Zack's Blog

Name:
Location: Plano, Texas, United States

I am 32 years of age. I am striving to serve God in all that I do. I also like to read my Bible, biblical/ theological literature, and the comics in the newspaper.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Seeing The Unseen

Howdy howdy everybody! I hope everyone is doing good. Lord-willing my parents and Jim Corner will arrive at DFW airport at 3:22 pm or so today. Can't wait to see them!
I know it's still Febuary, but thought I would start a new reading project to blog about. It's Seeing The Unseen by Joe Beam. I've already read the Intro and chapter one. The Intro just introduced the book, what he talks about in the book, and how it will help the reader. There are four sections in the book. The first section is Seeing The Unseen. The second section is Forces At Work Against Us. The third one is Forces At Work With In Us. And the forth section is Forces At Work For Us.
The first chapter in section one is What Is Spiritual Vision?. There are spiritual forces all around us all the time. When we want to do something good or bad, we need to ask ourselves, why do I want to do this?, and what forces are there around me that stirring me this direction?. We need to be careful though. The answers could surprise us. Sometimes we feel that God is leading us to do something even though what we are doing is biblically wrong. Yet, we still feel it is what God wants us to do. Again, we need to ask ourselves "if I could seen the unseen spiritual forces around me right now, what would I see?". The answers could surprise and shock (spelling error?) us.
This is Wenesday, so please pray for the AIM students around the world on their mission fields and for the AIMers in Lubbock preparing for the mission field. And pray for the Sunset students too. Many of them are preparing for internships and graduation and whatnot. And lastly please pray for my friends Elijah and Kristan and Rob and Denyce and their respective mission teams as they prepare to be missionaries in different parts of the world.
Thank you all! God bless you in Jesus' name today and every day.
Zack

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

There's A Stirring Deep With In Me!

Greetings one and all! I pray everyone is having a blessed day. Lord-willing my parents and Jim Corner are in Paris. In a little while, they will be flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Lord-willing they will all return to DFW airport a little after 3pm on Wenesday. Thank you all for praying for them while they were away.
I love the song There's a Stirring Deep With In Me! It's by far my favorite worship song. It reminds me God has something for me to do and it really pumps me up to get about doing it.
There's a stirring deep with in me!
Could it be my time has come?
When I see my precious Savior face to face when all is done.
Is that His voice I am hearing,
"Come away My precious one?"
Is He calling me? Is He calling me?
I will rise up! I rise up,
Then I'll bow down.
And lay my crown.
At His precious wounded feet!
There's a stirring deep with in me!
It makes me think about the AIM students. Please be praying for them, those on their mission fields and those in Lubbock preparing for their mission fields. And for Sunset students who are finishing up their studies and preparing to leave for their mission fields. It is a mighty thing they are preparing to do, engaging themselves in God's mission in the world. Some of them will stay in the US and some will go across the globe.
Thankfully God has brought (spelling error?) a lot of the world to us. The Great Commission (in Matthew 28) says, "Therefor go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them all things I have commanded you, and lo I will be with you until the end of the age". The word here translated "nations" in the Greek is ethne, meaning people groups. God has brought a lot of people to the US. We can teach them here in this country, and maybe they will back to their countries and tell their families and friends about the gospel. For more about this please read The Master's Plan For Making Disciples by Charles Arn. A facinating book! Well, this is a lot longer then I intended. Sorry for the e-book this has turned into. Thank you all for reading. God bless you all in Jesus' name!
Zack

Monday, February 26, 2007

Listening

Howdy everybody! I hope everyone is having a great day today! I have finished reading and blogging about The Journey of Desire and Risk now. I'll start two new reading projects in March. That leaves two days wondering what to blog about.
Last night at BRCC the 5th and 6th grade boys lead the service. They are part of the Timothy and Tabitha class at our church. The boys prepare mini sermons and song leading to do on a particular Sunday night and the girls prepare to teach one of the children's classes on a Wenesday night (which they will do this Wenesday night). One of the boys did a talk about listening to God and asked the obvious question, "do we really listen to God?". In 1 Samuel 3, Samuel is living with the priest Eli . Samuel hears his name being called, and thinks it's Eli calling him, so he runs to him and says, "hear I am, you called me". Eli says, "I did not call; go back and lie down". This happens 2 or 3 times. I think I would have been awefully annoyed after 2 or 3 times of that. How about you? Anyhow, finally Eli senses what's going on and told Samuel, "... if you he calls you say, 'Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening'". And he does. The Lord calls Samuel again and he says, "Speak, for Your servant is listening". The rest there, as they say, is history. But sometimes we make excuses. Jeremiah was called by the Lord to do a great work, and he said, "But sovereign Lord, I am only a child". But the Lord said, "Do not say 'I am only a child' but you must speak to who ever I send you to ..." (Jeremiah 1). Of course I did do it and did a marvelous job!
I must ask my self "how well do I listen to God?". How about you? Your thoughts.
God bless you all in Jesus' name today and everyday.
Zack

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Risk: chapters 16 & 17

Yo, yo, and hello everyone! I hope and pray everyone had a great Sunday morning of worship to our Heavenly Father today! Thank you to all of you for praying for my parents and Jim Corner the past three weeks. They're done with the church leaders' seminar and they will leave Kumba today to go back to Douala. Monday is market day and Tuesday they leave to come home. Lord-willing they will arrive at DFW airport on Wenesday. Can't wait!
Now, let's talk about Risk. The sixtenth chapter is called Yes, You. This talks about taking a big breath and taking a leap of faith to tell someone about the gospel. It means taking a step of faith to do something God wants you to do: being a missionary in a part of the world where the gospel hasn't been spread much; telling a family member, friend, or co-worker about Jesus; or perhaps becoming a minister. In the book Kenny wrote about a guy who he met in Russia on a mission trip. He told him the gospel and helped him pray Jesus into his heart (I don't believe in praying Jesus into your heart, but that baptism is the only way to obtain salvation- just talking about what he wrote about in the book). He wrote about how exhillerating that was for him and Sasah (the Russian man he was talking about). The Lord wants us to ignite our faith to share it, to take a leap of faith.
And chapter seventeen is Bet It All. God's man risks it all for Him. He wants us and calls to be aggressive with our faith and beliefs in Him. He wants us to step out in faith to tell others about Him. Jesus certainly took the biggest step to redeem (spelling error?) us. He has the scars to prove it. "Scars prove your story. Scars remind. Scars show the cost. Scars motivate. Scars inspire. And scars are beautiful! Scars tell you that a Man was not playing it safe. And that Man lives in you".
That's all for Risk. Please don't take my word for it. Go out and buy this book this week. Read it! You'll love it. This book reminds me of AIM (Adventures in Missions). Those who go through the AIM program are typically fresh out of high school though some are a little bit older. They are true Risk takers. The life of a missionary is an "adventure" of a life time. Lord-willing I am going to be a missionary again and go off somewhere here in the US or Mexico and tell others about Jesus. In the future I hope and pray to be an Outreach Minister or a Spiritual Formation Minister at some point in the future. I want to be a Risk taker! How about you?
Your thoughts.
God bless you all in Jesus' name today and always!
Zack

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Risk: chapters 14 & 15

Greetings in the name of the Lord! I hope and pray everyone is having a great day today.
I read chapters 14 & 15 in Risk today. Chapter 14 talks about The First Two Seconds. That means men usually take action in the first two seconds when faced with certain cituations. Jesus was certainly that way. Especially in the Gospel of Mark. In Mark we're always seeing that Jesus is doing something "immediatley ..." when He was confronted with people. He was always on the move. That is what we must do. Always having an ear open to the Spirit's moving in our lives.
Chapter 15 talks about Suit Up And Show Up. This talks about facing crisis in your life. When trouble and termoil creep into your life and the lives of your family members, someone needs to stand up to the plate and take on leadership. And that would be God's man! It has to be you and me who take a stand and be the leader. We must suit up and show up.
Risk is a great book y'all! Please don't take my word on it. Please go buy and read this book.
I hope and pray all of you have a great Lord's day tomorrow. God bless you all in Jesus' name!
Zack

Friday, February 23, 2007

Risk chapters 11, 12, & 13

Well hello there! How's everyone doing today? I hope all of you are doing well.
Sorry I didn't blog yesterday. I was totally wiped out by 10 last night, so I just went up stairs and crashed. So, sorry!
So, let's talk about Risk- shall we? Chapter 11 talks about The Ruthless Way. That means taking a hard core approach (spelling error?) to getting sin out of our lives. Like what Mark 9:43 talks about, "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed then with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out". That verse means do whatever it takes to eliminate sin from your life. We must be hard core in doing it. We must invite the Lord into our lives and reveal any and all sin in our lives and help us rid ourselves from it (Psalms 139:23-24).
Chapter 12 talks about The Highest Vision, The Noblest Goal. This chapter talks about going futher then just being a Christian. It talks about being a spiritually disciplined. Like when Paul told Timothy that no soldier gets involved in civilian affairs, but is always striving to fullfill his commander's orders. The athlete must always keep his mind on abiding by the rules of the game, lest he do something to disqualify himself and his team. And finally the farmer who diligently works day in and day out cultivating and growing crops that he can share in it (2 Timothy 2:1-7).
And chapter 13 is Spiritual Ebola, which is about infecting others with the gospel of Jesus Christ and growing people to take on leadership in the Church. This is about teaching people how to teach others. It's like Paul taking Timothy along with him on his missionary journeies. No telling how many meals they ate together, prayed together, studied together, taught (spelling error?) together, and so on. Then in 2 Timothy, Paul hands the baton of leadership over to Timothy with these words, "What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you- guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in in us (1:13-14). Paul invested himself in Timothy and countless others. Timothy toke what he learned from Paul and taught others, who taught others- and on and on it goes. We must be in the habit of teaching others too. And investing ourselves in a hand full of others who will take leadership in the Church to carry on it's herritage.
More on Risk tomorrow. God bless you all in Jesus' name!
Zack

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Risk chapters 8, 9, & 10

Well hello there everyone! I hope and pray this has been a good day for everyone. Today I've read chapters 8, 9, and 10 in Risk. Let me tell you about them.
Chapter eight is entitled Same Is Not The Enemy. This chapter is all about being content with what you have and not being so consumed with getting what you don't have. That seems to be a big problem in our society. We always want the new big thing. We need to learn to be thankful what we do have and that will cure that problem.
In chapter nine we read about our Achilles Heals. Here we read about our weeknesses and how to overcome them. Espcially this talks about sins that take a cost out of us and those we love. For example, if we accumulate (spelling error?) a huge debt because of gambling that could be one thing that could tear at a relationship. Even more so a sexual sin will cut at everything we have worked for.
This leads perfectly into chapter ten, which asks the question, Do You Have A Space Invader?
This is talking about finding spiritual accountability. One man needs at least one other man to hold him accountable for himself. Everyone needs someone to ask him how he's doing in his spiritual life, in his relationships at home, at work, and so forth. It gets us thinking about it and forces us to do something about it. That's the goal of accountability. More on Risk tomorrow.
My parents and Jim come home a week from today. Please continue to lift them up in prayer to our Father. Please continue to pray for all the AIM students in Lubbock and around the world.
And please continue to pray for my friends Elijah and Kristan and for Rob and Denyce and their respective teams. Thank you all so much! God bless you all in Jesus' name today and always.
Zack

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Risk chapters 5, 6, & 7

Well hello there everyone! I hope and pray each of you are having a good day.
I've been reading Risk lately, and have a lot to catch y'all up on. So, let's get started shall we?
Chapter seven is You Are The Solution. This chapter speaks of overcoming addictions and giving God what we have to offer. Remember the story in the gospels (John 6:5-10, for example) about the little boy who had five loaves and two small fish? Jesus used those loaves and fish to feed five thousand men (with wives and children there could have been ten thousand at least). We must be careful when we ask God to use us to bless people. We must be willing to give Him what we have and let Him do the rest.
Ruthless Pursuit is what the sixth chapter is about. Luck opens the chapter up with "You cannot become the man you need to be by remaining who you are" - Scott Hitzel. We must not become overconfident, but keeping our eyes focused on God to be our strength. We must guard against pride and seek God's direction in how He can use us.
And chapter seven is called Passionate Sons. This is talking about where we put our passion. We must be careful of where we put our energy to. We must be full-throttle for God and what He has called us to do.
Please keep praying for my Mom and Dad and Jim Corner as they teach in Cameroun this week. They seem to be doing a great job over there. And tomorrow is Wenesday, so please be praying for the AIMers on the field and in Lubbock. And please be praying for Elijah and Kristan and their mission team and Rob and Denyce and their mission team. Thank you all! God bless all of you in Jesus' name!
Zack

Monday, February 19, 2007

Bible reading

Howdy y'all! I hope and pray all is well with all of you today.
I was reading my Bible today and was reading about how holy our God is and how jealous He is for us. We read today about God not wanting His people to make for themselves an idol and worshiping it. That's because our God wants us for Himself. He doesn't want to share us with any thing else. We are to have no other allegiance but Him. If we do, God calls that idolatry (spelling error?). In James somewhere it says that if we are friends with the world, we are enemies of God, that we have commited spiritual adultry. Heavy duty stuff there.
Your thoughts.
God bless you all in Jesus' name today and everyday.
Zack

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Letting Go and Keeping Heart- To The End

Yo, yo, and hello everyone! I hope and pray everyone has had a great day of worship to God today, the Lord's Day!
I just read the last two chapters in The Journey of Desire. This is an excellent book. Please, don't take my word for it. Go and buy it and read it. You'll love it!
Chapter eleven is Letting Go and talks about waiting and hoping for what we truely desire. There is a real tension in waiting and hoping. But that is what the scriptures talk about. Romans 8:24 says, "... But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?" This speaks of desire. So we must learn to live in the tension between waiting and hoping for what we really and truely desire. We can't arrange for it. To try to will lead to disaster.
And chapter twelve is Keeping Heart- To The End. This speaks of forgetfulness. This is a very present enemy. We must hang on to what we desire and persevere to the end. We must hold on to the truth of God's Word in our hearts. We must give Him our desires. We can't arrange for them. If we go after impostors, God will detour us and help us find what is truely our desire.
That is all from The Journey of Desire. I'll write about Risk for the remainder of Febuary begining tomorrow. God bless you all in Jesus' name!
Zack
PS. Please continue to pray for my parents and Jim Corner this week. They are in their second stop, Kumba, to do their Camerounian Church Leaders Siminar. My dad and Jim taught a Bible class and preached this morning in two different churches this morning. They and my mom will start teaching in the seminar starting tomorrow. Thanks y'all! Blessings!

Saturday, February 17, 2007

lots of catching up to do :)

Yo, yo, and hello everyone! I hope and pray all is well with all of you. I very much apologize for the long passage of time between blogs. I have a lot to catch you all up on now. Lately I've been reading The Journey of Desire by John Eldridge. It's such a great book y'all! Please get it and read it! And any of Eldridge's other books too for that matter.
Anyhow, here's what I've been reading. I've read chapter four through chapter ten. Chapter four is called Disowned Desire. It is talking about the heart-aches we go through and it's all more then we can bear. So, we let go of our desires (or we at least try to). And if we don't bury them, we discount them and say we don't want that anymore.
Chapter five is called Mocking Our Desires- the Impostors. In this chapter Eldridge talks about things we think are our desires, but really aren't. They take our attention away from our real and true desires. When we continue to pursue the impostors, God may step in and show us that this isn't what He wants us to do, and shows us our true desires again. This is painful, but we need it.
The sixth chapter of this book is The Devine Thwarter. This is pretty much the same as the one before, only it talks more about God fouling up our plans to do what isn't our real and true desires. Like I said above, this is painful, but it is necessary.
Chapter seven is The Great Restoration. Once we find what our heart truely wants, it's like drinking fresh cool water on a hot summer's day. Jesus said it best in the book of Revelation, "Look, I am making all things new" (21:5). It's just like when Spring first begins after Winter, when all the snow melts away and the grass is full and green again, and the trees are full of leaves again.
Chapter eight is The Grand Affair. This is talking about us figuering (spelling error?) out what is our real and true desires. Then it talks about worship and how truely great it is, for this is the way we show God we truely love Him.
Chapter nine is The Adventure Begins. In this chapter we see our true desires that God has given to us. And it says that our true joy and happiness comes in having things to do that glorify Him.
And chapter ten is Entering More Deeply Into Desire. "The dilemma of desire is the deepest dilemma we will ever face. It's dangers are deep and potentially fatal. How, then, shall we not loose heart? If we manage to somehow hang on to our desire, how do we keep from being consumed by it"? That is indeed the question, is it not? This chapter is talking about finding our real and true desires and giving them to God so we can lean on and trust Him to take us to the end.
Whew! Alrighty then. Two more chapters in this book. I'll finish them up tomorrow or Monday. Then I'll read the remaining chapters in Risk this week and blog about them before Febuary ends.
My parents and Jim Corner finished up their first week of teaching in the Cameroun Church Leaders's siminar. They are now in Kumba and will start teaching there begining Monday. Please keep them in your prayers as well as the AIMers, my friends Elijah and Kristan, and Rob and Denyce and all of their teams. Thank you all very much! God bless you all in Jesus' name!
Zack

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

The Hall of Fame of Faith

Yo, yo, and hello everyone! I'm terribly sorry I haven't blogged in a while now. I'm going to do better now. And sorry for a such a long delay in blogging about the books. I'll get on that tomorrow.
For now I have something to talk about. I've been thinking about it since last night. I assume that we are all very fimiliar (spelling error?) with Hebrews 11 (aka The Hall of Fame of Faith). The very first verse in the chapter says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see". In verses 3 and all the way down to the end of the chapter we see men and women who lived exordinary lives of faith in God. And each description starts like so, "By faith ..."
"By faith ____ (fill in the blank)" did something exordinary for God with their faith. In verse 5, "by faith Enoch ...". In verse 7, "by faith Noah, ...". Verses 8, 11, and 17 "by faith Abraham ..." and so forth. What a legacy these men and women left us in the Word of God!
For those of you from Harding, especially those who were involved in Delta Chi Delta in many different ways, who knew Randall Parks- he was one who lived by faith. If we could list people in our own lives who lived and walked by faith, Randall would certainly be on that list. What a man of God he was! I wish I had known him better than the way I did. He was one of Jake's (my brother-in-law) best friends. He was going to be a grom's-men in Angie's and Jake's wedding.
He was an awesome man! There are many others I would put in my own personal Hall of Fame of Faith.
What about you? Who would you put in your personal Hall of Fame of Faith?
That's all for today folks. God bless you all in Jesus' name today and everyday!
Zack
ps. Please continue to pray for my parents and Jim Corner as they are in Cameroun. They are doing there 2nd day of teaching in the Church Leaders's seminar there. Thank you all! God bless! Keep the Faith!

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Dare We Desire?

Yo, yo, and hello everyone! I hope all is well with all of you.
I have read the third chapter in Journey of Desire. The title of it is Dare We Desire. The chapter begins with the story from John ch. 5 where Jesus goes to the pool of Bethesda and heals a man who is crippled. This is a story of desire. Too many Christians think that we are to just grine and bear it when bad things happen or when things don't turn out the way we want them to. Some think we aren't supposed to desire things or at least not take it seariously. But Jesus came to revive the desires within us. I believe God gave us passions and desires for a reason. He gave us those so we would live life to the fullest and bring Him glory and praise for it all. "The glory of God is man fully alive" someone once said (and that quote appears in another Eldridge book Waking the Dead). Some Christians reduce Christianity to mere religion and rule following. All that does is shuash our desires and then we don't hear Jesus calling us anymore. When Jesus comes into our lives, He brings out our desires again.
The chapter ends with a retelling of the Parabe of the Prodigal Son. It too is a story of desire. The yonger son wanted something, but started looking for it in all the wrong places, and so he ran off looking for "freedom". The father just wanted his son back. He didn't want to punish him or set him straight. He just wanted the boy back home again. The older brother was rule follower. When the yonger brother came back home, the father through a part for him, because he had his son back home again. But when the older brother found out about it, he refused to go in. When the father tried to persuade him to come, the older one said that he had always did what the father wanted and never disobeyed. But he never got a party of any kind. Now the yonger one had run off and squandered his share of the family inheritance came home, he got a party and even had a feast. The father said that all he had was the son's too and could have had that any time he wanted, but never asked. They had to celebrate because the yonger son was dead but had become alive again. He was lost and been found. "The question is not, Dare we desire, but dare we not desire"?
Well, my mom left for Cameroun today. She felt 100% better yesterday, the doctors checked her out again and said she could go. She's flying to Chicago; then to Paris, France; then on to Cameroun where she'll get back with Dad and Jim. She's not over-nighting anywhere. She's just having a few hour lay-over in Chicago and Paris and then on to her next destination. Please keep her in your prayers especially today. And for Dad, Mom, and Jim as they teach this seminar over there. Thanks! God bless you all in Jesus' name today and everyday.
Zack

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Risk

Yo, yo, and hello everyone! I am now prepared to write about the book Risk by Kenny Luck. I have now read the first three chapters of this book now. Chapter one is called Inner Turbulance. This is about the inner struggle we sometimes have when we sence what God wants us to do and we just need to swallow hard, take a deep breathe (spelling error?), and jump in. To do this we need a right view of God. We must realize He is God, and we are not.
Secondly, we must have a Settled Identity. "When you know who you are, taking big risks makes sence".
Third, we must Sacrifice Like Christ. Like the late missionary Jim Elliot said so well, "He is no fool who gives what he can not keep to gain what he can not lose".
And last, Kingdom-Build. "It's time to start thinking outside the box and dream- dream big God dreams". In short, this chapter is about taking a big jump for God in faith.
Chapter two of this book is Mach 1 loyalty. In this chapter we see that Jesus wants and demands our absolute devotion and attention. So many men have a such a hard time with the loyalty thing. In John 21 after Peter had denied that he knew Jesus three times, Jesus asked him three times if he truely loved Him. Peter said that he did, and Jesus said "feed my sheep" and told him how he would eventually be killed, thus bringing God glory (Jn. 21:15-19). When we give God our complete loyalty it sets off a chain reaction that will take off in your relationship with Him.
And chapter three is called One Man's Obedience. This chapter talks about the chain reactions between Adam and Jesus in Romans 5: 18-19. Adam's act of disobedience set sin in motion in every person who would be born into the world. But Jesus' act of obedience set a way to make things right in motion. When we sin we are following in Adam's steps. When we give our lives to Christ in baptism we set our lives back to where God wants us to be. Now, which of those two represents what you and I are right now? Which one do you and I want our lives to be like? I want to be like Christ and set the world right, how about you?
It's Wenesday again. Please be praying for the AIMers in Lubbock right now as they prepare for their mission fields. Please pray for the AIMers who are currently on their mission fields.
And please pray for my friends Elijah and Kristen Peters and their team as they prepare to go to Auckland, New Zealand and please pray for Rob and Denyce Hindman and their team as they prepare to go to Moscow, Russia. Thanks a bunch! God bless you all in Jesus' name!
Zack

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Journey of Desire

Yo, yo, and hello to everyone! As promised, I am prepared to blog about the books I am reading about now. First, about Journey of Desire. I've read the first two chapters in this book. Chapter one is called Our Heart's Deepest Secret. This chapter talks about too many times things don't pan out the way we thought they should. Our desires don't happen for whatever reason. And too many times we abondon our desires. This chapter says our desires don't die, no matter how many times we try to berry (spelling error?) them. They always resurface along the way. We may try to forget about our desires, but our desires have a way of never forgetting about us. And what about people who are rude and mean to us, and cut us off on the highways, and such. Eldridge suggests they are venting their frustrations that nothing in life has turned out right, and they want someone to pay. Just one more way our desires come out.
Chapter Two is called The Dilemma of Desire. This is about the concept of our desires haunting us. Sometimes we open ourselves up to other people for validation of pursueing our desires or something. And when we do, we get hurt. We want to find a lover, and be loved in return. We open ourselves up to a person we love in hopes of being loved back, and we get hurt over and over again. Here's a great quote from James Houston, "Despair is the fate of the desiring soul". And one from the Bible "Hope deferred makes the heart sick ..." (Proverbs 13:12 NLT). And one more, " We all know the dilemma of desire, how aweful it feels to open our hearts to joy, only to have grief come in. They go together. We know that. What we don't know is what to do with it, how to live in this world with desire so deep in us and disappointment lurking behind every corner. After we've taken a few arrows, dare we even desire?"Just like in Visioneering, we see the way things are and we want to change that. We can see a different world with the eyes of faith (a vision and desire). Then we come up with a strategy of how to change what is into what could and should be. And soon that will be what is now. The problem, however, is that if we abandon our vision and desire after being sidetracked, we settle for is and just accept it. Then a part of us dies. But that part seems to come alive again when the desire is awakened againe. More on this book tomorrow.
Actually, I'll stop there for today. I'll write about three chapters of Risk tomorrow and then the next day do a chapter about Journey of Desire and we'll all be caught up.
God bless you all in Jesus' name today and everyday!
Zack
ps. My mom decided not to go to Cameroun afterall. Please pray for my Dad and Jim Corner as they teach in this seminar. They are teaching a church leaders's seminar for the church leaders in Cameroun. My mom was going to teach the ladies about teaching childrens classes. And pray especially for my mom. She's really heart broken about it. She was so looking forward to going. She was also excited about doing this with Dad. They really hate being a part like this. So please pray for both of them in their time of seperation. Thanks everyone! God bless!

Monday, February 05, 2007

Whatz up?!

Yo, yo, and hello! I'm very sorry I haven't blogged lately. I don't know what happened. Just got busy I guess. No excuses. I'll do better this time around. I hope everyone had a great January, and now have a great Febuary. Tomorrow my parents and Jim Corner leave to go to Cameroun to teach in a church leaders's seminar. They'll be back on Febuary 28th. Please be praying for them. Especially my mom, because she's been sick to her stomuch because of a pill she had to take to be able to go on this trip. I am confident they will do extremely well over there.
Anyhow, I've been reading a couple of new books, but I'll blog about them tomorrow. The books are Journey of Desire by John Eldridge and Risk by Kenny Luck. Journey of Desire is about searching for the life we've only been dreaming of. And Risk is about steping (spelling error?) out on faith and trusting God with our whole life. If you can, please go out and get them. Very good reads!
Here is something I've been thinking about. I heard Jim Mora Senior call Michael Vick a "coach killer". Vick plays for the Atlanta Falcons, the team that Jim Mora Junior used to coach for. I honesly can't think of how Mora Senior could say such a thing about Vick. He's a great player. Some people have called Terrel Ownes a "coach killer" and they are absolutely correct. The guy has only personally wrecked two teams. So, all of this got me thinking, "Who are 'church killers' out there"? Proverbs tells us a little bit about "church killers". In chapter 6 verses 16 through 19 we read a list that reads "There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him ..." and among those seven things is "... a man who stirs up dissension among brothers". There is a man like this mentioned in 3 John 1:9ff. It reads, "I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church". I hope and pray there is no like that in our churches. Just something that was on my mind.
I'll write about the books begining tomorrow. God bless you all in Jesus' name!
Zack
ps. The Colts won the Super Bowl! And Peyton Manning got MVP! Can I call it or what? I should move to Las Vegas and be one of the Lines makers (or whatever they call them). Maybe not. What a messy game! Six turnovers in that first half. And it was incredibly rainy there. Makes for a great football game. And some of the commericals were good and some were very distasteful. Have a blessed day everyone!