Eddie and Martha Marie Smith

Love is a very abstract concept to me unless I can engage my senses with it or attach some kind of tangible analogy to it.  I can understand the feeling of love and the labor of love.  I can even understand what things I can do to show love to others.  But it’s hard for me to sometimes grasp the concept of love…especially if I am seeking the standard for perfect love.

I have no trouble understanding fear, because I know how I feel when I have fear; I feel afraid.  I may shake.  I may bring about worry if I am afraid.  I have full awareness of fear.

For years I have struggled with this verse in the Bible because I have been unable to connect perfect love driving out fear:

1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

I have recently however had an epiphany about this verse. 

When we substitute the name “Jesus” for the word “love” here, we can see that Jesus is the standard for perfect love.

I have recently learned and understood that the antonym for fear is peace.  When Jesus came to earth to live among us, He came as the Prince of Peace.  If we have peace, fear cannot hang out there.

If we are seeking peace, which casts out all fear, we are really seeking Jesus.  If we want to seek Jesus and love in a tangible way, then we have to get in His presence.  If we experience His presence then the feeling of fear cannot camp out there.

Today is my Mama’s 50th birthday!  Write her an email at tamiekennedy@hotmail.com.

Happy Birthday Mama!  We love you!

This is where I will be all day tomorrow.

Two of my favorite preachers in the world will be there tomorrow: Steven Furtick and Perry Noble.

I also hope to meet Chris Elrod and Gary Lamb since I follow their blogs.

We all have areas in our lives that we are not wild about when we try to line our lives up with what God wants for us.  These areas can be labeled as weaknesses, sin, flaws, or some other negative area of our lives.  Whatever we want to call it, we should not excuse those areas of our lives or think that God cannot redeem those areas of our lives and turn them into something that can please Him.

The song Undo, by Rush of Fools has been a great encouragement to me that Jesus Christ “is the only One that can undo what I’ve become” when Satan tries to remind me of my weaknesses and try to convince me that I cannot overcome them.

2 Corinthians 12:9 says But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Undo by Rush of Fools lyrics

I’ve been here before, now here I am again
Standing at the door, praying You’ll let me back in
To label me a prodigal would be
Only scratching the surface of who I’ve been known to be[Chorus]
Turn me around pick me up
Undo what I’ve become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, need Your help
I can’t do this myself
You’re the only one who can undo
What I’ve becomeI focused on the score, but I could never win
Trying to ignore, a life of hiding my sin
To label me a hypocrite would be
Only scratching the surface of who I’ve been known to be

[Chorus]
Turn me around pick me up
Undo what I’ve become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, need Your help
I can’t do this myself
You’re the only one who can undo
What I’ve become

Make every step lead me back to
The sovereign way that You

[Chorus]
Turn me around pick me up
Undo what I’ve become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, need Your help
I can’t do this myself
You’re the only one who can undo
What I’ve become

Martha Marie and I are crazy about each other and our little girl Selah.  Selah has been such a joy in our lives and is so cute and sweet and she knows it.

As parents we are striving to ”Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)  What this does not mean is that she has a reservation in heaven just because:

• we “raise her right” or
• she is “sweet and cute” or
• “her daddy is a pastor” or
• she “goes to church” or
• she is “a good girl”.

Matthew 7:21 says ”Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Selah, like everyone else, will be held accountable to ”do the will of the Father” as she nears the ability to discern right and wrong and to choose to accept or reject Christ as her savior.  Our “sweet little girl” is just as sinful as the rest of us and has no hope for heaven without the saving grace of Jesus Christ and a relationship with Him.

In the mean time, Martha Marie and I will continue to “raise her in the way she should go so she will not depart from it” and pray that she would choose to let Jesus Christ forgive her for her sins.

Text messages can be sent from an email message with the cell phone number and correct suffix of the cell phone companies carrier provided.  Suffixes for the most popular carriers are:

• Verizon: number@vtext.com
• AT&T/Cingular: number@txt.att.net
• T-Mobile: number@tmomail.net
• Nextel: number@messaging.nextel.com
• Sprint PCS: number@messaging.sprintpcs.com

See my first post on this here. 

2.  The fun times we had.

The second biggest thing I miss about high school was the fun that we had.

I remember…

• Watching people sling mortar on the wall in masonry class (I was always too chicken to do it myself).
• Taking my shirt off in Mrs. Hicks’ class while she turned around to write on the board and me putting it back on before she turned around (I was so hyper I couldn’t stand to sit still).
• The football games were awesome to go to!  I never watched them because I was hanging out with the great people of West Rowan (miss you guys like crazy!).
• The times at DJs, Christo’s, Pizza Hut, and other places we went after the football games.
• Our basketball team winning the State Tournament in 1997!  The roof was on fire!  We yelled and screamed and celebrated for 2 hours outside of the Dean Dome!  Scooter Sherrill getting the MVP award as a freshman was awesome!  I vote Bam Bam, Vslice, Clint, and Welby too!
• The pep rally before the basketball State finals!  Every guy on our team dunked the mini balls except Yost.  He could dunk.  He was just being modest.
• The hang out times and parties at class mates homes for us just being together.  Neat times!
• TPing houses like crazy with Chad, Harry, Tapley, and Doug!
• Senior Day.  It was great getting together before the ceremony!
• The times in wrestling, cross-country, and track practice.
• The fun times in the hallways goofing off.
• The great time we had in Shoaf’s Spanish class.
• The guys calling me “Special Ed” in weightlifting class.

Great times in High School.  I would do it again if I could!

Yes.  I was a cheerleader my freshman year at Indiana Wesleyan University.  I really enjoyed it too.  I learned a lot and was in really good shape while I did it.  It definitely is a sport.  I actually got hurt more in my one year of cheerleading than I did in all four years of high school sports of wrestling, cross country, and track.

Some of you men may laugh, but can you do this?

Ever thought about where you will be in 1 year?  How about 5 years?  10 years?  100 years?

We have no control where we will be on earth in any given time as any circumstance could come up to make us have to be either here or there.

We do however have control of where we will be in 100 years by the choices we make today for eternity.

Jesus Christ is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  Jesus Christ is also the hardest thing that has ever happened to me (even harder than life’s set backs) because of the commitment it takes.  Being a follower of Christ has been very hard work (I will write more about this later sometime), but I know that it will all be worth the hard work 100, 1,000, and 1 million years from now.

Philippians 3:13-14
13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.