January 10, 2011

Red Shirt

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So, I am in the Christian Book Store….and of course, all the folks look “churchy” ….they have their cross necklaces, have ties on, have the bible look…..and I am in there getting a video.

This guy comes in with a rushed look on his face and obviously out of place and uncomfortable.  Like the guys feel when their wives want them to go to Target and get them a fresh pack of kotex or worse yet,…tampons.  This guy was a fish out of water and it was all over his face.  He asked real quickly…where are the shirts….like he was an escaped convict and needed a change of clothes…..he saw the shirts and grabbed a red shirt…..and got to the counter.

He said that he had to have a passport photo for a job as a security guard and that his white t-shirt was prohibited…he needed red or blue and this job depended on it.  So, he grabs a t-shirt that says on it….only….Jeremiah 29:11….just the verse number….nothing else. 

So, he is in this Christian Book Store,….fish out of water,….needing a job….extremely uncomfortable in his surroundings… and this shirt is what he needs to help him get a job….  then he asks me….. hey, what does this mean, this Jeremiah 29:11?  I told him it meant that God had a plan for his life….a plan to prosper him.  He said, “cool, I need that.”  I told him that he would be wrapped in God’s word when he took the photo for the job. 

You see,…even when we don’t know what God’s word means….it has meaning.  Even  when we are not searching for God…he is searching for us.  Even when we don’t know that God has a plan for our lives, …. a plan to prosper us, a plan for a hope and for a future…..He is still working….

 God has a plan for us…..even when or if we don’t know it.  It may even be in a red shirt.

 

December 20, 2010

Model T Way

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I have this guy at work that is a tech type.  Really a good teacher, really a smart person, can see processes, can see technological answers to problems and wants to share it with everyone.  My belief is that he really really does.

Problem is,…not everyone can adapt to technology at the same pace.  My parents have a cordless phone at their home and they think that is cool.  I want to share stuff wirelessly with my daughter on our Macbooks.  I think that is cool.  I am still behind too.

So, this guy at work has some good ideas but some of my folks are not budging.  They are not ready for it yet.  They like it their way, and they have been quite successful doing it their way…I would say very successful.  But my buddy is frustrated…and me, the boss, is in the middle of someone with the light and others that have the light too,….just a different light.  My buddy wants to bail out and not try to help them anymore…..”let them do it the Model T way if they want…but not me.”

Luke 11:33 talks about having a  light, having something that someone else does not have, having revelational knowledge or understanding, having insight that someone else does not have, having ability that someone else does not have…..and then not sharing it..or worse,…hiding it?  I told my buddy that he should continue to share what he sees, what he has, how it can be done….then I thought about me.

Jesus Christ has done so much in my life.  I am just a new person.  Then I got to thinking how much I shared what Jesus has done for me and my family, my outlook, my attitude, my disposition, my temper (still working on that), my selfishness, ….  I guess I should practice what I preach. 

Look, if Jesus has done something or is doing something in your life,….share it.  There are those around us,…maybe in our own family that need the light, that are surrounded by darkness, that are lonely and in need.   There are folks on the street that maybe just need a meal or a coke, I know they smell.  May be some folks at work that need a few minutes, I know they smell.  Share what you have, when you can, where you can.  put your light up on the table. 

My buddy is on the way to Saudi Arabia to set up a  remote web surveillance system for a prison.  Not the Model T way for sure.

 

November 28, 2010

Unemployment

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This good buddy of mine sends me a message that he lost his job…..I mean this was a dream job managing hundreds of acres of land and a business in the Carolinas.  He sent me pictures of what he did and they are on my screen saver at work.  Just spectacular.  My heart ached for him.  And on top of that, he is the type of person you want working with and for you.  He and I worked together for 15 years or so.  He is (not was) a go to guy.  You can trust him.  Solid.  You would want to hire him!

But he is a changed man.  After he got this job,….he gave his life to Jesus Christ…..after that….he married a Godly woman….started going to church (not a requirement for anything…but a good thing I think) and he turned his life around.  I am proud of him.  And now,…after I get this word from him….I am still very proud of him….because he knows that God has him in his hands.  As I was praying about my friend the other night,….I saw God providing for him….I saw God has a plan for his life….a plan to prosper him (like he already has)  it is like God has already paid him up and has more for him. 

I do not know about your situation, about your job prospects, about your outlook… but my buddy in the Carolinas has God in his corner.  He has God in his heart.  I know that God has a plan, a purpose, a success for his life.  I know he has for you too.  God loves you more than anything else and wants the best for you.  As I do this entry, I see success more than my friend can imagine…..I see it for you and I see it for….me.

So, tonight….I speak encouragement into my friend.  I speak prosperity into him and his situation.   I do the same for you,….and for me too.  God loves us.

 

November 24, 2010

Fishing Lures

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So me and my 5 year old son are fishing.  Of course, I am a fishing expert.  Especially in the company of a 5 year old young boy.  I mean, I have caught hundreds of fish, especially fresh water bass, and have a real good knowledge of how to do it, how to catch them, how to bring them onto shore….the whole deal.  And me and my 5  year old little son have been catching these bass from a lake in our neighborhood….on artificial lures….I want him to get this early in life….how to do it without a cork and live bait.

He has caught some fish….had some success…knows what the bite feels like and knows how to set the hook….but he is just learning and under my close tutelage.  I am showing him the ropes, step by step, technique by technique, special tactic by special tactic….lure by lure.  But…well, he likes his own lure selection…and often it is … well, wrong.  I want to make it right with him and basically tell him he can’t use that lure because it is the wrong one….but he likes it….so I let him.  He has some success….some failure.

It is the classic battle I have with God.  I seem to want to do it my way, to use my techniques, my lures, my way of thinking, my battles instead of just listening to God…..instead of just letting God tell me what to do and I do it,…..instead of just seeing that God has all the fish and I need to do it His way.

I want to try to get my son to do it my way….then  I think about me….how often I don’t just do it God’s way.  A classic battle between faith and works, between flesh and spirit, between trust and unbelief…  Just like I am doing now with the sickness of one of my daughters…and so much of my life..  I want to do it my way.

God help me to do it Your way.   Help me to help those around me to do it your way…    louie

 

November 16, 2010

Grace

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Not talking about what you say at supper.  Not talking about the old lady across the street.  God’s Grace is what I am talking about.  Think I might do a couple of gigs on this.  Might be what I have been looking for too.

This concept has been working on me for years as I struggle to understand it better…..but really understand what the finished work of Jesus on the cross means.   Well, truthfully, to try to come to grips with my sin and junk and figure out what God thinks about all this.  Which is partially the total forgiveness for what we have, are and are going to do as it relates to sin and our penalty for sin.  Stuff I can’t pay for on my own.

Romans 6:14 says this in a neat way.  It says sin can’t have dominion over us any longer.  I mean, I have struggled with sin….worried about how it effected my relationship with God.  Shoot, I have even been pretty darn judgemental about others’ sin….Christians I know.  Then I began to realize more and more that what Jesus did on the cross has dominion over everything else….especially sin. 

The sacrafice of Jesus, grace given to us, has dominion.  And this dominion is paid for……one time.   Will do a couple more on this.  Don’t want to go too far and get out of breath.

Good to be back.  louie

 

November 1, 2010

Food Poisoning

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Have you ever gotten sick because of something you ate?  I was at a seafood place one day, a place my wife and I really like to go,…right on the water.  I had some fried grouper.  I got sick that afternoon and it sort of hung with me for some time.  I sort of could not shake it.  It was literally almost a week before I got back in the swing.

Well, this spring, around March of 2010…..I got some bad stuff in my head.  Don’t know what happened….I just went into a funk.  Sort of like food poisoning.  I got sick.  I can’t really pin it down but I got depressed and disconnected and … well, just did not like things.  So I started to withdraw from….stuff.

Philippians 2:5 says to let the mind that is in Christ…be in you.  The mind that is in Christ is not a withdrawn or depressed mind.  It is a renewed mind.  The mind that is in Christ is a happy mind, a healed mind…not an alone mind.  Look, I think I am through this low spot….that just snuck up on me from out of the blue….or black.  But my word for you is that if you are depressed or just out of it….withdrawn……  Let the mind that is in Christ…..allow it…in you. 

Ok.  So, I got some dirty laundry out of the way.  Not proud of being out of it for a while….just glad it is out of me….sort of like food poisoning.

 

May 15, 2010

Summer Break

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Summer in Florida.  Hot but nice.

Swervechurch will be on a summer break.

Hope to see you soon!

 

May 6, 2010

Free After 35 Years….How About You?

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So,….DNA evidence does just as much to  clear as to convict.  This guy is free after 35 years.  Wonder how he felt all those years?  Wonder how me and you feel after all these years of captivity?

Jesus came to set the captives free.  You captive somehow, somewhere, from something?  You may be for now…. this is prophesy to you right now….you are no longer captive…you are set free. 

The Prophet proclaimed this in the Old Covenant….but it is for you.  Be set free in Jesus name. 

louie

 

May 3, 2010

It Is Not About Music….It Is About Rocks.

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It is not about music.  In the last post, Abraham was the one that brought sacrifice to the worship scene. I always thought about music as the central theme in worship.  I now “use” music sometimes to get me to a worship state..  But that is not all worship is about. 

Joshua crossed the Jordan River from East to West.  After he crossed the Jordan River,…he and about a million or so people entered the Promised Land….and almost immediately had to fight all the big folks that were there on their land.  But Joshua brought something with him to that new place…the promised land.    Rocks.

He had those with him bring out of the riverbed….rocks.  From the bottom of the previously uncrossable barrier….a river…..Joshua and his nation stopped the water….crossed the river on dry ground….brought up rocks from the river and then….well,..  they fell on their face and worshipped God. 

They listened to God.  Crossed a barrier.  Got stuff up out of the barrier,…rocks,….built an altar and worshipped God. 

What are you bringing to church?  What barrier are you crossing?  You bringing with you something?  Just checking?  I often bring criticism of what is going on.  I often bring selfishness in what I want at church.  I even want the temperature to be just right or the music to be just so loud….I often bring problems I have and want someone to solve them……I often preach about them myself……  Seldom do I just lay down and worship God.  Seldom do I bring a rock…..something of worship to bring with me into church. 

louie

 

May 2, 2010

So…How Do You Worship?

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Got to spend some extended time with my brother this last  week.  A couple of days….about 24 hours total.  He is a worship leader at a big church in our town.  We talked about worship. 

So, …how do you worship?  A couple of concepts from my brother.  Here is one.

We were talking and I have heard many teachings on worship…..most are by worship leaders…. and much of the teaching deals with how “they”  (worship leaders) think folks in a church should “act” when the music is playing.  From the quiet when you come in…..to the “you should raise your hands and jump up and down”  crowd.  So, me and Frank just talked.  I got a couple of points…here is one.

Abraham and his only son, he waited for 99 years for, (Isaac), went up this mountain to worship God.  Abraham did not go up to play music…not even mentioned….not to jump up and down and groove with a praise band….not talked about…..not to adjust the sound…not talked about…..not to get the most popular song of 88.3….never talked about……

Abraham and his only son went up a mountain….all alone….no music, …. no praise band…., no popular stuff……,  no…what the majority of folks want……..they (father and son) went up to sacrifice to God and just to worship…… the  Hebrew word means to “bow down….lay down,…..in front of God”  No music.  And Abraham…..was going to lay down his son….Isaac….to the lord. 

So,….. how do you worship?  Got some way you think is worship?  Check out this gig in Genesis 22 and look up the word Worship.  This might change the way you come to church and expect something from the praise team, the pastors, the Lord.  When was the last time you (or me for that matter)…just bowed down to God and listened to what he would have to say?  Worship.

louie

 

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