I love these verses

This is what it is all about.   

“Every day tell how He saves us. Tell the nations of His glory; tell all peoples the miracles He does, because the Lord is great; He should be praised at all times.”  PSLAMS 96:2-4 NCV

I believe those few words capture what the Christian life is all about.  He does save us, even though we are sinners.  But its just about us.  It is about His Glory.  He great.  He should be praised at all times.  My lifestyle His Glory.   

He has my support

Last Night John McCain spoke these words “The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly.”

Some of you may be asking now what?  What do we do now that we know Americas next president.  Let me suggest a few things that I am personally going to do.

1. I will suport President Elect Barack Obama.  He will be the leader of America and I believe the Bible clearly teaches that we are to support him.  God is in Control.  
2. I will not talk bad about him even if I disagree.  What good would it do to start grumbling anyway?
3. I will, despite all the bad things that I have heard about him, chose to believe the good things I have heard.  Donald Miller, an author that I enjoy reading, has supported Obama from the beginning.  Yesterday I read this article and I am going to simply believe that what follows is true.  Donald Miller had a chance to meet Joshua Dubois and Paul Monteiro, Obama’s faith-policy advisors. Donald Miller says

   “Joshua spoke to me about Senator Obama’s personal faith, his commitment to close his events in prayer, his daily morning devotions and his twenty-year history of talking openly about Jesus.”

   That leads me to my next point.   
    

4. I am going to pray for him. 
   • I pray that prayer will become or remain a vital part of Obama’s life.  
   • I pray that every morning Obama will spend time reading God word. 
   • I pray that he will not only talk openly about Jesus but that he will live his life openly for Jesus. 
   • I am going to pray that God will give him wisdom beyond his years.  
   • That God will protect him and keep him out of harms way.   
   • That he would have the strength and courage to make decisions that will honor God.
   • That Christians will become his biggest supporters as we pray and personally look to make a difference in our world.  More to come on this tommorrow.    

Thank you John McCain for your humble spirit.   I hope that the republican party can by into what you have encouraged them to do last night.   John McCains concession speech.  

Praise God-Even when you lose your job

Well I just read an article on the packers website and they have decided to release  Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila.  Kabeer is a good friend of Aaron Kampmans and a great guy.  Kabeer has a love and desire to live his life for God.   I think we can learn a lot from kabeer.

1. He was a hard worker.
2. He understood his role on the team and was willing to make adjustments.
3. He wanted to make a lasting impact on the people around him.
4. He didn’t burn bridges when it was time to go.
5. He praised God, despite losing his Job.

Check out  Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila statement to the packers organization.   

In leaving the organization, Gbaja-Biamila issued the following statement: “My nine years as a Green Bay Packer have been a blessing that is beyond words. I thank God for bringing me to this first-class organization and first-class community. During my time here, I’ve built relationships with a number of people in the Packer family. The front office executives, G.M.s, coaches, past and present players, the enormous support and administrative staff plus the greatest fans in football, all have helped make my time here truly special and I am thankful for that. It has been a very positive experience. I was able to build a family here and grow with a community that I call home. Again, I’ve been truly blessed. I don’t know what my football future holds, but one thing I’ve realized is that football is more than a game – it’s about building relationships and changing lives. One of the commitments I’ve had throughout my career has been to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and that is something that I intend on doing whether on the field or not. God bless the Green Bay Packers!”  Read the entire article here.  

Bible and Living my life

I just finished reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell and even though I did not agree with everything in the book I learned a lot.  I appreciate the fact that Rob was willing to say ” Just because I’m a Christian and I’m trying to articulate a Christian worldview does’nt mean I’ve got it nailed.”  What a humble comment.  I love that he is willing to admit that he does’nt have it all figured out.   

Let me share with you comments that stood out to me.  

The Ten Commandments are God teaching people how to discern, and how to live well in relationship between right and wrong with their creator.  The Bible is filled with stories of God teaching people how to think.  How to discern.  P.86

Missions then is less about the transportation of God from one place to another and more about the indentification of a God who is already there. …Or maybe it means teaching people to use their eyes to see things that have always been there; they just didn’t realize it.  P. 87

The point of the cross isn’t forgiveness.  Forgiveness leads to something much bigger: resotration.  God isn’t just interested in the covering over os sins, God wants to make us into the people we were originally created to be.  P. 108

The problems come when salvation becomes all about me.  Me being saved.  Me having my sins forgiven.  Me being reconciled to God.  P. 109

For Jesus, eternal life wasn’t a state of being for the future that we would enter into somewhere else; it is a quality of life that starts now.  P. 143

The entire movement of the Bible is of a God who wants to be here, with his people.  The church is descirbed later as being the temple of God.  And how does the Bible end?  With God ‘coming down’ and taking up residence here on earth.  P. 149

As I think through some of these thoughts and I think about my life as a Christ follower, I begin to think about when everything changed for me.  I began to live and be willing to die for Christ when the complete story of the Bible made sense to me.  When I started to understand that the Garden of Eden has something to do with me.  I am apart of the story.  The Bible is not just some old book. It is God’s Story.  

It’s the story of God’s love and desire for a relationship with man.  Knowing that I am apart of this Story changes the way I live my life.

Think Politics

I want to link to some political things for you to think about.  Both come from relevant magazine.  The first one is the interviews done at Saddleback Community Church in August.  It includes both Obama and McCain.   Watch the interviews here.  

The other is a great article that was written by the founder of Relevant Magazine.   I highly agree with the position taken in this article.  Leading the Charge.

Rejecting God’s Purpose

Right now I am reading through the book of Luke and Chapter 7 verse 29-30 brings up an interesting thought. Check it out.  29 (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, 30 but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

The one group of people declare God as just, HAVING OBEYED GOD, and the other group (the religious Experts) reject the Purposes of God, because they did not obey God. Interesting.

So have you rejected God’s purpose for yourself?  Are you living for self or God and His Glory.  I gotta tell you that sometimes it is real hard to obey God.  Sometimes I wanna do my own thing.  Sometime I struggle to be odedient to what I know God wants me to do.

How to Pray-Brennan Manning

Listened to this interview with Brennan Manning yesterday.  Good thoughts and I recommend you listen to it.  

He believes there are four rules to praying.

1. You learn to pray by praying
2. Pray as you can not as you cant.  
3. Dont just pray when you feel like it.  
4. Intesity of Desire.  How bad do you want it.    

He recommends the book Open Mind Open Heart  by Thomas Keating.   I just bought it on Amazon for a Total of $4.00.   Can’t beat that.  

Blog slump and a great resource for you.

I have been watching a lot of Phillies baseball lately and it has been good to watch some of the Phillies stars come out of their slumps.   When I think about slumps I think about my blogging slump.  Lately I have been thinking and reading a lot.  Instead of blogging my thoughts I have been trying to simply swallow them on my own. Not sure how long I will be in the blogging slump, so I want to hook you up with a great resource.   

Christianaudio.com  is a website where you can buy and download Christian books.  Right now I am listening to an interview with Brennan Manning.  This was a free resource found here.

Other great resources can be found on itunes.  I download and listen to Pastors and speakers from all over the world for free.   I also buy Christian songs and cds from here.

Make it to number 1.

One of the great thinkers that I love to read and listen to is Ravi Zacharias.  Currently I am reading The Grand Weaver- How God Shapes us Through the Events of Our Lives.  If you like to think this is a great book for you to read.  I am leave you with a taste of thoughts to ponder from this great book.  

Accomplishment and dream careers do not necessarily lead to happiness.  Making it to number one really means knowing where God wants you to be and serving him there with your best efforts.   The goal, them, is to find the threads God has in place for you and to follow his plan for you with exellence.  

 

 

 

Let me know how you have been feeling.