My need for intimacy through a full time job!

     It has been a while since I have written. So let me just update you on our lives here in Lebanon, Ohio. On July 9th, I began working for an indirect dealer for Verizon Wireless called The Cellular Connection. They hired me as the store manager here in Lebanon and my assignment is to return the store back to profitability. The transition has been difficult, in that, I have not worked outside of the church full time for quite a while. However, God has given me favor and has blessed our store with some great opportunities. We are seeing God's hand in our sales and within conversations of those outside of the Kingdom of God. I have mostly enjoyed my time there(again, there have been some tough times) and learned much from God while working.

     God has made me very aware of the daily struggle many Christians deal with while working full time. I have had to be very intentional with my intimacy with Christ. I also run into many people who do not share my world view or my moral view. I feel I have hidden from this world too long. Many of my fellow Christians deal with opposing world views daily, where I as a pastor, only get this glimpse of opposition to the Biblical world view every once in a while. However, what has affected me most is my personal intimacy with Christ Jesus. I wonder how many Christians feel discouraged as we pastors demand they spend more time with Jesus, when many working parents do not have much time in the first place. I do know that many of us are way too busy and could use a serious schedule make over, but I also realize more and more how much we need intentionality in our relationship with Jesus! It is our relationship with Christ and our total dependency on Him that gets us through those tough work weeks. Its Christ living through our intimacy that grows us and makes us better dads, moms, workers and bosses. It is impossible for us to go through this world without Him to live in peace with every situation we go through. Time is a valuable asset that we need to intentionally give to Jesus. We simply are not strong enough to get through all of our trials, only God is.

     God has not wasted this part of my journey. He is also teaching me that He has planned this part of my journey with Him. He takes us all on different journeys and plans our foot steps. I am learning not to look at destinations but to simply ask Him what He is teaching me during different parts of the journey. I hope you see yourself in journey with God and that you don't get stuck on destinations, like I get so many times!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I need your prayers! Especially when I cannot make a decision I need to make!

Image
     In my life with Jesus, there are times where I am asked to make decisions that I don't understand fully. Times of great turmoil in my heart take place while I wrestle over what is the Lord's will; wondering if my flesh is getting in the way or that Satan is placing desiring around me that tickles my flesh to accept what might be good but not what Jesus is leading us too. Two years ago, I felt the anguish of making a decision, with a magnitude of affects on my family, as we decided to come back to Ohio instead of heading to Memphis in waiting on the Lord. Years before that, I struggled with leading my family to become disciple makers through church planting in Hawaii ... leaving our beloved church and an extraordinary ministry. I have fought myself in these kinds of decisions, knowing my family would be at a crossroad, which could coarse shift us for God's glory or fleshly sinfulness. I have lost sleep over what bills to pay, how to go about confronting someone ove
Read more

Hurt people hurt people when they don't know they are hurt!

For the last 6 months, I have had little desire to write on this blog. Every time I began to write, it became a venting post and I realized what my writing might cause more harm than good. The last few months have been especially hard. For a while, I thought this was because of the presidential primaries coming or struggles I was experiencing within the church I have been serving. Day after day I would beg God for a clearer mind and less heavy heart. For the last few months, I have sunk deeper and deeper into ... depression. For the first time in a while, I realize that the depression I thought had left me has really been there all along. I thought I was managing it well or that it wasn't as bad as it felt, but it has finally overcome me in such a way that I needed help. Most of my Christian life, I have been praying not to feel so hurt all the time. You see, every time some one gossiped about me or lied to or about me, I felt rejection and abandonment. Every conflict I have expe
Read more

The past seven days! Im about to bury my friend and what I have learned in those days!

Image
     The past seven days have been brutal. It started for Michelle and I last Saturday as my brother Clint was not recovering well from a surgery I had 10 years earlier. As Michelle and I had the joy of committing to marriage two great friends and disciples, our minds were on Kettering Hospital and Clint's life and family. I didn't feel well last weekend while I fought a cold, a little fatigue and carried a little worry how Clint's surgery had turned from routine to life-threatening. I went to bed sick and woke up the same.      Sunday morning was much like Saturday night. My head was a little foggy and I knew that Clint wasn't doing well. As we prayed for him during the first service at church, I rested in the Lord, as I knew He is able to overcome any problems Clint was having in that room. I trusted that the Lord was holding his wife Michelle, together. Soon, early in the second service, it became clear that Clint was in trouble. Pastor Tom and I stopped the se
Read more