Happy Birthday To My Son

Happy Birthday to one of, if not, the most loving person I know - my first born son, Josiah.

What a young man you are, and are growing into!

You have shown me Jesus, and, there are so many ways I want to be like you. You are passionate, loving, generous, forgiving, taking no thought of yourself, intimate with Jesus, bright, and more... and you are a blessing to our family.

I'm glad you're my son.

Happy Birthday buddy!

Hunger

Lately, I sense the Lord stirring a hunger in my heart for more of Him. A desire for nothing but Jesus, and only He alone can satisfy.

I love it when He does this.

Hunger is a gift. It stokes the fires of revival in my heart, and causes me to refocus, replenish and repent.

May the Lord ignite the fires of revival in all our hearts as we gather to worship Him tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Buddy!

To my passionate, generous, loving son Josiah,

Happy Birthday!!

There are so many ways I want to be just like you.

Closer Emotion

Is it true that when you find something you love, and truly enjoy it, to a point of deep satisfaction, that you are brought closer to your Creator?

What about that favorite instrumental song, or that picture that invokes such emotion, or that hobby that brings an un-orchestrated smile to your face...

Is it possible that somehow when we stay true to our innermost desires and satisfactions, that we are actually drawn closer to the One who has created us and all good things that we enjoy?

When done right, blogging is therapy for me. It helps me to identify and bring out emotions and desires that otherwise I may not even realize are stirring within me. Blogging has helped me to get in touch with my "feminine" side so to speak. As a man we have a rap of being tough and bigger than our emotions, but come on guys, we got feelings too!

Though I'm not sure blogging helped me in pondering the things I'm writing on today, it has helped me to recognize, articulate, and sort through these very real emotions inside of me.

Anyway, the other day I was struck by a group of pictures that spoke to my soul. I don't know how else to put it except that the views that were in these pictures struck a deep cord in me. And somehow, I felt closer to the Lord through allowing myself to be so moved by the photos. Normally, I don't think I would have allowed myself to feel what I did, maybe because normally my subconscious wouldn't let me. Maybe it was because I felt the Lord was closer to me than usual during that time.

Either way, I felt it.

Maybe this is old news to some who are well-versed in recognizing and enjoying their passions and emotions.

Or, maybe I'm just crazy.

Not quite sure myself yet. But, I felt what I felt. And something tells me, I'm not the only one who has felt that way before...

Nor do I want it to be my last time.

Kid Smart

Kids are smarter than us adults in many ways. Where adults are content to live in hypocrisy and empty religious practices, our kids see right through such facades. I have realized over the years that it is difficult to pass on to my children a passion for Jesus if I myself am not walking in and living with such passion. How do I expect them to live for God more zealous than I, when as the leader of the home I live out a lukewarm, compromising lifestyle?

I can tell when I am not hungry for God. When my heart isn't burning for Him. When I try to teach or encourage my kids in the things of God in those times, it's like my words have no life in them, they are empty, because Daddy isn't living what he is preaching.

How do I encourage them to make Jesus everything, when He isn't everything to me? How do I exhort them to have one love, one passion, when my heart is is in love with the allurements of the world or caught up in the distractions of life?

Kids will see right through such illusions. Give it time - a lifestyle of hypocritical living, I believe, will be exposed to our children. And thank God for that. It should concern me that if my life doesn't match up with my words, my kids will see through it, and their walk with God could be and most likely will be negatively affected as a result of my hypocrisy. And at the same time, it should challenge me to the core of my being to live a life of integrity and passion before the Lord, as I well should.

A pastor friend of mine said that integrity is when our thoughts, words and actions all line up as one. And ultimately, they should line up with the Word of God. And so it is with us... Are we living lives of integrity and godly character before our children? Are we modeling for them lives of passion and love for Jesus? Or are our words falling on closed ears because they cant hear us over the noise our hypocritical actions?

And so we must repent, resolving to keep the fire for God burning in our hearts, forsaking the world and it's allurements, for the sake of our children, and His great Name.