Basic Human Need

Do you struggle with relationships? Forming relationships? Suriving relationships? There is a basic human need "to be loved". I learned that this week in our study on The Five Love Languages. We have desire for attention...yes...but what we really have is a desire to be loved. To love some one is intentional. You can't fake it. If you do, it is not a real relationship. It is built up on fantasy.

If I want to improve my relationship with my wife, daughters, son, friends, coworkers, I must learn to love them. It is the basic human need.

Who do you need to love?

Exercise

Today I got on the treadmill. It was my first step in exercising daily. My doctor has told me to exercise for at least 30 minutes. He told me I need to lose weight and that my sugar is too high. If I don't exercises my health will detoriate.

If I am to have a healthy spirtual life, I too must exercise my faith (Bible study, prayer, actions, attitudes). I need to build up my strength so I can last longer in my journey with Jesus.

A commentary on Hebrews 10:36 says, "Spiritual strength doesn"t come without exercise. There is a price to pay for having an intimate walk with God." I have to go now and begin my exercise with God.

"You need endurance, so that after you have done God's will, you may receive what was promised."~Hebrews 10:36

My Dad's Business

My Dad has a very successful business. Despite these down times in America, his housing business is still on the increase! He tried to get me to join, but I refused his offers. I neglected the opportunity.

Despite my rejections, he always seemed to have others invest in his home building business. He made outrageous promises to homeowners such as the building would never fall so long as people remembered who built it.

He started off with building over 11 homes at one point, but now he has grown to millions of homes worldwide. He started his business in a desert town. No it wasn't Las Vegas, but it did have some people whose values were against His. It wasn't the ideal town in those days.

He also said that his building were built on the BEST foundation. He spoke many times to me about how His foundations withstood the test of time. Yet I would still resist. I couldn't believe his business was booming. I thought, "There must be some trick to this! How could my dad profit in bad times." He told me, "Son, my home building business is good. But I want you to join my company. You will be my employer and I will be the boss of everything you do." Huh? Dad wants to boss me around? He wants to tell me what to do?

Again, I went years on other jobs. I worked selling tools using my carefully crafted words to make a sale. From there, I moved on into the furniture business. I visited homes that were built by the best. But as I looked at those homes filled with artwork, decorations, and furniture galore, they were nothing compared to Dad's homes. In fact my Dad's house had many rooms. He was constantly adding rooms as our family grew and grew and grew. It was an ongoing building project.

As I got older, I better understood this business. I joined my Dad's business. I was happy to call him boss. I learned and listened from everything he taught me. It seems that every day, he always had something new for me. In fact, he left me a Book for me to read. A book about building my life. A book about how I can tell others of the many rooms he had built.

My Dad always said that if I came to him, listened to him and followed him that, "It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the flood waters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built."

Thank you Dad for teaching how to live and how to invest in the eternal home business.

Love always,

Your son

Afraid of church?

Are you afraid of church? Perhaps you are not familiar with church culture, traditions or just have a bunch of questions about God and Jesus. North Point Community Church is launching an online church.

I would invite and encourage you to get connected. Just watch this video for the launch date and please let me know if you connected with them. ~Pastor Waldo

North Point Online - Promo 1 from North Point Media on Vimeo.

The Church that hurts

It is amazing when churches lose perspective. When I say "church", I really mean the people. After all, church would not exist without people. It has been said that, "Church would be perfect if it did not have people in it."

God has created a community of believers to exist in a local setting to carryout his mission, purpose and plan. But one of the first things we need to be reminded of is "love". Not just any kind of love, but the love that comes from someone who is far greater than anyone on this earth. A love that extends beyond human reasoning, beyond any love we can see today demonstrated. Even when people don't deserve it, God's love extends to them as the sun's rays extend to our faces.

The church that hurts is the one that has lost it's love. John talks about the church of Ephesus. In it he writes (from the words of Jesus) from Rev. 2:3-4:

and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name's sake and have not become weary.

This sounds like a great church. A church that has undergone great trials and works so hard in the name of Christ. It is not tired, but strong. It sounds like a church you and I should be a part of. It sounds like a church that would welcome visitors, people who do not know Christ, but are searching for him. But watch this next verse. Verse 4.

Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

Vers 5 tells us what we (the church aka people) should do:

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent.

This morning, I repent. I have lost my first love. I have lost HIS LOVE. I must labor now, I must lead now, I must go now. Church...will you join me?