The Vacation Nugget

Hello everyone! As I sit here I am writing you from sunny Orlando Floria! Cindy and I have taken the kids to Disney for a week. So far the trip has been great. The ride down was good and more or less peaceful. Well about as peaceful as having four kids in a minivan can be....

Anyways. So far so good. Celebrating Resurrection Sunday was great and it was fun to mark our one year anniversary. Thanks to all of you who are helping LIFE House West become what God wants. It is an honor to work with all of you. I imaging that the next few days will be busy so I will write if time permits.

If not I will catch up when I get back.

blessings,

PJ

The Forced March of Our lives

Hello everyone! Welcome back for another LIFE Nugget. I am sorry that I am a few weeks behind in putting another nugget out there. I got rather busy and did not have the time to sit down and just blog. Life the past few weeks has been almost on a forced march. If you are familiar with the military there are times when troops need to be moved that an army goes on what is called the forced march.

Life has felt like that lately. I have felt like I am just being moved from event to event and task to task. It is funny how quickly we can lose sight of God in the midst of business. I do not think that God is in the business of keeping our life on a forced march.

We cannot forget the importance of rest, the time to just be refreshed in him. Whatever day you may feel the Sabbath is to fall on, I think that in the midst of the forced march of our lives we must remember to take time to refresh ourselves. If I can give you any nugget today it is this. Do not for get to take the opportunity to rest in God. You will be suprised how it will benefit you.

Blessings

Justin

The Brilliance of God

I have been thinking all day about what to blog. Something that has been on my mind is not just blogging trite church stuff that has to do with current message series' or agonizingly over-repeated quotes from leadership books. Sometimes it is fun just to write about something that you observe.

I had one of those moments watching television last night. There was a show on called "Dog Genius," it was obviously about dogs. What struck me is the profound ability of dogs, according to the scientists on the show, to smell. Dogs have the ability to pick out individual smells in a particular odor that we cannot. I have to admit that I was amazed to see the ability of the dogs put to the test with police bloodhounds.

It is cool when something as simple and as unnoticed as a dog nose can show the genius of God. I will admit that I am a dog lover, I have two, a Lab and an English Bulldog, and in looking at my dogs, I see the brilliant design of God.

What is even more beautiful is that we, human beings, are the crowning achievement of creation. The one thing which God made "in his image." That idea is humbling. It is we human beings that have the capacity to connect relationally with God. Dogs among other creatures are proof of the brilliance of God, we however have the opportunity to connect with God. Have you taken the time recently?

Blessings

PJ