The Glory

   The first day of my senior year, for the first class, I had to walk in my calculus class to start the day. We thought it would be like every other class, learning things to regurgitate them in the future, and then take a test and pass it. But boy did we have a surprise in store for us.
   The first day of calculus our teacher said, "babies (for some reason, that is what he calls us), up until this point, you could and probably have faked or memorized your way through school. Your teacher would tell you something, you would write it down, memorize it, and then take a test on it and pass. This is not this class, this is not how life works.  Its not regurgitation. Life is learning. This class is learning, and thats what you will do, learn how to think. Calculus is so broad, you cannot memorize yourself through this class, you must think."
   What was he telling us? He was saying that we were focusing on the wrong things. We were focused on passing a test instead of learning an actual subject of study. We did not really know what education is all about. Not focused on the right thing. We did not go to school to think, rather than to memorize.
   The Ultimate reason for everything is God's Glory. As we go through life, we should focus on doing everything for the Glory of God, not ourselves or anyone or anything else. Christ died for our sins, FOR GOD'S GLORY! The Love of Christ that we show to other people, FOR GODS GLORY! Taking the time to care for others, FOR GOD'S GLORY. EVERYTHING is for the Glory of God!! Let's live like it!

Priorities Part 2

   My sophomore year of high school, I enrolled in a class called SC Best. (Cool fact, I was still at Dorman but on my official transcript, the class was credited to being held at Oakbrook Prep School.) SCBEST stands for Spartanburg County Bible Education during School Time. I would highly recommend this class to anyone possibly looking into ministry, or just wanted to know more about Christianity.
   In this class, we got very educated about alot of aspects of Christianity, fast. We studied the smallest details, the smallest yet vastly significant statements and events in the Bible. We covered almost everything. It was like a mini seminary.
   Now Friday, we talked about practical priorities. We talked about always putting God first, family next, your ministry, your friends, etc.
   Now we are going to talk about the priorities of the Bible. One mindset we must break is that the Bible is about alot of different things. Let me clarify, the Bible does talk about a ton of different things, but the Bible is About one thing. Christ. Him dying for our sins so ULTIMATELY we can be with God the Father because of the sacrifice of Christ. I urge you, never get so engrossed in the eduaction of different aspects of the Bible that you forget that it is about the Gospel. That life itself is about living it and proclaiming it in our lives for all eternity.

Priorities Part 1

   Not saying this to gloat, but I have always had an "A" in my grades for homework. My class grades were pretty well too, but no matter the class grade my homework grade was always an "A." Lets talk about why.
   When I was in elementary school, my mom would always make me do my homework. And I really mean make me. She would require that my homework be completed every day after school before I was even allowed to go outside and play with my friends. Sometimes, my friends would even come to the door with a football or basketball and ask for me to come outside, but before my mom said that it was ok, she would always ask "did you have any homework? well, did you finish it?" If I would answer no, I would have to go upstairs and finish it before I could play.
   I used to hate it when she did that in the past. Why? I wanted to be like alot of other kids in America who loved putting play before work in everything that they did. But I learned that later, if those kids kept that ideology in every aspect of their life, they were generally the ones who gave up on being Firm in their Faith, and even being successful sometimes in the Earthly aspect.
   So from that I realized, priorities are ever so important, especially for the Christian lifestyle. Things like God and the Gospel, Family, Friends, Ministry, Education, etc. My challenge to you, analyze your priorities and see how they line up with the word of God. Then model your life with the priorities that God's Word has given us.

Time For Rest

   I used to run every single day of the week. As I told you before, i did not start out as the best, or even a good, runner. I started out with extremely slow times and needed some practice so that I could get faster. So I started running Sunday through Sunday every week.
   At first, this seemed like a great strategy. My times were getting alot faster and in turn, my health alot better. But after six days straight, I was getting tired. Very tired. Too tired. To the point where I was too exhausted at times to run two days in a row.
   If you have accepted Christ, you accept that God created the world and believe that the seventh day of creation was a day of rest. God rested. And every Sabbath day in the Christian Faith is a day of rest, of no work, time with family, resting as God did during creation.
   My point, if you are in ministry, or just living a life of Christ that gets stressful at times for whatever reason, take time to rest. Prioritize your time and energy into spreading the Gospel, and know when your limits are reached and you need to just sit back and take a break. This never means taking a break from following Christ, this just may mean taking a break from conference calls, ministry paperwork, etc. and resting with friends and family. May the Peace of Jesus be with all who proclaim His name!

The Man on the Street Corner

   Tonight's blog is more of something to ponder on than it is a story or a grand point. Tonight, I want to remind you that God is to be trusted in Every aspect of your life.
   Some have absolutely no problem with putting their trust and belief in the Gospel of Jesus daily and have no problem with the idea or the striving to be in Heaven. Some even have no problem with spreading the Gospel of Jesus to everyone that they come in contact with.
   Yet, most people do not trust Jesus with things like finance, marriage, relationships, friendships, etc. They think of Jesus as the ticket to getting into heaven, and that is it. They have no problem telling others about the Cross, but they have a problem writing out their check for their tithes every week. They have no problem condemning others with the laws or the Word of God, but they have a problem giving their last $20 to the homeless man on the street corner.
   My point, we are to trust God in every aspect of our lives, from the Gospel and the promise of eternal life, to the money in our bank account. In all things, trust the Lord!

"Mom, I need help with lunch!!"

   Before my senior year, I used to eat lunch and breakfast at school every day of the week. If I remember correctly, breakfast used to cost around $2 and so did the lunch. So I was permitted by my parents, because of the amount of money put into my account bi- weekly, to eat breakfast and lunch everyday, only getting extra things when I had cash, not using my account money for extras, just the essential breakfast and lunch.
   But it happened that every year since middle school, I would always somehow owe the school some money at the end of the year. No matter how it was calculated, or how many times it was analyzed, I would somehow owe money.
   I did not have a job (the law- you will follow this in a second.) but somehow those accounts still needed to be paid. I needed a mediator (Jesus) in this case my mom to come pay the lunch account at the end of every year until I graduate. So every year, my mom would pay my lunch account off (dying on the cross) because I could never do it for my self, for it was impossible because I did not have a job.
   You see, I owe God for my sin, but it is impossible for me to pay for it myself for there is no way I could follow the law perfectly, so Jesus came and died on a cross and paid my debt for eternity for I could not myself. That is the Gospel, the center of the story of time, never forget it!

True Satisfaction

   When I was around five years old, I received my first, none working of course, cell phone. I was in the basement of my grandmothers house and I would get that phone, that would not even turn on, and play with it every day, for hours. Then eventually I got to be at the age where my mom would let me use her real cell phone on some days while she was at work just in case of emergencies, etc.
   So imagine the feeling that I had when I was ten years old and was given my first (pre-paid and that point) cell phone. I was extremely happy. I would make 30 second cell phone calls on it every day (because I did not really want to run out of minutes) but the progressions did not stop there of course.
   When I hit my teenage years, my mom bought me my first real (monthly) cell phone. It only had 400 minutes per month but I enjoyed it so so much. I would text people all of the time because it had unlimited text messaging. Now I have unlimited everything on my phone, (which i tend to use) and it is an Android powered device.
   Why do I say all of this, I like my phone, dont get me wrong, but after all these years and phones, this progression helped me realize something, earthly gifts/treasures/accomplishements/possessions will never grant true and eternal satisfaction. The cell phones were great, but with time, and new and better one will always come out. The only gift that brings satisfaction that can never be surpassed with any amount of time is the Gospel, Christ dying for our sins. That is the only true satisfaction for all of eternity!!