Halloween---Condemn or Redeem

 

First off Happy Birthday to Annie, my oldest daughter,  my Halloween Treat. You make Halloween even more special with your birth.

 

I am so glad and proud of leading a church that instead of condemning Halloween we strive to make it better for the children. It was definitely notice by many children attending our Harvest Carnival.  When I was younger my churches just condemned it and did nothing to celebrate it, but even didn’t not want kids going trick or treating even.

 

Many people of our church put in a lot of time and energy and Candy to make sure that when children walked through the doors of our church, they experienced love and acceptance and candy and played games and even played on the bounce house but they knew it was safe and friendly and loving.

 

We have a choice as churches and Christians to condemn these holidays or to redeem them. We chose as a church to redeem Halloween and use it as an outreach to the community. It was great watching children running with excitement to the church to see what was going to happen, I wish that was our every Sunday approach. That people would run to church with excitement to see what was going to happen.

 

Shouldn’t was all be wanting children and adults running into church in great anticipation that something good is going to happen.

 

In preparation for our Harvest Carnival, we had our youth carving pumpkins for decorations.

What would happen if this is how we would carve our pumpkins, I wonder what they may look like?????

 

(First cut off top of pumpkin}
Lord, open my mind so I can learn new things about you.

 

{remove innards}
Remove the things in my life that don’t please you.
Forgive the wrong things I do and help me to forgive others.

 

{cut open eyes}
Open my eyes to see the beauty you’ve made in the world around me.

 

{cut out nose}
I’m sorry for the times I’ve turned my nose at the good food you provide.

 

{cut out mouth}
Let everything I say please You.

 

{light the candle}
Lord, help me show your light to others through the things I do. Amen

 

Maybe just maybe after you are done your pumpkin it may resemble someone you know.

 

Instead of judging things for evil, why not try to make them something to reach people for Christ in Love....

Just a thought.

Is It Raining on You

In Matthew 5:45 it states that God sends rain on the just and unjust or the righteous and unrighteous or my take the Christians and the non-Christians. He sends rain on everyone.

 

So  it was raining a couple days ago and I was thinking as I saw people in a parking lot going to and from their cars to the Grocery store….

 

All of them had to walk in the rain. Whether they were Christians or Sinners, they had to walk in the rain. The rain fell on them all. The big difference I found out about these people is how they dealt with the rain.  

 

Some just got out of their vehicle and ran to the store thinking they would get less wet.

(Myth busters disproved that).

 

Some just walked and knew they were going to get wet and I don’t think cared and were apathetic about the whole thing and were not even going to make an attempt  to stay dry.. 

 

Then there were some people who prepared for the rain. They opened their doors up just enough to put out and open their umbrella. Then got out of the car with an umbrella over them..

 

Then there are those that have someone drive them up to the door and they hardly get wet at all.

 

Which one of these are you????

 

Because in your life it is going to rain and storm on you. I can guarantee it!!!!

 

In life we get rained and stormed on and sometimes it becomes a monsoon but whatever size the storm or the rain is we need to be prepared.

 

When it is raining on you and you know it is going to affect your life, do you put up your protection of God’s umbrella???

Do you even have that umbrella or is God not a part of your life so you are just running around getting wet and suffering for it??

 

Mark Twain once said, "The rain is famous for falling on the just and unjust alike, but if I had the management of such affairs, I would rain softly and sweetly on the just, but if I caught a sample of the unjust outdoors, I would drown him."

 

I think most of us can relate some days.

 

 It is a good thing God is God and not us.

 

Here’s my take on it: because God is merciful and gracious and abounding in steadfast love, we ourselves are assured of forgiveness; there can be redemption; and there are second chances.

 

Today is the day you can open the umbrella of God to protect you but you have to go to Him and ask him for it. You need to ask him into your life to take control.

 

Then you can quit tell God how big your Storm is and start telling your Storm how Big your God is!!!!!!

 

Just a thought!!!!!!!!

Hero to Zero

Last Sunday night, our church had an all church skating night. I love these skating nights because I have skated since I was little. If I got my room clean then my brother and I could go skating. We would go every Saturday. The owner would teach us tricks and how to speed skate.


 I met my wife Stephanie skating. Stephanie and I both have our own skates. I am a great skater, I can skate backwards, sideways, I can spin..... I say all this to explain my Hero to Zero night of skating.


I hadn't been feeling well for a few weeks and so Stephanie and I both left our personal skates at home because I told Stephanie and my children I wasn't going to skate. 


I was doing well, just hanging out and playing pool with some of the teens. Then they had the numbers game and said you could play it with or without skates. So I went out in my shoes and actually won the game never leaving the number 4 corner.




 I went back to my pool playing. When all of a sudden I heard them stop the music and said please stop and go in the opposite direction, It was 6:22 pm because I looked at the clock and started thinking I love going in the opposite direction because I can skate side ways the whole time, like I am surfing. I had the rationale that It wouldn't hurt if I just went around a few times sideways.


Temptation starts when we have the rationale that it won't hurt if I just do it a little.


So I walked up to the skate counter and asked if I could borrow a pair of skates for the opposite direction skate. The owner is a friend of mine so they gave me a professional pair just like mine.


Again I had the thought that if I am going to go around just a couple of times I probably don't need to lace my skates up all the way and just tied them half way up. They were pretty lose.


Temptation continues when you start cutting corners in life because you think you are so good you don't have to do what you know you need to do to be safe.


So I skated up to go on the skate floor and Stephanie saw me and said , What do you think you are doing??  I thought we agreed that we both were not going to skate.   I reply but it will just be a couple of laps...... (at the end of the night she told me she thought I had asked for the opposite direction skate.)


So I went out and started skating and came to the first turn and then turned my skates and started skating sideways... I was thinking yeah look at me, I am the man. the announcer announced that I was out on the skating floor and now I am thinking I am all that and a bag of chips...... til I came to the second end by where I had started.


Temptation continues when you think you can't fail because you are so awesome and nothing can stop me and you don't need to listen to great advice.


Just as I was coming around the corner picking up speed, 2 children without skates ran onto the skate floor right in front of me and I thought if I hit them, I would kill them. (normally if my skates were tied tight and I was skating straight this wouldn't have been such a problem. I probably would have just grabbed them and kept on skating but I was skating sideways in very loose skates.


 The only way that I could see to not hit them was to hit one of the pillars in the middle of the skate floor and spin around it and miss the children. So I turned into the pillar(okay I hit the Pillar) and spun around it and spared these 2 children. I thought I heard clapping and cheering that I was a hero for not running into these children. I hear them talking and my chest swells.  I think I am a Hero and so I may go around one more time like a victory lap. Because I am The MAN!!


Temptation can come when you get a swelled head and you think you are a Hero...PRIDE!!!!




So as I start out on my own personal victory lap, I run into the wall but that does stop me I am a hero and on a hero lap... I come around the first turn on the other end and am picking up speed.  AS I come down the straight way I am cruising along and then as I come up to the second end. you will never guess what happened! A little boy with no skates runs out on to the floor followed by 3 adults chasing him and I again am about to kill a child and take the parents out as well.  Can't get to the pillar so I decide if I spin around I can go straight and try to avoid them.  Did I mention I didn't tie my skates or tighten them before I skated??  


I went to spin, which if I had taken some time with my skates wouldn't have been an issue, and I lost control and spun myself into the splits and threw myself onto the floor... It hurt BAD,,, REAALLY BAD!!!!   My  18 year old comes over and asked me if I split my pants. I say no as I am moaning a bit. Stephanie comes up and kept asking me if I wanted ice and  I very politely said no.


I didn't want to get up, I kick off my loose skates without untying them. I sit up and start to untie my skate the man running the skating told me I didn't have to undue the skates he would get them,. but asked me if I was okay. I got up slowly and walked awkwardly off the floor and felt sick.


I no longer felt like a hero, right now I totally felt like a ZERO.  


I had to drive our church van home with the teens and could barely lift my leg off the gas to push the brake..


I share this story because this all started when I started to think I knew what was best for me and thought I had a better plan and so I didn't listen to anyone else.  After I ran into trouble the first time instead of stopping because I already hurt from hitting the pole, knowing I probably shouldn't be on skates, I let my pride take over thinking again I knew what was best and I crashed and burned.


How many times do we think we know the plan for our life better than God?


WE let pride get in the way and keep doing what we know we shouldn't be doing and get hurt. We want to blame the children, the skates , and everyone, sometimes we even blame God.


 We blame everyone but ourselves for not doing what we knew we should be doing.


WE need to know that God has a plan for our lives and it is a good plan.


If you want to be the MAN,          then follow God's plan!!!!

The Bus Principle

When I am up at 2:00am because of all the prednisone I am on is both good and bad. Bad because I can't sleep but Good because I get some great ideas. In fact before I started writing this blog. I had ideas for 2 sermons I am going to do in November that I think God will love. I am almost done with both of them. Go God.


Okay enough of that rabbit trail and on to why I am writing this blog.


Last I got a text from a friend of mine that His Uncle had died instantly of a heart attack while helping someone out. NO, notice. NO, warning signs. NO good byes, He just died.


In the past few months I have done 5 funerals and 1 memorial service and between these deaths and funerals it makes me think more about my mortality and if I died.


Which brings up the Bus principle, I got this from Mike McFarren,, so if I get hit by a bus does My ministry still go on???  Did I raise up enough leaders?


My thought is this, did I raise up someone else to take my spot if I get hit by a bus? Did I raise up loving people to care for others??


Did I invest in someone to lead the church or lead ministries so that if I am gone the church will still go on??


As Jesus invested in 12 because he was great. Nate cannot go on forever and twelve might be a stretch for me but I think I can at least invest in ONE.


I have come to the conclusion that I may not be able to change everyone  or even 12 but I can help change someone.


Which brought about what I want on my tombstone.
 "Nate Tried to change the World one person at a time"


So I try to spend my life helping others and trying to make a difference in their lives and trying to help them encounter Jesus Christ but at the same time I am always looking for that "ONE"


That one who can carry on the legacy of God.
That one that can make a difference in someone's life.
That one who can continue the work of God that I have started.


There are so many people out there hurting from life, they need people to love and care about them like Jesus did. We all need to be doing this and I hope we are.


 If you aren't you can start now.
If you are doing this, then who are you investing in to keep your legacy alive if you get hit by a bus.....


My prayer is that you don't get hit by a bus but that you would prepare as if the bus is coming...




Just a Thought

How long do you let it Go??

This blog is being written at 2:00 am because the prednisone is getting to me and the Ambien is not working so please forgive if it makes no sense. lol




When I haven't been feeling well, I have used the same towel for at least a week. after a while I it starts to smell but I soon get used to the smell and am willing to tolerate it. So I let it go.






A couple of days ago when the family was walking through the mud room where our shoes are, everyone said that they smelled something but no one did any thing about it. when we came home we all smelled it again and each person had there own idea of what it was. I thought it was a dead animal
.




We let this go on for about 3 or 4 days, and finally I though I needed to start searching for the origin of the smell and get rid of it. I though for sure I would find a dead mouse. What I found was some had taken out frozen chicken and forgotten to put it back in the freezer, I got rid of it and opened some windows and the smell went away.






How many times in our Life, have we had stink on us because of something we have said or done and not taken care of it, and we just start getting used to it.




It may not be a physical stink but a spiritual stink,
we have used God's name inappropriately or
got mad and was swearing at someone,
maybe we lied about someone or something,
maybe we shared gossip or talked about someone else,


 Maybe we made something else a priority over God and we develop this spiritual stink.




It is not a stink that you can just Febreeze away, there is not enough axe body spray to get rid of the stink and after a while we get used to it. But it starts to affect our relationships, it starts to affect our work, it starts to affect our walk with God.






To be really honest when I wasn't feeling good, I didn't shower for a couple of days and started smelling something and knew I had let that go on to long and cleaned myself up.








How long has it been since you have let God clean you up? Have you gotten used to it???


God is the only one that can get rid of our spiritual stink?? 








Okay I want you to do it, right now take a whiff, do you smell it have you let your spiritual life become stagnant and now it smells like death or worse??




2 Corithians 2:14-15 14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. 15For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;…

WE need to come to God and ask for forgiven for what created the stink in our lives and my Bible say if we confess our sins he is faithful and will cleanse us from them all....God has the ultimate loofa to get us clean through His son Jesus Christ.




WE can then become the sweet aroma of Christ to God, that attracts people to us and attracts people to God!!


                                                                                                                          Just a thought!!