Well goodness it has been a while. I was just looking over my last blog and noticed it was in the beginning of October. Sorry for the delay, but life has been pretty busy and I’ve had a few personal struggles in regards to this blog. In regards to those struggles, I want to be clear about my intentions. I write this for a few reasons. One reason is it allows people who do not see me regularly and talk to me regularly to stay in touch and up to date with my life. A second reason is to encourage others to live significant lives for the kingdom of God. As of this afternoon people have looked at these blogs 3,299 times. My prayer, even as I write this now, is to communicate the gospel and encourage Christ-followers to continue to passionately pursue Him in all aspects of life. I pray that He is illuminated through my writing. I pray that there will be no selfish motives in anything that I do here. I am so far from having it all together, and I never will, but I believe that as the body of Christ we are called to encourage others to growth and that is my purpose in writing.
To quickly catch you up on my life I am still at Valdosta State University in the middle of the second semester of my sophomore year. I am still a manager at The Mix, which is a self-serve frozen yogurt shop and putting in about 30-40 hours a week. I love my job and have been so blessed with the opportunity to grow and gain experience in the business world. Looking to the future I am planning on transferring and will be attending either the University of Alabama or the University of Georgia next year to major in Biology or Sport’s Medicine. I am very excited about the possibility of both schools and am weighing the pro’s and con’s and seeking where the Lord wants me to be. However, before that decision is made I am also making some decisions about the summer. There are two options for the summer that include Camp Winshape again or Interning for a youth group. I am a single man and enjoying spending time with old friends as well as new ones when I am not working or doing homework. My family is doing wonderful and adjusting to new phases of life as well and we are SO excited about the addition of Alex Sickman in June, although we all count him as family already anyway.
I want to encourage you with something that I have been learning and that God has challenged me with in the past few weeks. Last Sunday morning I got up and opened my Bible to Ephesians 4 to get in the Word a little before I went to church. Ephesians 4:9-16 (which I encourage you all to go read) speaks on spiritual maturity and obtaining the “whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” These verses also address the idea that God calls some to be pastors and teachers and the huge responsibility that those callings are. That morning I went to church and Pastor David told us to open our Bibles to….yes you guess it, Ephesians 4:9-16. Isn’t that so cool how God works sometimes? These verses challenged me in a few different ways and I would like to share them with you. The first thing that this challenged me with was to be transparent. I think many of you may have fallen into the same trap that I do so often and feel like we have to pretend to have it all together. We are not called to be perfect, we are called to be genuine and honest. Yet we feel the need to have all of our lives together, rather than boasting in our weakness with full confidence that it is fulfilled with a Savior. I blame this trap partially on pride, that we don’t want to admit our faults and failures, and partially on how judgmental people can be towards us when we do confess our weaknesses. I encourage you to be real with each other; and to be gracious with each other in encouragement rather than condemnation.
The second thing I was challenged with was that it is time to me a man NOW. It is time to stop making excuses for myself because of my age, or stages of life, but it is time to be a MAN NOW. Not just a man, but I want to be a man of GOD right now. I want to grow and be spiritually mature. I to look at myself and where I will be in the future and I want to me a man of integrity, a man of character, dependable, faithful, compassionate, gracious, encouraging, and so much more. But I realized it is time to be those things NOW. Because the habits I make now and the character traits I adopt will be with me forever and I am not willing to be lukewarm or mediocre for the rest of my life. Ephesians 4 tells us to grow so then “we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching.” I looked, and all throughout the scripture I don’t find any verses that say “Well I am only 20 so its okay” or “Im supposed to have fun, its what college kids do, its what everyone is doing” maybe even “well when I am an adult and have kids ill start being honest, responsible, compassionate, etc.” WE HAVE TO UNDERSTAND, it is time now. We cannot make excuses for ourselves, and we need to change what is normal for our generation. I am not okay with irresponsibility, excuses, foolish talk, and spiritual immaturity being the norm for my generation. I want to grow into the Man of God that I am called to and quit making excuses for myself to be immature. We aren’t called to figure it out when we are older, or to work on it later, its now. I think we can all do BIG things, not because we are awesome, but because we serve an awesome God. I encourage you to dream a little for your campus, your church, your friends, your family, and our generation. Remember that we have a beautiful Light to share with the world, and lightness shines brightest in darkness. Believe that greater things can be accomplished, not because of who we are, but because of who He is. I pray we can understand the difference between knowing who God is and the theological makeup of His character, an KNOWING GOD.
Pastor David shared 4 gifts we have been given to grow spiritually
1) God’s Word (II Tim 3:16-17)
2) Prayer
3) Suffering (James 1:2-4)
4) Opportunities – Give up EVERYTHING and follow Him.
The third thing the Lord challenged me with in this passage was a personal call for me to prepare myself for a life of ministry. I feel the Lord leading me to seminary after I get my degree and work with children’s ministry, youth ministry, and college ministry. It may not be seminary for you, but be vigilant of ways to spread the gospel. If we aren’t doing that, then what are we here for? Do this without shame. Fear insignificance. Be significant for the Kingdom and proclaim the gospel without shame.
Thank you so much for everyone that made it through that whole thing and I appreciate so much that people still read this. I hope the Lord uses it to speak to others through me and advance the kingdom. Please pray for me as I make a couple big decisions within the next month or so. I also ask that you distribute this blog to everyone you think of! Please take this seriously as I see the Lord will use it for our good and for His glory. If i did not truly believe He would use it for HIS glory, I wouldn’t write; so please do share. Thanks so much!







