My Cup Runneth Over

I have been strengthening my walk with Jesus and spending more time building a relationship with him (my wife and I have joined the Church, my wife and I have been reading our Bibles, daily, and I have been praying more) and I can see small miracles being performed everyday.

I commute 1 hour and 45 minutes one way to work and the road I travel is heavily populated with deer. I pray that the deer stay on their side of the road and they have. I have passed deer right on the shoulder of the road. I try to slow down and move over to the other lane, if it is possible. I pray for my safety when I travel to and from work and the last few months have seen a lot of rain and thunderstorms to include hail, strong winds and sometimes tornadoes. And God is looking out for me, whether that means my boss sending me a message to work from home, or the storms along my way dissipating and weakening, missing me, or me being allowed to adjust my time to travel to and from work, whatever the case may be God is taking care of me.

Our Pastor at Church is also leaving and we’ll be looking for a new one. God put it on my heart to be a part of the committee to search for a new Pastor and I didn’t tell anyone about this feeling to be a part of this committee, but one of the Deacons unexpectedly asked if I wanted to be on the pulpit committee. It was such a welcomed surprise and an honor to be nominated, God certainly works in mysterious ways. While I don’t want to lose the current Pastor we have, I certainly don’t want to stand in the way of God’s will and I look forward to helping find a Pastor to fill the void of losing the current one.

I feel blessed beyond measure, my cup is definitely running over and I believe the more time you spend getting to know Jesus, reading your Bible, spending time at Church, attending Church events, helping when you can, and praying the more you will be blessed. And I feel Blessed!

God Is Working Within Us

As we celebrate this fourth of July, I wanted to share with you the change that is occurring within my life.

My wife met some very nice people at the Holly Springs Homestead and they invited us to their Church. I was reluctant at to go at first, probably the devil making his case that I didn’t need to or want to go, but we attended the Church. Soon, we started attending Church events, gatherings and even various occasions to eat, Baptists like to eat and I could feel the Holy Spirit working inside me.

I noticed my wife reading her Bible every night. I would watch TV while she read and after about two months I started joining her, now we read the Bible together for about 30 0r 40 minutes a night. She has a plan inside her Bible; how to read the Bible in one year. http://firstbible.org/resources/helpfullinks/Bible%20Reading%20Chart-%20In%20One%20Year.pdf

We read the Bible every night, we attend Church every week and we pray. I pray several times a day, maybe five or six times and the difference it makes in my life is astonishing.

I want to share this scripture with you that I read last night:

Psalms 1:1 1. “Oh, the Joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. 2. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. 3. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. 4. But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind. 5. They will be condemned at the time of judgement. Sinners will have no place among the godly. 6. For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction”, (Holy Bible, Gift & Award Edition, New Living Translation, Second Edition.)

This is so true. everything that I do now that I am improving my walk with Jesus, and getting to know him more, is better. I am more motivated at work. I am more organized at work. I am in a better mood. When I commute to work, I see deer quite frequently on my commute to work and sometimes they will be standing right beside the road looking like they would pounce right in my lane as I drive by, of course I slow down and get over into the left lane if I can, but they stay right in their tracks and that is something I pray about on a regular basis.

I have also been praying that the storms are not severe in our area, due to my commute to and from work and the last few weeks the weather has been very good. There was a tornado that didn’t completely form in Mena a few weeks ago, again something I frequently pray about.

When I pray, I ask to be able to hear God, to let me know the right path to take in life and I was having an un-pure thought and I instantly threw up in my mouth. The timing was remarkable. I told God, ok, you’ve got my attention. I am sorry.

Another time, My five-year old was really pushing my buttons and I told her to go in her room and we were arguing. I was overreacting, I was about to put her into her room and at that split moment there was a loud lightning and thunder and that was the only loud thunder and lightning of that storm. Again, I said ok, God you’ve got my attention. I’m sorry.

God is working in me and my wife’s lives and it is truly remarkable, and its my contention that my wife finds me more attractive because we are doing something together. Enjoy your fourth of July and join in on reading your Bible in one year.

God Opens Doors

My family and I just moved back to my hometown in Mena, Arkansas a little over 1 year ago. I wanted to move back home after retiring from the Military and spending over six years as a civilian. I thought it was time to be around my family and I missed the beautiful Arkansas countryside.

I work for the government and there are not many government jobs in Mena much less near Mena. I applied for many jobs. I feel like I am not a great interviewer and I was interviewing over the phone because we lived in Germany. I prayed about it many times, praying if it is God’s will that I would be hired, while reminding myself that I am on Gods schedule, not mine but I finally got hired in Arkansas, not in Mena, but close enough. I felt like if God gave me the opportunity to be hired that I should take it even if it is a long commute every day especially with all the competition for jobs and my interview skills.

Not only am I back living in my hometown around family, but we met some great people that invited us to their church. I was apprehensive at first, but after a few weeks we went and in a month or two we joined the church and it has been so awesome to be accepted by the congregation. I truly believe God sent us here for a reason, to be around family, to help out when called upon and to join this Church and to help them as well. God has a plan for us. I don’t know how this is going to end, but we’re just getting started.

My story may not be all that exciting, but I wanted to share it with you, so I could share a very exciting story how God opened up doors for Stephen Baldwin. This is an amazing story. It is long, and it starts out slow, but trust me it’s awesome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdctQJHvpkI

Love

Our Church set up it’s slide in a nearby park, it was open to the public. We wanted to spread love around, meet new people and try the new slide out, before kids camp starts this week.

You should have seen how much fun the kids and grown-ups had on that slide. We had a great time fellowshipping, eating and meeting new people, some of the older members even tried out the slide. We need to do more things like this in our communities to break bread and fellowship with one another.

We made our rounds around the park looking for new people to “love on” as one of our church-members said. We got to meet some new people and some new people showed up to Church this week. I’d call that a success.

Instead of fighting, and politicking, we need more love in the world we live in now. I could certainly do a better job of loving my family, my wife, my kids, my Aunt and Uncle, Step-Mom, friends and even my enemies. Can we really ever love someone enough? We could all probably do a better job of showing people we love them.

Join me, and tell someone that you love, just how much they mean to you while we still have the chance.