Response to Question about a previous Blog

A reader recently posted a few questions to my post "Hearing from the Father"

I would like to read your thoughts on these questions.
Do you feel in your heart, or by the word of God, that God has a difficult time speaking to us?

I don't believe God has a difficult time speaking to us. I believe that it is easy for God to speak to us, we just don't take the time to listen to Him. We tend to want to talk with God when we are in a bad spot and then we are really busy unloading our stuff and not really taking the time to listen after we speak. Hearing from God comes with practice, and it comes from truly seeking to hear, and expecting to hear. Some people may find this statement strange, as I for one for the longest time, never really thought that He would really take the time to speak to me, but He has and He does, in several different ways.

Do you think that God is missing out on a relationship with us because He can't get through to us?

Is God missing out on a relationship with us because He can't get through to us? He longs for that relationship but it is not Him but us that is missing out on something incredible. The story of the prodigal son comes to mind. See Luke 15:11-32 The Father did not want his son to leave, He desires to have a relationship him. He has so much to offer yet we want turn from that relationship and want to do things our way. But, WAIT!!!, the awesome part of this story is when the son returns..........read it and believe it. That is God, that is Abba Father.

Do you feel we are powerful enough to stiff arm God and cause God not to use us?

I don't believe it has anything to do with how powerful we are, but how He has given us free will to make decisions on our own for ourselves apart from His good and perfect will. Just like the prodigal son, the Father allowed his son to walk away without hesitation, this all goes back to "in the beginning" when Adam and Eve choose to not believe that God has their best interest at heart, a lack of trust in the creator. God desires to use us, He created us for a purpose and has a plan for our life, but, He gave us free will, to decide what we will do with His purpose.

Hope this helps, thanks for the excellent questions, I really enjoyed thinking through these and answering them.

A great book to read along these lines is one that I am reading right now, The Shack by William Young. I am not completely finished reading it yet, but what an awesome picture this novel paints, this book in incredible. it gets 5 no 10 stars, it is a must read book.

Final Post for 2008

Well it's almost 2009 and it has been a while since I posted. Can't sleep tonight (thinking about the future) so I am up listening to a sermon on "Everlasting Father". This sermon had an impact on some people that had father issues growing up. I also went back and viewed our cardboard testimonies done this past fall. So as I sit here wide awake mind spinning along I shall blog once again, and hope that I can do this more consistently in 2009.

Since you last heard from me, we went on our whitewater trip on the Ocoee River with 12 of us, we had a great time and are looking forward to doing it again in '09, hopefully the upper Ocoee.

In October, 9 men participated in a weekend retreat called Band of Brothers Weekend, it was a great experience as usual. Most importantly the men connected with God and with each other. One man said, "this was the closest I have ever felt to God". We also had great fun and some great fear with rappelling off of Mt. Yona.

In November we had some fun with paintball, fathers and sons spending time together shooting each other with paint, what a better way to get close and get even all at the same time.

In September I started driving a school bus to help provide a little bit of income and some really good health insurance in order to provide for my family and continue what God has called me to do, ministering to others.

As we close out 2009 I reflect on how much I have had to learn to trust God this year, how He has taken us through some great challenges, and how He has helped me grow closer to Him. I am reminded of so many stories in the bible about how God provided, most of the time right in the nick of time. That is what he has done for us so many times this year. My desire remains unchanged and that is to Glorify God with my life and to live out His purpose for my life. I desire to continue to grow into what God wants me to be as a man and take other men on this journey.

I pray that you too would take this journey and become closer to God and more like Christ in 2009.

I don't know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.

God Bless and Happy New Year

White Water Adventure on the Ocoee

I like to keep these things short, I know how busy people are, write to much on a given post and all my many readers will stop reading. (that was a joke)

On Sept 27 a group of men and a couple of sons will journey to TN to go White Water Rafting. This is the adventure we chose to do after completing an 8 week study called Wild at Heart. I am including my oldest son as part of his initiation into manhood, this is his big adventure. We have had some outings together this year, and I presented him a sword to remind him that he is a warrior. Cody will be 15 on October 14th. I am very proud of my son, he is strong, he is tall, and he is handsome. It is hard to believe that it has been 15 years since he came into this world, time flies when you have 4 children.

Anyway, I am looking forward to our time together and I hope to blog about our White Water Adventure soon.

Married Life Live

I know it's late, but I went to North Point Community Church tonight with some friends from church to attend Married Life Live. This is something that NPCC does 4 times a year and it make for a good date night. We had dinner at Justicks (sp?) which was very good.

The topic for tonight was conflict in marriage and how we deal with it. First of all "conflict is inevitable" there is no way of getting away from it, conflict is going to happen. Most men don't care anything about having conflict with our wives so we try our best to avoid it at all cost, nevertheless, it occurs. So we have to decide how we are going to handle it. BTW - conflict sounds like a bad thing, but if we figure out how to work through it the way God wants us to, it can actually be a good thing. So let's quit being passive and figure it out.

Here was the verse used tonight and it makes sense, just never have applied it to marriage. James 1:19-20

When you get in a conflict be quick to listen, and the speaker said that means you can't have your wheels spinning while the other one is talking, just listen. Slow to speak, think about what you say before you say it (I know now, this I have learned the hard way). And last, be slow to become angry (that should the least thing we do even in conflict because it doesn't help resolve the conflict - the other 2 do) and why, because our anger does not bring about the righteous (or right living) life that God desires. So if we are truly seeking to live in a way that pleases and glorifies God, then this we should strive to do.

The other thing I did think was a good idea was deciding on a signal that we agree on that during a conflict would mean that we need to take a break.

I am definetly not a fan of conflict, but I do understand that it is going to happen, so it is best if we figure out how to handle it to win and not loose.

This post was meant to be published before this past Sunday when I actually preached. I had it in draft form and forgot to publish it. Was reminded by my MIL.

Another month has almost behind us and my God continues to provide for our family. It is awesome to see him work in ways that I can never imagine. In case you feel like your missing something, I have no guaranteed paycheck, I am living on God's provisions. For 9 months now we have not missed a meal, or been too cold or too hot, we have cars to drive, and on top of all that I get to do what God has placed on my heart, be in ministry working with people, watching them grow.


It has been a while since I have been asked to preach, but the opportunity has once again arrived. This will be my second time. I was a little more on my guard against spiritual warfare the first time, he got me last week until the blinders were removed. Not as much prep time this go around, I have this week to get ready, but then again I serve a God that is going to deliver to me the message. I have already spent several hours preparing by reading, listening, and praying. I think I need to change the order of these and pray and listen more, I'm learning. I still have my doubts about doing this every week, but I do enjoy studying some specific scripture in depth, researching to see how different people interpret, and then hearing what God wants to tell our church body.


Romans 14 is what I get to cover - if I had to sum it up in one sentence it would be "Mind your own actions(business), and be confident in your convictions(what you believe in) when it comes to disputable matters".


Sounds a little confusing, but to expound a little, we are instructed not to judge others on matters that are disputable. To me one thing that comes to mind in todays terms would be something like, what you wear to church. This is a disputable matter, some say you need to "give God your best", I think God accepts us as we are and he really isn't concerned that much about what we wear, he is most concerned with the condition of our heart. He would rather have a guy in ripped blue jeans, a t-shirt, and ear rings with a heart for God than a man with a 3 piece suit and tie without a heart for God.

More later..............