Learning to Swim

Learning to Swim, originally uploaded by DocUNC.

Went to a friends house last night. Caleb is still learning to swim underwater, but he is picking it up rather quickly.

He is becoming quite the little fish.

Food For Thought Fridays

I was thinking about a play I read in college called "Fences" by August Wilson.

It has been a long time since drama 16, but if i recall correctly, one of the characters says, "Some people build fences to keep people out and other people build fences to keep people in."

I was contemplating this idea and thought that the key to the fence is the gate.

That lead me to Matthew 16: 18.

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

The funny thing about gates are that they are not attacking tools. They are protective and preventative.

The only way for the gates of hell to prevail is if they are not being attacked and broken down.

We can still feel the effects. The barrier and the resistance. We still know the hindrances. But, the enemy will not win, Jesus said so.

Since we know the outcome, we should be active and tear the gates off the hinges.

Satan's throne has been destroyed and the gospel will continue to cause the gates of hell to crumble today.

As the church we have been given the authority to “tread on serpents” (Luke 10: 19) and no matter what the enemy throws at us, we will be victorious in the end.

So let's get to stompin'.

Food For Thought Fridays

Hebrews 11:30 says, "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days."

Everybody knows the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho in Joshua 6.

We think about the people marching around the huge walls of the city and on the seventh day, they send up a mighty shout and trumpet blast.

Some people talk about how the marching loosened the soil and the shout caused vibrations in the walls to cause them to crumble. Some people say it was an odd earthquake.

But Hebrews tells a different story. It was by faith.

As crazy as it seems, they were promised that if they obeyed, the walls would come a tumblin' down.

The walls didn't come down by the action of men, but because the people believed what God had promised He would do.

This is persevering faith. When things seem overwhelmingly against you, there is full knowledge that God is who He says He is and He will do all that He has promised to do.

Despite glaring impossibilities, God honors those who are obedient to Him.

Faith like this will put the enemies of God to runnin' and the devil to hidin'.

Look at what is happening in your life and see if the enemy is at work. If he is, shout that your trust is in the Devil Destroying Power of God.

Have faith to watch the walls crumble.

Gotham Crime Fighters

Gotham Crime Fighters, originally uploaded by DocUNC.

Caleb and Isaiah both had Batman shirts, so Amanda bought us one, too. Then we decided to all take a family "Batman" portrait.

I made a chart so you could recognize the Hero Crew.

Grey Shirt - OLD Batman
Pink Shirt - HOT Batgirl
Black Shirt - Cool Batkids

Now you know your local crime fighters.

Food For Thought Fridays

1 Peter 2: 9-10 says, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

What makes a "church" lifeless, dull, and empty?

Some say it is the music. Some say it is the speaker. Some say it's just because the Holy Spirit isn't there.

Then you have some nut saying it is because they painted the walls brown instead of yellow (don't be that guy).

All but the last seem pretty reasonable, but music doesn't save anyone and the speaker doesn't save anyone.

If the building is full of believers seeking God, the Holy Spirit should be there, right?

That is where my question lies.

I don't want to step on toes, but I believe that if your desire is for a vibrant church fellowship, you have to decide who does the choosing.

"But you ARE a CHOSEN people. . ."

The question is WHO chose them?

If it is a lifeless (not necessarily small, just dead) church, the people are probably doing the choosing. Choosing not to sing, choosing not to pray for each other, choosing not to help the poor, the orphan, the widow. You get my point.

In a vibrant, live (not necessarily big, just truly alive) church, God has chosen a people who were not a people. God has chosen a people to show His mercy, His love, His grace. When God chose you to step from darkness to light. BOOM! You became alive and your church should too.

If God chooses, the church is alive. If man chooses, the church is as good as dead.

If you are chosen, belonging to God, you can declare His praises today and your church fellowship will never be the same.

If I am wrong about this, still, don't be the crazy guy fussing about paint color.

Freckled Lemonade

Last week, we decided to make freckled lemonade. The boys and I bought some lemons and strawberries. Caleb and Isaiah used their super strength to roll the lemons and make them nice and juicy. We added the strawberries, sugar and water and it was done. They did a terrific job. In fact, it was so good we hardly had any left the next day.

Can you look at Isaiah and tell the lemonade had sugar in it?

Food For Thought Fridays

I have been pondering this question:

Do I have enough faith to fail?

In this life, people are evaluated on their ability to accomplish great things. Some fail and some succeed, but even those that have great accomplishments are not satisfied for long. There is always a thirst for even more.

Our desire to fulfill the purpose of our lives IS a gift from God, but sin has twisted us so dramatically that we put ourselves on the pedestal and our desire for purpose is really a self centered lust for a trophy in our honor.

But when we come to Christ, all of that should change. We should embrace a spiritual philosophy that sits counter to the ways of the world. Contrary to the prosperity gospel, success for the believer, should be opposite of that of the world.

Luke 9:24 says, "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it."

When Jesus died, it seemed He was a discredited, rejected failure while the wealthy and successful ordered Him to the cross. It took three days to show them that the magnificent Creator was the victorious one and the governor had utterly failed.

Have we still not learned any lessons? Does the "church" measure success according to man or God?

It has been said that no man is worthy to succeed until he is willing to fail.

Our exceeding joy is to be found in being just like Jesus was and is.

One day Jesus will show all who won and who lost.

Stripes

Stripes, originally uploaded by DocUNC.

Isaiah is my smiley lovey boy.

iPhone mAnia

iPhone mAnia, originally uploaded by DocUNC.

Caleb was playing Line Up 2 on my phone. He is serious about his games. Can you tell?