I was able to read 25 books this year!

1. "AHA Awaken, Honesty, Action" Kyle Ideman 

2. "Holy Fire: A Balanced Biblical Look at the Holy Spirit's Work in our Lives" R. T. Kendal 

3. "Overwhelmed” Perry Noble

4. "Crash the Chatterbox” by Stephen Furtick

5. "Purpose Driven Church” by Rick Warren 

6. "Transformational Discipleship” by Eric Geiger

7. "Organic Church” by Neil Cole

8. "Worship Matters” by Bob Kauflin 

9. "Dangerous Calling” by Paul Tripp 

10. "Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-impact Leaders” by Dave Earley

11. "Strengths Based Leadership" by Thomas Rath

12. "Discovering Church Planting" by J. D. Payne

13. "Praying for your Elephant" by Adam Stadtmiller 

14. Better Together" by Paul Fleischmann 

15. "From This Day Forward" by Craig Groeschel

16. "Preaching: The Art of Narrative Exposition” by Calvin Miller 

17. "All In" by Mike Guzzardo

18. "Multiply" by Francis Chan

19. "One Way Love" by Tullian Tchividjian 

20. "It" by Craig Groeschel 

21. "Alter Ego" by Craig Groeschel   

22. "How to be Rich: It's not what you have it what you do with what you have" by Andy Stanley

23. "Just do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will" by Kevin DeYoung

24. "Crazy Busy: A (merciful) short book about a (really) big problem" by Kevin DeYoung

25. "Reckless Faith: Embracing a Life without Limits" by Kevin G Harney

Top 25 Adventures and Life Stories of 2014

25. Visited Ballpark Village at the Cardinals stadium. I held bats used by Stan "the man", Lou Brock, and Ozzie Smith; and also put on a 2011 World Series ring

24. Participating in the ACS ice bucket challenge and getting my teens to do it

23. Helping out a church plant, I found myself able to drive over into Michigan! One more state off my list, only a few more left

22. I love the Cup O Joy and who they bring in! Sand artist Joe Castillo (famous for being on American's Got Talent) and Taylor Mason, who is amazing ventriloquist; were my favorite performers 

21. Amber and I did the Younglife 5k Glowrun, lots of glow sticks and fun

20.  I was able to invest in my life by reading 25 books this year

19. Bobbing for apples and bobbing for candy canes in egg nog

18. This year was the first time I participated in "no shave November" I had a good neck beard 

17. My favorite youth series was "Comparing Candy Land to Christian Life" and my favorite event was a church lockin that had the theme of Nerf Wars

16. I was able to be part of a church plant's first service and the continual process as the Graceway Hmong continue to grow their church

15. I went to an amazing coaching seminar and put the things I learned into practice as I help coach teens, friends and ministry leaders

14. Harvest Fest and VBS were huge for me; they both were great out reaches that came from our church. They have been developed into a sussessful programs that are done with excellence and with a great volunteer staff

13. Serving in the community in a variety of ways. Working with awesome people at the YMCA, prison ministry, block parties, being a youth ministry coordinator in Green Bay, investing on radio, talking with unchurched at Starbucks and the Y, and so many other community opportunities 

12. West Bend Mission Trip was an amazing week of helping a church plant and serving the community

11. Camp has so many life stories in itself! Being a rec leader, running into a black bear, and being turned into a human pancake and human sushi

10. Two weeks after I got a scar above my eye, I broke my nose playing basketball

9. I was able to work on my communication this year, I preached 5 Sunday mornings and I was on radio 10 times

8. We spent Christmas with family in St. Louis. Ate at Pappy's barbaque made famous by Man vs Food, shot a potato gun for the first time, played with my nephew and niece, went to Baseball Village, and Grandpa read a message from my blog for part of the Christmas message

7. Two year wedding anniversary was spent in Minneapolis. We visited Mall of America, IKEA, and Jacob's Well church

6. Buying a new car, the Blackberry (Honda Fit). One of the hardest decisions of my life and a major financial commitment

5. Attending my first NFL game at Lambeau Field! Not only my first game but it was also a playoff game and it was very cold

4. Baptizing my first individuals; Ali, Kayla, and Tyler! You guys are awesome and keep following Jesus

3. Hitting the age of 30! What a monumental point in my life and an opportunity to reflect on the past decade of my life

2. Reaching my second year anniversary with my beautiful wife. We are an awesome team and have had lots of fun this year. 2015 will most likely be better 

1. As always, number one goes to Jesus! What a year of growth and investing in my relationship with the most important individual in my life. Looking forward to continue growing in my love of God and love for others

The woman in the walls

I was getting for ready for Wednesday night youth group when one of the scariest things happened to me in a church...and I have had quite a few! Our heating at the church had gone out in half the building and Pastor Rick had a heater running for us when I got there. I'm guessing with the heater, the soda machine, and me turning on the coffee; I blew a breaker. No problem, I knew where it was and this breaker had blown before. 

I went to the breaker room and reset the switch. As I was about to leave, a woman said something to me! She told me that she was recording my progress. I felt the chill go down my spine and turned around, nothing. I thought to myself, there has to be someone upstairs and the voice carried. I went upstairs to find a dark church that and no one present. Weird! I was getting excited, there had to be a machine or something talking. I wasn't crazy, I heard something. 

I looked outside and saw Pastor Rick walking over. I explained everything to him and then went on to show him exactly what I did. Nothing happened...I expressed that I knew I wasn't hearing voices. Then it happened again and we both heard her. Rick thought it was coming from my office above, maybe the battery operated vacuum. He ran upstairs and we went through the process. Rick came back down and stated that there was nothing up there. Man, it seems like it is coming from the walls; a woman's voice inside the wall. 

One of the deacons showed up soon after and we got him attrigued. He thought maybe it was coming from outside, so he went out. Nope, he didn't hear a thing. Then, I got up on a ladder and looked through a hole in the wall. I saw a light bulb, there's a room! The other furnace room! I went back in the back of that room and there on the wall was a transmitter for an old daycare. It had a cassestte player and so I ejected the tape. Then, I got more chills as the woman voice told me directly please close my door. Wow, who knew that technology from back then was so smart and demanding! 

I figured out who the woman in the walls was! I will have to remember when the breaker goes off that she resets herself. I also will have to remember for the next youth ministry lockin because I am so having a teenager hide in there for Sardines, then throwing the switch, and introducing them to the woman in the walls!

Being Thankful in 2014 - Prayer

"Being Thankful in 2014"
Today's topic, we will go with Prayer!

For a long time, prayer for me was like a shooting a shotgun. I take a quick shot and randomly spray prayer requests to God and then move on through my day. Maybe some of you can relate with this.

Over this past year, I became convicted when I read a statement saying that the average pastor prays on average 2 minutes a day! Subtract prayer for meals, and how many seconds are left? I was above average at least. I mean, I prayed over my meals and then all throughout the day I was shooting up prayers to God. Nope, it wasn't good enough. I started working to build by prayer life and spending a fixed time with God. I started with trying to shoot for fifteen minutes in the morning; it seemed long at first! Now it depends on the day; some days, I have spent an hour pouring over prayer request in my prayer journal and other days it shorter. Do I miss days where I don't have a specific time? Yes, for a variety of reasons! Love for sleep...sin...business of the day...distractions...easier for me to just say selfish reasons; I am the one that chooses not to take that time.

By no means have I scratched the surface of a great prayer life! Though, I have gone deeper into my relationship with Jesus! I've have been able to pray over students throughout the week; with only able to spending an hour or two with them personally. God has brought to mind people or needs and I start praying for them.

My prayer list has names, needs, ministries, church plants, family, friends, Obama (yes, sir! we need to pray for "all" of our leaders in the country), and recently Ferguson, Missouri! (This one should have been on my list back on August 9th when it took place, Amber and I were leaving St. Louis on that day to return to Wisconsin...) The people need us interceding in prayer to bring back hope, forgiveness, love for others, and unity in the city! This is why I chose my topic today to be on prayer, because I am thankful that God has given us the availability to come to Him through prayer and we need to!

Being Thankful 2014 - In Our Communities

The week many people are reminded to be thankful! Spending some time thinking and there is a lot of things to be thankful for this year, but today's topic will be In Our Communities.

I'm thankful for my friends and contacts at the YMCA and Starbucks! I love conversations and opportunities to impact my community for Jesus. 

I'm thankful for my position at the Y and working with middle schoolers! Especially, leading Cocoa and Canvas night; the kids were awesome.

I'm thankful to be an area coordinator of the youth pastor network in Green Bay! Praying, building relationships, developing strategy and sharing resources has moved many youth groups forward by working together. Our youth pastors in Green Bay are awesome.

I'm thankful for Jeff, Teen Hope Net, and Q 90 for letting me be part of the show on Sunday evenings! I love sharing my heart and what I have learned with my walk with Christ. Conversations save lives!

I'm thankful to be part of an awesome Called Out Conference team, I loved this year! So stoked to be learning about our wonderful state association and our WI/MN church planters. 

I'm thankful to have been part of Hands of Hope through the MWBC and he mission trip we did this summer! What a great time of investing in West Bend, WI and sharing God's love! 

I could go on with Vacation Bible School, Harvest Fest, helping with OCC in the community, one on one conversations, school sports event, block parties, camp, helping church plants, dropping clothes of for the clothing bus, and so much more that I'm thankful to be part of!

We are blessed when we are part of what God is doing around us, don't miss out if God gives you an opportunity to invest in your community!

Why does God allow bad things happen to good people?

Why does God allow bad things happen to good people?

Valid question! Hard question! Most asked question!

But I want to change the question...after all, how do we determine who is good... So my question is; if the pentaly for sin is death, why does God allow me to continue to live?

Let me use an illustration: I am sitting in a court room and taking in everything I hear and see. The evidence is strong, the jury is out for blood, the judge is convinced, and the defendant admitted to his crime. The defendant murdered someone and now it's time for his sentence to be announced. I'm listening to the jury and they find him guilty saying that he will receive the death pentaly 50 years from now. As the jury goes on; they state that the defendant will receive this death pentaly, but that he is also free to go and live his final 50 years wherever he wants. Now that would be crazy!

When I think about it, that is how I live my life! Because of my sin, I receive death. Because of God's love and grace, I get to live out my days on earth! So my thinking has changed from why does God allow bad things, to why does God continue to let me live, to God has a purpose for man and he shows it through his love and mercy by giving us life on earth. What are you going to do with your time on earth?

Being Thankful, Having a Good Attitude, and the Story of My Calling to Ministry

5th Annual Harvest Fest continues to move forward and gains momentum.

The first Harvest Fest consisted of our church people with maybe a handful of visitors. We have continued to build off each year; doing our best to be ready for whoever God would send us. In 2012, we had an estimation of 125 people and in 2013, we had a little over 300.

This year, I had an audacious prayer of praying for 500 people at the event! Did we hit that, probably not; but we planned the event for it and we didn't run out of food or candy. This is a huge improvement because we have ran out in years past. On paper, we register 380 people and had 40 volunteer leaders. This would not account for those who came and did not registered. I'll take it, 420 people! Especially, when you look at the demographics of church people to un-church people!

Ready for Heaven?

Thinking about heaven and being there for eternity; some people dread it. "I'm too young, I need to get my drivers liscense and get married."or "Will there be fun things in heaven, how about basketball?"  I truely believe that heaven will be better than what we have on earth. Why, you might ask?

The same God that created the earth resides in heaven! The same God who created the individual that came up with the idea of basketball lives in heaven. It has to be better! How can get it any better, you might ask?

Let me talk coffee. You see no one in my family drinks coffee. When I was a teenager I got a job and started working third shift. Boy, was it hard to stay awake! Yep, you probably guessed it; I started drinking coffee. It was the worst cup of coffee. I believe that coffee pot hadn't been cleaned in thirty years and the same coffee that was used thirty years ago was still being used. The coffee tasted horrific, but I drank it to stay awake. Today, you cannot keep me away from coffee. I'll drive the distance for Dunkin Donuts, I'll spend my office hours at Starbucks, I love coffee.

Why did I tell you about my addiction to coffee? Because I believe that this is a perfect example of heaven. Before I had coffee, I had no idea that not only would I like it but I would be pretty much addicted to it. I had no idea where it would take me; the many coffee shoppes, the adventure of experimenting with coffee beans at home, the friends I gained, etc. My life changed after that first cup of coffee. I believe that this will be my experience of heaven, except on a way bigger level! Heaven will be amazing because God is amazing!

Thoughts on the Called Out Conference

Without fail the Called Out Conference remains at the top of the best youth events for Graceway Student Ministry! This year, we were able to take 6 students and 3 leaders to Baraboo, Wisconsin. The weekend was amazing with many challenging factors:

We were challenged through four breakout sessions. Nate Ray, a church planter in Minneapolis, challenged the students through the Word. The middle school and high school band of Trinity led us in music for a meaningful worship experience. We were introduced to John Klein and Trey Turner, two church planters in Southern Wisconsin, and they shared their hearts for church planting. We had an amazing time in prayer for the world, our country, our communities, church plants and our churches. The students also received a prayer card for a church planter in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Through the weekend they not only had the opportunity to pray for their specific church planter, but also to write their church planter an encouraging card!

We also had team building challenges and fun as well. We joined another youth group and were challenged by three different creative team building challenges. Yes, I have now officially have done the trust fall! And the teens didn't drop me. Many of the youth did the rock wall and conquered it; as well as many challenged Pastor Mike in basketball and were conquered...The teens had a blast and we are looking forward to next year!

Worship

A message on worship that I preached a few weeks ago! In the message, we learned that Bezalel was chosen by God! Not only chosen; but God gave him the Holy Spirit, gifts, wired him, and gave him a mission to worship Him! God does the same for us! We were made to worship.

How do you disciple someone?

A question that I have gotten many times! I believe that we have made this question harder than it should be. Let's be honest; there are so many ideas, books, methods and models. We have made discipleship a complicated process, which I believe many times scares Christians from doing it...

Discipleship at its purest form is a simple process. You take what you are learning about God and what God is teaching you, and then you share that with another person! 

So here comes the application: 

1. What are you learning from God? What is he teaching you?

2. Find a new believer or a younger believer or a lost person or just find a person! Ask them if God has been teaching them anything and share what God has been teaching you

3. Listen and ask great questions with that person, try to see where the Holy Spirit is leading the person. If a issue comes to surface, or a passion for learning something. Then do your research and maybe come back and ask them to do a book study or take a few passages of Scripture to study with them. Work with the Holy Spirit! 

When I study Jesus and how He discipled them; he didn't make it a hard process. He lived life with people, taught them what He knew and had them teach others. I have thought of my life and I couldn't even come close to mention everyone that has come into my life and discipled me! I am where I am because of those who chose to take time and teach me what they knew! Who are you going to choose this week to disciple?

Created and Wired

Why do I stress? Why do I care so much about ministry? Why do I always have to do it better? Why do I critique myself so much? Why do I spend so much time? Why? 

I'll tell you why! I have realized that God created us! God desires our worship and devotion!

He has also wired us differently! God desires us to use what He has gifted us to the best of our abilities! 

I am in love with a God who spent so much time creating us and wiring us, that I refuse to give half-hearted effort!

I refuse to be boring, I should not be boring people with God's Word because His Word is far from boring! I should be creative and find ways to reach all people with the Gospel! Each event, program, lesson; I feel needs to be built off and become better. Knowing that there is always room for improvement! Most events, I plan way extra and so that I will never fall short of what was needed for the event. Give me a crowd or give me one individual; and I desire to invest as much as I capable to! I can continue to grow, get better, work on my strengths, defeat my weakness, share God's love and worship an amazing God!

God has created and wired us to His superb best; we have been created with potential because we were created in God's image, we can give our superb best!

Thoughts on Worship

"For many, church has become all about me-what I'm learning, what I'm seeking, what I'm desperate for, what I need, how I've been affected, what I can do. We see ourselves as isolated individuals all seeking personal encounters with God, wherever we can find them. 

Sadly, this reflects our individualistic, me obsessed culture. Rather than seeing ourselves as part of a worship community, we become worship consumers. We want worship on demand, served up in our own way, at our own time, and with our own music." Bob Kauflin 

Wow, great thoughts! Worship is not just about music, it's about our hearts and worshipping an awesome God! When we focus in on my needs or wants, we miss out on worshipping God. When we say, 'I can't worship because of ...' we miss out on connecting with God who we came to church for. We should and do worship God through music, our tithes, prayer, reading God's Word, Bible study though preaching, and community (being part of the church). It is what we go to church for. What should we do? We should put away what I want and focus on what He wants! To say I am okay if I don't get anything out of the service, but did I give God worship and/or did I invest in others and help them to worship God in a positive way? Let's get rid of the "me" obsessed culture and be a "God" obsessed culture!

Mission Trip

I had to blog a little about the trip, and take a few minutes to reflect. We has an amazing time in West Bend, Wisconsin. Amber and I took four teenagers; and left on a Saturday evening. Upon getting to the church we were staying with, we were able to meet the other groups and get to kno them. We spent time Saturday evening in training and we learned a new evangelizing way through the evangelizing cube. 

On Sunday, we worshipped and had a meal with the church family. Then we packed up supplies and headed out to a park so that we could invest in the community. That afternoon, we spent three hours doing a block party. We built lots of relationships and through registration we collected a lot of contacts for the church plant. 

Monday through Wednesday, we did work projects. We spent time clearing the woods, laying mulch down for paths, painting and removing weeds. The city's officials were impressed with our group, and we got done way more than they thought. It was hard work, but we made an impact! 

Throughout the week, the teens did a great job of making friends and spending time together. Trey Turner did a great job of training us in the morning and evenings. His stories were great and learned that we can share our story and Bible stories with others. The teens grew from the trip and they bonded even closer in their relationships. 

Camp After-Thoughts

2014 BLBA Camp was amazing this year! It was my first time to experience the whole week of camp and I was able to spend quality time with both the elementary kids and teenagers. My position was the recreation leader for the week; aka, I was the games guy!

Best memories of the week:

Hanging out with the campers. They were amazing! I met many new teens and kids; and was able to see others that I had met last year. Also I got to spend time with 7 teens and 4 kids that came from Graceway!

Getting slimed was a huge highlight of the week. The elementary cabin with the most points for attitude, participation, and bringing water bottles was able to turn me into a human pancake! The Chicks cabin won and I had pancake batter, melted butter, and maple syrup poured on me. The teenagers turned me into human sushi; each of the six cabins counselors picked their best behaved camper from the week. I then had soy sauce, rice, and sardines thrown on me. It was a smelly memory; but definitely a great memory as I looked out and watched the campers having a blast!

Being chased by a bear, well, not really chased...(refer to the camp night intruder two blogs before)
Nothing like walking down a path and running into a black bear on it's back two feet. Especially, when it could have had two cubs with her...

Having my wife being part of camp this year! She came up on Wednesday night; and we were able to walk around the camp and see a beautiful sunset on the lake!

Then a lots of small things: like losing my car key and walking back and forth from the rec field to the mess hall, only to find them at the rec field table...or getting injured playing kickball. Swollen ankle and lots of limping, but Brad did a great job of wrapping my ankle and I was able to push through the week...or crazy game challenges like elephant games, air zooka, and campers shooting blow darts at a cup on my head...

Best games of the week:

By far the teenagers would say Glow in the dark capture the flag! I loved it too! Nothing like watching two teams charge at each other with glow sticks around their wrists only to watch them stop at the center line; and act like a bunch of girls and boys at middle school dance...Both nights we played it; the game was a success!

Another game that the teenagers liked was Awesome Ball. It is a combination of handball, ultimate frisbee, and basketball ideas. As we played, I made more rules and added soccer ideas to the mix. The game looked pretty violent for the most part; we had many collisions and people laying on the ground. Though, amazingly we had no injuries. It was requested to be played again, so I know for sure it was a "new" game hit with the teenagers.

The elementary kids played a variety of games. Their favorites were the human blob and sharks and minnows. Changing it up everyday and having new games; the elementary kids enjoyed rec time.

I am sure in the weeks to come, I will look back and realize so much more happened! These are just a few that I have thought about over the weekend; and I believe that they are great life stories!

My second appearance on radio

I made my second appearance on radio! Getting better, and totally have respect for people on radio. This time on Hope Net Radio; we discussed Romans 12:1-2 and what it means to not to conform to the world. How mentoring is so important and how you should find people to mentor you and mentor others. Check out the full show on radio tab below!

Camp night intruder...

It was close to eleven o'clock, and I was planning on filling water balloons up for the next day. I decided to head back to my cabin to grab my earphones so I could listen to music while I filled the water balloons. Half way back to my cabin, I heard noise coming from the woods. I looked over and noticed it was coming from the road path area that went to the high school cabins. I listened for awhile and thought it was just teenagers messing around. I thought about continuing to my cabin, but I knew I was the adult and needed to send the youth back to their cabins. 

I shined my mag light down the path and continued to make my way in that direction. About 20 yards down the path my light fell on a black figure. He was about my height and I made eye contact with him. At first, I thought it was a teen in a mask; but then reality kicked in. I was staring at black bear on it's hind feet, staring back at me red eyes (reflection of my mag light). I slowly backed up, and then took off running. I stopped in the camp lights with my light shining at the woods. I grabbed my phone to call our camp director to make sure staff did not come from the kitchen area and to alert the camp we had a bear on campus. I heard growls and movement in the leaves, and took off running thinking that the bear was coming my direction. I stopped again to see that the bear never left the woods and I should be okay. I called Joe and we made sure all staff were in buildings and safe, all campers were already in their cabins. Phil, the owner of the camp, came down and met me asking questions of what I saw and heard. I told him it sounded like a few teenagers in the woods, and then. I saw just one bear. He told me that there had been sightings of a small mama black bear with two cubs. I never saw cubs, but with all the noise, I think I might have saw mama bear and the cubs were close by...awesome life story from camp on how I almost got into a tangle with a black bear

Take your Sabbath

I picked up one thing this week, that added to my understanding of the Sabbath and the importance of rest. I spent some time thinking in context of the commandment "Thou shall keep the Sabbath." If we were to read in Exodus 20, we would see the example that God worked six days and rested on the seventh. I cross-referenced this with the ten commandments passage in Deuteronomy, funny, it doesn't use this illustration and uses a totally different illustration.

"Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. Deuteronomy 5:12-15

The illustration used is that of the Israelites in Egypt as slaves! Wow, this is perspective! The Israelites had just came out of 400 years of bondage; where they most likely worked ever day as slaves. Then in all reality this commandment would have been a blessing to them, when Moses read God's commands. They could work six days and then they could rest a day.

Many times we look at God's commandments and see them as just a bunch of rules. When in all reality they help us with our relationship with God and our relationships with others! The Israelites needed these commands, because they had just came out of 400 years of slavery where they were not allowed to have free choice in obeying laws. Over time, we would see legalism soak into God's commands. Once a command that would give rest to people, the Sabbath would become a yoke of slavery of what you could or not do on the Sabbath.

Man has always been good at that; God says one thing and we add to it...Even in the Garden of Eden we see this! God said to man that he should not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil or you will die. What does Eve say to the serpent? We are not allowed to touch the tree or we will die. So Sabbath has been debated back and forth with questions like: what day is the Sabbath? Should we not work on the Sabbath? If I am off on my Sabbath, why don't others take off?

My Sabbath falls on a Monday! It is a day that I can take for rest. It is guarded as a day for me; a day to refill me. Everyone needs a day of rest, God intended for man to take a day of rest. Make sure you find your day of rest!

I remember the devotion of your youth

The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem," Thus sayeth the Lord, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them," declares the Lord (Jeremiah 2:1-3)

My reading for tonight's youth group had 22 chapters from all over the Old Testament! When I read these verses, I had to stop and process and think of my life! How much am I like this???

I feel called to proclaim the Words of God! I feel his calling in my life! I feel the need to persevere through hard times! I desire to follow full-hearted! BUT I feel like I have settled...

I had devotion in my youth! I jumped in a car and headed in the direction God called me. I went to lands I had never been. Security was not in wealth and possessions; it was in God's direction! My love for God's calling drove me to talk to people I wouldn't have, invested in people I would normally have looked the other way, it moved me in directions of unsafe and unknown territories, it gave me life and love. Where has my devotion gone? The love of God's calling to reach people? The call to make a difference and not to settle...

The raven, an unlikely food delivery choice

We see God's provision in Elijah's life when he sends the Ravens to feed him. In fact, this Old Testament story was one of my favorites growing up and still continues to be! Though today, while studying the passage, I came across something I have never thought of. The story of the ravens...

The raven a black bird that is good size bird and is actually kind of creepy. They are carnivores and are known to do damage. In fact, I was reading in the news about a raven that was wanted for vandalizing cars! He was pecking at windshield wipers and rubber parts on cars. One of the cars, he did about $500 worth of damage. To say the least, they can be intimating and problem making birds. 

So here we are in Elijah's story, him being fed by these birds. My first thought was they are scavengers! They eat road kill! They are carnivores eating small animals, dead things, and garbage. I mean it makes sense, think about the first time the raven is introduced in the Bible. Noah is afloat on the ark and he lets the raven out to fly. The Bible says the raven flew back and forth until the waters had dried up (Genesis 8). I'm guessing there were dead things floating on top of the water, it could eat and survive. The dove on the other hand is not a carnivorous bird and couldn't survive, so it flew back to Noah. The raven is a scavenger and a fierce bird! I'm not really sure if that would be the type of bird that I would want food being delivered to me...just saying. 

Another observation is that God used ravens, plural. Ravens are know to be solo bird, they stick to themselves. Here we see that ravens come together to fulfill God's purpose in feeding Elijah! Lastly, the raven was considered an unclean bird (Levitcus 11:15). I love the way God uses things for His purpose! A group of ravens that seemed like an unlikely choice to bring food to Elijah, but yet, they kept Elijah alive. The more we read the Bible, the more observations we can make and see the unique ways that God works in the lives of His people. 

Did God really say...

The enemy is good! In fact, I believe that he doesn’t need to come up with new schemes because the old ones seem to work great. Let’s just focus in on his first one...

“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?” Genesis 3:1

The enemy, the serpent, opens up with one key phrase “Did God really say.” It is the first time that we see the enemy in the Scripture and the first time he interacts with mankind. If we were to continue reading Genesis 3; we would see that this phrase not only leads to Eve making a costly mistake, but mankind would never be the same!

Let’s continue to work this phrase out in current times.

Maybe you’re a man or woman. You are in your thirties and still find yourself single. You’re beginning to wonder if there is something wrong with you. Everyone else is married and having like their fifth kid! Why can’t I seem to find a spouse that will love me? Then the phrase comes into play “Did God really say” “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:14) Then why does no one else see that? Am I really wonderfully made?

Or maybe you are going along with your walk with God and everything starts falling apart around you! You look around and it seems that every other Christian seems to be blessed and what might even be worse, is that all the unchurched people seemed to be blessed as well. You might start feeling like you’re cursed rather than being blessed. Why is this happening to me? Then the phrase comes into play “Did God really say” “I know the plans I have for you...plans for good and not for disaster” (Jeremiah 29:11) Did God really have plans for you? Plans that would be good for you? Where are these plans?

Or possibly you are walking around life and realize that you seem to be the only one walking. You look around and the friends that once took interest, no longer do. You seem to spend all of your weekends alone at your apartment watching movies of other people living life. Who even cares about you? Then the phrase comes into play “Did God really say” “I am with you always.” (Matthew 28:20) Then why do you feel so alone? Is God even present in your life?

Wow, that is so powerful! Why do I say that? Because that has been me personally; in one form or another. It starts out with that phrase “Did God really say.” Then the enemy uses some sort of truth, most likely straight out of the Bible! Lastly, he bombards you with questions! Questions you might not have an answer for, questions that will haunt you, questions that can lead you down a very dark path!

How powerful do you think this enemy’s specific scheme is? A scheme that he used at the beginning and a scheme that he continues to use on people thousands of years later! I believe that if we can recognize this scheme; then we can defend against it. Ask God today, to show you areas of your life that might be in danger of falling into this specific scheme! Ask God to reveal Himself to you and to also reveal truth in a relevant way to you! Ask God to help you deal with hard questions; to send people in your life that can assist you, to bring Scripture to mind, to feel His presence working in your life. Ask God for the wisdom and strength to overcome the times when the enemy comes to us and says “Did God really say...”

(credit to some of my thoughts goes to Pastor Rick’s Sunday night sermon on Spiritual Warfare and Stephen Furtick’s book Crash the Chatterbox)

New Music is Good: Isaac Watts, Hymns, and Church Tradition...

Isaac Watts (17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) is recognized as the "Father of English Hymnody". His two famous hymns are Joy to the World and When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. He was also known in his day, that he went against the tradition of the church! Let me expand on this:

One day; Isaac was walking home with his father, who was a pastor, and he started complaining about the music he had sung that morning in church. He was bored with the music! The type of music they sang in church was psalmodic, which refers to singing of psalms. These psalms were sung for centuries in one way or another. In fact, John Calvin insisted that these psalms be the main type of worship. Psalms were sung in a monotone form with no instruments, because instruments in a church was considered worldly. Basically, one person would sing a note and then everyone would jump in. 

So here we are; Isaac is bored and having an issue with church music, does this sound familiar? As Isaac was walking with his father, Isaac's father chose to listen to his son instead of arguing! After listening, he told his son; "Son, why don't you mend the matter?" (Why don't you write your own music) and that is was Isaac did! Today, it is estimated that he wrote around 750 hymns! Hymns that have lasted over 300 years! 

Now imagine for a moment if that conversation took a different direction and the father argued about Isaac's conviction for change? What if the father hushed his son and said we have been doing psalms for hundred of years, if it was good enough for my father and my grandfather it is good enough for us? We don't need change! Today, could look a lot different. Who knows we might still have no hymnal books, no instruments in the church and still be singing A Cappella psalms! Isaac Watts challenged the tradition of the church! Many churches of his day rejected his music and one of the biggest music wars happened within the church...

So when it comes to music in the church, there has always been music wars! For many that grew up with hymns, they are important to them. Granted, new generations are going to have songs in their generation that they will grow up with and will be important to them! Generations change, music changes, methods on reaching people change, change is good. So in wrapping up, two things. First, older generations need to recognize that change is needed and that music will be a "method" in reaching youth for Jesus! Second, younger generations need to recognize that the older generation has a lifetime of influence with hymns of their generation and this is extremely important to them! I truly believe that music will continue to be an issue in the church, because it is one of the most valuable ways to worship God and the enemy knows that...

Happy Birthday, Sam

Today is a very special day for me because it is my two year anniversary; it is also a very special day for a specific teenager in my youth group. Sam Ciszek turned 16 years of age! I don't normally give a lot of recognition to teenagers on birthdays, but today is different. I spent some time reflecting on Graceway Student Ministry and how much of an impact Sam has been on where it is today! 

Let me start from the beginning. I moved to Green Bay a little over three and a half years ago. The youth group I inherited had 5 seniors, 1 junior and a 7th grader. I spent the first school year investing in these teens as much as I could, then they graduated and the juniors family went to another church. I was down to 1 teenager, the seventh grader. If you guessed Sam, you got it right! For me to say I was discouraged would have been an understatement. But if there was one thing I was good at, I was good at investing in one student at a time. My second year in Green Bay; I was pretty much starting over from square one with one teenager, myself, and few adult leaders. 

A few months into the next school year, Sam's cousin Jacob joined us and we had two! We continued to meet and we continued to be a youth group. Sam was awesome at bringing her friends to events and church. We were meeting, listening to God, and continuing to hope to grow as a youth ministry. 

Three and half years later, we have between 10-12 teenagers that are within the church. Wednesday nights have been at 8 teenagers and some of our events have been 10-15! We have 8 teenagers going to camp this year! We are looking at our second mission trip this summer! The teenagers are plugged in and serving in the church; from ushering, to nursery, to Graceway Kids, to sound booth, to special Christmas choir, to so many other things that I could go on and mention! 

If I were to give any type of recognition to where Graceway Student Ministry is today, I would give a huge part to Sam! She is at the core of our youth group and continues to play a huge part. I am proud of her and wish her an awesome 16th birthday! 

Not my church...God's church!

Sometimes, we can act like the church is ours and that it owes us something. I mean after all we give our time, our money, our focus, etc. We are there every time the doors are open, and we start acting like it is our church rather than God's church!

Check this verse out:

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. (Acts 20:28 NIV)

A couple of observations: 

1. Leaders should take care of themselves and the people of the church

2. In the verse, who are the leaders? The shepherds

3. We, the leaders of the church, are to be like shepherds, being protective and watching over the health of the sheep

4. In the verse, who are the sheep? The church in Ephesus to be politically correct! But the church! 

5. Whose church is it? Gods! 

6. Why is it God's church? Because He bought it!

7. How did He buy it? And for how much? With blood, Jesus' blood!

So, we should be careful to make sure that we don't get to comfortable thinking it's our church when it's Gods church. We should be careful when talking about the church, because God has given a lot for His church. God cherishes His church and has a plan for it! Let's make sure we are in line with Him and His specific will for the church we are plugged into! Remember it's not my church it's God's church!

Kids are not the church of tomorrow...

I heard many times as a teenager that I was the next generation of the church; and to me then, that seemed far off. I tell my teenagers all the time; they are not the church of tomorrow, they are the church of today! Even children are used by God, read the Bible. God called and talked to Samuel at age 12! A boy gave his lunch of fish and loaves! David most likely a child when he killed a bear and a lion, maybe a young teenager by the time he went against Goliath!

I was listening to a pastor preach the other day and he talked about a 6 year old kid that heard about street kids in another country. The young kid had found out that these street kids many times didn't have food to eat and would go hungry. This kid had received a 100 dollar bill for Christmas; and decided that he wanted to give all of it to help street kids have food. Wow! He was only six and he wanted to help street kids that he will most likely never meet! God still uses kids today!

Guess what? Kids are not the church of tomorrow...THEY ARE PART OF THE CHURCH OF TODAY!

Daniel, boarding school, and teenager's owning their faith

I was reading about Daniel and how he was taken away from his home, given a new wardrobe, a new name and identity. It made me think back to when I was involved in boarding school for at-risk youth! They were taken away from home, no contact with friends or girlfriends, limited contact with family, a new wardrobe, lots of rules, and a new lifestyle. Everyone for the most part that came in, had a rough time and lashed out. (There were a few that desired to make a change and took it much better). But this interaction, gives me a whole new respect for Daniel! He had to have owned his faith and was not living off his parent's faith or his "youth pastor's" faith! Daniel is a great example of how God can use a teenager for His glory and how they can overcome trials where most of us would have faltered...

I, Mike Ott, have failed this church!

I have been watching this tv show called Arrow. The main character is a superhero that is attempting to rid the city of crime. When he encounters a crime boss or drug dealer, he openly announces to the individual "(their name), you have failed this city!"

The thought hit me today, I, Mike Ott, have failed this church.

When I read the Bible, I see how the church should be and how I should interact with the world. The questions start to flood my mind...How many times have I overlooked a need? How many times has the Spirit been leading and I have silenced Him? How many times have I went along with tradition and man's ways of doing things? How many times have I faltered because of fear and uncertainty? How many times have I failed my calling, my passion, my character, my mission, the church...

I have spent a lot of time in the community this week. Running into old friends and neighbors, and catching up with their lives. Spent an evening with Younglife and the Boys and Girls Club; interacting with staff and teenagers while eating wings and watching basketball. Observing people at Starbucks, McDonalds, and other places. Talking with people at the YMCA. My observations led to that our community is full of people that need Jesus! People that are hurting that need hope, they need healthy relationships from those in the church. They need food and shelter! They need God's love, YES, but they also need to see God's love pouring out of me as I interact with them! 

The great thing is that God's grace is so much bigger than my human attempts to be a good Christian. I can never even come close to what I should be doing, but because of God and His grace I can make an impact in this world! He takes my attempts and failures and uses them for His glory. He shows me how to look at people through His eyes, instead of my own eyes. He gives me a passion for people. He will help me overcome tradition, fear, insecurities, and my own limitations. He will turn the statement "I, Mike Ott, have failed this church" to "Mike Ott, I will use you to grow my church"

As always one of the events the teenagers love to be part of. We had a blast this year, and the lockin was so much better than last year. Equiped with 12 teenagers and 5 young adults, we played our hearts out. Who are these teens? Many are from our church, involved and plugged in. They in turn brought friends, something we as a church can learn from. Many churched and some unchurched teens were involved..,

What did some of the night look like? Nerf Wars! A combination of games; including Assassins, Capture the Flag, and Paintball style. Of course, probably two hours of Sardines in the dark. A pillow fight challenge, among other fun things throughout the ten hour period...

I say the night was a success, I made another great contact. A youth that came Wednesday night for youth group and then came back for our lockin. If connected in, the youth will be one of four youth connected into the church where a youth event was prominent; in 2014! The teenagers continued to build community within the group and got to know each other better. Plus they are getting great at inviting their friends, and their friends are becoming comfortable within our group of teens.

Thoughts on Winter Jam

As always, I left Winter Jam excited and saw God's hand on the event! We left Green Bay around 1:30 on Sunday afternoon March 23rd and did not back till 1:00 in the morning. The event was in Madison, Wisconsin and took us a few hours to get there. Winter Jam looked sold out, which meant there were around 10,000 people! Easy access at the door as you handed a ten dollar bill for entry and then went looking for the best seats you could find. Yep, ten bucks you can't beat that. As one guy said, "you paid one dollar tonight to see Lecrae!" 10 bucks to see 10 Christian bands. 

I was able to listen to Nick Hall and many of the main bands in the youth pastor area. I was really impressed with their passion and zeal for reaching teenagers! We had 5 teenagers and three young adults, and had a ton of fun. Nick Hall brought a great message to the youth, and some of what he said was brought up in our ride back to Green Bay. So far one of our best youth events if 2014, with many to come! Red Eye Night (church lock-in) in less than two weeks!!!

2 Misconceptions of the Holy Spirit

I believe that there are two misconceptions that we sometimes view the Holy Spirit. I'll define them by comparing them to two different "cousins."

The first cousin is, "Cousin It"

Cousin It is a relative of the Addams Family. If you are not familiar with the Addams Family; they were a group of fictional characters created by an American Cartoonist Charles Addams. Later, it became a tv show in the 1960's. In the show, cousin It came and visited the family from time to time. Sometimes, he would spend the night; but he never lived with the family. In the Old Testament, we see that the Spirit of God comes and goes in the lives of the Old Testament characters. In the New Testament, He is promised to those who calls on the name of Jesus and is promised to dwell in the life of the believer! Meaning the Holy Spirit is not like Cousin It who comes, visits, and leaves. The Holy Spirit comes, visits, and stays! He dwells within you! Leading, directing, guiding, comforting, teaching, filling you and so much more. You have the Holy Spirit living in you every day! God living inside you!

The second cousin is "Cousin Eddie"

Cousin Eddie is from the 1989 movie National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. A movie where anything can go wrong for Chicago resident Clark Griswold...In the movie, his cousin Eddie shows up; like if anything else could go wrong in his life, cousin Eddie would multiply the problems in Clark's life. When cousin Eddie shows up, life gets crazy, and things get awkward. Conversations are awkward. Meal times are awkward. Living conditions are awkward. The list of awkwardness goes on and on when cousin Eddie shows up. Maybe as I am describing cousin Eddie, you are thinking about that family member that shows up at family get togethers or perhaps, maybe you are cousin Eddie. The misconception is when the Holy Spirit shows up, that people have to start acting crazy and things have to get awkward. I am not saying that when the Holy Spiit is at work that things might not look crazy or feel awkward, but that we as Christians don't need to act crazy and awkward. I believe when we do that, we put the attention on us instead of giving God the glory. Another thought, goes back to the thought that if the Holy Spirit is alive and living inside us. Well then, He should be showing up on a daily basis in our lives! 

In wrap up, the Holy Spirit is active in the lives of the believer. He is always with us and will never leave us. We need to tap into His teaching and leading, allowing Him into all parts of our lives. In everything we do, we need to let the Holy Spirit be involved and give God the glory on the things that we do!

Always finding something new in the Bible! (Temptation of Jesus)

This past Sunday night we were looking at the passage where Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness. I caught something that I had never observed before! Here is the passage:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." 4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' " 7 Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' " 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." 10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' " 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. Matthew 4:1-11 (NIV)

Each time that Jesus is tempted, He quotes Scripture. Not only that, He quotes from the Old Testament Law (the book of Deuteronomy). Even Satan quotes from Scripture (Psalm 91:11-12)! This is something I know and have taught on. BUT the thing I caught this time was based on Satan's use of Scripture...

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Psalm 91:11-12

Well, sounds great and it is quoted pretty good; but what if we kept reading in the chapter?

You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. Psalm 91:13

If Satan knows the Scripture well enough to quote it; he knows what comes in verse 13! He was calling Jesus out in this passage. He was up for a "boxing match" with Jesus. He was challenging Jesus to make His move to fulfill Scripture at the pinnacle of the temple...Jesus could have easily quoted back verse 13 of Psalms and easily overcame Satan at this point; but He would have left the plan of the Father to redeem man! Instead, Jesus responds back to Satan by quoting Deuteronomy "Do not put the Lord God to the test." Jesus knew the plan, was in connection with the Father, and was going to continue to make His way to the cross! After his death on the cross He came back to life; and guess what? Verse 13 was achieved! Just like when a defeated enemy of the old was put to submission under the foot of the victor; Satan found himself under the foot of Jesus through victory of the cross!

Hospital visiting

Friday is the day that our pastor takes off for himself and I am the pastor on call. Today, I had my first random hospital visit. A gentleman asked the hospital to give our church a call, and see if a pastor could come visit him. Now I have done many hospital visits, but this is the first visit where I didn't know the patient or why he was in hospital. It made me nervous thinking to myself: what if this person was on his death bed? Or had a terminal illness? What would I say? could I make a difference?

When I got there, I went cheerfully and met a new friend. His name is Jim and if you keep him in prayer that would be awesome! I soon found out that he had been there two days, been through all sorts of tests, and the doctors were still uncertain what was wrong with him. Talked a little while with him until a nurse came in to do some stuff. When I came back in Jim was ready to take a nap, which I had told him at the beginning if he needed to kick me out for a nap that was okay. I asked if I could pray with him, grabbed his hand and prayed. It was a great experience for me, to better myself on what to say or not say, how to react around hospital patients. Always learning and building my relationship with people.

A little excitement with a church plant!

My first time attending a church plant launching service was awesome. I really didn’t understand much of what was said because it was a Hmong church service. We spent about an hour singing in Hmong and having a variety of special music performances. Our senior pastor gave a short encouraging word, as well as, a few of the surrounding area Hmong pastors. Pao Ly, the president of the Southern Baptist Hmong Association, gave a wonderful message that was both in Hmong and English. He spoke on Acts 2 and encouraged us that if we focus on preaching, discipleship, prayer, and fellowship we will grow our churches! We ended the service by commissioning the First Hmong Baptist Church of Green Bay; and prayed over the pastor and his wife. 

The service lasted close to two and half hours; and it didn’t end there! We went downstairs for lots of food and fellowship. I left three and half hours from the original start of the service. I was super excited to have experienced only what God could have put together. I intend to continue to invest in the Hmong people as they meet in our church and pray for them. What a great day at church!

God never takes a nap!

You're in it! A storm in life; you're drowning and it seems like no one notices or even cares. You gasping for relief, you're lonely, you're stuck and don't seem to me moving, you lost all hope. Then the question comes to your mind where is God? I don't see Him! I don't feel Him! Is He even there?

I was reading the other day from the book of Psalm. In there I came across an amazing verse that said God does not sleep! (Psalm 121:3) That's amazing, He is always available, right? But yet in the middle of our storms we look for Him and it's like He isn't there. Maybe He is asleep...Maybe He spending time with my pastor...Or maybe that guy who prays like 5 times a day is keeping God preoccupied...

All valid thoughts; but yet all thoughts are invalid truths about God! God does not take naps. He doesn't get preoccupied. He is with you through your storms. How do I know this? Well, from the Bible of course; you know, the Sunday School answer. But at the same time because I have gone through storms in my life. Now when I go through them, many times I don't see Him. Not sure exactly why at times, it could be that I am in a pity party or maybe the storm is so bad my eyes are closed waiting for the storm to lift. Whatever the reason is; I still know God was with me during the storms! HOW? When I get out on the peaceful waters and look back at my time in the storm. I see Him! He is working in and through my life. He sent people along to encourage me at the right times. He sheltered me from getting permanently lost in my storm. He helped me overcome the storm. He made me stronger. I am where I am because He loved me.

If you are a Jesus follower; you have that hope when Jesus said I will neither leave you or forsake you. If you are not a follower; He is waiting with open arms for you to turn around and accept Him! He has been there the whole time, asking you to give your life to Him, but for whatever reason you wanted to live life on your own terms. You wanted to be the king of you life. But He is right there waiting for you to say His name, waiting to be part of your life! God never naps, He is alive and relevant in the life of the believer and waiting to be alive and relevant in the life of the unbeliever!

God's Unconditional Love

God's unconditional love is represented all throughout the Bible! Tonight, in the Underground, we looked at just one example of it. Genesis 15 opens with God appearing to Abram in a vision. Abram goes back and forth with God on the original promise God gave Abram. God takes Abram outside and shows him the stars; and confirms that he would be the father of many people. Abram believed and it was credited it to him as righteousness!

God asked him to gather some animals (a heifer, a goat, a ram, a dove and a pigeon). Abram split the animals (not the birds) in two and laid them out opposite of each other. During this part of the message; I pulled out a few stuffed animals. To be exact; a cow, a lamb, and a cat. I took a butcher knife and split the stuffed animals in halves and laid them out in front of the students! Gory, I know.

I went on to explain the importance of this covenant among the people of Abram's day. They would take animals, split them in two, and both parties would walk through the animals. This was a strong symbol that was saying; "If either party breaks their agreement; let myself be like these animals." What a way to make a covenant! In today's times; our promises, vows, and agreements are not taken so serious. In marriage, it is not "till death do us apart"; it is "till we grow apart, and I want a divorce." 

Abram watches as God walks through the animals and fulfills the covenant without Abram ever walking through. This is God showing that He will fulfill His commitment to Abram; no matter what Abram does or doesn't do. It was the same way for us. God sent His son to be pierced and die for us. He restored the relationship between man and Him; giving us the opportunity for Salvation! We can receive this; no matter what we do or don't do. Nothing changed the agreement between God and Abram; as nothing will change the commitment of Salvation God gave us through the death of His Son. God's unconditional love is so amazing!

God is an Unpredictable God!

At our human core, we love things to be predictable! I personally love when professors are predictable, because I was able to narrow my studying come test time. It gave me a one-up on the test knowing that he or she does their test in the same way each time. When we sit on a chair, we want it to stand our weight and not break. It's a plus when it is a recliner and it has been a long day of work, we want to sit down in the most comfortable chair ever! Sometimes chairs give, we break them, we get embarrassed, people laugh; we all would agree that in this case we like the predictability of a chair doing what it was designed to do. Think about your favorite food or drink; it would be a sad day if you sunk your teeth into a rotten food or spoiled drink! It would most likely ruin your day; and for some might ruin their favorite food or drink.

In fact we like to live a comfortable life. We don't like when life sends us a curveball. Granted, life is full of curveballs and unpredictable events. Parents divorce, people die (even people that are younger than us that have so much life to live), he or she breaks your heart, your senior year of football begins with a broken leg, etc. Life is so unpredictable!

With this you’d think it would be great to have a God that is predictable...Right?

God fixed your friends parents divorce; and you know that He would do the same for your parents. Yeah, you broke your leg; but God is going to bring that college recruit into your life over the summer. He sits down with and opens up your life's map; and points to all the places He will take you from your birth to death. BUT that is not God, He is unpredictable. He works in different ways for different people; and at times we won't understand why He does things.

Now to note: God is predictable in some ways of His character. He is a God of love and He will love you. He is a God of justice and mercy. If He makes a promise; it is like a check that we can take to the bank to cash. Though, He doesn't just fit in a box. Into a mold that we make for Him; He is an unpredictable God in His greatness. 

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. Psalm 145:3

Who God is? We will never even get close to understanding how great he is and how much he can impact our lives!

God will work in and through you!

God can make you a better person!

God can make you feel complete!

God will never leave you!

How He does this is different for people, but He still does it!

 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. Psalm 115:3

In Jeremiah 18; He takes Jeremiah to a potter's house. He teaches that in the same way clay is in the potter's hand; that His people are in His hand. Sometimes a potter has to remold and fix his project. Sometimes he has to start back at the beginning to get what he wants. Sometimes the potter makes a bowl, other times a cup or a plate. 

Same with thing with us! Sometimes God has to break us down to get us moldable to what He wants.

Sometimes He has to start at the beginning. God makes us different as well; some of us are like cups while others are like bowls and yet some like plates. All of these serve a purpose in the kitchen and all of God's people serve a purpose in His kingdom!

God is unpredictable! We will never know where he will plant us. We will never know where he will take us! We will never know why He does for some; while not doing the same for others. We will not always understand Him and His methods. We will never grasp the fullness of His love and greatness. BUT I am okay with that and you need to be too!