Stop and Check Your Progress

I have to work today but i had a thought come to me while we were installing an anteanna for a wireless network in one of our buildings. The guy helping me was drilling some holes into the concrete to mount the pole to the building. After he drilled the holes he was going to put a special bolt into the hole that would grab a hold to the contrete and allow us to bolt the pole down.

But as he was drilling the hole he would drill for a few minutes and then stop, hold his finger on the spot on the drill bit, then pull the drill bit out. He could then measure to see if the drill bit had gone far enough into the concrete for the bolt to fit all the way in. It was hard to drill into the concrete and went rather slow for each hole. But everytime he would stop and check his progress he was making sure he didn’t go to far.

When we live for God and we begin to work for him sometimes we wonder if we are getting anywhere and it seems that nothing is happening. Then sometimes we just quit and give up. But this encouraged me to try something. When I begin to do something for God, anything, I want to make some kind of mark when I start. Something I can go back to for reference later on to check my progress. If I am gonna accomplish anything for God I gotta start the work, be consistent, stop and check my progress every once in a while, stop and rest when I get tired, and remember part of the reason I an checking my progress is to make sure I don’t go to far with what I am doing.

We can over do something just as much as we can under do it. So I want to keep these things in mind and just stop every once in a while and check my progress.

Hammer Time

Last night we went to a joint youth service with another church and had an awesome youth service. There was a young man that brought some things he thought where holding him back in his walk with God. He brought a couple of vcr tapes and some music cd’s. The youth pastor had started this after preaching a message about getting rid of things in your life that hinder your walk with God. He got a hammer and let the young man destroy the vcr tapes and cd’s during the service. It was a truly amazing experience to see this young man go to such lengths to live for God. God blessed and poured out his spirit in the service. What an awesome sight to see.

Homesick

A few years ago the job I had required me to travel to Austin Tx several times a year. Each trip I had to fly down and stay for the whole week. This was hard for me and my family so I always looked forward to the trip home.

One trip I remember in particular because of the flight home. I was already nervous on this flight because of the weather and when we were landing it was very foggy. Usually you could see the lights of Amarillo long before you landed. This time you could not see anything. As we began to descend and come in for a landing you still could not see anything and just before we landed we cleared the fog and could see the runway and lights. What an amazing landing. I do not know how the pilot performed this blind landing but he did it without flaw.

I was so glad to see the lights of home, the airport, and all the familiar surroundings. But not nearly as glad as I was when I stepped out of the airplane and began to look for my family. I was glad to see everything but when I seen my family I was the happiest person alive at that moment.

Yes on that flight I was looking to see the lights of home. I was looking to see that familiar airport and runway. Yes I was looking to step off of that plane and know my way around the airport. But the most important thing I wanted to see was my wife and kids.

It seems as though my life is merely an extended visit to a place that is not really my home. Just a place where I have to be for a short period of time. One day the time will arrive and it will be time to board the flight home. At my home the gate is made of pearls, the walls of my home are beautiful jasper, and the street leading up to my house is made of pure gold. Oh, it is a beautiful place and I can’t wait to get there. But not to see all these things, there is only one person I want to see and that is Jesus.

So a few more days here but soon the time will come the flight will leave and I will be ready to head home.

There is an old song that says: “All the gold you could put there won’t make it heaven for me… It’s Jesus that I want to see”

Spiritual Dehydration

Here lately the air has been so dry and everyone I know has had severe dry skin, myself included. I was thinking about dehydration and started reading about it trying to learn more about it. That is when the thought occured to me that we can become spiritually dehydrated. The bible refers to the Spirit of God as the rivers of living water. If we do not drink plenty of water we can become dehydrated and then we begin to experience the symptoms of dehydration. I found it very interesting from a spiritual point of view when I read about the symptoms of dehydration.

Here are a few of them I found. Think of these from a spiritual perspective instead of the natural perspective:

Increased thirst
Dry mouth and swollen tongue
Weakness
Dizziness
Palpitations (feeling that the heart is jumping or pounding)
Confusion
Sluggishness, even fainting
Inability to sweat

If you begin to feel these things in your spiritual walk with God you may be dehydrated. The only way to cure dehydration is to drink plenty of water. God’s word tells us to draw water from the wells of salvation with joy.

Do you need a spiritaul drink to refresh you. When I was reading I found it interesting that water is the best thing to drink for your body. Coke, Pepsi, or anything else does not do what water will do for your body. Sometimes we want to drink alot of different stuff in life but there is only one thing that will cure you of spiritual dehydration and that is the Spirit of God.

Welcome

This is my place to post thoughts I have that I want to remember. I will post thoughts here as a place to store them and maybe they will help or encourage someone else as life goes on.