Just wanted to share this...

Each month I participate in a ministry with my singles group at church to go and feed the homeless downtown at Linn Park while also just taking time to hang out and love on them as well. As of about 4 months ago, I was asked to take the lead on this ministry in regards to our group with coordinating and handling all the details, so each month I ask God to give me something to write out and present to our singles group that would encourage participation and involvement in this awesome ministry. Yesterday, sitting in Sunday School, it kind of all took over my mind and here is what came of it...

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to bring the good news to the poor..."

(Isaiah 61:1)

What does this look like?

You may think you need to go and just outright share the gospel with a random homeless person by reading this, but there really is more to it than that.

Just being real with others whether homeless or not is in itself one of the most insightful and compelling examples of the gospel at work in our lives. The personal investment of our lives into the lives of others is in itself what Jesus love, grace, and acceptance is all about.

Can you be real? Can you let your mask down long enough to allow someone a real glimpse into your own life? To see you as your really are, a sinner, one that falls often, one that isn't perfect, one that doesn't have it all together and THEN reveal that God's love, grace, and mercy has NOTHING to do with how or when you stumble and fall but, ALL to do with the sacrifice of Christ - His gift of grace - that has already been done - already completed - FINISHED!

His Grace is Our Freedom!

So...will you come? Come to "bring the good news to the poor" next Friday, August 8th at Linn Park in downtown?

Please lift this event up in prayer as that day draws near and if you are lead, please join us that day as we come together to provide our homeless friends with hot meal, some love, and most importantly, "the good news"!

Sincerely In Christ,

Expectations...what gives me the right?

Ever have just one of those days? A day that you just get into a funk and that funk is engrossed with ridiculous expectations and even worse, lies from the evil one that cause you to question or doubt things that you know are true. Why is it that I have expectations? What good does it do me? What right do I have to have expectations? Don't get me wrong, I believe that some expectations can in fact be healthy, however there seem to be a lot more that are not.

Yesterday was this kind of day for me. I just couldn't shake it and the day pretty much spiraled downward I guess until I went to bed last night. My expectations pretty much came to a head yesterday, exposing my sin of selfishness overall but more precisely it was my sinful nature grasping to control people and things around me. It was a mess just to be honest. Not to be gross but I guess it reminded me of a big ole zit on the face...for days its coming, you really don't see it, but you can feel something working its way up beneath the skin, and then suddenly wallah, there it shines, like a bright beacon in the night for everyone to see. Then it burst!

It was all over the place, just messy and ended up being very difficult to work through and clean up. The foothold was was strong and merciless, but I kept pressing on just trying to work through it. Later last night, I went to the Lord in prayer, just confessing to Him my sin of being selfish and having unreasonable expectations. That in the process I hurt someones heart and it was never my intention to do so. I prayed that God would just weed that sin out of my body and mind. I realized that expectations can easily sneak into all facets of my life and when I least suspect it...I know I will stumble and fall, but as the Lord calls me to, I must get back up and brush the dirt off and press on knowing that God's desire was to bring this sin to light so that I could see it with clear eyes. He wasn't mad at me, He loves me and was again showing His incredible graciousness of mercy and love by revealing my sin to me so that I could lay that burden down at His cross.

There's more...this morning, I was a little hesitant about how I would feel after the wreck of the day I had caused yesterday. As I was getting ready, Christ brought to my mind some scripture that is oh so familiar, a couple of verses that I have always loved...Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths."

As I arrived at work, I pondered over this scripture for some time. Basically, I was not trusting in my Father, I was not just leaving the circumstances of my life up to Him and simply enjoying life as He sees fit to deliver it. I was making things hard and difficult and for what? No good reason! I further thought about the fact that He calls me to lean on His understanding - NOT mine! After this, I prayed some more in the car this before walking in. Today has been a really good day, more than I hoped for and more than I expected. (get it...expected, duh!) Regardless - I am thankful to God for showing me what He has.

...yeah, I need to update this...

Quick briefing on the previous post...it all worked out. Not really trying to keep it short and simple but it ended up being just that simple. It's amazing how often I make such a big deal out of something that will work out to be so simple. Thankfully, I know the Lord's hand was upon the situation the entire time. It has turned out all good and now on to another day.

Interesting things are happening and God is moving in big ways and I am excited to see how God plays everything out. I will share more on this a little later. Still collecting my thoughts about everything right now.

Today I am just thankful to our Father. Thankful that He goes before me in everything I do. That He prepares the way, that He guides my steps, that He surprises me when I least expect it, that He shows me His love and grace in so many ways each and every day.

when Right is Right, and Wrong is Wrong...

Sometimes in life something comes along that seems to rub you the wrong way or just has the overall sense to it that something is definitely wrong.

I am going through something like this right now. I am struggling with knowing the correct and proper way to address the situation and my sinful nature keeps nudging me to pridefully storm in and take no prisoners. The other part of me, the Holy Spirit, thankfully tells me to just chill on it for some time, so that I can ponder and wait for the Lord to speak to me about how to address it.

The interesting thing about this situation is that I want so much to just go in and take control but the issue in itself is that I am feeling like I'm being controlled by my rights and freedoms being threatened. I know you're probably thinking, "well, what is it already?" I can't really go into the detail of the situation because of the sensitive nature of the issue and not knowing who all reads this blog.

I guess whenever we feel threatened that our rights or privileges are being threatened or handled inappropriately we tend to try to grasp back that control or at least try to right the wrong that we feel is threatening us. I know that God's timing in this is perfect. I know there is much more here than meets the eye. In my past, I would have reacted impulsively, usually escalating a situation far beyond where it should have gone, but thankfully, and by God's sufficient grace I am just waiting. I don't know exactly what I'm waiting on to happen except that God will speak. I just hope that I will be silent enough to hear Him.

I have looked into all the facts surrounding the issue enough to know that the way this situation is being handled is wrong. I am just asking God how it should all be addressed now. I feel that a possible opportunity to share the love of Christ is present here and I want to seize that opportunity if that's God's will here.

Pray for me please, that I would have His patience, His love, and His grace; That I would hear or see Him moving and join Him where He is; That I would seek the wise counsel of others; That I would see any bit of pride within me so that it can be confessed and repented. I want to do what's right here, and I wait patiently for Him to guide my steps.