Holidays2008

IT'S A BOY!

It's a PROUD BOY! Becki and I are having a little boy.

You are looking at the latest ultra sound which was done yesterday.

His heart beat is good and strong!

And he shall be called "Travis Asher Tyler".

He is due on Feb. 17, 2009.

Thank you all who voted! We look forward to his arrival. We will be having a church wide baby shower on October 26, 2008 at 1:00 PM. It will be in the church fellowship hall.

Becki's tummy sickness is not as bad now. We are working on the nursery. I have now officially lost my home office, but I will gladly give it up for my boy!

She still doesn't feel the baby move yet, but it should be soon now!

Hello World!

"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb."
-Pslams 139:13

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
-Jeremiah 1:5

You are looking at the first pictures of our baby! If you click on the play button, you can hear the baby's heart beat! He or She is due on February 17, 2009. Becki and I went to the doctor today and they took an ultrasound to get a better idea of when the baby is due! We are so excited! From top to bottom you will see: a profile shot, a hand, and a foot. They seem to think Beckis is about 16 weeks along!

We do not know the sex of the baby yet. Vote on what you think here on my blog! You can find the survey at the top right of the blog. The survey ends October 6, 2008 @ 9:00 AM. Please pray for the baby to be healthy. I pray that this child will be a bold proclaimer of the Gospel of our precious LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.

Lord, I praise you for the healthy growth and development this far. May you continue to grow this child for your kingdom and glory! AMEN!

Reflections On Our Pastor

I would like to start this off by thanking Sam and his wife for their effort and contributions to our church family over the past year and a half. Sam has done a great job of providing a mission statement, pushing for me to become full time, which I am very grateful for, and leading the charge in cleaning up the rolls. Erin has been a huge help in both the college and music ministry of the church, not to mention her happy face has and will bring joy to many.

I pray that Sam is allowed to leave the church well because this is what he desires. A very wise pastor once told me that the true mark of a good pastor is not how he begins his ministry at a Church, but how he leaves a church. He feels that he has been "called" to be the campus pastor of Sarasota Baptist Church in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. While our hearts are heavy that he will be going on to minister in another location, we are reminded that God has not forgotten us. We do not put our hope in any man except the God-Man, Jesus Christ. So we look to the future, with anticipation of what God will do. We will celebrate with our Pastor one last time. And we will praise God for who he is all the time. We praise him for how he never changes, and how he never fails.

Let's Unite in Prayer, In Love, and in the Precious Gospel Message.

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!" (Psalm 133:1)

Check me Out!

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity

Puppies!

Our dog Reese gave birth to five beautiful puppies on May 7, 2008. Their father is an Irish Sitter/Lab mix and their mom is a boxer mix. There is a white one, Snowball, A tanish one, Carmel, the runt, Oreo, a brown/black colored, bear, and another one that looks like bear. All the ones with black are males and the lighter color ones are girls, so we have two girls and three boys. These puppies will not last long! I have already had several emails on them.

Foster Care

I found this video moving. This should help people understand why we are passionate about these children.






Will you help? Do you care? Has Christ not called you to help these children?

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

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Happy Mother's Day Mom. I love you!

Devotion to our God or our Political Party?

On Tuesday I did my civil duty and voted. I have to say that this year I am not excited about anyone running on either side. I have thought this for several years, but this election confirms what I have thought. The picture above points out the fact that the two party system is not so much a two party system. The fact of the matter is that we don't have a two party system. We have a one party system that is manipulated by the media, special interest groups, and academics.

I think that the media has created a great divide in America. The truth of the matter is there are only two world views in this world. I fear that many of the people of God's kingdom are letting the D or R on their voter card influence their thinking rather than the word of God. It is time that we stop letting a political party decide views for us, and start opening the word of God. How about our first allegiance be to the truth of scripture instead of CNN or fox news. How about talking about issues that really keep the people up at night?

Here are my concerns, which no current candidate running seems to be concerned with: the family as the foundation of society, the growing issues with the foster care system, sanctity of life (all life born and on death row), intelligent design being taught in the public schools, the climbing rate of teen pregnancy, and most important the word of God. How about a plan that focuses on how to rebuild the family instead of tearing it down with redefinitions.

I think that we are getting ready to head into dark days under the leadership of any of the candidates. I just pray that the term passes quickly and the next election has better choices.

A Breach of Faith

This past week, spring break 2008, our church went to New Orleans on a mission trip with Operation Noah Rebuild. This was the second trip we have taken to New Orleans. New Orleans is an interesting city. I must say that there is much more hope in the city now, than there was back in August of last year; however, there is still much rebuilding to be done. We worked on Ms. Green's house, who painted all her buildings green. We built her a handicap ramp. She was so thrilled. She lived in the lower 9th Ward, where now there is much work to be done.

On the trip we did some witnessing in the french quarter, the task was to witness and give a Bible away on Saturday Night. We had one night of evangelism training to prepare for Saturday. I was able to give to two bibles away, but one in our group found a book titled "A Breach of Faith". She asked what the title means and the store owner said, "We put our faith in the levees and they broke."

Isn't that telling, and isn't that a great bridge to start giving the gospel. Everyone has faith in something, the question is "What do you have faith in?" What is it that comforts you? What is it that you think is most true and right? What is it that effects how your live your life?

When the levees broke back in 2005, the people had a breach of faith. What they had most believed in had proven to be flawed and broken. Like politics, sports, education, a spouse, animals, cars, or whatever you put your faith in.

The only way your faith will hold is if it rests in Jesus Christ! Let Christ be glorified in me!

What happens to believers who commit suicide?

The pictures above show two examples of two men killing themselves in the Old Testament. The bottom picture is King Saul who fell on his sword after losing a battle to the Philistines, and his sword bearer followed his example.(1 Sam. 31:4-5; 1 Chron. 10:4-5). We also see in the top picture Saul unable to tolerate the ridicule and the reality of his failure, in one final act of strength Samson pulled the pillars down on himself and thousands of his captors. (judges 16:25-30)

Charles Stanely says in his book the Glorious Journey that "A closer examination of the alarming number of suicides today revels five motivating factors: 1. A cause that a person is committed to ; 2. a pact between two or more people; 3. feelings of meaninglessness; 4. circumstances that overwhelm an individual; and 5. an extended illness involving intractable or unrelenting pain." I think that while the method people choose to end their life may very, their motives are similar. Everyone must have thoughts in their heart before there is action.

So what happens to Believers who commit suicide?

The area I currently serve in I have found two answers to this question: one a true believer would not commit suicide so they would go to hell; Or suicide is an unforgivable sin, therefore they would go to hell.

I think in order to answer the question of weather a believer goes to heaven or not can be found in two other questions: One is one sin greater than another sin? And two, if you die committing any sin, does it effect your eternal destination? First of all let's look at what God's word says in the Gospel of John:

27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[a]; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30I and the Father are one." -John 10:25-30

So you see from this verse that once you have been placed in God's strong hand, you cannot be removed by anyone. That means NOBODY, including yourself, can remove you from God's secure hand. In order to remove yourself from the hand of God you would need to be stronger than God's hand. The same hand that held this world and molded it a potter molds clay. So the answer to the question about dying in a sin, it makes no difference if you were lusting or killing yourself. It doesn't effect your eternal destination.

In response to the first question of are some sins worse than any other. The idea that some sins are greater than others is a Roman Catholic teaching. Roman Catholics teach that there are two categories of sins "venial" and "mortal". The venial sin can be forgiven, but often after punishment sin this life or in Purgatory. The mortal sins cannot be forgiven by God, an example of this would be suicide. The serious hole in this theology is that it is up to us to pay the price for our sins. While we do suffer because of sin, we cannot make the payment that is needed to wipe away any sins. So in reality all sins are "mortal", we need a substitute for us and as 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 states we are only saved by Christ. Christ paid for our sins, so that we could become acceptable before God. We see this same theme in Romans 1:8. Where there is no condemnation in Christ. That means all sins have been forgiven for a believer.

So to answer the question original posed from the title of this blog. YES, true believers go to heaven no matter how they may die.

Confessions of a Rook Player

Well as you may or may not know, I love the card game rook. It is a game my family has played every holiday I can remember. As a matter of fact I own a set of 100th Anniversary Playing Cards. The problem however is that I am having a hard time finding people who at least know how to play the game. Or at least know how to play the versions of Rook that I know. And after that it is even harder to find someone who loves the game as much as I do (there are few things on God's creation that I will sit for hours on a hard chair).

I love to play the game, I really do with anyone. But I love to play the game the most with those who have played many times over. They know how to count the cards, when to take the risk, and when to fold. The reason that it is more fun with competitive players is because for the most part they are more predictable on their play style. That's right, you know that they will always lead in trumps if they take the kitty. And they should, because that is how you play to win.

But when you play with an new player. They are unpredictable, sometimes slow, and make big mistakes. This can often times cause the more experienced players to loss interest in the game, and not want to play. So what happens, well we have a hard time finding a group to play. And especially finding some to play who are around my age.

That is right, we have not done a good job on helping this next generation to learn this way awesome, fun game! It is because of our own selfishness. We would rather only play like once in a while with the people we want to play with, than teach new players.

I mean let's face it, you are not born an awesome rook player. You have to be taught. You may be wondering why I am going on about rook. It is because I want to use it to point out how the Southern Baptist Convention is similar.

The problem with seasoned rook players is that they failed to assimilate new players. Many seasoned rook players do now want to go our of their way to help new players learn. As rook players, we have words that only we understand: "kitty", "shoot the moon", or that famous question "Do you have the rook?"

As Southern Baptist, we have our own language. We understand each other when we make Dave Ramsey references or jokes about dancing in church. But the unchurched don't understand. The unchurched, unsaved, and recently saved need to be taught and loved. They need to be assimilated. They will not become so on their own. We must become proactive and intently in our relationships with others.

Just like I have to be intently in picking new rook players (knowing they are unpredictable, will make mistakes, and will not understand with out careful explanation), seasoned Christians must be intensely and/or proactive in their relationships in and our of church.

2008

As I think of the many blessings that the LORD brought to me in 2007, I look forward with anticipation to 2008. I have to say that being out of school has not really hit me yet. I will understand this more as my friends go on back to papers, reading, and finals.

I am also amused at all the health ads at the end and beginning of each year. Everyone wants to be healthy, but it is not an issue of doing the right things, it is really an issue of the heart. The problem with many "diets" or "exercise" programs is that they are really all ploys to get people to spend money. Spend money on pills, food, and gym memberships that we need like we need another mortgage payment.

The truth is that many are and will profit on people's fear. I mean people want to "look good" mostly for other people. There has been a standard of beauty set by the entertainment industry, family, and friends. And we think that if we do not meet this standard we will be rejected by everyone. It is a deep seated fear of rejection by people that drives us to do many silly things.

The truth is we should take care of our bodies, but not with the intention of "looking good". We should take care of our bodies as the Word of God directs in order to better serve others. NOW THAT IS A REAL MOTIVATOR. The reason we should be in shape is to serve others because this is what will Glorify God the most.

So as we pick our diets this year, join our gyms, and buy our silly pills. Ask yourself, why? Why do I want to "be in shape". Why do I think I need this. If your answer is for the Glory of God and to Honor God as a living sacrifice GREAT! But if you are going on a diet for any other reason, you are on a mission to glorify yourself. And if that is the case, you are trading one sin for another!