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."