life. faithful.

 I'm finding words to be elusive. An incredible man drew his last breath early Thursday morning, October 21st, his family by his side. Yesterday afternoon, my hometown gathered around his family to say goodbye. It is hard to wrap my mind around it happening so quickly; they hadn't even had time to adjust after hearing that dread ed word: cancer. I suppose on one hand that can be seen as a mercy, but right now I have to admit that I just see it as a tragedy. My heart is broken for everyone who knew and loved Frank. And as far as I can tell, to know him was to love him. I can't speak for anyone else, but I know I am incredibly thankful for the years I've counted him as part of my church family. That phrase doesn't really do it justice--our tiny little group is a lot more of a family than it probably implies. I'm thankful for the countless Sunday mornings spent sipping coffee, eating breakfast, and studying God's Word at a table with Frank. He was always quic...

 As I was driving down the dirt road this morning on my way to work, the clouds caught my attention. It was definitely one of those times I wish I had a camera with me, but that's probably the only thing I really miss after getting rid of my cell phone two years ago. Since I couldn't get a picture, here's something similar: Image from free stock It was early morning, the sky up high light blue and full of puffy white clouds. Under that, though, was a layer blowing in--still not really storm clouds, they were gray and wispy, swirling and dancing. They were moving quickly but it looked like a lot faster since the clouds above them weren't moving. What really made me stop, though, wasn't the clouds. Instead it was the flock of birds. Not my picture--from free stock   I'm not sure how many there were, but they were riding the drafts with the storm clouds moving in. They rose and fell with the air, barely flapping their wings. I'm sure they knew the storm was com...

 Dear God, I'll be honest--this world my kids are in? It's a hard place. There's so much darkness and it seems to be growing. It's nothing like the world I expected to be raising my kids in and nothing like the world I was used to. Hatred and division is running rampant and somehow it is all around the world all at the same time. Confusion and fear are widespread and it seems like that's all that's being pushed. I can't help but see glimpses of Revelation in the world, and it worries me. Not because I'm worried about the ultimate outcome--You've known the end since the beginning, and You hold everything in Your hand. But somehow while I know that, I have a hard time entrusting my kids to You. It doesn't make sense, I know. Logically I understand that they are Yours and that You love them so much more than I could ever imagine. But You know that control issue thing that I have? It kicks in pretty hard when it comes to my kids, and it's incredi...

1. God is still God. He is still on His throne, unshaken by what happens. Nothing takes Him by surprise and nothing is out of His control. 2. Right and wrong aren't subjective. 3. No matter how dark it is, the darkness can never drive away the light. In fact, a tiny flame can more easily be seen when it is shining in the dark than in the light of day. 4. God still uses refining fires. It's the hard times that expose and burn off all the things we need to get rid of so we can better reflect God. 5. Lies don't have to be silenced because they will always be exposed. What people fight to silence is the inconvenient truth. 6. Eventually, God's patience ends. He is love and bears with us longer than we deserve, but there always comes a time of judgment. 7. "Praise the name of God forever and ever, for all wisdom and power belong to Him. He sets in motion the times and the ages; He deposes kings and installs others; He gives wisdom to the wise and grants knowledge to tho...

 War is raging all around us, and for far too long many of us have been too blind to see. Sure, we know the verses that talk about how our war isn't against flesh and blood... but when our flesh is comfortable it is so easy to think those verses apply to another time or another place. What we don't realize, though, is that comfort often leads to complacency, and complacency is a tactic of the enemy. If we're complacent, we aren't on guard. We aren't the watchmen we're called to be, working with one hand and carrying a sword in the other. When we are complacent, we start thinking that this physical world is the only thing that matters--we focus on making sure our flesh is comfortable and content and push down the urging of our spirit to stand up, to fight back, to do something.     We aren't called to comfort. We aren't called to a life of ease and quiet. In fact, Jesus warned multiple times that a life following Him would be a life of trials. '16  Li...

 Adrian Rogers once gave the following set of definitions in a sermon: Justice--getting what you deserve Mercy--not getting what you deserve Grace--getting what you don't deserve It presents a very clear picture of our relationship with God and how it changes. Right now, there's a huge focus on the idea of "justice" in society. People are demanding it at every turn, though when I listen to what they say they want, it sure doesn't sound like justice . When you look back into the Old Testament, the law was God's way of offering justice to His people. As a righteous Judge, God must deal in justice. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, justice essentially boils down to dealing with truth and fact with impartiality. Justice means that each person is dealt with exactly how they should be. I get what I deserve--no more, no less. If God's people lived faithfully under the Law, they got what they deserved. So justice isn't such a bad thing, right? I mea...

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20 Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23 Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, 31 Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23 Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22 Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20 Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20 Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20 Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23 Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25 Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22 Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20 Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22   Never forget.