God’s Plan

I lived in Germany for seven years after retiring from the Air Force and wanted to come back home to Mena, Arkansas to be around my family and the beauty that Mena offers. 

I was working at LRMC (Landstuhl Regional Medical Center) as an HR assistant, in-processing new personnel and out-processing personnel leaving and performing leave and finance duties for all the soldiers assigned and I was thankful for the job, but there is a term limit for government civilians working overseas, that they started enforcing, called the five-year-rule.  I had completed 22 years in the Air Force moving where the military wanted me to and I wanted to live where I wanted to, so I took it upon myself to find a job in Arkansas to get closer to family and home. 

I applied for what seemed like countless jobs only to be turned down, however, I made some interview lists and struck out, but I finally got an interview to be the Program Assistant in Arkadelphia with the ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) and was hired, a blessing from God.     

My wife and I sold almost all our things and shipped some essentials along with our Van and moved to Mena, Arkansas.  Arkadelphia is 1 hour and 45 minutes away from Mena one way.  That job got me back to Arkansas. 

It didn’t take too long and my wife, Manuela, was invited to attend a Church in Mena.  We started attending Faith Missionary Baptist Church and fell in love with the Pastor’s style of preaching.  It was like he was preaching right at you at times.  It was as if he was spying on us, but that was just the Holy Spirit working inside of us.  The Pastor ended up leaving and the more we got to know the congregation, the more we fell in love with the Church body.  They’re so loving and nice.  That’s what following Jesus is about…Love, and the Church does a great job displaying that.

Anyway, I was asked to be on the Pulpit committee, to help search for a new Pastor.  I wanted to be on the committee, but never expressed this desire to anyone.  That was God’s work.  I thought being on the committee was going to be a breeze, we’ll meet a few times, make a few phone calls and have a new Pastor in a few weeks.  I was wrong, we are going on three months.  You see, there are more Churches looking for Pastors than Pastors looking for Churches.  God wants me to learn something from this experience.  I know God has a plan and it’s on his time, not mine.  That’s one thing that God is trying to teach me (patience) and the other I think he wants me to understand is to have faith.  God’s got this.  It’s not about us (the pulpit committee), it’s about him.  He is going to send us the right preacher for our Church.  We just gotta believe.   

There’s not many government jobs in Mena, but we do have the Forest Service in Mena and I found an opening in Mena that I applied for.  I had been praying to get closer to home for some time now and when I saw the opening,  I put my resume in for it and prayed and waited.  Well God heard me and I got the job.  Now, I drive about 6 minutes one way to work as opposed to driving 1 hour and 45 minutes.  It’s crazy, I hardly ever have to put gas in my car now.  I bought a Ford Eco Sport to help with gas mileage for the drive to Arkadelphia.  It gets about 35 miles to the gallon on the highway.  I was getting gas every two days, now maybe once every two weeks, another blessing from God. 

On one of the times we visited Mena, my wife and I looked at a house that my step Mom’s sister and husband had for sale.  At first, I thought why should we look at this house, we don’t even have a job lined up here yet (Oh Ye of little faith) but God works in mysterious ways.  I ended up getting the job in Arkadelphia, buying the house and eventually getting the job in Mena.  The house is less than three miles away from the Forest Service.  All of it worked out, God has a plan.  We just have to have faith.              

A Busy and Blessed Sunday

Sunday my wife got up and decided she wanted to go help with the 4th Sunday morning Brotherhood breakfast that started at 730 am.  Of-course, I wanted no part of that.  That means I would be getting the kids ready, which she helped before she left, and I would finish getting the kids ready and ensure we are there at 830 am for breakfast. 

We have an almost four year-old, December 18, and a six year-old.  Anyway, I finished getting myself and the kids ready and show up to Church with the girls for brotherhood breakfast and Sunday morning devotion.

When we got there, there was pancakes being grilled outside on the grill, bacon, eggs, the works.  It was very good. 

I had worked on my Sunday school lesson the day prior and was proud of myself for studying the lesson and filling out the answers.  I even blogged about it here on my website.  Well, our Sunday school teacher couldn’t make it to Sunday school and his fill-in found out about taking his place the day before, since my wife knew I had studied the lesson, she made sure to tell “Pistol” that I had studied it, basically, volunteering me for the job.  Pistol said he had heard that I did my homework and asked if I wanted to lead the Sunday school this morning, Sunday school is in two hours. But, who am I to say no to God (“Pistol” is not God, but we are in God’s house.  Who am I to say no in God’s house?)

Plus I like to be challenged.  I don’t really like being in front of people, but I like to try to overcome my fears and I accepted the chance to present the material. 

Anyway, next up was a beautiful devotion from one of our beloved Church members that was another blessing to listen to her speak.  It was a touching devotion about making sure we have our body armor on to fend off the devil while we are searching for a Pastor.  She reminded us, her Son is in the ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) program and she went to pick him up from training and she noticed how everyone had a battle buddy, reminding each other not to forget their back pack, or luggage or whatever and they were genuinely concerned for each other and their well-being, just like our Church is checking on each other, praying for each other, praying for the Pul-pit Committee and for our Church in this time without a “Shepherd”, her words were inspiring and a blessing and we haven’t even had Sunday School yet.

It was an honor to go over the material with the Sunday school and I felt good that I was helping out any way I could in Church.  There was a lot of class participation.  It turned out to be a blessing to help out.  I guess that’s what happens when you show up to Church early for breakfast.

For our Church service we had a visiting preacher come to share his sermon with us and it turned out to be a wonderful message, one that the Lord put on his heart and I am sure that we all needed to hear about Paul being “all in” when he went to deliver his sermon in Colossian.  The preacher said Paul really had nothing to lose in Colossians.  He surely wasn’t afraid to die, because he knew he would go to heaven to be with the Lord anyway.  And he was asking if we are “all in” for Jesus?  It was another beautiful message and another blessing and it’s not even 12:30 pm now. 

Next, since it’s the fourth Sunday, we have youth night at Holly Springs Homestead scheduled and I am helping with security, making sure vehicles are parked in the parking lots.

There was a crowd of about 180 that showed up, there were games to play at the Homestead from Frisbee toss to corn hole and a corn maze for the youth to traverse.  There was hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, and even hobo soup.  After, the kids were fed (eating again, we’re Baptists, what can I say, we like to eat), we sang songs and had a message for the youth.  We even had one soul saved and planted seeds in many more.  Again, another blessing.  The day was filled with blessings.  I was exhausted at the end of the day, but I slept great.  Who am I to say to say no to helping the Church and serving God?  Are you All In for Jesus?        

The Importance of Knowledge in our Walk with Jesus

What does the word “walk” mean when referenced to our relationship with Jesus? In our Sunday school lesson we are studying Colossians 3:5-11. Colossians 5 “So put to death the sinful, earthy things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature, and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.” (Holy Bible, Gift & Award Edition, New Living Translation, second Edition)

In my Sunday school lesson it says “Paul offers two very good reasons why the sins in 3:5 must be avoided. First, the wrath of God is coming for those who practice such things. God’s wrath is real against those who sin and the Bible is full of examples in both the Old and New Testaments. Specifically, Paul mentions that God’s wrath is coming upon the children of disobedience. This key phrase is mentioned two other times in Ephesians 2:2 and 5:6, related passages. Paul uses this phrase in Ephesians 5:6 after listing some of the same sins in that letter. The wrath of God is serious and often met with eternal consequences.” (Baptist Expositor, Learner 2019)

It goes on to say “The second reason Paul offers the Colossian believers as to why they should put these sins to death is because this is how they used to walk. The key word walk speaks of ones behavior and is a repeated word from 2:6. Paul used the word previously to speak of how the believers should now walk in Christ, but here in 3:7 he is referring to their behavior before Christ when they lived in these sins. There was a certain time in the past when these sins were part of their ongoing lifestyle. The point of emphasis is that these sins were part of their past, but should not be part of their present. Just like all believers who have committed their lives to the Lord, there are certain past behaviors that are no longer appropriate.” (Baptist Expositor, Learner 2019)

“Walk” in this Sunday school lesson refers to our behavior before and after accepting Jesus into our lives and one of the questions in the lesson is Colossian believers should put these sins to death is because this is how they used to walk. And the new man (after accepting Christ) is characterized by a renewal to knowledge.

The more we study our Bible and meditate on it, the more we learn what is expected of us as Christians. We’re to leave the sinful earthly nature behind and live a life pleasing to God in our renewed life.

Public Prayer

In case you missed it, country music singer, Kane Brown’s drummer, Kenny Dixon passed away in a car wreck last weekend and was clearly distraught over losing his friend and band member at the CMT awards, telling everyone that he “loved the country community, God Bless you guys and stay safe” ending with “I love ya’ll”, after accepting the CMT Artists of the Year award. 

https://variety.com/2019/music/news/kane-brown-drummer-kenny-dixon-cmt-artists-year-1203373914/

Thomas Rhett stepped out on faith and asked everyone in attendance if it would be alright if he prayed, saying “I don’t know if this is very conventional, but can I just pray really fast? Is it okay with everybody? Father God, we love you so much. Loss is something we can’t comprehend, and so right now I pray that you would be with Kane and his family and his drummer Kenny and his family, and bring them peace that only you know how to bring somebody.”

This is exactly what we need in the World, more people to step out in faith and not be afraid to proclaim their love and faith for God, to pray for our Country and to be unconventional, to pray for whatever is bothering you.  To have enough love for one another to lift them up to God to help heal them. 

Reba went on to say this at the awards ceremony “Thomas Rhett, God bless you for praying for us, you’re special. … You said that might not be aired on this, but he knows, it better be aired. It better make the cut. Because that’s what we need in life, a little bit more God. We’ve got to give this world back to God. We’ve got to give him the focus and attention that he needs.”

I’m glad Reba supported Rhett’s prayer.  It’s sad that we have to wonder if the prayer would be edited or taken out.  It should be more common ground to pray before these events, at sporting events asking for their safety.  I think we need to bring prayer back to school.  That’s what the World needs, but we are more worried about offending people. That’s just my opinion though.

You are more than welcome to pray for me and my family.  I’ll take your prayers, don’t be afraid to pray.  I say pray in public on National television.             

Doing What We Want To Do

I was at an event called Fields of Faith Wednesday at Bearcat Stadium in Mena, Arkansas.  Before I go any farther, I want to explain what this is. 

Fields of Faith is a student led event where students invite, pray for, share with and challenge their peers to read the Bible and follow Jesus Christ.  The venue is an athletic field to provide a neutral rally- point where a community can come together.

And it was awesome seeing young adults come together and worship Jesus.  There was pizza provided by a local pizza place, there was a band.  There were testimonials and guest speakers.  I would certainly call it a success.

But I heard the phrase doing whatever we wanted to do in some testimonials and this applies to us at Church as well, sometimes we hear someone say that they just did whatever they wanted to do when they were younger or before they were saved, referring to going out drinking, getting drunk, passing out, doing drugs, cheating, lying, stealing, basically living Worldly.  Instead of doing whatever we want to, shouldn’t we want to follow Jesus, shouldn’t we want to do the right thing, read our Bibles and worship God.  The more we read the Bible the more we learn how we as Christians need to live our lives. 

I’m not trying to pick on the kids.  It’s just some constructive criticism that applies to all of us even at Church.  And I’m not trying to sound better than anyone either.  I’m a sinner too.  I just want to change the perception that living for Christ is a choice we should want to do as opposed to living a sinful Worldly life.  We can still do what we want to do and live for Jesus Christ and leave the Worldly sinful life behind.  It’s the least we can do for Jesus since he died for our sins and with the grace of God we can all have everlasting life in Heaven, all we have to do is believe in Jesus.

Are you doing whatever you want when you read the Bible, go to Church, pray and worship God or are you doing whatever you want and living a sinful Worldly life? 

Replace Sinful Nature with Good-Hearted Nature (Love)

My wife and I were reading our Bible plan and I came across these verses I wanted to share with you in Ephesians:

Ephesians 5:17 “With the Lord’s authority I say this. Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. 18. Their minds are full of darkness. They wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. 19. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.”

20. “But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. 21. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him. 22. Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.  24.  Put on your new nature, created to be like God-truly righteous and holy.”

25. “So stop telling people lies.  Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body.  26.  And don’t sin by letting anger control you.  Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry.  27.  For anger gives a foothold to the devil”, Holy Bible New Living Translation, Second Edition.     

I love these verses.  It’s not easy being a Christian and living up to all the expectations that others have for us, not to mention the expectations that we have as Christians.

Verse 22 says “throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.”  Before accepting Jesus into our lives as our savior, we were more concerned about ourselves and filling our sinful needs and wants, but when we accept Jesus into our lives and become Christians, we need to be more concerned with others’ needs and not putting our sinful nature first. It’s about loving others and being more like Christ and when we do sin, we need to be aware of it and ask for forgiveness and try to not fall back into that same mindset again.      I love in verse 26 it says not to “let the sun go down while you are still angry.”  My wife and I try to not to go to sleep mad at each other and that is just one example, but the big picture is to not go to sleep mad at anyone.  That’s a hard feat to accomplish.  We don’t know if we will wake up tomorrow and it would be a travesty if we didn’t make amends with a loved one and didn’t get the chance to say you’re sorry and you love them.  Verse 27 says “for anger gives a foothold to the devil”.  The Devil wants nothing more than to destroy us and every chance he gets he will try to replace our good-hearted nature with sinful nature, so don’t let the devil get a foothold into your life, remember to Love like Jesus.

Sleeping Too Close to the Getting in Spot

Our Sunday school teacher told the Sunday school a story the other day and I wanted to share it with you.

He said, one night a small child rolled out of bed and landed on the floor. His Mom came in and picked the child up off the ground and consoled him and after the boy was calmed down put him back in bed. The Mom asked why did you fall out of bed and the boy thought about it for a while and after a minute or so said, well I guess I went to sleep too close to the getting in spot.

Our Sunday school teacher compared that to us as Christians. He said sometimes if we aren’t careful after getting saved, we may grow stagnant and go to sleep too close to the getting in spot. We think we are saved now and we don’t need to put forth any effort in our relationship with God. We’re good, we’re saved, right?

God already knows everything about us, he made us, but what do we know about God? I think the least we can do for giving his only son to die on the Cross for us, so we can be saved by God’s grace and go to Heaven is to spend some time and effort on our relationship with him. How do we get to know God, by meditating in our Bible (not just reading it), praying, and going to Church, to name a few and to be as close in our lives as possible to live like Jesus, yes Jesus was perfect and we are not, but we should strive to live like Jesus and to love like Jesus after all being a Christian is about loving others.

The Sunday school teacher also shared a story about sharing a garden with his neighbors and they would plant the garden, harvest the garden and share the crops from the garden. He said the men were all God fearing Christians, but he noticed one of the neighbor’s brothers stopped going to Church because he was afraid God would call on him to be a preacher like his other brothers.

It’s sad that some of us are afraid to step outside of our comfort zone to serve the Lord, whether that is being a Sunday school teacher, leading the music in our Church, preaching, serving on the pulpit committee, being a deacon, or all the other positions that are required for a Church to be successful. Aren’t we supposed to serve God?

Be careful not to go to sleep too close to the getting in spot and step out of your comfort zone to help your Church by serving God.

Acquaintances

I’ve been blessed with a job opportunity in Mena, Arkansas, where I live. I currently commute to work 1 hour and 45 minutes a day one way. I’m looking forward to working in the same city that I reside in. My new place of employment will be 2.5 miles away from my residence as opposed to 85 miles away, maybe I can keep my car clean now.

I wanted to pay homage to the people we come in contact on a day to day basis that I will no longer see (maybe not on a daily basis).

I travel on highway 8E from Mena to Arkadelphia so the first person I won’t see anymore is the policeman directing traffic at Centerpoint school district. If I leave early enough he’s not there, but if I am running behind at all, he is out directing traffic, keeping everyone safe.

Other places I won’t frequent as much is Norman Truck Stop, sometimes I stop there to get gas, when it doesn’t look too busy. Another place I won’t frequent as much is the Big Red in Glenwood, a place I stopped to get gas or grab a snack.

I will also miss the friendly people that operate Davidson’s Sporting Goods and Grocery store in Amity. I stop there to grab a pack of M&Ms and a Sprite for the ride home. I also found Zoom Brush Hog Watermelon flake tackle that I used to catch that 6lb bass. I will miss the nice people there.

Another place I won’t frequent anymore is the Chick-fil-A at Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist Universities. There’s no Chick-fil-A in Mena, but I will get to eat at Meyers Cruizzers Drive in more, or probably just drive home for lunch.

I also will miss Allen’s BBQ and catering. I have to hit these places up before I leave.

I’m leaving old acquaintances and making new ones and I just wanted to take some time to make sure we don’t take people for granted that we see on a daily basis, from the policeman directing traffic to the people working at your favorite convenience store.

I’m ready to start the next chapter of my life and none of this would be possible if it wasn’t for God! God is Good (All the Time).

Just Believe

I couldn’t sleep last night. I’ve got insomnia and I had this article stuck in my head. I got up twice to literally put pen to paper in the dark so I don’t wake up the rest of the family. I was up first at 1:30 am and again at 2 am. My best ideas come at night when I can’t sleep and if I don’t write them down, their gone the next day, no matter how much I rack my brain, I can’t remember it.

I was up last night wondering what it’s like to be a non-believer. What’s it like to not believe in God? You can either choose to believe in God and Jesus or you can believe in nothing or maybe you believe in science. Don’t you think it takes more energy being a non-believer than it does being a believer? It’s kind of sad, when you think about it. How do you fully love if you don’t believe in Jesus? That’s a big part of being a Christian, is to love like Jesus or to try, how can we ever love like Jesus, but as a Christian, we must love one another. If you don’t believe in Jesus, it almost sounds like the absence of love.

What does it take to be a believer? I’m no expert, but I think it takes a person with an open mind and a willingness to believe in something greater than yourself.

Something that I think we take for granted, is the sun rising every day. Another miracle that we take for granted is the miracle of human life leading up to child birth. I don’t believe that these things just came about on their own. I believe that God created all living things and created Heaven and Earth. Genesis 1. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of waters. 3. Then God said ‘Let there be light’, and there was light. 4. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day’ and the darkness ‘night.’ And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day,” Holy Bible NLT, Second Edition. But I believe in the bible, if your an atheist you don’t believe in the bible.

It’s hard for me to fathom not believing so I’ll chose to Just Believe.

Faith and Patience

I work in Arkadelphia, Arkansas and I commute 1 hour and 45 minutes one way to work. We moved from Germany to Mena in April 2018, I’m a government employee and there weren’t very many GS jobs near my hometown in Mena, where my wife and I wanted to live.

But, I kept looking on USA jobs for job opportunities in Mena or at least in the area. I finally found one I was qualified for and applied for it a few months ago (It seems like almost 6 months). If you have ever applied for a job on USA jobs, you know it takes a long time to get notifications on the status.) I interviewed for the job over the phone and I would much rather interview in person, with a firm handshake and look the interviewers in the eye while answering questions while dressed for success.

I was nervous and I didn’t like my interview, but I prayed that if it was God’s will, they would pick me for the position. I rationalized it with God, saying I would have more family time, I wouldn’t have to worry about deer jumping out in front of me, or wrecking my car. I wouldn’t have to worry about bad weather. I would save money on gas, and oil changes, wear on tires, etc., etc. But God knew all this.

I kept my faith, but I hadn’t heard back from them in what seemed like an eternity, but in reality it was probably 3 or 4 weeks, so I called the forest service and checked to see if they had made a selection and they stated they had, but it was taking a long time for the notification to be announced. And two days later, I was notified that I was selected for the position. If I hadn’t have been selected I would have been disappointed, but I would accept that God needs me there in Arkadelphia, however, I kept my faith and tried to be patient and it all worked out and I am still thanking the Lord for this opportunity to be closer to home.