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.