First Blog. An experiment, at best.

Hello all! Mostly friends and family to be sure. This is my first blog ever. Given how much I like to write and how opinionated I am, I suppose it to be a bit surprising it took me this long to start a blog. Well, better late than never, or so the saying goes.

I am 28 years old, I am married to a wonderful young lady named Candice, now for over 6 happy years, and I have two wonderful boys, Isaiah (5yrs) and Jeremiah (whom we affectionately refer to as "JJ" (22 mo)).

I am a Christian. I am a "young" minister. I am apostolic. I am a Pentecostal. Everything I am and will be has everything to do with what I just told you. So now that you know where I am coming from you'll be able to better understand my musings.

Something that God has been dealing with me the last few days is the subject of being ashamed when it comes to being a minister. I'm not sure when it happened. My wife has encouraged me to carry myself "like a minister" since we have been married. I think the biggest hinderance for me in this area is the feeling of guilt and shame and unworthiness of the call on my life. That over-carefulness if you will of not wanting to come off as self righteous and holier than thou to the point where I don't even come off as a minister at all! This has got to change. I must NOT be ashamed that I am called to preach. Am I worthy? No. None of us are. But the cross makes us worthy. It doesn't make sense to me. God why did you call me? Not sure. Not qualified. No pedigree. No noteworthy name. But called. Oh yes. Undeniably. I am going to carry myself not pridefully, but joyfully knowing that God has seen fit to allow me the privilage to be a part of a great ministerial fellowship.

I was praying this afternoon concerning some meetings my wife and I are going to in Oklahoma. I really felt the Holy Ghost lift the rest of that hindering shame off of me. I felt a fresh anointing. I really did. I will go to Oklahoma with a CONFIDENCE and FAITH in GOD that He knows what he's doing when it comes to using me, and that if I'm apparently so usable, I am going to let Him use me, and give HIM ALL THE CREDIT for any good that comes of it. Thank you so much Lord, for grace and mercy. Until next time...