God of all Comfort

2 Cor 1:3-11 (NASB77)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; 7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort. 8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; 9 indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; 10 who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, 11 you also joining in helping us through your prayers, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed upon us through the prayers of many.

This scripture caught my eye this morning. I have always thought of the fact that we will suffer in this life because of our faith. We are not to be a friend of the world, we are to be part of the family of God – which the world hates. Jesus gave us the Comforter, and when we go through trials he is there to comfort us. I highlighted the parts that stood out to me this morning and don’t really know why I posted it, but felt that I should. If you are going through a rough time right now, just know that he is there to walk with you through it. Most of all he is there to comfort you through it as well.

In God’s Peace, My prayer goes out for you.

Heavenly father, I ask you as the God of all comfort to be in the midst of the person that is reading this right now. I don’t know what their circumstances are, but you do. I know that you will help this person through any trials and troubles and will see them through the tough times. I ask you to open their heart to you so that they would gain a better understanding of you in their life. If they are not going through anything right now, then I ask you to meet them at their need, whatever that might be.

Thank you for hearing me, and I ask this all in JESUS name, AMEN! (Let it be done according to your will.)

I hope that this blog will be a blessing for you today.

May 14, 2009 0

Open Door Policy

What a day! It is amazing how many things can break in one day, or at least over a short time period. I woke up and found that my car didn’t want to start (I think the battery is going bad and we just spent some money on it as it is), my computer doesn’t want to work, my IPOD froze (I cannot turn it off to reset it), the washer broke, and the dishwasher is not cleaning well for some reason. Am I complaining (Maybe a little) but what surprised me was what I was thinking.

You see my wife and I are trying to put the house on the market, pay for school, and go to Russia for a mission’s trip. All of which costs money. I started to think that maybe we are getting something wrong and God does not really want us to do something. After all shouldn’t he open the doors for us to make it happen, if it is his will! At least that has been my train of thought.

Have we been trained to think this way? Does God choose the easy way? If it is God’s choice, isn’t he just going to make it happen? That is when I started thing of things that were God’s choice like:

His plan for Redeeming mankind – Christ had to die and rise again. It was not a easy path.
For his Disciples – Many of them died a martyr’s death and lived hard lives.
Scriptures like “Take up your cross and follow me” ring in my ears
etc. etc. etc.

Maybe I have been thinking about this in the wrong way. This is when I remembered something that Dr. Woo was talking about in New Testament class. “When God opens doors, Satan is waiting!” We are in a spiritual war after all, and he doesn’t want the things that God wants. The open door can lead to opposition and not an easy life.

So what am I getting at? In everything give thanks and continue searching for God’s will. Simple answer, but even in the opposition I can count on him to make it happen even if it is not going to be easy. I like easy, but it is praiseworthy when you see God fill in the blanks and make things happen his way.

The next time you have an open door policy, when it comes to God, remember that, “just because opposition comes, it does not mean that that is not the way he wants you to go.” It could very well be the thing he desires for your life.

April 29, 2009 0

The Child Cocoon

I once heard a story about a butterfly:

The story of the butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.
One day a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours
as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole.
Then it stopped, as if it couldn’t go further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and
snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon.
The butterfly emerged easily but
it had a swollen body and shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch it,
expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge
and expand enough to support the body,
Neither happened!

In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life
crawling around.
It was never able to fly.
What the man in his kindness
and haste did not understand:

The restricting cocoon and the struggle
required by the butterfly to get through the opening
was a way of forcing the fluid from the body
into the wings so that it would be ready
for flight once that was achieved.

I found myself contemplating on this story as I read about Madlyn Primoff, the mom that dropped her kids off a couple of miles from home because of bickering. I read comments about this story when it first came out and was surprised how many people said that they have done something very similar, while other chided her for what she had done. While I am not condoning her actions, I wonder what we are doing to our children. Are we trying to protect our kids too much from the dangers of life – for instance – Teachers cannot use red ink because it may cause self esteem issues. Are we cutting the butterfly from the cocoons – metaphorically. I think that we need to give our children a little more benefit of the doubt, and let them grow up strong. The real world is not an easy place to live in, and we need to be preparing our children for this reality. I am sure that it is hard to let your children get a bruise sometime, but in alot of cases it helps them develop and mature. Am I off base or are we coddling our children into a life of dependence on others?

April 28, 2009 0

Don’t Let Gilligan Guide Your Boat!

There have been a couple of times recently that I have woke up with a statement in my head and didn’t know why. A few days ago it was 1 Tim 3:1: (if any man aspires to the office of Overseer, it is a fine work he desires.) This morning, however, the statement was a little odd: “Don’t let Gilligan guide your boat!”

I am such an odd person anyway so this didn’t really surprise me. So I started dwelling on what this could mean. First I thought about how, “If I let myself be guided by the wrong person, then I will end up in a place that I don’t want to go.” Second I thought, “It is when we take this kind of path (letting the wrong person guide our life) that we tend to take people with us. Gilligan’s mistake cost 6 other people their freedom and left them stranded. Each time they had some way of potential escape, Gilligan would do something stupid and it causes it to fail. Eventually they did get off the Island but by the end of that show they were back to where they started, stranded and starting over.

It is funny, I once heard that each of the Characters represented one of the Seven Deadly sins. Although I don’t believe that there is such a thing as the seven deadly sins, (I believe sin is sin) I have to admit it does seem plausible. Here they are:

Ginger is the most obvious with the sin of LUST!
Mr. Howell is easy to spot as well with the sin of GREED!
Mrs. Howell is a little harder with the sin of SLOTH!
The Professor: PRIDE!
Mary Anne was hard to see as well with ENVY!
The Skipper they try to associate with both ANGER and Gluttony but I think that it would be just the one. He was a big guy but that would be too obvious for gluttony. He did always get onto Gilligan and hitting him with his hat though.
Gilligan some websites attributed him to the devil but I think he would have been GLUTTONY – He was always eating something.

You have to admit it is an interesting concept and pretty creative if you think about it. I think that in my statement above, it has more to do with who is driving the boat, however. Many times we try to drive it ourselves, other times those who give us peer pressure, but I would like to think the person that is driving my boat is Christ Jesus, he will never steer you wrong and leave you stranded on an Island. The Skipper was a seasoned veteran when it came to it but it was Gilligan that caused the trouble. The times that the boat goes in wrong direction is when we try to take the wheel for ourselves. It is when this happens that we take the people that we love with us.

Curious! What are your thoughts?

April 25, 2009 0

Christ in the Passover

I wanted to share a video. It is a video that we watched in my “History of Israel” class and in “Old Testament”. With the Easter holiday coming up I thought it would be a good thing to talk about. The Video is “Christ in the Passover” and you can find it at:

But be warned it is 40 minutes long – but it is well worth it.

April 6, 2009 0

“ONE DAY” by Scott Ward

My wife was reading a poem that I wrote at a time when I was struggling with a particular sin. She thought that I should post it. So here it is:

One Day
One day things will be easier when stuggle goes by
and no temptations of sinning will arrive.
Self control seams so hard some days,
filled with struggle and war on the way.

One day I will fill the task
of listening more to a saviour at last.

One day comes, and one day goes,
and I realize I still have things that no one knows.
Sin beakons at the door, Struggle comes and then the war.

One day I will I survive and draw closer to the LORD,
but until that day, I will stand at judgements door.
Although I have messed up so many times,
I have hope of forgiveness of my many crimes.

One day I will win, this battle that rages from sin and death.
I will overcome and be his guest.

March 13, 2009 0

Passion

At the beginning of this semester Dr. Woo asked us to introduce ourselves to the class and tell the class what we are passionate about. Sitting about halfway around the room and listening to all the wonderful things that people were saying made me think, “What am I passionate about.” Finally I settled on archeology, but realized that it was not my passion. It is enjoyable just like comics, movies, and stories but I cannot say that I am really passionate about them. They are just interests.

I really do know what I am passionate about. I was just afraid that it would sound too egotistical. I don’t know why because it really isn’t. My passion is “I want to make a difference!” I want to make a difference in the lives of the people, in my family and in the family of God, in the Kingdom of God, and in the community. I believe this is the desire that God has placed in my life and I need to pursue it in the best way I know how.

Many of you don’t know it but Chaundra and I had a few people praying for us to help us find out God’s will is for our lives. For 40 day we had them praying to help us understand where God is calling us. To be honest we had begun to think that we were being called into the Mission Field. At this point we don’t know if that is where he has called us in the end, but many people felt like we need to concentrate on the answers that God is providing for us now and step out on faith in those areas; even if we don’t understand His direction. God desn’t show us the whole plan. He only shows us what we need to know at the time that we need to know it. Pastor Keith was right when he thought “These guys are going to be more confused after these forty days then when they began.” It was very confusing, but I think that the clarity comes in waiting for the right moment and following what God has for us now. I know what passion God has given me and maybe that is the best place to start. Bob McMahon gave us this verse and I am clinging to what it has to say.

Micah 6:8 (New International Version)
⁸ He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Beyond what we know that he is telling us personally to do, we need to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. For after all, if we are walking with him, He will always be where He wants us to be. My suggestion is to find your passion and walk humbly with Him.

March 4, 2009 1