This is the stuff that I read and liked in no particular order…

Ben Arment…Faith in Barns…Good stuff…

Pete Wilson…This is so funny…Do cats go to Hell?

Mark Batterson…Claiming an area…

Stephen Brewster…Why he blogs…I love how open and honest this guy is…

Pete Wilson…Do you suck the life out of people?

http://www.thegatheringmidland.com/…The Church that I serve at has a new website and blog up.

Bill Grandi…Some things aren’t funny…

Jim Foreman…Bringing me back…Thanks…

So…I just wanted to give a shout out to my buddy Sean at Dusty Duck Web Design.  I asked him to make me a header (See above) and I absolutely love what he has done.  I wanted it to stand out and not look so generic. (like the one that I made)  They are affordable, efficient, and intelligent.  They can build complete sites as well as host.  Seriously, check Dusty Duck Web Design out if you want something done for your blog, church, business, or whatever else you may need.

Seriously…Thanks Sean and the Dusty Duck Web Design team…

I have a passion for the church and for people.  I would love to write some elaborate post, but I think that if you read THIS you will get the idea.

Radical love is life changing.  Any thoughts?

The last few days has been kind of sad throughout the football world.  I am not football-crazy, but I did enjoy watching a few players play.  Ladanian Tomlinson and Brian Westbrook were released this week. Tomlinson is arguably the best running back of our generation and Westbrook was one of the most versatile running backs of our generation.  It saddens me that they will not be suiting up with teams that they always have, but I UNDERSTAND.

Tomlinson had two years left on his contract and was scheduled to receive a rather large bonus if he was on the roster and Westbrook has spent much of the last two years on the sidelines from injury.  The Chargers and Eagles would love to have these guys suit up for them, but it was going to hold them back.  They were not going to be able to move forward.

As I think about that, I realize that as Christians we sometimes do the same things that the Chargers and Eagles do.  Sometimes we give up things that the Holy Spirit has convicted us to give up.  It may not necessarily be a bad thing to keep on doing it, but we realize in order to go forward in our relationship with God that we have to.  (We recently gave up television at the Perkins house) 

What about you have you given up something that may not have been bad because you felt God leading you to do so?

Yesterday I started writing about my story.  We all have one, but I was led to show you some of the amazing things God has done.  In some ways, when I reflect, I think we appear as vagabonds, because of the journey that God has taken us on.

Any rate, I left off about how God provided when we absolutely had to have it.  Well, it wasn’t too much longer in which we felt led to leave the wonderful church that we were serving at and head towards Missouri (briefly) then back to Texas.  God had taken us full circle.  I just wanted to serve and learn how to be the pastor that God had called me to be.  Believe it or not I actually went back to the old job of selling cars but this time as a salesman because of the flexibility for ministry.  It was great at first…

But then it started putting a strain on ministry and my family because I was gone so much.  The final straw came when I was promised position that would require a lot less hours along with the disagreement that I could not have my Bible open on my desk.

So…I quit…For the first time in my life I walked out without giving any explanations.  It was like a huge monkey was lifted off of my chest.  Don’t get me wrong I was SCARED because that was income that was not coming in.  My wife, sat down with me and we built a resume.  I am pretty sure that it was a suckie one, but it worked.

Here’s where the obstacle was:   We only had one vehicle because of our choices that I wrote about yesterday.  So working close to each other was a not a necessity, but would make life a lot easier.  We prayed that God would provide and he did just such.

The office building that she worked in had hundreds of offices in it.  I started on the top floor and worked my way down simply by just handing a resume to whoever would look at it.  Two days later (Saturday) I get called by a guy (whose office was one floor above my wife’s), who asked me if I even knew what I was turning a resume in for?  My answer:  Nope, I just wanted a chance. 

He hired me just a few days later doing something that I never imagined I would be doing (I prefer administrative assistant as to receptionist), but our needs are met and I can work on fulfilling the calling that God has placed on my life.

Whenever I get scared or worry about what’s going to happen next, I think about this story.  I think about how I knew I had to do something and trusted God to provide.  Security was taken away, but instantly given back and I praise Him for that.

I don’t know when I will write about “My Story” again, but I am sure it will be soon.  I hope you finish reading this and are encouraged.  What about you?  Have you taken a giant step of faith and didn’t know how it was going to turn out?

Yesterday, Jim, wrote an excellent post on how sometimes when we lose something we gain. (at least that’s what I got out of it)  I have to be honest, when I read his post I was brought to tears, because it reminded me of what God has done in my life.  The next few days I will be writing about this.  I hope you find it encouraging.

I am going to start fresh in case you didn’t catch Jim’s post yesterday.   When my wife and I first got married, much like every newlywed couple, dirt poor.  My wife worked all the time and I worked 50 hours a week as a manager at McDonald’s and went to college full-time.  We barely got by.  When I graduated we picked up and moved to Midland, TX.  (I had/have family there)  We came because we thought I was going to teach and this would be a good place to grow old.  Well, the job never happened, but I got asked to go to work for a car dealership?  I thought no way, I could not possibly do that.   They guaranteed me $2500.00 per month for the first six months. (almost triple what I was making)  Long story short I was pretty descent at my job. I got promoted to a finance manager and my wife got promoted within an oil company.  Between the two of us we were making almost $200K.  Here’s the thing:  Though we went to Church and had everything we wanted we were miserable.  We weren’t living for God. 

After a while of living for material things we finally figured it out.  God first…that’s it.  We knew that we had to move away because we were not strong enough at that time to quit our jobs, so we moved back home and essentially took jobs where we made 30K per year between the two of us.  (crazy I know)  We still had all those bills and we lost things, it came to picking whether we feed out child or make a car payment.

All this time, I was serving as the youth pastor at our church.   We had been there for about a year and the youth group had grown substantially.  We were asked to do a teen service which have them lead worship and perform some skits and I would my first message.  (I promise it’s gonna get good)

Five days before I was to preach my first message I got put in the hospital with kidney stones.  They couldn’t remove them at first because they found out I had a major infection and if they touched it I could go septic and my wife cold have been widowed…So I spent all week in the hospital for them to send me home with stones.  When I got out of the hospital on Saturday I asked Pastor if I could still give it because he had said it was up to me.

Before I tell you what happens I need to do a little more background.  My wife missed a week of work to be with me in the hospital.  She DIDN’T get paid.  Our electric, water, and gas all were about to get shut off.  Not to mention that my son’s day care payment was extremely late and we were afraid that he was going to get kicked out.

Well Sunday came and I still had the stones, but I preached that message on hope and truly clinging to God. (was what I was doing)  Several came forward and received Christ which is the only reason I do what I do, but here’s the thing:  After service Pastor stood up and said that he felt like the church should take a love offering for us, which they did not do often at all.  The amount that was brought in was enough to pay for all of those things and have enough to take my family to eat at Ponderosa.  The church didn’t know my situation, but God did.

Even now, as I write this, I am brought to tears thinking about how when we truly lean upon God, He will take care of us.  It may not come in the way that we think, but He will come through.  I plan on continuing a few more posts like this the next few days, but if God has done something like that for you feel free to share because it encourages us all.

I am sitting here writing this and I am just in awe.  I am in awe of how amazing our God is.  I shared Saturday that my son had gotten sick Friday night.  What I didn’t share is that he has been sick off and on for a while.  We couldn’t figure out what was going on with him.  Well on Saturday morning we were sitting in my living room debating whether or not my family was going to go with me that afternoon to drive to where I have been serving as pulpit supply.  It is a four-hour drive so it requires us to leave on Saturday and spend the night there.  We just didn’t think he would be able to endure that drive.

If you know my son you know that he is vibrant and full of life.  Well, on Saturday morning he looked terrible.  He was pale and didn’t want to move because he was afraid he would get sick.  We were scared for him because WE couldn’t do anything.  So what did we do?  We got down on the floor and put our hands on him and prayed.  We asked God to make our little boy feel better.  Here’s the awesome part:  A few minutes later he sprang up like nothing was wrong and went to play.  It was as if nothing was wrong with him at all.

There are some things that we like to keep private, but there are also some things that are utterly amazing that will bring God the glory.  When those things happen we have to share because it brings glory to His name.  I hope that does.  I hope that you read this and it brings a smile to your face because we serve a God who can do ANYTHING at ANYTIME.  What about you do you have a story that is amazing that you would like to share?

My son has been pretty sick the past few weeks.  He has had headaches and we spent last night getting up and down with him as he puked.  (Sorry for the graphic nature)  This tore me to pieces seeing him like this.  After he got sick he asked to take a bath because he felt dirty.  He wanted me, his dad, to wash him.  When he got out (each time he got out) he told me that he felt much better. 

This just made me think:  What is it that I need God to clean me of?  I am not talking about a 5 minute shower here.  I am talking about a full bath where I am completely cleansed?  What about you?  Is their anything that needs washed by your father?

Well, it’s Friday and these are the things that I read this week that I really liked…Totally didn’t come up with these enjoy…

Scott Williams on the other side of the tracks…

Jim asks if you area junkie…

Stephen Brewster on Movements and Monuments…Wow…

I love Pete Wilson’s Blog…Seduced by Idolatry…tough questions here…

Steven Furtick…Whose Strength?

Bill Grandi…Hospitals and Churches…

Vince Antonucci…lives changed forever…

Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Alex Rodriguez, and Rafael Palmeiro:  What do they have in common?  All of them have gotten in trouble for steroids usage or admitted to using them.  They were also heroes of mine growing up.  As a kid, I loved the game of baseball and I still do.  All that I dreamed about was becoming a professional, and I got fairly close, but that’s another story.  I know I am not breaking any news here by writing about these guys, but I cannot quit thinking about them. 

When Rafael Palmero was suspended for testing positive, I cried.  When the Mitchell Report came out, I cried.  When Barry Bonds was indicted on perjury charges for lying about using, I cried.  When Alex Rodriguez admitted to using steroids, I cried.  When Mark McGwire said a few weeks ago that he used them, I cried.  I was broken hearted.  These guys were my heroes and they admitted to cheating.  I was broken-hearted and hurt deeply.  I can honestly say that I felt betrayed. 

Here’s the thing though:  For the longest time my heroes were men.  They were ordinary guys who could it a round ball with a round stick hard and far.  I am sure that they all were okay guys, who just lost focus of what was important and fell.  The thing that comforts me now is having a hero that died and rose from the grave and ascended to heaven. (See 1 Corinthians 15:1-11)

This should be fun, but who did you look up to as a child?  Who do you look up to now?