Another First For Me To Enjoy!

There are a myriad of things to remember in raising children; their first words, first steps and the time they shot out the living room window with a bb gun, "But mom, the first time I shot it it didn't break!" Today is another one of those firsts for my family, my oldest child leaves the nest for a very extended period of time.

Micah is leaving the country to go and live for a year studying worship leadership at the Hillsong College in Sydney, Australia. To say that I woke up today with mixed emotions is an understatement for sure. I am both sad and extremely excited, sad that I will not have my son living in my house for another year, and excited because the boy that leaves my home will return as a man.

Getting him ready for this trip has caused our house to be in an uproar, washing clothes, getting electronic gadgets prepared, remembering to get all of the paperwork in order. It's exhausting, more so for my bride as she has done most of the work, which I know you ladies will say is typical, and that's okay because it is.

It is at this point that I begin to wonder and question if I have really done everything that I need to do as a father to prepare my son to face the world. I'm sure that I have missed something, but I was encouraged yesterday on my way to work with this thought from the Holy Spirit, "David, I gave you My Son, won't you give me yours?" And even though it saddens me to see him leave, I know that My Father has Micah in the palm of His hands and will be there for him even when I can't.

Sending Micah off like this is exciting for me because I know what he is about to experience. Not from Hillsong and all that God has for him there, but in the natural. That thing of being on your own, making decisions (some right and some wrong) that will effect your life a lot, and being forced to do it on your own because your parents (and the safety and security that they have been for you since you were born) aren't there with you. It is both scary and exciting, and there is something in experiencing that which makes you grow into a man.

It's like the butterfly in it's cocoon; if it is helped out of the cocoon and not allowed to struggle to free itself, then the process which causes the butterfly's wings to develop and get strong enough to allow flight is hindered and the butterfly can never become what it was created to be. In the same way, if Micah's mother and I don't let him go and experience all that this will be for him, he will never grow and develop into who God wants him to be. It is hard to watch the butterfly struggle, but so very important.

I will be sad today and maybe even the days to come as we process all that is going on in our family with Micah gone and await the news of his arrival and all. But the coolest thing about God is that He was not caught unaware about this time in our lives. If there is one thing that I have learned from God in the past several years, it is that He is right here in the midst of my family's lives in every area. He encouraged me with this thought, "This plan for Micah was Mine before the foundation of the world. I did not leave you and the family out of My plan. I will be there right with you, Cheryl and April while he is gone." That encourages me that God thinks about how we will miss Micah and that He has a plan for that too. What a great God we serve!

So today is another first for me, yet even though there might be a little sadness with it, I know that there is greatness in Micah's life to come, and that will make it all worth it! Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

You Of Little Faith

As I read this passage this morning, the Holy Spirit highlighted something I'd like to share with you, check it out. Matthew 14:25-33: "Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them (the disciples who were in a boat), walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he said. The Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "you of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

What the Holy Spirit showed me today was that when Jesus and Peter got back into the boat that the disciples worshiped Jesus and said, "Truly you are the Son of God." But Jesus didn't walk on the water as the Son of God, He did that as the son of man. I mean, did the disciples forget that Peter too walked on the water? They didn't worship him, yet until doubt entered the picture Peter was also walking on the water.

I find so many things interesting in the story, and a person could preach dozens of messages of encouragement from it, yet today what I was shown was the humanity of Jesus once again in action. How have I missed this all these years as a Christian? I used to see this as one more time that Jesus was proving who He was. But He wasn't doing that. I mean this time He didn't refer to Himself as the son of man, but usually when He did some act and people would revel in it, He would always reaffirm that He was the son of man, and not the son of God.

I think it would do us all well to go through the stories of Jesus in the Bible, and read them paying close attention to Jesus as man, not Jesus as God. John Eldredge wrote an excellent book called, "Beautiful Outlaw" which covers this very thing, and I would highly recommend that you get a copy of it.

There is no doubt that Jesus is God, that is not in dispute, but the very thing that He came to Earth to teach us was how to have a relationship with God, and He did that as a man. I heard it said one time that Adam (the man) lost all of it for us, and in order to get it all back, Jesus had to come (as a man) to make things right, and if all the miracles and things that Jesus did, He did as God instead of as man, then he cheated.

Worship Jesus as God, but admire what He did as a man. The reason He did those things, was to show you and I that we could do them too! What an honor for Him to think enough of us to come and show us how we could walk with God in such a powerful and intimate way. Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

2012 A New Year...Just What Does That Mean?

Well another year has come and gone. It seems that when I was younger there was a whole lot more excitement at the prospect of getting to see another year come in. This year was spent with my bride in bed not feeling well, and me on Facebook farting around and playing Farkle. This may actually make us officially old coots.

As I sit at my computer this morning, drinking coffee and going through my morning rituals, I looked out the front window to see a beautiful dawn. I thought to myself, I've got to blog on the first day of 2012 and began to think about the various things that I might expound about in an effort to help others as well as myself. And I came up with nothing, nada, zilch.

A new year can be exciting, but it can also be filled with dread. I think that this year I'm going to go with exciting because truthfully, it's more fun. The Felts family has some pretty cool stuff on our horizon this year. In less than two weeks my oldest child Micah will board an airplane for the distant land of Australia. He will be attending Hillsong School of Worship for a year. This brings me great pride in him, but also will be a new thing for us as he will officially be an adult and out of our house.

This summer my daughter April will spend working with futureVision Ministries and leading people to the Lord. While this is a great thing, and I am excited for her to begin the journey that God has laid out before her, I will miss my little girl this summer. Which leaves just Cheryl and me living in a house just the two of us. Now while this will allow me a little freedom to live in or out of clothes as I see fit, it will be an adjustment for the both of us. This will be the first time in almost 20 years that we have been alone without children in the house. (Pray for Cheryl please.)

I did accomplish something that has been on my bucket list in 2011 by writing and publishing my first book. A 280 page book designed to be a transparent look into who David Felts is, and hopefully which will help you come to find out things about yourself as well. If you don't own a copy you can order one here. (And yes, that is a shameless plug for my book, but I want to sell a lot of them you know.)

In 2012 I am planning on a new book that a musician friend and I will collaborate on. Right now I think it will be a devotional type book with music accompaniment. This book will come with it's very own music cd too. I'm excited to begin this project, and will blog more about the process later.

Oh, and one of the most exciting things I'm looking forward to in 2012, The Hobbit in theaters. Okay, so I'm a geek I know it, what are you looking forward to? All in all, I am excited about the prospect of once again having a new year and all that it holds with it. Change is on the horizon for the Felts family, big change, but we will embrace all of them with the Lord Jesus's help and see where it brings us this time next year. Strength and honor!

God Is Watching

Exodus 3:2-4: There the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight - why the bush does not burn up." When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."

As I was doing my morning Bible reading I came across this passage and the Holy Spirit highlighted this in my heart. "When the Lord saw..." That says to me that God is watching to see what we do. I have learned that God is always speaking to us; sometimes through a physical manifestation, our hearts or through the Bible, whatever the case He is always speaking. The question is, are we taking the time to stop and listen?

I have heard that in the Middle East it is not an unusual thing to see a bush catch fire, so Moses had probably seen this before. In the movie Kingdom of Heaven there is a scene with Balian where he throws a rock at a bush and it ignites into flames.

This is probably what Moses was used to, the thing that made him stop was the fact that the bush did not burn up. So he turned from what he was doing to check it out.

This is what God is looking for from us, stopping from our daily duties long enough to hear Him speak to us. What would have happened if Moses had been too busy thinking about his day to stop and see why the bush wasn't burned up? How many times do we miss what God wants to say to us each day because we are too busy or in too much of a hurry to stop and listen? I know that I have ended up in this position too many times. It is something that I am working to change in my life.

Taking time out of our schedules to listen for God to speak each day really would do wonders for us. I mean let's take this "church thing" and make it into a lifestyle rather than just a Sunday/Wednesday activity. If I have learned anything in my 48 years, it is that God wants a relationship with me, not a puppet, and that makes me very happy because I don't really want to be a puppet.

So today, look for your burning bush and when you turn aside to see it, you'll find God there waiting on you. Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Questioning Jesus? Seriously?

I've been talking with the Lord lately about how He talked with people in the Bible. I'm curious to see if God showed up in the flesh, or if it was a still small voice in their hearts. I really want to know, because I think it would help me to have a better relationship with Him. This morning I was reading the account of Saul's conversion which takes place in Acts 9, and I found something very interesting.

In Acts 9:10 - 19 we find the account of Ananias, the disciple of Jesus who went and laid his hands on Saul resulting in him being healed of blindness. The thing that I found really interesting is in verse 13 and 14 where he questions Jesus. The Lord has just told him what to do, but he in turn says, "Whoa, wait a minute. You do realize that this guy has come here to imprison Christians, right?" How many times have you questioned Jesus about something that you felt He impressed on you?

I mean come on, vision or no vision this is still a little bit of a scary proposition for Ananias don't you think? But what is so beautiful in this passage is that Jesus doesn't act like the great and all powerful Oz yelling, "I AM JESUS, OBEY ME!" No, Jesus listened to Ananias's question, and then answers him back in a true conversational way. This just blows me away to say the least. Jesus isn't forcing His will on us, He really is wanting to have a relationship with us. Only a God secure in who He is would do that, don't you think? I mean why else would He have a conversation like that with Ananias?

This just goes to show me one more time that God is wanting a relationship with me, not just another servant. And I don't know about you, but that makes me feel amazing this morning. I think that I will not be afraid to question Jesus in the future. Because I know that in doing so, He will answer my question in order to help me see what it is that I need to do. Oh, and then I'll need to do it. Think of what would have happened if Ananias had never gotten around to going to see Saul, we might not have 2/3 of the New Testament now.

Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Change Is Coming

You know there is a great line from the movie Tombstone, where Wyatt Earp says to some of the bad guys, "You tell 'em I'M coming...and hell's coming with me, you hear?" And after that for the gang of cowboys, change came to their lives, in a big way.

Change is an ever present entity with us in this human experience. We are constantly undergoing some type of it every day. If you don't believe me, take a look at a picture of you from twenty years ago, you will find that change has come. The problem is that most people try to run from change, they want things to stay the same, but there is only one thing that ever stays the same and that is God, everything else changes.

So why spend your life in an exercise of futility trying to make things stay the same, when instead you could embrace the change and live a much fuller life? I don't know what Wyatt Earp really has to do with change, except that I thought of this movie line this morning and how we all try and stop change in our lives and decided to write a quick blog before going to work.

So don't run from change, accept it as part of your life and then see how much fuller your life will become. Change is not the enemy, resistance to change is. Have a great day and remember, "Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!"

Here's A Thought, Are You Doing Everything God Asks?

In Genesis 6:8 it reads, "Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord." And then Genesis 6:22 says,"Noah did everything just as God commanded him."

I walk in the favor of God every day, the Bible tells me that He has placed His favor upon me. Actually, one of my daily confessions is, "I'm surrounded by God's favor shield. People like me and they don't even know why." But I wondered this morning as I read these two Scriptures if I was living the first one without doing the second?

It's great that God has favored us, actually that is one of the most awesome blessings that He has given, but are we doing the second part? Are we doing everything that He has commanded us? Do you even know what He has commanded you to do? Are you even taking the time to listen for His voice to speak to your heart?

I know that I like to claim the promises of God for my life. I love reading about what He did for saints in the Bible, and then believe that He will do that for me. After all He is no respecter of persons right? But do I do my part after procuring these promises? Do I do everything that He is commanding me? If I was to be truthful, probably not. But the most awesome thing about God is His willingness to forgive when I don't measure up.

Look at Adam and Eve in the Garden, they eat the fruit and have their eyes uncovered. God shows up "looking" for them? I mean He is God right? He knows all, sees all and He is looking for them? The Bible does say that they were hiding, but come on God knew where they were. Why was He doing that? To give them an opportunity to repent. When He finds them, He asks Adam what he had done. This is another opportunity to come clean about his actions, but he just blame shifts it onto Eve. So God asks Eve, giving her an opportunity to ask for His forgiveness and she just blames the serpent.

If you will look at the story of Cain and Able too, after Cain has killed his brother the Lord asks him where is Able? Cain's answer, "Am I my brother's keeper?" You see when God asked Him where Able was, it wasn't because He didn't know, He was giving Cain the opportunity to own up to his actions and ask God to forgive him.

God is nothing else if He is not faithful and true to want to help us. If He didn't want us to repent, He would have just killed Adam and Eve never giving them the chance to get right with Him. I am so thankful that He doesn't give us what we deserve, which basically is the definition of mercy. How could I not do everything that He commands me?

So how about today spending a little bit more time with Him and asking Him what it is that He wants you to do? And then going out and doing that with all of your being. I mean after all Jesus died for us, can't we live for Him? That's how I'm going to spend my day praying to my Father, let's just see where this takes me. Shalom my friends!