A Very Thin Line

There are several things in life that there is a thin line between the two. Creed from "The Office" made the comment one episode that the only difference between him and a homeless man is his job. In this episode Creed messed up and his job was at stake. Creed, doing the only thing that Creed could do, turned the blame around on another lady and ended up getting her fired so that he could keep his job. There is a thin line between Creed and a homeless man.

There is also a thin line between loving "love" and hating "love". Love can make you do some things that you normally wouldnt do. Love will cause a playa to settle down with 1 woman forever. Love will make you stay up all night watching over your children to make sure they are safe. Love will keep you in the gym shooting free throws all day long, so that you will get better.

Love can also drive us crazy. It seems like so many times love leads to heartache. The people in our life that we love have the ability to do what they want to with our heart, feelings, and emotions. I believe that we are created with a desire to be loved. I also believe that we are created with a desire to love other people. Erwin McManus said "When love does not come to you, it breaks your heart, but when you do not give love away, it hardens your heart." Why are we so affected by its presence and its absence? We are most alive when we find it, most devastated when we lose it, most empty when we give up on it, most inhumane when we betray it, and most passionate when we pursue it.

It's so important that we love the right things/people and allow the right them to love us back. McManus concluded with this, "The most powerful evidence that our souls crave God is that within us there is a longing for love."

We are all connected by a thin line.

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Calling All Passionate People

There is nothing in this world more impacting, intoxicating, or better than to meet someone with passion. I love meeting people that are passionate about anything: their family, sports, Jesus, school, their job, etc... Passion is a strange thing. It will take you to many great places but it will also make you do some crazy things.

Passion says: ive got to study tonight

Ordinary says: i can read through it in the morning

Passion says: stay up late shooting 1000 free throws every night

Ordinary says: no one else is doing it why should i

Passion says: im skipping time with my friends to spend with my family

Ordinary says: i can be with my family tomorrow

Passion says: Lord give me more boldness

Ordinary says: we've been punished we must stop talking about Jesus

Acts 4:29 we find Peter and John gathered with other believers and praying for greater boldness to spread the message of Christ. It takes passion for Jesus and passion for other people to want MORE boldness to spread God's message after just getting in trouble for doing that very thing.

I hope that i am never ordinary, average, or just acceptable. God through me leads me to be bold and passionate for the things and the people in my life.

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Count the Cost

Someone once said there is nothing in this world free. You don't receive anything unless you pay something for it. If you have been to WalMart anytime lately, then you are well aware of this fact of life. (On a side note, I went to the WalMart in Asheboro last week and they have a big UNC / Back to School section. They have everything you could imagine in Carolina Blue. I left with a UNC shower curtin.) If you drive a car, then you pay for the car, insurance, gas, etc... If you live in a house, you pay for the rent, house payment, heat, air, power, etc... Everything may have a price, but not everything cost money. If any of you want to be a professional athlete, it will cost you time, blood, sweat, effort, to put in the hard work that it takes to be a professional athlete.

The Christian life is no different. It cost us something to follow Jesus Christ. That price is simply your life. There is no amount of money, time, effort, etc... that you can give to Jesus to substitute for your life. When the decision is made to follow Jesus, at the same time the decision is made for your life to be over. All of your dreams, hopes, desires, wants, etc... all become what God wants, dreams and desires for your life. The cost of following Jesus is a high cost that a lot of people believe they cant afford to pay. When Jesus called His first disciples He called them to leave their jobs and families and come follow Him. The call for us is no different. When we follow Jesus our lives have to change to the life that God wants to live through us.

The question we have to answer is: Is the cost worth the reward? Is the reward of serving people, being a slave to God, putting other people first, and the great reward in Heaven worth the cost of me not being as important as i thought i was. Or me having to deny myself and pick up my cross and die daily.

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I Just Can't Stop...

"I just cant stop", have those words ever came out of your mouth? If so, I wonder what you were referring to: watching tv, eating candy, being mean to people, saying cuss words, having premarital sex, stealing, looking at porn, telling lies, etc... Have those words ever came out of your mouth? If so, please no that you, along with me, are in a very dangerous place. When we get into something so deep that we feel like we "just cant stop" we are addicted to it. The problem with realizing your addictions is that no one wants to admit to being addicted because we like to be in control. If i had to admit that i was addicted to stealing stuff that would mean that Im not in control of my life anymore, the addiction is.

The Bible doesn't use the word "addicted" it more commonly uses the word "enslaved". Being addicted to pornography is the same as being a slave to porn. If there is anything worse than being addicted to something, it's being a slave to it. In today's "IM BIG AND BAD, I CAN DO ANYTHING I WANT BY MYSELF" society, no one wants to admit that they are addicted and we surely dont want to admit that we are enslaved to something. "This is a free country, Im free to do what i want and go where I want, Im not a slave to no one or nothing." 2nd Peter 2:19 puts it this way, "For people are slaves of anything that controls them." If you we were really free, we would be free to stop sinning. However, since we "just can't stop" we are in the same position as someone locked in a jail cell...a prisoner.

Luckily for us we have a Great Redeemer who wants to free us from anything that has us enslaved, tied up, in bondage to, etc... Redemption is synonymous with being liberated, set free, rescued from bondage or slavery from any person or thing. The prototype of this type of redemption is when God rescued the Israelites from the bondage of Pharaoh in Egypt.

Redemption always comes with the backdrop of helplessness. We see humans captured and held against forces they cannot overcome. Only by the involvement of a powerful third party can the captives be released from bondage and set free. The good news is that God is more powerful than anything, including your sinful desires. If you turn from sin and trust in Jesus, God the Holy Spirit will indwell you. As a result, you will receive a new power by which to say no to your sinful desires and yes to the holy desires of God.

God is willing and ready to redeem us from the things in our lives that we are enslaved to. It doesn't matter if it's something small or big, our redeemer is ready to set us free.

Let's Fight

I LOVE RIC (WOOOOO) FLAIR!!

Some of you may know that I used to be (still am a little) a HUGE professional wrestling fan. In my opinion and widely agreed upon by other professional wrestlers, Ric Flair is the greatest wrestler of all time. I believe the reason he is so loved is because he was not only the best good guy ever, he was also the best bad guy ever. In professional wrestling the bad guys goal is to make the audience hate at them. There has never been another wrestler that is more hated than Ric Flair. He would talk about your momma, girlfriend, wife, and space mountain all in the same sentence. By the end of his statement you would be ready to climb over the guard rail and whip his tail. No matter how many people hated him when it was time for him to turn into a good, the same people that hated him felt sorry for him because he was cheated in some way. I love Ric Flair.

I love the action of professional wrestling. There are always people jumping off the top rope, off of a cage, or hitting someone with a steel chair. I think I just like seeing people fight. I remember being in high school and seeing a couple of fights. The best one was between 2 girls and it took 4 teachers to break them to chics apart. I've never been in a fight myself. I've been close a few times playing basketball and either me acting like i shouldnt be or someone else acting up and neither one of us knowing when to stop. I believe that if i was ever was in a fight i would win because of all the training I've got from Ric Flair over the years.

Ive been reading a book titled Death By Love (they have a Facebook page, check it out.) In the first chapter it talks about a young lady that was deep into sexual sin with multiple partners. The young lady states in the book that she wanted her dad to catch her having sex with a boy so that he would stop them and she wouldnt have to do it any more. She purposely had sex in their house while her dad was home so that she would get caught. Her dad never stepped in and further more he went on to make fun of her having so many boyfriends coming over to the house. This book is written from the Pastors viewpoint in his letters to her. In his letter to her he reminds her that even though her earthly father would never stick up and fight for her, her Heavenly Father has already fought the fight and won the fight so that she can have life to the fullest. Not only would her Heavenly Father fight for her but her church family and her husband (both who are christians and church attenders now) and he as her Pastor would fight for her.

I wonder how many people that have came through my path that needed someone to fight for them and i didnt. Either because i was to scared or didnt notice they needed someone to fight for them. My prayer is that I will live my life with God's eyes and heart, so that when my friends, family, or church family needs someone to stand up for them and fight for them because no one else will, I WILL FIGHT FOR THEM. I will not back down because YOU are to important to me and to God for me to step aside and let you keep walking.

Please forgive me if you have been in my life and i didnt fight for you. I make a commitment to you and to God that you are not to unimportant to me and to God for me to go to bat and to fight for you.

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Foster St. Wesleyan Church YOUTH

It is 12:06 am on Tuesday July 20th. I am very excited about the next month. Recently, Callie and I took a job at Foster St. Wesleyan Church in Asheboro NC. In less than 1 month we will have our kick off youth night on Sunday Aug. 15th. We have been planning and brainstorming ideas for different things to do with the teens at FSC. Both of us are about to bust with excitement about what God has in store for the teens in Asheboro. Between myself and other leaders at the church we have come up with different ways that we can serve the schools and the community to express to the community our love for them.

In the past couple of months we have been working on video packages, games, music ideas, youth group name, room designs, ministry opportunities, and everything else that you can think of. Some of you that read this I will be approaching to ask for you to partner with us in different activities. Callie and I both feel so blessed to be apart of a church family that loves Jesus and loves other people. Again, we are both very excited about moving ahead to see what God has in store for FSC in the next phase of our youth ministry.

For those of you that read this blog, I ask that you to will partner with myself, Callie, and the other leaders at FSC, and join us as we pray for the teens in the community and for Gods direction and anointing. Please over the next couple of weeks and months remember us in your prayers and lets team up together and do some amazing things for God's kingdom in Asheboro.

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a funeral vs. a celebration

On thursday i attended a funeral at our church in jamestown. a lady in the church had bone cancer and passed away monday. a lot of people don't like going to funerals. I, however, am not one of these people. I sometimes wonder what my funeral will be like. Will there be a lot of people? Will be people be crying? Will someone come that I havent seen in years? All those things I have thought about concerning my funeral. That is until yesterday. The Pastor that did the funeral made a statement, "Funeral's are for people that don't know Jesus. Celebrations are for people who die in Christ." There have never been more true words spoken. The "funeral" i went to yesterday quickly turned into a CELEBRATION b/c of the lady's life. She died in Christ and no one there could claim anything different.

Over 10 years ago i made a commitment to Jesus to change and save my life. At the same time I made a commitment not to have a funeral but to have a celebration. There is nothing sad about someone passing away that is a Christian. There is nothing sad about someone passing away that is now alive in Christ.

Paul questions in Philippians whether he wants to say alive or die and be with God. He concluded that it's better for the people around him that he's alive until his work is done. If we can live our lives with a purpose and that kind of mindset that it's more important for the people around us that we live than die, that will not only change our life but the people's lives around us. The challenge for all of us is to live a life that reflects Jesus so that it impacts and influences people around us.

I cant wait for people to celebrate my life when i'm gone. But until then my life will be lived with purpose to impact the people around me for Jesus Christ. Then and only then will people celebrate my life, like we did yesterday.

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MADE TO LAST

So the past 2 weeks with our youth group we have been talking about how we can live forever. God created us to last forever. We have to exp. date, there is no time when our soul comes to an end. Simply put we are created to LAST FOREVER. For anyone that has been in the church for any amount of time you know that you can only live forever with Jesus Christ. It is just a awesome thought to know that no matter what the enemy throws at you, nothing can harm you b/c of Jesus.

One main concept that we have to understand (to the best of our ability) to live forever is that of God's Grace. It's easy for someone to say that God's grace is so amazing, but I believe it goes much deeper than that. To often I (i'm sure much like you) take advantage of God's grace. We feel entitled to the things that we have, we feel that we deserve the things that we have. Every blessing that I have in my life (life, health, family, friends, food, house, etc...) is all b/c of God's grace. I am a sinful person and born into a sinful world, disobedient and disconnected from God. It's only b/c of God's grace that He blessed me and you with the blessings that He has.

Be thankful today and don't take it for granted. God's grace goes far beyond anything that we can image. Live today accepting and receiving God's grace on your life. The ultimate example of God's grace is Jesus Christ. God sent His Son Jesus to live die and live again all while we were still sinners. That is grace...Be thankful...Accept it

"The word GRACE emphasizes at one and the same time the helpless poverty of man and the limitless kindness of God" -William Barclay

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Somethings Rub Me The Wrong Way

As a Youth Pastor i face many challenges during the average week. The challenges could be a number of different things: lack of adult help, lack of rescources, lack of leadership, etc... I can think back and remember one wed. night when we had about 50 teens in our youth ministry and me plus 1 other adult. you talk about having a wild night and not enough eyes to watch every thing thats going on.

Out of all the things that could possibably get me down, i think the biggest would be the lack of commitment that some teens have. No doubt there are some teens in every youth group that you would almost pay them a salary to come to your youth night. They are always paying attention, always the first one to step up and lead something in the ministry, and always someone you can depend to be the "leader" of the group. However, I also believe that there are some teens in every youth ministry that almost seem like they are there to bring down everybody in the group including the Y.P. I believe that i have been in youth ministry leadership long enough that i know how to handle someone being disruptive or loud or being a distraction.

However, what i can not handle or control is what the teens do when they leave our youth group meeting. There is nothing worse for me than to see a student being so involved in every aspect of a youth night, then as soon as they get home they completely forget everything that was said and done 25 min. ago at church. I came home after a youth night and saw 2 boys that were both at our church 1 hour ago, were already on facebook calling each other and other people names that have no reason to be coming out of the mouth of a christain.

There is nothing that rubs me worse or takes all the air out of me than to see that. Maybe i need to be more clear about what it is that, not only me but God, expects from them as Jesus followers. I am a huge believer in loving the unloved and loving the "least of theses", but goodnight i get so worked up when i see a lack of commitment like this.

I would love to know your thoughts or suggestions.

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ANYONE THIRSTY?

I absolutely love SUNKIST drinks. Without a doubt that is the best drink ever created. It's just sweet enough, tangy enough, and orange enough to be the best ever. There was a time when I would easily drink 1-2 20 oz. bottles of Sunkist every single day. I LOVE IT!!! However, recently due to some injuries that I have had, I have not been able to do anything active (run, play basketball, work out, etc...). So before I get my body to a place where I will be able to sign up to be on The Biggest Loser tv show, I have decided to cut back 95% of all soft drinks. Including Sunkist. This past Tuesday night I fell off the wagon. I went over to one of my boys house to watch the UNC vs NCSU bball game. One the way there I stopped at the store and bought a Sunkist to enjoy during the game. It's almost like once I tasted it once, years ago, i cant stop drinking it.

A lot of people talk about the famous story in the Bible when Jesus ministers to the "woman and the well". In this story Jesus offers her "living water" so that she will "never thirst again". I believe that Jesus offered her, what would have the same effect on me, Sunkist. It's not that Jesus would give her water 1 time and then she would never drink anymore.

I believe the mistake that we make is think that God will only give us water once and it's supposed to last a lifetime. God didnt give us water that will last a lifetime (Leonard Sweet). He gives us water that will make us want to drink more and more and more and more. Everytime we search for more of the living water that God gives us, He will gladly fill up our jars once more.
TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD

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UPDATES

Today is tuesday jan. 5th...therefore last night was monday jan. 4th and carolina lost to the college of charleston...enough said im not happy.

Some of you guys may know that back in april i hurt my back playing basketball. i have a compressed or bulging disk in my back. since april i have woken up and lived life everyday in pain. for anyone that has ever had back pain before you know that it effects every part of your life. you cant sit, lay, stand, or move without your back hurting. my gorgeous wife has been picking up a huge load of the slack that i physically cant do....until the day after christmas. she was coming down the steps and was on the 3rd one from the bottom, she slipped and now has a bruised tailbone. now everytime something falls on the floor i am the one that has to suck it up and bend over and pick it up. luckily my back is a little better so we are able to do our daily activities.

Heres my point...it doesnt matter whose hurt worse, we will always be there for each other. i have her back and i know she has mine. much like God has our back. no matter what we're going through or where we're at in life God will have our back. some how some way He will help us to bend over and pick things up when they fall to the ground

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