Sooner than you think

One of my favorite times of year is the month from Thanksgiving to Christmas. This is a time where I can't get enough of my family, some traditions, and the opportunity to reflect. This year I'm a little more giddy, I guess you would say, about Christmas. It will be Micaiah's first and Cyndi and mine first as parents.

We've decided to continue some of our families traditions like opening one gift on Christmas Eve (which is always PJ's...that is Cyndi's family), and we will be going to the Sunshine state for a few days (that comes from my side). We've also decided to create some of our own traditions. By the way, I'm going to go nuts decorating our house! But in case you are wondering there is

Christmas Countdown - Christmas Layouts

til Christmas!!!

Pumpkin Patch

This week we took Micaiah to his very first experience at a pumpkin patch.

Thanks Ashley and Jamie for getting us out to the orchard!!!

Finals

This week I've been working to complete my first quarter as a full time student (once again). I've been working towards my Master of Divinity and this week is finals. So my plan is to finish this week strong and be back to the blogging world next week.

I've enjoyed being in seminary and am really striving towards excellence. My goal is to finish with a 4.0 and if this quarter is any indication of what is to come, I'm on track for that goal!

Dreams

As a kid I used to have some of the craziest dreams. Dreams sometimes can seem so real!

The other night I had one of those vivid dreams that ended up, not only waking up Cyndi, but me as well. So what did I dream? I dreamt that I was fighting demons. That's right Jeremiah the Demon Slayer! I was running around, in my dream, proclaiming the name of Jesus and fighting off these demons. I guess my proclaiming the name of Jesus got a little loud in real life because I woke Cyndi up.

The next morning when I awoke, I was reminded that every day we are fighting off demons. We are in a battle and it is important to be prepared!!

Judas: Follower of Jesus

I'm currently writing a paper/project for my New Testament class in which I am taking a look in the life of Judas. It is a series of 4 lessons that point out several ideas. The first of which is Judas as a Follower of Jesus.

The reality is that Jesus chose Judas Iscariot to be one of His twelve inner close disciples (Luke 6:12-16). Judas faithfully followed Jesus.

But what did it take to follow Jesus?

1. One had to give up their regular ordinary lives Luke 5:1-11

2. Commitment - in that day a disciple would follow their teacher everywhere to learn as much as possible.

3. Following Jesus took precedence over anything else Matthew 8:18-22

It took a lot to follow Jesus, but what exactly does it mean to follow Him? Mark 8:34 makes this clear.

1. Deny Yourself - seek God's will and submit to it

2. Take Up Your Cross - take the daily struggles, persecutions, and anything that may come your way and endure them.

3. Follow Jesus - pledge your loyalty to Him.

Now many people would argue that Judas truly didn't follow Jesus because of His betrayal. However, I would say especially in the beginning Judas did. A little later we will discuss what went wrong.

So what are your thoughts? Do you think Judas should have been chosen? Did he have what it took to follow Jesus? Did he actually follow Jesus?