Heavenly Minded

The Fear of Being Unfaithful

2010-12-17T17:56:00.000-08:00

My heart strained within me a while ago considering the fact that life is long, hard, and wearying. Knowing that I am saved and fully believing that God has called me to full time ministry, my mind contemplated how I was going to remain faithful to Christ for all of that time. How was I ever going to continue to pursue holiness, remain faithful to my family, and rightly divide God’s Word? I know my sinful heart and how unfaithful I find myself already. There is no way, in and of myself, to stay within God’s will for a lifetime. My heart was downcast, but only for a moment.

As I pondered, the spirit was quick to convict me of my horribly sinful thoughts. He reminded me of the character of our God. Our God saves sinners and keeps them. How precious is this thought! It is not I who holds myself through life’s trials, but the God who saved me. Yes, I must do all that I can to faithfully behold the glory of Christ, but God does the heart work and keeps me in Christ. Just as the Old Testament accounts God being faithful to keep Israel and bring them back to himself, so does the New Testament account God, under the new covenant, being faithful to keep his people and bring them back to himself when they stray. He is the good shepherd; when one strays he goes and finds the sheep and brings them back into the fold.

When my parents were considering marriage my mom had just witnessed a pastor break up with his wife after 25+ years of marriage. Her heart was in turmoil within her, she asked, “Tim, how can I trust that you will stay with me through our marriage?” And my Dad’s answer has always stuck with me from the first time I heard it- “You can’t trust me; you have to trust God inside of me.” At first glance one might think that is a cliché spiritual comment, but NO- My dad had it exactly right. Other people can’t trust us for we don’t even trust ourselves! We know our weaknesses; therefore we entrust ourselves to our faithful creator. And others must do the same- trust that God will keep us faithful.

Life is long and being saved at a young age makes it a long time to wait to be in the presence of my savior. However, C.J. Mahaney talks in one of his messages about how the pain of waiting all depends on whom you are waiting with and what you are waiting for. Oh, aren’t we blessed when we consider this thought! We have Emmanuel- God with us. We get to wait in the loving care of our savior, beholding more of his glory every step of the way. We get to wait with our savior until the end and at that moment we will immediately be brought into “the presence of His glory blameless and with great joy.” (Jude 1:24) Consider this and let your hearts rejoice.

The character and the promises of our great and glorious God must be our foundation whenever we are fearful of anything in this life- including remaining faithful. Fear not, brothers and sisters, our God is good and WILL keep you.

On Trials

2010-12-07T18:44:00.001-08:00

God’s blessings don’t always come in nicely wrapped packages to healthy people, but as a bowl of broth to a dying man. He blesses amidst pain.

If we didn’t know that every additional trial was ordained by an infinitely loving God, what hope would we have? If we didn’t know every additional trial was our greatest good, what hope would we have? If we didn’t know that every additional trial was ordained by a sovereign God who deemed us fit to suffer for his name sake, what hope would we have? If we didn’t know that every additional trial was only a part of a masterfully crafted plan to maximize our joy and give God the greatest glory, what hope would we have? We would have none.

If, in the midst of trials, we allow our eyes only to be glued to the immanent things to come and to never gaze into what we have in eternity, we will meet fear and despair face to face every time. If the eyes of our heart are not faithfully trained to simply gaze into the face of our savior while the goings are good, don’t believe for a moment that when God brings a trial, brings pain and affliction, into our lives we will find solace in him. If our eyes are cast down, fixed on what we see, when there is no pain, they will remain there when there is. The eyes of our heart must be fixed looking up if we hope to have peace in times of strife.

Nothing but the character and promises of God will calm the seas of a tumultuous soul. Nothing but a sight of the glory of our risen savior will bring true peace to our hearts. But we mustn’t wait until we are in the midst of a trial to behold the glory of Christ in Scripture. For if we wait it will be too late to bring lasting peace to our soul. True rest in the midst of a trial comes from faithfully beholding the glory of Christ in Scripture before you are put through the furnace. It comes from knowing and loving the character of your God before you see what he has ordained for your life. For a Christian who has beheld glory will realize that his present conditions has never been the means by which he received his joy, it was only in beholding Christ. We must be content with our present condition, but be satisfied in Christ alone. When you lack joy in the midst of pain, know that these positions have been switched.

We must rest in the character of our God. We must rest in the promises of our God. The assurance of a promise is only to the degree of immutability of the promise giver. And, oh, how immutable is our God! Our God “is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).” He has promised to work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28). He has promised to never withhold any good thing from those who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11)-the trial is the best thing for us. He has promised that there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”(Romans 8:1)- the trial is a divine grace. God has promised that he is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.” He has promised to do all of this-and he will. Upon this rock will we stand.

Lingering Guilt

2010-09-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

As I read about David's struggle with lingering guilt in Psalm 51 and experienced the same in my own life I was inspired to write this poem. I hope that you are able to connect with the man's plea before the Father and also cherish the words of life that the Father gives the guilt-ridden man. I apologize for the length and the odd formatting, but I hope you are blessed.

My sin, my ugly sin

Lingers in my mind

After my troubled soul's repented.

“Be gone from me!

You blind my eyes, His grace, to see.”

I crawl to His throne

Ashamed to once again

Beg for mercy and for grace

But I’m too weak….

I must come and humbly speak

"Lord, Lord, I cannot

Come without hanging

My shameful, down trodden head.

I broke your will

I only hope you love me still.

"My soul yearns to feel

What it once had known

My heart is broken and wants you

You to fill

What is lacking in me still

"The melody of your presence

Has left my woeful heart.

The once beautiful song of grace

Has seemingly left

And made my life, of joy, bereft.

"Despise me not, Father

And answer my desperate plea

For it is the prolonged silence of God

That pains my ear.

You alone do I fear."

For a long while

Only sobs were heard

In the Most High's Court.

The broken man

Found no will, nor grace to stand

"My precious, chosen son,

You have placed your head

In the muck and mire of shame

And despair.

You've stepped into Satan's snare.

"Satan waits in silence

For the moment to strike

At the heart of my beloved

To coerce

That his evil sin's the worst.

"Satan threads his lies

Into your shame-full mind

And you, believing his every word,

Made way

For more room, from me, to stray.

“I allowed you to feed

At the trough of sin

That you would finally come to see

That only I

Can keep you from the deepest sigh.

"O redeemed sinner,

Rise from the corner

Where your shame has you tied,

Lift your face,

And behold the Lord of Grace.

"You come before this throne

Begging for a blessing

That your soul had long ago

Already received.

Your many fears are relieved.

“I’m running with arms wide open

To embrace my son

Whose transgressions are ever forgotten.

I forgive

That your soul, again, can live.

Thoughts for Young Men (pt1)

2007-04-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

Our small group this past year, has been going through the book "Thoughts for Young Men" by John Charles Ryle. I am going to do quite a few posts with a few of the points he makes in the book. They aren't going to be in any particular order, but all of the ones that I put up, I trust that you will take to heart and apply them to your life. Part one is an excerpt from chapter 4 point 4 which is: For another thing, be diligent in the use of all public means of grace.
"Be regular in going to the house of God, whenever it is open for prayer and preaching, and it is in your power to attend. Be regular in keeping the Lord's Day holy, and determine that God's day out of the seven shall henceforth always be given to its rightful owner"
"Young men, be jealous on this point. Whether you live in town or country, take up a decided line; resolve not to profane your sabbath. Let not the plausible argument of 'needful relaxation for your for your body'-let not the example of all around you-let not the invitation of companions with whom you may be thrown-let none of these things move you to depart from this settled rule that God's day shall be given to God.
Once give over caring for the Sabbath, and in th end you will give over caring for your soul. The steps which lead to this conclusion are easy and regular. Begin with not honouring God's day, and you will son not honour God's house; cease to honour God's house, and you will soon cease to honour God's book; cease to honour Gods book, and by and by you will give God no honour at all. Let a man lay th e foundation of having no sabbath, and i am never surprised if he finishes the top-stone of no God. It is a remarkable saying of Judge Hale, "Of all the persons who were convicted of capital crimes while he was upon th bench, he found only a few who would not confess, on inquiry, that they began their career of wickedness by a neglect of the Sabbath"
"Young men, you may be thrown among companions who forget the honour of the Lord's Day; but resolve, by God's help that you will always remember to keep it holy"
I love in the how he lays out the progression, starting with forgetting the Lord's day and leading to not giving any honor to God. I think that he is smart in making such a big point for us to start with the little things like going to church.

Blogging Starvation

2007-04-25T21:19:00.000-07:00

Well since I haven't posted in a stinking long time, I decided that I might as well start sharing my plethora of thoughts on my blog. I haven't posted in about nine months, and I thought that that was a pretty good record and that it was time to post some more and get back into the swing of things. For a while I am going to be posting thoughts, quotes from Thoughts for Young Men, verses from the Bible, and as my commentary on psalm 19 from Bible class comes along I will be posting that as well. It feels good to be back on Heavenly Minded and there will be posts to come, full of wealth and good knowledge. The End...

Idols(part four)

2006-08-22T19:55:00.000-07:00

This is the last point and the review in my devotional at creation....

IDOLS OF TODAY
Entertainment is a large idol of our world today. Some things this includes are movies, food, sports, and MUSIC! None of the those are necessarily bad, but they can be. You need to be careful what you are focusing on, this world is not Christ centered and wants you to focus on their product that they are selling you. The reason I bring up this last point is because we are at a huge music festival, and music can tend to be our focus, or in other word or “idol” while we are here. You need to make sure that the reason you are here the reason you are listening to the music is for the glory of God, not for your own personal ejoyment. If Christ is truly your idol you will stive to please him. I found this verse a while ago in my morning devotions that apply to this whole topic of getting rid of your idols,it is 1 Samuel 12:20, "And Samuel said to the people, 'Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart'." At the end there it says with ALL of your heart, you can't serve your idol and God. You must serve him alone, God must be your idol.
CONCLUSION
1. LOCATE THE IDOL IN YOUR LIFE
2.. GET RID OF THE IDOL PUT IT AWAY OR ABOLISH IT
3. MAKE YOUR HEART RIGHT BEFORE GOD
4. MAKE THE LORD YOUR IDOL, YOUR ONE CONSOMING PASSION

Moment of Silence

2006-08-22T19:06:00.000-07:00

I believe this is important. I ask only one thing, give one moment of silence just to commemroate the one year aniversary of this blog........well now that is done you can go on with life.

the luggnut

P.S. I do this to break up the seriousnesses of late in this blog. It is not a bad thing to be serious but I thought that it might put a little smile into your day! I will give you some serious material in the next post. Now that my post script is longer than my original script I will stop makeing a fool of my self and my blog.

Idols(part three)

2006-08-21T19:12:00.000-07:00

Here is the second part to my devotional for creation. Here is the second point...

IDOLS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
If you have your copy of Gods word please turn to the book of Jonah. Most of you know the story of Jonah. If you don’t remember it I will give a quick recap of the story. The Lord comes to Jonah the Prophet and tells him to go to Nineveh and call out against the great evils that have been going on there. Well, he doesn’t like that idea and so he gets onto a ship and tries to flee to Tarshish. On the way, the Lord sends a great storm, it is so bad it is threatening to tear the boat apart. The men wonder whose fault it for this great storm and they decide that it is Jonah’s. And so, Jonah tells them that he is fleeing from the Lord’s will and to throw him over board. After he is thrown overboard a great fish eats him and he spends three days and nights praying in the belly. The fish ended up spitting him out on the shores of Nineveh where the Lord had wanted him to go in the first place. He went and did what he was supposed to do and life went on.
Well, the whole point to bringing up the story of Jonah is because it shows us very clearly the steps going from and idol centered life style to a Christocentric life style.
What is Jonah’s idol in this story? It is HIMSELF! He was not willing to go through persecution for the salvation of others. Nineveh was infamous for its cruelty, and he knew how they would react to his teachings.
Well there are two steps that go on during this story that bring Jonah from a self centered view to a Christ centered view. There is a physical and a spiritual. So he flees from the Lords will and gets on a ship. The big storm comes and the ship is about to crack and all the other men are wondering why is this happening and Jonah steps forward and says that he is a Hebrew and that he is fleeing from the Lord in verse 9. And what did he do next? What did he do to start himself in the right direction, to get himself where he was supposed be? He had them throw him overboard. This is the physical part of the process, it is to totally do away with the idol, get rid of it, throw it out of your life. He did not think he was going to live, he was being thrown into the sea! He know that he was the problem and so he was going to take care of it. So step number on do away with or abolish the idol.
The fish came and swallowed Jonah and he spent three days and three nights in its belly. This where the second step takes place which is the most important part, the spiritual. While he was in the fish he prayed and made his heart right. He realized his total dependence on God and he acknowledges God’s sovereignty. You have to realize that dealing with idols is a heart issue. Notice that he was not where he was supposed to be until his heart was made right. The physical aspect helps only in getting your heart right to the focus back on God. If you just did the physical without making your heart right, what would stop from making a new idol besides God? Again the heart issue is the most important.

Idols (part two)

2006-08-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

Forgive me, for not posting in a sickening like a month and a half. This is the devotional that I did for our group at creation. It is quite long and so I am going to give it to you in shorter sections. This is the introduction and the first point. Here it is...
Today my title for my devotional is Christocentric Living, some of you might be asking yourself, “What does that word mean?”. Well it simply means Christ centered living. The only way to achieve the goal of having a Christ centered life is too make sure that there are no idols in your life that are hindering you from have a more personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

My goal today is to show you how to locate idols in you life and how to get your focus back on the Lord.
Well I have three major points for this morning, first: The definition of idolatry, second: Idols in the Old Testament, and point number three: Idols of Today.
THE DEFINITION OF IDOLATRY
I am going to give you four very direct definitions of idolatry just to help make sure that we all are sure what idolatry really means.
1: Worshiping something other than the true God in the true way
2: The thing that you love or trust more than God
3: Whatever us men depend upon for strength
4: Whatever governs your affections

To locate an idol in you life ask yourself these questions, Where are you placing your loves? In the quiet times during the day when you are just sitting there thinking, what is the first thing you think about? What are you trusting more than God? What are you depending on for strength? What is governing your affections? Have you thought about how ridiculous having an idol is? Here you have Jesus Christ who bled and died on the cross for you, and yet you still turn and go back to these vain idols in your life. People, he created you! He is a jealous God and deserves all our worship and praise. Exodus 34:14 says, “For you shall worship no other God, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” 1 Chronicles 16:25-26, For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be held in awe above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord mad the heavens.” And yet you are thanking him by worshiping something that he created! Romans 1:25 says, “because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, whose is blessed forever! Amen. That is mind set of this world exactly, to worship the creation but not the creator.
We are commanded all over Scripture to have nothing before Christ in our life or not to have any idols in your life. What is the first commandment? Anybody remember? YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME! And yet we still worship something else. There are tons of verses in the Bible that state so clearly that our one and only passion in life should be the Lord and thing of Him. This past weekend 0ne28, our church youth group, had a camping trip and the theme of the trip was Christ is Life. The title Christ is life was derived from Colossians 3:4 which says: :When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Notice that it doesn’t say Christ is in your life, but it says Christ who IS your life! Is not just supposed to be in amongst everything in your life, but he is supposed to be your one consuming passion, your driving force, your one and only true love in life. He is to permeate every area in life, he is to be the main influence in your life. My brother made a great analogy when he was teaching at camp, he said that Christ is supposed to be the ocean and us along with everything else in life are to be the boats in the ocean. He is to be your idol.

Seven Little Dwarves

2006-06-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

By: Nathaniel David

Seven little dwarves lived in a cottage
That used no wattage
The cottage was built just right
That is how they met Snow White

Seven little dwarves were digging in a mine
While Snow White worked amid the pine
She cleaned it all the day
And the dwarves came back singing away

Seven little dwarves not there to stop the fruit
She almost died because of a brute
Now she’s in a deep sleep
Not even making a peep

Now can only wake by love’s true kiss
And live happily ever after in heavenly bliss
And then came along Prince Charming
Who’s horse was a charging

He broke the witch’s spell
And boy was the kiss sure swell
Now with the witch all cold and dead
The cute little couple rode off all dressed in red

Small Group Sleep Over

2006-06-29T13:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I think that it is way past over due to write another post.

Last night our small group had a blast at our night out at Fry guy's house. It was boat loads of fun. Ian and I showed up a half an hour late, but they hadn't really started the serious stuff yet. So we sat down and shared what we had been learning in the Word lately, and that went till about 9:00 or maybe a little later. The rest of the night was male bonding time. We roasted marshmallow, made delicious hot shmoes, and roasted wieners over the open fire. These is the list of thing Big Ben did to me with his hot dog: Washed my hair with its grease, burned my leg, and almost poked me in the eye. Ben had to work in the morning and so he had to leave that night so the rest of the time was just the students, it was fun. Ben and I slid the board off of the teeter totter and he put it up onto this mondo stump. He climbed on top of the stump, and we moved the board so he had to jump down. The rest of the night went from Fry Guy riding cows, to Jacob and Ben fighting with curtain rods that fell in the toilet, to Jacob wasting on Ben with pine cones, to sitting by the fire. Over all we had some pretty good times. I like my small group.

Idols

2006-04-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

Idols are all over in our world today. The are sold in every store you walk into and every add or magazine.

A lot of times us Christians, when asked what our idols, we are like,"Christ is our idol,duh! We are Christians!". We say that without even thinking about what we are really saying. The way that I say is easiest to find an idol in your life, is what is consuming your thoughts day and night. What are you meditating on during the day? What is driving you to do the things that you are doing? Meditate on those questions for a while. What did you come up with? Was it Christ? If it is not, then that would be considered an idol. An idol is anything in your life that you value more than Christ himself.

In this day and age with TV and all the other promoting ideas going on we need to be careful what we are placing our focus on. I found this really cool verse this morning that related to this topic, which I thought was cool since I have been thinking about this lately, it is 1 Samuel 12:20, "And Samuel said to the people, 'Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart'." At the end there it says with ALL of your heart, you can't serve your idol and God. You must serve him alone, God must be your idol.

This is what I have been thinking about lately and I think that it is good for all of us to go back and examine our lives carefully to see what we are worshiping.

The Fool's Prayer

2006-03-23T17:38:00.000-08:00

We have to memorize this in English class and I kind of like it so I though I would post it.

THE FOOL'S PRAYER

by: Edward Rowland Sill (1841-1887)

The royal feast was done; the King
Sought some new sport to banish care,
And to his jester cried: "Sir Fool,
Kneel now, and make for us a prayer!"

The jester doffed his cap and bells,
And stood the mocking court before;
They could not see the bitter smile
Behind the painted grin he wore.

He bowed his head, and bent his knee
Upon the Monarch's silken stool;
His pleading voice arose: "O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!

"No pity, Lord, could change the heart
From red with wrong to white as wool;
The rod must heal the sin: but Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!

"'T is not by guilt the onward sweep
Of truth and right, O Lord, we stay;
'T is by our follies that so long
We hold the earth from heaven away.

"These clumsy feet, still in the mire,
Go crushing blossoms without end;
These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust
Among the heart-strings of a friend.

"The ill-timed truth we might have kept--
Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung?
The word we had not sense to say--
Who knows how grandly it had rung!

"Our faults no tenderness should ask.
The chastening stripes must cleanse them all;
But for our blunders -- oh, in shame
Before the eyes of heaven we fall.

"Earth bears no balsam for mistakes;
Men crown the knave, and scourge the tool
That did his will; but Thou, O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!"

The room was hushed; in silence rose
The King, and sought his gardens cool,
And walked apart, and murmured low,
"Be merciful to me, a fool!"

Quote of the Week Worthy Quotes

2006-03-20T20:44:00.000-08:00

"These apples are just like huge water chestnuts!" ~Ian Timothy Lugg

Last night after church we came home and Ian started eating these apples and they had no taste and so that was his response to those big water chestnuts.

"What is this pee reservoir doing in our sink!?" ~Ian Timothy Lugg

Again Last night after church we were eating and Ian walks up to our sink, and my mom was cleaning the container that the toilet cleaning device(whatever it is called)
was held. It was very random and awkward.

"Someday, I am going to buy a beagle and name it Amos." ~Katy Abbott

...That speaks for itself... Sorry I thought that was hilarious.

God's Grace is Sufficient

2006-03-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

God's grace is sufficient for everything. Over and over again I have been taught and shown throughout the word and from speakers that we need only to rely on God and His grace.

In chapel a few weeks ago that speaker told us about this family that went to Africa to be missionaries. But, when the mother found her two young kids playing on a log next to a huge snake, that was too much and the father moved them back to the states. Once back in the states the two boys wandered under the house to play and found themselves in a nest of rattlesnakes and were bit multiple times. The father heard their screams and pulled them out, threw them into the car and started to drive off. Not being careful, the father ran over their baby who was crawling across the driveway. The mother at that time was looking out their home's window, and after seeing the father run over their baby had a heart attack. The baby died instantly, the boys died on the way to the hospital, and the mom died within three days.

In attempt to save his family from the wild Africa, he brought them back and were all dead within three days. He did not find his hope or faith in God's grace, he just trusted the "safe" United States and all his family died. This is just one example of not trusting God's grace, we do it everyday. Why are we scared of the dark? You don't want to be killed? Why do we not go to Africa the share the GOSPEL? We have a chance to save people from eternal fire and we choose not to, mainly because of the fear of death. It amazes me at how many things we don't do just because of the fear of death. If you are a Christian and you are finding your faith and reliance in God and God's grace, we have nothing to fear."I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me."(Philipians 4:13) We are a faithless generation, and know nothing of placing our faith in God's grace. This is where I, and I know many of you lack also. Pray that we would find our security in Him.

Heavenly Minded

2006-03-04T13:50:00.000-08:00

The other day as I was looking at some other people's blogs and I was noticing how everybody had an actual name to their blog. I realized how stupid my name was, which was,"The luggnuts blog". After pondering it for a while I came up with and idea and I think is a good blog name, "Heavenly Minded". The reason I made this the name of my blog is because I so often find myself so engrossed with the things of this world, and one of my prayers lately is that I would be more heavenly minded or have a heavenly attitude about me. Also, that I would never neglect a moment to praise and worship my Lord and Savior. I want people to be able to see reflections of christ in me.

Lube

2006-02-23T19:53:00.000-08:00

Bringn' back the old goodies(actually it is quite pointless)

Lube
By NATHANIEL D. LUGG
Lube is a hunk
That acts like a punk
He is so cool
Cause he plays with spools

He’s buff as an ox
Cause he plays with blocks
His legs are like an iron rod
Which is quite odd

Since he is all that
He owns a bat
So he went to the beach
And sat on a leach

It started to suck and pluck
So Lube went to go take a swim
To wash limb to limb
He got bit by a shark with a terrible bark
And cried out with pain O My Great Dane

He got out of the water
And found a leach on the beach
That said, ”If you marry my daughter I will give you whatever you wish
Then swish he was gone

If you take a look in the history book
It will say vanished into thin air
Quoted by Blair
That’s all we have to say, today
THE END
dedicated to the weirdest guy on earth- Kramer Kevin

The Man Upon the Cross

2006-02-23T07:35:00.000-08:00

The Man on the cross
Nathaniel David Lugg

Blood streaking His face
Hanging there for the human race
Thorns upon His head
Crucified, the giver of bread

Hole in His side
Dying by pride
Pierced hands and feet
With only the devil to beat

Back slashed and whipped
Clothes bloody and ripped
Only one last breath
The conqueror of death

He was laid in a tomb
Thirty-three years after the womb
Three days later he rose from the dead
Still with the marks of where he bled

He died for you and me
Upon that hideous tree
But all I wanted to say
Is that I am free from pay

Ye of Little Faith

2006-02-14T15:52:00.000-08:00

The other day I was reading in Matthew and Jesus says,"For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." I realized how small my faith really is and how often I remember to palce my faith in him for the "BIG" but not the "small" stuff. Christ says he who has faith the size of a mustard seed you could move a mountain without resistance. I was amazed at how little that was and I know that I can't move a mountain, and so I know my faith isn't the size of a tiny little mustard seed. For those of you that don't know how small a mustard seed is, it is about the size of like a quarter of a marble or so, in other words it is tiny. Just that big! I challenged myself to place my faith in him more often and not only on the "BIG" stuff but the "small" stuff too.
-Nathaniel David Lugg

Be Still and Know

2006-02-13T16:27:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been thinking about what my broken cisterns are, and I have notice a lot of them come up when I have free time. I always have to be doing or watching something all the time and I think that the reason is because I am not taking to heart this verse,"Be still, and know that I am God." I think that to many times we totaly forget to medatate on Christ and His word. I was feeling very convicted yesterday when Mr. Higgins was talking about how much time Jonathan Edwards spent in prayer and mediation. We need to just be still free from distractions and meditate on his word and just praise God for how great He really is.

This might be my last chance

2006-02-03T17:10:00.000-08:00

Well last night as I was getting ready for bed a line from a song popped into my head, the lyrics were,"This might be my last chance to tell Him that I love Him." I started to think about these words and what they meant and this is what came to me: How often do you say to your parents or somebody close to you "Love You" or "Love Ya"? If you counted how many times you do that in a day you would be amazed. Well what I am trying to get at is how often you say "Lord I love you." He controls everthing in the universe and we can't even think to say I love you. We owe Him everthing and those words are so simple but meaningful. Well think about it and I would love to hear you comments.

New Year Resolutions

2006-01-04T16:12:00.000-08:00

From now on as I think of my new New Year resolutions, I will post them. Here are a few for now.

1. That I will stick to and not slack off of my "Read the Bible in a Year" program.

2. That I will deal radically with my sin. Ever since SKH has been teaching out of Ecclesiastes I have felt very convicted.

3. That I will go on a run at least three times a week.

Well that is it for now but tune in later for more. I am leaving for the Higgins house to watch the Texas Longhorns get wasted by USC.

2005-11-22T15:27:00.000-08:00

My sister came home on Sunday! It was cool to see her again after three and a half months. I only wish my bro Micah could come home. This is going to be wierd because it will be the first thanksgiving that he will not be home. I love you bro! One thing that we are going to do is have the Crafts over. Mrs. Craft is one of the new teachers at the school. One of our family traditions is, every Thanksgiving we watch White Christmas. It is a good movie with Danny K. Bing Crosby and Rosemary Cloony. If you haven't seen it I recommend it Well that is just a few things that are happening for me on my Thanksgiving.

2005-11-06T16:52:00.000-08:00

"Halibut is like eating barf out of a bowl with chop sticks."

-Nathaniel David Lugg

2005-11-04T13:47:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't bogged in hmm... FOREVER.

I just want to share a verse with you that has been on my mind.

Isaiah 66:1-2
1Thus says the LORD:"Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool;what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? 2All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD.But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

The first time I read that verse, I was so chalenged. The first part of the verse talks about how great and powerful our God is, and the second part is about the type of person that God will look to. I was very chalenged to think and compare my own life to what the verse says we should be like. First of all how am I doing on being humble? It is very easy to be trapped in that. Am I contrite in spirit? When was the last time I actually trembled at God's word? I mean like actually tremble. When was I in awe God's word?

Well I think this is a good verse to think about.

2005-09-25T16:05:00.000-07:00

This past week at Grace Academy it was Spititual Ephasis Week. I would tell you all that I learned right now, but I had to turn in my notes to Mr. Pearce. That blog is going to be written tomorrow once I get my notes back. For right now I want to share two prayer requests that the Lord has laid on my heart.

During spiritual emphesis week I did slides. So I had the chace to sit in the balcony and during the singing. People were just standing there doing nothing! We have this great chance to worship as a congregation and they were just standing there. Then you have those who are doing some thing but it isn't singing. Lots of them are turning to their neighbors and talking and giggling. I would even say that it might be even worse during the message. We not only have a time to sing as a congregation but we get to sit under the teaching of God's word and they still are messing around. After the first chance you would think they would shapen up. The last day though, I sat down among the rest and the student to the left of me was talking to the people behind him and he was sharpening all the pencils in his row that he could get his hands on.

I can't classify everyone underneath this category of "rowdy", though. I want to thank all of you that stood for what is right this week. I ask that you continue to do this.

My prayer request is, that all of the people in the Junior High would come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the ones that already know Him as their Lord Jesus Christ would stand firm and stand up for truth and rightousness.

Here is my other request. As kramerpkevin put it "a girl that I've known since I was six" got in a car accident on Tuesday of last week. She has some back and neck problems. Her vertebre are out of place, but she can still go school and do things. Mrs. Camp is physically fine but emotionally it will be hard, I can imagine. Brady her little brother, got the worst. He was wearing his seat belt wrong and so he flung forward and hit his eye on the door handle. He pretty much slit his eye lid in half horizontally. He managed to get a big slit underneath it, too. He had to get stitches on both slits.

Please pray for both of these requests.

2005-09-07T17:25:00.000-07:00

Sodom and Gomorah

Over the past weeek or so the Hurricane Katrina has been a dominating factor in the news. Through all of the news reports one bible story has stuck out in my mind. Sodom and Gomorah. In the Bible God destroyed the two cities because of the wickedness. The lord said if he could even find ten righteous people in the cities he would spare them all. But even then He could not find that many. But there was one who was lot and his family. Here is the scripture which is found in Genesis 18.

27Abraham answered and said, "Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?" And he said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there." 29Again he spoke to him and said, "Suppose forty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of forty I will not do it." 30Then he said, "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there." He answered, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there." 31He said, "Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it." 32Then he said, "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there." He answered, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it." 33And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Now to the reason that I think that the hurricane is like Sodom and Gomorah. Well, I don't know how much you know about New Orleans but I know that it was a very sinful city, they would smoke and sell drugs right on the busiest streets right in front of the cops. You name it it was there. It was just like New Orleans. I know that not everybody was killed like in Sodom and Gomorah, but alot were. This is found in Genesis 19.

23The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven. 25And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

2005-08-31T20:07:00.000-07:00

Well today I was coming back from Spokane today and I was listening to a mix that my friend had made and I came upon a song by Linkoln Park (i don't know how to spell it) and I started to think about these things...

What do non-Christian artists sing for? Was the first Question that came to my mind. I know that the christian artist's devote almost all their music to the Lord, but what about the other guys. When I was listening I was like there is no point to any of their music, at all. It is just vain repetitious noise. They are blind and in the the dark spirtually. Their music is if anything glorifying to the devil.

In my opinion we need to stray from that and focus on the Lord.

2005-08-25T14:22:00.000-07:00

Striving to be more like Christ.

2005-08-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

Jeffrey the Ladies Man

Here is a great picture of Jeffrey Jorgenson as a ladies man. He is very popular among the junior high girls as you can see. He's a stud.

2005-08-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

Today starts the first day of hell out of five days. High school soccer practice starts today. I know that I am not even in high school, but I am going to practice with them until school starts. The first whole week of practice is all conditioning, It is going to be extremely hard. But I will get in shape.

This is my first blog ever. That is why its on the shorter side.

2005-01-26T21:12:00.000-08:00