Thou art with me....excerpt and my thoughts!

First of all I am not taking full credit for this post...the italics will be portions from the book Still Waters and Sky Scrapers.

The world is a scary place. Acts of terrorism make it seem even scarier. But we have a choice. We can withdraw and seek safety in isolation and submit to the fear and terror of what may be, or we can draw strength from the presence of the Shepherd-God and go out into that scary world. We can commit to creating an atmosphere of courage, trust and serenity, out of which the adventure of a new world emerge.

In life there are so many times that we want to fear life, and fear getting our hands dirty into what Christ has set before us....Fear that we will fail, FEAR of the person next to us, or even FEAR of the unknown...but one thing that I am beginning to Grasp is that PSALM 23 is not lying when it say "Thou art with me!"

No matter what we are going through, thoughts of ourselves, friends and relatives dying, loss of job, "YOUR" vote did not result in the president elect, relationship with someone just got cut off, or you are just doing amazing......whatever it is.....HE IS HERE, and is not going anywhere!!

Teens if you are reading this...I want you to know one thing, there is one constant in life, and that is the location of our GOD!!! HERE WITH US...every moment of every day....

So in closing I want you to do an exercise with me!! Close your eyes and out loud say the following:

THOU ART WITH ME
THOU ART WITH ME
THOU ART WITH ME

feel free to post your thoughts in forms of comments!!

Grace...we just don't get it!

Before I get to the blog, I want to give a shout out to probably my only reader, and if you read this, then prove me wrong by leaving a comment!! The BAHOY CLAN….anyways I say the BAHOY CLAN for the whole reason that I can honestly say I did not get what that meant until this last week…man I am ridiculously bright I know. I would send emails to this bahoyclan and finally figured out that it was the Brad and Angie Hoy, Levi and Hannah (as the whole clan) I was like, what are they thinking the bahoy clan, are they pirates or something!! LOL!!! So to Brad and Angie and the fam, sorry I screwed it all up and am now on the right track…TATAVIANO CLAN, that sounds like I am stuttering…ok so now for the BLOG!!
Luke 7
vs. 47 "I tell you, her sins-and they are many-have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little only shows little love."

The first thing in the verse is the realization that many sins have been forgiven, not one or two but like a quadrazillion (just made that up, you will not find that in any translation). So the first thing that I realize is that one thing I am good at is sinning, and one of the many things that God is good at is FORGIVENESS (grace). But only realizing that I am a good sinner is not the priority here, the true priority is understanding what God actually did for you! When He was nailed to the cross, He said your name. When He was hanging there he thought of you, and in fact I am pretty sure He died for that sin you will commit tomorrow as well! Now saying that, I am not condoning or encouraging you to continue to live in sin, because I believe that using God like a get out of jail free Monopoly card is wrong!!

Knowing that you are a great sinner is a start in understanding the love that God has for you! If you are in a place of saying that I deserve God’s love then you are in a place that you need to reevaluate where you are at!

After being forgiven for much is when you know how to show tons of love, for if you are only forgiven for a little, then you will just show a “little” love!

Religious people always show little love. They show love if a person deserves it. If they earn their approval they might love and accept a person into their little group.


So if you want to really experience the love that Christ has for you, after you realize you have been forgiven so much, surround yourself with the worst ex-sinners on the planet!!! People that have sinned so much, but have fallen into the arms of Christ and are in need of His grace to cover all of their sins!! Myself being one of them, and because I have been forgiven for so much, is the only reason that I can love people the way that I do!!

Father, help us love people until they ask why, and then keep loving them. Let your grace flow through the love that you have shown us!

Do you show little love or alotta love to those around you? Do you give the same amount of grace to others that you receive from God? Come this Sunday night, and join the discussion!
GRACE….we just don’t get it!

Schedule of the night!
5-7 Middle School Ministry (doors open at 4:15 p.m.)
6-8 High School Ministry (doors open at 5:15 p.m.)
There will be high activity games this Sunday (Dodgeball) so dress ready to run, or at least participate!!
Live Worship (Adam Thayer will lead the worship band) if you would like to join…email me at tug@averagejoesyouth.com and we can discuss your involvement in the worship band
We will begin taking our offering for the GIFTS THAT GIVE CHRISTMAS PROJECT!!