Struggles in Faith

The Lord has me on a journey. I believe that I have a calling on my life and I'm not sure what that means or where I'm going, but I know He's leading the way. And since He's in charge, I'm going to follow.

The problem comes when I start trying to figure out what He's up to and where He has me going. And unfortunately, this happens all too often, so I struggle: Is this real? Is it from God? Why haven't I heard from Him in a while? It gets kind of ridiculous.

The really frustrating part is that I've given things up to the Lord in the past and He's always come through. Why not this time? Why do I seem to spend so much time thinking about where He's taking me? I feel called to the Ministry but I don't know what that looks like, so what's going on Lord?

Due to all of these questions, I struggle with my faith: Do I really have faith that God will provide, that He will reveal the calling to me, that I have the patience for His timing, am I worthy, etc...? It goes on and on.

Haven't we all been there before?? You want so badly to be moving in God's will for your life but you're just not sure what that is.

I know why these struggles come and I know how to alleviate them, and I even struggle in that. The answer is Him. It's always Him and yet I still avoid the answer. Not completely - never completely - just enough that I have trouble resting in His grace and peace. My problem is that I let busy-ness get in the way of spending time with Him - in His Word and in praying. I've got to get the kids to school, I have a meeting for work, I want another hour of sleep (that's my biggest problem), etc.... I let "stuff" get in the way of the most important thing that I can do each day, which is spending time with my God.

I read a scripture last week that really brought this into focus for me: "6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4: 6-7 NLT)

I highlite the word "then" for a reason. You have do what verse 6 says in order to receive the promise in verse 7. Who would have ever thought the word "then" would have such a profound affect on my thinking. That's the key word in those two verses: if I pray about anything and everything - give it to God, then I will receive the promise of His peace and that peace will guard my heart and my mind. And my mind can be my biggest problem because the heart is usually in the right place.

The next 2 verses really add to this and drive it home, but I'll let you read those yourself.

Enjoy the ride!!!

I hope you're paying attention

I just can't stand it any longer. I certainly hope that you're paying attention to what is going on in the media regarding the presidential candidates. I've already made up my mind and I'm not going to try to convince you one way or the other, but I'm going with McCain/Palin. He wasn't my first choice during the primaries but,f or me, it's a no-brainer at this point.

Now that I've said that I want to add this for you: If you haven't made up your mind but you do intend to vote then I urge you to make sure that you get informed about the candidates. That said, I also want to urge you to seek your knowledge through more than one outlet. Don't just watch or listen to mainstream media (CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, National Public Radio) you need to seek out the opposing point of view (Fox News, conservative talk radio). If you only listen to one side then eventually everything they say will sound like the truth when in actuality, it's far from the truth. In my opinion, the mainstream media seems to live in some alternate universe with a very distorted sense of reality. I promise, if you pay attention, you'll begin to feel the same way.

Well, I just had to get that one off of my chest. This election is a very important one for our country. They all are. Please take it seriously. If you're not informed, DON'T VOTE. Voting is a privilege not a right.

Scott

A True Friend

I mentioned in my post on July 7 that we had been in Wichita Falls and said that I would tell you why we were there in a few days. Well, it's been more than a few days but here we go....

My buddy, Kevin, is a Lt. Colonel in the Air Force and we went to Wichita Falls to attend his Change of Command ceremony. He took over the command of one of the training squadrons at Sheppard Air Force Base. It's his first command and he was within driving distance, and our budget (gas was $3.95/gal. at the time), so we decided to go.

We had a great weekend. I've seen Kevin infrequently since college - once or twice a year, and the kids have been around his family even less. But, kids being kids, they started playing right away as if they were old friends.

To keep this from turning into a novel, I'll get right to the crux of this post. Kevin and I have been friends since high school and we were roommates in college. Kevin's wife has said on a few occassions that she is amazed at the connection between Kevin and myself. Even though we see each other infrequently and talk seldom we always seem to pick up as if we'd seen each other yesterday. I think that connection goes back to a time in high school when I wasn't a good friend.

Kevin and I had know each other for about a year when I started hanging around with another guy (let's call him Brent) that convinced me the Kevin and some of my other friends were bad influences on me and that I should hang around them. For whatever reason, I believed this Brent and blew Kevin off for about a year.

Well a year later, after Brent blew a gasket and revealed his true colors, I found myself in class with Kevin and my old friends. We had to talk to one another and everyone basically treated me the same as they always had and we found ourselves making plans to go camping. I was happy to have my friends around again so I accepted their invitation to the trip. While on the trip, one of the guys, not Kevin, asked me what was going on over the previous year. I told them that I had basically lost my mind, but that I was better. That was the end of the discussion - no one ever asked another question about it - Kevin never asked (I think he might have years later - but I'm not sure.)

I say all of that for this point. Kevin and my other friends showed me the love of Christ. You know, undeserved and unconditional love. Sure they asked what happened, but I had already been accepted back into the fold. They didn't ask and then allow me to hang around with them. They probably didn't realize what they didn't I surely didn't at the time, but I can see it now.

We've long since gone our separate ways and Kevin is the only one that I keep in touch with. I've run into some of the other guys on rare occasions, but Kevin and I really do have a special connection and I believe it goes all the way back to that time in high school. He was a true friend then and he is still the same today. I'm blessed to have him in my life.

Enjoy the ride...

Scott