Religion

Religion is something that man created, a relationship is what God created.  God wants a relationship with us.  Throw out your religions and focus on God.  There you will receive the truth.  "Religion" was created by man to help our fallen' attitudes and sins over come the pulls of this world, but in a lot of cases this worldly pull has crept in and influenced how we interact with God in our "religions".  We need to be aware of this influence and be able to separate the chafe from the real elements of God.  This has also caused believers to be"categorized" into different sects and "religions.  

We are all children of God.  Let us love one another in whatever phase of our walk we are in, let use not be the judge of others, and let us put our full focus on God.

My Testimony

My testimony is one of endurance and evolution.  I was infant baptized in the Catholic church, raised in the Methodist/Presbyterian church, grew up questioning organized religion.  I didn't understand why giving money to the church was helping the poor.  I believed that we needed to help and serve others.  I have grown in my faith and continue to strive closer to God on a daily basis, here is the rest of the story.

 Growing up my parents figured out that I wasn't interested in church (but still made me go).  Understanding this and wanting me to serve others they signed me up for a summer work weekend at our local church camp.  Since I love building and working with my hands this was a perfect fit for how good could use me.  In collage they offered me an opportunities to go on a mission trip to Juarez, Mexico.  Through this opportunity God showed me how he can use every skill and strength that he blessed me with to bless others.  I was able to added a second floor office stairs, ceiling over the baby room, figure out a way to install a sign on the roof of the church, design brackets to hang the sign, and have them built by a local metal smith, and with spare time and some scrap wood made wooden blocks for the kids to pay with and easels to hold up display boards in the Sunday service.  As I sat one of the nights on the concrete wall of the church compound that we working and living in, looking up at the stary sky, God revealed to me that all this was for his glory.

After graduating collage I moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, and got a job designing aircraft.  Pretty much a dream job out of college.  I told myself I need to find a church.  Through that I got a chance to serve on another work construction mission trip.  This trip took a team to an orphanage in Guatemala City.  I was primed and ready to serve in pouring concrete, laying bricks, installing roofing!  Well, it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to.  God had other plans.  Due to lack of materials and the progression of construction they were not ready for us to do the tasks scheduled for our team at the work site.  God said,"this isn't about you".  We did end up doing some minor construction projects, but a majority of our time was spent doing some over due neglected tasks around the compound and loving on the kids.  The chance to love on those kids was priceless.  They showed more unconditional and unafraid love by sitting on our laps and playing with us even with a language barrier.  God doesn't always use us as we plan!  

I got opportunities to serve on multiple other trips, have been baptized as a believer and continue to walk in faith that God has a greater plan.  After having kids, my mission field turned to raising 4 people to knowing the Lord.  God is still working on me and I have my struggles and ups and downs, but God is my refuge in this broken world.  

Currently I serve in my community as a member of the town council, coaching sports and robotics, the Lions Club, and Cross Timber's parking lot team (Parking Lot Cowboy).  

Relationships

This year my resolution was "relationship"; a relationship with God, a relationship with others.  My focus was to be intentional about getting to know the people that are around me better, to go deeper than just "hi" and "how is your day".  Philippians 2:4, "not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."  I have had those opportunities, but I have also not been successful as I would have liked.  Either way, that is what God put on my heart at the beginning of the year, and I hope it continues to foster being intentional about building deeper relationships as we come up on a new year.

It is interesting, we just attended the Heritage Fair in Waco after Thanksgiving, and one of the events I attended was the "Creative Writing" class.  The Instructor Amanda talked about how our social media access has changed our level of creativity in our writing, and I would add our relationship with others.  This form of communication has added to our social connections by connecting us to what I would call, the "greater community" and in other ways it has hindered our face to face connections by offering connections via the internet that falsely represent a "relationship".

We need to look for ways to be intentional about our relationships.  One of the first steps is connecting with our neighbors.  Saying "hello" over the fence or stopping to talk while someone is walking their dog, to go a little deeper and learn about what is happening in the neighborhood.  Another way is to get involved with a local community group.  This could be your church, HOA, town government, school, or other civic group.

As an introverted guy in today's society it is not easy connecting with others in a deeper more meaningful way.  One way I have been been able to do this is through a small group bible study.  It has been a great experience connecting with those that we can safely share our life struggles, challenges, and triumphs.  This is great for becoming stronger in God's will for our life, but we must also expand our reach outside our Christian realm and embrace or at least engage with those that don't know Christ.

In all our relationships we need to be Christ like and show others the love of Christ even if we don't advertise that this is love that we are showcasing.  As Christian's we are representing the hands, feet, and love of Jesus whether we like it or not.  This really is the essence of being a Christian in the world today.