God is moving in CR

Rodney, the guy from Springdale. Kind of a generic intro huh? Reading in 1 Kings 17 this morning, saw Elijah from verse 1-24 was referred to as "Elijah, the Tishbite" (an unknown little town) but by vs. 24 he had grown and now was a man of God. God commanded Elijah to go into hiding in Cherith, east of the Jordan. (I was able to visit this supposed spot in the Middle East while over there visiting). God wanted him to take a timeout from his normal routine of life and pull himself out of the spotlight. God put him thru training to be able to face the battles of today and tomorrow from the enemy. This got me to thinking about CR and how when people come into this ministry in obedience to deal with their life hurts, sicknesses, habits or maybe hang-ups, God puts us into training. When we can't get past our past junk, CR can be and is a great hiding place. Not "hiding" in the sense of avoiding pain and running from stuff, but hiding in His shadow of healing, growing...

Have you ever had one of those topics that you just would rather not have? Or worse yet, have to be on the receiving end of that conversation? Well...this is kind of like that. As the temperatures start rising, I want to challenge all of us to think about how we are dressing especially within the recovery setting and in the Church as a whole. Please take a few moments to watch this short video on dress during the summer. Thank you in advance for doing your part to keep this a safe place for all our attendees. To the regular attendees: We always want to show grace to those coming in new to the church/recovery meetings. As a sister to sister, or brother to brother, let's show grace but gently let our new friends know that this could be a trigger for one of our forever family. Then they will know how to dress for their next visit. Here are some things to think about before you dress. Potential trigger clothing items - Spaghetti straps - Skin tight clothes - "Low cut" s...

I had a date with my wife today. We went to the cemetery. I know what a guy I am huh? I gotta tell you though, it was so neat to walk with my wife as we looked at tombstones. You might be asking, what in the world were you doing that for? Glad you asked. I was inspired in reading Moses' final hike up Mt Pisgah as recorded in Deut. 34 to say goodbye to this world after a life of serving the Lord. I was inspired as I thought about everything this man had seen, been a part of and what kind of legacy he left behind. What would it have been like to stand at the top of this Mtn. at the age of 125, face to face with God, looking out at the land God had created? I got to thinking about what his tombstone would read? Inspired by this, I decided to take a drive down to the cemetery and walk around and view the tombstones of those that came before me. All I can say is wow! If these stones could talk. When we read inscriptions on the stones, all of them have a story behind them. Sometimes the...

Have you ever been in a situation where you see God moving? I mean really working through a process of life change as He captures His child’s heart once again? I had a glimpse of this last Friday Night. I was reminded again that this is where the blessings take place. Both open Discussion and Step Group. In case you may have lost the sense of importance for us as leaders to be in these small groups, let me remind you it is crucial and you bring hope to the newcomer in ways you cannot imagine. I watched 12-15 men in the open discussion group this past Friday, literally holding on with a very thread in many cases to maintain their sobriety and hope in their life. I saw Jesus working right before my eyes as these men shared their heart and soul. And to see their hope when me and another leader shared from our own recovery and how many sobriety years we have, the eyes lit up with hope. Please accept this as an invitation to join us in the open share groups. It is not about you leading th...

Ever slip into that mind set of forgetting all He has done for you? Maybe you are in a tough season of life and feeling a pruning season in your life that just flat out hurts. Isn't it amazing how we can romanticize about the past? Man, those were the good ole' days, "life before recovery was so much fun" Funny thing is years from now, we can start doing the same thing for the season we are in right now. And "right now", we can't stand it. The Israelites did this as stated in Numbers 11:5-6 "We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt...." Now, we just have the cruddy ole' manna! Man, if only the Lord had killed us in Egypt."Life used to be so much fun and better back in the day. (Oh you mean in the days where you were a slave, directed to hard, abusive and brutal labor?) Ah...yes, the sweet days of Egypt. NOT! :) As my kids would say today, "REALLY?!" The Lord has provided life for you and that is all you can say Rodney...

Ever take some time to read some bizarre product labels? "For external use only!" -- On a curling iron. "Look before driving." -- On the dash board of a mail truck. "Do not use in shower." -- On a hair dryer. And my favorite: "May irritate eyes." -- On a can of self-defense pepper spray. Now why would they have to write these labels? Cause it happened to someone already. Seems crazy huh? We see that in life with our spiritual walk too. Paul said in 1 Cor 10:6 "Now these things happened as examples for us" He was talking of the Israelites struggles, tests and failures. God has taken these and recorded them for our benefit. The question I am asking myself, is am I going to repeat history or make a new history. Unfortunately I have repeated a lot of ugly past. I “knew” drugs, alcohol, isolating, trying to control and live my life apart from God was unhealthy and damaging, and yet unfortunately I repeated the unhealthy history in my life. H...