For the very (sort of) time

Chuck, my darling husband is wanting me to get involved in blogging. Ramblings, random thoughts, feelings, and other frantic nothings that happen periodicly throughout my head, or throughout my day (or night as is my case). Um, Here we go. Out of boredom, I decided to re-type the about me in my facebook profile. In it I am fairly straight forward, though even I will admit that some of it seems a little rude. I don't mean to be rude, I just want someone that may not know that part of me to at least see the warning. Kind of a "writing on the wall" sort of thing. Truth is I am not a person that has all of my thoughts easily organized like other people seem to. I am a very scattered person more often then not. I am not stupid or anything like that, I just have a very, very short attention span. Which works great for me in the truck because I don't have to concentrate on one car or truck for to long... I am already feeling like I am not being very good at this. Usually without running feedback it is more difficult to have on running thoughts. But I guess this is supposed to help me collect and zero in on one thought or another. Well lets see how that goes. But enough for now. At least I started. Allie

Gods looking for "A few good men".

While sitting here in Southern California I decided it would be a good idea to be some what productive with my time, so I decided to do a "little" Bible study. It started out as I was just going to take a few notes on what I was being led to read, and well... it gotta a little outta control. So I figured, this is where I am supposed to publish stuff like that... and well, here we go. Forgive me if the format doesn't quite work or there is some other thing that goes wrong. I am new to this whole blogging thing and still not overly confident in my skills. Anyway, without further adu, here is what started out as a little Bible study. Hope you like it.

God's Looking For "A Few Good Men".

Titus 1:5-9

I. God is looking for good men to be leaders in His church.

       A. vs.5 "appoint elders in every town as I directed you."

               every town would refer to there being local church establishments.

       B. II Tim. 2:2 "entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others"

       C. I Tim. 1:3 "so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine"

       D. Acts 14:23 "And when they had appointed elders for them in every church"

God has called certain people to leadership in their communities. These leaders can be preachers, elders, deacons, or simply influential people in the community around them. As having been gifted with a position of leadership there comes several character traits that are required. These are in the home, church, and local community

II. What defines a "good man" at

    A. Home

        1. "Above reproach"- to not easily find anything to criticize about him. No suspect behavior, 

              above disgrace or shame.

        2. "Husband of one wife"- I don't believe that this is referring to divorce, but rather to an attitude.

              The idea of being so "in love" with your wife divorce doesn't even enter the mind. Being a

              "one woman man", being blinded by the love you have for your wife so much that you don't

               notice other women.

        3."children are believers" why is this important in being a leader? Our children are the one group

            of people that we have influence over from the time they are born. If during there life, they

             haven't seen our faith in us enough to become believers themselves, then we're not doing a

             good job leading our own household.

        4." not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination"- I think these are the extremes that

              could happen. Obviously if our children are involved in drunkenness and sexual immorality,

              then we've done something wrong. Same goes for insubordination. If your child blatantly

              disregards your role as a parent in their life, then your not a very strong leader. It is because

              of our love for our children that we discipline them.

     B. Church

           1."above reproach" - repeated, therefore, must be of some importance.

           2. "must NOT be,"

                 a. arrogant- several times thru out scripture we see God calling to the most humble of people and using them for great things. Noah was the only righteous man God could find on the earth at the time. I'm sure that made him really popular among his contemporaries. Especially when he told them that it was going to rain and the earth would be flooded. Yet God used His humble servant to save mankind. Abraham was an old childless man at a time in history where children were considered part of your wealth. God used him to be the "father of many nations" David was a mere shepherd boy, and Moses had a speech problem, and they both led Israel. All these men and many more had reasons to be embarrassed and even humiliated, but God used them to transform history. To lead Gods church one must be humble.

                 b. quick tempered- This is not saying that we must not get angry. It's saying that we shouldn't have a short fuse if we are to lead God's people. Short fuses = rash decisions and God hates those. They never turn out for our own betterment. Moses breaking the tablets, David and Bathsheba, Peter and the Temple Guard. God can use a reaction, but he prefers to use a thought out action.

                 c. a drunkard- drunkenness is not a useful character trait for anything. When a person is drunk they tend to lose all inhibitions and frequently ignore their conscience/ Gods voice. While "a little wine" may be good for the body, alot of alcohol is good for nothing.

                 d. violent- How easy is it to attract someone to yourself when your punching them in the face? Violence is rarely a good quality and always brings more violence.

                 e. Greedy for gain- this doesn't say what kind of gain, just gain. So as a leader, we should not be looking to make a name for ourselves, or to make a fortune for ourselves. That should not be our driving force.

     C. Community

           1. Hospitable- The definition of hospitable is favorable to life and growth. A leader must be favorable to the life and growth of their community. What are you doing in your community? How are you leading your community to growth? To life? what kind of growth? Cancerous growth? I think of the "slum lords" of the big cities. Sure, you get a place to live for next to nothing, but it's not in the slightest bit habitable. The furnace doesn't work and you get more water from the hole in the roof than from the plumbing. What kind of life does that encourage? What kind of growth is that? we should be hospitable in our dealings with our community so we may reflect the love of Christ.

           2. a lover of good- not just a person who likes good or wants to do good. A LOVER of good. Well, what is good? I had to go back to the dictionary for this one. Even tho I know what good is, I couldn't describe it. This is what my dictionary says: That which is beneficial, admirable, pleasing, valuable, or useful. Wow! Do those words describe the things that you "love"? I think Philippians 4:8 says it nicely. " Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

          3. self controlled- When we think of self control many different things can come to mind. Control of the tongue, the body, the mind. How often do we lose control of these things? How often do we let a curse word slip? How many times while reading this has your mind slipped? It doesn't have to be evil to be bad. We should have control over these things more often than not.

         4. upright- When I think of this word I think of my piano teacher always trying to get me to correct my posture. "Sit upright Chuckie" she would say. Now as an adult I try to keep my posture in check because of back problems. One thing I've realized in this is that when my posture is correct I look more confident. I feel more confident. Are we confident in what we say we believe? Do we have faith in our faith?

         5. holy- We are to present ourselves a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable according to Rom. 12:2. Holy things are things that are set apart for the purpose of use by God. The holy of Holies was where God could manifest Himself in old testament times. We are to be the temple of God thru Christ. Are you a "holy" temple. Are you set apart from the world for God? Would other people know that?

         6. disciplined- much like self control but not the same. Discipline is the act of chastising ourselves when we fail. It is the recognition and decision to change what we were doing. It is the committing of ourselves to a standard higher than ourselves. Are you committed to the standard set by Christ? Do you even know that standard?

III. Conclusion.

       vs.9 "He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give

                instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it."

We are to keep the trustworthy word. what is more trustworthy than the word of God? We are to know that word so that we can teach others, and rebuke those that preach against it. Do you know your trustworthy word? Do you know how to teach that word? Do you know how to defend it? This is what we as leaders in our homes, churches, and communities are charged to do. How can we teach that which we do not know? How can we defend the testimonies of the saints if we're not familiar with them? We need to take charge in these arena's and be the "few good men" that God charged us with. Can you handle the truth?

-Chuck

Testing, Testing....

Well, another week has gone by in the Sherwood truck/ Home, and we're still not getting the miles/money we would like to see. But that's OK. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself. I have reason to believe that this is a test from God. I'm not sure but I think it is. You see even tho we're not making what we can/ would like to be, we're still doing more than treading water. We're above survival mode. Bills are getting paid and some is still getting put aside into saving for a house. Here's the catch tho. As many of you may already know, We've been looking forward to buying a house for a while now. We've been promised a large financial windfall and have just been waiting on it. All the while still "window shopping" for a house. Keeping our eye on the market and what not. We've fallen in love with several houses over the last year, only to see them taken away from us before we could even think to snatch them. We don't really want to mortgage anything and would like to be able to buy cash out right. Besides that it's tough to get a mortgage now-a-days. Especially when your credit score looks as bad as mine does. Anyway, I know that the perfect house is out there for us, but this waiting game is getting on my nerves. I know I have to be patient, I know God will provide, I know, I know.... But MAN! REALLY! The day before I was informed that my financial windfall had finally come in, the latest "gotta have it house" went off the market! Back to square one. Back to searching the thousands of foreclosed home in the area we are hoping to buy in. Only to have another stolen from under us?
Anyway, house or no house, we are planning on moving out of our apartment in Joplin, MO. We're just going to put everything in our storage unit in MI. untill we can find a house. For those of you interested the tenantive date for that move is April 28- May 2, 2011. If you've got a strong back and some spare time that weekend, we would sure appreciate the help moving things into the storage unit. If not, that's ok. We'll use your prayers in finding the perfect house in the mean time.
Just another ramble.... thats all.

Smelly Roses!

For most people, the last few weeks would probably be described as relaxing, and maybe even fun. That's not the case for me. For me, the last few weeks have been a trial in patience. You see, patience has never been my strong suit. I don't know why but I always feel rushed and often think that everyone else should be as well. Especially when it comes to work!
It's not that I don't like my job, like any other it has it's ups and downs. Lately though, I've found it very difficult to find contentment with it. You see, I drive truck over the road with my wife. It's not the easiest lifestyle, and very seldom accommodating for any type of relaxation. That's why I'm good at it. It's a high pace, high speed job and I LOVE that. Lately tho, we've been sitting around....A LOT! There hasn't even been a reason to have my wonderful wife on the road except that the court requires her to have a job to pay her child support. If that wasn't the case, There really wouldn't be any reason for her to sacrifice being at home. I got into this occupation because I heard it paid well, and I like to travel. Thought what the heck, why not get paid for doing what I enjoy. That was 12 years ago. Since then, I've become really really good at what I do. I have clocked over a million miles behind the wheel, and only had 2 minor accidents in the 12 years I've been doing it. I've trained about a dozen other drivers and won a couple of safe driving awards. All of this makes it sound like I might be a valuable piece of the driving community. I know how to run hard and thats what I like to do. It didn't use to be unusual for Allie and I to cross the country 3 times in a week. Now it seems its unusual for us to cross 2 state lines in the same day.
I say all of this to come to one point. God is working in me. He is teaching me lessons in patience. I've never been one to be patient before. As I said earlier, I feel like I'm always in a rush. Well, I'm being forced to put the brakes on. I'm being given the time to do things that He must think are important. Like Bible devotions every day. Discipling my wife in the faith, and growing deeper roots for myself. I feel that my uncontentment in my job is even there for a purpose. I think that there are better things for me out there than being a truck driver. I believe that when God called me into leadership at the age of 10 He meant it. I now believe that He has not taken that calling off me. So, in my inpatience with work, God is still working. Granted, patience has to be learned, but He's still using me despite my inpatience. And I am learning. I gave up fighting with dispatch for more miles. I've determined that we're going to lean more on God. He is the one in control weather or not we like it. I'm learning that taking time for Him and me is not a sin. I'm learning that there is a purpose to the trial. So, I'm learning to stop and smell the roses.

First Weeks lesson in Zephaniah

As some of you may know, Last week my wife challenged me to a two week study in the book of Zephaniah. If you didn't know that, well, now you do. When I was first challenged, I thought,"Man, It's only 3chapters long! How could I study 3 chapters for two weeks and get anything out of it?"  Well, even tho it was a tall order to fill, leave it to God to teach me all kinds of things from a book that gets routinely overlooked.
First I found it very interesting that in Chapter 1 all that Zephaniah does is fortell of the coming judgment of Judah. And boy does he get descriptive. It speaks of how God is going to sweep away man and beast, birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea. I'm no scholar but that sounds pretty definative to me. That sounds like a clean sweep of the planet, not just Judah. I'm not sure and somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that it is talking about the last days. Verse 7 begins talking about the "day of the Lord is near". Verse 17 isn't exactly comforting when it says "I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung."
Yep, If theres one thing to be said about the prophet Zephaniah, its, He wasn't out to win friends. He didnt cut corners and he said it as he saw it. I just can't get away from the thought that this has got to be talking about the last days. Theres too much destruction of the earth being mentioned for any other time in history.
Chapter 2 then goes on to talk about the judgement that the enemies of Judah will face. Again, not winning friends here! Probably one of the most surpriseing things I found here was the mention of Gaza in verse 4. It says "For Gaza shall be deserted". Considering all the trouble that I've always heard over the Gaza strip, I find it ironic that it will be deserted. Here Israel and Palastine have been fighting over this land for the better part of my life or longer and the Bible says that it will be deserted. In verse 6 he says that the seacoast is going to be pastures and meadows for shepherds and their flocks. Again very interesting. Most seacoast is productive with harbors for trade and fishing, and yet he says they will be meadows. That's definately different from the way it is today.
Amid all this destruction and turmoil, their is still a promise from God. In the last part of verse 7 it says " For the Lord will be mindful of them and restore their fortunes. What we force God to take away from us because of our disobedience, He will restore when we repent, turn our faces back to him and live within His will again. This is the promise that we all get to enjoy. I am so thankful for this one promise. I am so thankful that He can and will restore our spiritual fortunes when we seek Him again. Praise God. Tho we may falter and fail, He is a patient God and wants to draw us back to Himself. We must turn from our wickedness and seek Him. When we don't we are preventing the blessings and fortunes that God has in store for us.
Lord, Thank you so much for your saving grace. Lord thank you for guiding me back to you. Thank you for the blessings and fortunes you have in store for me. Thank you for not allowing the destruction that we bring on ourselves to not be permanent. Give us the desire to walk closer to you daily that we might reflect your glory and majesty in our lives. Thank you for the words of Zephaniah. Thank you for teaching me thru this book. May I continue to learn what you would have me learn in this study. In Jesus Name, Amen

Eating with the swine.

Ok, I guess this is my first official blog post. Again, I really dont care how many people follow or what not. It's more for just what the title says, Absent Minded Ramblings. For those of you that do care to read what has been happening in our lives, here you go.
What I want to share today has to do with the faith in our household. You see, I've been a "christian" since I was 5 years old, but I haven't always been a close follower of the faith. Growing up I was a good kid, went to church everytime the doors were open and very rarely got in any trouble with authorities outside of my home. I knew that I was saved, but wasn't sure just what that meant. I knew that I had faith in Christ, but didn't understand the importance of "walking" in the faith. As an "adult" I went to Bible college, met a "christian" woman, married and had kids. Only to be divorced 10 years later. I walked away from the faith almost the same time I said "I do" to my young bride. I walked away from the faith of my fathers. I lived a "wholesome" life through out my first marriage, but it wasn't enough to keep things together.
After the divorce, I got together with an unsaved woman that was a self declared "wiccan/ pagan". I knew that this went against everything that I was taught about being equally yoked, but I didn't care. I had been just as unequally yoked with my ex-wife. Besides, I wasn't going to marry this woman, I was just going to date/ live with her. Again, going against everything I was ever taught. Not long after we started dating I felt extremely convicted that she needed to be led to Christ, and thats what I did. I led her to Christ. Easy 'nough. Now I wasn't unequally yoked. Now to go on with our lives, and that's just what we did. We lived a very immoral life. I wanted to come back to the family of God but I knew that I was just too dirty now. I lived in sin and refused to quit. I wanted to quit, just not bad enough. I wanted to do it for all the wrong reasons. I wanted to for my parents pride, my kids "moral" teachings. I didn't want to clean up my act because I should, because it was wrong. I lost all self control and was just gliding thru life. I felt like the actions of my recent past were negating everything I believed God had called me to. I knew God had called me to a life of leadership, but I couldn't even lead my own household.
I knew that if I could get ahold of just one area in my life that I would gain that much more self control and the changes could then start happening. So my wife and I decided that we were going to stop smoking. We fought this battle for 3 years. I finally took charge of my decisions and would not fail again Jan. 19, 2011. I chose to never light another cigarette. Sure enough not long after that, I had the oppourtunity to see my teenage mentor who told me that I could still be in a position of leadership, but I had to get things on track spiritually first. So that is what we've been doing. We've been working on daily devotionals, and scripture memorization.I am finally doing my duty as a husband and teaching my wife about the God that we both cling to now. She's an apt pupil too. She has a ton of questions and is better at memorizing scripture than I am. Her lack of knowledge of biblical thing is my own challenge to dig deeper. Since January, we've gone thru Proverbs almost 2 wholes times as well as reading Romans, Matthew and are now working our way thru Mark. We've faltered and stumbled, but we're NOT giving up. We are changing our lives. We will be truly Christ like. I won't be a luke warm, watered down christian anymore. We will be focused, fired up servants of our God. Praise God for His saving grace, and forgiveness. This is one prodigal son that has eaten with the swine long enough. I've come home and He is providing a feast. I've never been so hungry for the Word.
Joshua 24:15 "And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beynod the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Just Starting this out.

I'm not sure how often I'll be able to keep up on this thing, but I thought I would give it a shot. Not so much that other people could read what is going on, but more as a source of venting. If anyone decides to follow this thing then so be it. I don't expect alot, but I do plan on just putting some of the lessons that I'm learning in life on here. I plan on putting my own personal Bible Studies on here. So if you would like to follow those your more than welcome to. If you have thoughts, comments, or disagreements, feel free to let me know. I'm always willing to open my thoughts and widen my mental horizens. If i find that I still disagree with you, well, I'm always up for a good mental debate. Foul language will not be tolerated, nor will any hateful speech. You may have the freedom of speech, but I have the right to have a clean blog. Don't step on my morals and I won't mess with yours either. So... anyway.... Here is my blog. Welcome to the jungle that can be my mind at times.