Another Year Gone

If you are older than 20, you have probably began to perceive that life seems to move faster the older you get. Here we are at the start of yet another new year and I am still trying to figure out what happened to the last one. It seemed like September to December just flew by in a blur. I don't know if this is due to getting older or due to our world demanding more work and less rest.

My wife and I had a wonderful Christmas vacation and I had a great time visiting with all my family. It is amazing how fast the week went. We did a whole bunch of driving and spent time with four different families and multiple friends. I have to say that as happy as I was to leave my home for this vacation, I was every bit as happy to be back home! The ironic part of a holiday vacation is that you typically need time to recover from it when you get home.

So as I sit here on my lunch at work, I take stock of last year. There were many highlights, successes, disappointments, and struggles. I am honestly glad to have 2011 over with and I am looking forward to the prospects of 2012.

I believe our Lord is going to work in a big way this year in light of the "end of the world" that everyone is talking about. I have to say that it would be wonderful if Christ came and everything was made right this year but it would be sad to think of the billions of unreached people for Christ in this world. I pray that this year would be marked by a massive revival for Jesus across the world and that people all around the globe would start living an authentic life for Christ!

Blessings and happy New Year,

Greg

A Wonderful Time of Thanksgiving

Hello everyone!  As most of you can tell, I took a much needed break during the Thanksgiving holiday.  My wife and I were very fortunate to be able to spend quality time with both sides of our family.  I had the added blessing of seeing my grandparents this Thanksgiving also.  This is special because my grandparents live in Tennessee and I usually only get to see them a couple times a year.

This year we did things a little different for Thanksgiving.  We decided last year to start a family rotation schedule each year.  My family would have us for the full Thanksgiving day one year and my in-laws the next.  We really had a wonderful time at each house and this year was so much less stressful since we didn't have to run between both families on Thanksgiving or worry about either family feeling jipped.  We had enough time with each family to be able to enjoy both a wonderful meal and some much needed downtime including time spent catching up on how our families are doing.

Though both my wife and I often talk with our family members multiple times each week, there is something special about spending time in person that texting and phone conversations can't match.  I always look forward to coming home and seeing the new pieces my dad has added to his collections.  I enjoy seeing what new house project my mom has embarked on and marveling how much different that part of the house looks once she is done.  I love watching my dog play with my parent's dog.  There is nothing more fun than watching the dogs play tug of war on the rug and keep away with the toys.  I love spending time catching up with each family member on how work and life are going.  I enjoy spending time with them relaxing as we watch a movie, play a game, or just sit and talk together.  I seem to have so much more fun shopping when I have my family to share the experience with too.  I can usually count on the fact that both my family and my in-laws will have computer problems for me to fix and a few household task to attend to when I come and yet I don't mind.  These simple pleasures and much more are what I cherish at each holiday vacation.

This year the food was absolutely marvelous at both my house and my in-laws.  I ate multiple helpings of turkey, stuffing, pumpkin roll, pecan chocolate chip pie, and my grandmother's sweet tea.  There was a great variety of food including cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli casserole, corn, sweet potato casserole, yam casserole, deviled eggs, pumpkin pie, chess pie, and much more.  Both families did such a great job of preparing the food and each table had it's own set of wonderful conversations and joyful partaking of the food.

As i enjoyed each part of Thanksgiving this year, I found myself truly counting the many blessing the Lord has placed in my life.  I couldn't imagine having better families.  When I am home, I feel truly loved and appreciated.  I love seeing all the parts of my family that have contributed to who I am today.  I love the security of knowing that my families are constantly praying for my wife and I.  Each time I go home, I find a new thing to love about my families.  I get to make new memories I will cherish for the rest of my life while rekindling wonderful memories of old with the ones I hold most dear.  All in all, Jesus has truly blessed my life.  I hope you had an opportunity to count your many blessings this Thanksgiving season also.  Oh and it is good to be back. ;)

Blessings,

Greg

Cluttered Heart, Inconsistent Walk

My wife and I are not particularly great at keeping up with the chores in our house.  Our main motivation to clean the house, is in response to people coming over.  Luckily we have people come over weekly so the house never gets insanely bad but there have been many times when we have run out of most of our clothes and dishes.  Sometimes our dirty house can be blamed on busy schedules.  Sometimes it is due to tiredness and apathy.  But mostly it is because we are undisciplined and lazy when it comes to maintaining the cleanliness of our home.  As I sit hear planning out the many cleaning tasks I need to accomplish today, the Lord nails me with this question, "Is this the only part of your life that is undisciplined and unkept?"  I shutter knowing that much more than my house ends up dirty and cluttered due to laziness and lack of discipline.

There have been so many times that I have made it through the week only doing what was necessary in my prayer and devotion times with God.  My Christian walk would best be exemplified by a rider on a fast horse barely hanging on as the world rushes by.  I tend to choose TV over reading, music or contemplative silence, and social interaction over intense time alone with God.  I often times substitute a Christian book over reading the Bible and many times prefer sermons to having to wrestle with the truth's in scripture myself.

I do rely on the Lord daily and constantly put my hope and security in Him.  I know that He is daily guiding my life, my job, my friends, and my opportunities for ministry at church.  I wrestle greatly with the scriptures through podcast, music, and books as I seek to walk more like Him.  I love talking to God and seek to know more about Him daily but I tend to fail in the task of listening.  The problem I most suffer from is inconsistency.  One day I will be walking closely in God the whole day and another day I will think very little about Him or my walk.

Have you ever struggled with this?  Do you find yourself missing days and maybe even weeks without thinking about or focusing on who God is and how He is working in your life?  Have you ever taken a self inventory to find that your heart had been filled with things that do not belong there?  Have you ever woke up to the realization that you were far away from the narrow road and in need of much direction to find your way back to the heart of Jesus?  If you can answer, "yes" to any of these, then I am here to tell you, your not alone.

I believe even the most fervent Christian struggles and strays occasionally.  Even Paul said, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do."  You are not the first and will not be the last to have times of struggle in your walk with the Lord.  I beg you not to believe the lie saying, "you must not be in Christ if you have struggled in your walk or been tempted."  The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."  Hebrews 12 is also a great chapter to read to help encourage you in your walk with Jesus.


Though our body, minds, and souls are weak at time, there is perfect strength in Jesus.  I find that the days I am closest to Him is when I rely on Him fully for all parts of my day.  We can walk without God daily but we cannot fully live or reach our full potential without God.  He knows what we are capable of and what will bring us the greatest joy in life.  He knows how to lift us up and set our feet in right paths that we may live fully in Him and for His kingdom daily.  If you ever feel like your heart and your walk are a mess, then submit yourself fully to Jesus and allow Him to pick you up, dust you off, and prepare you for a closer walk with Him today.


Blessings,


Greg

Taking off the Mask to Reveal an Authentic Life

To say that today was a difficult day, would be an understatement.  I was scheduled to do an employee training today and the second part of the day focused on workplace violence.  Well our higher-ups devised a role-play to immerse our group in a workplace violence situation.  Let's suffice it to say that it was the most realistic and traumatic role play I have ever encountered.  I do not believe there was anybody in the room who did not fully believe the events that unfolded in front of us.  To make the role-play scenario as realistic as possibly the leadership involved used difficult information that we all were aware of and the trust we had in our leaders to draw us in and help us believe it.  They were most effective, which could be viewed as both a positive and negative thing depending on who you talk to.

For my part of it, I realized how much direct and intense confrontation, like the scenario displayed today, still terrifies me.  I do not like direct confrontation or anything that causes my friends or family pain.  I do not know how to deal with people going off and would rather run away and not have to deal with it than to stand and face the situation being presented.  Today was the first time in a long time that I had to deal with all the emotions involved in a confrontation situation like that.  I instantly felt sick, my heart was racing, and I began shaking, though not enough for others to see.  I was very familiar with the feeling because I had experienced it many times throughout grade school and in my life.

In responding as I did, a flood of memories directly related to conflict both in my family, friends, school, and workplace surfaced to my mind.  I was taken back to all the many times in my life that I had to deal with direct conflict and my reaction was the same most of the time.  I would avoid confrontation at any cost.  You see I hide behind a mask that projects that I am a very strong and powerful person filled with great comebacks and strength but the reality is I hate confrontation and would rather run and hide.  Realizing this about yourself is both difficult and sobering.

I am so thankful that we were in a safe environment filled with therapist and coworkers in whom I trust and respect.  I was able to deal with my emotions and reactions in a healthy way without judgment from those around me.  I felt encouraged in our shared distressed and knew that I could trust each one of the people in that class with anything I was experiencing or dealing with.

My God has blessed me with a job I love, people whom I respect, and a workplace that is safe because of the trust I have in my fellow coworkers.  I was able to see many of my friends and colleagues in a new light today.  I was able to see them at their core.  I honestly have to say that they were beautiful in their vulnerability.  All the masks came off today during this session.  They were real.  They were authentic.  Though not everything experienced was pretty or joyful, it was true.

The Lord helped show me through this experience how important it is for me take off the masks I wear to be fully authentic in my own walk and life each day.  I am who I am even if that person is terrified by certain things.  I will best minister and affect those around me by owning an authentic walk and life.  Life is not always pretty and sometimes we are dealing with stuff that is difficult.  The Lord showed me that we best honor him by living both our high and low times authentically because He shines brightest to the world in the moments we feel weakest and yet lean fully in Him.  "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:10


Blessings,


Greg

Reminiscent Night

This weekend I had the opportunity to attend a wedding of a friend from my high school days.  His wedding was beautiful and unique.  The wedding was performed with no attendants and in the exact same place as the reception while we were all sitting at the reception tables.  The ceremony was simple, quick, and beautiful.  Afterward, we all were able to enjoy a lovely meal followed by a great time of fellowship and dancing.  I also got to see other friends from my high school days and it was good to see that they are all doing well.

As I thought about past memories of times spent with my friends, I came up with both happy and sad stories.  It is amazing how much simpler those times were.  I remember feeling like I knew everything and yet not worrying about anything.  I knew nothing of paying bills and being careful to stay out of debt.  I had no idea what it took to be married and yet I so desperately sought a mate back then.  I honestly knew nothing about what it meant to truly follow Jesus with all my heart.  The focus of my days was earning money so I could hang out with my friends.  I worried about being accepted, having fun, and hoping I could graduate.

Also as I look back, I remember a dear and loving friend that we all lost along the way.  His name was Daniel Thomas and he died last year, around Christmas time, of liver failure.  As I talked about him with a close friend, who had flown in from Colorado and was staying at my house, we both agreed that Daniel had been a best friend to us all.  Each person in our high school group had loving stories to tell about close friendships shared with Daniel.  Daniel loved each one of us well.  We each felt he was a special and loving friend.

Daniel held a important spot in my heart because he was a pastor's kid like I am.  We were able to talk about our fathers, our beliefs, and our shared experiences.  I remember spending many late hours talking about our passion for God at Denny's restaurant.  I remember when Daniel rode with me all the way to Colorado for a friend's wedding that we were both in.  Daniel had dealt with liver trouble for many years and knew that an untimely death was possible.  We talked about God and death on that long trip to and back home.  Daniel knew who he was in Jesus.  He loved Jesus very much and he inspired me to seek an intimate relationship with Jesus also.

These were a few of the things that were brought to my mind during the wedding last night.  It helped me be able to see who I once was and who I am today.  I was able to gauge if my life has changed any since I was younger.  I was able to give thanks for the many blessings the Lord has placed in my life today like: my wife, continued relationships with my H.S. friends, a steady job, a home, and a close and constantly deepening relationship with my Lord and Savior.

As my wife, friends, and I drank in the love that was shared in the beautiful wedding last night, I felt great joy and thankfulness for where I am today.  I cherished the moments of conversations, shared meals, vows, and dancing together.  As we look back on life, we are able to focus on the things that really matter in this life.  Our Lord is so faithful to bless our life's as we trust in Him daily.  He is constantly working and moving to draw us closer to Him and to transform us in to mature followers of Christ.  It is so important to show you friends and family love by sharing Jesus with them.  There is no greater act of love that can be shared with your loved ones.

A wedding always reminds me of our Savior's beautiful love for us.  He has promised to love those who will trust and put their lives in His hands.  He will always be faithful and kind.  He will be with us in sickness and health, in our ups and downs, and in every situation we encounter in this life.  I hope you will take a look back and see how far you have come in your walk with Jesus today.  Take time to thank Him for all He has done in your life and I hope your love grows ever deeper for Him as you see how loving a Savior and Bridegroom He has been.

Blessings,

Greg