Well, I along with many other students are gearing up for another year of school, or have already started it. Many K-12th schools have been underway for a few weeks now, while most colleges and universities have just recently started, or are about to start. I attend Pensacola Theological Seminary and am beginning my last year of classes. This will be my seventh year of “higher education” and I am looking forward to being done studying for awhile (although the idea of a doctoral degree still lingers in the back of my mind). On the thought of school, two verses came to mind that should encourage every Christian student, as well as Christians in general.

Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Often times I hear of students who quit their studies only part way through the year. When things get overwhelming we must remember that if we have been seeking God’s will and he has lead us to where we are, then that is where he intended us to be! “Be not weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.” Do not look for a reason to quit when everything seems tough, but rather look to the reason that you headed to where you are now. If you were following God and he lead you to where you are, do not think that he will lead you away, but rather that he will lead you through what he has for you.

Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. We often know that we cannot quit what we have started, yet we cannot see how we are going to make it through either. We must remember that as Christians we do not have to rely on our own strength to make it. I say “we do not HAVE to” because it is a choice that every person must make. You can choose to try and make it on your own strength, and you may or may not make it, if you do it is only by the grace of God. Rather than try to make it on your own strength and not be sure what will happen until it is over, you can chose to allow God’s strength to be what caries you through. If you are leaning on Him, there may be times that seem hard, but you need not worry, because you are leaning on the everlasting arms!

I hope this encourages some students, as well as other Christians. Remember that if you are following God He will direct you to where he wants you, and that whatever He has for you can be completed through His strength

~ Nate

Recently a friend of mine wrote a post on his blog concerning Bible Reading. It is an area that many Christians struggle with including myself. His post brought it to the forefront of my mind once again and challenged me. One thing that he said is a key to the importance of daily Bible reading; that is that through daily Bible reading we are able to get the “big picture” of scripture.

Let us discuss this subject a bit. God gave us His word so that we could learn about Him, so that we could have a relationship with God. A thought comes to mind when I think about the importance of Bible reading: Often when we buy a new electronic or some type of equipment we receive a user’s manual with it. Some people will read the manual before they even turn on their new possession, some will read it when they can’t figure something out, and other will never read it just hoping that they can figure everything out on their own. I think that I can say that I have taken my turn in each of those scenarios. Have you ever been in either of the second two, you think that you are getting along fine, then someone comes along and says “hey did you know that that can do this?!?!” I’ve been there, and I have asked the question “how did you know that” to which they reply “I read the manual!” This is often how we treat God, though the Bible is not a “manual” on God, is does allow us to get to know and begin to understand things about God. Yet often times we find ourselves in the place where we don’t know much about God, we see other Christians who seem to be getting everything and are super happy, yet we don’t understand how they do it. My friend the answer is simple; they have read and are reading the “manual”.

Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

Psalm 119:11 “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

If we want to have a right relationship with God we must read the Bible. If we want to have a right relationship with others we must read the Bible. If we want to have a right relationship with our family we must read the Bible. If we want to have a proper outlook on life we must read the Bible.

2 Timothy 3:16,17 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: ¹⁷ That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

There are different ways to read through the Bible, Jeremy has a couple ideas on his blog and there are many that you can find by searching the web, or asking your pastor. A few interesting ones that I have run across are: Reading Chronologically, Some have it arranged so that you can read every day from the OT, NT, Proverbs, and Psalms, and there are some that will read from the different divisions as well. If you have read through the Bible many times and are looking for a way to change things up for awhile there are some other methods as well; there are some reading plans that may have you read all the words of Christ. Others may deal with specific doctrines, and others focus on certain books. One of my favorites is not designed to get you through the Bible in a year, but to get founded strongly on scripture: Read a small book every day for a month, you will be surprised what you learn and how well you know the book by the end of the month, this can also be adapted for longer books.

I hope this has been encouraging and will motivate us to a stronger Bible reading life. I also recommend going and reading Jeremy’s post.

~ Nate

Rom 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

So, I drive school bus for Pensacola Christian Academy and thoroughly love my job! This is my fourth year driving. My first year I was a sub driver, and got to learn a lot about the surrounding area in which we live, and many things about the buses. Then, for the last two years I drove a full-time route, which I truly enjoyed, especially the kids. This year I’m back to sub driving in order to help my Transportation Director. It seems that I have a knack for picking up routes rather quickly which makes me useful for sub driving. All this background is what brings us to our topic today.

First, I’ll start with the smaller areas. I think that often times as Christians we know that God takes care of us and does things for us, yet we only seem to notice the big things that he does in our lives, often we overlook the small everyday occurrences of God’s goodness. This is a lesson that I learn/learned almost daily while driving bus. Bus routes have schedules that are setup for when to pick up and drop off the kids, this is for the purpose of consistency and getting the kids to school on time. Often this entire schedule can be skewed by a red light, green light, slow car, etc. Many times as I was driving along it was amazing how the light would just “happen” to be the color I needed to keep me on schedule. Or I’d be coming to a light and be praying it would stay green, and it seemed that the light was green for a long time and I made it. It was through many little things like this God showed me that even in the little day to day matters like the color of a stop light, he was there watching out for me and caring for me. There are many more stories of this type, small things that God did, but I will not share them all here. The point is, that God is Good All the Time, and we need to recognize this, even the small things, and praise God for them!

Another area that God has taught me a lesson through is the area of sub driving again this year. As I mentioned before, I loved my route over the last two year, and I was really looking forward to it again this year. So it came as quite a shock and bummer when I was informed that not only was I not driving the route at all, but I also was not driving full-time either. At first I just smiled and nodded, you know how it is, but slowly God started showing me how he was taking care of me. My wife recently graduated from seminary and has become a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant selling their products. Because of this she often has parties at night. Now if you think about the fact that I would have to go to bed rather early to get up at 5:10 in the morning to drive the bus, and she is having parties till 9 or so at night, we would not get to see each other very much at night. But because of the change most nights we will get to spend some time together after her parties! God is Good All the Time.

You will find in everything that comes into your life, that though sometimes it may not be clear right away, God has something good in everything for us to see and learn from. So we must learn and take to heart the saying: “God is Good All the Time, All the Time God is Good!”

~ Nate

John 17:3 “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

I think that often times we have a wrong focus when it comes to the purpose of salvation. Quite often people get saved and think the reason they got saved was so that they did not have to go to Hell, but rather that they could go to Heaven. Though this is a true result, going to Heaven and not to Hell, this is not the primary purpose of salvation. At the fall when Adam sinned, death was the punishment for his sin, and what is death? Death is separation, separation of the soul from the physical body, and separation of the spirit from God. Even more than the eventual loss of life, was the loss of communication/fellowship with God.

Focusing on the soul’s eternal destination may convince someone to receive Jesus as Savior, but often it causes them to miss the point of being saved. When one views salvation only in light of eternal destination, they only view salvation as a “fire escape.” They are not receiving Christ for any more reason than to not have to spend an eternity in Hell! As I said above, though this is a positive product of salvation, it is not the primary goal. By focusing on eternal destination, instead of the true purpose of salvation, we are raising generations of weak and unprofitable Christians.

Instead of focusing on the eternal destination we should be focusing on the purpose of salvation, which is Life! Now some may say, “Is not going to heaven, life?” It is, but life is so much more than that. Paul says in Eph 2:1, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins,” he is not saying that we were physically dead, as it is clear that salvation does not raise the physical body from the dead, instead he is talking about the spirit of man. At the fall our souls died and lost all fellowship with God, and as John 17:3 states the purpose of eternal life, which comes from salvation, is to know God and Jesus Christ, it is to have fellowship again. Salvation is not supposed to only be a “fire escape,” but more rather it is to change the life of the one receiving life! It is to restore us to fellowship with God!

If we really saw the importance of this in the Christian life, we would see many more Christians acting like Christians should act. The meaning of the word “Christian” is to be “Christ like”. This would mean a change in all Christian’s lives from following the world and doing as the world does, to doing the works of Christ and doing as He does! Salvation is to change our lives. Has it changed yours?

John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly“

~ Nate

(There is much more that could be covered about the subject of salvation. Hopefully we will get the chance to cover more in the future, but I think this is a vital part that must be understood in order to start a journey toward practical Christian living!)

Today I have spent some time working on the site and not a lot of time preparing a new post. I haven’t decided yet, if posts will be a daily thing, or just a regular thing, we will see. I did want to post some thoughts today though, that I got from some recent Bible Study, and from my favorite book of the Bible, James.

The theme of James is Practical Christian Living, and that is were I got the theme for this blog. As one reads James it is clear that James is giving Christians many instructions for daily living. The thought that I want to leave with you today is this: Are you a hearer or a doer?

In the end of chapter 1, James says that we are to be hearers. He also says the looking into the Law Of Liberty is not enough, it is only hearing. He says that we must continue/abide in the law and apply it to our lives if we want to be a doer. So when you read Scripture, do you stop with the reading, or do you change your life? When you go to church, Sunday School, or Bible Study do you apply what is taught, or are you only there to LOOK spiritual?

I hope this challenges your heart, it has mine!

~ Nate