Remembering Your Past

How much f your past do you remember? Do you remember the good times? the bad times? How much of it do you try and forget?

One of my all time favorite movie scenes is when Rafiki whacks Simba on the head to teach him how things are in the past and need to be left there. I think most of us can relate to Simba's problem. We struggle with getting over the hurts and mistakes in our lives. We allow those feelings to hold us captive in the here and now. There was never a part of God's plan. This is not to say that He wants us to forget the past, rather He wants us to understand where He has brought us from so that we can better appreciate where He has us now.

God constantly reminded the Israelities that He had brought them out of the slavery of Egypt.He did this to help them realize that they were not meant to be the slaves of anyone and that He desired for them to be a free nation living in peace and prosperity (Leviticus 26:1-12). This desire was never meant to be limited to the nation of Israel and as such God repeats this theme specifically to the Gentiles in Ephesians 2.

In the end God never wants us to forget our past. He has used it to make us who we are today and without you would not be the special and unique creation that you have become. God also does not desire our past to cripple us. Fro those of us who have accepted Christ we must remember we are living in the year of jubilee. This means that we have been set free from all of those things which have held us in bondage and made us slaves to this world.

So my question for you today is... What part of your past continues to keep you in bondage? Whic things in your past are preventing you from truly living out the joy found in the year of jubilee?

Facebook, Love and Life

My wife has written a great post about her experience during Lent this year. Check it out at http://abailey423.blogspot.com/2009/04/facebook-love-and-life.html

Final Beach Reach 2009 Report

For those of you who have been praying for Beach Reach this year I wanted to let you know the final numbers and some stats. These came from Jason Hayes' blog...

810 participants from 18 states.

Pancakes: Served 12,371 in 12 days
Van Rides: Transported 13,441 people in 15 days
Commitments: 91 First Time Decisions for Christ!
Prayer and Interest: Over 2 million refreshes on www.beachreachlivepcb.com

Thanks for all your prayers and I look forward to giving some live reports from the field next year. If you interested in joining or supporting us for a trip to Florida next year please let us know.

Is it really all that bad in today's society???

Many of us in the Christian and conservative communities have agonized over the moral decay that is seen around us. From this we look to the future with a sense of either dread or hopelessness. We think that the society in which we find our selves living in is one of the most immoral and degraded in history. This is especially true when we look at the sexual immorality that is all around us. The truth of the matter is that this society is not comparably worse than many of the generations that have preceded us.

I am not saying that there has not been so shifts in morality in this country over the last 50 years but I am not so sure our current situation is truly any worse than in times past. For example consider what God says to us about the societies of Egypt and Canaan at the time of the Exodus. God specifically tells His people that they are to avoid certain types of sexual relations (most dealing with incest) so that they are not like those societies around them. To me the fact that God specifically deals with the Israelites on this issue indicates how prevalent the problems were. In other words, incest must have been common in both Egypt and Canaan.

Believe it or not this level of sexual immorality gives me hope for our current society. We know that sense the time of the Exodus there have been many societies and time periods in which God's standards have been sought after by the vast majority of the people. It can happen again in this country and any other society for that matter. God never abandons people and He will always be there for us when we cry out to Him. As Christians if we can begin to move ourselves out of the pews and into the streets and start telling people about Him and His love then our society will begin to change.

Take heart my brothers and sisters for there is always hope with Christ! :)

Day of Personal Atonement

So I have been slowly reading my way through the book of Leviticus. I know for some of you this may sound as exciting as watching paint dry. In truth when I began this process I was no overly excited myself but I thought it might be a near adventure given how much my pastor, at the time, seemed to like what he had been learning from it. I have learned a lot from it and sadly I have not had the time to really share much of what I have learned with you my cyber friends and family. Today is a new day with a few extra minutes before work.

I was reading through chapter 16. In this chapter God essentially outlines for Aaron and the nation of Israel what is to happen on the Day of Atonement. In this chapter the people of Israel are command to humble themselves and rest of this most important of days. This day was intended to be a time when the people would reflect upon God's mercy and grace. This got me to thinking that maybe we should have our own personal days of atonement. For me I have determined that on my rebirthday (day I accepted Christ) that I will spend some, if not the whole, truly reflecting on God's saving work in my life. I am not sure this is something for everyone but it is something that I hope becomes a regular part of my spiritual development.

Disclaimer:I fully understand and acknowledge that as believers in Christ that He fulfills the law and that we are no longer bound by the laws and statues of the Old Testament.

Beach Reach 2009

Most of you know about our adventures at Beach Reach 2008 in Panama City Beach, FL. If not then check out our blog from last year.

Angie and I were hoping to be able to go this year as a family but God has had other plans for us. This does not mean we have been a part of the ministry this year. We have been following along each night with their live blog. If you would like to also follow along you can check out this year's live blog here.

Concept of Ordination

One of the problems I have seen in the American church is this idea that pastors/ministers are the ones who are supposed to at least be doing the lion's share of the work of the church. For the longest time I have seen this as a problem with individual church goers who are either too lazy or lack spiritual maturity. While I still believe this to be true of many people who fill our pews I am beginning to see things in a slightly different way. I hope the following makes sense, it does to me but I know that I do not always communicate what is going on in my brain very well.

My shift in perspective comes from reading about the Ordination of Aaron and his sons that is found in Leviticus 8. In particular, I took some time to read more about the word we usually translate ordination in this chapter. The basic meaning of the word is to set or inlay. To better clarify the word I looked up the word inlaid and one of the definitions is set into the surface of something. As I considered how this might apply to the modern church I began to realize that there are people are called by God to be the spiritual leaders within the body of Christ. As leaders there will be times when we must be the ones doing the majority of the work but that is just part of God's calling on our lives. The calling to be a leader in his church is one that is special and unique and as such comes with a certain amount of special roles and responsibilities.

This is by no means meant to be an excuse for others to avoid doing God's work with the body of Christ. This is more of a reminder for those of us who are leaders to look into our own hearts and minds so that we can move beyond the bitterness that grows from blaming others for not doing their part in helping you. Remember it is not about you, it is about Him. It always has been about Him and it always will be.