Remain Faithful

     My wife and I have been married 4 years in June. I have to say that before that, my relationship with God was somewhat questionable. In the back of my mind, I knew who God was, but His existence in current times, to me, was a myth in most aspects. I have been humbled, to say the least, and now I can truly say there is no reason for me to not believe in God. He absolutely has to exist because there is no explanation for some of the events in my life. 

     I'll rewind to the dating era between my wife and I. Having both been through 13 year failed marriages with issues and complications, we wanted something different going into this. We both dedicated ourselves to a Christ-centered relationship. That alone, I saw huge changes in myself. It was a long road, but who I was began to change, for the good. And that was something that I would have never expected given my past life. 

     With our relationship strong and our faith concrete, we married. A very short 9 days later, with no warning, my back went out and I collapsed in the floor. Yes, I did have back issues, but this was a pain that I had never felt before. After days in the hospital, I found out that my L3, L4, L5, S1, and S2 were all jacked up. This is where miracles of God through the power of faith began to change our lives. The doctors said I probably wouldn't walk again, so to not get our hopes up. We were low, but then we were shattered. The day we went to schedule surgery, the office wanted just over $1000 dollars up front. We were devastated. We didn't have that kind of money anywhere. When we got home, Jesus kind of put us both to sleep so He could orchestrate the first of several miracles we would see. We were woke up with the news from my wife's friend from out of state that a friend of her's had saw our story, and prayed, and she listened. She listened to the voice of God to help. She was led by God to pay for the up front cost. She sent an overnight check to us with a note that read, "May God bless you and your family." I was floored. My wife was floored. Surgery was scheduled, but it remained that the odds were against me. There was a lot of damage. After almost 2 hours of surgery, the doc came out and explained things to my wife. God stepped up again, against all those odds. About 3 or 4 hours after surgery, I could feel my feet. I wanted to walk. So I did. We were shocked, and my surgeon explained that it was nothing short of a miracle of God, because he didn't think surgery was a success. I had one more small procedure after that. I walked, and I am still walking to this day. Against all odds. God destroyed those odds. 

  Now, facing another hard season in life, we remain faithful. Unfortunately, I lost my job. I have been down and my wife has been worried. Jobs aren't easy to come by right now, especially jobs that will pay the bills. But we have been blessed. We have been able to pay our house payment and get food, because of the generosity of others. Our parents have stepped up. We have had friends reaching out. Our church family has been great. Whether it has been monetary help, food, or just words of encouragement, it has meant a ton to us. That's God. I have been in this season before, but without my faith, and the results were very different. 

     This is God, and how He works. Against all odds, coming out of the woodwork doing the unimaginable. So for me, I have no choice but to believe in God, because I know miracles like these come from nowhere else. I am grateful, and I will remain faithful. No matter how hard it may seem or how ugly it may get, I know God has our backs. 

Thinking

Silence. Sometimes silence is good. It's an awesome time to reflect, pray, and try to gain an understanding. An understanding of what? Well, that all depends on the current thought process and state of mind. Today, I've done the usual, scrolling social media, mindlessly, and played a couple of thoughtless games. I've also read some devotionals and prayed. The thought, just now while I simply looked around my silent house, was "borrowed time." We all have a life expectancy and expect to live a life to meet that expectancy. And many times the term "borrowed time" is used for those who are sick or have aged beyond that life expectancy. The truth is, we ALL are living on borrowed time. With each breathe we take, it's another moment that has came and went, borrowed from our Creator. How was that moment spent? Did we think about the things we want in life? Did we think about the things that people have done that have hurt us? Or did we use that moment to think about why we borrowed another moment? Or better yet, why God has allowed us another breath? I know we all spend many, many moments idle, thinking about things that really do not matter in the end. We are human. We all have interests or hobbies that we enjoy. We need to dedicate more moments to think, reflect, pray, and ask God what we can do to be better. Better followers of Christ, better moms or dads, husbands and wives, better members of humanity. I've spent a lot of moments today that meant nothing really, but that one moment that meant something....yeah. In that very quick moment, so many things crossed my mind. Where am I failing? Where am I succeeding? What can I do better? I've been cruising at my own speed, not being as proactive as I need to be. In anything, really. And the final thing that flew across my mind, moments can be used to play games, scroll social media, think, reflect, and pray to God, and these moments can also be used to define us as individuals. So the lesson I've learned, keep moments in perspective. Balance them accordingly, or moments and definition will be lost. 

War on Terror

Proverbs 6:16-19

There are six things that the Lord hates, no, seven things He detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family. 

     In the wake of the events in Paris last night, I ask for everyone to pray. Pray for the victims and families, and for Paris as a city. To further the prayer, I ask that you pray for ALL who are on this side of the enemy's agenda. These attacks we have seen already, maybe not to that scale, around the world. Attacking soft targets with minimal security, killing innocent people is a sign of cowardice. Killing Christians on such a large scale that in some nations Christianity is expected to disappear. Pray that something starts to succeed in taking out these disgusting militants. Reading around on http://www.christianbiblereference.org, I found some interesting tidbits on just biblical war theories. I checked off each one, but I'll only name a few. Just causes; in response to certain, grave and lasting damage inflicted by an aggressor, advancement of good or avoidance of evil, serious prospects of success, non-combatants (civilians) must not be intentionally harmed, prisoners and conquered peoples must be treated justly. I'll let you do your own comparison, just like I did mine. But, Christians, we are under attack, along with innocent civilians, our friends, and our allies. We cannot continue to sit idle while they crucify us, behead us, rape us, attack us, and try to instill fear in us. 

Husband's Treasure

Proverbs 18:22

The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord. 

Again, another verse that is nothing more than cut and dry. Fellas, wives are considered our treasure. Yet, everyday there is news of a husband, even Christian husbands, who beat, verbally abuse, cheat on, rape, even murder their wives. That's pitiful. I bet those same men wouldn't mistreat a monetary or material treasure in the same way. WE FIND A TREASURE when we find a wife. She is something of great value, to be cherished and taken care of. NOT to be abused in any way, not even to complain about. A treasure. A treasure, that when found, also brings favor from the Lord. That's heavy. Society has not only decreased the worth of our women, but also the value of marriage. Society displays women are to be used and marriage to be thrown away. To all men who are reading this, I challenge you. I challenge you to go against the grain of our corrupt society and hold the value of our women at the highest below Jesus. Husbands, I challenge you to hold your wives tight, value them like the treasure they are. Keep the values of a biblical marriage true. WE NEED A CHANGE. And for the woman reading this, if these men aren't following these guidelines that Jesus has ordained, know your worth and demand better. 

Marriage

Genesis 2:22

Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and He brought her to the man. 

        This verse is really pretty straight forward, to me anyway. It seems to be that there is a created wife for every man, perfectly suited for him. I'm sure several will disagree, but if we all followed this God-designed plan for marriage, instead of seeking lust, or money, or anything else, the divorce rate would drop, probably to very, very minimal numbers. Since God has the first day in marriage, no society or the courts or our peers, it seems like going against His plan and marrying otherwise is similar to that game we all played (and got wrong) as children, trying to shove a square into a circle. Adam didn't devise marriage, so neither should we. 

Miracles

I've been meaning to post for awhile, forgive me. Around Easter, I had the privilege of getting to be in the Passion play at the Christian theater we are affiliated with. There were many scenes and many perspectives that I'd like to share over the next few posts. 

One scene that stood out to me was that of a healing of a young boy. To reference the Bible, this story is in John 9. One of the townspeople stepped out to Jesus after he was asked to be healed and said, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" It was the answer that stuck out to me. Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents have sinned. But he has been born blind so that the works of God can be displayed in him." Amazing. Many people have tendency to think that God punishes us with harsh consequences when we sin. While this may be true for those who do not know Jesus or have turned their back on the Father, it is not true that He simply does this to His children. I guess what I'm saying is as sure as Jesus performed miracles while He walked this earth, He is still performing miracles today. Keep the faith. Even that of a mustard seed is enough faith to witness the miracles of Jesus. I remember when my wife and I were going through our first big trial with my back, a short 9 days after our wedding day. It was said by an individual that this was God's punishment for my sins. We shook off the comment, kept our faith in our Father, and sure enough, He came through with a miracle. Even the surgeon said it was out of his hands. 

Please, as many of us will face medical and physical trials while we are on this earth, remember that they are not punishment for anything that we have done in our pasts. We have been forgiven and every circumstance is a chance for us to show relentless faith and wait for God's miracle. 

Work......

So I've been out of work due to medical issues once again. The devil is attacking us by trying to throw these issues at us. Notice I said trying. My wife and I knew that when you do good in the Lord's work, satan will attack. Well that's fine and dandy, I guess. But he's gonna get tired. We keep getting stronger and stronger, not only in the ability to lean on each other, but in our faith in God as well. Since I am out of work, we thought we would would volunteer some of our downtime between appointments and such at a local Christ based theater where we consider ourselves affiliated. What better way to counter satan's attacks than to step up more for God? As many of you know, any time you deal with the public, you'll get a little of the good, bad, and ugly. For the most part, people are kind and courteous. Of course there are always some that keep a frown on their face and prefer to be rude. And that's all good I guess. I have personally enjoyed volunteering my time for God. My wife and I, both, have enjoyed it. There is nothing better in this world than to do God's work, no matter how small it is. Whether it's pastoring a church, or ushering at a play, it pleases our Father.