Warning Signs

I recently took a trip to the Great Smokey Mountains with my best friend and as we took off for one of our hikes, this sign was posted at the trail head. As you see below, it read, "DANGER - Fallen deaths HAVE occurred. Closely control children."

Let me point this out again..."Falling deaths HAVE occurred". It does not say could occur, is possible...no, not at all, they are telling you they have occurred...people HAVE died. They are speaking from experience not from speculation. When I saw this sign it made me think of Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death" Not the wages of sin may be death, could possibly be death, will most likely result in death. It is plain, simple, straight forward, to the point, no nonsense, no room for speculation, no margin for error, "The Wages of sin is death"...but I love that it does not stop there..."but the Gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

The Question is not what happens to us because we sin...the answer there is abundantly clear, the question is have you accepted God's gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ?

My Son's Hands

Sometimes, when I am walking with one of my boys and they are holding my hand, I look at their little fingers and think how much I adore those little hands...

• Those little hands that reach up to me often for me to hold them.
• Those little hands that need a kiss when they pinch their finger in something.
• Those little hands that are put on my cheek and they say, "I love you Daddy".
• Those little hands that gently hold their matchbox cars as they say "vroom, vroom"
• Those little hands that pick out their favorite color Flintstone vitamin every morning
• Those little hands that like to give me a high five when they are excited.
• Those little hands that they like to put in gloves and wear them 24/7 for days at a time

Then I think...WOW...how difficult it must have been for God to watch His son's hands pierced for the price of our sin. Makes me bow down in unspeakable gratitude...praise God from whom all blessings flow!

What is God calling you to do today?

Reading "The Forgotten God" by Francis Chan and love the way he describes God revealing his will for our lives. Often times we are concerned with what is Gods' plans for our lives. God never promises that he will reveal to us what he will have us doing in 5, 10 or 20 years...but he does tell us he will guide us daily. If we continue to feed our spirit, and daily ask God to show us what he wants us to do that day for him...in the end we will have gone the way he wanted us and everything will fall into place.

When competing in my triathlons I am not worried about what my swim speed will be at 1000 yards into the race, or how what will be my bike speed 21 miles into the bike or how hard will my run start to get at mile 5...I take the race one stroke, one pedal, and one step at a time...not worried about my previous stroke, pedal, or step...not worried about my next stroke, pedal, or step...just focused on the current stroke, pedal or step...

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh...If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit" - Galatians 5:16, 25

"The phrases keeping in step with the Spirit and walking with the Spirit are mostly likely familiar, but do they affect your life in a practical and meaningful way? Like I said earlier, I think dwelling on God's plan for the future ofter excuses us from faithful and sacrificial living now. It tends to create a safe zone of sorts, where we can sit around and have "spiritual" conversation about what God might have planned for our lives" - Francis Chan, Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit.

What is God calling you to do today?

Gathering with other Christians

Many people like to debate whether or not going to church is required to be a Christian...many say it is not, while there are still many that say you do. First let's see what God's word says about it:

"Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25).

The bible does not need to have a minimum of 3 references in order for something to be true, God needs to only say it once and that is good enough for me and should be for you, hence the one scripture above.

The second way I would like to suggest that we DO need to go to church is...you find me someone who serves God in their daily life, in every aspect of their life, that has surrendered their entire selves to Christ in service to others and I you will also see that this person goes to church. Not that all people that go to church are that way but rather the reverse...all people that are that way go to church.

Unfortunately, people spend more time and effort trying to explain away their guilt in not seeking first the kingdom of God and one of those ways are by gathering together building each other up, holding each other accountable, and allowing God more opportunity to speak to you through other Christians.