What's my crime

I remember the line from a great movie in the Count of Monte Cristo.

There were so many in what my wife would call one of her favorite movies.

An innocent man was sent to the worst of the worse jails.

Edmond claimed innocence, but received an awful prison sentence.

They would drop food off at his cell and he would try to talk to anyone and ask this line, “What’s my crime?
He was alone without an idea of what he was doing there.

Ever feel like you were being punished and didn’t know why?

Maybe you were accused of doing something even without any proof, they figured you were in the wrong?

Edmond didn’t do anything wrong and was jailed, so was Paul.

Enough people conjured up lies and as a result Paul was in jail.

Yet the judges who were seeing this man that the people asked for death and couldn’t prove anything wrong.

Finally year after year, trial after trial, Paul appealed to Caesar.

Yet before going there, Festus wanted King Agrippa to hear this man so he could send Rome a report.

Acts 25:27…

“For I think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner on to Rome without specifying the charges against him.”

They had a good sense about knowing who they were sending in this report.

Such is life that we don’t always know the reason.

While Paul was on trial for a very long time, they at least wanted to send him a report of what they found.

Often that is not the case.

We are often accused and have to deal with that.

Edmond had faith in God but it was a struggle after a while.

He was hung up and told you might be thinking ‘Why me, oh God’ and kept on with God has nothing to do with this.

Edmond responded it was all about God and he was everywhere.

The guy responded I am going to whip you and will stop the moment he shows.

Edmond was beat for a long time.

He ended up losing his faith after a while.

Yet a cell mate told him, God said vengeance is mine.

He responded I don’t believe in God.

He told him, “It doesn’t matter, He believes in you.”

No matter what you are going through or how you have been accused or feel you are under the gun God believes in you.

Even in the worst of times, Paul believed in God and didn’t hesitate.

No matter what you are going through, trust in God.

He can understand what you are going through and is there for you to call out too.

Jesus loves you.

God believes in you even if you don’t believe in him yet.

Have a great day.

10 years with the ball and chain

Ready for the good ole ball and chain.

I feel bad for whoever described being married to the analogy the ball and chain.

That would just suck.

Seeing marriages struggle is never an easy thing.

As a minister and coming from a multiple divorce family, I have seen where marriage can be like a prison and struggle.

Where selfish desires can take over and people just think of themselves over the other or the family.

I am proud to say I am on the other side of the spectrum.

No matter the fact that someone once told Hailee and I to our faces our marriage would only last 3 months, I am here 10 years later to say I love my marriage and my wife even more than I did 10 years ago.

I didn’t think that was possible.

Marriage is not always easy.

It takes love and sacrifice beyond just saying I love you.

Love is not a word it’s an action.

You show you love someone with what you do with your life for that other person.

A good marriage is about sacrifice for a greater cause.

Yet I am a screw up.

I have messed up plenty of times in my marriage.

I am not perfect.

Yet I have a loving wife who is graceful and forgiving.

She honestly has made me a better person and I cherish her for that.

As I sit here writing this from a dorm room at CIY with my wife 100 miles away, I can honestly say I miss her and wish I were there but there is a greater purpose then just our marriage.

When Hailee and I got married, we said God would be first in our relationship.

He has been.

Part of the reason Hailee and I can move forward together has been our ability to forgive one another.

I wouldn’t have that forgiveness without knowing that no matter what Christ forgave us and we need to forgive each other.

I am gone taking students on an amazing trip where they grow closer to God.

It has been a great week watching these amazing individuals grow closer to God and that takes precedence over my own selfish desires.

I look forward to tonight when I get to spend time with my wife.

Hailee is the most amazing women I have even met (Sorry mom).

She is beautiful on the inside and the outside.

She has always made me laugh.

There was a Facebook post about marriage and be like having a sleep over every night with your best friend, I can honestly say that is correct.

Hailee is my best friend.

My Jason’s are a close second, but Hailee trumps them.

She knows my insecurities and strengthens me rather than tearing me apart.

She lifts me up when I am down.

She is smoking hot!

She has given me three wonderful children and a soon to be fourth.

She has dealt with where I felt I was called.

“I married a sports writer not a minister, I didn’t sign up for this,” she would say while joking.

Hailee never stood in my way.

She always wanted me to pursue my goals and help me accomplish them.

I don’t know if I would have a college degree more or less a master’s degree without Hailee.

She is truly my better half and I believe that everyday.

I have done many stupid things and Hailee has put up with me.

Before we were dating Hailee was dating someone else and we were just friends.

She broke up with him and I tried to take our friendship to the next level.

Soon she invited me to dinner.

At this dinner she was going to tell me that she was going to get back with her ex.

We were talking and having a good conversation but soon she told me her plan.

People, I have never done this before and still can’t believe I said this then…

I said that’s ok, because I think we are meant to be together and I know it’s not going to workout out between you guys.

Then sticking my foot into my mouth further…

I said, “I think God wants us to be together and I will wait for your relationship to end because I know we are supposed to be together.”

I couldn’t believe the words that just came from my mouth.

I knew I found my wife, she thought I was crazy (Little did she know I was crazy J).

Weeks later, we start dating.

We started dating on Super Bowl Sunday.

Three weeks later in the most romantic way, I asked Hailee to marry me while watching a commercial to Ally McBeal.

She said yes and we haven’t been apart since.

Hailee is the most amazing person I have met.

I cherish all our time together through the good and the bad, til death do us part, I still to love you with every piece of my heart (God bless you All 4 One for coming up with the song I Swear).

I thank God for him putting you in my life and can’t wait to see my wife later on today!

Have a great day (I know I will!)

Being bullied

Bad stuff does happen.

It’s a fact we have to face many times.

Times when everything in life isn’t going the way we want and we wish/pray for things to change.

We just wish God would intervene and make things better.

I remembered being bullied in the sixth grade.

The guy wasn’t a jerk and if I ran into him today, I would be cool with him and have a normal conversation and even be friends with him, but in sixth grade he wasn’t a guy I wanted to spend time around.

He thought it was funny to punch  people in the chest, and when I would come off the bus in sixth grade, he would be there and mess with me.

I didn’t like it and often tried to ignore or move away from him.

It wasn’t fun to be around him.

Eventually things got better, but the first three months of sixth grade I spent hiding from him.

Sometimes even good people can do bad things or have the wrong intentions.

There was a guy in Acts named Saul.

Saul thought he was doing what God wanted him to do.

Saul thought Christians were a threat and tried killed to kill them or have them thrown into jail.

It sucked to be a Christian with Saul around and you wanted to stay away from him.

Saul was very far from knowing Christ.

Yet while making a mission of destroying Christians and the Church something changed.

This is some of Acts chapter 9 verses 3-6….

Saul was going to Damascus and was blinded by a light while hearing a voice say, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Saul asked who this was and the voice from the light said, “Jesus whom you are persecuting….Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what to do.”

When the light went away, it left Saul blind and he couldn’t eat or drink for three days.

God appeared to a disciple named Ananias and told him to go place hands on him so he could receive sight.

This freaked Ananias out.

He was supposed to go visit someone throwing his brothers and sisters in jail and having them murdered.

This sucks.

Ananias was told to trust in him and he had big plans for this person.

Ananias trusted God and went then helped Saul out.

Ananias knew he was going to a bully and God protected him.

Sometimes in life we face bullies, it’s not always pretty.

Yet God can be over the situation.

What is a bully in your life right now?

Are you hiding from it or trying to changed it?

Sometimes bad things happened in life and we have no way to change it or make it better.

Life would be so easy if we didn’t have to deal with the bad stuff and everything went great.

That is not how life works though.

Bad things and people do happen.

This is where we see how life can and will be.

Life isn’t always peachy.

But God can be there to for you to help you though the tough times just like he was there for Saul when blind and Ananias when going to see the Christian bully.

God can be there for you when you call and put your life into Jesus.

He can help you overcome the biggest bully in your life.

That is something everyone can have.

Have a great day.