Hello!

It's been well over a month since my last posting. I wanted to thank my readership for hanging in there with me.

When I recently wrote about turning 40, I think I underestimated the change. I suppose that I have entered that sometimes dreaded, mid-life crisis. However, I never thought that mine would take me down a path to where I was trying to be or act younger. No, mine is turning into a growing realization that we don't have much time on this earth. As a result, we should be living for God and for His purposes.

One of the books I started reading last month was Patrick Morley's, Seven Seasons of the Man in the Mirror. It's a terrific book. I was stunned when I read the passage that described me fairly well. It was the passage on burnout. Page 169:

Feelings of high anxiety crash in at unpredictable times. The burned-out man becomes short-tempered and irritable. He feels friction at home, and guilt for depriving his family of time. He is tired at the beginning of the day, not just the end. During the day, he becomes easily fatigued. He suffers from a loss of focus. He frequently finds his efforts ineffective. He often procrastinates even with important matters. He finds himself frustrated with his performance, unhappy with his attitude, depressed by his circumstances, and confused about his direction. He is a prisoner of boredom, lacks enthusiasm, and is embarrassed by the whole doggone affair. On top of everything else, he often suffers from physical ailments such as headaches and neck pain. The lingering feeling that something isn't right stalks him. His world appears to be coming unglued. And it doesn't look like anybody really cares. All summed up and totaled together, it creates a crushing load. One day the man experiences a complete systems shutdown. He experiences a meltdown, an emotional burnout. He simply stops caring. But many times, he can't show it because he is a Christian, and as we all known, Christians aren't supposed to have problems. Yeah, right. --Patrick Morley, Seven Seasons of the Man in the Mirror.

That's me and more. Patrick goes on to describe the guy that feels trapped, hates his job, and would like to just pull the plug and chuck it all. Family, financial, and and life responsibilities just add the entire weight of the world on his shoulders.

Sound familiar? Any of the guys out there going through this?

I intend on expounding more on this in the next week or so. I simply wanted to post a note to let you all know I'm still here. For what it's worth, I'm not ready to chuck it all away. I know that God has a plan for my life and His ways and His timetable are not my ways nor on my timetable. I love my family and praise be to God, family life is going well.

My wife is my biggest fan and biggest supporter. Without her love and support . . . well, I'm not sure I'd be doing half as well as I am.

Prayer Request

I would humbly as you to keep me in prayer for the next few weeks. It appears that God has prepared me for the next phase in my life and He is opening a new door. Again, more about this a little later. Please, pray that God's will be done in my life.

Thank you all for your visits in spite of a lack of posts. I'm confident that God is pushing me in a new direction to renew my spirit and His purposes in my life.

May He Increase!

Happy Friday to everyone!

As you read this, my wife and I are spending some quality time away to celebrate our ninth anniversary.

So, as we've done before, I'm opening this up to you, my friends, to post a comment, prayer request, praise report, or an interesting find on the 'net or a recent blog post of your own.

Please follow me on Twitter @MayHeIncrease.

May He Increase!

Happy Friday to everyone!

This post is for you to share what's new in your life, prayer requests, interesting blog finds, or discuss recent events like our new Socialist Medicine.

Please follow me on Twitter @MayHeIncrease.

I'd also like to give a shout-out of gratitude to my brother in Christ, Demian Farnworth, for his wonderful guest post this week "John Wycliffe's 9-Point Guide to Reading the Bible." If you haven't read it yet, please do so and leave a comment for him. Demian is a great guy and you can follow him on Twitter @DFarnworth.

May He Increase!

My family and I make our church home at Knott Avenue Christian Church in Anaheim, CA (on Twitter @KACCchurch).

Recently, I joined the media team helping the church with their social networking including KACC's Facebook page. The media folks roll up to Mike Carman, pastor of Cross-Cultural Ministries. I've really grown to love and respect this man of God. He has such a love for the lost and hurting and showing them the way to Jesus.

Coming up in a week or so is KACC's Beyond...9 Days in March. It's our emphasis on the many missions KACC supports all over the world. In Mike's words:

I'm amped up, excited and can hardly wait. Next month (March 13-21) is our time of missions emphasis at Knott Avenue Church. We call it, Beyond...9 Days in March, and we use it to encourage those we support locally and globally, as well as to educate and challenge our people about missions on a worldwide scale. And what they can do to help get the job done.

You can read the rest of the post at Mike's blog: Eden's Dust. Please visit and say hello.

Watch KACC Services Live!

You can also watch a live stream of KACC's Saturday night service at 5:00 PM PST via USTREAM. Right now, Pastor Shane Womack is doing a study through the book of Daniel.

Welcome to Friday everyone!

Here's another open thread where you are welcome to share interesting finds on the Internet, share what God is doing in your life, share recent posts you have written, or prayer requests.

This weekend I'm participating in "The Game Plan: Men's Purity Seminar" at Knott Avenue Christian Church. It's being given by Joe Dallas of Genesis Counseling. Please keep us all in prayer.

May He Increase!

Happy Friday everyone!

Opening this up once again to prayer requests, interesting blog finds or posts, or track/pingbacks to something you have written.

I cannot believe we are already through January 2010! Time is flying by!

Blessed weekend to each of you.

May He Increase!

Since today is Friday, I wanted to open this up again to whatever is on your mind.

If you have a prayer request, please post it in the comments. If you have found something interesting to share, please feel free to do so.

Have you written something you'd like to let others know about? Please feel free to post the link back to it in the comments as well.

I would also like to take this opportunity to remind the readership to keep the nation of Haiti in prayer. I still cannot fathom the extent of the damage and the suffering of these poor people. It's overwhelming.

There are many good and trustworthy organizations to send money to. If you are looking for a Christian-based ministry that ensures that 100% of the funds will go to directly help those in need, please visit Northwest Haiti Christian Mission's website.

May He Increase!

There is a bug with WordPress 2.9 that is affecting my scheduled posts ability. Please stand by while I get this figured out. The new series on Isaiah 5 is coming!

It seems like a very long time since I've logged in to the site.

I scarcely can believe that Christmas is over and we have arrived at 2010. 2009 is only a memory now.

I know I had said that I was taking this week off from blogging, but I simply could not let today pass by without a quick word of hello to everyone.

God has brought my family through one of the most difficult times in our lives. We had to experience the pain and confusion of me being laid off and out of work for five months. But truly, the experience has made us all more grateful for all of God's blessings.

I don't know what 2010 will bring. It may be a year of abundant blessings, or it may bring greater trials than we have experienced thus far. Or, it may be a combination of both. Either way, God is on the throne and He is in control!

I'm working on a new series that will start on Monday based on Isaiah 5. I wanted to do a series on the United States given it is a new year and also given our country's precarious position spiritually and financially.

May scholars and theologians say that America really isn't mentioned in the Bible. While America isn't named specifically, there are implications for our country in the Bible. Some are quite eye-opening and describe our nation vividly.

I want to wish each of you a blessed New Year. May God rain down His blessings on your life. May we all seek Him and draw closer to Him this coming year. May each of us find out new ways in which God can use us for His purposes this year!

In Christ,

Joe.

May He Increase!

On behalf of my family, I want to wish each one of you a blessed, holy, and Merry Christmas 2009!

I scarcely can believe that another year has gone by. So much has happened this past year (good and bad) but I can testify that God has brought us through.

I don't know what God has planned for my family in 2010. I'm sure that we will have our ups and downs. But I do know that God is faithful. I'm reminded of what Jeremiah said:

"'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.'" --Jeremiah 29:11-13.

That being said, I plan on taking a blogging break for the last week of the year. As you may know, I started my new job on Monday, December 21 after being out of work for five months. I'm trying to get my bearings back now that I'm recovering from a five-month "vacation" and returning to a commute after working from home for three years. I should be back blogging on Monday, January 4, 2010!

Merry Christmas!

Joe.