Surreal

surreal [ suh-ree-uhl, -reel ]

adjective

1. having the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream; unreal; fantastic

That is what I feel like when I think that in a few days I will be going to a country where claiming Jesus Christ is your Savior will make you lose your job, be disowned by your family, and possibly be tortured or killed. We have so much freedom here in the United States that we just take for granted. We take our walk with Jesus as casual when around this world people die just to know Him. Before even going, this trip is already changing my life.

Let me encourage you now: Dig deep into the Word of God and come to know His Son, Jesus Christ in an intimate way. There are so many who would go to extremes to get the chance.

I ask that you pray for Pastor Rick and I as we journey. Please pray for our wives and families while we are away. But above all, pray that the name of Jesus Christ is glorified in and through us!

You can follow along on our journey here. I will be posting updates as often as I can. Thanks for your prayers and support!

In Christ,

jon walton

Surreal

Press On...

Press On...

Tweet Prayers...

Being a pastor, I am often asked to explain different scriptures. I love studying the Word of God, so when I am asked to do so it makes me excited. It gives me an opportunity to dig deeper into a subject I may not have thought about before and think about ways to explain so the most people can understand it. I was recently asked what this verse means:

Pray constantly. (1 Thessalonians 5:17 HCSB)

Or in another version:

Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17 KJV)

The person talking to me asked, “How would you get anything done if you do nothing but pray?”

I don’t think Paul was telling the church in Thessalonica to just sit around and pray doing nothing to help the people around them. However, this is a fair question. How do you pray constantly without ceasing?

I don’t get down on my knees every time I pray, though that is a part of my routine. Instead, I have learned to send up “Tweet Prayers.” You know, like Twitter. On Twitter you have 140 characters to say what you need to say. They are short, quick, little blurbs that you send out to people. I do the same thing with God throughout the day. “God, give me the words to say right now.” “God, help me be strong.” “Jesus, give that person comfort.” “Jesus, forgive me for that.” Just like on Twitter, as people put little blurbs about what is going on or what they’re thinking about, I am sending a tweet prayers all day long. It’s a good habit to get into, and if you would try it I bet you will feel closer to God all the time.

In Christ
jon walton

Tweet Prayers...

Tired of All the Poop...

I have an awesome baby sitter. She is reliable, trustworthy, and truly cares for the well being of my kids. It helps a lot that she is my mother-in-law as well. I can almost always depend on her to watch the kids while Missy and I work. However, for the past two weeks she has been out of town. My wife is a school teacher, so I have been home watching our two children both under two years old. It has been a great bonding time, but there have been some struggles, too.

One thing that I have to admit has gotten to me is all the dirty diapers. Both kids have had no problems with their bowel movements. In fact, sometimes one child has had four in one day. FOUR! I mean, how is it possible for one child to produce that much poop in one day? Just a reminder, I have two. So, while changing a diaper that had a stench possible of burning nose hairs and in quantity too great to go into detail about without being incredibly discussing, I exclaimed to one of the children, “I’m really tired of all the poop.” I change a diaper only to turn around and change another. And another. And another. And…..well, you get the picture.

It was at that moment that Jesus reminded me that He does the same thing for me. How many times do I make a mess of things only to have Jesus come and clean it up. Sometimes things get messy and its completely my fault. Other times, there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. But no matter the cause, Jesus is always there. He always helps me clean up the poop.

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. – Psalm 121:2

 

In Christ,

jon walton

Tired of All the Poop...

Fourteen Years...

Over the years, God has shown me more and more about my relationship with Him through my relationships here on earth. God has taught me so much about love through my son, about acceptance through several friends, compassion through people hurting that I meet, forgiveness in people that have hurt me, and trust in my dependance on my church family. Yet there is a very powerful part of my relationship that God has revealed to me through my marriage to my incredible wife, commitment.

I think far too many people take their wedding vows far too lightly. When people are standing before a Pastor, looking at their spouse and say things like, “Do you take this person for all times, in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth, for better or for worse, until death do you part?” do they really know what they are doing? I know my wife and I took our vows very seriously.

We come from very different family backgrounds. She has always been, and still is, very close to most of her family. Her mother and father are still together and our neighbors. Her brother and his family are our other neighbors. She talks to her mom almost everyday and family get-togethers are commonplace. I come from a broken home, my mother and father divorced when I was 4. My mom, bothers and I all moved to east TN when I was 9. My relationship with my father has been difficult because of distance and though things are very good now, it was not the smoothest ride growing up. Not that it was all my parents fault, my older brother and I did not make it easy on them. Yet both of the backgrounds drove my wife and I to the same conclusion: Divorce would never be an option in our lives. She had never known it and never wanted to. I had lived through the pain it caused. So when we began talking about marriage, even though we were young, we both were very open and serious about not even mentioning the word to each other. It would not be an option.

With both of us knowing that, it has caused us to be intentional in working on our relationship. We truly have been, from the beginning, committed to each other. Now, there have been difficult times, times of poverty, times of extreme sickness, and even times where the “worse” was very prevalent. But neither one of us has ever been ready to give up. That is what commitment is. Willing to stay faithful even when it is hard.

That is what God has taught me. That being committed to Him, just as being committed to my wife, will always yield a positive outcome. It might be hard to accept what God wants me to do from time to time, but just as my wife works in my best intrest because she is committed to me, God works in my best intrest because He is committed to me and I to Him.

Today, I have been committed to my wife, and she to me, for fourteen years. It has been a great journey. I truly look forward to being committed to her for many more as long as God will allow. Happy anniversary, Missy. I love you!

In Christ,

jon walton

Fourteen Years...

What Will You Do This Year?

 New Year’s resolutions. Let’s face it, they have become a joke. Some people even laugh as they say, “I resolve to watch less tb this year.” or ” I think I’ll be more responsible this year.” One of my favorites, ”This year I’m going to loose weight!” We say these things in passing and almost give them no thought what so ever. But, should it be that way?
Here’s what I mean. We are coming to the end of a year. It will never again be 2012. Is it really that bad of a thing to take an inventory of what we have done the past year and look at what we could do better? Have we gotten so comfortable in our failures that we can joke about them? I know there are lots of things I want to do better at. I want to be a better husband. I want to be a better father. Most of all, I want to serve God more. Can I really do those things without looking at how I am doing now and in the past and being purposeful in changing the way I am living?
So, here is my New Year’s Resolution: I want to be more in love with Jesus this next year than ever before. I want to be seeking Him and His will more than I did this year. I want to love the people around me more than I did this year. I want to love my family more than I did this year. Because I know I can always do better.
Teach me Your way, Yahweh,
and I will live by Your truth.
Give me an undivided mind to fear Your name.
I will praise You with all my heart, Lord my God,
and will honor Your name forever.
Psalm 86: 11, 12
What do you want to do this year? The real question is: What will you do this year?
In Christ,
jon walton

What Will You Do This Year?

Thank You, God, For The Instructions...

I was sitting at home relaxing today when my son, Isaiah, came in the living room to ask me a question. I was pretty tired and was somewhat groggy, but that would soon change with the question he would ask. He often comes to my wife and I when he is wondering about something. Usually it is something about a video game or a toy he has, but sometimes he knocks you right off balance. He walked in, sat on the couch and asked, "Dad, would you give me up if God asked you to?"

"What?" I asked back in a bit of shock. "Where did this come from?" I further questioned.

"I was just thinking about it and wondering." He replied with great innocence.

I took a deep breath. I knew the answer that I would want to give, but how on earth do I explain this to my 8 year old son? How do I explain to him that the answer was yes?

Then it hit me. "Buddy, come sit with me and let's read a story from the Bible." He jumped in my lap and we read Genesis 22:1-14.

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he answered.

“Take your son,” He said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together.

Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.”

And he replied, “Here I am, my son.”

Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together.

When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

We took our time as we went though it, me stopping to ask questions to make sure he understood, as well as explaining words he didn't know. He fully understood what God was asking Abraham to do. He almost cried a time or to. So did I as I read this account to my son. I can not fully express the joy I had as I read the next few verses.


But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

He replied, “Here I am.”

Then He said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me.” Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said: “It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.”

Talk about Scripture coming alive! I felt such a weight lifted as I read that to my son! I then plainly told him, "Isaiah, if God asked me to give you up for Him, I would say yes. But I also believe my God is so great, wonderful, and loving that He would provide a way for us to keep you, just like He did with Abraham and Isaac!"

My son hugged me and I hugged him back. Hard. He asked some more questions about God and Jesus which I was happy to answer. Then my wife and I tucked him in, prayed with him, told him we love him, told him Jesus loves him, and told him goodnight as we turned out the light.

Thank you, God, for the instructions. How lost would we be if we didn't have them? I thought of how hard that question would be to answer if I didn't know that example from the Bible. I would have been dumbfounded. Thank you, God, for Your Word.

In Christ,
jon walton