What do you like to do? Do you like to sing, paint, cook, garden, exercise or read? What’s your passion? I’ve heard Pastor Josh preach about our “gifts” and how we should use them. I’ve heard famous people like NBA star Kobe Bryant and musician Jason DeRulo both say how finding one’s passion has been vital to their successes and enjoyment in life.

Me personally, my passion is people. I enjoy having fun and seeing people around me having fun! I love to see people smile. I even told my mother at an early age that I thought the reason I was put on Earth was to make people smile.

So what is your passion? Whatever it is, I encourage you to use your passion in a way to help serve the Lord. Use the gifts that you have been blessed with to make a difference in your world. We have all been given one life here on Earth and God wants us not to watch life pass us by, but to be an active part in making a difference for His Kingdom!

If you like to cook, help make meals for those who can’t. If you like to clean, join Nehemiah’s Mission to help neighbors. Whatever you like to do, there is a place for you to get involved in your church’s community to help make a difference.

Life is short. Get involved! Don’t just wait for opportunities to come to you – go out and seek them. I encourage you to participate in Men’s and Women’s ministry activities, join a Bible study or start one of your own. Let’s all make a difference for God’s kingdom and you’ll be surprised how much fun you have doing it!

In Matthew 5:12-13, we are reminded that “You are the salt of the earth, but if that salt loses its saltiness how can it be made salty again. If it’s no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

One Wednesday night at Pulse, I was open for what God wanted to do through me, with no restrictions. I felt God tell me to kneel before a large wooden cross that was in the Pulse room at the time. So I did. God gave me a vision. This vision was of a cross in my back yard. This was a fairly large cross, maybe 7 feet tall. I knew that God wanted me to build this cross. I am fairly talented at wood working, but I normally don’t finish projects that I start. But I had God’s help with this project.

When I started on the project a day or two later, I didn’t know what to make it out of. But I knew that God would provide what I needed. We had old cedar logs lying beside our house. When I saw them, I knew that was what God wanted me to make the cross out of. So I went out to my driveway and plugged up an old radio and tuned it to 90.7, a Christian radio station. I went beside our house and picked the two logs that God told me too. I build the cross with a draw knife, a knife used to remove shaving from wood, a pocket knife, a sawzall and cheap thin rope. I started by removing branches and with the sawzall.

About half way though doing this God told me to stop and worship Him. So right in the middle of my driveway I worshipped Him with hands held high. During this time He told me to make it bigger, so the piece that was the vertical piece became the horizontal piece and a bigger log became the vertical piece. This was now a big cross. I continued to work and about an hour later I was wondering why I was doing this. Then I stood it up, all put together, and I understood. It was not my cross that I made; it was His cross that I got the privilege of making. I took the cross out back with my brother’s help. I dug a hole 6 to 8 inches deep and put the cross in the ground. Now 6 to 8 inches is not enough dirt to hold a 7 foot cross in the ground for the three years that it has (even through a wind storm that tore my neighbor’s patio roof off and threw it across the road.) There is one force that is keeping that cross there and that is the power of Christ Jesus, my Lord and Savior.

During my college years, I worked construction jobs through the summer months. While on one particular job site, I became very frustrated with a project I was working on, left out a few angry words then flung my hammer across the room.

A fellow carpenter heard the racket, knowing what had taken place. He came into the room and calmly suggested that I use my energy more wisely by walking away from the frustration and moving on to another project for a short time. He explained that I could then come back to the project with a calm spirit and new insight.

His words became a turning point for me as his advice worked that day and every day since. It marked the beginning of my personal journey toward patience and self-control. The practice of stepping back from a frustrating situation soon became second nature. In Galatians, Paul talks about the fruits of the Spirit. As we put these virtues into practice, our daily walk becomes easier and is pleasing to God.

Galatians 5:22-25 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

Matthew 21:1-11 (NIV)

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me.  If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

“Say to Daughter Zion,
    ‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
    and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.  A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Psalm 26:7 – That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all your wondrous works.

I have a friend and her name is Barb. Barb is a streetwise , no holds barred, tell you like it is kind of woman. She was in and out of trouble  with the law for years. She struggled with addiction for a long time. Barb has since become a new creation!                            

She works so hard to provide for her family and takes lots of overtime to pay all her bills. Her husband died many years ago, so she is on her own. Barb volunteered to go in a recovery program to get her life straight. She called upon the Lord to get her through. His promise stands tall! She is now gotten a promotion after working in the same manufacturing plant for almost 3 years . Her new job is one of the highest paying jobs in the plant. That’s why I call her Big Bucks Barb.

Over the last several months, Yahweh has been showing me more and more what it looks like to be loved by Him. I’ve been reading through the Song of Songs and in doing so I can physically feel His love drenching me. The Song of Songs was written by King Solomon to a Shulamite woman, his beloved. But this book is more than just poetry written to Solomon’s beloved; it’s a beautiful depiction of the Father’s love and admiration for us.

My dearest one,
    let me tell you how I see you—
    you are so thrilling to me.
    To gaze upon you is like looking
    at one of Pharaoh’s finest horses—
    a strong, regal steed pulling his royal chariot.

– Song of Songs 1:9 (TPT)

When I first read, “you are so thrilling to me” it left me in complete awe and wonder. How is it that the Creator of the universe – the One who knows every one of my thoughts, each hair on my head – how can He find me thrilling? So thrilling in fact, that He compares me to Pharaoh’s horses. To fully understand this, we have to realize that He’s comparing us to the best of the best. Pharaoh’s horses would have been the most physically attractive and strongest horses. What Yahweh’s saying here is that He sees us for who we are, in the places we are. He sees us as the most beautiful child that He created. We may be a mess and our lives may be organized chaos, but He looks at us in a way that we may have a difficult time understanding. We are His favorites. He longs to spend time with us. He yearns for our affections toward Him. Yahweh lavishes His love, His goodness, His kindness, His gentleness on us every moment of everyday. I believe that if we begin to grasp the reality that we are His beloved, our lives would naturally begin to look more like the Father. We were created to have our identity rooted in Him – beloved identity.

I encourage you to read through this book with the Father’s love for you at the forefront. Spend some time meditating on the words that are from Yahweh. Let them soak into you.