Truth and Grace Above All Else

A cup of coffee I have an obsession. Some people like to watch their favorite football team on certain days. Some people like to listen to music without ceasing. Others prefer to draw a world that once only existed in their minds, but me, I am obsessed with coffee. There, I said it. Those dark caramel colored magical beans produce liquid that cheers the eyes and the soul. I could talk about the science of why this magical bean juice makes me happy, but that is a conversation for another day. What I want to talk about today is how the elegance of a cup of coffee gives us an example of what it means to be intentional with our lives. Select your method From pour over to french press to the traditional brew, there are tons of ways to make coffee, but we are not here to discuss the nuances of brewing coffee. I want to use different methods of brewing coffee as a metaphor for how you are choosing to serve others.   Brew it This is what most consider the method o...

Clearing up my vision Recently I had a little bit of a reality check. It was uncomfortable, confusing, jarring and a wake up call all in one. It made me check my vision for my life and it allowed me to pause and reflect. You might be asking, "What is this huge revelation?". Let me first take you back about five years to help you understand how I got to this moment. Setting my vision As someone who always wanted to be successful in my career after college, I strove to increase my skill sets as much as possible. I saw this as increasing the value of having me in a work place environment. I would do odd jobs for just about anyone simply to learn how to do different tasks and learn new skills, even if that meant working for free. Mowing yards, fixing pipes, tearing apart structures safely, and cleaning up rocks out of someones yard more efficiently were all some of the projects that formed my skill set. None of those had anything to do with communication though. Fake...

Calling all singles In thinking about writing this blog, there was much to consider including and even much more to exclude. The focus of this article will be based around these three things: Focus, Folly, and Fiction. Focus As a single guy, there are many things I have the time and ability to do that my married friends cannot do. Paul speaks about this in 1 Corinthians 7:8. I have questioned God many times as to why there is no resolution to my desire to be married someday, but through all of this prayer God has taught me of His sufficiency for me, His love for me, and His purpose for me is something other than marriage at this time in my life. Coming to terms with God's will for me to be single in this time of my life has always been a struggle, but it has taught me to rely on Him more fully and has formed me into someone who is focused on serving Him and not man. There is no greater fulfillment that I have found than when I am serving Him through spreading the Gospel. N...

A growing hunger to know Him better On Christmas day of 2017 I began a three day journey of fasting from food. Please understand that I drank lots of water throughout the three days in order to stay hydrated. This is similar to another three day fast from 2016. You might wonder what the significance of this fast was or why someone would even subject themselves to something so harsh. There are multiple reason why fasting is such an integral part of my life:  1. It teaches us to remember the things in life that are more important then walking to the fridge and pulling out our favorite snack and mindlessly eating.  2. When you are hungry, you are more focused. During this time of being hungry, reading my Bible in replacement of my meals brought me true comfort and peace.  3. We are to be in this world, but not of it. If you ever want to get your friends or coworkers to ask questions about why you are not eating, this will surely help you do that! (Tip: This is...

Daily involvement with God's word Galatians 5:17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.  Our flesh is constantly at odds with what the Spirit wants, therefore we need to daily offer up ourselves in service of God so as to recognize that our bodies are not our own, but the Father's. Luke 9:23 says, "Then he said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'". We must make a choice on a day to day basis to give up our sinful desires and live a life devoted to Him. Form habits that are uncomfortable Even though I am an extrovert and love talking to new people, it is hard to share my faith sometimes. There are habits that I have tried to form over the last few years to help with my shortcomings in this aspect of ministry though. The first is wh...

The New Year Lie A new year has come, fads....I mean resolutions have been made, and change is in the air. Sure, the new year is a significant and almost all to popular time to create the new you, but I would ask why you hadn't already started on creating the new you when you first saw the problem? Is it because you wanted to set some significant date at which you turned your life around? Maybe that is the case, but I see this as a being a follower and not a leader. You should already be making choices for the good as a leader, not relying on others to tell you what to do.  Change should come when you see the need for it When I stepped on the scale last year and saw the number read 300, I was no longer in denial about what needed to happen. My health is important to me and it was in the moment that I knew change was no longer an afterthought, but rather my first thought. I began to become introspective about my choices and what each and every one of them did to me. This i...