Let God Drive

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.

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

Hot Fudge Showdown

This past Sunday night at youth we had a hot fudge sundae contest to see who could build the best looking and best tasting hot fudge sundae. They broke up into pairs of two and competed to see who would take home the crown of Sundae champ. (Congrats to Trey and Chris for winning). What we all realized is that some times what looks good doesn't always taste good. Some of the sundaes were pretty terrible.

Afterwards, we talked about how the things of the world are not much different. Many times the things the world has to offer look very good and appealing, but when you actually take a bite it winds up not tasting very good at all, in fact it's almost like food poisoning and may even taste good going down, but when it gets down. Well you know the rest of the story.

Jesus however, is quite the opposite. He tells us "Taste and see that I am good" I have never had a person that gave thier life to Christ come back later and tell me that they regreted it. The reason for this is because once a person truly gets a good taste of a relationship with Christ, they realize that Christ truly is good.

So if you are tired of chasing temporary highs, try Jesus! He won't dissapoint!

Unleash The Dream Within

"Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall have no beggining" This is a quote that I recently came across by John Cardinal Newman, and how true it is so many times in life we live by the rules of playing it safe, but sometimes playing it safe can be risky business. When God first laid it on my heart to plant Eagle Heights Memphis I thought that it was just me talking, that God wouldn't tell me to uproot from a great life, a great church, and a great job to go and start a church from scratch 400 miles from home. I thought that just didn't make very good sense. However, that was the problem, I was spending all of my energy making plans for God, instead of really seeking God and what it was that He really wanted me to do. The point is this, maybe there is something that you have always dreamed of doing, or maybe God is telling you to take a leap of faith into the unknown and the unfamiliar, keep this in mind. Twenty years from now you will be more dissapointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, discover. (Mark Twain)

Growing

I have titled this blog growing in expectancy of what the Lord is doing here at Eagle Heights. Last night we had our second connection group meeting (It was a great meeting). We had several new folks and everyone that came again from last week. We are excited about what God is doing. He is writing our story, and we are watching it unfold.

I think that planting a church is kind of like reading a book. You know that the end has great things in store, but you have to take it one page at a time. We are looking forward to reading our story that God is writing, and we hope that you will join us and be a part of it as we watch God build His church for His Glory.

A Brave Soul

This past Sunday we had our first youth event, we had a blast and we gave away a phone. Cograts to Liz for winning the phone You are the texting queen. One of the things that we did was a belly buster competition in which they were climbing up onto a wall about 4 feet high and seeing who could do a true belly buster without breaking or folding. I have attched a pic of one of the youth that we caught in mid air.

As I was looking at the picture, once again God gave me a paralell as it relates to us His children and Himself. The kids were willing to jump off of a rather high place and expose themselves to a considerable amount of pain for the glory of being called the belly buster champ (Wow) and I don't think any of us remember who won the competition.

However, when it comes to God, often times He requires us to do just the same, something that may seem somewhat crazy and courageous both at the same time, though it may seem foolish to some it is wisdom to God. (God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise 1 Corinthians 1:27). Maybe God is calling you to jump off into something that is unknown, unfamiliar, maybe even a little painful, but just remember that God always rewards our obedience to Him.

And we're off

Well tonight we had our first connection group meeting in my home. It was great! I am looking forward to next weeks meeting.

We are pumped about our upcoming youth event the 312 text challenge. If you are reading this and are from the ages of 12-18 you have to come. We will be giving away a free I-Phone(or comparable to whatever your plan provides) to the winner. We will be texting, swimming, eating, and winning prizes. You don't want to miss it, this Sunday night at 6:00. Look for the details in the events section on the youth page of the web-site.

Today I was reading in Psalms 144:1 Bless the Lord who is my Rock.
I want to encourage you today to remember that the Lord is your shield and your strength. No amount of worrying or fretting about a situation can change the outcome. You must lean not into your own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge God, and He will direct your paths. I want to encourage you to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might and in the end God will see you through, for His promises are always true and He is always faithful.

May you be Blessed Today,
Jake