Thank You!

How I need your prayers! I know that most of you don't know me on a personal level. We've never eaten together, laughed together or even met face to face. Nevertheless, as brother and sisters in the Lord, I ask for your prayers.

There are times in my life when I am drained. These past two years have been spiritually, physically and emotionally exhausting for me. I've never had to work outside of the church to support my family. So working a 60 hour a week job plus trying to find time to prepare and preach/teach twice a week is exhausting. Add to that my marital and parental responsibilities and I don't know how I have time to wipe my nose. I wish I were 20 years old again. Those of you that go to school full-time, work full-time jobs and serve the Lord in church...I applaud you. I did it once too, but find that the older I get the tougher it gets.

Lately, it seems like everything is trying to rob me of my time to prepare a meal to feed the sheep on Sundays. It bothers me. And when I do have time, my mind wanders and I can hardly focus when I sit down to study. I find myself studying for 15 mintues and then needing to get up and walk around to regain focus. Then when it comes time to preach, I feel like my thoughts are jumbled, my sermons lack clarity, my speech is slurred and my mind is cloudy and incoherent.

I am not sure if I am trying to do too much or if Satan is just pressing in and trying to attack me. Either way, I ask for your prayers. Pray that God would be magnified inspite of my weakness. Pray that I would serve Him in the strength that He gives. Pray that I would have adequate time to study for the edification of the body of Christ. Pray that my mind would be firing on all cylinders. And please, please, please pray that God would possibly provide for me a more stable job (hours & finances). I know that this season will pass...or maybe it won't. Either way I appreciate your prayers.

Please don't take this as a complaining or griping session. Neither is it a pity party where everyone is invited. That's not what this is. It's just that I realize how human and weak I am and how much I need the Lord to sustain me. And I do not want to be a hindrance to the gospel and the health of the church. Thank you so much for your prayers.

For those of you that have ministered with me in the past, I'm going to try to post my sermons for you each week. It will perhaps be beneficial for you in one of two ways: either it will be an example of how not to preach...or hopefully it will be of some spiritual good. And hopefully it will serve as a communication point between us as it will share with you what I am learning and how I am growing each week. Your godly and friendly critique would be appreciated as well. You know how to reach me on my cell. Plus it will save me a little time in having to put up additional posts on the blog.

But your insight on how I can improve will be very valuable. Maybe a powerpoint game or a funny picture or a video clip could make my sermons a little more spicy and palatable for today's tech generation ;-). Totally joking there! And for the life of me, why didn't any of you tell me that I sound drunk when I preach. Sheesh! Could be the exhaustion I was talking about.

God bless you. I miss you all. Those that I have not met face-to-face, I look forward to one day getting together. My house is available to have a fun day if you'd all like to get away from where you are.

Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23 - The Sower, Seeds and Soils