GREAT Vacation
I will keep this short as we are waiting to disembark from the cruise ship. I will say this has been an awesome trip! When we arrived at Nassau Bay we rented a scooter and gave ourselves a tour of the island. This was an incredible adventure as I had never been on a scooter before and then we were driving around an island that I had never visited before. The beaches were just what you see on TV with white sand and crystal clear water and the people were as nice as can be…that is until I crashed our first scooter and had a Haitian that lives on the island try and take advantage of us! Long story…the good thing is that neither of us were on the scooter when it happened so we were not hurt and we just returned the scooter and they gave us another one so we could continue to have fun!
Vacation
We made it to Florida! This day began as an interesting adventure. We had to set the alarm for a 4:30am wake up so we could make our flight that had a scheduled departure of 7:20am. Itof a much more civil plan…seemed that we were well on our way to a relaxing and slow paced day until we realized that our journey to Midway was taking a little longer than expected. We decided to wait for breakfast until after we had had checked in and gone through security. There was only one small problem with this plan…unusually long wait for electronic check in! Our bags were marked as a late arrival and so we did not know if they would make it with us to Ft. Lauderdale. So, after this we made our way to the TSA screening area only to find that moving slower than normal as well! Then our gate was the last one in the terminal so I tried to run with my flip flops on to make it and was trying to keep an eye on Camille since she is moving a little slower now. As I was approaching the gate I saw the attendant closing the door…I wanted to yell “Hey hold that plain!” Instead I thought of a much more civil approach. I ran to the gate counter and began pleading with the agent only to have her tell me that I was too late without even looking up from work which was obviously much more important to her than me! Finally an agent with a little (I really mean a little) respect for the customers came and walked us to the gate and allowed us to board. WOW! We were up at 4:30 and almost missed our 7:20 flight! CRAZY!!!!
So we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale and got 2 of the 3 bags that we had checked in Chicago. Fortunately the rest of the day has been relaxing and stress free! Oh yeah, we did get the other bag about 2 hours later. So, life is good and we are set and ready to relax and connect!
Thank you ROCC family for making this trip possible back in January when you all surprised me with this gift for my birthday!
Daily Reading
Today’s reading really hit a nerve as I prayed that the same things could be said of me as what was stated in the Word of God about David. We all know that David had his issues with poor leadership and lust and all sorts of other things yet in Psalm 78:72
And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.
Now, I know from reading the word that David has his faults yet God allowed this statement about him to be included in His Holy Word. This tells me and reaffirms that God does not judge us the way men judge rather God looks into our heart. The New Living Translation says that David cared for God’s people with a true heart! Since coming to ROCC it has been my desire to always lead this congregation with a true heart and to truly let God lead. This has been difficult because often God leads us in ways that do not follow the standards of man. When Gideon was choosing the men to take to battle God had him go through a very unique selection process one that would not have been understood by those wanting to fight. When God had Samuel anoint David as king this made no sense to the family seeing how David was the youngest and most illogical choice. Even Jesus being born in a stable made no sense to to the religious scholars of the time. So when we look at the ways that God does things it often makes no logical sense to us.
This verse really struck a chord today because of an event that occured yesterday. I had a young man that has not been in this church for over a year walk in the office after scheduling an appointment the day before and literally just attack everything I have done since being installed as the pastor of this church. Now I must admit that I am human and I am certain that everything I have done has some room for improvement. Yet as a servant of God it has been my desire to lead as closely as I can in the ways He directs. When doing this it means that at times worldly people may not understand what we are doing but those being guided by the Spirit can see the heart behind everything and know that I am following the lead of God. I pray that God will look at me and say that I have served Him by leading His people with integrity of heart!
Transformers, The Taste and Sunday Service
I really enjoyed the first Transformers movie so as time quickly came for the second I could not wait! However, I must say after running out to see the movie on Thursday I was so let down. After about the first hour I was completely bored and ready to go. The unnecessary sexual content was really bad and definitely did not belong in the movie. I don’t know if I am just getting old or if there really was just unnecessary parts to the movie. Last comment about the movie is this…if the transformers are another intelligent life form from a distant planet why do they come down to such a primitive level and begin cursing? I can’t believe they would not be able to control their tongue! The whole thing was really just stupid!
Friday I went to the Taste with our staff team here at the church and once again I ate too much! The food was great as always but I have to say I really didn’t like the format much with the food vendors being on the side walk instead of the middle of the street. The funniest thing is that the ladies liked BJ’s catfish so much that they went there on the way home to get more catfish! As if there was not enough to eat at the taste!
Finally, Sunday service was another awesome time of worship and fellowship. One of the highlights was a facebook post last night from a mother in the congregation. The mother commented how her teenage daughter was taking notes and following along with the message. Thank God that His word still pricks the hearts of the young people! Another highlight was to see that just about everyone in attendance came forward to stand in agreement and commit to fasting for our nation at some point this week. Praise God for giving us a burden to pray for our country!!
Sunday Reflections
What an awesome Father’s Day service! Antonio shared his testimony and I tell you that I am very happy to involved in a church where we still hear testimonies like this. People are being saved and their lives are being transformed! I have just been thanking God for allowing me to be a part of these new Christians as they begin to take steps of faith in Christ! After service we went out to lunch with Ocie to celebrate his 21st birthday. Again I say I am so happy to be involved in these lives. Ocie is much like me in that I never thought I would be alive at 21. God is doing great things as we continue to see young men whose hearts are being changed for the sake of the Gospel!
The Baptism service scheduled for next month should really be exciting as so many of these young hearts will be going into the waters of baptism. Mark your calendar now for July 12th as that will be a service that you don’t want to miss!
Awesome Weekend!
Last week I spent over 24 hours listening and learning from some of the most influential Christian leaders in our nation. I was challenged and pushed in every way to go deeper in my relationship with our loving savior and God. After a week like that I knew that I was going to have a great weekend yet I was surprised to see what God is doing through so many here at ROCC.
Saturday we were crazy enough to hold Choir practice and a Board Meeting even though it was a holiday weekend. The holiday didn’t stop this family from gathering together as we all joined together for the various task that needed to be completed. It is always risky trying to hold any gatherings on a holiday weekend but it is nice to see that when we need to the family still does what needs to be done!
During the board meeting we made a very big step that will certainly change the dynamics of our church and really catapult us into a challenging new level of ministry. We are working with the Hispanic church that meets with us on Wednesday nights and will soon be worshipping all together on Sunday mornings as well. More information will be coming about this soon as we continue to iron out all the details! I am just blown away at the tremendous favor God has given us in our journey to become the church He had in mind for us before the foundations of this earth were established. Pray with me as we continue down this exciting path!
Sunday, was awesome as we had one of our largest attendance days of the year! Usually holidays bring a lot of empty chairs in the sanctuary but this year things are different! Now only were the chairs full but the decisions to follow and Christ and seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit were remarkable!
Monday, was off the hook as well! We had over 60 volunteers out to walk along the parade route and help us distribute goodies to all the folks that came out. Over 1,400 bottles of juice and 600 bags of candy along with 180 pounds of minature twix all gone by the time we crossed 159th! The ROCC family is really incredible and I certainly appreciate your commitment to the ministry!
Day 14
We now come to an important decision…What will you do? Will you give? Will you serve? Will you pray? We have all the resources at hand if we will simply honor God and give Him glory and praise! See you in the morning!
The Decision….
A young man was waiting in an airport when he observed the reunion of an older man with his family. The man had just gotten off the plane and run to his lovely wife and two children. The children didn’t even attempt to hide their joy as the man first stood before his boy and gave him a big bear hug. Then he swung his little girl in his arms and kissed her gently. Finally, he turned to his wife and they embraced with a long passionate kiss. The younger man observing this realized that he was staring at the whole scene with rapt attention and become somewhat self-conscious. Still he couldn’t help but speak: “Sir, forgive me for watching, but I couldn’t help but notice your reunion. You must have been gone for a long time.”
“Yes,” was the distracted reply. “After seventeen years of marriage, three days can seem like eternity.”
The younger man was stunned and said, “I hope my marriage lasts the way yours has,” the young man said.
At this, the older man turned his full attention to the young man. His eyes burned with intensity as he spoke: “Don’t hope. Decide!”
Very often the difference between success and failure lies in a firm decision. Moses and Joshua each exhorted the people of Israel to make a decision—to choose life, to choose the LORD. Jesus’ teachings always brought people to a crucial decision as well—to follow or turn away.
Our choices today have the power to change history. Many are in the valley of decision, and we must do our part to lead them to the love of God. The Reaching Up, Reaching Out stewardship campaign can be precisely the thrust we need to reach the lost as never before. But much still depends on your decision. Will you give? Will you pray? Will you serve? Will you love?
Prayer focus: Pray that the uncommitted will choose to do their very best in this project. Pray that God’s favor will be upon our church and community. Ask God to bring multitudes to a saving knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by
and that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost
Day 13
Without Love we are not much good for God. God is love so to express His nature through us we have to be able to love unconditionally. Who is it that you need to forgive today? Who is it that you need to serve out of love today?
The only thing that counts is faith
expressing itself through love.”
Galatians 5:6
A man in Santa Fe once put a marriage announcement in the newspaper. However, after deciding not to marry the woman, he called the paper to cancel the announcement but was told that it was too late; the paper had already gone to press. Casually the man remarked, “Oh well, I guess I’ll marry her then.” Imagine if you will, a callous young man such as that courting a beautiful young woman. He buys gifts for her and takes her out to fancy restaurants and the theater. One day, he stops by a flower shop and orders an extravagant bouquet of flowers and a box of gourmet chocolates to be delivered to her at work. The sales clerk comments that he must really love his fiancée a great deal. To this, the man replies, “No, not really, but you’re supposed to do this sort of thing when you’re getting married.”
A relationship based on such empty motives is destined to be unfulfilling at best and utterly disastrous at worst. A commitment as intimate and binding as marriage must be founded on love. The kindness that is shown within the marriage relationship must come from the sincere love shared between husband and wife. It is nearly grotesque to picture the extravagant expressions of love during courtship and marriage as happening for any reason other than love.
The Christian life is one of sacrifice, service, and extravagant good deeds, but to live such a life for any reason other than love is a cheap parody. The reality however, is beautiful beyond compare: To have a passionate love for God that overflows into extravagant expressions of worship. We sacrifice because we love. We give because we love. We obey, not because we must but because we love. We abound in the work of the Lord, not because we should but because we love.
As a church, we have been active in good deeds, and God is drawing us into a season of greater activity than ever. In the midst of this, let us never forget that we must do all that we do out of love for God and love for our neighbors. No lesser motive will last.
Prayer focus: Ask the Lord to reveal the inner motives of your own heart. Pray that love would overwhelm us as a church and be our supreme motivation in all we do. And pray that our love for God and for our neighbors would burn strong, so as to move us to extravagance.
“The whole worth of a kind deed lies in the love that inspires it.” The Talmud
Day 12
What great things is God calling you to do? What is it that burns with passion in your soul. God will give us the strength we need to match the passion that He has placed within each of us as we stretch out and trust in Him!
“They go from strength to strength
till each appears before God in Zion.”
Psalms 84:7
The unspoken American motto, “Bigger, Better, Faster, More” can be either a blessing or a curse. The way of life that has led to that phrase has helped contribute to both the unprecedented advances and unbearable stresses of life in Western culture. In science, technology, and education (not to mention world missions) the United States of America has contributed the lion’s share to global progress. Yet America is also among the most stressed and fatigued of all nations.
Americans are seldom content. This discontentment drives us to constantly look for ways to upgrade our standard of living, education, status, and our influence in society. It also drives us to seek solutions to problems such as world hunger, cancer, and AIDS. The great Americans who have harnessed this drive and put it to godly purposes have gone down in history as world changers.
There is always more. There are always greater heights of glory to be attained. The path of the righteous is ever onward and upward, “brighter and brighter until the full light of day,” as Solomon wrote. If the success of the harvest is judged not by how much was brought in but by how much is left in the field, then we still have much work to do. The believer may likewise look on his own spiritual growth in the same light: How much growth remains until perfectly conformed to the glory of Christ? This realization should not burden us, but inspire us to a greater walk with God, a deeper intimacy, an increasing faith, a deepening love, and an ever-growing fruitfulness as His children.
The Lord is calling our church to things bigger and better than ever before. The believers of River Oaks Community Church have already done far beyond all reasonable expectations, yet the Lord is calling us to higher. And He asks us to embrace this servant’s fire, this driven passion not with anxiety or stress, but in the tranquility of His peace.
Prayer focus: Ask God to give you wisdom and zeal together. Pray that both would be vast, active, and powerful in your life. Pray that the fire of God would grow among us to earth-shaking proportions. Pray for those who are under great stress to know God’s peace.
“Do all the good you can by all the means you can in all the ways you can in all the places you can to all the people you can as long as you ever can.” John Wesley
Day 11
He’s an on time God…Yes He is!
Today was a whirl wind kind of day, yet it fit perfectly with the devotion. I have been praying about getting the chance to be a presence in the schools here and after sharing that prayer with another man the wheels began spinning! I shared this prayer with a school board member that has the zeal of the Lord in him and immediately we began touring the schools. Now I have a lunch day planned with our students from Thornridge! Our God can open doors when He finds people with zeal and passion for His kingdom!
“Never be lacking in zeal,
but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”
Romans 12:11
More than 4 million people visit Arlington National Cemetery each year. Some come to see the graves of loved ones or to pay tribute to one of the many heroes of American history that lie there. Others come to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which was constructed out of seven pieces of Yule marble and weighing over 79 tons and pays tribute to those who gave up their lives in obscurity, unknown and unburied.
Others come to see the grave of John F. Kennedy and the memorial flame that burns there unceasingly. This memorial to our fallen leader was built when a tired and saddened Colonel, Clayton B. Lyle, received a phone call on the Sunday afternoon after Kennedy’s assassination. He suddenly found himself responsible to build an eternal flame memorial by 8 a.m. the next morning at Mrs. Kennedy’s request. He leapt into the task with determination, working passionately through the entire night. Just in time for the memorial service that morning he laid the final underground gas line and tested the flame to be sure it would light and stay lit under any circumstances. The flame still burns to this day.
The honor and responsibility of building a lasting memorial to a great leader inspired Colonel Lyle to new heights of accomplishment, even under great pressure. Followers of Christ are given the honor and responsibility to build a living monument—the Church. What is more, they are given the exalted privilege of being the very repository of the flame which keeps the church alive—the Holy Spirit. The honor and glory of this distinction are beyond comprehension.
As a church, let us burn with divine fire to accomplish divine wonders. Let us kindle the blaze of the Holy Spirit within our hearts and make of ourselves a living memorial to our crucified and risen Lord. In that passion let us rise to the holy calling so that many will be drawn to the Life of Christ. Like the Unknown Soldiers we don’t need recognition for our sacrifice, for our treasure is in heaven.
Prayer focus: Ask God to kindle a fresh flame in your own heart. Wait on the Lord and fight this battle in prayer until the victory is won. Pray that the Holy Spirit would fall mightily on this congregation and that our community would be drawn to His fire.
“Awake, my soul! Stretch every nerve, and press with vigor on; a heavenly race demands thy zeal, and an immortal crown.” Philip Doddridge