Trials! Count it all joy?

James 1:2-4 "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (NASV)

As many of you know, my family has just gone through the toughest trial of our lives. One month ago we lost our little boy, John David, whom we fostered for 3 1/2 years, since he was 7 months old. We were the only family he knew, we were his daddy and mommy. He was my little buddy and my wife's baby. This may seem a little overboard to you, seeing we were foster parents, but until you've had a little one in your care for 3 1/2 years it's hard to understand. The sudden return of John David to his biological mother and her boyfriend was totally unexpected and sent us on an emotional roller coaster we will never forget. We treated it like a death, we mourned for the loss, and worse yet, we ache whenever we are reminded that he is presently struggling to understand why we left him on the doorsteps of a family he barely knows.

There are two truths I presently cling to, and I would like to think I understand these truths now more than ever before.

1. This did not take God by surprise. He knew it was coming and yet He chose not to stop it. I believe He has in mind the best interests of all parties involved, and that gives me hope. These scriptures speak to this hope:

Romans 8:28 "All things work together for good, to those who love God and are called according to His purpose."

Psalms 145:9 " The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works."

Psalms 147:5 " Great is our Lord, and mighty in power, His understanding is infinite."

Isaiah 46:9-10 "I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,'"

2. I feel closer to God now than I ever have. I hear the saints often say, "you grow most during the difficult times in your life", and I really never understood. Now I'm beginning to grasp that concept and know it to be true. I have a joy in my heart that I can't explain, but it's been like a pain killer the last 4 weeks. I trust God now more than ever. I know God more intimately now than I did a month ago. Like James alludes to in chapter 1, verse 3, I feel my endurance has taken to new heights. I'm by no means perfect, but I have no desire to go back to where I was before. Don't get me wrong, I'm still battling my flesh, and I would take John David back in a heart beat. Please continue to pray for mine and your little buddy.

Grace, MB

Is there a fire in your eyes?

"I hope people can see a fire in these eyes, not just for cycling but also for life. So many people are negative about life and I've been there, but God has convicted me about being positive. This life is truly a gift and at the same time a responsibility. I am learning more about both those aspects. I'm passionate about Jesus and God's Word, just like I was about cycling 10 years ago. I never thought I could ever fall out of love with cycling, and maybe I haven't, but my love and passion for Jesus has taken me beyond anything else in my life. God has given me another chance at doing things right with a wonderful wife, beautiful family, great friends such as yourself, a forgiving church family, and the health to do it. This is where I want to spend my energy, if there's time for racing or other enjoyment then I'll look at that as a gift, and there's been many of those. God is not about taking things away from us as many think, but using our gifts for His glory and His ultimate purposes. It's more fulfilling to be a part of His plan than anything I have ever experienced before."

I recently sent this email to a friend who I spent a good deal of my racing life with years ago. We are still friends even though we do not race together now. I'm glad God has blessed me with friends who are not judgmental about my convictions and passions, i.e. Jesus. The world can be a brutal place where even the word Jesus can spark anger and evil emotions, much more than politics. This is because Jesus created us and is the center of all our hearts and souls, 80% of the population hasn't come to this awareness yet, but they will at some point. Pray today for God to reveal more of Himself to you, your family, and those friends around you so they don't miss out on Jesus today. Jesus truly is the way of the greatest fulfillment in this life you could imagine. He is the only way in fact to God.

John 14:6 "Jesus is saying to him, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one is coming to the Father except through Me."

Grace, MB

How does the bible fit together?

(Taken from Bob Evely's blogsite, 6/22/09)
Most churches preach from the Bible, and believe the Bible is God’s Word. But if this is the case, why are there so many different opinions as to what the Bible actually means? Why are there so many drastically different interpretations, often leading to church divisions?

Just because the entire Bible is God’s Word, this does not mean we can simply reach in … grab a passage … and make it apply to our present situation. God is always the same; but this does not mean He always works in the same way in all eras. He once worked thru the Law of the Old Testament. In Galatians Paul announces freedom from the Law.God works progressively.

To properly understand what the Bible is revealing to us for our present day, we must take great care when reading it. We must always ask, “Who specifically is this being written to? Is it the Jew, or the present-day church? Or all mankind? And does this situation being described apply in the same way today?”

As we read the Bible from beginning to end we can see God working systematically through the ages, and we see Him revealing to mankind His plan in bits and pieces. Some information He revealed to the patriarchs in the Old Testament. Some things He revealed through His prophets. Some things He revealed through Christ Jesus. But some things were concealed until God was ready to reveal them through His servant Paul, after the Jews had been set aside so that the complement of Gentiles could be incorporated into the fold.

Studying individual portions of God’s Word is like analyzing a tree, and we can learn many marvelous things about the tree in this way. But sometimes we must step back to look at the entire forest, to see how all of the trees fit together to comprise the forest.

The Garden of Eden
Genesis describes the beginning of mankind in the Garden of Eden. It is interesting that despite this being a Paradise where Adam and Eve lived in the presence of God, and where there would be no death, evil existed even in this place. The serpent lived in their midst, and had access to Adam and Eve so as to tempt them. This was not a neutral setting, where Adam and Eve would simply live in obedience to God. The evil one lived among them, and tempted them.

What an interesting parallel to Jesus who was led by God to the wilderness to be tempted by the Adversary. (Matthew 4:1) Adam and Eve are “led” by God to the Garden of Eden to be tempted by the serpent. The difference is the outcome. Adam and Eve succumb to the temptation, and death enters the world. Jesus overcomes the temptation, and defeats death. Paul later makes the same comparison, and reveals to us the impact of these events. As in Adam all are dying, thus also in Christ will all live. (1 Corinthians 15:22)

Mankind Deteriorates
Once expelled from the Garden, mankind follows a steady course of self-destruction. Cain kills Abel. Evil runs rampant. In Genesis 6 we start over, with the wicked being destroyed and only the righteous Noah and his family surviving. But we read on, and mankind continues to show no promise. At Babel (Genesis 11) God finds it necessary to confuse the tongues of mankind, and scatter them.

God Chooses One Man, to Bless ALL People
From all of mankind God chooses one man, Abram (later Abraham), promising to bless all people on the earth through him. (Genesis 12:3) We see here God’s purpose or intent: To bless all people upon the earth. His method at this point is to choose one man, Abram, as His instrument (or channel) to bless all people. Later God chooses a descendant of Abraham, Jacob. He repeats His promise to bless all people through Jacob. (Genesis 28:14) God later re-names Jacob “Israel.” (Genesis 32)

To be continued...
Grace, MB

A Changing of the Guard

Our church family is experiencing a changing of the guard. Over the last couple years we've mourned the passing of many key people in our local congregation. Most recently a long time saint and stalwart, Vonie Mills, passed on and is now awaiting the coming of Jesus Christ for His saints. (1 Thess 4:13-18) Vonie was a women of God and her shoes will never fully be filled. She was my youth minister when I was in high school and had a big impact on my life. I would not be where I am today without Vonie. I don't remember one lesson she taught us, but I remember her life and how she lived it. Vonie lived the kind of life that I would love to be remembered for. She made people like her, that's right, she made them. They had no choice. She was authentic in her love for other people and there was no hiding it. Dale Carnegie wrote a book, "How To Win Friends And Influence People", and in that book he has a chapter titled "Six Ways To Make People Like You". Vonie lived these six principles and judging from her life they worked.

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile
3. Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person's interests.
6. Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

This is not religion, this is living out what the bible teaches. It's being authentic. It's loving others. It's doing unto others as you've have them do unto you. It's being like Jesus.

Vonie, you will be missed.

Grace, MB

Our part in salvation...?

My understanding of this subject has so radically changed over the last few months, I look back at some of the blogs I've posted and shudder. I'm sorry for throwing you so many curve-balls but consider who wrote the bible (men inspired by God), and then consider who wrote these blogs (a mere man inspired on occasion by God but usually inspired by my own flesh and stupidity) That being said I do feel my understanding of the scriptures is growing and moving in the right direction, so don't exit this blog until you've read the rest of the story.

If God grants us the faith to believe, and it's a gift, not of works lest anyone should boast(Ephesians 2:8-9), and it's Christ's faith, not ours that justifies us with God, and makes us righteous in His sight(Romans 3:22), then what's our part in this whole process?

Our part is this...believing in or on Jesus Christ as the Messiah (the chosen One). What I understand now is that the object of our faith is not determined by God. God gives us the ability to believe in something greater than ourselves but we are not forced to accept the God of the Scriptures nor His Son - Jesus.

Romans 1:21 says, "because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God,..."

Paul says the God of the Hebrew scriptures was not automatically implanted into their faith, they never came to an understanding of "The God" and instead made up their own "gods". Granted sometimes God makes people blind to who He is on purpose (Romans 9:21), but we don't know who those people are.

Romans 3:25 says, "...through the deliverence which is in Christ Jesus..." or John 3:16 "...that whosoever believeth in Him..."

We shouldn't take for granted that "Jesus" is the object of man's faith. There are so many distractions in this world competing for our time and affections. Paul understood this and alluded to those who have faith in the wrong object (Person).

Romans 1:25 "who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."

Grace, MB

You know you're saved because....

How do you know when you are saved? That was the big question on our last post, thanks for your responses, they were interesting. As I've pondered this question in the interim I've changed some in my understanding. I'll try to keep this as simple as possible.

If your answer to this question does not contain Jesus Christ's death and resurrection , then your answer is incomplete. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Romans 10:9-10) There is no act or service on our part which guarantees our salvation other than the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross and His subsequent resurrection. All other answers involve either our efforts or feelings which can not satisfy God nor be trusted. We know we are saved because of the fact that God's Son (God Himself depending on how you look at it) died for our sins and resurrected 3 days later. We are justified (seen as innocent) in God's sight, made righteous, or forgiven depending on how you look at it. This is every bodies standing before God throughout the world at this very moment. Only those who have been called/predestined before the foundation of the world receive that position and live the abundant life God has chosen for those who realize their salvation. (Romans 8:30)

John 10:10 "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." (NKJV)

John 3:17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." (NKJV)

That is why Paul gives us our commission in 2 Corinthians 5:20, "we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God." In other words, be at peace with God, cause He's at peace with you. God has in fact given us the faith to even believe. (Romans 12:3) Isn't His grace even more astounding than you first thought?

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are you saved, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift from God; not of works lest we should boast." (NKJV)

Here's another question you can respond to or ponder. If our faith is given to us by God, not of anything we've done to warrant it, then what's our responsibility in our salvation and why should we even try to tell others the good news?

Grace, MB

How do you know that you are saved?

I recently had this question posed to me by my uncle. When Ted asks me questions like this I know somethings up. There's something he wants me to see. Ever had that experience? You just know that person is up to something, why would they ask that question? What are they up to? So before I tell you the rest of the story, let me give you some time to answer that question and post a comment or email. There's no right or wrong answer, and no need to write a book. Thanks for your time, have an awesome day with the Lord.

How do you know your saved? or How do you know you are a child of God?

Grace, MB