faith

Are you standing in hope or walking in faith? Hope is great. We all need it, but it can not replace faith. Rather, it should in operation working hand in hand with faith. As we continue to walk in faith, we have a hope that helps fuel our faith.

pride

Today, I had one of those moments from God that it's hard to put in words, because it was more of a feeling or realization...but I will still try anyways. I was walking out of the gym early this morning and thinking about how ridiculous pride is, in comparison to how big God is. How can I seriously take pride in anything that I have or have done, when you compare it with who God is? I am so small and insignificant in comparison to God...and it's incredibly humbling to dwell on.

opponent

Reading Sun Stand Still and preaching a message series by the same name. I'm loving the book by Steven Furtick. It is increasing faith inside of me.
A thought from the book. "You would never see how strong God is, if there were no opponents in your life for Him to overcome."

Many times we as believers try to shrink God to the size of our biggest problems. Because we feel it is out of our power, then it must be out of His. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The truth is that God wants to reveal His power in our lives by giving us the strength to over come the things that are too big for us. There is no opponent, addiction, enemy or power strong enough to stand against our God. The same God that resides in YOU.... Let's not only say we believe that...but let's live it out.

Champs

We finally did it! We won the coveted Pickerington Church League softball title! It has been one of the goals of our 4.5 year old church. The road has not been easy. I remember our first year we won only one game. To this year, we only lost one game. We played the top two teams yesterday and beat them both by more than 10 runs. It was one of those great moments, especially with a couple of the guys who know how far we have come. A few have been here from the beginning when we were really bad. Next year the goal is to win both the men's and co-ed city league as well. We have the worlds best general manager (Yousef) and hope to extend his contract another 3 years...lol. He is one of the only guys who is MORE competitive than me...but still is a great sport. So for now, we will enjoy the great season!

important

This week is one of the most important things I do all year. It's my families vacation. We are chilling at a place on a lake and doing nothing but spending time together. We are swimming, canoeing, pontooning and fishing. We literally caught 48 fish today. Our kids are having a ball and we are making memories. I cherish this time.

miracle

"Sometimes we get to see a miracle, other times we get to be the miracle." (Furtick)
Either way, God gets the glory. Seeing a miracle is easier that being one, because being one means we are forced to wrestle through the miracle working process. Miracles always start with problems and opposition. The greater the problem, the greater the miracle.

opposition creates opportunity

If we didn't have opposition in our lives, how we would have the opportunity to see God's power in our lives? The greater the opposition, the greater God's power can work in our lives. We all want the stories of God's miracles and power in our lives, but that only comes through opposition.