Thoughts and Reflections

Well, here we are. the end of 2012 and the Mayan's were wrong. The world did not end. Although I will say I never believed any of the hype. God's word is pretty clear that no man knows the day nor the hour of His return. It has been an interesting time since my last post. I have seen God do some great work and I have seen God working in the lives of others that I do not understand. God is good and intends the best outcome for His glory and our benefit. I am standing by that statement and will continue to believe that, even when my personal thoughts so much want to worry about my circumstances. We have made it through our first cold snap of -40F. it was no fun of course but God got us through it. The bus route continued to run and He allowed us to pick up some kids for church even on the very cold days. Glory be to Him for giving me the privilege. It was great to see a good number of kids show up for our Christmas Store at church and get presents for friends and family that ...

So missions conference is "long" past. Still have  great reminders from time to time of what the  theme was and on some of the sermons preached. Just recently we had another missionay come and spend a week in Alaska. One sermon that he had that has really caused me to reflect on many things in my life was on God's Judgement. Often when we hear the word judgement we instantly think of it as a decision being made in reguards to a penalty or conviction of a crime (well, at least I did). Looking the word up...... which is apparently something I do now...... I found this definition "A divine sentence or decision". This so went in line with what Bro. Maulucci taught. You see as he preached everything around us was a judgement (decision) made by God. From the beginning of creation, to the sending of His son to die for our sins, to the events that you face on a daily bases. This new insight that was presented to me opened up a whole new line of thinking. To be hon...

I thank God that He has placed me in a church that has such a heart for missions. I may not be the perfect example of the type of christian we all should be when it comes to missions, but I know that I am in a place where I can learn to become more like that christian. One thing that my Pastor mentioned this year has really stuck in my mind. A little given often is better than nothing or an amount when I know I have "extra" to give. This is not an exact quote of what he said, this is more how it affected my giving already. I have purposed in my heart to give a little often every time we are at church. Because I am some great spiritual person? NO, because I believe in doing what I think God wants me too. Last night one of the missionaries mentioned II Chronicles 16:9 which reads...   "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the     behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolis...

So October is now upon us. God has done a lot of things in my life and my families. This includes what I concider as extended family. My parents have now returned to Fiji to continue in the work there. This was after much time of prayer and counceling. God has seen fit to use them there again. I may never see my parent again on this side of glory, but I can rest assured in the fact that they are doing what they have been called to do. So here is what God has been doing in my life. As I have stated before, my family and I have been blessed with serving on the bus ministry again. What a blessing to me it has been. It has also opened my eyes to how many people are missing from serving God. Let me explain.... I was given the privilage of working on one route as a worker. Going out and knocking on doors, driving when needed and such. I was then approached a couple times help drive for another route because they had no regular driver. As our pastor has said multiple times " a need s...

So yeah, the Dividends were announced and I like many others was not happy with the amount that we are getting this year. Then my thought process was redirected...... Who am I to be upset about the money I am getting? What have I done to deserve it? Yeah, it really stinks that the amount I am getting is less than I was hoping for. But you know, it's way more than I deserve. I should just be thankful that I live in a state where the decission was made years ago to give free money to the residence for just being here.  I am like everyone else. It is annoying that people only need to come back for a week or two and can still get their dividend. But I can focus on the annoyances or look at the bright side, I could be living in a state with no such benefits. I coud go farther and say I could be living in a country where a states decission to do something like this does not exist. I thank God that I was born in a country with the freedom for the people to make these decissions. I ...

So this morning while praying, I said something that God pointed out to me as being the wrong thought process..... Successful service... What is successful service? To often I think we compare the "success" we are having in our service to God with others around us. Sure we may seem to be more "successful" than others and less "successful" then others depending on who we compare ourselves too. For example, I used to run a bus route. For too long I looked at my route and what I was accomplishing as a failure because I was not bringing in the numbers so many other routes were. I looked at my being a leader of the route as a failure because I was not being the Godly example I should have been for my fellow workers. Here in lays the error of that thinking. God has called us to serve. He did not call us to have a certian number to be concidered successful, He just asked us to serve in some area. This I think gets missed by so many people. I know that I for...

Psalm 130: 3-5 alright, here we go. This weekend was pretty good. Sunday however became a struggle for me. Completely my fault though. I will not go into details about what happened. Sometimes the things of life do not need to be broadcasted. Sunday morning service was great. The Lord used guest speaker Luke Bishop to show me a couple things from His word that I had missed. To be honest, I wonder sometimes why it is I seem to miss so many things that afterwards I am like, "That was so obvious!" Anyways... as the day progressed things did not stay so great. Sunday night was a struggle for me to keep focused on God's word and the preaching because of my self loathing. However, I did get more feeding from God's Word. We are in the midest of VBT and starting off the second and final week with Teen VBT. I do not do much more during VBT than count pennies. Anyways, a comment was made that caused me some struggle. I do not know why really, but it did. The comment had t...

So, what has been happening since camps ended. The constant battle of life mostly. I have had my ups and down like all people do, but unlike to many out there I have God on my side to see me through it all. "Surprise" God decided to bless Sarah and I with another child. Honestly, I do not feel worthy of God giving us another child to raise, but I am trusting God to lead me in raising not only this new blessing but the three that he has already given me. It's funny how I had this feeling even before Sarah told me she was pregnant that we were going to be having another child. I thank God still for the undeserved blessings He keeps lavishing on me. We are still "homeless".... So to speak. I believe God has done this on purpose. I believe that He is working on two different families directions in life and is answering two prayers with the same answer. My parents are going back to Fiji to serve our Saviour as missionaries to the souls over there again. During thi...

Wow...... July is almost gone already. So what has been going on? Not a whole lot and yet a ton. I will attempt to collect my thoughts and then do a true update momentarily. Laterz....

Well, Been a while I know. But I have been busy with work and other things. Here is a run-down to get you caught up. In May/June we decided it was time to move out of our rental and find a new place to live. We notified the landlord and they then decided to notify us that they were wanting us to move out. Not sure how they figured that was going to change anything...... but anyways. We spent a couple of Saturdays having a yard sale trying to sell off a lot of our collected "junk". God blessed this in some reguards. Made some cash from selling things. Of course it was not as much as I would have liked and I still have some high end items that I want to get rid of. Oh well, we can still have some. So, my parents went to Fiji for a month to visit the church that God allowed them the blessing of starting and to see if God wants them back on the mission field in Fiji. Because of this I am not "homeless". I am house sitting for them while they are gone. Of course we a...

Good Morning and Happy Wednesday....   I feel great today. What is God doing in my life???? Who knows? Not I (entirely),but I can rest in the fact that He knows exactly what he is doing. So I had sent out an e-mail to family from my new e-mail address that I am migrating to. If you did not get it and are reading this I am sorry. I do not have a current e-mail for you. If you want you can let me know what it is and I will gladly add you.   So here is the jst of what is going on. For a couple years now I have been running.... arguing with God about Bible College. This past Sunday I gave in. I surrendered to His will and said if He wants me there, I will go. The only "criteria" is that my pastor would have peace about me going. I believe that is exactly what God would have me do. Follow the guidence of Him and my spiritual leader. So, I have actually felt pretty good about the whole thing. In my mind I am like "well we are already having garage sales and selling st...

God is good. That is about all I can really say. It sums up a lot of what has been happening in my life these first four months of the new year. I cannot believe how much He can change you in this amount of time. I will be honest here, I am a sinner just like everyone else. What makes me different is that I am saved by the grace of God through the crucifiction, death, burial, and ressurection of Jesus Christ. The acceptance of that it was all for me is the "hope of my salvation". I have not attained anything..... yet. That is a future goal. I am once again looking forward to church. I am enjoying being involved with RU (Reformers Unanimous) more and more. I dread having to go to the work place because there is no spiritual "safety" there. BUT God has control and right now He sees fit for me to be here. I have stumbled in my testimony because of my unruly flesh, but that is okay. God knows and is helping me. Today was an interesting thought that He brought to my...

So 2011 has come and gone. 2012 has just begun. A fesh new start for a new year. What is in the past is in the past. It can have no affect on the future unless I let it. Keep the mind on today and plan for tomorrow. No point in looking back and wishing something was different. Take each day one step at a time. If you trip and fall..... you have a choice. Lay there in your sin or GET UP brush yourself off, accept you are still a sinner by nature. Thank God once again for already forgiving you of your sin and ask Him to help you over-come it (by name). Then...... move on. God has forgiven and forgotten it and with His help you can "put it from you" as well. Laterz....