I must say that the view from where I sit is looking good.  With much of the Country buried in snow and ice, I am blessed to have the warmth of Hawaii all around me.  I've had little to write about this past 2 weeks and I know why that is.  Some would say it is writers block and others would blame it on being busy.  I on the other hand know it is because I have neglected to read God's word and pray diligently.  Sure I work in a church office and people think that I must be daily in the Word and studying but truth be told, I have been a little stubborn.  I have been angry with God about my suffering.

Why is that?  Why is it that I get stubborn and withdraw from the very source of my strength?  I've taken my eyes off of the amazing grace of God and His perfect provision in my life and I have begun to focus on my infirmity.  Sure my eye is miserable but if I had my heart and mind focused on Him I would be praying for others and not looking at myself.  God revealed to me all the wonderful things that I have around me and how blessed I am as a child of God.  The weather is fabulous, I have a job, a 22 year old body (according to Wii fit), an amazing wife, an excellent home to live in, a fantastic family, a talented son with a heart of gold, and I could go on and on if I focused on God.

I take my eyes off of God and that is where I get into trouble.  You see when I truly take time with the Lord, He always reminds me of just who I am and He never reminds me of who I once was.  It is the enemy who will constantly remind you of who you were and that you couldn't possibly be any different today.  The baggage will still remain and that can quickly get your eyes looking back at your condition.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says that we are a new creation, the old things have passed away and new things have come.  So the next time Satan reminds you of your past... remind him of his future. 

This weekend we had a great message about Standing Stones.  In Biblical time these rock monuments were erected as a reminder of something that God did at that place so when future generations came by they would ask and then the story could be told in remembrance. 

I have several that came to mind when he brought this up and I wanted to share some of these with you this morning.  I pray that you too will take the time to not only stop and recollect those times that God was all over something in your life but that you will then thank Him and share it with others.  Our testimony is a powerful word to those that are seeking the truth. 

The first recollection I have where I would have a Standing Stone would be at a camp when I was about 10 or 11 years old.  I was hiking with a bunch of other kids and we came across this opening in the rocks where the walls were about 2 feet apart.  I thought it would be cool to climb down this opening; you know you press your hands and feet along the sides and down you go.  Well about 10 feet down I slipped and began free-falling and the bottom was about 600' down.  The next thing you know I stopped, no effort on my part, I just stopped.  I put my feet and hands back on the sides of the crack and began to shimmy up the rock.  When I got to the top everyone was bug eyed and said I literally stopped in mid air and when I showed them that I had not one scratch on my hands or arms they couldn't explain what happened to me.  It wasn't until a year later at Vacation Bible School that I knew it was Jesus who saved me from that fall. 

The second Standing Stone would be August 11, 1977 when I went forward and prayed to accept the free gift Jesus had paid for long ago with His life.  A point in my life when I can say for sure that I changed and that things were never the same again.


I have many places in my life that I can remember making decisions that looking back on them later, were certainly crossroads and life-changing places, but I'd rather not put a Standing Stone on them because I didn't involve God in the process and most if not all were disastrous.  Then on the other hand, God used those very decisions to shape and mold me into the man I am today so I guess they deserve a Standing Stone. God causes all things to work to the good for those that love Him and are called according to His purposes. Romans 8:28 

I have many more stones to share with you in the coming months but for now I want to stop there and ask you to take a few minutes and let God show you some of those times in your own life.

Just a word of encouragement today for someone, I don't know who it's for but God has impressed upon my heart to share this with you.  You are so loved by Him and the things that you have experienced in the name of LOVE are not the kind of love that God is talking about today.  He wants to love you the way you ought to be loved and there is nothing in your past that would disgust Him or keep Him away from you today.  There is nothing you have ever done that His son Jesus didn't take to the cross on your behalf.  If you ask Him today to take those things from you and if you let Him know today that you want to accept His love and give up trying to do it yourself, He will do what He has promised to do.  Today you can know His love and you can know acceptance as His child.

May God reveal Himself to you today in a way that you cannot blow it off as some coincidence.  Open your eyes and your heart today.  God is waiting for you and would love nothing more than to hang out and for you to get to know Him better.  He already knows everything about you and loves you more than you can imagine.