Treasured Friends

7/29/2012

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    I've been meditating a great deal lately on what I find to be extremely valuable in my life, and as I have done so, God has been pointing out some things, and reminding me of how He has answered some very memorable prayers in my life.
    Back in 2004, I remember crying out to God in the lat night hours of December 25th, at 11:53pm to be exact, I cried out while in the throes of my addictions, and begged God for a family. I confessed that I didn't want to live the way I was living, and that I didn't want to be alone.
    I cried out to Him to lift me out of the pit that I was in, and to forgive me for running from Him into a life of sin, which had led me down the darkest paths a person could ever imagine, and I was miserable with my life. I needed Jesus.
    Now I'll save the details of all that He has done to answer that prayer throughout some of my future posts, but for now, the one that I want to focus on, is how He heard my cry for Him to bring others into my life that would be a family to me.
    Obviously, He gave me the gift of my wife, Christy, and her family has become my own, but in recent times, that is in the last year, especially, He has been working in that area of my life to bring some amazing people along who have become my dearest friends, and mean so much to me.
    I hope they don't mind too much, and if they do, I'll come back and change the names, (Pretty sure there are very few readers anyway) but as I have been meditating on the topic of treasure, and asking God to search my heart and show me what is truly valuable in my life, He has reminded me again and again of Jeb & Kathy, who, along with their family of 5 children, have taken their place in my heart as family.
    Ironically enough, Jeb and I both played roles for several years in the ministry of a local church here in the community, Jeb in the children's ministry, and myself as the worship pastor, yet, due to the busyness of those roles, we never got to know each other, and I am so glad now that God has brought our lives together in such a way.
    Jeb and I ran into each other last year in downtown Wilmington while I was working the streets with the N.O.T.T.T. Foundation, and he even spent some time with me in that capacity, but little did I know that God was at work, bringing us closer together, even in those dark alleys and streets.
    Being that we live in the same community (Southport/Oak Island), we eventually began to hang out more, and eventually Jeb and Kathy began coming to our house for a small group gathering that got together to study and discuss the Bible.
    It's become apparent over time that Jeb and I are cut out of the same piece of cloth, and we have many, many things in common, and I find it beautiful that Jeb and I share so many similarities, yet he has character qualities that God uses to minister to me in ways that I have not been very good at affirming.
    You don't have to be around these two long to realize that they love Jesus with every fiber of their being, and that they are carriers of the Holy Spirit in ways that bring out the very best in people, including their children.
    There are way too many facets to these guys to share here, and just like beautifully cut gemstones, they shine and reflect light in the most beautiful ways, and they are EXTREMELY valuable in my life, and I pray that God will use us in some way to make them feel the love and joy that they bring to our lives.
    Hopefully you'll get to meet them sometime, and if you do, you'll see that I haven't exaggerated one bit, and I am sure that you'll find them to be one of God greatest treasures in more ways than they may ever know.
    So. In closing this post, I just want to say that I love you Jeb & Kathy, and you are greatly appreciated, valued, and we look forward to seeing how our stories will unfold in this beautiful work of God's perfect plan!
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Truly Valuable - The Alabaster Jar

7/29/2012

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    God has really been speaking to my heart about what to share at the beach for our Devotions by the Ocean Gathering that we've been doing for a few months now, and this morning as I sat with my journal at work, He showed me a beautiful passage that is often overlooked.
    Coming up at the beach we will be discussing what we find to be truly valuable to us, and in an effort to discover what we keep in the 'safe' of our hearts, we will step out into the world of redefining wealth.
    A few years ago, we began to see things in a different light around here at the Village Garage, and by that I mean God began to reveal Himself through His Word in response to a prayer that I lifted up to Him early one morning while sitting in the Garage.
    I had been listening to first this one, then that. I had read many books 'explaining God' and I was still coming away empty feeling. So I did what I felt was right, and what I thought would help me to get the scoop firsthand. I prayed.
    Not just any prayer as it turns out. I sat down with my Bible, and I prayed for God to teach me, by His Holy Spirit (the same One that wrote the Book) and to help me to understand so that I might follow Jesus more closely than man was teaching me in the various books I had been reading. It was then that I began to see what is truly valuable, and that brings us to this post.
    As God began to reveal Himself to me in His Word, I began to realize many things, which I will share along the way, but I want to stay focused on the topic here, which is redefining wealth.
    You see, I grew up in poverty, extreme poverty, so I never had much value for fancy things, which I feel has made it easier for me today to be content with what I have, and to see value in the things that many take for granted.
    As I began to dig deeper into God's Word, it began to bury itself deep within my heart, and I began to really count the cost of following Jesus, and when stacked up against what the world has to offer, and what I've already experienced, I can see plainly that I'd much rather follow His Way.
    For so many years I remained an angry guy. Angry at no one or nothing in particular, just angry, and that has caused more problems in my life than I'd like to admit, so long story short, I didn't value people or relationships.
    After experiencing Jesus in a very real way in 2005, and as He led me out of the chains of addiction to drugs, alcohol, and the anger that had held me captive for so long, I began to see that I really do need others, and that God had created us for community.
    The sad part about it all, is that what I was seeing in church, looked so much like the world, that I could barely tell the difference, but I knew that I am different, because the Spirit inside of me was telling me so.
    My intention here is not to point out all that I find unappealing about the church of today, but to continue to pursue the discovery of how to become the church that Jesus intended, and to do so, I must continually pursue that which is most important, and that can only be found in Jesus.
    This woman who came to Jesus and poured the expensive perfume over His head in Matthew 26 knew that the One she was doing this to was far more important than the perfume that she used.
    We're not sure of what her financial life was like, whether she was someone who struggled to make a living, and possibly 'treasured' this jar of perfume, or if it was surplus, but what we do know is that she was willing to offer it to Jesus, regardless of its meaning to her.
    In my next post, I will continue this writing, and I will try to take a look at the ideas that we will discuss at the beach during DBTO. It is my prayer that I will draw near to Jesus, and give to Him in all things, my everything.
Picture
They say this is what the alabaster jar that was used in Matthew 26:6-13 may have looked like. When cleaned up, alabaster is a beautiful and valuable mineral stone.
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