"Amazing!"

Of all the services I do, one that causes me to realize how amazing God can be is Easter. Easter reminds us how much God loves each one of us and how the death and resurrection of his son, Jesus Christ, is amazing. It is amazing, because Jesus Christ's act was done for each one of us out of the love God has for us.

This Easter was also amazing for me because I am constantly being amazed at the talent of my youngest son, Mitchell. During Easter worship, Mitchell with his girlfriend Kimber sang "The Prayer"; it was absolutely wonderful. It was so great that it brought me to tears of joy and for a moment I was not sure I was able to lead the congregation in prayer following the song.

To say that I am proud of Mitchell would be a large understatement! He has been given a gift from God that not only includes his vocal music talent, but also his instrumental and his artistic ability (the drawing to the left was done by Mitchell). I am equally proud of his ability to get along with people and his ability to make everyone his friend. He does not measure a person by their stature, wealth or skin color, which is truly a demonstration how Christ wants us to interact with people.

Each day I am thankful that Jesus Christ cared enough to die for me and to call me into the ministry. I cannot imagine how my life would be without Him. I am also thankful that the Lord blessed me with Mitchell, for everyday Mitchell demonstrates and reminds me what it means to love life. I wish that sometimes I could bottle up his joy and give it to others.

This past Holy Week and Easter I was reminded how amazing God is and on Easter morning God reminded me how special and blessed I am for having a son named Mitchell!

"How's Your Celebration"

One of the greatest stories in the Bible, is the one of Jesus riding the donkey into Jerusalem. People are shouting "Hosanna!"..."Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Mark 11:9). The people are celebrating Christ's entry into the city with palm branches and placing their cloaks in front of the donkey.

That is such a wonderful account of his "triumphal entry," but it also begs to ask the question..."how are you celebrating Christ in your life?" You see we have a habit as Christians to only include Christ when we are in times of turmoil or trouble, but leave Him out when we have joy in our life. I believe one reason is that we think (as Christians) we have to be "prim and proper" when it comes to Christ and nothing could be further from the truth!

We forget that Christ's first miracle (turning water into wine) was at a celebration...a wedding. Christ has the ability to attract children which demonstrates he was fun loving or the children would have stayed away from him. Maybe as we get older we lose the ability to include Christ in our joys and in our playtime....which, in my opinion, is very sad.

I believe we need to celebrate the fact that Christ is in our lives...we need to be like the lyrics from the song "Celebration" by Kool and The Gang (1978) states: "There's a party goin' on right here. A celebration to last throughout the years. So bring your good times, and your laughter too...we gonna celebrate your party with you!"

So as we enter into what is historically called "Holy Week" I ask you "how's your celebration" of Christ going? Do you include Him in your life when things are going well or only call on Him in times of need or trouble? If you have only included Him in your times of despair...open your heart and let him celebrate with you. If you do a joy will come over you, that you thought not possible and you will start realizing you have been given the greatest gift in the history of man...the love of God through Jesus Christ.

"March Madness"

This time of year is a very busy one in the life of the Church. In this season of Lent there are additional services at church and soon we will be in Holy Week. This is a different "March Madness" that is usually associated with basketball.

During this time we need to diminish the feeling of madness...trying to get things ready for Easter, etc., and concentrate on "preparing" our hearts and mind for Easter. At no other time of the year are we so aware of the greatest gift given to us, the gift of salvation from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It should be this act that we concentrate on during Holy Week and really for the rest of our lives.

And during this time, if you start thinking that Christ came for everyone else but you...remember he said "Father forgive them for they do not know what they have done!" To get Christ's true meaning put your name in place of "them." So in my case his words become: "Father forgive Mike for he does not know what he has done!" To me that is the most precious thing Christ could have said for me from the cross and reminds me how much I am loved by him!.

This year when Holy Week begins, don't get yourself all worked up trying to prepare for the arrival of family or in preparing an Easter dinner; rather prepare your heart, your mind and your soul for the gift of love that came to each one of us through the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"Faith Is The Key!"

It seems like there are more and more books being written about how to "find God" or "connect with God." The books usually give some sort of fancy outline of do's and don't's we are to follow to achieve God's presence. Sadly these books are so out of whack from the simplicity God intended it to be for us.

What the contents of the books are missing is the real key to connecting or discovering God...is your own faith. It has always amazed me that every time Christ heals someone...he never says I have healed you but rather, "you faith has healed you!" That is an unbelievable statement from the Son of God. It demonstrates, from his own words, how important faith really is to our relationship with him.

I am convinced the reason Christians have trouble with the concept of faith is that they try to compare their faith to others...something we need to stop doing. Remember Christ said, "if you have faith the size of a mustard seed and tell the mountain to move it will move!" I believe that Christ is trying to tell us that no matter what level of faith you have, as long as you have faith, it is enough!

So what is the "key" to connecting to God or discovering God...it is faith. Take time to look at your own faith and realize that as long as you believe that Christ is the Son of God, you are on the right path to discovery!