Precious Time

So I got to see my son tonight. Wasn't for long, but every moment was precious. Amazing how much we can take for granted in our lives, but equally amazing when we truly appreciate and regard as precious what we have. In the little time I saw my son tonight, I cherished every moment. At first, he was kind of fussy, and seemed like he didn't really remember me too well from a little over a week ago when I last saw him. Mind you, he's only 3 months old, so his memory isn't too great yet. However, after about 15 minutes of shifting around, trying to play, nothing seeming to work very well in making him happy, he and I finally found that place of harmony, that sweet spot. I held him up against my chest and began singing to him. Mind you, I'm no vocalist when I'm trying to sing at church, or really any other time, but somehow, when I'm singing to my son, it's perfect. I began singing to him a Dennis Jernigan song, "When the night is falling." Goes something like this, "When the night is falling, when the day is done, I will hear you calling, 'Come,' and I will come, while you sing over me...When the night would hide my way, I will listen until I hear you say... 'How I love you child I love you, how I love you child I love you, how....I love you..." I just sang this to Levi over and over, and he fell asleep on my chest with his head nestled under my chin...It was absolutely heavenly. All my cares, all my hurts I'd been bearing for so long, just melted away for those precious few minutes. As I just held him and sang over him for those 20 or 30 minutes, I envisioned my heavenly Father singing over me in the same manner, and I truly felt the same peace that my son felt while he was wrapped safe in my arms. Tonight was an experience I shall cherish forever. When was the last time you felt your heavenly Father singing over you? I would encourage you to quiet all that is around you and listen.... Just listen.

How to fix our economy...

Ok, the following is my response to a long, lively debate between myself and a friend regarding politics, in which he asked, "Okay, so what's the solution? What does conservatism have to offer in terms of fixing our economy?" The following is my answer. I hope that it resonates with some of you.


Here's the alternative as I see it. Mind you, I'm nothing more than an armchair quarterback. Here we go: Massive tax cuts, and massive de-regulation of industry. Whose taxes do we lower? Everyone's. I'm not talking about a measly $600 - $1000 stimulus check in the mail - that's liberal territory, and that check is an insult. I'm talking about major tax cuts, in every single bracket. Tax cuts for the working man, such as you and I, so that our wage goes farther, buys more goods and services. Tax cuts for small businesses, so they can afford to do business and compete. Even tax cuts for the corporations. I know you won't like the last one, but follow me for a minute and I think you'll understand where I'm coming from. When you take all the red tape and bloated govt beaurocracy out of the way, make it easier for businesses to actually do business, the economy will pick up. Then you lower corporate taxes, so that corporations can actually afford to do business in the U.S., and you will see many, many of those jobs that are currently outsourced to other countries moved back to the U.S. You might actually speak to an English-fluent American citizen the next time you call Dell technical support. Our economy will start to flourish again. People will keep more of what they earn, and they will be able to afford the goods and services more easily, because they will be American made and affordable. Those American made goods and services will provide TONS of jobs for the educated AND uneducated. Of course, the massive de-regulation and massive tax cuts I speak of will result in masssive government downsizing.
That's the beauty of it. Our economy recovers while our government shrinks. And all those laid-off government workers? There will be millions of available jobs in the PRIVATE sector! People who are skilled at their jobs and good at what they do will flourish. Those who are lazy, will not. Conservatism emphasizes personal responsiblity. It's only last year that I finally got my degree. In 5 years, through nothing more than hard work and determination, I increased my pay by 60%! I was an uneducated working guy. Now I have a much easier, more enjoyable job due to nothing more than my personal drive and effort. My education didn't even affect or help my pay.
Obviously, this can't all be done in one day - it would have to be done in many steps. Here's another solution - do away with the Federal Reserve - a nationalized bank has never been good for us. And they are not even part of the govt - they are no more federal than Federal Express. THIS week, they just printed a TRILLION more dollars, and SOLD that money in bonds to the CHINESE!! They need to stop printing money! The more dollars that exist in the global economy, the less those dollars are worth against all the other currencies in the world. Inflation is going to hit the roof this summer! Not to mention that Obama himself openly admitted that his cap-and-trade plan will actually increase the average American's utility bills by $1800 per year! Ok, back to the trillion bucks that were just printed - What the hell are we doing selling more money to China? It absolutely frightens me how much money we OWE COMMUNIST CHINA! NOT a good position to be in! And it's not just the democrats' fault, it's the repubs too. How stupid can we be?? And speaking of owing money, we started Obama's presidency with a $465 billion deficit. Thanks a lot, GW. However, now we are saddled with a several TRILLION dollar deficit in 11 weeks time! Unbelievable! It is simple common sense - You CANNOT spend your way out of debt! It is impossible! Not on any scale! You simply can NOT get out of debt by spending more money! This spending is NOT about getting us out of debt - it is about the libs going crazy spending all the money they haven't been able to spend for the past 40 years. It is an unprecedented power grab.
Anyhoo, there's my personal economic plan for this country. I am absolutely positive it will work. And if a simple guy like me with nothing more than an associate's degree can figure it out, I know there are true conservatives who can put the details to the plan. The only problem is, there is NO real leadership in the republican party. They have sold out big time. Hence my not claiming them. BIG, BIG difference these days between a republican and a conservative. Honestly, I don't see any real solutions actually taking place for a while, because I don't see any repubs with any stones out there.
The ONLY hope I have is that the damage that Obama will do over the next 4 yrs will get people so fired up that it lights a fire under enough people's butts that we will bring about a revolution at the ballot box, and throw Pelosi, Reid, Dodd, Frank, Schumer, Boxer, and their cronies out on their butts and hopefully in the next 4 yrs some politicians with some character will grow some cajones and be the leaders that our country so desperately needs. I just hope and pray that we don't fall into a civil war before then.

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

By Roger King Tuesday, February 17, 2009 Barack Obama has been in power for about a month but his promise of “change” appears to be more than just a liberal agenda. Not only is it becoming apparent that the economic crisis is being used to push a socialist agenda that would make Sol Alinsky proud but there are some very disturbing signs as to how the Democrats plan to win subsequent elections. Bailout Bill Obama campaigned on a message of “hope over fear” but his current rhetoric talks about a crisis of catastrophic scope if the bailout bill isn’t passed immediately. What makes this suspicious is the fact that CBO states most of the bill will only take effect at the end of 2010 and will actually hurt our gross national product over the following 10 years. It is apparent that President Obama used this bill to accomplish things that would have been much harder to pass on their own merit. # Religious discrimination: Buried in the bill is a section that bans religious activities in many public education buildings. Further, there are upgrades to the national school systems but they are prohibited where religious activates may occur. Democrats voted 43-54 against an amendment to strike from the economic stimulus bill language that discriminates against people of faith. # Universal Health Care: The outline for Universal Health care will be put in place through this bill. In mandating a computer system for all medical records, every person will be mandated to have their records recorded in Federal Database. A National Coordinator of Health Information Technology position is going to be created to monitor this system. This outline will likely be used to track treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. Hospitals and doctors that are not “meaningful users” of the new system will face penalties. # ACORN: Potentially up to $4 billion for radical groups like ACORN will be dispersed. ACORN is a radical socialist group that helped the housing bust by pushing banks into making bad loans and is accused of voter fraud in more than 6 states. This group openly supports the Democrats and their tactics were learned through Sol Alinsky’s teachings. Obama even taught these classes to ACORN personnel in his Chicago days # Open Ended Welfare Returns: The bill sets in motion another $523 billion in new welfare spending that is hidden by budgetary gimmicks. Although this bill pretends that most of its welfare benefit increases will lapse after two years, they intend for most of these increases to become permanent. Instead of Welfare ending for recipients in 5 years that was done during the Clinton administration, now welfare entitlements will be open ended. TARP Funds to Control Business TARP funds have been used to buy stock in banks and financial institutions which essentially is the government buying ownership stakes in these companies. The question is will the government keep this ownership and for how long. President Obama has also decided to limit the executive pay to no more than $500, 000 per year for those companies that receive the bailouts. Of course they say these are only temporary measures but no end date has been given. To top it off Senator Barney Frank is proposing that the government regulate the pay for all executives but for some reason not for lawyers or the Hollywood elite. Gun Control In the first session of Congress the liberals introduced H.R. 45 (Blair Holt’s Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009). This bill targets anyone who owns a gun by requiring them to register all guns within 2 years. Every 5 years the gun owners must go through a renewal process for each gun they own. Failure to comply with these rules carries heavy penalties including jail time and having your guns confiscated. Probably the worst provision authorizes government searches without warrants. A new federal bureaucracy will be created to monitor this process. Do you really expect the liberal elites to allow automatic gun renewal? Silencing The Media To anyone but the most ardent liberal, it is quite apparent that the majority of the media is blatantly supporting Obama’s every action. The revelation that for 17 years Rahm Emmanuel (Obama’s Chief of Staff), George Stephanopoulos (ABC News), James Carville and Paul Begala (CNN) have had daily hour long calls that have continued into the Obama administration is but one example. Even though CNN is selling Obama shirts they will tell you they are not biased. Actions by the Obama administration have made it quite apparent to the media that you are either with Obama or you will systematically be silenced. For those that do not follow “the program”, you will be punished. For example, during the election the Washington Times, Fox News, N.Y. Post and Dallas Morning News were kicked off the Obama’s plane. It was not lost on the press that all these groups were McCain supporters. During press conferences candidate Obama pre-selected who was called to ask questions. If they asked the wrong questions they were not picked again. This has not been lost on the adoring press. Using one of Sol Alinsky’s sayings “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”, President Obama told Republicans “You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done.” Although so far, President Obama has claimed he does not want a fairness doctrine, there is a growing push to bring back some form of the “Fairness Doctrine”. Obama has already talked about wanting more minority ownership and requiring broadcasters to operate “in the public interest” which will be overseen by government or community groups. To add to the pressure shortening licensing terms will make it more likely a station owner will just abandon talk radio. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is also looking into policies that would allow it greater internet oversight. Census The Census taking is supposed to be ruled in a bipartisan manner. However, the Obama Administration is attempting to move the execution of the U.S. Census from the Department of Commerce to the White House under Rob Emanuel’s control. This is totally unprecedented and against federal law. Sen. Judd Gregg withdrew his name from consideration as Sec. of Commerce in large part because of this action. So what is the problem with having the White House running the Census? The Census results drive how welfare and aid to states is distributed. Further, it determines congressional seats per state and electoral college votes. Instead of having the normal direct count, Robe Emanuel wants to estimate numbers instead of an actual count for minority groups. To make matters even more interesting, under the White House direction there would be less requirements for openness as to the process that was used to arrive at the Census results. Talk about the potential for major gerrymandering which could bring a windfall of new Democratic votes. Illegal Immigrates Getting Amnesty Once again there is an immigration bill working its way through Congress. It would give Illegal aliens 24 hours to get access with their lawyers paid for with tax payer dollars. A temporary visa would be renewable indefinitely. Illegal aliens would not have to pay back taxes but will get tax credits. North American Union will be fast tracked. Finally, Illegal Immigrants will get state college tuition regardless of the state. When our country is in such a bad recession, why would you want new citizens that inherently use over twice as many tax dollars as they pay? Why would we want more workers in our country when unemployment is over 7%? Again, because they, as a group, overwhelmingly vote Democratic. District of Columbia to have Congressional Votes Democrats want to give full representation to the District of Columbia thereby giving them two senators and a representative for the House. Since only states have this representation, Congress will pass a law giving the District of Columbia ”the functional equivalent of a state”. On February 11, 2009 a senate committee passed this very bill and it will be voted on by all members in the coming weeks. You would be right if you guessed that the District of Columbia would vote Democratic. Civilian Expeditionary Workforce While on the campaign trail Barack Obama said ”We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” You Tube Link Now, the Defense Department has established just such a ”Civilian Expeditionary Workforce” (Defense Department Directive 1404.10) that will see American civilians trained and equipped to deploy overseas in support of worldwide military missions. Link According to a Defense Department report the intent of this program “is to maximize the use of the civilian workforce to allow military personnel to be fully utilized for operational requirements.” Is this an initial step fulfilling President Obama’s promise to form a civilian national security force as powerful as the U.S. military? Will this ”Civilian Expeditionary Workforce” ever be used in the US? Will we see ”youth brigades” roaming the streets to protect us? We will have to keep a close eye on this.

A quote from Thomas Paine....

Here is an excerpt from "Common Sense", written by Thomas Paine in 1776. Still makes sense 232 years later.SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expence and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.

Spiritual Banking Crisis...a must read.

This is an article recently written by Dennis Jernigan, a christian musician and songwriter. It spoke directly to me where I am in life, trying to minister to some homeless folks who have become my friends. I hope that it will minister to you as well.

"Today’s world financial institutions find themselves in a major crisis…but that is not what this article is about! Lately, I have been asked on several occasions how to minister to someone who is bound up in some besetting sin or another (in my world, that usually means someone who struggles with same sex attraction, but the principles I am sharing apply to any ministry situation).

Today, while fielding questions from students at a Christian University in Southern California, someone made this statement. “How do you minister to someone who struggles with same sex attraction when they find so much validation in the gay world?” That’s a great question. My answer?

It all boils down to relationship.

I know many believers who have a very real and deep interest in ministering to the needs of other people…who sincerely believe they have the answers people need to hear. And for the most part, they do. Many believers also like to see those they are ministering to suddenly ‘see the light’ and begin to walk in freedom from ‘whatever’ – and who doesn’t? But I also run across many who seem to become easily frustrated with those they minister to. “Why can’t they see what I see? Why don’t they change like I did? What’s their problem?” I have personally watched seasoned believers throw their hands up in frustration and simply cut off the one (whether intentionally or not) they are trying to minister to.

I am personally not surprised at this, given the ‘I want it and I want it now’ attitude of our American culture. We want instant gratification. We want our food fast. We want out car loans approved the minute we choose our new car. We want the latest, greatest video game and we want it now. We want that new song and we download the mp3 within seconds of the release. We have grown quite accustomed to having what we want when we want it…and, as a result, I am afraid have allowed that attitude to permeate our ministry styles. Somehow, relationship –real living, thriving relationship – does not fit all that well in the digital age of instant gratification.

So how do we minister to someone who finds validation from their peers? How do we penetrate the world with God’s love? One thing we need to remember: God’s love always trumps validation. Validation (and we all need it in one way or another) is not love. Love overcomes fear of rejection. Love overcomes our need to meet our needs in ways other than God intended. Love does not flatter because love gets to the deepest, basic human need – to be known and to know. This is called relationship. If we truly desire to minister to someone, we must begin investing in the lives of others in a relational way. It’s like putting money in the bank.

Mind you, I LOVE ministering to large groups of people because I can get the word out about the hope and freedom I found in knowing Jesus intimately. In large settings I am able – to a very small degree – to build a momentary relationship with those I am sharing with…and that is valid and good. But through the years, I have found the most profound ministry I have been privileged to be involved in has come through one on one relationship. After all, Jesus spent more time building relationships than in His public speaking ministry. How much time do you think He spent just ‘being’ with people and with just getting to know them as opposed to the amount of time He spent preaching? I believe the time He spent with the disciples and others was vastly greater than the amount of time He spent in preaching. Could that be a clue for us as ministers?

When ministering to an individual, I see the time and effort I spend in pouring my life into that relationship much like investing in the savings account of their heart. When I invest time, and effort, and support, and real interest in their life it is like I eventually build up enough of an account that there comes a time when I have the freedom to make withdrawals from that account. In other words, I build a real relationship based on trust to the point where the other party has absolutely no doubt that I love them and they trust that I have their best interests at heart. It is when that account is full that I can speak truth into their life because I know THEY know I will not reject them – regardless of whether they receive my great wisdom or not. My love does not depend on their level of freedom or spirituality. And that speaks volumes. But relationship takes time and it takes effort…and that flies in the face of our cultural need for instant gratification.

There have been many times (too numerous to count!) when people with good intentions have spoken some ‘truth’ to me expecting me to respond a certain way, only to be ‘appalled’ at my reluctance to heed their word to me. During some of those encounters I have had to gently say to the person ‘I appreciate your concern for me but I find it difficult to believe you really care about me since you have not ever taken the time to get to know me.’ What I have found is that, often in such situations, I am actually being manipulated by a spiritually abusive person (a controller). The reason I share that is because we do that to lost and hurting people all the time. We who have a Christian world view sometimes have a ‘holier than thou’ attitude as well. “If they do not want my advice or ministry then forget it!”

What would Jesus do?

This was brought home to me in a very real and personal way back in 1981. A good friend discovered that I was struggling with same sex attraction…and did not try to fix me instantly! In his wisdom he said this: “I do not know all the answers to freedom. I just know THE Answer – Jesus. I will walk toward Jesus with you…for however long it takes…through whatever storms you must face. When you fall I will help you up. When you hurt I will hold you. When you need a shoulder to cry on I will be there.” I had to go OUTSIDE of the church to have the love of God demonstrated to me in a tangible way! Someone offered relationship rather than a sermon…and I latched on to that! In fact, just to show you how real and honest that person was, they still make that commitment to me TO THIS DAY! That’s love! That love led me to repentance! Repentance led me to freedom and hope! And because my friend has been willing to consistently invest in my heart and life, he has the freedom to make withdrawals when necessary…to speak truth when I walk in error…to remind me of Whose and who I am when I walk in fear or loneliness…to find the same encouragement from my heart back to his.

I have a friend I have been investing in for about four years now. He was addicted to crank for 17 years. He was a biker. He was a fighter. He is rough around the edges. I saw others at church gatherings avoid him. I saw this once strong physical specimen of a man beaten down by health issues and no one go visit him in the hospital…because the good Christians had given up on him…thought him too coarse…thought him less than desirable to be around. All I did was go see him in the hospital and begin calling to check on him…and found a man who had been so in need of a real friend but so disillusioned by the church that he had all but given up hope. I also discovered that his coarseness was actually a defense mechanism. If he behaved in a way that Christians found objectionable then he could count on Christians to reject him – and he could freely say, “See. I told you so. Christians are no different than anyone else. They just care about themselves and how others perceive them.” I simply decided to prove him wrong!

What I have discovered in the process of simply loving my friend is that love breaks through barriers that logic and wisdom cannot. I have lived a lot of life and have learned a few things…but what people need more than what I know is that I care that they exist. That is what investing our time and effort and money and friendship does for others. They realize they are worth knowing. That’s like money in the bank my friend! That love and expression of worth to others breaks barriers and brings opportunities for true freedom and hope and salvation for those we take the time to invest in. Sometimes the quickest way into the heart of another is an investment of time. Are we in this for the long haul or are we in this for just another notch on our spiritual belt?

Do you really want to minister to others? Do you see others as worth your time? Would you be willing to walk into their world with the love of God? That friend I told you about loves NASCAR – LOVES it! I know nothing about it and it makes no sense to me…but I ask him to teach me about the drivers and the cars and the races and the racetracks. That is what Jesus would do – spend time in their world. Would Jesus go to a gathering of homosexuals and befriend them? I think so. Would he go into a bar and have a beer with a lonely heart? I think so. Would he invite a poor family over for dinner? You know it. Would He spend time with a man struggling with addiction? He would.

I get to talk with a lot of different people via the internet (MySpace, Facebook, etc.) who struggle with homosexuality who tell me they will never darken the door of a church for fear of rejection! That’s not right! Shouldn’t the church be the first place people look to for hope? There is definitely a spiritual banking crisis that I think mirrors the financial crisis we face in our world right now. For the past 2 years I have encouraged this friend I mentioned to look beyond the way people treated him and simply love them and serve them the way he would want to be loved and served. One recent Sunday morning he finally had enough of the rejection and walked away from the duty he had been fulfilling there…and NOT ONE PERSON has called to check on him!

Jesus did not command us to bring people into the walls of the church building and there they would find salvation. Rather, He commanded us to GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES. Could it be that in our desire to be seeker sensitive we have in reality just delegated our responsibilities to be ministers of reconciliation to the church staff and leadership team on a Sunday morning? Whatever happened to equipping the SAINTS for ministry? Whatever happened to the Great Commission? Could it be it does not fit our cultural need for instant gratification? I don’t know. I’m just asking the questions. What I do know is this: Jesus, while on this earth, invested His life in others. To invest our lives in the lives of others is a wise investment…an investment born of relationship that, if we are patient and loving, will lead to salvation, freedom, and hope for those we invest our lives in. Let’s stop the spiritual banking crisis by pouring the wealth of all God has done in our lives into the lost and dying right next to us…where we work…where we shop…where we get our oil changed…where our kids go to school…where we live.
Dennis Jernigan
(I am Dennis Jernigan and I approve this message)"

Political Rant

This guy is great - he is a true critical thinker, and presents a conservative viewpoint in a clear and relevant manner where anyone can understand it. GREAT stuff.

The Unexpected

So this weekend has been interesting. Very good, but interesting. God really took me out of my comfort zone this weekend. Being the second friday of the month, we did the monthly City Rescue Mission micromission trip. If you don't know what that is, every month I take anywhere from 35 to 70 LifeChurch volunteers to the City Rescue Mission, where we do a LifeChurch service for the homeless clients there. We generally have anywhere from 100 to 200 people show up for the service. God always meets us there in a big way, and each month in a different way. This month, he really stretched thing. Or, should I say, He really stretched ME! Normally, our worship band will do a few warm-up songs, and then play the worship set. Then I will do a short welcome/intro, where I tell them who we are, what the message will be about, etc., then we play a dvd of one of many of pastor Craig's archived messages. Normally I try to select a mesage each month that I feel will speak to the hearts of the homeless. We have been doing it this way for a couple of years. There have been a couple of occasions that a person here or there, especially Camerson Wilson, have encouraged me to preach once in a while, but I have never had the courage to do so. It seems like each month, we ALWAYS have some kind of technical problems, as the equipmet there at the rescue mission is pretty crummy, but we somehow always find a way to make last minute repairs that get us through the night. Well, this month was different. The coaxial cable from the projector (that is hanging from the 25 foot ceiling) that we always plug into our laptop for the song lyrics and the message BROKE. PERMANENTLY. So in other words, we were singing without lyrics to the song, and we were not able to play the dvd. SO, yours truly, being the leader of the trip, had to come up with a solution FAST. And the only solution being that I had to get up onstage and PREACH! And needless to say, I was NOT prepared for that! I have known for a long time that we might someday have a malfunction that required me to speak off-the-cuff, and knew that I should prepare a short message to always have ready, but being the procrastinator that I am, I kept putting it off. Not good. Because here I was with a hundred people looking to ME to do something, say SOMETHING! Now, let me say that normally, I am not nervous at all about getting up on stage at the City Rescue Mission, because it's only for a couple of minutes, and it's only to intro the message, or to do the "altar call." This time, let me assure you, I was NERVOUS! Try as I may, I couldn't come up with what I wanted to talk about. So I prayed, VERY earnestly, "God, I don't know what to say. Please, just fill me, and speak through me. Let the message be what these people need to hear." And I still didn't know what I wanted to say when I stepped up there. But I had faith that God would come through when I needed Him to. When His people needed Him to. And come through He did! Referring to our technical difficulties, I began to talk about when we all experience times in our lives when things don't go the way we expect them to, or when things don't go the way we want them to. I talked about how we handle those times, whether we turn to God, or whether we turn to the things of this world to ease our pain in troubled times. I talked about how nothing else would heal our pain or satisfy our souls but a relationship with God. I talked about how no one is too far gone, or too screwed up for God to transform their lives. I talked about how He created each one of us uniquely, and how He has an amazing plan and purpose for each of our lives. I talked about how much He loves each and every person there, and that becoming a christian didn't mean that they will wake up in the morning and have a new house, a job, and a nice car, and that life will be a cakewalk from now on. I told them that they will still have earthly, physical struggles. But that the difference is, that now, instead of confusion, they have peace. Instead of despair, they have hope. Where there was once pain, God will bring healing. Where they are weak, He will be strong. It was an amazing, anointed time, and I could literally feel God's presence there. When it was all said and done, 12 people gave their hearts to Jesus that night. And God showed Himself faithful and true to me in a new way. He took me to a new level Friday night. And I understood more than ever, when He is involved, it is never rote or routine. And I understood more than ever, that it is SO not about me - that regardless of how I might plan the trip or the service, that HE has a bigger plan, and His plans ALWAYS trump my plans! He orchestrated the night the way HE wanted. And it was GOOD. And I guess that He is going to continue to stretch me, because until and unless the projector gets fixed (fat chance), I am going to have to preach each month from now on! I think He's trying to tell me something......
When is a time that God has stretched you or used you in a way you didn't think was possible? And what was the outcome?