A Recovering Baptist in South Carolina

In one week most people will be either traveling somewhere or getting ready for family or friends to arrive so that they can celebrate "Thanksgiving". But what should we be thankful for? Of course we need to thank God for the food, a house to shelter us from the elements, cloths to keep us warm and freedom to celebrate the holiday as we see fit. Many will be thankful for football (and thankful that we have a football season), sports, cars, entertainment, technology, toys (both big people toys and little people toys). The list of things to be thankful for is endless and it isn't wrong to be thankful for these thing because God is responsible for allowing us to have them. As Christians we need to be thankful for the Bible, Salvation, a Church family and the Freedom to worship as we please. In the midst of all this thanking we often forget who we are thanking. It the LORD God, Jehovah, YHWH! This is the Creator of Heaven and Earth. We often just say "Thank you ...

Last night Bill Knipe preached a sermon on missions and then Pastor Minnick gave an invitation for those who were willing to totally surrender to where ever the Lord would have them go, either onto the foreign field or to stay in Greenville. The real challenge (for me) though was in the message of the invitation song "Lord Send Me Anywhere". And it's not even the anywhere that scares me most of the time. It's the third line in the chorus. "Server any tie, save the tie that binds me to thy heart" Am I really willing to let God take away something that I love, even a Godly thing. It could be a place where I have many good memories, an ability that God has used but decides to take away. a family member who I'm very close to, or a friend who means everything to me. Am I willing to give up these things to go or stay where God wants me? Am I using any of these things to not let God use me the way I know he wants to use me? The answer to these question...

The month of October has been a crazy month for me. It started off with me being in the Hospital for a weekend. I has gotten Colitis (an inflamed colon) and had put off going to checked out for an entire month until I was so weak I couldn't work. I had lost 30 Lb. in one month (not of my choosing) and had absolutely no energy and no strength. After my stay in the hospital I went back to work, where my employers were very understanding about me needing to take breaks to rest (usually just a 5 min. break to catch my breath). After one week I was feeling well enough to try playing some basketball, but that was an unusual experience for me because my coordination was off and my arm strength was not back yet, and so my shooting and running even may have looked a little like a the way a girl would run and shoot (I'm now back to full strength and coordination). Work has been an adventure in and of itself. While one job (CFA) is going very well, and I'm improving in my abili...

Love. What an interesting topic, especially for a single guy to be talking about. A guy often dreams about finding that one girl that he will love for the rest of his life, as I'm sure girls dream about finding that right guy that they will love forever after. What is the outward evidence of Love? Outwardly Love shows itself in what we put our time and effort into. Single guys like myself often but that time and effort into their car, house, computer, job, ministry or even into the search of the perfect girl. In Matthew 22:35-38 we find out where God wants us to place our Love One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND." This is the great and foremost commandment. We must love God first and foremost of all! Nothing and no one can come between me and my God. I love that phra...

The Texas Rangers are cursed. How can you say they are cursed you may ask. Well being within one strike of winning the World Series twice in one game, having the third longest World Series win less streak (Only the Cubs and the Indians have longer win less streaks) and losing to a team that shouldn't have been there? If that doesn't qualify as cursed I don't know what does. The question still remains though, Who or What has cursed them. The haven't turned a billy goat away from watching a game (Chicago's curse of the Billy Goat, 103 year drought and counting) and they haven't given away the best player in baseball history to their arch rivals (Boston Redsox and the Curse of the Bambino aka: Babe Ruth, 86 year drought). So what have they done to provoke the wrath of the baseball gods? We may never know what the Rangers have done (or not done) to deserve such heart break, but until they win a World Series they will be doomed to reminisce on the "What ...

One of my favorite hymns growing up was "I Know Who Holds Tomorrow." One of the reasons was it was it was one of the few songs I could play on the guitar, so I learned it well. This evening as the work was winding down for some reason the words of this song came to my mind. Isn't it wonderful to know who holds tomorrow! I don't know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day. I don't borrow from it's sunshine, For it's skies may turn to gray. I don't worry o'er the future, For I know what Jesus said, And today I'll walk beside Him, For He knows what is ahead. Many things about tomorrow, I don't seem to understand; But I know Who holds tomorrow, And I know Who holds my hand. Ev'ry step is getting brighter, As the golden stairs I climb; Ev'ry burden's getting lighter; Ev'ry cloud is silver lined. There the sun is always shining, There no tear will dim the eyes, At the ending of the rainbow, Where th...

Last night as I was washing dishes and listening to music on my phone, Ron Hamilton's song "The Fear of the Lord" started playing. It started my mind turning as I thought about what it really meant to "Fear the LORD". When most people think fear they think of someone cowering in a corner while someone else stands over them. That is fear, but there is a different kind of fear, one that a respectful fear. This can be illustrated through my current job at Chick-fil-A (CFA for short) At CFA we have the "Chick-fil-A Way" which is the way certain procedures are done to make sure everything is done the same way every time and the same amazing product is served every time. If I were to not do things the "Chick-fil-A Way" then my boss would have a talk with me and if I continued to refuse to do it the "Chick-fil-A Way" I would eventually get fired. However I don't want to get fired and so I have a respect, or a fear, for my boss. I...