Archive for May, 2008

What a wonderful holiday weekend it was, as we celebrated the achievements of soldiers past and present who have fought and dedicated their lives for the country and more importantly for US as citizens of this great nation. As I was driving into work today, I heard a great thought on the soldier:

“It’s the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press;
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech;
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate;
It is the soldier who salutes the flag; who serves beneath the flag; and whose coffin is draped by the flag.”

Again, thank you to all who have served and are serving for our freedoms and give us the ability to have “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”

As is tradition, Memorial Day is a day that we as Americans like to get together, cookout, and fellowship with each other. Well I am not one to buck “tradition” (insert you own laughter here) so that is exactly what we did. We had several families over from church and we cooked out, let the kids ride bikes, and just had a great time laughing and yelling “car”. However, one of the highlights besides the “washers” tournament that went on was the fun that we had once things just went crazy and water started being “distributed” on unsuspecting individuals. I myself was a victim of this useless violence as I was run-by cooler-ed by one of my fellow pastors. I received a World-Series Coach sample of ice, water, I think a little bit of coke. However, what it really did was to provide a drive to find a way to retaliate and avenge this wrongdoing. For the rest of the evening nothing could have prevented me from avenging this action. I then watched the rest of the group, and it became contagious, before long it not only was water but food as well.

This morning during my devotion, the Lord asked me, would I have pursued a person all night long to share or witness with them with the same diligence. Would the rest of the group began to do the same and start knocking on doors and sharing throughout the neighborhood? I unfortunately would have to answer truthfully no, I would have made an attempt but I would not have “chased” him spiritually with the zeal that I chased my fellow brother after being doused with ice water. I was ashamed, humbled, and embarrassed before the Lord this morning. I was disappointed in myself and my actions or rather lack thereof.

Paul reminds us in Philippians 3 that we should always be striving for Christ and the things of Christ; and that we should be striving to share the same knowledge with those who do not know.

Philippians 3:12-16 (The Message)
  12-14 I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. 
 15-16 So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.

Memorial Day Cook-Out Points to remember:

• We should strive to diligently share and witness to all of those around us that need the Lord. In addition, we should pursue them without ceasing.
• Always keep one eye on the assistant pastor; be assured something is cooking in his brain!
• And don’t let Dan eat the BBQ!

Remember to stay in the word and share your faith!

God Bless ~ Tyler

Well I have talked about this in previous blogs but I just watched another video this morning and what I saw was awesome. So if you have heard of this before then just bear with me. At our last worship event for our church I was introduced to Louie Giglio, now not in person but through a video and since then I have been trying to get my hands on other videos and listen to his stuff as much as possible. Well I found one this morning that I thought was cool so I thought that I would share. I would encourage you to go to godtube.com and search for his name as his stuff is amazing but this morning I learned about Laminin. Now, you ask, “What is Laminin?” well it is a cell cohesion protein that is in charge of holding your whole body together. And that is great and all but you have to first have some perspective…remember it holds your whole body together… so on that note let me share some scripture with you.

Col 1:13-17
 13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Now look at the end of verse 17 and in Him (meaning Jesus), all things are held together. So, the next question that you need to ask is what does that have to do with Laminin? Well if you remember from earlier, it is the cell cohesion protein. “But what does that actually mean?” I thought you never ask…but before I show it to you (because you have to see Laminin to truly appreciate it) lets first look at how the word cohesion actually defines in the physics world:

The intermolecular attraction by which the elements of a body are held together.

Ok, so we now understand that the protein Laminin is the protein that holds the body together. So lets see it and then you will understand my fascination.

To see Laminin click here.  When you are done just close the window.

 Pretty amazing huh?  Is there any doubt in your mind who holds us together?  I hope that this was a blessing to you as it was to me.

God Bless ~ Tyler
(see you after the holiday)

Those of you that have kids or work with kids know this question well. I have gone through this with all of my children at a certain age and will I’m sure with the youngest when he gets old enough. It seems like the question never really is answered because you can always ask why, and as a parent, you get tired of answering them so eventually you give them a “because I said so” or “because God created it that way”.

Yet, there are some questions that you just cannot answer at all and for our house, we have to be honest and tell them that we don’t know why but that God has a plan and you have to trust in Him that He knows best. I was brought to tears the past two days twice by experiences revolving around circumstances that you just cannot explain.

I went with a fellow pastor yesterday to visit a new mother at the hospital because she and her baby were in need of extra treatment and care. As I went with grandma into the NICU to see the baby I was just blown away at the sight of mothers and fathers holding their new infants that were in need of extra care due to complications. Then again this morning when I heard of the tragedy that happened to Steven Curtis Chapman and his family in losing their youngest daughter. These seasons in our lives are very hard to explain. Why God allows these things to occur is out of the grasp of our understanding sometimes. However, all we can do as Christian is try to keep our faith strong and seek Him on how we are to grow from each experience. I know that is very easy to say on this side of the fence (never lost a child and all children born healthy.) However, I am a firm believer that if you constantly train yourself to look up when a hard time does come you will out of instinct look up to Him for comfort and guidance.

Psalm 55:22 (New American Standard Bible)
22 Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you;
He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

 God Bless ~ Tyler

Well we had another great E3 group last night, it was small and intimate but I think that is was a good time of talking and reading God’s word. We had a chance to really talk about some things that were personal and needed some prayer and so that was great. We actually (since there were not any visitors) spent some time looking at the first chapter in 1 Thessalonians and talking about sharing our faith and what conversion looks like. But the part that really struck me the most was a statement that the author of the study wrote, he said…” The Great Commission (Matt. 28:18–20) gives Christians their marching orders: we are to partner with God in making disciples.”

What a great concept, one that I had never put into that frame of mind before. Now trust me I understand that we as humans cannot save anyone that God has to do that through His calling and the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the saving grace of Jesus’ blood; however we were tasked to go and share His gospel. I think too often we don’t share our faith due to the fear of what someone will think or that we believe the lies that the devil has sold us in that we are not smart enough to defend our faith. Well this is where this statement truly applies, there will always be someone smarter than us and better than us but no one is greater than the Almighty God. In business we do this all the time we call them strategic partnerships or in laymen’s terms someone who can help us make money or further our market share.

Well that is exactly what the statement that this author wrote means! We should partner with the Alpha and Omega and begin to help further His kingdom and “market share”. Don’t share your faith on your own strength partner with God and watch how you suddenly begin to remember scripture that you didn’t know you knew or have an insight that you had not even thought of before. Trust in God to be your partner and watch how the blessings flow.

God Bless ~ Tyler