Attractive



Throughout the ages, signifance has been placed on the way a person looks, dresses, smells or talks. In our day and time, the newest thing is face-lifts, botox, physical enhancements, fad diets and spray tanning. Society tells woman they are only beautiful if they have a size 0 waist and curves to boot. We raise our children to see the world through these eyes and are continuing to create a culture that bases everything on a certain look.

But being attractive is not a bad thing. Yesterday, Pastor Mark led us through a sermon on understanding that we are Christ's Ambassadors. In coming to terms with the fact that we are indeed an ambassador of Christ, we must realize that people are watching us. The community wants to see how we live, how we talk, how we love and how we respond. Truthfully, many un-Christians are just waiting to see us fail and not respond with love and grace and have their opinions of Christians as hypocrites confirmed. Therefore, we have got to take our obligation as an ambassador for Christ seriously. It is an honor and a privilege that God wants to "attract" others to a relationship with Him through me.

As I was reading through the book of Philippians, I came across a particular passage that stuck out to me. The Message translation says that we are to life a life that will "make Jesus Christ attractive to all." God has chosen to use you and me to attract others into a relationship with Him. Therefore, the way that we live our life must be appealing. We must live an abundant life, a life filled with joy and peace and love. Life is difficult and people are looking to Christians for an answer.

Does the way that you live your life give others hope?

Total Failure

I created this blog with a new name and a new direction to keep up the balancing act of trying to be a dad, a husband, a friend and a pastor. Well, my Jenga game, a.k.a. my life, just came tumbling down because I have not posted anything since November. I could give you every excuse in the book; travel, sickness, new responsibilities, adoption, kids, poopy diapers, and the list goes on but really each of those is just an excuse.

I am not even going to try and say things are easy or simple because they are not but Life is Good. Our children are wonderful and each day with them is a new treasure from God. I fall more in love with my wife everyday watching as she continues to become the woman that God created her to be. I love my friends, family and co-workers more than I could possibly put into words.

But even when things seem to be going great, life happens. If you take your eye off of the prize for one second, you may fall. I feel like I took my eyes off of Jesus during this time period of my life. I for sure praise Him for all of the amazing blessings but I was not consumed by him, I was not driven by his love and I have been left feeling empty. This season of my life I began to wonder can a person love God but not be in Love with God and I have come to the realization that the answer is an abundant NO. If you began to feel this way or walk this way, you are becoming lukewarm and there is nothing worse than a lukewarm follower.

As I search and pray, may you take an honest look at your own walk and see if you are on-fire for God or has your spark fizzled? May God consume every aspect of our lives in such a way that our spark will never go out.