13 & Counting....

January 20 was my birthday and I turned 13!! On January 20, 2001 I was born again!  As I reflect on the last 13 years I thought it would be good to make a list, so here are 13 things (these are not in any particular order and this is not a comprehensive list, but rather some things I think will encourage and challenge your faith) I have learned since I put my faith in Jesus as my Lord and Savior:

13.  Jesus is the only perfect person.  Everyone else will, at some point, fail me, and I will fail them.  I must embrace failure and the mess that is relationships.  Hebrews 4:15


12.  I can't do it on my own.  Without Jesus, I am nothing.  With Jesus, however, I can do anything!
Phillipians 4:13

11.  Self-centeredness is the root of all grief.  When I think about me, whether good or bad, it always causes problems.  Staying focused on Jesus is the key.  James 3:16

10.  Words really do have the power of life and death.  I choose to speak life.  Proverbs 18:21

9.  Being forgetful is a good thing.  God has forgotten all of my sins, so if I want to follow his example I should not only forgive, but forget others sins against me.  Hebrews 8:12

8.  God wants relationship with me, not results.  Results will follow relationship.  Relationship comes from time in the Word, prayer, singing praise, being thankful, etc.  John 10:14-16

7.  Success is knowing God and doing what He tells me.  Success is not being the best at my particular occupation.  John 17:3-4

6.  I can know God's will and He wants me to know it.  Romans 12:2

5.  I can be friends with Christians with different beliefs than me.  Don't major on the minors.  Romans 14:19  1 Cor 13:2

4.  God wants me to be hopeful (having a confident expectation) about the future, and He wants me to prosper spiritually, emotionally, and physically.  Jeremiah 29:11  Jeremiah 33:6  Psalm 103:3

3.  Jesus was victorious over Satan in his resurrection and delegated to me authority over all of Satan's power in my life.  Luke 10:18-19

2.  People are not crazy just because they speak in tongues.  I grew up thinking that, but they aren't.  It's in the Bible.  Many of the things you will find in scripture, the world would say are crazy.  So I am fine with being crazy.  Mark 16:17  1 Cor 14:1-25

1.  It really is better to have the Holy Spirit than to have Jesus with me in the flesh.  Jesus said it himself, and when I finally realized the awesomeness of being filled with the Holy Spirit, my life was changed forever.  John 16:7

I know from experience that not everyone will agree with me on all of these.  These are revelations the Holy Spirit has given me as I read the Word, and things I have learned from failing miserably as I walked in my flesh.  If you disagree with me, we can still be friends (see #5).  My prayer for you is that as you study God's Word, He will give you wisdom and revelation to know Him better.  That He would flood your heart with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has given you, that you are His holy possession.  I pray that you can understand the incredible greatness of God's power in you, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him on the throne at God's right hand!

Have a blessed day!

You Don't Have to Beg God

And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.  9“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  11If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Luke 11:5-10 NKJV


I grew up hearing this passage of scripture taught on often, but the teaching I heard was basically that if I would stay after God, begging and pleading, eventually He would answer me.  Really?  As a kid, I thought, well if I have to beg and plead, God must be too busy for me anyway.  It wasn't until I read this scripture as a spirit-filled believer that the truth was revealed to me.  Look at the first line in the first sentence out of Jesus' mouth, "Which of you shall have a friend"...... This part of the sentence is what reveals what Jesus is really saying here, but it's often overlooked.  Jesus is saying this, "Who has a friend that would act like this".... he is being sarcastic.  He is saying, nobody has a real friend that would act this way, but even if the person you were asking was not a real friend they would still give you what you asked for if you persisted.  This revelation finally made the rest of the parable make more sense, because later in the story Jesus says ask, seek, and knock and you will receive, find, and it will be opened.  I always wondered how Jesus could portray such a dis-intereseted God in the first part of this story, but then turn around and talk about how generous and loving God is.  It just didn't make sense.  Jesus is saying, "You dont have to beg God."  Your heavenly Father is loving, generous, and He wants to give you the Holy Spirit.  All you have to do is ask.  No begging required.

Oklahoma's "Monumental" Crisis

So, just in case you have not heard yet, there is quite a controversy brewing here in my home state of Oklahoma.  I have lived in Oklahoma all of my life, and I think it's a great place to live and raise my family.  The recent uproar is over an attempt by a satanic church to get permission to erect a 7' tall statue of satan himself on a throne with a couple of kids hanging out on either side of him.  I didn't want the picture of the statue on my blog, but you can check it out here if you want to see it.  I am not surprised at all really.  I mean, we do live in a country with supposed freedom of religion, speech, rights to bear arms, and many other freedoms that people all over the world could only dream about.  The satanic church claims that since the Oklahoma State legislature allowed a monument of the Biblical Ten Commandments on the capitol grounds, that they should be allowed to have a their statue.  Well played satan, well played.  They actually have a decent argument if you take an unbiased look at it.  Something really bothers me about this whole thing, but its not the fact that this New York based satanic church is proposing a statue of satan.

I'm sure by now I have your attention.  You are probably thinking what kind of a pastor is this guy that he isn't bothered by a statue of satan.  Let me explain what does bother me before you decide I'm crazy.  Sound fair?  Good.  Here we go.  So, here is what really bothers me....The Ten Commandments were not God's original plan.  We got the Ten Commandments to show us that we cant keep them.  We got the Ten Commandments because we became self-righteous.  Did you know it is impossible to keep the law?  If we could keep even just the Ten Commandments, we wouldn't need Jesus and Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith.  The purpose of the Ten Commandments was not to give us a moral code to keep ourselves righteous by, it was to show us we are born sinners and the only way we can be made holy and righteous is by placing our faith in Jesus, the One who is Holy and Righteous.  The Ten Commandments are the Old Covenant, which leads to death.  If you are a born again Christian, you are under a New Covenant, raised to life by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! (see Galatians 3 for more contrast of the Old and New Covenants)

Now, I'm not saying that because we live under the New Covenant that we get to do whatever we want, or that the Ten Commandments and the Old Covenant are trash.  I'm just saying, if we feel that the best way to represent the Christian faith is to set up a monument of the Old Covenant, we may have no faith at all but in ourselves.  Jesus said to follow the law He gave- to love the Lord with all our heart and to love our neighbor as ourself (Matthew 12:29-31).  Jesus said that all of the law and the prophets (the old covenant) hang on these 2 commands.  Then Jesus took the the Ten Commandments to a whole new level in Matthew 5 all hinging on love if you really look at it.  He said the law that says not to murder, is not enough...that we shouldn't even be angry at someone.  He said that to not commit adultery is not enough, but that we shouldn't even look lustfully at another person.  If we love people and see them as Jesus sees them we wouldn't be angry at them.  If we loved ourselves and saw ourselves as Jesus does, we would not submit to the lust of our flesh.  You see my friends, what we need to be reminded of is love, not law.  The law condemns, but Jesus gives life!  (Romans 8:1-3) (2 Cor 3:7-8)  Jesus is love.  If we are going to have a statue, why not one of Jesus??

If you want to know how to treat others, look at Jesus.  You want to know what it means to really be a "good" person, look at Jesus.  You want to live a life of integrity, look at Jesus.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  He is the only one that is "good".   The Ten Commandments are not the key to your right standing with God.  Jesus didn't die a brutal death on the cross for us to continue to think all we have to do is follow a set of 10 rules.  That is self-righteousness and will lead you straight to hell my friends.   Jesus died a brutal death on the cross and rose from the grave so that we could have life and life abundantly through a relationship with him based on faith that He is God's son, lived a sinless life, died for all mankind, and rose from the grave!  He made a way for us to be made right with our Holy Creator, and if you are born again when God sees you He sees you clothed in the righteousness of Christ.  That is something that no Ten Commandments ever did for anyone.  No one has ever been able to or will be able to keep the law of the Old Covenant.  NO ONE EXCEPT FOR JESUS.  It is still critical for pointing people to Jesus and helping them see their need for a savior, but it does not make you a good person.  No one is good.  Without Jesus, we have all fallen short of God's glorious standard, but with Jesus we are holy and blameless!

I dont trust in the law, I trust in Jesus.  If we are going to have a statue to represent the Christian faith, put up a statue of Jesus blessing the children in Matthew 19.  If the satanic church wants a monument, let them have it.  Freedom is freedom even if we dont agree with everyone.  I promise you this, if they put up a monument of Satan next to a statue of Jesus, the monument of satan would not make it one single day without being destroyed.  Every time they rebuild and repair it, it will be destroyed.  See if the news will take that story viral.  The headline, "Statue of Jesus destroys statue of satan".... and most of the world will likely chalk it up to a hoax.  But for now, the hoax is on the Church.  Many have been taught that God wants them to follow a set of rules when what He really wants is a relationship with them.  If you have been unsuccessfully trying to follow the rules all your life and you want to have a relationship with Jesus then you must first realize you can't make yourself "right" or "good".  Jesus was the only one who could fulfill the law and He did, and because He did you can receive his righteousness through faith in Him alone.  If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that he was raised from the dead you will be saved (Romans 10:9).  Have a blessed day.  

Decisions, decisions

So many people are struggling with making decisions.  I often hear others say, "I don't know what to do."  I often say to myself, "I don't know what to do."  We struggle with decisions every day. There is a line in the Disney movie, Frozen, that says people make bad decisions when they are mad, scared, and stressed.  I would tend to agree strongly with that statement, but I'm sure you would as well. My bet is not that you don't know what causes you to make bad decisions, it is that you don't know what helps you make good decisions. Mr. Disney said it best in the quote above. It's values. What do you value?  Your values will determine how you make decisions. You need to write your values down so you can refer to them when your mad, scared, and stressed. If you need help determining what your values are, a great tool is www.chazown.com. This great resource will help you discover and write down your values and a vision for your life. Don't plan to make bad decisions anymore. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. What are some of your values? Feel free to share in the comments section below.  

Keep the fire burning

Have you ever started a fire? I mean without lighter fluid, gas, or any other kind of fuel?  It takes small, thin, dry pieces of wood along with some paper if you have it and a great deal of determination and focus.  I started a fire today and it took me a good 30 minutes to get it burning.  Once the fire started it burned pretty well for about an hour, but it wasn't very hot. Then came the stoke. Stoking is just a fancy word for poking the burning logs with some sort of a metal stick or, as in my case, a water line key. Once I stoked the smoldering logs the flames kicked up and then I was able to place a large log on the fire.  That is what your looking at in this picture. To keep a fire hot once you have started it, you must keep adding fuel (wood in this case) and you must periodically stoke the fire. 

As I was thinkng about my fire, it reminded me of my spiritual passion or fire.  A lot of preparation went into getting it started, but it takes consistent adding of fuel and regular stoking to keep the fire burning hot.  What stokes your spiritual fire?  Dancing to your favorite worship music? Listening to great teaching?  A nature walk? A night of solitude and prayer? I have realized that for me, one of the best stokers for my fire is fasting. If you have never fasted before, I would encourage you to do some research. That's how I learned about it. It's biblical and great for your body.  Fasting is not just something you do before your annual physical. It's a spiritual discipline that I need to plan more consistently in my life. 

I realized today that I don't stoke my fire enough. It burns, but not always very hot. I need to get away for a few days, fast, pray, and listen to The Lord. It's easy to get fired up in your spirit when you know you are hearing from God. It can be hard to recognize his voice if you have found yourself caught up in the busyness of life.  Just like with all things you want to be successful at, you need to have a plan. Make plans to stoke your fire consistently.  Consistent stoking of your fire will keep the fire burning. What stokes your fire? Share in the comments so others can learn new ways to stoke their spiritual fire. 

You don't know what you're building..

This little cabin doesn't look like much....well, at least it isn't much to look at. I helped build this cabin sometime in the late 1990's ( I can't remember the exact year). My dad and our hunting buddy, Joe Johnson, headed up the construction. We built this hunting cabin in one day. I thought it was awesome. We built another one just like shortly after we built this one. My dad had this 2,460 acre lease for longer than I had been alive. We killed a lot of deer, turkey, ducks, and made lots of great memories here. About 10 or so years ago, the land sold to a gentleman who had a dream of having an exotic animal hunting resort. That dream is now a reality named Triple S Wildlife Ranch. It's a hunting ranch that allows you to hunt exotic game from all over the world without having to travel all over the world.

When I was helping build that cabin, I had no idea what it would become. I was just glad we didn't have to stay in our tiny overhead camper anymore (overhead campers are not friendly to 6'2" young men such as myself). It was a simple one room cabin with no running water, but we did have electricity and propane gas. It was so great to get a good nights sleep before getting up at 5am to head off to my deer stand. When we found out the property was being sold, I was very sad. I shot my first deer here with my dad.  I got stung by bumble bees here.  I had a pet mouse in my deer blind here. This place seemed like it was our family land, but then the cold reality that it was only a lease set in.  Would I ever get to hunt here again?

Well, I'm not sure if I will ever hunt there again, but many trophy seekers have. And some of them stayed in the cabins I helped build. Who knows who may have stayed there. A corporate executive taking a weekend to give his son the experience of a lifetime. A doctor who wanted to hunt an African exotic.  Brothers reunited for one last hunt of a lifetime. A congressmen.  A veteran. A president. Who knows? When we built those cabins I had no idea what they would become a part of. They seemed small and no thrills at the time, but for those visiting the 3000 acre Triple S Ranch, those cabins are part of their once in a lifetime experience. You never know what your building....

P.S. - I did contact the ranch to see if I could go on a reunion tour. Believing for a chance to see this place again. I'll keep you posted. 

P.P.S. - the ranch is for sale for a cool $4.2 million. If you forgot to get me a Christmas present, I would gladly accept your donation to purchase this land ;-)