Everything Is Awesome!

Yesterday was my son Lukas' sixth birthday. A few days earlier he had some friends join him in an afternoon celebration!  Lukas' favorite toys to play with right now are Lego's. Of course he was blessed with an abundant supply of these very expensive little plastic bricks this past week. Thank you to all of his friends for the gifts.

After his party we went home and he wanted to put together one of his new kits he had recently acquired before bed time. Usually he wants me to put together his latest store bought creation but this time he wanted to do it all by himself. Of course he wanted me to watch and make sure he was doing it right but, I was under strict orders not to touch and or interfere in any way.  When I did try to help I was met with his hand pushing me away and an almost hostile verbal warning not to touch.  After twenty-five minutes give or take, we had an awesome little Bat Boat complete with the Batman Lego action figure sitting at the helm ready to steer the craft into whatever super hero adventure Lukas' mind was ready to take him on.

We sat there gazing and amazed at how cool it looked and that there were no pieces left. The newly constructed vehicle looked just like the picture on the box! He looked at me with and overwhelming sense of accomplishment and a deserving prideful smile beaming from ear to ear and said, "See dad, now that I am six I can build my Lego sets all by myself now!" I said, "You're right buddy. You're getting to be a big boy now and I am proud of you!" I had the mixed emotions of being happy and sad all at the same time. As Lukas got off his chair and started his first adventure with Batman I sat there and thought to myself, "My son is growing up too fast." That was the sad part of my new found realization. The happy part of the moment is knowing that I never have to build one of those stupid Lego kits again! I'm more of a freestyle Lego builder if you will.

The truth of the matter is that time is marching on. Before you know it you are mid way through your life and you might find yourself in regret and trying to play catch up on the time you've wasted. God gives you so much time to live here on earth, so take advantage of it and savor the relationships and fun filled moments with your family and friends. When you do, you will come to realize that "Everything Is Awesome!"

Hey below send me a comment and let me hear of how you are taking advantage of the time God has given you with your friends and family!

Netflix Knows My Valentine

Have you noticed just how much your electronic devices study and memorize you? I’m sitting here in front of my TV scanning through movies and TV shows on Netflix. In the earlier days of Netflix the categories were set to genres such as new releases, dramas, comedies, and so on. Now I notice in this latest update of Netflix, at least for the Wii, that the categories are “because you watched…” This feature really annoys me because the sad thing is my five year old son does most of the movie watching so all of my categories are full of Power Rangers and superhero cartoons.

We all know the Internet watches everything you click. Your smart phone auto types your word before you have time to type it out, and until recently (ya right) the government has been listening to all your phone calls through sophisticated wire tapping devices. Even with all that studying going on, it’s amazing to me how much we don’t study the ones we love.

Every year during this week, men all over the world are scrambling (if they remember) to get their wife or girlfriend a gift for Valentine’s Day. I asked a few of my close friends what they are getting their wives for the big day and most of their reactions were “When is it? Shoot, I don’t know what to get her.” I believe the reason is because we haven’t taken the time, like technology has, to study the ones we love.

I have been a pastor since 1997 and through the years I have had the privilege to marry at least a dozen couples. Before I would agree to marry them, they had to agree to go through at least 6 sessions of premarital counselling with me.

During those sessions one of the books we went through was Gary Chapman’s book called “The 5 Love Languages.” In his top selling book Gary reveals the 5 love languages that we all possess. They are (Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time, and Physical Touch.) During one of our counseling sessions I would have them each guess the others love language and then reveal what theirs really is to their fiancé. Some of them had no clue what the others love language was, and some of them were right on. I encouraged them to keep that information in a place in their mind that was easily accessible. I believe in knowing and understanding your loved ones love language can really help you know what to do, not only for Valentine’s Day but, to show your love for them all throughout the year.

What are you and your loved ones Love Languages? Follow this link and find out! http://www.5lovelanguages.com/

Making Waves!

Mark 16:15

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

For the last year I have had the privilege of being the Pastor for the Online Church at First Assembly Community Ministries.  Every Sunday morning I have the chance along with volunteers to chat and pray with people from all over the world. In the last year our viewership has grown from 70 to upper 80’s each week to now 130 to 150’s.  This number represents the amount of computers that are logged on during our service times. We have no idea of how many people are sitting around the computer watching.  Some people have told me that they hook their computer up to their TV and the whole family watches the service.

One of my favorite times of the service is the chance for people to receive Christ. When our head Pastor Robby Bradford asks for a show of hands of people wanting to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior we display a button on the screen that allows our viewers to click and raise a virtual hand to say they want to receive Christ. I love seeing this button being pressed. In this last year the button has been pressed many times. People have let me know that they have received Christ that day. Just like in the service we offer a new believer pack and help lead them in steps to deeper involvement and relationship with Christ.

On the first day of 2014 I received an email from a young man in his 30’s from California who said that he has just received Christ from watching one of our previous services New Year’s Eve night. He wanted to make a change in his life for the New Year and he has requested a new believer pack. This really excites me! We are seeing waves of people being transformed by the love of Christ and the waves we are making are not just staying here but are reaching out as Mark 16:15 says to “all the world!”

This year we are going to see many people come to Christ through many different outreaches we do. A great way to get involved in creating waves is becoming a host with the Online Church. We need at least two hosts per service to chat and pray with our online congregation. If you want to volunteer during one or both of the services, please contact me chair@firstag.org. 2014 is going to be a great year and I hope you are ready to make waves!

Always Room For Improvement

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 

Romans 12:3

Each year many people go through the evaluation and review process at their jobs. This is an opportunity for you and your employer to go over your work related responsibilities and evaluate where you think you are and where they think you are in the process of meeting the goals of the company. Often times the employer will hand out an evaluation sheet and allow the employee to fill it out prier to the meeting to express where they believe their strengths and weaknesses lye in the hired role. Most often the employer will fill out an evaluation form as well before they meet and compare. This is a healthy way for employees to stay on track with their jobs and for employers to bring guidance and praise to where it is due.

 Wouldn't it be nice to walk into a review session with your employer and have them only give you praise! Have them tell you that you are the best employee in the whole company and they wish the rest of their employees were just like you. Often times we walk into the review session as Romans 12:3 says, "thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought."  It's hard sometimes to eat humble pie when the review doesn't go as planned. 

Evaluations are not only good in our professional lives but also good in our spiritual lives as well. If you are a follower of Christ and are filled with the Holy Spirit than you know that the Holy Spirit will keep you in check. Ever get that gut feeling that you should be spending more time in God's Word and in prayer? Have you ever gotten a phone call from a friend asking why you haven't been at church for a while? Have you lost the joy that you once had and maybe you are allowing yourself to fall back into old habits? These are all signs that it is time for a good evaluation of your spiritual life.  Paul says in this verse to "think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to you."

If you ask God to evaluate you, He will. He will do it with grace and love. He wants you to be exactly what he has created you to be. He wants success in your life and that comes through a close relationship with him. Remember there is always room for improvement!