Advent

We are smack dab in the middle of Advent. There is only one more Sunday to come before Christmas and the countdown is on! Advent is the time we have to prepare for the coming of Christ in Bethlehem in a manger as well as preparing our lives for Christ to enter our lives today. At St. Luke's UMC Midland we have been studying the book The Journey by Adam Hamilton. It is a wonderful look at the days leading up to the birth of Christ and allows us to look more closely at the lives of Mary, Joseph and Elizabeth as we head toward Bethlehem. The book also allows us to look more closely at our own lives in light of the season and the anticipation of Christ entering our lives today. How are you experiencing Christ coming into your life this Advent and Christmas season? How are you providing room for Jesus to be a part of your life? How will you spend Christmas this year? How will Christmas be different for you this year? My hope for you is to become aware of those around you who need to know they are heard and how you can step into the Christmas story...even today! I'm Just Sayin....make this Christmas better by taking the focus off of you and putting it on Christ!

My Dad

This Sunday is Father's Day and every year it makes me think of the man I called Dad...well Granddad. He was my role model, my hero and "Superman" all rolled up in one person! Ralph Carey Inman moved to Texas from Illinois on a wing and a prayer, hoping for a promised job. He moved his family to Pecos where he worked on telephone lines. He was married to Erma and both of them found another love (besides their girls) in Jesus Christ in Texas. He wasn't one to go to church, initially, because he didn't have the "right clothes." So a pastor drove to his house with my Grandma and offered him three out of four suits so that he would come to church with my Grandmother. There they became so in love with God that Ralph decided he would seek to become a pastor himself. They, then moved his family to Stanton and took to pastoring the Baptist church at Stiles, Texas (just north of Big Lake). Family circumstances led him to resign as their pastor a few years laster but returned, with the help and prodding of my Grandmother, to pastor Valley View Baptist Church just south of Midland. It was there that my brother, Anthony, and I grew up going to Sunday school and worship every Sunday and Wednesday. I learned how to care for a wife, for children and to love God with all that I am and all that I have by his example. He was our provider, our shelter and our strength. He was disciplined yet loving. He was hard and soft all at the same time. He taught us how to drive and how to fish. He showed us how to fix a lawnmower and throw a ball. And every year I miss him. I miss his smile that would light up the brightest of nights. I often wonder what he would think of how we turned out. And I wonder how he would spoil my kids and love on them and teach them as he taight me. You see, he didn't have to take me and Anthony in but, for one reason or another, he and my grandma decided to call us their own and give us a home filled with love and support. He left us too soon which still hurts today. Every year, as Father's Day approaches, is my time to remember Ralph Carey Inman and the legacy of love and support he left with and in me. I only pray that I would be able to live up to his examples. I miss you Granddad....and I love you, still, after all these years. Happy Father's Day!!

Who is God to You?

It has been a while since I've posted a new blog so I thought it would be good to begin fresh for the new year and ask for your help with something.
Over the past couple of months I have been wondering who God is to me. As the new year approached the rush to find out who I am in order to move forward in my life led me to the conclusion that everything I am and will be comes from God. Having come to that conclusion I found myself asking the question, "who is God to me then?" If every paert of my being comes from God then who is God to me? Is he the Father who protects, directs, loves and disciplines his children? Is he the Alpha and Omega who see's the first and the last and everything in between? Is He the Shepherd who leads us to the fresh water and green pastures who helps us even when we don't know we need his help? Is He the Almighty, powerful God who is our gaurd and King, the One who sits on His throne overlooking His kingdom ruling with justice and power? If everything I do and say comes from my relationship with God then I would have to determine who He is to me? Right?
Then I began to think of the different times of my life and the "type" of relationship I had with God at that time. When I was a teen I needed him to be my Father. When I was in my 20's I needed him to be the Almighty and powerful God who ruled justly and swiftly. Now, in my 30's He is the Good Shepherd, Comforter and Healer. The one who wants to be with me no matter what I've done or where I have been.
So, as I struggle with who God is to me I see it as where I am in my faith and my life. The events of life and of faith help to determine who God is to me...I'm just sayin that God is and has been ALL of the above for me. He is the author and perfercter of my faith. He is the Good Shepherd who leads me into right paths for his namesake. He is the healer of broken souls and wounded hearts. He is the Almighty, Omnipotent King who fights for me and wants to be with me no matter where I am or where I go or what I've done. He wants to be in a relationship with me. And, relationships are complicated and require constant communication and effort for them to be successful.
Well, I am going to continue to work through who God is for me...but I want to know...who is God to you? Spend some time in God's word, in prayer and in reflection and let me know.
I promise it won't be as long between posts.
I'm just sayin...