Observing Lent...& Not the Belly-Button Kind...

I think I can honestly say that I legalism is not an attribute of mine, however, I do have a desire to become more disciplined in my walk with Christ.  I have only been passionately following Christ for about three years now, so spiritual discipline is a new thing for me.  I was totally challenged by Mark Batterson's blog on lent.  Check it out!  Anyways, I totally feel like giving up TV for lent would be a plus for me.  I'm not choosing to sacrifice TV because Mark did last year, I chose it because in its place I am going to read through the library of books that I own, in addition to the Bible.  Your Bible or another book is doing no good on your shelf.  I have really grown to love reading because of the learning that I experience.  Before I accepted Christ at 23, the only book I had read  cover to cover was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  (You can laugh, I know that is pitiful.)  But now, I am challenged in my walk with Christ through the books that I choose to read.  Do I hold them higher than scripture?  No way!  But I am challenged by the way God uses these authors as vessels to challenge their readers, He has been in that business for a while now.  The authors take different angles and stances on issues, so it intensifies my thought process by reading their books.  Mark says, "Subtraction Plus Addition Equals Multiplication."  You can't go wrong with that.  I need less of myself and more of Him, so I pray that God will show me what He wants me to see during this season of lent.  What are you giving up for lent?

Valentinus Kept It Real...

I know this is a couple days late, but here is the real reason we celebrate Valentine's Day.  We have Valentine's Day because of the fascinating life that a priest named, St. Valentine lived. According to history, Valentinus (the Latin form) was thrown into a dungeon. Although his jailer, Asterius, was not harsh, the priest lived with only the bare necessities. His one comfort while in prison was his friendship with Asterius' blind daughter. She befriended the kindly priest by bringing him food and delivering messages. After a year in jail, Valentinus was summoned to appear before Claudius II. The emperor was so impressed by the young priest's dignity that Claudius attempted to convert him from Christianity to save him from execution.  Valentinus, however, refused and was ordered to be beaten with clubs, stoned and executed. In the last days of his life, Valentinus, through his faith, restored the sight of the jailer's daughter. He also converted Asterius and the girl to his faith.  On the eve of his execution the priest wrote a farewell message to the girl and signed it 'From Your Valentine.' His execution was carried out on Feb 14, 269 A.D in Rome. According to legend, a pink almond tree, a symbol of friendship and affection shared each anniversary of the priest's execution marks Valentine's Day.  Although, thought to be a day for lovers, Valentine's Day is actually a day to profess your love and affection for anyone. It is a time to renew and strengthen the friendships and relationships that are shared with everyone.  Show others the love of Christ.  It may mean you will be thrown in prison and executed, but honestly I don't know of a better way to go.  Personally, to die for my faith would be an honor.

Are You Rescuing Slaves?

There is a well known story in the Bible that took place in Exodus 2.  It is about a Hebrew baby boy that was born to a Levite woman.  The Pharaoh of that time ordered that all Hebrew boys to be killed at birth. (Exodus 1:16)  He feared that eventually the Israelites would out number his people and engage in war against them. (Exodus 1:10)  To save the boy's life she put him in a basket and placed him in the Nile river. (Exodus 2:3)  This boy was rescued from the river by Pharaoh's daughter, and she saw that he was cared for. (Exodus 2:5-9) When the boy grew older, Pharaoh's daughter named the boy Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water." (Exodus 2:10)  My question is, who have you rescued out of the water, or do you need to be rescued?  The same God that spoke the earth into existence loves every person on this earth, but we are all slaves to sin.  The rapper Trip Lee puts it like this, "The good news is we can be born again, the bad news is we were born to sin."  Ain't that the truth!  So those of us who have been born again have a job to do.  Who do we know that is still a slave to sin?  Moses went on to become a man of God.  God presented the ten commandments to Moses and trusted him to present them to the Israelites. (Exodus 20)How many of us pass a Moses everyday?  God has plans for every person on this earth, and he wants to use us to bring that out of them.  With that being said, my prayer is that we go out daily with the mindset that God is going to use us to rescue slaves...     

Kicks For Christ...

The L.O.T. Project wants to encourage people to give $25 or more to support Kicks For Christ. Kicks For Christ is a shoe ministry that provides new shoes for the kids that we work with. In many cases, these kids have never experienced the reality of getting a brand new pair of shoes. We want to be able to provide that to them. Among other outreach ideas that we have, we think that Kicks For Christ will prove to be a success. Providing new shoes for kids is one way of bridging the gap of trust and communication. We want the kids to totally open their lives up to us so that God can use us to disciple them. For just $25 a kid will recieve a brand new pair of Converse Chuck Taylor’s. Skip going out to eat one night and be apart of changing a kids life. Your prayers and contributions are greatly appreciated!