About Love: Compassion

This is part numero uno in Dennis' 4-part (well.. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how long it goes) series, About Love. So here tis', Compassion.

Lost and Found

2nd Semester Spring '09 is upon us! And we started out with a great message from Dennis.. Lost and Found

Good At Nothing

So have you every had one of those moments, mornings, afternoons, days, weeks, months…… One of those moments when everything goes awry. When everything you touch collapses, falls apart, gets screwed up, turns to crap right in front of your eyes…. Yeah you know those moments, or at least I hope you do, I hope that I am not alone in this feeling. So I had one of those moments the other day. It seemed like everything I tried, just flat out failed. Nothing was working. Doors slammed hard in my face, locked and the key thrown away. Then the voice in my head started talking, you know that voice too right? Not the voice of peace, or reason… not your spirit, not God's spirit, but the other voice… the one that blends in, sneaks in half truths, lies to us, tears us down, causes doubt and panic, yeah that voice…. So here he comes a talking and for some reason in my insanity I start listening and buying every little thing that voice is selling…. I start seeing all the things in front of me that I have started and yet to finish, I start seeing all my short comings, all the things that are broken in my life, the junk that I cant seem to take care of….. and I hear it, Your not good at anything, You are good at nothing… and in my pity party I grab hold, latch on to it; and all my shortcomings come flying at me… you know the voice is right, I'm good at nothing, I'm not a good father, I'm not a good husband, friend, leader, pastor, accountant, example, Christian……. And just as I am about to really sink to that lowest of lows, right at that moment; The other voice starts talking…. The voice of reason and truth, of love and mercy, The Voice, Gods Voice…. He reminds me that without Him I am nothing, That the thing the other voice was selling was only half truth… the part I had forgotten, the part that frees me, is that He doesn't expect me to be good at anything, He expects me to depend completely on Him. The moment that I fail in myself to be good at something, well that's the very moment, if I will stay obedient and faithful, that's the moment that God can take over… and be really Good at Everything. So I encourage you, take rest in knowing that God only expects faithfulness and obedience out of you…..if we could get it all right, all on our own… well why would we need God? He created you "fearfully and wonderfully made", with all of those shortcomings, He created you…. How much more can He get the Glory in our lives, than when we succeed at the very things we are incapable of doing on our own? So go ahead, be good at nothing, except for loving Him, and be prepared to be amazed at the things He will do in your life.

Peace D.

Fire Sale

So this past Saturday, Karissa and I went off to purchase our
Christmas tree. Now it wasn't as though we didn't have a tree yet( in
fact we now have five in our house) we just didn't have our real tree.
Somewhere in my creative art of procrastination I hadn't made it to
the boy scout tree sale to purchase it.
So there we are. The whole family bundled up in the cold ready to
purchase our live tree. Which brings me to a sidepoint, it isn't
alive. It just isn't completely dead. Let's face it there are no
roots, no growth and no chance for saving it. It is a dead tree,
pretty, but dead! So it being five days before Christmas the good ole
boys are having a fire sale. Trying to get rid of the leftover fire
starters to those people, such as myself, who have waited as long as
possible to get a tree. Now I have no problem supporting the BSoA, I
myself was one and enjoyed thoroughly being made fun of, burning
stuff and tying knots, but seriously with five days left now is the
time to put up your rock bottom price. So there we are, freezing, my
kids playing chicken with cars on rt. 60, trying to find the perfect
tree. So we find one my wife likes, original price--- $75... Sale
price ---- $60! What! 60 bucks for a tree that is going to be up 3
weeks in my house is one thing, I sacrifice to make my wife happy, but
60 for a tree that's going to be thrown out in a week, either by me or
them because they can't sell it... No way.
In the car we go. Straight to the real discounts, the everyday fire
sale professionals, Walmart. How much did I pay, 18.95! Sorry boy
scouts, you loose.
In this experience I wonder, how often do we do this with God. Put up
a front. Give him everything in words, but nothing in actuality. See
the scouts wanted to sell the trees, but they wanted to make money
more. They would rather chance not selling those trees at all instead
of moving them without a profit. We want God, want his change, love,
peace, joy, provision, purpose but do we want it more than all our
other desires. You will never get the fullness of God in your life
offering him parts of you at a discount. He wants it all, and for
free. You see when you finally find yourself given to God just because
it's His, not because of what He can do, you truly find Him.
So I encourage you, understand what season we are in. Now isn't the
time to procrastinate with God, now is the time to sell out. Now is
the time to give him everything.
D.

Blog? What

Well it is here! The day has arrived! I have finally begun my Flood
blog. And I find myself asking, Why? You see here I sit typing on my
iPhone, knowing I have one ( count them one) blog follower. I have
this neat arrangement where I type an email and send it to some weird
address, and then that is forwarded to the blog page. We have a web
site, facebook, myspace, podcasts, emails, twitter (not sure on that
one, still think it is for terrorists) and now a blog. But why? The
answer I think is this. Wait for it.... You! Our goal is to reach out
to a generation that is crying out for change. To equip you with the
practical knowledge of the word and encourage the intimate
relationship with God that it will take to change your world. To
ignite the passion to rise up to a new kind of Christianity. So my
hope for this blog is this. To provide another tool to help you on
your journey. So go head subscribe to it, tell your friends, but most
of all open up to the journey God has for you. It's going to be one
amazing adventure!
Peace - D.

Give Thanks

Thanksgiving is soon approaching, school children will be out frolicking about in the leaves, and all will be pigging out to some tasty treats; but, remember to Give Thanks!

Stressed Out

Stressed with homework, school in general, life?? Dennis has a message for you! Find out how not to be Stressed Out!!