Abundant Life "...I came that they may have life abundantly"

It is curious, the things we use as life markers. Each culture has life points that are celebrated or remembered. Two of the oddest ones to me are first and last words. How many of us have not been told what our first words were. (Mine was Da Da) If you are a parent, I bet you know every one of your children’s first words. It is something to celebrate. It shows a child is learning, is communicating, and is becoming a full member of the family and society.

As important as first words are, last words are more important as they seem to cap off a life. Sometimes the words are wise. Sometimes they are healing, other times they are just down right funny.

“Wait a minute” – Pope Alexander IV
“I am bored with it all” – Winston Churchill
“Is it not meningitis?” - Louisa M. Alcott
“Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him.” - John Barrymore

It should not be a surprise that the first words recorded of Jesus was "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" – Luke 2:49. I am sure you remember the story. Jesus and His parents are returning from Jerusalem after the Passover. He is lost in the crowd and Mary and Joseph go looking for Him, and find Jesus in the temple.

The last words of Jesus before his death were “It is finished.” – John 19:30. I think these are perfect book ends to the life of Christ. Jesus first proclamation is He was out doing the work of God. His job was done was His last. Everything in between was Jesus seeking to do the will of God.

Jesus never owned anything but the sandals on his feet and the clothes on his back. He never owned a donkey, though he had one to ride, he never owned a home, but he had a place to sleep. He never owned a stove, but he never went with out food. (Other then when he chooses to fast) He never worried about friends, but was fallowed by thousands.

Day after day we get out of bed and our first thoughts are making money, what to cook, who to call. The last thing we think before we sleep is money, food, friends, and shelter. Jesus started out His life seeking to be one with God and helping others. His worries were placed on people not things, yet he never went with out things. Imagine how happy we could live and how good we could sleep if we sought to do the will of God. I know that if God made sure His Son Jesus had everything he needed God will surly do the same for me, His son.

Let us all live our life seeking to be one with God. Then all of us can slip into eternity with a smile on our face and the words “It is finished” on our lips.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Scott

Do you remember the moment you were saved? I certainly don't. I am sure you are thinking that it must not have made much of an impact on my life if I do not remember. The fact is I do not remember because I was not even born yet. My grandparents were not even born yet. The moment of my salvation did not happen when I said a prayer, walked to the front of a church, or even at my baptism. My salvation happened well over 2000 years ago when God in the flesh hung suspended between heaven and hell on a Roman cross. It was here He took all my sins and yours on Him. The weight and the stench of that sin was so great it caused God to leave the man Jesus. (Matthew 27:46). God can not stand to be in the presence of sin. It is what keeps us separate from the one who created us. So in the moment Jesus took my sin it was too much for God to stand and he turned his back on Jesus. My salvation happened in the moment Jesus himself declared it done with the simple phrase, It is finished. (John 19:30)

Semantics you say. What really is the big deal if you say you were saved on this date or that you accepted your salvation on this date. I would argue that there is a huge difference. Salvation is a gift of God. There is nothing you can do, pray, believe or say that will save you. Had Christ not taken your sins to the cross and accepted the penalty of separation from God for those sins you would not be saved. Belief is not going to save you. You can believe in God all you wont, but He will not be able to stand your presence because you reek of sin. It took the cross. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God" EPH 2 :8

I am reminded of my mom's brother. My Uncle has a lot of emotional issues he has battled his whole life. He was never diagnosed with anything, but I often suspected he was bi-polor. Each Christmas Eve my mom's side of the family would all gather at my Grandparents house for a great dinner and gift exchange. Each year a gift was bought for Uncle Mike and placed under the tree. Some years he would be all into Christmas, going as far as playing Santa for the us kids. Those years he would accept the gift, open it and even use or ware what ever was in it. Then there were the other years. The years when he would make an appearance at the dinner table, but refuse to open a gift. After dinner he would retreat to his bedroom. We would go back and visit Grandma months after the tree was taken down and his gift would still be sitting on the floor wrapped.

Whether my uncle opened the gift, unwrapped it, or even accepted it or not, the gift was his. I never saw my parents take a gift back that he refused. To say he never actually got a gift until he opened it would be a slam on my parents. In the same way our salvation accrued at the cross. God gave the gift. If we never accept it, the gift is still there. To say the gift does not occur until we accept it puts the power of the gift into the hands of the receiver not the giver. It puts the power of the cross in the sinners hands. Remember Eph.2:8 tells us that even this faith, belief, or accepting of the gift is not even of our own doing, but God's. The cross was Christ's the gift was God's. Even the ability to accept and open such a precious gift was given by God. TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!

Have you ever celebrated in a cemetery? I mean full out celebrate. Sounds crazy doesn't it. To our Euro-American culture is seems, well crude. To do such a thing in a place where people are morning their losses and remembering the life of their loved ones is unthinkable. Imagine standing at the grave of a loved one and having people picnic and laugh and celebrate at the next grave over. While you are somber and trying to pray, they are laughing and having a good time.

In Mexico they do just that. They have a holiday called The Day of the Dead. During this holiday they have parades to the cemetery and picnic and party on the graves of their ancestors. Perhaps the tradition was started as a way to deal with death that surrounded daily life of all peoples hundreds of years ago. What every the reason, the Mexicans choose to honor their dead with celebration. Such an odd thing for the Euro-American mind set.

Consider this. God threw the biggest celebration in history in a cemetery. He choose Mary, the Magdalen as the host. She was the one who anointed Jesus for his burial before there was even a death. She was the one who followed Him all over the country all they way to the foot of the cross. While most of the other followers and all the apostles, but one, had abandon Jesus she was there. It is no surprise, that following the Sabbath, Mary woke early. She prepared herself to finish the job of burial that time and Jewish law had not allowed just three days earlier. I suppose as Mary walked to that cemetery she prepared herself to handle the bloated dead body of the one she called Raboni.

Imagine the confusion and heart break as she appeared at the tomb. Mary walks slowing around the corner in the garden cemetery and as she rounds the bend, to her amazement, the huge stone that blocked Jesus tomb was rolled back. A flood of emotion must have hit her. Perhaps the first thing she thought was, The stone, I forgot about the stone, how was I going to roll that thing back myself? Then it would hit her. THE STONE IS ROLLED BACK. Notice her reaction. She ran. She did not peek in, she did not look around. Mary ran. Hey wouldn't you. If you went to the grave of your loved one and you saw a hole where there should be dirt? John 20:2 tells us she ran and told Peter and (John) the other disciple.

We know the story. Peter and John run to the grave. They looked in and it was empty. They too took off running. Mary was once again left there alone. She still had not looked in for herself. How could this be. Where is the body of Raboni? Did some one steal it? What awful things are they doing with his remains? Mary sat at the tomb door and cried. Finally gaining courage, she had to see for herself. Mary peeked into the tomb. What she saw was not what she expected. Perhaps looking into a dark tomb she expected to have to wait for her eyes to adjust and then she would see an empty tomb, or maybe she would see the body. Maybe the Apostles did not wait long enough for their eyes to adjust to the dark. Maybe, just maybe she would find her Lord. When she did look the tomb was not empty at all, neither did it hold her Lord. Where his feet werethere was an angle and where his head was there was another angle.

Hearing something behind her she turns to find the care giver of the cemetery who ask her the most bazaar question ever asked in a cemetery. "Women, why are you crying?" What kind of question is this? Who would be so cold as to ask such a thing in a cemetery? Mary gathers herself and tells the caretaker that someone has taken the body of her Lord. "Mary" was the simple reply of the care taker. In that one word spoke softly Mary realised that this was no grave digger, this was her Lord. He had once again called her by name!

In our daily life and in our walk with God we do not expect surprises. Dare I saw, we do not even like them. We have God figured out. I do one, two and three and God does His thing and all works out. I put my tithe into the plate and I get a pay check on Friday. I pray for my friend and take them to the doctor and they get better. This is how God is suppose to work. However, this is just the opposite of how God works. God does not react to our action. He waits for us to stop acting. When Mary was the most hopeless, it was then that Jesus appeared. He could have presented Himself to her at her first arrival at the tomb, but he didn't. He waited til she let go. Til she was in total despair. Not until she had seen the rolled stone, the empty tomb, and thought of the million things that could have happened to the body of Jesus. When Mary was drained of possibilities Jesus the showed Himself, and he did it by calling her name!.

We all stand over graves of life. Lost opportunity, lost jobs, lost health. We worry and fret and go through the million of possibilities. When we are empty of our self, Christ will appear. He will call your name softly and you will know that you are in for a surprise. God will bring life to your death. It will be in a way you never imagined. So take the time to morn at the grave side of your despair. Then watch out because God STILL rolls away stones we can not. God still raises to life the things we have killed and destroyed. The mess you make of your life, God can renew it, and give it a rebirth.

"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him."

1 Corinthians 2:9

Hallelujah Christ Arose!

Matthew 6:9-13 in our English Bible renders the model prayer, or what has been commonly called The Lords Prayer as:



When the prayer is read in the original Aramaic. The language Jesus Himself spoke then interpretation (An explanation or conceptualization by a critic of a work of literature, - The American Heritage® Dictionary) based on the Coptic churches rendering of this prayer in to English it looks a little like this.



When you translate from the written Greek of the New Testament into a literal English translation it looks like this.

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I love Old Testament stories. Baby Moses, Noah's Ark, The Ten Commandments, The parting of the Red Sea. Maybe because they remind me of my childhood, bed time stories and Sunday school. The thing with these stories is they are familiar. Maybe too familiar. We have heard, read and sometimes seen these stories so much we loose touch with their meaning and sometimes read right past something because we already "know the story". Once in a while though we will re-read one of them and something will jump out that we never seen before, and think where did that come from that was not there last time I read this story.

That happened to me last week. I was reading the story of the Exodus for the millionth time. But this time I saw something I never seen before. Maybe because what I saw was something I really needed to hear at this time in my life. Maybe it is something you never noticed either. So take a moment and go read Exodus chapter 14 again. Go on.... I will wait right here....its only 31 verses. It will take you 10 minutes tops if you read it slow and carefully. .... Whistles a hymn......

Great you are back. Did you notice anything you might have over read before? Something amazing? Well in case you might not have caught it lets look at it again together. We know the story pretty well... God sends the ten plagues, Pharaoh lets the Israelites go. Off they go into the desert when Pharaoh changes his mind and chases them down to the Red Sea. Picking up at verse 11

Then they said to Moses, "Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? "Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. "The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent."

The children of God the chosen people that had seen plague and miracle are now crying out that they would be better in captivity then stuck at the edge of the Red Sea! Now here comes the amazing verse. Look again at verse 15.

15Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.

SAY WHAT! Go forward? Ah God, in case you might not have been paying attention there is a big body of water there and oh yeah just a reminder you did not make us with gills like the fish you created. But none the less God said go forward. Notice the faith of Moses in verse 13. He has faith in God, "Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD".

He has faith in the Israelites too. In verse 14 the words "keep silent" are translated from one Hebrew word "Charash". When you look something up from any language dictionary you know that sometimes there are different meanings for the same word. You were taught in grade school that the first definition is the one most widely used. The word Charash has three meanings. The third definition is to be still. Translated here the word makes sense. The second definition is the one that the translators put here, to be silent, to keep quiet. Most likely the translators choose this definition to show Moses rebuking the Israelites and telling them to stop whining and let God do His job.

But look at how the word is most often used. Charash, to cut in, to plough through. The LORD will fight for you while you plough through. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. Moses and God both tell the Israelis to plough through the Red Sea, to move forward. I always thought it was God who parted the Red Sea, but look again. What does God say He will do?

"As for you (Moses), lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. "As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them...." That is it. The Israelis have to Go forward, plough through, Moses has to hold up his arms and God well all He does is draw the Egyptians into the water after them. It was the faith of the Israelis to GO FORWARD that parted the sea. We see this over and over in the New Testament too. Your faith has healed you. Matt 9:22, 15:28, Mark 5:34, 10:52, Luke 8:48, 18:42. Faith moves mountains why can it not part seas? (Matthew 17:20)

Our past, our inner woman / man is the Egyptians that press up against us. Fear of the future is our Red Sea. We cry out to God so often and wonder why he is not answering our prayers. The answer is so simple. He is waiting for you to go forward in faith, To plough through your Red Sea. Your faith will part our fear and make clear and dry your passage to the future. When you do this look what God does in return for your faith in Him. He drowns your past! "....the Egyptians (your past, your doubt, your ego) whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever."

Step into the water! Get a little wet. Maybe it will be up to your nose before anything happens. But keep the faith and your Red Sea WILL part and your past will be drown in your future!

Soli Deo Gloria,

Scott

.....but you can call Her Holy Spirit. WHAT! Did I read that correctly? Her? Blasphemy! Where did you get such information?

Why I am glad you asked. I got Her name for a Sacred Text that you most likely have sitting in your living room. The leather bond book that says "Holy Bible" on the cover!

Genesis 1:2 tells us "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Ruwach of God was hovering over the waters." The Hebrew word for Spirit is a feminine noun, meaning breath, wind, spirit, manifest in the Shekinah (presence of God).

You might say, so it is a feminine noun, that does not make the Holy Spirit female. True, no more then El the masculine noun for God makes God male. But we call El FATHER God. Sure you say, because the Bible refers to Elohim as Father and as HE. When you Dig deeper into scripture you will see over and over again things that you jumped over. The Bible does refer to The Spirit as Her! Prov 9:1, 9:2, 9:3,

Lets look at Gen. 1: 26-27 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Elohim (God) is plural. That is why he says let US. We know form later readings in the Bible that God is one God, but the plural is referring to the Trinity. If male and FEMALE are made in the image of the Trinity it stands to reason that Elohim is androgynous. Good news for our Trans gender family members bad news for the fundamentalist. If God is both male and female in the Trinity and we know that God the Father is male and Jesus is male it is not a far leap to say the Holy Spirit is female.

I do not believe like some scholars and suggest that God the Father has a penis and God the Holy Spirit a vagina. Or as some pagans that there is a god and a goddess and they are married. God is married, to all those who believe in Him. We are the bride of Christ. ( John 3) Either the Trinity is bi-sexual or androgynous!

God reveals himself / herself to us in human understanding. We traditionally attribute certain traits as male and others as female. Here are just a few traits traditionally female that we attribute the the Holy Spirit; John 14:16 Comforter, Isaiah 11:2 Counselor, James 4:5 Grace, Romans 8:2 Life (life giver), Isaiah 11:2 Understanding. All traditional female traits.

In the New Testament the noun for Spirit suddenly changes to a male noun. Showing either the male prejudice of the authors of the New Testament or the attempt to vanquish any goddess worship form the converted pagans. But when the Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of wisdom, the Greek word Sophia (feminine) is used. See Acts 6:3 , 10 1Cor 2:6 and 12:18.

When we accept Immanuel as the Son of God and are baptised into the Trinity we become as the Trinity is. For in God we are "....neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galations 3:28

Soli Deo Gloria,

Scott

The name Jesus (Yehoshva) has very little meaning out side of the original Hebrew language. Nonetheless He is know through all generations and tongs as Jesus. To better grasp His name the writers of the ancient text of the Bible added a title to His name. Messiah or in Greek Christ, meaning the Anointed.

The Hebrew name Yehoshva is directly translated to us in English in the Old Testament as Joshua. The New Testament in Greek then is translated into Latin and finally into English and we get the name Jesus. It is interesting to note that when you take the Hebrew letters Yod Heh Shin Vav Heh that spell "Jesus" and take out the middle letter Shin you get the name of God YHVH, Yahweh. The additional letter Shin in the center was considered a "holy letter" in the Hebrew alphabet and often called sacred light. Taken together, you see that the name of "Jesus" in Hebrew means the Light of God!

"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." - Matthew 1:21 This Light of God carries with it the meaning of Salvation in its Original Hebrew. The literal translation is God's Salvation. To the Hebrew believer the lettering of the name would also indicate to them that this Salvation was going to bring light to their darkness.

Just like my previous post about the names of God, there are many "nick names" or titles of Jesus. More then I will be able to write about. Here are a few:



While at different times, during different needs I have a different "favorite" name of Jesus. My standard favorite is Immanuel. (Matthew 1:23) For it means simply "God IS with us". To me it is just like the ever present all encompassing name of God as I AM. Jesus WAS not God with us but IS God with us. He never leaves or for sakes us. He left behind the Spirit to guide and comfort us and promised that He would Always be Immanuel. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20)

So relax and rejoice today because God is I AM and Jesus is Immanuel!

Soli Deo Gloria
Scott

next Blog... My name is Holy Spirit
*The title of this Blog is a TOTAL rip off from a Max Lucado Book with the same title.

The great William Shakespeare wrote in Romeo and Juliette "what is in a name?" And a good question it is. In today's world parents name their children after family members, politicians, movie stars or simply based on how a name sounds. Names use to serve as a description more then a simple moniker. My name is Scott, but I am not from Scotland. My last name is Williamson, but my fathers name is not William. I suppose if you went back far enough in my family tree you would find a man named William and his son was the first to be called William's son.

In Biblical times names had meaning. They were descriptive. Because they were descriptive, peoples names could change through out their life. Abram, meaning high father became Abraham, father of a multitude (Genesis 17:5). Simon, meaning to hear became Peter, meaning rock (Mat. 16.13–20). I guess in the same way, from time to time, we change a persons name based on their actions. Sometimes it is a nick name and sometimes it is a derivative of their name. When I was little and I was mad at my mom I called her Mother. When I wanted her attention it was Carolyn. (boy that got her attention too and NOT in a good way) When I wanted something it was mommy. For the most part it was just simply momma.

If people can have many names that are descriptive it should come as no surprise that God is known by many names. God first appears in Genesis as Elohim. Interesting to note that it is a plural noun meaning mighty and strong. It is not til later in the Bible we understand that this plural name refers to the full Godhead.



My personal favorite name of God is Jehova. It is often translated in English as LORD. It is pronounced as Yahweh from the Hebrew YHWH. This is the covenant name of God. The name God revealed himself to the Israelites when he made his covenant with them. It comes from the verb "to be" and often translated as I AM. I AM is the all encompassing name of God. He is the great I AM. You need a father, God says I AM. You need a lover God says I AM. You need Financial help God says I AM. What a wonderful name for our Wonderful God. What ever you need He is


Soli Deo Gloria,

Scott

* Next Blog... My Name is Jesus

My mother had three children. Once in a while, when she was feeling quit brave, she would pack all three of us up and take us to the mall. We always entered through Hudson’s Department store. (I think it was the only way mom could remember where she parked the car) When you walk into Hudson’s you are greeted by a bright, shinny, big escalator. A small boys dream.

Oh how I loved that escalator, and oh how my mother hated it. No matter what warnings and threats she would give in the car and no mater how tight she held to my hand when we walked in, I never could resist. Off I would run right for those escalators. There was just something magical about them. Faster then my mom could call my name, I would be on the down escalator trying to run up. I never made it to the top. I think even if my mom had let me go, my little legs were just never fast enough to out run the down escalator to make it to the top.

Chasing God is a lot like that down escalator of my youth. There is something in human nature that makes us desire to seek the supernatural. There is something just as strong in us that makes humans feel they have to go to God. Like it is some cosmic hide and seek game, where God hides and humans use their efforts and ingenuity to find God.

Look at every major world religion. They are all chasing God. Buddhism teaches that humans suffer and to prevent suffering you must have the right speech, attitude, values, actions, work. By doing the right thing there is salvation. Hindus believe that you have to work to be good and if you get it wrong when you die you keep coming back again and again until you get it right. A never ending escalator to the god. Islam teaches good deeds get one to heaven and that Faith in Allah doubles or even triples each good deeds value. Even Judaism requires the keeping of the law and sacrifice to please God. How many times have you heard an evangelist ask if you have found Jesus? I never knew he was lost. I always thought it was I that was lost and Jesus was doing the seeking.

In Genesis 28 we find Jacob has just deceived Isaac for Esau’s birthright. Isaac implores Jacob not to take a Canaanite as a wife and so he its off to find a wife acceptable to his fathers wishes. On his way he stops for the night to sleep. While sleeping Jacob has a most bizarre dream.

“He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." - Genesis 28:12-15

The dream so effected Jacob that he renames the place that he slept Bethel, for it is the gate of heaven. Take notice that in this dream Jacob was promised the blessings of God. However Jacob did not have to do a thing for these blessings, but believe that they were promised by God and accept the gifts. It were the angles from heaven coming down to him. Jacob was inactive. Jacob was merely still at the bottom of heavens down escalator.

Jacob received those blessings from God, but God remained on top of that escalator. The most wonderful thing about Christianity is God got on that down escalator and came to us!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning …The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” - John 1:1-2;14

We can stop trying the impossible. We can never run fast enough on that down escalator to get to God. He knows that. That is why God became flesh and jumped onto that cosmic escalator and came to us. Jesus declared in John 10 that he was Bethel. Using the same words of Jacob he declares that he is the Gate of heaven.

Now we can sit back, enjoy the beauty of the escalator and know that we do not have to try to run up it. For God became flesh and came down the escalator to us. So be still and know that God is God. He has done the work for you! When Jesus was suspended between earth and heaven on the cross and cried out “It is finished” (John 19:30) He was referring to much more the His life and His work. Jesus was screaming out into all ages that the WORK of salvation was down. The escalator has stopped and God has come to you!


Soli Deo Gloria

Scott

One of my favorite memories of my childhood is playing car games. On long trips cross country to visit my grandparents my mom would play games with us to make the time pass. This was before they put TV’s and video games in cars.

We would see how many different state licenses plates we could find, play eye spy, sing hymns, and my favorite game was “if I could be any thing“. My sisters and I would each take turns telling what we would be, if we could be anything we wanted. Astronauts, millionaires, actors, doctors, firemen, the list went on and on. When we were done playing my mom would turn around to us in the back seat and say, “you know what, you CAN be anything you want to be.”

As we age we tend to loose that wonder and ability to dream the impossible. We get caught up in our daily activities, so when we do have down time we look at our life and start playing the “what if” game. What if I had stayed in school, what if I took a different job. Why can I not be a, you fill in the blank. We all want to be something that we are not. We want a fresh start. We want a re-do on life.

When we accepted Jesus or when we were baptized into Him, we became that new person we have longed for. We got our fresh start.



Just like growing up in a physical sense, we also grow up in a spiritual sense. Sometime growing up from our re-birth we start to loose that wonder we had when we were young in Christ. We forget that we are new creatures. That we, in Christ, CAN be anything.

Again Paul tells us in Corinthians 4:16 “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. “ The renewal, the fresh start in Christ, is not a one time shot. It is a daily occurrence. As we get older we feel we are running out of time to chase our dreams. But to God time is of no concern. We have an eternity. Each day God re-news us and gives us a chance to chase those dreams that will bring about our abundant life.



If we acknowledge God and seek His kingdom first, He will reveal this path that will lead us to the fullness He has called us to. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Yesterdays mistakes are forgiven. The sun is rising on a bright NEW day. Today is your day of salvation. Today is the day God will lead you to an abundant life. Today is the day you get a fresh start to be ANYTHING you want to be. In the words of my favorite singer,



Go on and go chase those dreams!

Soli Deo Gloria,

Scott