Put it on the Altar

Hello all,

I have been out of the loop for a few days due to a situation that came into my life, that I am actually basing this blog on. I have heard several times over the past few weeks while at service the saying "Put it all on the altar," without really understanding the meaning. Now I believe I have a better understanding of this saying.

This last week has literally sucked for me in a physical sense, but in a spiritual sense, it has been outstanding. First off the week began with an ambulance being called for me last Monday night due to some abdominal pain that I was having. Let me tell you this pain felt like I was going to die. I know that during this episode while I was in the ER I was definately praying out loud for Gods help.

I followed up from the ER visit with my normal Dr. that Thursday and was told that I had a bad gall bladder and that I needed to be referred to surgery. So the next day I spent the whole day at the hospital running tests and talking to the surgeon. We aggreed that I would have my gall bladder removed on Tuesday the 19th of July. After going back to work and explaining what was going on, I suddenly came to the harsh realization, I am not in the Military no more. What exactly does this mean you might ask? Well for one, it means that when you dont work, you dont get paid. HAHA new concept for me after being in the military so long.

So I decided to go back and ask the surgeon if he could push my surgery one week to the right so my paycheck would not be so affected. He told me no, that the gall bladder had to come out as soon as possible. So I called my wife and explained to her what was going on, and also to let her know that my next paycheck was going to be real bad, and to see what our options were. Well we could ask my parents for the money to cover us, could ask her parents, or take out a short term loan. Well after some discussion we went with option 4, which was to pray as a family and put it all on the altar and let God take care of us.

Let me tell you, it worked. At about 6 PM that night, I started to have another abdominal attack. This once again landed me in the hospital, which in the end resulted in the surgery being performed on Saturday. This in turn made it to where I could go back to work earlier to maximize my hours for my pay period.

Sometimes it truly is remarkable the way that God works. I know that He is watching my family and myself, and we love Him in the Agape way and will serve the Lord any way He directs us.

G.E.D.D.

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Love

It is only appropriate that I follow up yesterday's blog with the subject of LOVE. For most as we look at life, LOVE is such a fickle thing. What I found amazing listening to my sermon on Wednesday is that there is a very good definition of love in the bible.

1 Cor 13: 4-8

Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not concieted, does not act improperly, is not selfish, is not provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love Never Ends.

Now as you look at this, whether you are young or old, if you look at your relationships in your life where you have said that you LOVE someone, did your "Love" meet these qualifications. I will tell you this if you answer yes, and you are still not in that relationship, you need to reevaluate that relationship again, because as the last line says, "Love Never Ends".

Now what I have learned from the last few weeks in my walk, is that there is two types of love.

Agape - means to choose to seek the best for others. This is a love based in the mind. We can chose to show agape love by actively thinking about, and deciding how we act toward other people. Agape is the word used when the Bible talks about Christian love for one another. Agape love is talking about our behavior towards others, not our feelings.

Phileo- means to have an affection (sentiment, passion or feeling) for. A fondness based in the heart. What the Greeks meant by Phileo love is what we normally think of the words "brotherly love" meaning today.

Now what we find is that most people have good intentions in love, but the majority of that love is of the Phileo type and not the Agape type. Eventhough it is in the best intentions, you can not have happiness and peace unless you surround yourself in Agape type relationships. Because as the gospel says, Love Never Ends. Everything else in life will come to an end but Love will not.

I put forth this challenge to all, reevaluate your relationships and see which category of love they fall into now. If it is a Phileo love that you feel for the person, do whatever is needed to change that into an Agape type of love. Trust me you will feel better.

Thank you and God Bless.

G.E.D.D

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Relationships

Good Morning,

My Walk with the Lord yesterday was awesome and challenging. To start with I had to take my son Colby to the airport in Houston so he could fly home to California. This was my yearly visit with him, and every year it gets harder to say goodbye and let him go. There was a difference this year though, I know that this time I was sending him home a better young man than when he arrived. You might wonder how I can be so sure of this, the answer is simple, during his visit here this time he made the decision to accept Christ into his heart and start his own journey with the Lord. In addition to his Salvation we were able to take him through the steps to get Baptized and join the Church body that we belong to. That in itself was awesome, not just good, but God Good.

Now while I was driving the 3 hours back from Houston I had the opportunity to listen to a podcast of a service that I had to leave during 2 weeks back from my Pastor which dealt with the Stewardship of Relationships. My wife had told me that I had missed out on a very powerful message, so I decided to listen to it, and let me tell you, she was spot on. The majority of the message dealt with Adam and Eve and the Serpent in the Garden, but the main points of the message had to deal with Godly relationships verses UnGodly relationships. Now let me tell you, my Pastor is was on his game this day, he delivered a very driven, passionate, and transparent message. He did not pull any punches. It was driven home that relationships start in the home and that it is not just my wife and kids responsibility to ensure that they are chosing to be in Godly relationships, but also my responsibility to make sure that they are engaging in healthy, Godly relationships. Some of the things from this sermon that were brought to the front can really make you take a look at your life. First off the Gospel tells us that God created man in his own image, perfect and innocent. The Gospel also tells us that he created woman to compliment man, because God realised that man being alone was bad. So what happened in the Garden. The sermon brought to light that there were many issues with relationship with Eve and the Serpent to start with, but it was not all Eve's fault. The relationship between the Serpent and Eve was a perfect example of an UnGodly relationship with many signs to this fact. The second point brought out and really driven home is that Adam was there the whole time watching this relationship develop and did nothing. So who was really the one to blame. For me I would have to say that Adam was the one to blame, at any time he could have to Eve to stop this relationship, but by being complacent and letting this relationship develop, he eventually did exactly what God had told him not to do which led to the expulsion from the Garden. I will tell you, this was a powerful Sermon and eventhough it got a little harsh, I believe it was something that everyone needed to hear. Below is a link to the podcast of this Sermon should you so chose to hear it.

http://fbcrosepine.org/graphics/UploadFile/6471/Doctrine_of_Man__Stewardship_of_Relationships_.mp3

I can tell you that I have re-evaluated alot of my personal relationships, and have started to remove the relationships in my life that are UnGodly. As the Sermon says, if the relationship is not drawing me towards God then it is drawing me away from God, and therefore it is UnGodly.

There will be more to follow today. This was all I could fit in in my first couple hours of the day.

G.E.D.D

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