Bed Bath & Beyond.

I had my 90 day review at work today. Basically, every 90 days, my performance is evaluated, and depending on how I've done, I get a raise, or I don't. I won't about a raise or not until my next paycheck. And even then, most people don't get a raise until after 180 days. Fun.

Anyway. I found my review to be very interesting. I ranked extremely well in customer service, attitude at work, flexibility, and being a team player. I was normal on everything else, save for task orientation. I tend to float away from working on manual labor to start working with customers.

But I guess that's typical for me. I've never been one who gets a ton of joy from building things, stocking a shelf, or anything like that. There's pretty much next to nothing I enjoy more than working with people, and help them obtain their goal....even if that goal is nothing more than finding the right laundry hamper.

But here's what I thought was pretty neat: One of my co workers is the exact opposite of myself. He's a total taskmaster, and tends to shy away from customers at times. But what's makes the whole thing great is that when we work together, everything is done, and done extremely well. I can focus totally on the customers, coworker X can unload freight and stock shelves, and everyone is happy, from the boss to the customer.

And the thing that I find to be most awesome about this is that, at least to me, it makes a perfect example of how a church should work.

A church is made up of all kinds of different people, and each has his/her own strengths and weaknesses. But when they all work together, they can cover each other's weakness, and maximize their strengths.

At least I think it makes sense. In a weird way.

--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

If you want, y el camino

Jer 4:1 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.

It’s interesting how the Lord starts this verse off with the word if. If implies a condition, and that something hinges upon something else in order to occur. If does not imply certainty, however.


In this verse, we see that God isn’t going to force Israel to return to Him, but if they want to, He will let them. The decision to return to God is based solely upon Israel; God is more than willing to take them back if they would but just turn to Him.


And that’s the love of our God. No matter what we do, say, think, or anything, He’s still willing to take us back. If we confess our sins…He is faithful and just to forgive them. And it’s such a comfort to know that nothing we do will ever change the acceptance that the Lord has given to saved Christians.

Jer 6:16 Así dijo Jehová: Paraos en los caminos, y mirad, y preguntad por las sendas antiguas, cuál sea el buen camino, y andad por él, y hallaréis descanso para vuestra alma. Mas dijeron: No andaremos.


Dios nos manda que caminemos en un camino. Y, para mí, este significa que siempre debemos estar caminando, o haciendo algo, para Dios. Pero, al mismo tiempo, debemos examinar el camino para que podemos estar seguros que es un buen camino, porque es muy fácil cambiar del camino de Dios a otro camino sin darse cuenta.

Si es un camino de Dios, hay descanso y paz para la alma.



Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.

A strong city y confusión

Jer 1:18 For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.
Jer 1:19 And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.

Jeremiah earlier told that Lord that he wasn’t a good speaker and that he couldn’t do what the Lord wanted from him. But God said not to worry about it. Before you were born, I knew you, and called you. I already knew how you were going to be.


And we see here that God has made Jeremiah a defenced city, and that nothing will prevail against him, because God is with him. And it’s still the same for us today! Before I was born, the Lord knew me, and called me to do according to His will. And He knew that I would have the strengths and weaknesses that I do. Nothing about me caught Him by surprise.


And God makes every Christian a defenced city, a pillar of iron and brazen walls. With the Lord as our support and strength, there is none that can come against us, not kings princes or priests.

Jer 3:25 Yacemos en nuestra confusión, y nuestra afrenta nos cubre: porque pecamos contra Jehová nuestro Dios, nosotros y nuestros padres, desde nuestra juventud y hasta este día; y no hemos escuchado la voz de Jehová nuestro Dios.

Jeremías dice que a causa de los pecados y el hecho que no han escuchado a Dios, Israel está yaciendo en confusión. Y cada vez que una persona constantemente busca el pecado y no busca a Dios, causará problemas así.


--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Gracias.

Things I am thankful for:

-God's love. And the fact that it won't ever change, no matter what I do or don't do. Even with all the mistakes and blunders that I've made, He still loves me, and wants to use me.

-To be in a Church like Vision Baptist, and under a pastor like pastor Gardner. The both of which are deeply devoted to missions and spreading the gospel across the world.

-For the people that the Lord has put in my life, who deeply care about me personally, and are there to help me when I ask for it. Such as Micah Rastelli Scott Newton, Chris Fies, Keith Trimble, Mike Smith, Ronald Tubillas, Pastor Gardner, Mark Coffey and Tony Howeth. And there's lots of other people who I'm grateful for.

-God's faithfulness. And how no matter what this world tells me, or does to me, God is in control, and has everything in control.

-An eternal salvation that Christ died to give me. The beloved of the heavens died on the cross. I think that's worth being thankful for.

--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Tribulación and He does it all

1Th 3:3 Para que nadie se conmueva por estas tribulaciones; porque vosotros sabéis que nosotros somos puestos para esto.
1Th 3:4 Que aun estando con vosotros, os predecíamos que habíamos de pasar tribulaciones, como ha acontecido y sabéis.


Sabemos que de vez en cuando, tenemos que pasar por tribulaciones. Y a veces puede estar muy difícil pasar por ellas. Pero algo muy importante a cerca de las tribulaciones es saber que Dios nos dará la fuerza que necesitamos para aguantarlas.

Y también debemos estar felices en tribulaciones, porque la Biblia dice:

Stg 1:3-Sabiendo que la prueba de vuestra fe obra paciencia.

Hay solamente una diferencia entre una oportunidad y una tribulación…la punta de vista.

1Ts 5:24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

Something I’ve really been learning lately is that I really don’t do much in my Christian life. I really just say, "God, here I am. Use me to glorify yourself, Lord." And that’s really all I do. God does everything else.

I just start walking along the path He tells me to walk along, and let Him open the doors in front of me, and clear the path. I’m really just a tool in His marvelous hand, and ought to let Him use me how He wants to.


--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Where I lay my head is home.

It's the time of the year when college students all over the country head back home for a week or two. And college is a great thing, and I have nothing against it, but I do know that I'm enjoying my life much more than most college students.

I moved to Georgia for school, yes, but I also moved here. As in I live here. This is home. That doesn't change the fact that I love and miss my parents, brother, church members at Cornerstone Baptist,and everyone else in Maryland, because I do love them and miss them. All of them.

But something that the Lord has really blessed me with is a new sense of where my home is. And what I mean by that is that Cumming, GA is my new Jefferson, MD. It won't ever take the place of it, but I feel ac comfortable in Cumming as I did in Jefferson.

See, lots of students go somewhere for school, but it's just a dorm, or jut an apartment during the school year. It's not home. And it really doesn't provide the same feeling that a house provides.

And it's such a blessing to me that I can be living 750 miles away from my parents and where I grew up, and not have any relatives near here, and still be surrounded by family. The people of Vision Baptist Church have really, really made me feel welcome, and accepted me. And it feels great.

So while millions of college students are going "home" for break, the Lord's blessed me, and I'm already there.

--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Mis faltas and how do you teach?

Jas 5:16 Confesaos vuestras faltas unos á otros, y rogad los unos por los otros, para que seáis sanos; la oración del justo, obrando eficazmente, puede mucho.


Cuando leía este versículo, siempre pensaba en la oración. Pero hace unos días, me di cuenta de la importancia de “confesaos vuestras faltas.”.


Estaba hablando con un gran hombre de Dios, y él me dijo de unas veces en su vida cuando se equivocó. Y me ayudó oír este.

Admiro a este hombre, y saber que él ha hecho unas culpas que he hecho me mostró que no hay un gran diferencia entre de él y yo, excepto unos 25 años y la sabiduría que traen los años.


Pero todos fallan. Y confesar sus faltas puede ayudar a un joven. Porque muchas veces, los jóvenes piensan que los adultos y ancianos no fallan y ese cree un impresión muy grande en ellos.


1Th 2:4 But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.
1Th 2:5 For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness:
1Th 2:6 Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ.
1Th 2:7 But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children:

The method through which someone teaches can change a student’s life. If a teacher uses fear and bully tactics to force learning from a student, no real learning is obtained, but a rote memorization of facts.


And sometimes the teacher tries to be “that cool guy” who is friends with all the students. That teacher says what everyone wants to hear, but really doesn’t say anything worth hearing.
But Paul says that teaching should be done not to please man, nor as a manner of showing off and looking intelligent, and not as a mask of getting what you want. It’s also not supposed to be done to gain glory and honour.


Paul writes that all teachings should be done with gentleness, even as a nurse with children. I recently read in a book that, “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

And, whenever I’m given the chance to teach, I pray that I wouldn’t be doing it out of a desire for authority, to make people do what I say, or anything but a desire to see people grown in the Word of God, for His glory.



--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Pecking order.

From an Email I read earlier today...

"Kyle is a student so he isn't allowed to hit a missionary without being killed. We do teach respect and the pecking order a little still. "

I think that might be the funniest thing I've ever read in my life.
(Yes, it's a joke in case you were worried.)

Anyway.

--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Ayúdame! and What He wants

Jas 2:15 Y si el hermano ó la hermana están desnudos, y tienen necesidad del mantenimiento de cada día,
Jas 2:16 Y alguno de vosotros les dice: Id en paz, calentaos y hartaos; pero no les diereis las cosas que son necesarias para el cuerpo: ¿qué aprovechará?


Jesús Cristo miró al mundo y vio que necesitaba un Salvador. El vio una necesidad y no nos dejó allí. El hizo algo para que podamos ser salvos. Las acciones del señor son un ejemplo en esa manera para mí.


No quiero ayudar a mis hermanos solamente con mi comida o dinero, pero si sea posible que yo les ayude a ser un Cristiano que ora más o lee su Biblia más, ese también es mi deseo. Quiero hacer una diferencia en la vida de alguien, de muchas personas.


Jas 4:15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.


So many times it becomes easy to get caught up in doing what I want to do, and forget about the Lord’s plan for my life. But the Bible says that I should live my whole life on the idea that I’ll do what it is that the Lord wants.


And His way is always the best, even if it doesn’t always seem like it. And He’d never do anything that wasn’t in my best interest. Even though what He’s doing might not make sense, it’s OK; His ways are not my ways, and His thoughts are much higher than my thoughts.


I recently heard someone say that, “God’s driving, and I’m just along for the ride.” And that might be true, but sometimes, I find it can be very easy to live life like we’re driving in a driver’s-ed car, and keep an extra emergency brake on the passenger side.


It might be tough at times to let the Lord work His perfect will, but it’s always for my best interest, and I strive to live my life doing what He wants me to do.

--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Tied....like a shoe lace

Sometimes, I have trouble starting blog posts. This is one of those times. I want to tie two points together, and I’m having trouble figuring out how to do it.

A good friend of mine and I were talking, or rather he was telling me his testimony. Before he was saved, he would do all kind of things he never does now. And the part of his testimony that really sticks out to me is that his children have never seen that part of his life.

Since the Lord saved his soul, his life has been vastly different. And I don't want to put any specific details out, but sufficient it is to say that he is a living example of putting off the old man, and having put on the new man.

And I think that's awesome. His children only know him as a man of God, and nothing else. It is, at least to me, inspiring. It reminds me of Galatians, where Paul writes

"Gal 1:23 But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.
Gal 1:24 And they glorified God in me. "


And, in a weird sense, I kinda-sorta feel like Paul in this sense, as well as my friend. Granted, I never persecuted the church, and I was saved at the age of nine, but compared to where I was in life a year ago, the Lord has done some major renovations in my life, for which I am so grateful that I don’t even know how to describe it.

And because of that, and many other factors, I really don't want to do anything but serve the Lord for the rest of my life. In a recent discussion with some friends, an extremely intelligent friend of mine said something like, "You know, in 10 years, there is at least least one of us won't be serving the Lord."

Things like that scare me. I know it's true, but I still don't like it. And I don't want to be that guy. I don't want to be the kid who couldn't make it through the training center. I don't wanna be that guy who gets to the field and lasts half a term. I don't wanna be the father who has to explain to his kids why we don't go to church anymore.

I do want to be that kid who did everything he could possibly do to make it through the training center, and made it as many terms on the field as the Lord has for him, and explains to his child why we go to church, and so on and so forth.

And much like Paul, I can see a change in my life that glorifies the Lord. And I’m struggling to tie these two ideas together, but I’m trying my best.

And seeing the change the Lord has done in my life is absolutely amazing to me. And I want to continue to let the Lord change me, and be a man of God. And not that I had a super rocky past or anything, but I’ve strayed well off the beaten path more than once.

And should the Lord bless me with a family of my own, and a ministry of my own, and whatever else, I don’t want them to see that guy who walks off the path, but to see a man who follows the path, and from day one (or so to say).

I hope I tied that together well.

--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--

Faith, y mi conciencia

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Heb 11:2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.

Faith. The essence of the Christian life, for without it, there can be no Christian life. We are saved by faith, and thus the entire Christian life begins at faith. But it doesn’t end there.
From day to day, a Christian lives by faith. And what I love about verse 2 is that by faith, we obtain a good report. And I want to have the best report with the Lord as I can. And I know that without faith, it is impossible to please God.


So it (the Christian life) comes down to faith. When there’s no food in the cupboard, and the wallet’s empty, when bills aren’t paid, and everything seems to be on the verge of total chaos and disintegration, it’s faith that keeps a Christian going.


Heb 13:18 Orad por nosotros: porque confiamos que tenemos buena conciencia, deseando conversar bien en todo.


Dios, ayúdame a conversar bien en todo. He leído que las bromas y cosas así pueden hacer daño a los otros, y no es el deseo mío. Deseo exhortar a mis hermanos y ayudarles.


Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.

No more y más fuerte

Heb 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Heb 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us


There no longer is a required sacrifice for sins to be forgiven, or washed away. Christ came to earth and forever washed our sins away, even before we committed them. And we don’t have to do anything but accept this gift! He entered into the holy place, and obtained redemption for us! We don’t have to lift a finger.


And what’s more amazing is the manner through which Christ redeemed us. He didn’t offer up a goat, bullock, or any other kind of animal. He offered up Himself, and His blood.


Heb 10:4 Porque la sangre de los toros y de los machos cabríos no puede quitar los pecados.
Heb 10:11 Así que, todo sacerdote se presenta cada día ministrando y ofreciendo muchas veces los mismos sacrificios, que nunca pueden quitar los pecados:

No hay nada que puede limpiarnos de nuestros pecados excepto que el sangre de Jesús Cristo. Ni los toros ni los machos cabríos ni nada que puede hace un hombre limpiarnos. Nuestros pecados eran más fuertes que nosotros, pero Cristo es más fuerte que todos pecados.

--Pray for Spain. Pray that the Lord would raise up missionaries and native Spaniards to take the gospel to the millions of lost souls in Spain.--