Confession....Good for the soul?

James 5:16 "Confess your tresspasses to one another, and pray for one another that you may be healed...."

What is confession so hard? We seem to run from it so hard. I find that even when I am with my accountability group the last thing I want to confess is the areas I am really struggling with. Sometimes I talk around them, talk about lesser evils. But those areas in my life never go away....the areas I hide. However, when I am finally open and tell my friends....they pray for me and healing can come. Healing from sin, dissapointments, guilt! Confession is indeed a great thing.

I think one of the biggest reasons why confession is so hard is that we do not trust people! I will be the first to admit that as a Pastor the last thing I want to do is confess an area of struggle to someone who is going to spread it to the world! However, that's not a good excuse to not confess!

Just....a random thought today from the Word!

My need to open up!

Lets be honest! I don't do the being open and honest deal very well. Tonight I was sitting the car with one of my best friends...and I just couldn't open up about deep things in my life. Lately, I have really been hiding. The sad thing is that the people closest to me see this helpless attempt to hide! haha....Tonight I am just thinking how I wish the Lord would help me to really open up to people!

God's Best!

It was a few springs ago. I was in Denver, Colorado, with my team of students from CBC. I was leading a team to minister to inner city Denver. It was at this church that I met this Pastor. She was a beautiful woman. I knew she had been through a lot because she had a baby a couple months before with a whole in its heart. I met her husband. He was this big Samoan man. I remember thinking, "How does a beautiful blond woman end up with this big Samoan man!" Right about the time I was thinking this she told me a story I will never forget. She told me a story of how a few months before she had gone through this awful experience of her baby being born with a hole in its heart. One Sunday she was at church with her husband and the Pastor said if anyone needs a miracle to come down to the altar to pray. She said she felt so tired that day, but got up to go down. She said in that moment her husband reached out and grabbed her hand and said, "No hun you just sit today. I am going to go and fight for our family in prayer. You can just sit and rest." She told me in that moment that this was the type of man I should desire and not settle until I ment him!

I have no idea why watching Bride Wars reminding me of this story tonight. But I was just thinking of the worlds warped view of relationships and the roles in relationships. Maybe its Valentines Day coming up, but I just know one thing.....God intended relationships to be like the one above with the Pastor and her Samoan husband. God intended men to be the leaders in relationships.....and lead their families to God! I just thought of how beautiful relationships are when they are done God's way. I think of my parents who are an example of this....and it makes me praise the Lord for those who are examples to us who are younger! I pray that in our culture we will be reminded of how relationships should be and that we will not settle for anything less than God's best for us! I will leave with this. My Mom always told me that there is good and then there is Best! She said its really easy to settle for good! But only the brave and those who really trust God with their lives wait for the BEST! I pray that all of you will not settle except for Gods best for you!