Heath with a Purpose

Almost any given day on my way to and home from work I drive by multiply people standing at various intersections throughout the commute, claiming they are homeless and in need of money and at the end of their sign will say God bless. What is so difficult for me is I always want to know their story. Whether it is their history, their struggle, or even their plan to get out of their situation. I have always had a soft spot for these people. I do believe that God does put these weights on our hearts to allow his Spirit to work through us by loving and caring for certain purposes. But I cannot help but think that this soft spot in my heart that hurts when I see someone begging was born through my own up bringing. When I was 7 my mom past away with breast cancer. My dad worked three jobs (plumber by day, waiter by night, and referee in between the two) just to take care of me and my brother and sister. My dad was superman. However, within the first year after the passing of my mom...

The greatest piece of evidence in support of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for me, is the fact that we can't define him. If this God was created by man then we could comprehend who he is.  Before I was a believer, as I looked from the outside in, my view concerning a relationship with this "almighty" God, was that these people believing this stuff were creating a God that they wanted and on top of that it seemed that people believed in this same God differently. For an example The same God that freed the American slaves in the 1800's was the same God who protected the slave trade. People on both sides of this had a relationship with God, justifying their position yet rejected the other position.  I didn't realize it but I was making a big mistake. I was allowing my little bit of knowledge to determine my opinion, ignoring all of the knowledge that could be understood. This might sound odd but if we're honest, its a lot easier putting our own t...

God knows everything you've done, you're doing, and what you're going to do.  “Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD.” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭23:24‬ ‭NIV ‬‬ When someone says God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient it tends to lead to the question "if God is everywhere, has unlimited  power, and is all knowing then why does he allow bad things to happen?" Most people who don't believe that a God exists struggle with this concept. If God was real and is everywhere,  and he can do anything and  he knows everything why does all of this evil still happen? One mistake we easily make is we put ourselves in the judgement seat. We can see apparent evil and then blame God or use as evidence against such God because he knew that this apparent evil was going to happen but didn't stop it even though he was there and had the power to do so. This would be a fair ju...

I had a sarcastically exciting night last night. Everything started out great. I went to bed at a decent time, all of my chores were done, my wife was sleeping and I was writing down some teaching ideas.  It was peaceful. I was productive. It was a successful night all around. Then I heard it. Little hacking and gargling coming from the end of the bed.  My wife and I have two pets. A little toy poodle named Chico and a cat named Chip.  I look up fearing what I might see, and there it was. Puke in a pile at the end of the bed travelling over the edge and onto the carpeted floor. I immediately got up and proceeded to clean the duvet cover. It was hopeless. By the grace of God I was able to get the duvet cover off the duvet and not wake my wife. I felt like Houdini. I scrubbed the floor, rinsed the duvet cover, and threw it into the wash.  I thought I was handling it really well. While I was down stairs putting the duvet cover into the wash I noticed...

We all struggle with our sin. Sometimes it's struggling with the temptations that lead us to our sin. Sometimes it's struggling whether or not what we do is a sin in God's eyes or not. And sometimes it's struggling with the shame we have after we have sinned. Let's Look back to the beginning in the garden right after Adam and Eve committed the first sin.  Genesis 3:9-10 “But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”” ‭‭ When we are struggling with the shame of our sins, our instinct is to hide from God. We naturally want to isolate ourselves because the weight of our shame is to much to bare sometimes. But the truth is that God wants you to give him your shame. Jesus' death on the cross shows us that he wants us to be reunited back to God. God treated Jesus with what we deserved, so God can treat us with what Jesus deserves. We are blameless in hi...

Jesus refers to himself as the bread of life. Out of all his titles, I find this one the least relevant. I need him to be the Lamb who was slain, the lion, my king, the endless spring of water in my life, the High Priest I confide in, the light for my path. But why the bread? In all the other examples they all are necessities but bread is not. Some people have cut bread out of their diets to be healthier and some people can't eat it without getting sick. I know back when Jesus was walking the earth people didn't count their calories or have the same awareness about the food they ate that we do (then again do we even know what we are eating), but because I believe Jesus knows everything he should of known that eventually we would come to realize that bread isn't necessary. As I read John Chapter 6, the whole picture starts to reveal itself. First you see that Jesus preforms this miraculous miracle feeding the 5000 with a boys lunch, then he is found walking on the wa...