A grand new adventure

God is so good. I avoiding blogging about work because I was miserable and I've heard horror stories about people losing their jobs because HR departments are monitoring their social networking activities.
Anyway, I've been miserable for a few months now and really didn't know what to do. A couple of weeks ago a couple of prospects came on the radar, one of which was very intriguing, the other was the same job with a different company.
Well, God gave me the push I needed to make a change when I was terminated last Tuesday. Unfortunately, the more intriguing job looked to be a couple of months away and I really didn't really want to stay in marketing and go with the other company. Fortunately, God lined everything up and I'm now working at the more intriguing job. I've gone to work with a great friend at his Martial Arts studio. Top that with the fact that it's a Christian business.
The business is called Arts of Defense Martial Arts. It's a mixed Martial Arts facility(MMA); meaning we offer various MA programs starting with Tae Kwon Do (that's the main program). We also offer Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, MMA (ATT certified), and Kickboxing.
Keep an eye out for further posts - I'm looking forward to letting all of you know what's going on with this new adventure starting with a visit from our Head Instructor, Carlos Machado. I'm definitely going to...

...Enjoy the ride!!!

Does someone need to take away your belt?

Last week I had a conversation with my friend/martial arts instructor about his recent trip to Philadelphia for his fourth degree black belt training. He said the first thing they did to him, at the beginning of the first training session, was take away his black belt and give him a white belt. They said that was to help him to remember where he came from. Then he sparred for an hour - 3 minute rounds with one minute of rest between rounds. Oh yeah, he got a new opponent each round - all were black belts. (We're talking Tae Kwon Do, BTW.)



That conversation sparked a thought: What if we wore colored belts that indicated our level of spiritual maturity/learning? Would that help us remember where we came from? Would that help us remember that we are witnesses to the love of Christ? What if someone came to you and told you they were taking your belt and giving you a white belt? (If I remember correctly, the white belt indicates a "blank slate," a complete lack of knowledge of the martial art that you are beginning to train in.)



Do you think this would be a good tool to help us remember to be humble in our faith? I've heard it said that the biggest obstacle to furthering the case for Christ is Christians. Personally, I've heard too many of these stories - the one coworker who attends church regularly and professes faith in Christ, even invites his/her coworkers to church, but talks down to the waitress at lunch. Maybe they attend church but talk down any other church or denomination. Who would want to be a Christian if that is the example that they get on a daily basis? I wouldn't. If these folks had belts, we could take them away and help them remember where they came from - that we are all sinners in need of a savior.



We'd all be well served to remember where we came from and how we got to where we are. So, the question is; "Do you need someone to take away your belt?"



Enjoy the ride....



Scott

Don't Suffer in Vain

I've written a little about this in the past but feel that I need to come back to this topic. So many of us get lost in our suffering and fail to learn or grow through it. Suffering is a part of life and we need to learn how to move forward in spite of it. We need to learn to live through our suffering and not in our suffering.

Romans 8:28 (NLT) says; "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." I've had to stand firmly on this promise in the past.

After my divorce I had no idea that my failures could be used for good. As I look back over the last few years I can see how God has used my failure to bless others. I get opportunities to talk to people and share my failures with them in hopes that they might make better decisions than I did. My wife and I lead a small group to mentor dating and engaged couples. My children have come to know the Lord because, in my brokenness I called on Jesus to save me and now I've raised my children to know Him, too. If my ex-wife had not divorced me I would probably not have given my life to Jesus and I would not be raising my children to know Him. That's 3 lives saved, so far, because of a divorce.

Reread the scripture above - it says that He causes everything to work together for the good. What a great God we serve that He can use even our failures to produce good works! Here's the kicker, though; we have to lean on Him, pick ourselves up, leave our pity party behind, and live our lives. We have to trust Him and be willing to let Him use us and our suffering to work things for the good.

Don't suffer in vain. Trust that the Lord can and will use your suffering to produce something good. You may not be able to see how, but He can. The best person to comfort someone who's lost a child, is someone who's lost a child. The best person to minister to an addict is a recovering addict. We relate more easily to those that know our pain. Let the Lord use you to work for the good and...

...enjoy the ride!

Scott