Monday, June 25, 2012 - 2 comments

Fuge:Day 1


Fuge: Day 1

Today my youth group traveled to Jackson, Tennessee for Lifeway’s Centrifuge Camp. Our group comes to Fuge every year and I have yet to find someone who hasn’t fell in love with it. Fuge, in my eyes, is one of the best places that you can go to truly take time and experience God. 

Today was the opening celebration for the camp. We settled in our dorms and went to the celebration. We sang a few worship songs and were separated into classes based on our age groups. After our class we headed over to a devotion time with our church group. Our message was brief but very important. 

Our youth pastor based his message out of Ephesians 1 verses 22-23. “22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” 

He couldn’t tell us enough about how things in this life will fade. These things that we put our confidence in are not fixed. However, Christ is fixed and when we have Him in our lives we will be whole. We will not be perfect by any means but we will have someone we can take refuge in; someone that we can turn to when the times are tough. 

The theme for Fuge this week is The Pursuit. I would like to ask that you pray for our group. Pray that we open our minds and hearts and hear what God has to say to us.

-Fletcher
Friday, June 22, 2012 - 0 comments

Reality Revived the Church


Reality Revived the Church

As I said in my last post, sometimes we separate ourselves from the church or God because they do not always work at our convenience. God doesn’t work at our convenience but He works at His. I don’t think I can stress the fact that we are an imperfect people enough! When we constantly sin and do wrong we feel a sense of shame and we strive to seek forgiveness for our faults. You could say reality sets in; this is when we need the church and God. This is how reality revived the church…

When I sin I feel something tug at me and say, “What’s wrong with you?!” I was talking with Mom in the car yesterday about sinning. Sometimes we are tempted with things that make us “feel good”. It is one of the absolutely hardest things to do when tempted and turn it down. Some of the time I give in…
Stop reading this for a moment and think about church. What it means to you, how you serve it, and how it serves you…

When I think of church I think of a place you can go to hear God’s Word; a place where believers gather to share their opinions on things about Christianity. A place, in my mind, where anyone is welcome. We need church! We are not always going to be accepted and feel like church is a place where you can be. Most importantly, we need God. Yes, He is always there but that doesn’t mean we are a perfect being because He is by our side 24/7. 

When we step away from God we kind of think we can do just about any and everything we want. I was just thinking, one day I will be judged for everything I have ever done wrong. I’m only 15 and I already think it may take a while! After we do wrong for such an extended period something, may be a tiny something, flips the switch and reality sinks in. Everything we have done suddenly shoots across our minds and we realize we are such a broken person. 

Thefreedictionary.com defines forgiveness: To excuse for a fault or an offense; pardon. The only way to receive forgiveness is through God.

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”–John 4:16

We may not always agree with some of the things said at church and that’s okay! That doesn’t mean to drop church totally, that just means God has other plans for you somewhere else. Being church, especially being involved is so fulfilling! My amazing youth group alone is such a blessing! 

When we sin and do wrong we are dead in sin. When reality sinks in seek Him. I dare you to search for somewhere where you can find Him. I dare you to believe…
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 - 1 comments

Convenience Killed the Church


Convenience Killed the Church

When I say “Convenience Killed the Church” I mean that convenience has drawn so many people away from church, God, and religion itself. We are a spoiled people! I know I am! 

Today we have access to so many things that we didn’t have 10 years ago. In the Apple App Store alone there are over 500,000 apps available! That just blows my mind! We can access these apps at our own convenience. We are a people who want things now; not later but now! This is why so many people put a barrier between them and the church because things don’t always happen instantly and that is what we are used to. 

Being the imperfect people we are we usually get into some trouble throughout our journey. We believers usually pray for guidance or forgiveness. I’m going to be frank, these things we ask for don’t always happen instantly or at our convenience. When this happens, people slam God and say things like this, “Your God isn’t real! He would have answered you by now!” They do this because they do not fully understand how out God works...

“Cast not away your confidence because God defers his performances. That which does not come in your time, will be hastened in his time, which is always the more convenient season. God will work when he pleases, how he pleases, and by what means he pleases. He is not bound to keep our time, but he will perform his word, honor our faith, and reward them that diligently seek him.” - Matthew Henry

God answers us when convenient to Him, not to us. As I have said, we are a spoiled people and are turned off by something we have to wait for. But if we wait for Him, for His love, we will come to see that is worth more than any app we could ever download!

Some say, “Oh yes, it is easy for you to have patience with God because you are a Christian!” Anyone, I mean ANYONE, can be a Christian! The deciding factor is whether you have the patience to wait on Him and His plan. It is as simple as that! I will admit I have had trouble when times have been tough; but He has always come through for me.

Waiting on something can be very frustrating sometimes! I dare you to have patience and experience His love. I dare you to believe…
Monday, June 18, 2012 - 0 comments

Reaping What You Sow


Reaping What You Sow

So many times I find myself in the middle of doing something that is wrong and thinking to myself that I will have no consequence for these actions. However, soon after I find myself in trouble for what I did. We will always reap what we sow. 

Galatians 6: 7-8 tells us plainly, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

We are an imperfect people trying to please a perfect God. When we ask forgiveness for all the wrong we have done our God looks past these sins we have committed. It is like they were never there. We are still stuck with these sins in our earthly lives but we know we are forgiven from them. Isn’t that awesome? This doesn’t mean we are going to have it easy down here. Say someone burns down a department store. They will be sentenced to prison for however long the judge decides. That particular person is stuck in a cell for his sin, but when he asks for forgiveness his spirit is free! He still reaps what he sows…

Now reaping what you sow isn’t always meant to be put in a negative context that it sometimes is. Some people sow sin and reap weeds that never seem to go away. This is what we particularly think of when we hear the phrase we reap what we sow. There are some people that plant service or fellowship (for ex.) and reap beautiful flowers (like the ones above) that make your garden look beautiful. As Christians we want to strive for the flowers and avoid the weeds as much as possible. We are human, that means there is always going to be a few weeds hanging around. Just like the man who committed arson, we can be forgiven and pull those weeds right out of the ground.

 “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,” –Colossians 1:13 

We may be judged for what we have done. We will always reap what we sow. But remember God is always here and will always forgive you.

Sometimes we are stuck in sin and see no way out. I dare you to seek guidance in your time of need. I dare you to believe…

Wednesday, June 13, 2012 - 2 comments

Unplugged


Unplugged

As some of you may have noticed, recently the blog had ads. This was so that I could generate some extra money since I cannot get an official job yet. Today I received an email that said my account had generated too much money over this little time and that my account was disabled…

With these ads you earn a certain amount of money for every click. I started out with $0.17 a click, so every time an ad was clicked I received $0.17. I had told some family and friends about the ads and they had decided to help me out by clicking a few ads a day. Well, I got to where I was earning anywhere from $5-25 a day! This was great for me, considering I did not have a job and all I did was blog. Before I was disabled I had made $90 in 5 days! Sounds like a solid plan, huh?

I think I reached a point in the past few days where I wouldn’t care about writing another post. I would get on my site to see the revenue I generated. I told myself, “Oh its fine, you wrote two days ago. Don’t worry about it!” Before I placed my ads I really took time to research it all. One woman said, “Don’t worry about your revenue, it’s all about content. Content, content, content!” My mind was in different place.

My mission with this blog is to reach out to people who know Christ but also to find those who do not and hopefully witness to them. When I placed those ads it seemed like none of that mattered anymore. It was all about, “Wow! I made $12.98 today!”

1 Timothy 6:10 describes my situation oh so perfectly! “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”
I removed myself from the mission and was distracted by what it was doing for me and not what I was doing for it. The money was meant for a car. Yeah, it’s defiantly a bummer! No doubt! However, I have to understand that God will provide. That money was practically being stolen rite out of Google’s hands. I am thankful I was banned!

I know some of you may think I am crazy for saying that! It was hard seeing that email, I was really looking forward to putting that money in my savings! That just means that I will have to work harder for money now. Which Dad says, “Is good for ya!” Philippians 4:19 reminds me that God is our provider! Not Google, not Blogger, but God!

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” –Philippians 4:19
Being banned was actually a blessing! Being banned opens my eyes to why this blog really exists. It’s not to make money, but to share The Word. I was too naive to realize that those ads would distract me. I just thought that they would just be another thing, nothing major. When I got them, it was revenue, revenue, revenue! Not content, content, content like it should have been from beginning to end.

We all have those little distractions in life that keep us away from our true purpose. I dare you to be unplugged from those things. I dare you to believe…
Saturday, June 9, 2012 - 0 comments

Lost


Lost

We come in contact with people that are lost in our everyday lives. You could even say we see dead people every day. We are just like the little boy in “The Sixth Sense”. 

When we are down on our luck or going through a tough time it can seem like we are lost in the darkness. We are lost and we cannot seem to find something to cling to, something to drop anchor on. This is the reason that so many individuals dog Christianity. We as Christians preach that God is Omni-Present, which means He is always here. However, we cannot see him. This is why faith plays such a major role in our beliefs. A lot of people live by the saying, “ I don’t believe it until I see it!” 

I can defiantly see their concern/questions they have about our faith. I too find it hard sometimes to really stop and remind myself that He is right there beside me. Here is another big concern people have about our faith, “If He is always here, then why is the world like this? Why are we like this?” I have mentioned this before, but it won’t hurt to do again. Adam and Eve were the first of us on this Earth. God had intended for the humans that inhabited this Earth to be perfect. But Eve was tempted, another thing we all struggle with, and she ruined that for us. We cannot blame her for that, I am 100% sure that almost all of us would have taken the fruit. We need someone that will steer us into the right direction.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” -1 Peter 5:6-7

We have someone to find us when we are lost. I dare you to venture out and find Him. I dare you to believe…


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