Patsy and I really enjoyed our recent trip to Arizona to visit our son Michael and his wife Tiara. The weather was fantastic and each of the various landscapes we encountered was breathtaking.

Shortly after driving out of the Phoenix airport the speed limit on the freeway was 75 miles per hour with the traffic moving even faster. Being one who likes to make good time on the freeway I said to Patsy, “These are my people.” Two days later I was singing a different song as I found that many Arizona drivers view traffic lights as merely a suggestion and they love to lay on their horns when even a simple honk isn’t needed. Upon further evaluation, I recognized that my first impression was both ill-informed and premature, as drivers, they are not my people.

First impressions are not always bad or wrong, in fact a time or two they’ve saved my life. However, most of the time it’s better  to partner our first impressions with prayer, taking the time to seek the Lord’s will, allowing Him to clarify what we are seeing, hearing and sensing.

Proverbs 3:5 and 6 tell us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

The road of life can take us on some long and winding trips. Isn’t it good to know that as we trust in the Lord He will show us the way. He will lead and guide us as we seek Him through prayer and study. He will keep us from acting on our first impressions alone. He will keep us from making ill-informed decisions and He will lead us to the road that will take us where He has planned for us to go.

Trust in the Lord. Seek His way. Follow Him. Those steps will always protect us from making premature decisions based on first impressions alone and will take us where we are supposed to go and in the way we are supposed to get there.

                                              Thankful to Follow,

                                                     Mark

Recently I had a small tech device that I needed to destroy so I grabbed my small sledge hammer and started hitting it. The first couple of times that I hit it I couldn’t believe that the device wasn’t destroyed, but instead the hammer just bounced off without causing any real damage. I thought to myself, that is one tough device. After several more hits I finally realized that I had grabbed my rubber mallet instead of my small sledge hammer, they have the same size handle and hammer head, but deliver a vastly different wallop. Recognizing my mistake I changed hammers and quickly completed my task.

That experience got me to wondering how many times I’ve grabbed the wrong tool to do the work of God’s kingdom, like:

Grabbing action without thought instead of waiting and seeking God’s will in prayer.

Grabbing worry or fear instead of faith.

Grabbing frustration and irritation instead of love and grace.

Grabbing the first words that come to mind rather than considering the impact of what I say.

Grabbing words that hurt rather words that build up.

Grabbing presumption rather than knowledge.

Grabbing impatience rather than patience.

Grabbing anger instead of joy.

Grabbing conflict and strife instead of peace.

When it comes to the work of God’s kingdom grabbing the right tool the first time really does make a difference, which is why this Sunday, October 5, we’ll begin a series in worship on the Fruit of the Spirit.

I hope you will make it a priority to join us and to allow God to continue developing His character in you so you have all of the right tools to do His work.

                                        God’s Grace and Peace,

                                                    Mark

I want to thank everyone who contributed to our school supply drive for students at Howard Elementary this year. The quantity and quality of the supplies was a great blessing to the staff and they are looking forward to meeting the needs of a variety of kids and their families through our gifts.

Howard has a new principal this year, Javier del Rio, and after the delivery of the supplies we collected he called to thank us for such a wonderful, unsolicited gift of support. As we talked, Mr. del Rio shared with me some of the dreams he has for both the school and the neighborhood that we share, dreams to impact and change lives by bringing a variety of resources together.

We will keep everyone alerted to future opportunities we have to bless and minister to the kids and families in our neighborhood and through Howard Elementary, but one thing we can all do on a regular basis is to pray. Some things we can pray for include:

  For the protection of the students and staff at school;

  For there to be peace and peaceful solutions for all issues and disagreements;

  For the students to be able to learn and master the new knowledge and skills they need;

  For patience and wisdom for the teachers and staff;

  For God’s work in the lives of every family;

  For God to provide for and work in a powerful way through Good News Club;

  For the needed volunteers for the SMART program and Good News Club.

One of my dreams is for Howard Elementary to be one of the most prayed for schools in the nation and I hope that you will join me and others in praying for the students and staff there.

                                           God’s Grace and Peace,

                                                          Mark

I recently opened my email and found a message in my inbox carrying the name of an old co-worker and friend who passed away last year. Pat was my field training officer when I was a Parole and Probation Officer and my initial hope was that it might be something from his wife, perhaps some kind of last message that Pat wanted to send out to his friends, but in my heart I knew it was really just some unscrupulous person using his name and contacts to go phishing. I didn’t open the attachment and deleted the email, but I was left feeling a little disappointed that it wasn’t a real message.

That experience got me to thinking about how incredible it is that God has given us His word, His message to us. Through His word God shares His love with us; He imparts His truth and wisdom to us; He challenges our suppositions; He stretches us to grow in our faith; He comforts our hurts; and He gives us His guidance and reveals the path He would have us to follow.

II Timothy 3:16 and 17 put it like this:

“All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

For God’s word to have this kind of power and impact in our lives we must accept that it is from Him, we must take time to study what God has said to us and to meditate upon what He wants that truth to do in our lives. We must be willing to spend time listening to the Holy Spirit as He teaches us and leads us. And we must avoid using God’s word to prove our point to others, but instead allow God to prove His point to us. To do this we must approach God’s word with humility and reverential fear. Every time we open and read it we must be open to God speaking, challenging, training, correcting, leading and encouraging us.

As you spend time reading God’s message to you, soak in His truth, meditate on what it means and allow the Holy Spirit to work the power of His word in you.

                                          God’s Grace and Peace,

                                                           Mark