Blast from the Past

Wow, what a weekend! On saturday we celebrated my wife's birthday, then on sunday we had a birthday party for my oldest daughter, Selah. It was a great weekend getting to see old friends and talking about the good ol' days toether. In this photo, I am pictured with Sylvia Lawler and Sally Murff. Sylvia was our church secretary at FBC Junction, while Sally was our daycare director. Eventhough their titles said one thing they wore several hats in their jobs. To me these two ladies were the ones that made everyone's job alot easier. I'm pretty good at proposing ideas, but don't know about logistics. These ladies made sure it came to life. I don't know how many hours we spent in prayer for one another and for our families. I love to hear a mother's prayer. After I left our church in Junction I lost touch with some, but these ladies have always been in my heart. Now we work in three different places doing three entirely different jobs but we still have a common bond, Jesus.
We are about to embark on a new journey as I have accepted a new job as Youth Minister in Winters. I don't know what the future holds for my health or my family. I do know one thing though: I will be making more new friends! I am excited about the opportunity to serve the people of Winters and really feel that God is going to bring complete healing to my wounded body. "I will restore your health and heal your wounds..." Jeremiah 30:17. I live by this verse and look forward to every morning to see what God has for me. I always try to look to the future, but sometimes it's nice to stop and remember the past, because that's what made us who we are today...stop...remember...thank God...blessings...

Tony

Wait...

I got to spend the weekend doing Christmas shopping. Spent a whole day shopping, not for myself, but for others. What a day it was. We had a very unusual day in a sense that we spent the day as a family. This doesn't happen very often for us. The day started great as we left home at a decent time and arrived in Abilene just in time for a great lunch at Abuelo's. This is exciting stuff. Once we were stuffed, the fun began. As we piled our basket, I began to people watch. People watching is one of my favorite hobbies. I love to watch bored husbands and over eager wives buying for everyone they can think of. I heard one conversation that was made up of a wife explaining to her husband why they needed to buy a certain nephew a gift this year. This would be only year they would have to buy for this person because they're moving out of state. Most people were excited to be there, however their were those certain few that would have rather been out with friends or on a deer lease somewhere or anywhere but shopping. We ended our great day by taking our daughters to the theatre for the first time. We went to watch Tangled, the story of Repunzel. It was so neat to see my oldest daughter walk in to the theatre for the first time. Her eyes lit up, and she couldn't believe the size of the TV screen. As I watched her, I suddenly remembered why God compares us to children. All day they were dependent on me and their mom. I want to become so dependent on God that I won't be able to move unless He tells me where...Let's all become His children and dependent on Him again. The only way we can hear Him, is to talk to Him...Blessings...

Tony

"I'm Going Fishing..."

"I'm going fishing..." John 21:3

I love to read these words in the scriptures because I don't know how many times I have uttered these exact words from Peter. These words are usually heard when hard times hit. In the text Peter has denied knowing Christ. Jesus has been beat, battered, and crucified. I don't think Peter is having a very good day. Some of the other disciples holler out to him and he basically says, "I need to get away." Often when I need to get away from everyone and/or everything after a stressful day or week, I respond like Peter. "I'm going fishing...", I think this will become my new life verse. The funny thing is that if you keep reading the story you find that some others went with him. If you read more the story turns out like my fishing trip. Jesus appears on the shore and asks, "have you caught any fish?" Their answer is very much like mine, "no". They had been out all night fishing and had caught nothing...I've been there before!
Fishing is a funny sport in so many ways. Fishermen will spend thousands of dollars to try to outsmart an animal that has a brain the size of a pea. I've learned that it's not really about fishing, but rather it's about your surrounding. It's about solitude, it's about nature, it's about man vs. fish, but for me it's about becoming one with God. We all have that special place where we feel closest to God. As we prepare for this Christmas season I want to challenge you to remember what we are celebrating. Let's get to that special place as often as we can. I pray that I not go fishing, but that I go catching...God Bless...
Tony

How Big...

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness, come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God." Psalm 100:1-3

I recently heard the story of a student who was in seminary. Having all this knowledge he had learned in his last semester, he approached his pastor and asked, "Pastor do you think there's other life out there on other planets?" His pastor looked at him and simply said, "no". The student was astonished with the answer and began to plead with his pastor, "if there isn't other life out there, why would God spend all that time and effort to create all these other planets and galaxies?" The pastor looked at him and smiled and said, "what time and effort..." I love the response because our God is so big and awesome that He just shakes His hands and galaxies are created! My mind cannot begin to fathom how big God is. I have reached a point in my life where I don't really care to read books or memorize verses or even want to read my Bible, but I want to know God! I want to know more about God, who is God, how can I hear God, how can I know God better? I know how important it is for me to read my Bible, and memorize scripture, and sing His praises, but sometimes I have to get away and just be silent for a bit. Have you ever been scared to be alone with God? Have you ever had an uncomfortable silence with God? I have. It's weird, scary, and yet it's exciting to hear what He is going to say. How big is God? Look at the sky and try to wrap your mind around how big He is...Blessings to all of you and let Him be big in your life this week! God Bless...
Tony

Worship

Psalm 24:3,4 "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart..."

Worship...what do we think about when we hear the word worship? For some it's a car, or a girl/boyfriend, a certain food item, or even a place they have visited. I have been thinking really hard about this thing that we Christians call WORSHIP. What exactly is it? According to the dictionary the word can be a noun or a verb. I am not going to bore you with a secular view of Worship, but I am gonna share with you about my experience with worship.
Worship is something that happens to me when I quit trying to serve God and let God take over. Sometimes I'm driving and see something majestic and I just have to Worship God right there. By the way if you're driving and decide to worship, please don't raise both hands and close your eyes! Sorry, safety first! Sometimes my girls are screaming at the top of their lungs and my wife is cooking dinner and as I am trying to piece everything together, I worship God and thank Him for what I have. Let me stop for just a moment and let you respond. When was the last time you worshipped our Lord and Saviour. I don't mean just thanked Him, I mean when was the last time you let God take control to the point that you had to snap out of it? When was the last time you asked God to become real in your life, in your home, in your family? It's been too long. The photograph today is a picture of the Old Guerrero Church on the Mexico side of Lake Falcon. This picture was taken two years ago before all the pirate turmoil began. It was taken by a great photographer named Mae, who owns House of Mae photography in the Metroplex. What a great picture of a place I could go to worship! Can you imagine pulling up in your bass boat to worship Jesus...WORSHIP...what does it mean to you...God bless you this week.

Tony

Run Forrest Run...

Yesterday was such a pretty day. We sat outside with the entire family and I watched them run and play. Did you notice the key word, "watched". It felt more like spring than fall. They were playing their own version of "hide-n-seek" which required alot more running than I remember ever doing. As I watched them run from one spot to another it was really pretty cool because I knew where everyone was hiding. It reminded me of how we try to hide from God to do things that maybe aren't so pleasing to Him, but in the end He knows what we were doing anyway and we end up having to confess to Him what we did while He wasn't "looking". There's a story in the Bible about a man named Jonah. Jonah was a prophet and in fact he has a book all to himself in the Old Testament. Really Jonah is in your Bible; don't tell anybody but I had to use my table of contents to find it! Jonah was told by God to go to a place called Nineneveh. This town was really corrupt and the people were really bad. It would be like God telling me to go to AUSTIN! Just kidding! Jonah thought there was no way he was going to Nineveh so he thought he could outrun God and hide from him. He hopped on a ship going in the opposite direction, but guess what...God knew exactly where he was. God wreaked havoc on that ship until Jonah was thrown overboard and swallowed by a big fish. Many think it was a whale, but I think it was a big ole bass...(this is my version). The fish puked him up on shore and Jonah did as he was told.
How often do we play hide-n-seek with God? Do we really think we outsmart God? Then why do we do it? I know there are many decisions that you are struggling with just as I am. I hope that you have a real talk with God before you make up your mind. Let's make Him real in our life this week! Let's not have a "Jonah" kind of week...God Bless your socks off...
Tony

Useless?

As I was getting ready Sunday morning, I opened a drawer in our bathroom and came across the most useless object in our home. It was way back in one of our drawers. I reached in there and pulled out this odd looking object that has no purpose in my life at this moment. What is this useless object? My hairbrush! I have no hair therefore my hairbrush has been rendered "useless". I had forgotten I even owned a hairbrush. I forgot what color it was, what brand it was, how soft it was, I had lost all memory of even owning a hairbrush. I wonder if this is what we do to God sometimes? The less relevant that brush became in my life, the farther back it went in that drawer. It was sheer coincidence that I found it while on the hunt for something else. So it is with God, if we don't talk to Him daily, if we don't seek Him daily, if we don't spend time with Him on a daily basis, we tend to stick God in a drawer somewhere and kind of forget about Him until we need something again. Have you ever noticed that when things are going good for us God becomes irrelevant in our lives. As soon as we need something, then we go to that God drawer where we left Him and start to frantically search Him out! God is too good to be put in a drawer. He longs to be a part of our daily lives. Where is God in your life at this moment...Let's let Him be relevant in our lives again...Have a blessed week!

Tony