Today is Gooding to be Great!

"When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,' I am
always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'"
— Sydney J. Harris: Was an American journalist

 

Yes, life can be a struggle. It can be cruel, relentless, and impossible. But those days are seldom, and they pass as quickly as the clouds overhead. The truth is: If you have your health, you aren't fighting in a war, and your family bond is close, you should count your blessings daily. Because every day life presents such an incredible opportunity to grow, learn, share, laugh, and love.

Make today an awesome day!

The Calling of Levi

In Luke 5.27-32, we read that Jesus has been traveling and doing some amazing things.  People were being healed and Jesus is teaching everyone who will listen about God.  From an outsider’s perspective, everything looks GREAT! 

Levi was a tax collector.  By society’s standards, tax collectors were the scum of the earth.  They were terrible people who cheated and stole from people.  So, when Jesus tells Levi to follow Him, we won’t be surprise that the religious leaders where offended.

Many time the church acts like the religious leaders’ of Jesus time.  We pick and chose who should hear about God and who shouldn’t.  Recently, I heard a story about a church who voted and successfully kicked out a man.  The man was recently released from prison b/c he had sex with a teenage boy.  Though the proper safe guards were in place and his parole office was involved, the congregation kicked him out.

Jesus is very clear that the church needs to get out of the pews and go into their surrounding areas and reach people in need of Jesus Christ.  This is not a choice.  This is a command!  It doesn’t matter what we wear, the color of our skin, the amount of tattoos, what we have done in the past, etc.  Everyone deserves to hear about Jesus Christ and experience His love.

Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Into Thy Hands…

Sometimes, my son Joshua scares me. Although he is only 6 years old, I have seen a great amount of wisdom and heart shown by him and that scares me. Let me give you some examples...

• For the past month, Joshua has been drawing posters about a new church that he is starting for kids.  After completing these posters, we wanted to go hang them all over the neighborhood.  He has drawn the layout of our living room with details as to how we would fit everyone.  And he has even gone to the extent of assigning hymns after he preaches about Jesus.
• The other night, Joshua told me that tomorrow school would be over and then he was going to heaven.  He told me he couldn’t stand this world anymore because it was “so dirty.”  He needed to go to heaven and be with God and Jesus.  I told him that God wasn’t through with us and he wanted us to tell more people about Jesus.  Tears and sadness came upon his face.  His desire to go to heaven with Jesus was so strong. 
• Following the above conversation about going to heaven, Joshua decided to design a robot that can speak many different languages and carry a backpack with Bibles and EvangeCubes.  “This robot can tell lots of people about Jesus.”

When Mary and Joseph had Jesus dedicated at the Temple, a man named Simeon took Jesus in his arms and blessed him.  Simeon told Mary and Joseph “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.  And a sword will pierce your own soul too.'”

I can’t imagine what Mary and Joseph felt after that prophecy.  If I were them, there would be a lot of questions.  But in my heart, I would know that God is in control and preparing him for great things. 

I pray that God is preparing Joshua for great things.  I have never seem someone so young, have such a heart for the Lord.  Like Mary and Joseph, I too marvel at what God is doing in my son’s life.