Change the Numbers

     Every time I'm on a highway, and I see all the cars on the other side of the divider, or when I'm in a crowded room, I think about all of the different stories or individual lives that are going on. Each with their own problems, their own beliefs, their own habits.

     This is a thought that my youth pastor/mentor shared with me and hit me in the car one day on our way to lunch. What he said hit me. The church of the world is not being the church it needs to be to reach everyone. We need to step it up.

     In a study done in 2005, 33% of the world is christian. That means only one out of every three cars is driven by a christian. Only one out of three people in the crowded room is a christian. So what are YOU going to do to reach the 66%  that are not christians? How are YOU going to affect the numbers in this study?

     I urge you to pray for courage to begin and profess your faith to the world that hasn't heard the gospel! Maybe the opportunity is in your work place, your church, maybe even your house! You may be the only bible someone reads, you may be the only Jesus someone sees.

Matthew 9:37-38
Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."


   Thank you and God bless,
                           Benjamin Holmes

The Norm

Being in Florida already makes me think about the adaptions that we make. Right now, my brothers are on the couch playing NHL on the PS3. My sister-in-law is laying on the carpet wrapped up in a blanket because she's cold. Its probably 68 degrees outside and she is wrapped up in a blanket. I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt drinking an ice-cold coke. She's cold because she has been in Florida for 6 months and is use to the hot weather. Her body has adapted to the hot weather that is normal in Florida while my body is set on the cold weather that is normal in Maryland. All of this makes me thing of the adaptations that we set when living a Christian life. But instead of adapting and submiting to God, we think God will adapt to us. The bible is not a book that can be edited. The book has never and will never change. In order to live for God, and trully be his disciple, we need to change ourselves. We need to allow God to change us, just like we allow our bodies to adapt to the weather.

Luke 22:42 ⁴² “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Thank you and God bless,
             Benjamin Holmes

The Long Journey

As I sit in the car on my way to my brothers house in Florida, I look out the window and I look up at the sky and view the white clouds as the lay across the blue backdrop. I see the green pine trees on the side of the long highway that makes up 99% of our trip. And as I look at the trees, I am reminded of a fact I learned in biology class. No two natural trees in the entire worlde are exactly the same. None at all. That fact alone blows my mind. As we continue our drive, I just see tree after tree after tree after... well you get the point. And to think, not one of these trees that I see is exactly like another. God, creater of the universe put so much detail into the world that its impossible for us not to see him around us. For example, the sun is the perfect distance away from earth so that we can live and function properly. If it were any closer, we would burn up. Any father away, we would freeze to death. Another example, as crazy as it seems, is our ability to sneeze. If our sneezes were to travel slower than they do, we would physically choke on our snot. Any faster and our eyes would pop out of their sockets.How can we deny the simple wonders that God has created. All of these little known facts make me wonder, "How could people not be in awe of what God has done!" Not just the big things that are mentioned in the bible, but the little things that are all around us. So this is what I ask of those of you who read this. Be in awe of the things God has done for you.Worship Him for not just the big things, but the little things as well.

Thank you and God bless,
                   Benjamin Holmes