AJ

I am so excited for this weekend. I am taking the Uth from IBC to North Little Rock for CityFest 2009. It's a two day festival with Action Sports (BMX, Motocross, Skate Board) demos, a kids zone with Bob and Larry from Veggie Tales, and other fun stuff. There will also be some of the top names in Christian Music today, including Newsboys, Toby Mac, & Kirk Franklin. Also Luis Palau will be bringing the word of God to the people. My Uth are most excited about Toby mac, they love his new song "City on our Knees". But the best thing of all this is a free event, all they ask is you bring some non perishable food for the needy. I will update next week with pictures and what not. Please be in prayer for this event that the name of Jesus will be spread across Arkansas like wild fire.

I know, I know, I've been a very bad blogger. My last post was on 9/23/2009 and it was a "Wordless Wednesday" picture post. My last actual blog with words was on 9/21/2009. Almost an entire month with out blogging, bad, bad blogger. I'm not going to make any excuses. I have had several different topics that I've wanted to blog about, but when I actually have time to sit down and write, blogging is the last thing on my mind. So I guess I'll try and catch everyone up on what's been going on in my life. So forgive me if I ramble a little bit.

Work has picked up at SeaArk Marine and with my side business Designs By AJ. So that has kept me busy, which is a good thing. Joe with Monticello Live has been busy selling ads, which means I've been busy designing them to go on the site. Also been busy going to Football games to watch the Billies dominate there opponents. And of course watching my beloved Hogs on Saturdays showing the football world what they are made of.

Been busy with my church and Uth group as well. And it's only going to get busier as the year draws to a close. We are planning on going to Central Arkansas City Fest this weekend to see Toby Mac, Newsboys, and Kirk Franklin in concert. On Halloween, we are going to be trick or treating for Can Goods, instead of candy. We've helped out at the Food Pantry at our church where we served 74 families one Saturday. And our Wednesday Night D2S (Dare 2 Share) meetings have been great. We always have a great time of worship and learning from God's word. One Wednesday night in particular was very special to me. Donna was scheduled to do the devotion, but had gotten sick and couldn't make it. So that left me wondering what to do. So I prayed and asked the Lord what He wanted. I felt the Lord telling me to just Worship. So that's exactly what we did. I called Aaron and asked if he would find some verses on praise and worship, and I put together several worship songs. It was neat to see young people praising God. It was one of the best nights I've had since I started working with the Uth. My prayer for them is that they continue to seek the face of God and that they have the boldness to go and win their school for Christ.

And as of today (Monday 10/19/2009) I am starting back on my diet and exercise program. I was doing so good at the beginning of the year. I think I had lost 20 something pounds. But this summer I let myself go. I stepped on the scale and looked at the big number of 342 staring back at me. Yes you read that right 342, that is way to heavy, that is way to unhealthy. So I made myself a promise that I would get back to watching what I eat, and get back to walking. I hit the big blue monster this evening after work and could only walk a half a mile before my back starting hurting. So after a few minutes rest, I got back up and walked another half mile. 1 mile in total, not to back for getting started again. So please if you are reading this and see me out and about, keep an eye out for me, and if you see me eating something I shouldn't let me know about it. I need to lose this weight, and I'm going to lose it.

Well I think I've rambled on enough for tonight. I will do my best to try and keep everyone updated on my weight lose journey, and all the other fun stuff that's going on in my life. And as my son would say...."HOLLA"

Do you really know how powerful prayer is? I mean of course we all would like to think we do, but do we really know? Webster’s Dictionary defines prayer as “an address (as a petition) to God or a god in word or thought”. It’s not enough to know about God, to know that He exists. Having a close relationship with Him makes all the difference in your life. When you are a child of God, He hears your prayers. Basically prayer is communication with God. Have you ever sat down and really thought about that? When you pray you are talking to God himself, the same God that created the universe, the same God that spoke to Moses through the burning bush, the same God that, was, is, and always will be. How awesome is that? How awesome to think that God would even take the time to listen to us. In Jeremiah 29:12 it tells us just that “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you.” It’s a very comforting feeling to know that God hears me when I pray. And even more so that he cares enough for me to listen and help me out, even though I do not deserve it.

These past few months I have been seeking the face of the Lord through prayer. I can honestly say I’ve prayed more these past few months that I have my entire life. I think the Lord has used the situations in my past to bring me closer to him. And the only way I can get closer to him is by talking to him. He has put on my heart, the want to, to go and pray. When I wake up in the morning I thank the Lord for another day of life and I try to continue to be in constant communication with him throughout the day. In 1^st Thessalonians 5:17 it simply states “Pray without ceasing”. Three simple little words, that when put together means so much. God wants to communicate with his children, He wants us to come to Him with our concerns, and also with our praise. James 4:8 says “Come close to God, and God will come close to you”.

As I was studying about prayer and looking up verses, I began to see how much Jesus prayed. One would think that God’s own Son was the one person who didn’t need to carve out time alone to connect with God and make his requests know. After all Jesus and God are one, right? But the Bible clearly states that Jesus prayed. “After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray” Matthew 14:23. “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, My father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” Mark 1:35.

If Jesus needed prayer, what should that say to us? We need to daily declare our dependence on Him, we need it daily, we need constant forgiveness, and we need to bring our burdens to God. That’s where the “Pray without ceasing” comes into play.

God answers our prayers in three ways; yes, no and wait. It’s the waiting that can be the hardest, but God’s timing is always perfect. I have found that out in the past few weeks. I have been praying, and just waiting. Waiting on God to show me beyond a shadow of a doubt where he wants me. But I know that God has big plans in store for me and my life. I want God to be able to use me, and for him to do that I have to be closer to him. I want to give Glory to God, in every aspect of my life. And through communicating with God through prayer, he shows me just how much he loves me. I will still have my questions, I will still not ever fully understand, but I will always know His love for me. I feel like I've been rambling in this post, but I hope someone was able to get something out of this and it made sense to someone. I think this video by Sidewalk Prophets says what I'm trying to get across.

This past week of my life has been amazing. I have become closer to God and his will for my life than ever before. This have been coming together and clicking this past week, and I can not explain it, but only say that it's God. God has been good to me, even though I have not deserved any of it, but to him be the Glory.

God's time line for my life has been amazing, and the best thing about it is that he's still working in and through me. God has placed people in my life and different times along this time line to help me along the way, to show me things, to guide me in the way I should go. God uses special people in your life when you least expect it. He uses those people to send you an encouraging word, a song or verse that God used to speak to them, or just to be there for you, to listen to you, to pray with you, and just to love on you.

I have been reading in Jeremiah this past week, and it has been a blessing. This morning at church, Bro. Larry, preached from Jeremiah chapter 33, verses 1-10. Verse 3 stuck out the most to me, it says...."Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great things, which thou knowest not". God is wanting to bless his children, he wants to come down and help us, all he wants us to do is to call upon him. I called upon Him and he has blessed me beyond measure. I can't stop smiling, and I am happy, happier than I've been in a long long time. God has taken the man that I was, the sinner, the dirty, low down, rotten, person, and made me a new man. A man that is being led by his spirit. The only words that come to my mouth is Thank You! Thank you Jesus for loving me and putting people in my life who love me for me. Thank you for everything in my life, good and bad, that have molded me into the man I am today. I can not wait to see what he has in store for me next.