A Change'll Do You Good

I find that I am sometimes a strange mix. In some ways, I'm an extreme traditionalist. In others, I embrace change for the sake of change. For the most part, in college football, I'm a traditionalist. I do not want my team to play on Thursday nights because Thursday nights are for JV teams, not teams from the National Collegiate Athletic Association. However, I am very pleased to sit in front of my TV to watch some OTHER team play on Thursdays. I am a UGA fan, and many of our fans are up in arms over our new Pro Combat uniforms for our opener against Boise State. When it comes to uniforms, I'm usually a stickler for tradition. But, I don't know, something in me is changing. The uniforms for one game aren't a big deal to me. And, while many others are up in arms about the possibility of new conference alignments like Texas A & M coming to the SEC, I say, "Change is good!"

The bottom line is that change is virtually unavoidable. Dead people don't change. They usually stay dead. Living organisms have to change. It's part of thriving in our environment. Our bodies are constantly reproducing themselves. We are changing. Isaiah 43:18-19 says,

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."

God wants to do something new in us, to us and for us, but we have to embrace change. I'm not sure why we're afraid of change. It's probably the unknown. But the unknown could be better than the known. The unknown could be the answer you've been looking for. And, if the unknown comes from God, you can be sure it's good, for He is working for our good. Don't be afraid of change. Embrace it. Enjoy it. Seek it out. He wants to do a new thing...in you.

Red Velvet Cake

So, this is the Red Velvet Cake I made for my beautiful wife's birthday. From scratch, baby. And, it is pretty delicious (patting self on back). It did turn out pretty good considering it's the first time I've ever made one. Made the icing and all. I don't really understand what people mean when they say they can't cook. I always want to say, "Can you read?" Now, some recipes are easier than others. This was a bit of a challenge, but you just have to do what it says, usually.

Now, I did get a great lesson from this wonderful cake. I stopped on the way home last night to pick up some Cake Flour, which I've found is impossible to find. No one really sells cake flour. But I found a substitute on the inter-tubes and went with it. But that was not the end of it. So, I get home from the grocery store and start on my cake. I get everything out and look at our sugar. It calls for 2 cups. We did not have 2 cups. I just assumed we had sugar. We usually do. We didn't this time. So, I head out to the store again, get my sugar and get started again. Get the eggs and sugar mixed up and get ready to mix the cocoa and red food coloring, two ounces of it. I saw we had some in the cabinet. Surely we had 2 ounces. I was wrong. Trip number three to the grocery store. By this time it is about 11 p.m. I finally finished the cake. I was proud of it, but it was an experience.

I did something great for my wife. She loves red velvet cake, but I wasn't very prepared to do something great. Often, we want to do something great for God, but we have not prepared. We have not done the grunt work that it takes to get prepared for God to move. We want to see God's glory, but we have not let God see our sweat. Being great, doing something great, being a part of something great takes preparation. God will send us through a season of preparation and we have to be willing to focus to get ready. We often get in the kitchen with God, so to speak, and expect a miracle when there are simply too many missing ingredients. We have not gotten ready for waht God wants to do. That makes the process longer and more difficult. God can't do what God wants to do if we have readied ourselves. Do you want to do something great? Is God calling you to something great? If so, chances are, it's time to prepare. Don't be running out to the grocery store for the 3rd time at 11 p.m.

Sitting on the Rock

A few days ago I was jogging on a trail in one of my favorite parks, Tribble Mill, just down from my house. About midway through the jog I found great rock to take a seat on and have some time with my Creator. It kind of became my praying rock. I sat there for 10-15 minutes and just had a talk with God. It was a soul-replenishing time for me.

However, I noticed that as a sat, the rock wasn't that comfortable after a while. In fact, it was downright uncomfortable. I began thinking about how we sing "On Christ the solid rock I stand" and I thought about how, in life, I want to sit on the rock of Jesus. But resting on Jesus isn't always comfortable.

Just because you're a Christian and just because you are following God's will does not mean that it will be comfortable. In reality, the opposite is true. You can almost rest assured that it's going to be uncomfortable. There are no promises that it will be easy. No promises that it will be comfy. No promises that it will be all smooth sailing. But there is a promise that the rock is steady. You can count on it. It's not going anywhere. In a world where everything changes all the time, I certainly need a Rock that won't move.

The Forgotten

Last night, while I was doing a few things around the house and on the computer, the movie "The Forgotten" was on. Pretty good flick with Julianne Moore about aliens abducting children and trying to make people forget they ever had kids. It worked with everyone but her. She wouldn't forget. It's basically about the emotional power of humans to not forget, especially something so deeply personal. We simply don't forget.

I was reading this morning some of the story of Joseph in the Bible. Not Jesus' daddy Joseph, the Joseph in the Old Testament. He had it pretty rough. He was one of 12 brothers, sold into slavery by 10 of them, wrongfully accused of making a sexual advance on his slave master's wife, thrown into prison, and betrayed by the people he helped in prison. At every turn, when it looked like it might get better for Joseph, he went down into a deeper valley.

Long story short, he came out of the valley. The Pharaoh in Egypt made him second in command. He became powerful and rich. God had delivered him out of the deepest valley. After he was appointed to his high position, he married and had two sons, and this is what the Scripture says:

"Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, 'It is because God has made
me forget all my trouble and all my father's household.' The second son he
named Ephraim and said, 'It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of
my suffering.'" (Gen. 41:51-52)

Manasseh means "forget" and Ephraim means "twice fruitful." If you let Him, did you know that God can help you forget the pain, the suffering, and, namely, the mistakes. I come across so many people who can't forgive themselves for the mistakes they've made. God so desperately wants you to forget. He has! When we come to Jesus and seek forgiveness, God forgets. He's ready to move on. And he can make you forget all the struggles. He wants you to because he wants to 'twice bless' you, but he can do so only when we forget. Is there something eating you alive? Have you made some grave mistake (at least you think it was grave)? Did someone wrong you in the past and it's holding you back from what God wants to do in your life? God wants you to forget about it. You can't change it. He can't fix it. But He can fix the future. Won't you let Him?

The Greatest Gift

I went to a memorial service on Saturday for a great lady whose daughter goes to our church. She had been to our church a time or two and was a member of our Mother Church. I don't go to many of those anymore, which is a good thing. We have a very young church, and there simply aren't that many funerals with a young church. But services like this one are uplifting.

It's always sad to lose a loved one, even if they are 90 years old. But this dear lady gave her family a great gift in her passing -- a deep faith in Jesus Christ. I once had a fine mine in my first church that had lost his wife years before I served there. He shared stories about her character and faith and told me, "The greatest gift you can give to your family is a deep faith in Christ and the assurance of where you go when you die."

I've been to funerals when that is in question, and they are no fun at all. Of course, only God knows the condition inside a human heart. Nevertheless, it is a blessing to go to a funeral of someone who is known for their good heart. It is a joy to family members to know that their loved one is spending life after death the same way they spent life before death -- with Jesus. You can give your family no greater gift.

Braves

These Braves sure are fun to watch! And they have fun. Isn't life supposed to be fun? I think we have forgotten that in church. It's okay to have fun. Life with God should be fun. I like seeing how much fun the Braves are having this year. I hope I look like I'm having that much fun at my job, because I am.

What a day

Awesome day at CHURCH OF THE WAY! I can't wait to see what God continues to do this Fall!

I am a blessed man to serve such great people!