The Season of Giving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends. We were blessed enough to have family come and spend the holiday here in Borger. We had a great time. I remember growing up and having Thanksgiving at my Grandfather's house in Norman. He lived in the country, which was awesome for making forts, shooting guns, and playing hide and go seek. PaPaw loved to feed and watch the birds on his front porch. He would put out the bird seed and watch the all come in. One of the things he was watching for was the Blue Jay. The Blue Jay's were mean and would run off all the other birds that were feeding on the seed. So, Papaw for a long time had a pellet gun that solved the problem. he was an excellent shot. As he got older the pellet gun was replaced with his 12 gage shotgun. He was still and excellent shot. Papaw passed away a few years ago and the only gun that I wanted of his was that 12 gage; not so much because it was a 12 gage, but just because that is what I remember sitting by the front door of his house for years. Last year my Uncle gave me Papaws shotgun. It was awesome. So this year we took the time to clean it all up, and it is sweet. it was cool just running back through the memories. I think this is what Thanksgiving is all about.

The Conference Finished Strong

We had a great time on Saturday at the "Love Link" marriage conference in Glorieta.  We began the morning session at 9:00 and continued discussing how to listen and take care of the whole person: spirit, soul, and body.  We then broke for lunch and came back for the afternoon session.  This is the hardest session to teach.  Everyone has a full belly in a warm room; not a good combination for teaching.  We spent most of the time discussing soul to soul communication, and how to listen past the words that someone says.  As far as I can tell to conference was a huge success.  God has blessed once again.

We had the opportunity to attend Church at Sangre de Cristo Bible Church in Santa Fe where John Romero is the Pastor.  They had just come back from a discipleship conference and were have testimonies about discipleship from some of the congregation.  Pastor John was so gracious to allow us to join in on the testimony time.  I was so proud of our Church body for stepping up and wanting to share what discipleship has meant in there life.  It was very moving for me.  It reminded me of the words of Paul, "Ye are my crown of rejoicing."

It is good to be home with the girls once again.  It is good to get away, but it is aways good to get back home.

The First Day of the Marriage Retreat

Yesterday morning we left the Church with 16 people packed into two vans and headed toward Santa Fe, New Mexico; destination: Glorieta Conference Center. We pulled into the Center right at 2:00 PM with no road troubles whatsoever. We got settled in our rooms and went to dinner after surveying the land for a bit. This is beautiful country. The conference center sits on the side of a mountain and we are just surround by God's creation. Dinner was excellent. After we took it all in physically, it was time to take it in Spiritually. We started the conference by talking about how long people had been married. The longest couple was 43 years and the youngest couple was five years. Needless to say, we have a good mix of experience. I then asked the group what they wanted to get out of the conference; what I heard was communication, communication, communication!!!!
So we took last night to define the purpose for our marriage and what the goal of the communication would be. The reason why many couples struggle to communicate is not the listening skills, it is the difference of agenda. You must be moving in the same direction if you are going to communicate properly. I think we had so real breakthroughs last night. This should prove to be an exciting day. Stay tuned.

Glorieta Marriage Retreat

We are heading off this morning to the beautiful Sangre de Cristo mountains in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We will be staying at the Glorieta Conference Center just outside of Santa Fe. The entire group is excited with anticipation expecting God to change our lives and restore marriages. We will be hitting on three major subjects: 1) Finding the Purpose of Your Marriage; 2) Learning the Primary Needs of Your Spouse; 3) Learn Rules of Engagement (How to communicate without fighting). I believe it is going to be a great weekend. We will also be meeting up with John and Larry Romero in Santa Fe. John is the pastor of Sangre de Cristo Bible Church and a very close friend of mine. I look forward to spending time with him and being in his church on Sunday. I will be giving update through the weekend so stay tuned.

Righteous Living

As I sit here typing this morning I am reminded of the verses in 2 Timothy 3 that describe the last days as ungodly and unholy from people that call themselves holy and godly. I believe with all my heart, we are living in these last days. As I minister to people, I am amazed at the lack of commitment to the Lord, and the lack of conviction by the Holy Spirit in the lives of the people that claim to walk with God. In some ways that excites me because I can see the fulfilment of scripture coming to pass, and my Lord's return drawing near. On the other hand, It tares me up to see people that have so much potential to do extraordinary things for God fall prey to their own fleshly desires. One thing that I have learned is that I can't force anyone to be a disciple of Christ. People do what the want to do. There is a way that seems right to man! It seems impossible sometimes to renew the mind of people that have been walking in a certain direction all of their life. I know that God has said that his word with renew the mind of the believer, but the reality is that many choose to fall back into their old lifestyle and generational habits. In Discipleship 2 last week, we were discussing this very thing and came to the conclusion that if a person is truly going to change their mind they must replace it with a new one. Our minds are corrupted with sin and continue to be corrupted with the filth of the this world. We must let the mind of Christ be in us. We can no longer think for ourselves, but let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom. We must replace our thoughts with the thoughts of God. Then and only then can we modify our actions. Then we can change generational habits that have negatively affected out lives for years. I challenge you today to renew your mind by getting a new one. That is why God has given you his words, his thoughts, his actions.