One Step At A Time
Monday, March 16, 2009
It’s great how God parallels teaching moments in the midst of crisis in our lives. Let me start with today and work backwards. Today I went for hike. I needed to get away due to some of the crisis that I’ll talk about later. Anyways, I went Mt. Madonna and I found a trail to go on. Now at the core of who I am, I’m a average athletic guy, except right now in my life I am overweight and out of shape, so the mere fact that I’m on a hike is a big step. Anyways, as I’m hiking on the trail I realize that I’ve been going downhill for a while and it pops into my head that what goes down will go up, but I continue anyways. I get to the bottom of the hill, I rest for a while and then start the ascension up the hill. I was fine for a little while and then it got hard. My heart was pumping, I was sweating like a pig and it seemed like the hill never ended. It came to the point where looking up at the hill and was a bit overwhelmed, so I just looked down at the ground and took one step at time. It worked. I got into a rhythm and was less overwhelmed and began making great progress.
I got me thinking to where I am currently in life. The last 7 months have been a whirlwind of craziness, but good craziness. My daughter was born 7 months ago and we purchased and moved into a new house about a month and half ago. Life is good, I’m cruising, going downhill. On Thursday I get the news that due to the financial status of our church, my full time position with benefits is being cut to part time position with no benefits. Crap (or other not family friendly expletive). A giant hill just sprung up. The last couple of days have been crisis mode basically figuring out how we’re going to make it. Needless to say, I’ve been a bit overwhelmed. Today I went on a hike to clear my mind and focus not only on what my personal life will look like during this change, but how my ministry will change and as I climbed the hill at Mt. Madonna, it hit me, one step at a time. When I look up and look at how big the hill is, I get overwhelmed, but when I look at what’s in front of me and take it one step at a time, I know that I can do it. I’m not sure what God is doing right now, all I do know is that my focus needs to be small right now in order to get over this hill. Pray for me and my family and my ministry as we go into new experiences in the following weeks. I know God will take care of us, I just don’t know what it looks like, but I’m taking it one step at a time.
Common Sense
Thursday, February 12, 2009
So I’m at the place that I get in any Bible reading plan that is the toughest for me. I’m in the middle of Leviticus. When I read Leviticus it’s sometimes hard for me to reflect on what can be applied to my life. Today as I reading chapters 18 & 19, I noticed that many of the rules and regulations that God laid down for the Israelites were really common sense things. Don’t have sex with family, don’t do witchcraft, don’t be deceiving. These are all very common sense rules to live by. We serve a very reasonable God. Sure, He calls us to be above reproach and anti-culture, but that’s because our culture is ridiculous. When we live in a culture that is living in a non common sense way of course God should ask us to live with common sense.
All I’m saying is that when non christians really look at what we believe and see the common sense in it, their view may change.L
The Beautiful, Creative Movements of God
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
“And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?” Acts 11:17
When God moves in the lives of people who are we to argue?
Many times when we hear people’s testimonies about how God has moved in their lives, we are skeptical. Growing up a conservative church culture, my view of how God moves is different than others view of the hand of God. But does that make it wrong or invalid? No way. I’ve learned over the years as I’ve expanded my church culture experience that it’s not my place to judge how God works. How boring would the Christian life be if God only moved in one way. God is so much more creative and beautiful than that. God’s going to do what God’s going to do. It’s my job to support the work that He’s done.
Thank you God for being so creative and beautiful to move in our lives in different ways. Help me to keep an open mind to not judge others, but to support your work in their lives.
Jealousy At It's Best
Monday, February 02, 2009
S- “You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you.” Exodus 34:14
O- God is jealous of His relationship with us. He doesn’t want anything to get in the way of us and Him.
A- Our culture is full of gods. Whether it’s tv or movies, music, friends or the economy, we have many gods. One thing that I forget is that God is a jealous God. He wants us all to himself, not as a bad thing, but because He loves us. He doesn’t want anything to get in the way of our relationship. I know for me, it’s easy to let things get in the way. For me media (tv, internet, movies) gets in the way. I’ve also realized that my personal life (family, household duties, friends) have been taking precedence over my relationship with God. God wants me for himself, I need to give up the other things in my life to give God what He wants.
P- God, show me what you want. Tell me what to give up. Thank you that you love me and want desperately to have a relationship with me. Show me how to draw closer to you.
Resolutions Jan. 4
Sunday, January 04, 2009
So these are my resolutions for 2009. I’m officially starting them today because this last weekend I was still vacation and I wanted to wait until I went back to a normal routine. Anyways,
1. Read 26 books this year.
- I’m in the process of reading two books right now, Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Barton and The Seven Checkpoints For Youth Leaders by Andy Stanley
2. Lose 25 lbs.
- Diet starts today, still trying to figure out when the gym will fit into the schedule.
3. Read the Bible regularly
- I changed this one from the last list of resolutions, mainly because every day seems too legalistic. Anyways, regularly is a better. This also means reading it for myself, not for
sermons or Bible study prep. So far, haven’t done this today, but it’s only 7:45am right now.
4. Blog more
- My goal for this one is to blog 3 times a week, but only if I have something worth blogging about.
5. Watch less tv.
- Heather and I discussed this one yesterday. We decided that we’ll have a two hour limit Sunday-Thursday (my work week) and then watch whatever on the weekends. I know this
still sounds like a lot of tv, but to be honest, it’s a lot less then we watch now.
Steve Gold
Junior High Pastor
South Valley Community Church
(408) 848-2363 ext. 106
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