I find the only days I truly feel at peace are the days in which I put the Lord first. There is an uneasiness in me and even an emptiness when he is not the desired end. These days are like grasping for smoke.

Often I lose myself in hope of things to come. I dwell on what can be and put all my energy into imagining if things were to play out my way. This hope disappoints because at the end of the day it was nothing more than a dream.

What I desire is not even desirable apart from Christ-centeredness. So what does it look like to desire things in a righteous way? Where is the line between godly desire and idolatry?

This I know, that I have one hope that will not disappoint. I can enjoy my salvation here and now and look ahead in the knowledge that it will only get better.

This truth makes all the difference. If I live my life here I am no longer the empty handed man grasping for smoke. Here I stand firm and satisfied. Here I am the man who has everything. Here I get to experience the joy of giving.

May I never forget that I have all I need in Christ, and may I never be reluctant to give that opportunity to others.

The good news doesn’t end with my salvation. I get to share it with everyone!

I am a rich man. The more I give, the more I receive.

And no, I’m not talking about money.

Joy.

- In Christ Alone.

It is my prayer that I would know the fullness of God’s love. I want to know you Jesus. I don’t need to know anything else so long as I know you. Jesus be my strength. Give me a hunger for you Lord and satisfy it with your great and steadfast love. Your love is strong. Nothing can separate me from you and I rejoice in that. You loved me before I was born and you will love me forever. Thank you Jesus that you took my sin and gave me your righteousness. Thank you Father for giving up your Son for me. Thank you Spirit for giving me faith. Thank you Father that you rose Jesus up from the dead. This is good news. My sweetest moments these past weeks have been the ones on my knees with you. Let me not forget this. Nor would I forget your gospel. Fill me with the joy I had when I first received the good news. Give me a heart after your own. Would I love people like you do. Thank you that I have good news to share with all people. Would I remember this when I see those in pain. Would you grant me the privilege of sharing such good news with them. You are powerful, holy, good, merciful and just! You are love. Let tomorrow count. Would your news be shared and would joy be full. I love you Lord. Goodnight and Amen.

Today is Palm Sunday.

The Gospel of Luke tells the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem with a little more detail than the other accounts. In luke we see that Jesus began to weeping for Jerusalem. We see his heart burdened for those who don’t understand.

He knew that these worshipers were going to crucify him and yet his weeping was for them.

I too would be weeping, but not for them. I would be weeping for me.

He truly is a God of great love and we are called to mirror that love. This is how we should respond when we see people ruled by sin, even if they are sinning against us. It should not spark rage in us, but mourning, for they are bringing wrath upon themselves.

And our mourning should turn us to remembrance; remembering the good news. Then remembrance should lead us to proclamation. We have good news to proclaim to sinners!

Would we love them like he loved us.

It’s late so I will write this tomorrow, but for now enjoy the following verses. They are jam packed with good news!

Ephesians 1:3-14

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5he predestined us^b for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9making known^c to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

11In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is the guarantee^d of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,^e to the praise of his glory.

P.S. Sorry if the title is offensive. I personally find it humorous

Your sin is worse than you ever imagined. His love for YOU is greater than you ever imagined.

“It is finished”.

In Jesus YOU ARE CLEAN.

When dealing with any and every problem in your life, the gospel IS the starting line. If true healing is to happen it must start here.

Remember the good news and how good it is!

At the cross we learn how to be patient, humble, generous, forgiving, and here we learn how to love.

He said to love your neighbor and your enemies. So in every conflict and trial we remember how he loved us at the cross. We remember that we deserved the full wrath of God. We remember that Jesus took our place and gave us his love. We remember this good news and we see that we are not much different than our enemies. In fact the only thing that separates us from non-Christians is that someone told us the good news and by God’s grace we believed.

So we remember the good news, and how good it is. We do this by remembering our sin and our inability to fix this most important relationship. We might have to relearn this the hard way by treating the Christian life as a list of rules that we can’t measure up to, only to be reminded that our righteousness was never based on our life but on Christ’s. Nevertheless, we remember this good news and as love humbles us we see each person and situation through new eyes.

We see people who need the good news of salvation.

We see people who are walking in brokenness and pain and simply reacting to hardship with a desperate selfish pursuit of happiness.

They need the good news.

Just like we did.

Just like we do.

We see beyond their sin and look to their need.

What a joy it is to share that good news! Everything they are longing for, EVERYTHING is found in Jesus.

And HE LOVES US.

AMEN.

- In Christ Alone.

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12)

This idea of God testing us is a strange one. Why would he who knows all things need to put us to the test?

There have been at least a few times in my school career when I entered the classroom on test day thinking I knew it all, and finding out I knew nothing. Though these tests were given to reveal my knowledge to the teacher, I think this is what it means when God tests us.

His testing us is not to figure out what he already knows, but to reveal to us that what we don’t know. The good news is during his tests we can ask the Teacher for help.

God has been testing me lately. He has been allowing me to go through various trials and which are causing me to come to him and ask for help. These tests are leading me into prayer and repentance as they reveal areas of sin in my life.

Praise be to God that when I come to him in my failure he responds with good news! The good news is that I’m being graded not on my own work, but his Son’s work on my behalf.

This is really good news!

- In Christ Alone.

“And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’” (Luke 22:19)

Remember.

Communion is to be a time of remembrance.

We are to remember that Jesus’ body was broken for OUR sins. This is a sobering act, because on the cross we see just how disgusting our sins are, in the mangled body of our savior.

But let us also remember that Jesus’ death and ressurection actually accomplished something.

Before dying Jesus proclaimed, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). He was referring to the work of our salvation. That is, that he took our sins upon himself and they died with him, and we rise as new creations with him. As we commune with one another and the Lord, let us remember both our sin and his steadfast, powerful, and redeeming love.

We are to remember the GOOD news, and good news never leads to despair. Let us leave encouraged by the good news that is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and let us respond in joyful praise!

His mercies are new EVERY morning, because Jesus absorbed God’s wrath on our behalf.

This is good news and everyone loves good news. It is just as exciting, if not more exciting, to share good news as it is to receive it. So take some time to remember how good it is, that salvation is here, and then go tell someone.

Not to be saved, but in joy that you already are.

- In Christ Alone.

I already posted one blog today, but I missed two days and still have more to process and reflect on. Besides if you’re on this blog you came here on purpose and this is my blog. I can write as much as I want to. If you have a problem go to a different website! …I’m sorry, don’t leave… I get a little worked up sometimes.

So, today has been a great day all around. We finished up Reach weekend and had free fajitas at Rico’s. I got to hang out with my family a little bit. I got to rest from a weekend of absolute mayhem (and I mean mayhem in the most positive and fun sense), but my favorite part of the day was the time I spent alone in prayer with the Lord.

I’ve been getting well acquainted with the carpet recently, spending more time on my knees praying than ever before. I have always been more of a sit-in-a-chair type of prayer guy, but there is something so much more intimate about praying on my knees. Perhaps it is simply because there is no other relationship in my life that brings me to this posture. Its a humbling place to be.

The more time I spend alone with the Lord praying on my knees, the more I treasure and desire this time. Why? Because only the Lord can satisfy the hungers of my soul and he does. As I remember the good news and talk with him about life, my soul erupts like a volcano overflowing with joy. This is not an exaggeration.

Today in my time of prayer I thought about salvation and sanctification. Often I think of salvation as God’s forgiveness and sanctification as the building of my righteousness. However, this is not the case, for we are made righteous in Christ. Nothing we do can make us more or less righteous in the sight of God. It is by our faith (a gift from him) in his sacrifice on the cross that we are justified. To put it more simply it is by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross that we are justified, and if you believe that, then its true. If you don’t believe it, you don’t receive it.

What then is sanctification? Truly the word describes the process of being made more like Christ, but because this all happens within relationship it helps to view it through a relational lens. When I view it simply as being made more like Christ, I tend to think of it as my righteous level. Yet, this contradicts my joy in the gospel. We do ourselves a great disservice by seeking for joy in our sanctification because it is a lifelong process and there is always room to grow. Instead we seek and find joy in our justification, which is found in Christ, and this propels our sanctification. Why? Because as we view sanctification through the lens of relationship we should think of it as getting to know Christ better. Sanctification is not simply our growth in righteousness, its our growth in relationship.

We meet Jesus at salvation or justification, and we get to know him in sanctification.

This isn’t a crazy idea. Look at any group of close friends. The more time you spend with someone, the more you begin to act like them and speak like them. You pick up parts of their humor and vis versa. This is how it is with Christ, except our sinful ways don’t rub off on him.

It’s just true. The more time I spend alone with Christ, the more I begin to act like him. Not only that, but if you’re spending time with him and you’re around people, following him is going to lead you into community. If you want to hang with him everywhere, you have to participate, and you will.

It’s like any relationship. If I want to hang with my buddy Josh and he is rafting, then I’m going to have to come rafting or not hang with him. Josh is still going to be my friend if I don’t come, but all relationships require quality time to last. It is the same with Jesus. If he is to be Lord of our lives, he must be at the center of our lives. He will still love me when I mess up, but our relationship will grow as I spend time with Him. I will grow more like him naturally as I join Him in his work.

First comes remembrance. If I don’t remember that I am already redeemed, the relationship will be strained as I try to achieve what he already accomplished. Serving, without remembering the good news only leads to despair. Remembering the good news leads to joy and joy to service and service to joy etc.

It’s a beautiful cycle and it never ends.

- In Christ Alone.

This has been a good weekend, not to mention a good season of lent. I have not been able to blog the past two nights because of an event called Reach Weekend. I had the privilege of leading five 10th grade guys in a group along side one of my best friends, Josh Hughes, who shares my hair color and birthday. God certainly moved and has been teaching me a lot.

Technically I am called a leader at one of these high school events, but I feel very much like a student. I have learned so much over the past few weeks that it has been ridiculous. It’s amazing what God will do with a heart submitted to him. I began this season with a prayer, to know Jesus more intimately, and he has been answering that prayer daily with revelations of his love.

I believe I wrote a few posts back about my anxiety. Sometimes for no reason at all I just feel like I have done something wrong. This provokes despair in me and leads me to seek comfort in my own righteousness. I have identified this to be one of the enemies attacks on what God is doing in me. As I remember that I am redeemed only  by Christ, the enemy seeks to block my view of the Lord by holding up a mirror. And no wonder I despair when I seek joy and peace and see only my own reflection. Apart from Jesus Christ I am a sinner, but praise be to God that Jesus is my righteousness.

Romans chapter 8 speaks of the love of God toward us in Jesus Christ. Here Paul proclaims that nothing can separate us from his love. He goes on to say that we are “more than conquerors”. How can we be more than conquerors though?

It’s simple. Remember the Gospel.

You see we are more than conquerors because even the enemies attacks against us work together for our good and God’s glory. One of my favorite hymns, entitled “Before The Throne Of God Above” says it like this,

“When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within

upward I look and see Him there who made an end of all my sin.”

We are guilty as charged and that’s bad news.

But on the cross Christ became our sins and received our punishment, and in his rising we are born anew. In light of the former news, this is really good news!

The Devil will lie and twist the truth to lead us to despair, but he can never undo the what was finished at the cross. He can never lead us into sin that is bigger than God’s grace. There is no such sin. His futile attempts are crushed under the feet of Christ.

Love always wins and God has made it so that even what is evil works together for good.

We are more than conquerors. We are His.

- In Christ Alone.

Tonight I am at I am writing from the couch of one of my favorite families in the world; the Mayers. Mrs. Mayer is out of town and Mr. Mayer just had surgery so I am driving Matt, their son, to school tomorrow.

About 20 minutes ago, after realizing I haven’t spent much time in prayer today, I hit my knees. As I remembered the gospel I became overwhelmed with joy and thanked God. It did not take long though for me to remember the significance of my location.

It was about 4 years ago when my best friend, Taylor, and I met Abby Mayer. She attended The Woodlands United Methodist Church, the same church Taylor’s family belonged to. Taylor did not attend very often, but as he became really good friends with Abby, he started coming to “Shift”, the Wednesday night bible study. One day I asked if I could come and to make a long story short, I gave my life to Jesus. This did not happen right away, but it happened because we met Abby.

One of my first experiences hanging out with the youth group was in this very room, at the Super Bowl party hosted by the Mayers. This is one of the most hospitable and generous families I know.

But this is not the end of my nostalgia. No, because this couch that I am sitting on is the same couch, in a different color, that Brian and Emilie had at their house. If you don’t know who Brian is, he was youth pastor who led me to Christ. And it was on a couch identical to this that my small group bible study met almost every week my senior year. This too played a big role in my coming to Christ. I remember sitting in almost the same spot I am sitting now, telling the group about my drive home from Shift, when I first begun to understood how good the good news is.

I remember that day like it was yesterday. I felt so ashamed of my sin. That I was forgiven and redeemed was the best news ever! It seemed to good to be true, but it was and is true.

It is still that good.

May I never forget.

Thank you Lord for the Mayers, the McCormacks, Taylor Cannetti, The Woodlands United Methodist Church, comfy couches, and for the death and resurrection of your son!

- In Christ Alone.