Today...I turn 47!

Good morning...I sit here in front of my computer, realizing that I have turned yet another year older...it's not exactly amazing to me that I am now 47, what amazes me is that I don't have a sense of getting older and what that really means. I mean, I look at pictures of me in my 20's and that's still the way I feel.It's funny though, I always hear people say..."oh, to be young again"....are you serious??? I have to say that I wouldn't go back for anything in the world. In fact, I really don't know what years I would be willing to give up to be younger....

Would it be the years that I spent in the Air Force? I think not...that's where God changed my life forever!! I wouldn't even give up my last year in the Air Force when I lived 300 miles inside of the Artic Circle!! I loved going to the northern most permanent settlement on earth (and having the pictures to prove it!)...I loved the people that I met and what God did in my life then.

Would I give up the years of my first youth ministry in Belmont, NC? Are you kidding me? Although I was single and people couldn't tell the difference between my toilet and my sink...those were some of the greatest years of my life!!! Driving across country with a van load of teenagers to witness at the 84 Olympics in L.A.!!!!! Come on, who would give up those moments?

I certainly wouldn't give up my time at Christ For the Nations...that's where God solidified some awesome things in my life and where I met my lovely wife! That's where lifelong relationships were established and I began to get a larger sense of ministry and missions and worship...

I could never even give up my hardest ministry years in Greenville, NC...when we lived on the backside of a tobacco field and felt like everyone had forgotten us! Those two years were years that God forged something deep on the inside of us and fashioned us in ways that nothing else could.

4 years in Decatur, Illinois as the youth pastor....nope, I would NEVER give that up!!! I love that church to this day and the years of ministry and life and relationships and God preparing me for the season of my life as a pastor...those were "rescue" years for us and I will forever be grateful for the people who invested into our lives and believed in us and for the amazing youth that we will forever love...you know what I always say..."once a youth pastor, ALWAYS a youth pastor"!!!

And then....the last 13 years of my life at the "greatest church on earth"...hello?????!!!!!! Does it get better than this??? This has been the "ride of my life"...I have never lived in one place for 13 years...and I could not think of a better place than this. I am raising my children here, loving life here, serving God with my friends...how good is God???Can you imagine how blessed I feel to be in a place that I love so much, with people that I love so much and get to serve God in a full-time capacity??? Somebody give me a break....life is good and God is great!!!!!

So, 47 years...I'll take it! I'll get back with you in 47 more years from now...heck, I'll only be 94...and I'm sure I'll still be kicking...I might be a little more sassy then (you can do that when you're 94)...but I'm sure I'll be wiser and that much closer to God.

Life is Worth Living!

I remember some time back when the Lord spoke to my heart very clearly and said that what he was doing in my life and my investment into the Kingdom of God was not about "living", it was about "life".That really excites me...because so many times I have opened the door for the enemy to come in and every time I do, before he leaves, he always wreaks his havoc and leaves a residual mess that I have to clean up. Many times, it takes days, weeks, months and sometimes even years to get free from just a few moments of demonic invasion. Invasion that never would have happened had I not opened the door.

Jesus said that He has come that we might have life!!! That amazes me to be honest with you...in a world that is constantly gravitating towards death and so many times when we are surrounded with death and of the affects of death, we can walk in the life of our heavenly Father.I have learned this: I must put a guard around the four primary gates of deception that allow the enemy to gain entrance into my life. Those gates are...what I see, what I hear, what think and what I feel. When I set a guard around those areas, I remove myself from the elements of time and chance and I begin to be moved by truth and not by reality!!!!

Hope that helps...have a great day!