Walk into Abundant Life

Happy New Year everyone. We had a great Christmas and New Year. My family spent time at home in San Diego, then two days after Christmas we went to the Wolf Home and visited for two days with Larry and the kids. Peggy's family is doing great, but your continued prayers for Larry and the kids to get to a settled routine would be much appreciated. If you think about it, Peggy passed- away right before Thanksgiving.... then the memorial service.... then the holiday season... getting all the basic routines down pat.... then kids out of school for the holidays.... then Christmas shopping.... then Christmas...Whew! It has been a very busy time for the Wolf Family, obviously. But the blessings from family and friends have been there and they continue. Larry has been able to get away for surfing with Keith. So that has been good for him. We had an all-family roller derby at the roller rink in Ventura. Included is a photo of Larry and the kids having fun skating.

Plans for the Blog....I have plans to average two posts per week, as long as God allows me to. Some have thanked me for serving Peggy with this blog. I appreciate that. But really it is serving the Lord that Peggy served. It is a blessing to me. So with that, I am planning to roll through the Book of John for starters. The last post was about the first few verses in John. Here is another post in the 1st Chapter of John.:

John 1:10 "He was in the world , and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him"

Going back to the time Jesus was born, it is hard to believe that God, the creator of "all that is seen and unseen", arrived in human form and some of the world did not recognize Him. Why is that?

I have some ideas:

Sometimes we are so caught up into ourselves and our own circumstance that we have a very difficult time seeing reality. Ever hear the phrase, "he wouldn't know it if it hit him in the face". Some theologians at the time of Christ's birth were clearly "asleep at the switch". They were likely caught up in their own circumstance...their own comfort zone...their own power structure...their own level of intellect to yield themselves to some baby born to a poor family from Nazareth. It could jeopardize their entire social structure. But the way Christ was brought into earthly life was what God had planned. Those focused enough on God would be blessed beyond comprehension. Those focused on themselves or their own circumstance would go on their merry way. They would call those following Christ..."Crazy" or even more, seek to destroy them.

When Christ was born, you would have to admit God was doing an incredible work. Shift your thoughts to current times. God is doing an incredible work around us. Are we apart of it? We can be focused on ourselves or our own circumstance....or we can be on the hunt for what God is doing and become a part of it.

How do we become apart of it? Here are a few things:

1. We need to embrace with full faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, He died for our sins and He is the savior of our lives.

Consider what my sister Peggy said in May 2006 (blog post) after her first surgery..

"A big part of the peace that I have felt in this shadow of fear and death is that death is not really a scary thing if you have Jesus. Romans 10:9 says That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. I have no doubt where I will go when that time comes and that comforts me always."

2.We need to quiet our lives from the noise and busyness so we can hear what God wants us to do and see.

3. We need to pour over His word, the Bible, on a daily basis and consider our thoughts about it and apply what we have learned to our lives.

Where is our focus? A) On what God is doing and wants us to do....or...B) On ourselves...our own circumstance/ status. If it is "A" we will have abundant life in Him. If it is "B" we run the risk of missing what God is doing around us....the little things and the big stuff.

"Dear Jesus, Thank you for being on earth to give us the ultimate example of Godly living. Give me a humble heart that yields to your Way. I want to walk into the blessings and abundant life you offer. Amen"