Patience!

I was on a recent trip across the country (well more like a small portion of the country) with one of my best friends. We calculated our drive to be about 14 hours - a nice task for one day and a piece of cake for 2 days. We chose the two day route. The first day went by relatively fast and we were planning for the second day to be even better. We were making good time, having great debates and so on. However, midway through the second day we ran into a little problem - crawling traffic. We were less than 4 hours from our destination but it felt like our trip had just begun. After quickly rerouting our drive, we turned around and decided that we would bypass all the traffic and still make decent time - not as good as scheduled but it was better than just waiting in the car and moving 2 miles an hour. We make our detour and without trouble successfully enter back onto the main highway miles beyond the traffic. High fives and praises ensue because we assumed that all the trouble was behind us. Full speed ahead!! We move - making up time we believed we lost. But!! ("Church say but") after just 30 minutes we find ourselves in more crawling traffic. (We discovered later that the highway was jammed in two places) It was almost laughable to be in the same situation we thought we had left behind but I think we were both a little disappointed. We made plans to meet with a group of our friends and eat a tasty dinner but those plans would have to certainly be rainchecked. By the time we reached my crib, we were on the road for 13 hours on the 2nd day. This brought our total travel time to 20 hours - 5 or 6 hours longer than what we had anticipated. I usually consider myself a patient person but I became impatient during this trip because I was so close to my destination. We found out later that another one of our friends recently traveled along the same route and his trip was 4 or 5 hours longer for the same reason. I thought about that and I was reminded of this scripture found in James 1:3-4 - I attempted to bypass a process that I must go through in order to get where I needed to go. Patience is a tool that we are given by God's Holy Spirit that allows us to develop into the Christian men and women we are destined to be. If you stray off that path, sooner or later you will be rerouted back where you need to be. The path won't be any shorter but you will have the same driver of your faith - Jesus Christ. That's a reason to be joyful and patient because with Christ we are destined to make it -

The Real Secret

There is so much talk about "The Secret" and The Law of Attraction. People want to know what they need to do to be prosperous. I have not read any of those books because God has already given me clear instructions in Joshua 1:8.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (KJV)

Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. (NLT)

And don't for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you'll get where you're going; then you'll succeed. (The Message)

Obedience to the Word of God is my success and prosperity, because as I grow more like Christ, I get better perspective. I release issues, trials and thoughts of failure that are slowing me down so that I can more fully embrace what God has in store for me.

The Gift of Grace

Well my fellow bloggers, it's been far too long since our last entry so what better day to post than on Christmas? 2007 has been great but in late November we did suffer the loss of our child - Grace - I'm posting a portion of the Eulogy I gave for her memorial experience.

2 Peter 3:18 reads

But grow in grace, and [in] the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him [be] glory both now and for ever. Amen.

While the word Grace occurs over 160 times in the Bible, the clause Find Grace or found Grace – as in Noah found Grace in the eyes of the Lord or Hebrews 4:14-16 - find grace to help us - occurs nearly 30 times in the Bible. Now we know the word Grace to mean – God’s unmerited favor – A special gift given to us for something we could not earn ourselves. Worth far more than all that we have. On our best days – when we have fed the hungry – healed the sick – ministered to those in need – made all the morally acceptable choices – we still can’t earn Grace – because Grace is given. Well the question then may be - for those instances in the scriptures and during times such as these –
Is or was Grace Lost? Well my brothers and my sisters, I have some Good news for you and I’m not talking about saving on car insurance – the expression finding grace in the scriptures can be translated to experiencing Grace.
You may not always see Grace – But there is Grace. You may not always feel Grace – rest assured fam Grace is There – not in that vault, but right in your hearts and minds. Sometimes I like to think that I’m the one providing consolation and comfort to others but please believe that I’m encouraging myself. For I have come to understand that once you experience Grace, your life cannot remain the same. We all experienced Grace.
Our conversations with friends and family changed and our actions changed too. We joked about names like Lamont (before I knew she was a girl) Thekla (little thekky what they call her) and Maggie. We conversed about back pillows. We changed what we cooked and ate. Our Friday evenings went from leaving work and going out to leaving work and going home to sleep. Grace does just that - Grace changes you.
Hence, it has become more evident to me the power of this scripture in 2 Peter 3:18 – But Grow in grace… How do you grow in something you can’t earn? You learn and you cherish each experience of Grace that you have had. You share that Grace – You keep that Grace with you – and above all, you learn more about Grace Himself – Jesus. Sent by God the father in heaven as Grace to an already perishing world. Jesus, the special gift of Grace that lived as man and died a death that he didn’t earn but in 3 short days rose giving more Grace, changing more lives, healing more spirits. And He’s coming back, and by His Grace we’ll be changed eternally.
Yes, my brothers and sisters while this is a celebration, we are not immune to events that have brought us here. This is not a forum to figure it all out, but after you have ran out of questions to ask yourself – The Lord has an answer for you. Yes this is a place where it’s ok to cry and weep – Christ sent us the comforter for times just like this – just make sure that every once in a while when feel a tear welling up in your eyes, you see Jesus right there ready to wipe it all away.
This moment in time we celebrate Grace, thank you for sharing in this experience with us.

Merry Christmas to all!!

We've got something good!

God has placed a treasure within us! What can we do to preserve it?
2 Corinthians 4:7

Healed

There are two songs that I am feeling right now, both relay an inspiring message about healing.

Broken but I'm healed by Byron Cage

and Healed by Donald Lawrence

Check these words out:

Broken....

1st chorus: God can heal, He can deliver.He can mend your brokenness.He has a miracle to fit your needs, once you trust Him, you will receive.

last chorus: God has healed, He has delivered.He has mended my brokenness.Gave me a miracle to fit my need;praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord.Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, I have received.

I love how the artist shows, through the lyrics, a change in the situation. Because there are many areas of our being that make-up who we are (body, soul, spirit), healing may be necessary on many different levels. Just like when are physical bodies may suffer internal trauma, sometimes we are hurting spiritually and we don't even know the magnitude of our injuries.

Healed:

Vamp: May have some scars...I am healed...Circumstances...I’m still healed...Disappointments...I am healed

It takes a certain level of faith to be able to see beyond our present circumstances and believe that God has already supplied us with the remedy necessary to relieve us from our burdens - from the physical to the spiritual.

What's just as amazing is that both artists relay a message to the believer, with great assurance, that what we are in need of has already been supplied - Isaiah 65:24

You may have thought it was bad...

...but the enemy planned worse

mmm...mmmm....mmmmm...What the preacha said...

I heard an excellent message Sunday. It was more like one of those messages within the main message. While the main message was tasty - 5 C's to live by when you face the giants in your life.

1. Know that you have been Charged - Upon our belief, we received the power of the Holy Spirit. This life giving charge provides us with the spiritual vitality necessary to accomplish all things.


2. When the giant and or problem in our lives come accept the Challenge - The enemy wants to try our faith and test us. But God believes in us!


3. Once you've accepted the challenge, the Lord give us Confidence - not so much in ourselves, but our power through Him that gave us the Charge. That Charge has more power in it than we know ourselves, but God believes in us because He knows what He's given us


4. This leads us to more than Conquerors through


5. Christ for The word interpreted means that our victory is even greater than accomplishing that task or withstanding that attack. But our victory rests solely on the fact that we have endeavored to have a living relationship with Jesus Christ. For in Him we can do all things.

Now those 5 c's were great but the message within the message that really moved me was the analogy of feasting on this message, or any aspect of the Word of God spoken into your life.

My interpretation - "Once you've left this table, wrap it (This Word) up. Place it in foil and put it in the fridge to keep it fresh. Then take it out a little later and eat some more. Then wrap it back up, use some more foil on it. Make it last like a Thanksgiving dinner feast when you just can't eat everything up at once but you know you have a meal ready to be consumed later. And just like that meal, the next time you eat a little more you notice that the seasonings have settled in the meat and the dressing. You taste it and it tastes better the second time than the first. Even more so will God's given/spoken Word be to us"