WNT Devotional Series: The Beatitudes (Matt. 5)

God's Faithfulness

Pictured above is my (former) wedding band. Well, mine was white gold, but you get the point. Why do I say former? Well, let me explain...

Laurie and I had planned on spending the day on the river in a Canoe. It was a nice day, the sun was out, the weather was comfortable. Beautiful really. Laurie, thought it might be fun to try Kayaks instead. I agreed.

As it turns out, Kayaks are a lot more work than canoes. We both were very sore by the end of the day. I also tipped my Kayak multiple times. But that's not even the worst part.

When we were about 3/4 of the way done, I commented that my ring was chaffing my finger. Laurie told me to take it off and give it to her. As I took it off, I hit a rock and it went flying!

Laurie and I jumped out of our boats immediately and started searching for it. We went up and down the water, but to no avail. I loved that ring, it had an inscription on the inside that said, in love and Lord, I'm forever yours.

Those words are still true. And even after a bad day like that, I'm reminded that God continually seeks after us when we are lost, only he looks until he finds us, and he never gives up. I praise God for his patience, and that he seeks us until the end.

God is faithful... even when it's expensive!

Yesterday, Laurie and I had to pay about 350 dollars on new tires. Praise God!

The first thing that you might think is, "wow, that's a lot of money to have to pay out of the blue." And it's true, it was a lot of money for us to have to come up with unannounced.

Yet, Laurie and I are planning on driving out to Ohio today for our friend Jeremy Stover's wedding. We walked out of Wal-Mart today, and Laurie had to go get something. I brought the car to her turned the opposite direction of where she would have normally walked, and she saw we had a flat tire! We had just filled it the day before, so we knew we had to deal with this. Praise God because He allowed us to see what was going on with our car before the trip, and we were at a place where we could get them fixed right away.

One Month In

I just finished my first month as "DOD" at Riverdale UP Church.

God has just blessed me so much. First, the pastor, Allan, is more concerned about my personal spiritual formation than I could have ever asked! He's offering me advice at every step along the way, showing me the ropes, and mostly just being downright encouraging! I couldn't have asked to work under a better man. I already know that the time I'm spending at Riverdale will be used by God to shape the man I'm going to be in the future. One of the coolest things is that Allan repeatedly says to me that he knows that I was called by God to be at Riverdale. Praise Jesus!

Mostly my "work" at Riverdale up until this point has been having meetings with the folks and getting involved in the community. There are a lot of great personalities at Riverdale. It's incredible to see how God brings all the people he wants together, together.

Today, I "lead" my first worship service. I did the greeting, announcements, sermon lead in, prayer, offering, closing prayer and benediction. It was a good first experience, and I feel like it's really helping me to just get "in the mix" at Riverdale. Lots of new people to meet!

As I've said, I can really see God's hand in this whole thing. Two months ago, we would have never know that God was going to bring us here. Yet look at the great doors he has opened! Our Lord is a faithful king, and our obedience to Him is our greatest reward.

First Day as DOD

This is my wife and I on my initiation day as Director of Discipleship at Riverdale United Presbyterian Church in Moon Township, PA. I'm really excited about what God is doing in my life recently. He's been showing me his plans more clearly than many other points in my life (except marrying Laurie). God wants to do incredible things at this Church and I'm happy to be a part of it.

Accepted part 2

I went to visit Riverdale Church last weekend to interview for the position of Director of Discipleship. 

I'd like to let everyone know that... I got the position!  As of June 15 I will be the Director of Discipleship at Riverdale United Presbyterian Church.  We also found a place to live, halfway between the seminary and the Church.

I really like the seminary.  I met a lot of great people and overall it just really feels like this is where God is calling me right now.  Praise the Lord!

Accepted

I got accepted to Pittsburgh Theological Seminary today. This is the next big step in the road to my ordination in the PC(USA). I'm so thankful to God for how good and faithful he is to me. I'm a little bit nervous... we're still not sure where we'll live and what not, but I know that God will work it out in the end. He always does :).

I'm also getting more and more nervous about my job interview this weekend. I really want this position. It would make life so much more fun for the next few years. Perhaps not easier, but certainly funner. I would love to do ministry full time while at seminary. This would also be the biggest church i've ever worked with. I'm just waiting on God now, though. Praise him!

Director of Discipleship

So, Today I wish I had blog readers...

We who are from para church organizations, and the from the Christian world in general, often hear the complaint that "the Church is not doing it's job!" in the area of "discipleship." Now, Discipleship is a very Christian word, which basically means bringing people up in faith in the Lord. A disciple is a follower of Jesus, and discipleship is the process we take to get there. We also get organizations, such as Campus Crusade, who verbify it. (Microsoft Word does not agree with this usage.) To Disciple someone means to teach them how to follow God. When I think of Discipleship I think of one on one relationships, in which people meet with one another and talk out various difficulties that younger believers might be having.

So, let's image that a Church wants to bring a person on staff who would be in charge of the disciple making process. First of all, who incredibly cool is that. I will tell you: very. I was looking at jobs that were available in the Pittsburgh Presbytery and I just thought, wow, this job looks awesome. The Church has been having a seeker friendly service for a number of years and has been attractive some new believers. Now they want to know what to do with them! This is such an awesome problem to have.

Now, my question is, what do you do? If you are given a blank slate, and your whole task is to figure out how to disciple Christians, what do you do? Do you create a network of leaders within the church who personally disciple others? Do you leave discipleship to small groups? Let me hear your thoughts, world!

Moving

Well, the world does not seem to be slowing down. I got a call from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary this morning and I was advised that it would be best if I take Hebrew at their seminary, as opposed to staying at Evangelical. So, we might be moving... in three weeks!

God is so good, though. I was exploring job opportunities in Pittsburgh and I came across a position for Director of Discipleship at a local PC church in Pittsburgh. It sounds perfect for me. I'm almost afraid of thinking about it too much because I know I will get my hopes higher than they should be. God is moving swiftly, it seems, but he's moving faithfully.

One of my biggest regrets about moving, however, will be that I just joined the Big Brothers Big Sisters program in the area. We applied at the begining of last year and I was only just accepted. If I move, I pray my little will find another Big. I feel so bad...

My first confession

I'm really afraid. I'm not sure if it's just part of my personality or what, but I'm generally a pretty scared person. Theoretically, I know that not much can go wrong (at least not as wrong as I image) yet I still fear.

Last January, I believe that God confirmed in my heart that he wants me to pursue ordination in the Presbyterian Church (USA). I have been going to seminary for one year at a Wesleyan School, yet my home church is PC(USA). Up until that point, I was afraid because I was not sure where my life was going. I then became scared that I was in the wrong place.

I had a meeting with the Committee for Preperation in Ministry last tuesday. It was probably the worst interview I have ever had, yet they approved me. They also asked me to look into a different seminary. I applied to Pittsburgh, and it looks like i'll be transfering at the end of the summer (if i'm accepted and they have housing). It's cheaper and there are more opportunities. I'm now afraid we won't get housing.

My wife has been complaining that she's not gaining any experience in her job. Today, she got demoted to a bagger at the store where she works. She is a waitress. Well, she was before she quit. I'm also afraid we won't have money to move.

I can go on and on, because I have a long history of living and fearing. Yet, Jesus teaches us not to fear. Jesus said: "Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

It's good to note how faithful God is to me even when I am unfaithful to him in my doubt and fear. My fear brings stress and doubt into my life. Yet Christ wants to redeem us from these things! It's so satisfying to realize that if we seek God's kingdom first, and his righteousness, he will provide everything that we truely need.

My Wife

Laurie, my wife, became a follower Christ by the influence of a Church of the Nazarene congregation. My home church is PC(USA). We both, however, draw most of our Christian roots from being involved with Campus Crusade in College. Recently, I believe that God has been leading me to pursue ordination in the PC(USA), so we thought it wise to begin worshiping with a Presbyterian congregation. While Laurie felt a little outside of her comfort zone at first, she has really enjoyed it.

So yesterday, while I was exploring seminaries, Laurie said to me, "I really like how we say a prayer of confession at Church every week." And, after I thought about it, I agreed. In fact, I felt like it was something that I had truely been missing for the past few years. We, Laurie and I, have a strong tendency to forget our own sinfulness in light of the awsomeness of God. In fact I will sometimes boast of the goodness that the Lord has done in my life while forgetting to give glory to God!

As a people seeking redemption and rescue from Christ, it is important to remember the struggle that we are in.