Learning to Love Others

This past Sunday Pastor Michael said to turn off the news and get into the Bible to improve life and fight spiritual warfare(paraphrased by me).

I had already started attempting to read the date in Proverbs everyday and had started re-reading Romans 12 every day, it being the chapter that the last series was taught from. I also decided to start throwing in 1 Corinthians 16 which this new series, Spiritual Warfare, A Study in Breakthrough, is being taught from. I read the whole chapter, and down at the bottom in verse 22 it says, If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! 1 Corinthians 16:22.

Watch out Paul! If ANYONE has no love for the Lord, let him be ACCURSED.

Got to thinking that was a little harsh, but it stuck with me. So I looked up the definition and it had a word or two more that I had to look up and they all point to being cursed. So Paul says if you have no Love for the Lord may you be cursed.

This morning when I read it I clicked on some of the letters by the scripture, I use Blueletterbible.com, great bible site by the way, and it sends me to a pile of verses talking about does not love. John 14:24, 1 John 3:10, 1 John 3:14, 1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:20.

So wouldn't you know it, this is what God has been putting on my mind, no, not taking to long on this blog to get to the point, the fact that I need to work at loving people. Pastor Michael has been talking about how we as a church need to just love people. I have been noticing that except for family and friends there aint a whole lot of people I love. In fact there are examples in the last few weeks that I can say I have actually said I hate someone. That has got to stop and it will. I am learning that living this life that God has given us and living it in his will is not about me. It is about loving others and letting them know and understand that God loves them too.

1 John 3:14b says, Whoever does not LOVE abides in death. I am tired of abiding in death. I am ready to abide in life and love. Pastor said in our last Gospel Cohort class that to understand the Gospel you are going to have to work. I am ready to work at loving people and God.

How about you?

Love Ya'll, Mean it! (See never ended with that, improving a little already)

Later.

Offended

I am still working out why I feel I should have this blog.

I have been reading, The Bait of Satan by John Bevere, and it has opened my eyes to some things that I had never thought about or knew was even in the Bible (I have really got to get on one of those read the Bible in a year programs).

He talks about John the Baptist being offended by Jesus. Say what?! My reaction too. I will paraphrase, John the Baptist is sitting in jail. Some of his followers have left him to follow Jesus, the Messiah, that he, John the Baptist, has proclaimed his coming and prepared the way. He hears through some of the ones that are still serving him that Jesus and his followers are eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners and they break the Sabbath. Far from John the Baptist eating locust and wild honey and fasting in the wilderness. So now he is questioning what he had seen when the Spirit descended on Jesus after he baptized him. So he sends two of his faithful to find out if Jesus is the real deal. After they asked he did this:

Luke 7:21-23 (English Standard Version)
21 In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. 22 And he answered them, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me."

He is saying, "John, I know you don't understand all that is happening with you and many of My ways, but do not be offended with Me because I do not operate as you expected". John Bevere p. 106-107, The Bait of Satan.

I read this and just had my eyes opened like never before. Basically I have been looking at the Pastors and leaders in the church with the wrong heart. Now, there are wrong ways to do things, but just because someone is doing something to reach people and it is not the way I would do it, does not make it wrong. And the verse also says, 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me." So if you are being offended by the way someone is trying to reach people you can not be blessed. Well. that is the way I see it.

I have served God, with, beside, and under my Pastor, Michael Kyker, for almost 12 years. I have not always agreed with the way he has done things, and I know he has not always agreed with things I have done. I will say that I have been offended at times instead of just not agreeing with him, and that has been so wrong. All this proves that I am still learning and I need to read my Bible continuously.

The main thing that has been revealed to me is being offended can shut you down as a person and stop you from being yourself and from doing what you know God has planned for you. I have seen people lose perspective by being offended by a pastor or church leader because they did not agree with how they were doing something, or something they said. If your pastor is doing something you don't agree with, pray for God to show you their heart, then if that does not clear the matter up, make an appointment and ask them to explain it to you so you can understand. If it is not against the word of God, then what is the problem? Just because it is not the way you would do it does not mean it is wrong, and as long as you are not offended, you are blessed.

Alright, I have got to get busy and see what other trouble I can get into.

Later.

Music and Life

**Read to the end, song is at the end of the post.**

It has been a little while since I have found a song that speaks to me where I am at. The song kind of surprised me with the title. Then I really listened to it. Some of the stuff in the song lines up so right with what I have gone through in the last year that it was scary. As for the chorus of the song, well it is, in my opinion, so correct. Nobody is gonna save your ass except for you.

Now the arguments can start. Yes, God saves you not you. But if you do not make the effort to let God save you, you will not be saved. I know what I am supposed to be doing in my life of serving God, I have just been fighting it like a 3 year old at bath time. If we don't let God guide us, life is not going to ever be fulfilling. There will be times that it will be good, but when you are in the complete will of God, it is so much better.

John 5:25 (English Standard Version)

25"Truly, truly, I say to you,(G) an hour is coming, and is now here, when(H) the dead will hear(I) the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

I am not sure this is the best verse to back up my point, but it does say those that hear will live. I have been living but not to my potential in God. I have been doing MY best, but if I will let God do his best in my life, it will be so much better.

Ya'll have a good one, and don't play the video to loud depending on where you are, I mean the name of the song is Save Your Ass.

Hear song here.

I AM SURE OF ONE THING.

I realized today at church that I am at a crossroads in my life. It has been a rough two years, I will not be sad to see 2009 go. But I am not sure I am ready for 2010. I have written about change before, and I will probably write about it again. I do not handle change worth a crap, never have, but I keep trying. I keep trying to do my best, my father would tell me that all you can do is your best. I have had some things that I have based the last ten years of my life on be brought up to my attention that they are not things to base your life on. I do know that I am where I am for a reason, and when the time is right God will reveal that reason in some shape, form or fashion. So, I am now trusting in God to show me the way of the next ten years, and yes, I thought I had listened to him for the last ten years. Oh, and the one thing I am sure of, HE is God and I am not.

Later.

Falling Short

Well, I fell short of my goal of so many posts in so many weeks. Eh, that's life. If I wanted it to be a job I would have gotten a writing degree and hired on at a newspaper.

I have been trying to find my motivation to do a lot of things. I have never had a bucket list, and that bothered me a little. So number one on my list is to learn to surf. Not none of this giant wave stuff, you know, just learn how to ride a wave and not look stupid and not fall off the board every time I get on.

Since the last time I posted God has provided my family with some financial help that has removed some pressure, and it feels good. I have never lost faith that God can get us through anything, it is just the, "His time" thing that gets me sometimes. Now I never got to the point of giving up, but waiting on God, when you know you are supposed to and not take it into your own hands is not easy. I looked for a verse and found this one, Psa 69:3 I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. It did not get that desperate, but there was times that I really questioned was I hearing from God. In the end, I was hearing right, and it was confirmed, by God.

There are some new video projects on the horizon, and a little motivation creeping its way in a little at a time. So life is good.

Until I have posted something new that I have done, watch this
it is for all my mountain bike riding buddies that I have not yet joined on the trail yet, and yes, I realize the guys in the video are downhillers! But it is still some good camera work and bike work.

Later.

What took me so long.

I watched the movie, "Facing the Giants", a month or so ago.  In the movie as the coach of the football team starts realizing that he can not face life on his own, he makes the statement to his team, "We praise Him when we win, and we praise Him when we lose."  I have heard this most of my adult christian life.  But I have just started really trying to live by it and believe it.  Lately I have tried to live where I am and enjoy God, life, my family, where I am. I do not have all the answers to all the questions, but I have let the reality sink in that God is God and on the throne no matter what is going on in the world or in my little section of the world.

Yesterday Pastor Michael used the verse, Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice."

It just summed up my last few weeks.  Rejoicing in the Lord.  Because there have been some things going on that should have helped me out in life and because of decisions made by people besides me, they did not.  So what do I do?  Well instead of letting it control the way I feel, I just Praise God rejoicing in Him and where he has me and go on Living, Laughing and Loving.

Which I think that might be my new tattoo: Live, Laugh, Love.  I can't take all the credit, recently my mom went back in the hospital for a few days to clear up an ulcer on her leg that she had knee surgery on, (which she is home and doing well, talked to her yesterday) and the nurse trainee that was putting in her I V had it on her arm and it was like wow, that is the tattoo that I have been looking for that sums up where I am and trying to do.

Alright, by my count I am behind on my 2 posts a week for 4 weeks, so we will see what happens.

Later.

Never Ready

About three years ago my fathers' dementia got bad enough that he could not get out of bed.  So since then he has been bed ridden and his health has been getting worse a little each year.  The doctors told us that he would be the same and then he would just get worse, and then he could stay at that level and then get worse again down the road.

Well, my father, Chapple D. Curington, died Sunday night, June 14th around 8pm Central time.

I titled this Never Ready because we have known that he could go quick or he could have lived longer.  When I was younger and we would argue, he told me that when you stood at the casket looking on your dead relative there was nothing else you could do for them.  If the last time you talked to them you left things in a bad way, there was nothing you could do now.  When we moved from Enterprise in 2000, every time we left after a visit I always made sure everything was square between us.  If it happened not to be, I would call him when I got home and make sure it was.  So, everything was good between us the last time I talked to him and he knew who I was.  But although everything was good, something like this you are never ready for.

The picture is from 1996, the fall, we had to quit picking peanuts early to go to Olan Mills to take pictures.  Krutchen was around a year old and we had just found out Kim was pregnant with Katie.  I remember being surprised that Daddy did not complain about us having to quit early.  When we started picking peanuts there was not an off day or a Sunday, it was all peanut picking days until the harvesting was done.

My father was a good man, I had the opportunity to work with him most of my life, this I would not trade for anything.  Thank you Lord for letting me have that opportunity, and thank you Daddy for teaching me how to work and how to live with respect for myself and others.

Later.