Philippians 3:12-14, ¹²Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  (EVS)

Philippians 3:12-14, ^12-14I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.  (The Message)

So many times in our daily lives we can get so "beaten down" by the cares of this life that we don't put things into proper perspective.  We realize that money may be low or that life just hasn't turned out like we expected it to that day, and we tend to get to the place where we put our focus on the NOW. 

Paul seem to be telling us that life can throw curve balls at us, things won't happen the way we think they will or the way we want them to.  Yet Paul's message is simple; I'm not where I need or want to be, so I keep on going.  Paul gives us the "mission" or "vision" statement of his life's journey, "One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lie ahead." 

The longer you live the more you realize that you have multiple "needs" conflicting in your life, and if you don't watch out life has a way of running over you.  Paul lets us know really quick that he "hasn't made it" nor does he "have this all together", but he makes a profound statement about what all his life has become; "This one thing I do!"  As an adult I have many different things that compete for my attention.  My responsiblity as a husband, father, pastor, communicator, son, and friend can pull me in all kinds of different directions.  Not to mention when I want to make time for stuff that I want to do and don't have to do like; golf, football, basketball, softball, reading, and watching the next sifi movie.  I can get so bogged down that I don't know if I'm coming or going and which direction I'm going in.

Paul makes life simple, nothing else matters in this life but Jesus.  WOW!!!  I mean really, how easy is that!  There are moments in everyday where I have to take the time and tell myself that I'm here on this earth to serve one ultimate purpose, to love God and to make Him known.  The truth is if I don't make my life about THE ONE THING then life becomes chaos and pointless.  How "pulled" are you?  How many different hats do you wear?  How many different things do you have on your list for today?  Does life seem harder than it did yesterday? 

If your answer to alot of these questions are yes and a lot, then take time right now to properly put those things in order.  It's the ONE THING(Christ), then it's everything else.  Instead of making life crazier, lets make it simpler! 

Blessings,

Pastor Jason 

DNA is what we are made of.  It's what defines us as individuals, it's the very thing that makes us unique.  We can't deny what our DNA is.  In fact, all our DNA does is reveal the who's and the what's of our idenity. 

As I watched the end of the NFC Championship game last night, one thing kept coming to my mind...DNA!!  I really wanted to see Brett Farve make to the Super Bowl again, if for nothing else but for the story lines.  "Farve vs. Manning," a SuperBowl for the ages!!  Two of the greatest quaterbacks of all time going head to head, and it almost happened...but then DNA kicked in.  With the game tied 28 all, Brett took the ball down field with what looked to be a drive that would help to aid the story of a career that is almost fair tale anyway.  With 22 seconds left, and only needing a couple of yards to get in field goal range...DNA. 

You see Farve is the career leader in Touchdowns.  It's in his DNA to take chances others won't.  By definiton, Brett Farve is a gun slinger, a risk taker.  That is and what will always stick out about his career.  Brett makes plays happen that only he can make happen.  I said it to my wife while watching the game, "That's a throw that only Brett Farve can make."  And it's a true testament to his God given ability to play the game.    

This is also true of Brett Farve, he is also the career leader in Interceptions.  So with 22 seconds left to go in a game where you felt like Farve was going to will his way to a victory, his DNA kicked in.  Doing something that he has spent his entire career getting away with; he ran towards the sideline and chucked the ball across his body towards the middle of the field.  You just don't do it, you don't throw the ball over the middle of the field across your body with the game resting in your hands.  Everyone who has ever played the game at the QB postion knows this!  Not Brett Farve though, you see that throw was in his DNA.  And so, for now, the last throw in a story book career is a INT to add to his numbers on top of the list. Fitting!

Listening to Brett Farves interview after the game was heart breaking.  His face told the story his lips couldn't, he made the throw.  Looking back on it he understood he should't have done it, but...that's Brett Farve!  And if he had the chance today to do it all over again, he would still make that same throw!  Why, because that's in his DNA, that's who he is; and at 40 years old he's not going to change!  Take it for what it's worth Brett, it sure was fun, heartbreaking, and exciting to watch all at the same time!

Blessings,

Pastor Jason

Past by a church sign that read, "Only a wet baby likes change."  After a little bit of thought at this new take on change, it led me to this...Is that really how we feel?  While this sign was humorous and telling all at the same time, it is alarming to think that as a Christian society this is our feeling on the idea of change.  Let me tell you why I feel this way.  George Barna best states this idea of change in his book Boiling Point;

"You can avoid the flu, you can outrun your past, you can ignore your in laws, you can outsmart your adversaries, and you can deny your imperfections.  One thing you cannot get around, however, is change.  Change will happen whether you are ready or not.  Change will happen wheterh you like it or not.  Change is inevitable.  America's national motto may as well be "No change?  No chance!"  Biologists provide us with a simple but powerful equation: the absence of change is death.  In other words, the presence of change is a sign of life, a necessary component to being alive.  You may gauge the state of a plant by ascertaining whether it is experiencing some type of transition, be it for the better or for the worse.  If there is no change taking place, then the plant is dead.  There is no such thing as stasis for living entites- including human beings.  Intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually we must either be changing or dead; there is no in-between."

So with Barna's take on change, we have to change in order to properly grow.  If we are not growing, then we in turn are dying.  We can't just presume that this change is going to happen on our terms, many times as a Christian nothing is done on our terms.  It is God and God alone that carries out and controls the changes in our lives.  Paul even goes as far to let us know that his "old man" is dead, so that his "new man" can now live.  Sounds like a pretty big change to me! 

The facts are that not only are we changing, the culture, technology, climate, and quality of life all around us is in a constant state of change.  The problem is that the church stands in a state endurance or reaction to the change that take place around it, instead of being the change.  We must be visionaries.  While we can't predict the future, we must be willing to effect the change in our world.  We must be willing to look ahead, before the change has happened so fast that we can no longer be effective.

Proverbs 29:18 states, "If people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed."  In order to properly access change we must be able to see God.  We must live in revelation, rather than reaction.  WE must be the CHANGE!  But in order for us to do this, we must change. 

Blessings,

Pastor Jason 

I Corinthians 4:15-17, For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

Wow!!  Can you imagine hearing this come out of someone's mouth?  Do just as I'm doing in following Christ.  That goes past the idea of stepping out on a limb and straight to the notion of walking on water.  Paul is asking Timothy to do everything that he does, because in doing so he will grow closer to God.  Crazy stuff!!!

Sunday, just like everyone before it, I placed my children into our nursery and went on my way to church.  Little did I know that my daughter was going to show everyone in the nursery that she is an Imitator of her father.  While a kid in the nursery was doing something they were not supose to be doing, my daughter let him know quick like that he was out of line...

                      Sydney, with index finger out - "Do you want to go to time out???"                                                                                                            

                      Child stands there with a puzzled look

                       Sydney, while shaking index finger - "DO YOU WANT TO GO TO TIME OUT???"

                        Child still puzzled

                        Sydney, "One, two...Do you want to go to time out?"

                        Child now past the point of understanding

                        Finally, Sydney- "Three...Go to time out."

Mind you that this is a two year old and an one year old interacting with each other.  This is the same child when I went to change a diaper sometime back that was beyond messy; as I opened up the diaper and the words flew out of my mouth before I could get them back, "OH MY GAWD!"  For the next two months everytime I went to change her she would say, "Oh Gawd Daddy!"  It's easy to she that even when I don't think that she is listening, she is and will always be learning! 

If we fail to understand that people are not only watching us, they are imitating us; then we miss an amazing opportunity to lead.  That's what Paul was trying to get across, if we don't realize that people are following us we really don't know where we are leading them.  Paul understood where he was going, and therefore had the foresight to tell others to get behind him...beyond that...to imitate him.  Realize before it's too late that you are being imitated...that you are leading in a certain direction...and live in such a way that is worthy of being imitated!

Blessing,

Pastor Jason

We are about to make some changes in the church website and make some changes in the blog!!!  In doing this we will make our vision appear to those who check us out on the world wide web!  As for my blog, I want to start a book of the month club that we will do open blogs about on every Thursday, and Scripture we will go through on every Friday!  I hope this will add some life and newness into our blog format.  Check our bulletin and the blog for info.

Blessings,

Pastor Jason

As a child I use to wait for Christmas to get here like a fat kid waits on the "Hot Now" sign at Krispy Kreme.  While I still love the Christmas season, I'm starting to think that my favorite time of year is now the first weekend in September.  You see this is my Christmas in September, for it is the first day of College Football season!  I can't wait just thinking about it!

There is something about hearing the Georgia Bulldawg fight song, and smelling the cool fall air that gets me excited!!  I love throwing the football around and having a good time with some friends while catching a game!  To me, it's the most wonderful time of the year!!

Blessing,

Pastor Jason

It's always good to get away for a while.  In fact, it almost required in order to keep one's sanity and to keep from burning out!  That's why I love to get away and take it easy for just a little bit so that I keep what is important...important. 

Jesus is seen doing this through out scripture.  In Matthew 14:23,^"After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,"  This is right after one of the biggest outward miracles in scripture, Jesus feeding the 5,000.  The crowds were so impressed with Jesus that they wanted to make Him king and follow Him where ever He went.  You see the crowds wanted one thing, the disciples wanted another, and ulitmately God wanted something else; therefore Jesus had to retreat in order to ReFocus and ReVision.  It is vital that leader's find time to ReFocus and ReVision.

We must ask ourselves questions like this...What do my people want?  Is this what God wants??  What does my leadership want??  Is this what God wants???  WHAT DOES GOD WANT????  In asking ourselves these questions we find that what people want, and what NEEDS to be done may be totally different things!  I find myself getting off track at times in what God wants.  How?  By giving in to the less important WANTS! 

While on that mountain Jesus came to the conclusion that God's will is the most important.  Giving Himself time to ReFocus and ReVision, He was able to continue to put God's will above the crowds, the disciples, and even His own will!  He was always about the Fathers business.  How bout you?  Do you need to take sometime and ReFocus and ReVision, so that God's will is the first and only thing that matters!  I DID!!!  Now I feel as if I can attack these next 4 months with renewed passion and vision.  Take some time over the next few days and ReFocus and ReVision your life!

Blessings,

Pastor Jason

Many times in our lives we are reminded of the faithfulness of our Heavenly Father.  I was this past week, when a dear friend of mine went to the ER for the 2nd time in a year with a life threating illness.  It seems that he has a nack for finding a hospital just before he dies, or that God loves him to the point that He will not allow him to die.  Either way it shows me just how much God loves us all.

I think back to times when I have been anything but faithful or anything but truthful to God, and yet He still loves and cares for me so much!!  The Bible teaches us just how faithful our Father is, His loves knew no bounds for the Jewish people, for the Gentile people, and it knew no bounds for an unfaithful man like me.  Thanks Daddy!  Thank you so very much for being faithful to me even when I don't know how to be faithful to you!  Spend today thanking God for something...anything...He is so good to us!!

Blessings,

Pastor Jason

So it's July!  I haven't blogged in months, truth is I've been really busy.  So for all of you who have been wanting a blog and haven't had one, sorry!!!  I promise to do better.  Many more blogs to come, I mean I have a whole summer worth of funny stuff to blog about!

Blessings,

Pastor Jason

Summer and the Son will be upon us next week, I want to hear some of your favorite VBS or Summer in the Son stories.  Start the Fun!!

Blessings,

Pastor Jason