Jump Start. . . Your Connection To God

Have you ever gone to your car, opened the door, put your key into the ignition, turned the key and. . . NehNehNehNehNehNothing. You try again . . . and . . . Nothing. It had plenty of power the last time you drove it. It didn't even hesitate the last time you turned the key. But now for some reason, some failed level of maintenance, has now placed your power source in a faulty position. What do you do? You pull out cables and you connect those cables to a different power source, usually the battery of a different vehicle, and you JUMP START your car.

Sometimes our connection with God seems to be disconnected. Sometimes it seems that we have no power source in our relationship. Why is that? Just as in your car, more than likely a disconnect takes place when some necessary maintenance has been neglected. Jesus says that His burden is light and His yoke is easy and yet many times it doesn't seem that way. The reason is because we're trying to live our Christian lives without the source of power. Relationship with Christ has always been about vertical connection. We've got to connect to Jesus Christ, the source of power in our life, if we are to be a strong, fulfilled, growing, effective Christian. Otherwise at best, we're simply turning the ignition and there's nothing happening. The car looks good on the outside. The engine has the ability to run. But without the source of power, it's nothing more than a beautiful machine in the driveway. BUT You were created to thrive. So it's time for a JUMP START. It's time to reconnect to the source of power.

How do we connect to God? I mean He's God! What possible way can we be connected to Him? I am convinced that there is really only one way to connect with God and that is through communication with Him.

Communication with God all begins with prayer. Do you take time to talk with God every day? When you do, do you just recite your needs to Him OR do you actually give Him a chance to have a conversation? If, when you spend time in prayer, you give Him a chance to talk back, He will. Maybe it's through His Word. Maybe it's through His Spirit. Maybe it's through a prompting of things to do. Whatever it is, if you will talk to Him and let Him talk back you will suddenly discover your relationship with Him has gone to a whole new level.

Another way that we connect with God is through praise and worship. They are not equivalent but they are dependant upon one another. Worship is a lifestyle. It's a decision to show forth the value of Jesus Christ in my life. And because worship Him, not for what He's done but because of who He is, it causes me to have outward expressions of praise and thanksgiving to God. When we sing wonderful songs of praise to Him, I feel compelled to lift my hands in worship to God. Sometimes I feel compelled to express my joy with tears. Sometimes I've even compelled to dance before the Lord. I don't do any of those things to bring recognition to me but rather to show forth the praises of HIM who called me out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Amazingly when my connection is right with God and I am linked to the source of spiritual power, Jesus Christ, my relationships around me seem to work better as well. Similarly to your car, when the battery is not functioning properly none of the electrical system seems to work as well. Lights, Radio, dash board gauges, everything just seems to be in crisis mode. BUT when the power source is properly connected, everything works like it's supposed to. The same is true in my life. When I am vertically connected (between me and God), my horizontal connections (between me and others) all seem to work properly. But when I'm in need of a JUMP START, I usually find deficiencies in my relationships with others as well.

Take the challenge today - it's time to JUMP START your relationship with Jesus Christ. Maybe you should make a goal of spending 15 minutes a day trying to share with God and allowing Him to share with you in a time of prayer. Also - the next time you are in a Church Service, don't be afraid to express yourself in worship. Do something you wouldn't normally do to let God know that He is more valuable to you than anything else - including what others might think. You'd be surprise at the surge of power you will receive AND I'm convinced that it won't be long before you're no longer just a pretty machine on the showroom floor. Instead you are in the fast lane with your pedal to the floor MOVING FORWARD into the great things that HE has prepared for you.

Until Next Time - God bless you as you JUMP START your relationship with Him! -- RP

Light Your World!

A few years back, we were having one of those spring thunderstorms that rattles the windows of your house and makes your walls feel like they are about to come down. You know the ones where the thunder crashes and the lightening strikes and the dogs and cats go running under the couch or the bed. I remember we went to bed, tucked our son in and turned off all the lights. But at about 2 am, we lost electricity at our home. We discovered at that moment that there is a major difference between turning off the lights and being in the dark. Without the electricity, there was no night lights, no digital readouts on the alarm clocks, no flashing lights on the answering machine. . . it was completely dark. And then to top it off, my son lets out a blood curdling scream that to this day, just thinking about it, makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYYY -- it's dark in here." "No kidding, you're supposed to be asleep." But of course as every dad would do in that situation, after discovering that the flashlights are all just dead battery cases, I struck a match, lit a candle and like a knight on a white horse, I strode into my son's bedroom and with one solitary flame, I fought off the evil darkness. But of course 10 minutes later the light came back on and I was no longer needed --- all you parents out there can appreciate that.

Isn't it amazing at how bright one solitary flame can be in the midst of the darkness? Our world is filled with darkness right now. Moral failure by leaders - darkness. Economic collapse - darkness. Constant threat of terrorist attack - darkness. Divorce rate at an all time high - darkness. Stress and fear driving people to heart attacks and suicide - darkness. And yet we know from scripture that Jesus prophesied that all these things must come before He would return -- "As it was in the days of Noah. . ." and "As it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah . . . so shall it be. . ." when the Son of Man returns. And so we it sit at a time of unprecedented darkness AND YET we sit at a time of unprecedented opportunity. Because Jesus also said that we "are the light of the world." When it's at its darkest, the light is most effective. You may feel insignificant. You may feel that it's too dark to matter. But when it's darkest, your little candle, your little light, can force back the darkness and bring hope to our world.

And so today - my simple encouragement is this - Go light your world. Yes, I know it's dark. There are people everywhere with greater needs than ever before. It's up to you and eye to bring hope to the hopeless, the bring healing to the hurting, to bring help to the helpless, to bring liberty to those who are bound, and yes to bring light to those who are in the dark. The darkness is EVERYWHERE --- and we who know Jesus Christ, need to step out into the darkness and bring the light.

There's an old Sunday School song - maybe you know it. It says, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine." One verse says, "Hide it under a bushel - OH NO - I'm gonna let it shine." Another says, "Won't let Satan blow it out - I'm gonna let it shine." One thing I know - it only takes a small spark to begin a great blaze. Why don't we make up our mind to let our light shine, to not hide it, and if we'll do our part to shine in the darkness, Satan or nobody else will be able to ever put out the blaze that will have begun. It's time to SHINE!

Until next time - make a difference in your world by letting your simple light to shine. You don't have to do anything supernatural - you just need to be who God created you to be and His love and His light will shine through! God bless you all - thank for reading. I'm ready to fight off the darkness - How about you? --- RP

Connected -- Are you really plugged into God?

Today, as I looked at my Facebook page, I realized that I am "connected" to a lot of people. I have nearly 800 "friends" and almost 240 blog followers . . . and yet there are a lot of times that I feel completely alone. Do you find it ironic that we are more "connected" as a society than we've ever been and yet many would admit that they struggle with feelings of loneliness? I mean we have e-mail, cell phones, home phones, work phones, e-mail on the phone, social networking sites, ichat, instant messaging, text messaging, blogs, video chats, etc. I've been amazed recently by my son's new Xbox system. He can play games on his system which is wirelessly connected to our internet service against people from all over the country. Not only can he play with them, but he now has a head set that the internet connection allows him to talk with his friends who he's playing with over the internet. I walk in and he's playing a game while talking with his friends who are playing the same game and are being represented by characters on my television screen. We are truly living in a connected world. Why then do we feel alone?

As connected as we are, we still need intimate interactions with others to feel complete. It's not enough to just get emails and text messages to feel like we belong. Rather, we need to be involved in the lives of others to shun the feelings of isolation. God created man and He understood our needs for connections - after all, His observation of Adam caused Him to realize that "It is not good that man is alone. . ." And thus He created woman, and all the men are so glad that He did.

Spiritually we are desperate for connection as well. Some people go through learning about God, hearing good messages, knowing all the stories, reading good books, listening to songs about God, even telling others about God. But at the end of the day, spiritual completeness occurs only when we are connected to God. We need intimate connection with God to discover how great He wants to be in our lives. The Bible tells us that He "will never leave us nor forsake us", so we know that God is always there. And yet there are moments that we wonder where He is. Where does the break down occur? It occurs, not because He's not there, but rather because we are not tuned in and are not aware of His presence.

Whenever I feel disconnected from God, I don't have to look very far to discover where the break down has occurred. Without fail, my lack of connection can always be rectified by working on my communication with God. When I focus on my prayer life, enjoy my time in praise and lose myself in worship, I soon will discover that the severed connection is fixed. That's why it's so important that we spend time in prayer everyday. That why our lives must be lived in worship of Jesus Christ. That why, with every opportunity, we must express ourselves in praise to our Great God. There's nothing like being connected to God.

We can have every possible connecting device but if we aren't intimately connected to those closest to us, we feel alone. Similarly we can know everything there is to know about Jesus, but if we don't maintain intimate connection with Jesus Christ, spiritually we will feel isolated, and we will not experience growth. It's time to place our focus on those things that matter most - maintaining our connection to God through prayer, praise and worship. Let's live a life of connection -- with God and with our fellow man -- and we will experience spritual growth and we will feel socially complete. Until next time - let's get connected! -- Love all of you -- RP

Let the Light Shine!

Christmas is certainly a season of lights. One of my families favorite Christmas traditions is riding around and looking at many of the homes who have decided to purchase stock in the local power company by creating landing strips for Santa. Lights are just a part of this amazing season. Fittingly it always has been. Shepherds were bathed in light on the hillside as the angels announced the birth of Christ. Wise Men followed a well lit and well placed star to discover the place where the baby lay. And amazingly enough, this baby that was born is throughout scripture described as "the light of the world". Jesus Christ, the reason for this amazing season, is synonymous with light.

Every year as we prepare to decorate, I am always stuck on light duty. Before you can put the lights on the tree or hang them outside, you always have to uncoil them and plug them in to check to make sure that they are working. It never fails, that as I begin to check them, there is always a strand or a section that is not burning. Unwilling or unable to just throw them away, I begin the process of painstakingly checking each bulb to find the reason for the section to be unlit. It only takes one severed connection, one burned out bulb, one bulb that is not set correctly, one small piece of copper filament out of alignment to cause a strand of bulbs to not let the light shine.

As our Savior was the light of the world, we are also called to bring light into the darkness. And yet sometimes, we don't shine as brightly as we are able. It's not a problem with the power source. It's not a problem even with our ability. More often then not, it's just something very small in our life that is causing our connection to the power source to be severed. As we count down the days to a new year maybe it's time for a little introspection to discover the source of the light outage. Because our world is certainly in need of people who are willing to let their light shine.

In an effort to improve my light outflow, I'm striving to be more thankful this year. I tend to be a very thankful and appreciative person but of late, I've noticed that I'm at times dwelling on the negative or the limitations or the areas of lack in my life. Instead, I want to begin taking a look at the multitude of blessings that are in my life. Just a few:

1) I'm so thankful for an amazing wife, Davina, who inspires me to want to be a better man. She gives wings to my dreams and she adds so much fun. I can't imagine living a moment without her kindness and caring love for me.

2) I'm so thankful that God has blessed me with two amazing children, Jordan & Abigail. They are each unique in their gifting and their talents and yet both are going to be wonderfully used by God. Each day, watching them as they mature, I'm so overwhelmed with my desire as a father to be a strong example of Christ that they can follow. Lord don't ever let my feet go where they can not follow.

3) I'm so appreciative of my parents, without whom this year we would not have survived. They have been an anchor in stormy seas and a constant source of love and support. With all my heart, I'm truly amazed by them!

4) I'm thankful for my brothers, their wives and their children. Family is truly a blessing from God and I'm thankful that each of them are striving to be pleasing to God and are examples of His kindness each day.

5) I'm thankful for my 14+ years at Life Church in Mechanicsville, VA. They prepared me to be able to endure when everything around me seemed to be sinking sand. Thanks to Pastor Buddy Thompson who allowed me to grow in my ministry and developed me as a leader. His ability to develop people is something I'm so thankful to have observed and hopefully learned. Thanks so much to the wonderful saints of Life Church who I miss every day, who made my time there valuable and showed love and kindness to my family. I pray God's blessings will continue to flow in the midst of this wonderful assembly.

6) I'm so grateful for Pastor Mark & Chantel McLeod and the wonderful saints of Church on the Move. You were, for me and my family, an oasis in a very dry place in my life. You restored to me my desire, drive and determination to effectively change this world for the cause of Jesus Christ. The future is so bright at COTM - I can't wait to see as God does what He does best, change the lives of hungry and willing hearts.

7) I'm so thankful to all of you, the folks who choose to read my mindless drivel and many who even take the time to encourage me to keep going. I'm so thankful to have reconncected with so many of you through Facebook or connected with you for the first time through this blog. It's amazing the people that God has brought into my life through this social networking medium.

8) I'm humbled and awed most of all by the amazing kindness and love of Jesus Christ. The fact that He looks beyond all of my faults and continues to love me in spite of them is so humbling. When He could, and probably should, give up on me, He remains an ever constant, abiding, faithful friend. While I have so many questions and probably annoy the fire out of Him sometimes, I know that He ultimately knows what is best for me. I have so many needs AND YET, He knows them before I ask (sometimes I wish He'd just answer a little quicker - I'm sure we all feel that way at times). . . Thank you Lord for loving me, teaching me and guiding me even when I don't deserve it, don't seem to learn it and sure can't figure it all out! You know me better than I know myself and I'm honored that you call me Friend. "No greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend."

And so I'd like to wish each of you a Merry Christmas - I pray God's greatest blessing on your life for the New Year that is to come. Let's together make an impact on our world as we Let the Light of Jesus Christ Shine through us into every dark corner and let's make a difference in the lives of those around us! God bless - love all of you - RP

Make Room For Jesus

Just over 2000 years ago, there was a husband and wife who had traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be taxed. She was nearing her due date and he was tired from the journey and worried about his wife. They arrive to find that there are travellers everywhere and of course they forgot to make reservations. No Vacancy is all they could hear. Finally one inn keeper offers the finest accommodations available . . . for donkeys. And of course, they take it and she goes into labor and their son is born amidst the mooooooing and bahhhhhing. And it was in such conditions that Jesus Christ was born into the world. It's the Christmas story, the reason for the season. Perhaps you've all heard of it before.

Many times, I think we've heard the story so many times that we no longer allow it to impact us. We miss the amazing nuances and powerful lessons hidden among the shepherds and the wise men. We forget the selfless sacrifice of a teenage mother and a confused husband to be. We take for granted the angels singing and the innkeepers inability to find a room. The story becomes "old hat" and we fail to allow Christmas to impact us the way that it should. Because we unfortunately don't make room for Jesus Christ in our Christmas.

Oh - we've got all the decorations. We've got the wonderful food, the office holiday parties and the Christmas Cards, the secret Santas and the sparkling lights. But do we forget Jesus in all of our festivities? If we fail to recognize His significance, Christmas is just another retail shopping trap designed to get you to spend more money than you can afford on gifts that won't be appreciated because they are given to people who don't really need them. So be careful to not forget the real reason for the season.

Growing up my mom and dad fought hard to insure that we always kept Jesus at the focal point of the holidays. Of course we had our Nativity scenes positioned in their optimum place and we went to multiple church services and we usually attended a Christmas play or a living Nativity scene each year. But the one thing that I've never forgotten was the emphasis they placed on insuring that we never forgot this great story. Every year on Christmas Eve while others opened gifts and had big meals, we gathered together in our living room and we prayed together as a family for those who were in need and had less than we did. And then together we all opened our Bibles and we read the passages from Matthew and Luke that reveal the treasure of the birth of Christ.

I'm all grown up now. I have two children of my own. But every Christmas Eve, if you happened to drop by my house, you'd see Rodney & Davina, Jordan & Abigail, Nanny & Papa, and anyone else that we can have stop by gathered together in our living room for a time of prayer and thanksgiving and then for a careful read of this amazing story. About 4 years ago, I passed on the reading responsibility to my son and this year for the first time he's going to share it with his sister. And I'll tell you, there's something so refreshing about passing on a tradition of such value to your children and watching them embrace it and look forward to it.

So this year - don't forget to make room for Jesus. Don't get to busy with all of the hustle and bustle that you forget the humility of a savior being birthed in a stable. Don't forget the power of shepherds having angels reveal to them a Messiah's birth. Don't forget the joy of wise men who chose to follow a star until it revealed a king. Don't forget the willing vessel Mary or sacrifice of Joseph. Don't forget the innkeeper who while he had no room, he gave what he had. Don't forget the animals who got a front row view of God stepping out of eternity and into a robe of flesh. Don't forget to give Jesus room in your Christmas and make this a year that your family will remember .... not for the lights or the presents or the parties. Rather, they'll remember because they rediscovered the true reason why we celebrate. Merry Christmas! Love you all! -- RP

Dealing With Disappointment

Have you ever heard the statement, "Into every life a little rain must fall"? Personally I expect a little rain. We all need a little rain. Rain is good. It brings nourishment. It brings refreshing. But what do you do when the "little rain" turns into a hurricane, tornado, monsoon, typhoon, blinding blizzard, and an earthquake thrown in for good measure. Well - I wish I could change the monumental forces of nature that may be blowing into your life right now but I can't. What I can tell you is that we all go through life and suffer disappointments and the difference between living a healthy overcoming life and wallowing in despair is how you respond to the weather that's blowing right now.

Disappointment is tough because by definition in order for us to suffer it, we have to have things happen to us that are the exact opposite of what we expected. None of us want to experience and therefore we are rarely skilled at dealing with it. And unfortunately the only way to learn to deal with it is to be disappointed. Do you see why this is so tough?

So what do you when you suffer disappointment? What do you do when the things that you expect to occur just don't? What do you do when you expected sunshine and all you see are storm clouds? What do you do when everyone else is feasting on the pleasure of life, all you seem to have is indigestion? You deal with it and you move forward.

Joseph has a plan. He's going to be a successful furniture shop owner. He's a carpenter and he's reputable and he works hard and he produces a good product. He's got a great fiance and he's building a beautiful home and his life is going great. Then his fiance stops by with some news. He's thinking that she's gonna tell him about the curtains she's picked out or maybe a new pattern of China that she found at the local Nazara-Mart. Instead Mary drops this extremely disappointing news . . . "Honey, I'm pregnant AND we both know it can't be yours AND just so you know it's by the Spirit of God. Oh and by the way, your family has still not RSVPd for the wedding." (Now I know I've used creative license there but I'm confident that Joseph's level of disappointment was about through the roof.)

So how does he deal with it? Joseph decides that his solution will be to send his fiance away to privately have the child and begins to reconsider the whole life that he's planned out. Just like you or I, when the disappointment storm rolled in, Joseph begins to reconsider every dream, plan or ambition he's ever had. But as he begins to wallow in self-doubt and disappointment, he discovers that God's plan for His life is bigger, MUCH BIGGER, than the life plan that Joseph had put together following his bar mitzvah. And to me that's why Joseph is the forgotten hero of the Christmas story - instead of allowing disappointment to derail him - he allowed God to reveal an ever greater plan that he could be a part of provided he didn't allow disappointment to control him.

So today - although disappointment affects us all, when it comes - and it will - don't allow it to derail and completely dissuade you from moving forward. Rather, allow your disappointment to make you more aware of the voice of God - because he just may you wake you up in the middle of the night and reveal your role in bringing Jesus to the world. It may not be the plan you had. It may not be the agenda you had in mind. But God loved you so much to send storms and tornadoes and hurricanes and monsoons into your life to make you aware that His plan was bigger than yours. So go ahead and listen and let your disappointment fuel the plan of God for your life.

Well until next time - let God lead you in your disappointing moments - discover His plan and follow it and eventually you'll see that the rain was necessary to prepare you for the moment when God's greatest plan will be revealed! God bless - love you all! -- RP

The Pain of Being Stretched

This past Saturday, we celebrated my son's 13th birthday. I'm amazed at how quickly the time has passed. It seemed like just yesterday that I watched him being born and now he's a teenager and I'm extremely proud of the young man that he is becoming. As a part of our celebration, we went to an indoor sports facility with some of his friends and played football. I realized very quickly how old and out of shape I'd become.

I used to be pretty athletic. I'd played sports most of my life but as I've gotten older, I've become less active and it has taken a toll. Don't get me wrong. I wasn't inept. I actually made a pretty good showing of myself. I didn't even embaress my teenage son. I threw a bunch of touchdown passes for our team. . . I looked good throwing the ball. But then a 14 year old kid who is fast as the wind, who runs all the time, decided to blitz me as the quarterback and suddenly my limited activity showed. I tried to run away and I almost slipped by him and then it happened. My foot slipped and down I went - someone watching said that I resembled Shamu crashing into the deep pool at Seaworld. I got up and kept playing and truthfully didn't feel too bad. . . until I stopped moving and it was time to come home. I started discovering pain in places I didn't even know had the ability to hurt. Every muscle, every tendon, every joint - everything was tight and it hurt to even move. And my first thought was - "I am too old to do this. I'm not gonna do that again."

Then I got to thinking. . . it was not playing football that had caused me to hurt so much. It was not running and throwing and diving and catching that was causing me to experience pain but rather the muscles in my body that had not been used in the fashion that they were created for were suddenly being stretched . And there is pain in being stretched.

Being stretched is never fun. It means that we're being pulled sometimes into positions or places that are uncomfortable. But for growth to occur, for us to become what we were intended, sometimes we've got to endure the pain of being stretched. Because as we're stretched we're given opportunity to grow. If I will remember the pain that I have experienced over the last few days and allow it to push me into getting in shape, I may not have to endure it again. Because I will have grown from the experience.

Do you feel as if you are being pulled in several directions? Do you feel like you are being stretched in directions you've never been before? Are you experiencing pain from being stretched? If so, consider the growth potentials that may be available in the midst of the pain. Let the muscles scream. Let the joints pop. Let the tendons ache. God may just have you where He wants you - being stretched into your destiny where His best can come to pass in your life.

Well - for now, I'm going to apply some Icy Hot to a sore thigh muscle . . . but hopefully the next time I won't need the old man creme. Maybe, just maybe, I will have grown from this experience and be closer to being in shape. Looking forward to talking to you again soon! God bless -- RP