Charlie's Purpose...

It was a cool February night and Lauren and I were about to go over to our friend's house for game night. Lauren was getting Price ready, so my job was to let Sadie (our 9-lb Maltese) out to relieve herself. I opened the door and in the shadows stood this big black dog. The dog scared me half-to-death, so I frantically called for Sadie to hurry back inside. I went outside and chased the dog off, hoping that the dog would go back through the woods and return to it's home.

We returned home around midnight, so I opened the door to let Sadie use the bathroom one last time before we went to bed, and guess what I saw...the big, black dog. This time she was laying beside the back door like she was waiting for us to come home. It seemed to be a sweet dog, so I pet it and Lauren told me to give it some water. Surely the dog would return home during the night. I got up the next morning and took Sadie out. To my surprise the dog was in the same spot by the back door. Lauren and I are suckers for dogs, especially sweet ones, so we gave it a little food. I came back home after work and baseball practice and the dog was still there. I took a few minutes and played with the dog in the back yard and it seemed to be partially trained. After a couple of days of the dog refusing to go home, we decided to give it a name...CHARLIE. I assumed it was a male dog since it was big and black, but one day I noticed the dog squatted to pee so I decided to take a peek underneath...it was definitely a girl! However, we decided to stick with Charlie and the name fit her perectly.

Over the next few weeks, we tried hard to find the owner. We called the pound to see if anyone had reported a missing dog, we put up signs around our neighborhood, and I even put her on the school's online bulletin board to see if anyone needed a dog. With a 2 month-old boy, we didn't have a need nor the room to have a dog...especially a 60-lb dog. With no luck in finding her a home, we quickly grew attached. We left her in the backyard in hopes that she would find her way home, but she decided to stay.

During Spring Break in April, Lauren had gone out of town with her family and I had baseball practice everyday. One day I came home and heard this awful yelping in the backyard. I opened the garage door to find the neighbor's dogs had come into our backyard and were cornering Charlie. One of the dogs was biting at Charlie's legs, so she defended herself against them. Because Charlie was much bigger than the other dogs, she injured one of the dogs trying to get out of the corner. It was not a pretty site. Blood was on my back porch and I was trying to chase off one of the neighbor's dogs, trying to get Charlie inside, and trying to take care of the dog that was hurt. After the craziness had settled, I stopped by the neighbor's house the following day to check on their dog. Unfortunately, too much damage had been done and they had to put the dog to sleep. I was upset about the whole ordeal...the dogs getting in our backyard and Charlie hurting the other dog, even if she was defending herself. I began to ask God, "Why in the world did you give us this dog that we do not want or need?"

I felt like God was telling me to make the most out of this situation...but how??? I went next door and offered to help pay for the vet bill, but I also felt led to invite them to church. Easter Sunday was coming up, so I invited them to bring their kids to church so they could participate in the Easter Egg hunt afterwards. Sure enough they came and I was so excited! Had God brought us Charlie so she could play a part in leading me to invite my neighbors to church? Who knows???

Time passed and we began to keep Charlie inside, so she would not get into mischief outside. Charlie would lay around and let Price pull at her hair and tail, she would lay her head in our lap and look at us as if to say, "Will you please rub my head," and she knew which buttons to push with Sadie to make her mad. She fit our family perfectly!

During this time, we have been praying for God to provide us with a bigger house to allow us to grow our family, as well as using it as a safe haven for teenagers to hang out on the weekends. My wife and I both lead Bible studies on Mondays, but we don't have a lot of room for them to hang out. We have been trying to sell our house and several people have been interested, but it has not sold yet. We were wanting to finish the fence in our backyard so Charlie could run around without getting into the woods, but we didn't want to spend that money if someone was going to buy our house soon. We decided to pray that God would be very clear about the simple matter of whether or not to put up a fence. And today, God answered that prayer...but in an unfortunate matter. This past weekend we took a trip to the beach, so Lauren's parents offered to keep Charlie. Lauren got an unfortunate call from her dad this morning informing us that Charlie passed away Sunday morning.

That leaves this question...what was Charlie's purpose? Did she come to us for a brief time so we could have an opportunity to invite our neighbors to church (they have visited several times since Easter...PRAISE THE LORD)...is there no purpose for Charlie coming to us...or is there a different purpose that has not yet been revealed??? Lord, I know that your will is perfect, your timing is perfect, and you have a purpose for everything...even Charlie. Thank you for allowing me, Lauren, Price, and others to enjoy Charlie and her endless love and energy! We will miss her greatly, but we are grateful for the time we were given to spend with her. May the Lord's purpose be known for Charlie's presence in our lives.

Life Right Now...

One thing I love about teaching school is the time we have off. Whether it be in the summer, Labor Day, or the Christmas holidays, it is so refreshing to have time to play with my boy, Price, and spend time with Lauren. Speaking of refreshing, I am listening to a sound outside that I have not heard in months...RAIN!!! The experts say to expect 3-6" of rain in our area, however I am just enjoying seeing a cloudy sky with rain drizziling down. Thank you, Jesus!

Here is what is going on with my family right now...

I have to give Price speeding tickets these days for crawling too fast. He finds something to grab onto and pulls himself up, then gazes around to see if we are watching. Now he is trying to take a couple of steps as he lunges toward his next target. All of our friends say, "Knock him down and keep him on the ground," but he refuses to stay on the ground. He is growing up quickly, and I am enjoying being at home in the afternoons to watch him grow.

Lauren and I are also in the process of trying to sell our house. It has been for sale for almost a year now, but we have constantly asked God to send us a buyer who will replace us as a Christian role model for our neighbors. We also took some time last night to cruise around on the west side of town and see what kind of houses are for sale. We saw a few, but nothing in our price range. That is where we are completely trusting God to do something IMMEASURABLY MORE than what we are asking or imagining. This is the part I love about being a child of God, the part where I know He is in control and there is nothing I can do about it. My job is to pray and seek His will, and know that He is going to provide for us. My mom always made us make out a list of things we wanted to see God do and then pray about it. I remember when we first moved to Cartersville we were living in a rental house and we were looking at different houses. My mom sat us down and we made a list of what we wanted in a house. Of course all of the things we wanted seemed out of reach, but God gave us every item on that list and more. That was the first time I saw the power of prayer, not that we asked and it was given to us, but that we asked, believed, and God provided in a powerful way. This time as Lauren and I have the chance to teach Price how to pray (when he is old enough to understand), we want to look back and show Price how we asked God to provide and He gave us so much more!

Fall is in full swing and we have several things going on and coming up. Lauren and I each do a Bible Study with high school students. I do a guys Bible Study on Monday afternoons right after school, and Lauren does her girls Bible Study later on Monday evenings. We are currently doing a study called "The Best Question Ever" by Andy Stanley. The question is, "What is the wise thing to do?" It is a great time to learn to ask this question for these high school students, especially when they are dealing with temptations and peer pressure to drink, smoke, and have sex daily. And just because you are a born-again believer does not mean that you are immune to any of these temptations. Satan usually finds that loop hole in our lives and shoves that temptation right in our path. We are teaching our students the importance of reading God's Word and praying DAILY. Not a few times a week, but EVERYDAY! Satan loves it when we think we are doing our "Christian duty" by reading the Bible for 5 minutes and saying a quick prayer just to check off the "Quiet Time" box on our "To Do List". But let me tell you that God HATES it when we do that! He wants us to be soaked up with Him everyday, but we cannot absorbed with Him when we do not devote ourselves to reading His Word and praying daily. Please pray for Lauren and myself, as well as these teenagers, as we memorize scripture, read God's Word, and get on our knees and beg God to work in and through us!

Another big event coming up this October is "Fields of Faith". Cartersville High School hosted "Fields of Faith" last year and there were about 2,000 people that came and over 300 decisions that were made for Christ. Some were renewing their commitment to Jesus, and others were asking Him to take total control of their life for the first time. This year we will have students represented from all Bartow & Polk county schools, and about 10 students will share what their life was like before they met Jesus, how they met Jesus, and how God is working in their life right now. This will be held on Wednesday, October 19th at the Cartersville High School football stadium. The gates will open at 6:30pm and the testimonies will start at 7:00pm. If you live around this area, this is something you do not want to miss! (All ages are invited)

Like I said, there is a lot going on in our life right now, but we constantly pray that God will keep us on track with His will. I encourage you to study, not just read, God's Word daily and to earnestly seek Him who can do all things!

Verse for Week #6...

It has been a great and not so great week for me, as I have seen Satan try to get a foothold in my life. However, through prayer and more prayer, God has shown Himself victorious as He always does. A few weeks ago, our verse for the week was John 16:33...

"I have told you these things, so that in me you will have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

You see, Jesus already told Satan that He has overcome the world, but Satan refuses to accept that fact. Satan likes to sneak in and try to grab a foothold in people's lives, but if you truly believe that Jesus has overcome the world and trust Him then you will see Jesus become victorious in every situation!

That leads me to the verse for this week...

"In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence." - Ephesians 3:12

Through tests and trials I have learned that you must trust Jesus with your whole heart, even if you are not seeing results when you want to see them. Our ways are not His ways, our thoughts are not His thoughts, and our timing is not His timing. That is why He is God and we are not. My job as a believer in Jesus Christ is to trust Him at all times and to know that He is going to take care of me. My encouragement to you is to have faith and approach God with freedom and confidence, and let the Creator of the Universe know what is on your heart!

Another Text Encounter???

Lauren and I are bummed! We left on Wednesday to go to Gulf Shores, AL for vacation to enjoy the beach for a few days. Our plan after that was to meet up with her friend Erin, who lives in Mobile, to hang out with her Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We were getting ready on Thursday evening to go eat dinner when Lauren got a call from Erin. Erin is in the hospital with pneumonia (spelling?) and will be there for 3 days. We were looking forward to seeing Erin, but there is not much fun we can have in a hospital. We decided to see if we could book our hotel room for one more night, but the rate went up $50 so that option was gone. The last option was to see if there were hotel rooms at the beach in Pensacola, FL (about an hour away), but none were available in our price range. Like I said, we were BUMMED!

After exhausting our options, we decided to get up early on Friday morning and go to the beach one last time to let Price play in the sand and take some family beach pictures. On our 5 minute walk to the beach, Price quicly fell asleep. We laid out our blanket, set up our chairs, and hoisted up the umbrella. After Price being asleep for about an hour, we looked behind us and the darkest of rain clouds were upon us. I saw the look on Lauren's face, which said, "You have got to be kidding me!" With Price still being asleep, there was no chance for him to play in the sand one last time, and the photo opp for beach pictures with our family was gone. The situation was turning from bad to worse. As soon as we returned to the hotel, the flood began. We cleaned up, packed up, and headed for home in the storm. It was a very silent ride home and there was nothing I could do about it...FRUSTRATING!

As I drove up I-65, everyone was sound asleep in the car, so I began to ask God to show me why He needed us back in Cartersville so bad. Every option we had to stay longer was shut down. I was clueless! When we reached home (a few days too early), we unloaded the car and just sat in silence. Frustrated, confused, and wallowing in self pity. It was about 8:30 pm and I needed to go pick up one of our dogs from a friend's house. Once I arrived, my friends and I began talking about caring where the people we know and love will spend eternity, and we even spent a minute praying for a couple opportunities my friend will have this week to speak with her friends about eternity. I put Charlie (our dog) in the car and decided to go through the drive-thru at Arby's for dinner. This is where God began to speak...

Let me take you back a few minutes before Arby's...

When I was leaving our friend's neighborhood, I began to tell God that I wanted to see why He brought us home early...it had to be a pretty good reason, right?!? I asked God that if I needed to share Christ with someone, then He needed to show me clearly. So after I got my food from Arby's, I was at the stop light on West Avenue and I noticed there were a couple of guys in the truck in front of me leaning out the window waving at me, one on each side. It was two of my former baseball players. All of a sudden, it hit me...was this the encounter I was brought home early from vacation for? The reason I say that is because I had a conversation earlier this year with one of the guys in the truck about where he would spend eternity. He clearly told me that he knew that he did not have a relationship with Jesus. I asked Him why and he replied, "Because I see all these people that call themselves Christians at school and they do the same stuff I do. I don't want to be a hypocrite like them." That answer about killed me, but he was right. If Christians do the same stuff people who are not Christians do, what is the difference??? It actually made me down-right mad knowing that is the picture a lot of non-believers have of "Christians"!

This morning I got up and I text him to let him know that I care where he spends eternity. I let him know that if there is ever a time that he wanted to talk about it, that I would drop whatever I am doing to talk with him. He text back and said, "Ok Coach, I will let you know." I truly believe last night was one reason that God brought us home early from this trip, so that I would see that young man and be reminded to let him know that I care where he will spend eternity. I know this...he has something to think about this weekend and he has a choice to make. Making no choice is making the choice to reject Jesus because he knows the truth about Jesus and why He came to earth. He may not decide to talk to me anytime soon about this matter, but it is in God's hands now. My job is to simply let him know that I care where he will spend eternity.

Let me finish this post by asking you this...

If you are a Christian, what picture are you giving non-believers about a relationship with Christ? Does it make you different (in a good way), or are you the one that gives non-believers the excuse why not to make Jesus the Lord of their life??? Like Alan Duncan said at SPLASH Bartow, "You are either a missionary or the mission field." Which are you?

Verse for Week #5...

After a long school year, I was worn out spiritually. I prayed that God would renew my strength and refresh me, and this summer has been day after day of spiritual refreshing...THANK YOU, LORD! I was reading my Bible the other day and I came across this verse. I thought it would be appropriate, especially for those who feel like they are out of spiritual energy and need to be refreshed...

"A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."

Please know that the Lord, your God, wants to refresh you...just ask Him!

Verse for Week #4...

Here is the verse for this week...

Jesus said, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

-John 16:33

Such words of encouragement!

Mission to Africa (Day 2)...

We boarded our gi-normous airplane around 5:00pm and we left the ground around 6:00pm. I had the pleasure of having a window seat next to Eric Webster. Everyone was giving their 2-cents about how they were going to sleep at a certain time, stay awake for so long, so by the time we arrived in Johannesburg they would be adjusted to the 6-hour time change. My decision was to just go with the flow and I would adjust when I got there.

In the mean time, Eric and I had a conversation about expecting to see God work in Sesheke and what we were expecting out of this trip. I honestly had no clue what to expect, but I prayed that God would speak to my heart, change my heart, and use me for His glory! I also prayed that God would send people in droves to the service under the big tree at the Baptist Mission's house later during the week, and that His presence would be seen and felt by all. I know that God can do more than I ask or imagine, so please do it Lord!

The pilot soon came over the intercom with his "radio voice" and informed us of our dinner choices. With his Jamaican accent he told us, "Your dinner choices for tonight will be beef, potatoes, and veggie-tables or chicken, rice, and veggie-tables." Apparently where he is from veggies come on a table, so that is how he pronounced vegetables. We all gave our smart comments after he finished his spill, then out came our dinner.

After dinner I watched a movie and tried to get a little shut-eye, but I have no clue how much I actually slept. After 8 hours in the air, we landed in Dakar to refuel, but we were not allowed to get off the plane. For 8 hours I never once left my seat, so when I tried to stand up I had NO BLOOD in my legs because it had all lodged in my feet. I didn't realize it until I was standing up and I could not feel my legs! My choice was to either sit down in my seat quickly or fall in the aisle. I chose to sit and do some leg pumps, then I got up to stretch.

We finally launched our plane from the Dakar runway and flew another 8 hours till we arrived safely in Johannesburg, South Africa, or Jo-burg as some people call it. We arrived around 5:30 pm Jo-burg time, which is 11:30 am Georgia time. Baggage claim was our next destination, then we took a van to the hotel where we were staying the night. It took us a little while to check in at the hotel, but once we did we cleaned up and ate dinner at "Tribes" around 7:30 pm. On the menu was steak, chicken, kudu, impala, warthog, ostrich, and several other familiar and foreign meats. I tried them all, but my favorite was warthog! I never thought I would be one to branch out to try crazy meats, but it would not be the last chance to eat something crazy in Africa.

After dinner, we went to Ty & Richard's room for devotion, which Eric shared with us...

He asked us, "Why are we here? Are we prepared? What are we prepared for? Satan doesn't want us in Sesheke, but God is with us! We have divine appointments waiting for us in Sesheke (and, boy, did we!). God is going to hold the Devil and his demons back and let us work. We each have a reason for being on this trip."

Eric finished with Ephesians 6, the Armor of God, and encouraged us to be prepared and know that God is with us!