Ok, so it's been months since I've blogged at all.  I even have a myspace but haven't done much with it.  I think my sentiments with blogging are becoming more like Chris's:

If you want to talk, you can call me or email me.  I do enjoy reading other people's blogs to keep myself informed, though so maybe I'm a hypocrit in that way.  But that's where I'm at.

Anyway, here are some of the big things going on in my life right now:

1) My wife and I are going to be closing on our first home together in the next week or two.

2) I have gotten an interview with Kroger pretty much lined up which would be nice cuz then I'd be making more money, working closer to where our house will be at, and perhaps we'd be able to start a family soon!

3) We will be beginning a church plant in Bardstown, Kentucky with a couple from our church in the next couple months hopefully, which will be sweet!

4) We just returned from a week vacation in Cancun which was really awesome

Those are pretty much the headlines of my life in the last few months in my sabatical from blogging.  Have a great day everyone!

Matthew 10:34-38 says, "Don't imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! No, I came to bring a sword.  I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.  Your enemies will be right in your own household!  If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.  If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine."

Let me ask my Christian readers a question.  I was reading this passage this morning and it hit me like a ton of bricks.  Ever have one of those moments when you're reading the word and something hits you like that?  Ok... that wasn't the question I wanted to ask.

Jesus is teaching his followers the cost of following him.  He's saying that he will divide households, but we are to love him more than our family members.  Then he says something very profound, "if you REFUSE to take up your cross and follow him, you are not worthy of being his."

He is speaking to our decision to follow him.  Our choice to follow him.  What does it mean to take up our cross?  Let me tell you what hit me this morning.  When we first make our choice to follow Christ, a genuine choice to do so would include the decision to follow Christ to our death, even if doing so results in our death.

Did you catch that?  When we first believe, part of a genuine decision to follow Christ is the thought that, I'm going to follow Christ until the day I die, even if it means I die for him.  Did that thought run through your head the day you decided to follow Christ?

Hear Jesus' words in Luke 9:62.  Again he is teaching on the cost of following him.  He uses stronger words here, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

Woah...

And so my question to my fellow Christians is simply this:  when you made your decision to follow Christ, did it include a thought like this?

Jesus, I'm going to follow you until the day I die.  This decision is final in my life.  It is the absolute turning point and I have no intentions of turning back, turning away, or looking back to what might've been.  I will follow you until the day I die, even if doing so is what gets me killed.  You are worth it.

Maybe your decision at that time didn't include this "clause."  But it is what our Savior requires of us.  Take a moment now to realize the truth and the cost of following Christ, and make sure that deep in your heart that your commitment to him is this deep.

Things have been looking up for us lately.  I have interviewed for a promotion with 5/3 for a management job, and Jenn has just gotten an interview set up with Bellarmine University.  Hopefully our finances will finally begin to be consistently in the positive and all that.

Things with the Vineyard are great - our small group is awesome and we're meeting and making new friends who are actually our age and in the same place in life that we are.  There is a good possibility that we would begin VLI this fall and be on track for ministry wherever and however God wants us to.  We are excited about that and can't wait to move into that phase in our lives.

This weeken, Jenn's parents came down to visit us at our new apartment and we went to Mammoth Cave.  We hiked nearly 5 miles and went on a two-hour two-mile tour through some of the caves.  This morning is an all worship service at the Vineyard and I am excited about that!

That's about it for now, I've got Tuesday off - bank holiday  

Currently Reading The Next Generation Leader: Five Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future By Andy Stanley see related

Time for an update:

Jenn and I have gone to the Vineyard down here in Louisville a couple times and we're going to hopefully join a small group soon and get to know more people there.  The people we've met have been so nice and we're looking forward to having fellowship with people our age again.  One of the pastors there wants to meet with us for lunch some time soon to get to know us and we're hopefully going to ask him about VLI.

I took Jenn out for her birthday on Saturday and spoiled her rotten with a shopping spree, a movie, and her first experience at a Sonic.  We're more or less settled in to our new apartment, and we have space for guests to come down, so just let us know when you are coming

Today we got our Kentucky license plates, so I guess you could say we've just about assimilated into the culture here.  Just gotta change our phone numbers - don't worry, we'll keep you posted whenever that happens.

That's about it for now, thank for all your prayers and support!

Currently Listening A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar By Dashboard Confessional see related

"Can I be free from the chains of my religion?"

Martin Smith sings this in Delirious's song All I Want Is You.  I feel like in this last week I have experienced some of this freedom, I am free and I like it.  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free, and to use Eldredge's words "if it doesn't bring freedom or life, it's not Christianity."  I am free and I like it.

O Lord, deliver me from Christianity.  All I want is Jesus.

Pure and simple.

No church politics, no traditions, no stumbling blocks, no legalism, no so-called license.

I want purity, holiness, godliness... I want Christ himself!

I want to know Christ.  And I want to destroy all things that come between you and me and all things that come between you and others who don't know you.