Fire!

So about a week or so ago Whitney and I had a nice dinner together (that I made), soon followed by a warm, cozy fire. She was on my couch, I was on the floor. I was facing her, but my attention was not on her... I know, terrible, right? I was infatuated with the flickering fire that was making me warm (but not fuzzy). I was right in front of the fireplace, so it was quite hot and I had to back away a little bit.

Whitney made a very keen observation about my delight in the fire. The fire quickly went from a warm and cozy setting, to being a wonderful reminder of sin (dun..dun..dun). Sin, like fire in a fireplace, captures our attention, and our focus is fixated on the heat of the moment.

In real life, often times we feel the warmth of sin (fire) and we get closer to it because it makes us feel good. As we continue to get closer the temptation gets deeper/harder to resist, and it is hard to look away. This fixation we have, often not only on one or two flames, begins to sting and, eventually, burn us.

Shortly after the fire, we moved on to some hot chocolate. We love hot chocolate! Seriously. We don't kid here.

Sipping the hot chocolate, with our mountain of marshmallow on top, the warmth of it seeped in. This also brought up more discussion. The hot chocolate seemed to take the coldness of the room off, so much better than the fire.

The fire in the fireplace comes and goes. It gets hotter and dies off. It's not certain and true. The hot chocolate lasted soooo much longer. It stayed hotter longer, and it took longer to drink in as well.

In our spiritual lives, we get tempted by fires that come and go. We are going to get burned by them if we get too close. If we truly wish to warm up we need to take in some hot chocolate, God (the hot chocolate) and Jesus (the marshmallow mountain that's as white as snow), truth, will keep you warmer for a lot longer. Here's the deal. You have to keep taking it in. It's not a one cup stop deal. We must all continually drink in the love of God and we will then be warm for forever.

Jeremiah 20:9 tells us that if we have a fire, a warmth, inside of us that it is way too difficult to keep to ourselves. Let the warmth of the love of Jesus fill your body, and your soul, and may you spread the warmth to others. Share a cup of hot chocolate. Keep all other fires where they belong... in the fireplace.

Stay warm!

We hope that this message is an encouragement to all or that it, perhaps, challenges you. Please leave your thoughts and comments for us!

---A&W

Tis The Season

It’s that time of year again… A time for Christmas carols, warm holiday cookies, Santa and his reindeer, hot chocolate, and what else… Presents! But wait… Aren’t we forgetting something?

Yes. Christmas is a wonderful holiday filled with love, giving, and hope. And it is all because of Jesus that we have such a wonderful holiday. He is “the reason for the season.”

Luke 2:11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Often times, we forget the real story behind Christmas. We get caught up in buying the right gift, getting the house clean, calling family, and finishing up deadlines. We may not intentionally do this, but it happens. Christmas is not just about buying presents. It is because our Lord and Savior, Jesus, that we have Christmas. This Christmas season, don’t forget about the true reason for the holiday. Because of Jesus, because of His birth and God’s plan for Him, we are all forgiven and will live forever in His marvelous light.

---Whitney

Oh, and because it IS the Christmas season, check out this video! We have been elfed!!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1218028445

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be elfed up!

The King

The King - Lecrae ft. Flame
Yeah. Ok. See, uh. There's a lot of cats goin' around talkin' bout they the king, ya know what I'm sayin'. The king of this, the king of that. Well, I think we need to get this straight. There's only one true king. Hey Flame, come help ya boy out man. Let's get into this one man. Yeah. Who da real king?

(Lecrae- Verse 1)
He was raised up in Nazareth and raised on the THIZZERD
Never got drunk, got high, or sipped SYZZURP
Prophecy King Isaiah 9 that's the WIZZORD
He's da real king and it don't matter what ya HIZZERD
A king's a real Shepard dawg acts in peoples favor y'all
Not a self seekin' playa all about the paper dawg
Call 'em the Messiah bruh, Annointed one the Savior, bruh
Caught Him on the humble but you'll see him reign later bruh
These self proclaimed kings braggin' cuz they ON CHROME
But twenty-six inches is a PRETTY LOW THRONE
Like kids playin' in they daddy's clothes when he's gone
The clothes don't fit, and daddy's comin' back home
Really this is foolish man you don't wanna do this man
The king of kings is comin' back, the theocratic ruler man
What if you should pass away and see him on a last of days
There ain't no makin' deals so really what is there you have to say

[Chorus 2X]
WHO DA KING? (HE DA KING)
WHO DA KING? (HE DA KING)
WHO DA KING? (HE DA KING, JESUS CHRIST RULE DIS THANG!)
WHO DA KING? (HE DA KING)
WHO DA KING? (HE DA KING)
WHO DA KING? (JESUS CHRIST RUN IT MAN!)

We talkin' 'bout the Sovreign Ruler dawg. Hey Flame man, why don't you enlighten us to who the king is dawg? Let's get it.

(Flame- Verse 2)
Oh how excellent is his essence we reverence his name (ooh)
While silly peasants we presently tryin' to steal his fame (ooh)
You carry 45s, AKs king of the tools
But you can't make a day
You can't take away from the king of the Jews
See what about the major day
When you face to face with yes you know who
We wanna be a king with bling and do major things
But He supremely rules
You must be jokin', you smokin' plus you buyin' that buddha (ooh)
Why defy him when you can rely on the lion of Judah?
Supreme ruler shinin' brighter than Jacob the Jeweler's (ooh)
Jewelry, cuz it's true indeed he's savin' us through the
Cross of Christ and that's true
Follow him, lose ya life and that's true
Gain new life, ya got to let loose
Of your own throne and follow Jesus
Rollin' big whips don't make you no king
Rollin' them spliffs don't make you no king
Pretty mixed screens don't make you no king
Smokin' those kis don't make you no king
See you can run a trap own a house and smoke black and milds (ooh)
You'll be a king when you can do things like roll back the clouds (ooh)

[Chorus 2X]

Yeah! We talkin' 'bout absolute sovereignty. Who rules over the earth and it's entirety, who will be back to reign! Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is king of the kings. Yeah. Respect it.

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WOW... I love those lyrics. I think they speak a lot to our day and age. Everyone (white, black, blue, green, orange, red, purple, whatever...) is influenced by everything around us. This particular song, "The King", by Lecrae is an incredible account of reality.

Well, what is reality? I'm not a king, that's for sure. Neither are you. Jesus Christ is King. Hmmm... I'm honestly unsure of where to go from here. Christ is King not because he could roll on dubs or dress in the nicest suit ever made or even as the loudest person in the crowd.

He is the King because He guides us. He'll show us the way to Him if we let Him. I love the last line of the song "You'll be a king when you can do things like roll back the clouds." It just gets me excited! I know that I cannot do jack-squat compared to rolling back the clouds. That is not to say that I am insignificant, and neither are you. We are capable, as humans, to do so much. Yes, I can be so successful in life that I can roll around on 26" chrome wheels, or I can dress in a silk suit, or afford to have the loudest voice in any given crowd. I can be so successful that I could retire at 33 years old and live in Florida for the rest of my days; paradise, right?

Jesus, the real King, did way more than that. He showed us a way to live a truly successful life. Life to the fullest, as He put it, is what He came for. One of my best-friend's, Stephen, talks about really living, in his blog. Well, I'm sure as heck not going to be a king of anything or drive any big fancy cars, or retire when I'm 33 years old, or this or that. I can rest assured that I will live in true paradise with Jesus because He is my King. There won't be any confusion for me when THE KING ROLLS THOSE CLOUDS BACK. I'll be ready, will you?

---AN