Some interesting quotes...

Here are some quotes that are in my mind at this time.

"To suppose that whatever God requireth of us that we have power of
ourselves to do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ of none
effect."
-John Owen

Wow.... This one gets me every time I read it. I can think of so many times in my life where I feel like I have to do it all on my own, that I have to be good enough by myself. When God first called me into ministry, I struggled with the idea because I thought that I could never be as good of a preacher as this person or as good a speaker as this person. I thought I could never be to that persons level of musical ability or be able to lead worship like Lincoln Brewster. But God has not called me to be them; God has called me to be me. My purpose is to let God use me and my gifts for His glory, not to become just like someone else. This is still something that I have not mastered; many times I find myself doubting God's call in my life because I feel inadequate for whatever reason. When I am feeling this way, I am reminded of this quote. I am not called to do it in my own power; I am just required to be faithful to where God leads me and allow Him to work in my life.

"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens"
-JRR Tolkien

I love Tolkien and all of his works. He is just such a grand storyteller, and he puts things in a new light. I really like people that can take something that you have heard for years and put it in a way that makes you say, "Oh, I get it now."
So many people want to jump boat on their faith as soon as the water gets a little choppy. But I would say if you polled people and asked them if they would trade in the dark and rough times, they would say NO. It is in those times that we cannot do it alone that God comes in and shapes us and takes care of us. Just like the disciples in the boat during the storm. Jesus was calm when there were storms all around; he took care of them, and He will take care of us.

" Thats the thing about people knowing anything about you before you meet them, is that you have to work just to get people back to knowing nothing about you"
-John Mayer

OK, I know that this is not on the same level as the last 2, but I think there are still some good things here. We live in a world where everything is at our fingertips; you really can find out anything about people without ever meeting them. I have done it many times. I will hear someone talking about a person and go look them up on the web. You can read my blog and know all about me.. but not know me as a person (I am not saying you should not read my blog... it is here for people to read). There is just so much out there to get in the way of who I really am; I hope that when all the "stuff" is stripped away you can just see my love and passion for Jesus. That is my desire. Everything else about me is fine and good, but I would rather you remember nothing about me and be pointed to Jesus than to know everything about my life.

I just want to be open to whatever God leads me to do. I can't say that I always do that, but that is the goal.

stay tuned.....I am feeling some good deep posts coming up soon.