I see it has been a little while since I last visited my blog. It has been busy here. Not bad busy, just busy.
Shortly after my last post my son came home over the 4th of July weekend and brought along his sweetheart to meet the family. That was a great weekend and we had a lot of fun and had a short but wonderful time getting to know this amazing (my son's favorite adjective for her) young lady. She is from Texas and had never been to the Rocky Mountains, so my wife and I took them for a drive through the mountains and we had a wonderful day. The next several days were very full and a lot of fun. We've sure missed them both since they went back to Oklahoma/Texas (him/her).
I've been working and trying to be mountain biking quite a bit trying to get ready for some long endurance events coming up, one of which is this weekend. We'll have to see how that turns out.
My wife and I went up to Fraser, Colorado this past weekend for a bike race and to enjoy having some husband/wife companionship time together. It sure seems hard to have time for one another when we're at home and busy with house work and chores and running the daughter to and from work and teaching her to drive.
We're both exhausted!
Our regular worship leader is at a family reunion in South Carolina, so I was blessed to be able to fill in this past Sunday. The Lord really led and anointed the time and many were blessed, so I too was blessed. What really is there that is better on this earth than time worshiping God? Nothing I can think of or have experienced.
All that said, God is so very good to us and we are immensely blessed and we thank Him for His blessings each day.
May you be richly blessed in Christ Jesus the Lord.
Showing posts with label Ministry Moments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ministry Moments. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Sunday, April 8, 2007
In the Workplace
Friday was a tough day in our office. The funding for our contract ended. About a dozen people were laid off. Almost half of the people released were among those who had gathered with us this week to pray. The younger man I shared an office with was among those released. I was not.
I have to trust my God and believe that His plan is perfect because He is perfect. We prayed that no matter what the outcome was He would be glorified in it. I know He will.
It may be difficult for those who are now having to find new jobs to see God's goodness and mercy in this time, but I know His hand is upon them. In Jeremiah 29:11, God says "For I know the plans that I have for you, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." (NASB) I trust in my God for them and for their welfare and their provision. God remains Jehovah Jireh [God the Provider] regardless of what the circumstances look like.
I was prepared in my heart to accept it if I were one of those released, because I know the testimony my God has established in me concerning His faithfulness to provide. He has always taken care of us. This job is an instrument in God's hand to provide for our financial means. Maybe it is His desire for some of these others to learn what He has already taught me. I don't know. I cannot see all of God's plans. Sometimes I think I wish I could, but I know they are more than I am capable of understanding. So then I must trust Him as my Father, just as my children trust me as their father, that I would not lead them to harm, but only to that which is good for them. If I being inherently evil by nature desire to give that which is good to my children, how much more is God who is purely good by nature able and desirous to give that which is good to His children.
John, Amy, Mike, Jessica, and Bryan, I lift you up before our Father who you are His children and knows your needs. I am grateful that You know the Father and know that He will take care of you. I pray for you that God will provide the next job for you quickly.
For the others that I don't know if they know you Father, I pray for You reveal Yourself to them in only the way Your Holy Spirit can. You are the self-revealing God, so I ask You to reveal Yourself and I thank You for doing so. I ask for them also that you provide employment for them so that they may be able to provide for their families. You are gracious God.
I also thank You for those of us You have chosen to remain. Thank You for the opportunities to be bold and proclaim our faith in You this past week. I believe it was only the foundation for that which is yet to come. Thank You for Your salvation to many more in our workplace and for the testimony You have established to be proclaimed through us whom You have planted there for this season. Thank You that I can ask You Father in the name of Jesus Your Son. Amen.
I have to trust my God and believe that His plan is perfect because He is perfect. We prayed that no matter what the outcome was He would be glorified in it. I know He will.
It may be difficult for those who are now having to find new jobs to see God's goodness and mercy in this time, but I know His hand is upon them. In Jeremiah 29:11, God says "For I know the plans that I have for you, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." (NASB) I trust in my God for them and for their welfare and their provision. God remains Jehovah Jireh [God the Provider] regardless of what the circumstances look like.
I was prepared in my heart to accept it if I were one of those released, because I know the testimony my God has established in me concerning His faithfulness to provide. He has always taken care of us. This job is an instrument in God's hand to provide for our financial means. Maybe it is His desire for some of these others to learn what He has already taught me. I don't know. I cannot see all of God's plans. Sometimes I think I wish I could, but I know they are more than I am capable of understanding. So then I must trust Him as my Father, just as my children trust me as their father, that I would not lead them to harm, but only to that which is good for them. If I being inherently evil by nature desire to give that which is good to my children, how much more is God who is purely good by nature able and desirous to give that which is good to His children.
John, Amy, Mike, Jessica, and Bryan, I lift you up before our Father who you are His children and knows your needs. I am grateful that You know the Father and know that He will take care of you. I pray for you that God will provide the next job for you quickly.
For the others that I don't know if they know you Father, I pray for You reveal Yourself to them in only the way Your Holy Spirit can. You are the self-revealing God, so I ask You to reveal Yourself and I thank You for doing so. I ask for them also that you provide employment for them so that they may be able to provide for their families. You are gracious God.
I also thank You for those of us You have chosen to remain. Thank You for the opportunities to be bold and proclaim our faith in You this past week. I believe it was only the foundation for that which is yet to come. Thank You for Your salvation to many more in our workplace and for the testimony You have established to be proclaimed through us whom You have planted there for this season. Thank You that I can ask You Father in the name of Jesus Your Son. Amen.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Being His Servant
It is for such times as these that we are called.
I've been blessed that past couple of days to gather with other believers in my workplace to pray for our company and for the place we are to have to minister there.
The impetus God used to get us together: We received news last week that our contract is about to be terminated. That means the work we have been doing is no longer going to receive funding. No funding = no work. Which ultimately translates to: no work = no job.
I am not worried. I am not concerned. I know my God and He is for me. (Romans 8:28)
I have been wonderfully blessed where I work. God has used it as a tool for our provision and I am very grateful for that. I would like very much to be able to stay employed by this company, and this sentiment is strongly shared among my coworkers. The company president and vice-presidents are working hard to find other jobs for each of us on other projects we have. That is a way cool thing (and somewhat uncommon in my experience).
Starting on the premise of God's word that if we don't ask, we won't receive; we are praying for God to make a way here, where there really seems to be no way (according to man's understanding). The really awesome part about this is that we know that with our God, all things are possible. We are praying for our management to have God given wisdom in what they are to pursue and how they are to pursue it. They don't have to understand where their inspiration comes from, they just need to hear it. I know God will give one or more of us the opportunity to share with them that we have prayed for them during this time and how God answered those prayers.
I don't know what tomorrow may bring, but I do know that Father God is giving us the opportunity to start something in this time of "crisis" that we should have done before. If God chooses to answer our petitions another way, all glory still belongs to Him. In this I am reminded of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (aka Meshach, Shadrack, and Abed-nego) from the book of Daniel who answered the Babylonian king: "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. "But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." What an awesome response! Our God is able. If He should choose not to deliver us from this in the way we ask, that doesn't make Him any less able or any less God. Well for us the same thing applies. Our God is able. However and whatever He chooses to do will be sufficient. All we can do is be faithful to fulfill our part and wait expectantly to see how our God will answer. Until then we will keep praying. My greatest desire in this is to glorify my King no matter what the outcome.
Please pray for the hearts of those around us that don't know Christ Jesus as their Lord and Saviour to be open and tender to receive the gospel of salvation.
In His Service...
I've been blessed that past couple of days to gather with other believers in my workplace to pray for our company and for the place we are to have to minister there.
The impetus God used to get us together: We received news last week that our contract is about to be terminated. That means the work we have been doing is no longer going to receive funding. No funding = no work. Which ultimately translates to: no work = no job.
I am not worried. I am not concerned. I know my God and He is for me. (Romans 8:28)
I have been wonderfully blessed where I work. God has used it as a tool for our provision and I am very grateful for that. I would like very much to be able to stay employed by this company, and this sentiment is strongly shared among my coworkers. The company president and vice-presidents are working hard to find other jobs for each of us on other projects we have. That is a way cool thing (and somewhat uncommon in my experience).
Starting on the premise of God's word that if we don't ask, we won't receive; we are praying for God to make a way here, where there really seems to be no way (according to man's understanding). The really awesome part about this is that we know that with our God, all things are possible. We are praying for our management to have God given wisdom in what they are to pursue and how they are to pursue it. They don't have to understand where their inspiration comes from, they just need to hear it. I know God will give one or more of us the opportunity to share with them that we have prayed for them during this time and how God answered those prayers.
I don't know what tomorrow may bring, but I do know that Father God is giving us the opportunity to start something in this time of "crisis" that we should have done before. If God chooses to answer our petitions another way, all glory still belongs to Him. In this I am reminded of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (aka Meshach, Shadrack, and Abed-nego) from the book of Daniel who answered the Babylonian king: "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. "But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." What an awesome response! Our God is able. If He should choose not to deliver us from this in the way we ask, that doesn't make Him any less able or any less God. Well for us the same thing applies. Our God is able. However and whatever He chooses to do will be sufficient. All we can do is be faithful to fulfill our part and wait expectantly to see how our God will answer. Until then we will keep praying. My greatest desire in this is to glorify my King no matter what the outcome.
Please pray for the hearts of those around us that don't know Christ Jesus as their Lord and Saviour to be open and tender to receive the gospel of salvation.
In His Service...
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
In the Dentist's Chair
I went to the dentist today for a cleaning. Now I don't know if you've noticed (you probably have), but it is not the most conducive place to have a conversation. You have somebody with sharp instruments poking and scraping your teeth and gums, cleaning away plaque, then polishing, and so on.
Now the young lady who is my hygenist (I'll call her D) is a very nice and also a talkative sort, which is not a problem. The difficulty for me is when the "conversation" includes questions. Deep questions that need to be answered. Questions that the obvious answer to is Jesus Christ and His Words of life. Like most of us, this lady has had her share of hurts. She has also had difficultly in the relationship (male/female) arena. I know this from past cleaning "conversations."
It started out by D simply commenting that my teeth and gums looked good. I replied during a pause in cleaning actions that it is amazing how that is more prone to happen when we are not experiencing high levels of stress in our personal life. D's reply was that high stress happens with marriage, divorce, and death... which led to more interesting discussion. D started talking about how she would have a difficult time getting married because it is so difficult to be sure that the person would be the same after marriage and be willing to stick it out through tough times and so on. I agreed with her that it can certainly be tough at times. D then asked me, "You go to church right?" After my affirmative replay, she then proceeded to ask me questions about what I thought about some scriptures having to do with marriage. I was careful to try to answer faithfully to what the Word says, not what I think about what it says. I was also thinking about the blogs I've read at The Covering by some who are probably far more qualified people to answer this than I, but this was the divine appointment that God had called me to.
The basis of my answers was this: There are no guarantees and there are lots of temptations out there, but the bottom line is that it comes down to God gives us the place to make choices. Sometimes we have to make difficult choices that we would rather not have to choose.
When we become disenchanted with the person we've been married to and living with for 20 years, and we start nitpicking things about them, we cause ourselves to "fall out of love" with that person. This is a destructive road and it is the devil's playground. All of a sudden some other person seems so much more attractive, so much more ideal, maybe even more interested in you than your spouse. And the devil feeds this fire all kinds of fuel because he hates marriage. He hates everything that God says is good and he wants to destroy it; he wants to destroy God's people and he has lots of experience doing so.
This is where it comes back to choice. I can choose to tear down, or I can choose to build up. The results of my choice will lead to an end, either good or bad. Loving someone is a choice. There are physical causes responsible for the initial "feeling" that we think of as love when we are enamored/infatuated with someone, but it goes away. Today, a lot of divorces happen because the infatuation fades and the "we're not in love anymore" feeling creeps in.
Real love does not go away. Real love requires work. Real love is based on choosing to put another before yourself; To esteem them, to build them up. God works miraculously in this kind of love.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails;
I Corinthians 13:4-8 NASB
Lord, I pray that the seeds that you allowed me to plant today will find a place in D's heart and that You Holy Spirit will bring life to her through the revelation of Jesus Christ to her heart. She needs you. Thank you Jesus for Your perfect intercession for D.
I am grateful for every opportunity the Lord provides me to be His witness. He has done great things for me. In Him will I rejoice and lift up my voice. In God alone is the Way and the Word of Life. I am so thankful for the forgiveness I have in Jesus Christ. To Him be all glory and honor and power forever and ever.
Now the young lady who is my hygenist (I'll call her D) is a very nice and also a talkative sort, which is not a problem. The difficulty for me is when the "conversation" includes questions. Deep questions that need to be answered. Questions that the obvious answer to is Jesus Christ and His Words of life. Like most of us, this lady has had her share of hurts. She has also had difficultly in the relationship (male/female) arena. I know this from past cleaning "conversations."
It started out by D simply commenting that my teeth and gums looked good. I replied during a pause in cleaning actions that it is amazing how that is more prone to happen when we are not experiencing high levels of stress in our personal life. D's reply was that high stress happens with marriage, divorce, and death... which led to more interesting discussion. D started talking about how she would have a difficult time getting married because it is so difficult to be sure that the person would be the same after marriage and be willing to stick it out through tough times and so on. I agreed with her that it can certainly be tough at times. D then asked me, "You go to church right?" After my affirmative replay, she then proceeded to ask me questions about what I thought about some scriptures having to do with marriage. I was careful to try to answer faithfully to what the Word says, not what I think about what it says. I was also thinking about the blogs I've read at The Covering by some who are probably far more qualified people to answer this than I, but this was the divine appointment that God had called me to.
The basis of my answers was this: There are no guarantees and there are lots of temptations out there, but the bottom line is that it comes down to God gives us the place to make choices. Sometimes we have to make difficult choices that we would rather not have to choose.
When we become disenchanted with the person we've been married to and living with for 20 years, and we start nitpicking things about them, we cause ourselves to "fall out of love" with that person. This is a destructive road and it is the devil's playground. All of a sudden some other person seems so much more attractive, so much more ideal, maybe even more interested in you than your spouse. And the devil feeds this fire all kinds of fuel because he hates marriage. He hates everything that God says is good and he wants to destroy it; he wants to destroy God's people and he has lots of experience doing so.
This is where it comes back to choice. I can choose to tear down, or I can choose to build up. The results of my choice will lead to an end, either good or bad. Loving someone is a choice. There are physical causes responsible for the initial "feeling" that we think of as love when we are enamored/infatuated with someone, but it goes away. Today, a lot of divorces happen because the infatuation fades and the "we're not in love anymore" feeling creeps in.
Real love does not go away. Real love requires work. Real love is based on choosing to put another before yourself; To esteem them, to build them up. God works miraculously in this kind of love.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails;
I Corinthians 13:4-8 NASB
Lord, I pray that the seeds that you allowed me to plant today will find a place in D's heart and that You Holy Spirit will bring life to her through the revelation of Jesus Christ to her heart. She needs you. Thank you Jesus for Your perfect intercession for D.
I am grateful for every opportunity the Lord provides me to be His witness. He has done great things for me. In Him will I rejoice and lift up my voice. In God alone is the Way and the Word of Life. I am so thankful for the forgiveness I have in Jesus Christ. To Him be all glory and honor and power forever and ever.
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