Fruitful Life?!?

So it's been a while since my words have graced this blog.  Over the last week and a half I have been doing some soul searching, studying, and generally reevaluating my current situations.  I realized that my life was beginning to spiral into a rut.  This particular rut is one that many people fall into and sometimes stay in all their lives.  The one I speak of is routine.  My life was beginning to become boring.  Wake up, take my daughter to day care, go to class, do homework, go to more classes, pick up my daughter, go home, make dinner, clean up, do some more homework, do a little ministry work, and go to bed.  I realized that my life was becoming so scheduled that there was no room for God to show up and add some adventure.

One of my favorite quotes is,

"Normal man spends his life avoiding tense situations,
Fruitful Man spends his life getting into tense situations"

Are you the normal or fruitful man?  If we look into the Bible and study the Gospels, it is plain to see that Jesus was a fruitful man.  In Acts the disciples were fruitful and multiplied their numbers.  What did they have in common?  They did not shy from speaking the truth regardless of the consequences.  They spent their lives getting into tense situations and as a result changed the world.

Let's talk about fruit trees, have you ever seen them grow.  I have a tomato plant, that I work on every day.  I noticed that the fruit of the plant does two amazing things.  1. The fruit grows on the end of limbs and is on the outside layer of the plant.  2.  The fruit sucks an amazing amount of water from the rest of the plant.  So what does this mean to us.  Well I'll let you think about them and will answer that question in my next post, until then let me leave you with some words of Jesus found in Matthew 7:19-20:

"Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut  down and thrown into the fire. 
Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them." 

Summer Reflections

At the onset of this summer I was given a word from the Lord that stated, "Prepare for greatness."  At the time I thought this would mean that I would spend the summer in the Word of God and prayer.  I would become a better man through the study of God himself.  These are in themselves all noble goals but, as I came to find, not what God had planned for me.  Instead my family's finances were attacked, our emotions were tested, friendships were strained, trust in others was put to the test, and even our family ties were strained.

Now if you are not new to this blog then you have joined me on this journey and have seen my pain.  Posts like "Daddy Help Me" and "Walking through the pain" illuminated the trouble my family was experiencing.  But other posts like "A Visit from Mick" and "Wave Bound Miracles" allowed me to show how God met us where we were and ministered to our needs.

Now as I sit in a new year of collegiate instruction, I look back and realize that God used the trials and tribulations of this summer to prepare me in a way I never expected.  I learned over the summer, not a new scripture or method of prayer but I learned how to truly rely on God and not to forget Him amongst the good times.  This lesson is not one that can be taught from a book or a tape but must be learned through living through it.  As I sit reflecting on the trials of the summer, the pain of them fades and I begin to see the good that came from all of it and thank God that He counted me worthy enough to endure it.

Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." Job 1:8