Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Golf is a great game.

This past weekend Mary and I took Landon to the Little River. We spent 3 Days there and it was amazing (as always). It was still a bit cool and damp, but Landon and I were able to get in a little bit of golf before all the storms came in.
Golf really is a great game. It is a great game to take your 2 year old son out for the day and basically ride a "Go cart" all day and smash things with metal objects. Of course Landon still hasn't grasped the fact that the goal is to get the ball in the hole, but I believe one day he will be better at it than his dad (at least I hope so).
I have really began to love the way that he wants to be everywhere I am, doing everything that I am doing. This is a really cool, yet humbling thing. I pray that God will give me the wisdom to be a father that he can follow. One that will point him on the path that leads to our Father. While our golf game may not be up to par, may our lives stay on course.



















Monday, March 30, 2009

Distant Lands


I have often be asked the question, "What was it like when you were in Iraq?" The normal response....... "Very Hot!" This usually gets an "I bet!" response and the conversation changes. Honestly I haven't talked a whole lot about my time in Iraq with friends and family, I usually just answer their questions and change the subject. But the further I get from that time, the more I actually see what God did for me there. I thought I would share 5 things that God showed me in my brief year in the distant land.
1. God showed me that the United States isn't reality. We live in a box of a world here in the U.S. and just assume everyone else in the world lives like we do. This couldn't be any further from the truth. The majority of the world is far less fortunate (materialistic speaking). But while they are less established economically, I learned they are often much more in tact with reality.
2. God took everything away. I was blessed to have everything (family, friends, freedom etc..) stripped away for a year. I say "blessed" because very few people are able to experience this dependence upon God unless they have reached the very bottom of life. I was fortunate enough to get a glimpse of this life, and God showed me that dependence upon people will always fail, but total dependence upon Him has a 100% success rate.
3. God gave me a year to fall in love with my wife. Very few couples spend the first year of their engagement apart from each other. Normally a man and woman spend the majority of this time dating, getting to know each other face to face, and talking on a daily basis. God gave Mary and I time to learn about each other through email, letters, and an occasional phone call. While I will admit, that modern technology allowed Mary and I to stay touch quite often, our dating life consisted of letters and emails. It was a great opportunity to fall in love with my wife while being thousands of miles away.
4. The sovereignty of God became much more relevant. As you can imagine, not knowing what lied around every corner, not knowing if the car that was passing you was a car bomb, or not knowing if the sporadic gun fire was being directed at you......... it could have been very stressful. But I knew that God had mapped out every turn before I took it. I knew that if a bullet was going to find it's way to me, it would only do so because it was ordained by God. This thought gave me an uncanny sense of comfort.
5. God showed me that He is God everywhere. To my surprise, there were two or three Christian churches in our "zone" in Baghdad. On a few different occasions, I had the opportunity to talk with these brothers and sisters in Christ (via an interpreter). I will never forget speaking to a young man only minutes after their church was hit by a car bomb. He told me that the only thing that would keep him from walking to church on a Sunday morning would be the day that he didn't have to walk because he would be face to face with God himself. This man's faith still speaks to me today.
God is just as big in Iraq as He is in Magnolia, AR.
-bob

Oaks of the Faith


Oak trees tend to be known as well rooted trees that are around for a long time. Generations come and generations go, but these trees stick around, they see it all, have been through it all, they are there to stay.
Some preachers take on the characteristics of the oak. C.H. Spurgeon was one of these guys. Known for his elegant words and uncanny way to create an image of his faith solely through his speech, he had a way of capturing a person's imagination and transforming it into an experience that glorified God.
This man truly was an Oak. Here to stay.
"Do you not also know that the way to be really great is to be little, and that he who is greatest of all is the one who has learned to be least of all?"
- C.H. Spurgeon



May 1st-3rd will be the Disciple Now weekend! The speaker is going to be Daren Neely and we have six different churches attending! Throughout the weekend we will be learning the effects that conformity plays in our daily lives and how we can "rebel" against the current culture. The deadline to sign up for this event is April 19th and the cost is $20. If you are interested in attending this event, please contact the youth pastor at one of the following churches:

FBC McNeil, Wyatt Baptist in Eldorado, FBC Magnolia, Calvary Baptist in Homer, Immanuel Baptist in Camden, or Garrett Memorial in Hope.

This is going to be an awesome weekend! So be sure and mark it on your calander and get in touch with one of the above churches to sign up!

-bob