Ten Lessons

Alright, maybe it's my melancholy personality and my introspection but I feel the need to share some personal thoughts with the world today. I look back over my life in the past two to three years and God has really brought about some changes and caused a ton of growth. Let me share some of the things God has taught me over the last several years.

Some of these things I have learned I have picked up easy and have caught on and it has been great. Other lessons learned have been hard and I don't like but I have learned all the same.

Lesson 1: GOD IS IN CONTROL AND I'M NOT. This is one of those hard ones that I am still learning.

Lesson 2: MOST PEOPLE HAVE NO LOYALTY. I know this is very cynical but it is true. Since I have been a Pastor I have seen it over and over. As a Pastor you walk with people through some of their hardest times,(i.e. sickness, death of loved ones, financial struggles, all kinds of tragedy)and when you need their support when the going gets a little rough they go find a new Pastor. Who walks with the Pastor when he needs someone?

Lesson 3: GOD IS ALWAYS LOYAL. God walks with the Pastor when most everyone else abandons him.

Lesson 4: GOD'S CALL CAN BE A LONELY ROAD. When God calls to do a work you have to abandon it all for the sake of the call. I really did not understand this until these last few years.

Lesson 5: WHEN YOU SAY THAT REACHING LOST SOULS MEAN MORE THAN ANYTHING GOD IS LISTENING AND WILL CAUSE YOU TO PROVE YOUR DECLARATION. This is truly the heart of God and lost souls mean everything to Him so it should mean everything to us.

Lesson 6: THERE IS NO GREATER JOY IN THIS LIFE THAN SEEING PEOPLE COME TO KNOW THE LORD. When so many people are trying to steal your joy and destroy everything that you thought was precious you realize that life change in people that were not even alive is a joy beyond compare. And let me say this, if heaven and all the angels rejoice when just one person receives Christ then I think that we can celebrate and proclaim it from the rooftops, the numbers of people that are being saved. They are not just statistics they are lives, they are souls and if heaven set the precedent of celebrating then I think it is incumbent on us to follow heaven's lead!

Lesson 7: CHRISTIANS CAN BE SOME OF THE MEANEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. It's funny how you gain knowledge from being on the other side of Christian's scorn. No wonder the lost people of the world hate us. Me and my brother's have been on the receiving end of some Christian ridicule and it feels like crap. I will do everything in my power not to perpetuate this view of Christians even though I have experienced it first hand. Love and honor should represent Christianity not ridicule and scorn.

Lesson 8: HEBREWS 11:1 FAITH IS THE CONFIDENCE THAT WHAT WE HOPE FOR WILL ACTUALLY HAPPEN; IT GIVES US ASSURANCE ABOUT THINGS WE CANNOT SEE. O, this one is a lot easier to quote than to live. I am still living it and learning it.

Lesson 9: IN MY WEAKNESS GOD IS STRONG. I feel weak all of the time now. That's OK because that means that God is working in my life. Who would have thought that feeling weak would feel so good.

Lesson 10: A GOOD FRIEND IS A TREASURE AND GIFT FROM GOD. A true friend who has your back and stands with you in the heat of the battle and will even carry you if he has to is something rare and precious. When God gives those kind of people to you, hold on to them and love them. They are truly an instrument that God uses to strengthen you (i.e. Moses and Aaron). All of my "Aarons", you know who you are and I thank God for you and love you.

So that's it for today. Ten lessons that God has taught and continues to teach me on a regular basis. There are a lot more but I didn't want to sound like a long winded Senior Pastor. :-)

Until the next time, see ya!