Alright it is time to start doing this more often

Well, I just came back from lunch with a couple friends. They introduced me to something called twitter. So I signed up. What it is, is you have people that become your followers. I think this sound interesting. I am not going to lie having followers sounds cool. It feeds my ego and insecurities. So now I need to keep this up to date as well because people will look at this.

I was reading last night in 2 Timothy. Man 2:22 just jumped off the pages.

2 Timothy 2:22

Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. Follow anything that makes you want to do right. Pursue faith and love and peace, and enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.

This has to do so much with our hearts. I need to keep my heart pure before God. I also need to make sure that I have people around me that love Jesus. Wow this is nectar to my soul (thanks for that phrase Dan).

I am looking forward to this next week. I get to hang out with a bunch of guys that love Jesus and spur me on in my faith and ministry. I cannot wait to see what God is going to do during these meetings.

Tenaciously seeking God

I went on a senior high guys paint balling trip to teach the guys about manhood and learned about seeking God. This retreat was awesome. We played paintball until we ran out of CO2 and paint. We played on a woods and a speed ball coarse. When I came home I was excited because God gave me some great opportunities to have conversations with students. As I sat in my house and started reflecting on the weekend something just hit me. When we were playing paintball on the woods coarse I would seek to not get hit in hopes that I may find someone. If I didn't I was OK with wondering around. I played a rather passive game. To be honest getting shot just didn't sound fun. Then we moved to the speed ball course. This is a much faster game, hence the name of the course. I played a little bit more of a aggressive game. The second to the last game I played, there was three of us who played a passive type game verse three students that are anything but passive. My team ended up winning that game because we were just plain more aggressive than the other team. We caught them off guard. As I reflected on this weekend and my time paint balling I came to the realization that I handle my walk with God much like I did paint balling. I was passive. I was resting on what I know, thinking that is enough. I was not being aggressive with my relationship with Jesus. I need to tenaciously seek Jesus, and not sit back hoping God will use me. I think to often we as believers in Jesus sit back and hope something happens instead of putting yourself into a position where God can use you more.

Genesis 16-20

Wow if anyone says the bible is boring they have never read it. These 5 chapters have the birth of a son from a concubine. It has jealousy of a wife and the women she gave her husband. It has God coming to the earth. It has attempted homosexuality, fire raining down from heave and a women being turned into a pillar of salt. Lot's daughters decide to get their father drunk and then get pregnant by him. Then Abraham lies to save his own bum.

After reading all this I asked the question what does this tell me about the God of the bible. The only answer I could come up with is that it shows He is a patient and forgiving God. He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and yet save Lot and his family. He save the king of Egypt from doing wrong even though He didn't have to. The God of the bible uses sinful human beings. He gives us forgiveness even though we do not deserve it. He gives us patience even though we mess up all the time. The God of the bible is truly a compassionate God when we will respond to Him and sometimes when we do not.