In the Light

“But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.”

1 John 1:7 NLT

 What an absolutely beautiful view of the sun's reflection over our fairly large oxidation pond here at work! Yes, I said oxidation pond!!! At least that's what it smells and looks like up close.

If you think about it, this is a great visualization of what God does for us. You see the Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Sin can make a beautiful life look and smell bad, just like that oxidation pond, but that's not the plan of God. You see, He gave us the gift of Jesus to cleanse us from all of our sins by dying on the cross. His death brought life and His life became the Light that drives away the darkness.

“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John 1:4-5 NIV

When we give our lives over to Jesus, His Light overcomes our darkness and we begin to reflect the Son! It doesn't matter what your past looked like or even your present. If you give your life to Jesus, He will shine through you and use you to bring Glory to God! 

So go on, be confident and walk in His glorious Light!

Trust God

This picture definitely captures the way I've felt over the past few years. The "Unknown" can be quite intimidating! Since my lay off back in October, I've been on the hunt for another job and haven't had any luck at all! Needless to say, its been really tough!
Everything seemed very bleak until last Friday when I was called to be interviewed by a really great company. Not only is it a great company, but it's a little difficult to get hired on, from what I've been told. To make a long story short, I was selected for hire! All I needed to do was pass my drug screen, which I did, and also, pass a physical fitness test.

Have you ever felt like you were so close to something that you could actually reach out and grab it? That was me!!! And then all of a sudden, I felt like the rug was pulled out from under me when the Physical Therapist told me that I wasn't going to pass bc my heart rate was too high. What?!!! 

So, I had to find a doctor to sign off on my "second chance" in a place where I didn't know any doctors. Wouldn't you know that I would find a Christian Doctor?! coincidence? Nope, God! I'm not going to lie to you, after the rejection and the scare of a possible heart problem, I came home depressed. But I've been disappointed and given bad news before, so, I decided to Faith it instead of Fear it.
The truth is, it's real easy to give up and throw in the towel when the odds are stacked against you, but if you can learn to abandon all else (thoughts) and completely trust God, He will amaze you!
Tomorrow I get my "second chance", and I'm trusting that God has all of this under control!
TRUST GOD!

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him most believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him." Hebrews 11:6 NIV

Jericho-Level Challenges

Recently, I started a new book, "Glory Days - Living Your Promise Land Life Now" by Max Lucado, where he follows the story of Joshua, in the Old Testament. You know, the story about the Jericho walls that came-a-crumbling down! Here's an excerpt from Chapter 7.

We've all experienced Jericho-level challenges in life. The kind of challenges that makes you want to curl up in bed and never move again or the kind that makes you throw up your hands in total disgust. 

As a Christian, no one said that you would be exempt from Jericho challenges when you decided to follow Jesus either. Often times, it's just the opposite. 

The problem is, we look too intently on the size of our challenges and forget that we have a Creator that's greater than any challenge that we'll face on this earth. Listen, I don't make light of great challenges because I know the affect that it can have on us. I've experienced quite a few of them myself that absolutely overwhelmed me. But if God is who He says He is, our Redeemer, deliverer, Mighty God, strong arm, etc. then we can face whatever life throws at us.

The key is to keep our eyes on Jesus! 

When we take our eyes off of Jesus, we often find ourselves in the same predicament as Peter when he began to sink while walking on the water with Jesus. The Bible says that when he began to see the chaos of the sea around him, he panicked! Because he allowed the surrounding chaos to become greater than His faith in Jesus! 

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:1-2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Max Lucado says it best..."as long as our eyes are only on our Jericho, we won't see Jesus."

The KEY: Keep your eyes on Jesus!