The Grandma Scam!!

Grandma Francis was the recipient of a ridiculous phone scam from a man claiming to be my brother Ryan.

Ryan Fishing in Canada

The phone call went something like this..

Caller: “Hey grandma this is your grandson.”

Grandma: “Oh really which one? You sound like Ryan.”

Caller: “Yah this is Ryan, I’m up fishing in Canada…”

The caller claiming to be my brother went on to tell grandma that he and his friends were up fishing in Canada and they had caught some fish that were out of season, so the police had fined them $300 dollars. He then told her he didn’t have the money to pay it and asked if she would send him the money.

At this point grandpa got on the phone and started asking the guy questions. Somewhere in questioning process the guy hung up, his scam had been foiled because he couldn’t answer the questions and my grandparents figured out that he wasn’t really my brother Ryan.

It was really funny when grandma told us the story, Ryan had this funny half confused, half amused look on his face, and everyone thought that it was the most ridiculous scam they had ever heard. My dad then told us that a few days later grandpa called at 6am, and asked if Ryan was up fishing in Canada. I can just imagine my dad fresh out of bed at 6am still trying to wake up and getting a call out of the blue from my grandpa asking if Ryan was on a fishing trip in Canada.. Haha ahhh, fun times up in Michigan.

Trials

Trials are never a fun experience but, we serve a great and loving God who has a good reason for trials.

God has been teaching me about trials recently, much of it has come from the teaching of Pastor James Macdonald, Rick Holland, and John Piper. Before I write what I have learned I want to give these men credit because most of this information is not from me, but from their teachings.

Purpose in Trials..

Psalm 23:3 says “He leads me in paths of righteousness”

Literally Paths of Righteousness are right paths, paths that lead to peace, joy, and blessing.

Psalm 16:11 says the paths of a good man are ordered by the lord.
A loving sovereign God leads us into difficult paths, because he is trying to produce something in our lives.  The hard circumstances are the paths of righteousness, this in when God is closest, and when he grows us.

God’s Love..

God by his very nature is love, here’s how James Macdonald explain’s God’s love.

God’s love is a protecting love, but it’s not a preventing love.
God has a higher purpose than your pleasure or lack of pain, in the next few minutes, weeks, or months.

3 Reasons why God allows pain.

1. He allows pain to humble us.
2. He allows pain to refine us, to be more like him.
3. He allows pain to restore us.

God’s Love is a perfecting love, its not a pampering love.

“You are under construction my friend and God is working on you. There will be hard times and difficult times but you can trust Him. Nothing comes into your life but that He chooses to allow it. Nothing comes into you life but that He is committed to using it for your good. His eyes are upon you, you are never far from his thoughts. He counts the hairs on your head, He saves your tears in a bottle, He loves you with an everlasting love. But let His love be what it really is! Its a perfecting love.. I Choose God’s love.”
~ James Macdonald

Lord and Savior..

Not only does God have a purpose for trials, and love us, but he is our Savior and Lord. Too often in trials we view God as a cosmic fix it.

Rick Holland has said this about trials. “What we do with God in the middle of our most severe trials may be the angle setting precipice of our lives. Everything flows from what we do with God, what we think of God, where our theology goes and comes in the middle of a difficult trial.”

The main point here is that we should NEVER view God as our fix it man. In first Samuel we see Hannah, who really desired a child. She even prayed desperately to God. But during her trial she never viewed Him as a fix it, this is proved by the fact that after she received a child, she went and praised God. Thus Hannah loved and trusted God, MORE than her desire for a child. Otherwise she would have forgotten God after receiving the child, and spent her time marveling and praising the child.

Three views of God that provide perspective in difficulty

1. God is savior. 1 Samuel 2:1-2
2. God is sovereign. 1 Samuel 2:3-9
3. God is Judge. 1 Samuel 2:10

Conclusion..

Through some difficult times in my own life recently, God has graciously blessed me. While I have not necessarily seen God’s reason for the trial, I have grown so much through it. James Macdonald has a definition of faith that I really like. He defines faith like this “Faith is believing the word of God and acting upon it, no matter how I feel because God promises a good result.”

Blessings,

Jeremy

Blogosphere Here I come!

I’ve done it, I’ve decided to create a blog.

I used to consider it silly to have a blog, because I thought no one would ever read it. Which goes to show my only motivation was for popularity sake, to get praise from men.

Now that it no longer matters to me who, or if anyone reads this, here are my reasons to create this blog.

Why I created this blog..

1. …To share God’s teaching

I hope to be able to share on this blog what God is teaching me so that I can be an encouragement to others.

2. …To Journal my life

I’ve never been very disciplined with a journal, but blogging is a great outlet to record major life events, and to share with extended family what is going on in my life.

3. …To Share my music and ministry

I serve in the Church my leading worship, and a blog is a great way to share with my church new songs I am learning and the story behind the songs. I can also write down new music I am writing, and the experience which led to the song.

Conclusion

Having a blog will be a fun experience and I hope to be faithful to continue to post to it. I also found a great resource at John Pipers website called 6 Reasons Pastors Should Blog which gives great reasons to have a blog.