Balancing Ministry N' Work

It is hard to believe that it has been over 3 1/2 years since I was diagnosed with a Accoustic Neuroma brain tumor. For those who are new to my story, let me give you the abridged version. In February 2010 I went to the Dr. to figure out why I was losing my hearing in my left ear. He told me that I had an Accoustic Neuroma brain tumor and that I would need surgery. Over the next couple of months we prepared for the surgery that took place on May 26, 2010. The surgery itself went great, but due to a spinal fluid lead my 3 day hospital stay turned into 13 days. While that was trying they told me that they had successfully removed the tumor. That July I had an MRI scan and everything looked good, and I was to come back in two years for another scan. In August of 2012 I went in for an MRI and overall everything looked really good, but the Dr. saw an area that he wanted to keep an eye on. He thought it was scar tissue, but wanted to be careful. For the las...

Over the last couple of months I have been having an increasing number of conversations with people about the Bible. Might have something to do with me telling people about how I was preaching here at Clark Baptist and praying about serving here. Regardless of why the conversation started, somehow many of them turned to something the Bible tells us and how it is playing out in society. One such conversation really hit me hard and has been weighing on my mind. I was talking with this guy I know and we started talking about the controversy with denominations and churches accepting homosexuals as pastors and teachers. I pointed out that scripture, the Christian Bible, is pretty clear that living a homosexual life style is a sin. It is no different than someone using drugs, living in adultery, or being a drunk. Sin is Sin and while we are to love the person, a practicing homosexual should not be teaching or preaching at church any more than a drunk. I would not want either of them t...

As most if not all of you know, I work over at Hubbell or as some call it Chance Co. during the day. I enjoy my job and the challenges and excitement in brings each day, but I can tell you that it can also be very trying. In some ways this has been one of those trying weeks. Simply put, our July has been difficult and we have missed more than a few of our goals this week. During some scripture reading this week, I was reading in the book of Colossians and came across chapter 3, verse 17. Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” This was a timely reminder for me during a difficult work week. Each morning one of the last things I do before I get out of my car and walk into work, is to pray asking the Lord to help me be the person He wants me to be while I am at work. When I read this verse it reinforced what I need to be doing as a believer in all aspects of my life. Everyt...

In Genesis chapter 18 we find Abraham talking to the Lord and two angels. We will start in verse 20 where the Lord is telling Abraham about the coming judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 18:20-33 “ 20  Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious. 21  I will go down to see if what they have done justifies the cry that has come up to Me. If not, I will find out.” 22  The men turned from there and went toward Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the Lord . 23  Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24  What if there are 50 righteous people in the city? Will You really sweep it away instead of sparing the place for the sake of the 50 righteous people who are in it? 25  You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won’t...

Things in this world don’t seem to go the way we plan and we I am sure most of us would agree there are a lot of things that happen that we do not like. During each or our lives there have been some sort of war or military conflict. Most of us have never been close to them, but it does not mean we like them. We don’t like to hear the statistics on how many have died. This may not hit close to home for all of us, but it is something we do not like. What about persecution of our brothers and sisters in Christ? Recently in the news there have been reports of how the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has been hunting and killing Christians. We have heard about persecution in Iraq, Iran, China, and many more. Scripture tells us that we will be persecuted for our faith, but we do not like it. Here are people who believe what we believe, read the same Words that we read and they are driven out of their homes, some are tortured, and some are murdered. This probably hits a little closer to...

I thought I would start out this afternoon discussing my journey a bit. What has brought me to who I am today. I first accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was 16 attending a Friday night youth group in California. It was over the next year or so that I first felt God telling me that He was going to use me in to spread His words. During these early years I had a close friend who began depending on me for his faith instead of Jesus. This scared me and I ran from God. Many years later I went on a Men’s retreat out in the wilderness. It was on this retreat that I heard God telling me that He was preparing a place of ministry for me. I was really excited and then remembered that Alexis had told me once before that she would never want to be a Pastor’s Wife. When I told Alexis about my experience on the mountain, she responded by saying God had told her as much. It was amazing to see that God had been working in both of us so that we were ready when He called. Sho...

This last week I scheduled my 3 year MRI scan and follow up appointment. I have known that this was coming but I was not prepared for how I would feel once the appointment was scheduled. For the first several hours after I made the call, I was nervous and scared. Why did I feel that way? I know God is in control of my life and had taken care of everything and He already knows the outcome. Why then am I nervous and scared about having my 3+ year post op check up? It is through these trials I am reminded that I am human. Life has been going real good and I am doing more today than I was before my surgery. I am losing weight, and have been riding my bike many miles each week either on the exercise bike at home or on the gravel roads around town. Over the last couple of months I have been logging 400-500 miles per month. In addition to exercise, God has blessed me at my day job and I have been preaching on a semi regular basis again and loving every minutes. Physi...

This morning June 30 th , 2013 we are joining many other churches around the country to discuss the importance of prayer. As I watch the news and look around our nation I am concerned. Society today continues to deteriorate. People no longer follow Biblical values; they live their lives focused on the moment and on material things. They only think about themselves. Our nation has lost its way. No longer can we comfortably say that we are One Nation Under God, unless our nations god is something other than our Creator. Sadly our leadership bows to the whims of people and special interest groups. The Supreme Court of the United States made that clear this week and seeing how the President and other leaders responded are perfect examples that we need to be praying for them. As true believers in the One True God we only have one thing we can do. It is something that every single one of us can do. It is not pushing petitions, it is not standing on street corners calling out everyth...