fitting in

My six year old son asked me and his mother to watch The Incredibles move with him this morning. We have a ton of things to do today but I thought, “what the heck…they can wait,” so I popped the movie in and we watched it together. As I started watching the story line caught my attention right off the bat. These superheroes that each had their own unique trait or superpower were forced by society to “fit in”. So the movie is about this family with these unique characteristics trying to live a normal life like everybody else and the struggles the dad has with it. As I watched the movie I thought about how our society does this to us as Christians. We are unique. We have superpower inside of us—the Holy Spirit. He works through each of us in different ways. He takes our strengths and our talents which make us unique and He uses them to bring glory to God. And on a daily basis we have the outside world trying to beat us up and demand that we hide our identity, who we really are. We are like superheroes taking on the villains—Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
At the end of the movie the Incredibles are forced to come back as superheroes and society is happy to see them again because they had to defeat a evil robot that was destroying the city! The Incredibles are excited about being able to be who they really are without having to hide their identity anymore. Let me encourage you to be who you really are…a child of God filled with His Holy Spirit. Romans 8:14-16 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God… Do not allow society to beat you down, discourage, or keep you from being who you are...Christians, a child of God, filled with His Holy Spirit!

very tired

What a week! We decided to rent a U-haul Tuesday and move all of our stuff to Rockwood. Whew! We stayed up past midnight loading and got up again the next day at 6am to continue the work. After we got the truck loaded, the car loaded, and a 6 x 12 trailer loaded, we had to clean the house. We finally got on the road around 6:30pm. One thing about traveling from West Tennessee to East Tennessee is that you lose an hour because of the time zone. So actually, we got on the road at 7:30pm. Did you know U-haul’s can only go about 35-55 mph up a hill when it’s fully loaded? It all depends on the grade of the hill but there is definitely no getting in a hurry! There’s no worry about speeding tickets for sure. We arrived at our destination around 3am. We still had to get up the next day and unload all of this stuff. And we did. God blessed us with a storage place not far from the house we are buying. So at midnight we got everything done and headed for the place we will be staying at until our house closes. Thanks James and Angie! Thanks also to Kevin and Lefty for helping us unload our life belongings! We are excited about our new work. We are excited for the things God will do for this community through us. But for today, if at all possible, I just want to take a break and relax. Is that possible? I need some rest… Randy

I can do (endure) all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

yard sales

I am setting on my front porch at 6:30 in the morning having a yard sale. I've been out here since 5:30 and we have actually had one customer. We did OK yesterday making about $25 but today is going to be even better. Why do people have yard sales? Think about it. Is it to make some money? Of course...it is better to make a little money off your stuff instead of tossing it all away or donating it. After all, you may bring joy to someone! You know what they say, "Another man's junk is another man's treasure!" Here is my idea of a yard sale. A yard sale is a turning away from the past and looking toward the future. Let me explain. I was moving some shoes that my boys used to wear when they were toddlers. They are now nine and six and can no longer wear them. It brought back some old memories of them being that little. That is in the past. Now we are selling the past to buy some things for the future such as a new PS2 game or a new soccer ball.

It reminds me of the passage in Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul is speaking to the church at Phillipi and he is reminded of his past, of what he used to be. He has an awesome resume...except that persecuting Christians thing. He says that all of his accomplishments were trash compared to knowing Jesus and striving to be like Him. Paul says that he wants to know Jesus better, to know His power and then he says the above passage. I have done a lot of good and bad things in my past. I have made some good and bad decisions. I believe we can all say that. But today, this yard sale is more than making money, it's about turning from the past and looking to a bright, wonderful future serving my Lord and Savior in a place where I wanted to be since I was a kid-East Tennessee. As the old song goes, "I don't know about tomorrow...but I know who holds tomorrow and who holds my hand." Randy

Moving...

Let the fun begin! Last Wednesday we loaded up the family and traveled to East TN where we begin our new work as Youth Ministers at First Christian Church in Harriman. We have been staying in a hotel for nearly a week...did I mention we have 3 children? Talk about fun! We looked at over 30 houses while there and made an offer on one. Please pray that we get this house. It's a foreclosure and we would be getting a great deal and rent would be too expensive for us right now. And also pray for our house to sell here in Union City. We have seriously sought God out on this move. We have had several churches that offered more money, one even had a free home to live in, for us to work with but we didn't have peace about those churches. From the time Kim and I dated our hearts have always been in East Tn. Our blessing has arrived and it's time to go. Lord willing, we will put our roots down here. We are excited about the work and anxious to get started. I don't mean to sound selfish today but please pray for us as we make this move. We are packing, selling a house, buying a house, and starting a new job. As I said at the beginning..."Let the fun begin!"

Psalm 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.

Psalm 118:14 The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.