I am in the middle of a sermon series right now that I have entitled What Does the Lord Require of Us. Recently, I ministered that among the many things the Lord requires, mostly it is for us to have faith in Him "Without faith it is impossible to please God" Ahhhh Faith. It seems these days in these uncertain times, that the word faith takes on a new meaning.
I am reminded of one of my fishing experiences when I was about 16 years of age. As I have mentioned before I love to fish and so does my dad who of course, taught my brothers and I how to fish. On this particular fishing trip we found ourselves about 5 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River out in the Gulf of Mexico at one of our favorite offshore oil rigs where we were loading the boat with snapper (at night- we would frequently spend the night on the boat as it is a great time to fish during the summer). We suddenly began to notice some lightning that was being generated by a thunderstorm that was barreling down on our position, you certainly don't want to be caught in 800 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico in a bad thunderstorm at night. So my dad decided it best to head back for the river. That area of the gulf can be very confusing at times because of all of the lights generated form the many oil rigs and the ships coming in and out of the river, so needless to say it was a pretty scary ride back, as a matter of fact about half way there I found myself on the floor of the boat in tears begging my dad to stop. For a second there I just wanted to push dad out of the way, grab the wheel and turn around, even though dad kept on telling me that it would be O.K. that he knew where he was going. Low and behold he was right and he put us dead center of the river and brought us back to safety. I was so relieved and remember thinking of how smart my dad was.
I said all of this to say that, life is just like this at times. I have found myself so many times on the stormy seas of life wanting to take the wheel from God and try to fix things myself, because I am not sure that I totally trust Him. This is faith, trusting God when trusting Him is hard, when we can't see nor do we know where we are going. Remember the Bible says that Faith is the evidence of things hoped for and the substance of things not seen. Sometimes we can't see the evidence, but it is in these moments that we have to trust our heavenly father that indeed He knows where He is going and what He is doing.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Our Inheritance
Well it has been a while since I have posted. I am going to try to do better with this, it is amazing how quickly the time goes by . Speaking of time, my oldest child Bradyn recently started second grade, my middle Madi just started kindergarten and my youngest Brock is almost two. I cannot believe I have a child in second grade, it seems like yesterday I could hold him in one arm.
As I began to think about my children the other day I remembered the Proverb in the Bible that says a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. Of course, the first thing that usually comes to our mind when we hear the word inheritance is money, but I think the Bible is referring to more than money. I have found with my children that it takes more of an effort for me to give them my time and attention than it does to just buy them something. In today's society there seems to always be some new gadget to keep your kid happy, but it is your time and attention that they really desire, and that desire is a God given one, it is a desire that can only be fulfilled by a parent.
It is in these moments that we teach and show our children the attributes of God. Love, Patience, Integrity, Character, perseverance, peace, joy, etc. The fact is the greatest inheritance we can leave our children is that thing that will not fade away with death or the passing of this world, and that is to live a Godly lifestyle, treating people with respect, and making a difference in the world around us. These are things that can only be taught by spending time with our children.
So before yours are grown and gone, vow to spend some more time with them and leave them a lasting inheritance.
Jake
As I began to think about my children the other day I remembered the Proverb in the Bible that says a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. Of course, the first thing that usually comes to our mind when we hear the word inheritance is money, but I think the Bible is referring to more than money. I have found with my children that it takes more of an effort for me to give them my time and attention than it does to just buy them something. In today's society there seems to always be some new gadget to keep your kid happy, but it is your time and attention that they really desire, and that desire is a God given one, it is a desire that can only be fulfilled by a parent.
It is in these moments that we teach and show our children the attributes of God. Love, Patience, Integrity, Character, perseverance, peace, joy, etc. The fact is the greatest inheritance we can leave our children is that thing that will not fade away with death or the passing of this world, and that is to live a Godly lifestyle, treating people with respect, and making a difference in the world around us. These are things that can only be taught by spending time with our children.
So before yours are grown and gone, vow to spend some more time with them and leave them a lasting inheritance.
Jake
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