RandyBryan.dot.Com

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What is God doing in your life RIGHT NOW? That’s a very important question. The nature of spirituality is if we are not growing we are falling back. God wants to work in our lives. He wants us to grow. We grow as we move towards him and He points stuff out to us. Sometimes there are changes we need to make. Sometimes there is something he wants us to do. Whatever it is, it is normal for a Christian to see God working in his/her life on an almost daily basis. What’s He doing in your life right now?

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When I saw this, I laughed about 50 different ways. I’m even laughing as I type this. Click for larger image.

(pic_11983357110966 Originally uploaded by randybryan.dot.com)

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On my daughters field trip on Friday, we went to the Imax theater and watched a film about the Alamo. What a great story! I was moved to a tear several times. Here are a few themes that hit me:

1) Standing up for what you believe in, no matter the cost. These guys faced certain death at the hands of a much larger army.

2) The price of freedom is blood.

3) Giving the enemy “Hell.” They knew they were going to lose the battle and die. But they were going to make the enemy pay dearly on their way out. Travis said “Our deaths will cost the enemy far more than if we had victory over them.” That’s awesome.

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iFlickr

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As I was laying in my bed the other day, I thought about our current series at church, “One Month to Live.” I have been asking myself the question, “What would I do if I had thirty days to live?” As I lay there, I asked myself that question. The answer for that day came quick: “If I had thirty days to live I would go on a field trip with one of my children.

Both of them had field trips today. It worked out that I could go on my daughter’s field trip. Here we are outside the Alamo in San Antonio. After the field trip, we popped over to the San Antonio Zoo and picked up my son who was just finishing up his field trip there. On the way home we stopped by Freddie’s Custard in New Braunfels.

What a great day!

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This is a picture of one of the leaders of the Shriners riding in the St. Pat’s day parade a few weeks ago. There were about ten cars with the leaders of the organization in them. They all had weird names like potentate and many others I can’t even remember.

No offense to the Shriners. They do great things for kids. But as I watched them in the parade I couldn’t help but feel a little weird. I think the wierdness I felt was the same weirdness people feel when they think about church… A bunch of words they have never heard of, giving props to people and positions they have never heard of, and a bunch of traditions that no one understands.

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I read this article at Joelnews.org and had to reprint it here:

92-year-old Pauline Jacobi reads her Bible everyday. Her strong faith keeps her going in life and may have saved it after she almost became the victim of a parking lot robbery. Jacobi had just finished putting her groceries inside her car at a Dyersburg Wal-Mart when a man jumped into the car through the passenger’s side door. He told Jacobi he had a gun and that he would shoot her if she didn’t give him money.

“I’m not going to give you my money,” Jacobi said. “‘Jesus is in this car and he goes with me everywhere I go.” The robber looked around and tears sprung in his eyes. She told him to ask God for forgiveness and ministered to him for 10 minutes inside her car. “He says, ‘I think I’ll go home and pray tonight,’” Jacobi said. “I says, ‘You don’t have to wait until tonight. You can pray anytime you want to.’”

As tears were rolling down the man’s face, Jacobi voluntarily gave him $10. All the money she had. “When I told him I was going to give him the money, I said, ‘Don’t you go spend it on whiskey either,’” Jacobi said. The man thanked her for the money and kissed her on the cheek. Then he walked away.

Video testimony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDmp967UMds

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I talk to people from time to time who say they just don’t seem to be “clicking” spiritually. They might feel lethargic, disconnected, or even spiritually depressed. They say things like “church hasn’t meant much to me lately” or “I feel spiritually dry.”

Whatever they feel or might be saying, it boils down to they are in some kind of spiritual funk. I’ve seen it a lot over the years. I think it happens for three main reasons. The first two reasons have to do with things you can control. So, if you are in a spiritual funk ask yourself these two questions:

1) Am I doing something I shouldn’t do? Sin affects our relationship with God. If we are Christ-followers, He doesn’t leave us, but we definitely feel alone. Sin rots us from the inside so when we have unconfessed sin in our lives it messes us up.

2) Am I not doing something I know God has told me to do? Maybe you need to forgive someone, take up a ministry at church, tell someone about Jesus, start reading your Bible, hang out with God… the list could go on and on. Bottom line, as long as you are disobeying God, you’ll feel the funk.

Ok, so what if your answer to both questions is “no?” If the funk lasts more than a few days, then I believe there is a third reason we get spiritually depressed. I believe it is because God might be trying to get your attention. You probably don’t know why. No one else might be able to tell you. But you have to trust Him and believe that He knows what is going on and that He can handle it. When we go through periods of spiritual dryness or whatever you want to call it, we should reach out to God even harder… pray more, read scripture more, etc. He doesn’t want us to give up. Keep pressing in, one day you will push through.

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Jeremy checking out the parade from his stroller. We were watching the Shriner’s in their tiny cars. It was bizarre, almost disturbing. Jeremy was mesmerized.

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