Things don't always go as planned!

Last time I wrote I was talking about how sometimes we get ready for something and it doesn't happen. Well this has been quite the year so far. Remember how we got rained out first race? Well the following week didn't go so well either. The weather was great but on practice day I crashed and broke my leg. Talk about things that turn out different then planned. Because of this other then riding a couple of practices I have not done any racing this year. The good news is that I am almost totally healed and riding last week did not irritate my leg. Sweet.
We don't always know why things happen the way they do. I sure don't know why I had to get hurt again (this wasn't my first time). So what do we do? We have to trust that things happen for a reason. That is easier said then applied. How do you do in situations like that? Usually it isn't that hard for me, but this time I really struggled, because it really messed things up. So what do I do? I keep reminding myself of what God promises in his word and I hang on to those promises. Does that explain why some things happen? No, but it does help us deal with them. In the end we know that God has our best in mind. It could have just been an accident, because Motocross is dangerous. You just never know.

Getting ready for nothing

Have you ever gotten ready to do something and then when you get all ready it gets cancelled? That's where I am today. Tomorrow is supposed to be the first State Race for this year. I prepared my sermon for church last night, then today I got the trailer and everything ready. The bike just needed loaded, but of course on the golf cart the starter solenoid wire broke so I got to fix it. After some custom engineering it was fixed and I got everything ready to go. I did forget to mention that its been raining this week and the track owner was still trying to make a decision to see if it was sensible to try to have the race. Well I finished, I cleaned up and then I got online to see if the race was on and guess what? It's cancelled. Bummer.
Some of us may feel this way about Jesus coming back. You keep hearing people preach about it. And the Bible definitely talks a lot about it. We get ready and wait. We get ready and wait. We get ready and wait. But Jesus doesn't come. What do you think? Do you think it may have been cancelled like the race was cancelled?
Don't get bummed out. It has not been cancelled, we just have to have patience. Lets see what the Bible says:
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:8-9 (NIV2011)

So what do you think. Has it been cancelled? Praise God it hasn't. No chance of that. He is just waiting for our friends to come to know Jesus. Awesome.

Snow is not one of my favorite things

I am in Chicago today and it is snowing. Typical Winter storm. As I was driving along I was thinking (yes I do that at times), snow can really mess with your plans. For that matter, it can completely make you turn your entire schedule around. This has been a very mild Winter and we thought we were about through it. To our surprise the weather had other ideas. This is the 3rd snow storm I have been in in less then two weeks and yes it has turned my schedule around.
So what am I trying to say with all this? This is typically how things go, you never know for sure what is going to happen. In the same way we live our lives and if we are reasonably careful things go a long pretty smooth, just like our mild Winter we were just going through. Then without a warning something happens and everything gets turned upside down. All of a sudden we are scrambling to try to make it through what is coming at us. Well just like you deal with the snow, knowing it will go away, so are our other issues in our lives. They come and we deal with them and get through them. As my younger sister once told me, the Bible says "it came to pass" it did not come to stay. But even so knowing all that, there are times it is hard to make it through those times.
Over the last year, one of the things I have been working on is my trust in God. A lot of us talk about trusting God, but do we really do it? I used to say it, but a lot of times did not really do it. The thing I learned most this last year is that when you truly trust God you start seeing him work in your life like you have never seen before. So what is the point? Be it a snow storm or something bigger. Don't worry and live your faith. It truly does work. God has our best in mind.

Christmas

With Christmas right around the corner we are starting to see the things that go along with Christmas. We are starting to see the Christmas adds on TV again. We are seeing a lot of Santa Claus movies. A lot of people are decorating there houses with Christmas lights. This is all stuff we are used to seeing around Christmas time and it is okay. However there is a trend that seems to be getting stronger every year. The real reason for Christmas seems to be getting pushed further and further out of the picture. What is the real reason for Christmas? It is the celebration of Jesus' birthday. All of us older people all know who he is, even those that don't believe in him. But what about the current generation? People are becoming more and more Bible iliterat. That is a scary trend. WHY ARE WE CELEBRATING THE BIRTH OF JESUS? Jesus is the Son of God. He came to this earth as a person. He was born, grew up like we do and lived here just like we do. The only difference is that he lived a sin-free live. Something we are uncapable of doing. Then he allowed himself to be arrested and sentenced to death on a cross. The reason he did this is because someone had to pay for the sins that we committ. Because of him being the only one perfect, he was the the only one that could pay the price for our sins. But it did not end there. Three days later he rose and after showing himself to his disciples, went to heaven to be with God the Father. What else did he do? Before he left he promised that those of us that put our Faith in him and believe in him will get to spend eternity with him. So what are we celebrating? We are celebrating the greatest gift of all. Without his birth there could be no Resurrection. Without the Resurrection we wouldn't have a guaranteed future. SPREAD THE WORD! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The year is almost over!

Well it seems like the year just started and we are already three quarter of the way thru it (almost). When you are a kid people tell you that time goes faster when you get older. Well I am not old (compared to some people) but time is sure starting to speed up. So what do you do? Do you started slowing down to try to enjoy life more or do you keep on with the hectic pace that most of us have learned to go? Well myself, I would like to slow down a little and as they say, take time to smell the roses. It is pretty easy to focus on the negative parts of our life instead of the positive part. When we do that, we probably start looking forward to Jesus coming back or us going to see him. That is definitely good, but I for one still have some things I would like to see happen. For one I still have some friends that I would like to see come to know Jesus. I may just be the person that they will listen to. It is not my job to save them, God does that, but it is my job to spread the message. So to make things here a little more enjoyable, lets focus on the positive. That makes life a lot better. Second lets help others and spread the message while we are at it. There are not many things that will lift your spirit more then the satisfaction of knowing you helped someone. So between taking time to smell the roses, focusing on the good instead of the bad and taking a little time to help others, it may just not be all the horrible to be here for a few more years. Thank you God for all your blessings.

How is the year going?

As always the year is going by quickly. How is yours going? If you are like most of us the bad economy has probably cramped your activities some. I know it has ours. But we are still having fun. When times are like this it is important that our walk with God is where it should be. We can rely on him to see us through these tough seasons. I am sure you have heard people say God will meet your needs. He sure has taken care of us and when I look back, sometimes it is not very clear as to how we made it. When it gets like that I don't have to try to figure it out, because I know who was taking care of us. We don't deserve God's help but thanks to what Jesus did for us God is there to see us through. Trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you can not go wrong.

Will you be there?

It is almost time for the Missouri State Motocross Championship Series. Just like in the past few years it is our plan to be there to provide Sunday Morning Worship Service for those that want to participate. Round 1 will be in Moberly at HLR on 4/22. I sure hope to see you there. A little food for thought: You know exactly when and where this will be. You know how to prepare for it. You know what to bring and what not to bring. You know what time to leave your house to be there in time and you have a reasonable idea when you are going to be back home Sunday night. That is pretty cool. Now there is another event you have heard me talk about. This is the event when Jesus is going to come back for those of us who believe in him. Then there is also the event when the people that don't believe in Jesus will loose there chance to change there mind about what they want to believe. That is also pretty cool if you are in group 1. But what about if you are in group 2? If you are 100% sure you are right, then I guess it doesn't matter. But what if you are not sure? What if you have been ignoring that feeling that there is more? Or that somebody is calling you? It is dangerous to ignore this and to keep saying I will do it tomorrow. I sure hope you decide to become part of group 1. Don't wait until it is too late. The Bible says: "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. Matt 25:13 (NIV). I don't want to scare you, but it is risky business. This is not as simple as you win or loose a Motocross race, or you miss the MX event all together. This has eternal consequences, so it is important that you do what needs to be done.