The LORD is near to the brokenhearted… Psalm 34:18
This is a very comforting truth when we’re hurting, but especially when we are hurting for others. When our friends hurt, we want to DO something, as we should! We should encourage and give all that we can…But we also face the realization that we can’t take away the pain. It’s as if we can SEE their hurt, but can’t REACH it. But God can. He is NEAR to the brokenhearted in ways we can’t be.
As we do all that we can to be there and help those who are hurting, we can also pray, with great confidence, “Lord, be near to my friend(s) as they hurt.” He hears, and answers. He is near to the brokenhearted.

Ever been frustrated when you hear someone say something like “Christians pick and choose what parts of the Bible they obey. Why don’t Christians abide by all of the Old Testament rules about cleanliness?” Or maybe you have been confused yourself about this topic. The post  by Tim Keller at the link below addresses this topic in a very clear, concise way. Definitely a read worthy of your time!

http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/making-sense-of-scriptures-inconsistency

I’m a parent of teenagers. My older 2 kids are 16 and soon to be 14. I’M SO…OLD!?!? Parenting teenagers is an adventure to say the least. Mark Twain once said, “When a boy turns 13, seal him in a barrel and feed him through a knot hole. When he turns 16, plug the hole” Haha. That’s a funny quote, but I truly enjoy parenting my teenage kids! I agree with author Paul Tripp who refers to the teen years as an “age of opportunity.” It’s a great privilege to be a part of these formative years of their lives, filled with great challenges but also, great joys.

This is a learning process for me, but one thing I know for sure is that teens STILL need parenting. To watch many of today’s TV shows aimed at teens, you’d think that you spend age 13-18 constantly surrounded by friends your age with a bottomless frappuccino in your hand. Not the case. Obviously, the role of a parent is different during teen years, not necessarily less, but definetly different. “Helicopter parenting” will frustrate and drive a wedge between us and our teens. We have to embrace our ever-changing role without abandoning it.

Paul told young Timothy to “flee from youthful lusts”. The Apostle Paul acknowledged that there are sinful lusts unique to youth, and they are to be avoided. The notion that teens need to “sow wild oats” is not from God. The thing about sowing anything is that it grows. What teens do today and the habits they form, those things matter, a lot. They matter for their current life, their future, and most importantly, to God and eternity. As parents we get to be a part of guiding students away from destructive behaviors and pointing them towards a god-glorifying, self-sacrificing, service oriented, joy filled life that God desires for them.

Charles Spurgeon said the following, and I believe it is as true when our kids are 15 as it is when they are 5…
“Parental teaching is a natural duty–who is better fit to look to the child’s well being as those who are the authors of his actual being? To neglect the instruction of our offspring is worse than brutish. Family religion is necessary for the nation, for the family itself, and for the church of God.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening
The teen years are an opportunity to glorify God by being good stewards of HIS children that he has temporarily entrusted to us. What a privilege!?!?

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God… John 1:12

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”  John 14:1-2

…the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. John 16:27

The time is long overdue for Christians to embrace and glory in the the fact that because of Christ we ARE different. A dying world around us is LOOKING for different, looking for peace with God that only Christ can give. If we, the church, fail to present Christ, who will? If we wanna be TRULY “seeker sensitive”??? We give them the gospel. Give them Jesus Christ…Not “cool”

“The marginalization that occurs because we love Christ shouldn’t be run from. We don’t live for this life alone. In fact we are the counter-culture to this culture. You never gonna make Jesus so cool that everybody thinks he’s cool” -Chandler

Something to think about while the snow is still pretty and white:

…though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow… Isaiah 1:18

Today’s beautiful snow won’t last. The sun will have it’s way with it. But nothing will EVER separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. It has no end. Thank you, Jesus!
Christ is all!

This past weekend my wife and I along with 8 others from our Grace Bible Family had the privilege of attending Jeremy and Annie Salazar’s wedding.  We had a great time on the trip. Pictured below, from left to right, Pastor Wesley and his wife Paulette of Pine Hill Church (our partner church on the Navajo Reservation) Casey and I, Benny and Tinna Hood, Jeff and Amy Crelia, and Troy, Connie, Alex and Ashley Applegate.

Jeremy is one of our closest friends from Pine Hill Church. I’ve known Jeremy and his family for a long time now. I was honored to baptize him back in 2009, pictured below.

In addition to getting to know Jeremy on short term trips to the Navajo Reservation, Jeremy, his brother Coby, and their cousins Kevin and Delvert stayed in our home over Christmas break in 2010. In the Spring of 2011, Troy Applegate and I had an unforgettable experience attending a Native American horse race near Shiprock AZ with Jeremy, his family and friends. They raced, we took lots of pictures and provided moral support:)

Jeremy and I have split wood together, fished together, studied the Word together. I know his testimony. He knows mine. I’ve learned a lot from him. Jeremy is my brother in Christ. I don’t know a more devoted Christian man than Jeremy Salazar. I’m so happy for he and Annie.

A couple years ago Jeremy left the reservation for ministry training at The Master’s Seminary in California. Since then, the doors for ministry have opened wide for him. Soon, Jeremy will be working as a full-time church planter in the Spokane Washington area along with his beautiful new bride Annie. God is so faithful!

Please pray for Jeremy and Annie as they begin their life together. Pictured below is their FIRST KISS, EVER. Yes, they waited, it happens! 🙂

‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Matthew 19:5

I’m an adopted son of the King through Jesus Christ. Nothing that will happen this day, this week, this year, this decade, NOTHING will change that. There is no greater confidence or joy in this life than to know, that because of what Christ has done, and because I BELIEVE in Christ, I am adopted by God. I call Him Father. He calls me son.
Are you adopted?

What is The Lord’s Supper?

(Video taken from a post on The Gospel Coalition website. You can find the entire post here.)