Open The Door To Love

I've been thinking a lot about love lately. How my ideas and thoughts on love have been changing the longer I live and the closer I get to personally knowing Jesus. I think that's the key right there. Knowing Jesus, knowing love Himself is the foundation. I don't doubt that some one can experience love in some shape or form without Jesus in their life. But love in its fullest can only be experienced in a divine relationship with Christ Jesus Himself. I look at how I used to love and how I'm continually growing in love now. I'm constantly being brought to my knees with the love God offers me. So far from my comprehension, it makes my head hurt trying to fathom such love. Yet it gives me a picture of how the Lord wants me to love and treat others. If you want to experience love to it's fullest, answer the door of your heart. He's there, knocking, waiting, in love, to embrace and accept you into His loving arms. Don't ignore the call, just give up the fight, you too can experience love in its fullest form.

Filled With The Holy Spirit

The sound of a high wind. The ability to speak in foreign languages unlearned by those who spoke. These miraculous occurrences marked the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost to indwell and empower the followers of Christ to turn their world upside down (Acts 17:6).

Does the Holy Spirit Have You?

This same all powerful Holy Spirit indwells God's people today. Paul reminded the Christians in Corinth of this truth by asking, "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?" (1Cor. 6:19). Why, then, are we so often powerless, defeated, and fearful? The answer is found in our failure to take this truth to heart. We try to live in our own strength. We don't give the Spirit of God full control over our lives. We grieve the Holy Spirit with our disobedience and quench His power in us by our half heartedness (Eph. 4:30; 1 Thess. 5:19).

But we don't have to live this way! God's Spirit lives in us, yearning to help us. To be "filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18), we must recognize His presence, depend on Him, and submit to Him. Then, as we "walk in the Spirit" (Gal. 5:16), He will produce in us "the fruit of the Spirit....love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal. 5:22-23).

Another benefit of being Spirit-filled is the assurance that we are God's children. Paul wrote, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:16-17). The path to spiritual power and joy is not that of seeking spiritual gifts but that of dependence upon and submission to the indwelling Holy Spirit.

The Written Word

The written word has the power to change lives. The words written in the Bible have been having their impact for thousands of years. These written words have been changing me for some time now. The power of the written word penetrates where spoken words cannot reach. There is something permanent about the written word. I can speak words to you but they will quickly vanish as soon as spoken unless written down. Think of famous quotes; they still have their impact after 50 or 100 or more years. Like the quote, "The pen is mightier than the sword." A line written in 1839, which holds so much truth. The written word is powerful...persistent...pervasive...a mighty weapon for the Church.

I've written things in my past just because I was bored and it was something particular on my heart. I didn't know it at the time but I was planting a seed that would sprout in someone else. Like planting seed, writing will produce a harvest. I've had people tell me, after reading something I have recently written, it was something they needed to hear at that particular juncture in their life. Not everything we write will have powerful results, but you never now. You first must write it.

Thanksgiving Vacation Photos

We had a fun time on our Thanksgiving vacation.

We enjoyed plenty of food of course along

with a bunch of sight seeing. Here are some fun photos

of us enjoying the big town of Dubuque and surrounding areas.Us at the Festival of Trees in down town Dubuque.
This was a silent auction and I was tempted to bid on
this amazing Hawkeye loving Christmas tree.

This was our favorite wreath. We both love these colors.

Then I got to meet Miss Too Cool For School, Suzy Q

and I fell in love head over heals all over again. :-)

We went and seen grandma on Thanksgiving day

and the day after.

Suzy and I at the bank of the Mississippi River.

Suzy and I at the top of the 4th st. elevator.

That was a lot of fun.

The End!

I'm Outa Here

I'm getting ready for my third web design class tonight. It's been a head ache but I have learned a little on how to use dreamweaver software. The instructor goes way to fast to follow along on the computer, take notes and let anything he says sink in. I'm sure glad this is not a graded class.

After work tomorrow, Suzy and I are off to Debuque, Ia for three days with her family. I'm so out of here. With so many things going on and tons of over time to put in at work this three days will be nice. I have to be back for church on Sunday though. We are having a staff meeting and going over the entire 2010 calendar year. Also I need to get my papers typed up for my web building budget request to go before the board meeting in December. So to put it this way, you wont be hearing from me in a while so with that said, have a super happy Thanksgiving everybody.

The Pain In Criticism

It's amazing how peoples words can build us up or tear us down. I woke up this morning in very good spirits full of joy and praise. But later I found a message from a former friend on facebook telling me I haven't changed one bit. I'm not a man of God and I have traded one addiction for another. Telling me I also need to grow up because I wouldn't add them to my friends list. Well, she was right about one thing. My former addictions to bad thoughts and substances have changed to faith filled thoughts and surrounding my self with God, His people and His Word. But her words cut deep, making me feel guilty and ashamed. It took some coaxing from Suzy to build me back up again. I toyed with the thought of leaving her another message but that would only bring me down to her level and that's not who I am anymore. All this has truly shown me why I left my old friends (by left I don't mean run away from like she said). They don't care like they say they care and they criticize my way of life and judge me in their hearts because of my actions. They continually tell me how they think that I think I'm better than them because I go to church. Peoples criticism is never helpful but hurtful. Criticism is usually coming from a judging heart. At least that's how I view it. Not that I'm always right. =) So from now on I think I will try and be careful myself in how I use my words. I don't want to hurt people the way I was hurt this morning.

Headed Down The Road

I look at this picture and I'm reminded of my relationship with Suzy. It is a lot like a cartoon, its almost unreal. Its too good to be true. Its like a fantasy coming to pass. But it's not...Its for really real and I'm living it out. As each day goes by I feel our love growing stronger for each other and for Jesus. Slowly we are being made as one. Each of our personal relationships with Jesus has been strengthened and built up since we have started going out. We each have decided to pick up the pieces of our lives and with the help of the Holy Spirit put them together making a new picture of our lives together. I used to tell her that everytime we got to hang out it was like another piece of the puzzle was being put together as we discovered who each other were. Life is full of choices. God gives us free will so we can choose. You can choose to re-sculpt a new picture from your fragments or you can choose self-pity and sit in your own stink as I like to say. I have refused to remain defeated. This time my free will chooses God's ways over my ways. Though it might be difficult in the sense that I can't see His plans over mine, I am willing to trust and let Him lead me to whats next for us in this life. I praise and celebrate our God for what He is doing in our lives today. I don't always notice what He's doing in the present but rest assured His ways are above my ways and I will see this picture painted out for me down the road.

The Insanity Of Jesus

A while back I was reading through the book of John. I couldn't help but notice how so many people thought Jesus was out of His mind. There were divisions of the people because of Him and the words He spoke. Some went as far to say Jesus had a demon. Read chapters 6-8 and you will see how crazy the Jews thought He truly was. In Chapter 6:66 we see that some of Jesus' own disciples stopped walking with Him. Jesus was good at ruffling feathers. Or as I like to call it. Rubbing the hair on the cat backwards. Organized religion can't stand up to the truth and people can't seem to grasp this concept of personal relationship.

Being the only Christian at my workplace some people think I am crazy. Some of them think I'm crazy just for believing in heaven and hell. Some think I'm crazy for the ministry work I do for no pay. Yet others think I'm crazy for giving up so many pleasures that I once enjoyed.

I guess where I am going with this is....I must be being transformed into the likeness of Christ then...right.? Everyone thought He was insane.....and now everyone thinks I'm insane. In my Bible study one night we talked about the fruit of the Spirit and if people recognized us for Christians by it. Are there any signs that the fruit is in you? I would have to say yes. I look back at what I once was and what I am now and I don't recognize myself. The Holy Spirit has done a mighty work in me starting from the inside out.

In conclusion, I started out as everyone else (supposedly normal) and now Christ's insanity is in me and emanating through me. Here's to being crazy and mad and whacked out. =)