Back in 2004, I started to play a game online called Second Life. My real life was going down the toilet fast, and I didn’t want to watch it happen.

Second Life was a online 3D interactive world that was billed as “If you don’t like the way your life is going, you can have a Second Life”. When I joined the game, it was primarily a way to learn to make 3D Models. I gave the game a week, and I took to building in the interface rather quickly.

I was able to make real money by playing this game, and it was a “much needed escape”. I was in deep…

One day Father God in all His love, showed me that I had allowed certain people on the game to pull me away from where He wanted me to go. I made the decision to leave the game, but found that it had become an addiction.

The game in itself wasn’t the addiction, but it was the need for the people in that game that was. I really had no one to talk to outside Second Life, or so it seemed. I remember the word from God saying that I had allowed myself to become so engrained in the relationships, that He was unable to get to me the relationships that I really needed.

Building in the game was so much fun, and the creative outlet would help me visualize designs. I used to say that if there was a way to make the models, without the game, I would love to see it. I did without for 3+ years, and Father God has given me a Real Life love in the form of my beautiful wife, Mary. Mary has helped me move so much further into the will of God than anyone else has.

A while back, I saw that Second Life was out there as a “Standalone Version”, and I installed it. I was able to move through the virtual world, and build the 3D Models that I like. I was even able to get the kids on, and we all build as a family.

I no longer have to pay to use the tools, and I can make as many Estates as I want (or as many as the old anchor of a computer can hold, and so far that is 7).

Because I allowed The Lord to pull me away so that He could strip away the unhealthy parts, He saw fit to bring back a tool that I can use in the future.

I serve a loving and faithful God!!!

Well tomorrow is the first Sunday Morning Service for Abundant Grace Outreach, and I have been busy getting things together and finishing up the details.

It is wild that the vision for planting a church in Arnaudville came to me back in February, and here we are with our first monthly Sunday Morning Service less than 23 hours away. I will not lie and say that I haven’t been coming against doubt in myself and my abilities, but I also will not lie and deny the Lord His due praise for all the miracles that have been happening along the way.

All the pictures below are God answering prayers…

Here are some testimonies:

Our Non-Profit Corporation cost less than $100 (Bylaws and all)

Last monday we were given speakers to complete our Sound System (all portable)

Our office has the computer, printer, and accounting software

We have our praise and worship videos ready with a projector

We are renting a place (will seat 25) for $125/month (all inclusive)

We were invited to 2 community events to do outreaches

We were able to purchase 100 New Testaments to give at outreaches

We have office and church supplies

We have a mailing address and a checking account

The name and the logo design was given by God

We do have some needs, but let me tell you that they seem very small compared to how much we have been blessed. We are so grateful and rejoice for every step of this process.

Thank you Father God or being our provider

As we started the Abundant Grace Outreach, Father God impressed on Mary to put up poster boards with things that we were believing Him for. I had been praying for certain things, but doing this helped me to focus my prayers so that they were more effective.

When I accepted the calling to start a church, there were things that I knew I needed God’s help in. He called me, and it was about Him, so I needed His help.

The Lord gave me words to pray for, and as I prayed them (I looked up the words in scripture, and prayed the scriptures) I found that there was a structure to accomplishing everything that God  calls us to do.

At the top, the word is “Calling”, and there are two columns under it. The Column on the left is “Faith” and the Column on the right is “Action”.

The Calling: Father God puts the good desires into our hearts, so He is working for them. He will not call you to do what you can not do, and because this is His doing, it is all about Him.

Faith:
The Vision: He shows you where He wants you to go to get to the calling.
The Direction: He is the one that leads by every step to get there.
The Message: He gives you the words to say, or the actions to do, to bring in the calling.
The Method: God is the one that shows how to say the words or do the actions.

Action:
The Ability: Father God gives you the skills necessary to accomplish the calling.
The Resources: He provides you with the tools to work on the calling.
The Favor: He gives you the people that you need for support.
The Income: He supplies everything necessary to do His will.

Every Desire that is given by God requires Faith and Action, all of which He gives to us to do through the Blood of Jesus.

We serve a great God!

Saturday Night I had this dream…

As I walked through the dream (it seemed to take place in a huge cavern with rock formations instead of an open sky. I walked through an alley where I saw this writing (I couldn’t read it’s meaning) that glowed. Some of the writing seemed to be on walls and some was on a metal plate that was cut out with a plasma torch. No matter where the writing was, the outer edges had a glow effect and it seemed to be foreign to the area I was in.

I made my way to an open area (it resembled the center of a race track) where I saw total chaos. Cars were going around the track at high speeds, and where the embankment was, it seemed to be too steep of an angle. One after the other race cars were flying off the edge of the oval’s embankment, and I found myself asking why the drivers didn’t see what was happening to the cars in front of them. I found myself wondering why they would just follow each other to their own deaths just for a race.

I looked higher, and it seemed that people were falling to their death in droves as the trains (I saw every kind of train and subway car) were colliding into each other. It was a sick feeling to see the bodies fall onto the race track below where the racers were hitting them before their own death over the embankment. I thought to myself that it was odd to see an old steam locomotive running along tracks (like a subway car would run on) that were above the race track.

I noticed that there were also bodies falling onto the trains from the sky. When I looked higher, I saw bodies falling from airplanes of all kinds that were crashing into each other. It seemed that some people were trying to bail out of the trains and planes, but it was too late for them. Their limp bodies were all twisted as they hit the ground, and I wondered why the survivors seemed to be trying to get back to the places they fell from.

A man came to me (who I perceived to be Jesus), and I followed Him to this smaller cave (room). There were people following Him into this room, and He instructed us to be patient and rest. There were these bunk cots all over and I climbed into one and waited for Him to return.

Suddenly He came to my bunk and spoke directly to me (or so it felt like), and told me that it was time to go. I followed Him down this corridor, but realized that I had left my shoes back at the bunk. I asked Him if I needed to be wearing shoes where we were going, but He didn’t answer. I remember laughing at myself saying “well I guess I don’t need shoes”.

It seemed as if I was directly behind Jesus, but in reality we were all behind Him (even though the corridor was very narrow). As we exited the corridor, we came into this huge arena in this large cave. Jesus turned to me and told me to keep going while He waited for the last person to arrive out of the corridor.

We walked down this aisle (it seemed like He was still walking with me) towards this stage that seemed to be in the middle, but was built as if it were in a corner. At the corner of the stage was a pit of fire and a black curtain behind it.

When I walked onto the stage, I thought to myself that this looked like an “end-times” thing where I would have to die for my faith in Jesus. I said almost laughing that it didn’t matter because I had just seen Him and the fiery pit didn’t seem so scary. I knew I wouldn’t deny the truth (it seemed like the matter was settled in my heart, and having it settled took away all fear).

There were so many people in the arena that were sitting in chairs looking at the stage, but they were all silent. In fact I wondered if they were real or not or even dead or not. There was a being that came to me, and asked me if I was ready to deny Jesus. I said that I wasn’t because I had just been with Him. How can I deny when I just spent time with Him? It seemed all to silly to me.

The being told me to go to the edge of the pit and turn and face the crowd, and I did so without fear. It was like I wasn’t being forced to this pit, but I went willingly to prove my faith in Jesus.The flames were so high and I saw that the moment it would hit them I would be instantly dead, but I felt no heat from them.

I was then instructed to step back into the flame (it seemed like a joke that they were so unwilling to go near the pit themselves to bring me there), and I closed my eyes and stepped back. I never had a sensation of falling, but as I stepped back off the edge I immediately felt hands catch me and pull me back as if through the curtain backdrop behind the pit.

As the hands caught me and pulled me through the blackness I heard a soft voice say, “… ahhh… Gene!”

When I heard the voice I immediately knew that He knew me, and as I opened my eyes and turned to Him saying “Lord”, I woke up…

2 Timothy 2:14-17 (Contemporary English Version)
An Approved Worker
“Don’t let anyone forget these things. And with God as your witness, you must warn them not to argue about words. These arguments don’t help anyone. In fact, they ruin everyone who listens to them. Do your best to win God’s approval as a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed and who teaches only the true message. Keep away from worthless and useless talk. It only leads people farther away from God. That sort of talk is like a sore that won’t heal. And Hymenaeus and Philetus have been talking this way”

Every so often I come across a Biblical debate that I choose to not be a part of, simply because it has no benefit to the building of the Kingdom of God. I can understand the pursuit of the deeper meanings of the Word of God, but I don’t understand why people choose to “debate” to the point that they tear down the “faith” of a fellow Christian just to prove a point.

There are two ways to look at the Scripture… 1)determine the letter of the law 2)understand the Spirit of the law.

The trap that the pharisees got in to, was the constant bickering about how to interpret the letter of the law. The argument caused them to take the original Books of Moses and debate them to the point that they no longer understood what the Spirit of the Law stood for. When Jesus told them that “All of the law is this, love your neighbor as yourself”, He was redirecting them back to what God originally said.

They had argued about the single word to the point that they no longer knew what to believe, and they lost sight of the original meaning. They had in essence lost the concept of “love your neighbor”, and adapted the concept of use the law to beat down your neighbor.

If “all of the law” is Love, then the Bible really isn’t meant to be a law book, but it is meant to be a Love Letter to us.

When I was a kid, my mom would write notes to me and put them in my lunchbox. They would say things like “Gene, I love you and want you to try to learn something new today at school”. She would write notes because her love for me caused her to want to see me grow, and by learning something at school I would grow. It is a simple concept.

My mom would have been upset if I had taken the note she left me, brought it to my sister, and demanded that she recite one thing she learned. It would have not been her intention for me to tell my sister that if she didn’t learn anything, then mom wouldn’t let her live with us anymore.

It sickens God when Believers use His Love Letter as a way to cause other Believers to doubt. As a Christian who is saved by grace and love, we need to allow the same towards others.

There is a rule that I keep when it comes to studying the Word of God:

The letter of the law is for my personal growth, and the spirit of the letter of love is for the way I treat others.

The Scripture tells us to consider others better than ourselves, and that means that we are to understand the Spirit of God’s Word before we try to look at the Letter of it. If the letter tells you anything that goes against what the Spirit says, then it is plain wrong.

God’s Word comes in many different translations and paraphrases because He wants us to understand how much He loves us. I can tell my wife in German that I love her everyday, but if she doesn’t speak German she will just think I am spitting on her.

We ought to be ashamed when we cause the world to think that God is spitting on them, when we ought to be telling them that He loves them.