A Great Leader

I am so blessed to be in a church with a Great Leader.  Matt Johnson is the lead pastor at LCC in Lancaster, OH where my wife and I attend.  We have gone through some changes at the church and are now on a new journey and the future looks bright!

I am so glad to finally be in a church where I get fed every week and also am challenged to live my life in a better way. The teachings are all scripture backed and there is no dancing around the issue.  Because everything is backed by scripture I feel that you can be straight forward and honest with current issues but still bring it across in a proper manner and Matt does that ever Sunday. We don't like to miss a Sunday but when we do it's normally because we are up north visiting the in-laws. Even though we have a great time we wish we were at LCC on Sundays.  My father-in-law has never really done the church thing and for some of his reasons I don't blame him.  He loves going on Sundays when they come to visit.  I think that speaks greatly to Matt and his transparent and relevant teachings.  He always says after a Sunday "I wish we lived closer".   I am blessed to have a church where you are not shy about asking people to come to church with you and check things out.  You know that every Sunday will be a quality service with relevant teachings.

I have also been blessed to take over one of the worship leader positions and also help my wonderful wife who leads the Junior High class every other month. I know it blesses her to be able to teach because that is her calling in life. She has that passion and I get to see it every day.  Leading worship is such an honor. To lead people into a atmosphere of worship is like nothing else.  To see how the Holy Spirit is working through people blesses me every Sunday.  I see people starting to open up and let the worries of the day and the worries of those around them fade away and enter into a spiritual encounter with the Holy Spirit.

Life is good at LCC and because of that my life is blooming with the Hold Spirit. He is guiding me and giving me strength that I could never have had on my own and it all starts with a Great Leader.

Grace and Peace
Ben

Old Memories

Well I am gearing up for a week of bachelorhood!  My wife is leaving tomorrow for a weeks vacation to Tennessee with her Mom, Grandma, and Aunt Beth to visit her cousin Rachel.  I guess its time for the cloths to stay on the floor, the dishes to pile up in the sink and a lot of pizza.  Or not.  I would have thought that it would be easy to go back to your old ways but when you have someone counting on you, it makes things different.  The cooking will not be a problem due to the fact that I do the cooking anyway and plus we are watching what we eat which has been going great by the way.  Down 5.5 lbs from Monday.  It's definitely getting easier but there are still temptations around. The true test is when there is no one in the house with me to keep me accountable.  I think I can, I think I can. 

I am so happy that my wife is getting to go away for a week with her family.  I know its hard for her to be away from her family and I try everything I can to make sure she gets to see her family as much as possible.  The good thing is that I enjoy being around them as well so it's nice for me as well.  I thank her all the time for the sacrifices she has made for us and I know I can never say thank you enough to express how much it means to me.  Also a big thank you to her family for allowing her to move my way.  I know they struggle with the same thing and again I appreciate your flexibility.

Well off to finish my Friday and get into the weekend.  Hopefully some things will get done on the house this week so the wife can come home to some nice changes. 

Grace and Peace
Ben

The Holy Spirit and Marriage

I am in such shock and awe of how much the Holy Spirit has been giving me strength in the past few weeks.  I knew the power that was available and up till now had only tapped into a small portion of it.  After releasing self-control over to Him completely, life just seems to be a bit easier.  I am eating better, exercising, filling my mind with the word and it makes for a much better day.  I have always been a laid back and happy person but this just gives you that extra boost of energy and confidence that was apparently never fully there. 

I pray that if you are having a hard time letting something go due to self control to truly give it over to God and let the Holy Spirit give you the strength that you can't muster on your own. I promise you that a fully submitted heart will produce good fruit and fruit is good for you!!!

It helps have a loving wife that is there to support me through whatever goes on in my life.  She is my encourager and my best friend.  I wish everyone could find a wife that is as supporting and selfless as she is.  There would be a lot less divorce in this country. I don't think the vast majority of America takes the idea of marriage as serious as we should.  Some people just take the lazy way out and get divorced because they don't want to give their part to the marriage. It's 100% and 100% in my book. We have a lot of desires that turn into expectations when we get married and that can be very dangerous.  Sometimes those desires turned expectations are never voiced so the other person never knows what you are expecting.  Open communication is key.  Men please don't get the mentality that your "THE MAN" and the woman must submit to you. Leave your ego behind and help out with things around the house.  Do laundry every once in a while or sweep.  It's the little things that matter to women.  And don't go around saying "well I did this and this and this".  Kinda ruins the whole effort.  I have heard guys say that once you are married for awhile the woman doesn't want to be intimate anymore or its not that often.  My question to you guys is, what are you doing in the relationship?  Is she giving, giving, giving and your taking taking taking?  That doesn't sound very welcoming to me.  I know I have only been married 11 months but to me its a constant effort that has to be made even when you don't want to.  At times I don't want to come home and cook dinner but that's what I do for my wife.  I cook and she cleans.  That is what we have discussed and it works.  That doesn't mean that I should never pick up a broom or dust or do laundry or sweep.  It's the things that we do out of love not expecting anything back that gives us the best return. There will be ups and downs but with a Christ centered marriage and a willingness to put forth an effort, I am looking forward to the next 65+ years!!

Well this started out as a Holy Spirit Blog and Turned into my take on marriage.  I had to go and change my title.  I hope this made you think and you can take out of it what you would like.

Grace and Peace
Ben

My life, My wife

I am laying in bed trying to go to sleep so I thought I would post something.

I am laying beside an amazing woman I get to call my wife. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I thank God that He brought us together. It will be a year of marriage for us on April 10th. Best year of my life. She loves me for me and it makes me want to be a better person.

I better wrap things up so the light from my phone doesn't wake her up!!

Grace and Peace
Ben



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At Home

I love relaxing at home with my beautiful wife. Life has been great the past week and a half and I love going through life with her. I never realized how much strength you can gain from letting the Holy Spirit lead your life.

I am eating better and spending more time in the Word!! God is doing great things and I am so excited to see what he has in store for me!!

Grace and Peace
Ben

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Life is Good

The past week of my life has been wonderful.  I have a renewed sense of the Holy Spirit working in my life and I am back on track with a lot of things that I have let slip.  I am trying to constantly be in a state of prayer and give God the glory for all He is doing and will do.  I know at times we try and fit God in when we have time because we thing about prayer as an activity.  Something we have to stop from our daily routine and pray.  In my devotion this morning it talked about prayer and thinking of it less as an activity and more as an awareness of God.  Now don't miss take what I am saying.  You still need that quiet time with God every day, but being in a state of prayer doesn't mean stopping what your doing. It means to be fully aware that God is walking with you and thank Him for all He has done.  I have found that when I am trying to keep myself aware of God presence in my life that issues that arise don't seem to be as drastic because I am not relying on my own strength to get through it. The Holy Spirit gives us that ability to have within us the power to overcome things through Christ. You need to have it well conditioned within you so it can be outwardly used in times of need.  I also think that having that conditioned body filled with the Holy Spirit lets you enjoy the happy times in your life as well because you are able to let go of the issues that are holding you back from, well, the fruit of the spirit.  Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control.

I am blessed the have a lot of Love, Joy and Peace in my life and it truly does help the rest of the fruit to grow.  I have been seeing a great deal of strength in Self Control.  I give all the credit to the Holy Spirit at work in my life right now.  He has empowered me to do things outside of my physical strength and I am so grateful for that. 

I pray that your weekend is filled with good times with friends and family and that you keep an awareness of what God is doing in and through you!!

Grace and Peace
Ben

God Loves You

I hope everyone is well.  Not a long one today but wanted to let you know that God Loves You.

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane
I am a tree
Bending beneath
The weight of his wind and mercy
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these
Afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize how beautiful you are
And how great your afflictions for me

Oh how he loves us so
Oh how he loves us
How he loves us so

We are his portion
And he is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes
If grace is an ocean we're all sinking
So heaven meets earth like a unforseen kiss
And my heart burns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way
He loves us

Grace and Peace
Ben

A New Outlook

Today has been wonderful so far.  I have a new sense of purpose and focus on life.  I am trying to let the Holy Spirit work in and through my life.  I just want to be a good witness to others and have my body as holy of a temple as it can be.  That comes with praying, reading the word, exercise and eating right.  I feel that it's more than just a mental thing as far as the body as a temple goes.  I think a physically health body is a desire from God as well.  I have been lacking on that and I really think that it's tied to my lack of digging into the word.

I am praying for the Holy Spirit to help me in those areas so that I may be a better vessel for Him to work with.

Grace and Peace
Ben

Post Summit

All I can say is I serve an awesome God.  If you didn't get a chance to make it to the Summit I pray you will attend the next one.  It was a spirit filled evening with a lot of people truly seeking the one true God.  I witnessed people worshiping with no reservations and and an outpouring of their hearts to God.  We had several stations set up for prayer, communion, an art station and a prayer wall.  I think it was well needed for everyone! 

I am hoping to carry the energy from the Summit into my everyday life.  I know at times after an event like this we are good for a week or so then we go back to the same routines.  I pray that we can keep that fire going.  I know for me its digging into the word and truly seeking after God with unhindered passion.

I hope you all have a great weekend and light that fire inside you with the Word of God!

Grace and Peace
Ben

Humbled by a Loving God

Sometimes I don't think about it enough...... 

At times I go through life and don't take the time each day to recognize it...........

I am humbled by it......

God so loved us so much that he sent his one and only son to die on a cross for OUR sins. I am so humbled by the fact the God wants to love us after what we have done to him over and over again.  I, as a human, can't imagine someone doing something to me that effected my life in a negative way over and over again and not look at them different.  God has new mercies for us every day.  His love never fails.  He has stayed the same through ages and will continue to.

God, who breathed out stars, knows us by name.  I have been stuck on that concept for awhile.  The star breather, creator of the universe knows me, cares for me and wants whats best for me.  Humbling to say the least.

Take time to be humbled before The King.  Recognize that all things come from Him and he will provide if you put your hope and trust in Him.

I am looking forward to The Summit this weekend to give God all the glory that I can give.  It's nowhere close to what He deserves but I want to give Him my all.

Grace and Peace
Ben

The Summit - Brokenness:The Pathway to Worship

Alright enough time off.  Back to the blogging.

I had a great weekend with leading worship to celebrating my wife's birthday with my family to relaxing at home.  I have a very blessed life and give all the glory back to God.  He is the one who has made all things possible and opened doors for me when He knew I was ready.  I hope everyone has been well since I last blogged.

One think I am very excited about at my church LCC (Lancaster Community Church) is The Summit- Brokenness: The Pathway to Worship.  It's going to be an evening of worship.  Worship through music, art, scripture readings just to name a few will be on the agenda for the evening.  Sometimes we focus to much on the aspect of worship through music that we forget that worship can take all forms.  We are looking forward to have all of the worship leaders leading music together for the evening and a variety of worship stations that you can participate in however you feel moved.

It's going the be Sunday March 6th @ 6 p.m.

LCC is located at
230 N. Columbus St
Lancaster, OH  43130

http://yourlcc.org/2011/02/the-summit/


Even if you don't attend LCC it will be a Spirit filled evening and I hope you all can attend.

Grace and Peace
Ben