Truth and Grace Above All Else

Joshua Study Two I think it’s important to note that Joshua did not have time to celebrate his promotion. Why? Because he was the right man for the job and that job needed to be done. That’s why people get promotions. For instance, in business, a man gets promoted into the office of “Head of Marketing.” It is then expected by the company for him to get going. To dive into the job and make things work. Even if it is just to ensure that what is currently being done continues. Which brings us to our life in Christ. Many times we are brought into a “new season” with Jesus. He has worked with us to bring our maturity and spiritual wisdom to a place where we can do more than just warm a pew in church. Does that mean we won’t make mistakes? Of course not. Try to remember that at no point in our life is God un-aware of what we will do in the future. Take the act of disobedience in the Garden of Eden for example. God was not happy that his new creations disobeyed Him. But H...

The book of Joshua Part 1 We are very pleased to introduce to you the first ever guest blogger on Thetruvine! He will be covering the book of Joshua in a multi part series. You should keep a close eye out for these posts as they come from a published author. This is very exciting and we cannot wait to see how all of you respond. Without further ado, here is Matt Davenport. A bout Me Matt (M.R.) Davenport was born in a small town in Northern California. He's traveled the U.S. a lot since then. He is the "middle" child. "And therefore, have the issues of such." As he points out. He served in the US Army as a Military Policeman. It was, at the time, his aspiration to be a full time California Highway Patrolman. But life got in the way. He met and married his first wife shortly after leaving the service. They had three children together. Mercedes first while living in Missouri. Then Caleb came along after they returned to California. Then Jacob. He...

Young to old There is a common disconnect between ages: Trust of younger generations. Passing things on to younger generations seems to be what determines the affluence of a society. The burden most often falls to teachers, but this is a burden which should be shouldered by all. All of us have something to teach a word craving knowledge and opportunity. Pastors have their congregations to tend, leaders have their followers to lead, and parents have their children to raise. Somewhere in the timeline of it all though there is a disconnect that places an unseen burden upon the younger generation to perform to standards that have never been established.   To the elderly The weight of leadership is a heavy one to carry, but it was never meant to rest upon one persons shoulders forever. In wisdom, grace and truth may you teach us to be leaders and not scald us for not knowing what we do wrong in your eyes. Words unspoken are never conveyed and the divide between brother...

The Bible in a Year (A series) This is the second year of reading the Bible in a year. Another year means more has been understood, retained and connections have been made between major Biblical characters. There have been several themes which stuck out over the year, but being able to go over everything in a different light has allowed my mind to be opened to the true vastness of the Bible.  For context, the YouVersion Bible app was used with the Bible Project   Read the Bible in a Year Plan . I personally use the NIV because it is what I have used for many years and it has always been sufficient for my understanding. The videos provided at the beginning of each book puts the book into the appropriate context so that as you read through, you are almost transported into the world of the writer. I highly recommend going and checking out their material and consider starting the new year out by reading the Bible in a year. The sections which you read are very mana...

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...

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 Best and Worst Feeling When you think of waiting, what comes to mind? Maybe waiting in line at the grocery, waiting for a break in the rain so you can run to your car, waiting for the bus to arrive, waiting for the light to turn green, waiting for those last few seconds of the school day to be over, but no matter what you are waiting for there is going to be something to follow.  The Worst Feeling The phone rings and you see the hospital is calling. You have been waiting to hear the results of the tests. You hear what the doctor says and your face goes blank. Tears well up and your heart sinks. This was not what you wanted to hear, but after all this time your worst fears are confirmed.  You open your email and see the name of the company you applied to months ago. Emotions begin to stir inside of you and you click to open it. You read out loud what you hope you want to hear until you say, "...sorry...".  He said it was a large fire and that he would ...

Being someone who enjoys thinking about possibilities, I often get lost in my thoughts. I think about what I am doing with my life and whether it is the, "right" thing to be doing. There are so many social pressures that try to define all of us from a very young age that try and tell us what is the, "right" thing for us to do with our lives. When what we feel lead to do and what the world is telling us to do doesn't line up, there is friction. What do we do about this friction though? Do we seek guidance from those that are older and wiser then us or do we go it alone? Recently I found myself in one of these situations where friction was occurring where I did not expect any. This caused me to call into question my options. If the choice that I want to make is God honoring, what reason would I have to reject it? There is an underlying factor to this choice as well though: faith. This choice would require complete faith. So this made me wonder, is this fri...

Things that stick with you If you have ever met me in person, you have most likely seen me chugging water out of one of my many water bottles. These bottles carry different meanings to me because of the different places each one of them have been with me. I guess you could call it nostalgia, but I like to think that each one of them has character of it's own because of each of the scratches, dents and scuffs that they have. What really makes each one of my bottles unique though is that each one has a sticker or stickers from events or places that I have been with that bottle. One of my favorite water bottles has stickers on it from when I traveled overseas to Scotland and Ireland. That bottle carries many memories of travel and the stories of three summers spent traveling around Michigan. The sticker from Scotland takes me back to walking the streets of Edinburgh, eating haggis for the first time and having my eyes opened to how much larger this world really is.   The ...

The fire bell is ringing My younger years were spent adventuring and finding out all my town had to offer. My brother and I would ride our bikes around town and go to the local candy store to buy Snickers and other sugary goodies. On many of these adventures our next door neighbor would join us or they might even take place on his property. We would build forts, talk about baseball, try and dig to the center of the earth with a post hole digger, create massive piles of wood for bonfires and throw boomerangs the wrong way so that they wouldn't come back.  Anytime that we would go over to our neighbors house we would have to ask permission to do so from our parents. Usually when both of us would go over to our friends house it was because we had some crazy project in mind. On this particular day, our father was working on an old fire bell. Something was wrong with the mechanism that actuated the hammer to hit the bell. Both of us asked permission to go over our friends hou...

Playing the right notes I was told a few years ago that I am one of the most eclectic people this person had ever met. I had to look up what the word meant, but after doing so it gave me a sense of accomplishment. The reason this guy told me that I was really eclectic was because I carried around an instrument that very seldom is recognized. The instrument is called an ocarina. It is a wind instrument that is made of ceramic. The ocarina is a very strange instrument to hold and play because it is not conventionally shaped. I own what is called a, "potato ocarina". This is because it is literally shaped like a potato. The ocarina was just small enough that it fit into my backpack so I could carry it everywhere I went. I didn't have to worry about it breaking because of its design and shape.     When playing the ocarina, you have to contort your hands in a very strange way in order to cover the air holes properly while also holding it in place on your lips. It to...

Crazy for Him Have you ever just lost it? I don't mean dropped your coffee in your lap and been frustrated; I am talking about running around, yelling at the top of your lungs and not caring who stares at you or what could possibly come of doing such a thing. I have, but it was for a good reason.  As I have mentioned in some of my previous blogs, when I was younger I went to camps a lot during the summer. Camp was a place where I learned a lot about who I was and who God is to me. One specific time that I went to camp, I was there for two full weeks. I was a part of a group that actually went around the camp and cleaned things up as well as had fun of our own. There was about twenty-five of us guys and gals who served in this way for two weeks. During these two weeks of spending twenty-four hours a day with my, "crew", we got to know each other pretty well.  During the last week of being there, my team was serving in the dining hall cleaning up after each one...

Precision counts Making of a masterpiece...sort of About a year ago I was talking with one of my cousins about what he was doing those days. Somehow we got on the topic of hobbies and what hobby he was investing the most time in recently. We discussed a couple different things until he brought up something that caught my attention: precision spinning tops. These are not your ten cents spinning tops that you get at the arcade though, no, these are works of art in their own right. These tops will spin for upwards of fifteen minutes and some go even longer then that. I asked my cousin what it cost to acquire such a precisely made piece of art. He kind of chuckled and told me that most of these tops go for a few hundred dollars each. My mouth fell agape and I thought, "How in the world can someone justify spending that much on what is the equivalent of the adult version of what you owned as a child?". I was hooked though. I wanted to learn more about these simple yet elega...

Under Water Sharks in the water If you were to ask my mom how much I enjoy being in the water, she would say something to the effect of, "He is a fish.". Needless to say, I love swimming and being in the water on a hot summer day. I loved the water so much that one time I spent a little to much time in my backyard pool one afternoon. I ended up with a lobster red back and could not sleep on my back for two days. That was not fun, but that is not the story I came here to tell you today. The story that I want to tell you is about how my innocent game of playing a shark nearly ended tragically.  During my teenage years, I took every opportunity to go on little trips with my church's youth group. One of my favorite trips during the end of the summer was going to a water park for the day. Being the fish that I am, this was a blast for me. It also let me release my inner kid while I was splashing friends left and right. As a group, we would typically go on the wat...