It’s not as bad as you think it is

While sitting in my car this morning stuck in traffic it occurred to me that the problems this delay was causing were nothing compared to what others were dealing with. Yes I got to work four hours later than what I had planned, but I have been working extra this week so I will still get in all my required hours easily. What about the truck driver who slowed down because of the bad smoke this morning and was rear ended by a car where both occupants died? What about the family of the father and son that died in the accident this morning? Put in perspective my little delay is nothing compared to what these people are experiencing.

For a Christian Jesus never said following him would be all rosy and nice. There will be bad times and there will be good times but throughout all this Jesus did say that he would be there with us. I am reminded of the poem Footsteps where a person is walking along the beach with God. After walking a ways and Looking back at where they had walked and seeing in their times of greatest tribulation there was only one set of footprints the person turns to God and asks Why did you leave me during the times of my greatest need? God lovingly looks back and responds I didn’t leave you I carried you through.

Keep that as a reminder when looking back on your life. God is walking with you through both the good times and the bad, or sitting in your car with you as he was with me this morning during my delay. He was also with that truck driver to comfort him during this difficult time and He is there with the family of those who died in the accident ready to give them assurance and comfort as well.

So looking back on your day was it really that bad?
Were you really alone?
Was your problem greater than what God can handle?

My answer to the above three question is no, what about you?

Dying to myself

Jesus kill me
Take away the old man in me
Create in me a new person
looking to You for strength

My old ways are killing me
My old self is fighting
With every step wanting to run from You
But within me You have planted a seed
A new creation is growing within me
Daily my old self looks to this new creation
With scorn and hate
Still you continue to grow in me
My old self hates this new thing within me
He wants to return to how things used to be
How things were before you came

But I run to you
I fall at your feet
Begging for mercy
Begging for strength
I’m falling farther from myself
I’m running to you
Capture me, Hold me,
Save me

Daily i’m struggling
I feel the old man eating away at me
Taking more and more of my hope in You
I scream out to You
He keeps on tearing at my soul
I feel my strength fading
I feel my heart growing weak
Ready to give into him at any moment
But when I’ve lost all hope I look and see you here
You’re here with me
You reach out you hand…….

But I run to you
I fall at your feet
Begging for mercy
Begging for strength
I’m falling farther from myself
I’m running to you
Capture me, Hold me,
Save me

The best Hot Chocolate ever!!

I have been bragging on this hot chocolate for a while and have finally decided that it would be best if I did a blog post to share the recipe so that everyone could enjoy the hot chocolate goodness the me and my family are enjoying.
My wife found this recipe somewhere, I am not even sure where she found it as now all that we have left is a copy of the recipe. And without further delay here it is:

Malted Marshmallow White Chocolate Royale
Makes 4 cups

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup malted milk powder(we use Ovaltine)
1 (4 ounce) bar white chocolate, chopped(we use white chocolate chips, sometimes we use milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips, mainly whatever we have on hand and use and equal amount to 4 ounces)
1/4 cup marshmallow creme
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a Medium sauce pan, combine all ingredients and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until chocolate has melted. Reduce heat to low, and keep warm.

That’s it. It is super easy to make. I suggest you try it as written the first time. It is really good and really rich. We have found in my house though that as written it is a little to rich for our tastes, so what we do is double the milk and heavy cream. Well something like that I have made it so many times now that I don’t even use the recipe anymore. I just pour stuff into the pot and heat it.

I hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as we have. I think you will

Please Critque my music

The attached mp3 file is an original composition by me. I have recently started “doodling” on my bass guitar, using this as a tool to better understand my instrument and as a way to create. This is my first attempt at recording.
A little about me and my playing. I have been playing for 1 year now, and about 10 months of that I have been playing in my churches praise band. This tune was originally created by me on the mountain dulcimer. I then translated/transcribed it to the bass. Please have a listen then let me know your thoughts on it. Let me know the good, bad, and ugly. I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on my playing, on the music itself, and on my recording. Thank you for your honest constructive comments.

Christians why are we saved?

I also thought “For what purpose were we saved” would have made a good title.

I was thinking on some scripture the other day, something that I find myself doing more and more these days. Specifically was think on Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.
What came to mind was that it was through God’s grace that we were saved, through our faith in Him. There was nothing that we can or could do to save ourselves. It was only through God’s amazing grace that we could be saved. Verse 9 goes on in more detail reminding us that no work done of our hands could save us. That is pretty big thinking that in our daily live there are many things that we are able to work out on our own, so by our own human nature many believe that we can work out our eternal salvation. But as these verses state we can’t.
As I thought about this I was reminded that it doesn’t stop there. So many times when you hear these verses quoted you hear verses eight and nine, but verse ten continues on and states for what purpose God saved us. Ephesians 2:10 says:
10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
As the first two verses were important to be given to the lost, verse ten is important to be given to the saved. It reminds us that not only did God chose to save us, He chose to save us for a purpose. We are reminded that as a new creation in Christ we are God’s workmanship and here is the whole point of my post. We were created in Christ Jesus to do good works. So God didn’t create us just to sit on the sidelines and do nothing. So many times we forget that important point and we just sit around and do nothing. I know that has been a problem in my personal life. We should all keep this close to heart, we need to be serving. And not just anything we should be doing what God has prepared for us. So how do we find out what good works God has prepared for us to do. We need to pray and read our Bibles. One last thought so God has prepared for us good works, yes, but the verse goes on to say that he prepared these works in advance. Isn’t this awesome! God already knows what he wants you to do and has prepared a way for you complete that task.
With that final thought I want you to think on what good works has God prepared for you to do. Do you know what that is? And are you taking action to follow through with what God wants you to do?

Failure, should it happen?

My title is a big question. Yes we all fail God. It has happened since Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. Since they first chose to disobey the direct will of God all humanities lives have been filled with failure. I believe that it is just part of who we are now as fallen man, but that doesn’t me that we should be slaves to our failure. Jesus Christ came and gave us victory over our failure and thru our failure. Even when we have failed Christ we still are victorious. God’s grace is sufficient to cover us no matter what stupid things we do, as long as we are under the protective covering of the blood of Christ.
So even though we face temptation every day of our lives Christ has given us freedom over it and our failure. Sometimes it is more difficult than others to resist this temptation. I believe this comes from us not being prepared to face the temptation. Jesus himself said in Luke 22:46 ; “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” In this passage Jesus is in the Garden of Gestheme praying before he is to be taken off to be crucified. He has asked the apostles to pray with him, but what do they do? They fall asleep! Seeing what happens to them later during the time when Christ is crucified shows that they weren’t prepared. They scattered, hid, and even denied that they knew Jesus. I think this very thing happens to us as christians. We go to church sunday day worship and commit ourselves to living a live to Christ but then live the rest of our weeks in failure. We fail to read our Bibles, we fail to pray, and we fail to win over temptation. I know that this is a big problem for me. I love Jesus, and I desire greatly to serve Him more but I fail to read His word and pray to him on a regular basis. This has set me up for failure in my life because I was unprepared to face the trials and temptations in my life. I was blindsighted just as the apostles were after Jesus was taken into custody.
The solution read your Bible and pray to your Father in heaven.
One final thought to help you know that you are not alone and that with God’s help we can get thru any temptation. It is 1 Cor 10:13:

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

So I can’t sleep tonight

I am sitting here in my living room with “Deadliest Catch” on the TV and my laptop in my lap sitting in my recliner. I can’t sleep tonight. So it made me think, What do you do when you can’t sleep? Do you watch television, read a book, or do something else. Let me know what you do. Maybe your ideas will help me find a better way to get to sleep

Woodturning

So I have been woodturning  for 5 years now. For those of you unfamilar with woodturning, it is the process of putting a piece of wood on a lathe and spinning.  While spinning you then cut away the wood you do not want to create your desired shape. Here is a link to my website showing some of my turned items, www.planeandsimplewoodcrafts.com.  You can also look at www.woodturner.org. to learn more about woodturning.  Woodturning is a wonderful release for me and has been a great learning experience for me. I look forward to continuing in my growth as I continue to try new things.

One thing that I am looking forward to trying soon is turned lamp shades, like this www.woodshades.com.  It is a really neat process. I saw it done earlier this year by professional woodturner Soren Berger at the Southern States Woodturning Symposium in Gainesville Georgia, www.southernstatessymposium.org.  It was an excellent learning experience that I can’t wait to try. I look forward to sharing what I have learned as soon as I give it a try.

Where are you in your walk?

The above question is a very simple question but one that can’t be answered in few words. This question was posed to the men during our morning Bible study time at Church today. This question really hit me hard.  I have been asking myself this question this whole year. Am I where I should be in my walk with Jesus Christ and if not what am I doing to get further in my walk. I have struggled greatly with this. It first started in January when I attended the Johnny Hunt mens conference in Woodstock Georgia. It was at this conference that I was really convicted of my struggles with lust. It was at this conference that I finally stood up and admitted that I had trouble with lust in my life and something must change. It was holding me back in so many ways in my life. I wasn’t as open to my wife as I should be. I was keeping secrets from her that I shouldn’t. In marrage there should be no secrets, everything should involve open communication between both husband and wife.  Afterall it is a partnership we are in it together and we must depend on each other and must help strengthen each other in our times of need. I should be wholy commited to my wife and our relationship and by allowing lust to continue in my life I wasn’t doing this. I was holding back all that I could give her. It was at this conference I became more aware and committed than ever that I must change. During this conference I opened my heart to God and said I can’t do it any more. I have tried and tried on my own and have always failed. There is nothing that I can do to “fix” this on my own. Only by the grace of God with the help of His Holy Spirit could I conquer lust.

It was after this conference that I came home and told my wife my struggles with lust and my desire to change. If felt new strength knowing that my life partner was in this with me encouraging me.  As time continued throughout this year I have been continually been faced with temptation. I have failed alot and I have overcome alot, but more than ever I have been aware even in my failure that God frowned upon this parasite in my life. It has been a constant thought for me how can I overcome. I have asked the question,” Lord what must I do to rid myself of this evil?”,  so many times this year I have lost count.

It was over the past month that I finally felt like I have hit bottom and have finally truly committed myself to ridding lust from my life.  During these past few weeks I have started reading this wonderful book, Sex is not the Problem Lust is. This book is opening my eyes to why I have struggled so and is giving me hope that with God’s guidance I can overcome lust in my life. I would recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with lust in your life or if you may work with those who do it is an excellent resource that I hope to comment more on later.

During this recent time of struggle so many events have been directed at me. Just in the last week alone I have been to atleast three different services that addressed my question “Where are you in your walk?”  The one that hit me the most was given this morning by a man who was asked to attend our church and speak to the men during the morning Bible study time.  He was the one that asked the question again: Where are you in your walk with Christ? It was when he asked this morning that has affected me the most, He drew me in with every word he spoke. It was as if God had him prepare this message just for me, I was ready to cry.

Some key points from his message this morning were that from the very beginning we have been asked that question from God. Where are you? It was in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve had committed that first sin. They were aware for the first time that they had gone against God’s will. It was in the cool of  the day that God came to spend time with Adam that he looked for him and asked the question Where are you? Don’t you think this funny. God already knew where Adam was hidding and why he was hiding but he was trying to make Adam aware that He(God) cares and wants to be involved  in his, and our, lives! It is through this involvement with God in our lives that we can overcome sin in our lives. Only through His guidance can we succeed. Look at the world everywhere you look someone is “coming out of the closet” with a new sin that they are not afraid to hide, but want to share with the world. Yes I said SIN. So much of what you see on television is so far from God’s will it is sad, but what are we doing to fix it. Nothing! As our speaker said this morning we are hiding in our closets while the world is falling farther and farther into their sin. We are there trying to share or open up to them.

In listening to this man speak it became more apparent that I haven’t done all that I could do to rid myself of the lust or other problems in my life. I need to do more. I have talked with my wife on numerous occasions. This is good we are continiuing to be open with one another and sharing in our struggles but the problem is that she doesn’t fully understand how a man sees these problems. It was during this time this morning contemplating this that I came to the conclusion that I must find another man that I can partner with to share my struggles with. I,we, need men in our lives  to pick us up when we fall. We need other men to listen to our struggles and to hold us accountable to the standards God has called us to follow. If we don’t find find these men we will isolate ourselves and our struggles with sin and we will fail. I have experienced this too many times. I have tried to do it without having someone to share with who understands what I am going through. I plan to remedy this adsence from my life this week and talk with some men who I can share with and go to for guidance.

I havn’t won my struggle with lust yet but I know that God is guiding me now in making the right decisions. With His help I am confident that I can overcome lust and any other sin in my life. I would like to leave you with a Bible verse to think about when it comes to lust in our lives:

“Everything is permissible for me,”[3] The words in quotation marks are most likely slogans used by some Corinthian Christians. Paul evaluates and corrects these slogans. but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permissible for me,”[4] The words in quotation marks are most likely slogans used by some Corinthian Christians. Paul evaluates and corrects these slogans. but I will not be brought under the control of anything.
13 “Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods,”[5] The words in quotation marks are most likely slogans used by some Corinthian Christians. Paul evaluates and corrects these slogans. but God will do away with both of them.[6] Lit both it and them The body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
14 God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are the members of Christ? So should I take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Absolutely not!
16 Do you not know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For it says, The two will become one flesh.[7] Gn 2:24
17 But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Flee from sexual immorality! “Every sin a person can commit is outside the body,”[8] See note at 1 Co 6:12 but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.
19 Do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20 for you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body.[9]

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Welcome to my Blog

Welcome to my Blog. After much contemplation I have decided that I should start a blog of my own. I will start off by telling a little about myself.

My top priority in my life is Jesus Christ. At least this is my goal it is something that I am constantly trying to accomplish. Of course this is something that I can’t do on my own, only thru the Grace of God and with the help of the Holy Spirit can I accomplish this. This is a process for me that will take my whole life.

Second is my wife and wonderful boys. They bring me great joy in all that I have been given the opportunity to share with them. I have been married to my wife for 9 wonderful years and I am looking forward to many many more.  I have also come to realize that raising my two boys is both the biggest challenge and the greatest gift I have been given in the lifetime. I look forward in raising them in a house with two loving parents where God is put first in all that we do.

In addition I have started to play the bass guitar. It is something that I have wanted to do for many years. After a short talk with my Associate Pastor at church, he loaned me a bass guitar to get started on. Since then I have had more fun learning this than I have anything is years. I am now playing in our praise band at church on Wednesday nights and also playing during the Sunday morning worship.  Doing this has also given me great incentive to strive that much harder to learn and be a better player. I don’t think that I would have gotten as far as I have in the short time I have been playing if I hadn’t been playing at church.

One other joy of my life is the art of woodturning. I have been turning for 6 years now.  I have learned so much during that time.  I look forward to sharing my turning experiences with you.

I look forward to sharing more with you in time to come. I wanted my first post to let you know  a little about me.

Stacey