jon mark

wow, this morning was a morning to top them all, or at least to top a large majority. i got ready for work and went to leave, but i couldn’t find my wallet. then i realized that i had left it in the other vehicle, which kasey was driving. so far not a big deal right? problem is, it’s monday morning and i need my coffee!! no wallet, no money. no money, no coffee. no coffee, “BIG” problem.

so i call kasey’s cell phone to see where she is so i can get my wallet, no answer. next i page kasey to see where she is so i can get my wallet, no call back. so there i was sitting in my office with no coffee. after 20 minutes i call kasey’s cell phone again and she answers. (obviously i was concerned about where she was and that she was ok, since she hadn’t answered my two previous calls?) guess where she was sitting…the coffee shop. my problems were solved.

then as i went about my day i read a few devotionals and checked out the usual blogs, i was suddenly convicted with my “BIG” problem. see, there are morning when i don’t spend time with God or the time i do spend is more of a ritual than anything else. i put it off thinking that i will do it later in the day. but does that cause a “BIG” problem in my life. no i just go about my busyness and don’t think twice. but for me, i need that time in the morning, more so than i need my coffee. if i’m not spending time in God’s word and in prayer, i’m not going to be responding to life as God would have me respond…and that is a BIG problem!!!

this makes me think of Daniel and how much more i need to be like him. Daniel 6:10 says, “But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.” (NLT) my focus is not on the circumstance immediately surrounding Daniel, but the last sentence. he was a man of God who had a daily conversation with God, not just once but three times a day. if that is what it took for Daniel to get through, how much more do i need to be spending time with God!! so i thank God for His patience with me and pray that i will remember my need for Him each and every day.

take time today to be with your Creator and Savior and have a conversation with Him. we don’t need and BIG problems! and feel free to let me know what God is telling you by leaving a reply to the blog.

“But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes…Then the men asked, ‘Why are you looking aomng the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!” Luke 24:1-6a (NLT)

the last few days i have heard four words used time and time again. “have a happy easter!” for some reason that has really bothered me this year. people say it with no sincerity whatsoever. i want to ask, why should it be happy? for some because it’s a day off from work. to others it’s a time to get together with family and eat great food. still others it’s a chance to get back to whatever they gave up for lent. all reasons for one to be happy right?

but there is so much more isn’t there. the God of the universe gave His Son to die for our sins, so that we could have a relationship with Him. and He didn’t just die and stay among the dead. “So they went in but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus.” He rose again! He’s living today and working in the lives of people today. His grace and love are yours and mine today.

how could i not “have a happy easter”?

thank You Lord for Your Sacrifice, Your Son. thank You for the Body that wasn’t there and isn’t there in the tomb. thank You for the relationship i have with You, through the blood of Your Son. it will truly be a happy easter!

 today i want to look at an amazing example of life after stump removal, the apostle Paul. he had been eager to persecute Christians and put them to death(Acts 9:1), basically a murderer. but one day he has an encounter with God and the stump is just ripped out of the ground.

what was the result? he moves on in life and is greeted by a follower of Christ in Damascus. “Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength. Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is indeed the Son of God!’” Acts 9:19-20 (NLT) paul allowed God to remove the stump and do the work that needed done in his life. then he moved on and did what God had for him to do.

two things were very important in this story, obedience and forgiveness. first both paul and the believers were obedient to what God told them to do. ananias was amazing to me in this story because he was obedient to the Lord when it didn’t come close to making sense to him. he was to go out and help a man that was just having Christians murdered the day before? second we see the forgiveness of God as well as that of the Christians.

paul went on preaching and preaching and preaching. to many people who saw and listened to him, he was just amazing. to those who read the books that he wrote, he did some amazing things. he was a man of God. a man of God with a past, but that didn’t stop him.

so what about that stump? you see if you drive by my yard today you may not even notice where it was, but i know. there is a slight elevation to the ground and when you get real close you can still see spots where grass needs to grow in thicker. but instead of focusing on what used to be there i have to focus on what is there now and the work that needs to be done. just like paul we all have to do the work that God has for us to do, regardless of what stump has been removed.

 “for once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. so live as people of light!” Ephesians 5:8(NLT)

so this sunday i will be leading worship at First Church of God in Defiance, OH. in preparation i have laid out some worship songs and worked out a “special” for the service. six days before the service i get an e-mail letting me know that someone else is singing the same song for their “special” the very same day. (brings new meaning to special)

five days til service now and i start looking for a new song and just not finding anything that really hits me as being “the song”. but in the back of my mind i have this song that i love to sing. it’s more upbeat and not a typical “special” so i pretty much ignore that idea. but i ask God to give me direction in what song to use and i continue searching the web for ideas.

within a couple hours i get a call from the pastor asking me to end the service with an upbeat song. uh, i suppose i can do that.

God worked out all the details right then and there. my search was over and my mind was at ease. just another example of God being God and taking care of things when we give them over to Him.

this morning, i asked for a report on the Passion Play at Twin Oaks Baptist Church in Ferrum, VA. (this had been a prayer request given )this was part of Pastor Terry’s e-mail to me…

We did four performances and would estimate 600 plus people attended. Around ten people indicated that they accepted Christ as their Savior and about twenty people for rededication…

Thanks for all the prayers. We’re anxious to see what God does next!

Terry

it’s a huge encouragement to me when i hear how God continues to move. He wasn’t just present during Bible times and working through the lives of the disciples, but He is alive today and working through every day people like you and me.