Endings...

So summer is officially over and School is about to begin... again. As summer has come and gone I pray that each of us will take a moment to reflect on the principles learned, take joy in the friendships that were made, and remember all of the late night conversations that were "seasoned with salt". Here are mine:

Principles Learned
-God's calling the shots whether you think you are or not, so just accept it.
-Everyone has a story to tell and wants to tell it.
-God will get the glory. Period. The End. ( This means that things won't always go according to our plan. See Point #1 above for further info.)

Friendships Made
-Wow! Where to start with this one. I'm afraid to mention direct people by name for fear of leaving anyone out. So, to be generally specific, the Romans Bible Study group. Each and everyone of these people are absolutely amazing. Never before have I been surrounded by such a humble, God fearing, Christ seeking, Gospel loving, and Hermeneutically correct group of People.

-Of course, SDEA. everyone there will great you with either a smile (Gina only after 10), laugh (Billy), Raptor arms (Katie), Doo -Rag (BJ) or Irish Creme coffee creamer (Kiki and Ryan). They will build you up in ways you never thought possible and are always there to both laugh and cry with you. You gotta Love 'em!

Late Nights
-Baron's Game
-Drive In
-Talking about God on top of a Barn while watching shooting stars and eating cobbler!
-Waiting on a friend to get home
- Driving all over the place while listening to podcasts by David Platt or jammin' to Phil Whickham

Yeah, summer was pretty Incomparable. May we always continue to Stand in the Gap!

Mars is falling!

My apologies to any who are following me, for my tardiness and negligence my Blog. Now onto this new post. The last several days have been interesting enough. I wish to comment on a few events that have happened. Some are personal and others are more well known:

1.) Last week I'm sure several people heard about the church bus full of Youth that flipped outside of Meridian and ended up killing a 14 year old boy. Now while this is very sad and tragic, I wish to focus on a more positive note of this event. Shortly after the van rolled off the road, a vehicle with US Soldiers in it stopped and flipped the van upright and then administered medical assistance until paramedics arrived. How awesome is that! It's just another awesome characteristic of those who are fighting for our freedom.

2.) I had the pleasure of spending time last week with a friend of mine by the name of Eliot. He told me of his time in Louisiana while on a mission trip. While passing out fliers for a backyard Bible club, Eliot was arrested while trying to share the Gospel with an elderly lady. To this short, he ended up in jail for 8 hours. But, in those 8 hours he met two guys by the name of Lazarus and I forget the other guys name (it was another one of those weird Bible names), and he was able to share the Gospel with a few people while he was in there. All while the elderly lady was now working to get him out of jail! What an impact he had in such a short period of time. It is truly evidence of Christ at work.

3.) Once again I had the pleasure of spending time with a friend of mine by the name of Ben. Last night I visited him at his place in Mississippi. It was a good man night spent with steaks, cobbler, opossum, shooting stars, demon cats, and Mars falling from the sky. In the five hours I was there we had several great conversations that were "seasoned with salt", as they always are with Ben, and of course climbed on top of a building (granted it was in his backyard and not very high but it counts). In short, it was stupendous night.

I hope this is a good update on things that are going on in the World of Will. I'll try to be a little more diligent with this Blog. Until then...

Day of Firsts

Today of all days has been a day where a few notable firsts have happened in my life:

* Today was the first time in 11 years that the Caddo tribe defeated the Osage in the 3rd session. Now this may not seem like much, but this rare event also locked up a victory for the Caddo for the first time in 4 years. Simply amazing... GO BIG RED!!!

*Today was the first day that a got a ticket. I don't want to go into details, but it was a first none the less. Let's just say that Alabama fans will not let you slide when you've got a Mississippi State Engineering decal on your car.

*This weekend was the first time that I listened to Secret Church with David Platt. May I say that I found it to be... wow! I am listening to the one on "How to Study the Bible". One thing in particular that stood out to me was how we, I, often look at a verse or passage and think "What does this mean to me?" WRONG!!! The question should be "What does this mean?". Once we see what it means then we can see it means to our lives, not the other way around.

Thats all I've got for today. So, 2 of the 3 were good... Crazy 'Bama cop.

The Revival Hymn

Going into the weekend I thought it would be a great idea to watch a cool little motivational video. Beware it's a long video but it's totally cool. I first saw this when a friend by the name of Wade Patterson suggested it to me. Wade has never led me astray, and this was no exception. I highly recommend it (obviously). Anyways here ya go... Revival Hymn

Quotes to ponder...

Today, I wish to share with you one of my favorite quotes. It's by my good buddy Clive Staples Lewis or CS for short.

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."

Interesting thought, are we merely looking at Christ and Christianity from our human point of view or are we looking at our human lives from Christ's point of view? Just a thought as you walk through today.

Being

Colossians 1
²¹And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²²he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, ²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Today I wish to look at Colossians 1:21-23

I like how in verse 21 it talks about how we were separated totally from God and we see in verse 22 that He is the one who reconciled us unto Himself and by Him alone are we blameless before a righteous and holy God. Also, the latter part of verse 21 tells us that we were hostile in mind, doing evil deeds. Notice that it talks about the condition of the mind (inward) and then mentions the evil deeds (outward). This reminds me of Matthew 12:34 where is says "From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" i.e. in order for the action to change the being must change. Back to the mind, Romans 12:1-2 talks about the mind being renewed and causing a "transformation". Verse 23 continues on about being consistent in the faith but that will only come about if the transformation has occurred. This transformation can only come by Christ and the Cross. Once again it's all about Him, as it should be...

I know this was a quick one but I hoped you all enjoyed it. Until next time...

Leprechaun

Today I've gotta a fun little video for everyone. If you are from the State of Alabama then you should have seen this by now. It's the Leprechaun Video from Mobile, AL. If you've seen this then it'll be a great little chuckle to hopefully brighten your day. If you've never seen it then you have been missing out and need to see it. haha it's great... here ya go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nda_OSWeyn8

Here's to you...

So, I figure every now and then I will do a piece on my blog entitle "Here's to you..." in which I will dedicate the entire blog that day to a certain person. Today that person is... my one and only follower on this Blog, and my fellow co-worker Davis Ann. Challenging and Encouraging at the same time, she's never afraid to stand up for what she believes in. She would say that she is Choleric in temperament, but I would like to think it's a sign of the strength of her faith in Christ. She is truly someone who is Standing In the Gap and that is why this blog is to her. So Davis Ann.. here's to you!

Romans 6
¹What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ²By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Fourth of July

So today is the fourth of July. Most people spent today with friends and family around a pool or at the lake soaking up the sun and enjoying a fresh slice of watermelon... yum. Personally I have had that country song Independence Day stuck in my head for the past 23 hours, it's a good song but i am having trouble understanding why she says " let the wright be wrong" in the song. It's a great song but that phrase bugs me. Alas, I digress. So, I hope that amongst all of the fireworks, food, family, and friends we all took some time to think of the men and women who sacrificed their lives so that we can enjoy the freedoms that we have as Americans. More so, I pray that we remember our Lord and Savior who made the ultimate sacrifice. His sacrifice wasn't so that we'd be free from a foreign tyrant or dictator, but free from sin and the wrath of God, which we deserve. Let Freedom Ring!

Here's that Martina McBride video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYENO6r5vVo

First Post!

So this is my first post on my first blog so here it goes. I hope that this blog will be both informative as well fun and an easy way for you to keep up with whats going on in the World of Will or the Bubble of Bubba... depending on who you are. I figured that the first thing that I should elaborate upon is the reason why I chose "Standing In The Gap..." as the title of my blog. When I was searching for a good name for my blog title I thought of "Soli Deo Gloria" or "Glory to God Only" but felt that was a little overdone. So, I went with "Standing In the Gap..." which comes from Ezekiel 22:30: "And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none." Building up the wall remind me of one of my favorite characters in the Bible, Nehemiah, and how he led the mission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. His mission became so hostile that at one point they were working with one hand and holding a weapon with the other (Nehemiah 4:17). Our generation is very similar to this one in the fact that it's time for us to first wake up, then stand up and stand in the gap and fight for what the Lord has given us. Ok, it's late and I am rambling now, but you get the idea. I'll try and have some cool stuff up here soon. I'm a newb so bare with me. Until next time!