Coals and missions.

Random posts today. Bear with me.

Rose Neitzell came over today and cooked up a STORM!! It was awesome!! I so enjoy eating meals with other people, not just like out to a restaurant. I think it is even more special when you prepare a meal and eat with someone at home. I sure felt awesome today! Anyway, I don't know how she did it in under 2 hours from conception to my running out the door, but we dined on a fancy spinich salad with cashews and dried cherrys, pink lemonade, a fruit salad made from mangos, raspberries, strawberries, and cottage cheese, and for the entree, a chicken pasta with the tomato sauce made from scratch. What an awesome meal!!

Worship practice tonight. It went well, I think. I don't enjoy the work behind the worship, but it is always worth it when the night to play comes and God's Spirit shows up in force!!! NOTHING on the earth beats that!!!!

Buddy Brian B. came over later at night (11-ish) and we talked for an hour. It was really quite excellent. I really like that guy. Talk about everything from God to girls. He really encouraged me in the whole wife area. Thanks, Brian!

Bought new shoes today. Planned on spending $200. Only spent $115, for 2 pairs! (Thanks, Rogan shoes!) Great shoes, too!! So I am excited to donate $75 to an orphanage now. Yea!! I've been researching which one to do so with. I'm reading "A Cry from the Streets" right now. It is a great book, and I looked them up. It is a YWAM base in Brazil. Some of the pictures there made me really want to leave and go there. My heart is so in missions.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but one of my newer life goals is to fund 200-300 orphanages completely. (In addition to adopting kids myself). God will grant me this desire. I've got one idea in the works that could help. Please pray for this! Call it "Project X".

My heart goes out to the broken and the broken hearted. I've got an Isaiah 61 anointing.

Spent Mother's Day (at least the first part) with my mom. I've got the best Mom in the whole wide world!! I love you, Mommy! :-)

The brother of the prodigal.

Luk 15:12 And the younger of them said to the father, Father give me that part of the property falling to me. And he divided the living to them.

To THEM!!! I never realized this until now, but THE INSTANT the father gave his property to the prodigal, he gave it to the other son! The other son had not grasped the ENTIRE TIME his brother was gone that he already HAD the inheritance. In fact, he complained to the father that he had never had a fatted calf killed for him.

That fatted calf was HIS!! When the father said, "All that I have is yours" it wasn't just a cool saying of what's in a family staying in a family, etc. He was saying, "Hey, I already gave you the fatted calf."

Isn't that interesting? Like the kingdom that has been given to us. So many people are still asking for it.

Of Princes and Fishes

Been reading Luke 13-15 lately. Fantastic stuff about forsaking all else for the case of Christ.

Went fishing last weekend. I have been big into the identity in Christ thing over the last 6 months. Lately it has been about myself as a prince of God. I'm serious. I am a prince of God. God is a king, I am his son, I am a prince.

So I'm standing on the boat talking to the lake, saying, "I am a prince of God, and I command a monster fish onto my lure!"

Nothing. At first... :-)

Caught a few Northerns. Nothing to write home about.

Then I get a HUGE Northern on the line!!

I don't have a steel leader on my lure and the dang thing bites through my line and swims away with Jon's #4 Mepps spinner. Dang.

After trying to get the lure back (no luck) and fishing that spot for a while we move on.

Nothing else to brag about. I'm starting to doubt, but then catch myself and say, "No. I AM a prince of God, and I demand a trophy worthy of a prince!"

A few more fish, but nothing worthy of a prince of God.

We go back to that spot later in the day where we lost the first lure. I tell Jonny I'm going to get his lure back. :-) I start casting.

MAN!! I've got a BIG fish on the line!!

Line goes slack. Oh, man! What now?

Wait!! It's still on!! And it's pulling like a keeper! I finally get it close enough to the boat to have a look at it...

"IT'S A MONSTER!!!!!!!"

By now the excitement on the boat is growing, and we're rapidly turning back into school boys. I reel it close enough to the boat so the guys can see it- they are now REALLY excited!!!

"Oh, man, tell me you have a steel leader on this time!" Jon says.

Josh grabs the oversized net.

"Oh, man, I wish you didn't have monofiliment line!" Jon says.

The thing takes off. "Whizzzzzzzz" goes my line as it flies off the bale. I let the fish take it until it is ready to be coaxed back closer. Jonny runs down and starts setting my drag.

He finally stops and I keep the line tight, but not too tight. I slowly coax him closer. He sees the net and takes off again.

"Whizzzzzzzz".

Repeat 3-4 times.

Finally, after 12-15 minutes and about 100-200 yards of boat drifting, he is tuckered out enough not to run from the net, and Josh gets that sucker into the net. (Thanks, Josh!)

This, my friends, is a trophy fit for a prince of God. A 37-inch, 14-15 lb. Northern. I'm holding this thing RIGHT NEXT to my body in this picture. No camera tricks. I've still got the bloody, slimy shirt to prove it. :-)

For those of you who don't fish, here is an example of another Northern Josh caught.

Very special thanks to Jon and Josh, who both caught this fish with me. They are indeed princes as well.

It is good to be a prince of God. It is even better to live it.

The true Gospel.

I have been having some interesting (and heartbreaking) discussions about God with a few friends and acquaintances of mine lately. One theme keeps popping up- the most important commandment, as stated by Jesus.

Do you remember that one?

Mat 22:37 Then Jesus said to him, "'You will love the LORD your God with your whole heart [fig., your entire inner self] and with your whole soul and with your whole understanding.' [Deut 6:4,5]

I am starting to find that there is no such thing as "wishy washy" Christians. The coal of such people eventually grows dull and goes out unless they catch themselves and throw themselves back into the fire.

Let me be clear. If you don't spend time alone with God, seeking Him, enjoying Him- your desire to be with Him, listen to Him, and trust Him will almost assuredly fade away. And eventually you will be nothing more than a washed-up Christian. You will probably even start embracing what the Bible clearly calls sin. Such as homosexuality, which is what some of my conversations centered around this week. Some people are trading their eternal salvation for the abillity not to offend friends involved in sin. Amazing. They are believing lies instead of God. I have a few gay friends. Shit, I almost married a girl who is now lesbian and then spend New Years with her after I found out. It IS possible to stand for truth, and still love the person!!!! IT IS!!!! But if you are not willing to risk your friendship over it, you are choosing sin over God. He still loves you, but you are making a very clear decision. And more than likely it is a result of your not spending time with Him alone. The more you spend time with Him the more you are like him. The less you do, the less you are.

Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold.

The love for God of many will become cold. Because sin abounds. And they agree with the sin in place of God. A shame. And it all starts with just hanging out with God. Or choosing not to.

I heard a person talk once about how he wasn't sad a person had died, but how he was sad that they never really lived.

The same is true here. If you decide to give your life to Jesus, and then don't spend time with Him, you haven't truly lived the Christian life. You may say you have, but you haven't.

Isn't it worth it to just push into Jesus? To at least give Him a shot to really touch your life?

Luk 9:59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Luk 9:60 But he said unto him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but go thou and publish abroad the kingdom of God.
Luk 9:61 And another also said, I will follow thee, Lord; but first suffer me to bid farewell to them that are at my house.
Luk 9:62 But Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

If you don't want to give your entire life to God, please don't think that He doesn't know. He knows everything.

I have never once regretted giving my life over completely to God. I have far more fun, met FAR more interesting people, been more productive, and enjoy every challenge and especially the victories. I'm not perfect, and I still have my issues. But my hand is to the plow and I'm going forward. With or without you, this world, and even if my family didn't approve I would follow Him. (Thank God they actually DO!!!)

And I am truly living!