Major Adjustments

It has been almost a week now since my grandpa died. I found out about it a week ago tonite. Its been a crazy week to say the least. I cried a lot Tuesday and Wednesday. And i'm glad i didn't have to drive up. I wouldn't have made the trip up. I would've been a mess.

In any case, now its time for us to continue right along. I head back down to Charlotte tomorrow and continue on with life. It's going to take some time to adjust to all of this. For those of you who ever lost a relative that was really close to you, you will know how I feel.

One good thing that has happened is the fact that our family has really come together and bonded over it. I've been reciting comforting scripture time and time again and praying a lot. The fact that my grandpa is with Jesus is great consolation. It's just moreso the fact that we have a lot of adjustments to make. God is good and His Word is good.

A Bit of an Update

I tried to go into work this morning, but didn't make it. Just before i clocked in I went to one of my managers there and tried to explain what was going on, but simply broke down crying. He said go home and take the rest of the week off.

So then i came home and laid down on my bed and tried to fall back to sleep. But that didn't work. I tried to change my flight, but it would've cost a lot of money. So i'll just leave in the morning. In the meantime, i've been packing and trying to eat (not much of an appetite, but doing what i can.) and i was watching some comedy online. I needed some good laughs, instead of crying. So i'll fly out tomorrow morning and be in PA by about 10:30am. I knew i wouldn't be able to do that drive, and i found a good priced ticket out of Charlotte.

I get to do some of the eulogy for my grandpa. They're giving me 5 minutes. I guess they believe in miracles b/c i'll shoot those 5 minutes in a heartbeat. Get me to talk about something I like or enjoy and is on my heart and i can keep going.

I can't thank everyone enough for their overwhelming support doing this time. The Lord had been preparing my heart for some time for this, but it still is hitting me hard. I've been crying a lot the last 30 hours.

The Lord is good and His mercy and love endures forever.
Jesus is King and He is on the throne.

Its important to mourn and get it out. Be blessed everyone.

The Great Cloud of Witnesses

I just got a call from my parents that my grandfather passed away tonight. He was truly a patriarch of my family and he taught me many great things. He instilled in me a great work ethic. He also spoke some great wisdom into my heart and my mind. Without him, i truly wouldn't be the man of God that i am today. And i literally wouldn't be in the place that i am today. he is truly a man to aspire to be more like, other than Jesus Himself, he truly led a way to Jesus. He truly led by example. He is now looking on from the great cloud of witness cheering me on. He was a man who loved Jesus more than anything and it was out of that they he served with his whole heart. Thank you Jesus for such a great example that you had put in my life, other than You Jesus. Thank you for providing people to look up to and admire. People who walked according to Your Word and Your truth. Praise Jesus for evermore!

You may think "how can you be soo calm at a time like this?!?!" well, for one, the Lord has been preparing my heart for sometime now about this very issue. A number of years ago, the Lord gave me a dream about this.

It's a bitter sweet... my grandpa is with Jesus. I'm jealous. My roommate just wrote a song about it and below is the lyrics.

A Legacy Singing
by Joshua Pearson

I walked down the avenue, when i heart the news
You kept walking, I stared up at the stars
Through a veil of tears, it was as if heaven was saying

Well done my servant, well done my son
You lived well on Earth, now we are one
Welcome to heaven, Your life has just begun

The trees so tall, have left no legacy
Like the one you gave me
I'll remember You always
Till His face with you I'll see
Till then i'm proclaiming

There is a God, There is one Fathers
There is a cause, like no other
There is a power, blood from one Savior
A legacy singing

RIP Grandpa, forever in my heart and mind.

New Attire

Every now and then, i get a desire to get dressed up. The other day I went to the store with one of my roommates here to get a new sport coat. We ended up at S&K Menswear and they hooked me up. I got a good deal on two new coast, new trousers, two new shirts and a new tie. Here is a picture of me dressed up in one of my new suits.

Lakeland comes to Concord

This weekend, the regional churches of Concord are coming together to welcome Todd Bentley and Fresh Fire Ministries. I've been helping out w/ it. Last night I didn't get home until about 2 AM. I've been ushering/greetings/all around great guy mainly. There are likes and dislikes for me.

For those who say that he's not focusing on the lost and seeing people come into the kingdom, i'm glad your wrong. In listening to his altar call last night for salvation, i heard the 'repentance' word used a bit. so that settled well within my Spirit.

One of the cons was that when they intro'd Todd, he got a bigger welcome than Jesus. That obviously didn't sit well with me.

I was able to join in on the prayer tunnel and pray for people. Now that was fun! Hehe. For those who don't know what a prayer tunnel is... you line the people up who will be praying for others in lines facing each other about shoulder width apart. Then the people who are getting prayer walk between the people and simply receive. I get more out of praying FOR folks than getting prayer. It's just how i'm wired. They do the prayer tunnels (at church, we call them FIRE tunnels, but its the same concept, just different terminology) a little differently. They actually have two tunnels going at the same time. Todd stood at the front of the tunnel and the folks just went on either side of him. He has two hands so you do two tunnels.

But to start off the night, i was on elevator duty. And i didn't mind doing it, other than the fact that i must've had a badge on me that said "Complaint department". The arena sits about 5,000 people. That quickly filled up. Then the overflow sits another couple thousand was quickly filled up. The totally cool thing was that they said that a couple thousand folks were lined up along the highway praising God! Now thats awesome!!! Sadly, they had to turn many folks away (which i'm not happy about).

But here is something to think about, something for you to ponder over... One thing that i did notice was all the wheelchairs and handicap folks coming in. And one thing that doing elevator duty for me did was giving me a greater desire to seek God for more of Him to pray for folks to get healed. I say its time we stop looking to one man to heal everyone, but for the church (the Bride of Christ) to assert her maturity and power and to perform signs and wonders.

Granted, I do believe that there are folks with a gift for this. But at the same time, it is our job to be doing this. Also, I'm not pointing fingers at any one else other than myself. Even while sitting here writing this, the Holy Spirit is speaking to me as well about my life.

I'm grateful for what the Lord is doing in Lakeland. I'm grateful for what the Lord is doing in the world. He's stirring hearts and lives. He's shaking everything that can be shaken. And my heart is stirred for more of God to take it to a lost and hurting and dying world. He's stirring me and challenging me to be more of a man of my word and a man of His Word and His Spirit. Lately, the Lord has been pointing out areas of my own life that need to be fixed and changed. And if i'm going to be leading others in the future and having influence over them, I need to get my own life in order. I've seen too many ministers and leaders in the Body of Christ falling because of sin. And i need to take the necessary steps to prevent that for myself and my future.

And praise God that the Lord is moving in the world! He's bringing the lost into right relationship with Himself and restoring lives and the prodicals are coming home! PTL!

Well, that's for now. Just wanted to share these things with you all.

Mindsets

Let's face it, we all have them. We all have stereotypes of other people. A goth, a stoner (one who does marijuana, drug addict) smoker, geek/nerd, skater, beach bum.. the list goes on and on. And in today's American culture, everyone tries to 'not judge', which is just a bunch of baloney.

What brought this to mind? Today i was watching a youtube video of Todd Bentley being interviewed by Fox's Geraldo Rivera. Todd was getting asked about his tattooes and piercings and his financial records and about the healings that were taking place. And Todd had answers for the financial records and the healings that were taking place. To verify them (which I wouldn't mind knowing as well.)

But the funny thing about the whole ordeal was the fact that a secular mindset is trying to figure a sacred thing out. The world is trying to figure out the church. Good luck w/ that one.

I remember when i was in high school and i was talking w/ one of my science teachers about scientific equations. And i was asking about certain chemicals and mixing them up. Her only response was that "You can't do that." And i just pressed it a bit and said 'why not?' To which she responded "You just can't."

I politely said "Doesn't sound very 'scientific' to me. Also in other talks with her about creation vs. evolution, the only response was that 'Scientists just believe that.' Ok, but i'm looking for fact here. I believe something else and that's not being taught... seems a little unbalanced to me. But then again, that's just my narrow minded way of thinking... maybe i should be more 'open minded'.

Just a side note here: the above is coming from someone who's younger sister is going into the medical profession and i fully support her in that. I believe that the Lord gave scientific knowledge for us to discover attributes about Him that we may not have otherwise discovered. I personally don't care for science, but i'm 1 of countless billions.

In any case, we all have mindsets about something or other. How about we get a sports athlete in an interview and ask them about what they're doing w/ the millions of dollars they make a year? Or a movie star or someone else... It seems to me like the people who say don't judge are coming up with all the stereotypes and mindsets of those who they're telling not to judge.

A Fine Balance

Tonight I got a text message on my phone from a dear brother and friend. And i loved getting the message from him and i'm not tearing it down. But part of it got me to thinking.

I want to preface what i'm about to say by saying that I know that we need to understand that we are loved by God. Jesus showed that to us on the Cross. He willingly went on the cross to show the love of God to the world. But sometimes i have a hard time with how we present the gospel to the world. The Gospel means "Good News".

1. Greasy Grace: By this i mean that God just loves you and He doesn't care what you've done in the past and whatever you'll do in the future. Just receive Jesus and life will be all peaches and roses.

Ok, yes, part of this is cool. Let the past be the past. Jesus does wash all your sins away. And there is a process of sanctification and renewing the mind and there is grace for when you mess up. But i haven't found anywhere in the Bible where it says that the world will love you. Jesus actually said the exact opposite. The world will probably hate us because it hated Jesus first. This doesn't mean we go and be offensive for the sake of being offensive. But when your truly living your life by Biblical standards, there's a very high chance of your having your guts being hated by the world. I remember listening to a message by Leonard Ravenhill. In that message, he said 'How is it that the world couldn't get on w/ the holiest man that ever lived but that it can get on with you?" That phrase hit me like crazy! Where is the repentance message at? Where in our preaching is there the words of taking of your cross and following God?

2. By the Book! Then there is the camp that its just all rules and legalism. That if your not praying 30 hours a day and sharing your faith and doing all this stuff that there is something wrong. This is when it can get into a works mentality. We're saved by grace. It's good to know that its nothing that i can do, but its what Jesus has already done for me. And it's when i accept his forgiveness and love and mercy and grace and i have an understanding of what living a life for Jesus means that i can make an impact in this world.

In all of this, there is a line to be drawn. Ultimately i say, be intimate with God and for the most part other things will fall in line. Cherish His word and Cherish Him. And when you do that, you'll be ministering without even trying it. Because His presence will exude out of you.

Another thing that i was talking w/ some of my friends about tonight was about prophecy and the prophetic gifting. I love and appreciate the prophetic and i truly believe that it is for today. It's also in that i have a high preservation for it. There is a way to handle it and there is a way that you can totally miss it. A few tips is is that you don't prophecy mates, dates and babies (just like around me you don't tease a girl about her weight.. i big no no. the other week in church actually i scolded a younger brother about that. he knew i loved him and he took it well.) but i just have such a high preservation for things of the Spirit and the Holy Scriptures that i can't even watch certain things nowadays. It just seem hollow.

More randomness

On the political scene, its smear campaign time, which means dig up as much dirt as you can on the person and use it against them. How about praying and asking what the Lord wants? I guess it helps in my case that my man Huckabee is currently not in the running. So that narrows my options down... I can't vote for Obama (he supports genocide aka abortion) and a number of other things that i can't agree w/. And McCain just doesn't sit right with me. I'm not sure what i'll be doing.

Right now around here, its blazing hot. About a hundred degrees outside. I'm not complaining though... i mean, its the south and its summer time. What am I to expect? On Sunday, I dressed up for church. Usually i'll go in khakis and a nice shirt.... looking presentable. Or i'll wear jeans and a nice shirt. But since i went in shorts and a t-shirt last week (we had a church picnic right afterwards), i decided to go the other direction this week. So i got on a pair of khaki pants, a dress shirt and a tie. It was fun. I wouldn't necessarily do it every week, but every now and then, its fun. Then after that, i had a prayer team get together and then i went down to Charlotte for an event that's known as "A Taste of Charlotte". Good times... and food.

More and more people are joining onto the social networking craze. It's ok, but sometimes these things are just more annoying than anything. They're nice in the fact that i'm able to keep in contact w/ folks all over the globe and it feels like they're just right next door. It's annoying in that it seems somewhat largely superficial. Superficial in the fact that you get requests from folks who are you 'friends' and yet you never really hear from them.

I have a gift certificate for $50 to a restaurant somewhere out in Huntersville (about 30 minutes from here.) So we're planning on making it a formal event and getting a few folks together and having some fun. Getting all dressed up and doing and gorging ourselves, meanwhile trying to stay out of trouble. We'll see how well that works since some of the folks who i know are coming are known for their random antics. We shall see...

Petitions

I don't know about you, but i'm a subscriber to the AFA. I get emails about petitions to sign. And i'll be honest w/ you, i don't sign everyone of them. I either don't have the time or don't feel that its worth it to sign every one of them. I believe in changing the laws and making righteous decrees. I firmly believe that things like that can make a difference. But sometimes that's not always the best way to tackle the issue.

For the past few years now, our church has been taking a very active part in opposing the homosexual agenda and the abortion issue, among other things. And part of that was going to a Charlotte Pride festival (homosexual pride festival). During that time, we had some people who would stand along the sides and hold signs up and just tell folks they're going to Hell for this. which is the truth... but sometimes it needs to be handled the proper way. Who did Jesus hang w/ when He walks the planet? it wasn't the religious leaders. He loved the people into truth. He was very firm too and didn't water His message down. But He laid down His life for the people who hated His guts. He lived in love. Love is not always mushy stuff. At times, its confrontational.

I can remember watching an evangelist on tv one time. During his appeal for people to get right with Jesus, His eyes were filled with tears. Bottom line: if you haven't accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, your destination once you die is Hell. Eternal separation from God the Father for all eternity. I didn't write the rules. I just work at abiding by them. But more importantly, i work harder at pursuing and understanding God's heart for His people.

"If God is soo powerful, why doesn't He just stop people from doing bad things?" Because God wants you to choose Him. He gives you free will so that you can decide you want to turn to Him.

I was talking w/ someone about the difference between the Law of Moses (Ten Commandments) and the Law of Grace. Here is a big difference: Don't commit adultery (10 Commandments) But the law of grace says that if you've looked at someone with a lustful thought, you've committed the act in your heart already... suddenly, the 10 commandments has just gotten easier than the law of grace to follow.

Let's go after the hearts, and their minds will follow.