Do I base my belief in God on my pocketbook? Or maybe on whether I have the right relationship(s)? Do I ignore my struggles, and potentially miss anything God may be teaching me? What if I determined that no matter what happens, I know that He is my God?
I enjoy looking up the meaning of different names in the Bible. In ancient eastern cultures a name meant something. Many times it defined the person.
When I look at the meaning of names I think of it as “interesting” (not really doctrine). However, it often brings ideas to my mind that make me wonder if God wants me to meditate on something related to their names.
Here is a simple example.
When Job was going through the most significant trial of his life, he had three friends come to his aid: Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar.
Eliphaz means “My God is fine gold”
Bildad means “Confusing Love”
Zophar means “Sparrow” which is rooted in the idea of “Impudece” or “lacking respect”
Then in Chapter 32, a young man enters the scene named Elihu.
Elihu means “He is my God.”
So I wonder, which of these friends come to comfort me when struggles come? Or, which of these friends am I to my brothers and sisters during their time of distress?
Do I base my belief in God on my pocketbook? Or maybe on whether I have the right relationship(s)? Do I ignore my struggles, and potentially miss anything God may be teaching me? What if I listened to my friend Elihu, and determined that no matter what happens, I know that He is my God?
What about you? What friends come to help you in time of need? What friend do you need right now?
I truly hope you put your trust in God above, who sent Jesus Christ to forgive you and give you everlasting life.
Have you ever looked around and thought, “God, is this really where you called me?” I have.
Have you ever looked around and thought, “God, is this really where you called me?” I have.
Imagine that you are Abram for a moment. God called Abram out of his home country to show him the land God wanted to go give to him and his descendants. It had to be a amazing. And then we see this verse:
“From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.” Genesis 12:8
I believe there is something spectacular for us in the location of Abram’s tent. He build his tent between two locations: Bethel and Ai
Bethel – which means “House of God”
Ai – which means “Heap of ruins”
On Abrams journey to the promised land, he found himself between God’s house and a heap of ruins.
Can you relate? I can. In fact, I think this is a truth for all believers on our way to heaven. While we live on this earth, we see that our “tent” is between God’s house (heaven) and a heap of ruins (this world). This is where God is calling us on our Journey.
In fact, when Abram would look at the sunrise to the east, he would see Ai. And at the end of the day he would see Bethel. Much like us.
When we find ourselves in this place we can do what Abram did: make an altar. We thank God for His promise, and we stand between these two worlds with the same message God had for Abram – leave your homeland and go to a place God designed for us.
My friends, thank the Lord for the journey, knowing that you are in between God’s house and a heap of ruins.
The 2020 pandemic has brought out a significant number of projects at my house. So, I thought I’d write a (satirical) post to give you 13 Fun Family Pandemic Projects.
1) Ration Snacks – In our house, we found that we can sit and eat a bag of chips or most snacks in one sitting. So, we rationed them.
2) Move the TV to the other side of the room – our TV used to be on the right, and we moved it to the left as you see below. Luckily, we didn’t have to move any cable!
3) Replace a broken sump pump – Definitely don’t want water overflowing.
Also had a little plumbing fix – see white PVC.
4) Tile an entryway – I have to give a shoutout to my friend Dan who helped tremendously with this (he basically did it – LOL!) While nobody will ever come in this door, this looks so much better!
5) Add new electrical outlets – All of our bedrooms have had at least one outlet added, often because the existing outlets were not in the best place.
Great plug design for a computer desk!
6) Dig and bury a sump drain – since we moved in the sump drain was an above ground tube that drained right out by the tree. This created a swamp by the tree. We could not even mow it and we were afraid about gators.
BMX pogo’s came in handy!
Finished product! There is a little pop-up at the end.
7) Build a closet computer desk – because…why not. Right?
8) Replace the lights on your porch – Do you like wasps? I don’t. Our lights before had a gap between the light and the can. When we pulled out a bulb to replace it, there were three wasp nests inside. We have 6 lights like this that we needed to replace. All had nests in them! We replaced them with lights that do not have any slit for a wasp or bug to get into. Totally worth it!
Sorry I didn’t get a before pic of the wasp nests. Overall, we cleared out over 20 wasp nests across 6 lights and a small attic area. WOWZERS!
9) Sign your will – We have wanted to do this for almost 20 years. Last year we went through Financial Peace University (recommended) and we committed to getting our wills done. We were supposed to sign the week we were shut down due to COVID-19. Once Phase 1 opened we were finally able to sign our wills. Huge for us!
10) Build stairs to the bunk bed – my daughter has been asking for this since we moved in…finally got to it. It used to have a ladder like thing…but this is better.
11) Build tool hangers – Have tools…why not use them? This was actually a bit easier than I thought, and turned out pretty nice. I used most of my tools to build these. Good thing I had them. 🙂
12) Build a fire-pit – The family had a fire-pit night and noticed some rust in there. This started a conversation about alternatives. One thing led to another. New fire pit! Hope to have you over soon. 🙂
13) Paint a dresser – We have one child who reorganized and got rid of a dresser, and another who needed a dresser. Worked out great. But, it did need a paint job…primarily on the drawers.
I am hopeful that we will not have another quarantine. But, if we do, you now have 13 Fun Family Pandemic Projects! Don’t do them all in one day!
Hey Friends, I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, and this one will be different.
Right now I am about to start the fourth week of Quarantine due to COVID-19.
The youth pastor at our church asked several of the youth leaders if we would do a 3 minute devotional for the students. I did one, and I thought I would just share it here for you. Below the video I’m adding a few more comments that may be helpful
Work: Produces something and benefits someone.
Examples (besides the things people do where they get paid by an employer or someone else for doing):
Chores – whether you are asked to do them, or you do them because they are needed.
Homework/schoolwork – you probably didn’t want to do it, but it produces a grade that should benefit you (hopefully) 🙂
Serving – even at church – I suppose you might categorize serving as an act of worship, which is fine, but if we are honest, serving can be hard, and sometimes not what we wanted to do. But, it does produce something and benefit someone.
My point about what is neither work or rest is also important. There are simply things that are vital to life: eating, exercising, sleeping for instance. God clearly does not tell us we can only sleep one day a week. That isn’t the type of rest he was talking about on the Sabbath.
Similarly, reading the bible, praying, and worshiping God are vital to our life. They are not work. Well, you might say, well don’t you benefit when you read the Bible. Yes, but I also benefit when I eat and drink and sleep. This is a benefit that is vital to my existence. Therefore, I would not say that is “work”.
And, I love how Jesus covered the topic of the Sabbath in Mark 2 when he said:
27 Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
I pray you pick up the heart of what this devotion is about.
Work and rest are not the totality of life. God does say that we should have more work than rest, which does not make work more important, or rest less important. I think God just knows how we are designed.
Please take care of yourself. I love and miss you, and I look forward to seeing you soon!
Hey friends, I know it’s been a bit since I’ve shared. Since we have been in quarantine these last few weeks, our youth pastor asked some adults to do a video devotion for the teens. This is one that I put out there. I pray this blesses you.
I also pray you and yours are staying safe and well in this time!
Not long ago a friend asked me what food I miss the most while traveling. I first thought about the foods that I like: Mexican, chips and dip (kinda Mexican), Chick-Fil-A, Panera, Thanksgiving dinner, etc. Then, I realized what I really like about food. Here was my answer:
As a Christian, I can’t tell you how many discussions I’ve had about whether Christians should dress up and go trick or treating on Halloween. One side will bring up the pagan roots, and all the evil that this day represents. Another side will say, “Dude! Free candy!”
Give God permission to write your story. Give Him the pen. Then willingly step into the story God writes for you.
First, I want to thank you for your patience while I went “blog silent” for a while. I also want to wish my beautiful daughter a Happy Birthday! I love you daddy time! I love you Big Time! (only she will understand ♥ ) Continue reading “Give God the Pen”
Two techniques to enhance your worship experience.
I love intimate times of worshipping God. I love to feel lost in God’s love for me. I love when God speaks His honest words of life, hope and healing. Often, these times happen at church during the worship (song) time.
Sometimes I get distracted from focusing on God during worship. I have two “go to” techniques in these moments I want to share. I am interested in what you do to enhance your worship time?
What do you do when the music just isn’t doing it for you?
Jason Ellsworth, a great friend and incredible worship leader (click the link to learn more), once told me, “music is a tool to lead us to worship.” That comment has stuck with me for many years.
Music is a powerful tool. In the church there are old and new songs that really resonant with me (these are often “songs I like”). And, there are old and new songs that do not really resonate (ok…let’s be honest, these are usually “songs I don’t like”).
The sad part is, some people actually like those “songs I don’t like”! (gasp!) Even worse, some people do not like those “songs I like”! Travesty!
My heart goes out to all the worship leaders!
When it comes to the age old debate about “what songs should be sung on Sunday”, there seems to be a few options to choose:
List – Give the worship leader a list of “songs I like” and ask them to solemnly swear to only play those songs. OR,
Liberate – Let the worship leader do their thing, while I allow the music to be a tool to focus my heart towards God (whether I like the song or not).
“Music is a tool to lead us to worship” – Jason Ellsworth
Let’s be honest, the music is usually not the reason you or I cannot worship God. In my experience, I have left worship services where I loved every song, but did not have a close encounter with the Almighty. And, I have had very intimate and life changing times of worship when I didn’t like the songs being played. The change wasn’t the music, it was how prepared my heart was.
Even still, there are often times of distraction for me during church where I find my mind drifting. Here is what I do.
Two main activities that enhance my time of worship.
Whether I like the song or not, I find these two activities enhance my worship tremendously:
Pray – My family has told me that singing is not my gift or talent. But that isn’t the reason I don’t sing all of the songs. In some songs the words lead me to prayer for: me, my family, the church, my skatepark friends, work or whatever seems appropriate.
Read – Many times a song will make me think of a Scripture. So, I turn to the scripture and begin reading. In fact, that is how this blog came about.
Recently, a song at church led me to Psalm 22 and I came across this verse:
Psalm 22:27-28 – “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations will worship before Him. For the Kingdom belongs to Lord: and He rules over the nations.
This year I have been putting my focus on the Kingdom of God. So, this stood out to me and led me to another level of worship, intimacy, and awareness of God’s presence.
What about you?What do you do during worship that enhances your time of worship? Comment below.
Love and Blessin’s,
David
Featured Image provided by Jeremy Ellsworth Photography – www.JeremyEllsworth.com – Check him out for your photography needs!
