Making This Holiday Count



Every year the world enters into the Christmas season. It’s a time of joy as if it’s un-American to walk the streets without a smile on your face. It is a time when you will see strangers helping out one another in ways we don’t get to see throughout the year. It’s a time when arguments seem to be brushed aside temporarily so that festivities can prevail. It’s a time of the year where mankind seems to open up their hearts and love one another in a way we lose track of throughout the pages of the year. I truly love the Christmas season for it brings out the best in people, and it seems like society awakens in a way we rarely get to see after January 1st.

My favorite part of Christmas is how for one month, just one month, I get to see Christ get his share of praise that often gets clouded out as the days go on. For me Christmas is a reminder and a refreshment of how wonderful God truly is. John 3:16-17 says it best:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (NIV)

For so many years I took this holiday for granted and only looked forward to it because it gave me some time off of work, getting a present I wanted, and getting my Spanish food fix for the year. Now, For me Christmas is a reminder of one of the greatest gifts God could have ever gave mankind,,,,his son Jesus. I mean God could have easily wiped Adam and Eve out and started from scratch with mankind until we got it right, but he didn’t. He allowed us, you, and me to be created with a free will to make choices on our own accord. He would bless us with his son to give his life so that mankind could be forgiven for the mistakes of our forefathers and be able to finally come to him with no strings attached. This was something mankind had never experienced before, the ability to openly come to him one on one. It is awesome to have a month where Jesus us gloried everywhere you look.

We as a nation are so blessed to live in a country that comes with so many freedoms and privileges, but it’s the holidays that open my eye’s to the suffering of others. I want to encourage those reading this to please open your hearts to those around you. There are so many people out there who won’t share the same joys we will this holiday. There are families with children that won’t have presents under the tree this year. People will spend their Christmas sitting in shelter’s hungry while you and I are filling our stomachs with wonderful dishes of food. There will be people sitting in hospitals watching loved ones in pain, while you and I end the night in laughter. There will be people sitting alone with no one to share this wonderful season with, while we are sitting with family and friends. We are all strapped financially this year but I pray that all reading this will in someway look for the opportunity to bless someone this holiday and show them what the Christmas sprit is all about.

I love this holiday and my heart often grows heavy as December 25th comes and goes. I miss the glowing houses, the joy and love people share with one another. I miss watching people go out of their way to help others as they do during Christmas. I miss seeing enemies become friends for the sake of the holiday, or even the crabby becoming happy. Most of all I hate seeing the nativity scenes removed and watching Jesus fade into the shadows until next year. If only every month were Christmas I think society as a whole would be so much more civilized. Just remember this holiday to set some time aside and thank God and Jesus for the greatest gift mankind has ever received, his sacrifice, and lets not loose track of what Christmas is truly about.

I hope all have a wonderful and blessed holiday, and if your one of those going through a ruff time this holiday I pray that someone would enter your life this week and shed a little light into your dark day. Just remember there is a God up there watching you and he loves you just as much as those who lives seem so much better off then yours. I encourage you this Christmas to look for a local church if you are not attending one and introduce yourself to Jesus, he’s waiting to meet you. If you are going to church already and having a ruff time, I encourage you to reach out to your pastoral staff and let them wrap their arms around you and put people in your life that can help. If you are reading this and you know of someone going through a ruff time this Christmas, be an angel in their life and see how you can help make their Christmas one to remember. We can all make a difference in the lives of others if we take a moment to look outside the mirror. Have a blessed holiday.

Taking A Little Time Out To Say Thank You



We have been looking at some interesting subjects the last couple of blogs. I thought it would be nice to take a break and talk about something different . As we sit back this wonderful holiday season most will be meeting with family, filling our stomachs to capacity, and using up the rest of our vacation days for the year. Some will be sweating as they crack open their wallets fighting the crowds this Black Friday. This past weekend we as a nation had the privilege to put work aside, and celebrate our wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. This has been a hard, hard year for a lot of you reading this. Jobs have been lost, finances have dwindled, health issues have seemed to pop up like weeds, and life in general this year has just seemed ridicules for a lot of people I have had the opportunity walk with. Because of this, I have so many reasons to be thankful to God.


Life has gotten a lot rougher in these last couple of months for me and my family, but as I sit back this holiday I have learned to see God in my hardships and this is where I find myself the most thankful. I praise god because of how he has chosen to bless me with life. Everyday I wake I thank him that he choose to create me. I thank him for giving me a life without disability. Some times we take it for granted that we can walk, talk, smell, eat, move, play, breath, see, and have such freedom physically. I encourage you as you live life throughout this next week to look for those who had the use of their legs, arms, eyes, or speech taken away. I couldn’t imagine how hard life would be with the loss of just one of my senses.

I thank God for the wonderful wife he has blessed me with. Over this last year I have walked with some of friends as they ended their marriages. It is so hard to watch people who were once so in love with one another become bitter enemies. I thank God everyday for blessing me with a sole mate that is so self sacrificing, loving, and fits me so perfect like a glove handmade for my body. I thank God for blessing me with a women who would turn into the mother of my children, a women who lives to love all others above herself. Every day I wake, I roll over and see one of God greatest creations….an angel he decided to place in my household.

I thank God for finding me worthy enough to raise a child in his name. I think at times we take for granted how easy it is to bring a child into this world. Some times I don’t feel worthy enough when I have to watch some of my closest friends trying so hard to have children with no success, and my prayers go out to them. I feel their pain as child baring is so hard for my wife and I. There is no greater feeling in this world then walking through your door after a hard days work and hearing this little voice scream out “DADA with so much joy and excitement. I thank God for a child who is healthy. There are so many families this holiday who had to spend it in a hospital watching there children suffer, not knowing how much longer they would have them in this world. Just the thought of my little boy experiencing this almost brings me to tears. Praise be to God for the healthy little boy I get to put to sleep every night.

I thank god for bring my Mom and two sisters to him and watching them grow in their love for him. My greatest burden in life is for those who haven’t had the opportunity to meet the big guy up stairs. I was raised in a religion that was very blinding to what God is truly about, and these teachings were imbedded in the hearts of my mother and sisters. As this year progressed I watched my two sisters break free from these false doctrines and give there hearts to God. Then I watched my Mom stand up, walk down the isle, and open her heart up to God. It means so much to me to have my family, but having my family with me professing their faith in God is worth more then all the wealth and power of this world.
Lastly, I am thankful that God ripped me out of this world and re-opened my heart for him. I have done so much against him throughout my life, and he choose to forgive me with no strings attached. He gave his son’s life so that I could clean out my closet and it’s skeletons. I thank him for putting his word back in my heart, and showing me how to be a better father, husband, brother, son, and friend. Through out this last year I feel I’ve grown more then ever before, and learned to lean on God unconditionally in faith and obedience. I have learned it doesn’t matter what life throws at you, with God in your life there isn’t a wall you can’t overcome.

I hope you and your family had a wonderful Holiday. I encourage you to take some alone time this weekend and give God some one on one time and let him know how much you appreciate him. He loves you. God bless. Stay tuned we have some of the most important blogs of this year coming up. Blogs that will hopefully change some lives.

Oh No Not Church, You Can't Make Me

Walking With Caution.

We’ve have covered a a lot of different discussions in the last couple blogs, and as basic as they are I hope I have been able to plant a path that you can follow and understand how one can learn how to develop an unbiased one on one relationship with the big man upstairs. Now we come to one of the most uncomfortable subjects you will have to face in your crossroad to God…..CHURCH!!!!!

I want you to understand that in writing this blog I too walked in your shoes, church was new to me and I totally understand what it feels like to hit this subject face on. As you read through my blogs it is obviously clear I am a huge opponent of organized religion, but the oxymoron to this is in reality you need church in order to grow in your walk with God. So here’s my warning: Just because it’s church doesn’t mean it’s right, and not every religion is a true follower of God, even though it carries the title of Christian. This is why I push you so hard to start at the source (the bible) and read about what church looked like as Paul traveled around founding churches throughout the new testament. Take this opportunity to understand what a true Christian church looked like, what they taught, what they did, how the people lived, and what they believed. We have the Corinthian Church, the Galatians Church, the Philippians Church. You read in Timothy what a pastor and deacon looked like and what kind of lives they were to live to hold such a role.

I push this so much because there are thousands of churches out there and I believe only a hand full are governed and structured in adherence to what a biblical church looks like. If you have allowed yourself to build a good biblical foundation, you will allow yourself to see past the charismatic pastor, the greeters, the handshakes, the cards in the mail, and all the fluff that comes with being a new visitor. You will be able to discern what they are teaching and is it biblical, is the church as a whole a godly organization, or just a weekend social club, a house where the congregation and it’s members are Christian on Sunday and worldly on Monday.

I go to a Assembly of God church and I sat back in the distance studying the congregation itself, how they acted towards one another, was their goal to fill seats and collect tithes, or was it centered around the growth of their congregation’s walk with God? Did they push their dogma, their governmental rules, or was their focus on the bible? How did the kids act, and this is important. Were they wild, or could I see God working in their hearts? The bible states you can tell a false prophett by the fruit they bare. A good tree bares good fruit and a bad tree in turns bares bad fruit. The members of a church are the fruit and their pastoral government is the tree. My church is a pretty big church and I was blown away by the overall love of God they haveand the role he played in their every day lives in and out of church. The deal maker for me was watching the youth and seeing so many children and young adult who earnestly loved God and how obedient they were to him when no one was looking, it wasn‘t a fake or a put on. There is no dogma, and every Sunday it’s about the bible and how it fits into our lives.

Can you grow in your relationship with God without church, sure..but I don’t think it can reach the pinnacle it can without putting yourself in front of others with like mind who are there to help that growth, that relationship. What I appreciate is getting to know others who have help me along my spiritual journey and learning what love and friendship is truly about. As humans we can only get so far on our own, but as a team we are unstoppable.

Analyzing What You Will Experience


As I mentioned I’ve been there and your first couple experiences with church are some of the most uncomfortable, and because of this most people will choose not to finish this journey. Lets take a look at my first experience.

It was my wife that took me to my very first church service. As I pulled up I looked and began to feel this overwhelming sense of fear and anxiety in not knowing anyone in this intimidating building that I was going to walk into, how did she talk me into this. As I looked around I couldn’t help to notice my clothing was far to relaxed compared to the majority. As I walked in I am faced with this river of people who all seem to know one another and yet I feel like the outcast. I have to be the only one in this church with a history, and by no means can anyone relate to the hardships my life has faced. As I am taking in this experience I couldn’t help feeling as if I was the only one with imperfections, everyone looked like they had it all in order. I felt like I was the only one in this entire church that was new to this Christian thing.

As I walked around I began to feel like everyone was looking at me, as if they somehow knew the skeletons I had in my closet. I felt like I had this sign on my back that said here walks a sinner. As we took our seats random strangers would come up and shake my hand with a smile that made me feel like fresh meat. My wife would begin to introduce me, and in doing so I felt like there was this spot light following me around. Then it happened: the service began. This music kicked in and everyone jumped up and bam…everyone’s singing. First off, where’s the bass. Then I noticed everyone’s singing with their hands raised, it was different but weird to me.

So I closed my eye’s and slowly and slowly the music began to cause this euphoria in my heart which was something I hadn’t felt before, it was almost like God was there rubbing my back telling me to calm down and enjoy the moment. I found my guard slowly getting lowered, and then I caught myself muttering the words of the songs under my breath. As the sermon started and went on I felt as if he wrote it just for me because everything he was saying seemed to relate to my life. It was the end in seeing the passion the Pastor had and how I learned there were hundreds of others like me in the audience when an alter call happened.

I decided to continue with this church thing and in doing so I realized that church is much like a hospital, when your there you feel like you’re the only one with issues but in reality everyone there is in need of healing in someway, shape, or form. There is no membership required and no commitment needed. Church is what you make of it. It’s your choice on how much or how little you get involved. Church is a different experience and takes time, for me a long time, before it becomes comfortable. In the end I can honestly say it was church that helped me grow in my relationship with God and in life. I have made some of the best relationships I have ever had in my life, and have had more support in my spiritual journey then what I could of done on my own. I hope you to will one day have the opportunity to enjoy God in this manner, and I promise if you really give it a try..beyond one or two visits…you won’t regret it. It may take a couple different visits to different churches, but through prayer and research God will lead you to the church that will be another chapter in you journey with God.

Facing Our Cross Road

So we’ve been taking a look at some random baby steps in trying to understand how one can begin to put their feet on a path in understand where to begin in a relationship with the big guy up stairs. At first we looked at understanding that everyone and I mean everyone reading this has some flaw with in them in some, way, shape, and form and these faults will sometimes stop us from approaching God. We also looked at God through a different set of eye’s throwing aside all the opinions, views, and thoughts we have been fed throughout our lifetime. This blog will be a little longer then norm

When we ended our last blog we looked at taking one of our first steps in opening your heart to God in prayer, and how this is one of the greatest tools we have in growing closer to him. I understand that some reading this are in a cross road in life. Some are standing on a path where in your heart you have tried everything out in life but still feel you are standing at the bottom of a large mountain hindering from you filling that void in your heart that is causing you to read this blog right now.

On the other hand I know some reading this are standing on the other side of this cross road with the desire to know God but intimidated at the thought of where to start and how this will effect your life from this point on. I found that at some point in your spiritual journey you will come face to face with this cross road (refer to  Road Less Traveled). it’s a cross road in which you have to choose what direction your life is going to take. Will you choose to take the road less traveled that Jesus speaks about in Mathew 7:13-14.

This is the hardest part of being a Christian, living outside of the worldly norm. As I read through Mathew the first time and came upon the sermon on the mound I found myself in the center of this cross road. You see I loved sin and everything that came with it. I loved fornication, I loved drinking my weekends away, I loved smoking my cigarettes, I loved my four lettered words, R rated movies….basically I loved what the world as a whole loved, spiritual free accountability. As I continued on in my walk with God I would find myself face to face with my own reflection. I had to learn how to fight my own instinct to sin, I had to fight the temptation of picking and choosing what areas of the bible I would listen to and what areas I would ignore based on what lifestyles I didn’t want to part with

For instance, I was at church every Sunday. The only problem is I was often tired out and maybe a little hung over from the night before. I would find over time I fell into the trap of having two personalities, the Christian Aaron,,,and the Worldly Aaron. Who I was around is who I acted like, in turn I was a spiritual hypocrite. The very person that represents why some of you may have left God, your experience with Christian hypocrisy. I say this because as you grow in your relationship with God you will find times your lifestyle, morals, and belief system will conflict with the world around you, and staying strong and representing God in your actions and choices takes strength, and time to grow this conscience.

It is hard when your friends ask you if you want to partake in something that you know crosses that do not enter zone with God. It’s hard not to say no to that hot chick that you used to fantasize about, who is now in your sight. It’s hard to forgive those that treat you like dirt, loving those that don’t deserve love, it’s hard not renting a movie because it promotes things that you know you wouldn’t watch sitting next to Jesus. Last time I walked around our local movie rental store I couldn’t find one movie on their new release wall that didn’t include foul language, nudity, murder, violence, spiritualism, etc. this world is pretty corrupt as it is, and if they find it to fall under an R rating how bad must it be.

The Christian lifestyle is one of the hardest lifestyles to live because it is a lifestyle and moral system that is ssssssooooo opposite from today’s customs and belief systems. It takes so much discipline and sacrifice in each and every day. It is a lifestyle that goes beyond your outward appearances, it’s a lifestyle that follows you into your privacy and thoughts. As your grow with God you will find you choose this life not for the satisfaction of your religious organization, but because of your love and desire to please God. It’s that love for God that makes it such a desirable life

I found it’s when I was alone that my walk with God was often put to the test. That’s when I found it the hardest to represent him the best, when no one was looking. I have no regrets in choose the spiritual route for it has opened up a new world in which my eye’s were blind to in the past. I owe God so much for opening up my heart to him and helping me to learn who my spiritual father was. My life has changed so much in ways I never thought possible because of my new walk with God. I married the women of my dreams, which was a second chance for me. I am blessed with one of best sons I could ever ask for. I have seen my mother and sisters come to know God in ways I would have never guessed possible. God has blessed me with a wonderful career, and has blessed us in life in measures I don’t deserve. In the end it’s my love and passion for God that I owe him the most for, for it was a void in my heart that I never thought would be filled again.

Next we will look at one of the scariest steps in your walk….CHURCH!!!!!!

Our Next Step: Approaching The Big Guy

I hope you’ve enjoyed our last couple of bloggs as we review some good ways you can start your walk with God or understand a good path to follow. First, we addressed the issue of “I’m not good enough for God”, and how that’s not the case for anyone. Second, we took a peek of who God is, and the myth of him being this mean, domineering, killer. The hard part of writing you is I’m trying to shrink down to one page what would seriously take many bloggs to cover. That’s why you will hear me push you to picking up the bible on your own, opening up at the book of Matthew, and begin learning on God because things will make far more sense in the long run.

Today I want to look at the third part of this journey…..Prayer. Now I know for some this subject can be weird and intimidating. For one, some of you out there may not know what prayer is, or how to go about doing so. Some of you reading this may have been trained to recite choreographed prayers, like those with Catholic backgrounds. I mean let’s be honest, the thought of sitting in a room by yourself speaking to someone you can’t see or hear is out of the norm. Some would say it time for the jacket with the little locks and straps on it (just kidding).

Prayer to me is one of the most intimate forms of worship with God. It’s your time to open up your heart to God and let him know what’s going on in your life, what struggles you’re facing, how much you love him, what questions you have, or anything else your heart desires. Prayer has no manual to it; there is no proper formation other then the Amen ending. It’s just you, your words, and God.

In the beginning I was hesitant of this because I just felt weird. As I progressed in my studies of God and I would see Jesus’ relationship with God and how he would pour his hear out to him, sometimes in tears, and one day I decided to take that next step. I sat on my bed and just started talking to God. I told him I enjoy my reading but wasn’t sure how to apply it to my life and if he was up there could he help me out.

As time went on I would begin to pray often to him, asking for further knowledge, advice on life, or sometimes I would just plain out vent about life and its hardships. The truth is this is your journey, this is you relationship with God. You take your time, but I promise you when you open your heart up to God and begin to let him into your intimate thoughts and hardships, joys and pains, you will begin to feel his presence in your life. God is an intimate God and acts like a real father. Fathers love when their children come to them and let them into their lives, and seek their advice. I encourage you to buy a small notebook and begin to create a prayer journal. Write down your conversations with God, and once a month go back and look over it. After a while you will begin to see these prayers come true, and that’s where your relationship with God becomes real.

The two most important parts of this journey are learning about God through his word, and opening your heart up to him in prayer. Everything else evolves around these two. God doesn’t care about anything else in this world except his relationship with you. Going to church, participating in ministries, attending bible studies, preaching his word, helping the sick, feeding the needy, paying tithes, all of this is there to help compliment your walk with God and help you grow in spiritual maturity.

Everyone’s different and everyone’s journey works differently. Some people will pick up a bible, begin to pray for forgiveness, jump right into church, and have everything going for them like it’s nothing. For others like me it’s a slow, long journey with many obstacles and traps along the way. I had to do a lot of spiritual house cleaning. I had a lot of bumps in the road when it came to choices, belief systems, and so much more before I even became comfortable with the notion of God in my life. I’m still not where I would like to be in my walk with God.

One thing I can say is prayer has helped me in ways you have to experience on your own. The best part about prayer is God’s ear is open 24/7, 365 days of the year. I encourage you tonight as you are preparing for bed, approach God and let him know where you are in life and what you are seeking from him. Let him know the questions in your life and why you’ve been so hesitant in coming to him. Remember God knows what’s already in your heart whether you make it vocal or not so don’t censure your prayers, let it out.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this blog and next week we will look at the future obstacles you face as you grow in your walk with God. We will look at why walking with God is so hard in our day. God Bless.

Unveiling The Myth About God

If your were to Google the word “God” you would find millions of hits. If you were to go out ask asked people their interpretation of God you probably wouldn’t come across the same answer twice. What’s sad is in Christianity you can't even find one faith that can come into agreement with an answer. The truth is the idea of God, and who he is, has become so warped and blurred that most people have been living off of the opinions of others for so long, that who he really is has disappeared in the shadows of interpretation.

When I first became curious about God I felt so confused because I was raised with a certain belief system (as I think we all are in some way), and everywhere I turned there were different opinions. I mean how can a person with no biblical background even begin to figure this out. In religion I think the image of God has been changed to create fear as if he is this hard core killer who lives to seek out and destroy those who live lives opposite of his plan for mankind. Even today I have a hard time watching televangelist because their messages are so blunt and paint a message of hell fire and brimstone….CONVERT OR FACE THE MIGHTY WRATH OF GOD….COME TO CHURCH OR BURN AS A PIECE OF BACON THE HELLS FRYING PAN.

Okay I may have gone a little over board but I think for the majority of society this is how the messages seem to come across. For some it’s how this world has turned out and the pain and suffering we see every day, in their present life and worldwide, that has painted a picture of a God that doesn’t care anymore. I know for a close friend of mine this is one reason he has a hard time believing in God. You know what I did, I began my spiritual journey taking all of the opinions of my past, the interpretations of the present, and decided to go to the source myself. I asked the pastor of the church I was starting to attend for an easy to understand bible that would help me learn, and bought my first study bible. So I will challenge you to take what I say as my perception of my biblical reading and go to the source of God yourself and read about him in his Bible. Don’t lean on my words, but read the words of God yourself.

It’s the simplest thought…every opinion…all Christian faiths…every Christian belief system…all…comes…from…one book…the bible………the source of everything, they all argue from the same manual. It’s like cutting out the middle man and going directly to the manufacturer. I will tell you when I began at the book of Mathew and began to read about Jesus myself I felt like I had found the greatest treasure on Earth. I was finally learning on my own the true personality of Christ and who his father in Heaven really was, and why this Earth is the way it is, and what the future really looks like.

I came to see that God is like a father who has a planet full of children who have been kidnapped, blindfolded, and taught to believe that he is a figment of their imagination. I came to see that he yearns in the worst way for his children to re-kindle a relationship with him, and has done so much though out the millenniums to do so. He sits up in heaven hoping someday his children will fall back in love with him, talk to him, and learn who he is. I came to learn that God isn’t this crazy sword wielding killer that I thought he was, but in fact the total opposite. I came to read that God is one of the most forgiving, loving , understand, patient, long suffering, loyal, friend, father, and advocate anyone could ever hope for in life.


He would go on to sacrifice his son so an earth that would grow up to live totally opposite of what he desires, refuse to believe in him, and totally reject his ways, could have a never ending chance for a reward that surpasses winning 100,000,000 lotteries. I came to read about a God who understands us better then our parents, best friends, doctors, psychologists, even ourselves and wants to bless us beyond belief. I would also read about an enemy of God we call Satan whose goal is to turn all of mankind from God and is craftier then the best mastermind in the history of the world. He would be a nemesis that never sleeps, never gives up. He can shape the way our hearts thinks, control our desires, and turn our strengths into weaknesses with tricks and tactics we often become blind to.

He would go onto give mankind every wicked thing it desired and over time this world would become numb to God’s ways and grow cold to his word. Even so, even with a world as corrupt as ours, and with inhabitants that continuously defy him…he refuses to stop loving us. He loves every bad child, every reject, every sinner, every drug addict, every homosexual, every murder, every person in prison, and every person of this world no matter how negative this world may look upon them. This is because in his eye’s all of his children are worth his forgiveness and all his children of this world he seeks to have a relationship with. Like a father the thought of loosing any of his children to hell is an unfathomable thought to God To sum it up I guess I came to learn that no matter how bad this world gets, how good or bad my life may be, or how many times I mess up in life, I can wake up happy ever morning knowing that God will always be there for me and he will never give up on me. GOD IS LOVE.

Where do I begin?

For many reading this blog the whole idea of who God is, what the bible is really about, and what it means to have a relationship with him is a subject that is not to well known. Everyone has heard theories about God, the bible, and most have experienced religion in some way shape or form. Most have walked into a church at some point in their lives, maybe for a wedding, or funeral. Some of you reading this may have even been raised in a church or religious organization at some point in your life.

The truth is most have had a touch point in their live with God, but in truth not many people today have an understanding of who God really is, or what’s even in the bible. There was a poll not to long ago that asked 32 questions on religion and , “the outcome showed nearly 6 out of 10 ranked religion “very important”, but only 4 out 10 said they attended worship services at least once a week” Article on poll

In this generation church has kind of lost its flare and less and less families are incorporating biblical teachings into their family structure. In turn, more and more generations are growing up with the notion that there may be a God and a book called the bible that has some teachings about him, and people go to Churches to listen to sermons about him. So it is easy to understand why more and more people find it intimidating to attend church and why many have no idea where to start when it comes to learning about God.

If you can relate to this then I want to dedicate these next couple of blogs to you, with no strings attached. I promise you there will be no hell fire and brim stone speeches, no suggestions on religious organizations to join, and nothing to cast judgment on you. I’ve come to an understanding that there are thousands of blogs, internet pages, televangelists, books, parents, relatives, friends, neighbors, and everything and everyone else out there that are proud to show us how imperfect we are and how we are all on the expressway to Hell. No, my purpose is to help you understand how one could begin, baby step wise, a slow and steady relationship with God and how to decipher this intimidating thousand plus page book we call the bible.In other words where do I begin if I were curious about God.

No One Is Perfect

Before we can begin I want to put out this disclaimer because I know it’s one of the biggest things that keep our heart closed to the notion of even coming near God. It’s the feeling that we are to messed up for God to ever open his heart to us. It’s the thought that your past, present, or both is so messed up…your past actions, thoughts, acts, mistakes, are so terrible that in no way, shape, or form will God ever…ever….ever…think about letting you near him. You may think that your current lifestyle is so twisted, and mangled with decisions of destruction you make consistently: whether it be addictions to drugs or sex, relationship choices, mistakes you choose to continuously make, lifestyle choices you feel are corrupt, associations you may be apart of, or actions you partake in that you know are totally messed up. I want you to know that no matter how many skeletons you have in your closet, whether in the past, present, or future…you can never be to messed up to approach God, even if this is your umpteenth attempt.

I give you one great example…the Apostle Paul, previously know as Saul the Sanhedrin Killer. He was like a Jewish version of Hitler. Serious, he was killing thousands of Jews…men, women, and children who decided to convert from Jewish teachings to Christianity. He actually put the hit out on the Apostle Stephen (one of the founding 12 apostles). Did you know he would go on to write 2/3 of the New Testament, which starts at the birth of Jesus to Revelation that last book in the bible. God would choose him to spread the gospel to all the gentiles (non-Jews) on his behalf throughout the world.

The one thing that I pray you will come to see is no one starts this process already clean with their life in order, are you kidding me. Most Christians today still have plenty of baggage their looking to dispose of. I mean were all still imperfect human beings, no matter where you’re at with God. What I hope you will comes to find is the process of coming to know God somehow influences the soul to change, and sometimes you don’t even notice it happening. Just know that God is stoked at the fact you’re even stirring the thought of him in your brain. You will come to see that most of the myths behind him and the bible is a lot different, and in the end God is more loving and forgiving then you could have ever imagined. Next week we’ll look at the first step…who is God.



A Little Self Reflection Never Hurt

As we ended our last discussion we looked at how we are using prayer. Are you only approaching God when it benefits you? Are you only praying when you have a need, and forgetting God after you’ve received it? Or, are you using this blessing as an opportunity to grow your relationship with the big guy upstairs? The theme to this discussion is why our prayers seemed to go unanswered at times. Today we are going to look in the mirror and ask ourselves why are we worthy of our prayers being answered, are we deserving of what we ask for?

I ask this because at times we forget that God has laid out his desires for mankind, and asks for only one thing in life…obedience. There is nothing in this world we can give God that he doesn’t have or hasn’t created. The only things that bring him joy are obedience, love, and respect. As parents isn’t this our true hearts desire. We crave for them to listen to our rules, respect our authority in their lives, and grow up to live a lifestyle reflecting the morals we’ve tried to instill in their hearts.

When our children listen, do we not crave to reward them in life? When my son eats like a good boy and decides not to throw his food like a boomerang around the dinning room I often find myself looking on with joy, thinking of how much I love him and how cute he looks. On the other hand when I look over and see spaghetti on our walls I tend to feel like punting him like a football, not that I would…wink..wink.

I challenge you to reflect on your personal walk with God and ask yourself…what kind of child have I been for him? Have you been the kind of child that brings him joy, the kind of child that when hearing your voice his heart is filled with excitement? On the other hand, are you the child that refuses to listen to what he asks? Or….have you chosen to worship God ala cart style, picking and choosing what to listen to according to what best fits your desires. Now not every child is perfect and even the best will fall short of their parents expectations every once in a while, but where do you fit?

"I will go to church, I will read my bible, I will pray every night….BUT…I will still choose to sleep around, maybe catch a little buzz once in a while…But I’m doing my best....don’t judge me…God knows my heart, he knows how hard it is out here".

Once again, we have to put our feet in God’s shoes once in a while. How willing would you be to granting your child’s wish if they only listened to you according to what they desired, or flat out didn’t listen at all? I will clean my room, do the dishes, and finish my homework…BUT…I’m going to sneak out at night, smoke a little of the green stuff, and so on and so forth.

Obedience, love, respect: those are the only things God asks from us.. In all honesty, there isn’t a desire on this Earth that God couldn’t satisfy with the blink of eye. Healing your loved one from an ailing condition, he gave us life he can restore it without a thought. Helping you get a job, people were placed as Kings because of him. Helping you save your home, he made King Solomon the wealthiest man to ever live. Helping you over come a sin you battle with, he gave Paul the grace necessary to overcome a thorn in his flesh he equated to a messenger from Satan, (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

God doesn’t avoid us we tend to avoid him, and imagine how insulted he must be when we refuse to acknowledge him, never think of him, constantly disobey him, and only remember him when it benefits us. Here’s the good news, God is a loving God, never holds grudges, and is always willing to give a person a new start no matter what skeletons are hiding in your closet. All it takes is for you to approach him as your Heavenly Father in sincere repentance. He loves us so much that at times he is willing to step aside and allow us to live as we desire, even if it comes against what we asks of us.

If you get anything out of this series I hope its encouragement to look at the possibilities as to why your prayers may seem unanswered. Let’s not be so fast to blame God or lash out against him because we pray…pray…pray and nothing happens. It may be that God is giving you what your lifestyle has reflected, a life without him.

What if you’re living according to what God asks, what if you are that child that brings him joy, that spiritual honor role student…why are your prayers sitting there unfulfilled. We’ll touch on this next so stay tuned.

How Are We Using Prayer

In an era of so much hardship I have come across more and more people opening their hearts to prayer then ever before. As a result I am starting to talk to more individuals starting to loose faith because they feel as if their pleads are falling upon deaf ears. If there’s a God, why am I still suffering? I fall to my knees every night in tears and pain, I beg you God and I know you can feel my pain, and yet my situation is still te same. Where are you God? Before we look into this deeper I want to warn you that you will be challenged to reflect on yourself, your walk with God, and some of this info may be hard to take in. On this note I ask you a question, what is prayer…what purpose does it serve in your life….and how have you been using it?

I ask this question because it seems like society has turned prayer into a 1-800 help line. It’s only used as a request channel to God when a need arises and nothing more. It seems like this is the only time people actually speak to God or reach out to him. Prayer is one of the greatest privileges ever handed down to mankind, the gift of openly speaking to God one on one.

Think about it as your own one on one phone line to God himself, our creator willing to set side time for you, the one whose hand is responsible for your very existence, the God who hand picked you to be created on this Earth. Prayer is meant to allow you to bond with God, talk to him, pour your heart to him, simply put…communicate with him as your heavenly father. This gift was handed down to us as a way to fall in love with him. I wish I could put into words how much I appreciate talking to God, thanking him for opening my eyes and heart to him, helping me to understand his word, the wife he has blessed me with, the son he’s allowed me to raise on his behalf, our new child on the way. There are times when I am approaching him for forgiveness, and thanking him for never giving up on me. There are times where I need his help. There are times when I just talk to him as if he was sitting right next to me.

I encourage you to look at your prayer life. Are you using this gift as an opportunity to develop your relationship, or do you only use this privilege when it benefits you? Imagine if your marriage was only based on demands. Imagine if the only time your spouse spoke to you is when they needed something and nothing more. Honey can you get me some coffee, Honey can you get me something to eat, Honey I need some money, Honey this and Honey that. Imagine if your significant other never called to say hello, tell you they loved you, complimented how wonderful you look, how they appreciate you, or if there’s anything they can do for you. How would this make you feel?

Imagine if as a parent the only time your child ever acknowledged you is when there was a need that you could fulfill. They come home, walk past you, turn on the TV. They sit at the dinner table, talk to their siblings, and call their friends. They walk right past you at bed time, never to say a word. All of a sudden their favorite video game is on sale and now you’re the light in their life. The hug you, bat their eye’s, and tell you how much they love you and can you get this game from them. Afterwards, you become a shadow in their life again until the next desire you can satisfy for them. Sadly, there are marriages that can relate to this example and children who treat their parents in this manner. If you can relate I challenge you to be honest in how this makes you feel? Are you motivated to fulfill the requests of your spouse, or give your child what they asked based on the illustration above?

This is where I challenge you, how are you using prayer? Are you only approaching God when it benefits you? Are you only praying when you have a need, and forget about God after you have received it? Or, are you using this blessing as an opportunity to grow your relationship with the big guy upstairs? God looks down on us as an Earth filled with his children and yearns to develop a parent like relationship with us. You have to put yourself in God’s shoes once in a while and ask yourself what kind of child have I been? Do I bring him joy? Am I the child that calls him everyday to tell him how much I love him, and how appreciative I am of him? Do I come to him just to talk and build that father, son / father, daughter type of relationship, or am I the child that only shows up on the scene with my hand always out?

In our next Blog we will continue on this question what kind of child have you been for God in relation to prayers. Understanding that there are those who are truly trying their hardest to follow God in obedience and yet feel as if their prayers are unheard, we will look into this a little later.

I'm Praying, Is There Anyone Listening

This is a question that I hear quite often, and at times I catch myself asking the same question. Is there really someone listening or am I going mad talking to myself, pouring out my heart to someone, or something imaginary? If there is a God listening to me then why hasn’t my request been fulfilled, why am I still suffering from the same ailment….what am I still jobless….why is my marriage still going south…why am I still suffering from this sin…Why, Why, Why!

I have a good friend I met a year and a half ago. I was his sales support as an agent with my company. I would call on him monthly to see where we could establish a business relationship, and in turn we would develop a wonderful friendship even though we have never met outside of talking on the phone. One day I called on him and during our conversation I learned his son was suffering from Leukemia. The first thing I could think of was praying for his son with him. I would call him back on my cell and asked if I could pray for his son, and learned he was a pastor of a smaller church and worked on the side.

We sat on the phone and prayed for his son’s healing, and everyday he would keep people informed of his progress. In private I would continue to pray for his son and we would talk once a month. Eventually, we could start to see God’s hand of healing in his son’s cancer. A year later his son would fall into remission and life seemed good, until less then a month went by and he learned his wife was diagnosed with early stages of breast Cancer. Just recently I found out his son’s leukemia has come back and now both the mother and the son battle cancer together.

Everyday people are praying for them and pleading with God to heal them as his word promises. Everyday people reach out to God and ask for his mercy on their lives, and strength for them to make it through. My friend has had to deal with these struggles for over a year and a half now, and you would think a man of God would have first dibs on a miracle for his family.

So why hasn’t God answered his prayers, why isn’t his son walking out of the hospital a healed young man showing the world the power of God? That I can not answer, but I can tell you if you were to talk to him today he is a man whose heart experiences fears, pain, doubts, and questions like any ordinary man…..but he still has his faith in God, and trust he is being heard.

You see god promises us so many times that he hears our prayers, and urns to answer our prayers. Take a look at a very small example:

Matthew 21:22: 22 - If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

Mark 11:24: 24 - Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God

Colossians 4:2 -  2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Hebrews: 5:7 -  During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

In fact if you were to go to biblegateway.com and look up prayer in their keyword search of the bible you would find dozen’s of pages of reference.

Truth be told there are many different reasons and factors that can lead to an unanswered prayer, and this can be hard to accept because sometimes it takes honesty on our part when it comes to our walk with God. Over the next couple of Blogs we will focus on a couple of these factors such as our obedience, do we truly have faith in God to answer our questions, have we forgiven those who have caused us pain. That’s right; did you know that refusing to forgive those who have transgressed us could hinder God from answering your prayers? We will also look at another factor: our time line vs. God’s timeline and the truth that not all prayers get answered. But before we can look into these we will first start with what is truly something that is prayer worthy. You have to understand what prayer is before one can truly use participate in it. This should be fun.

Winning the World to Christ One Loving Act at a Time

When I read through the scriptures and see how Christ interacted with the different people of the lands and how accepting he was I often sit back and reflect on how I act with others I come across. He was so open to accepting people no matter what their status or race was in life. One of my favorite stories is of him eating with the tax collectors and how the Pharisee’s were ridiculing him. In that day tax collectors were not nice men and inflicted much pain and grief on the people they collected from.

If a person couldn’t pay they would take their possessions or at times their children as a payment. I love his comment back to the Pharisee’s, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Mathew 9:10-12 NIV). He didn’t come just to hang out with the righteous; he came to hang out with the people who needed to hear from him the most. You see Jesus knew the one personality trait of God that would shine the brightest out of all of them. The one personality trait which all others would revolve around, even discipline: love.

He showed how we should love one another as the Son of God sent from Heaven by God himself knelt down and washed the feet of his apostles as an example of love. I want you to take a moment and think of the power this word holds, and how much of an impact one can have by looking for an opportunity to share it freely. I love Paul’s explanation of love in Romans 12:9-20; I encourage you to read this passage.

I don’t care how busy your life is, there are abundant ways to allow God’s light to shine through you with one loving act at a time. My wife impressed me the other day when she told me how she was trying to show the love of god to others. She has a huge fear of getting in front of other to minister but wanted to show a little God love. Her ministry was every pay day when she treated herself to a little Mickey D’s she would simply ask the cashier if she could pay for the person’s meal behind her in the drive thru. Almost every time she has to repeat herself because the cashiers were always blown away by her simple act of kindness.

My wife only request that when the person asks why their meal was paid for the cashier reply, because God loves you. I myself have experienced a loving act that had an impact on me. We bought a house not to long ago and didn’t have all of the items needed for a house, like a lawn mower. Our grass grew pretty long and one day I came home and it was cut. I thought my wife got fed up and bought a lawn mower. I later learn my neighbor had cut it. He never mentioned anything about it; in fact he cut it again later on that month. I was so touched that when I bought a mower I made sure to pay him back with some good lawn care myself.

This would become contagious and more neighbors began to help others out because of the kindness my neighbor had started with me. My wife and I are always on the lookout for different ways to help bring back the culture of brotherly love to those around us. I encourage you to do the same. If you see a neighbor that could use a hand why not extend yours. If you here of a co-worker going through a hard time, why not lend a shoulder to lean on? If you see family going through a hard time financially and you have some cash to spare, why not leave an envelope in their mail box with a couple bucks to help brighten their day.

Maybe you know of a neighbor whose been laid off, why not bring them over dinner? Mathew sums this up beautifully for us in Chapter 6:1-4

1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

We all have the capability to show a little love throughout our community and by being consistent, our impact can be great. God Bless

We Are Truly Blessed

It has been a while since my last blog because I have wanted to make sure what I write had a purpose and my blog didn’t turn into another boring religious blog. Recently I had the opportunity to teach an evangelism class at church. The goal of this class was to help people see through the eyes of their demographic and practice the approach Jesus took.

If you follow Jesus foot steps and how he interacted with people, he was very laid back and showed interest in them whole heartily, looking to build relationships with his people. It was through these relationships he was able to show them how God fit into their lives. He ate with tax collectors, talked with prostitutes, walked through towns no Jew of his time would walk through, and talked with people others turned their faces to. His heart was open to anyone who had a listening ear, and he made sure he understood his audience before he spoke.

The class is a four week course and in week four the class goes out and helps out a ministry to put what they learned to the test. We choose to help out City on A Hill, and it was here that I realized how lucky and unworthy I really am. You see City on A Hill is a ministry that helps the homeless and financially hurting on the North Side of Milwaukee. They touch all aspects of helping these individuals from holding medical clinics, handing out food, hosting great meals, clothes, and so much more.

Our job was to sit down at the tables of those eating, chat with them and see where we could pray for them. I was so excited because as most know I’m a yapper, but most of all I love bringing a little light into the lives of those that could use a good laugh. The first thing that hurt my heart was seeing a cafeteria filled to the brim of people without jobs and shelter waiting for the best meal they will have for the month. I choose to sit down at a table with two older gentlemen and asked if I could join them, they agreed.

My goal isn’t to hit them with scripture, or bible beat them, I wanted to get to know them on a personal level and understand what they were going through. The first gentleman had a smile on his face and I asked him what was making him so chipper, His reply was he was blessed. When I asked how he was blessed he said he knows God loves him because he has his health, a place to sleep, a set of clean clothes, and a place to go for a warm meal. He looked at me and whispered, “Do you know there are people in other countries so poor they are forced to eat mud mixed with sugar called mud pies, I haven’t been that poor before”.

Here’s a man who is experiencing greater poverty then I have ever had to go through considering himself blessed and through the simplest items seeing the love of God in his life. I felt so unworthy to even sit down and pray for this man. Here I am driving in my car, going back to my house filled with food and material items with a closet full of clean clothes, with the ability to wash them with my washer and dryer, money in the bank, and food we waste on a daily basis. It was then I realized how much I take for granted in life.

As the day progressed I had the privilege to chat with many awesome people and hear the pains they were facing. The theme to the message put in my heart was never give up on God, he hears your prayers, and feels your pain.

Mathew 6:25-34 – a scripture I live by

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?


28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

You may have prayed the same prayer 100 times with no answer, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. I was shocked how none I talked to spoke out against God with their situation and most still believed in the power of prayer, and still had their faith.

I must admit I ended up leaving 20 minutes early, because my heart couldn’t bare seeing all this pain while I was taking for granted how blessed I really was. My whole car ride home I prayed out for the individuals I talked to who needed a job, homes, health coverage, etc…and I ended it by thanking him for what Hannah and I have been blessed with and so unworthy to have.

It was such a humbling experience, and I think I will be back volunteering at City on A Hill next month. I encourage all reading this to think about your life and take an opportunity to thank God for how good you have it, for the food in your stomach, for the roof over your head, for the money you may be receiving, for the job you may have in this hard economy, for the interview you have lined up, for your health you may have, or the car you may be driving, for the family you may be blessed with, or for how far he has taken you from your old self, for the relief of any addictions, or the reuniting of your marriage, what ever God has done in your life don’t take it for granted and don’t be selfish with it either. Give to those who need it the most. God bless

Tests of a Lion, Struggles of a Man

In my last couple of blogs I have touched on my experience as a Christian and what led me to believe in the bible. It has been a little over a year since I decided to buckle down and give it my all. It hasn’t been an easy ride, and on the way I have lost some friends and family.

The hardest part has been biblical accountability. You see it is very easy to pull the wool over the eyes of those around you, and have them think you are a wonderful Christian when in reality you are living a live outside of its creeds. That’s what kind of life I was living for a long time before December 2, 2009. My struggle is knowing that God sees all, and when I purposely go against his word he is watching me, and inside I know it is breaking his heart.

The bible says the devil’s sole purpose on earth is to continuously bombard us with trails, tribulations, temptations, and so on in an effort to cause us to turn back to our old ways, question our beliefs, and in turn become his again. The hard part is he never sleeps, grows tired, and has millenniums of experience through trail and testing on how to stop our walk with God, and knows more about us then we know about ourselves.

1 Peter 5:8 sums this up best, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Throughout this year I have had my fair shake of temptations and battles that some may find trivial, but to me they seemed like warfare. One was smoking. I came across a scripture in 1 Corinthians that kind of put me in a battle between my hearts desires and what I knew what was right.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20: 19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

My body does not belong to me? I am not my own? What does this mean? As I thought back to my prior readings I would think about the person that brought me to God, Jesus Christ. He had given his life in sacrifice so we all could be washed clean from the sin of our ancestors, our sins, and so we could have that one on one relationship with God. This would be the sacrifice of all sacrifices and would be for all of mankind both past present and future.

That sacrifice also sealed us as his children and they very life we have was given to us by God, therefore my body isn’t mine its God’s. By smoking I knew I was slowly destroying it, I could feel the effects of smoking with each puff I took. But I liked to smoke, it was a big part of my life and that’s where my battle stirred. Once again I had biblical accountability, I could fake out others into believing I had quit but I knew God knew the truth. My main concern was my relationship with God, and how could our relationship grow if I was willfully destroying the very body he blessed me with, a body he watched his son Jesus endure torture for?

So I prayed out to God and asked him to change my heart from desiring cigarettes. I would find myself going a couple of days without cigarettes to buying them, throwing away the pack after a couple out of guilt, to buying some again the next day and totally becoming frustrated. But the whole time I kept praying for strength and finally omitted I couldn’t do it on my own anymore. I literally needed super natural strength not to smoke again. Then one day I woke up and my body didn’t desire a cigarette anymore, poof it was gone. I could be around others who smoked and it didn’t bother me, and for the last six months I have been smoke free.

You see I was learning that my relationship with God had to be pure if I wanted this relationship to grow. I couldn’t pick and choose what I wanted to follow, or try to customize my walk with God according to what fit and what didn’t and that’s hard. It has been a hard year because as I continued my bible reading I would learn that certain lifestyles I was living or partaking of interfered with my walk with God, and with each one I struggled because I knew I had to either change it, or in some cases remove it all together.

But none of these changes or choices no matter how hard are regrettable to me, they have only made my life better in the long run, or helped me become a better person. Sure I have received some ridicule from some friends and family. I have lost some friendships, and at times I feel as if I don’t quite fit in certain circumstances, but the bible tells us that this is something that will happen. My number one concern in this life is my relationship with God. I look at him as my literal father in Heaven who has been there for me and my family more then words could ever explain.

I know some people think that’s a bunch of squat, and I wish I could allow people to experience what I have since I have decided to give God my all. It is an experience no one will ever understand until they themselves go through it. I can honestly say I now feel like I understand life and have found a purpose and I challenge anyone reading this to pick up a bible and start with Mathew and give God a chance. Listen to what you read and try to implement the scriptures into your life and you come across them.

I guarantee by the time you hit Revelation your life will be 180 degree’s different then what it was when you started. Your eyes will have a new purpose and life will mean so much more then it did before. For those reading this that may already be on their journey with God I encourage you to never give up your walk and always put God first in everything you do. Husbands lean on God for an example of how to be a humble and loving leader, parents never tire of training up your children according to God’s word so they to will raise their children accordingly, neighbors always look for an opportunity to let God shine through your loving acts towards one another so people can see how much God loves them through you.

Thanks for reading my blog and please let me know your thoughts, or questions

Why Christianity Part III

Why Christianity Part III – So here I am in the beginning of a journey that has truly changed my life. All my life I had been around God, going to church here and there, being a Sunday Christian. My choices always seemed to lead to pain, and my heart was only focused on me. I knew something had to change and I knew I had to give this God thing a chance.

Instead of looking for a new religion, or a new doctrine that catered to what I was looking for, I decided to start this new adventure at the source by reading the bible. One thing that has always bothered me is how people only base their faith on what they hear from family, friends, or from the pulpit, never looking into the bible to make sure what they were learning was correct. I was guilty of this all my life. I wanted to start from the source and work my way out.

I asked my pastor for any suggestions on a good study bible and he pointed me to the “Life in the Spirit Study Bible”, edited by Donald C Stamps and Wesly Adams, and published by Zondervan. I started with the Book of Mathew since the New Testament relates most to our day today. I would hear sermons from Jerry Brooks Pastor of Oak Creek Assembly of God, as he would always encourage people to do their own personal study of the bible and how God tends to speak to us through his scripture.

As I started to begin my studies I could see this happening in my life. In the beginning my readings seemed boring to me, then they turned into interesting stories, and morphed into poetic words starting to grab a hold of my heart in a way I still can’t put into words today. The story of Jesus started to cause a battle with in my heart, a battle that was starting to consume me on a daily basis. The first battle was over true repentance.

Repentance – The act of a person seeking forgiveness from God because of a sin committed against the word of God. Act’s 17:30 lays this out nicely, “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” Many religions teach that all you have to do is confess you sins to someone, do some prayers and bam a person is forgiven. That is not the case, true repentance is followed by a sincere desire to never repeat the sin you are seeking forgiveness for.

That’s what I was battling, some of the actions I knew I need forgiveness for were actions I was having a hard time giving up. But I had a desire in my heart not to repeat this actions again so at night I got on my hands and knees and confessed everything I had done against him and asked him to forgive me and help me to never repeat the actions that were causing me to sin against him. I tell you after I was done I felt like I had 1,000 lbs lifted off of my shoulders.

The problem I was facing as I continued with my readings is I was really starting to feel this new love for God in a way I never had before. It was a feeling that I don’t think anyone can really put in words or appreciate until you feel it for yourself. I would read how God was a loving God whose only desire was to have an Earth full of his children who he could love, and in term love him back. I would read that satan had ruined that for mankind and God had a plan to get us back to where he had us. I would read how God wasn’t this all terrible being who desired to cause destruction upon the world but was in fact quiet the opposite. I began to see God through a different set of eye’s and understand why this world was turning into what it is. I started to understand why there is so much pain, suffering, hatred, poverty, and plain out chaos in this world today. The bible addressed this all.

I knew I had come to a cross roads in my new adventure. At this point I was still one foot in church and one foot in the world. I knew that if I was going to continue reading on that I had a choice to make, a choice…the biggest choice I would ever make.

Some people call this choice the prayer of salvation, or the choice to dedicate your life to God. It’s a serious choice because when you choose this route you are telling God that from this point onward you are going to live life according to his word, your life will be dedicated to him. It almost like asking your girlfriend to marry you. There’s a difference between dating and marriage and a huge difference in the comment level of the two.

I struggled with this because there were some things about this world that I was still attracted to and I didn’t think I could live a life in which I wouldn’t make mistakes, and I….well I didn’t want to fail God. Then I read the book of Romans, my favorite book of the bible, a book that helped me to understand where I stood with God a lot better. Why you may ask, because Paul goes on to show how every person in this world both past, present, and future has and will fall short of the Glory of God. He also went on to show that it is not through our actions that allows us our relationship with God, because in reality we all sin against God everyday most times without even knowing it.

Jesus died for our sins which covered all mankind, and it is through Christ that all mankind is redeemed. What does that mean? First read Romans 5:1-10. That means that we will always mess up in life because were not perfect, and that’s what repentance is for. Because Christ died for you, God now openly forgives those that earnestly seek him in true repentance. Go on to read Romans 6:1-23 compliments this discussion perfectly..

After I realized that my relationship with God was far less stressful then I was torturing myself with I new I had to do the next step. On December 3, 2008 at 7:00pm at church I privately prayed out to God first asking him to forgive me for all the things I have done against him, second I told him I believed Jesus lived and died for our sins, and thirdly I told him that my life was his and from this day onward I would do my best to live according to his scriptures and asked him for the strength to represent him in the best manner I could.

That was a year ago and this last year of my life has been the best ever. I haven’t touched an alcoholic drink since then, God helped me quit smoking, my marriage is the best it ever has been, I was blessed with a baby boy, I was promoted to wonderful job, we bought a house, I watch my mother’s life change dramatically as she not only starting coming to church but three months ago she gave her life to God, I watched my little sister follow in her foot steps, and my other sister go on to get baptized as well.

For all those reading this that are not sure about my testimony, by a good study bible and give God a try. It will be a life altering experience. God bless.

Why Christianity Part 1

As you can tell this blog started off as a journal documenting my thoughts as I began to read the Old Testament, but I thought it would be better to journal my life experiences as a Christian instead. Over the centuries Christianity has gotten a bad wrap and has participated in some of the worst events kown to mankind in the name of God. In fact, my conversations with individuals on religion and the bible have resulted in many painful testimonies as people recounted their experiences with religion.

I myself have my own painful experiences with religion that are still haunting me today. You see I was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, and from this point I will refer to them as JW’s. My grandparents, cousins, mother, and other relatives on my mother’s side of the family were all JW’s. I became very active in this organization and was baptized at 16 and Auxiliary Pioneering by 17 (this is like being a part time missionary in your state).

I truly believed that I was a part of the only true Christian religion on Earth, and all others were Satan’s attempts to remove us from God’s true religion. As I got older and began to read the bible myself I would start to question the JW’s doctrine. I would start to see their punishments for sin, and how un-loving and opposite from God’s nature they were. As I kept reading the bible I came to a conclusion that God’s number one quality was love and all personality traits evolved around this concept of love, including discipline. Love is a simple word with such a complex meaning behind it, I could literally devote pages to this one word and its true meaning.

As I got older I decided that the JW’s were more like a cult than a religion and used the bible as a means of control in an extreme way, instead of helping one to grow in their personal walk with God. I never doubted that there was a creator to this world, I don’t care how much science there is; in my eyes none of their arguments can answer the question of creation the way the bible does.

Because of my decision not to be a JW my family has decided to outcast me and eventually I was disfellowshipped. In my families eye’s I am dead and they are not to talk to me in any way shape or form, or they themselves could face disfellowshipping. If I was in the hospital dying none would visit, if I was starving none would feed me, if I needed a place to live none would open their door. In fact in their eyes if Armageddon were to happen today I would be destroyed. Like I said God is love and according to his word his son Jesus died so that we could be forgiven unconditionally once we sincerely repented to God, not man, for our sins.

I have been married for three years and have a 10 month old son whose picture is my profile picture. To this day none on my mother’s side has seen either one. So I to know how it feels to have been wronged in the name of God, God never intended families to be separated in his name.

So why….why would I choose to be apart of a religion that has wronged so many people throughout its history? Why would I be a part of a society that is responsible for more deaths then all the wars of the US combined, because I believe in the source of their knowledge, the bible. You see it was Jesus’ apostles in the book of Acts 11:26 that called themselves Christians. According to http://www.merriam-webster.com their definition of Christian is “one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus”. So you see in Jesus time there was only one Christian teaching (or religion), and that was the apostles of Christ. There was no Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, JW’s, Mormons, Evangelical, Unitarianism, Methodism, just students of Christ and the knowledge they just learned from him.

I believe, and once again this is just me, that religion is Satan’s tactic to take the word of God and his image and destroy it. Think about it, every Christian religion thinks theirs is the only way, none really have love for one another even though Paul teaches we are to be like one body under Christ, read Romans chapter 12:4-8. Religions tend to concentrate more on their doctrine and their laws then what the bible teaches. Most of all religion separates everyone from one another, and love and unity we are all suppose to have is gone. This includes all religions such as Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, etc.

I hate to stop here but there's much more to write.  In "Why Christianity Part II I want to touch on Church and how it is a vital part of being a christian and what lead me to believe in all of this good stuff.  I promise it will be good reading.

 Continued on Why Christianity Part II Coming Soon

Why Christianity Part II

Why Christianity Part II – This discussion is why did I choose to become a Christian. In the past blog I touched on my experiences with religion and how religion has hurt more people in the name of God then anything else. I am not bashing churches, just organized religious concepts. There is a difference between church and religion.

Religion is a structure that cultures, communities, and or person(s) people create. It is their interpretation of the bible and their organizational structure of how its followers should live. Church in Christ time was a place in which individuals would meet to learn about God’s word and the concentration was set around a community of people who would help one another grow in their individual walk with God. It was also a place for people to gather and devote some personal time to worship God and increase their knowledge of the knowledge handed down to them.

There was structure, there was punishment for disobedience. Punishment wasn’t physical harm but more isolation like. For instance in 1 Corinthians 5:1-12 Paul looks at how the church was suppose to deal with those who openly lived against the bible and had no desire to live according to it’s laws. In 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 he expands his thoughts on discipline in the church. Once again we can see the love of God in these verses as he instructs them not to overwhelm the individual who may be at fault but forgive and comfort him so he will not become overwhelmed by excessive sorrow, and they were to reaffirm their love for the individual. Much like how parents would discipline their children.

Church is supposed to be a place of joy where people of like mind would gather in unified worship of their heavenly father. If it wasn’t for church I wouldn’t be writing this today. I guess in a way you can’t have church without religion, but I think I have found the closest thing to it in my church. So how did I get her, how did I get to a point where I could absolutely believe in the bible to the point of sacrificing my relationship with my own relatives as in the first blog? Why would I choose to live a lifestyle that is so opposite from the society I live in? Why not just live life to the fullest and enjoy all the pleasure available in the world today, besides we only live once right and life is short?

As I mentioned I was always around the bible in some way shape or form my whole life but never took a hold of it. I enjoyed drinking, smoking, partying, sleeping around, basically I enjoyed not being accountable to anything other then my moral conscious. That’s the thing about the bible once you read it you begin to see your accountable to God for your actions. As I got older I met my wife and she was a semi-religious lady at the time who was going through a rebellious phase in her life. We met at a club and started dating. Not the prime area to meet someone.

Our first three year would be on and off partly because we both were to self center and could never look past our own desires. After a while my wife got sick of the life we were living and wanted to go back to the Christian life she lived previously. So I started attending church with her to avoid arguments in our relationship. I wasn’t going because I wanted to; I was going to make her happy. That became a problem because her heart was in it and she wanted to start living a cleaner lifestyle which meant no more partying, having sex before we were married, etc. That’s were the problems began again, because I was still living this life and didn’t want it to change, so eventually we ended up breaking up because my wife wanted to be in a relationship with a person with equal morals. She still loved me tremendously but we would never work out with such different morals.

Before we broke up church was starting to make a dent in my heart and I was agreeing with the messages, but I never took it upon myself to make a one on one relationship with God, I was a Sunday Christian…come Monday I was back to being a non-Christian. But even as we were broken up I still desired to go to church, it was something about that two hour period in which you could close your eye’s and let the songs sink into your heart and hear all this wonderful news out of the bible that I loved.

So I continued to go to church on my own, but I hadn’t made it my own. I was still out there living the same life which was still opposite then what the bible was teaching and I knew it. I started to think I could never be a Christian or live the life that God wanted me to because I loved the sins of the world to much to let them go. Then one day 8 months after being broken up, which from day one my wife never saw or talked to me not once during this time, she showed up out of the blue.

Long story short things got a little better and a couple years later we got married, but during this time I slower went back to my old ways and my wife was miserable. Then something happened, a bad night that changed the rest of my life. It was December of 08 and I was out with some friends of mine clubbing it as I usually do and my wife was at home pregnant with my son. I was drinking and having what I thought was a good ol time as I became plastered.

During this period I believe my friends and I got into a verbal dispute with some other group of guys. As we were leaving the club four deep we were confronted by eight of these guys. One thing led to another and a real messy fight erupted. The only thing I could think is getting my car and grabbing my friends and burning rubber. As I ran to get my car I looked back to see a group of four guys chasing after me and eventually they caught up to me a couple blocks away in one of the nastiest darkest alleys in a neighborhood with a dangerous reputation.

I was face t face with these guy, and drunk as a skunk. What was racing through my heart is there is a chance I am going to be killed and two things rushed through my mind in those hard seconds…..if I die I know I am going to Hell, and my wife will have to raise our son alone with a $12 an hour job. I was eventually over taken by this group and they proceeded to do their best on me. In my mind I prayed out to God and I made a promise to him that I have kept to this day. I promised him that if he saved my life I would never drink again and I would try my best to live a better life for him.

All this was happening for about 10 second in an alley with no lights were no would see us, where they could of taken there time. After I prayed, and I mean the second I was finished something had spooked these guys to the point where they didn’t just stop, they took off like a bat out of hell. They ran so fast that they didn’t even bother to open the gate as they took off. I believe to this day God somehow scared the ba-jesus out of them somehow because when I got up there was no one around us, no cars, no light, nothing to cause these guys to take off the way they did. I ended up walking to a police station because I was pretty beat up and calling my wife. I knew my life would be changing when my wife walked in the police station as the view of her pregnant, scared, and full of tears came across my eyes.

This is where my story really takes place in Why Christianity Part III