I'm exhausted!!

I don’t know about you but I feel exhausted.  I overheard some folks say it was Spring Break but I missed the ‘break’ part and my dash thermometer this morning said 39 degrees!!  

Actually, I got some time off last week for the break and even went camping with the fam.  But since Matt stole that for his post I’ll just direct you there for the fun camping story and move on to why I’m so tired. 

I actually looked up the word while writing this… “Exhausted: Drained of one’s physical or mental resources; very tired; completely used up.”  Did you catch it?  ‘Drained of one’s physical or mental resources.’  That’s me in a nutshell this week.  I’m drained, tired, used up… EXHAUSTED!!   But it’s not because I worked over the break, spent time with my family or even because I haven’t slept well lately.  I’m shattered over our country!!  Before you re-post this (or flag me) for politicizing some stance, you might want to read the rest.  I’m sad for the people… all of us!! 

I’m really not even talking about gun rights, gay rights or even horse rights (which I saw a post about yesterday, right in the middle of the equal rights debate on Facebook).  What’s frightening is that there were more than a half dozen articles this week covering events going on that challenge religious freedom, conservative morality and mock virtue.  Currently I’m in dialogue with several self proclaimed atheists that want to discuss (enemies argue friends discuss) everything from pro-life to the stupidity of believing a religious system that was “made up by rich rulers to control the poor” (or the “fallacy of an inerrant Bible”).  Top that off with a new generation (teens & young adults) that is “fleeing” the church.  All this adds up to make for an exhausted Family Pastor of High School!!

So what’s the good news?  

You mean you don’t know?  

We are actually celebrating just that, this Sunday (join us)!!  

But just in case, let me break it down for you simply:

1) God is very much in love with you (EVERYONE)!! Zephaniah 3:17

2) God was so in love, He sent His son!! John 3:16

3) His Son: Jesus, died, was buried, and rose again!! 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

4) All who humble themselves by committing 100% devotion to Him, will be saved!! Galatians 2:20

A friend of mine one time was on a vacation and while sitting out one down reading his Bible a lady walked by and said: “We win”.  My friend said, “Excuse me”.  The lady turned around and said: “The Bible, those that put their trust in Him win”.

Brothers and Sisters… We Win!! 

Join me TODAY in spreading the victory in love (let God sort out the rest)!!   

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.

My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.

God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.  We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.

If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.

1 John 4:7-21

May this truth calm your spirit, like it did mine... May our families get the best of us because we believe that He is coming again... May our neighbors flock to our friendship because of the love we share... And may our kids be led by our example!!