ESBS Financial Situation

Hey Everybody! As many of you know, the staff and the students here at the Emmaus School of Biblical Studies raise support in order to pay for their monthly needs, tuition and random life events. Last week in one of our prayer times, we came together and talked about where everyone was financially for the rest of this school year and we have some need.

I just wanted to write this post and put it out there that there is a need for financial support within the ESBS community. Right now we are in need of about $23,000 for student tuition for the rest of the year. Also, one of the staff members’ van just died and they are in need of help to raise funds to get a new one for their family of 6!

I do not want you to feel obligated to give, but I do ask that you will just be open to the Lord if he is asking you to do so. (If you do give, unfortunately it will not count towards a tax deduction, but it will go towards someone’s investment in the Bible!)

If you want to give you can write a check to: Camp Lurecrest Ministries and in the Memo line write: ESBS Student Tuition or Van Fund.

You can mail the check to:

Emmaus School Of Biblical Studies

207 Charlotte Dr.

Lake Lure, NC 28746

I appreciate all of you and I thank you for your continued support of me and the ministry that we are doing here!

Stuffed With Turkey

So the awesome thing about being a teacher is that you continue to get the vacations that you had while you were in school! It was great to go back home for our Thanksgiving break and see some smiling faces!

For Thanksgiving dinner we had the normal crowd over at the Livingston house and it was fun to see them again and catch up on the past year. My Grandma (aka Grammy) on my mom’s side of the family was also in town and it is always great to see her because we joke, laugh and watch sports together! I personally love it when we are rooting against each other’s teams because it just makes things more interesting!

It was also a special trip home because I got to see my beautiful girlfriend, Caitlin. She is from The Woodlands and it is the first time since we have been dating that we got to spend time in our hometown together, so it was special to me! We got to spend time with one another’s families which was fun, we ran a 5 mile Thanksgiving morning Turkey-trot, went to The Woodlands High School football game and just got to spend some quality time together.

So all in all it was a good trip home and I am thankful for the time that I got to spend with my parents and my sister’s family. I am really looking forward to Christmas Break and an extended stay back home!

P.S. For all of those who are interested, my James lecture is now online if you want to listen! Here is the link to the page where you can see all of the lectures from this year. (http://www.esbsonline.org/audio-2011-12/). So please feel free to scroll down and listen!

Changing Perspective Isn't Always Bad

So I guess I haven't written on this thing in a while ... ya know ... life got in the way!

Its funny when you ask God to show you where you need to improve in life and what needs to change, and then he reveals it to you and starts breaking you down in order to build the pieces back up. That is what took place inside of me as I was preparing to teach the letter of James, which I taught today.

While I was doing all of my prep work and studying the content, I would go on runs and just ask God to show me what is going on in my life and what needs to change. Then throughout the weeks, as I prepared, God started showing me the heart behind the book of James and how we are to love our neighbors and we do that by living out the Gospel. We do that by not complaining about your job and continue to do it because that is where God has you. We do it by doing the act of service that will never be acknowledged. Or by speaking a kind word to someone that is down and needs encouragement.

The main idea of James – how we are called to love our neighbor as yourself, has had a great impact on me. It has shown me that my motivation shouldn’t be on getting the glory, but instead it should be on revealing the glory of my Savior through the way that I go about living life with those around me. My attitude shouldn’t be about going out everyday and receiving awards for the things that I do, but instead it should be one where I am hoping to be used by God today in order to make a greater impact for his kingdom.

I thoroughly enjoyed my studies and teaching the book of James and I think that it is a book that is very practical to the way that we live our life.

On a side note: The month of November is being celebrated in a great way here in North Carolina. They guys from school are going for the “No Shave November” look and I just want to say that we look good!

I have given my mustache the name “Mustacheo” and I see him as my Latin crime fighting alter ego!

It's Ok To Be Weak

This past week has been another good one! We just got finished with our two lectures on 2^nd Corinthians and they were awesome. Last year, when I was a student, 2^nd Corinthians was the book that really changed the way that I view my relationship with God. Throughout the letter, Paul is showing that we all have weaknesses in our lives and within our ability to minister and love one another, but with those weaknesses we have an opportunity to invite God in and let Him do his thing and show off his power in our lives. In 2^nd Corinthians, Paul boasts about his weaknesses because that is where God is strong.

This really idea really rocked me to the core last year because I am someone who wants to get things done and do them to the best of my ability; and when things don’t go well I get frustrated and down on myself. 2^nd Corinthians showed me that I don’t always have to be strong and its ok if I am weak, because those weaknesses are an opportunity for God to manifest himself in my life. In my weakness God can give me the strength, courage and power to perform the task that he has given to me.

I remember sitting in lecture and just feeling this weight being lifted off my shoulders and feeling free from not always having to be perfect. The book of 2^nd Corinthians is one that I hold dear to my heart and I hope that you will take the time to read and let God comfort you in your weaknesses!

Spirituality

This past week, we had the amazing opportunity to Dawn Masucci come and teach us all about the book of 1 Corinthians. She came and totally rocked our world with her teaching! I think that what hit the class so hard, was the fact that 1 Corinthians is so applicable to the church today. We are struggling and going through some of the same things today, that the Corinthians were going through more than 1900 years ago. Its interesting because the book could really be called “1 American.”

The thing that really grabbed my attention was how Dawn showed that the book really presents the question: “What is spirituality?” Spirituality is not measured by what gifts God has blessed you with, or how the Holy Spirit manifests his power in you, but instead it is how you live out everyday. The choices that you make everyday, the simple ones, the complex ones and everything in between, is really what reveals your level of “spirituality.”

I think that this truth is important for those you believe that Jesus is Lord because it shows that every decision and choice that you make reflects how you see and what you think about Jesus’ work on the cross. It has really motivated me to think about and be intentional with my actions and to take every choice seriously. I have been motivated because my actions are just as important as my words when I display the truth of who Jesus is and how he has changed my life.

I have really loved sitting in the 1 Corinthians lectures and I think that it is a book that can really speak to us, if we let it.

Community

So we have just spent the past week on the book of Acts and the thought that I have had continually running through my head is idea of community. The book of Acts gives us such a good picture of what Godly community is supposed to look like. In the chapters following Pentecost it gives us a great example of the disciples of Christ living like the Church is suppose to live. They are all willing to help one another in any way that they can, there are people selling off their possessions and giving it to the Church in order to provide for their fellow man. I talks about how they were in fellowship with one another and that they ate together and talked about Jesus and the Scriptures.

I feel like what we see in the church of Acts is similar to the type of community that we have hear and I am so thankful for it! I am thankful that I have been given the opportunity to live life and be in this community here. Its such a pleasure to be in a place where conversations about Jesus don’t have to be held in private, but that they are everywhere. This is something that I want to take with me, whenever I may leave, because I want Jesus to be talked about in my conversations. I want this because he is the most important person in the world and I want him to be made known. I also love how when someone is down here, everyone rallies around them in order to pick them up and comfort them. This is something that I can see the early church in Acts excelling at because of the love the book displays they had for one another.

The thing that I think I love the most about being here is the safe environment (spiritually) that we have. I love that I am really able to wrestle with the things that I am learning and really allow them to affect my life. I love the fact that I can talk with other staff members and “challenge” what they believe with what I believe and we can continue to have a dialogue as we both learn. This has been something that has really changed me over the past year and I am so thankful for it!

First One Down

It has been a frantic and crazy past couple of weeks up here and I am just now starting to breathe normally again after I have been on what feels like a full sprint. The sprint included reading rather large books, sitting at my computer for hours at a time, a trip to Matthews and then once again reading rather large books and sitting at my computer.

The past couple of weeks I have been frantically studying the book of Luke in order to give my first Big-Boy lecture. I have realized that I really enjoy the studying aspect of being a teacher. I really “geeked out” on all of the little details within the book of Luke and just really enjoyed comparing what one person thinks to another and then trying to come up with my own conclusions. But I have also realized that I can only do this for so long!

So to get a little break from all the studying, I made a trip to Matthew, NC to stay with the BuCrew aka Uncle Tim, Aunt Mary, Hannah, Julia, Victoria and Josh. I had a blast and probably consumed about 3 gallons worth of kettle corn popcorn. I was given the privilege of being UT’s spotter for his PA announcing at one of the local high schools and I think that I might have a career as a spotter if I turn out not so good at this teaching thing. I love my time in Matthews because it is just always so relaxing … especially when its football season!

Whenever I got back from Matthews it was time to hit the books again and I started writing and preparing my lecture on Luke. I got a little frustrated because I had so many thoughts but I couldn’t figure out which ones should be in my lecture and which ones I should leave out. Luckily for me I have a great group of fellow staff members that helped me out!

So ya … yesterday I gave my lecture on the book of Luke and I think that it went pretty well. You can listen to it here if you want. (Luke Lecture) I really just hope that the students learned something! I think that the book of Luke is so great and it really has impacted me as I studied for it and it really has given me a new outlook on the way that I look at those around me. I’m not better than anyone and I can’t look at them like I am because we are all on the same level within God’s kingdom!

Out Of The Starting Gate

We have successfully made it to our second week of school, the students noses are deeply in the Bible and everything is going well! The staff is really excited because the community has bonded quickly and it looks like we are going to have a great year. This past Saturday we took a break from our studies to go on the ESBS Annual Blueberry Picking Trip. The great part was that the weather was beautiful and we got to hike up on a mountain. The bad part was that there weren’t really that many blueberries to be found! We had come a little too late and everyone had snatched them all up.

We have already gone through the books of Philemon, Philippians and we are in the middle of Titus. There have already been some good truths that have been learned about God and about how we have been called to live. Its exciting for me because after last year and going through the program its allowing me to go more in depth with the text.

Next Monday the 29^th, I have my first big lecture on the Background to the New Testament. During the lecture I am going to hopefully be helping the students get into the mind of the people living in the Roman empire in the first century. I am really excited to be teaching this lecture because it was one of my favorites last year!

(Action shot on the mountain)

(Group Shot)

My Summer Roommate

So the summer has come and gone and its finally time for the ESBS to start. I am excited to get this ESBS party started, but it does come with some sadness. I have to part ways with my 3 year old roommate, Anna. I had the pleasure of living with the ESBS director, Tom and his wife Julia for the summer. And I can honestly say that it was a summer that I will never forget!

This past year I felt like I hadn’t done enough playing. I mean I was confined to a room and a computer screen for the most part of 10 months. However, I never thought that this complaint of mine would have been answered by being asked to play from the moment I woke up, until the moment that Anna went to bed. It was an exciting summer of playtime that involved games like “I’m gonna get you!” or “Bear” or anything else that her little mind could come up with. My personal favorite was a game I created which was called “Meditation.” In this game we sat still for a while (and by a while I mean 3-5 seconds). It was nice because I convinced her to play it over and over again.

We even had our own nighttime ritual where we would take some photos on my computer (I have attached them below) and then we would watch Rebecca Black’s “Friday”. This was my favorite part of the summer not only because some of our pictures are amazing, but mostly because she knows every word to Friday. We were just partying, partying YEAHHH!

There were some things that I learned about myself while I hung out with Anna. I realized that my appetite and that of a 3 year old are the same. We both prefer Mac N Cheese and Hotdogs for dinner. (I mean we are just trying as best we can to eat healthy!) We also love playing with bath toys! (Not at the same time though … that’s weird) It was fun to share a bathroom with Anna because I never knew what I was going to find in there. Some days it was an alligator or shark in the shower or a big number 2 left in the toilet for me!

But the biggest thing that I have learned about myself through being with Anna this summer is that at times I lose my childlike faith. That is one of the things that I absolutely love about Anna is that she has that kind of childlike faith in Christ. She already understands the concept that Jesus loves her now and that he always will. (Her prayers at dinner were always the best) She loves reading her Bible stories and she has some that she can tell you by just looking at the pictures. Its amazing to see how God is already working in her life. She really showed me and taught me that I am to have that kind of faith and that I am not going to be able to understand or explain everything about God and to be ok with that. Because in those moments I am to still believe and trust and remain faithful to Christ.

This truly is a summer that I am never going to forget and I am thankful for Tom, Julia, Anna and Luke allowing me to be apart of their family!

Nighttime Photo Shoots:

(^^^ This one is my favorite)

(Thats Julia, my roommate from last year Daniel, and Baby Luke in the back)

We So Excited

We are currently one week away from the start of Staff Training for the upcoming school year and I’m not gonna lie … I’m excited! (But I'm not as excited as this) I can’t wait to get into the grind of the school year and see what God has in store for our community up here. I think that thing that I am most pumped up for is to meet the students and to start building relationships with them. This past year, while I was a student, the teachers had a huge impact on my life and it was not only with their knowledge in the classroom; but it was more because of the way that they took time out of their own lives to invest in mine. I desire to make that same impact on the students this year!

As we approach August, I ask that you would please pray for the school. Pray that God will show up and that he will move within the community. That he will reveal his character to the students and that they will continue to fall more in love with him over the year as they work through the Bible. I ask that you please pray for me and that he will give me the confidence to stand up and present his word and truth to the students. That I would not be distracted by my own ambitions to be a good teacher, but that I will be more concerned with how he is going to use me to present his truths to the students. I want to be focused on what he has for them and what they are going to learn from the books that I teach; rather than how I look up there in front of the class.

I can’t wait for this year to start and to see what God is going to do in my life and in the lives of the students and other staff! Thank you so much for your prayers!

Texas Forever!

My favorite line from any movie or TV show has to come from the 1st episode from the TV series 'Friday Night Lights'. In the episode there is a scene where one of the main characters named Tim Riggins holds up a beer and toasts his best friend and the star of the football team and says "Texas Forever!" I felt like this was an appropriate statement because that is the current state of mind that I am in right now. On July 3^rd I flew back from the “Motherland” aka Texas back up to the cooler and less humid state of North Carolina. However even though it does feel good to be back what I guess I can now call “home” (feeling good both physically – its about 10-20 degrees cooler here – and emotionally – vacation stresses me out at times and I don’t know why) I can honestly say that I miss Texas.

I had a great trip home. I got to spend a lot of quality time with my nephew Lukas which was awesome because at 8 months he is fun to interact with and everything to him is interesting. I had the pleasure of babysitting him a couple of times while my sister went out and ran some errands and I felt like we had some quality bonding time. We did some real man stuff like work on his tool bench, play on his laptop and watch MTV (just kidding about that last one Tori … it was actually Top Gun) I was also able to go to my brother and sister-in-law’s new house and see what they have been up to. It was good to catch up and visit with them. I had a blast to hang out with the family and just spend some quality time together.

I also had the pleasure of being a counselor for the Woodlands United Methodist Student Ministry and their summer camp. I had a great group of 8^th grade going into 9^th grade guys. I had worked at the church as an intern last summer and so I knew all of the guys in my group and that made the week really fun because there weren’t any new friendships starting, but it was just a continuation of our relationship. I was really impressed with our small group time and just how much those guys truly wanted to seek the Lord and their questions about him. I do miss being with the people from the church from the staff to the students. They have a great thing going on there and I love hearing about all of the exciting stuff that God is doing in their lives.

Finally to round out the trip I spent a couple of days down at my family’s beach house. This part of the trip was amazing because I got to hang out with my friends from high school that I haven’t gotten to see in a while. Also, two of my good friends from college came down and surprised me with their presence. I a really good time staying up late playing cornhole and just catching up with them.

Even though I am happy and definitely feel like God has put me here in NC for a reason, I do miss Texas and the relationships that remain there. I just want everyone back there to know that I miss them and that I will always be a Texan at heart no matter where my head lays at night!

Texas Forever!

People

For the past 10 months I have lived in a community of about 20 people and my biggest problem that I faced with this was that there was always someone THERE! Wherever I went there was always someone there or the possibility for someone to walk in at any moment. This is aspect was great for accountability and confronting yourself not to do anything bad, but on the other hand I just really needed to get away!

I will openly admit that I love being around people, but there is nothing more in this world that I enjoy than my alone time. I truly need that time to just be by myself and unwind without distraction and sound. I never realized until this year how much I cherished and need my alone time.

So this brings us to today where for the past 12 days I have been alone in some aspect or another. This summer I am staying in the basement of the director of the school that I will be teaching at this year. His name is Tom and he has a wonderful wife named Julia and they have two kids:a daughter Anna who is two and insanely smart and energetic and a 5 week old son name Luke who at this point in his life is the complete opposite from his sister (hopefully he will be just as smart). But they have been gone on vacation and let me to manager the house and it has been QUIIIIIIIIIIIIITE ... a little too quite!

The first couple of days were amazing! I would wake up and wouldn't here a thing other than the cat meowing to go outside and then it was just complete me time. It was just what I needed after a long year of people all around. So I got recharged and energized and then I started to realize that I missed them and I didn't want to be alone anymore. I NEEDED PEOPLE! So I started going back up to camp (Camp Lurecrest that is) and was just begging to be back around people.

The past couple of days I have been thinking as to why this is and I realized this morning when I was reading Ephesians 2:11-22. In that passage, Paul is explaining how through Christ's sacrifice he has made the two groups of people (those that do not know Christ and those who do) into one through what Christ has done. In 2:15-18 it says, "He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you where were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father." These few verses helped me realize that God has created a humanity where we all need each other; he has created a humanity where we are to live in community that is to bring worship to him by loving one another. I realized that I need and desire that community and I want to love and be loved by other people.

Thinking about this just makes me so excited to get back to the ESBS in August and to be back in a community where we are all learning and growing in that new humanity that God has created. It also makes me think of times when that wall of hostility Paul talks about has shown up in my own life and how I may have hurt others because of my prejudice and failure to love. My heart is truly broken because of this and I have vowed to go out and love those around me. I am not going to love because I feel guilty, but I am going to do it because that is what we are suppose to do as one family that is united by the Holy Spirit and following the example of Christ, so that it may bring glory to the Father.

So I guess in summary I can just say: Tom, Julia, Anna and Luke ... I am ready for you to comeback and make as much noise as possible!

Uppin' My Manness

I want to start this one by saying that I was great to have my parents up here a week ago and we got to do a lot of mountain activities. Here is one of the hikes that we went on and the view of Lake Lure!

So I guess that it’s a long time coming but all of this mountain man living and wild wilderness activities has finally caught up to me and I guess that I have to announce that my official “Man Level Status” has been bumped up a couple of bars. I suppose that I can now properly write on this blog because I have been … as the kids say “uppin’ my manness”! On this post I am just going to list the evidence and you decide for yourself … but please don’t bring me down whenever you compare your “man level” to mine and realize I may be out manning you.

Clue 1: I first noticed this change a week or two before my family (that is my parents, aunt, uncle and cousins) came up to Lake Lure for graduation. I would wake up and look in the mirror and see that my facial hair is starting to grow faster and faster. I ran this by my dad and he just said that it was because I was “getting older”, but I know that he is just in denial that my “manness game” had seriously been upped. I mean you can legitimately see stubble the morning after I shave … it use to take at least 2 or 3 days for even a hint of man coming out of my face.

Clue 2: This example not only upped my “man level”, but also one of my fellow Bible school classmates and it might have lower the level of another. After we had turned in our final assignment for school we went on a hike to a waterfall about 40 mins from camp. We planned ahead and wore swimsuits so that we could swim and enjoy the nice cool fresh water! Not only were we enjoying it, but when we got out and off the waterfall did we notice a friend who had no legs and slithers enjoying it as well. So Nathanael and I went and performed our best “Man vs. Wild” imitation and captured the snake so that we could survive our hike. This is where the lowering of a “man level” may come into play. As Nathanael and I were on the chase, my roommate (who shall remain nameless) was staying as far away as possible from the action. So we captured the snake and the next day we cooked it over a nice fiery fire and ate him for dessert.

(Here is a picture of Daniel, Nathanael and I atop the waterfall proving our "manness")

Clue 3: I hike in sandals …

Clue 4: I am working this summer on log homes in the mountains … what is more manly than that for a summer job? And no I do not wear flannel because I haven’t reached that level of “manness” yet.

Clue 5: I think I really noticed that my “man level” was really being elevated when I was able to see that I no longer wanted to fight for control over my life, but to hand everything over to God. When I was able to receive his love, expressed through other individuals, and not feel weirded out by it. I think that my “manness” transformation was elevated when I needed God to get through this life and that I had a desire to see his love, mercy, grace and power seen in the way that I live my life. I am man enough to say that I love Jesus and I don’t care who knows it!

** I would like to apologize for my continual use of the “ “ in this post … but it was necessary!

Operation Complete!

So I literally just turned in my last assignment as a student at the ESBS about 30 seconds ago. We finished up our studying of the Bible with the book of Ecclesiastes and I think that it was a great one to end on because it wrapped up the whole year. Throughout the book, the author talks how he tried to find meaning and all of these different things, but ends the book with the fact that the true meaning of life is knowing God and obeying his commands. I think that it really sums up what we have learned this year at the ESBS. This year really has showed me the importance of knowing God and living by his commands because it gave me a godly worldview and it showed me to consider the things of God in every aspect of life. The truth that trying to find the meaning of life in wisdom, pleasure and work is meaningless because it can only be found in God is one that really impacted me. This truth really just made me sit back and think about what life is really about and I came to the conclusion that true life is found in knowing God. I think that this is something more to this idea than just knowing his story and how Jesus died for us, but “knowing God” never really ends because we as humans will never be able to fully know him. I think that this is awesome because our meaning to life will never be done, but there will always be something more to seek after and desire. This is something that really encourages me as I move into the role as a staff member here because it shows me that even though I have gone through the school I still have much to learn. I want to make sure that I keep this attitude and desire to learn because that is really the only way that I will continue to grow.

I am so grateful that God has blessed me with this year to come and just learn his word. I feel like I have grown in so many ways, but I feel like that this school is just the tip of the iceberg. I am ready for a Summer break, but I can't wait to come back and August and walk through God's story again!

A Different Side Of Jesus

The past week we completed the historical Old Testament books and the prophets, as well as finishing the New Testament by studying Matthew. We left Matthew until we had completed those Old Testament books because Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience that would have known their Old Testament. I really enjoyed going through the gospel of Matthew after we had completed the majority of the Old Testament because it really brought to life who these people were that he was talking to. I was able to understand what they were thinking when it came to their religious ideas and also their ideas of what the Messiah was suppose to be like.

From the very beginning til the end of Matthew I saw a different side of Jesus that I was not really expecting or actually one that is talked about. I saw Jesus be intentional in his confrontations with the crowds that gathered around him. I saw him intentionally ask questions to the Pharisees and Sadducees (The religious leaders) that challenged their beliefs and what they found their hope and security in. This interaction between the religious leaders and Jesus is one that I found fascinating because the prophets prophesied that when the Messiah came things were not going to go well for those who were in leadership positions. Time and time again in the prophets, they state how the leaders of the temple and of Israel are going to be judged; which when you think about it makes complete sense as to why they watch Jesus, who is calling himself the Messiah, so closely. Jesus just came at these guys and went right at their hearts and really challenged them to do someone with who he is and what he is saying about himself. My view of this interaction would be described as: Jesus pissed these guys off with so much truth and challenged them to change things that they believed with their whole life and things that their lives were centered in to the point as to where the only option they had was to accept what he was saying or to kill him.

Seeing how intentional Jesus was with his teaching and his life really impacted me. During lecture Mark Masucci laid out how Jesus’ life retells the story of Israel and how Jesus is the perfect Israel. Jesus’ life was intentional so that the first century Jews would be able to see what he is doing and understand that he is perfecting things that went wrong in their history. I love his intention and how purposeful he was to really challenge people to deal with him. It has really inspired me to be intentional with how I live. I want to be someone who is intentionally living for God and whose actions reflect what I believe. I am someone who usually backs down from confrontation because I don’t want to ruffle anyone’s feathers, but this is the complete opposite of how Jesus was. I want to be someone that challenges others with the way that I live and the way that I speak because Jesus is the model for our lives. I want to lead by example and let the light of Christ in my life shine into the world.

Finishing The Prophets

So I feel like we have made it past another monumental step in our blogging relationship: Blog #2! I just want to take a moment and say that I am extremely proud of what I have accomplished here today (Yes, that was suppose to make you think of this Donald Trump) and that would be I have actually followed through and committed to this thing!

Today we finally handed in our last assignment for the prophets. We went book by book from the earliest prophet (Amos) all the way to the latest prophet (Malachi). The words that Malachi spoke were the last ones to Israel for 450 years and I think that are very practical to us today as well. The people that Malachi spoke to were Israelites that had returned from their exile in Babylon and had crushed expectations of what Jerusalem was suppose to be like; so they just blamed God for everything, even though they didn't even take the time to get to know him. They were people with the attitude that at least I'm giving God something ... he should at least be happy with that! As I am writing I have come to the conclusion that Malachi is my favorite prophet because he is addressing these people and these people sound pretty familiar to me. Think about it for a second ... Doesn't that sound pretty similar to the American Church at times? I'm not saying everyone, but there is a group of people that blame God because they are following him and their expectations are shattered. So they just kind of go through the motions and throw him a bone every now and then, and finally when he stands up to say something about it we respond with "Hey God! I have no idea what your talking about! I haven't wronged you at all!"

I just really like Malachi because to me it seems like a very practical book and it really spoke into where I am in life right now. The book really encouraged me because it showed the importance of what we are doing here at Emmaus School of Biblical Studies. It speaks into a time where the people don’t know who God is and what his character is like and because of this their worldview and view of God is totally misdirected. For me at least, this shows how important this school is because it increases our knowledge of those two things. This year my worldview has been rocked because of the increase of the knowledge of who really God is and what his character really looks like. It has really helped me see the way that God has made this world to work.

There are section in the book that really made me think and had a great impact on my thinking was where is said, the people who respected God came together and the Lord took note of it and listened (Malachi 3:16). This really impacted me because it showed me that God does notice when we come together to talk about him, to worship him and when we meditate on his word. It shows that he is listening to what we are saying because he cares. He cares about if our hearts are engaged in our worship of him or if it just a religious practice. This really made me stop and think because there are times when I will be doing one of those things and I will just start thinking if God is hearing what I am saying. This answers that question for me and not one does it answer it, but it shows that he is taking note and he claims me for himself (Malachi 3:17). This is something that I really struggle with and I am pumped to find out that God does listen when we gather and I want to be more confident in the truth that he hears me.

I just want to encourage you to read Malachi as well and just take the time to let God speak to you through what Malachi is saying. I know that you probably aren't in the same situation as some of these people, but there are principles that he gives that can change us if we let him. (If you do want to read Malachi and want some background info on what is going on, please email me @ todd.d.livingston@gmail.com and I'll send you some stuff ... seriously I will!)

Let's Get It Started!

So hello everyone! I just wanted to start this blog thing off by saying thank you, all of my family and friends, for all of your prayers and support as I made the intense grind through the Bible this past year. I honestly couldn't do it without your encouragement!

I have started this thing as a continuation of my "Mountain Man Monthly" I thought that it would be an easier way for me to show you what is going on up here in Lake Lure or what is happening at school; plus I love to keep with the alliteration. I don't have a big overall vision for this thing yet, but I know that I will probably come on here as I prepare for my teaching assignments and just talk about what I am learning as I study. I think that it would be a cool way for me to communicate really what kind of change is happening in my life through my studies of the Bible. I will also probably write about some interesting moments that we are bound to have over the next couple of years. <-- I plan on teaching for a while ... or at least until God tells me it is time to move on to a new adventure!

I just wanted to say thank you for anyone who has read this far on this blog and I hope that we can continue this wonderful blog relationship!