Sundays are always crazy busy and Sundays are always good!  This Sunday was crazy good!  God showed up and communicated His presence in a very real and powerful way all throughout the day!

-Great Breakfast provided for everyone by the “Doing Life Together Class opened the door for some great fellowship to be shared between people in different classesand got the morning off to a good start!

-We Began our time of worship by celebrating the new spiritual lives of three that were baptized.  It was great seeing a young adult man who is excited about what he can do and be for God!  It was a blessing to see a young adult Mom set the example for her children and watching a fellow minister get to baptize his Grandson was priceless!

-Our Worship was a little different and very sweet.  It really made me thankful for all of the different talents and skills that God has given to so many to use for His glory through the worship ministry of Northwood!

-The message was plain and simple truth with potential of powerful impact, if we allow ourselves to get it and do what needs to be done about it!

-Seeing two more accept Christ and want to follow God in baptism was an exciting ending to a moving time of worship in our first service!

-The Sprit was really free and moving in our second service and we had a number of new, excited and eager faces.  Faces that have become very familiar through the ministry of Grace Place.  At the end of the service almost everyone was down front on their knees before God and two more Christ followers decided to follow Christ through baptism with a desire to join and serve God through His Church.  Two more, a husband and wife, expecting a baby also came forward acknowledging that they had accepted Jesus as their Savior and wanting to be baptized and join the church right after the baby is born.

-I Forgot to mention that there were also two young men that came through Grace Place this past week that prayed and invited Jesus into their heart and life as well!  That’s a total of 8 new spiritual relationships, plus the three that were baptized today = which equals 11 new souls stepping out of darkness and death into light and life!

-Tonight was great – super LIFE Classes all the way around and if you wonder why the Devil is attacking this week, it is because we are doing something right!  I am tired and ready for bed, but I am not sure I will be able to sleep.  Hard to shut down my mind, when my heart is going 500 miles an hour!

Thanks for being a part of God’s vision and for sharing in the miracles of His awesome plans.  May our lives lived for His glory continue to bless and make a difference!

Yesterday afternoon, I finally found a few moments and was able to ride down to spend a little time at my Grandparents old home place.  I have been working on it for a few months trying to get it livable and actually was able to spend the night last night.  As I was working in the house and walking around outside, it occurred to me that there is not a room, space or place where there is not a memory that is precious to me.

In the kitchen is a little bar where my Pa and I would sit after Sunday lunch and talk about life while we shared a Pepsi Cola.  I remember he would always smoke one cigarette and I would eat a spoon full of peanut butter!

I remember sitting on the front porch on most evenings, shelling peas, butter beans or cutting okra, while listening to the Atlanta Braves on the radio and watching the cars pass by.

When I walk through the fields, I think of what we used to plant.  I remember pulling turnips and my Pa cutting the baby ones and eating them raw!  I remember the corn – growing tall on one end and short on the other, because it did not get as much sun.  I remember my first lesson on growing tomatoes.

My mind has been flooded over the past 24 hours with very special memories.  Memories are a very special gift and should be appreciated.  I think one of the best ways to appreciate a memory is by spending a little time with it.  My most special memories are of moments that were shared with someone else.

I was thinking – right now, this very moment is a potential memory.  I get to decide if it is going to be something special or not.  God blesses us with time and with the time gives us the ability to create memories.  Memories are gifts that will keep giving as long as we have them, so take some time today to create at least one good memory.  And it would not be to bad of an idea to take some time today to dust off and enjoy an old memory!  If you do it, I bet you will be glad you did!

We often talk about taking the steps to get from “Point A” to “Point B”, but fail to realize that there are sometimes steps to the step.  That’s right just to take a step, requires some steps!  Think about it:  In order to make a step, you have to raise your foot, move your foot and plant your foot!

Many times in the Bible, we will read Scriptures and think about the steps we need to take to get from where we are to where we need to be.  Sometime what we need to be thinking about is not the steps, but the step!  Someone said:  “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a step!”

Hebrews 10:23-25 provides us with the anatomy of a step.  A step that each of us must take if we are going on this amazing journey that our Creator has mapped out for us!  Here is what that Scripture says:  23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.  24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,  25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Notice the anatomy of a step in these verses:  First – we must raise our foot by “Holding unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful!”  HOLD ON TO HOPE!  Second  – we must move our foot by “considering how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds!”  SPUR ON OTHERS TOWARD LOVE AND GOOD DEEDS!  And third – we must plant our foot by “Not neglecting meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but must encourage one another and all the more as we see the day approaching!”  MEET ON AND ENCOURAGE EVERYONE YOU CAN!

Hold on, spur on and meet on – it takes all three to take and make a step.  The beautiful and amazing thing, is once we take this step, we are on our way to an extraordinary journey!  Enjoy the journey and G3 = Give God Glory!