Hoping

Well I am hoping that this weekend coming up that we will be moving from the hotel into a trailer. My wife is going to be doing some calling today and then I will be doing some follow up tomorrow. Well I am praying that it all works out because I can not stand staying at the hotel for much longer. It is too small and with no way to cook it is killing me. This past weekend the church that I attend had an evening potluck and that was fun. There was plenty of good food plus my kids had a good time which means a lot. School starts back here soon and my kids are excited. I am glad because it will be easier for my wife but I am not glad because that is time that I miss my kids. Oh well at least for the most of it I am at work. I have not found out anything about my friend's little girl as of yet. However, I will let you know when I know something myself.

At work

I planned on being out today but sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. I am still taking today to be in prayer and I will still be fasting just doing it at work. Just a reminder I am praying and fasting for my friend whose daughter is having surgery today. Not much to say today it looks like I will not have to come in this Saturday. However, I will leave my new number with someone who works Saturday and tell them if they need help to give me a call. That is about all I have to say today. I wasn't going to post at all today as a part of being in prayer and fasting, but decided to let you all know that I am here. God bless everyone and pray for that family whose daughter is having surgery.

Blue

I am a little down today. Not my usual upbeat self anyway. I feel just about completely defeated. I feel right now that my family and I are going to be homeless forever. At least we have some type of roof over our head. But let me share with you it is hard to live in a hotel with three small children. Oh well I guess I should be happy that I have my family with me and we are together. But today I just feel down. I guess anyone who has been through the things I have been through in the past several years would be down a bit. This time though I know I am just a bit sad today and I will get over it quickly (I hope). Also this time I will not play the blame game and think that God is out to get me or anything like that. I will lift my eyes toward heaven and praise God. I will try and smile even though it is hard and hopefully no one will know the difference.

Thank you, Lord for keeping me and my family safe. Thank you, Lord for blessing me with three beautiful children and a wonderful wife. Praise God for the gift of your Son and that he gave his life just for us. Thank you, Lord for saving me and loving me. Praise God! Praise God!

Trinity

I think one of the easiest and hardest concepts of being a Christian, is the concept of the trinity. Does that make us polytheistic? How can God exist as three different persons but yet be one? I am not here to try and answer those questions I think there have been theologians and such through the years that have asked and answered those questions but I just wanted to put them out there to rethink about. I think Mike Warnke put it best when he stated that understanding the trinity was "easy as pie". (Read some of his stuff and watch some of his videos to understand that.
I have been thinking a lot about my friend and her family (the one with the child in the hospital) and have been concerned for them. I have been in an almost constant state of prayer for that little child and her family. Her surgery is scheduled for Friday and with some luck (or perhaps God's will) I am off Friday. I am going to spend the day fasting and praying. Anyone who reads this and believes in the same, I am challenging you to do the same.

Finally

I have actually had to do some work today at work today so I have not be able to post until now :( . Oh well I guess the most important thing is that I finally got in to post something. I also will probably not have much to say today. With that being said I found out today that my best friend's little girl (who is 7ish) has a brain tumor on her brainstem and is going to have to have surgery this Friday. Please anyone who reads this, please pray for that family and the little girl as well.
I promise that I will write more tomorrow I hope all is well with everyone. God bless.

Here is another week

Well, I am here starting another week. This weekend went by so slow. But I guess that is ok. It was kind of nice to spend some quality time with my kids. I have decided to start looking for another church, to go to as soon as we get our car back. The church that I have attended for a couple of weeks now is nice but it is just not what I am looking for. I guess I will just let God be God and go to the church he calls me to. Whever, that may be I will go with joy.

I am not sure what it is but I am relly thinking a lot about chirstams lately. I relly enjoy the season. Now I am not going to gripe and complain that I think it is getting too comercial (at least not here and not today), but I am waniting it to be Christmas. You know with a tree, the music, the movies, and most of all the celebration in which we remember that Christ was born. That is about it for today. God bless.

Fridays are fun

Today is Friday and for the first time in a long time I just do not have much to say. I previewed the verse of the day to see if I could draw off of that. Nada, nothing, zippo, oh well if you read this today you will just be reading my ramblings. :) I got paid yesterday and already i am out of money. I feel like I will never get my family out of the situation we are in. But things are looking up a little I am hoping to get my car back sometime soon, so that will be helpful. I am grateful to God though that through all this my wife has stood beside me. She could have given up and left me but she has been there through it all. Well that is about all for now. Perhaps later I will add more but not likely.

I do want to take a moment though to praise God. I love you Lord and I lift my voice to honor you. Oh my soul, rejoice. Take joy my king, in what you hear. Let it be a sweet, sweet sound, in your ear.

I thought this was funny

: "ABCs for the elderly
A - for arthritis.
B - for bad back.
C - is for chest pains. Perhaps cardiac?
D - is for dental decay and decline.
E - is for eyesight -- can't read that top line.
F - is for fissures and fluid retention.
G - is for gas (which I'd rather not mention).
H - for high blood pressure (I'd rather have low).
I - for incisions with scars you can show.
J - is for joints, that now fail to flex.
L - for libido -- what happened to sex?

Wait! I forgot about K!

K - is for my knees that crack when they're bent.
(Please forgive me, my Memory ain't worth a cent.)
N - for neurosis, pinched nerves and stiff neck.
O - is for osteo- and all bones that crack.
P - for prescriptions, I have quite a few.
(Give me another pill; I'll be good as new!)
Q - is for queasiness. Fatal or flu?
R - is for reflux -- one meal turns into two.
S - is for sleepless nights, counting my fears.
T - for tinnitus -- I hear bells in my ears.
U - is for urinary: difficulties with flow.
V - is for vertigo, that's 'dizzy', you know.
W - is worry, now what's going 'round?
X - is for X ray -- and what might be found.
Y - for another year I've left behind.
Z - is for zest that I still have my mind.

I have survived all the symptoms my body's deployed, and kept twenty-six doctors gainfully employed!"

God is good...all the time?

I was at church Sunday, which I was happy about, however, they started out thier service by stating "God is good all the time and all the time God is good." Now I have a question about that. Can God be good? Now hear me out. God can be love, God can be a father but is God good. Even to take it a step further is God Ultimate good. (Disclaimer) Now I am not questioning God or his goodness although it may sound like it just giving anyone who reads this food for thought (end disclaimer). I mainly here am going to look at the Old Testament but then I am going to draw in some thoughts from current events. When God flooded the world, was that good? When God burnt Sodom and Gomorra, was that good? When God hardened the heart of pharaoh was that good? Now let us draw in some current events. When 9/11 happened could a ultimately good God have stopped that? Could God who is ultimate good, stop murder, homelessness, poverty, hate, etc, and etc. Now I understand that God allows us to have free will but could we still have free will and these things not happen because God is good.
I believe God is good. I believe that God's goodness lets us have free will to the end that evil things happen. Does God cause these things to happen? I do not think so. But God withstands these things to happen, and I believe that God morns when these things happen just as we morn.
God is good! God is good all the time! Praise God! Thank you Lord for your love. Thank you for the gift of your Son. Thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. Thank you God for your goodness.

Hump day?

People often speak of Wednesday as if it is a day to be avoided. People talk as if Wednesday is a horrible day, but I would disagree. I guess it is my optimistic, attitude but I see Wednesday as a great day and a highpoint of the week, not just a point of the week to get over. Often I do use this day of the week to get spiritually refilled and go to church. However, I guess that will not happen this week.

My oldest daughter is scheduled to go to school and school starts here early this year on Aug 9. The schools here have dress codes and getting close is going to be difficult because of having very little money but we are going to try our best. I am hoping that the church we have been going to will help us out a little.

I want to take time right now to reflect on the Holy Spirit. I often take time to praise God, lift up Jesus but seldom take time to focus on the Holy Spirit which is a very important part of the trinity. It is the Holy Spirit where we get our drive to live a holy life. It is the Holy Spirit from which we receive direct connection to God. It is the same Holy Spirit promised by Jesus before he ascended into heaven that ministered to and through the disciples and ministers to and through us today. Praise God for his gift of the Holy Spirit. Praise the Holy Spirit for convicting me of my sins and letting me be a vessel to spread his word. Praise God.

Questions of Faith

I was thinking this morning about my semester in seminary, particularly about my philosophy of religion class. During one of these classes the question was posed on what it would take cause us to question our faith. Several hypothetical questions were asked. By the end only a few of us still had our hands raised, in that none of these items would cause us to question our faith. I wanted to put these questions out here.
1. If an archeological dig came up with some bones and through testing they decided that they were Jesus' bones, would that cause you to question your faith?
2. If several scientists ran tests on these bones and they determined that in fact they were Jesus' bones would that cause you to question your faith?
3. If the most conservative religious group got together with some of their own scientists and studied the bones, and in a huge press conference stated that in fact these were Jesus' bones would that cause you to question your faith?
FINALLY
4. If the pastor (or minister) you trusted the most took a trip to Israel, look at the bones studied the bones and studied the scientists' findings came back to church and in front of the entire congregation that in fact these were Jesus' bones would that cause you to question your faith?

Like I said there were not many of us who still had their hands up at the end of the questioning. I was one of them. In my determination I decided that the bones of Jesus were not that important. I think it is more of question of do you believe that the resurrection of Jesus was an actual physical resurrection or a spiritual resurrection. To me it is one of those so if the bones of Jesus were discovered it would not cause one question in my mind that Jesus did exist, he did die (for our sins), and did rise from the dead.

Prayer and praise: Thank you Jesus for dieing for my sins, thank you for dieing for the sins of all. Thank you for defeating death, thank you for your example of how to live. Thank you for humbling yourself to become the lowliest of all, and thank you for pleading on behalf of us. Thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit, and thank you for blessing us daily. I love you and thank you for your love of me.

TGIM

You know I must be the strangest person on the planet, but I love Monday's. To me Monday does kind of represent a new birth. You are starting the week over. Regardless of the mistakes of the last week, or what your weekend was like Monday is a day to start a new week. There was a time that I used Sunday's to start my new week, but Sunday's ended up being the busiest day of my week.

I did get to go to church this last weekend, Hip! Hip! Hooray! The church I attended was Winchester Trinity UMC. It was a lot like most UMC services but it was a lot different too. I think my wife liked it a lot but I would still like to visit some other UMC's. You can really tell the influence of Southern culture there and it has more of a traditional type service where I like a bit more of a liturgical service. Of course the pastor was out and he will be out again this week. I guess I will probably visit there again but until the pastor returns I will not make any huge decisions.

I want to take a few moments here to reflect on God. You know as much as I write lately I seldom take a few moments just to Praise God, give thanks to Jesus for giving his life for me, and honoring the Holy Spirit, whose power fills me. Here is my praise: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen! Praise God.

Friday's

Most people are happy when Friday comes along. I am never all that excited, except that I get to spend some time with my wife and kids. I am going to take the time today to call some churches again. I only got a call back from one of the three that I called. I am going to call that one back and try to call some others as well.

I have been thinking a lot lately about Jesus. (I hope he has been doing the same about me lol.) But I have been wondering about the historic Jesus. There is not much in history about this person, at least not enough for all the impact he has had. I wonder what he did as a child, if he faced some of the same difficulties teenagers face, and if he knew from an early age what his destiny was. Then I think about the Biblical Jesus. Even though our religion is based on his teachings I do not see much about his daily life.

I have been praying a lot lately and God has been giving me peace about my current situation. I peace I have not known for a long time, of course during that time I was questioning God's existence. I have been trying to practice praying constantly but it is difficult to be in an attitude of prayer all the time. However, God is teaching me.

I need to take my children to the doctor they need a check up before school gets started again. But things like that are very hard to do without a car. I will continue to hope that God will make his will know about the issues that I am having. I guess that is about all that is on my mind for today. Except to say, "Peace be with you."

Well Rested

I slept very good last night. It is such a blessing to sleep good. I still have not found a church to attend yet but I keep searching and will continue to. It is so surprising to me that a church that I called recently acted like they did not even want new people coming. I asked if the church had a van ministry and all they said was no. They did not offer to come get me by any other means. I think if I were a pastor of a church got a call from a new family in town that wanted to visit my church I would move heaven and earth to get them there. Oh well I will continue to call churches to see what I can set up.

I do this at my real job, which I love by the way, and it gives me great pleasure to minister at work. However, I do work with a group of women. I am the only male on my shift. It is difficult working with diverse groups and I understand it but am I not only the only male but the only one in my generation group as well as married with small children. But I enjoy working with these ladies they are a source of a lot of laughs and a cornerstone of strength.

I think those are about all my thoughts today. I just wanted to take a few minutes to praise God. Praise God!!!

Made It

Well I made it through another day yesterday through the help of God. I feel like things are coming together slowly but as a human they sometimes seem to come together too slowly. Let me throw a question out there. I am new to a town, I called a local church because I wanted to visit it. Yesterday I got a call back from the pastor and all he said is that their church had no van ministry. Now if you were the pastor of a church and someone new wanted to visit wouldn't you want to get that person to your church regardless of the way? Oh, well I guess I can assume that God is not really working in that church and that I am not meant to go there.

You know even going through what I have gone through it helps me to know that there are people who have been through more difficult things than I. I recently spoke to a coworker that is a recovering alcoholic and recently got so far in it that he pawned everything he owned, lost his job, his family, and even his place to live. However, God is working on him too, he is not drinking anymore, he is going to church, and things are starting to come together. I guess as things start to work for him I see more and more how things are working for me as well.

Anyone who actually reads this I hope that some of the questions I have do not cause your faith to be questioned. I mostly use this as a sounding board just to think through my own troubles and difficulties.

Today's thoughts

I do not have much to say today. Things are just going ok. I am seeing God's hand in my life. Keep praying because things are hard. My kids are so beutiful, each time I look at them I wonder why I even questioned God in the first place. Praise God praise him at all times, praise him each day. I will praise him