My Dad's Garden

In addition to being the pastor of the St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Joliet, IL for nearly 27 years and an executive chef, my dad was also a recreational gardener. Every year he planted and harvested tomatoes, peas, green beans, collard greens and more. Though I was never much of a gardener, I was always fascinated with my dad's garden.

One thing my dad always did was stick the package that the seeds came in down in the ground next to where he had planted them. He did this so that he could remember where he planted what. Consequently, the packets enabled him to know what to expect from each row. In addition, I remember my dad showing me the seeds that he planted. He told me to pay close attention to size of the seeds in comparison to the size of the crop that was produced. It amazed me that such large crops could come from such small seeds.

There are two life lessons I learned from my dad's garden.

1) Seeds always reproduce after their own kind.
2) The harvest is always greater (in size) then the seed sown.

The question is "What kind of seeds have you sown lately?" Just remember that whether good or bad, your seeds WILL produce a harvest.

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." -Galatians 6:7

With Love,
WM

Indescribable

One of my favorite Contemporary Christian artists by the name of Chris Tomlin has a song entitled "Indescribable." In this song he lists a number of things God is (indescribable, all-powerful...and the list goes on). At the end of the song, Chris switches gears and says:

"You see the depts of our hearts and you love us the same."

Wow. Isn't it awesome to know that we serve a God that knows all about us, yet his love for us never changes. People often change on you when they find out about your hang-ups and habits. But God, who is all knowing, knew about our hang ups and habits from the beginning, yet His love for us never changes. He even knows about the things we didn't do that were in our hearts to do...yet He loves us the same.

Now I see why Chris ends the song "You are amazing God!"

Thank you Lord for loving us, despite what you know about us!

"Church...Simplified"

Okay...so lately I've developed an extremely low tolerance for "church" as some of us know it. This low tolerance has lead me to come to two conclusions:

1) True "church" is way more simple than we make it.

2) Many of the things we do at church have absolutely nothing to do with God.

I have personally made a pledge to keep ministry simple: "Build Faith, Strengthen Families, & Advance God's Kingdom."

Build Faith: Helping people become better believers. This may prove to be hard for "needy" church leaders because it causes people to less dependant on them and more dependant on God...but that's the point, right?

Strengthen Families: Spending more time loving on our families then we do "having church." Healthy homes produce healthy churches.

Advancing God's Kingdom: It's not deep, prophetic, or spooky. God's Kingdom is simply His way of doing things.

By the way, can somebody tell me how many "Annual Days" Jesus had? LOL.

New Year's Eve

The Story:
So it's 8:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve. My wife and I are on our "oh so comfortable" sectional knocked out! I wake up and ask her "So what do you want to do tonight?"

Now anybody that knows me knows that I am a "church baby." So not being in church at "Watch Night" service on New Year's Eve is foreign to me. As a matter of fact, last year was the first time in my entire life that I did not attend church on New Year's Eve and truth be told, I enjoyed it! How liberating to know that God is not confined to our "Watch Night" service, but that he is even at the nucleus of us spending time loving on those who he has placed in our lives.

So I sent a text to a friend of mine, Pastor Nolan McCants of Harvest Church in Plainfield, IL to see what he and his family were doing. It turns out that his church was hosting a non-traditional New Years Eve celebration at the Marriott Suites. So my wife and I got dressed and went.

We had a ball! We ate, laughed, danced, celebrated Jesus, prayed, won a door prize and then got a suite for $49!!! It was beautiful to see families there enjoying themselves and the freedom that has been given to us through Jesus Christ. Kids were playing video games; couples who hadn't been out in years were dancing to love music; it was awesome! I have nothing against traditional church, but liberation is a beautiful thing. And I can say that it has been these types of events (not church) that have brought my wife and I closer together and strengthened our marriage (the $49 suite helped too! Church Amen!!!)

The Lesson:
1. God is much bigger than our "church services" and traditions.
2. God gets more glory out of us loving on our husbands, wives, and children than he does out of us having a religious experience.

All in all, I love to have church. I love to run, jump and shout (especially on New Years as I recap on all that the Lord has brought me through). But, I shout a lot better when my wife and I are happy!

It's Been a While...

So...it's been a while since I've blogged...as a matter of fact, over a year. It's not that I haven't had anything to say, but have made a conscious decision to only "speak when spoken to." So I as prepare to write my first blog of 2009, I say as Samuel did in 1 Samuel 3, "Speak (Lord); for thy servant heareth."