"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

Grow Up...

Have you ever been frustrated, but you find yourself repeating the same mistake over and over again. You know better, but somehow before you realize it you've made the same mistake again. I find myself in this predicament quite often. There's a verse in Romans 7:15 that basically shows us that Paul experienced the same problem. In this verse he is asking, "why do I do the things I don't want to do, and don't do the things I want to do." It is refreshing to know the man responsible for more than half of the New Testament, the "ultimate" Jew, the apostle struggled with sin just like we all do. Our youngest daughter turned two last week and we tell her over and over not to do something, but as soon as we turn our heads she does exactly what we told her not to do. We are very much like my daughter. God tells us not to do something because he knows better, but as soon as we think God's not looking, we do what we were told not to do. I want to challenge you all this week to quit repeating the same sin over and over again. Something I do to help me out is to read my Bible daily and I try to pray through situations instead of praying about situations. Have a great week and God Bless you this week...

Tony

Go Already!

I have been feeling really good this week! In fact I have been feeling so good that I spent a few hours every day working on my boat. It's not new, fancy or real pretty, or coveted by anyone, but it's mine and it's paid for. It's an older boat and requires some TLC and lots of attention. My wife made a comment in talking to one of my cousins that got me to thinking. She said, "he does this everytime he's gonna go fishing. He spends all his time getting ready and then he's too tired to go..." After she said this I thought about it and how true that statement is about the church today and Christians in general. We spend all our time preparing for what we want to accomplish and when it comes time to produce we don't have the energy. I worked on the wiring, the fuel line, cleaned it, and hopefully this week will power wash it. Am I doing this because it needs it, or am I doing it because I need it? So many of us go to church looking to fill a void in our lives. We try to fill it with programs or studies, but what we really need is to get real with God. It's good to do all the things I did to my boat, just like it's good for us to be at church. However, I didn't catch any fish because I never got on the water. Most Christians do all the Christian things, but only at church. We're too scared to go against the flow in public or at work. When was the last time you prayed before a meal at a restraunt? When was the last time you TOOK someone to church that has never been? When was the last time you did something that made you uncomfortable? You're ready! Matthew 28:19, tells to go into all the world! Please notice that one little word, "Go"! Let's quit stalling and do what we're supposed to this week. Oh yeah, pray for me that I get to take my boat out and bring home dinner! God Bless...

Tony