A “oneup” is somebody who tries to one-up somebody.  It’s a “Price is Right” tactic of bidding one dollar higher than the previous bidder.  If you’re in a group telling about the 42inch HDTV you just purchased you can be sure there’ll be someone to top you with their plan to purchase a 60inch HDTV.  If you just had two wisdom teeth pulled out then prepare for someone to breakout the story about the time they had all four wisdom teeth pulled.  Sometimes it’s a passive aggressive style of boasting.  You might mention how rarely you boast only to be met by another’s comment of how they never boast which can turn into a battle of who’s more humble!  On and on it goes whether pathetically sad or amazingly funny it’s a desire we fight quite often.

If you were fortunate to be able to attend the Sunday morning service at Monroe Missionary this past weekend you were privileged to hear Mark West tell his testimony of how God used a tragic event in his live to change his life forever.  I wouldn’t be doIng Mark’s testimony justice if I attempted to re-tell it in its entirety so I won’t even try but will only mention how Mark told how he was regretfully driving home drunk one night which resulted in an accident that took the life of another driver and how God used that event and the years that followed to lead him into forgiveness and holiness through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

What struck me as Mark re-told this story was the clarity of who was getting the glory.  Mark didn’t speak of how difficult he had it in the days that followed.  He spoke of anger and feelings of un-forgiveness but it was completely absent of any kind of “look at me and how bad I had it” kind of boasting attitude that we can be prone to falling into when talking about our past.  He spoke only of God’s grace and mercy in allowing him to walk away from an accident that he never should’ve walked away from while letting him know he is completely forgiven because of Christ’s work on the cross.  There was no reveling in all the times he’d been drunk in the past and what good times he’d had back in the “good ol’ days” but instead he shared heart wrenching genuine repentance about what he had done.

Mark provided a perfect picture of why and how we can boast.  If I saw my sin as it really was and the cost of forgiveness that was paid by Christ, I’d be free from prideful boasting self and rejoice only in the boasting of the cross of Christ.

In other news: let’s keep Chuck Witwam and Jane in our prayers.  As we all know, Chuck has been a tremendous warrior for Christ and is suffering with cancer.  Let’s ask the Lord to do a might work in Chuck’s life.  But if the Lord should choose to take him home, then let’s be ready for the party that Chuck is going to throw!! 

See you next week; may you have a great week in Him!

You can order your own prints or just share them with the family.

Whew….what an amazing weekend we had.  Well in this years installment of our men’s annual retreat, we had many more first timers than in the past.  We didn’t end up having snow, unless you consider a fire extinguisher issue that left white residue all over the place.  The food was great, as it always is. I distinctly remember telling Rodney and Sue Thomas that I was going to adopt them as parents, just so that I could go to their house for dinner!  That woman can COOK!

Like years past, we had men that shared openly, men that decided to remain silent and then pull us aside one by one and share privately.  We had men in tears, men laughing and overall, men just enjoying each others company.  If you look closely at the photo you will notice that we had young men, middle-aged men and senior statesmen.  It just seemed like this year, we really ended up having something for everyone.

Pastor Tim Iocoangeli served as our retreat pastor and did a wonderful job bringing a message that tied the entire weekend together.  The sessions were great and we received a lot of wonderful feedback.

If you missed it, Lord willing we will be able to do this again next year.

In an effort to communicate better and to give everyone a chance to jump in to our normal Wednesday night bible studies, all future studies will be posted week by week on the Discipleship page. 

Thank you,

Tino

It seems to me that this idea of “finding God’s will for my life” has been somehow turned into a kind of get-it-right-or-else process, when actually God’s will is simply God’s desire.

And if we want to know what that is, he already told us in Matthew 22:37-39: love God and love your neighbor.

That’s no surprise. We get it.

The problem is that we confuse the idea of “finding God’s will” with making a godly decision. And the difference is important.

God’s will is already revealed.

Figuring out how to make it happen is something else entirely.

And for that we need to explore a different question: How do I find wisdom?

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously … and it will be given to him” (James 1:5, NASB).

Now, I’m not one for formulas, but I have found three things to do that have been helpful in my (sometimes poor) decision-making process over the years:

• Pray for wisdom.
• Seek the counsel of others I trust.
• Seek the guidance of the Scriptures.

In doing so, I’m able to abandon my fears.

—C. D. Baker in 40 Loaves

“[Bolt] was conducting a golf clinic one afternoon for a group of businesspeople,” writes Steve Farrar in Anchor Man. “Bolt was showing them how easy the mechanics of the swing really were and to demonstrate, he turned to his teenage son and said, ‘Son, imitate what I do for this gentleman.’ His son immediately took his nine-iron and threw it into the lake.”

This excerpt is from a devotional that I was studying this week and it just made so much sense to me.  1 Timothy 4:16 says: “Watch your life and doctrine closely.  Persevere in them, because if you do you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

I read this and begin asking myself: What does my life look like when I think no one is looking? How am I modeling my beliefs for my children and those people who may be watching from a distance, not really ready to commit.  Do I live the doctrine I preach or is it only when I know that others are watching?

A few years ago I was confronted with this very thing.  I was picking up my daughter from school one afternoon and a person cut me off.  Not thinking,  I called the person a Jerk and kept on going.  A few weeks later we were driving to church with mom in the car, and again someone was driving a little imperfect, and since  mom was in the car, I held my tongue; My daughter immediately shouted from the back seat, “Dad is that person a Jerk?”  Needless to say it was the longest service I have ever had to sit through.  I actually wished it wouldn’t end. 

As we get closer to Christmas, I can’t help but think of the perfect example our Lord and Savior set for us.  I know that I will not live a perfect life in this world, but shouldn’t my desire be to get as close to His model as possible?

This week is all about setting a good example through the way we live our day-to-day lives; Make a conscience effort to be the Christian Role Model that others are desperately needing, because remember the monkeys are always watching and will imitate what they see.

Tom Treece was our guest speaker for the night and started off the night with a few songs and then after he was able to eat a little (I found out later that Tom doesn’t like to eat much before his speaking engagements) he brought a message about reconciliation.  Tom served proudly in the Army during the Vietnam war and like many American’s during that era, he went because he was told he had to and when he came back he shared that there really wasn’t an opportunity for deprograming. After several years and several struggles, along with an attempt to take his own life, Tom shared that God stepped in and saved him.  He shared because of how God is working in his life he was able to overcome some of the things that had haunted him from his past and is now working to build schools and other things in Vietnam along with his wife Renee.  It was moving and powerful to hear how God was and is working in Tom’s life.  But the most rewarding part of the evening for me is when Tom said that we could have this same sense of closure with our past if we would be willing to give it to the Lord.  One of my favorite passages of scripture is John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”  Here is Jesus telling us that unless we have him in our lives we will continue to struggle with the same things that have always held us back.  Right where you are right now, just tell God that you need Him to take control of your life, that you are a sinner and that you don’t want to be held back by your past any longer; because without Jesus in our lives, there isn’t anything any of us can do that will not fail.

It was truly a blessed night and for those of you that have never had the opportunity to hear Tom speak, I encourage you to take the time to find out where he will be speaking or performing next.