Opening the Box (Proceed with Caution)

In a time where abortions are an everyday norm and aborted fetuses are picked through and sold for parts, this blog called, Opening the Box (Proceed with Caution) from a dear friend in Colorado is a refreshingly beautiful picture of the sanctity of life, the simple faith of the redeemed, and the loving grace of a God who is sovereign and good.

Read the beautiful words of a heart exposed, which reveals the faithfulness and glory of God in the sufferings and joys of this life.  I pray that you will read this blog and that it will warm, encourage, and remind your heart of steadfast truth.  If this blog blesses you, share it with others who may have experienced loss, need to be reminded of the beauty of life, even in the womb, or need assurances that God is indeed good and working throughout our sufferings and our greatest joys.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”  Jeremiah 1:5

Mark 4:35-40 Jesus Calms the Storm

Second attempt at a video blog.  It starts a little rough but gets better as it goes on.  I hope the Lord speaks peace in your life through it. Tonight's video is about Jesus calming the storm in Mark 4:35-40.  This passage has brought me a lot of peace through the years and I wanted to share some thoughts about it.  Also before watching the video I want to mention the youcaring.com fundraiser we created to help us make it to the mission field.  We have felt the Lord leading our hearts to international missions for some time now but have felt like it was impossible because of the student loan debt we have.  The Lord has continued to burden our hearts for international missions in particular the Basque people group of Spain.  Currently my best friend, his wife, and child are in Spain learning the Spanish and Basque languages in preparation of moving to the Basque region.  We hope to be able to join them sooner rather than later.  At this time there are absolutely no Basque speaking evangelical churches in the basque region.  We believe that if the Lord puts a calling on our hearts He will also provide the means to be able to answer His calling.  I pray that you will take a moment and check out this link.  I thank you for your consideration and ask that you seek the Lord's guidance in considering contributing to this fundraiser.  Thank you.

You Caring

O Captain! My Captain!

This life is full of dichotomies.  Life and death. Light and darkness.  Good and evil.  Love and hate. Faith and doubt.  God has been moving in my life in more powerful ways than I have ever known could be true yet at the same time my wife is struggling with doubts commonly faced this past month.  I am humbled by both.  I am humbled by the shear amazingness of God.  I am also humbled at the lack of Christian leadership I have lived in my own home.  The Lord has taught me more about His power, His sovereignty and the necessity of me leading for Him in my home this past month than at any other point in my life.

This month has brought times of great joy, great struggles, great dependence, great wonder, and great submission.  The Lord has exploded my heart with His love and power.  He has given me the ability to explain His love in ways I never knew I could.  He has given me the boldness to share His gospel in ways I never have.  And He has put me in points of counsel I could have never imagined being available to me.

My heart has gained a deep peace in my Lord.  He has so profoundly shown me how He is constantly moving around me that my heart can do nothing but cry out in joy at His grace and love.  I have desired to know Him like this all my life and yet I have been the greatest obstacle to realizing this in my life.  Through everything He has been teaching me, surrender has been the most profound lesson.  He will not move in or through me until I fully surrender to Him.  He has also shown me that I must move first and through my steps of obedience He will move ahead of me.

Many of you have read my wife's blog in the past few days.  From the conversations I have had with others, I have found that it is likely that most of you can relate to the testimony she gave.  No matter how high we have been on the mountain top, we will always experience trials, temptations, struggles, and valleys.  The difference from a shallow relationship with God and a walk birthed from true heart understanding of God is that you can still have true peace and assurance no matter how deep the valley you walk through is when God has touched you at the depths of your soul.  Psalm 23 resounds as complete truth and becomes the anthem of your trust in the great Shepherd when you truly know Him.

I have been so blessed to see the Lord use me to teach and minister to my wife.  I am so thankful for the strength and certainty God has given me during her time of doubts.  God is so gracious to provide strength when He knows another will be weak.  I am so grateful that she is beginning to fight against her doubts and is now coming to a place of submission and peace under Jesus.  My wife and I have so much to learn and the Lord has so much more to teach us.  During our process of considering a calling to the mission field, I hope each of you will pray for us to know the full calling of Jesus on our lives.

I hope that you will come to know a soul changing relationship with God.  I pray that He will move in your life in ways you never truly imagined or even asked Him to.  I pray you come to a place of such surrender to the Lord that your every step is fully relying and trusting in Him.  I pray that your walk will no longer be about what you have been taught or strived to reach but rather a genuine deep, passionate, love relationship with Jesus the bridegroom of our souls.

Blessings,

Greg

My wife and I feel an intense calling on our lives for missions and full-time ministry.  We have created a fundraiser to help us overcome one hurtle to us being able to go to the mission field.  I pray that you will take a moment and check out this link.  I thank you for your consideration and ask that you seek the Lord's guidance in considering contributing to this fundraiser.  Thank you.

You Caring

In times of Worry

Have you ever felt like life was speeding by at 1000 mph?  It truly feels like this past eight months has disappeared in a flash.  I can't believe that my son will be here soon.  I honestly do not feel ready, not from a daddy stand point as much but more from a money, organizational, and energy standpoint. In the  past month I have been working overtime to try and earn extra money for the upcoming delivery.  Each night I come home completely spent and there is still so much that needs to be done at home.  We still have not finished the baby room, our house could use a hefty amount of spring cleaning, and my vegetable garden is filled with weeds instead of veggies.

I know everyone keeps reminding me that I don't know what tired is yet but honestly I have to say I have found these comments less than encouraging.  I am looking forward to the arrival of our son and I am looking forward to carrying the mantle of fatherhood.  I truly want to be able to enjoy each precious minute of this time.  I want to be able to drink in the moments of joy that are happening daily.  I want to reveling in the miracle that is taking place in my wife's belly. Honestly though each time I hear, "just wait if you think your tired now," it in no way bring me joy about the coming of our little boy.

Truly though all I can think about each evening is that I am tired.  My body is in constant pain because of the struggles I have with my back, wrist, and tailbone.  Though I sleep at least 8 hours a night, I still wake up tired and in a fog.  I feel like my weekends are over in a flash with minimal amounts of restoration to be had.  To be honest I am struggling.

I am so afraid that I am going to miss out on the precious points of this pregnancy, our baby boy, and life in general because of these struggles.  Though I know it doesn't completely compare, I think about all the times I told my dog no to playing fetch because I was to tired, hurting, or busted wanted time to myself.  I hope that I won't do that with my son.  I truly want to be the best father I can be.  I want to love on him, be there for him, be strong for him, and lead him well but there are times when I wonder if I will or can.

These past few months have been full of me worrying about the future.  Worrying about money.  Worrying about jobs.  Worrying about our boy.  Worrying about church.  Worrying about daycare.  Worrying about our call to missions.  Worrying, worrying, worrying about so many things!  


Proverbs 16:9 say, "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps."  Matthew 6:34 say, "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  Psalm 31:15 says, "My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!"  Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."  Through these verses and many more, I am finding peace.  When I spend all my time worrying and fretting about how my life will turn out, how good a father I will be, how everything will get taken care of, I am only focusing purely on me.  When I take the time to saturate my heart in these wonderful verses, I begin focusing on God.  


I was listening to a sermon today while mowing at my job.  One of the verses profoundly touched me saying, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:11"  It is not for me to know my beginning or end but to trust God daily to guide me.  I want to fill these longings in my heart with security, money, time, health, and so much more when the only one who can truly satisfy every longing of my heart is God.  In completely relying on Him and leaning on Him, I can find peace and strength for both today and tomorrow.  Through Him, I can conquer all things because He will help me be content in all things and guide me in right paths no matter what struggles I face.


I hope you will put your complete faith in the Lord tonight.  I don't know what struggles you have or what things have been keeping you up all night in worry but I do know that my Lord is faithful to come and bring peace that passes all understanding into your life if you will trust Him.  He truly has prepared our ways and His plans are plans of hope and goodness for us.  If you are in the Lord, you can always trust He will be there for you and provide you everything you need to make it through your struggle.  Though at times I let the worries overwhelm me, I always have His Word to realign, restore, and remind me of His love and truth.


Lord,


In my time of worries and darkness, please shine your guiding light upon me.  I pray that I would always escape into the light of your Word.  Amen 

Blessings,


Greg

The Deep Healing Waters of Jesus

I started my day like any other.  I woke up, got ready for work, and arrived on time.  I had plenty of things to do today and spent the morning trying to take care of the many tasks on my roster.  As the morning continued to slip away, I decided to go down to the kitchen to get some water.  I noticed worship music gentling calling from the living room.  I drank my water and continued to work on the tasks I had inside the house.  I passed the living room multiple times as I checked the furnace filters, the thermostats, and changed some light bulbs.

As I went past the living room, I noticed that more people than usual were attending the worship chapel and each person was doing something different as they enjoyed the music and connected with Christ.  Each time I passed the living room, I felt a draw to join in.  I frequently join in the chapel sessions but not the worship sessions.  So i continued my work trying to ignore the longing that was compelling me to join.

After about 20 minutes of attempting to ignore the desire of my heart, I decided to quietly slip into the living room, sit down, and write in my notebook as I enjoyed the worship album playing in the room.  As I sat down and began to write, a flood of emotion flowed from my heart.  My heart began to pour out onto the notebook in the form of a prayer.  I had not talked with God for a few days maybe even a few weeks. It was time and my heart knew exactly what I needed to say.

My heart had been drawing me to join the worship.  My heart had been longing to reconnect with my Lord.  The Holy Spirit knew my need though I myself had not perceived it or maybe worse had been running from it.  To help deepen and explain the significance of today, I want to explain my daily routine at work for the past few weeks.

I have spent quite a lot of time outside mowing, trimming, weeding, mulching, and so much more.  During this time, I put on my headphones, which are hooked up to my iPhone, and listen to podcast sermons from pastors I respect and admire and Christian music I enjoy.  I have probably listened to over 30 hours of sermons in the last week on Jesus and walking an authentic Christian life.  Now I can't say that I didn't not pray or speak to God in conviction during some of these sermons but I can say that I did not humble myself and give to God all I had been holding in my heart.  The silence of my blog recently has spoken to this condition in my heart.

When I sat down in that worship, I finally took the time to connect with where I was with Christ and was able, through the Holy Spirit, to identify my desperate need to reconcile with Jesus and lay my burdens, worries, and struggles down before Him.  As I sat there quietly in the back of the living room, I was able to truly pour out my broken and contrite heart before the Lord.

The Lord helped to facilitate my healing even further through my best friend, Jono, who spoke even deeper into the need of my heart through the daily texts we share.  I opened up and confessed also to my best friend and accountability partner the state of my heart and my need.  We both dove deeply into our desires to serve and live passionately for Christ.

Through this whole process, I found a peace I have not felt in a while.  I was able to breathe deeply and fully in the certainty and joy of Christ.  I could feel the Lord reconnect my heart into Himself.  I could feel my heart submit to His reign.  The rest of my day has been filled with the peace and joy of knowing that I have a God who knows my heart's need so much better than I do.  I can rest in the knowledge that my Lord will lead me to still waters whether I know I need them or not.

Where is your heart with Jesus tonight?  Have you been listening to all the Christian songs, reading the Christian books, intently enjoying the Christian sermons, and living a good looking Christian life and yet still finding your heart distant from Jesus?  Sometimes we can cover over exactly what we need by filling our lives with all these things and yet not humbling ourselves before the Lord.  Have you laid your heart, your sins, and your burdens at the feet of Jesus tonight?  Don't hesitate to do it tonight.  The cool waters of our Lord are abundant and sweet!  Don't resist the call of the Holy Spirit who is drawing you to make your path straight tonight.  Dive in my brother and sister.  Dive in.

As a closer, I would love to hear from you about how the Lord has drawn you to himself recently.  I would love to hear ways that you connect with Jesus daily.  I would love to here how the Lord used this blog to restore your heart today.  Feel free to comment on the blog or on my Facebook account.  I would just love to be able to share in the many way Jesus has spoken to, blessed, and uplifted each of my readers.

Blessings,

Greg

My wife and I feel an intense calling on our lives for missions and full-time ministry.  We have created a fundraiser to help us overcome one hurtle to us being able to go to the mission field.  I pray that you will take a moment and check out this link.  I thank you for your consideration and ask that you seek the Lord's guidance in considering contributing to this fundraiser.  Thank you.

http://www.youcaring.com/fundraiser_details?fundraiser_id=3437&url=roadtofreedomforproclaimingchrist

He Refreshes my Soul

My day was long and, at times, frustrating.  I find that I am not quite as cheerful or patient when I am sick.  I do not seem to have very much tolerance for things not going as I expected and I don't handle multiple tasks very well.  By the grace of God, I was able to survive this day though I probably could've benefitted from another day resting and healing in bed.  As I prepare for bed tonight, I think of Psalm 23 and it gives me peace.  The Lord is with me always no matter how I feel and is watching over me.  Indeed tonight I am going to let Him lead me by still waters and refresh my soul.  I hope you all have a blessed and safe day tomorrow.  I leave you with the 23rd Psalm saying,

 ¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
 ² He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
 ³ he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
   for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
   through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will fear no evil,
   for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
   they comfort me.

 ⁵ You prepare a table before me
   in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
   my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
   all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
   forever.

Blessings,

Greg

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

Walking with me Daily

This week has had its own set of challenges, blessings, trials, and joys.  My whole focus throughout has been to give the Lord praise and trust His daily guidance.  My day today began bad with me waking up late but ended well with me finishing a painting project I have been working on for a full week.  I am so glad that Jesus is with me on the good and bad days.  I am so glad that He is constantly guiding and preparing me with the many different moments I face throughout the day.  Isaiah 41:13, "For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Fear not, I am the one who helps you.'”  

I have to admit though that as I sit here typing this blog tonight, I am completely and utterly exhausted.  I don't know if it is due to possible sickness, stress, bad sleep, or all three but I am grateful for the time of rest I am now receiving.  It doesn't matter if today is a mountain or a valley day for you today because Jesus will always meet you where you are.  He knows exactly what you need and will always provide for your good in light of the good of His kingdom.  Philippians 4:l9, "And my God will provide every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

Blessings,

Greg

P.S.  I would love it if everyone who reads this would attempt to comment on this blog or others.  I have not received comments for my blogs in a long time and I am wondering if there is something wrong with the blogger commenting system.  Thank you for your help everyone.

Shoveling Poop

At my job, I have learned a lot of things about horses.  I have always loved horses but I honestly had not had the opportunity to have much contact or time with them till I got this job.  Today, I needed to work in the field because one of the things i have learned about horses is that though horse poo is considered black gold to gardens, too much of it can be bad for the pastures and unsanitary in the outbuildings.  So one of my weekly duties at my job is shoveling poo from  the outbuildings and pasture.

The holidays have put a damper on my coworker and I being able to complete this task.  We have had weeks of rain, vacations, and alternating busy schedules that have hampered us from doing this task.  Well we had planned to work on the pasture Wednesday but I saw the forecast this morning and it called for rain all day Wednesday.  So I decided that I needed to go out and clean up what I could myself.  Really it was a great day for doing this job because it was 50 and sunny, which is not the norm for winter in Indiana.

As I was sizing up my job, I began to realize how big a task I had before me.  I have to say that I am incredibly grateful for the person who invented the tractor.  I don't believe I could've made any sort of dent in the pasture without this handy farm device.  The shovel helped me to clean up large areas quickly, which is good since the pastures needed a lot of help.

I had plenty of time to think about life and God as I worked on cleaning up the pasture and I thought about all the times I had allowed my life to fill up with crap.  It is always so amazing to me how fast this can happen.  I try to walk faithfully in Christ and yet there are many times I let other things clutter my life and heart.  It is in these times that I have to surrender my heart back to Jesus and He helps me to remove the crap I have piled in my heart.

Have you taken your eyes off Jesus recently and allowed your heart to be filled with the crap of this world?  Come to Jesus today and allow Him to clean up your heart.  All you have to do is ask Him to forgiveness you for the sin that you have allowed to enter your heart.  He will not be harsh with you or rub your nose in your sins or failures but will gently and compassionately work to help your heart be restored to purity in Him.

Jesus is such a kind and loving Savior.  Though He can't tolerate blatant and unrepentant sin in our lives, He will always accept, with open arms, anyone who humbly comes to Him with a broken and repentant heart.  If you do not know Him as your Savior today, I hope today will be the day.  I promise that He will never fail you and that you will never regret trusting Him with your heart.

Blessings,

Greg

Prince of Peace

Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, 
   to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon^[a] his shoulder,
   and his name shall be called^[b]
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 


This year I truly hope we will get to know Jesus as the prince of peace.  It seems to me that each year violence is becoming more prevalent, hate is showing itself in new ways, and we seem to be finding new reasons to consider war.  I pray this Christmas we can look to peace across the world.  I pray that their will be peace in each person's home, each person's family gathering, and I pray that their will be peace in each one of our hearts.  Merry Christmas.


Blessings,


Greg