My Favorite was...

Sunday after church, Missy, Isaiah and I all went to Dollywood. One thing about Isaiah, he is not one to very willingly step out of his comfort zone and try new things. For the most part, he likes to do things he KNOWS will be fun and KNOWS all about. Something new is scary. It is, by its very nature, unknown. He is now tall enough to ride the "Veggie Tales Roller Coaster" which is, by any adult's standards, anything but scary. I pointed to it and said, "Hey buddy, lets go ride that."
"NO! I don't want to!" He exclaimed back with all the power he could muster from his 38 lb. body.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Its too scary!" He said.
"Come on buddy, it will be fun!" I said as I picked him up so he could get a better look. "It goes up and down, spins a little and doesn't go that fast. You'll like it!"
"No, I won't!" Isaiah insisted with all assurance as if he had just been given a prophetic word from God.
I hugged him and said, "Come on buddy, I'll ride it with you, ok?"
He looked at the small, multicolored coaster on its curvy purple track, then at me, then back at the coaster. It wasn't an enthusiastic "YES," but it was enough for me to start getting in line.
As we waited at the gate to go in, Isaiah, now standing in front of me, looked up at me with his brown eyes and said, "Daddy, will you hold me tight?" Smiling and reassuring him I said, "Absolutely." As it came our turn I put Isaiah in the car first, then I squeezed in beside him. Let me tell you right now, the cars on the Veggie Tales Roller Coaster are NOT designed for a 6' man. My legs cramped as my knees were shoved into the metal front of the car and the lap bar was forced by an attendant to my lap as it scrubbed down the tops of my legs thus pulling every hair from the top of my leg through my shorts. As the ride started, I put my arm around my son and held onto him. At the first drop, he laughed and yelled, "This is fun!"
At the end of the day, Missy asked Isaiah, "What was your favorite part of today?"
"My favorite was The Veggie Tales Roller Coaster! And I wasn't even scared!" He exclaimed proudly.

Its odd, isn't it? There are things out Father God may ask us to do, yet we say "No! I don't want to!" Why? So often we forget that God is not asking us to do anything alone, but that He will be right beside us(Heb. 13:5-6). And what are we missing out on by NOT doing what God has asked? He knows what He desires to accomplish in our lives. It's time we start letting him. He will hold us tight. Who knows, we could miss out on our "favorite thing."

In Christ,
jon walton

P.S. Please continue to pray for Megan Maxwell. As of 11:45 am this morning, they still had not heard anything.

Weight Bench...

I talk to my big brother almost everyday on the ride home. Either I call him or he calls me and our conversations are about everything and anything. We have been through a lot together, from some difficult years growing up, him going to the army, me becoming a Youth Pastor, to what ever we will talk about today.
When I called him yesterday, I asked "What are you doing?" "Building a weight bench." He replied. Now, this may come as a shock to some of you, but I am a bit of a smart-alec...
"What are you 'waiting' on?" I replied. I won't give you his response....

I was recalling this conversation this morning and it got me thinking, "What am I waiting on?" Am I really seeking the will of Jesus in my life, or am I just getting by? Am I waking up in the morning excited about what God has in store for me today, or am I dreading getting out of the bed? Am I actively seeking to live a life honoring to God, or to myself?

Now don't get me wrong, we do need to wait on the Lord's instruction. If we try to do anything by ourselves, it will fail. We also can't start doing our own thing then ask God to bless it. How about we start doing what God wants us to and EXPECT Him to bless it? And while we are "waiting" for Jesus to tell us what we need to be doing, why don't we prepare for what He has next?

"Jesus, help me this day see what you have in store for me. I don't want to wait, I want to be active in Your work. I will pray to get ready. I will study Your Word to get ready. I will worship you to get ready. I don't want to wait, I want to live for You. Amen."

In Christ,
jon walton

Wanna contact me? Send me an e-mail! jon@crossroadsnewport.com

Don't Kiss My Staples...

This past Thursday I had a new experience, for the first time I rushed my son to the emergency room. It would seem that while pretending to be Spiderman on my mother-in-law's porch swing, he fell off and hit his head on one of those old school metal Tonka trucks. He is ok, but he wound up getting 2 staples in the back of his little head and a lot of petting from his mom and dad.

Later that night as we were going through our nightly rutine of memory verses, prayer, and goodnight kisses he looked at us and said, "Don't kiss my staples..." Now, at first I thought they were hurting him and he simply didn't want me to touch them, so I responded, "Ok buddy, I won't." His next response almost brought tears to my eyes...

"Yeah, cause they might hurt your lips."

Wow. He had just that day fell off the swing, hurt his head, had a scary time at the emergency room and had forgin objects in his head, yet he is more concerned about us hurting ourselves than it hurting him. He so wonderfully displayed exactly what Paul was writing to the Philipians:

Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not [only] for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. - Philipians 2:4-5 (HCB)

How often we forget this simple, yet powerful teaching. How about you? Are you considering others more important than yourself?

In Christ,
jon walton.