Doing God's work, one step at a time

Has anyone ever told you that you have a big mouth? Some probably more than others I would imagine. I get told that all the time. Ryan, you have such a big mouth!!! Not necessarily a big mouth in the way of telling secrets, but, man, I’m just plain loud. I like to make my presence known! You know when you go out to eat, you’re sitting there quietly with your spouse having a pleasant conversation; ok so really you’ve got the kids with you and their being really loud. But then all of the sudden, the hostess seats someone 3 tables over and it’s a guy who’s talking louder than all of the other people in the restaurant combined, including the kids! Chances are that guy was probably me…I know I’m loud, I’m working on it! But in all seriousness, how many times do you see people like that? They’re all over, laughing and carrying on conversations that you can’t help but overhear about John and Susie’s relationship, what sport his kid excels at, or how crummy his job is. Today, it’s the idea of

I know...you're thinking it too...what in the world is going on? It always seems stereotypical for the preachers and religious zealots to proclaim the end is here. Well, I'm not quite suggesting it is HERE...I am saying it's NEAR. No matter whether you're a dispensation premillenialist, pretribulationist or an amillenialist, we all agree on something. Someday, however it happens, Christ is coming again to judge the living and the dead. Well my friends, I say the end is near. After the recent events in Japan, I believe that what I've been saying for a while now is reality. The events that happen in the world; wars, famines, earthquakes, tsunami's, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, temperatures, weather extremes, all of that stuff will get worse until Christ comes again. Yeah, there have been death tolls higher in the past...but the quakes weren't this strong. New Orleans was devastated by Katrina by a category 3...not the strongest, but hey, look at the after

{This was a post from my current class "Dynamics of Evangelism and Missions." I wrote this in response to the question "Discuss how the 2 Great Commandments and the Great Commission intertwine with each other." I am choosing to post this response to the question because it is something that we need to hear. Not just non-believers, but believers as well. For me, this was painful to write because I fail here too...May God help us to be bold in sharing Jesus.} If all of God's commands flow down into 2 Great Commandments, Love God and Love others, then the Great Commission has to be involved somewhere. I mean, how can we profess to love God and love others if we don't share the Gospel? I love how Bowland said on page 22 of "Making Disciples", "After all, it is the Great COMMISSION, not the Great SUGGESTION." I immediately thought, oh no...he didn't just say that. Well, um, yes, he did. I had to laugh...but the truth is, I laughed because

If I were to say the word renovate, what would you think of? Expensive? Lots of work? A pain? Worth it, not worth it? New cabinets, fresh paint, new carpet, new bathroom…remodel…I know what I think of. Two years ago when my mother-in-law did some renovations on her house, I was involved in the process. She had to have a new roof put on and some work done in a back room of the house. It then reminded me of some years back when I was a kid and my parents wanted to renovate the basement into a good living space. We started with the game room, did the frames for the walls, but that was about all the further we went. It stayed that way for a while; well, it depends on what you consider a “while” to be…in this case a “while” was about 11 or 12 years. Yeah. But once it got done, WOW!! It looked really good. It was definitely worth all of the hard work and wait. Renovating houses are a huge undertaking. It seems as if it were a onetime thing or even a once every so often. But really we tend to