A Word From Wayne

The Example of our Veterans

2011-11-11T21:05:00.003-06:00

Luke 17:33(NLT)
If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it.

On this very special Veteran's Day of 11-11-11, have you ever realized how much this scripture describes our military veterans? It is as if each member of our armed forces has made a concious decision to let go of the life they know, in order to save life, preserve life, keep life, as you and I, and they know it. They enter into a realm of such uncertainty, which could bring about their own loss of natural life. However each one of our veterans has chosen to honor that risk in order to "save" life as we know. Each veteran again chooses to leave the safety and sanctity of a life they know to enter into this realm of uncertainty with a passion to preserve "life". It really leaves me awestruck when I think of it this way. It makes me especially thankful to our veterans for the sacrifice they make in letting go of the "life" they knew to preserve the "life" we all know as freedom, despite the fact many -- in fact the majority -- have never met me. What a bold and huge step of faith these veterans take.

Similarly, Jesus was speaking to each of us. So many of us wouldn't for a second think of leaving the life we know; especially for something we can't see or aren't sure of. Yet our veterans do it for us daily and have done it for us all across history. Maybe Jesus is just looking for some more veterans; those who understand the scripture above. Maybe Jesus is trying to tell us the freedom He offers is worth fighting for. Maybe in honor of our veterans of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, those that fight for the freedom of "in God we trust", maybe it's time we consider our role in the scripture of luke 17:33. We may not be able to join the ranks of the US military, but there is always room in the Lord's Army. I am thinking we have no better examples of what it's like to give up this life to have life than those that do it for us everyday.

Thank you to all of our Veterans! Your willingness to give of yourself for me and my family mean more than words can say. Thank you for your example.

Blessings

Pastor Wayne

Who Do You Say That I Am

2011-11-06T22:02:00.002-06:00

I remember a time at Illinois District teen camp, when we were as close to heaven as one could be without being there. The atmosphere was amazing, and the Holy Spirit was moving, lives were being changed, and it was a night many will never forget. Then I remember the meeting we as counselors had. How do we help our youth when they leave this safe zone and return to the real world full of their real world issues? It's easier when we are primarily surrounded by God's people, but soon we would all have to leave camp and return to everyday routines.

Similarly in our church we have been ultimately blessed by the moving of the Holy Spirit. We have been blessed with miracles, healings, and the witness of Jesus in the lives and the life changing of many; but then the real world returns. For me it was too soon and as I sat in my office reading the Word, I ran across a verse where Jesus changed me once again.

Jesus has just healed many, fed the five thousand, and is now hearing the beleaguering chit-chat of many wondering just who He really is. Jesus asks His disciples,(in a lead in situation), who people say He is. They give Him several answers and then in Luke 9:20, Jesus looks at Peter and asks, "who do you say that I am?"

In my time of revelling from my real life issues, it was as if Jesus was looking at me and asking me -- Wayne -- who do you say that I am? I realized at that moment how easy it is when surrounded by God's glory to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, but at this point it was as if Jesus was asking me if I still gave Him that glory. It was very similar to one of the many times Jesus would ask those He helped, "where is your faith?" I felt Jesus reminding me that the Messiah and Savior of my life I had been basking in the glory of these past few weeks, is and still will be the same Messiah and Savior of my life in those times of real life issues if I only continue to proclaim it. What mighty power did I feel in those words now! "Who do you -- Wayne -- say that I am?"
"You are the Christ of God, the Messiah, my Lord and Savior -- and with you I can do all things", is my reply.

So in your real world days filled with issues if Jesus were to ask you,"who do you say that I am?" How would you respond? Remember Hebrews 13:8 says: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So who do you say that He is?

Blessings,

Pastor Wayne

The Witness of Friends

2011-10-24T22:07:00.003-05:00

Recently a friend of the family and a member of our church recently was told a growth she had found was sure to be breast cancer. Through mammography the doctor could see the tumor had "fingers" growing from it and to his best knowledge and experience these usually indicated cancer. As the doctor prepared our friend for the road ahead, which would include surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation, we could see a sense of uncertainty and perhaps a glimmer of fear in our friend. She is a single mother of one. Her son is her life and she has worked very hard to provide him with a comfortable home and the things kids would want growing up. She has become close to our family as she made a connection with my wife and oldest daughter, while her son was a hit with our children. As I listened to her story, I couldn't help but feel that God had a plan and was going to be glorified in this situation.

For the Sunday service of October 23, 2012, I had felt a strong leading of the Spirit to hold a healing service. I felt like the Lord wanted me to anoint these ladies and anyone else in need of healing and believe God was going to be glorified. Notice I say ladies. You see along with our family friend, we had another church member and family friend with a very similar report. This lady of the church was also a potential bearer of breast cancer. She had called me, but I was on the line with another call so she called my wife, of whom just happened to be home that day. She too gave the report of uncertainty and yet she too put her trust in God for her future. So yes, the Lord led me to pray over these two women and anoint them in a special healing service. That's when the miracles begin.

After speaking on Luke 5, and the various healings Jesus did that day, I excitedly exhorted the congregation to be the friends that were lowering their friend through the rooftop in front of Jesus for healing. I asked the second lady mentioned to come up for prayer as I had already covered this part with her. Unexpectedly the first lady of the story couldn't be at church that day. As our friend (the first lady) stood at our door telling us how she couldn't be there, I assured her we would still pray for her in a special way. You see these two ladies not only go to our church, but they are very close friends and work in the same office at the same workplace doing the same type of work. Therefore it only seemed fitting to not only pray for the second lady, but to pray over the second lady a second time on behalf of her friend the first lady.

As she knelt down at the altar I informed her I would anoint her left shoulder and pray on her behalf first. I would then anoint her right shoulder and pray on behalf of hers and our friend who couldn't be there with us. After an outpouring of prayer and a special anointing of the Spirit not only for these two women, but for several others, we left the altar believing and trusting God. Tears were shed, hearts were lightened and eyes were opened. Then we received the miraculous news.

Monday late morning our friend we had prayed for by way of her friend who was at church sent us all a message. The tumor that was so assuredly cancer was benign; there was NO CANCER! We all witnessed a true living miracle through our friend and praised God all through the day. Then I realized what part of that miracle was meant for me. Yes, I am exuberant that our friend does not have cancer. But I am also excited that I got to witness such an amazing miracle. I am one of the friends that got to witness the healing power of Jesus Christ. What makes it more exciting, is the fact that the shoulder anointed on behalf of our friend, (right shoulder) was also the affected side in question of our friend. Only God would direct something like that. Only God would lead me to pray like that. I am blessed to have a healed friend, but I am blessed that I was able to be one of the friends to witness the miracle too. Just like the friends that lowered the lame man through the rooftop and witnessed the healing of their friend, I too got to witness our friends healing. What a mighty and loving God we serve! I wouldn't trade this for anything, and yes....I believe in miracles!

Blessings to you

Pastor Wayne

St. Jude Run

2010-08-06T22:53:00.001-05:00

Tonight I had the privilege of bringing a short, encouraging devotional to the runners of this year’s annual St. Jude run from Champaign to Peoria. As I sifted through the stories from St. Jude, and the importance of children to Jesus, I came upon the scriptures found in Matthew 18 and 19. I studied these and it came to me how often we here a child cry out for help, and how we seemingly, almost impulsively respond with the all too familiar phrase, "oh it will be all right". I was reminded of how my son Krys cried out after a leg injury and I did just that. I felt he may be dramatizing a less than serious injury because his older brother had suffered an injury on the same leg a week earlier. As I displayed little regard for the potential of injury, I grabbed his injured leg and Krys screamed out in pain. As I frantically dropped the injured extremity I realized he was undoubtedly hurting. The paramedic in me kicked in and as I examined the extremity it became clearly obvious. Exactly where I had grabbed his leg was a major step off, or in layman's terms, a deformity to his once continuous perfect little leg bone. As tears welled up in my eyes and apologies flowed, I informed him that his leg was probably broken and we would need to go to the emergency department for x-rays. To make a long story short, it was broken and so was the other bone in his leg. Yes, Krys had broken his fibula and his tibia.

As I looked at these scriptures in Matthew, I saw the disciples arguing about who would be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 18) It was then that Jesus took a small child ¬- sat the child in front of them - and proceeded to tell them they must have the innocence of a small child, the heart of a child, the humbleness of a child, if they wanted to see the Kingdom of Heaven. BUT! In the next chapter, (chapter 19) Jesus is healing the people. Soon some parents move to the front of the crowd with their children in hopes that Jesus can heal their sick children. Yet the disciples, the same disciples that had just been taught the need to be like a child and how important children are to Jesus, pushed the parents aside and told them not to be bothering Jesus. Jesus stopped them and reminded them in His compassionate way, that the children are what make’s us. Jesus said, let the children come to me, and then he blessed them and healed them.

This story made me think of how many times the cries of a child go unheard. Sure we may hear them audibly, but many times we set them aside, possibly because they are young, and tell them it will be all right. My new friend Austin has Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He also designed the T-shirt for this year’s St. Jude run. Yet much like the story of the disciples, and the story revealed of me, Austin’s diagnosis didn’t come immediately. Oh his family took him serious and kept returning him to the doctors for continual appointments. However, it wasn’t until several weeks after the first signs of illness, that the family of Austin learned the in-depth news. Olivia is his sister and she is a part of a family that I know appreciates all of those who give of themselves everyday for the betterment of children. I know they, as many of us do, appreciate all of those who are running for the cause and for the innocence of children. Austin was my helper tonight as I shared this devotional. He was and is the child Jesus says bring unto me. Pray for them and those of all ages who suffer from this growing epidemic called cancer.

Blessings,

Pastor Wayne

A Testimony

2009-05-25T16:26:00.003-05:00

One day as I was sitting and wondering why people go to church and what it is that drives people to go to church, I was reflecting on the writings of the Apostle Paul. I noted he was indeed a great church planter so to speak. Why, he went to many places and not only started churches but helped many of them become self-propigating as well. I reflected on the fact that then, the church couldn't have been a giant complex with multiple overhead screens and all of the lates audio-visual equipment, but that of the greatest simplicity. I reflected on how blessed our new start has been and is and how far we have come, despite the fact we too don't have many of the comforts of the mega churches. As I read from the book of Acts in the latter chapters beginning in chapter 21 I was also pondering the question as to what it would take to grow our new start more. That's when the Lord spoke to me through His Word as He so often does. In these chapters Paul is being accused and potentially tried for nothing more than his beliefs. Yet in each case when he is presented before his accusers his defense always starts out the same; with a testimony! YES, I can picture him telling emphatically the way Jesus literally knocked him off his high horse and showed him the light. It was Paul's testimony and his repetative telling of it that God revealed to me as a method of growth. We just need to share our testimony. Jesus taught in Mattew 25 that if we have something as great as Salvation we shouldn't hide it, so let's tell those we come in contact with by sharing a testimony. Oh sure we may and most likely will meet up with some Festus' like Paul did who consider us insane, but we could actually run across a few who like King Agrippa in Acts 26 potentially feel the tugging of the Lord on their own heart through our testimony. Then potentially we could grow the church in general and just not one church but the whole Kingdom of God! WOW, what a concept!

Think about it, would you have liked to have known Jesus sooner? Or if you don't know Jesus, wouldn't you like to know what He has done for others you know? Our testimonies as Christians can be delivered in so many ways, but if we at least share some sort of testimony, who knows someone could be intrigued enough to seek what it is you have. So how about it, have you told anyone what Jesus has done for you today? It could change a life.

Grow the Church with a testimony today. Try it :)
Pastor Wayne

What Jesus DID not WWJD

2009-03-14T21:14:00.004-05:00

Many times I see the common bracelet WWJD being worn about and I have come to realize it's not what would Jesus do, but what DID Jesus do. He set the example for us in every situation and He taught us as well in His short time here in an effort to prepare us for situations as well. So it's not a question of what would He do, but what DID He do in a certain situation. With that in mind it brings me to the thought of how He interacted with people. Seems like today if someone we know has done something wrong or has been speculated as to have done something wrong, we tend to by human nature shy away from them. It's apparent in many instances we no longer want to be associated with that person because WE think we know the story, so in human nature we do what human nature does and we shun them. HOWEVER, from the aspect of what DID Jesus do we can see that this is not the way He handled these situations. Throughout the Gospels you see Jesus actually going right into the midst of these supposed wrong-doers and witnessing to them. And in each case He did it without condemnation or bring on a sense of pre-judgmentalism. Look at Matthew the tax collector, one can only speculate to the many wrongs he may have caused, after all his title itself is one that says corruption. Of course just as in today's world the people shunned the corrupt tax collector, yet Jesus went and ate dinner with him and his buddies and to top it off asked Matthew to become one of His disciples.

What if we took that approach today with someone of whom we have a predisposed notion about as well. What if instead of presuming to know the absolute truth of the matter, we do as Jesus DID, and we show them some kindness. Instead of shunning these people and pushing them away what if we actually open our arms to them and show them the love of Jesus, just as Jesus DID, therefore bringing a potential life altering change to the situation should their actually be a need for one. I mean let's face it, if these supposed bad people really did something so horribly wrong then they would be the very one's Jesus told us to love and be compassionate to wouldn't they? Aren't these the very people who need to know the life-changing message of salvation given to us through the grace of God by His Son Jesus? We can't possibly help them become followers or disciples if we shun them because, well, because they are bad. Jesus said someone who isn't sick doesn't need a doctor, so if they truly are afflicted we need to lead them to the great Physician don't we? And should there be no truth to the story we presumed to have known all about, then again by showing them some compassion we can tear down that barrier of discord as well.

What Jesus DID, was build relationships not destroy them. There are enough lost people in the world that are under the control of the enemy that like nothing better than to destroy relationships, so why not DO as Jesus DID and reach out to someone. You could literally save a life. Look at all the lives Jesus saved, and He told us not to hoard that for ourselves but to share this life changing Gospel news with those that need it. Love your adversaries, it's easy to love those that already love you. (Luke 6)

So if you know someone who may be discounted as less than honorable, remember Jesus approached the likes during His earthly ministry and expects the same out of us. Approach them, be kind to them, pray for them, and know that Jesus is the answer. Asking what would He do seems a way to put off the doing of what He actually DID.

Love you my brothers and sisters

To Die For

2009-02-26T08:58:00.003-06:00

Last night as I was doing review with my children's quiz group we ran upon an interesting verse of scripture. Exodus 14:30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

My young group of 1,2, and 3 graders all seemed to pick up on how weak the faith of the Israelite people was UNTIL they actually saw all of the Egyptians lying dead on the sea shore. The question was raised why didn't they believe (the Israelites) that God was able in the first place. After some elementary discussion we concluded that this is true today and that sometimes it takes that much extreme in our lives for us to really believe in God, even to the point sometimes of the death of a loved one.

But then if you look at this story you can also see the similarity of Jesus in here too. Jesus has come as the Messiah and predicts that he must suffer as the Son of Man, so that all may have life. He even goes as far to predict His own death. But just as the Israelite people seemed not to believe totally until they saw the dead Egyptians, it would seem the same can be said of the Messiah as others failed to believe until they saw Jesus actually on the cross being crucified. But even then it is evident that the visual of a lifeless Messiah who predicted His own suffering, as well as His own resurrection still hadn't convinced everyone. As in the resurrected Christ and His appearance to the disciples there was still disbelief until some could physically touch Him.

So as we look at the patterns of life even throughout the Bible is it that hard to believe that sometimes it takes actual death for people to begin to believe that God is real? Perhaps it's that final realization that God is the giver and taker of all things that finally sinks in, or perhaps it's the realization that the loss of the one loved should they be a Believer is not a loss at all but a beginning to a life with Christ in eternity and it's our realization that in order to share that we need to put our trust in God. Or perhaps in the uncertainty of it all, we learn that the only sure thing is the presence of God as we lean upon Him more and more during our times of heartache. Whatever the case may be it would seem it brings a new insight to the words of Christ when He taught in Luke 9:24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.

For it seems in death we believe.

Blessings to you all

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-08T15:38:00.003-06:00

So how's your love life? I once learned from one of the greatest teachers I have ever had that love comes in three forms. Eros, Phileo and Agape love are all forms of love used in the Bible. The one Jesus holds us accountable to is the Agape love, but the interesting thing about this love is it can circumfrentiate the other two. What I mean is if you love your wife like Jesus loved the churched you are upholding His commandment but hopefully you also have some Eros love in there too as that's the affectionate love between you. But naturally if you have some eros, you seemingly automatically have some agape as well. As described in the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, the agape love is not an emotion but ones' will for the best for someone else. In other words you always hold the one you agape love best interest's at heart. You genuinely care for them and with that it is unconditional being you expect nothing in return. But besides all of that let's get back to how is your love life? See despite all the definitions we can find, there is one common root of love and is made ultra clear in 1 John 4:8. It simply states that if you don't have the right love you must not know God because God is love. Paul provides us a great checklist for the qualities of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, but the reality of it is if we fall short in any of these qualities, we need to look at our relationship with God first. Like most relationships the more time we spend with Him, the closer we get to Him and thusly His Spirit spills out in love to all those we come in contact with.

So if your checklist has shortfalls take a look at the one question of questions. How is your love for God these days? How is that relationship? After all anything less would be.................uncivilized.................wouldn't it?

Happy Valentine's Day and say I love you to someone.

Pastor Wayne

Long Time

2009-02-06T14:57:00.002-06:00

It has been nearly a year since my last blog here. My apologies. A lot has taken place in that year as well. But first let me say that the blessings of the Lord have continued and God has truly been good to us. My wife was spared significant injury after being struck by a city bus in our van, our newest addition Benjamyn continues to get better, and our daughter Alyssa was with us for Ben and Krys's birthday this past year. Our church has grown and is looking for a new place again and we continue to see peoples lives changed for the Lord as well.

I will do my best to improve on my blogging. Until then I invite you to check us out at our website and visit us at Lighthouse Church. We are a church on the move and looking for those who have a desire to share and join us.

Blessings

Pastor Wayne

Blaming others

2008-02-16T00:47:00.002-06:00

I just had to chuckle the other day. I drive our 40 passenger bus for our church and one Wednesday night when we were loaded to the max I was constantly reminding some of the students they must remain in their seats. Finally after reminding them for more than half a dozen times I took away the most desired Jesus jewels. As one girl was exiting the bus she made sure that I knew she was not too happy with me taking her Jesus Jewels. I stopped her before she could get off the bus and asked her what she was upset about. She told me she was upset that I would take her Jesus Jewels. I replied to her that she shouldn't be mad at me because she failed to follow the expectations. I then reminded her it would be silly to be upset with me when she was the one that actually broke the rules. After looking puzzled for a minute, she then smiled and left the bus somewhat feeling silly but was obviously revelling in the realization that for her to not be upset all she had to do was follow the expectations set for her when riding the bus.

Wouldn't the world be great if we could get them to realize they don't have to worry about God and His wrath coming down on them on the day of judgment if they just be obedient to Him? Think about it! From the days of Adam, people have been mad at God and tried to find ways to blame God for their troubles. As God confronts Adam about eating from the tree (Genesis 3:11-12) Adam goes right into blaming God for his short fall by replying it was the woman You gave me... How many times have we heard that in life today. Reasons why someone has done what they have done being because of someone elses actions first. In the end, as God will hold us all accountable for, the decision was made by YOU and you alone. We won't be able to pull an Adam on judgment day and blame anyone for any of our shortfalls, but I am sure there will be many of us that will respond much like the little girl on my bus and will be mad at God for holding us accountable. Perhaps we can be as bright as this little girl as well and realize that the best way to keep ourselves out of such a situation is simply to be obedient to God. He's really a loving and compassionate God, it's your decision on whether you want to find it out or not.

Blessings to you!

How Will You Respond This Christmas?

2007-12-06T12:27:00.000-06:00

Has God ever asked you to do something or has He ever told you of a blessing you were going to receive and your response was, HOW? All through the life of Christ we see people posing the question of HOW. There was the water into wine story, the calming of the sea, the raising of Lazarus, and these are just a few. In each one the question was posed HOW , in some way or another. And in each situation, Jesus comes through and makes it all possible. Perhaps that's why Paul tells us what he does in Philippians 4:13.

With that in mind what made the question of HOW, so seemingly wrong for Zechariah when he was told he would have a son even at his old age. After all Mary asked how as well when she was told she would have a son and was not yet married and still a virgin. So what made Zechariah's question of HOW, so different that he became mute for the duration. Perhaps it was the fact that Zechariah was one of the appointed priests of his time that was to pray for the people and offer sacrifice for the people. Perhaps it was the fact that this chosen man of God who had served God diligently and faithfully was seemingly lacking in what he professed from his position. I mean shouldn't a man of his integrity and statute understand at that point in his life that the almighty God can do anything? And what if Zechariah questioned this whole immaculate conception concept of his own in a less than reverant way or in what some would deem a snickering mockery of what God can do? Maybe this accumulation of potential happenings is what levied this means of protection upon Zechariah. What? Protection you say? Yes, think about it. If Zechariah, being a man of his statute has problems believing that God will deliver him a son just because of his age, what potential run-off could become of this if Zechariah is allowed to speak freely? Think about our own lives in times of uncertainty. Isn't it true that when we don't know or we have serious doubt we tend to be extensively speculative thus exploiting in it's own ways the intense level of our own doubt? Zechariah is a chose high priest of God and this would damage what God's intention for those chosen for the priesthood are to be. By now Zechariah should be grounded firmly in the almightiness of God, so in an effort to salvage all that Zechariah has become and is, God simply temporarily removes his ability to speak. Sort of a way of protecting Zechariah from himself. Ain't God just so cool!! Sure God could have lifted the muting sooner but if you look at Luke 1:67-79, as soon as John the Baptist is born and his name is declared through the writing of Zechariah that "his name is John",(Luke 1:64), Zechariah returns to priestly form with a prophecy of the comming Messiah! WOW, God is so awesome!

Mary's question of HOW, was not that of doubt, but one that was more in what now should I do Lord. She was so willing to be the Lord's servant she was merely seeking the next move on her part. Gabriel let her known she just needed to the be the hostess in carrying the Messiah to term and the Lord would take care of the rest. This young lady of innocence was so intrigued to be chosen by God to carry out this great work, her response in Luke 1:38 was one of total committal to the cause in "I am the Lord's servant". She never doubted God she just wanted to be sure she did all she could to help in the delivery process.

With that being said that brings us to the question. Is God calling you to something, or telling you something that obviously only God can make happen or be involved in to make happen? Maybe He wants you to do more in your church, or give more of yourself to your church or community. Maybe He wants you to let go of an old resentment or maybe He, JUST MAYBE, He wants to give you a peace that you haven't experienced in your life for a long time if ever. HOW will you respond to Him? Will you respond with doubt like Zechariah did, therefore keeping you from experiencing the awesomeness of God. Or will you respond like Mary did and say yes Lord, is there anything I can do to help as I am at your service. This Christmas with but one decision you could experience PEACE on earth, the JOY of giving, or even the wonderful gift of the Messiah. It's all in HOW you respond to what God has for you.

Merry Christmas

Pastor Wayne

The Seed and Character

2007-11-04T14:45:00.000-06:00

Once I had a patch of yard that hadn’t any grass in it for quite some time. I realized that the need for grass was imminent if we wanted this part of the yard to look complete. The owners before us hadn’t really minded this none grassy area as they seemed to have kept their cars there most of the time, but we wanted grass. So one day I set out and prepared the soil for the grass seed. I smoothed it all out and then spread the grass seed over the top just like my Grandpa used to do. I roped off the area so people could see that we were attempting to grow grass now and watered the area as well. After a few days when one would expect to see some little grass quivers coming up I noticed there wasn’t any grass growing yet. I went out to my little area of planting and noticed there was but a few seeds still. Not being a gardener of any real magnitude I simply thought the seeds had gone into the soil, but my neighbor revealed to me this secret. The neighbor revealed to me that every morning when he would get up he noticed the birds would be sitting in this patch of soil plucking away at the ground. He then informed me that perhaps the reason I didn’t have any grass yet was because the birds were eating the seed, and then he asked me if I had slightly raked the seeds into the soil or just scattered them. With a sense of embarrassment I confessed that I had simply scattered them and thought that was all I needed to do. With a smile on his face he replied that in some areas that is sufficient, but where birds are so populated like they are around here with all the trees we need to take that extra step to insure the grass takes. I thanked him for his input and then went to work. I reworked the ground and spread my seed and lightly raked it under the top of the soil. Soon the grass was popping up all over. I was feeling quite joyful of my accomplishment and then I noticed the grass was seemingly turning brown and limply falling over. Soon it was a yellowish color and it was clear that this grass too was not going to be of a qualitative growth. Again my neighbor came out and was again helpful. He asked me if I had cleared the soil of all rocks before planting. See the area used to be used for a driveway so to speak so he knew there could be some rocks in the soil. I again with some embarrassment replied with the all too popular phrase not exactly. He then suggested I did a little deeper and be sure the area was clear of all rocks, as the rocks don’t allow for the grass to take root and that’s probably why the grass looked good for a moment then fell over like it did. Once again I thanked him for his input and began to diligently rework the ground. Would you believe I pulled over two wheel barrows full of rocks out of that ground? I smoothed out the topsoil and replanted once again being sure to slightly cover the seeds and once again with proper watering up came the grass. It was thick beautiful grass. “Eureka”, I exclaimed as I felt so good about success finally. As I was tending to my newly grown beautiful patch of grass the neighbor made his way out and congratulated me on what appeared to be a successful growing season finally. However; Once again the grass began to go limp and turn colors. My heart began to sink as I really felt like I had done all I could this time to make it work. I removed the rocks. I covered the seed. I watered and roped off the area. What next could be the problem with my grass? As I solemnly looked over the area with somewhat of a look of disbelief on my face once again the neighbor came over and offered up some helpful words of comfort. He pointed out the huge trees and the large line of shrubs planted by this patch of grass, which by the way was really a large piece of land of grass. He pointed out that the roots of the trees and the shrubs had dominated the water source in the ground literally sucking all of the water away from the grass system and the grass being in the soil it was in just couldn’t retain enough moisture from the soil to continue to thrive. With defeat in my eyes, I looked to the neighbor and asked what to do next. He suggested a different type of soil that was rich in nutrients and could retain moisture for the things planted in it. He told me it was available at the local reclamation sight and was none more than aged compost. He assured me it would work wonders for my area as he pointed across the way to his finely groomed yard. It was then that he pointed out to me that his entire yard was planted with this type of soil. Once again excitement came over my face. My heart jumped with joy as I finally felt I had the solution and would soon have this nice patch of grass to match the rest of my yard. Momentarily I thought why not do the entire yard with this “super soil”, but the neighbor convinced me my other grass was fine and that wouldn’t be necessary. I quickly ran in and called the reclamation yard to schedule a delivery of my own compost. I went back out to my area and reworked the ground. Soon my compost delivery came and I diligently worked the compost over the area and replanted once again. Soon the spot was filled thicker than ever with grass. You could see a strong vibrant grass and it grew thicker and taller each day. To this day I still have that patch of grass. It has grown so effectively that you no longer can tell where the patch starts and the old yard began. It filled in so nicely the yard looks like one unified body of grass.

Jesus teaches that our spiritual lives are very similar to this pattern. In Mark 4:3-20 Jesus teaches about the soils and planting of seed. So many times when we hear the word of God told to us we are like my patch of grass that as soon as we here it, it is whisked away by Satan as He eats us up telling us all the ways the Word doesn’t apply to us and how we will never measure up to what has been shared. Just like the birds were coming and eating up my seeds, some of us never give God a chance because of outside influences Satan works through.

Sometimes we hear the life changing message of Jesus Christ and we are so exited about it and filled with joy that we run on this emotional high for as long as we can. But then the real world rears its ugly head at us and because we haven’t been involved in this new found way of life very long, we aren’t deeply rooted, we find it easier just to go back to the things we used to do. Similar to the rocks in the soil of my grass patch keeping the blades of grass from going deep caused my grass to die out. If we aren’t deeply rooted in the salvation Jesus offers us by giving Him our full intention with full heartfelt desires to be a Child of His the enemies of this world (the rocks) will surely destroy us spiritually.

Then comes the part where we think we have it made. We are on a roll the grass comes up and it’s looking green. But suddenly in our walk with God we start feeling weak. We notice certain things that weren’t issues with us are now becoming issues. Our sense of trust in the Lord is really coming to a head. Can we truly trust in God? Can we just as the Israelites did believe that God will deliver us from oppression, or will we be like the Israelites when God didn’t act fast enough and turn from God? Will Satan bombard us with enough worry about worldly pleasures that we end up like my grass patch that was sucked dry by the plants around it? This too, if we allow it to happen will be harmful to our spiritual life, just as it was to my grass patch.

Because what we are really hoping and searching for is to be that fertile soil. Like the compost we want to be spiritually one that can not only withstand the attacks from Satan and his helpers, but one that is rooted deeply enough to endure this spiritual battle for the duration. We want to be strong enough to produce more of this same caliber grass or individual. Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians to endure, because ours is a prize that last forever. Jesus teaches us in the Gospels to be prepared at all times because the time of His coming is not known. Jesus also told us He would be with always, even up to the time of His return (Great Commission). So what kind of soil are you? What kind of soil would you like to be?

You see the big difference in the types of soil or individuals is based on the heart or character situation. In the first few soils, (path, rocks, thorns) the individual gives way to and returns to their old way of life because their whole conversion experience has been emotionally driven. If you read this in “The Message”, it clearly outlines the use of emotions in these types of soils and it’s the emotions of disbelief, fear and worry that seem to be Satan’s biggest weapons on the new believer. The only firmly planted relationship with God that can withstand the emotional attacks of Satan is the one that gives to God from the heart and develops from one’s own character base and not on an emotional level. Oh sure being saved and accepted into the family of God is and can be very emotional and that is not a bad thing. But when these are truly emotions from the heart and not superficial for the moment feelings, God gets planted deeper into our hearts and lives and we become a force against the battle of spiritual warfare. So again I ask you what kind of soil are you? What kind of soil would you like to be?

The decision is yours.

Blessings to you.

The Plan

2007-08-16T21:20:00.000-05:00

We just had one of the best youth nights we have had in a while. As I was preparing for this nights devotional, I really didn't look at the topic very deeply and it really didn't sink in, until we were actually holding the devotional and reading the scripture. First we had us a little war with straws and Q-tips, and we learned how even when we are working for the greater cause sometimes people inadvertently get hurt by what the military deems as "friendly fire." We saw first hand how sometimes there is a lot of hurt involved when working to full fill the greater plan.

Sometimes it is that way in our own spiritual life. God set that example early in His own family life. If you look at Matthew 16:21-22, God's own son is revealing to His disciples how He is soon to suffer greatly and even die at the hands of the people. See Jesus, or God's son, knows that this pain and suffering must be in an effort to fulfill the greater plan of God. Then Peter gets excited and tells Jesus how it just can't be, and when Peter does this Jesus doesn't lash out at Peter but to the driving force that is trying to abort God's plan in the first place......Satan...as found in verse 23. Jesus knows that if Satan were to win this battle of wills then God's plan would be aborted and our Salvation would be null and void. Similarly that can be said of our own lives when we try to say no to that which God has planned for us. And if we don't heed the warnings and tell Satan to get behind us and out of our thought process and allow ourselves to take control of our situations, similarly we can expect things to become in disarray.

Again like Peter, when we see or experience pain or suffering, we only see such a little portion of the picture and we want God to take it all away. That is a normal response, but when we get into a part where we become intent on having it our way regardless of whether we are at a Burger King or not, we sometimes end up with unwanted results. What would it have been like if Jesus would have said to Peter, you're right Peter, I can't do this? But being God in the flesh, and as God does, He sees the whole picture, so Jesus understood that it had to be. It doesn't mean Jesus didn't want to perhaps get out of going through such agony. As we know in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus whole heartedly prayed that if this cup could pass from Him, then please, please Abba, take it from Me. But what separates Jesus prayer from several of us, is Jesus follows it with that great phrase that we all MUST learn, "Not my will but thine be done."

As a result we all now have the same gift of eternal life through the pain and suffering of Jesus Christ. In allowing God's plan to come to be despite the amount of pain involved, we now have the greatest opportunity and gift available to us in all creation. Salvation!

So in the pain that you face in whatever situation you are in, know that God is the great plan maker and as Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8, because of this great God we have the assurance that we will be more than conquerors. Our battles are His battles and if we allow Him to have His way we are sure to be victorious!

This one is dedicated to my friend Chief! We love you Chief, and God is with you and will be protecting you!

In Him,
Pastor Wayne

Where are your accusers?

2007-08-13T08:31:00.001-05:00

Recently I learned of some more things that had been said of me in discord over the past years that were totally malicious and without substance. I learned this close to one year later and learned it through one of the people that had been directly connected to the accusations. I was shocked, appalled and hurt to know a man of the cloth could and would go to such extremes. We are suppose to be shepherds, not wolves. It made me understand why certain people had totally written me off, and while that hurt me too, it upset me that no one would approach me and find out if this hearsay was real or not. I do credit one man named Lou for coming directly to me and asking me questions when he was in doubt, but he too had never heard such atrocities and was shocked as well. If someone really knows me they would know that the pain I have gone through before I was a Christian was so intense as a victim that I would never be involved in such atrocities as a culprit. And that's what troubled me, because no one ever came to me, they just took this man at his word. I thought I had shucked it off, and one night in my alone time with God it was heavy on my heart and this is what He said to me. Jesus said to me this, "Where are your accusers?" I had to stop and think and reflect and it became apparent to me what God was trying to tell me. I have been so blessed over the past year, and I have learned and been witness to the awesome trust and power of being totally obedient and committed to what God has in store for us here in Urbana. My accusers are not around me anywhere and I am surrounded by some of the greatest people that only want to grow in their relationship to Christ. They are hungry to know more about this God thing and they know that we as a church will GO and make disciples and will share this God thing with others.

After reflecting on the blessings God has bestowed upon me God spoke to me more about the scripture of John 8:1-11. Our church uses that a lot to help people understand that we are a non-judmental group and only Jesus is worthy of judging us.

The Adulteress and The Church

As we look at John 8:1-11, we can take several things from this passage. There is the fact that there are those who judge us and feel they have the right to bring us down and will try. There is the fact that some of us are in a life of sin that is of a different type than others, IE adultery versus gossip versus deceitfulness. All are types of sin and no sin is greater as a sin is a sin, but to the Pharisees, they felt seeming by this, that some sins were greater than others. Jesus quickly dispels that and we ultimately find out that no one is worthy of judging us other than the Lord Himself.

But have you ever just sat back and looked at this passage from the view of the adulteress, or through the eyes of the accused? And then have you ever looked at this and saw exactly what it holds in similarity to the churches and the unchurched of today?

Here is this accused adulteress being drug around by men, not women, but men. She is being paraded in front of another group of men in Jesus and His disciples and yet she is being charged with sleeping around. Can you imagine the fear that could potentially be running through her mind right now? Someone has gotten wind that she has been with a man or two and now they are parading her out in front of and in the hands of several men. I know if I was in that situation I would be trembling with fear that perhaps because of my charges these men may be contemplating something far worse, I mean how do I know, I am woman and they are men, the very thing I supposedly am very friendly and loose with. Then one of the men screams out that she should be stoned and now she is really frightened. She knows she has done wrong but never to any type of group thing like is being presented at the moment. And what if these guys are just going to perhaps knock her silly and then the group of them will take advantage of her in her untoward condition? By history we know that orgies and things of that nature were a reality in those days, but no where do we see that this lady had any part of such a life. From what we can gather through deeper study of the scripture, it would appear she has just skipped over from one man to another who was married or something of that nature, because the studies mention the man she was involved with, by Roman law, should have been brought before a judgment seat as well, but the Pharisees didn’t bring him at all. Which then makes one wonder if the accusations were real in the first place, and if not then can you imagine how much more fear would have been in this woman?

Finally as the fear is about to leap from her throat, the Messiah speaks on her behalf, or does He? As Jesus does and knowing full well these guys have violated their own rules of conduct, and knowing the hearts of these men, and trying to make His point that sin is not calculated by its degree but that a sin is a sin and a way of life, Jesus gives them permission to stone her; but only allowing the one without sin to cast the first stone. Now think of the fear in this ladies heart. She has just been given the stoning order and she never even got to plead her case. If it were me I would be frantically crying right now and scared to death so they wouldn’t need to stone me. But as we see, these religious know it alls, figure out what Jesus is saying to them and end up leaving one by one, until it’s just Jesus and her.

WHERE ARE YOUR ACCUSERS? To me that is powerful! To me that is how the church of today needs to be. Think about it. A person new to the church or new to church at all has just walked through the doors of the church. How will they be greeted, how will they be met? Will they be welcomed with open arms as if they were one of the group right from the start or are they going to feel like the paraded adulteress in front of a group of judgmental characters not knowing what their demise for the day may hold? How do we act with these new people? Do we give them judgmental glances, do we keep our distance, and do we gawk at their outward appearance because we are mesmerized by the skin art and their piercings or their choice of cloths? Or do we just love them for who they are and not even let that be a factor. And then do we cap off this fear with the ultimate comment of shunning them because of their outward appearance? Or do we let them know in our own way we are comfortable with them because we know Jesus only judges the heart and that as the story goes we are not worthy of judging anyone. It doesn’t matter if we verbally condemn them or just seemingly condemn them by disassociation, they will get the point and they will either feel welcome and safe or not wanted and accused.

A church should be a place where anyone can come and know and feel the phrase, WHERE ARE YOUR ACCUSERS? There are none here. If we are to live and be as Christ taught us to be in that we love our neighbor as ourselves and that we are not worthy to judge anyone, only He is, then anytime someone comes through the doors of the church and ours in particular, we should be able to say, “Neither do I”, in reference to Jesus not accusing the adulteress any longer. The church is the body of Christ and He taught us to love regardless of past. There are tons of accused out there, and unfortunately there are tons that feel paraded when they enter a church. Let’s be the church that says you are safe here. We aren’t perfect, we have pasts, and we will take you just as you are because we all just want to become closer to this man called Jesus, because we know in today’s world He is the only way we can make it.judging us, no man or human being. Then God spoke to me and put it to me in a way I would like to share with you. Below is my writings on what God has revealed to me through these scriptures as it relates to the church today.

Blessings to All

Real Friends

2007-07-12T06:44:00.000-05:00

So lately I have been really missing some friends of mine that used to go to church with us at Faith Church that live in Texas and soon will be moving to CA. My heart aches because I have tried so much to talk to them and never seem to get through to them. I leave messages and posts for them, yet never to date get a reply. I begin to wonder if something is being held against me so I ask a relative if they have heard from these dear people and they tell me how busy my friends are. I continue to hold onto the hope that all is well and cling to the words of the song that say " Friends are friends forever, when the Lord's the Lord of them". I know the Lord is very much the Lord of them, and He is for sure the Lord of us here in Urbana so I cling to them in prayer as I lift them up for their big move. Then one of our other friends who has been unable to be with us as much as she would like comes to me with a situation. While I wasn't sure at the onset how to respond to her situation, it was apparent the Holy Spirit was guiding me as He led me through John 21.

Jesus has been resurrected and is now walking the earth. He misses those He had spent time with and in doing so He returns to the place He is sure to find them. There on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus sees His friends, His disciples, the ones He hasn't seen since..........yep, since they deserted him at the cross. Most people at this point would be ready to drown them but Jesus our Lord, from the shores yells out to their boat and asks if they had caught any fish. Their reply is negative in nature so Jesus, their friend suggests they try the other side of the boat. They do and the nets are bursting at the seams. Jesus' friends now realize who is standing on the shore, so they go to Him and have breakfast together.

Jesus is Lord and He was still Lord of them, despite the mistakes they had made. And true to the words of the song, Jesus and His friends were friends forever. Jesus promises them this in Matthew 28:20 as He sends them into the world to carry on the ministry.

So I guess real friends are defined by more than those that have your back, those that you can go to with anything, but those that share in the same passion for the Lord as you do, that will love you unconditionally like the Lord does us and make the rest fall into place.

I miss and love you my friends from Texas soon to be Californians. I know the Lord is with you and will bless your ministry as He has ours.

The Lord is the Lord of us!
Amen!

Pastor Wayne

Leave the differences

2007-05-01T23:00:00.000-05:00

As I was unfolding the extent of racism in the church I could see that still some folks were looking at it as an ethnic thing, but it really goes beyond ethnicity and goes into our way of life or beliefs. A group of people that believes their way or their understanding of things is more dominant or more correct than someone elses, dispite the fact none have any real incorrectness, displays some type of racism by definition. Cliques in the church can be more accurately described as racial entities as they each feel their beliefs are what should be practiced. Racism may be a strong word but by Webster, it is accurate and in some instances we need to address these things of the church strongly to bring about the need to increase unity instead of division. The unchurched that visit see this first hand and it most definatley turns them away. I know one person that said it like this; "Why would I want to go there when you guys can't even get along." A real eye opener, because it wasn't like we didn't get along we were just openly uncanny with our different ways of thinking.

Jehu and Jehonadab of the Old Testament were two similar individuals. They worshipped different, but they worshipped the same God, the Almighty God. One day they realized they needed to set aside their differences when in the presence of the Almighty God because it just didn't matter as long as they were both worshipping God Almighty, the Sovereign Lord. In 2 Kings 10:15 (KJV) it reads like this, " And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot. "

These two men realized the time had come where HOW they worshipped was irrelevent as long as they both worshipped the One True God. They set aside their differences and fellowshipped as brothers of God's children. That's what we need to strive for in the church today. Sure we can find a church to accommodate our various styles, but we need to be attentive to the Holy Spirit and to where He leads us and then with the mind of Christ put aside any differences and worship any way we can. "Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?"

Blessings

Racism in the church

2007-04-27T15:18:00.000-05:00

After recently being subjected to some verbal attacks from some proclaimed christians, (and I leave the word without capitalization for a purpose), about various people that attend the church I do and the amount of African American individuals in our church, I quickly came to realize just how much racism is still alive in the church today. These comments come on the heals of comments such as "did you attend church today, or was it a nursery again", and "you don't play hymns!?, we just can't be a part of that then", I realized that this racism goes deeper than just color. If you look up racism in Websters it defines racism as: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. So then let's define race.
Webster defines race as such: a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock b : a class or kind of people unified by shared interests, habits, or characteristics .

See by these definitions statements like those carry a ton of racism. If we look across the church we can see many churches that are epidemically infected with this racism. Some people don't like youth, some people don't like the elder saints, some people don't like the babies, some people don't like the workers and the doers, some people don't like the music, some people don't like the way the preacher preaches. AND sadly enough, there are some that use the word christian and attach it to themselves and say they can't be a part of a church if it has too many of one color in it. So what does that say for us when we ALL get to heaven? There will be the white section of heaven, the African American section of heaven, the Asian section of heaven and so on? I don't think so. So what happens to this bigoted attitude from these so called believers?

Let's look at John 4:1-30. Racism was rampant even in the Bible, but as you see here in this passage, Jesus looked beyond the color of skin, or the sex of the individual or the nationality of the person. As Jesus sits at the well He asks the Samaritan woman for a drink and this is her response: “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” It was not customary for a Jew to talk to a Samaritan, let alone a Samaritan woman and this woman was shocked that this man would even give her the time of day, let alone ask her to help Him. But Jesus knew this would open the door for Him to witness to her on that very basis. By breaking down the racial barriers of all kinds he tweaked her interest and got her attention to allow Him to tell her of the Living Water He could supply. But it's not over yet, this racial reaction, when the disciples come back this is the reaction they had to Jesus as they find Jesus talking to a Samaritan woman: 27 Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, “What do you want with her?” or “Why are you talking to her?” This is the kind of racism we see most in the church. People who don't agree but don't have the nerve to say anything so they just wrinkle up their faces and think thoughts that only Satan would put in there mind. I mean look at the verse and where it says "what do you want with her", and tell me what does that imply? Take that and put that into a modern day setting and you have people of the church talking gossip of others in the church just because they talked to someone else of whom the gossipers either don't like or don't think should be conversing together. But if you look at the opportunity that Jesus took and the end result He had with breaking the mold of racism you will see in verses 39-42 of John 4 that He was able to make believers of many of those Samaritans. Had he not shown the love that Jesus shows, they would have likely been eternally lost.

Lastly as we read in Acts we see the beginning of the early church. Peter is going to the Gentiles and preaching the Good News and many are being saved. Peter is a Jew! Peter didn't go willingly at first, but God sent him a vision and this is what God told Peter in Acts 11:9 as Peter tells the story: “But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’ And after Peter had won several Gentiles to the Lord, of course there was a big racial to do because he was proclaiming this victory that was presumably only for the Jews, yet these Gentiles had received it and Peter was witness of it. As Peter is getting grilled from the leaders of the Jewish realm, Peter responds with this: 34Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. 35In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right." PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Jesus sent us out to make disciples of ALL nations. He didn't segregate the command, He just said go and do this. So the next time you feel it is in your power to make comments of a church you visit or attend that are not pro-active for the church. Check your heart and see if you don't harbor some racism. Then ask yourself what are you doing to help make disciples of all nations, anything? Or do you approach this mission more as a spectator watching others do the ministry while you critique it?

Martin Luther, the great reformer, said this over 400 years ago, "Where there are dissension, divisions, and discord there is the dwelling of Satan." A racist disposition of any kind dissolves unity of all kinds. If there is no unity then there is sure to be division and Satan is lurking nearby to abolish as best he can the mission at hand. Pray that God will bring a sense of unity back into the church and abolish racism in the church first. Philippians 2:3Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Blessings to You All

Your Mission Field

2007-04-26T10:19:00.000-05:00

So many times when we think of missions we think of third world countries or the reservations of the native Indians in America. We think of helping out the oppressed in devestated areas of our own country and sometimes the world. Think about it, how many organizations went to help with hurricane Katrina? I was blessed to be a small part in that effort myself, but as I study the Word and I look at our own churches and communities I often think that in our efforts to help "others", we often leave out those in our own immediate communities. In an evangelism class I recently took, there was discussion about evangelizing and it seemingly always went elsewhere. This class was full of pastors and as I sat quietly and listened intently to the discussion I finally asked the question. How many of you have churches running in the 100's? I knew that we all had small churches and that most everyone had less than 100 people in their church on average. I then asked the next question. Do you think if we took the same initiative and enthusiasm we have to help other areas of the world and the country, and took that to our own surrounding communities could we perhaps build our churches? There was silence for quite some time, then responses like "there are so many churches in our immediate area all ready we can't be as affective", to "people are more educated here and more set in their beliefs or lack their of". That posed my next question of how does the missionary in China succeed then if he can't even be open with his faith? How does the missionary that has to battle the buddist belief succeed since Budism is so prevelant in some areas, more so than the amount of churches in any part of this country. I believe we need world missions by far, but I also believe that as people of the local church we are also to be as missional as our world missionaries, but in our own communities. Did you know that if you took all of the people in the U. S. that didn't go to church, those people alone total more than the total number of people that do attend church at some place in America. That is huge, because there are some huge churches in America. That just reiterates the fact that the local mission field is huge as well. If you love your church and you love your God shouldn't you do your part in "make disciples of all nations", including the part of the nation that is right next door to you? Have you invited anyone to church lately? If God is the greatest thing that has ever happened to you, and I hope He is, then tell someone. Through the recent loss of a very close friend of mine who died trying to save another person from drowning, God made it clear to me that my mission field was right here. I had felt that before and was thankful that I had had the time to spend with this man who exercised John 15:13 to the extreme. Let's build the local church with the intensity of world missions right here in our own community.

God Bless and Empower you!

Why is it?

2007-04-23T17:53:00.000-05:00

So often times in tragedy we as Christians are faced with the question of why does a loving, all powerful God allow such senseless hostility to innocent people as occurred at Virginia Tech? We really as humans will never really understand the whole concept of how this works and for those of us that see Jesus when we get to heaven perhaps it is something we may ask Him. But keep in mind that in heaven there will be no sorrow, no pain, so we may never know this part of humanity. I would like to offer some suggestions that may help in the understanding process for you. I am not saying they will make it go away but they may help us understand how this happens and God is still on the throne. You see, it is the unfathomable love of God that allow each and everyone one of us the freedom to make our own choices. As we were created in His image ( Genesis 1:26), he included in that image the ability to make our own decisions without God intercepting them even though He may know the outcome of such a decision. Think about how much power God must have to initiate on His own accord not to interfere when He knows such devastation is about to occur. The "All Powerful" God must exercise that very power on His own self, especially in instances such as Virginia Tech, September 11, or Columbine. These are horrific events in our history and very painful, so let my try to pull it down to scale for us in a simpler way. My son when he was 3 years old was playing around the swimming pool at my house one day. It was a big pool and definitely over his head. The rule was if he ever got into the pool he had to wear his arm flotation devices. This day he stood at the top of the deck ladder, then onto the deck eyeing me to see if I had noticed him at the pool without his flotations devices on his arms. As I continued to cut the grass I yelled over to him to get down and get his flotation devices on, or floaties as we called them. He gave me that mischievous smile of his and at that point I knew the floaties were not in his plan. It took all I had to keep from stopping my grass cutting and going over to him and pulling him down to put his floaties on, but I knew he had to learn. Sure enough he jumped in and went straight to the bottom. I ran to the pool and dove in and grabbed him up out of the water to hear him attempting to whimper through his deepest of gasps for air. After he had calmed I explained to him that that is why we don´t enter the pool or even walk around it without flotation devices. He never did it again. See sometimes God wants so badly to stop the atrocity, but knows He promised not to interfere. Then after the catastrophic moment God jumps in to the thick of it to offer healing and understanding to those affected by such an event, just like I dove in to save my little boy. God wants to be your comforter, and while the act of violence committed against you may be more than you can bear Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30, that all of us who are hurting need to come to Him. He invites us to come to Him so He can offer us comfort and take our burdens on Himself. If you don´t understand you can go to Him and scream and holler if need be, He understands, He just wants to love you and comfort you. We may never understand these atrocities at all, but we can be sure of a few things for certain. 1) God didn't do it, but He dives right in to try and save us from the pain. (2) In all atrocities we see the true nature of sin, and (3) Jesus invites us to give our hurts to Him, and promises to give us rest. God Blessings to All

Is it Love?

2007-04-11T17:43:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lapse in time in blogs. I must do better. In our Adult Bible Study group we are doing the book Quest. It is really a good book, IF you take it full stride and study it and teach it the way it was meant to be. Last night we were on Discovery Two and we had a great discussion on love. Did you know the worldly definition of love is primarily that of a sexual desire. It's true check it out on Webster.com. No wonder the world is so messed up. Love is one of the most abused and misused words of all time right now. That would be probably why in early Bible times they used four different words for love, so as to be able to differentiate exactly what kind of love they were pertaining to. Sure there is a love from early Bible times that defines that of sexual desire, that being Eros love. Yet this love was the love meant to be between a husband and wife, a man and woman. This love may begin to develop in the "dating" stages of a relationship, but it is meant to be full circle only under Holy Matrimony, so as not to make a mockery of, or belittle the love the Creator has given His Creation to express. The other love terminology used in early Bible times that originate from the Greek language after a heavy hellenization period are terms like storge, which represents the love between kin or family, philea, which is the love between friends as in brotherly love, and the greatest of all is Agape. In the love chapter found in 1 Corinthians 13, the KJV Bible uses the word charity as being the greatest virtue of all Christians. That word is directly referring to Agape love, or an unconditional love that has no strings attached and has genuine care and concern for the well being of others without the expectation of something in return. You can find references to storge, as well as philea love in the Bible as well. But consider this, philea or the friendship love is never used in the Bible to relate to the love relationship between God and man. Why? Because God expects so much more than the casual friendship love from us. He wants us to love Him and other unconditionally, just as He did in John 3:16, and as He continues to do despite anything we have done. That's real love. So the next time you hear the L-word, think about it and try to discern if it really is love.

Blessings to you!

Your Attention Please

2007-01-30T22:52:00.002-06:00

My little girl Tory is so funny! One day she was trying to get my attention while I was studying. As I sat at my desk working on the assignments of the day she stood at my side doing what she usually does when she needs my attention, starting with the usual "daaaad", she said, and with no response that was satisfactory to her from myself she repeats a little louder, "daaaaaaaaaaad!" Still into my studies but hearing her cries I still didn't give her my undivided attention so she emphatically responds with a louder "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!" "What is it honey", I replied. "You aren't listening to me dad," Tory says. I then tell her that I did hear her all along I just couldn't reply to her right away as I was in the middle of an assignment.

Sometimes it seems that in our spiritual lives God has to do the same thing with us to get our attention. He calls and we hear but don't listen, or worse yet we just flat out ignore Him. Take the case of Jonah for instance, in Jonah 1 we see that God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh to deliver a message to the Ninevites. Jonah says no way and instead heads the opposite direction. He then boards a boat in Joppa and heads out to sea. That's where the attention getting gets louder like the second time Tory tries to call me. But it would seem God's mission to gain attention from those He is trying to talk to is two fold at this time. The sailors of the boat were depicted as pirates, so we can believe that they weren't the best of people either. Isn't it interesting to see how God put Jonah on that particular boat. I mean here he is running from the mission of telling the Ninevites of their need to turn from their evil ways, yet he boards a ship with these sailors who could possibly be just as evil. Maybe God's plan is to get the attention of the sailors as well. After all one could presume that God has tried to get these sailors to change their lives too. They set out to sea, the sailors to make a few bucks, perhaps rob Jonah of whatever else they could get, and Jonah to run from God. Then God goes to work, GUUUUUUUUUUYYYYYSSSS!!!, God might be saying, you all need to turn away from your wickedness, yes you too Jonah, and turn back to Me. As God is saying this with a sense of loudness His Mighty Breath, (rauch) begins to stir the sea and the sea begins to toss and turn the men and the boat about the sea. The sailors attention is stirred as they are well versed in the ways of the seas and become seriously concerned about the stormy seas, so much so that they begin to lighten their load by throwing whatever they could overboard. Still Jonah's attention hasn't been caught yet as he lies below deck sleeping. Finally at what could be perceived as the shouting part of the attention getting Jonah is awakened by the excited and frightened sailors. In an effort to lighten the load even more they decide one of them must go, so they draw straws and Jonah gets the short one. It is now that Jonah's attention is seemingly caught, at least to some degree. The sailors interrogate him as to what his history is and as they finally agree that Jonah is the cause it would seem that now their attention is caught. As they prepare to send Jonah over the side the sailors ask the Lord not to hold Jonah's death against them as they are doing only what has been suggested of Jonah. It was after they had completed the tossing of Jonah overboard that the sea became calm and it was then that the sailors made their lives right with God.

So in this story God used the sailors to get Jonah's attention and get him on his way back to Nineveh and He used Jonah to get the attention of the sailors as in their time of distress they finally figured out that their gods were useless in times of trouble and the God of Jonah, the God of Abraham was the only true God and vowed to serve only Him. Sometimes in our own lives God uses others to try and get our attention as well. God may take something or someone away from a situation despite their dedication and committment to follow Him, just in an effort to try and reach another; possibly a family member, a close friend, a spouse, a teacher, it could be anyone that God wants us to minister to and that we probably have ministered to. It could be someone who boldly rejects the truth of the Lord, even as we give testamony to it in our daily lives, yet through the rejection the seed has been planted and God may take a needed alternative approach to bring these people the rest of the way. No! That doesn't mean that God inflicts pain on us to get His point across. The pain we feel is the end result of a personal decision made by ourselves. Like the sailors, these people most likely know the way they just continue to reject it, and like the sailors when the toughest of times come what God will they really see results with?

So has God been trying to get your attention? Is He past the subtle approach and working on the more direct and loud approach? Are you hearing like I was with Tory, just not responding? If a family member or a friend is hurting it could be for you. Now's the time to see what God wants for your life. Do it now and relieve the suffering whether it is your own or someone elses. Are you Jonah, or do you know the sailors?

If you would like prayer email me at pastor@ussnaz.org. You can remain anonymous but I would love to help you be more attentive to what God has for your life.

A Flame of Fire

2006-11-12T23:02:00.000-06:00

Have you ever been doing things to the best of your ability and really working your tail off for the greater good of the cause and then someone somewhere comes and makes some off the cuff comment that totally deflates your bubble? I know I have been victim of this many times and most recently in our own new start church as well, but I also know that I have, without thinking, been one to comment off the cuff. One of the best logistics men I have ever had the privilege to work with had worked very hard to set up for a rather huge event being held at the church I used to associate pastor at. Butchie had set up the game tables and his sister Lizzy had cleaned the carpets and his friend Matt had been helpful in the accomplishment as well. It really looked great, and since we had a little lighting deficiency Matt and Butchie had taken the initiative to put auxilary lighting in to help. Of course I come in and the first thing I say is we can't use this auxilary lighting because it looks bad. HOW DUMB! These guys had just spent hours getting things ready and boom I not only deflated their bubble, but I blew it up. I felt the discord immediately and tried to back pedal but it was too late. Then later of all things, I had to request that they set the lights back up because we didn't have enough light. Of course I had to apologize to Butchie and Matt, and they graciously with a little, "I told ya so", put the lights back up for us. See James 3 tells us if we can control our tongue we can control our entire self, but that to control the tongue is a major task. I meant no harm with my opening comment but it sure didn't set right for a couple of guys that put their heart into preparations for a very successful event. People start forest fires that demolish entire sections of land with just a spark and the tongue is just like that. James calls it "a flame of fire." Fortunately for me I was checked immediately by the Spirit for what I said and fortunate for me the guys involved were gracious enough to forgive me.

James 3:7-10 People can tame all kinds of animals and birds and reptiles and fish,
[8] but no one can tame the tongue. It is an uncontrollable evil, full of deadly poison.
[9] Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it breaks out into curses against those who have been made in the image of God.
[10] And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!

Our church has been a victim of the tongue since I shared the need for me to be obedient to God's call on my life. Some of it has come from other leaders and some from other churches, but we are encouraged to endure through this time and God will pour out a big blessing on those who stay the course. Remember, this is a form of persecution and Jesus said Blessed are those who are persecuted for my names sake.......when you are doing the work of the Lord and these comments come your way consider it a persecution in His names sake. But remember this, to worship the Lord one minute, then to make snide hurtful comments the next minute "is not right."[10] So think before you start a seriously damaging wildfire. As it does from a wildfire, damage like this tends to take a long time to recover and heal from.

Lord help me to be Christlike

2006-08-20T22:01:00.000-05:00

So often times we pray to be Christlike in our lives and in doing so we think of being Christlike in our attitudes of compassion and nurturing spirit of servanthood to others. We want to be loving and kind as Christ was and that is good. However lets look at a broader picture of being Christlike. All through the Gospels we read about Jesus and His teaching, healing, preaching and miracles. Many times Jesus in misunderstood and His good deeds are seemingly tried to be turned into evil deeds by those misunderstanding people and even misunderstanding religious leaders started making accusations, speculations and presumptions about the Messiah because of their lack of understanding. Sometimes this lack of understanding was built on the fact the people didn't know why some things weren't being done, or said by Jesus in the timing the people thought it should be. In Matthew 17 after the transfiguration Jesus tells the disciples not to tell anyone what they had seen until after the Son of Man had been raised from the dead. In another instance Jesus heals two blind men and warns them to not tell anyone of what He had done for them. (Matt. 9:27-31)

There are other similar instances and in each one Jesus is persecuted to the point He is beaten, mocked, spit on, called all kinds of names and eventually crucified. Have you ever been that Christlike? I mean have you ever known you were doing God's will, and you were doing the right thing but others, including those of the church didn't seem to understand so they started persecuting you. You knew that what you had to do, and would like to share, was all according to the leading of the Holy Spirit, yet you couldn't share it until the time was totally right. See when Jesus was telling people to keep things to themselves it was for a reason. He wasn't trying to deceive people or mislead anyone, but to hold off until just the right time so that God could be glorified and God's will be fulfilled to the utmost. (prophesies fulfilled)

Similarly in our lives when we pray to be Christlike, sometimes being Christlike includes enduring some of the chastisement that comes from people, even those in the church, when they don't understand where we are coming from or going to. We know we are following God's will and we want to tell the world but the timing isn't just right so we must wait. Sometimes we are persecuted just because of our desire to follow Christ.

So when you pray to be Christlike, know this......there are two sides to being Christlike, but just as Jesus overcame His persecution and rose from the dead, we too can take comfort in knowing that that same promise is ours as Jesus tells us in the beatitudes of Matthew 5:10 "blessed are those who are persecuted for living for God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

In Christ's likeness

Wayne

Nourishment and Health

2006-08-09T21:51:00.000-05:00

So today was cool. Tonight I met some of our youth group at one of the parks by a school in the 'hood. It is located close to where everyone is from and I had hoped to see lots of our young people after not seeing them for so long but, there were just a few. It was good though considering the only promo for it was a bulletin I sent out on myspace. Seeing these young people reminded me of a story.

There was a young man that was very thin and not very strong. He vowed to make himself stronger and gain weight. He signed up at a local fitness center and was very faithful in making sure he stuck to his workout regularly. After several months of faithful workouts the young man had gained quite a few pounds and was now getting quite strong. It was easy for this young man to be faithful in his workouts because he had a trainer and workout partner that would help hold him accountable and drive him to do his best. One day the young man's trainer was transferred to a new location and was no longer available. The young man vowed to continue the training he had learned from his trainer over the past year, despite the absence of the trainer. As time went on the young man became more and more irregular with his training, until eventually he had stopped training all together. It wasn't long after the young man had stopped training that he became thin again and seemingly had lost much of his new found strength. Then one day his trainer stopped in for an unexpected visit, and much to the trainers surprise the young man looked just as he did when the trainer originally started with him. The trainer was a kind man and instead of pointing out how out of shape the young man became the trainer let the young man know that he was back and would love to work out with the young man again.

This is exactly what I noticed with the youth I had been working with. For the entire summer they have not been around the church and haven't had a church to nurture them and help keep them spiritually healthy. These young people that had come so far in learning about a God that loves them and cares for them had seemingly slipped back to the very beginning of where they were when I first started with them. But have no fear, God has shown me the way and the need to continually feed His lambs, as He said in the Gospel of John while speaking to Peter. These lambs need constant and continual feeding, nurturing and love to stay healthy. I am sorry the feedings weren't available to them this past summer, but I know in my heart God is on the Throne and He will help me to be sure these young people never go hungry again.
In Him,
Wayne

Camps were awesome

2006-07-03T10:39:00.000-05:00

Hey all, I just finished up being at Jr. and Sr. High Camps and let me tell you they were totally awesome! It was so cool to see how Jr. High camp and the theme was exactly on the lines of what our youth group is about to study. It was awesome to see the Sr. High youth "let God off the hook", (you had to be there) and allow Him to rid them of the pain of their past. The one thing that has really stuck with me is the fact that we teach all the time that Salvation is free and it is. But did you ever see how no other religions or groups beliefs come free. There is always a precursor to your way of entering into the fold. Big Chap used the Batman returns movie as an example. Before he could join this elite group of warriors he to first climb some big mountain and find some flower, then he would show his worthiness of being in the "club". KEYWORD!!! CLUB!!! We are not a club! There is no initiation task or fee! As we learned in Jr. High Camp the way of Salvation is a FREE GIFT! (Rom. 6:23) How many people get a gift and never open it? How many people get a gift and they like it's wrapping so much they just can't bring themselves to take it and open it up. Jesus said in Revelation 3:20 that He is waiting to deliver that free gift and ANY one that is willing to accept can have it. FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Doesn't sound like a club to me, and the best part is there are no union dues. Once you get the free gift you can keep it just by living a life significant of the free gift. You don't have to keep doing new crazy tasks like Batman did to stay in the family of God, you become His and He will live in you and tasks are not tasks any longer but privileges and opportunities.

Power

2006-06-12T07:33:00.000-05:00

Well, it's finally here! It's time for our first camp. Jr. High camp is this week and I am sure it will be a great experience. We are taking a couple of new kids so they can get the camp experience and it is so exciting. But I want to leave you with this thought for the week. Have you ever thought about power.? I mean the word power and the way we look at power today. Not the power you use for your house, but POWER. Take that power and relate it to the power of God. People today seem to take power as a sense of boastful accomplishment. Sometimes even in the church one gets a prideful disposition when they receive some kind of POWER or control. POWER like that is really no more than selfish pride. If you look in 2 Peter chapter 1, Peter goes into that pretty well. But lets think of the Power of God. See in His power, He shares with us. Does He not give us some of His power to get us through our trials, our weaknesses. Did he not share His power with Moses to lead the people out of Egypt. Did He not share his power with Joseph to keep Joseph sane while all those bad things were happening to him. And then look at the reward given to each. Each was given POWER, but they too shared in their power. Joseph tried to be unsharing but was checked on it and ended up sharing in his power with his family and a great reunion occured.

Society has blown power up to be this dominating self acclimation of dominance and self worth. Look at some of the most powerful, boastful and arrogant leaders of the world Sadaam Hussein and what he got with his power. The power you receive is a God given power, especially if you are a Christian, and in an effort to be Christlike you are to share in that power to bring others to Christ, not boast on your position of power.

It's like Uncle Ben said on Spider Man; "With great power comes great responsibility." Don't be like Peter Parker and wait for a tragic event to understand. Be humble in all things, as it says in Isaiah 66:2 " I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts......."

See ya after camp,
wayne

2006-05-30T09:06:00.000-05:00

Well, it's out! We have been driven to list the church with a realtor to try and sell the property. Pastor Jeff shared with us Sunday after the offering that the total offering for the day was a mere $175. While he was just sharing to reiterate the reasoning behind the need to sell our building and property, it was relatively sad that our church body of several working families could only muster up that kind of offering. While others claim to refuse to support a person, they are also refusing to support the family. As I have taught my ball players, if one guy decides he isn't going to give his all, he will infect the team and eventually bring down the entire team. This is true of the church as well. As we have talked earlier this usually stems from one person talking to another person talking to another person, or simply put idle gossip. As we all know gossip is detrimental to the well being of anyone let alone a church. Proverbs 16:28 says "A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends." It's those seeds of strife that will not only seperate the best of friends but it will also seperate us from God. Proverbs 26:20 says it best "Fire goes out for lack of fuel, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops. " Are you a part of the team or do you sit back and plant seeds of strife with your words, and lack of support? Malachi 3:10 specificallly says "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do," says the Lord Almighty, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Let me prove it to you! " Seems not only do we not have enough food, we haven't allowed God to show us His great blessings. It would also seem this is not merely a suggestion but a commandment. Are you ready for God's blessings and the windows of Heaven to be opened upon us?

God is in control!

Wayne

The Whirlwind

2006-05-19T07:59:00.000-05:00

I know I know, it's been like forever since I have written in this. My bad! I will do my best to do better in this area. Did you know journaling is good for you? Anyway, what's new? I have recently been approved for and accepted a position as associate pastor at Faith Church of the Nazarene in Urbana. My job really hasn't changed, but my title has and I have more responsibility for outreach than I had before. It's all good as I have a good partner in ministry in our Sr. pastor.

As we bring new people into the church it is important we keep a sense of unity within the body of Christ and treat the new people with patience and compassion. At the same time it is critical that we as believers don't get caught up in the "he said, she said" that tends to get started with a growing body. As a new pastor and just completing the schooling on this very issue, I feel the need to nurture new people, but at the same time I have been made aware of the need for that nurturing not to a point where we take sides and become a part of the (at this point) hearsay. See if I get mixed up in the hearsay and begin to become a part of the bickering, I am taking part (at least in my mind) in gossip. I didn't witness it, I didn't experience it, and so I have no ACTUAL basis for a definitive opinion. Proverbs 6 speaks strongly against this type of behavior, and goes as far as calling this an abomination to God. An abomination is like the worst thing in the entire creation, it turns even God's stomach, it makes Him literally sick, to see people act like that. Jesus told us how to address this, and it wasn't with a "he said she said", approach. In Matthew 18 Jesus says "If another believer sins against you, go to them and point out the fault. (verse 15) We all know how things can be misconstrued, and we know how a story can be beefed up or melted down to accommodate one's desired perspective.

So keep these two scriptures in mind. Proverbs 20:19 says "A gossip tells secrets, so don't hang around with someone who talks too much." and Proverbs 16:28 "A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends."

My deepest apologies to my closest of friends. You know who you are, and it is my prayer that God, who forgives me, will give you the heart to forgive me as well.

In Him,

Wayne

Accept each other

2005-12-11T21:05:00.000-06:00

So ya ever had a freind but they weren't really a good friend but they could be considered a friend still? Ya know, to each others faces you talk and are cordial to each other, but away from each other you always seem to find things to complain about in each other. Then while all this is going on you wonder why this friendship is so rocky. This is a very real issue in the church of today. In a gathering of believers this issue becomes division in our church. From issues as simple as how one dresses to methods of worship, believers let these different styles become division in the church. This kind of thinking can't be a very effective way to honor the second greatest commandment of all. When you love your neighbor as yourself, then wouldn't you make allowances for them just as you would yourself. I mean you know this past week you were pretty busy and at times you were just too tired to have devotions, but yet you remain a believer. If we can make allowances for ourself then in an effort to uphold God's second greatest commandment we would need to be the same to our neighbor. So if you're wondering why that relationship is so rocky, or if you are wondering why your relationship with Jesus is seemingly stagnating check out Romans 15:7. It reads, "Accept each other just as Christ has accepted you, and THEN God will be glorified. Key word here is THEN....once we become and accepting people of others then maybe things will become less rocky.

God Bless us everyone,
Wayne

Krys and Zelda

2005-11-22T00:38:00.000-06:00

So my most fave little boy, my son Krys, he is a "Zelda Ocarina of Time" freak. We play it together almost daily. So yesterday Krys says, "dad, can we get a shield like Zelda from God?" I said sure we can and so then he asks me if God will give us a sword too. I told him yes God will give us that too. In his amazement we then pulled out his kids quest Bible and proceeded to look up Ephesians 6:10-18. I proceeded to read it to him and when we got to the shield that fights off the fiery arrows, well lets just say that he connected that to Zelda as well. I was thinking how awesome it was that my little 5 year old could connect to God through this old nintendo64 game. I was also reminded of how true this passage really is. If we dress ourselves in the full armor of God everyday before we even get out of bed, we equip ouselves for the battle against the forces of evil. Yea and I bet right this very moment those fiery arrows are coming at you telling you that this is just religious finaticism, but I assure you, it's real. Try it for a week. Before you get out of bed, pray to the Lord and ask him to dress you for the day spiritually. You will have days that even if they are difficult are made more tolerable because you started your day by putting on the full armor of God. My little Krys thinks that is so cool and thanks God openly for his shield and sword.

So how bout it? You wanta get dressed spiritually?

God bless,

Wayne

Betrayal

2005-11-14T00:52:00.000-06:00

So let's look at the story of Judas as told in the Gospels of the New Testament. As we know Judas was the guy that agreed with the Roman leaders to betray Jesus. Judas was the acting treasure for the disciples and was known to be a man of greed. So much that he wasn't totally trusted with the funds, as there were suspicions that he may have been dipping into the till, so to speak. We also know he betrayed Christ for a mere 30 pieces of silver, which at the time was the same price paid for a slave that had been gouged by a bull. So not only did Judas betray the Savior, but he belittled the Messiah and His worth by betraying Him for the price of a slave. But not the price of a good slave, but that of a defective slave. As we know Jesus was not defective in any way shape or form. Jesus was the only perfect person ever. BUT....Jesus was not the only one betrayed. Wouldn't you say Judas also betrayed his friends, the other disciples, and family and followers of Jesus? Judas had built relationships with these people as being one of Jesus disciples or more correctly stated one of the apostles. That great responsibility to believers then, was that an apostle was true to the Messiah from the heart.

So tell me this, have you ever been victim of an indirect betrayal? Like, say a friend that you had always held high respect for does something to someone else that just blows you away. You can't believe that this friend would do something like that and now your trust in this person has been tainted, even though what was done wasn't done directly to you. See sometimes when we are deceptive to others in an effort to satisfy our own desires, that deception could be as devestating as betrayal. For instance, you tell your parents that you are going to Johny's house and actually you are sneaking out to see your girlfriend. You think It's all good, because your parents really don't know who Johny is and you have your own cell phone so you can cover it. Uh-oh......for some reason Johny calls your house looking for you......the very same time that you are already suppose to be at Johny's! See you didn't tell Johny about it because you knew his Christian spirit wouldn't really approve. Do you see where this is going? Not only have you betrayed your parents and potentially ruined the trust they had in you, but you have just betrayed your friend in placing him in a position that makes his integrity questionable as well. Then comes that of your girlfriend and her family. If she didn't know, then you betrayed her in making her think that it was ok that you were with her, and if she did know then you inadvertantly betrayed her and her parents as you pulled her into this realm of deception. We haven't even started with what these actions do to the Messiah and all He has done for you. So you see, unless we really want to be like Judas, we really need to think through our actions and the effects they may have on others. We really need to make sure we think of everyone too! This very act of deception at it's early stages, is the same deception that fuels the betrayal in marital relationships when adultry comes into play. And similarly the people involved don't think of all that are going to be affected by their actions. As we know, Judas couldn't live with his betrayal and took his own life. Sadly to say some people today take the same action, but we have someone that loves us anyway, and forgives us anyway, and wants us to know that if we truly are sorry He will continue to make a way for us to spend eternity with Jesus the Messiah, our salvation and the living proof that one can overcome betrayal.

Keep it real, and keep it honest

Wayne

Saved One!!!

2005-11-04T01:40:00.000-06:00

Tonight I will kinda keep it light. Today I worked on the ambulance and we had a call for a full arrest. That's basically for someone that has just died of a heart attack. So we arrive and I put the shocker thingy on the person and shocked the person a couple of times. My partner real quick like got an IV going and we gave the person cardiac drugs and by the time we left the house for the hospital the person was breathing! It only took us 2 minutes, count em 2 minutes, to get the first shock in. The family was so happy and this person will most likely recover and go home. It was really a good feeling to know we actually pulled one from the clutches of death. My thought process was thank you Jesus for helping me perform at the top of my game so as to help this person. Then I wondered where this person stood spiritually. Obviously God isn't done with the person yet. I hope the person realizes it! Then I thought of the life that was saved during Rocktoberfest. Yep someone asked Jesus to save them for their eternal life with Him. That too was so awesome and it was really cool, but I wonder if his family was as excited for him as the family was today for the person I worked on. My son says "Dad you should get paid big bucks since you can do that." He says it's like Jesus. I said that Jesus saves us for an eternal life with Him, and when I save someone it's only in the physical, and all the abilities I have are gifts from God. I thank God for what He has given me and for the lives that are touched and saved as I am the tool. If you know someone that has been saved, however it may be, let them know how glad you are that they are or were saved.
God Bless,
Wayne

Throw the first rock........if you can!

2005-10-14T01:30:00.000-05:00

So, you ever been victim of someones persecution and the persecutor had issues of their own they should be more concerned with? More times than not when we get disgruntle about something someone does we begin to miss all of the good things they do and dwell on the thing we don't like. Sometimes this becomes such a problem, that we tend to lash out against that person. For instance your friend, of whom you have been friends with for a long time, keeps turning you down when you invite them to go to the mall with them. This same friend is the one that has always done things with you and for you for the past several years. Well after being turned down for the seventh time, you lash out to one of your other friends, displaying your unhappiness at being turned down again for a trip to the mall. You even go as far as to say that this friend that turned you down must not like you anymore because she won't go to the mall anymore. You continue to lash out with all kinds of speculation on what your friends problem is and end it with, well if she won't go to the mall with me then I won't be her friend. The whole time you are lashing out you are forgetting about the time your friend gave you her last $5 so you could get one of those cool school planners so you could be like everyone else. You also fail to recognize that when your friend gave you her last $5, it really was her last $5, because she has to work to help support her family at home. You also, in your time of lashing out, fail to see that you haven't been much of a friend to your friend because you have been so into your own thing that you have failed to see beyond yourself and the true hardtimes your friend is experiencing. You see in actuality, your friend hasn't been going to the mall with you because she knows she doesn't have the funds for it and she really feels that she won't be missed since she is from the poorer side of the tracks.

See sometimes we get so caught up in pointing out other peoples so called flaws that we overlook the flaws of our own. Jesus warns us against such behavior. In Matthew 7:4, Jesus says "How can you think of saying, 'Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,' when you can't see past the log in your own eye?" See we need to be careful in passing judgment on others, because chances are there are things in our own lives we need to address. We become like the Pharisees when we carry that "Holier than thow attitude". In John chapter 8 the Pharisees test Jesus with His knowledge of the Jewish law as well as try to get him to have a known adultress put to death by stoning. Jesus, being the Son of God obviously knew their hearts and their intentions, as well as the Jewish law. See it was custom to stone the lady and HER PARTNER for adultry. The Pharisees didn't bring the partner befor Jesus, they just brought the lady. So Jesus being so totally awesome says, yeah, she is guilty, but how 'bout the one of you who has never done anything wrong, you be the first one to throw the rocks at her. WAY COOL MAN!!!! Of course no one threw the rocks, and that brings me to my point. Before we go crucifying our friends for things we have no idea of their reasoning, we need to be totally without wrongness or blame ourselves. Ya see it's wrong to talk smack about your friends, so with that in mind and in line with the scriptures of John 8, you wouldn't be able to speak because you know it would be wrong to do so.

So the question is.......can you throw the first rock? Or should you just try to understand the situation and not be judgmental?

This really is a WWJD!!!!

God Bless,

Wayne

Hot of Cold?

2005-10-07T01:27:00.000-05:00

Check this out,

Matthew 13:3-9 He told many stories such as this one:"A farmer went out to plant some seed.
[4] As he scattered it across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them.
[5] Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The plants sprang up quickly,
[6] but they soon wilted beneath the hot sun and died because the roots had no nourishment in the shallow soil.
[7] Other seeds fell among thorns that shot up and choked out the tender blades.
[8] But some seeds fell on fertile soil and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted.
[9] Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand!"

Matthew 13:18-23 "Now here is the explanation of the story I told about the farmer sowing grain:
[19] The seed that fell on the hard path represents those who hear the Good News about the Kingdom and don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the seed away from their hearts.
[20] The rocky soil represents those who hear the message and receive it with joy.
[21] But like young plants in such soil, their roots don't go very deep. At first they get along fine, but they wilt as soon as they have problems or are persecuted because they believe the word.
[22] The thorny ground represents those who hear and accept the Good News, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares of this life and the lure of wealth, so no crop is produced.
[23] The good soil represents the hearts of those who truly accept God's message and produce a huge harvest—thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted."

So yesterday I get a call from one of the guys in my youth group. He asks for prayer because he just did something very few young people will do. He has been active in a certain organization that is about helping people. This is a volunteer effort and he does as much as he can for the cause. Well turns out that one of the guys in the organization is a little miffed because the member of my youth group has missed some meetings because of.........church. Yep, the guy is miffed because the guy from my youth group chose church over the meetings of the volunteer group. The meetings just happen to fall on the night of youth group. The extra meetings over and above the regular meetings were being held on Sunday. You know, the Sabbath, the day we worship God. Well the guy that was miffed pretty much told my guy that it was church or the organization so my guy said that if that were the case he would be in church. THAT'S SO AWESOME!!! This young person stood up for Christ and in the face of losing something he so desired, he stayed firm in his beliefs and chose Christ. So what kind of soil would you say he was planted in. Sounds like good soil to me! Are you planted in good soil able to produce an abundance of fruit? Or are you like the the seed planty in the rocky soil (verse 20), as soon as you are persecuted (as my friend was) do you become like Peter did and deny Christ. To deny Him is to not know Him. To the church of Laodicea Jesus says this,"Rev. 3:15-16 "I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were one or the other!
[16] But since you are like lukewarm water, I will spit you out of my mouth!

We need to be hot for Jesus and not lukewarm, like the rocky soil, because Jesus is pretty clear what He will do with us. What kind of soil are you planted in?

How do you handle sin

2005-09-30T01:38:00.000-05:00

So Israel wants a king right. Way back in the Old Testament in 1Samuel we here about how God anoints Saul as the first king of Israel. See the people of Israel wanted a physical king so they could show off their king to the other nations. I mean after all you couldn't see God. Well Saul does good for awhile then he gets full of himself and builds a monument to honor himself and that's when God starts getting upset. God gives Saul a definitive plan to carry out and Saul doesn't do it. Sure he did most of it but he didn't do it God's way. When Saul was confronted he began to make excuses, and even when he finally almost admitted to his wrong doing he still wanted Samuel to not tell anyone so Saul could still be "the man" to his people. See we get that way in our own lives sometime. Things are going good for us and we begin to call less on God. We tend to pray less, we tend to go to church events less, and the next thing we know we have distanced ourself from God. Then when we are held accountable for our actions we begin to make excuses. See Saul never did give a true from the heart confession to God. Eventually Saul paid for that with his own life. If you are lacking in sincerety with your confession to Christ and making excuses for your actions, you too will pay for your life. Your life with Christ will be cut of and sent into eternal darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth, HELL. Jesus said in Luke 11:23 that anyone who is not with Him, is against Him. If you are not obedient to Christ then you are not working with him as the NLT states. Give God a true heart felt confessing of your sin. Spend your life with Him in paradise and don't be a Saul and let your own greed send you to hell. If you want to read the story of Saul it's in 1 Samuel chapter 15.

How do you handle sin??

Wayne

I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!

2005-09-24T01:03:00.000-05:00

Hey sorry I have been absent for so long. Busy with classes and really self-pity. Which reminds me of a story. One time when my family and I was in Virginia, we stayed at this hotel that was located on the outskirts of Richmond. To get to it we took this loop around Richmond kinda like the loop at Indianapolis...ya know 465 so you don't have to go through town so much.... anyway we are trying to go to a family members house from the hotel and I get on and I am sure I am going the right way...I am going towars Richmond and I am good. So I though... my wife begins to inform me that I am going the wrong direction on the loop and that we should have been to our destination by now. Of course I said no I am going the right direction, see the sign says Richmond...well soon the sign said Arlington/Washington DC. My wife finally says LOOK, we are going the wrong way and you better turn it around or we will be in Washington DC soon. Wahington DC is like 2 hours from Richmond. I turned around reluctantly and sure enough I actually was going the wrong way....who would have thought:) See my wife had picked up on the fact that my direction was not quite right even though it wasn't all wrong either. We were 40 minutes to far east of our destination and it all worked out after I finally went along with her plan. Sometimes in our spiritual life we fall into the same situation. We don't want to admit that we are wrong ansd we keep hoping that the situation will right itself to our liking soon. We even give God the credit for being "in contol." Problem is, like myself who didn't want to give in to the fact that my wife was right, we too are sometimes reluctant to accept the control God has of the situation. We know what God really expects but we still hold out hoping that soon God's control will become more favorable to us. This just leads to more grief and turmoil in our own spiritual lives. When we finally accept God's plan and His way of control over a situation, believe it or not He then will give you the strength and guidance to work through the situation as He would have you do. The promise God gives us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 is only good if we are willing to accept the way out He has given us. If we reject it then the anguish we bring on ourselves, for God's word is true and just.
In His Control
Wayne

Hard Times...

2005-09-04T23:24:00.000-05:00

Difficult situation today for our youth group. I, as the youth leader, had taken a back seat to an event that others were planning. My thought process was, great, they are taking the initiative to plan something on their own. Bad Idea! By taking the back seat, I let my group down, as I couldn't answer questions about the event which soon came back to causing the event to be cancelled. Not that we can't do it some other time, but they had presumably worked hard on the event and were excited to have it. Then my how the tides turned. The very blog that I talked about earlier written by one of our youth members about GOD IS IN CONTROL, came into play. In the blog it was mentioned that people were angry because things weren't going their way and that if they were truly in God's realm they would realize that God is in control and shouldn't be aggravated. This very statement now has to be realized by the very author of it. See it's easy to give Scriptural advise as the Scriptures can pretty much be used to support most any point of view. That's why it is imperative that we don't just look through Scripture in an effort to search and find, but rather reflect on the Scripture in the way God has spoken to us through it. Otherwise the very counsel we are trying to provide is just that, counsel and speaks little of our true relationship with God. In this difficult time for our youth group it was VERY OBVIOUS that there were individuals extremely mad about the situation. So obvious that one individual of the church noted that "several in there are just plain fuming." I love my youth group and I apologized to them for letting them down. I also mentioned the above blog as well in hopes that it would bring a realization to them. The Bible tells us in 1Corinthians 13, that love is patient, love is kind, and LOVE IS NOT EASILY ANGERED. We need to take a self exam of our definition of love and if we are carrying it out as the Word of God says. I am at peace with this because I openly took the blame for my ingnorance as well as apologized for it. That's all I can do, I am human! And really THERE ARE PEOPLE DYING IN LOUISIANA right now, so this little bump in the road is just that LITTLE.

God Bless, and if any of my youth group reads this........ I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!

Wayne

School Time again

2005-08-20T06:42:00.000-05:00

Wow, my school has started and what a week! I have been allowed to enroll in two online classes this semester and it is so cool. I am so jacked up to be studying like this again. God has blessed me with a way to work out a schedule and I am really diggin' it. Wednesday this week was awesome at youth group. We had a most worshipful service and we had a good size group. We talked about Peter and the fact that he made many mistakes in his day, even as a disciple of Christ. And what is cool is when he made these mistakes, Jesus didn't start yelling at him and threatening him. He calmly, as probably only Jesus could do, would take Peter's mistakes as opportunity to TEACH, Peter. Hmmmmmmm, maybe in our efforts to become more Christlike, we could show some of the same response. We all have friends that we are working with and sometimes they frustrate us because they doubt the credibility of what we have in Jesus. So maybe we need to take heed and try to think of them as Peterlike, and give them a real Christlike response. After all, the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. :)
Peace
Wayne

Friday Already!!

2005-08-13T01:59:00.000-05:00

Man you guys, I really am trying to be punctual with these. I read a post by someone the other day that seemed to question another person's Godliness. It read as if there was some frustration on behalf of something that this person in question didn't understand. I know clear as mud right? Anyway let me put it this way....it is easy and dangerous to cast judgement on someone just because of their moment of frustration. We all know that when we are held responsible for events or even just certain activities in our daily life we like to think we know what is going on. The frustration this person could have been feeling was most likely because of their lack of being in the know of a situation that they should have been in the know of. See when someone is held responsible for something, they will be the one questioned in times of uncertainty. To judge someone as being in it for themselves and not for God is really kind of harsh. We need to be careful, and understanding in those times because the Bible is clear that the way we judge others is the way we will be judged. It reminds me of a scripture found in that same chapter.....Matthew 7 verse 3 says " and why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own." Jesus is pointing out that the minute we become judging like that over something we really know nothing about, we become the bigger problem. We cast a negative spin on the situation, sometimes with disgust, (as seemed to be in the post), when we really need to be discerning instead. Discerning would be to try and figure out why that person was seemingly upset or at least trying to understand the person and their position in the situation. So we need to be careful with the way we present our concern of others when we don't understand there actions. Then maybe the best thing to do would be to go to them and ask them straight up instead of writing a blog or a live journal about them. Afterall, even Jesus himself showed some disgust when he cleared the temple, but I would be willing to say that there was absolutely no change in his Godliness. :)

Peace

Wayne

Wow, I'm slackin'

2005-08-09T01:59:00.000-05:00

Wow I can't believe I haven't done a post since last Sunday! I am 0 for August! That's terrible! Well I gotta tell ya, I have been busy with Hoops for Christ. It was an awesome day of basketball and God was there. We had the chance to share the wonders of God on more than one occassion. Best of all, all of the teams except one were unchurched individuals. What an outreach tool! The group Kaleo was an inspiration also with testimonies of God's prevenient grace. I have to admit, I don't know if anyone reads these and sorta had that feeling of why bother, but even if no one reads these it is good for my soul. See even when no one would listen to Jesus and even when He was totally exhausted, He still went through with the ultimate sacrifice of giving His life for our sin. He could have said at any time, God I don't want to anymore, take me home. There is a song that says "He could have called, ten thousand angels, but He died alone for you and me. So in my efforts to be Christlike, I will continue to express myself in this fashion, believing that somewhere, someone, will be able to get some good from it.

God loves US!

Wayne

A Way Out

2005-08-01T01:11:00.000-05:00

Had a great jam session with my man Jordan and his buddy from St.Louis. It was fun playing drums hard and loud again. We even had the neighbor come and ask us to turn it down. WAY COOL MAN!! Thanks Jordman, we have to do it again! Anyhow in a prayer group I am in my friend brought up that sometimes things are tough and you just don't know how you are going to fair. You want to stay firm in the faith and trust God, but you just feel tired. He then mentioned that his verse in times like these is 1 Corinthians 10:13. It says "But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it." Such an awesome promise! To know, as a believer in Christ, that God will see to it that we never get more than we can handle. BUT, even more exciting is when these times come up and we are realing with worry, we can take a moment and know that SOMEWHERE, there is a way out. Says so right there in His Word! That is soooo COOL! So know that if you are struggling with something right now, and you know Jesus as your personal savior, that there is a way out. He promises that to us as in the verse. Comforting news in hard times if you ask me.

Keep trusting in Him, and know that He is watching over you and will always provide you a way out!

Peace,
Wayne

His Will is done

2005-07-30T01:29:00.000-05:00

Well folks, one more week until Hoops for Christ! I am anxious to get it going as this year promises to be a better run show than last year even! As usual God has come through with great support from our sponsors. It was kind of late getting here, but God does things in His time not mine. Now that our deficit has been minimized, (thank you Jesus!) I have started to become concerned about something else with Hoops. I really felt when God told me to kick it into gear that we would have an onslaught of teams this year. I have received numerous calls about playing in it from various teams, but to date we have room for several more. As I momentarily gave this concern some unnecessary worry God reminded me that He takes care of things and will again on this. Then I thought of the scripture passage found in Matthew, chapter 8 when Jesus set sail with His disciples to go across the lake. Jesus was tired after teaching and healing others all day and went below deck to sleep. A storm arose and the disciples that were with him became scared, they even pleaded with Jesus in their fear of drowning, to do something. Jesus went on deck and said to his disciples, "why are you afraid, you have so little faith," (vs. 26) and then he calmed the storm. See the minute Jesus said take me to the other side, it was clear that they were going to make it to the other side. WHY! Jesus said so, He said take me to the other side. It wasn't in His will for them all to drown, otherwise how would He get to the other side! Jesus had already committed to getting them to the other side when He asked them to take Him to the other side. He didn't say it would be smooth sailing, He just said, take me to the other side. So in Hoops for Christ perspective, I have to believe that Jesus will is done, since He saw to it that the financing and support of sponsors was met. I need to be strong in my faith that God will deliver, just as He did in the storm, He will deliver as His will is all I strive for.
Believe God and trust him. He will calm the storm in you and get you to the other side too!

Love to everyone,

Wayne

Prayer Time

2005-07-28T01:02:00.000-05:00

Let's cut to the chase...how is your prayer life? A daily prayer life is needed for one to combat evil and satan's evil attempts. See even when Jesus was with Peter, James and John in the garden of Gethsemne, He asks them to pray. Even though He was going off to pray by himself, He asked, in his own way, for them to remain at the base and pray. When Jesus returns from His time of prayer, these guys were sleeping. Thats when Jesus gives us this friendly word of advice. Matthew 26:41 says "Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For thought the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak." How many times has your body said I'm too tired tonite? You had all intentions of praying but time got past you and by the time you thought of praying you were too tired. Aren't you glad that God doesn't tell us that He is too tired. Remember Jesus says we need to stay alert and pray...otherwise temptation will overpower us. We need a regular prayer life to keep satan at a distance. We need to stay in communication with God so satan has not even a foothold on our life. You see in a war, we don't go into battle without communicating with our commanding officer. It's the same with our spiritual life. We battle evil and satan everyday, so we need to keep the communication with our God (commanding officer) open. He will help us battle and only with Him will we be victorious!

Pray hard,
Wayne

Rapture or Second Coming

2005-07-26T00:51:00.000-05:00

Have you noticed lately what is going on in the world around us? I mean, we have all these little and some bigger wars going on. Weather patterns that are bizzare and sometimes killer. I mean has it been ultra hot here lately or what. And what about the tidal wave thing, man that killed some people now! People are dying from all kinds of diseases, kids are revolting against their parents and even some homes have parents abusing their own children!! See all these things are scripural, the Bible talks of these things when Jesus us teaching about His return. You can find the stories in Matthew and Luke. See the truth is Jesus will come again for each of us. Many of us default to the rapture as Christ's second coming and this is true, however when Jesus instructs on His return He doesn't limit it to the rapture. In fact it isn't until the book of Revelation, that we even get a more definative description of the rapture. See when Jesus instructs of His return He tells of the two women grinding wheat together and one will be taken the other left. He tells of two men working in a field, one will be taken and the other one left. A man and his wife will be sleeping when one will be taken and the other left. See unlike the movie of the rapture called "Left Behind", the scriptures leave out the word "behind". It simply states that one will be left. You see we equate left behind to the rapture, while Jesus is merely stating that when He returns, one will be left. Think of it like this, a married couple are involved in a car accident where one of them dies and the other survives. Isn't the survivor left? Jesus has come for one of them but left the other. For whatever reason, God will use the situation to try and get through to someone. My mother and father-in-law were sleeping one night, the next day my mother-in-law had been taken to be with Jesus, while my father-in-law was left. My point is this, THE RETURN OF CHRIST IS NOT LIMITED TO THE RAPTURE!! Christ will return for each of us when He sees fit. It might be at the rapture, but it might not. I will tell you this, he gaurantees his return in YOUR lifetime. In Matthew 24:34, Jesus says this, "I assure you, this generation will not pass from the scene before all these things take place." These things are the messed up events of the world that are predicted as well in God's Word, of which Jesus tells us about. Since these things are taking place as we speak that would tell me that Jesus could come for me at anytime in any fashion. Therefore!!! It is critical that we are READY for His return by keeping our lives as committed to Christ as we can. Then we can be sure when He comes for us we will spend our eternity with Him.

God Bless, and if you need Christ in your life and would like me to pray for you or with you, send me an email. God choses YOU!

Peace

Wayne

Another Fantastic Week!!

2005-07-25T00:21:00.000-05:00

Hey peeps,
Man what a week. I just got back from family camp and while it wasn't quite like Jr. High and Sr. High camps, it was still a blessing. The youth portions of the camp were awesome. Big Nick set the tone each nite with his awesome acoustic guitar and singing abilities! Several shared testimonies and just when it seemed that we were going to be done, we were blessed with another awesome service. We weren't supposed to have anymore youth services but several wanted to at least have one more since it was still camp time. I was asked to speak and of course I said yes and God laid a message on me. That night in camp meeting services the speaker for family camp talked on a topic that perfectly pre-empted what God had asked me to talk about...We then spent some time talking about your second coming. See we often think of the second coming as just the rapture but that's not necessarily true! I will go into more detail about that in an upcoming blog. God moved in our service again and several young people recommitted their lives to Christ with some being saved for the first time! It was awesome!!! All you guys at camp I will miss you but know this.....I will pray for you daily .............especially my buddy and his sister from Quincy. God is going to use them in a special way! For now though, God touched several lives and we had the opportunity to have a little Sr. High camp at family camp as we witnessed the presence of the Holy Spirit amongst us again. God will be with you all and is there EVERY time you need Him if you just call.

If you read this blog, email me or comment on it...I like to know if you are seeing any of this...but at anyrate...someone will and hopefully God will be able to speak to them as well.

God bless all of you!!

Wayne

Afraid of Change

2005-07-18T02:38:00.000-05:00

So one of the girls in my youth group gets braces right. She tells us that she is getting them beforehand and then the day comes when she actually gets them. My wife and I pick her up for youth group and we notice that she really isn't smiling like she usually does. Of course it has slipped our mind that she was to get her braces that day...Well after awhile we ask her, what's up and she gives us a "new braces type smile." We were like, oh it's all good they look fine! I mean she actually had them fancy colored ones, and had them in red and blue, you know patriotic like. Well she finally got comfortable and gained a little self confidence in herself and eventually began to smile at will again. Sometimes we get that way with our beliefs in God. We spend a week at camp and get all emotionally charged and get fired up for Jesus, but then when we get back out into society..........and well we kinda do like a person with new braces, we tend to keep it under wraps for fear of what others will say. 1 Peter 4:4 says "Of course, your former friends are very surprised when you no longer join them in the wicked things they do, and they say evil things about you. (5)But just remember, that they will have to face God, who will judge everyone, both the living and the dead." As new Christians living a new life we just have to expect that some people will notice and out of there own sinful nature and inborn fear of the light, will say things against your new life. But in 2 Peter 1:10 Peter reminds us this, "So dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Doing this, you will never stumble or fall away." It's like this, the more we talk about and show that we are real with our new relationship with Christ, the easier it gets. Just like my friend that became more comfortable with her new braces. Not only does sharing our faith help us to become stronger in it, it helps keep us from stumbling, just as Peter tells us in the scriptures. So be strong, don't be afraid to take a stand. In reality it's fear showing through your old friends when they make comments about you and your new faith. They have the fear that you might have something that they don't, and that you are stronger than they are in making such a move of faith. Trust God and he will take those fears away from you and potentially could change the fears of your friends into beliefs. That's the real blessing!

Peace
Wayne

Love is....

2005-07-16T02:36:00.000-05:00

So today I got to play Paramedic for awhile on the ambulance. It was a good day the person I worked with is familiar with Nazarene Acres and knows where I stand with God. She hasn't committed herself to God yet, but keep praying because she knows. So we take this patient to the ER and I see a nurse there that was dating a friend of mine as well. I asked her if she was still dating him and she said no. She wasn't ready for a relationship at the level he was. So I am thinking back when I worked with him last and his conversation he was having with her in front of me. He talked to her several times that day and each time he said "I love you" to her before he hung up. She was letting this guy stay with her at her apartment! Then not that that wasn't bad enough but then she says she isn't ready for a relationship like he wanted. COME ON MAN! Not only that but she claims to be a church going Christian!! I didn't say anything because I would have started preaching for sure! Think about this! The phrase I love you, has become so cheapened by societal standards alone, and now I am witness to a professing "Christian", who uses the term so loosely as well. So, how do we define love now? Society says it's any time someone is seeking physical pleasures from another. The Bible says it differently, THANK YOU JESUS! 1John4:16 says "God is love". Where is God in a relationship that involves premarital sex?!?! Where is God in a societal decree of "I love you"? Maybe these people have misconstrued the scripture in 1 John 4:8 where it says "But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love." I can just hear it now "oh I know about God so I must love my boyfriend,,,,,,at least at the moment." AGAIN I SAY ....COME ON MAN!!! First of all God's love has nothing to do with sex out of wedlock, and secondly the love John is talking about in this verse is the love or caring for each other. Actually having genuine concern for others of the human race. See we can get a real description of affectionate love in 1 Corinthians 13, and verse 4 where it says "love is patient and kind," and verse 6 says "It is never glad about injustice but rejoices when truth wins out." I would say that it is a HUGE injustice when someone tells another an empty "I love you", when in a supposed "serious" relationship. How is it love when people in a relationship can't WAIT to have sex and sleep together? Where is the patience in that?! If God is love and these societal traits are against the teachings of God's word, then how is premarital sex really love? IT'S NOT, IT'S AN INJUSTICE!! which the word says love is no part of. Anyway, sorry, I didn't mean to preach, but if you use the phrase "I love you", PLEASE KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SAYING! Love is not cheap like society has made it. It is real and God given, so only use it when you can really mean it. You will find it makes life much easier.

Peace
Wayne

PS...maybe someday you can catch my sermon on this very topic....I think you would like it.

Pay's not much, but the retirement is out of this world

2005-07-14T01:15:00.000-05:00

WOW! What to write. Tonite we had an awesome youth service. Great time of worship and a great time of fellowship to follow. Lately I have been blessed with speaking opportunities at various youth events around. I found out I may be asked to speak at another youth event, and when Butchie was asked if he thought I would mind he responded appropriately....OF COURSE NOT!! I love to speak about Jesus and the Salvation he has brought to us as a FREE gift. I hope if it is God's will that I will be asked to speak at this youth event. I have met some of these young people and they are an awesome group. My oldest son asked me one time, why I did this church stuff because it doesn't pay as good as being a flight paramedic. I said that it was God's will that I do it and that the pay comes in my spiritual life and where I will spend eternity. He just couldn't grasp it, but Paul says it best in 1 Corinthians 9:23, "I do all this to spread the Good News, and in doing so I enjoy it's blessings." It's kinda like the visa/mastercard commercial......soft drinks for the youth group.....$5.....pizza for the youth group $30......seeing a young person accept Christ as their personal savior.....PRICELESS!!! Money can't buy the blessings God GIVES! So like the heading says, the pay ain't much but the retirement is out of this world!

LOVE HIM STRONG!

Wayne

More than a Conqueror!

2005-07-12T12:31:00.000-05:00

Hey folks,
Seems satan is running crazy on the district. I have learned that another youth pastor friend of mine has been told he is no longer needed at his church. This is the second one in a week! Each one has done great things for their youth groups. Each one has built relationships with the members of their youth group as well. So, as is the case in these instances, there is sure to be some fall out. What we have to remember is that God is in control! Despite what we may deem as just plain aweful, God sees in a different light. It is apparent that God has a different plan for these guys somewhere else. Each one has family too, so this situation stems out even amongst the families involved. One of them has kids from middles school to approaching high school. I know for a fact that moving as a child is difficult. (I moved every two years until I was in Jr.High) God sees something that He can use the children for as well. Paul tells us in the book of Romans that even in times of trouble God raises us up to be more than a conqueror. That means we will land on our feet and then some! Romans 8:37 states in the NLT that "No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours, through Christ who loves us." The KJV says it like this, "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loves us." Isn't that awesome! So know this, God is in control and great things are going to happen for these families, as well as the youth groups they leave behind. In these times it is easy to have feelings that are not Christlike but Paul again reminds us in Ephesians 4:31-32,"Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger,harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of malicious behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." So turn the other cheek, and believe because God has promised us great things even in these times of trial.

God Bless,
Wayne

Stand Up For Jesus

2005-07-11T00:10:00.000-05:00

Man what a great day in the presence of the Lord. Today my little study group met early today to pray for some fellow youth pastors having some difficult moments. It was awesome to meet and pray as a group. God is in control!!

So have you ever noticed that during the singing in church, whether it is at camp or at your own church, there is always some people that seem to not have the energy to stand up for the singing along with everyone else. I mean I see Jr. High and Sr. High age kids sitting through the worship in music time and all these senior citizens standing for the duration. COME ON FOLKS! If you had some physicality that made it difficult that is one thing but for healthy young people to just sit out of nothing more than disrespect, it is a sad sight. I mean what this is saying is Jesus isn't worth your efforts to stand during the praise and worship part of the service with everyone else. Even if one isn't a Christian, just out of respect for God's house and other believers one should at least stand when others stand! Think about it Jesus did lots of teaching from a standing position. Jesus stood before His accusers the entire time they were persecuting Him. Jesus stood during His floggings until He was too weak to stand anymore. (Now if you would like to be flogged so you have an excuse to sit I am sure someone would see if they could arrange that for you.) Jesus even was in a standing position as He walked to His death. Jesus was even nailed to the cross in a STANDING position. To me if Jesus went through all of that for me, I can find the strength to stand during the song service. I love my Lord and Savior and He is worthy of my praise and my respect. See back in the day I went to a Van Halen concert. When the band finally came out the entire stadium stood and applauded. Then they proceeded to STAND for the entire concert. See the people finally got what they wanted so they were showing their appreciation back to the band. See peer pressure kept EVERYONE on their feet for the entire concert. We as Christians that are truly thankful for the Salvation that God has given them show their appreciation back to God in worship and praise. Van Halen was good and it was pretty cool, but JESUS is the GREATEST, and gives us more than any rock band ever could. Therefore I think out of respect for God we owe it to Him to stand and be reverant when ever we are asked to. See in Jeremiah 5:22 God is sending a message to those that show Him no respect. It reads, "Do you have no respect for Me? Why do you not tremble in my presence? I the Lord, am the one who defines the oceans sandy shoreline, an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross." We should have enough fear of the Lord to show Him the utmost in respect at all times, especially in His house. 1 Peter 2:17 tells us to "Show respect for everyone. Love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, show respect for the King."

If the music of a non-Christian rock band can raise an entire stadium crowd of mostly non-believers, can't we who have been saved from an eternity in hell give the same if not more to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Think about it and give God the glory!

Peace
Wayne

What a WEEK!!!

2005-07-09T22:41:00.000-05:00

Hey folks,
Just got back from the most awesome week of camp at the Illinois district Sr. High camp!! Have you ever seen or been a part of a teams success like when the Bulls or the Lakers won the NBA championship? If you have you would notice that all the people there were so excited for the success of their team that the electricity in the air made it so they didn't ever want to leave. That feeling of joy and happiness for their new champions was something they never wanted to end. Well.......that's how camp was only the victories were those of souls being sold out to Christ and the dying out of the old way of life and accepting the new way of life........being that of a life with Christ. IT WAS SO AWESOME!!! The Holy Spirit was so evident you could almost see Him! I asked my buddy Jim to pinch me as I pinched him to make sure we weren't already in Heaven! Those couple of services were as close to heaven as I have ever been. I have never experienced a camp like this one was. To see so many young people receive closure on old naggin pains of life and rededicate themselves to doing the work that God has planned for them was an awesome event. To see newly saved lives being changed right there by the Holy Spirit was just something I will never forget. See like the fans of an NBA team we were all basking in the Glory. But this was the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ and His presence in our camp!! None of us wanted the service to end. But it has and now we must take this awesome moving of the Spirit back to our homes, churches and communities and let others see the difference God has made in our lives. In John 21 Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him. Jesus asks Peter this three times and Peter replies more than anything. Jesus then gives Peter and the rest of us this commandment. In John 21:16, Jesus tells Peter to go and feed His sheep. Those sheep are the lost that need to receive the gift of Salvation. Our families, our friends, our community and all those that need to be fed the message of the Good News. But it doesn't stop there. We MUST take this infilling of the Holy Spirit and this refueling we have received from camp back to our churches as well. It is our duty to spill out these blessings God has so richly given us this week and reignite the flame in our own churches. WE ARE THE REVIVAL!!!! It's our job as Jesus put it, that if we love Him, then we MUST feed His sheep. Take your experience of camp back and be strong in the faith and infect all those around you with this awesome loving spirit of God. Use the support of others that may have been in camp from your church as well to keep the fire burning. If you were the only one from your church hopefully you wrote down some emails. If not I will be your support group. Email me or call me with prayer requests or just to talk and I will do my best to be there for you. I was blessed with a lot of relationship building this week! I really love and care for all of you and I know that it is God's will for me to be a servant.

God Bless and Keep the fire burning! Feed those sheep!!
Wayne

Happy Fourth of July!!!

2005-07-04T18:52:00.000-05:00

Man what a weekend! How's this for busy, July 1 is my brother in laws birthday, July 2 is my oldest son's birthday, July 3 is my wedding anniversary, and July 4 is..............well July 4, complete with parades, cookouts, and fireworks. I love it though, it's one big celebration! But in the celebration we MUST remember the soldiers over in Iraq and around the world that are making these celebrations possible by protecting our freedoms. Oh and speaking of freedoms, lets think about something. As Christians we have the freedom to worship and pray and witness and stand up for our faith. We are protected by the constitution to worship FREELY. Have you ever thought of the freedoms we have and how great it is?! Someday these freedoms will be taken from us. Someday, maybe not in my lifetime and maybe not in yours, but someday we will lose all of these freedoms. The Bible says in the book of Revelation chapter 13:16-18, that we will be made to worship the beast, and unless we receive the mark, we will not be able to buy or sell ANYTHING! If you are not sure of the mark read this passage. You see the only way to be sure you don't have to lose these freedoms is to be sure you are ready to meet Jesus. How??? By making Him your personal Savior, by asking Him to enter your life, by asking Him to forgive you of your sins. See Jesus has a plan for you and God being a patient God keeps putting off this time of turmoil in hopes more people will come to Him. With Christ as your personal Savior, you will be taken the day of the rapture and not left behind to experience these difficult times. You see if you get left behind, your only chance then is to avoid the mark and REALLY stand up for Jesus. I don't know about you but I think it is easier today to stand up for Him. Today I can do it FREELY with no gun pointed to my head. Think about it, and if you would like me to pray for you or with you leave your comments on this post or email me.

Peace,
Wayne

Meaningless repetition?

2005-07-02T01:37:00.000-05:00

So today as I was watching my two toddlers play in the pool, and I began to pray. I had just checked the mail and all we received was junk mail. Another day with no paycheck and no Hoops sponsor checks. I have been praying ernestly for God to have his way with this event and my own financial situation, and when the mail was a big bust again, I began to pray. As I was praying God kinda brought to mind that story of Jesus confronting the Pharisees about their prayer habits. In Matthew 6:5-8 Jesus warns us not to pray in an effort to bring attention to ourselves like certain other religious leaders were doing. In verse 7 the NLT version of the Bible says Jesus said "When you pray, don't babble on and on like people of other religions do." I kinda felt like I was babbling. In Mark 11:24 Jesus says' "Listen to me, you can pray for anything and if you believe, you will have it." See when we continually pray for something over and over sometimes it can tend to show a lack of faith. That doesn't mean you need not pray for someone or something on a daily basis, it just means when you pray, pray with heartfelt compassion for what you are praying for. Then you will see the full power of God! It was I nice gentle reminder to me from God, that he's got my back! COOL

Peace,
Wayne

Good things come to those that wait......

2005-07-01T01:29:00.000-05:00

Sup people,
Hoops for Christ is coming along, but tonight my baseball team looked adversity in the face and came through with flying colors. As you know baseball takes 9 guys to make a team. You can play a game with 8, but it is difficult. We only had 8. We made some serious defensive moves and observations, moved people around a lot and actually hit the ball and we won. These guys have waited so long to win that winning with 8 makes it that much better. Then they won the second one too, after being down six to nothing. Lots of kids waited a long time to get playing time and when they got it they did good. Sure they got discouraged at times but they stayed with it keeping the faith that they would get some good playing time soon. Sometimes in our spiritual life we may seem to run across a similar situation. Have you ever prayed for something for a long time and it just seemed like God wasn't hearing you. Then one day when you least expect it your prayer is answered. Or did you lose faith and give up praying for whatever it was you were praying for. Sometimes people do give up but God answers prayer. Sometimes not in the time frame we think we need, but if it is a reasonable prayer request God will come through in His time. Isaiah 40:31 says "..those who wait on the Lord find new strength. They will f ly high on wings like eagles......" Just as Jesus tells the parable of the corrupt judge in Luke 18, He tells His disciples through this story the need to continue to pray even if it seems God isn't hearing. God hears us all the time, and if it's his will he will answer prayer in His time. Read Luke 18 and be assured..............He's listening.

Wayne

Power of God

2005-06-28T23:44:00.000-05:00

Hey folks, how's it going?
What a couple of busy days! I have been working on this promotional event my church host's called Hoops for Christ. It's a 3 on 3 basketball tournament. Originally it was scheduled for the first weekend in June. However due to some major cutbacks by our biggest sponsors and what seemed to be a huge lack of interest by our youth group, I too lacked the drive to put it together. God wouldn't let me lay it down though. We post-poned the tournament until August 6 and I spent a week at camp, finished school and got some spiritual replenishment. God put a finger in my back and said get going, so I slowly started getting things in order. The sponsors are committing and funds are becoming available to make this years tournament just as good if not better than last year. See God reminded me that last year I pretty much flew it alone on this venture, so people were probably just trying to give me room to fly with it again. I am really fired up now as God has laid it on one of our sponsors hearts to give more this year. Thank you Jesus for your power. The printing is done now and the postage is ready along with the mailing labels. Things are set to promote this event in a big way once again. See in 1 Peter 5:6 Peter tells us this, "So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and in His good time He will honor you." God humbles me on occassion, as He did with this. If we don't worry about how much we have to do and how much others aren't doing, but instead focus on what God wants, he promises to honor that. I want nothing more than to honor God! Through this event I am again seeing the power of God and the way He provides for us. Especially when we follow HIS will!

If you want information on this tournament visit www.urbanaz.org and click NYI

Peace,

Wayne

Disruptive Influence

2005-06-27T00:07:00.000-05:00

So there is this guy in Sunday School that openly admits that he doesn't listen in Sunday School. Not really a surprise as he is sure not to be the only one that doesn't listen. But then this guy starts influencing others not to participate. Then this guy goes as far as to laugh at those asked to help out in participation. For a second there, one individual hesitates to open his Bible and begin taking part in the class. After second thinking the situation he reluctantly opens his Bible and reads the verse asked of him to read. Others in the group are now fearing this ridicule from a single individual, as they have seen him openly and boldly make statements and ridicule others in a way that is intimidating. It's sad to see one individual make such an impact on a room of professing believers. An impact so strong that makes them withdraw as younger teenagers sometimes do when intimidated.

Isn't it sad that even in a place where the sinner is a minority and the believers are the majority, that one individual can cause such a disturbance? Remember though, this individual is not acting alone. There is another person that is urging him on. This person is giving him the ideas to carry out such disruptive things. Do you know who it is yet? No, it's not his parents or any of his friends, it's Satan himself. Jesus said in Matthew 12:34 that a good person produces good words from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil words from an evil heart. Therefore this disruptive person is (1) testifying to his evil heart, and (2) because new believers see this they may tend to withdraw as to keep away from these evil ways. Jesus goes on to define what to expect from one that has an evil heart in Matthew 15:19. "For from the (evil) heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all other sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. Slander is speaking hurtful things to or about another. So you see as young people it is easy to see why they might pull back from such an individual even though they are as a group, a majority of believers. BUT!!! Take note, Jesus will bless you, even in this time of mockery from one individual. Jesus promises you this in Luke 6:22. Jesus says, "God blesses you who are hated and excluded and mocked and cursed because you are identified with me, the Son of Man." PRAISE THE LORD!!

So don't let an individual like this make you feel like less of a Christian because you might not have stood up to him. God will deal with him and He will BLESS you. Sounds like a great deal to me. And remember a person like this is not alone in his endevours. Pray for him and his soul, that Jesus might be able to get through to him. In being like Christ, we can dislike the sin that this person is in, but we must still love the person. Remember, Jesus also said to love your enemies and do good to them. So even if this guy isn't your enemy but is a bad example, we must still show him love. Paul warns us however in Galations 6, to be careful not to fall into the same way of life.

So don't let a guy like this get you down, and don't let him lead you astray by his influence. Pray that Jesus will help you deal with him and that Jesus will help him change his ways.

Wayne

Rich or Poor?

2005-06-25T16:15:00.000-05:00

Sup people,
I just got back from an awesome night of fellowship over at Connorsville First Church of the Nazarene in Indiana. It was awesome to see Dave and Sarah and meet the youth group there. During our worship time we talked about how James 2:2-6, talks to us in a two-fold way. First James is warning us not to get caught up in catering to others just on how they appear. He then goes into the fact that Jesus has chosen us . Yep Jesus has chosen us. This passage speaks of the rich and the poor, but don't limit that to just the rich and the poor based on monetary means. We may be poor in self confidence or self esteem and Jesus promises us that He will make us rich in those things through acceptance and faith in Him. Think about it, if some one is rich in self confidence, don't they sometimes have the tendency to become arrogant? Don't they sometimes have so much confidence and appreciation of themself that they become conceited? Even in this kind of richness, one will be humbled on the day of judgement. For the most part it is difficult for the "rich" to be Christlike. The desire one gets to retain the "riches" seems to come between them and God. Therefore "Listen to me dear Brothers and Sisters, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith? Aren't they the ones that will inherit the kingdom God promised to those who love him?(James 2:5) If you love God, you will have all the riches you could ever want. And on the day of judgement the rich that chose riches over God will be poorer than you ever were.

I am praying for Dave's group and if you are a believer you pray for them too. God is doing great things there, and more are sure to come.

God Bless,
Wayne

False Teachers

2005-06-24T00:17:00.000-05:00

So did you ever wonder why or even how so many people are so confused on what being a Christian is all about. For the most part it would probably have a direct correlation to the example set by other professing Christians. I mean have you ever seen the show Dog the Bounty Hunter? I was watching it one night because I heard the show's narrator state that Dog is a "born again Christian". Shortly after that statement I heard Dog swear and use God's name in vain. He then lit a cigarrette and eventually was quenching his thirst with a "cool grape nehi belly whopper", better known as an alchoholic beverage. So in an effort to not be judgemental, I am just sitting there thinking, thinking he must be a new convert and has some things that he may need God's help with. (besides having a dangerous job) But it is this very thing that tends to confuse people on Christianity. We know that we can't use God's name in vain, and we know that the Bible says in Galations 5 that drunkeness is a part of the sinful nature of man. And we also know that the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 that our body's are not our own, that they belong to the Holy Spirit, so we are not to do anything to harm them. Now granted a new believer may not be aware of the writings on our body and what to put in it, but I still default to the use of my God's name in vain. This to me would be super confusing to someone who was seeking Christ with a wholesome heart. This is also probably why people get so bent when they find out about your own Christianity. As a youth leader I have heard several times, the statement that people quit coming to church because of the way people profess one thing but away from church live another way. 2 Peter chapter 2 is a great book in it's writings about false teachers. Read it and you may be able to identify with someone you know that carries the kind of characteristics Peter is talking about.

It's like this, we are all in a sense teachers. Yep, there will always be someone looking at us in a way to find out something more about us. It is then that our actions speak the loudest and our words speak the teachings that people will use to relate to us. If we are professing to be a Christian, but not living a Christian life then we have become a false teacher. As Peter puts it in 2 Peter 2:17, we are doomed to the blackest darkness.

What kind of teacher are you?

God Bless,

Wayne

Keepin' it Real

2005-06-22T23:36:00.000-05:00

So like I was watching Scooby Doo the movie one day and this thought came to me. You know when Scooby is getting on the plane and is dressed up like an old lady? Well remember the part where he says "keepin' it real"? That made me think. In our spiritual lives we need to keep it real. Jesus is clear on those that are neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm as He states He will spew you out of His mouth. We can't be a faker and make heaven. Galations 5:19-26 tells us how one that is faking it might act. It is complete with angry outbursts, envy and more. If we are proclaiming to be a Christian, then we need to be aware of what it takes to be real. Abstaining from the behaviors mentioned in this passage as being of sinful nature will help us to keep it real. When we are truly "keepin' it real", we bear the fruits of the spirit, which include love, kindness, gentleness, joy, peace, and the kicker is SELF CONTROL. Ya see without self control we are easily victim to the behaviors mentioned as sinful nature.

So............. Are you keepin' it real? Do you have the fruit of the spirit of self control, or do you waiver back and forth depending on what day it is and who you are with. Paul also mentions in this passage that if you aren't keepin' it real you won't see heaven. If you need help keepin' it real call upon the Master and He will give you guidance. If you would like me to pray for you in my time of devotions, just leave a comment on this post or email me.

God Bless,
Wayne

Jesus said .....so don't worry

2005-06-22T01:27:00.000-05:00

So how's everyone? Today as I was wondering how I was going to afford some much needed computer equipment and software, Jesus stepped in again. See back in the winter months I taught a class for a local fire department in EMS. I had done so before and they had always paid me a little something for my time. As I was looking at Sam's for some needed equipment, the fire chief of that department just happened to be there too. He told me he needed me to teach again and then asked if he ever paid me for the last class. I was kinda surprised and said uh.....no, and left it at that. He apologized and said he would be sending me a check for that class.

Once again God has been so good. In Matthew chapter 6:25 Jesus tells us "So I tell you, don't worry about everyday life-". He tells us in that passage how much more important we are to Him, than the plants and the birds. God is good all the time and all the time God is good! Put your trust in Him and He will show you how silly it is to worry. I would also suggest reading this passage entirely. It is found in Matthew 6:25-34, and it really is comfort for the soul.

So give it a read, and believe and trust in the one true Savior, Jesus Christ.

Peace, and don't worry
Wayne

What Would Jesus Do?

2005-06-21T00:50:00.000-05:00

Sup folks?
Today was my baseball teams game day and we had a double header. We played the best team in the league which is hard on a team that only has one win so far. We played them really well, and then a parent comes up to me and starts giving me grief about his son's playing time. Little did he know that all the kids, including his son were going to play. Well the man referred to me with one word as to being the south end of a donkey heading north, if you know what I mean. Normally I probably would have got extremely agitated with this and lashed back. I kept my cool and offered to let him see his son's stats and offered to have him come sit in on the practices that he never sees. The man then walked away and the situation was over. I gave the boy a big hug and apologized for him having to even be in that situation.

I know Jesus was with me. He checked my tongue and my reactions to keep me from seeming non Christian. All through the Gospels, Jesus is attacked verbally by the very one's that God had chosen to receive the Messiah. Even in his time of death, Jesus was still asking God to forgive the people, because they didn't know what they were doing. This is the overwhelming act of love for someone. Showing them love even when they don't deserve it. This kids dad sure didn't deserve it but Jesus helped me in the situation. Jesus helped me go to the boy and give him some of the love he so longs for.

I thank God for that and I thank Him for helping me respond appropriate. I still have some work to do, but I am getting better at doing what Jesus would have me to do, even in difficult situations.

God Bless,
Wayne

From Saul to Paul

2005-06-20T00:57:00.000-05:00

As illustrated in the book of Acts in chapters 8 and 9, a once Jewish leader and major persecutor and tormentor of those that believed in Jesus, was given new direction for his life when he met Jesus. That's right Jesus! You see Jesus had a plan for Saul, and even though Saul was such an angry and hateful person Jesus literally took him down a notch. On the road to Damascus, Jesus had words with Saul and basically told him he had to go to Damascus, now as a blind man to find out what it was Jesus had planned for him. Jesus then sent Ananias to Saul and told him that he was to lay hands on him and give him the gift of the Holy Spirit. You see, Paul a great Jewish leader was now going to spread the Good News to the Gentiles. Yep, the Gentiles, the ones the Jews felt were unworthy of God because as far as the Jews were concerned the Jews were the chosen ones. Now Saul who later changes his name to Paul, is spreading the very news that he so violently persecuted.....before he met Jesus, and will experience the very persecution he once inflicted.

You can meet Jesus. Have you been like Saul and given other Christians a hard time. Jesus has a plan for your life too! Hopefully he won't have to knock you down to get your attention. He loves you and chooses you to be a member of his family. 1 Thessalonians 1:4 says: "We know that God loves you dear brothers and sisters, and that he chose you to be His own people." This is the very words of Paul in a letter to the church of Thessolonica. This holds true still today, God has chosen you to be His own people! Question is will you choose Him? He gives you choice so it is up to you!

For more on accepting Christ email me! I would love to pray with you or answer questions you might have. But remember, the choice is yours.

God Bless,
Wayne

IL Dist camp

2005-06-18T21:48:00.000-05:00

Hey fellow brothers and sisters. Wasn't camp just totally awesome. God was so real there and the tribulation game was so cool. I know I don't want to be left when Jesus comes back. Keep it real folks. Jesus warns us that those who know the truth but choose to ignore it will be held to a higher standard on judgement day. James 4:17 says "It is a sin to know what to do and not do it." So don't ignore God. If he is talking to you seek out a youth pastor or your church pastor or a close friend that is a Christian and let Jesus change your life today.

Can't wait for Sr. High Camp.. See you there, and beware the anti-christ.

Wayne