January 2012
1 post
“And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
– Matthew 21:22
December 2011
2 posts
Complaints
I am not a morning person. In fact, I am probably the worst person to talk to in the morning. I have difficulty waking up and most of the time my morning conversation is more of a grumble than it is discernable vocalization. Why is it so difficult for me to be a morning person? Because I take comfort in the sleep that I have, and to be disturbed from said sleep earlier than my physical body...
8 tags
Should I not have pity on Nineveh?
In my personal Bible study, I am making an attempt to look back on the stories of the Old Testament and see their relevance today in my life. There are so many stories that we learn when we are young, but miss the point entirely in our older years. We treat them as childish fables and move on. As I was studying this week, I began to rethink the situation of Jonah in relation to what expects of...
November 2011
12 posts
8 tags
Impact...
Have you ever found yourself in a public place and met someone you knew from long ago? Did you remember their name? Did they remember yours? We all have a need within us to be remembered. We long to leave an impact that will affect generations to come. We long to be remembered. Sometimes in this life we enter into dark situations and we begin to question where God is?
Psalm 13
How long, O LORD?...
Church Engineering
There was a time once in my younger years that I dreamed of being an architect or an engineer. I dreamed of designing various buildings and bridges that could enrich and enlighten the world with their function and beauty. I became interested in bridges for a while. The bridge that always held a bit of interest for me was the Brooklyn Bridge, because of its mixture of those two areas. It is an...
8 tags
"This is only a test.."
One of the worst things in existence is the testing of the Emergency Broadcast System over the television channels that you watch. It always seems that the station selects a time when you are almost asleep on the couch on a Sunday afternoon to blare that confounded buzzer over the speakers of your television. Sometimes it is in the middle of your favorite television show, and it blocks off all the...
8 tags
FINISH!
Staring at a heap of unfinished projects, I had to decide what to get rid of and what to keep. It had seemed like there were so many things that I had begun in excitement that fizzled out with time and difficulty. I was staring at a huge pile of quit, and it was just a reminder of how many times I had failed. I saw it as a reminder of all the times that I had not carried through with the things...
8 tags
Spiritual Wreck...
Rain was falling in sheets so thick that I could barely see the road in front of me and the deafening roar as it struck the roof of my car was drowning out any possibility of hearing any type of weather report on the radio. My headlights were of little to no use because the rain covered their beams like a blanket. The wind fought me for control of my car but I refused to forfeit possession and...
8 tags
Teens losing faith because it's never theirs...
I heard a staggering statistic on the road this morning. While listening to the radio, it was shared that now it is projected that 9-10 confessing Christians lose their faith during their college years. This means that out of every 10 young Christians only 1 is making it out of these years with their faith in contact. This means that we are either dropping the ball in preparing our...
Travelling on...
I love to drive. A 14 hour drive is a sheer joy and delight for me to undertake, and I look forward to taking cross country trips. There is something soothing about driving on the open road, and mentally it is somewhat rewarding to know that there is a destination waiting at the end of the trip. For me though, the trip is half the fun. However, I despise daily commutes that last longer than 30...
9 tags
Cleaning up life (archived article from Feb. 2010)
Over the past few weeks, we have seen a flurry of activity in order to prepare for this new time here at Owl Hollow. Many people have been active in making preparations for the Rayburn’s move to our congregation, and there have been some serious man hours that have gone into revitalizing much of our buildings. First I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this effort and worked to...
9 tags
The Problem with Hypocrisy
One of the biggest complaints against Christians today is that many lead a life that is hypocritical in nature, and for the most part these allegations can be somewhat true. This is not to say that we are never allowed to make mistakes, but hypocrisy calls out a larger problem that plagues the Church. Hypocrites are leaders of double lives. That is the problem that those in the world have with...
6 tags
The Belittling Myth of Christianity
Change doesn’t come over night. It amazes me how often people expect to change their life in a few days without any struggle or pain. Change is inevitable, and it seems more common that negative change can happen slowly over time without us being aware of the changes that are happening. Small incremental changes lead to large life changing events that can alter the course of our life. Sin has a...
5 tags
Pity Party
We like attention. From birth, we crave attention and the care of others in our life. We fuss and cry constantly as babes to make our desires and needs known to those who are around us. However, we do become conscious to the fact that we can utilize this to get what we want at some point. Consider the toddler who wants the toy that someone else has and pitches a fit to encourage the adults around...
6 tags
Changes
Fall has taken hold of the world that surrounds us, and summer seems like a distant memory that is forgotten with each falling yellowing leaf from the trees. The drop in temperature coinciding with the drop in leaves serves as a firm indicator that the autumn months are fully upon us. The smell of the first wood fire rising from a far off chimney prepares us for the chill that the oncoming winter...
October 2011
2 posts
8 tags
4 Thoughts on Being a Teen.
With my 10 year class reunion approaching quickly, I took the chance to look back and think about the things that I wish someone would have told me when I was younger. These are a few things that I came up with…
1. Be yourself:
There are so many people telling you what to be or how to be it that you can almost kill yourself chasing down every fad or trend. Explore what it out there, but you...
8 tags
Jobs Not Tasks
There is the story of a boy who bursts into the dining room where his father sat at breakfast and said, “What can I do to help you today, Dad? I want to do something!”
“Well son,” was the reply, “do you see that pile of sand out there? You can wheel it up to the other end of the garden.”
“All right,” said the boy, and with a whistle on his lips he went to work. But the job did not last long and...
September 2011
4 posts
9 tags
Desiring Independence
Most teenagers dream of the day when they will strike out on their “own”. I placed quotation marks very carefully around the word “own” because while the recently graduated often gain a new level of independence they are still quite dependent on their families. We crave to be independent and in control of our own lives. While independence from our parents is eventually a good thing, we...
8 tags
8 tags
Transform not Conform
“If I could find a church which did not insist upon creed and ceremony; a church where money was not the everlasting theme; I would attend.” You may have heard this phrase in some form from people who are outside the church when they offer their public opinion of what they desire from the Body of Christ. Despite the clear objective of the Church, the world still claims to want from a church...
6 tags
Skyscrapers
One of my earliest independent adventures into the world was a cruise that I took between my sophomore and junior years of high school. I remember loading onto a bus in the early hours of the morning and riding for nearly 24 hours straight until we arrived at New York City. I remember coming through the Lincoln tunnel to exit and see the majestic city to my left, and I found myself in wonder at...
August 2011
7 posts
8 tags
Classic or Custom?
If you frequent any regular car show that might happen during the summer months, you will see various grades and qualities a variety of cars. They are often divided into groups of make, model, or year, but they are judged upon completely different criteria. As the judging takes place, the owner is to identify in which class their car will be competing. There are several different...
5 tags
5 tags
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a...
-Psalms 51:10
8 tags
“I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit. I...
- Ezekiel 36:26
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