New Hope Christian Fellowship

The other day my family I went to a restaurant. My son understood by being there he would get some chicken strips. He loves chicken strips. This particular day the service was lousy. We were sitting at the table for well over ten minutes without any service. At that point I knew it could only get worse so I told my family let’s leave and we’ll speak with the manager. My son came along not realizing what was really taking place (that we were leaving) but as soon as we opened the doors to leave it registered to him that we are leaving. All of sudden without any hesitation or qualms he just shouted, “NOOOO, I WAAANT MY CHIICKENNN” At that point my heart sank because as comical as it was I realized what it meant to my son. My son didn’t understand everything that was best for him all he was concerned with was his chicken. Sometimes in life we don’t understand why certain things happen or why we haven’t had a certain prayer answered the way wanted it answered. You see God understands what’s best us and he can see the whole situation. My son eventually got his chicken even though I couldn’t give it to him then. The bible says cast all your cares on him because he cares for us. God Cares for us. It may seem like he doesn’t when life is bad and he does when life is good but he always will and always has cared for us. Remember the love of God is more than fuzzy feelings. Sometimes its discipline, sometimes it in life’s lessons. God does want to give us good feelings and warmth for our lives too but remember he always knows what’s best. I know many us may have cried out to God like my son cried out that day and I guarantee you he has heard you and will give you what is best when it’s best. Just remember as I was holding my son while he was crying he is holding you.

Change is in the air.  We have a new President elect.  Many are excited and have a sense of hope and fulfillment while some are saddened, concerned and dissapointed whatever one’s position we know one thing:  ultimately God is in control.  In the end of all things it’s God who is and always will be.  He is the beginning and the end.  He’s not limited to a four year term.  He’s not voted in.  He can’t be impeached.  He was already assassinated but he rose from the dead.  He can’t be stopped but He is a good God.  The kind of leader you would want in your life.   He is One who is upright and fair.  He is One who is wise and noble.  He is One who has a financial plan and He is One who understands foreign policy.  He is for the people yet stands behind principles.  He is our King.  The Bible says he is the King of all Kings and the Lord of all Lords.  He is the beginning and the end.  It also says, all things come from him.  He is our strength and our source.  Wow, what a wonderful person to have as our leader.  The sad news is not everyone wants him as their leader.  At one point he ruled over a nation but they wanted an appointed King, they wanted to be ruled by man.  God gave them their wish.  Today we have the same type of thinking.  We have people who prefer no relationship or in some cases even talk of God.  Our amazing leader says one day He will come for all those who chose to walk with Him and follow his ways (those that accepted and believed in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.)  He will take us to the greatest place we could ever be: heaven!  Awesome, I can’t wait to live in a land without anger and violence or even tears.  There will be no wars or rumor of wars and no racism, or inequality. These are days we are to be excited about but in the meantime whatever your vote, we have an obligation.  The Bible says in Hebrews to pray for our leaders and to submit unless it means disobeying God. We are to obey God at all times.  Ways of obeying is to pray for our leaders and obey the laws of the lands and serve our country and be the citizens we’re suppose to be.  We may seem as strangers to the non-Christian’s standards of morality but we still belong to a great nation.  We have a nation of freedom, a nation of opportunity and a nation nominally under God. The God who is in Control….

Today I began to reflect on our fall season as Kingsmen and thought we have come a long way. As you may or may not know we have two teams. We have a D(higher)level and an E (lower) level. Our E level played exceptionally well. We missed the playoffs by one game however our D team did even better. They were the defending champs and they placed second place. They made the playoffs. Both teams had good seasons however it wasn’t always like that. I remember when we first started out, our teams would get pounded. I think our worst score was 35-2, it was bad (that’s all I remember). Our teams were known as misfits, guys who couldn’t play we were considered the underdog. The more I think about it the more I think about King David and his men. See his men were considered the castoffs, the guys in trouble, in debt. I love what it says in I Sam 22:2. The writer harps on three d’s. These guys were in debt, discontented and distressed. These were guys you didn’t want to be around. But David used these men and with God’s hand upon them they had many victories in battle and eventually a great name. This is where I started reflecting. I thought wow the Kingsmen have come so far. We were like David’s men we didn’t have a lot of positive things to say about our team. At one point we were embarrassed to play ball on the field that we almost stopped the ministry. We would come in and wonder how bad was it going to be today. But with God’s help and men who believed. We began to compete and win. We started having victory on the field. Teams were no longer saying here’s an easy win. They were bringing their best because they knew they were playing the best. We like David and his men have transformed into something special. My point is God is in the business of transformation sometimes we don’t see what he sees however he always sees the best in us. We look at our lives and we think were a mess, in debt, children problems, spiritual concerns, marital issues and God is saying to us if you trust and hold on to me I can transform your situation. The Bible says that He will never leave you nor forsake you. He also says I will give you the strength I love that statement key word “strength” to do all things. His strength will keep you going in middle of your weakness. So imagine if we would have given up at some of our worst moments, (to be honest we almost did and to be very honest some guys did walk away) we would have never experienced success. You see our D team won a championship then second place and playoffs twice. The E level twice missed the playoffs by one game, in one case one point. We’ve expanded into tournaments and our most recent tournament placed fourth. In a tournament filled with great softball players and experience. The Kingsmen have come a long way. We have transformed. So when you look at your situation remember it’s in God’s nature to transform he loves miracles. He didn’t promises a bed of roses we didn’t win every game but we got better. The key is knowing your situation can and will get better whatever the season, timeline or emotion and his strength will carry you through…to God be the Glory.