in a masterpiece sunset.  Truly drink in the world around you and be thankful of the one who gave it to us.  Be careful though to remember to whom the praise is deserved.  Never praise the creation but the creator.  May the Lord bless and speak to your heart in a new way as He uplifts you through His creation.

Blessings,

Greg

My 365 Day Struggle to Know Christ; Day 8

Day 8, August 16, 2011

Today was a wonderful day filled with joy, song, and fried food.  I had the opportunity to lead chapel and worship at my job today and it was such a blessing to be able to play and share my heart with our clients again.  The Lord brings so many blessings through true worship together.  The Lord also opened my eyes to the importance of meeting each person where they are.  As I finished chapel today I played the song No Such Thing by John Meyer because one of the clients enjoys the song and this led them to request Daughters by Mayer and Somewhere over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo Ole' also.  I also had the opportunity to play and sing happy birthday for the same client that requested Over the Rainbow.  I honestly think I ministered to the clients more through the secular songs I played than the worship songs because through them I was able to connect with them by meeting them where they were. 

Sometimes I struggle so much with Paul’s statement about becoming all things to all people in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 but then I look at the life of Jesus and how he went and spent most of his time with those who were hurting and sinners.  He went to them and loved on them, telling them the truth in love, and listened to what was on their hearts (though he already knew.)  So many times, we as Christians require people to clean up and come and meet us on our level instead of loving them just where they are.  I hope that I can open my heart to see a person for who they are and where they are at to better love and minister to them for Jesus. 

After work, my wife and I got the opportunity to go to the Indiana state fair.  We had a great time walking through the exhibits, eating delightful fried foods, and enjoying the beautiful animals.  I had so much fun spending time with my wife as we critiqued the many entries from the exhibit halls.  Sometimes it is truly nice to just take an evening to relax and enjoy each other’s company especially since she will be starting school again Friday.  I am finding that it is so important to cherish each day and to take time to observe how the Lord moved in your life that day. 

Thank you Lord for the many opportunities and blessings you give me each day to live and show your love.  Please help me to live more like you and to have an authentic and real walk as I seek to know you better.  Also help me to be more in tune to the Holy Spirit as he leads and guides me each day that I may listen and obey Him.  I love you and thank you.  Amen

Blessings,

Greg

Survival

Back in October, my best friend and I got the opportunity to take a trip down to Louisville Kentucky and see Bear Grylls. Some of you probably haven’t heard of Bear Grylls, so I will give you a little run down on him. Bear Grylls is the host of a show called Man vs. Wild on the Discovery channel. Man vs. Wild is a survival show where Bear goes out into different harsh environments all across the world and shows survival techniques for different climates, environments, and situations. Well, my friend and I love to watch his show and to go out on our own adventures whenever we get the opportunity. We love hiking, biking, kayaking, and getting ourselves into situations where we have to rely on our skills and our God.

What made the trip even more fun is the fact that Bear is a

Christian and so we really wanted to hear about how his faith guides his day and who Jesus is to him. The night was incredibly inspiring and while we were down near Louisville we just had to do a couple adventures of our own. We had the opportunity to visit Charlestown State park and Falls of the Ohio on Monday. I lived in the Louisville area for almost 10 years so I am very familiar with the area but I had not had the opportunity to check out Charlestown State park when I lived there. It was quite the adventure and though the park has six trails, we spent our whole time on one trail or more accurately near one trail. We are always up for the trail less travelled and are always interested in taking those paths where you end up in new and interesting areas. In our adventure we had the opportunity to cross a bridge built in 1927, swing on a rope over fourteen mile creek, have a go at building a brushwood raft, and explore concrete structures from an old military ammunitions plant. We definitely had a great time and were glad to see the Jeep when we were done. In all the joy of a successful adventure, I decided to celebrate by fishtailing out of the empty gravel parking lot we were in. Of course as I did here comes the park ranger driving down the road. Knowing what I had done was wrong, I drove exactly the speed limit with my eyes fixed straight. We decided it would probably be good to leave after such a thoughtless showing. I learned that we have to be careful to not let a successful adventure cause us to sin or hurt our witness to others in our life. In our joy we have to be sure to protect our witness to others.

Next we went to Falls of the Ohio, which is a park on the Ohio River where a dam and retaining wall system has been installed to allow visitors to explore the river bed that is full of fossils. Sometimes you can walk in the whole area of the park and other times a large section of the river bed is covered by the river as the corp of engineers open and close the dam to regulate the level of the Ohio. I was hoping since there has been a huge drought in the Louisville area that my friend and I would get to walk out and so the whole fossil section but unfortunately the dam was open. We enjoyed walking on the accessible part and enhanced our adventure by going over to where the dam was and checking out the dam and railroad bridge area. We were even able to get so close to the dam that we were only a few feet away from an insane amount of water that was rushing out. It was crazy to think how many tons of water was coming out of the gate. The water actually held its form for about 30 ft past the gate before disseminating and flattening into the river, as you can see in the picture. It was humbling to consider the strength of the concrete walls we were standing next to that were protecting us from the power of the raging river water. Though the water behind these walls could’ve ended our lives in a second, we were safe because of the strength the concrete provided to hold back the water. Do you ever think about the ways our God is protecting us from the authorities, the powers of darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness that are all around us each day?

On our final adventure of the weekend, we went to Clifty falls state park. This is a park that I have been to many times and had taken Jono to once before. We decided to take a trail neither of us had taken before to enhance the adventure and survival aspect of the hike. The first part of our hike ended up being a fairly bland yet very tedious hike up a river bed, hence the sleeping log shot. We still had some fun but I was the one who lead us up the river bed because I wanted to see the water falls and thought we were closer to them than we really were. After ten or fifteen bends in the river bed, about mile and a half, we finally decided to turn back and return to the car.

During this hike back I discovered that Jono had not wanted to be on the river bed in the first place and I missed or disregarded his signals indicating this. This river bed was a difficult hike because the river bed was filled with large jagged rocks that are the equivalent of hiking in sand. Each step required careful footing and walking quickly was not easy or an option. By the time we got back to the trail that brought us to the river bed, we were both tired, hungry, and cranky. Jono desired to get back to the jeep by climbing out of the ravine we were in instead of taking the trail available to us. I was already exhausted and had my dog Leah with us. I was afraid that climbing out of the ravine would be to dangerous and was hoping that Jono would realize this and we would just go back to the original trail.

Well, during the process of finding a way out Jono and I got separated and I attempted to climb a part of the ravine to try and reconnect with Jono. While climbing a rocky slope with Leah, I was overcome with the fear that she and I were not going to make it and that I was risking bodily harm or death for both her and I. I made it up the ridge and reconnected with Jono but found out that we had climbed the wrong side and would have to climb down the ravine again and climb up the other side. At this point I had reached my limits and I went off on Jono for deserting me, putting Leah’s life and mine in danger, and for getting us into this predicament. I let my fear and anger control my words and made a situation that was already bad worse. Let’s just suffice it to say that neither one of us was happy in this moment but we both knew what had to be done.

So we proceeded to carefully climb down the ravine together. Then began to climb the other side, which turned out to be much more challenging than the first side. This did not help my anxiety in the least especially since Leah was having trouble climbing this side of the ravine. Jono did a fantastic job to sticking at the task at hand and encouraging me that we were going to make it. We ultimately had to use a rope that we had brought to work together to help me pull Leah up to each new level of the ravine. This was a slow, difficult and scary process. There were a few times I that only the rope was keeping me and/or leah from plummeting down to the bottom of the ravine. Jono was the anchor to me and I was the anchor to Leah. As we continued this system we slowly but surely made it to the top. Jono, Leah, and I finally made it back to the jeep by using teamwork. When we made it back to the jeep we were incredible tired. We both apologized for our part in the struggles we had just experienced and forgave each other for our own shortcomings and words spoken in fear, anger, and frustration in the hike. I learned an important lesson about brotherhood and friendship in that hike. You have to listen to what your friend is really saying, stay together in all circumstances, and trust each other when the going gets rough. I believe all three of these lessons apply to our daily walk with Jesus.

In some ways, our adventure trips are like our lives. Jono and I prefer to take the path less travelled. Sometimes this gets us in perilous, difficult situations and yet at other times we find hidden treasures and views many have never seen. The path less traveled is not always easy. It many times requires a partner so you can watch out for each other. It always requires you to be alert so you don’t get lost and definitely always guarantees a good story and lesson learned. Jesus asks us to take the road less travelled everyday and we have to be careful to follow Him because it is so easy to be led astray and end up in a situation that is perilous. We each have to learn survival techniques in our Christian walk to help us get out of those traps, snares, and dangerous situations the devil tries to lead us into.

www.realchristianwalk.com