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Christmas Pondering – 2025: Hope and Gratitude

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Sitting here on this early Christmas morning. Still a couple of hours away from the sun rising. My daughter is already up watching her traditional Christmas morning movies. I sit in my living room chair with a cup of coffee and just think. I love the traditions that we have formed as a family when it comes to Christmas day. Simple, but they make us uniquely us in this home.

I sit ever grateful for the 20+ years we have had in this house and watching our children grow up and think back on the many Christmas mornings we have had together. When we moved here 20 years ago, I never thought we would be here this long, but it has become home. The amazing memories we have built together as I think, especially, of the many Christmas mornings we have spent here. Watching the joy in our children as they opened gifts. The joy and fun of new family games we would play together. The background noise of A Christmas Story playing on repeat with Ralphie vying for that Red Ryder 200 shot range model air rifle. Even the one white Christmas we had some 15 years ago.

So much joy and so much to be grateful for. As we came to this Christmas, for some reason, there were days that seemed harder. There were few nights where Amber and I sat and embraced one another shed tears as we longed for our son to be back with us. We wondered in those moments why things seemed harder this year than they even did last year. Maybe because of the settled in reality that each Christmas and every going forward, there will always be that empty seat at the table, and maybe just the hearts longing for days gone by.

Even in those moments, however, we have found goodness. Getting to still spend time together as family. Our annual drives to walk around the Lawrenceville square to see the tree at the courthouse, which we have done for years. Spending time with our son’s fiancé, Courtney, which allows us all to hang on to piece of Brandon when we are all together. The joy of spending Christmas Eve worshipping with our church family and then having a dinner at home while tears shed when “It’s a Wonderful Life” comes on.

It’s interesting to think of the range of thoughts that come out when Christmas time roles around. Yes, there is the significance and importance of celebrating coming of Jesus and the anticipation of his return. Pondering those mysteries are sitting in adoration and awe of who God is and the gift he sent in the person of Jesus to ransom and set us free. This is something that I have learned to be grateful for and ponder not just on this day, but throughout the year.

From there, there seems to be something about the season that makes us miss and long for the days gone by. Holding on to precious memories that have often been associated with Christmas time, but then when precious people are missing from that equation, how that longing gets magnified. Maybe it never really goes away. For my son, Christmas was such a magical time. He loved, and I mean LOVED Christmas. It was nothing to hear him blaring Christmas music in the middle of summer. His last birthday with us, we gifted him Charlie Brown Christmas ornaments, shirts, and more. The joy on his face that day was so fun.

It’s those kinds of things that we miss, even as we continue to press forward and make new and joyful memories as a family. Riding the Polar Express train in the Smokey Mountains as a family, which he would have a loved, and the seemingly random placing of a 5th ticket in our seats, as if it was placed there for the one that was missing. It reminds me of what our pastor said last Christmas as we were together. He said that, “The family of 5 is still alive.” I believe that is still very true. Yes, we don’t have the physical presence of our boy, but we are still together in our hearts and memories, and in the stories we continue to share and tell.

This Christmas, I sit with hope. Hope for what is to come as I press closer into Jesus and remember what it means to look toward him with complete awe and wonder. Hope for the memories that we will continue to make as a family as we continue on in the day to day and with Christmas’s to come.

I also it with gratitude. Gratitude, again for the gift that is Jesus. Also, gratitude for all of the amazing memories that we get to look to and hold on to. Tears are okay to have and I can embrace them, because it reminds me that the love was and is very real and we never have to let go of that. More so, however, we can smile and laugh at all the good times we have had together over the years, which far outweigh and outnumber the times of sadness.

I pray that joy, even if you are contending with loss and sadness this year, will find its way into your heart. Hold on to the precious gift and memories of the ones we missed and toast to the memories of the joyous times. Then hold on tightly to the hope that is Jesus that can and will sustain you through everything, even when things are difficult.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Taking The Low Seat

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What a unique season this has been for me; and for my family, for that matter. We have walked through waters that we were not ever expecting nor ready for, well, by the world’s standards we weren’t ready. We were ready in a different way, because that is the only way we have been able to get through.

In recent weeks, I have found myself returning to teachings that I found myself under during the early years of my faith. Back in 2016, I was invited to take part in a weekend event called Become Good Soil. This was a follow-up to my time at Wild at Heart the previous year and was a more intimate gathering of men. This weekend was a starting point for what would be and has been a decade plus of excavation. A time to commit to allowing God to continue to excavate the deepest parts of our hearts that have not gone well or were maybe atrophied and allow God to work in that space to rebuild us with solid roots or a solid foundation.

Now, nearly a decade later, I have found myself looking at what this time has been like. There has certainly been a lot of God things that have happened. I have been blessed to lead a ministry movement, counsel and walk with many people, and build many new friendships and alliances with many like-hearted people. It was certainly a fruitful time. In recent years, it has been very different. This week will be 2 years since leading our last men’s conference, The Anvil. After my son, Brandon, died last year, and then my wife, Amber, coming close to death a few months later, I found myself in a place where leading such an event would be a total disservice to the men that would come and to me. I could not lead with integrity when I was and am in the midst of such difficult times.

At the beginning of 2024, as I praying and asking God for words for the new year, the word “low seat” kept coming to my mind. At the time, I wasn’t sure what God was meaning by that, but I sat with it. I was and am in season of humbling, career wise, doing what has been necessary to make an income to support our home, while doing work as a delivery driver. It has been a necessary and humbling experience as well as a period of time to allow myself to reset. As Francis of Assisi is credited with stating, “We are to start with what is necessary, and in time we find ourselves doing what is possible, and in time and over time we will find ourselves doing what is impossible.”

So back to low seat. From a scripture standpoint, it takes me to Luke 14 where in verse 8, Jesus says, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down at the place of honor, since a more distinguished person than you may have been invited by the host.” Moving to verse 10-11 he says, “But when you are invited, go and sit down at the last place, so that when your host comes, he will stay to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; and then you will be honored in the presence of all who are at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself ill be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

So why does this stick out and what does this have to do with Become Good Soil and my time there in 2016. Well, one of the teachings that I received that weekend, came in simple statement. “Take the lowest seat until God makes it impossible to do otherwise.” It’s a statement of humility. Being willing to take a step back and not be “The man,” so to speak, until God makes it impossible to stay in that place and invites you further up and further in.

For several years, even as an early believer, I was, for lack of a better term, the man. I was the one leading the movement. Getting men out of their place of comfort and challenging them to venture into frontier waters in their walk with God. As part of an ally movement of ministry leaders, I have often been referred to as a General in the movement. There has been so much good in that space, and I am thankful to have been and still be part of an alliance of Kingdom world changers.

Now, don’t  read or hear what is not being said here. This was never anything that I sought out. It was all a God thing and God was in it. If you know me, personally, and especially before I really came to faith, you will agree that leading anything like this was way outside of anything you would think I would do. Just the idea of standing in front of people and speaking, my heart would race, and I began to drip with sweat. Even sitting down in one-to-one conversations would bring such a response. I often felt very disqualified. You would never see me in such a place, willingly. When God was in the picture, it became the thing I could not help but do. It was too important, I felt, and I allowed God to train me in it. It was training by fire, so to speak.

These days, as I have sat with those words of taking the low seat, I realized that this was that time. I have had the honor to kickstart a movement, but for the season, it has been necessary to step back. It hasn’t been the season to build and move to the next event or bring things to the next level. This has not come without difficulty. I am often asked about the next event, etc. Being willing to say not yet and be comfortable with that response has taken continued practice. This also applies to my daily work, as I have been resetting doing the necessary thing to get by, while this refining continues. I don’t think it is any coincidence that this is in the same season.

Willingly stepping back is not something that comes natural to so many. For men, especially, I think we have it in us to build; to kingdom (small k) build. Sometimes we are forced to step back when those kingdoms come crumbling down, whatever that looks like for different individuals. This is all part of our refinement and the journey of becoming more as God intended us to be.

Take the lowest seat until God makes it impossible to do otherwise. Until God makes it impossible to stay in that seat. With all the trials we have endured, I have found myself asking often of God, what next? Where are you leading me and my family next? The next thing may not be the next ministry movement or returning to The Anvil weekend. I don’t know. What I do know and what I keep being reminded of is that for now, we wait. As I prayed through words for 2025, God reaffirmed that need to wait for him. I’ll share those words another time.

In the meantime, I will continue pressing forward and waiting patiently for God. I sit with a grateful heart because I know this is a part of my becoming and only God’s goodness can and will come through it all, whatever that looks like. It may not always be fun, but I will humbly embrace the low seat while I’m in it.

Now, this does not mean checking out either. I’m grateful for the community of men, locally and nationally, that I get to be connected and do life with. I’m thankful for the brothers that continue to gather around my fire pit on Tuesday evenings as we process life and sharpen one another. I grateful for the council of allies I get to stay connected with and serve with as part of the mission of going after the hearts of men. We will keep going as God’s refining continues.

Processing Through Suffering and Struggle

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What do you do when it feels like God is waking you from your sleep to talk? Some mornings, I will have to admit, I will lay there and maybe go back to sleep. This morning, that was impossible, so here I am.

It has been 5 years since I have shared anything in this way. I have written off and on, but did not feel like anything was ready to be shared. This morning felt different. I have always felt it was important to be open and vulnerable about things of consequence in my life. 10 years ago, when I really began to walk with Jesus, the Holy Spirit was doing a real work and I couldn’t help but share what was going on. There was post after post, which helped me to process my own thoughts as I was growing my journey. In recent years that has been different. I have written some, but it never felt like it was the time to share those things. It became, what my friend Morgan calls, the hidden years, to some degree.

Now what do you do when it feels like everything in your life has been under assault? This is a part of processing that journey.

Where to even begin. Life comes in waves as we all know. There are good times and bad times. The early years of my faith journey, as I look back were certainly some good times. These last couple of years, however, have turned into some very turbulent times, not just for me, but for my family as whole. Trying to make sense of it all, and maintain faith and hope has come with so much struggle.

This week, we will mark the 1 year anniversary of the death of my son, Brandon. We lost him on February 27, 2024. He was just 24 years-old when he passed. He had significant health challenges over the last 11 years of his life with Type-1 diabetes and in his last 5 years, the addition of what’s called Addison’s Disease. Over the last months of his life, it was taking a significant toll on him with multiple trips to the hospital. Then on the day he passed, he went into sudden cardiac arrest at his apartment that he and our other son, Shawn, shared. Despite all efforts, he could not be revived.

We all remember the day like it was just yesterday. Brandon stayed home from work that day, because wasn’t feeling great. Thought he just needed to rest it off. By the time Shawn came home, he had a hard time getting to of bed. Amber and I had both spoken to him by phone that day and he assured us that he was feeling better as the day progressed. Shawn went to call 911, because it was clear Brandon needed some medical attention. He helped Brandon get up and then he just collapsed and he stopped breathing. I cannot even begin to imagine what that was like for Shawn as he tried CPR and waited for paramedics to arrive.

Amber and I were both working. I have been working as a delivery driver for a few months at the time to make a stable income for bit. I remember the house I was delivering at when Amber called to frantically tell me that Brandon had stopped breathing. She closed her store immediately and headed to the hospital while I frantically headed back to our station a half hour away to return my work van and head to the hospital. Those moments felt like an eternity. It took her an hour and me an hour and a half to get to the hospital where Shawn had been waiting by himself with no news. Brandon’s fiancée, Courtney, arrived as well with her sister and we waited. More family began to arrive, Amber’s dad Dennis, my brothers and sister, our pastors wife, Barb, with more to follow. Then the doctors asked for just immediate family, first, so Amber, Shawn, Courtney, and I waited together.  Our daughter, Ashley, was on her way from North Carolina where she lives.  Then they told us the news. His heart had gone into a fatal rhythm and despite everything they tried, they could not get him back. The shock was instantaneous as I looked at Amber’s face, Shawn’s, and Courtney’s. Nothing could prepare you for that moment.

They brought us back to the room where Brandon was and let us go in. That’s an image that I will never forget. To see him laying there with no life in him. Amber and Courtney came to each side as the emotions came through. I just remember saying, “My boy…my boy.” I remember hugging Shawn and then left them after a little bit to tell everyone else that was waiting. That was one of the longest nights. My pastor and friend, Tim arrived and I collapsed in his arms. More friends arrived and I am so thankful as they were just there to love on us. Ashley arrived and took her straight into the consultation room with Shawn. We sat down on the floor and I told her the news she didn’t want to hear, but was afraid would be true. I remember seeing the tears in her eyes and she just saying, “He is still good. He is still good.”

This was and still is a very hard thing to contend with. Brandon was a young man that loved life and was always filled with so much joy. He had a strong belief and love for Jesus and you could see it in him. His celebration of life was a testament to him, as hundreds packed our church. On his 25th birthday, this past October, our family was afforded an incredible honor, as our church renamed our student center building in his honor, The Brandon Clinton Student Center. It was a place where he flourished in his faith growth.

His loss, for us, however, has left a significant hole. For Amber and me, our other kids, Shawn and Ashley, and Courtney, among other family and friends. How do you process and recover from all of this? I have shared in public and private that our faith has been a big part of this and that still hold true. At the same time, this has been the most horrific and trying experience we have had to walk through. As Amber and I sat together in our bedroom last night talking, she commented, that it’s like we’re still waiting to wake up from this nightmare. Even a year later, it is so hard to believe that this has become our reality. The loss of a son, brother, grandson, fiancée, and friend.

It has been a traumatic time. A little over 2 years ago, I had front row seat to watch my wife go through the fight of her life, and only through a miracle survive. Just 3 months after we lost Brandon, the same thing happened all over again, as Amber crashed and nearly died in the summer of 2024, and spent 6 weeks in the hospital, miraculously surviving again.

What I’m sharing here will be from own perspective. We all process in different ways, this is mine.

As a man, husband, and father, I have always tried to keep things together and be strong for my family. For much of the last 8 years, I have worked taught men about the significance of walking in their true identity and leading and loving their families and well. It was a calling that, just a month before Brandon’s death I shared to a group of guys, is the thing that I cannot help but do. It is wild, how such significant events can really get you to look at things in a different light.

How do you move forward, when it seems everything you hold dear is under assault? I’m not one who cries much, but I remember the morning after we lost Brandon, waking up and sitting on the side of my bed and beginning to wail like I don’t think I ever had before. As a man, I still feel that there is a need to be strong for my family, but in all honesty, I have never felt weaker in my life. It is a feeling like I have nothing to offer and bring to the dance. Maybe there’s a strength in that. As Paul wrote, he boasted in his weakness. It’s where the strength of Christ can come through. I certainly believe that to be true, and maybe one day I will be able to look back and see that with more clarity. Right now, in the middle of it, it certainly is challenging to see that way, at times.

What is wild, is that this feeling of weakness is not just from the trauma of the loss of my son and near loss of my wife. Those events, themselves, are enough to take anyone out. It has felt like a compounding effect from those events, to job loss and career uncertainty, to the financial strain of major car issues, medical debt, and other things. I know the car thing seems minor, but when it surrounds and is in the middle of these events, it is very visible and weighty. You get that feeling of, what next?

So here I am. It is early 2025 and I continue to try to make sense of everything that has happened. I don’t know where life is going from here. We have a void in our lives that can’t be filled by anything on this side of eternity. I also live with a worry of seeing my wife go through another medical crisis. I try not to stay there, but when you have seen it twice in less than 2 years, it is hard to not be front of mind.

I don’t know why I’ve shared all of this, other than just to be real about where I am. In the day-to-day, I am okay for the most part, but when the weight come back or memories surface, then I am not as okay. I think, as a family, that’s how we are most days.

I wrestle with what is God up to next. This struggle and suffering can’t be for nothing. I have learned the importance of not wasting your pain, so where is all of this leading? I shared in a video last year that it would be nice if God would just open a book for me and share that this is what he is doing with this, but I know it does not work that way. There are just some things that will remain a mystery and when it is time to be revealed, it will be. Until then, all I can do is sit with eager anticipation and expectation of God’s goodness. I know He is still up to good in all of this.

I’m part of a group of men that is going through my friend Michael Thompson’s book, King Me, together. We gather on Zoom every Thursday morning with men from the around the country. It has been a helpful exercise to regain some sense of focus, even when filled with so many questions. This past week, one of the questions posed in the book was, “Do we really want to become the sons of God?” In other words, do we really want this life with Jesus? Some give a half-hearted ‘yes,’ others a resounding ‘yes.’ The thing that flashed in my mind as I read that was, “Count the cost.” If we are saying yes, do we really know the cost of what that yes can mean? Are we ready to participate in the sufferings of Christ? How often do we really think about what real suffering can look like, until we go through it. We’re not the first and we won’t be the last, so we have to, as believers, be willing to really go there and process this question. How will we respond? We have a choice.

On Brandon’s birthday, when we did the student center dedication, I was given the honor to speak to our church and share some of this journey. I referenced the verse John 16:33. It is a verse that has been front of mind to me for many years. Jesus says here, “I have told you this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” This verse stuck out because while I was early in my faith journey, I often wondered how I would respond when things got really hard. What would those trials look like and how would my faith endure? These are important questions to ask, whether you are in it or this is frontier to you.

For me, there are days where it feel like, “Okay, I’ve got this. Jesus is in it, we will be okay.” Other days, I feel like I want to just yell at the top of my lungs in anger and frustration. How much can one man take? Remember I’m just writing from my own perspective here.

As Amber was fighting for her life for the second time, I remember sharing with some close friends that my heart is really heavy. I honestly did not know if I would be able to endure this again, let alone still grieve my son. If would have lost Amber, then, I would like to say I would be able to lean into my faith, but I don’t know if I could have handled that. There was a point where worry began to fill the doctors faces when she had been on life support for over a week and was still not showing signs of improvement. I sat in the chapel at the hospital in tears and scared to death of this being a strong possibility. But God showed up as little by little she began to show some improvements. Over the coming weeks she recovered and I was able to bring her home and she is doing well again.

This season of life has carried more weight than I ever imagined facing, especially in such short period of time. You’re never prepared to lose a child and to face everything else we have faced, it is honestly amazing we are still going. It’s all God and I don’t say that lightly. There’s reason for it all and He’s not done with me or us. I’ll share more as I feel prompted, but in the meantime, we’ll keep going.

Giving God Your ‘Yes’

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Last weekend, I was blessed with the opportunity to spend a weekend with ministry allies.  It was a weekend filled with men who were moving on the same mission God has led me and lead ministry movements in different capacities.  It was such fruitful time of getting to have good conversation with like-hearted men and even get an opportunity to reflect with God on where I am in my own journey personally and in this mission of going after the hearts of others.

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As I think back over this weekend and getting to hear from men from different backgrounds, including men like Michael Thompson, who authored The Heart of a Warrior and Gary Barkalow, who authored It’s Your Call.  Yes, I name dropped a little.  What was stirred in my heart is these are men that did a simple, yet very difficult thing for many of us.  Each of us have given God our “Yes.”  So many of us were compelled at one point or another, many from the Wild at Heart Boot Camps and also The Heart of a Warrior Encounters.  They were compelled to do something; to go after the hearts of others.

Think about this for a minute.  Have you given God your ‘Yes.’  There is a calling on every one of our lives to allow this world to feel the full weight of who we are as image bearers of God.  So often, we live our lives uncertain of where we are and what we are doing.  We may hear God calling us out, but we are afraid to move.  Giving him your ‘Yes’ doesn’t mean your going to go through a career change and move to full-time ministry.  What it means is that you are willing to step-up and step-out into a life with God, following wherever he may lead, allowing God to begin train you up as his son or daughter, and no matter where you are step into the fight for the hearts of others.  We are all, ALL, commanded to be in this fight in some way.

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If you’ve been reading my posts these last years, you know a little bit of my own story to say “Yes.”  It began 4 years ago this month.  For the first 36 years of my life I was uncertain of myself, I was disoriented and not sure of where I was going.  In January 2015, I was asked by God, yes God spoke to me, if I would be willing to follow Him into the unknown and trust Him fully.  While snowshoeing at 10,000 feet, I looked over the valley and surrounding snow covered mountains and gave God my ‘Yes.’

From that moment, that day, it was on.  First, I was compelled to come home and do something.  I could not stay disengaged anymore.  God began to train me

and grow me in ways I never expected.  I also made it a commitment to no longer walk through life alone and isolated as so many men still do.  It’s been a radical call into something I never once thought I would be engaged in.itsyourcall-zoom_grande

So think about this for yourself.  Have you truly given God your ‘Yes?’  Have you answered to call to begin to live out the truth of who you are as God’s image bearer? As Gary Barkalow wrote, we all have a glory, a weightiness and splendor about us that reflects piece of God’s glory.  That says something very deep about who we are and we have to be willing to receive that.  John Eldredge wrote in Wild at Heart for each of us to let the world feel the full weight of who we are and let them deal with it.

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So, I want you to truly think about this for your own life.  Even take some time to take this God.  Where have I not given you my ‘yes,’ God?  What will this look like for my life to say ‘Yes?’

Take some time and truly think about this.  Saying ‘Yes’, is big deal, and there no such thing as maybe.  One think we need to be ready for as well, with saying ‘Yes’ is that it will be messy.  There will be very messy moments along the journey where you stumble.  I certainly have and will continue to do so.  It’s a part of God training us up.  We also become huge trouble for the Enemy.  They one who wants to draw our hearts away from God.  That will bring more of a mess to your life as you dig out your foxholes and engage in the fight.

Will you choose to give God your ‘Yes?’  Will you choose to answer the call to live out who your are, truly?  I promise you that this is a journey that is will worth it.  If you are uncertain, but want to know more, let me know.  Also read Wild at Heart, The Heart of a Warrior, and It’s Your Call.  Three books that will definitely help to orient your heart.

Let this be there of ‘Yes’ with God.

Trust God’s Perfection

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It’s interesting to know and see how difficult it can be for people to trust God.  We run through so many different circumstances in our lives that, in our fallen nature, we are turned and question Him when times get difficult.  His love is right there for all of and never failing though.  As I’ve written time and again, no matter where we are in life, God is always pursuing us.  It is never failing and never ending.

If you study scripture and see all that has happened since the beginning, you can see that what ever God wills to happen is going to happen.  We His people turned away from Him, he turned away but only for a period of time and them was right back with Him.  The purpose is for everyone to know that He is the Lord and He is always there for us if we just trust in Him.

Psalm 18:30 says, “God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true.  He is a shield for all who look to Him for protection.”  Think about that for a minute.  God’s way is perfect.  God is the love, strength, courage, wisdom, power, and everything else rolled into one.  He is the source of all  creation.  When He declared in the beginning that His creation was good.  He created perfection.  He created us to also live in His perfection and glory. Even when struggles arise in our lives, know that God’s will and perfection will shine through our lives if we trust in Him.  I know it can be so easy to turn away.

One thing I hear people often ask and even I have done the same thing, when difficulty arises is Why?. They question God and wonder where He is working in all of that.  I’ve been selfish in this manner too.  When I lost my Dad, I asked why many times.  When I lost a job many years ago, while raising a young family, I was asking why then.  I did not get it.  I did not understand where God is working.  It is not God’s will for us to suffer and struggle, but He allows these things to happen in this fallen world in hopes of drawing us near.  Jesus told us we will face trials and sorrows in this life.  It will happen.  Even when you feel that your faith is it’s strongest, it will still happen

Mother Teresa said, “God will never, never, never let us down if we have faith and put our trust in Him. He will always look after us. So we must cleave to Jesus. Our whole life must simply be woven into Jesus.”  It’s so simple when you thing about it.  Jesus came to save us from our sins and  set us free from the grips of satan and death who is always trying to deceive us and destroy our hearts.  Jesus said that Satan’s goals is steal, kill, and destroy us.  We see this everyday with junk that we face and we see others facing.  As Mother Teresa said, God will never, never, never let us down.  We need to trust in His perfection.

I know often times that my writing may seem to be a little on the serious and gloomy side when I focus on pain and struggles.  I do this because it is very real.  I have have been through this and we all have.  I believe those struggles are a sharp reminder that we need to hold tighter to God and remain strong in our faith.   Don’t let the pain and sorrows of this world turn you away.  When those times come, hold tighter.  I know how challenging it can be, but don’t let go.  When you hold the tightest, that’s when the enemy pulls at you stronger.  Trust in God’s perfection, always!

An Unending Pursuit

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Have you ever felt that there was something you needed to go after and you would not stop until you got it?  Have you ever fell head-over-heals in love with another that you felt there was nothing that would keep you pursuing them and staying close to their heart?  Have you ever had anyone betray you repeatedly, but no matter what you loved them through it?  Do you that this is just a glimpse of the level of love that God has for each one of us?  He loves each one of us so much that He will continue pursuing us through all the junk that infiltrates our lives.  Have you ever stopped to just contemplate how deep of a love He has for us?  It’s really something quite awesome to think about and really goes beyond our realm of understanding.

The Father wants nothing more than for us to be drawn to Him in faith and connected close to His heart.  His desire would be for everyone, no matter where they’ve been in life, to come back to Him.  Simple fact is that His love for us is so great that he willingly sent His son, Jesus Christ, to come and die for us all and be resurrected to life to give us a doorway to eternal life through Him.  We are called to return to the Lord in faith and turn away from sin.  We are called to share the Good News with others and steer them to faith in Christ.  Through all of that, we face a number of challenges and obstacles that will always try to pull us back.  You will see negative reactions from people, you will seem to face new and greater challenges that threaten your faith.  Satan has so many tools at his disposal to try to stop us and will try harder and harder to pull us from God.  Through all of that, God never lets go and will never stop pursuing us.  Those that have not come to faith or lost faith, He will always continue pursuing them.  His desire is to open our eyes to His glory and set us free from our sin and death.

My family and I were re-watching the movie, God’s Not Dead last night.  If you have not seen this movie, I would highly, highly recommend it.  There’s a couple of theme’s from this movie that are so real and evident for all of us today.  First, the main character in the movie, Josh, is challenged to prove God’s existence.  What a challenge and one that so many would shy away from.  What I want to look at is the negatives that Josh faced.  Not only was this atheist professor going to try to shut him down at every turn, but his family discouraged him, and his girlfriend, whom he loved a great deal tried to forbid him from it, ultimately leaving him.  A lot for a college freshman to deal with.  The Holy Spirit kept pursuing him though and gave him the strength and courage he needed.

Then we have his professor.  An atheist who because of his own struggles turned completely away from God.  He instead was stuck on human reason and logic which in his opinions did not support the existence of God.  (Spoiler Alert)  Through all of his anger and hatred for God from what he felt was God’s betrayal, when his mom died, the Lord finally opened his eyes.  Josh was used a tool to open his eyes and many others.  He comes to Christ in the end and finally sees the truth and reaching his salvation and accepting Christ right before he dies.  The same happens to a liberal blogger who is left alone when she discovers she has terminal cancer and cries out in desperation.

I share all of this for one reason.  No matter how far down our journey goes, God never stops His pursuit of our hearts.  He will pursue us to the very end all the way through our death.  Christ came to save us and rescue us from the death that we all deserved.  God took on himself as the son, all the suffering and punishment and death we deserved.  There is no love greater in all of the world.

Perfection Is Not The Key

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Have you ever faced times were you just filled with guilt over situations in your life where you have fallen to sin?  Have you ever been so caught up in trying to be perfect in your life that it keeps you from being you?  This relates to not just in faith, but in how we interact with people.  Many times people are so worried about the perception they give others when they are in social situations that they put on a “poser” persona and don’t act as themselves.  In faith, often times people are so afraid to sin that it eats at them trying to be perfect and then when they do fall, they get so riddled with guilt.

There is one thing in life that we need to always remember.  We are all sinners.  We live in a fallen world and sin is now a part of our human nature.  None of us are ever perfect.  I’m surely not.  I fight my own battles in life where sin and Satan infiltrate.  It’s a part of our world and something we all have to battle.  I don’t care who you are where you came from in life, it is a part of us.  Perfections is not in the cards in this world.  As you all know, Jesus was the only one to ever be perfect.  He came and showed us the example of what it is God intended man to be.  To always seek God and glorify Him in all we do.

When we all understand that perfection is not the key for each one of us, then we can focus on what is.  That, quite simply, is Jesus!  Jesus is the key, not perfection.  One we realize that, then we can spend our lives drawing closer to Him each day knowing that by God’s grace and love when we do fall to sin in our lives, we are forgiven because of Jesus.  Jesus is the answer.  An excerpt from the book “Becoming Myself” says, “We won’t be perfect on this side of heaven. But Jesus is perfect. Always.  We are becoming more holy and true. Jesus already is.  His name isn’t “Becoming.” It is “I AM.”

Jesus is the answer to it all.  When we surrender and accept in our lives as our Lord and Savior, we can then turn away from sin.  Jesus already to the judgement and punishment for our sin.  We can nail that sin in our lives to the feet of the cross and let Jesus take it from us.  Still going forward, while we strive to not sin, we need to understand that we are still not going to be perfect.  We will all jack it up at some point and many times.  Thanks to God’s love however, we don’t have to bound to that sin any longer.  We have Jesus.  He is the only answer we need and the real key to everything.

This is such a vital area of life for all of us and unfortunately, so many don’t understand or know this.  Seek Jesus.  That is your answer.  He was God’s answer to the sin and corruption of this world and He is the answer to conquering our sin and our salvation.  Seek Jesus through God’s Word.  Ask the Holy Spirit to fill your life.  An posting from Joseph Prince today said, “No Word and all Spirit? You’ll blow up. All Word and no Spirit? You’ll dry up. But have the Word and the Spirit? That’s how you grow up!”  Fill yourself with God’s Word and the Holy Spirit daily.  Draw closer to Him and know that Jesus is the key.  Don’t live a life of perpetual guilt trying to be perfect.  Seek Jesus, Always!

Free to Live and Free to Love

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I have this sticker that is on the back window of my truck.  It is the image of the Cross with the words “We are set free.”  This comes of Galatians 5:1 where Paul tells us that Christ has truly set us free.  Many may wonder what it means to be truly set free.  What are set free from?  Paul stated that we are set from the law that enslaved the Israelites.  While working out this morning, I was watching a program with a gentleman named Joseph Prince.  I had never watched him before, but got caught up in what he was teaching.  He took us back to the time at Mt. Sinai when God laid out the 10 Commandments to Moses.  Prior to that point, God would come meet with people Abraham, Isaac, and others face to face.  When the Israelites began Exodus, they would often grumble to Moses and God would show grace by parting the Red Sea, raining Manna, bringing water from a rock.  At Mt. Sinai, however, it all changed and when the elders of Israel said they would do all God commanded, the laws were handed down and they became slaves of the law.  For the next 1,500 or so years, we see time after time where people turned from God and then would repent and obey God’s law.  The focus, was more on keeping the commandments rather than on faith in God and loving Him.

Fast Forward now to Jesus.  When Jesus was asked about which Commandment was the greatest, he said that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind.  True faith and love for God had been lost up to that point for most.  People were bent on keeping the law that they lost site of what it meant to be truly faithful.  Through Jesus Christ, we are shown God’s grace and love.  God became flesh and willingly gave his life to die for us and take the punishment of sin that we all deserved.  That is grace and love.  Through this willful sacrifice, we were set free.  Free from sin, free from death when Christ rose from the dead.

Now we are free to live and free to love God.  In the book Free to Live, by John Eldredge, it states, “Loving God is the centering of your existence as a human being. It’s the restoration of you reason for existence. What a relief it is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. What an utter relief. For then, every other relationship falls into place; every other desire finds its appropriate place in our life. Again, this is why mere “morality” can never substitute for true holiness. You can keep all the rules you think are important and not love God. This is where it all begins, truly loving Jesus with all your heart. Where things are out of whack, that is where our repenting needs to take place.”

Jesus’s first coming was in Grace.  Grace to set us free and to be given an open door to once again be able to know God and learn what true faith is and what true unfailing love is.  Through full faith and trust in Christ, we are free. We are free to love God with all that we are. We are free to live for God’s purpose and His will for our lives. We are free to live. Jesus is Life!

It’s a great feeling to know what the Grace bought through Christ’s redeeming blood has brought us.  Even when we are not deserving, we have the intercession of Christ.  Just as God continued to show Grace to the Israelites through their grumblings in the wilderness before Mt. Sinai, His Grace was again returned to us through Christ even through our fallen state and no matter how much we have jacked up our own lives.  I am just as jacked up as the rest, but know that through repentance and faith in Christ I am redeemed and free from that sin.  We are free to live and we are free to love!

SetFree

Let Christ Rule Your Heart

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Yesterday, I had the privilege of spending some morning Bible Study time with a group of guys where I worship at The Cross in Loganville.  First, what a great time it was.  To be honest, I have never sat down in that kind of setting to just fellowship and talk and discuss scripture with several other believers.  I have had one-on-one conversations many times in the past or with a couple of folks, but never really participated in that kind of Bible Study session.  Let me tell you, it was a great experience.  I got to meet some guys I have seen in passing attending worship, but never really got to know.  What I did learn, was that we all have a great story and testimony of how we came to faith in Christ and often times it came from various trials and difficulties of various kinds.  We all have story.

But getting to the root of the study, we focused on Colossians 3:15-17.  The first thing right out of the gate, Paul tells us to “let the peace that comes from Christ rule our hearts.”  This really struck with me as we discussed the versus and I listened to Tim, the lead pastor, break it down.  All too often in this life, we are quick to take action or speak without thinking.  We can start lashing out in anger or whatever it may be.  Either way, we can often get caught-up not letting Christ lead our words and actions.  This is often the case for many that may go to worship on Sunday, but raise hell the rest of the week.  I’ve been there too.  We need to let Jesus umpire our actions and keep us under control every single day.

In verse 16, it says, “Let the message of Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives.”  As we walk in close step with Christ, we should let all the He is and His message fill us each day.  Let Jesus speak through us also, as we share, teach, and counsel with others.  The line given in the study was “Speak only when spoken through.”  Don’t just spout of opinions and talk to be heard.  Let Christ fill your heart and the Word fill you and speak what is being spoken through you.  I have encountered many people that like to talk just to heard.  They don’t think about what their saying and just ramble on.  Stay away from that, and rather speak life.   In Toby Mac’s song, “Speak Life,”  he says the lines, “Look into the eyes of the brokenhearted; watch them come alive as soon as you speak hope, you speak love, you speak life.”

If we speak from the Good News and the promise for new life and salvation in Christ, its amazing the impact it has on folks.  Especially when they are lost and broken.  When you speak what Christ is speaking through you and through the Word, it will bring them to life.  We are a representative of Christ when we speak and testify and should remember that.  2 Corinthians 5:20 calls us “Ambassadors of Christ.”  I want to live that way and those of you that are believers, I pray that you will as well.  A gentleman in the Bible Study mentioned that the first thing we have in sharing about Christ is our own story.  Our own Testimony to how Christ has transformed our lives.  To be honest, it is one of the most powerful weapons we have as a body of believers.  We all have a story.  We all have taken paths through adversity, brokenness, and many other challenges.  We all have had times either completely separated from God or where we questioned Him.  Share your testimony and be contagious.  By sharing your own story, people can relate and then see just how much Christ has transformed your own life.

Let Christ rule your heart.

The Road Less Traveled

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I’m sure you all have heard of the famous Robert Frost poem, “The Road not Taken.”  A part we always here is as follows:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
 

There is so much in this related to the path we travel in our faith and how we draw closer to God and where He is leading us in life.  Each of us have a different path we take through life and have to make different choices along the way about which direction to go.  What often gets missed is which path God wants you go down.  Rather people see where the world is leading and tells them they should go and they take that road.

I always remember growing in Sunday School classes hearing about taking the rocky and dangerous road to God or the gold paved path to the Devil.  That is such a real thing for us.  It’s very easy to say, I want to take the way everyone says I should go.  I’m going to jump into this career, I’m going to live here, I’m going to attend this college.  All because it’s what’s expected of them.  It seems like the easy path to success.  It always makes it easy for you to drawn closer to things of this world that are not closer to God.  It can draw you to easy indulgence and sin in any number of areas and can bring about addictions that are hard to shake because they make you feel good about yourself.  All the while down this path you fade further away from God.

Then there is the other road.  The one less traveled by.  This one hits a number of bends and curves and obstacles along the way.  People like to shy away from this path, because it seems so difficult.  For 20 years of my life, I shied away from it.  This is the path that leads to closer intimacy with God.  It is not an easy path by any means and the world will pull you back time and again to go the straight and narrow.  We have to make a choice in life, however of which road we will take.

One thing that many people will not do, which pulls them away from the winding path, is to trust God.  So often throughout God’s word, we are shown were God went out of ahead of His people.  He helped lead them to victory when they trusted and put their faith in Him.  In my Scripture reading today, it talked about David defeating Goliath and how he put his full faith in God to help him prevail.  Jesus went out ahead of His disciples as well and went ahead of us to prepare a place at the wedding feast.  It is shown time again through God’s Word.

What does that tell you?  Quite simply, you should put your full faith and trust in God.  He will be there and will always move out ahead of you if you put your faith and trust in Him.  Doesn’t mean the path will be easy.  Like I mentioned, you will face obstacle after obstacle along the path.  The world and Satan will constantly try to trip you up.  You have to fully surrender and trust where God is leading you.

Trust me, it took me a long time to come to this realization.  I followed the more expected path, other than getting married at 18 and starting my family so young.  But I went to college and started a career.  All the while, I was not letting God lead me.  Now I get it.  God is leading me on a wild adventure right now.  It is filled with twists and turns, but it is so awesome to able to draw closer to His heart each day.  Also getting to share my testimony and use that to testify to all of you about where He is leading me.  I don’t know how far He’s going to take me.  Could stay local, or this thing could go national or global.  I don’t know.  I don’t expect anything in return, but just trust in where He is leading me and leading me to share my story and the Good News of Jesus Christ.

I hope y’all will stay with me on this journey as we see where it goes. It’s going to be quite a ride.  Sure the world will get in my way.  It often does, but I am thankful I get to take the road less traveled to pave to hopefully lead others to Christ and to jump on the less traveled road themselves.