Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

July 4, 2011, the United States is faced once again with events that threaten to destroy our great nation. The national debt is out of control, foreign countries own this debt, both threaten to undermine the very freedom we have fought to preserve since our inception. I am saddened that while our elected officials bicker and politic, the freedom that has been purchased with American blood is forgotten and dishonored. Only with God, “under God”, can we bring America back to what it once was. This issue is an issue of the heart, a spiritual civil war. One that can only be won through the saving and changing power of Jesus Christ.

I wish everyone a happy 4th of July! Enjoy that which has been purchased with a price.

My Adventure with Jon

Woke up this morning and headed out to the Gregg County Airport. My destination, the LeTourneau University Hanger.

My friend Jon works for the university as a flight instructor. For the longest time, he has been asking me to go fly with him. Finally, last night, I agreed to adventure forth into the American skies. So, we decided that we were going to spend our Saturday morning flying and eating breakfast in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Airport in Shreveport

We had a very relaxing flight to Shreveport. The weather was nice, a tad hazy, but definitely cooler at higher altitudes! Jon was a professional throughout. He constantly talked through what he was doing (even though I had no clue) and was more than willing to explain anything I had questions on. I can see why he has made a great flight instructor!

The instrument panel in the Twin Star looked insane! I have no clue how Jon knew how to do anything with it (beside the hours upon hours of training he has had)! So many buttons…

The last small aircraft I flew in was back in high school. Our home schooling group had decided to check out a program called the Young Eagles. The Young Eagles were a group of private pilots who shared their planes and time in order to stir interest in youth concerning aviation. All I remember about it was thinking that I was going to die because the old man, who was flying the plane, was going to have a heart attack or something. Wish I still had the picture I took of my terrified face…

Our breakfast in Shreveport was amazing! Jon and I had decided to eat at The Cracker Barrel. I swear the french toast I ordered had been fried in butter/ powdered sugar. Sweet Southern goodness!

30 minutes over; 30 minutes back. On the way home, Jon showed me some different flight maneuvers…and we pulled a few G’s. 🙂

I don’t think I had ever realized that one of the approaches into Gregg County was over Lake Cherokee.

The air had finally warmed up by the time we had gotten back to Longview. This made our landing a tad bumpy. Nothing like Texas in the summertime!

Jon and I, two goofballs in a plane.

Lot’s of fun to have a friend who is a pilot! Had a good time hanging out with Jon, talking, and getting to see what he does everyday. If anyone out there is looking for a pilot, Jon is your man.

Discontent

I saw this John Piper quote over at What’s Best Next and so I thought I’d share:

The Meaning of Your Discontent

Many of you should stay where you are in your present job, and simply ponder how you can fit your particular skills and relationships and resources more strategically into the global purposes of your heavenly Father.

But for others reading this book, it is going to be different. Many of you are simply not satisfied with what you are doing. As J. Campbell White said, the output of your lives is not satisfying your deepest spiritual ambitions.

We must be careful here. Every job has its discouragements and its seasons of darkness. We must not interpret such experiences automatically as a call to leave our post.

But if the discontent with your present situation is deep, recurrent, and lasting, and if that discontent grows in Bible-saturated soil, God may be calling you to a new work. If, in your discontent, you long to be holy, to walk pleasing to the Lord, and to magnify Christ with your one, brief life, then God may indeed be loosening your roots in order to transplant you to a place and a ministry where the deep spiritual ambitions of your soul can be satisfied.

It is true that God can be known and enjoyed in every legitimate vocation; but when he deploys you from one place to the next, he offers fresh and deeper drinking at the fountain of his fellowship. God seldom calls us to an easier life, but always calls us to know more of him and drink more deeply of his sustaining grace. . . .

Big issues are in the offing. May God help you. May God free you. May God give you a fresh, Christ-exalting vision for your life — whether you go to an unreached people or stay firmly and fruitfully at your present post. May your vision get its meaning from God’s great purpose to make the nations glad in him. May the cross of Christ be your only boast, and may you say, with sweet confidence, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. – Don’t Waste Your Life

In December of 2006, I graduated from college with no job lined up. After months and even years of praying over what I wanted to do with my life, I hadn’t a clue. In January of 2007, I married my Texas treasure, my wife Tabitha. Still, I hadn’t found a job. 9 months went by, still no job. I hunted and hunted, even took a position of a bank teller for a few weeks before landing my current position at an architectural firm.

Nearly 4 years later (hey, I’m stable!), I find myself in a position that has no hope of moving upwards…unless I become an architect. Through it all, I have continued to pray that God would show me what I need to do to move forward; through it all, I have remained thankful that I have a job that provides me a paycheck during the recession.

Rewind a second

Sometime into my college career, I decided to swap majors from English to History-Political Science. I had thought at the time that a history degree would make a great partnership with a pastoral degree. Upon graduation, I even applied to a seminary in Dallas. I received a reply soon after that told me to work on decreasing my school debt. Seemed fair enough.

As the years progressed, I have still felt called to seminary. However, the entire time I have also continued to have this argument in my head that says you don’t have to go to seminary in order to serve God. Heck, most pastors I knew from Southern California didn’t have a formal seminary education and they were amazing speakers. Seminary equals taking out more loans and becoming a further slave to the lender. That doesn’t make sense to me. God has quite clearly shown me that I need to work to pay off my debt AND that I can serve Him in the process.

Discontent

I have often wondered if God has kept me uneasy, kept me discontent in my workplace in order so that I don’t become comfortable. What I liked about the Piper quote, was that it calls on us to focus back on Christ. As a Christian, I should be primarily focused on how I can serve God. I have learned that God does not reveal things to us in huge chunks. Instead, God seems to show me just enough to keep moving forward. He is constantly teaching me how I have been uniquely gifted me to impact His world for His purpose. Seems like a life long process. I hope and pray that I do not become angry or bitter during this time of feeling unsettled. I know that God has a purpose, and I pray that I am willing and able to be a part of that bigger purpose.

Comfort Zone Breached!

This past Sunday, I stepped out of my comfort zone and headed to the local homeless shelter with a group of guys from my church. As part of an effort to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission, we are starting a Bible study at the shelter.

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, – Matthew 28:19 (NIV)

I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about going. With encouragement from my wife though, I got in the car and drove down the street to the shelter (which is about 5 minutes from my house). Now, the rest of the guys had decided to meet at church (about 20 minutes away), so I had decided to meet them at the shelter. Longest 10 minutes I have waited in quite awhile. Sitting in the shelter parking lot, I looked in my rear-view mirror to see rough looking guys sitting out back smoking. I felt so out of place. Soon though, the guys from church arrived, we prayed, and went into the shelter to get settled. Now I have to say that I truly wasn’t comfortable until we had all sat down and started the study. From the moment we opened with prayer, I was reminded that God is the great equalizer. No matter what stage of life we are in, economic circumstances, etc. we are equal in the eyes of God. I was so humbled by this thought. To think that God doesn’t care about how much money we have or how we are dressed…but looks at the heart.

The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7b (NIV)

So picture a large room, 30 guys from the shelter in attendance with 8 guys from my church there to minister. It was wild! We quickly got into Matthew 1. For those that have never read Matthew 1, the chapter starts out with genealogy of Christ.

1 This is the genealogy[a] of Jesus the Messiah[b] the son of David, the son of Abraham:

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
9 Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah[c] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

12 After the exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,
Abihud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
14 Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Elihud,
15 Elihud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah. – Matthew 1:1-17 (NIV)

As one who studied history in college, I know that there is significance in tracing Christ’s roots back to Abraham. I will also admit though that I usually skip the genealogy due to how boring it is to read through a list of names. One of the guys in our group, Clint, pointed out some of the different names in the list. He noted that Christ’s genealogy was not perfect, in fact, it was filled with people who had messed up in life. What was cool though, what Clint pointed out, was that God was able to use these individuals despite their flaws. In the setting of the shelter, I was struck by the fact that God uses people like the guys we were there to minister to. The people that society doesn’t care about. God is able to restore and use a man who is down on his luck.

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[d]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[e] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[f] because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[g] (which means “God with us”).

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. – Matthew 1:18-25 (NIV)

We continued our discussion with talking about the shock that Joseph must have been in. Can you imagine being in his place? To have a fiance that claims she was impregnated by the Holy Spirit? Notice though that Joseph was faithful to God and did as he was commanded. Even if it might not have made much sense to him…

Overall, stepping out of my comfort zone wasn’t a very big deal. I found the guys at the shelter to be super smart (some talking about things that would be on a graduate level in seminary) and very nice.

Earlier, as I was driving to the shelter, I prayed that God would use me, that He would fill me up and help me to minister to the guys at the shelter. What is funny, is that the guys at the shelter ministered to me! I praise God for being the One who overcomes social boundaries. May His will be done.

*Awhile back I wrote a tad more on this, you can find it here.

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