The first time God spoke to me

It was a Sunday morning before church and my wife and I had just had a little argument about having money for this weeks tithes. My wife either doesn't understand how much this means to me or I haven't communicated it well enough but this week she told me she had spent the money on something else. As we are walking to the church we have some words back and forth and then I ask her if she locked the truck. She said "No".  We said a couple words about who was going to go back and I proceeded back to lock the truck. I bit my tongue and held my words in that I wanted to say since I'm trying to be a better husband. Low and behold, did I know that walk back to the truck would be life changing. As I'm walking and grumbling unloving words in my head about my wife, I hear the words "unconditional". It wasn't like someone whispered the word unconditional. It was if everything around me was gone and it was just God and I. I knew right away what he meant. I wanted to drop to my knees and start crying. What the lord meant was "Love your wife unconditionally". She is a good hearted woman and for that you need to love her even if you are mad about why or how she did something. He was right. I wasn't loving my wife unconditionally.

Keep in mind that I've never had this open line of communication with God like this. It was almost scary at first but he knew what to say that would put me back on track. You never know how or when God will speak to you.

Originally written in February 2014.

Church today is just a trailer

Do you ever feel like the church sermon on Sunday is just a trailer or a 15 minute advertisement for Sunday school? I remember back when I was a kid growing up I usually went to two different churches. One was Calvary Advent Christian Church pastored by Jim Lee and the other was a small church in Hudson, North Carolina that I don’t remember the name of.

I remember going to this smaller church with Donna and her son Bryson who was my best friend. I remember there were times when this preacher would get into the Holy Spirit and the words would start flowing. He’d make an announcement that it’s about 12 PM that if you had somewhere to be that you could leave but he was going to keep on preaching. And he would. Sometimes we wouldn’t get out of church till 1 o’clock. I hated it as a kid but these were some of the best memories I had of church. You truly got the meaning because you could see their sermons were from the heart and off the cuff. They may have started from a script of notes but they didn’t end that way. These are the sermons I like.

Another time when I was at Calvary Advent Christian Church I remember Jim Lee voicing his aggravation about all the announcements and other stuff that was taking away from his preaching time. I remember Jim didn’t always stop at 12 PM like most churches. Sometimes he stopped at 12:15 or 12:30 if the message really needed it and you could always hear a few people grumble. I commend him for this because these were the messages I got the most out of. Sermons shouldn’t have a time limit.

Why don’t preachers today run over time? I feel like churches today have to be done by a specific time or else. I’ve heard preachers say before “I know I have 20 minutes but I shoot for 15 minutes so I don’t make anyone mad if I run over”. I feel like when preachers are just preaching to meet a specific time slot they aren’t actually preaching and just reciting an essay. It feels like I’m listening to the trailer of a sermon and if you want the full message you must go to Bible study class. Preachers should preach about a message from the heart and not just some Bible notes they threw down. I can usually tell when a preacher is preaching from the heart and the message has less value when they aren’t. I hate it when a preacher gets into a message, looks up and they have 5 minutes left and give you the short version of the rest of the sermon so they make their time slot. I’m pretty sure God didn’t say church had to start and stop at a specific time. So why don’t preachers of today’s time preach like preachers of the 80’s and 90’s? I’m a long version kind of guy when it comes to sermons. I love to sit back and hear a good 1 hour sermon. I beam from ear to ear because I know this is the good stuff. I’m about to get a life changing message hear. Call me old fashioned but this is me.

Revolution Recap

WOW! Where do we go from here? If you didn’t go then I can’t explain the feeling you have. It’s just indescribable. The Bethany Youth always amaze me in the love they have for Christ. This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to Revolution 2015 in Columbia, South Carolina. What did I take away from this trip?

The week leading up to Revolution was complete chaos for me. This week was grocery week and we are preparing for a big software release at work. Along with all my other commitments, there never seemed to be enough time in the day for sleep. I knew going into Friday was going to be rough and I prayed I could just stay awake for these youth on Friday. The drive up to Columbia was short and I think the anticipation kept me awake the whole time. We arrived at the Township Auditorium about 7 PM on Friday night. I was in complete “WOW” of everything. The music, the venue, the staff. Everything was awesome and far exceed any expectations I previously had about the event. As the music played and the kids danced I realized at one point that I no longer need alcohol to have fun in a setting like this. I’m a shy person in public but I’m slowly working on fixing that. This has never been something I liked about myself. I also realized that as adults, if we just have fun and embrace the moment we are all teenagers on the inside, just with more responsibilities. We capped the night off by taking everyone to Krispy Kreme donuts at 10:30 at night.

Saturday was another fun filled day. I remember one of the best parts of my morning was waking up and scanning through Twitter and Instagram for the hash tag #RevSC. It was a heart warming moment to see the comments the kids at the event were posting. We started the morning off by volunteering at a Agape Senior center for a couple hours. The kids worked hard and got to hang out with the Seniors at the center. It was a heart warming moment. I was also appreciative that I was given the opportunity to take 13 youth to the center with another adult. We met for lunch at a local church for pizza. Here I got to sit down and just get to talk with a few youth. I always value the time I have just to sit down and connect with what it going on in their lives. After lunch we headed off to the Township Auditorium for a few more sessions of the day. The last session of the day was the session I remembered the most. I got to see over 20 youth kids from Bethany go down front and be moved by the Holy Spirit. The best part of the trip was after the last session Will had the 20 or so kids meet in his room to talk to these kids and I was invited. I really got to know how they felt and to share some information of my journey with Christ with them. About 2 AM all the youth left to go back to their rooms and I got to do some brainstorming with Will for about an hour. It’s always good when you get some one-on-one time with someone you look up to. We both have very busy lives and never really get time to sit down and just talk very often.

Sunday we packed up from the hotel and drove to the Township Auditorium for the last session of the event. Royal Tailor, DJ Frank Clark, and Big Redd blew the roof off the place again for a third day. We had another great session by Jonathon McKee and then it was over. We stopped somewhere on the edge of Columbia to get lunch before we headed home. I had talked to Will prior to leaving the auditorium that I wanted to talk to the youth one last time before we got back to Summerville since Will wasn’t coming back with us. This was my first opportunity I’ve had to really speak to the kids as a whole. This is something Will usually does so I was a bit nervous and tried to stay to my notes I had taken earlier during the day. I talked to them about keeping Christ in the Center of everything they do and to not let their flame be dimmed by the rest of the world as they go back to their normal lives.

The drive home was rather fun. We jammed out to Royal Tailor music all the way back to Summerville. I got to think about some thoughts as I always do when I’m driving. That’s my thinking time. Here’s something I thought of. A life as a Christian is like the core values of the US Air Force.

• Integrity first
• Service before self
• Excellence in all you do

I could probably preach a 15 minute session on these alone since that are something I’ve pretty much lived my whole life by. I had some other personal thoughts about myself I need to work on changing and I’m slowly making a plan to do those.

I’m surprised how much I was able to stay awake through out the whole weekend. I went 4 days straight of being awake 20 hours a day going wide open and never really got tired. Maybe it was adrenaline. Maybe it was the Holy Spirit. What ever it was, I was surprised that I was able to still do that. One of the best parts was waking up ever morning and scrolling through Twitter and Instagram looking at the posts. I have to say I love being around  and connecting with everyone of these kids. This trip was definitely a confirmation of what God has called me to do and I hope the love and drive I have for youth ministry never dies out.

Matthew 28:19

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” ~ Jesus

Define: Prayer Programming

The act of writing some code and then publishing or distributing the application without any testing or verification.

Define: Knowledge Transfer

The act of a person with a significant amount of knowledge dropping a whole lot of information on a new person who has no idea what the information is used for or how it's used so the knowledgeable person can tell their manager that they had a knowledge transfer session with the new person.

TVR Recap

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the TVR Christian Camp in Plumtree, NC with 19 Bethany United Methodist Church high school youth. Although we left on Friday night, my adventure to TVR began on Monday night earlier during the week while laying in bed with a fever. There I was laying in bed miserable from the fever and I had a vision. It was a short vision that lasted about 3 seconds. During this vision I saw a man standing on what looked to be a stage with a green plaid shirt and blue jeans on. The man’s face was blurred out but I could see the chin and kind of make out the hair style. The man I saw was holding something. At first I thought the man I saw was holding a rope but then I heard him talking about eternity. About going to heaven or hell for eternity. Later on I will give more about the importance of this vision.

I had the privilege of driving one of the vans from Summerville to TVR Friday night. We arrived at TVR around 11 PM and the drive brought back many memories of growing up in North Carolina. It definitely felt like home. After getting a short briefing from the TVR staff and then unpacking the vans we were able to get to our rooms where we finally fell a sleep around 2 AM.

On Saturday morning something happened that truly scared me and filled me with happiness. After breakfast we had morning worship session led by Jonathan and this is when my vision came to life. As Jonathon was talking he started talking about going to heaven or hell for eternity. The exact same words I heard during my vision and then I start looking at Jonathan and the picture matches the vision exactly. The black lines I saw in my vision were the microphone stands. Jonathan was wearing a green plaid shirt with blue jeans while holding a coffee mug. The shape of his chin and hair style matched exactly. I didn’t know if I was to be scared or to be happy because this was the first time something like this has happened to me before. This moment truly reassured to me that I was meant to be here at TVR with these kids and there was a reason God wanted me here. The rest of Saturday was filled with activities, a hike to plow point with a majestic view, fun games, great food, a camp fire, and some awesome fellowship.

Sunday I felt kind of bad for missing my normal church service. Something about it just felt wrong but being at TVR with these kids I felt closer to God than I had ever been. Again Sunday was another day I was taught how it felt to have your heart filled with joy. As we left TVR to get our skiing equipment from the rental place I heard the kids feeling unsure about their choice of skiing and snowboarding. Many of them were trying it for the first time. Quite a few people really went out of their way  that day  to help others but 2 people really stuck out to me. One was a girl named Madison and the other was a girl named Claire. Although Madison couldn’t ski because of a prior injury she was still healing from, she was out there taking pictures and cheering people on as they came down the mountain. The other girl Claire truly was a heartwarming experience to see. This little girl was in tears about skiing at the rental shop. A few people gave her words of encouragement and love at the rental place reassuring her that everything would be OK. At the slopes Will spent some time teaching Claire how to ski one-on-one after his mini session with the others who wanted a quick lesson. Every time I came down the mountain I saw Claire there on the bunny slope trying her hardest each time getting better and better. Claire never gave up. I found it more fun watching this little quite girl conquer her fears and build her self confidence. This is what I loved so much about CrossFit and now I’m witnessing similar accomplishments with this little girl. I must have stood there for 20 or 30 minutes watching Claire at the end with a huge smile on her face each time she went down the slope. You couldn’t have asked for a better day on the slopes. The temperature was nice, the snow was nice, and the smiles of the kids made it just a magnificent day.

The highlight for Monday was the debrief session with the youth before we left. We all sat in a circle before we piled in the vans to head back to Summerville. What I heard in this debrief session honestly reassured why we went to TVR. Almost every kid had some life altering experience with their faith and to hear that first hand after getting to know each one of these kids really meant a lot to the adults. I myself was almost in tears just listening to each kid speak over and over about how something they heard during one of the sessions really touched their heart.

What did I take away from this weekend?

One of the best parts of the trip was getting to know the kids and adults while building a relationship with each one of them. I laughed, worshipped, hiked, and played some of the weirdest games with these kids while getting to know each one of their personalities. These kids taught me what it felt like to truly have a heart filled with joy. Along with being with these kids I got to see from the TVR staff what it means to live and work together for Christ. Going to TVR affected how I am going to do some things in my own life in the future. One thing is I want to start blogging more about my feelings and my faith. I have something to say to world and I just haven’t figured out which way I want to get it out there.

“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”  ~ C.S. Lewis

My 2014 Recap

As I sit here on my couch on Christmas night looking back at this past year I can’t do anything but smile. The year of 2014 has been a great and interesting year for me. At the beginning of the year I made 5 goals and wrote them down on paper knowing all of them required work but I didn’t realize how one goal would change my life forever. Below were my 2014 goals I made for myself and the outcome of those goals.

1. Hit 1000# and 1100# total on the platform.
2. Lose 30# of fat.
3. Start putting money into my 401K.
4. Go back to college.
5. Become more active in church.

Hit a 1000# and 1100# total on the platform

In April I competed in the 2014 APA RAW National Powerlifting Championship. It was here that I hit a 1047.2 pound total with a 341.7 pound squat, a 292.1 bench, and a 413.4 pound deadlift. This met the first part of my goal and I was on track to breaking a 1100 pound total in November when we had to move to South Carolina. I will be back in 2015 looking to break that 1100 pound total and then some.

Lose 30# of fat.

This year I didn’t do too well in losing body fat. My goal was 30 pounds of body fat and I only lost about 10 pounds total of body fat. At my lowest I got down to about 252 pounds in around July after hiring a diet coach. Next year the goal is more and we will see where I go.

Start putting money into my 401K

This isn’t a goal I even came close to meeting. It was added as a stretch goal to really push myself. In April I realized we were going to be about 5,000 dollars short in December if we didn’t change something. We made slow changes to our budget but then we were hit with moving to South Carolina. Somehow our budget made it through by God’s grace. Because of having to keep such a tight budget with expenses I wasn’t able to elect to put any money into my 401K but this will be on my goals list for 2015 and it won’t be a stretch goal.

Go back to college

In June with the help of my manager Justin I went back to college for one 5 week class at AIU. I had planned to continue but when the big move came around in August AIU wouldn’t let me take a temporary leave of absence because I hadn’t gone to school for 1 quarter yet so after taking one class I had to drop out of school again. I didn’t reenroll into classes after moving but I have been working with a mentor to figure the easiest path for me to get a Bachelors degree with the 131 credits I currently have. Maybe next year will bring better news for college and a degree.

Become more active in Church

This is the goal I have made the most progress on this year. Early in the year God spoke to me for the first time. It was weird to be scared and happy at the same time but more scared. God told me one word “unconditional”. ("The first time God spoke to me") In July I fully proclaimed my love for God to the public by being baptized by two men I have looked up to for years. Soon after being baptized God spoke to me again. This time I was on a walk praying about if I should take the job in South Carolina or not. It was 1 day from the deadline for me to turn in my decision. As I’m walking God tells me “I will follow you where every you go”. At first this was confusing because it wasn’t an answer of yes or no. It was an answer of I will love you no matter what decision you make but the words “I will follow you” lead me to believe I should take the job. In early August God spoke to me again. He told me I was put on this earth to become a leader and it’s time for me to start being a leader. This is really confusing when you don’t know who or what to lead but I had faith in God’s word. I really didn’t know where this would take me. In October is when I realized what becoming a leader really meant. I was given the opportunity to start my own Bible Study small group at my work if I wanted to do it and something else clicked. It was “Husband’s must lead their wives”. Your probably thinking “How sexist or chauvinistic!” Well it means the husband should do everything he can to lead his wife to Christ even if that requires reading the Bible to her. Husbands should be the Godly example for her to want to become closer to Christ. In November I was given an opportunity to become a youth leader at my church. It was then I finally found why God called me to move to South Carolina. God called me to South Carolina to be a leader.
So what does 2015 have in store for me. I have some plans in the works but I won’t let all those out yet. God has had a great influence in my life and he has given me visions of the future. People wouldn’t believe it but I’ve had visions of becoming a motivational speaker and even a preacher. Yeah! The temperature of Hell may just drop a few degrees if those visions are true but I have faith in what God has told me and showed me. All I can say is the outlook for 2015 looks hard, life changing, and exciting and that’s all we can really ask for.

You are here to live your purpose. Search your mind and follow your heart. Be willing to make a radical change in order to live your dream. It takes courage to pursue a life that is calling you. Answer the call! ~ Les Brown