An Apology

Just A Simple Update

I am finally preparing to start writing again, but this post is just an update on where things stand with my life, family, work. There have been a lot of personal ups and downs over the last couple of months and even to this day I still have my days of struggle. Not a struggle of faith but a struggle of emotions. With that has come a lot of self examination (That is one topic I plan on doing some blogging about in the near future).

My wife Sabrina is an amazing woman. She has displayed grace in a way that very few people I imagine could. And our children are strong and precious at the same time. What a blessed man I am. We have been attending Capshaw Baptist Church and have found it to be just what we need at this stage of our lives. I look forward to getting more involved and plugged in there as a family.

As for my job situation I am currently still working at Sears. I can’t say enough how much I appreciate Scott Jackson (owner of Sears in Athens) for this opportunity but most of all for his friendship. I love you brother. This past week I turned a job down that I just couldn’t get a peace about and then in the last two days I have been called about job interviews. Talk about giving you hope…that will pump you up! One is in the DME business which is the same industry I used to work in and the other…well I need to wait before I comment on that one. If you are a praying person, please continue to pray for us that God will continue to guide us in every area of our lives and that we will be obedient to his leading.

I Made A Mess Of Me I Wanna Get Back The Rest Of Me

This is my theme song as I begin 2010.

Being “The New Guy” For The First Time In Over 20 Years.

For the last three weeks I have been attending a new church. It has been a new experience for me. After being at the same church for over twenty years and on staff there for over eleven, you forget that feeling of what it is like to be the new guy walking into a new church. So for the last three weeks it really hasn’t been a big deal. I slide in the back and sit in the balcony where the lights are low and the people are few. I just blend into the crowd. But today I decided to attend a small group (Sunday School Class for all my old school friends). I decided to attend for several reasons, but the main reason is because you can tell a lot more about a church by getting to know the people in a smaller setting. But they also can tell more about you. I had forgotten how it feels to walk into a group of around fifteen and you know no one in the room. Will they accept me? Will I have to sit on the front row? Will I like anyone there? Well the class was welcoming and very gracious and the leader was well prepared and did a great job of conducting our time together but after today I am a little more sensitive to those who are the “new guys”.

Tips To Overcoming The Stress Of Job Hunting

So maybe you find yourself out of work like 10% of the population right now. If so, then I don’t have to tell you that looking for work can be a  stressful thing. Remember that attitude is key in your motivation to not giving up and fighting to keep your edge among other applicants. Here are a few tips that I think will be beneficial to you in helping you keep a healthy positive attitude.

1. Do Something Everyday. By that I mean surf the job boards. Fill out applications. Upload your resume. Follow-up on leads you may have been given and don’t delay. Try registering with a professional networking site like Linkedin or others. The key is to be proactive everyday. Don’t let a day go by that you can’t look back and know that you took certain steps that may have gotten you one step closer to landing your dream job.

2. Dress for Success. Now many of you are thinking to yourself that you already know this. But I am not talking about an interview you may get. No, I am talking about the day you may spend at home on the computer searching the job boards. It may sound silly but one day can turn in to two and two to three and so on. With each day that goes by that you don’t shave and you are still wearing your PJs like some slob…you will begin to feel like a slob and become unmotivated. Now don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that you have to put on your suit everyday, but I think you get the idea. Plus you never know when you may get that phone call from a friend requesting to meet with them and a prospective employer over lunch.

3. Take Care of Yourself. If you are sitting at home looking for work don’t allow yourself to eat all the junk food in the house and drink all the soda. Your mental attitude is also directly tied to what you eat and the exercise you may or may not get. So take care of yourself. Make sure to eat food that will give you the energy and brain power you need. And find time to exercise each day, even if it’s just taking a walk. Exercise is  proven to reduce stress thus helping to clear your mind.

4. Pray. I’m not sure if you consider yourself to be a religious person or not, but there is a God who is sovereign over all things including your life. Turn to the creator and sustainer of all things. He cares for you. His name is Jesus.

It’s A New Day

November 22, 2009 I resigned my position at Lindsay Lane Baptist Church. I will not blog about the events of that week or on my current family situation. So if you are looking for some juicy gossip to tickle your ears…then turn on the TV because you won’t find any here. No I am going to be blogging about today and tomorrow, well maybe lessons from the past.

So where am I today you ask? I am currently looking for a career in the health care industry again. I have over seven years in the Home Medical Equipment industry with a reputable company by the name of Med-South, Inc. I started out at the bottom of the company and by God’s grace and the generous offers from corporate I made my way up through the company. The years I spent there and the relationships I built were a blessing and a joy.

I am learning a lot right now too. I am learning that looking for work and the way you go about it these days have changed so much. The classified ads in the local paper offer very little these days (yes I know I am showing my age). The internet job sites and social networks are the way to go these days. Well maybe I should wait till I am employed before I type that. I am also learning a lot about myself. I am a complicated person. Not high maintenance. In fact I need very little to be fulfilled as a person. But I am complicated. If you are not exactly sure what that means, that is ok because I don’t either. I’m not exactly sure what shape my blog will take in the future or what I will be doing three months from now, but one thing I do know is that I will be being changed from one degree of glory to another.

To Dream

To dream is to experience what reality can never provide and what no one can ever take away.
When I dream joy is deeper, life is fuller, and love is lasting.
Reality robs. To dream is to abound.
Time traps. To dream is to be free.
Death destroys. To dream is to never think upon such things.
To dream is to know a life this one cannot give.

Lord, Change My Attitude

Here is the new ETS class I will be leading starting Sunday night, August 9 at 6:oopm. The class will run for 12 weeks. It is scheduled to be in the choir suite.

Restrained By Grace

As a born again Christian when one sees or hears the word “grace”, we so often think of our conversion or salvation. We think of the song Amazing Grace and what Christ did for us. But we rarely think of it as something that God is still working into our lives on a daily basis. We may also not realize that even unbelievers experience God’s grace on a daily basis, but they do (whether they acknowledge it or not). God’s grace is displayed in many forms and one of those forms is called restraining grace (sometimes preventing grace).

This is a grace that believers and non believers alike all experience. And it is something that, like all of his expressions of grace, we should be so grateful for.

Retraining grace is God working in our lives in such a way as to keep us from sinning. Or to put it another way, it is God “preventing” us from sinning. Even though we may desire to sin,  God steps in and intervenes, thus stopping us from sinning. Can this be found in scripture though? Yes.

In Genesis chapter 20 we see where Abraham had his wife Sarah tell King Abimelech that she was Abraham’s wife. So Abimelech took Sarah into his home. But the Lord spoke to Abimelech in a dream and told him that Sarah was Abraham’s wife. Abimelech told the Lord that he was innocent and had not touched her. TheLord responded in verse 6 by saying: “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her” (emphasis added).

In 1 Samual chapter 25, David and 400 of his men have strapped on their swords and are going to deal with a man by the name of Nabal. Nabal’s wife, Abigail, rushes to meet David and his men in an attempt to stop them from killing her husband. In verse 26 she says: “Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal” (emphasis added).

And looking at Romans chapter 1 we see that in reference to men’s constant sinning,  it is mentioned 3 times that “God gave them over”. For God to give them over to their sin and their own ways, then there must have been something holding them back or restraining them. Knowing the true condition of fallen man in this world one shudders to think of what the world would be like if it were not for God’s restraining grace. Because of it we are able to continue to live in a somewhat orderly society.

John Owen in his book on Indwelling Sin says that God works his restraining grace out in our lives in two main ways.

1. Rational Considerations: This is where God allows man to think over the consequences of his desired actions. He allows fear of death, judgement, punishment and even hell to cause us to choose what is correct.
2. Providentual Dispensations: This is by in large a mystery, as is all of God’s sovereignty. But It is God’s control over all of creation and his ability at any moment to use anyone or thing to stop us from sinning if he so chooses.

And yet all of this is underserved and is why it is called grace. We all have benefited from this type grace. So often we may not even know it. So let us be careful that we don’t somehow think that we are so strong and become prideful. Owen said in reference to this subject in another book of his that “Until we are tempted, we think we live on our own strength.” Sometimes we are blessed to see and know that it was God and God alone who has kept us from ruin. Rejoice and be thankful! Knowing that you have a God who loves you enough to save you from yourself.

My First Trip To The Southern Baptist Annual Convention

So I have been a Southern Baptist all my life.  No really all of it. And I have been in the ministry since 1999 and I have never been, nor cared to go to an SBC meeting. This year all that changed. For about a year leading up to the meeting, I began to feel compelled to get more involved in or denominations convention. Issues were beginning to be raised that were important to me, and I also felt should be important to the local church. There was also a lot of division in the denomination. Mostly between younger leaders and older leaders. Calvinist and Non-Calvinist. Old school vs. new ideas. In many ways it was a fight for our identity. But just a few months before the convention Danny Akin gave us his 12 axioms of a Great Commission Resurgence (GCR). Our President Johnny Hunt took those and ran with them. A divine movement had begun. I wanted to be a part.

So me and Nathan Dewberry (Student Pastor) made our hotel reservations for Louisville, Kentucky, and off we went. What took place during that week was historic and life giving to our denomination. For starters I noticed young adults. All I had ever heard is how the convention is dying out and it is nothing but a gray headed convention. Surprise! Then the messages (for the most part) were some of the most powerful sermons I have ever heard preached. At one point at the beginning of the week many people made their way to the stage to kneel, weep and repent. This was also a convention like no other in that it united young and old, Calvinist and non-Calvinist, Old school and pioneers. The one cause, the one heart beat, was the Great Commission Resurgence. Taking the gospel to the world and making disciples.

Another thing that added to the week were the additional gatherings that brought leaders together like the BaptistTwentyOne Panel discussion (awesome!) and Nine Marks at Nine. As I said before that this was my first trip to a convention, but it was obvious and spoken by all that the Holy Spirit was doing a work in a mighty way. So I am excited about our direction as a denomination. But it also hits closer to home for me. I have a renewed zeal and excitement to proclaim the gospel to those around me. To cut the “fat” from my own personal life and get real about what Christ has called me to do.

Through this experience I have made many new friends through Twitter who were there and I look forward to hearing how God is moving them and their churches. By God’s grace, I will attend next year. See you then.