"It Ain't Spooky!"

One of the most misunderstood aspects of Christian faith is spirituality. It is treated as if it were some sort of spooky ghost that occasionally God lets us experience and nothing could be further from the truth. Spirituality according to Webster's Dictionary is "the quality or fact of being spiritual." To me spirituality is the measurement of our connection with God.

To understand that we must first realize that God does NOT leave us! Christ said, "I will never leave you or forsake you!" And when we lack the feeling or presence of God in our life...we are the ones who have turned from God, not God. For some reason many Christian faiths are propagandizing the attitude that we have to "look for God" or go out and "find God." Which I believe is in error since Christ, himself, said, "the kingdom of God is within." That means that God is with us always.

We don't have to go out searching for God, but rather take time out and be with God. Sometimes we have to be as the Old Testament states, "Be still for I am God." In a society where we run around like chickens with our heads cut off, we never take time out to be with God. Now I am not advocating that you have to spend hours and hours with God (He is there anyway) but rather throughout your day take time out and talk with God. Sometimes that just means starting off your day with a short prayer like, "Lord it is going to be a busy day today I hope you are there with me and guiding me." That is a profound prayer!

I also believe the reason spirituality is spooky to a lot of people is that true spirituality makes us look at ourselves and sometime we don't like what we see! But the unbelievable part of that is that even though we may not like what we see, Jesus Christ still feels we have a worthiness and value. Always remember Jesus Christ stayed on the cross because he felt YOU were worth it!

Remember spirituality is not spooky, it is your connection with God and to be honest it's your love connection with Him. So if you don't feel His love, take time out of your busy schedule and let Him hug you with the greatest love a person can know!

"Anyone Can Be A Father, But...!"

One of the most powerful days for me is Father's Day. It reminds me how blessed I am that God entrusted four children in my life...two girls and two boys. It also reminds me that "Anyone Can Be a Father, But It Takes Someone Special To Be a Daddy!"

We live in a society that does not put enough weight on the role of the father in a child's life. It amazes me how people do not realize that a child who grows up with no father or father figure in their life suffers when they hit adulthood. It has been proven that a child who grows up with a father or father figure in their life, does better in school, in work and stays out of trouble.

As I have said every Father's Day to men from the pulpit...even though you have not fathered a child if you have been a positive influence in a child's life, then Father's Day is for you too! I have been blessed in that my own father has been active in my life since I can remember. He went to every ball game, instrumental contest and vocal contest that I was in. He demonstrated to me the strength of a father, when my only sibling (my brother) died in 1994 and he has taught me how important my role will be in my own children's life no matter what age I am. For that I say from my heart, "Thank You Dad!"

I think the following poem says it best about being a dad...the author is unknown:

"DAD"

God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,
The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle's flight,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family need,
When God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so, He called it...DAD!

To my children, Andrea, Kassi, Tyler and Mitchell I say, "I love you all with all my heart and I am honored every time you call me Dad!"

"An Adventure!"

Going on a mission trip is somewhat of common place thing for churches to do, but recently I had an opportunity to go on one to Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, NC. It was far from the norm. Now one could say what made it unique was the people I traveled there with and I will admit it made it an unique adventure to say the least.

I went down with my son, Mitchell, my wife, Kari, and church members and our friends, Arvel, Phyllis and Kimber. Now to understand how this trip was unique you need to know that Mitchell and Kimber are an "item" (boy and girl friend). So our two families started out the journey loaded up with the items the Women's Christian Fellowship had made for the campers.

Of course the beauty of Kentucky, West Virginia and North Carolina is amazing. The mountains are so beautiful and at times are breathtaking. We all seemed to take in God's handiwork as we traveled the interstate to our destination.

We spent the night in Greensboro, NC, made the short drive to the camp the next morning. When we arrived we were all amazed at the beauty of the camp's entrance. I was happy to see the camp matched the pictures that I saw on the Internet about this camp.

We were taken on a tram and driven around the camp, it is obvious that the theme of the camp is NASCAR. The camp was built in memory of Adam Petty, who died in a wreck during a practice NASCAR run. There is a building that looks like a large race car; a bowling alley called Victory Lanes, donated by Jimmy Johnson the popular driver who drives the "Lowe's" #48 car. But the most amazing part of the camp is the children that come to the camp and the ability of the staff to meet their needs.

Over the summer, there will be children with arthritis, hemophilia, autism, sickle cell, spina bifida, down syndrome, epilepsy and many more other diseases. They try to put the kids with the same disease together for a week. A doctor who specializes in that disease volunteers to be at the camp that week. Also there is a small hospital on site in case of emergencies...a hospital that can do blood transfusions and dialysis.

I came from the experience wanting to become more active with this wonderful camp for children. We are working with Victory Junction to have a team from the church attend next summer to volunteer to work. As the brochure for the camp states, "Victory Junction Gang Camp is summer camp, Disneyland, and a box of crayons mixed in a blender and a special retreat for children."

Now back to the adventure part of the trip...one of the things you don't want to do is to lose your wedding ring at the first rest stop in West Virgina...fortunately my wife did not get upset and yes, believe it or not, purchased a new wedding band for me on the trip.