A view about manhood

Growing up the center piece if the family was the kitchen table. I have been looking for a table to replace our current table. It's been much more difficult than I expected. Not more difficult because I've been able to find a suitable replacement, I have been having issues because of the status of the table. The table has been a centerpiece of growing up (not the particular table we have now), from spending time at my grandparents to the table at home growing up with my parents. My grandparents table was always the centerpiece of activity and I will always remember it. Memories as simple as eating with my granddad. It usually didn't involve extravagant meals in the everyday life. It was eating bread and gravy, eating hot dogs, or even liverwurst sandwiches. It did involve holiday meals with too much food to eat. The table was also a place where we would play pitch or listen to a sporting event such as Royals baseball, Chiefs football, or KU or K-State games. Our table at ...

I'm on pace to read through the Bible this year. I'm about 3 days ahead of where my software tells me I should be. I've been as far as a week ahead to a week behind. My reading this morning was the last half of Lamentations. The key words of description from the first four chapters are desolation, destruction, distraught, and defeated. The last chapter starts with a prayer of confession then a petition for restoration from God. The last two verses are drastically different. Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days of old- unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us. It ends on a negative note. I am glad that the Bible doesn't end with this type of ending. I am glad that the Lord God is extremely patient and doesn't forget us. But this petition doesn't come without a confession of sin. I fall short time and time again, then acknowledge my shortcomings to God. He sent his Son Jesus Christ to giv...

This day is observed by Americans as the National Day of Prayer. If we truly seek God- and understand His sovereignty and strength- do we truly know what we are asking when we pray for His will? Most will pray today for God's help in their lives and help for America. To truly seek God's help we must turn to Him and his ways. The Lord God is all knowing and knows what is best for America. We may not understand what God's plan entails but we need to trust that He does have what's best for us and will care for our souls eternally if we turn to Him for guidance. My prayer is that we will turn from our wicked ways and follow Him.

I changed the header picture this morning to something that would display God's strength. Lightning and thunder have always amazed me. The magnitude of the power of this force leaves me in awe. The ability to shake the earth at a moments notice. I can't imagine the power it took to make this world and the sheer ease of the Creator in making earth- and all the universe. The earth aches with growing pains waiting for the return of a worthy King. We have evil abounding in the world. Yet it doesn't abound freely. God has set limits on how far this will go. I wish I knew what this limit was (or maybe the reason I don't is because God knows I couldn't handle it physically and emotionally. We have school shootings, public bombings, mall killings, and more individual murders which we may never even hear of. We look around and see a chaotic world and I look forward to the day when everything will be put right and in perfect order. Christ has said He will return and will at t...

My role at Rock Creek Bible Church is the Christian Education Elder. My family has attended RCBC since Mother’s Day of 2006.             I grew up north of Topeka the eldest of 5 children. We didn’t attend church so I didn’t grow up in the church and I didn’t discover the importance of church until later in life. I spent my early life living in this world and of this world, living life as though that’s all there was. I made some choices involving alcohol that weren’t the best and had to deal with the consequences of those decisions. I knew of the Bible and knew what was in it, but didn’t understand what its meaning was. I tried to understand the meanings in the Bible alone. God is much greater than any one person can learn in a lifetime. Even with a church and other believers help, God is still far more complex than anyone can know. But with a church you can learn so much more than on your own.      ...

Strength is a word that has dominated my week. He gives strength to the weary from Isaiah 40, followed by Israel (then known as Jacob) wrestles in a match he can't possibly win because of the great strength against him. Moving to God causing the walls of Jericho to fall demonstrating His great power, and this morning in Mark 12 taken from the Old Testament to love the Lord your God with all your heart,soul,mind, and strength. We live in a fallen world that discounts God in all aspects of our lives, myself included- I "try" to wrestle with God to get my own way. If I took the time to consider God's great strength why would I even try to do things my own way? Then again why would I try it over and over again? We live in this world discounts God as though He doesn't exist and yet when faced with disasters we ask why God could allow this to happen. If we turn to Him, and His unfailing love and limitless strength, the world will change. If we continue to turn our back...

With this holiday season I am reminded of many things that I am thankful for. I am thankful for the relationship I have with my wife. Our relationship is different than any other I have. This doesn't mean it is always easy. Our marriage takes work- it takes work because we have a much different way of looking at things -which sometimes cause friction but in the long run makes life work. A majority of our society looks at our marriage relationship as no different than a couple living together or a relationship between two people of the same sex. The first couple is in no way a progression towards marriage. God made us each special and without a life long commitment, each of the partners will feel degraded or used. There is a great comfort in knowing my wife will be there for me through anything we go through. In the second case, the two will have a distorted view of the world. God made us male and female for a reason, we are different. God is all about relationships and growing in t...