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Monday, October 17, 2011

Lessons from Daniel (part 4): Rewards of Faith

In Daniel chapter 1 we looked at three ways that the enemy will try to destroy our walk with God. He will try to remove us from God’s presence, he will try to remove God from us, and he will try to get us to fall into temptation. But the first chapter of Daniel doesn’t end there. Rather, it ends by showing how Daniel was blessed because of his faith and his stand for God.

“To [Daniel] God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel….; so [he] entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned [him], he found [Daniel] ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.” (Daniel 1:17-21, NIV)

Daniel made the decision to stand firm in his faith, and he was rewarded with earthly knowledge and understanding as well as spiritual understanding and discernment. As a matter of fact we are told that his earthly wisdom was ten times greater than that of all the “wise men” of the land. Because of this Daniel was given a very high position in the king’s service even beyond the reign of the Babylonians and into the reign of the Medo-Persians.

The word of God is very clear that there are rewards for those who put their faith in God. Hebrews 10:35-36 says, “So do not throw away your confidence (bold stance); it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” It goes on to say in verse 39, “…we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.”

You see, Daniel was determined not to shrink back from his faith in God, and because of that he was rewarded with both physical and spiritual blessings. It’s important to note in verse 39 that the phrase “shrink back” is directly related to destruction. The Greek translation of this is not a physical destruction, but a spiritual destruction. In other words, it is an eternity of separation from God.

I’m convinced that if Daniel had not made the decision to stand for God in his youth, he would have never been given another opportunity, and his soul would have perished. But thanks be to God, we live in an age of grace. If you have failed God in the past, or if you have previously shrunk back be encouraged because God is still holding out hope to you. You have a new opportunity TODAY to stand for God. No matter how difficult things get, no matter how the world may ridicule and persecute you, stand for God. When you do there is an assurance that you will be blessed with the rewards of God which surpass anything we could ever imagine. And remember the words of Hebrews 11:6 “….He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

"Courageous" in retrospect


Two days ago, I went with my family to see the movie Courageous. While this blog is not intended to be a movie review, I do want to mention a few things about it.

First of all I highly recommend this movie to anyone and everyone. Even my 6 year old son liked it. If you don’t know anything about it, it was written, directed, and produced by a team from Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA. Sherwood has had 3 major motion pictures that they have released on very small budgets, and each one gets better than the last.

Some of you have already written this movie off because it is a “Christian” movie, but let me tell you the quality was outstanding. Others of you have already written it off because you feel that it won’t have enough action, blood, guts, swearing, or any of those other things that supposedly make for a great movie.

However, I can tell you first hand that this movie had some great suspenseful action. It made me laugh out loud more than most comedies I’ve watched; there were a couple of pretty intense fight scenes. And, yes, it tugged at my heartstrings, and I did not come away dry-eyed. (And for you TLC fans, there are also a couple of surprise cameo appearances.)

What Courageous did for me.
The main purpose of Courageous is to wake men up and inspire them to step up and be the husband and father that God has called them to be. And while I was definitely inspired in that area, that is not all of what the movie did for me.

There is a scene in the movie where the five main characters (all men) are sitting around a picnic table, and one of them asks the question, “So when did you know that you were a man?” A couple of the men were taken by surprise by the question, while the others knew immediately when they knew.

That question hit me hard. I am 35 years old, I’ve been married for almost 12 years, I have three children, and I still have never really felt like a man. I’ve accomplished some great things in my life, but I’ve always felt like I was just another kid in the crowd, and no one would take me seriously.

Society has taught us that if a male is not loud, tough, and take-charge then he is not a man. A man must love sports, he must shoot a certain amount of animals in his lifetime. He has to climb the ladder higher and faster than those around him, and he must be able to provide a large home and multiple cars for his family. If he falls short in any of these areas then he is reduced to what Hans and Franz would call a “girly-man”.

I don’t meet any of those criterion. I don’t like sports or hunting, I’m not an aggressive, take-charge person, and I have one car and no home. I love music, drama, and anything artsy. Over the years people have labeled me as a weak, second-class “girly-man”. Even as a minister, I have not been taken as seriously as other ministers (and at times I’ve even been teased and put down) because I prefer to minister through artistic ways such as music and drama.

Because of that I have pulled away from any type of close relationship with another man because I figure that they all see me the same. I figure they don't see me as a real man so I’m not worth their time. So I just stay to myself and do my required work then go home to my family that loves me regardless.

Having said all of that, Courageous is teaching me a lesson. I am learning that a man is not made by what he can accomplish or how big and bad he is. Manhood is not determined by any amount of money or possessions. A man is someone who loves God above anything else. He loves his wife unconditionally, and he would even lay down his life for his wife and family. A man is someone who loves his kids and trains them not in the ways of the world but in the ways of God.

So you can call me what you want. You can tease me and even put me down. But I know this one thing, I have a family that loves me and they love God. My kids are learning the word of God through the ways that we train and teach them. I know that my family will spend eternity with me in heaven and with Jesus, and that makes me a happy MAN.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Lessons from Daniel (part 3): Compromise

In my two previous posts we saw the first two ways that the enemy attacked Daniel. He tried to physically remove Daniel from the presence of God. When that didn't work, he tried to remove every trace of God from Daniel's life. Again, epic fail.

The final way we see that the enemy attacked Daniel was through temptation. Temptation is funny because it can come in so many ways. In this instance in Daniel Chapter 1, the temptation was not necessarily to sin, but merely to compromise.

Verse 5 tells us that the king assigned Daniel and all of the other young Hebrew slaves a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s own table. On the surface it seems like nothing would be wrong with that. They had a lot of work to do in their training, and they were going to need a lot of strength, and this was better food than they had probably ever had.

“But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine…”(v.8). I see two reasons why Daniel’s decision was so important. First of all, the food was probably food that was forbidden for Jews to eat. The king’s meat more than likely included pork. As we saw earlier, Daniel was always reminded of God’s judgment over his life, and he didn’t want to face the judgment of God for any reason. Still this probably wouldn’t have been so bad. After all, all of the other young men were eating the king’s food.

But, the second reason for Daniel’s resolve is the most important. I believe that Daniel recognized the temptation to compromise. Eating forbidden food might not have been the most evil thing in the world, but if he compromised and disobeyed God in this one, little thing then it would be much easier to compromise later in something bigger.

Compromise is one of the biggest killers out there because it will gradually lead you to your destruction without you even knowing it. The enemy knows that. He doesn’t stop attacking someone just because they are strong in their faith. He knows that the strong would not intentionally fall in to sin, so he will attack with things that might not even be sin.

I don’t say this to puff myself up, but I don’t listen to secular music at all. My radio station in my car will never deviate from a Christian station. And if I’m not listening to the radio then I am listening to a Christian CD. I know the power of music in my life. Being a musician, I am always looking for ways to grow and stretch myself. Unfortunately, Christian music sometimes has a reputation of being average or even below average when it comes to quality. But God has called me to use music for his glory, and I don’t want to allow anything in my life that would lead me to create music for any other reason. There are many Christians, and many Christian musicians that don’t agree with my decision, but that is one area of my life that I will not compromise.

As children of God we must always keep our faith in front of us. We need to make a conscious decision of what we will allow into our lives and what we will not. Daniel drew a line in the sand and in essence said, “I will not allow anything into my life that could possibly lead me away from God.” Why is this important? We all know the story of Daniel in the lion’s den (Chapter 6). I believe that if Daniel had allowed himself to compromise early on, we would never have this story because Daniel would have eventually fallen in with the rest of the crowd. But because of Daniel’s resolve in the small matter of the king’s food, he was later able to stand against the king and continue to pray to the God of Israel when it was politically incorrect.

Ephesians 6:10-18 tells us that we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but we are in a war against demonic powers. The only way that we can fight against them is to first decide to be strong in God’s power and stand firm in the full armor of God.

What areas have you allowed compromise into your life? Have you noticed yourself slowly drifting away from the Lord? Have you noticed yourself sin in ways that you thought you never would? I would venture to guess that if we could trace the origin of the sin, we could trace it back to a simple compromise that we allowed into our lives. It is time to put your foot down and draw a line in the sand and say, “No more! This is how I will live and I will not deviate from this path.” God will bless those who are faithful to Him, and there are great rewards for those who choose to stand for Him.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Lessons from Daniel (part 2)

In my last post I talked about the first way that the enemy tried to destroy Daniel. He tried to remove Daniel from the grasp and favor of God, but he soon realized that nothing can separate a child of God from His love.

The second thing the enemy tried to do after he took Daniel from the Promised Land was to change his name. He tried to steal Daniel’s godly identity, and his righteous heritage. In other words, when he realized that Daniel would not leave the presence of God, he tried to take God away from Daniel. However, what the devil meant to destroy Daniel, God used to strengthen him.

The name, Daniel, means “God is my judge”. Up to the time of the Babylonian captivity Daniel was reminded of this fact every time he told someone his name. I even imagine that he would think twice before giving into temptation because he knew that God was judging him. But as he was led away in to Babylon, he was given a new name, Belteshazzar. The name change was given to the young Hebrew men to try to remove any trace of their former Jewish life. The enemy wanted the God of Israel to be completely removed from the situation.

“Belteshazzar” means “God of the straitened’s treasure”. To be straitened means to be in some kind of a hardship, especially a financial hardship. When Daniel was given this new name it was given as an insult to Daniel and his God. You see if you are faced with a financial hardship then you have no physical treasure. The enemy was trying to tell Daniel that he had nothing, and his God was the god of nothing. But the enemy once again underestimated the strength and resolve of Daniel.

Paul gives us a great illustration of the strength of Daniel in 2 Corinthians 4:7-8.

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;”

Verse 7 says, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels”. That means we carry a treasure around inside of us—the power and the glory of God. It lives and abides in the children of God. If the enemy had known this then he would also have known that nothing can take God away from the place that He chooses to dwell.

Verse 8 goes on to say, “we are hard pressed…yet not crushed; we are perplexed; but not in despair.” In other words, we are straitened physically (we are facing hardships), but that will not affect our spiritual state. We will not be straitened spiritually no matter how hard our physical situation might become.

Even though Daniel found himself in a foreign land with foreign Gods and evil rulers, he resolved that he would stand for God no matter the cost. And God will never forsake the one who has resolved to live for Him. So even though the enemy tried to remove Daniel’s Godly identity, Daniel turned it around and used his new identity to stand for his God even stronger than ever.

How has the enemy tried to remove God from your life? Have you found yourself in an identity crisis? Do the call and the promises of God for your life seem like a distant memory? Just remember that no matter what physical state you might find yourself in, nothing can take God away from the child of God. And the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead can dwell and abide in you.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Lessons From Daniel: 3 ways the enemy tries to destroy (part 1) WARNING: SERMON ALERT

Of all of the heroes of the faith, Daniel was probably the most righteous all around. None of our faith heroes were perfect. Abraham tried to fulfill God’s plan in his own time. Moses disobeyed. David fell into all sorts of sin. Even the apostles had quarrels amongst themselves. But when it comes to Daniel we have no record of him falling into any type of sin.

The prophet Ezekiel groups Daniel with Noah and Job in Ezekiel 14, but makes no mention of Abraham, Moses, David, or anyone else. Daniel was truly an exceptional man even from an early age. I believe that his success as a prophet began as a result of some critical decisions that he made as a teenager.

In this message I want to examine Daniel chapter 1 and examine three ways that the enemy will try to steal our heavenly security.

1. The enemy will try to steal you from God
The first thing that we see in Daniel 1 is the King of Babylon laying siege to Judah. As a result the king of Judah was taken captive to Babylon along with the most beautiful women and the brightest young men. Daniel was among those taken captive.

I’m sure Daniel had dreams and plans of how he would do great things for God in the land of Judah. He probably looked forward to living a long, prosperous life in the land of God. He had probably never considered the possibility of being stolen from the Promised Land at such an early age, never to return.

The enemy is very smart, but sometimes he can be quite stupid. He thought that if he could take Daniel from the Land of God, then Daniel would be outside of the favor, protection, and blessing of God. However, while it is true that God dwelt in Judah, we need to remember that God is Jehovah Shammah. He is our ever-present help. He will never forsake the righteous. Isaiah 43:13 says, “…No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done.” (NLT) You see, no one can curse what God has blessed, and no one can take you away from God.

Jesus found himself outside of the “place” of God. After He was baptized, the bible tells us that He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days. Did you see that? The enemy didn’t take Him away from God, the SPIRIT led Him. You see, there will be times when we find ourselves wondering where God has gone. We don’t see, feel, or hear Him. But we often face those times because God has allowed it to happen so that we can be tested, and if we can pass those tests we will come out stronger and wiser.

I believe that while the enemy thought he was stealing Daniel from Judah, the Spirit was actually taking him into that foreign land so that he could fulfill his purpose.

What areas has the enemy tried to take you away from God? Maybe a better question would be this. How has the enemy lied to you to get you to believe that you are outside of the will, protection, and blessing of God? Maybe you have had dreams and plans of living a great life in God in a particular geographical location. You attended a great church. You had great, Godly friends and family that you could turn to. Everything felt good and comfy. But now you have found yourself away from all of that. Maybe you’ve had to move, or maybe circumstances have changed and things are not like they used to be. You feel like you are in a foreign land or even a wilderness. It seems you are no longer in that place where God is.

You need to remember that God will never leave nor forsake the righteous. No one or nothing can snatch you out of His hand. And you can never go beyond the reach, the love, and the blessing of God as long as you are seeking first His kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Maybe God is wanting to tweak your dreams, or He may even be leading you into that hard place so He can fulfill His dreams for your life. Whatever you do, don’t quit on God because He has never quit on you.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The Last 15 years/Writing

Today is September 6, 2011, Labor Day, and I just celebrated my 35th birthday on the first. Someone asked me a few days ago if turning 35 was bothering me, and honestly it hasn’t really affected me. I’ve been joking that I am now in a new age bracket on applications and surveys, but other than that I think I’ve been okay. Turning 35 has, however, made me look back and assess my last 15 years of adult life.

My 20’s were wonderful. I can think of so many exciting things that happened during my first adult decade. When I was 20 I began playing the role of Christ in the Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs, AR. It was a dream come true; I had been dreaming of that since I was little. When I was 21 I moved to Saint Louis, MO to start my career and ministry as a worship leader. It was at my first church, Gateway Tabernacle, that I met my beautiful, wonderful wife and was married two years later. God also gave me my three amazing children in my 20’s.

My 20’s gave me some wonderful ministry experiences as well. I spent a short, but eventful time as the worship pastor at one of the largest churches in Saint Louis. We also spent four fabulous years in Panama City, FL as the worship pastors at St. Andrews Assembly of God. During that time I was privileged to build an awesome worship team. Our section of the A/G district held a community service once a year, and one year I was asked to form a community choir. I was highly involved in leading worship for district functions. And one of my biggest joys was writing, recording, and directing a full-blown Christmas musical.

When I turned 30 I was so excited. My 20’s were so eventful that I could not wait to see what more would happen in the next ten years. We left Panama City and moved back to Saint Louis about a month after my birthday. We were joining the staff at St. Peters Assembly of God (which later became Restoration Church).

We have had some wonderful experiences during our five years on staff at Restoration Church. We have made some of the best friends that we have ever had. I have been able to build the worship department and hopefully take it to a greater place physically and spiritually.

Another achievement has been the start of my music charting business, IGNITECharts.com. I started IGNITECharts.com four years ago to write sheet music and chord charts for songwriters that might not have the knowledge, time, or equipment to do it for themselves. Over the past four years I have been privileged to write charts for many songwriters, even some award winning artists including Martha Munizzi, Ricardo Sanchez, and John Mark McMillan. God has truly blessed this business.

As I look back, however, there is one key piece that is missing. I have never had much success in my own personal songwriting endeavor. I’ve always wanted to record a CD with my original music, and I’ve always wanted my music to be known in the music and worship community. I went through a couple of years where I just wanted to give up, and I basically stopped writing. I didn’t see my music go anywhere, and just wanted to call it quits. I’ve since started writing again and will occasionally turn out a new song to sing in our worship services.

I still don’t know how to get my music heard, and I don’t know if I will ever be able to record a CD, but I am now resolving to do more with my music. I’ve decided that I have to be intentional about writing. Even if I’m not feeling “inspired” I’ve got to just write.

So, my hope is that over the coming weeks and months I will have some blogs and links to some new songs and recordings for you to check out. I don’t ever want to write songs just for entertainment. I always want my songs to touch people, and hopefully lead the listener closer to Christ.

So that is my last 15 years in a nutshell. My dream is still to record a CD, but if that never happens I can’t give up on my love of writing. So if you ever call me, and I’m not answering, I might just be in a meeting with myself. So just leave a message, and if I’m really feeling inspired I might just write you back.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Competition


I recently read an article on how the United States has becomes consumed with competition. We as Americans have been taught that we have to be the best at everything we do, or we are worthless. Every two years we have a world-wide competition called the Olympics, and at some point during the day they will display a news bulletin with the running medal count. I don't know if other countries do this, but I believe that we do this in America to remind ourselves of how much we are beating the rest of the world.

As a minister I see this competitive attitude dominating the church. Pastors feel a need to 1-up their fellow pastors. Youth pastors have to do bigger events than the youth pastor down the road. Worship leaders have to record a CD before the other church does.

But I wonder to myself, where has this competition gotten us? Are we really where we want to be as a society? Are our churches finding success in fulfilling the Great Commission or are we basing our success in comparison to other churches.

I have never been a competitive person. All my life I have strived to stay humble in all circumstances. I know that I have fallen short many times, but it is still a goal of mine. Personally, I don't feel like I have to win every time I attempt something. My goal is not to be the best, and most of the time I don't even want people to know that I did something worthy of recognition or praise. This may sound funny, but I don't play to win. I play to enjoy the game, and often I get ridiculed for that.

Over the years I've been criticized for not being a ladder climber. I've been admonished for not taking a more proactive role in different aspects of life. I've been called "less of a man" because I refuse to play with the "big boys". People have criticized me for not having recorded a CD already or for not doing more with my music. I understand what they are trying to say, but most of the time I feel they are coming from that competitive point of view which I would prefer to stay out of.

My attitude has always been and will continue to be to just trust God to take me and to place me where He wants me to be. I've always believed that those doors that I have to pry open were never meant for me to walk through. I will not be a ladder climber, and I will not fight my way to the top.

Do I have unfulfilled dreams? Too many to count. Do I have goals in life? Absolutely. But what price am I willing to pay to achieve those goals and dreams? I would rather be patient and wait for God to make it happen than try to get there on my own and leave a trail of hurt, deceit and regret along the way.

If that makes me less of a man to some that's okay, because I know who I am, and I know who God has made me to be. I choose to take God's plan for me over man's.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

My Crazy Sunday

Today is Sunday, July 17. We have been house shopping for quite sometime, but have never been able to find anything to fit our family and our budget. Deanna is constantly looking online. Well, a few weeks ago she found this home that looked really interesting on the listing. It was listed as a two-story, 3 bedroom 2 bath, and it was an awesome price. The only real negative in the listing was a comment about some fire damage, but at that price, we really wanted to see it.

Last week after church Deanna and I were kidless, so we decided to drive by and look at it. As we pulled up to it we could see that it definitely needed some curb appeal, but it looked quite promising. Deanna called the realtor and we set up an appointment to see it today at two o'clock.

When we woke up to get ready for church our 6-year old, Aaron, said that he was not feeling well. He was complaining about his head, stomach, and jaws hurting. We figured he had some new teeth coming in, but we had him bring a trash can in the van just in case.

We made it through church, which by the way we had a great birthday cake for our pastor's wife, Robin. We left church at one o'clock to go to the house. It was only 12 minutes to the house, so we arrived quite early. While we were waiting in the van we were startled by the most horrifying sound in the back seat...the sound of a 6 year old projectile vomiting. He finally got the trash can up to his mouth, but not before he had spewed all over his clothes.

I instantly jumped to the back and began stripping him right there in the middle of the street. At this point we decided that it would not be good to proceed with seeing the home since we had a naked kid in the back seat. However, Deanna had left her phone at home, so she had to call her parents to get the number. Well, during the phone call while I am still out in the street trying to take care of Aaron's clothing, Aaron had grabbed his trash can and spilled the vomit all over the seat.

I'm not sure what happened next. All I know was that Deanna screamed, and was instantly in the back seat. Suddenly I looked up and guess who pulled in to the driveway...early. Yep, the realtors had arrived. I should also say that we had not yet met them personally, so this was going to be a doozy of a first impression. I was bent over in the street cleaning Aaron's clothes, Deanna was bent over in the back of the van cleaning the seat, and Aaron was naked and wrapped in a jacket. It was a little embarrassing, but they were parents, so they completely understood.

We finally got everything cleaned up and asked Leah to stay in the van with Aaron while we went inside. When we entered the house, I could not believe what I was seeing. The house was huge. It was larger than anything I have ever lived in. What was supposed to be a 3/2 home turned out to be a 5 bedroom/3.5 bath. The basement was finished with 2 bedrooms and a full bath. When we walked to the back, there was a large deck with an in-ground swimming pool.

That's the good part. Remember, the listing had mentioned some fire damage. The home had a pretty bad smoke smell. The fire had been contained primarily to the basement, so the upper two floors were well in tact. However, the worst was yet to come. I don't know if the former owners left in rage or if it had been vandalized, but the home was completely destroyed. Every wall in the house had a huge hole punched in, and they had splattered paint and graffiti everywhere. When I say everywhere, I mean everywhere. The brick fireplace, the two huge bookcases, the ceiling fans, the ceiling, the walls, doors, kitchen counters and cabinets and bathrooms. Everything had been covered in red, yellow, and black paint. I couldn't believe anyone would ever do something like that.

The house is still perfect for our family. We would have our own rooms, and more importantly we would be 12 minutes from our church/job instead of 30 minutes. We're not sure how far we are going to go with this, but we are praying about it.

What a crazy way to spend Sunday afternoon.

PS. I'm sorry, Deanna. I love you.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Where's the Faith?

I don't like to preach, so that is not my intent in this blog, but recently I've been thinking. I know, right?

As I'm writing this my oldest, Warren, is in Buffalo New York at a two-week ministry internship and missions trip. Because of the nature of this program, Warren only get's to call home one time a day for about 30 minutes. If you know Warren, he doesn't normally need 30 minutes. He normally doesn't need 5. However, yesterday (July 7) he called, and we couldn't ever get a word in because he was so excited and fired up about all that he had done and experience.

In short, God has really been working on his heart. Things that we have been praying about for years are now starting to happen. His eyes are being opened and he is experiencing God is a way that he's never known.

The night before he called us his group was in a service called Journey to the Throne. It was all about experiencing God and his presence. Warren was praying for one specific thing during this time, and before the service was over one of the other members of the group had received a word from the Lord and called out that very thing that Warren was praying about. For the first time I think he understood that God really can and does speak to us and he knows us by name.

In addition to this thing that Warren was praying for, he was also praying for our family. He was praying for his grandma Baker and her physical state. He was praying for his grandpa Baker and his sleeping difficulties. He prayed for his mom about a problem she has with one of her hands.

Before he called us, he had tried to call his Grandma and Grandpa to see how they were feeling. You see, Warren had experience God's presence so strongly that he just believed that when he prayed for them, they were going to feel better. He then called us and told us about all of the previous night's events. As we were talking, Deanna had told Warren to keep praying, and specifically to pray for her heart. I won't go into detail, but Deanna has had a lot of heart problems this year. When Warren heard that he said, "Oh, I forgot about your heart. I forgot to pray for your heart."

"Well, just remember to pray for it, because it's really hurting me," Deanna replied.

So Warren (or this new person in Warren's body) said, "Okay, so can I pray for you now." And right there on the phone Warren began to pray for his mom.

Now, being a pastor I have to do that quite often, but for my 16 year old to stop and ask his mom if he can pray for her. I couldn't believe it.

But remember, Warren had been in the presence of God, and he just believed that when he prayed, God was going to move. So my question is, do we really believe that God will answer our prayers. How many times do we try to meet our own needs and end up falling flat on our face. Or how many times do we recite a prayer, but we really have more doubt than faith? James said that when we doubt we should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Even Jesus himself said, "Have faith and don't doubt."

Doubt can bring immediate cancellation to our prayers. Who are we to doubt that the God who created the universe won't listen to His children? We've got to have faith in every situation. The prayer of faith can move mountains.

So I ask you, "Where's the faith?"

Monday, July 4, 2011

All About Warren

Yes, I know it's been almost a year since my last post. I'm not very good at keeping up with these types of things. However, lately I've been thinking about how I can become more consistent with my blogging, and I've come up with NOTHING. I have a hard time seeing outside of my waffle square, and I don't notice everything going on around me.

So I thought I would dedicate some blogs to my family, so this one is all about my oldest son, Warren. Yesterday, on July 3, we dropped off Warren at the airport to go to Buffalo, NY for a two week internship with John Tasch ministries. This was the first time, he's ever gone and done something like this for this long completely on his own, so it was kind of nerve racking seeing him off at the airport by himself. As we've been planning this trip for him, I've been thinking about the last sixteen years of Warren's life.


When Warren was dedicated to the Lord at just a few months old his Uncle Dave prophesied over him that he would be an ambassador for the Lord. Now, I realize that we are all called to be ambassadors, but I believe that this word goes far beyond our everyday mandate. Warren has always had very strong leadership abilities. I can remember taking him to the Burger King playland at the age of 3 and he would have all the kids in that place following him and doing what he asked them to do.

Warren has always had great rhythm. I can remember leading worship at Gateway Tabernacle in downtown St. Louis, and Warren would be back in the sound booth with his grandpa. He would be standing on the counter so he could see over the top and he would be drumming on the ledge with pencils. And believe me, he would be going to town with those pencils. Later on when he would have an opportunity to play around on bongos or congas, he would automatically start pounding out rhythms that a normal 5 and 6 year old should not be hearing. I was always amazed at how good he was.

Now Warren has been playing drums for me in our current worship team for the last three years, and he is awesome. Sometimes I get a little frustrated because what I hear for a song and what he hears for the same song don't always match, but he always seems to make it sound great.

To understand Warren's personality sometimes is a great task. Warren loves to have fun. He
loves his friends, and he loves being the life of the party. We home school all of our kids, so needless to say, Warren doesn't get the "friend" time that he would like to have. So when we are at church or friend's homes he definitely makes up for lost time. Warren has always been able to entertain himself, and has always had an overactive imagination. We had him in public school for a couple of years in Panama City, FL, and he would often get in trouble because he had turned his pencils into an army of cars and was too busy playing with them to listen or do his work.

Warren has always been good with his hands. School has always been difficult for him because he would rather be doing things with his hands than sitting at the kitchen table and reading and writing. He loves putting together equipment that comes disassembled in the box, and even more than that he loves wiring and rewiring his speakers to get the best surround sound he can from his ipod or stereo or whatever else he is listening to.

Warren and I have not always seen eye to eye. His personality and mine are completely different, and I have often struggled to understand what is going on in his head. I'm a quiet easy going, go-with-the-flow guy, and Warren definitely is NOT. He is all about carving his own path, he can be quite loud and and boisterous. But that is what people love about him.

I'm so excited about what the next two weeks hold in store for Warren. As I said earlier he is in Buffalo, NY at a two-week internship with John Tasch ministries. The first week is all about strengthening his spiritual life. He is going to be worshiping, having devotions, praying, and practicing for ministering in Buffalo. The second week is an all out missions trip to the inner-city of Buffalo. He is in for the ride of his life, and I can't wait to see the change in his life when he comes home.

I know that God has great plans for his life, and we haven't even scratched the surface of what God has in store for him.

I love you, Warren, and I'm proud of the young man that you are becoming.