Loving Genuinely and finding Joy in the process

I passed my life and health insurance license test on Tuesday, so I was set to start working this next week, then another opportunity came up this week in a managerial position in the food industry (I haven't been offered it yet, just interviewed). I am asking my self, how can I serve God in the world, enjoy life, supply for my family, and be around and supportive for my wife. The following paragraphs reminded me that I can simplify some of the decisions and trust that God will use me and us wherever I go.I Continue to be challenged by this blog at http://www.simplechurchjournal.com/ They have been publishing chapters from a book that you can download for free. In this chapter they were talking about evangelism and how messed up it has become. Obviously there is so much that the church needs to re-evaluate and this is a huge area. However, for me this is hitting home in other ways. I long to know the heart of God for my life, for my family, and to share it with the world. I think I can do it in either way, whether selling life insurance or being a manager of people.

Love Genuinely
Although Jesus said that Christians would be known by their love, this is almost universally not the case today. We are more often known for our self-righteousness and judgmental attitudes. Furthermore, most un-Christians believe we care more about “making converts” than about them as people. I heard an atheist share that, having made friends with a Christian, he felt the need to ask him, “Am I truly your friend or am I just your project?” This suggests that people may have the perception that Christians tend to look at them as “objects to convert” rather than people that they care deeply about.
Yet, the joy that Jesus has called us to, is to is to simply love others. That’s it. No strings attached. When we recognize the people that God has called us to (including those we are already living among) then we are free to unleash creative ways to just love others genuinely and generously.

Discover Your Own Gifts and Passions
As we live among those we are called to, listening to God’s voice, loving those we are with, we can begin to uncover our own passions and spiritual gifts. We become more and more dynamic as our unique abilities are unleashed outside of the church walls. Many of us have been trained to use our spiritual gifts inside church buildings. How much more powerful to see those same gifts (and more) unleashed as we live a life that is engaging a lost world.
God’s heart is that all will know him. Our joy is to find our unique and created way to join him in that passion. Reaching out to others and using our own gifts and abilities to love them reflects the very life Jesus lived.

Cast Your Vote, Your Voice Matters!

I keep a running list of topics I would like to blog about and sometimes instead of picking one myself or being drawn to one topic or the other, I like to get other opinions. So what would you like to read about next? If you care, I'd love to have your input for one of the following topics.

• Irreconcilable Differences


• How to lead or follow for that matter if you are tied up


• Balancing the Scales

I'll give it a few days before tallying the votes.

Happy Fall!

For my outspoken Brother... love ya Bro!

I have appreciated my brother speaking up recently on some issues that he feels strongly about and while I don't agree with him on certain points, I still love him and look forward to hearing from him in the future. One of my favorite blogs deals with the issue of how to love but still disagree. here are some quotes, check the whole blog if you like.

"...If the body of Christ is going to demonstrate herself today in the corporate majesty of her collaboration and cooperation then Jesus will have to be our only focus and loving others will be our motivation, not a demand for conformity..."

"...Jesus asked us to love as we follow him; he didn’t ask us to agree. If we have to agree to love, then what hope have we? If a group has to all think alike to have fellowship then they have pitched a tent at some stage of the journey and will not grow on to know him. In most groups I’ve known, conformity has been the goal. Someone needs to set the standard for the group and people either go along or go away. Neither leads to the reality of Christ expressed among his people..."

"...So here is the problem today. Too many people think they alone are right and anyone who disagrees with them is a threat to their world. And it only takes one person like that in a group to destroy its ability to live, love and grow together. Until we have enough brothers and sisters that have a passion for truth that does not outrun their calling to love others, the body of Christ will continue to be fractured and impotent in the world. And they’ll have to have enough love to lovingly stand up to those who would be divisive among the family by demanding everyone think like they do..."

Quotes from lifestream.org blog titled "If you ever wonder why..."

James wonders why...

The fuel of Desperation by Matt Tullos

Great thoughts from my Friend Matt at www.tullos.org (I hope you don't mind me putting it on here Matt)

The fuel of Desperation leads us to the end of ourselves and into the presence of God.

Are you desperate yet?

It moves all the petty chips of our life into his hands

The fuel of desperation is a realization that we can never be good enough, never strong enough, to live a life of independence from God.

Are you desperate yet?

The fuel of desperation helps us realize that we are powerless against our own sin and that our
only hope is in God. In God alone.

Are you desperate yet?

The fuel of desperation compels us to open up our closets, or treasures, our secret wounds, our addictions because pride is no longer an option for us.

The fuel of desperation is coming to the cold realization that god is real, that He is holy and that he is the only for you.

The fuel of desperation is smelling the pig slop on your ankles and realizing that there is a father who is just beyond the western horizon of your soul.

The fuel of desperation involves a face down submission, spread eagle submission to God’s presence.

Are you Desperate?

A week in Pictures

I just found a cool application on the google picasa photo program that lets you put whatever pictures you want into a collage. So here are the pictures from the last week in a collage.

The Gathering Tonight

Kung Po Chicken, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Shrimp Lo Mein, Beef and Brocolli, General Tso's Chicken... any of this sound good to you?????

If so come join us tonight at 5:30.

We are getting together for some Chinese Take Out! If you have a favorite Chinese food, let us know. We will order it all and pick it up. All you have to do is come hang out and eat. We would like to have an idea of who is coming so please RSVP by Friday afternoon.

Cost: $3 per person Bring friends and family!

Where: The Jacksons - 138 Club Drive

yuàn shàng dì zhù fú nĭ hé nĭ de ài rén yŏng yuăn cì fú yú nĭ men:

God bless you and yours and surround you ever with His blessing

Walking on the Greenway

We went to Riverfront park today to walk the greenway and I forgot the camera, so I had to resort to the camera on the cellphone. It a beautiful day and so warm that we didn't want to miss out

James found a vine that seemed to be used for swinging like Tarzan and gave it a try. Actually, John-John was the willing one to try it out, then James went for it after him.

Being Church

I read a great article/ chapter today at www.simplechurchjournal.com and found out it comes from a free downloadable book at www.simplechurchrevolution.com .

Here's what caught me...

Being Church

My Filipino friend, Molong Nacua, wrote an excellent article entitled “Being Church” that reminds us of the true meaning of “church:”

Church is where Christ lives, not the place where we meet. It is Christ-empowered people, a kingdom of priests for the purpose of winning against the works of the devil and establishing God's Kingdom (1 Cor. 3:17; Matt. 18:19; Ex. 19:6)… Christianity is not about doing church, but being the church. Church is not some place to go to participate in, but it is about being who you are in Christ and thus experiencing His real life in you. Your Christianity was never defined by attending a particular church. It is defined by Christ in you. In other words, you are a Christian 24/7, not because you participate in a two-hour worship service, but because Christ lives in you every minute of every day.

November 08 Update

The weather here in Middle Tn. is beginning to turn cool and the landscape is ablaze with colors. Fall has arrived in full force and it's beautiful here! Matt is continuing to search out different job opportunities such as, teaching/coaching or selling life insurance for a time. Our time off here has provided us with the opportunity to work more now through our non-profit organization, MMerge Ministries, than we were before. We have been hosting weekly family gatherings each Saturday and mentoring during the week. Our new home is convientently located right in the middle of town and we have noticed it is much more accessable for the community kids to find us and drop in often. We also just learned that we will have the opportunity to use or occupy the entire building we are in come December. This whole house/building was a country club clubhouse in the past that they have divided up into 3 separate apartments. Though this is more than we can afford right now, it would give us the ability to host much bigger gatherings, functions and activities. The front of the house is very spacious with a huge great room and 5 other bedrooms. We would like to open it back up some and use the apartment we are living in now(2.5 bedrooms) to house people that are in need of a place. So again it seems for now that we are staying in McMinnville and seeing God lead us down a new road. We see now that we never would have been able to do this type of ministry if we had not gone through the whole process of selling most everything we had and preparing to go to the mission field. Well, actually we are in a mission field, just not with OM, rather with MMerge Ministries in Middle Tennesse. We continue to homeschool our 5 children and we are actively involved in the leadership of the local homeschool group. Myra continues to take on a few cases at a time in the area of Behavioral Consulting through the ministry and we continue to look for opportunities of involvement in the community.