Blockages in my heart

I hope your pulse didn't quicken when you saw that headline. I am not referring to my physical, made of tissue, four chambered heart. I am talking about my real heart, my spiritual heart. So many times we say that we just have a lot of stuff on our mind, but I don' t feel that sentiment is true enough for me. Not right now anyways. I feel like I have some stuff that is blocking up my heart right now. Stuff that makes me want to cry, laugh, sing and be quiet. So, bear with me as I bare my soul a little bit.

Jesus is so...whew. It is hard to put into words all that I am feeling about Him right now. My relationship with Him has been so rich and sweet lately. For the past several mornings I have felt as though I could hear His voice beckoning to me to wake from my sleep. He calls me to His Word, He speaks truth to my heart and challenges, convicts and blesses me with it. We have spent some really beautiful times together on some really long walks during the past few weeks. I am not trying to be super spiritual or mystical with what I am about to say, but it has felt as though He has literally been walking right beside me. He speaks about what He is doing in my life right now and what He has planned for me in the future. I am overwhelmed at His love for me. He is so patient with me, so tender, so gracious. As I head back into the house after about an hour it is as if He gives me a big hug and says, "I can't wait for tomorrow." Jesus is my best friend. I can truly say that.

The world has been heavy on my heart recently. Some really good friends of mine have just returned from a mission trip to Romania where they loved on some orphan children with the love of Jesus. I have been with many of them on that same trip, or should I say on a trip like that (since every trip is unique and special). I know that it is such a blessing to be with those kids. I miss their smiles and their laughter. I miss watching their eyes as they listen to how much God loves them. I am leaving for Asia in less than 2 weeks. My team, which there are only 6 of us I think, will be teaching house church and factory church leaders for multiple hours a day. Teaching them what? The good and glorious truth of God's Word. We will be covering topics like the family, the Gospel, singleness, persecution and the New Testament. I am beyond words when I think about the incredible privilege and honor that is mine in this endeavor. Please, pray for us. Pray that we will be empty of ourselves and that we will walk full of the Holy Spirit. It is just such an awesome reality to be apart of what the Lord is doing all over the world. I am looking forward to being out of my comfort zone and smack dab in the middle of such an important work that the Lord is doing.

In the Gospel of John, in chapters 14-16, Jesus says something pretty incredible. He says that if we ask Him, God, for anything, He will give it to us. Now, I know that this is not referring to a spiritual blank check and that whatever we ask must be complicit with His will. I know that, but don't miss what Jesus is saying. He says that if we ask for anything, and that thing being pleasing to the Father, He will give it to us. I am not espousing "name it and claim it" theology, but I do believe that this truth should change our prayer life. I'll tell you one area that this has really impacted my praying and that is in my ministry. Youth ministry. I am praying, asking the Lord that He would give us Brighton High School. I am praying, asking that He would use students from my ministry to greatly impact that school for His glory. What all does that mean? Well, I will write more about that later and I am going to be preaching on it very soon. I just want to see the Lord display His power and might in our local context and I want Him to use our students to do it. I know that is a bold, big request, but I am talking to Jesus and I know that He can handle it.

Well, those are just a few of things that have been lodged in my heart as of late. I know that all of this seems random, but it's my blog, so deal with it. :)

The Author and Finisher

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." - Hebrews 12:1-2

I love this passage. The guys that I disciple are in the process of memorizing all of Hebrews 12. We have spent some good time discussing these two verses. It would take about 30 or 45 minutes writing my thoughts/commentary to these two verses but I want to focus in on the phrase, "author and finisher." These two words are so rich and deep concerning the Lord Jesus that they demand some time spent focusing upon them.

Author. Faith originates with Jesus. I see this unfolding in two particular ways. First, Jesus is the originator of faith in general. Salvation through faith was His idea. He could have brought salvation through any means that He wanted to. He could have designed salvation to be attained through the keeping of the law, but He didn't. He could have hung a monetary price tag on salvation that you and I could have worked toward and eventual purchased with a treasure chest, but He didn't. He could have set up salvation for only the most moral do-gooders on the planet, but He didn't. The Lord Jesus has made, authored, salvation to come through faith in the work that He has already done on the cross. He designed it to be that way. Secondly, Jesus is the originator of faith for the individual. That goes deeper than just the system or means of salvation. This means that Jesus authored my salvation. I did not seek after Him (Rom. 3). I did not choose Him (John 15:16). Faith began in my heart because the Father began drawing my heart toward Jesus (John 6:44; Heb. 7:25). This overwhelms my heart. To think that Jesus pursued me, purchased me and began the work of faith in my heart is, well, overwhelming. Wow!

Finisher. Faith ends with Jesus. Just as with the truth of faith's authorship, it's ending unfolds in two particular ways as well. To really understand these two aspects however, you have to see a deeper understanding of the word finisher. Finisher can also be understood as perfecter. Our faith becomes perfect in Jesus. That really means that our faith finds it's perfect match in Jesus. There will be many, many very faithful people that will spend eternity in hell. Having great faith is not the key. There are Hindu men that have devoted themselves to crawling on all fours for the rest of their lives because they really, genuinely believe that by doing so they will find favor with one of their millions of gods. The emphasis is not about how much faith you have, it is what/who you have placed your faith in. This lands the heart of the Christian squarely in Jesus. He is our perfect match. In Christ, our faith is made perfect. Secondly, Jesus will bring an end to our faith. What? Is that true? That doesn't sound right. I know it doesn't, but it is true. Think about it. On the day that you and I see Jesus face to face, will we have any need for faith? Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now

faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." On the day that I see Jesus face to face I will not hope for Him and I will be seeing Him. Faith will disappear. It will be finished. What began in the heart of God in eternity past will fade away in the light of His wonderful face. Wow!

I know that I have only scratched the surface of the these two words and their implications. I encourage you to dig into God's Word and let it's richness soak into you. As for me, I am gonna keep pondering, but I am gonna do so over an ice cold slice of watermelon.

Summa Summa Summa-time

When I was in high school, The Fresh Prince himself, Will Smith, released a song titled, "Summertime." The title of this post comes from the chorus. It is a great song talking about all the fun that comes with summer time. For the most part I like summer except for two related aspects: Heat and Humidity. I'm a big dude, so I already have a natural propensity for sweating. In the summer, I run for air conditioning like new born sea turtles flee to the ocean.

Well, anyways, I want to talk about some of the things that I like/love about summer. I'll begin with food (Like I said, I'm a big dude). I love to grill and I love all things bar-b-que. Is there anything better smelling in the warm summer evening air than that of meat cooking over open flames? We love to grill, eat, take an evening stroll and then come back and roast marshmallows over the last of the coals. Some would argue that you can grill all year long, and that's true, but it is the best in the summer. Then there is all of the great, fresh produce that comes with summer. Sweet corn, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon. Ooooo and what about homemade ice cream? I believe that I have perfected mint chocolate chip. Okay, last thing about food. We have some really good friends, Matt and Julie Sliger, and they (Julie, really) have a blog that covers a lot of stuff but my favorite part are Julie's recipes. She is a great cook and she, by her easy yet delicious recipes, is helping Melissa to be a great cook. We have probably made and devoured about 2/3rds of her recipes. Check out the link to their page.

Swimming. I have always loved to swim. If we could afford it, I would want to have a house with a pool. Last summer we received an invitation to an open house at the Germantown Athletic Club. We went and they had everything open to the public. The have a huge outdoor olympic size pool and a really amazing kids pool/splash park. Michael had just turned 2 then, so he was a little bit intimidated by all of the fountains and the bucketfuls of water falling all over the place. While we were there someone talked to us about having a free trail week. We jumped on that immediately. So, the entire next week we had a little miniature vacation or stay-cation. We would get there at 10am, right when the gates opened, and stay until around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. They have a snack shack there and we ate there every day. We loved it. We loved swimming and playing all week. The weather was great. About halfway through the week I discovered their gigantic indoor pool. The deep end is over 2o ft deep and they have huge diving boards. I LOVED it. So yeah, I love swimming.

There are so many other great things about summer. Baseball (Go Yankees!), fun movies, vacations, ice cream trucks, the smell of cut grass, staying up late, fireworks, tubbing down a river, road trips, smores, camping and going to the beach. And not to mention all of the fun stuff that comes along with youth ministry. In youth ministry, summer is big time. I love it. Well, I thought I would use this post as something fun and not so serious. I am still feeling my way through this whole blog thing and not real sure what my blog will be like. I hope you enjoy.

Dead Sea or Galilee

I've been to Israel 4 times in my life. Each time I go is better than the time before. I guess that is because I'm older every time I go and that gives me a greater appreciation for what I am seeing and experiencing. You should go if you ever get a chance. Anyways, there are 5 main bodies of water that are connected to Israel: 1) The Mediterranean Sea, 2) The Gulf of Aqaba, 3)The Sea of Galilee/Lake Tiberias/Lake Gennesaret, 4) The Dead Sea, 5) The Jordan River. It is the last three that have been on my mind recently.

The Jordan river has several tributaries that run into it but the main one is the melted snow that runs off Mt. Hermon. The Jordan flows down into northern Israel and enters at Dan and then proceeds into the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is today as it was in the time of Jesus; full of fish and surrounded by life. Men still catch nets full of fish today just as Peter and Andrew and the sons of Zebedee did two millennia ago. Then the Jordan flows out of the southern end of the Sea of Galilee toward the Judean wilderness. Even then it is still full of fish and life. Groups that visit Israel will get baptized in the Jordan here. I have video of Melissa being baptized in the Jordan by my father and you can see the fish all around here in the water. It was also along this stretch that Joshua lead the people into the promised land for the first time. Then the Jordan comes into the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on the entire planet at over 1300 feet below see level. In the center of the Dead Sea it is over 1200 feet deep. It is also the most poisonous body of water on the planet. If you drink just two ounces of it's water it will kill you. It will destroy your kidneys and liver in a matter of minutes. Question is, how does that happen? What makes these two bodies of water so dramatically different? The Galilee is teeming with life and abundance while the Dead Sea is, well, dead. Both Seas are feed by the same great river. Both are in the same country. Why does one contain life while the other contains poison?

Outlet. The answer is that the Sea of Galilee has an outlet while the Dead Sea has none. Life comes into the Sea of Galilee and life flows back out as well. When the Jordan flows into the Dead Sea it ends there. All that flows into the Dead Sea just gets more concentrated and more potent. You can see the same effect take place in the lives of Christians. There are so many people that are a part of our churches that are just like the Dead Sea. They receive and receive and receive but there is never any outlet from them. They come and listen to good teaching and the Word of God preached, but they never do anything with what they hear or learn. They are plugged into discipleship groups and they go on retreats and to seminars, but still there is nothing coming out from them in an outlet of ministry, missions or service. I applaud and encourage an academic pursuit of the truths of God's Word. We need to know what we believe and believe what we know. But, we also need to put into practice all that we learn. If we learn and believe that Jesus loves us without limit and yet fail to pass that truth along to others in practical ways, then we are really just poisoning ourselves. This is the essence of Pharisee thinking. Learning and knowing so much good stuff but never sharing that goodness with anyone else. We are hanging onto and hoarding something that was never meant to be bottled up. I want to live a life like the Sea of Galilee. I want to receive all of the great things from the Lord (love, peace, grace, blessinsg, etc.) and I want to be conduit of those things as well. All that He brings in, I also want to put out towards others. We should be asking ourselves, "What are some practical ways that I can show others the incredible things that God has put in me?"

Letting it begin

So, I have decided to start blogging. I've never been against the idea, but until now I really have not had the time to dedicate to this endeavor. I have graduate from Mid America Baptist Theological Seminary and, unless the Lord changes this, I won't be sitting in a classroom anytime soon. Most of you who will be reading this know me already. For those of you who do not know me - stay tuned, you will.

What will I be blogging about? Everything. I love Jesus, so I want to devote and dedicate this to Him and His kingdom first and foremost. But, I am confident that the loves of my life will also be making their way in here. Those loves being: Melissa, my boys (Michael and Gideon), youth ministry, Clemson sports, Superman, movies, music and missions (do you like how I ended that with the 3 ms?).

I want to be honest, authentic and genuine with what I put here. I want to bare my soul, expose my heart, guide, preach and teach - all in this blog. So, enjoy.