Don't Be a Facade

From an email I sent my Sunday School class when I travelled overseas back in 2006. I was just thinking about it and thought that I would post my thoughts from that trip. I have edited it a little bit from the original.
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I am staying in Brugge, Belgium which is an unbelievably beautiful city with buildings from the Middle Ages and much history to it. It is unbelievable to see the beautiful and ornate churches and all of the crosses on buildings, hospitals, churches and all of the mentions of Godhuis (God's house) and such around the city. But it is so disturbing to see, hear and feel the utter darkness that surrounds this place. It just goes to show how "symbolism" is such an empty expression of true faith in Jesus Christ. It goes to show how "churchianity" can be such a tool of Satan to blind people to the truth. It just reminds me of how real I must be in my relationship with Christ and how obedience to Him is the true meaning of showing faith. We must continually examine our own lives to determine if we are just living a symbolic Christianity that does not lead to salvation and that is disobedient to God or if we are truly exercising our faith through obedience to God's will in our life and the commands that He has given us and has put before us.
I want to challenge everyone in our class to think whether or not you are living a symbolic Christian life or if you are truly living to bring glory to God. Are you living your life in a way that those around you know (and hear) about the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Is your relationship with Christ the most important thing to you. Do you have "churchianity" rather than a relationship with Christ? Are you actively sharing the Gospel with others? Do you have a burden for those that are lost and going to Hell outside of a relationship with Jesus? Is there anything in your life that may be a stumbling block for a brother or sister in Christ?

As I told a co-worker last night, as a Christian, I cannot separate my spiritual life from my "everyday" life. My relationship to Christ should be my life and should permeate every aspect of my life including my family, my work, my relationships, my political views, etc., etc., etc.
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Another Opportunity Has Arisen

Well, yesterday, I found out that a major retail company would like to talk with me about a possible opportunity as well. I am not sure when I may have the initial phone interview, but please be praying for me.

Everything with the house seems to be going well. Their is some interest in our buyer's house from a couple. That couple is waiting to hear on a possible job transfer from the husband. If he is not transferred, they will look at our buyer's house and we will see what transpires. Please pray that God will take care of all the details. He is in control.

Great Analogy

This is something that I read out of the Mid-South Baptist Associational newsletter for January 2008. I thought that it was a great analogy of the way people think these days.

Consider the following Philosophies of Umpiring:

UMPIRE #1, “There’s balls and there’s strikes, and I call them the way they are.”
UMPIRE #2, “No way! That’s arrogant. There are balls and there’s strikes and I call them the way I see it.”
UMPIRE #3, “That’s no better, why beat around the bush? Why not be realistic about what we do? There’s balls and there’s strikes and they ain’t nothing till I call them!”

Analogy to our society:
UMPIRE #1 represents the modern “OBJECTIVE VIEW” of truth.
UMPIRE #2 represents a “MODERATE RELATIVISM VIEW” of truth.
UMPIRE #3 represents the “POST-MODERN SUBJECTIVE VIEW” of truth.

Opportunity

Well, an opportunity has arisen for possible employment. I will have a phone interview with a major finanicial services firm on Monday, February 25th at 9am. The opportunity sounds like a good one. My only desire is that my occupation bring glory to God. I pray that He will show me what He has for me and that I will know and obey that. He is in control.

Almost Sold!!

Well, it looks like we have someone to buy our house. This is amazing because our house is not even on the market. Us selling our house is dependent on the other party selling their house. We are praying that God will just take care of everything. We know that He will. We may go to Ohio over spring break to take a look at some houses in Marysville and see if we can find one to put a contract on. God is so good!!! We just pray that God will guide our every step and that we will be obedient to hear Him and to follow Him.

Tornados

Wow!! What a Tuesday evening we had around here. It was kind of a nervous time as tornados came ripping through Memphis and the surrounding areas. There was a good bit of damage in and around Memphis. Several people lost their lives due to the storms that came through. Very sad day for those that lost loved ones. This just goes to show though that we never know when we may take our last breath. My guess is that none of those that were killed woke up this morning and said they would die today. We just don't know. That is why we must be prepared to die at any moment. We must prepare ourselves for eternity. The only proper way to be prepared for eternity is to have a relationship with a man named Jesus. He died on the Cross to take punishment that we deserve because we have sinned against a Holy, Just and Perfect God. We must accept this free gift from God and take possession of it as our very own.

Why do Atheists Argue with Christians?

Just a quick question as to why atheists argue with Christians. I don't really understand it. Basically, the atheist has said that there is no god and that we are basically going to die and turn to dust and that is the end of our lives. If that is the case, what does it profit to argue with someone about their beliefs. If you truly believe that we just die and become dust, is it not just wasted breath and time to argue someone's beliefs? The only reasons that I can think is to try and demean Christians (and bring up anything bad that was done while invoking the Christian name) and to make themselves feel better about living in their sin or to try and make themselves feel more intellectual.

Basically, it is saddening that atheists have not come to a knowledge of Jesus who is the only One unto salvation. May God have mercy on all those that do not know Him right now and allow them to come to Him before returning for His bride.

Ayacucho Quechua People Group

Kirby Woods Baptist Church has adopted an unreached people group in the mountains of Peru. As of February 2008, KWBC has taken approximately 10 trips to Peru to get to know the folks in the areas that we have adopted. We are also taking opportunities to tell them about the Jesus of the Bible. We have forged some wonderful relationships with folks down there and we have some folks that are in love with these people. We have a desire to see them come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Ask me and I will tell you more about them.

It Worked!!

Ok, so the previous post did work by sending it to an email address. That's pretty neat and certainly makes it very easy to update a blog while at work. That way, you don't have to actually log on to the blog site and enter the thought. Take care.
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A test for the blog

So I am new at this and just thought that I would test this feature out to publish something by sending an email. I won't know if this works or not, but I'll let you know in a new post.

One Day

So one day, I was just sitting here thinking that it would be fun to have a blog so I created one. I'll see if I try to keep it up or not. I would like to use it just to post some of my thoughts and for possible updates of the family. Not sure if anyone will ever read it or not, but I might make a go of it just to see.