introduction and background

Related hymn: “Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus“

To start, I’m in my early 30s, my wife is in her mid 20s. We don’t go to church nor do we claim any denomination- but that doesn’t mean we are “non-denominational Christians”. We just host and attend bible studies with friends and neighbors throughout the week. I have a great affinity for hymns which also support my biblical-based views on many things. I have no kind of formal theological training, just a sincere love for God’s Word and a desire to get the Truth out and clarify misinterpretations that are so prevalent in “today’s version” of Christianity.

In my short time with the Lord, I have learned many things. To name a very few:

(1) God does everything in the Christian’s life: the only way to do something according to God’s will is to wait for Him to anoint and to get out of the way once it hits so as not to interfere! I’ve blown opportunities and messed up plenty of studies because I put too much thought or rushed into something and didn’t submit fully or wait for the right time. When God uses me, many times I don’t even realize it until I’m in the middle of a situation or afterward in retrospect!

(2) The opposite of love is not hate. It’s selfishness. It’s true! When we love someone we act upon it and for it. Be it with our spouse, our neighbor, our God, our family, etc.; if you truly love someone, it requires action, not just words. When you put your needs or desires above someone else’s, that is not acting in love. To claim to be a Christian and to say one loves Jesus and then to not study His Word, is just lipservice.

(3) The Lord gets all the credit. Everything that will show up in this blog and in my life, I have only learned. I just share what has been shown me by Him. A student is not greater than his teacher. To be honest, I don’t consistently ‘read the bible’ as most people do. Don’t get me wrong: I used to read entire books of the bible, but now I, generally, get an inspiration to look up a word, idea, or scripture at sometime throughout the day (most days). These inspirations usually lead me down a ‘rabbit trail’ that turns into God leading me into a lengthy study. Many times have I been woken up in the night, unable to sleep, with a need to get up and write down a song, look up a verse, or even spend hours learning and yet still able to wake up in the morning without feeling too tired.

All I can do is try to obey my convictions and share what God shows me with others. I don’t ever claim to have any kind of special calling to any particular ministry as many do. I just take in what Christ shows me and reveal it as He calls it out (through evangelism, preaching, teaching, or whatever situation He puts me in… funny enough, that’s what the folks in the early church did too!).

These scriptures are the most meaningful to me and are what I’ve seen to be the sum total of what Christianity is: Proverbs 3:3-7, Micah 6:6-8, and Luke 10:27. Obviously, there are many many more that can be used, but again, these sum “the walk” up fairly well.