Wednesday, October 30, 2013

THANK YOU!


So, I completed my first triathlon on 27 June. It was a great experience and a very humbling one. I embarked on this journey in an order to help raise money for a mission trip I am planning on going on with South Side Baptist Church.

When I started this trip I was unsure of where the Lord was leading me. All the love, support, and prayers that all of my friends, relatives and long lost friends have poured out on me have blown me away. Your encouragement has been truly overwhelming and humbling. So, thank you! I truly hope that because of your support and God’s plan that I will be able to make a lasting impact for His Kingdom on my trip.

Currently Pastor Jacques of the Haiti Bible Institute is facing a threat from corrupt government officials. I would ask that you pray for the Lord to work a miracle and protect his mission work.  I am looking forward to getting the opportunity to serve the Lord, thank you for again for all of your support!

-Zach

Saturday, October 5, 2013

I Was Blind

I Was Blind

This past Father’s Day, Katie got me a book on tape to listen to because she knew I would be traveling a lot! It was by the counter and cheap so she just grabbed it. This book has significantly changed our lives for the better. The book is Radical by Dr. David Platt.  In the book it address the idea of biblical Christianity versus how we treat Christianity in today’s American society. Today we like to take scriptures like “Go and make disciples of all nations,” and say that doesn’t apply to me because I was not “called” to missions; but, if we are truly following Christ, then that is exactly what we should be doing. The entire New Testament is full of commands that we do not get to pick and choose which ones we want to follow. They are all important because they all come from God.  I fear that one day I will end up in front of Jesus and hear these words “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father in Heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons, and do mighty works in your name?’ And then I will declare to them,’ I never knew you, get away from me you workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:21-23) 

I have prayed that the Lord would open the eyes of my heart, so that I would become a better follower of Jesus.  Through this journey I have been awakened to my blindness to God’s commandments. I thought I was not called to certain ones, but I now realize that a follower of Christ I am called to follow Him with all of my actions, thoughts and I do not get to choose with commandments I want to follow but I must follow them all. 

South Side Baptist Church is going on a mission trip to Haiti. I feel called to go on this trip to help fulfill Jesus Great Commission: “then Jesus came to them and said.’ All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded to you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

As a way to help raise the money necessary for this mission, I am going to be doing a series of triathlons. I would ask that you would be in prayer for how you could support and sponsor me in my competitions so that I may have the opportunity to help bring glory to God in all nations, and spread the Gospel so that all people may have the opportunity to hear the good news! If you would like to sponsor me, you can send a check to South Side Baptist Church, 1425 S 7th St., Abilene, TX 79602, with my name in the subject and Haiti mission trip. All donations are tax deductible.  

Thank you and God Bless, 
Zach   

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Letting Go


Over the past few days I have been overcome with emotions. Taking an adventure to Cabot, AR stirred emotions in me I hadn’t acknowledged for quite some time. You see, when I drove away from Cabot nearly 3 years ago it wasn’t under the most pleasant of circumstance. Yes, the blessings that have followed have been abundant, and life in Abilene is filled with incredible joy, memories, friends and love. Please do not think for a second I am unhappy in Abilene. I am not. That being said, it was not our “choice” to leave Arkansas.

Three years ago our family dealt with a nightmarish year filled with lawyers, judges, court dates, legal interviews, and eventually the right guy at the right time to hear our story and help us be able to live together as a family, which meant moving to Abilene. (That’s the “Cliff’s Notes.” If you want details please feel free to ask I love telling the story because it is a part of the incredible testimony of how great our God is!)

So, three years ago I drove away from Cabot with no reason to ever return. So with that drive I treated it as if I were to look back I would be a pillar of salt, and I didn’t look back. I focused on the positive and left the trauma behind me. Fast forward to this past Friday morning as I entered Little Rock. I saw it’s skyline, and the River Market, then I passed the McCain exit in North Little Rock, the LRAFB exit, and finally I took the exit for Cabot, AR. The town my new marriage was supposed begin, where we bought our first home with the red kitchen I swooned over, the dream job teaching incredible kids at the high school, the church I said my vows in, the town I was ripped from three years prior. Needless to say as I entered Cabot I realized I had emotions with which I had never come to terms.

The funny thing is I never had a reason to come back to Cabot, but nearly three years ago God placed this amazing friend in my life, and her husband in my Zach’s life, and one year ago they left us and moved to…. You guessed it, Cabot.

The trip this past weekend was not one meant to help me come to terms with anything, except maybe how to properly ride a zip line, but through quiet conversation, loud boys, hot coffee, and one drive to a beautiful house I will never live in, I let go.

I didn’t even know I needed to let go, and I really didn’t expect it to be this hard. As I walked the perimeter of a house we own I cried. I cried as I mourned a life I never got to live, neighbors I never got to know, and memories that were never made… I said goodbye to the life I had been holding onto for three years, and knew that that life was never mine. While our plan was Cabot, it was not God’s.

“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Jeremiah 29:11

The weekend reignited hard memories, but it also filled me with the knowledge of the blessings I have in the life God has planned for me.  The life I am living is all in God’s plans. If I am truly trusting my heavenly Father, I must let go of my past, because it is dragging me down, and keeping me from fully living out God’s plans for my family, my marriage, and my life!

As I drove away this time, I was not mournful or bitter; instead I was just bummed to be driving away from my friend. Good thing about friends, you can always make plans to see them again soon! Even better thing about letting go of bitterness and sadness, it makes room for joy!

“Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.” Psalm 16:9