GOD'S BLESSINGS

Last night as Julia and I were drifting off to sleep she made a comment which has been ringing in my head all day.  Julia said, "we are extremely blessed." 2010 has been the greatest year of my life. God has blessed Julia and I in amazing ways this year. Below are a list of the top five blessings God has bestowed on me this year.

5) Traveling to India: Four years ago when I began school at Liberty University God placed a desire in my heart to travel to India and share His story with individuals. This year for three weeks I had the opportunity to travel with a team of individuals and share God's story with the nation of India. This was an incredible experience and one which has profoundly shaped my life. While in India we drank hot tea in 125 degree weather, ate spicy curry with our hands, played cricket, prayed over paralyzed, sick, and  dying individuals, shared stories from God's Word, and I even had the opportunity to share Jesus with an eighty year old man who had never heard the name of Jesus Christ or what He did on the cross. God used this experience to reveal His plan for my life, which is to take the Gospel to the ends of the Earth and share with those who have never heard. God has richly blessed me with the ability to travel to India.

4) Moving and finding jobs in a horrible economy: Julia and I got married this year in Charlotte, NC and one week later we packed up our belongings and moved three hours up state to Wake Forest, NC. We knew no one in Wake Forest nor did we have jobs. We knew nothing about life or how to live on our own, but, we knew our God was bigger than our fears and we trusted in Him to provide. When we first moved in we didn't have money for the internet so we would drive to McDonald's in order to use their free WiFi. We were scared but we stepped out in faith and God caught us!  God provided a Kindergarten job for Julia at a Christian School and I was able to find a night job as a janitor. God continues to provide for "all" of our bills and needs through our hard work and a little help from the parents. We are thankful for all of the help and prayers over the last six months as we learn to live in this crazy world. God has richly blessed us with moving and finding jobs in a horrible economy.

3) Being welcomed into a new family with open arms: God has richly blessed me with a brand new section of family. When Julia and I got married her family became mine and mine became hers. My in-laws are the greatest and they have welcomed me in with open arms. Julia's dad is teaching me how to work on cars and fix odd things around the house as well as how to shepherd a flock of people. Julia's uncles are teaching me about theology and being a pastor and her grand-parents always seem to be putting me to work inside and outside of their house in Raleigh. I love huge dinners with her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grand-parents. God has richly blessed me with a new section of family!

2) Attending Southeastern Baptist Seminary for free: God has richly blessed me with the ability to not only attend seminary but to be able to go for free. In order to become a missionary within the Southern Baptist Convention I need a Masters level degree from an accredited seminary. I always thought that Seminary was a great idea but would be out of the question while I was young due to finances. God had other plans. While visiting Southeastern I learned about a grant which would pay for school, I applied and was accepted. God knew that I needed this grant in order to attend Seminary and He provided the means. God has richly blessed me with the ability to not only attend seminary but be able to go for free.

1) Marrying my best friend and the love of my life: God has richly blessed me with the ability to be married to my best friend and the love of my life. I can remember meeting her for the very first time and being struck with her ability to make everyone in the room laugh and feel comfortable around her. I will admit I did not like her at first but over time her beauty began to shine forth and I quickly found her irresistible. She has become my best friend. I love going to bed next to her and waking up with her every day. I love hearing her teaching stories and learning about life with her. She is the one that I will grow old with, have children with, and face the world together with. She is my best friend and the love of my life. God has richly blessed me with the ability to marry my best friend and the love of my life.

2010 has been the greatest year of my life. God's blessings have been sown throughout the entire year. God is good! I hope you take a moment before the end of 2010 and reflect on His goodness over the year and praise Him for all that He has provided.

Christmas Traditions

You know you have them! Every family does! It's that wonderful time of the year for family traditions! Family traditions can be as silly as cookies running away or as serious as a Birthday cake for Jesus. Christmas just isn't Christmas if you do not celebrate these tradition. Below is a list of ten traditions which my family has celebrated over the years.

10) Christmas movie date with Mrs. Rutherford. I have been going to the movies around Christmas time with Mrs. Rutherford since Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. (I know a long time.) Mrs. Rutherford is my second mom. She has seen/taught/guided/instructed/loved on me since I was a snot nose middle school kid. I am the man I am today due in large part to Mrs. Rutherford. Over the years we have seen a lot of movies, most good and some not so much. She has shared in every major life moment. One year I told her I got into Liberty University, one year I told her I wanted to be single forever, and the next year I told her I was getting married. Christmas movie dates with Mrs. Rutherford are a highlight of the season.

9) Gingerbread men running away! Ever since I can remember the gingerbread men in our house have been magical. Every year during the week leading up to Christmas we would make Gingerbread men, decorating them with icing. Some years you couldn't see any cookie just icing! However, no matter how much icing the Gingerbread men had on them, one of them, inevitably would always run away. We would try breaking their legs or eating their heads, however, one always runs away. One year we searched high and low for the gingerbread man and we could not find him anywhere. We were hot and tired from all of our searching so Zac walked over and turned on the fan. As the blades began to spin, and the fan picked up momentum, ZOOM, the gingerbread man came soaring off the van and crash landed onto the couch. Gingerbread men running away is a highlight of the season.

8) Every Christmas my brother, sister, and I would sit in the same spots to open our presents. We are worse than Baptists on Sunday. My brother would place all of his presents in the chair, my sister would have the couch, and I would have the corner next to the TV. Do NOT try to take our spots on Christmas morning or we will fight you! The same spots every year is a highlight of the season.

7) Kentucky Fried Chicken for Christmas Eve dinner. Nothing says Christmas like a box of chicken, mac and cheese, and a biscuit from KFC. KFC dinner is a highlight of the season.

6) Dunkin Doughnuts on Christmas morning! For as long as I can remember we have had DD on Christmas morning. We all have our favorites. My mom likes the chocolate, my sister the sprinkled, my brother the long curly kind, my dad the kind you dip into your coffee, and me, all I want is a doughnut. Christmas Eve we all pile into the car and pick out our favorites. Dunkin Doughnuts on Christmas morning is a highlight of the season.

5) Dysfunction! My family has perfected the art of a dysfunctional Christmas. To be honest it is not so much Christmas as it is the days leading up to Christmas. Whether it is arguing over what church to go to, my sister and I competing, no one doing the Christmas puzzle, or my dad yelling at a wall (I'm not sure if this happened around Christmas or not but it is a funny story and you should defiantly ask him about it), the holiday season is filled with dysfunction. No Christmas is "perfect" and that is OK! In the craziness which is Christmas a little dysfunction is a much needed break. Only in a close family are you able to have dysfunction, because only in a close family do you feel comfortable enough around each other to be yourself. Dysfunction is a part of every family and it is the dysfunction which makes you a family. Dysfunction is a highlight of the season.

4) Not sleeping on Christmas Eve and getting up insanely early! Christmas Eve is the worst night of sleep anyone gets all year. The anticipation of the presents and all of the fun the next day fills our minds as we attempt in vain to fall asleep. Not sleeping on Christmas Eve has led to us getting up insanely early to open up presents. Most years we are up between 5:00-6:00am and have all of the presents opened before the sun comes up. My parents have had to set a time limit on when we are allowed to get out of bed and attack the stalkings. No one is allowed to touch a present until everyone else is up. We have had a running competition for twelve years to see who is the first one up, usually it is between my brother and I but one year my sister set her alarm, woke up, and went to sleep on the couch, so that she could beat us up in the morning. Not sleeping and getting up insanely early is a highlight of the season.

3) Opening a present or two or three a few days early! Growing up we would always hound my mom a few days before Christmas to let us open an early Christmas present. She would always give in! While some families open clothes as an early gift we would be allowed to open a legit gift which made the present all the more special. One year we even talked her into opening three early Christmas presents. Opening a present, or two, or three a few days early is a highlight of the season.

2) Christmas object lesson! Every Christmas my mom has a present which she has been thinking about all year. These object lessons are always small little gifts with a huge lesson. Over the years we have gotten a dove, boxing gloves (God is fighting for you), mustard seed (faith as small as a mustard seed and you can move mountains), plumb line (measurements on God's word), nail (Jesus dying for us), and numerous other objects lessons which have taught us about God, His Word, and the true meaning of the season. Christmas object lessons is a highlight of the season.

1) Birthday Cake for Baby Jesus! We have been baking a birthday cake for Jesus since before any of us were Christians. Over the years the cake has grown in significance for each of us as we have come to understand the true reason for the season. In the midst of Christmas it is easy to forget the true reason for the season and the Birthday cake has helped to remind us. Christmas has little to do with presents, traditions, Christmas cookies, and everything to do with the birth of a baby. A baby who would grow up and die in order to reconcile us back to God. Jesus is the reason for the season! Birthday cake for Baby Jesus is a highlight of the season.

My family has many traditions which have developed over the years. Some goofy to the outside world but very important to us as a family. Every family has them, big or small, they are the things which make the holidays special. What are a few traditions which your family has had over the years?

The power, mystery, and beauty of Christmas!

The Power of Christmas:
The Word became flesh!
God became human!
the invisible became visible!
the untouchable became touchable!
eternal life experienced temporal death!
the transcendent one descended and drew near!
the unlimited became limited!
the infinite became finite!
the immutable became mutable!
the unbreakable became fragile!
spirit became matter!
eternity entered time!
the independent became dependent!
the almighty became weak!
the loved became the hated!
the exalted was humbled!
glory was subjected to shame!
fame turned into obscurity!
from inexpressible joy to tears of unimaginable grief!
from a throne to a cross!
from ruler to being ruled!
from power to weakness!

The Mystery of Christmas:
Conception: God became a fertilized egg! An embryo. A fetus. God kicked Mary from within her womb!
Birth: God entered the world as a baby, amid the stench of manure and cobwebs and prickly hay in a stable. Mary cradled the Creator in her arms. "I never imagined God would look like that," she says to herself. Envision the newborn Jesus with a misshaped head, wrinkled skin, and a red face. Just think: angels watched as Mary changed God's diapers! Tiny hands that would touch and heal the sick and yet be ripped by nails. Eyes (what color were they?). Tiny feet (where would they take him?) that likewise would be pierced by nails. She tickled his side (which would one day be lanced with a spear).
Infancy: God learned to crawl, stand, and walk. He spilt his milk and fell and hit his head.
Youth: Was he uncoordinated? How well did he perform at sports? Perhaps Jesus knew the pain of always being picked last when the kids chose up sides for a ballgame. God learned his ABC's!
Teenager: Jesus probably had pimples and body odor and bad breath. God went through puberty! His voice changed. He had to shave. Girls probably had a crush on him and boys probably teased him. There were probably some foods he didn't like (no doubt squash among them).
Carpenter: Calloused hands. Dealings with customers who tried to cheat him or complained about his work. How did he react when they shortchanged him?

The Beauty of Christmas:
He was conceived by the union of divine grace and human disgrace.
He who breathed the breath of life into the first man is now himself a man breathing his first breath.
The King of Kings sleeping in a cow-pen.
The Creator of oceans and seas and rivers afloat in the womb of his mother.
God sucking his thumb.
The Alpha and Omega learning his multiplication tables.
He who was once surrounded by the glorious stereophonic praise of adoring angels now hears the lowing of cattle, the bleating of sheep, the stammering of bewildered shepherds
He who spoke the universe into being now coos and cries.
Omniscient Deity counting his toes.
Mary playing "this little piggy went to market" on the toes of God (well, being Jewish, maybe it was “this little pony”).
From the robes of eternal glory to the rags of swaddling clothes.
The omnipresent spirit, whose being fills the galaxies, confined to the womb of a peasant girl.
Infinite power learning to crawl.
Mary playing "patty-cake" with the Lord of Lords!

A Christmas Ornament

It's the most wonderful time of the year! All over Wake Forest and Southeastern everyone is decorating for Christmas. There are Christmas trees in the Student Life building, snowmen in the library, wreaths hanging from every door in the apartment complexes, and Christmas trees up in all of the windows.

At night when you drive around you are able to see into people's houses and look at their Christmas trees. Some of the trees are filled with homemade decorations while others are fancy and themed. My favorite part of any Christmas tree is the top. The ornament which is placed on top of the tree is the most important part of the tree, the icing on the cake. Some trees have bows with long ribbons streaming down, others have a star, or an angel, and still others nothing at all. Growing up my family always had an angel on top, I called it the "Wendy Angel". Julia and I however have done something different. We did not place a bow on the top, or a star, or an angel

On the top of our tree is a crown of thorns with real thorns from Israel! I know what you are thinking, "What?" "A crown of thorns, why?" The crown of thorns may not be as pretty as an angel, or as elegant as a star, however, the crown of thorns remindes Julia and I in the midst of this special time of the year the true meaning of Christmas. In the hussel and bussel of shopping, Chrismas parties, making Christmas cookies, finals in Grad. School, and Julia's Christmas play. The crown of thorns reminds us that the true meaning for the season is the birth of a baby. The true meaning of the season is the birth of the God-man Jesus Christ who would save His elect from their sins. Galatians 4:4-5 says, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." The crown of thorns on top of the tree remindes Julia and I of God's humbel life here on this Earth and His horrible death which was needed to satisfy the wrath of God.

This holiday season amidst all of the hussel and bussel take time and remember the true meaning of the season. The true meaning is not found in finding the perfect present, making the best Christmas cookies, or having the tackiest Christmas sweater, rather the true meaning is the birth of a baby. A baby who would save us from slavery and make us sons and daughters of God.

Lessons Learned

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…” Ephesians 5:25

Julia and I have been married for six months and it has been amazing. Thinking back on the wedding day I never imagined how much my life would change after becoming married. While I was in the back waiting for the wedding to begin my groomsmen gathered around me and prayed for me and my marriage. One of the groomsmen prayed that I would learn how to lead Julia and that I would die to myself and serve her daily. The main point of his prayer came from Ephesians 5:25, here Paul is telling husbands to love their wives with the same unreserved, selfless, and sacrificial love that Christ has for the church. Christ gave everything He had; including His own life, for the sake of His church, and that is the standard of sacrifice for a husband’s love of his wife. Before marriage I always “thought” that I would be able to die for my wife, I knew that if a burglar broke in, a bullet was shot; she was drowning, or numerous other scenarios, that I could/would very easily be the one to save her.

However,


I never imagined that dying to self and leading her was a sacrificial process which is made to be taken one day at a time or even one hour at a time. For example, I never thought that loving her as Christ loved the church would include learning how to use tools, including, putting in a washer machine and dryer. This process ordinarily takes one hour but took me four involving losing my temper… a lot, Julia having a minor burn on her arm, and me finally swallowing my pride and calling maintenance. I never thought that loving Julia as Christ loved the church would include cleaning her car, and changing the oil so that she would be able to make the drive to work. I never thought it would include allowing Julia to sleep on the side of the bed which is closest to the fan, while I lay on the other side sweating like a pig. Or in the winter waking up early inorder to turn on the Shower so she would have warm water. I never thought it meant going to school all day and then eating a quick dinner and heading off to work in order to go to work to pay for rent and put food on the table. I never knew it meant killing huge spiders and weird looking bugs which I am also afraid of. I never thought it meant calling SallieMae and dealing with difficult people in order to find out information. I never thought it meant making a budget and then sticking with it. I never thought it meant saying "no" to good things in order to do the best thing, spending time with my wife. I never knew it meant taking time out of my day to lay with her, cuddle with her, and talk to her.

I am learning everyday that in order to love my wife as Christ loved the Church; I must serve her. I must serve my wife in the big things yet, but more importantly, in the little things. Just as Christ died for the church; I too must die to my selfish ambitions, my anger, pride, jealousy, etc. daily in order to love my wife.

I will close with this question; men, how are you doing? I mean, how are you really doing at serving your wife, fiancé, or girlfriend? Do you truly love her as Christ loved the Church? How have you sacrificed for her today?



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Three Greatest Words in the Bible

Last night as I was driving home from work I heard the greatest Christian song of all time, I was crying so hard by the end I almost had to pull over. The song is by Jason Gray and is entitled "I am new." If you have not heard the song I recomend listening to it now, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsJ1E9cbHL4&NR=1 if you are pressed for time just listen at the 3:00 minute mark.

The chorus is:

 I am not who I was

I am being remade

I am new

I am chosen and holy

And I'm dearly loved

I am new

This morning I have been doing a Word Study on those three words, chosen, holy and beloved, here is what I have found.
Chosen:
We are God's elect. Before the foundation of the world, God chose us in Christ. You can hear how precious this is to Paul with his words from Romans 8:33: "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?" The answer is that absolutely nobody can make a charge stick against God's elect. Paul wants us to feel the wonder of being elect as being invincibly loved. If you resist the truth of election, you resist being loved in the fullness and the sweetness of God's love.
Holy:
We are holy-- that is, set apart for God. He chose us for a purpose--to be his holy people. To come out of the world and not be common or unclean anymore. Ephesians 1:4: "He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy." First Peter 2:9: "You are a chosen race..a holy nation." This is first a position and a destiny before it is a pattern of behavior. That is why he is telling us the kind of behavior to "put on". He knows we are not there yet, practically. He is calling us to become holy in life because we are holy in Christ. Dress to fit who you are. Wear holiness.
Loved:
We are loved. "God's chosen ones, holy and beloved." If you are a believer in Christ, God, the maker of the universe, chose you, set you apart for himself, and loves you. He is for you and not against you. "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8).

I pray that these three meaty theological concepts will be used to encourage you in the coming year.