jon mark

so today is molly’s 1st birthday!!! i honestly can not believe that it is here already, but it is… it seems like yesterday that we were going to doctor appointments and trying to figure out why we hadn’t been able to have children… trips to the specialist to get those “wonder drugs” that would do the trick… finally after two and a half years molly was conceived and more appointments were needed…

now we are celebrating her 1st birthday and can’t imagine life with out her… with out her smile… with out her wrinkled up nose… with out her skinny little legs taking her all over the house…

i have to say that being a father has taught me so much and allowed me to see a whole other side of God!!! i have to say that today is…

a day to celebrate!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOLLY!!!

so this has been a really busy weekend for us so far!!! friday night, after a long week of work, we had an activity for GPS…potluck bowling…late night for us…then this morning we were up bright and early to run a 5K!!! for those that know me, running is not exactly my strong suit nor something i have a passion to do…but it was for a benefit and kasey loves to run…so off we went!

seeing as running is not a passion of mine…i haven’t run for six months!!! i should’ve started out with a run to the mailbox or maybe around the block, but noooo…i agree to run a 5K…it was 50 degrees and windy at start time for the race…i was hoping that my wider frame would receive more assistance from the wind, than the MUCH narrower frame my wife has!!! but i can’t say that it helped so much…fortunately she stayed with me and actually pushed me throughout the race…and i FINISHED!!! (just won’t tell you how long it took me…sorry…)

after the race was over i had two rocks where my quad muscles used to be…and my left knee felt like it was going to explode at any moment…otherwise i felt great…the kicker is that we had to drive 45 minutes to get back home…let’s just say the banana and bottle of water didn’t help so much with the cramping…!

what was i thinking?

tonight i’m just thinking about the race and wondering just that…what i was thinking…why is it that i haven’t run for 6 months??? it isn’t all that bad, especially when you run a beautiful course like we ran this morning!!! it’s actually good for my body, even though it doesn’t feel so good right now…

the problem is i have done that same thing in my spiritual life from time to time…for some unknown reason i neglect my time with my personal Savior and Lord…i don’t make my time studying His word and talking with Him, a priority like i should…but why? i can think of one time in my life specifically when i look back and see the effect that it had on my life…just like the cramping in my legs right now, there was great pain because i had stopped doing something that in all honesty i needed to be doing…something that’s good for me…

what was i thinking???

have you ever had a time in your life when you neglected something??? maybe even your personal relationship with God??? how did you get back to it???

for me i had to get back to reading God’s word daily and i started journaling my prayers…

so from time to time there are commercials that stick out to me for whatever reason…some are funny…some are just flat out stupid…other can even have a great message…the most recent commercial is directed towards the use of laptops and being limited by wifi signals…to be connected…or do you have that wonderful card that allows you to access the internet from anywhere at anytime…to stay connected…

i love technology…i love to learn new things about technology…i love to just experiment and teach myself new things…so there are times when my wife has to put her foot down and say no…this would be one of those times…NO wireless card here…and i’m totally cool with that!!! but i am connection challenged with my mac…

but for whatever reason…forgive me if you don’t see “the connection”…it reminds me of what we are studying this week for our series “days of vision” at church…we have been reading through ephesians 4 this week and looking at the body of Christ…as followers of Christ we are all part of one body…we are all connected…or at least we are supposed to be…but are we??? or are some connection challenged???

the body of Christ is to living and growing…but the only way for it live and grow is for every part of the body to be doing it part…to be connected…to be working…as this occurs other parts are strengthened, check out vs. 16 “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” did you see that…as each part does its work…just like the laptop needs a signal to get that internet connection and function properly…the body needs to be connected to work properly…

but what happens when some parts aren’t doing their part??? what happens when some parts are connected…they’re connection challenged???

give me some ways that you stay connected…also share some effects of being connection challenged…both on the challenged and on the body…

are you…connection challenged???

so last week i was studying through an article by fred markert…“Active or Passive Lordship”…this article is great and the concept that he is writing about is very foundational to our lives as Christ followers!!! i encourage you to read through that article at some point…

but there were two statements that stuck out to me in the article…one really explains the meaning to this idea of active or passive lordship…“When your doctor gives you a prescription you don’t wait around for him to phone you four times a day and say, “Take your pills now.” The directions are already on the bottle.” …WOW!!! how many times to i sit around and say that i’m waiting on the Lord to show me His will, when all i have to do is read His word to find it???

the second statement in the article was very convicting to me!!! “From the beginning of time the focus of God’s activity has been on His most beloved creation – man. The Bible is a well-documented history of how God has always actively pursued us. From Genesis right after “The Jump” (we don’t “fall” into sin we jump) down through the ages, God has never given up on us. The sad testimony of time is that while God has always aggressively pursued man, man hasn’t always aggressively pursued God!” …WOW! OUCH!! (i was reminded of this again in reading a post on fred’s blog earlier in the week…)

so after dealing with that last week, we had our sunday night meeting with GPS…i found that very few people in the group had read through the article, even though it was supplied to them…and one guy in the group made a great statement…he told people that if they didn’t get that article, there really wasn’t much purpose in going forward with the study…it’s foundational…if we don’t put into practice those things we’ve learned what’s the point in learning more??? if we sit passively and aren’t pursuing God or His will for our lives, what’s the purpose for our lives???

i hope that you are challenged to practice active lordship in your life…to actively pursue God and His will for you…if you are doing this already, please let me know how that looks or works in your life…if there is an area that you are struggling to do this right now, please let me know that as well…maybe there is someone who has been there and can help…

what type of lordship are you living out…

active or passive???

thanks to fred markert and fred mckinnon for their influence and also to cam for challenging GPS like he did!!!

soooo, kasey just called me and gave me the link to see molly’s pictures that were taken this morning!!! my daughter is the cutest thing EVER!!! she is HOT just like her momma!!! here my favorite from today just to show you what i’m talking about!!!

being a father is just AWESOME!!! and yes…i’m PROUD!!!

i would like to hear some thoughts on the question…is pride always bad???