Renae and I were on our way to Chino Hills to get her allergy shots (usually a 25 minute drive).  We hadn't been on the free all that long today before we came across the the first accident we saw, a truck was flipped upside down on the other side of the freeway.  Our side of the freeway was crawling at 5 mph as we approached the accident, and once we passed it it increase to between 10-20 mph.  We continued at that pass for another 25 or so minutes before we were passed most of the traffic and were going almost to the speed limit. (Oh and that whole time we were in the carpool lane).  Once we made it up to the place to get her shots we decided we didn't want to jump back on the freeway to sit in the opposite traffic (which was worse), so we went and walked around Target.  After that we left and got back on the freeway hoping the traffic was gone.  We'll the flipped over truck was, but there were two other accidents - a downed motorcycle in the carpool lane and another accident off to the shoulder. That is when I thought to myself how thankful I am for God's protection.

I have as of this month had my lisence for 5 years. I worked for Enterprise Rent-a-Car for over 2 years where my main responsiblity was transporting cars, I have had my share of close calls, but thankful to not have a single accident.  That was until 11 months ago yesterday when I got cut off and a van scraped my front fender and then took off.  The hit and run incident was not my fault so it doesn't count for anything.  So in five years I have not had a single ticket or at fault accident, so I think it is worth my time to thank God right now for his safety and protection.

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Hold Nothing Back

i sat there and considered many things that i could thank God for -- my wife, my job, family, His' provision, friends, bethel, etc.

but i didn't thanking him wasn't really what we were being asked to do, we were being ask what about God caused me to praise Him...

it has taken me some time but i praise God because He forgave me, when i deserved it the least.  one of my first posts talks of my salvation.  in early 2006, i had been living with sin knowing that something wasn't right in my relationship with Christ, i didn't have one.  i had been living a lie for 14 years pretending to be a Christian.  i won't go into all of it because to can read all about it in my other post.

God's mercy is the foremost reason for me to priase Him, recieving salvation when i had no reason to deserve it.

Later Pastor Thomas finished the evening with the reading of Psalm 103:1-5 and a song...

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:  Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

that was an amazing passage and  the song was based on the passage.

so God, i praise You. thank you for Your mercy, i am so undeserving of heaven, i should have been given death and You have given me life.  may i never forget where You brought me from; may i never cease to praise your name.  Lord, i still struggle with sin and often grieve You. may Your Spirit bring conviction to my heart, and keep me in Your righteous ways. i praise you Lord, because You are God, because You are almighty, because You are merciful.

forgiveness is one thing everyone likes to receive but never likes to give. what is it about humans that we feel like we have to be forgiven because we deserve forgiveness; but when we have been wronged by someone else and they come to us and repent, we have the audacity to with hold forgiveness from them. or worse we act as if what the other party did was not a big deal and therefore act indifferent about the repentance being ask. do we not remember how made we were at them when they offended us?

i tend to be indifferent about forgiveness, i think well since you are asking for forgiveness it is my Christian duty to accept your repentance and offer forgiveness. but that is not the right motive for i should not just forgive because some one asks and it's my "duty."  i must forgive because i can do nothing less.

God is the ultimate example of forgiveness.  He sent His Son to an undeserving world, to offer forgiveness to humanity. what is it about humanity that was so worth saving? nothing there is no good thing that dwells in our flesh. but God sent Christ to fulfill His promise of redemption, and offer forgiveness to us.

now i am a recipient of the forgiveness offered by Christ and i won't forgive another person who made me upset, or whatever... there is a disconnect... we think we deserve something more... justice... if God gave us justice i'd be in hell today.  but God tends to mercy.  a teacher of mine in college said that mercy is "not receiving something that we do deserve." so we all deserve hell but God's mercy keeps us from hell even though we deserve it.  the when we think about the verse "His mercies are new every morning..." doesn't that give us more hope. His mercy will never run out if each day He renews them.

so back to me... why can i not offer forgiveness. it is because we do not understand the true weight of forgiveness.  as Christians we are to be like Christ, Christ forgives, therefore Christians are to forgive. i am a Christian, therefore i must forgive like Christ forgave.  that's a tall order, but Christ forgave all sin with his sacrifice on the cross.  so if someone sins against me, it's a sin Christ forgave so i must also forgive it as well.

the forgiveness cannot be self centered, it must be Christ centered. the purpose of forgiveness then becomes about restoring people to a right relationship with Christ and repairing the relationship damaged between me and the other person. indifference does not care about restoration. love and mercy based forgiveness cares that relationship are restored and built up. nothing less.

so hold nothing back, give forgiveness, restore relationships to Christ, restore relationships with those who have offended you. and to those i have offended i apologize. i desire a proper relation with you, to others who i offered indifferent forgiveness, i would like to tell you Christ has forgiven you so i can do nothing less than forgive you and pray that our relationship will grow and we will become more mature in Christ together. i still have a lot of growing to do but here is a step i need to be working on and i wanted to share it with you.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.unlinkedmedia.com/ssp/singlealbum3.swf" height="400" width="550" /]

Also there is other exciting news. God is providing so many things for Renae and I.  I went apartment hunting the yesterday and found a really nice complex close to Bethel with a lot of the things for which we are looking. I picked up an application and began to fill it out. Maybe it will be the apartment the Lord has for us.  I started work down and Bethel and have really been enjoying it. God is so amazing in how He provides things for us just when we need them, and so many times we just overlook His blessings.  May we never forget how good God is to us.

hold nothing back...

[audio:President.mp3]

I attended a Christian School in San Francisco from Kindergarten until I graduated from High School. I really did not have much of a choice in where I went to school since both of my parents were teachers.

It was an easy environment to grow up in. Very sheltered very protected. For that I am thankful. However as a Junior, I found a way to leave the sheltered life when I was by myself and got involved in some sin. I did not think it effected me very much at the start. After all it was enjoyable! But soon I realized what it was doing to me, how it began to effect my mind. I was Addicted! I would try to stop time and time again; I could not. All this time nobody knew of my addiction. Doubts about Christianity plagued me during this time. Partly because I knew I was not supposed to be doing what I was doing. But I was feeling guilt hoping that I would not get caught, when as a Christian I should have felt a sincere desire to stop and do what was right. These doubts would sometimes even keep me awake at night, but even then nobody knew.

After I graduated from High School I started to attend a Bible College in Southern California. School had it ups and it downs. I found a girlfriend and fell in love! about a year into dating she was reading a book that she had purchased at a bookstore about a topic that was somewhat related to the addiction of mine. I felt so guilty as she expressed her views, I had to tell her. I thank God that the relationship we had was strong enough to withstand this blow. She immediately encouraged me to do what was right. It was not easy at all. I was still addicted.

2007 rolled around. It seemed like every chapel service I sat in at school was being preached right at me. Soon messages at church, where I volunteer in the tech ministry, seemed to be preached right a me, but not for the addiction that I had, at something totally different. For several weeks at the beginning of the year the thought of me not having received salvation bothered me greatly. What would people think? I had been lying to everyone for years now. I had been fake. Finally I was driving home from an evening church service, and was having an argument with God. I wanted him to be real in my life; I wanted to have the personal relationship with him. That night, February 11, 2007, I accepted salvation, I truly believed that it was Jesus who alone could save and there was nothing I could do but ask him to save me. He did! Joy has filled my life! I desire to do the right things and to daily spend time with God in a personal relationship through my prayer and Bible reading.This is my story. Maybe you have some questions. Read my "God's Plan" post. Feel free to post a response I would love to show you too how to receive Jesus gift of salvation.