Good Things

Great Things

          Well this weekend promises to be another great weekend to wrap up an awesome week. The only downfall to this week so far is the fact that I had to work the Graveyard shift for the rotation. The rewards from the week though will definitely pay for everything in the end though.

            As you have been reading so far, I have turned in my application for seminary school and I am just waiting on the answer. Although it is nerve wrecking, it is also exciting. My mother and my father’s birthday were this week which is awesome because that means another year they made it on this earth. My wife has been invited into the leadership of the church to take over the media (web based) side of the house, which we could not be happier about. So far I have not even gone through a half tank of gas on the new car which means that we are saving money as we had planned, the pool is clean which means the kids get to swim when they want, and my love for God and my family is stronger than ever.

            Now we come to the weekend and there are some just awesome things happening. Today we have our meeting for AWANA’s which kicks off this Sunday. My wife and I are so excited because we will be helping out with AWANA’s this year. It will be my first chance to influence not just my children but other children and help to educate and strengthen their relationships with God.

            Last but most definitely not least, I will get the opportunity to witness two more members of my family dedicate their life to God through baptism. That’s right folks, even though I am working all night I would not miss the chance to watch my beautiful wife and daughter get baptized on Sunday. I am so proud of not only Anna but Shannon as well, I dedicated not only myself to God but have also trusted Him with my family and let me tell you He is definitely guiding us and working in our lives. I have no idea why I waited so long to do this but I would not have it any other way. We as a family have never been as strong as we are now and that wouldn’t be possible without the LOVE of Christ in our lives. If you have not accepted Christ as your savior and asked forgiveness for your sins, I urge you to take a look at me, I have never been happier in my whole life. The LOVE of Christ is the best feeling in the world. It will change your life without a doubt. It has taught me to love those whom I hated and to LOVE those close to me even more. Just think about it. God Bless and thank you for reading.

G.E.D.D.

Read More ->>

Forgiveness

Addiction Equals Forgiveness

            Well I have recently come to a junction in my life where one of the decisions that I have made has severely let someone down whom I love will all my heart. You see in my walk with the Lord I have given up a lot for in order to make myself a better person. One of my main issues that I have is that I have an extremely addictive personality.

            To start it off I started drinking at a very young age and with that came all the other normal things that accompany alcohol at a young age. Tobacco and drugs. There was that moment in time with the drugs that I had done the typical experimentation to see what it felt like. Luckily for me it did not last all that long and has been something that I dropped without a second thought.

            The alcohol was something that I turned to in the past on a regular basis in order to relax myself and drown pain away. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I was ever a knockdown sloppy drunk, but I definitely had what can be clinically described as a drinking problem. There wasn’t really a day that I could go without having a drink or three. At one point in time I was going through bottles of Jack Daniels and Vodka nightly. I usually shrugged this off as not having a drinking problem because I never really got drunk, the issue with that is that is when it is most evident that you do have a problem. Luckily once again for me this was another thing that even after fifteen years of drinking I didn’t have a problem letting go. Sure there are times that I want to have a glass of wine or a beer with dinner, but it’s not something that I act on.

            This brings me to my final and by far most difficult vice to rid myself of. The issue is not that I can’t quit it’s the fact that somewhere in my mind that says I have to do it and no matter who I hurt I am going to do it. That’s the tobacco. I have dipped and I smoked for almost 20 years, the smoking I was able to give up about 2 years ago without any issues or relapses. The dipping on the other hand is a whole new creature. I have quit this habit about 3 times I would say now, and I keep finding myself coming back to do it. This last time after my lap band surgery I even went about 2 months without a dip and had told my wife that I had quit. Then I went back to work where people I work with dip and I gave into the pressure and boredomness and started dipping again. Normally not really a big problem but this time I kept it a secret from my wife, this is definitely the sign of a problem. You see my wife has been nothing but supportive in everything I do, and it is disrespectful and hurtful to be doing this behind her back. Well I finally told her and boy was she disappointed in me. Not so much mad, but hurt and disappointed.

            You see, for me Copenhagen is the devil and it is trying to wiggle its way into my home anyway that it can. This is the one aspect in my life that no matter how hard I cast it out it always seems to come back. As I learned from the story of Adam and Eve this is my down fall and mine alone, I am defiling my family by letting this into my home. It is always easier to look from the outside and tell when people are doing wrong, but it is so hard to see when it is yourself.

            So now I am saying to the devil, enough. Get out of my house and don’t come back. I am not saying that it is going to be easy, there is nothing easy when dealing with addiction. All I can do is look to the Lord and hope to make the right decisions. The right decisions to glorify God and honor my family. I had gotten into a big fight before coming to work with my wife about this and told her I would stop once this rotation was out. Well I just had my last dip and have made the decision to just stop now. So to my wife I say, “I love you and I am sorry with everything that is in me, I promise to do the best that I can to keep this devil out of our lives.” Thank you for reading and God Bless.

Ephesians 5 verses 25, 26, 28, and 31.

(25-26) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.

(28) In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

(31) For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

G.E.D.D.

Read More ->>

Over Joy

Choosing the Right Path

            Ok so I had a wonderful weekend full of family time, swimming, and worship. One of the greatest things I believe that came out of this weekend is my son telling me he wants to know more about God and Christ.

            Our Sunday was our typical day of worship as we prepared for our day. There was only a few differences in this day. One of the differences was that all of our children, not just Gregory my oldest, was going to have to attend their first adult church service. Our church switched their age groups this week to help and reinforce our older children (2^nd Grade and up) in the Word of Christ. Another difference is that our assistant pastor Todd was conducting the service because our pastor was on a much deserved vacation with his beautiful family. The last major difference was that this Sunday was our day of rest, meaning we didn’t have our normal evening outreach projects so we could be ready for the kick off of AWANA next week.

            Well to start it off, the message from our service this week was straight forward, well delivered, and spoke directly to your heart. It was a cry for those who were not saved to come to terms and accept Jesus as their personal savior and ask forgiveness for your sins. I know most people will say, that is the typical goal of most services, but let me tell you from a personal standpoint that I think this did reach out and touch at least one person.

            My 9 year old son Gregory who we had believed to be attending church, not only because we make him, but also to see his friends and get free candy, I believe he has made the choice to follow the path of Christianity and take Church more seriously. What makes me think this you might ask? Well when we got home out of the blue he approached me while I was cleaning the pool and said “Dad I just prayed and asked for God to forgive me of my sins and help me be a better person.” To tell you the truth I had no idea what to say to this. Part of me was just overjoyed inside to think that my son wants to take the leap, the other part of me instantly wanted to question his motives. One thing I learned from the message this weekend was treating the guidance of God and direction that God wants us to go as a Bond and not an option. It might not always be the easy choice, but if we just treat it as something we have to do and not something we have a choice, in the end all will be ok. So I am going on faith that my son was pushed in this direction by the Lord and we are going to support it all the way.

            We will put Gregory in contact with our Church support and family to help him come to the decision that he is being pushed to make. I know how hard this easy decision is, I mean come on it took me almost 37 years to make it, I am just happy that it is not taking him that long. So to God, First Baptist Church Rosepine, Shannon (my wife), Pastor Greg, Brother Todd, Nicole, and all my other family at the Church I say thank you for helping my family. Most of all for my son Gregory I can tell you that this decision will be the most important and best decision of your life, you have a tough journey ahead of you but the support system in place will help you through it. Put your life in God’s hand and do everything in your life to Glorify Him and you will never be led astray. Thank you for reading and God Bless.

G.E.D.D.

Read More ->>

The Decision

The Decision

            This is sort of a continuation from my last blog. It is mainly confirming the path that has been laid down in front of me. I had time to go home and talk to my wife and pray over the matter a little more. In addition I was able to attend another Bible study at my Church and talk to Pastor Greg. Everything I have talked about, prayed about, and have received answers for are all leading to the same answer. Go for it.

            I understand that the decision to change my schooling focus to Ministry is not one to be taken lightly. I also understand that it is not a career field that you go into for monetary glory or fame. My wife had asked me when I talked to her about this; do you know in your heart that when all is said and done, that this decision will be able to take care of the family not only spiritually but also financially? I can answer without a shadow of a doubt yes. I know in my heart that this decision is coming from a higher power, and as long as I am doing what the Lord is guiding me to do, then in the end all will be taken care of. As I learned last night going through our Bible study is that as long as I am pursuing LOVE everything else will fall into place. I might not understand that why at 37 years of age God has all of a sudden put this path in front of me, but it is my duty to follow that path even though I might not understand it. As long as I follow this path and put my faith in the Lord, nothing can go wrong.

            I already know that I am asking the world from my family. First off from my wife and children, I am asking them to support my decision in this journey. We will have tons of life changes in our household, all of which will help to strengthen our family as a whole. Secondly I am asking my parents, who did not raise me in a religious environment, to trust that I am doing the right thing and to believe in me. What is funny about parents is that no matter how old you get they always believe in you and will support you. Lastly I am asking my friends to trust and respect my decision to follow this path. In the end, if they don’t they are not the friends that I should have. I have recently reevaluated all of my relationships and have severed the ones that do not bring me closer to God. The friendships that I had that were destructive and not constructive are now out of my life. I only have a select few of my friends in the military that I still associate with, and those that I do are solid and reciprocate the love that I have for them. As far as my other friends, well that is simple, they are my Church family and as such are more than friends they are family, and I know they will support me.

            I know that this journey is going to test me all the way through, going to work full time and school full time simultaneously is not an easy feat. I know that I will be successful in this because it is what God wants me to do and God would not send me on a mission to fail. It is completely up to me to commit myself 150% to this endeavor and that is exactly what I will be doing. Please pray for me in this journey because I will be praying everyday about this. Thank you for taking the time to read and God bless.

G.E.D.D.

Read More ->>

Where Am I Headed

Something Is Calling

            Ok so for the last few weeks I have noticed that something is calling me to serve the Lord in a way that I never thought I would or could even fathom doing. When I attended my CONNECT class at Church we had gone over the GIFTS that we are all blessed with. For me the Gifts that jumped out at me immediately where Teaching and Knowledge. I had expressed this to my wife and basically we decided to take a step back and pray and see what might develop. Well I think that something spiritually is starting to finish that development and I will explain some of those things below.

            First off I have a passion for teaching. As a Non Commissioned Officer in the US Army it was one of my main duties to teach, mentor, and develop the young Soldiers under my control and in my Units. This is something that I thoroughly loved to do and one of the things that I miss the most about being retired. I don’t really have anyone to teach and mentor to anymore. I understand that teaching the Word is a completely different idea that teaching or training a Soldier, but it still is something that I definitely have a passion for. I have been working towards my degree in Homeland Security for a couple years now but the passion isn’t truly there for me to learn that subject so I kind of put my education on hold.

            Secondly, some changes to the MGIB have recently come to fruition finally that will allow me to attend school full time and still work full time. This is something that had never been a possibility before under the old GI Bills making it very hard for a Veteran to support a family while going to school full time. This change would allow for me to attend full time on-line courses and get paid a monthly housing allowance at a reduced rate, which would reduce some of the financial burden of attending school while working.

            Lastly my Love for Jesus and the Word are growing everyday and that thirst for knowledge (even though I know it will never be quenched in my lifetime) for the Word of God and Christ is something that is consuming me in a good way. I find myself wanting to know more every single day that I wake up. I always look forward to attend Church to see what we are going to talk about and learn about, I am volunteering to help with our young children’s worship, and I can’t wait for our AWANA club to kick off so I can be a part of that also.

            All in all, I feel something tugging at me to change my educational focus. To drop the school that I am currently enrolled in and change my major from Homeland Security to a Religious field. What I have been presented with yesterday and today alone has been guiding me to make this change. The one thing that I know that I am going to have to do is just dive in head first and at full speed. Not just take a class or two to see if I like it. This will take a 100 percent commitment which to be honest, is nothing less than it would deserve. I should be willing to give God 150% of myself which I am completely willing to do because I have this burning inside that won’t subside.

            So where does that leave me? I am currently waiting on a response from Moody online seminary school to let me know if they accept the GI Bill. If that is the case watch out world here I come. I will start my new journey into College as a student of God pursuing a B.S Degree in Ministry Leadership with a Focus in Preaching. This is not something that I hope comes to fruition; this is something I know will come to be. I know in my heart and soul that this is where I am being guided and I know it will only continue to strengthen my bond with God and Christ. Thank you for reading and God Bless.

G.E.D.D

Read More ->>

Jesus Freak

Jesus Freak Weekend

                Well let me tell you, this weekend was definitely a weekend that defined me as a Jesus Freak. All weekend was dedicated to worship, fellowship, and loving Jesus. What is so awesome about this is that at the end of the weekend, I am spiritually fulfilled and ready to face the new week.

                Saturday- This day began as all do. I woke up, read my passage from the bible, said my daily prayer to god, had my coffee, and then headed out the door to go and meet my brothers in Christ for our day of fellowship. What was awesome and funny about this, our day of fellowship was connecting with each other and Jesus the redneck way, on 4 wheelers driving around just having a good time and extending our love to others we came across. I can’t remember a time in the last 20 years where I had so much fun and it didn’t involve alcohol, drugs, and complete recklessness. Alcohol had run my life pretty much, I mean if I was going to an event no matter what it was, I was convinced that if there wasn’t beer there it wasn’t going to be a good time. Well I could not have been proven more wrong. During this fellowship ride, which easily 6 months ago I would have not attended something like this without drinking beer and acting crazy, I found out that You Can have fun without alcohol and just enjoy being a guy sober. I wish this feeling can pass on to others and the younger generations. We spent the entire day driving around through mud, laughing, and helping others out who had gotten themselves into some Muddy situations. I think the most amazing thing about all this, is that we were probably the only ones not loading our systems with alcohol, but we were also probably the ones having the most fun because we were consumed in the Glory of Christ and doing God’s work. I can’t even begin to tell you how many people we had come across and just offered our help when they needed it. There was one group in particular that we continually came across at every turn and almost every time we ran into them we were helping to get them out of some serious mud. What makes this so great, I don’t even think at anytime they realized we were Jesus Freaks. I mean they definitely noticed we were not drinking and acting a fool, but I don’t believe they ever made the connection. One instance in particular that touched my heart was when we were washing off the 4 wheelers to head back out, one younger kid had asked us if his cell phone was where he left it because he was worried someone had taken it. Well after he left Chris noticed the kid had left his phone so I picked it up and took it over to where he had driven and gave it back to him. The thankfulness and surprise that you were able to see on this kids face was priceless, and then to hear him ask for me to forgive him for being so irresponsible and then thank me for bringing it to him, I mean really do people not do this anymore. I don’t know. What I can say is thank you to Van, Shane, Chris L., Chris M., Jeff, Brian, Lee, and his kids for an extremely wonderful Jesus loving experience.

                Sunday- Once again, by far and without a doubt my favorite day of the week. Woke up, read my scripture and did my daily prayer, and got ready to head to Church to do some more Jesus loving. Was able to attend an incredible service conducted by Pastor Greg in where we saw 3 individuals come to Christ and 1 other join the Church. Really hit the subject of reaching out to people with the Word of God and what that means. It Does Not always mean preaching the Gospel and driving it home. It simply means to conduct yourself as a true image bearer of God and to reach out to your community and share God’s Love. You know the Agape love not the Philio Love. We were asked in Church a couple very pointed questions this week. Do I believe that Jesus Christ is who he said he was? Do I believe that Jesus Christ means everything that he had said? Without a shadow of a doubt I can say my answer is yes to both questions. I would not be where I am now if I did not believe that Christ meant everything that he said, the Gospel shows us that what Jesus said is the Truth. In addition the Gospel shows us without a doubt that He was who He said He was. Why does anyone doubt? This I will never know. I will say this to those who don’t believe in Christ, the Gospel, and the Church; what is wrong with you? Let’s just say for arguments sake, that you are a non believer in Christ, but yet you do believe in Hell and the Devil. What do you have to lose to take a chance and accept Christ as your personal Savior.

John 6:35-40 tells us.  “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in Me will ever be thirsty again. But as I have told you, you’ve seen Me, and yet you do not believe. Everyone the father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My will, but the will of Him who sent me. This is the will of Him who sent Me: that I should lose none of those He has given Me but should raise them up on the last day. For this is the will of my father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

For those of you who are non believers in Christ, take a look at that passage and really see what the ramifications could be of not accepting Christ as your personal savior. For me the choice was easy as it should be for any normal person as well but it is a decision that you have to make. Thank you for taking the time to read, and God Bless.

G.E.D.D.

Read More ->>

Respect Your Wife

Respect Your Spouse

            OK so I will be the first to admit after a lot of SOUL searching, I am not perfect and I don’t know everything. There are things that I do on an everyday basis that I don’t even realize I am doing that upset my wife beyond comprehension, and unfortunately I am not very sensitive to her feelings on the subject. This is something that I have to work on hardcore, and I mean really start to consciously start thinking about what I am doing before I do it. Today I will outline a few of the things that I have done this week which even though I didn’t think it really affected my wife (or I knew and didn’t care), it had shown a level of disrespect to her that I was not even aware of.

            Monday- This day was my first day back to work after being off for most of July for vacation and surgery recovery. My morning started a 0355 waking up, showering, making my coffee, and heading out the door. My first UN thoughtful decision was not to take the dogs out to go to the bathroom. Some might think take the dogs out at 4 in the morning that’s CRAZY, and to tell you the truth that is what I thought also. The dogs were quiet and not making a fuss and my main focus was trying to be as quiet as possible to not wake up my wife while getting ready for work. But the things I don’t take into account are (1) my wife hears everything once I wake up and (2) I am not as quiet as I think. The other thing that does not even cross my mind is that even though the dogs are quiet and not making a fuss when I wake up is that eventually they are going to wake up about an hour after I head out to work and want to go to the bathroom which in turn wakes my wife up at about 5 am. This is something that I am going to have to make a conscious effort to improve on so my spouse can get a little better sleep in the mornings. The second thing I did on this day to just completely make her morning horrible was spill coffee on myself and not clean it up. I honestly thought that the mess went into the garage on not on the inside of the house, my mistake was the thinking part of this equation and not confirming what had actually happened. So as soon as I had the opportunity, I let my wife know that I had spilt coffee on myself while heading out the door to work, what I did not include was that apparently most of the coffee was on the inside of the house, all over her carpet and garage door. So basically by 7 am in the morning on Monday I had caused a huge mess and deprived my wife of sleep, and when the time came to answer for what I had done all I could think is why is she so mad at me I didn’t do it on purpose. Well that my friends is simple, I should have taken the time to show a little more respect to my wife by looking at what mess I had caused and cleaned it to save her the heartache. For this I am truly sorry, and I will find the strength to confirm things and not just ASSUME that it won’t bother my wife. Finally, after my wife cleaned the mess up and all was said and done, she asked me to clean the outside portion of the garage. I went outside and poured water on the spot on the ground to get it off the garage floor, but once again did not take the time to look at the door or door jam. HMMM, not very smart or thoughtful on my part. In the end my wife finally explained to me how disrespectful I was being and being the hard headed person I know I can be all I did was stand my ground that I was not wrong. Boy I can be stupid.

            Tuesday- My wife had a long trip ahead of her this day taking the kids to the airport to fly home. I made sure that when she got home that I had cleaned the door from the coffee stains and that the kitchen was cleaned for when she got home. You might be asking what I did wrong on this day, well here is the deal, she has strong feelings about our larger dogs being on the couches. We had broken our boxer of doing this about a year ago but recently Rocky has deemed that he belongs on the couch. While my wife is not OK with it we have not really gotten on him about it, well while I was on the couch playing my PS3 my Mastiff decided it was cuddle time with daddy. I being the typical person I am didn’t really think much of it at the time. Once my wife got home and we started talking about our day, our children started talking about how cute Harley looked on the couch today with DADDY. I immediately pretending like “I don’t know what these crazy children are talking about” when my wife just simply pointed out again that I was disrespecting her wishes by letting the dogs on the couch. Once again, lesson learned, I don’t always take my wife’s feelings into account when I let stupid things happen. I really wonder what the rest of the week is going to be like.

            I do know this, it is not just my responsibility but my duty as a husband to ensure that I am taking my wife’s wishes and feelings into account when I do things. This is something that I have to ensure that I make a dedicated effort to do every day, and for all who read this I suggest that you do the same, because in the end if your wife is not happy I promise you your house will not be happy either. So to Shannon I apologize for my retardedness and promise to make a conscious effort to respect your wishes, because as we learned in Genesis 2:18; Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper as his compliment.” (Woman) Thank you and God Bless.

G.E.D.D.

Read More ->>

S.O.U.L

Summer Of Ultimate Love (S.O.U.L)

            Well this subject is near and dear to my heart this year. I learned this acronym through my Church as a program where we take our children into the community and perform work projects to help out those in the community who cannot help themselves. This program is dedicated to showing our children that it is Godly and awesome to serve people in the community without hope of reward or recognition. Let me tell you something, it does have a reward that you would not imagine; pride, confidence, since of selfless service, joy, and overall love for your community. I mean for real, on my first experience with my outdoor team, I was able to take my 3 boys in 97 degree weather over to a complete strangers house and tell them we are going to help mow this gentleman’s yard who had been in an accident that laid him up in a wheelchair and unable to upkeep his land. Now my children don’t even want to mow my yard, which is in total under a half acre, without giving me issues. But to my surprise my children were out there moving sticks, raking leaves, and helping where ever they could, and enjoying every minute of it. This program is priceless, I mean come on now, teaching your children to just love the community that they live in through hard work and dedication, PRICELESS.

            Now lets take a look at the other meaning of S.O.U.L that presented itself to me this summer. Every year my wife and I get a chance to have our 3 children who don’t live with us full time to come and visit. This is something that we both look forward to and dread a little each year. The dread side of the house comes from the financial side of the house, which is to be expected when you have 6 kids in the house who eat like small horses. But having them here totally outweighs the financial burden put on the family.

            My summer started actually back in April right after my lap band surgery. I had finally received the call that I could come to work finally, something I had been waiting on for 6 months. It then was followed by the good news that we actually qualified for the first time home buyers tax credit that we had been previously told we hadn’t qualified for. This meant that we could now purchase a quality above ground pool in preparation for the kids arrival in the summer, which in the end meant cheap entertainment for all the children. Then came June. Oh June. So many things happened in this month that was nothing short of a miracle that I can’t even count. First off to start the month, I had another issue with a bowel blockage that led to me being hospitalized for 5 days. The day after I got out of the hospital my wife had me going to an adult bible study group that I was a little apprehensive about attending. Then on the day that all of my children flew into Houston, I accepted Christ as my savior and was saved. This was all in the same week, for me miracle number one.

            So now all my children are here and we are having a great time. We are all going to Church, for my oldest child it was not an option I made him go, and you know what, I am glad that I did. In a little under a month, my son Colby, who did not happen to have the chances to attend and awesome Church like the one that we do here, came home and told me that he had accepted Christ as his savior and had found his salvation. So during the week before he left to go home to California we had him attend the Churches connect class with Shannon and me, and on the Sunday before he went home, both he and I got baptized together with his brothers and sisters watching. Miracle number 2.

            The first week of July the kids connect class began on Wednesday nights at our Church. This was an opportunity to get my youngest 2 children into the class and start learning about Christ and their relationships with Him. By the end of the second week of the 4 week class, I was presented with my most precious miracle yet; my 7 year old daughter had accepted Christ as her savior and found her salvation. I mean come on now. If you have never had the opportunity to see a 7 year old accept Christ as their savior you are missing out. I mean Anna came up to me and said “Daddy, the most wonderful thing happened to me today. I prayed to God and asked him to forgive me for my sins and let and to let me be a Christian. And you know what, He said yes.” With a huge smile on her face the whole time. Miracle number 3.

            Now unfortunately for my family this Summer is coming to a close. My oldest flew out 2 weeks ago back to California and today my other 2 step children will be flying home to be with their dad. This will mean that we will have some damage control coming up with our youngest daughter. She has been attached to her older sisters hip since she arrived, and every year when she leaves Anna is torn up for weeks about it. But there is nothing to worry about because she now has someone else she can talk to and look to for comfort. God and Jesus Christ. I fully believe that this will help not only her, but my wife and I through this tough time in her life. The one thing I can definitely say is that after this year, my wife and I are definitely looking forward to OUR Summer of Ultimate Love 2012. Thank you and God Bless.

G.E.D.D

Read More ->>

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

Read More ->>