Discipleship

...and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:20

I am convinced that discipleship has been a crucial element in my growth and transformation. It is more than just a program or a process; discipleship helped deepen my understanding of God's Word and develop a consistent prayer life. I am so grateful for those in my life growing up who took the time to encourage me in my faith and walk with God.

Discipleship is teaching others how to follow Jesus. We don't have to be great theologians to teach others how to follow. It's in the simple everyday things that we do all day that we can teach those around us how to follow Jesus.

When my grandkids are in the car we always sang songs from Sunday school that I have taught over the years. Their favorite was "Jesus Loves Me" and we always discussed afterward God's love and said the verse together John 3:16. I used my car rides with my kids and grandkids as an opportunity to worship as we sang and learned more about God together!

May we leave behind a generation of men, women, children, and grandchildren who love Christ with all their hearts!

 This is a picture of me with my nephews at Dubois Lagoon in the 1990s ~ we would go there some days from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm having breakfast, lunch, and dinner by the water.

Friendship Making an Eternal Impact

This is a story that my mother (Kay Smith) wrote about how she came to know Christ:

I grew up in a home where neither Mom or Dad or my sister attended church.  My grandmother would come each month and take me to Sunday School.  She later gave me a Bible for my 16th birthday.  I had a neighbor who attended a church nearby and constantly invited me to attend church with her.  I did not pay much attention to her constant invitations but decided one day to tell her that I would go with her if we invited other friends in the neighborhood.  We decided on a Sunday and all of us walked to church with her.  I remember that the first thing that caught my attention was the choir singing and later the congregational singing.  I don’t remember the sermon but we all enjoyed the music and decided to repeat our visit in future Sundays.  

The preacher seemed to emphasize salvation by grace in each service and gave an invitation  to accept Christ and become a Christian.  One Sunday morning in January I realized that I had never taken that step and thought about it all day.  That evening we all returned to the church and I stepped out into the aisle to go forward and make a profession of faith in Christ.  In fact, my friends followed me to the front of the church and we prayed and accepted Christ and were baptized that evening.  

That was in January, 1955.  My life changed spiritually from that day forward and I thank God for a friend who did not give up on inviting me to church.  Thank God for churches that preach the Gospel and reach out to all those who are willing to come and listen.  Thank God for good music in churches which was the first thing that drew my attention and made me want to return.

Psalm 145:16 You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

This picture was taken of my mom and me in Ardales, Spain overlooking the lake in 2022.

Crazy People

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go...Genesis 28:15a 

The Bible is full of crazy people according to the worlds standards. To name just a few, let's look at Noah who was building an ark to prepare for a flood in an area of the world that had never seen rain. Joseph who took care of his family in spite of being sold into slavery by them when he was young. Moses who gave up all the comforts of Egypt to lead the Israeli nation into the wilderness for 40 years. There are so many stories in the Bible about people who looked like losers but died winners.

God has created us to be winners not losers. The one thing all of these "crazy" people have in common is that their natural ability played a minor role in their success, instead it took courage & faith. These individuals had supernatural success. When God is with us, we cannot fail. It does not matter who we are, what we have gone through, or what others think of us; what matters is that God is with us, in us and for us.

Kay Warren writes in her book, Choose Joy: At Saddleback Church, sometimes we repeat this sentence together as a congregation: "I'm broken, but I'm not crazy." You can sense the release  and relief that washes over those gathered as we affirm this truth to one another.  

 A picture I took of one of my grandkids, December 2013.