Hello friends. Life is an amazing circle and we at times live it like a dog chasing it's tail. This last Sunday I asked a couple of brothers at church to pray for me and give me counsel. I have been somewhat chasing my tail trying to find out just what ministry God has for me.

Shortly after I gave my life to Christ I was attending Sunday morning bible class and one of the gentlemen their reminded us of a very important point. He said that when your boss wants you to do something he is not vague about it. He states what he wants done and gives you the particulars you need to get it done. If your earthly employer will do this, then why would we think that God would be vague or unresponsive with the task He has for us?

With all good intentions I have been searching for God's task for me when He may not have it ready or I may not be ready. The most important task, actually blessing, we have is to constantly be in contact and communion with God. If you know the bible you are familiar with the story of the sisters Mary and Martha. Martha was all busy getting things prepared for Jesus, while Mary was content to just sit at His feet and communion with Him. When Martha complained about Mary not helping, Jesus told her that Mary was doing what was good.

Granted that things need to be done, but they will be done in God's timing. Our greatest purpose is to daily draw closer to Him in prayer, meditation, and communion. When God is ready for us He will leave no doubt. So their counsel was to quit trying to out think God and just prepare for the day He calls by drawing closer everyday. When I shared with another dear brother in the Lord that I was so frustrated about apparently not hearing from God that I would at times yell up to Him; he said that maybe those were the times when God was trying to talk to me. His Word says," Be still and know that I am God."

Yours in Christ, Mike

Why not God!

Not knowing just who stumbles on to this dialogue, I hope any with doubts or in the scientific realm will read this short conversation with the open mind that you use when investigating any new thought or theory.
I believe the title pretty much says it all. I consider myself fairly well read on several topics, kind of a student of many, master of none. I am intelligent enough to comprehend the basics of scientific logic so I pose these thoughts to ponder.
Let us first look at evolution. Ladies and gentlemen can we please agree that is still a theory and not a fact. Though it may be the best wagon to hitch your logic to, since you do not seem to want to accept a divine creator, the long and short of it is there is no concrete connections. I am not as staunch a proponent of what many consider the Biblical timeline, so an older earth age does not bother me. I do firmly believe in the inerrancy of the Bible though. I believe God has given us all the information that we need to know in it; but that by no means has He told us all there is. If you are honest with yourselves you will admit that like we Christians must accept certain things by faith; you also accept certain premises that have never been fully proven.
So why is it impossible that there is a divine entity with all the characteristics of the God of the Bible? To be perfectly honest I am not sure that I could worship a god that I, or even the most intelligent person on this earth could fully comprehend. It has long seemed strange to me that science has had to re-adjust itself about every 75 to 100 years, but God has been the same forever. Do not mistake the errors of the organized church who have too often misrepresented Him, for the God who is constant.
I next would ask you if you have ever truly looked at the fine line that allows life on this planet exist? How different would our lives be if we were just say 1000 miles closer or farther away from the sun, or even the moon? That is barely a hair's breadth to 250,000 or 93,000,000 miles. Life would most likely be possible but much more extreme. What would we deal with if the asteroid belt were not in place as a fence to most of the space material constantly flying around out there? I could go on but I believe you see my point even if you are not in agreement. Just random coincidence huh, all of these various things coming together just right to make our little paradise.
I will wind down with the question of why so many different species if we all developed out of the same cosmic ooze? Now I agree that the symbiotic relationship we are all involved with are what keep things going. What affect would there be if all the mosquitos were suddenly gone. No one I know likes them but what an affect on the ecological balance. I just find it harder to believe in non-intelligent creation because of all the different species. Why would "nature" need to be so intricate?
I am not the first person to put these questions out there. If you have read this with an open mind I thank you. It is as hard for me to not believe in a omnipotent,caring,loving creator as it may be for you to believe in one. But just unintelligent, random chance; come on, you're smarter than that.
Yours in Christ, Mike

Greetings to all,
" I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6 NKJV. For many that is a very exclusionary and bold statement. The truth is very often a bitter pill to swallow. While Christ loved all with heart we can barely comprehend, He was not object to laying out a harsh truth. You see in this world of political correctness and fear of hurting someone's feelings we tell "little white lies" constantly. I agree that many of them are harmless, accept that when does LWL become bigger. I mean if I want to build up my muscles I may start with 5lbs. weights for awhile and everntually move to 10,20,50, or 100lbs. At each of the increments the former weight will feel very insignificant. Lying can be like that. It can also snowball into something we never desired it to be. Funny thing is that while we say we are telling the LWL to save someone's feelings we are actually just saving ourselves from possible conflict.
I am not here to tell you when your lies have gotten out of hand. What I would challenge you to do is build relationships and trust so that when you do tell that loved one "that dress does make you look fat", they will know it comes out of love and concern.
You see that is where Christ is coming from. He loves and knows us so well that He chances bruising our sense of fairness and tolerance of differing opinions to tell us the most important truth. It's funny that people will accept a concept of heaven, yet reject the concept of hell. We will readily accept the scientific statement that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Yet when we speak or feel about our spiritual condition we only want to accept the good option. Let me assure you, Satan is real. Most of us so abhor the thought of being ruled over we reject any hint of a higher or lower controlling power. We may accept the idea of a loving God; but for the most part we won't give credence to a controlling evil.
When God saved me and forgave my sins He also opened my mind to an enlightening truth. This truth is not particular to me, all who give their lives to Christ can have it; but I don't believe those who haven't can truly grasp the depth of it. Sorry if I just tweaked your sensibilities and I may be wrong; but I don't think I am.
Can you imagine our parents letting us do whatever we wanted when we were say 2,3, or even 4. Let's see, take those keys and stick them in the electrical outlet, pull that table cloth with the hot soup or gravy down on us, I think you get my point. Doesn't that sound controlling to you? Of course not, that is protection of someone who knows no better. You see our inflated idea of maturity and intelligence blinds us to the fact that in God's eyes we are but children; His children. This leads our God to do things for our own good that we at the time, and much of our lives, do not understand.
You see that truth I was speaking of earlier is that all God leads me to is" for MY own good", not His directly. His true pleasure comes from seeing His children have the best life possible, but He loves us enough to give us freedom to choose.
So when you read something in God's Word that appears to go against the grain, ask yourself this: Would I tell my children a lie to save their feelings but might cost them their life; or do I share the truth that will eventually prosper them, though for a time we might be alienated?
Yours in Christ, Mike.

Hello again. I have been rather sporadic with my post and plan to remedy this starting now. It is funny how much differently our idea of doing something successfully, and God's idea of doing something successfully is. I started this blog a couple of years ago with the intent to share the glory of my salvation and second chance in life that God has blessed me with. I was ready to discuss a relationship with Jesus with believers, non-believers, and those in between. To date it does not appear that I have anyone following this blog, which is what I have seen in the past. In the past it has, to be honest, disheartened me which is one reason for the long gaps between post. The last few years have been a bit of a struggle, which I have shared in earlier post. Well God forgive me it is still a struggle; but I am determined to keep struggling until I break out of my cocoon!
Remember earlier I mentioned the differences in ours and Gods view of success? Well idiot that I am,joking, I have been wanting some feedback to show how much good I was doing. Imagine that! I won't speak for the rest of you, but as for me I like to see results from my efforts. The results of our efforts for God are not usually what we think they should be. I very much envy those who can consistently do without seeing anything for their efforts.
Here is a little secret; maybe this blog is more for me than for you. Oh I don't want to be selfish, I would love to share some thoughts and views with you. But I must tell you that every time I post on here I feel better afterward. Maybe this is my little couch to get things off my chest and God is just in the room listening? As I have said, I have been in a funk. My wife suggest that maybe I go talk with someone and I tell her no. It's not because I fear sharing, duh, what do I do here. I have been that route and I just don't need someone to ask me," How does that make you feel?" So this is my little couch and you can be my counselors.
On an end note; when God ask you to do something, just do it. That is the success, just in following the urging if the Holy Spirit. We faithfully throw out the seeds, He waters and cares for them. If I faithfully do what God ask me to do and I personally see no results does that mean nothing happened? I  DON'T THINK SO!!!
We are a success every time we step out in faith to God's urging. Yours in Christ, Mike

The Eyes of God

You are greater in the eyes of the Lord than in your own. As simple a statement as there is for some; as confusing as can be for others. I was at Men's camp last weekend and this was one of the first things shared by the speaker. As my post in July shared, I have been in a season of confusion. This next statement, as well as the former, have helped me to start emerging from the fog. Small faith is not unbelief. While I don't believe my faith demenished during this time, it was a time of confusion. Since all of my post are shared in the hope of helping others realize how much God loves them; it is important for me to share not only the ups, but also the struggles. Our concepts and understanding of relationships come from, now watch this, other fallible people. Since we have all at one time or another been hurt by those we love, who love us, and ones we trust; it is somewhat difficult to accept unconditional love. One of my biggest challenges comes from the fact that knowing and accepting God's unconditional love for me, I still struggle with self-doubt and low esteem. Some where inside of me still hangs on to the, "do a good job, get a good reward, and they will be proud of you." In my first couple of years with God I had a much better acceptance that I was pleasing to God, not that I had to please Him. We, at least I, make our relationship with Him way too difficult. As I have shared on FB I am currently reading True-Faced. I am only half way but the current, and maybe overall theme, is that we must move from pleasing God to trusting God. No matter how well intended, if we hang on to having to continually please God, then we are not trusting that through Christ and grace we are freely given His love and acceptance into His family. I guess with me I felt that the more mature a Christian I became, the better and more serving Christian I should become. Our love, desire, and relationship with our children is the closest we can come to our relationship with God. Knowing how much I love my children, desired to instill that love and pride in them, and grossly blowing it; makes it somewhat difficult to grasp His perfect love for us. I will end with two things; "We fight from victory, not for victory." and "He that began a good work in us, will be faithfull to complete it." Yours in Christ, Mike

In the desert

Hello, it's been quite a while since my last post. I must admit that the last year has been emotionally challenging. At this time my pursuing a career in golf has come to a halt. That in its self was not crushing. What was a bit disheartening was the time and expense my wife and I had invested. We had been practicing and preparing for about 5 years. When God had initially put this on my heart I was a bit confused. It would take much too long to explain why it was so unexpected. Julie and I prayed because I sincerely wanted her guidance on this direction. I have long been proficient in golf and pursued it when I was younger. It would have never entered either of our minds at this date and age. We both felt that maybe God was giving me a second chance at something I loved and was very proficient at. I definitely put in the time and practice that I had not when I was younger. I played well in the few qualifiers I was able to participate in but inexperience in tournament play showed. With finances tight because of unemployment and no success gaining sponsorship last March we had to pack away the dream. I truly could not understand why God had led me here and not further. We could speculate for eternity and only God knows. What I did learn over the last year is that God still loves me. I never really doubted it but I must admit at times the commitee in my head played havoc with me. I am sured I have shared with you before that God's answer is at times no, at times yes, at times later, and sometimes it is let me teach you. While I consider myself of above average intelligence, I do not consider myself a good student. Fortunately God is always patient with me. What I learned, or relearned, in the last year is that it is not about me. I have oftern said that I just want to do whatever God wants me to do. This, for me, is not easy to put into practice. I have a compulsive, competive personality. Over the last year God has sent many messages my way so I could learn there is only 1 truly important thing, serving Him. There is nothing I could ever do in this world more important than sharing God with others. When we truly focus on that, God smiles. Through the years of training I still loved God deeply, but maybe my focus on His purpose became clouded. Golf was an avenue, totally submitting to His will is the destination. We too often, with all good intention, get diverted from the destination by focusing too intently on the avenue. I ask for your prayers for employment and contentment. My heart is willing but the body is weak. If your life isn't going in the direction you want maybe you need to change drivers.  God Bless you all             Yours in Christ, Mike

God's Gym

As I was driving home today the song " God bless the Broken road "came on the radio. I love this song because it reminds me of how God brought me to my knees. I have told people often of how much I appreciate what God allowed me to go through so that I would finally give my life over to Him. If I had not suffered the loss of respect, family, work, and sense of worth I don't believe I would appreciate them as I do now. I know I too often took too many things for granted so God allowed me to lose them for a season.

It still amazes me that we as a culture, Christian and secular alike don't mind suffering for things that we desire but we rail against God when He uses adversity to strengthen us. How many of you out there go to the gym daily and lift weights and sweat and push yourselves to the limit in search of that perfect body? We deny ourselves certain foods and pleasures to achieve a physical goal.

While God wants us to stay in good physical shape for our well-being, His desire is for our souls to be strong and for us to learn to lean on and go to Him for everything. Many of the trials that we go through in life are His way of working our soul muscles. It's like the old saying " That which does not kill you makes you stronger ". I don't profess to understand every trial that I deal with in life and I don't believe everyone is from God. We live in a sinful world and things happen. When they do God has taught me to leave them at His feet and let Him handle it. I have dealt with depression, addiction, suicidal thoughts, self loathing and many others. When I was in the midst of these I assure you I was crying out to God but not understanding why He was allowing this. After I surrendered my life and He eased some of the suffering it became more clear He loved my enough to make me use my soul muscles.

I don't know how well I have explained or shared this with you. I believe a large part of any audience that comes to read this blog will be those in search of a relationship and some understanding of God. My walk with Him shows me everyday how much He cares and desires for me. You don't have to be the Pope or Billy Graham to know and understand God and especially Jesus. If you are going through a rough season I pray for you and hope you will release it to Jesus. As I always say, I do not have all the answers but I do have the one answer and that is God. That may not soothe you now if you are in a horrible situation. There is much evil in the world and I hope and pray God saves you from whatever evil you are dealing with. I love you all out there and know that many of you suffer more than I ever have. I would not lead you to Jesus if I were not absolutely sure He is your salvation. Yours in Christ