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Heartache for the Church

So I am not a “high thinker” – I’m a simple person with simple thoughts that sometimes by the grace of God find themselves going off the deep end of contemplation. However what I do know is that God uses the simple things to make profound statements about Himself and His work and it is my prayer that He will speak through the thoughts that I am about to share. A few years back God began really breaking my heart for the church- not just “feeling bad” for the church, but a broken heart over the fact that our churches are not fulfilling the purpose for which (according to scripture) they were created. This non- judgmental (I was not judging our churches, I was simply looking at the fruit of their actions and existence) heart-ache began to open my heart to God’s plan for me personally and open my ears to hear the perspectives of those the church is called to reach and serve. As I heard one indictment after another that described a self-conscience, self-serving vehicle of idolization I w

Active Gratitude

It is my prayer that you are thankful for God’s blessings in your life as you read this article. I say this not as a means of greeting, but of genuine good will towards each of you. While it may seem strange for me to explain my opening statement, I believe my purpose will become clear by the end of my words for us today. It has long been expressed that Christians should have an “attitude of gratitude”. This is most certainly true, especially given the fact of our Savior, Jesus Christ laying down His life for us. However, it is also true of our gracious God granting each new day to us. I believe sometimes this “new day” idea gets a little lost in the events of each day and before we even realize it, the day has ended and we are left to wait or perhaps hope for another day. The illustration of the way we “spend” our time in the aspect of it being a currency that we cannot regain or increase is a sobering reality of our time on this earth. Granted, this is not always a happy way

Leadership Vacuum of Christian Leadership

For many people what I am about to share is not an earth-shattering new truth or a grand revelation, but I do believe it is an important reminder for the Christian community. A few nights ago I listened to an interview with the former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. Regardless of the various personal opinions of the man or his job approval rating when he left his position several years ago, he still speaks from a position of experience and with a certain degree of influence. Having said that, let me assure you that I am not about to rattle off some politically-laced opinion about the current presidential administration or any other public office for that matter. What I want to talk about is a statement that Rumsfeld made repeatedly during his interview that seemed to be important to his stance on the current issue with Russia, Ukraine and the rest of the world. Rumsfeld's opinion was that the United States had willfully stepped down from a position of leadership on the

Comfort vs. Christ

I am quite positive that I am not the first to publish ideas or thoughts on the world's pursuit of comfort, but it has become an overwhelming topic for me as of late. The world is full of imperfect people of which I am most certainly a rivalry of the most imperfect that would be considered as such- yet, there is one thing that God has been able to get through to me: He is God. A simple statement, I know- but the profound'ness' of this statement is found in the fact that we truly begin to live life as He intended when we move beyond the mere utterance of these words and into the experiential living of them. "God being God" becomes a peaceful thought instead of a legalistic pressure- a calming truth instead of an overbearing rule. We come to realize that no person who possesses the kind of power that God indeed possess would ever give away something that could somehow compromise the way others perceive his power and would most likely never see the need to give som

Love First!

Most of us have experienced walking into a room and feeling like everyone was looking our way. I don’t mean the kind of look you get for the sake of the admiration of those in the room but rather the judgment of those in the room. Perhaps you have been that person looking at someone that way as they appeared. Regardless of what side of “the looking” you and I may have been on, we can agree that subjective glances towards others that express our assessment of their short-comings and the judgment that follows does not reflect the heart of God. I remember leaving a youth conference in Gatlinburg, Tennessee one December morning and watching some adults who were passing by openly display their displeasure with our group’s excitement. I knew that these folks could not have known the impact that this conference had made on the lives of those youth who had attended, but I found it very difficult to just be okay with their response to our group. It appeared as though the students that

When You Can't See the Hand of God, Trust His Heart Quite a few times now I have found myself in an attempt to comfort those who were experiencing difficulty or loss with the words that Dr. Andre' Rogers shared one day in a Bible doctrine class during my studies at Columbia International University. The words "When you can't see the hand of God, trust His heart" have brought me peace personally on a few occasions and I pray that those with whom I have shared them have found comfort in them as well. Until today I have never found it necessary to research the author of those words, I have simply held to their hope as I knew in my heart they reflected the true character of a loving God who always- always had our best interest at heart, no matter what our current circumstances may be. However I am now reflecting on the loss of Cecilia, a friend and co-laborer for Christ and her two beautiful daughters. Cecilia was a sweet woman of God and this seems like such