:: The Lord is good and a stronghold

We have been looking at Nahum and 2 Corinthians 11 at Fuel on Sunday mornings. Paul says that the weapons we have for the war we are in are not natural weapons but weapons that are incredible strong in the Lord. These weapons are for the tearing down of strongholds.

Paul being a scholar of his time knew well the story of Nahum and how Ninevah was thought of as a great stronghold in it's time. The walls of Ninevah were 100 feet high and three chariots width wide. The towers went up another 100 feet. The water around the city was 50 yards wide and 60 feet deep. It was said that Ninevah could withstand a 20 year seige.

Yet when Nahum prophecies against Ninevah, He proclaims that the Lord can take down their stronghold like taking ripe fruit from a tree. Historically we know that the Babylonians were able to penetrate the stronghold because of a great flood that caused the walls to have a breach. The Babylonians wiped out the Assyrians in Ninevah and the capital city.

This is the power of God to tear down the strongest weaknesses in our lives. There is hope for us as we think of Gods power over Ninevah.

:: Little graces

This is a trying season for me and my family. There are many financial stresses that we are up against. Yet in all the discouraging things that have happened, I keep finding small graces all along the way.

There was the man who approached the kids and me one hot day while we were mowing a lawn with an ice cold glass of water for each of us. There was the man who stopped and helped me fix the trailer one day when the strut broke in busy traffic.

We found a lawn mower left at a house that vibrated just when we needed another lawn mower on a big job. We were able to change a bent blade and it worked fine for a bit. It lasted for most of that job and then died. It just happened to be the almost exact model of mower I have and I can use parts off of it on my main mower.

Down to one vehicle because my car died, I was able to use Chris and Kristi's truck while they were on vacation and I didn't lose any work.

My aunt had a Ford Ranger pickup she was trying to sell at a price lower than blue book. We were able to get a loan and buy it for a second vehicle.

Friends and family have helped us buy the kids school clothes and supplies. The little graces of God encouraging us to persevere through trying times have done just that.

How does anyone make it through the tough times without an Incredible Father that helps them and encourages them? Thank you father for your little graces.

:: Mercy is falling

This is a recent prophetic expression given at Trinity church in Lubbock, Texas. I think it speaks to many of God's sons and daughters today.

My children, I speak to you tonight as your Father. You sang, you said have mercy on me. You cannot even begin to understand how much mercy I do have. I want to speak specifically to some of you here tonight, you have in your past a great sin, something that troubles you and you are ashamed of it and you hide it and somehow you cannot let go of it. You cannot believe that it can be forgiven, but in my mercy I have forgiven you a long time ago and yet you allow the devil to remind you of it, you let the devil bring up to you what you have done and you hide it, and sometimes you question whether you are even saved or not. But in my mercy I have forgiven you, I have cleansed you. It is gone. I do not think about it, I just look at you and love you with compassion and I wonder why will you not move on. Why will you not believe and let go of that which I have already cleansed and taken out of your life?

You need to believe what I have said. I have forgiven you, I have cleansed you and now you need to let that go. My mercy is tremendous and I will speak to some of you that you have a sense of shame because you try and try in yourselves and you fail and you fail and you just feel so guilty and so frustrated that the enemy is just doing all those things to you, but to you I will say, I have not left you without power or ability. Did I not say in my Word and is it not true that I live within you. Is there anything that I cannot do? The reason that you fail is because you try and leave me out in what you are doing for me. I have never asked you to do anything for me. What I have asked you to do is to allow me to work through you, allow me to work with you. Work with me.

I would use this as an illustration to you. You are trying to mow an acre of grass with a push lawnmower and right beside you is a tractor that you can drive and do it. The tractor that is within you is the Holy Spirit and I have had mercy in every failure. I have forgiven you, I have cleansed you and I will say to you forget the past, forget the failures, you need to begin to believe for the Greater One in you will enable you. You need to begin to expect to do the things you have been failing to do. If you will trust me, if you will yield to me, and allow my power to flow through you, then you will have success. I am a merciful God, but once mercy is done, I then cover you with love and compassion. I have a plan and desire a goal for each of your lives, your age has nothing to do with it, if you will just trust me and receive my love. So many times you sing and you talk about loving me, but you do not receive my love because you do not believe that you are worthy, that I could love you for any others, that I love you. My love is waiting for you to receive it and walk in all that I have for you.

:: A week of weeks

This has been some kind of week. First of all last Saturday I get home and have a flat tire that is ruined so in a time of financial difficulty I'm having to buy a tire. This was just the beginning. I am learning to say blessed be the name of the Lord in all seasons of life. Monday the strut broke on my trailer, then as I am loading the lawn mower the handle breaks in half. Okay, I am taking another step in learning to praise the Lord in all seasons. Tuesday my wife has a wreck in our Mercury. It's her fault and we only have liability, so now our car is looking pretty sad, but it is drivable. I am glad she isn't hurt. Again I am learning to praise God in all situations.

Of course there are other thoughts running through my head also, like scrap this living by faith deal and get a real job or that voice that says see how God treats you why would you still live for Him? Those are a few of the various and unsundry thoughts pelting my brain. I realize that these thoughts are ones that I have to say no to. I'm hoping there is a rhyme or reason to this week and the past month which emotionally have been excruciating.

Well to give the week an exciting finale, Friday my car just quits. I'm driving down the road and it gives up the ghost. I can hear the suspenseful music in my head that sounds a lot like the theme from Jaws. I'm thinking okay I've got a fuel pump that went out or alternator. My local mechanic gives me the news. Mr. Alvis your engine is done in. The heads are bent. I hear the cymbals crash. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry or run away in the night to Alaska. I guess this is a great opportunity to see what God will

:: Definitions

I wonder what is the true defintion of a blogger. Is it someone who blogs daily? Is it someone who puts their whole heart into each blog? If you blog weekly are you a wannabe? Anybody seen any good blogs or articles along these lines?

Life is so stinkin busy these days. I am working a job that is taking me 60 hrs a week. Somewhere in the middle of all that I am trying to be involved in a church plant. Lately it has been survival mode. Survival mode is when life is spinning a little too fast to keep balanced emotionally, physically, spiritually, and socially. There are days in here I feel like the old Randy Stonehill song "Stop the world I wanna get off".

I am sure God is up to something in all this. For the life of me I haven't got it figured out though.

I better stop this is getting too much like a rambling rant. Later.

:: The Wedding

We were in Lubbock this weekend for my sister Beths wedding. It was a family event with me doing the ceremony, my other sister Sherri as the maid of honor, My wife a bridesmaid, my brother in law a groomsman, and my kids candlelighters. It was a great time at the wedding and seeing family.

Going into the wedding I kept praying that it would not be just a wedding but a time of giving glory to God. For me I can tell when the Lord intervenes strongly in a place and this was just such a time for me. I'm not saying all was perfect, but there was such a peace about the whole ceremony. Thanks Lord for your hand upon all of us this weekend.

I decided to begin a photoblog this week also. You can find it at: http://bear.fotopages.com

:: The ultimate bloggers resource

Look at the Ooze annual blog tools roundup for a brief review of tons of blogging tools. It was written by Jordon Cooper.

:: Vintage wisdom

I found Glorify His Name while perusing Greg Burnetts blog. On it are quotes from many saints of old.

:: Prayer a necessity

As I have wrestled with our little community's process of growth, I have been reading on the subject of prayer recently. I am reading a book right now by Terry Teykl called Making Room to Pray.

Three quotes are significant to me.

"Our work is just that, but prayer releases God's work"

"When we pray He (God) breathes upon us. Prayer is to inhale the breath of God. Evangelism is exhaling what we inhale in prayer."

The last is a story about Paul Cho (pastor of the worlds largest church). He said God spoke to him in prayer and asked "How many quail would Israel have caught if they had gone quail hunting in the wilderness?" Not too many. I then realized that God sent the wind which brought the quail. There is a difference in chasing a strategy and in finding the Holy Spirits strategy.

:: Gotta have a dog

Did you know that Americans eat 2 billion hot dogs in July each year. 150 million of those are eaten on July 4th. Personally I like the all beef dog, cheddar cheese, a bit of chili, mustard and topped with sprinkles of onions.

:: Sunday night

We continued our theme of prayer on Sunday night. We all read Phillipians with an eye for the mentions of prayer in the book and an eye out for a verse that stood out to us. Phillipians seems very pertinent to the situations of our little community. We are learning to count all things loss for the sake of knowing Christ, we are learning to be content in all stages of life whether abundance or lack, we are learning that Christ will continue his work in us.

We broke up into groups. Each group did a skit that illustrated a verse on prayer in Phillipians. The shark hunting protection skit was funny.

We then spent time in worship and ended joined in a circle of prayer. It was a good God night connecting with our community.

:: Working, working, working

I have been putting in some hours on the new job. Actually more than some, actually quite a lot. This is an interesting situation for a church planter. The job that I have allows a bit of flexibility and I can take my kids with me so it fits in one way very well. The hard part is I don't know how much I'll be working until day of or the day before, so it runs into our Thursday night FUEL meetings some.

I trust the Lord is working in all this. I am learning to trust by faith in what God brings with the job. I am working for a company that contracts out to mortgage companies cleaning up and checking on houses that are in delinquency, bankruptcy, or foreclosure. I get paid to check on statuses and then at times clean up the properties so they meet HUD standards for resell.

I miss being more regular on the blog and will try to get back to that discipline.

:: Take a moment to pray

Could you not tarry for one hour? These are the words from the Bible that continue to stir my spirit these days. It is a call to prayer for me. I know in my mind that prayer is key to all things. We are to pray without ceasing and in all things pray. Yet in my daily routines prayer is a secondary item.

As I have been studying prayer I came across this flash site with the Lords prayer on it. Take a few minutes to view it and to pray.
link

:: Classic win

For at least a week the purity of basketball in the nba has been restored. Detroit Pistons are winners of this years nba finals. The team with two superstars, the Lakers, didn't win and the team that played great fundamental basketball did.

The Pistons defined again what it means to play like a team in pro basketball. This was team in the purist sense of the word. The great teams are what make up great basketball. The Pistons played swarming team defense. They covered their men, helped out on the superstars, and outhustled the lakers. You have to give props to Larry Brown the coach of the Pistons for their success. He had definitely done his homework and had his team play hard and together.

It was a joy again to actually watch real basketball being played. I may still watch a few nba games in coming years.

:: A financial story

I love God stories. I was reading Living by Faith and came across how God provided financially in the post Being Faithful really works.

:: Brokeness the lost art

I was reading Back to Christ and was really into his dialogue about brokeness. Brokeness is a given and I would even go so far and say something that is blessed in our lives. Take a look at the post.

:: Leaving a Legacy

I have been moved this week at the honoring of the passing of president Ronald Reagan. Remembering his life at his death has made me proud of being an American and what it stands for. I appreciated president George Bush's speech at the funeral. Reagan was a picture of many character traits that are instilled in me that make up an ideal American.

Reagan was a respecter of all people whether janitor or head of state. It was said that he never spoke down to anyone.

Reagan was a man of graciousness. He rose in a ladies presence. He obviously cared about people and treated them with respect. He reminded me of my own grandfather Herman Franklin who was a man's man yet had a profound kindness toward others.

Ronald Reagan was a man of principle. He spoke passionately upon what he believed in and tried to follow through in action. One example I heard this week was how in the hospital room when he had been shot by an assassin, Reagan prayed for the person who shot him before he prayed for himself.

Reagan was a deeply committed Christian. It was moving to hear his son Michael talk of his dad speaking of his faith to his son in 1988 and passing it along to his son. He said he hoped one day he could pass that faith on to his own son.

Reagan was an optimist, he saw the good in life and in people and especially in our country. His daughter told the story of being a little girl and Reagan taking her to a field that had been badly burned. He showed her the small green shoots of new life breaking through the charred ground and told her that their was always new life that would come forth after bad things.

There is honor in the life of Ronald Reagan. There is something right about all of us getting to be involved in that honor.

I understand that honor comes from Reagan's personal faith in Jesus Christ. It was our Lord that gave gifts to President Reagan and enabled him to be able to share those gifts with us.

No, I'm not idolizing a man. I'm sure Ronald Reagan had his short comings as all of us do. But I hope and pray that my life becomes a gift to others as Ronald Regean's was a gift to ours.

Tonight I salute the memory of Ronald Reagan and how he walked out his life with Christ to give others a hope in that faith.

:: Update on blogging

New bloggers begin all the time. Here is an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that talks about how Bloggers find ways to profit.

:: This week

We began a dialogue about the kingdom of God this week. At the very beginning of Jesus ministry the gospel writers tell us He began teaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. We talked about the kingdom of God being the rule and reign of God. Seeking first the kingdom of God is seeking first and foremeost the rule and reign of God.

Interesting to in Matthew where Jesus says "If I caste out demons by the Spirit of God then the kingdom of God is among you." This is also why Jesus taught the disciples to pray "Your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

I am also in dialogue with others about the definition of the church (ekklasia) and how that is different from the kingdom of God. There is so much to know about the Lord and what He is all about.

:: Who am I ?

I know I'm a blogger, no really I am, I just don't blog very often lately. Is our identity in what we do or who we are?

This past week I had a day that wasn't going well and I kept thinking " How come I can't be perfect? What is wrong with me? I must be a wicked man because I can't be perfect." I began to really get down on myself and I heard in my heart that calming voice of God say "Let me tell you who you are, you are a lover of God and one that is loved by God."

You know that really is my heart. I love God and enjoy loving God and I am realizing more than ever the truth that I am someone that is loved by God. This latter truth has just began to sink in some over the last three years. I am about ankle deep in the truth that God so loved me, that He sent His son to die on the cross that I might be reconciled to Him. He really loves me and enjoys spending time with me. I look forward to the deepening of that truth.

Yea in my heart I'm a blogger but more importantly for me "I am a lover of God and am someone who is loved by God." Man, that truth sure brings me peace.