1 Peter 2:21 (NIV), “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps,” is the foundation of the upcoming message series, Kaleo. Join us as we learn God’s call on each of our lives and how to be set apart and ready to follow His divine calling.

We plan to do this series just before moving in to the new building, so hopefully sometime in March!

 

As we prepare for the final push into completing the first phase of our building project, we have built a website to keep our friends and extended families up to date on what’s happening! Latest news, video blogs, construction photos and even online donation features are what really drive the power of this site! ¬†Visit the site today to find out more at http://itstimeforsyracuse.com.

For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
-2 Corinthians 1:5

I started 2 Corinthians today and this was the verse that jumped out at me. I never equated my suffering with the suffering of Christ…most reasonably since my suffering just doesn’t compare. I never thought of Christ’s suffering being a part of my life. ¬†Sure, I understood that to be the ultimate prize – to suffer for Christ as He did for us, but I didn’t think it a real possibility.

This world has a lot of trouble and many suffer a great deal, even in our part of the world. I am thankful for comfort of Christ as the suffering of Christ would leave me decimated if not for the comfort of Christ.

I pray for comfort for all of my friends today. How long, Lord, must we sing this song? My spirit is willing but my flesh is weak.

I love the rain…even a little light rain when I’m golfing. Today is one of the few rainy days that we get here each year in Utah and while rain clouds are typically figurative of negative things in our lives, I am encouraged by it today.

You see, today the rain is good because it is melting the snow in my backyard.  I am so ready for spring and the rain today promises that while things look bleek now, the grass that is showing underneath still has some green to it and is ready to start flourishing again.

Things have felt like that at Lakeside lately. ¬†We’ve run out of money and we don’t know where the rest will come from. ¬†However, God is bigger than our financial needs and I believe he will provide. ¬†For the next couple of months, we will continue to meet in our renovated garage…but I think that my spirits will be picking up because I can see what’s coming next. ¬†A new building. ¬†A fresh start. ¬†A place where families can grow closer to each other and closer to God.

I want to ask all of you to continue praying with me. ¬†Continue coming. ¬†Continue sharing. ¬†Continue giving. ¬†Continuing believing. ¬†The storm clouds are about to part…

So this week I went to my regular Tuesday night basketball game at one of the local LDS churches. ¬†I have been playing there for a few years now and have made friends with some great guys. However this week was one of the first times that I got real with any of them. It all started with a joke and before I knew it, one of the guys was asking me what our church’s stance was on sexual purity. ¬†Okay, so I’ll give you a moment to digest that…and then I’ll continue. ¬†Long story short, after explaining what we teach, I felt this was an enormous opportunity to share about struggles I’ve had and how I believe that we have to start being open about stuff like this.

One of the hardest tasks I’ve had to live up to in my life is being a faithful husband with my thought life. I’ve struggled with it since before I was married, but I don’t share about it because it’s one of the “uglier” sins. Nobody feels comfortable talking about that. But something happened to me on Tuesday night and I realized that I wasn’t comfortable putting on a fake front to this guy who is a genuinely nice guy and really listened to my story. To tell you the truth, I think he really grew to respect me a lot more for it. By the end of the conversation, the guys were even thinking of looking at a resource site that has really helped me out a lot.

I hope they do. ¬†I hope I get to work with those guys more and try to help more guys be better husbands. In the meantime, I plan to continue playing ball and hopefully being a lot more “real” with the people that I normally try to look perfect to.