Then God Said...

"Your life is hidden with Christ in God." Colossians 3:3 What would the garden look like if Adam and Eve were good stewards of it? What would our life look like if we were good stewards of it? It would be something more beautiful then we could all ever imagine. There is more than what we are living for; we must labor with God to find it, cultivate it and live in it.   This was the thought running through my head this past week as I was driving down I-40. One of the mystical paradoxes of God is that he has given everything for life in him, yet it is up to us to find it; it has all been given, but we must seek it out to gain it; for, our "life is hidden with Christ in God."  If this is true, then it  begs  the question, what is required to find this hidden life with Christ in God? While there are many things we can use to search for this life, just as a detective has many ways to search for clues, so we too have many ways to search for the life God has gi...

If the Church is the Bride of Christ, then it should be good for our marriage. I want to give you three reasons the Church has been good for my marriage: 1. My wife and I have weekly quality time together. This is especially important since we have kids. We get an hour and a half to enjoy each other's company, sometimes we even snuggle and kiss! This is also a time where we get to connect on a level much different than any other time or place during the week. Our sense of oneness is increased as we both pursue God--there is a dramatic weaving together that happens with God who created us, our marriage, and the Church as his Bride.  2. My wife and I have community around us. The best relationships my wife and I have ever had have come from our church-going life. There are people who know how to love well: they know how to treat you with respect and honor, they are there for you in hard times, they are people you can count on when you need them, they are people who know...

Celebrating my recent 31st birthday in April and my son being born the same month, I have been thinking a lot of what life was like when I was a kid, how I will be a father to the two of my boys, and the wisdom that I will pass down to them. Today, I just want to write about five things I have learned over the past 30 years and how they have helped me: "The glory of young men is their strength" (Pro 20:29). We can spend the strength of our life on a lot of things: some things that yield great return, and some things that only turn to ash and nothing. I have spent my life on both and have found that when I have used my strength to work with the Father it was never wasted. In fact, there are decisions that I made when I was 18 that are still paying off for me today, and the reason they are still benefitting me today is because I chose to use my strength to obey God. There are also things I decided to do at 18 where I chose to spend my strength to serve myself and I am s...