Servelloism

Merry Christmas to everybody! I thought Id share two sobering scriptures that the Lord reminded me of today. The first is a reminder that the mark of my spiritual health is my awareness of the needs of those around me. 

1John 3:16-19 We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters. But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. It is by our actions that we know we are living in the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before the Lord.

ANDThe next is the reference as a reminder to what is really important to God: 

Matt. 23:23  “How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, but you ignore the important things of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the more important things.   

I know what the Bible says about giving in secret. So, I guess I’ll lose my reward in heaven on this one, but I’d thought i’d share my thoughts about a certain aspect of Christmas and try to encourage others to do the same.I have been a proud parent now for almost 3 years. My wife and I have  the privilege of having a very close family with loving aunts, uncles and grandparents who live near us. At Christmas time there is no shortage of presents for my kids. Last year, I had a sick to my stomach feeling as both my kids recieved numerous toys that they didn’t even know what to do with. At that point, I feared that Christmas might become more about getting than it is about really what Christmas is all about. I’ve thought about it a lot this year as a matter of fact. Now don’t get me wrong Im not an extremest, I do my best to live a balanced life, but even for me something didn’t seem right. I tried talking to all the relatives and encouraged them to at least put some of the money they would spend in some education funds I set up for the kids, but i quickly assessed this was not going to happen. So my wife and  I talked, and we decided we would buy something small for our kids and make a donation to a worthy charity in my two daughters names. I thought I’d pass this along to any readers because I think it is a great charity to give to and often people want to give but don’t know were to send their money. Im not sure if they are “Christian” or not, but what they do definitely reflects the spirit of Christ. The charity’s name is Smile Train and it is a group of doctors who go to impoverished nations and repair cleft pallets in children. They do this service for free and every dollar you give goes directly to the surgery. Thats right, 0% overhead! A donation of $250 will give a child a brand new life. Check out the video below:  

One of the reason why i was away from the blogosphere for so long was I was away on vacation. Yep…I think thats what they call a week at Disney World with your kids- A vacation. Any parents of kids under the age of 3 that have ever been to Disney, I know you feel my pain. I describe the experience as BITTERSWEET. Their were kodak moments and their were MELTDOWNS. All of which have combined into some fun memories. One of the “magical moments” was my daughter getting to meet Cinderella. As for me, Im not sure when I’ll go back to Disney- 0nce ever 15 or so years is good for me.

Well, even if you’re not a baseball fan you probably know about the controversy hitting MLB. Steroids and HGH supposedly running rampant amongst baseballs biggest names. Roger Clemens & Barry Bonds are making headlines in this mess. TO my surprise Andy Pettitte’s name was in the mix. I have long been a Pettitte fan. I remember the sad day when Andy left the yankees to go to the Astros. Somehow, I knew that wasn’t a good sign. As a diehard Yankee fan, I couldn’t have been happier when Andy came back to NY. In case you didn’t know, Pettitte is a Christian, and a strong one at that. As a matter of fact a few short weeks ago I was in negotiations to bring him to our church for a special weekend service. So it goes without saying how surprised I was to see his name in the controversy. Knowing what I know about Pettitte I knew there had to be an explanation and today we got one. Im proud of Andy for coming forward, being honest, and making a statement without trying to hide behind anything. So…Here’s to Andy Pettitte!

I’ve been gone for a bit, but I’m back. Tonight Im in Las Vegas at Benny Perez’s ARM conference. Bishop Eddie Long spoke tonight. He did a fantastic job. He was prophetic, revelatory, and funny. Now that’s a combo. This is the first time I have been back to Vegas to see Benny’s church. WOW! The building is amazing, but even better were the people. The worship was on a whole nother level and the people were totally into the service. It was a great time. Im looking forward to hearing Benny and Dr. Samuel Chand tomorrow!