Graduated

Well I'm officially a College Graduate from a University. I'm a alumni of largest distinctly Christian University in the world. It's more than awesome. Graduation was definitely about Jerry Falwell, but also about the future. The message given to us today is about finishing well and never ever quitting. For a short time now my motto has been "whatever it takes." I truly want to finish well, and that's gonna take everything I have. I will never ever quit doing whatever it takes to fulfill the purpose that God has put me here to do. Jerry finished his race very well, he did was God told him. I pray that when the time comes for me to step out begin really running the race that I can do as well as Jerry. Well I've graduated to a new place in my life and a new race to run. I'm ready to run, I always need more training, but I'll do "whatever it takes" to finish the race well. May God bless my work, give me wisdom and grace, and more importantly give me a chance to run a race worthy of Him. Thank you Lord for everything that You've given me, thank You for a chance to be taught by the best, and thank You for again showing that there's hope for me. God Rocks! Jtw

Jerry Falwell

Today I got a call and heard the news of the death of Jerry Falwell. My first reaction was...What the crap!! How can a great man such as this, a man who'd been instrumental to the progression of Christ in the world. It's true, Jerry said some stupid things in his time, but no more myself. He just said it on TV and I didn't. I'm definitely surprised at this, but remembering that I'll see him again in Heaven is awesome. I can remember him talking to people at school and him almost running over people in his SUV on a regular basis. His influence over Christians and his contribution will never be forgotten.

I think an expression that I heard when at Liberty is fitting for this great man.

"Today the devil is cheering for this man is no longer in the fight"

This is how I choose to remember Jerry Falwell and I hope everyone else does as well. God bless the ministry of Jerry Falwell, God bless the family of Jerry Falwell, and God bless everyone that has been touched by God's chosen Vessel of the servant of Jerry Falwell.

God Rocks, Jtw

New Job and the Move

Alright well it's been a week now since we've moved. It's weird, but God likes to freak me out. As some of you know, the place we were moving to fell through at the last moment. The very awesome pastor at the church that I'm now working at found us this cool house. It of course needs a lot of work, but it was at the last moment. God likes to wait until the last moment. For a long time I've prayed for the job i have now. Now we've moved, we have low rent until we get our house, we have family near by to help us out with lots of stuff, and a more importantly a church that loves us to death. I do have to ask, what did I do to be blessed this much. I'm nothing special or anything worth giving all this great blessings to. So, why did God choose to bless me with so much. Don't get me wrong, I praise Him everyday and Thank Him everyday for this. I'm nothing but a poor, horrible sinner. This is where I'm at now. I have the greatest Job ever and really understand grace for the first time. I've always knew in my mind what grace is, but now I know what grace is in my heart. Grace is getting what I deserve, regardless of what I've done. God has showed me Grace! He's given me what I've prayed for and waited for, but I know for no reason do I deserve it. For now I will Thank God and pray now for what He wants me to do with this great present He's given me. I do ask for those that read this to also pray that I get the guidance for what He wants me to do and the wisdom to know it when I see it. Thank you GOD for everything. God Rocks, Jtw

PRAISE GOD I've got the JOB

If you don't know yet I've got a new job that starts the last week in April. As many people know I went to school to learn how to do the work of a youth pastor. I've excepted the position of Student Pastor at West Yadkin Baptist Church in Hamptonville, NC. It's like 15 minutes from where I grew up. All I can say is PRAISE GOD on giving me a chance to serve Him in this capacity again. So We're moving April 28th, to where I'm not sure yet. I could use every one's help that's willing to come help. Well Thanks for all the prayers and all the help since I started down this road. God Rocks!! Jtw

Good Birthday? We'll see later

Hey everyone. For those that don't know, my birthday was yesterday. I spent the entire day and night very sick. I even had a higher fever than I should have allowed. Today I've called into work b/c I still have a high fever, but I'm getting better. So continue to pray for that. Tonight we're going back to NC for the weekend and I have some good medicine there.

What this e-mail is really about it that I need your prayers big time for Sunday. Sunday I have an interview at an awesome church as their youth pastor. I've been praying about this since the day I got the phone call. I've looked at the pros and cons, but still waiting on the Go from God.

So here's what I need...pray that God will either give me the Go or do like the last interview and make the NO obvious to me. I appreciate your help and thanks for the prayers. God Rocks, JtW

Patience and Pain

Have you ever wanted something so bad that you'd do anything for it. This isn't something that you just casually want and can let go, but instead something that overwhelmes your thinking. This is how I feel about being a youth pastor. This is my passion. So much that I and my wife left all we know and completely changed our lives to make this happen. The issue is that now I've come to a place where I can do it, but find that the vision God's given me will not only take a long time but at the same time take a specific place. This means that I must wait. I believe in God and know He's more incredibly awesome than I could ever understand. I wish He'd give me just a little more of what he wants...the how would be nice. You might ask, ok there's the patience part, but what about the pain? Well the pain comes from wanting to get going. I'm like a viper car in a parking lot. It has a need to get out do what it was meant to do, but can't b/c it's not the time yet. I'm ready, I'm willing, so where's the mission? I feel like Isaiah, God's asking who will go for me, and Isaiah is jumping, screaming I will go, send me! So now the patience and pain are mixed. For now I jump and scream...and yet I wait! God rocks, Jtw

I'm Done....THANK GOD

Well got the most awesome freakin news....I'M DONE with School...YEAH. Thursday was the day I took my last exam of my bachelor's degree. I now have a B.S. in Religion with a specialization in Youth Ministry. Wow that sounds so freakin awesome. God has now gifted me and taught me with this very special training, so now I'm ready to use it. I'm busy looking at some churches, so pray for me. I really want to thank each person who's been praying for me, but since that would take all of time, I'm saying here....THANK YOU ALL. Well praise God for helping me and getting me through everything. God totally Rocks, JtW

A post from Ben Kasica

Ben Kasica is in a band named Skillet. He wrote something on his myspace that was just awesome and I think everyone should read it. So here it is...

They say that the way to unhappiness is to try to make yourself happy but to truly make yourself happy, you must give your life away in self forgetful love. Its so easy nowadays to always be thinking about youself, How can I make myself happy? What can I buy for me? How many friends do I have on my mspace? What do I get from it? etc etc...Our culture is so self centered. And because of it, we are a discontent people. Always wanting more because that little bit that we did happen to scrounge to devour for ourselves didn't fulfill us in the way that we thought it would. So we search for more. Constantly thinking that the new gadget or the better paying job or winning the lottery or a new girlfriend is going to make us happy. I can save you a lot of time and heartache and tell you now that no thing that you find in this world is going to satisfy you. It was never meant to. However, there is something... someone who can meet that desire inside you. A Love that will fulfill never fail you and it always there to meet your heart's deepest desires. And once you have that divine discontent met, it provides you the opportunity to give of yourself more completely in loving others. Living your life for other people. But to try to love other people in and of yourself can seem impossible at times. Especially if you're trying to love the unloveable. It's like trying to get that very last bit of toothpaste out when you know that there's not really any left... you still try...You try so hard to love people but really you're just dont have the ability to do it. You're empty. But when you love others out of that deeper Love that you have, it makes it easy. Because you're loving not out of a desperation and will to love but out of an abundance of love.And when we are able to love in that way, we can truly find happiness.Go love others. Do something selfless. Go help an old lady cross the street. Volunteer at a homeless shelter. Pay for a stranger's groceries. Visit an retirement community just to talk with people. You will find that the joy that you get out of it is worth far more than what it cost you.
Ben

A Christian's Job Description

Before you read this, you just agree with me that you won't get mad but instead read it in hopes that we can all change to be more like Christ.

A Christian's Job Description

After looking around at people I know and those I respect, I saw something that truly scared the crap out of me; they're Christians. That didn't scare me because I think that's wrong, but because they claimed to be Christians in light of how they were living. So I decided that I would write a Job description for Christians. I don't write this because I'm doing it all or because I'm hyper-spiritual. I do it because, like I hope it will convict you, because it convicts me to do better. So here it goes...…

1) Be saved!
Well that seems very easy, but how many of us think we're saved due to a huge emotional experience? I would say that a lot of us are in this boat. I believe that being saved requires a change. I'm not saying an immediate change, but over a period of time you become a whole different person than you were before you were saved.

2) Pray
What the junk is up with people not knowing how to pray and still claiming to be a Christian? How did they get saved in the first place? You need to pray. I'm not saying you should pray so much that you don't get anything done. You should pray and not as an excuse so you don't have to make a decision right now. Telling people I'll pray about is not a valid reason. I've got an idea, pray right now and if you don't get an answer then make a decision and if it's wrong, God will let you know.

3) Don't Judge
Christians today get a very bad rap because some of them judge others and treat them like crap because they sin. Guess what, you sin too! God's the only one that should be judging so you should shut up and keep it to yourself. God treated people with Love, even when he was talking to them about sin in their life. Try being like Jesus and if you can't don't claim to be a Christian. Does this mean that you shouldn't want to help people who are in sin and let them know they are? NO. You should definately let them know they're sinning, but to treat them like crap for it is so overly stupid that some people need to be slapped. Tell them in love, then help them to overcome it IF they want help.

4) Read God's Word
I'm as guilty as anyone in saying that I don't know enough scripture. God's word is essential to your walk with Christ. How can you claim to know Christ if you know nothing about Him? Jesus also used scripture to defeat Satan, maybe that's a good place to start when you want to defeat your sins? People ask what would Jesus do, but I say what DID Jesus do? Let's read God's word before everyone is so scripturally illiterate that Christians start being seen as spiritually retarded.

5) Walk the Walk
If you're going to be a Christian and call yourself a Christian, then freakin start acting like one. Some people are trying their best to be a follower of God and they get all the stupid stereotypes because someone along the way was a major hypocrite. So any time you screw up or just aren't living the life God's called you to live, and someone ask if you're a Christian, then don't tell them about Jesus and bring Shame to God and His people.

6) Stand up
I don't believe that we should be the Christian Taliban, but we should not sit there while people MOCK AND CURSE our GOD. Why do people just sit there and be quiet when people do all they can to make Christianity a stupid game. We aren't that at all. We know that Jesus is the ONLY way to Heaven and everyone else is going to hell, so how can we just sit there and not tell those we love about Jesus? If you can't stand up for what you believe and change the world, then please don't be a Christian.

In saying all this...…
It's not an inclusive list, but instead a list to inspire thinking. I'm not doing this to be a prideful person, but instead to challenge all of us to live up to what I've written here. If this is a problem and you find this list, though not finished, an outrage, I ask you please for the sake of your soul seek after God and think about this list. I'll pray for you and you should respond to this for me. Thank you for reading this and I'll try to update it as I come across things in myself and others that claim to be Christians, that should change.

Remember this verse: Titus 1:16
"They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable disobedient and unfit for doing anything good."

Here's a quote from a DC TALK song that you should remember

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians; who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

God's pushing

Do you ever get the idea that God's pushing and you're not listening? I get that impression in my life right now. I'm finishing up school in 7 weeks and I have no idea where I'm going after that. I don't know if God wants me to stay here, go way far away, or even in this country. I wish I truly knew. All I know is that God's put a passion for students in me that won't be satisfied until I can help students by showing them the love of Jesus Christ. God pushes, but I'm not sure why or how. I'm listening, but not hearing. A lot of people say that God whispers, but I don't believe that. I believe that God screams at us most of the time, and we as people are so deaf because we don't want to hear God that when we want to hear we've become so accustom to not hearing that we don't. I was asked the other day why don't we hear from God like they did during biblical times. My answer is that we don't want to. People say they want to hear from God and want to do His will, but what if he told you to go do something you didn't want to do? Would you do it? What if I actually heard from God and he said go to Iraq right now, find this specific person and when you told them of Me they would kill you. What would I do then? Honestly I'm not sure what I would do. I'd like to think I'd die for my Lord because He died for me, but I can't honestly say I would until I'm put in that situation. God's pushing. Do you ever want to scream to God for an answer or maybe you actually do it? I know I do. To truly be transparent I must admit that I've never doubted God's existence, but at times I do doubt God's listening to me. I know I work on His time and not not the other way around. Recently lots of bad things have happened and it's like I feel God pushing to test our stamina in our faith. So does God's pushing help me? Right now I feel like it could, but doesn't feel like it right now. As I tirelessly pray everyday and I hope others do, that God will soon give me a glimpse of what He has for me, in a way I hope it's soon. Normally I'm a very patient person. I don't usually let things get to me hardly ever, and I work well under large amounts of pressure. This made me a good medic and a good youth pastor. Lately, the pressure has been very high which is fine, but with all these bad things and God's test it's becoming harder to keep up. I end with this prayer: God please help me. I need your wisdom, your patience, and your overwhelming love. God speak to me soon to give me a glimpse of your plan and the path you want for me. Lord I want to be like Isaiah and say "Here am I Lord, send me." Thank you for your protection and salvation. Thank you. Amen. God Rocks, Jtw