Marching Forth!

I've been working out of town lately and with all the extra drive time I haven't been able to set aside much time to contribute to the blog.  When I normally would be working on the blog I'm either spending time with the family or trying to catch up on sleep!  Thankfully no one needs to rely on a person to receive from God.  He's willing to use anything to speak to our hearts:  animals, nature, signs, or even things sent in the mail. Case in point:  Zed hasn't played baseball for a year and is about to turn 11.  Because of this it was strange to receive a brochure in the mail seeking serious baseball players aged 13 to 18 for a national tryout to be discovered by college scouts!  It was a catch-phrase at the bottom of the page which caught my attention which read, " Build your way to greatness ."  I rarely can take things at face value even when reading a brochure!  It is almost a natural habit for me to look at things from a biblical, spir...

This Saturday past our church put on a "Children's Festival" at a neighborhood park for a couple of hours.  It was wonderful to see many people from our church fellowship ministering Christ's love to the community.  There were crafts, balloon animals, interactive games, face painting, Gospel bracelets, caricatures, and snacks.  Opportunities abounded for handing out Gospel tracts or simply having a talk. It was a beautiful reminder of how the Body of Christ is intended to work.  All of us have different gifts, talents, and passions, and the Holy Spirit brings them to life through unique personalities.  God has given us various abilities for a single purpose:  the glory of God.  By the grace of God we are who we are.  Not all are evangelists, teachers, administrators, or able to physically carry trash cans full of water balloons.  But every Christian is filled with the love of Jesus and an ability to share that love with others. As neat as...

There is hardly a sin more needless or tragic than bad preaching.  In an attempt to be relevant, some sacrifice truth.  Others, though they speak truth, do so without applying the text in a way that impacts the hearers.  The preacher's work is not to stimulate minds but engage hearts through the Holy Spirit's anointing and power.  Charles Spurgeon lamented of those who missed the mark in his day:  " For instance, the great problems of sublapsarianism and the supralapsarianism, the trenchant debates concerning eternal filiation, the earnest depute concerning the double procession, and the pre- and post-millenarian schemes, however important some may deem them, are practically of very little concern to that godly widow woman, with seven children to support by her needle, who wants far more to hear of the loving-kindness of the God of providence than of these mysteries profound.  I know a minister who is great upon the ten toes of the beast, the four faces of ...

My first post on this blog was July 8th, 2009.  It's amazing to think a year has passed since I started posting.  To be honest, it feels like much longer.  I suppose 200 posts in a year isn't too shabby!  It has been a cathartic exercise to share what God puts on my heart in this format, and I hope you have been blessed as I have. In looking back over the past year, much has changed.  In July 2009 I was the youth pastor at Calvary Chapel El Cajon and heading off to summer camp at Green Valley Lake.  What followed camp was the realization that our (my wife and I) ministry with the youth was fulfilled.  I resigned my position in September and left for a two month trip to Australia.  To make a full year very short, I came back to the States and we sold our house.  Laura and I went for a two week trip to Australia this year and we are awaiting word on a possible ministry opportunity on the east coast.  It's remarkable how much has happened...