Why?

A little bit further in the book of Genesis we come upon the story of Joseph. Wow what a life he had!!! Because he was one of his fathers youngest sons his father payed more attention to him. . Even at this young age Joseph started having dreams that even his father didnt think were true because it meant that he would bow down to him. Of course you know his brothers got jelous because of the dreams and plotted to kill him but God would not allow it.

 God watched over Joseph even when he was sold into slavery, put in jail becuase of lies from a woman that could have him for herself.  With all of this, God blessed him with interpeting pharoh's dreams. With this he rose to second in power in pharoh's land. So look back, one of the youngest in a household and well liked, sold to slavery because of his brothers, rose to be over Potiphar's house, his wife lied so Joseph got put in jail, kept doing God's will by interperting dreams and Pharoh brought him out of jail to be second in his house!!

 What a rollercoaster ride!!!! Over all of this time Joseph never stopped doing God's will or stopped following his laws. Even when was a slave or in jail God always blessed him and the people around him knew it.

So this bears the question, are you one of the people that would cry out and ask why to God when something bad happens or do you have the faith to know that he has a plan for what has happened. You know no matter what happens in our lives it is our human nature to ask why. We won't always see the end result of why something happened but the when the worst things happen, the best things come of it. I know that this is hard to believe but it does happen. Sometimes we all need a slap in the face to get back on the right track!!! Maybe it is something as simple and not getting our way in something that we want to do or as harsh as loosing a loved one.

So next time you are praying and somehting that you want doesnt happen or something bad happens just remember, God's time isnt nessacaeraly our time. Just think if it was, we would all win the lottery tomorrow, have a big house in the country and 0 bills!!! If it could only be that easy right. You can always go back to the old saying, if it doesnt kill us, it will make us stronger.

How strong is your faith?

While doing a little listening to the Bible this morning the story of Noah came up. Pretty much a story that most children even know at  this point. What really got me thinking was the faith that it took to make that happen. First, to get a calling to make something that massive to begin with was a tremendous test. While building it you know every day multiple people probably came up to him and made fun, called names, and lots of other things because he was not doing the normal thing. Not only just that Noah was not a young man by any stretch of the imagination, he was 600 when the flood came to the earth.  So when the flood came it rained 40 days and 40 nights, and it took a year and 10 days after it started until he came out of the ark to dry land. Can you even start to imagine not only are you going through rough seas during the flood but to stay on the water that long and not see any dry land? Then to get stuck on something and then to take 40 days to start seeing other mountain tops. Just that in itself would have gotten your hopes up. Just like the pastor was preaching today on trials and triumphs, all the trials that Noah and his family had to endure that you really don't truly see the end result. Just because you are going through the trial God has the plan and it will greatly affect more than just you. Noah brought his family and all the animals on the ark with him and we wouldn't be here today if his faith wasn't strong enough to keep him on the right track. So for all his trials and tribulations that he had to endure during the building of and the flood itself had the triumphs of saving his family and Gods creatures. Wouldn't it be awesome to see all of God's children have enough faith to strive through the trials only to know that there is a plan that we may not see but will have a profound effect on us and the people that we have contact with.

Wow, I can't believe I am going to do this for Lent!!!!

Tis the season for Lent. I hear a lot of people talking about it and saying what they are giving up but do you really know the reason behind it? Lent is a way of fasting of our luxury items as a form of repentance for the wrongdoings that we do on a normal basis. So what are you giving up??? The whole point is to give up something that normally you don't go without. I.e. if you drink lots of sweet tea (this guy) then out of respect I possibly could give that up. But what is the point of giving something up if it doesn’t mean anything to you? Last year my family and I went on a fast of no media for 1 week. Coming out of that week there was definitely a different outlook on things that we didn’t see before. But, as always because it was only a week it wasn't normality for us so we went right back to the daily routine. Most people say you need to do something for a month to make it become a routine so this is a perfect time to make that happen.

So as most of you know I am a very and I mean VERY avid gamer!! So to put that on the spot I am giving up my games i.e... Xbox, 360, ps3, phone, iPod, ds. This is a big leap for me since on most nights I use gaming to wind down before I go to sleep. What I want to come out of this time is to make what we as a family had last year when we fasted a routine and not just something that we do for a week. 

So, think of something that you basically can't live without but really can i.e., TV, video games, music.... now think what time would you have in your day if you took that time and devoted it to reading the Bible, listening to preaching, getting stuff done around the house that has just been sitting there... I know personally and I am very ashamed to admit it that I spend entirely too much time playing games!!! But unfortunately it has become a normal thing for me and I don't want it to any more. So now you know where the title came from!!! Please pray about what God is calling you to give up for lent and don’t take it for granted, you never know where it may lead.