Week two of the series "X"

“Be still, and know that I am God….”
-Psalm 46:10

The older I get, the more I understand that the things I thought I knew and I have been sure of, are not what I thought at all and my assurance turns to doubt and insecurity. I don’t mean the rock solid things of life i.e. water is wet; sky is blue, 60 seconds in a minute, diet Pepsi not regular Pepsi and thin crust not thick. These are undeniable truths that don’t change. I am talking about the rest of life, the things we think we have a good grip on that then slip through our fingers like sand on the beach. Things like finances, children, family, time, stress, motivation and commitment just to mention a few.
When I was a kid a company (Kenner Products) produced a toy called “Stretch Arm Strong” it was an action figure in the shape of a muscled man wearing a pair of swimming trunks. Its most notable feature was that its arms and legs could stretch outwards to great lengths, presumably without breaking and then snap back to the orignal shape. I have a tendency to allow life to pull and stretch me to great length and I don’t know how I am going to snap back. When I find myself in that situation nothing brings me back into shape like Psalm 46:10. In a world full of so many things that are unstable or out of my control the clarity that is in this piece of scripture becomes foundational to peace and stability.
After all no matter how far I allow the world to stretch me, I will never out reach the love of Jesus stretched on the cross for you and for me. Only by believing in him can I snap my life back into shape.

Quotes from Greg’s Message:

“You don’t get to decide who God is!”

“He knows our thoughts before we think them, our actions before we do them, whether we are lying down or sitting or walking around.”

“Could it be our arrogance that makes us think that God owes us an explanation?”

“I figured out that God really does want to speak to me and communicate with me and give me wisdom and insight and direction, but I often am not still enough to receive it.”

Week one of the new series “X”

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”
-Genesis 1:1

This week I am focusing on getting back to the foundational reality that all I have done, all that am doing now and all that I will do in the future, has to start with God. I often catch myself asking God to give me strength, vision, purpose or direction. We all think we can call on God and He will come to our rescue and for those who are just coming to God for the first time this is true. However I think when I go to Him and ask for these things, He must shake His head and say why do you ask for what I have already given you. I gave it to you in the beginning! My weaknesses simply shortchange the powerful gift God gives all His people when he says “In the beginning God”. When I allow the trials and tribulation of every day life to steal my focus and I think I need to call on God for help, I forget that he is with me always. He has been with me from the beginning.

Jesus came and died so that you and I could have a new “In the beginning”. The forgiveness that Christ gives us through the Cross insures this new beginning, when we chose to follow Him. If your life has been a journey and you have gotten off course you don’t go back to your starting point and begin again. With the gift of salvation we can stop right where we are plot a new course and the power of Jesus gives us a new beginning. From that moment He sets us on the path to a glorious destination.

QUOTES FORM GREG’S MESAGE

“We were born by His purpose and for His purpose.”

“The Bible, God’s owner’s manual, is about becoming what God made you to be and discovering that He wants to drive.”

“Yes, you may be a product of your past, but you don’t have to be a prisoner of your past!”

“Fear is this self-imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be.”

“I don’t know all the keys to success, but I know the one key to failure…trying to please everyone"

Do you go through this???

I find it difficult to express my emotions on this day each year. I am saddened by the loss of life and the pain and suffering of those who survived. Then to consider the families who will relive this tragedy every year it pains my soul in ways that words can’t express. But to contrast the emotional, psychological and spiritual devastation I feel, are the feelings of love, admiration and pride that comes from how we as a people responded to this act of terrorism. To put all you have and are on the line for another person is evidence of commitment to a life of integrity, honor and self-sacrifice.
I battle on this day every year with:
Pride and disappointment
Love and hate
Stress and peace
Integrity and compromise
Passion and complacency
Fear and security
My heart aches with pain and swells with pride and my mind flashes with fury and cools with compassion. I experience all of this on this day every year because of what so many endured on a clear morning years ago. My life will be forever changed. Because of the lives taken, the lives given and the lives people are currently living.
May God guide and protect us as clearly through our current days as he did on that faithful 9-11-01.