A New Blog To Follow

I want to encourage everyone to check out my dear friend Shawn Marcell's new blog over at www.crosstraininginternational.blogspot.com. Shawn is our Master's Commission director and also oversees all our missions efforts at Crossroads Church. He and his wife Nicole have a tremendous heart for world missions and other ministries of compassion. They served full time on the mission field in Romania for three years until we were fortunate enough to convince them to come back to Louisiana and raise up missionaries to send all over the world through Master's Commission! That's exactly what they're doing. We launched our first international Master's Commission last year in Romania and talks are underway for programs in Africa and Germany! God is moving! I'm so proud of Shawn and Nicole and strongly encourage you to become a follower of the blog and allow God to lead you in how you might connect with this powerful vision to reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Creation Groans

Romans 8:19-24 says:

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved.

The closer to the end of time we get, the more intense the earth's groans become. I believe that's what we're seeing with earthquakes and tsunamis like Japan just experienced. I believe this verse not only suggests that natural catastrophes will increase as the end draws closer, but that the church will rise to the occasion. These disasters give us an opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the hurting and the suffering. The world waits in eager expectation to see this happen. As we reach into the devastation caused by the curse of sin upon our broken world and see it's affect on the innocent, we cry out in earnest, "Even so Lord Jesus - Come quickly!"

Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and the 363 Days That Follow

When I moved to South Louisiana back in the mid-eighties, I knew nothing of Catholic traditions. I grew up in the northern part of our state which is drastically different demographically. I only knew of one Catholic family in my entire High School growing up. Everyone else was Baptist or some other form of Protestantism. Much of south Louisiana is predominantly Catholic, so when I arrived here over twenty-five years ago I soon became familiar with the ways of the Catholic church. Up until that point of my life, I was clueless of the differences between north and south Louisiana, let alone Catholicism and what I knew as the Christian faith.

For instance, no one practiced Mardi Gras where I grew up (That has changed and there are some parades and whatnot in the Monroe area now). I knew nothing of Fat Tuesday, Krews or King Cakes and I sure didn't know anything about Ash Wednesday! I'll never forget walking into a bank the first year I was here in Lafayette on Ash Wednesday. I was just about ready to be a nice guy and let some lady know she had something on her forehead when I realized, everyone did - Except me!


For those who are unfamiliar with the tradition, Fat Tuesday is basically the party you throw in preparation for Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the initiation of forty days of fasting leading up to Easter. The sign of the cross is made on one's forehead with ash as a sign of consecration. The day before (Fat Tuesday) you do all the sinning you can possibly get in, because for the next forty days you intend to prove how devout you are. How ridiculous is that? I'm not bashing Catholics. We Protestants have our own rituals we go through that are nothing more than superficial ceremonialisms!

This is the problem with religion! It's all about the show. It's why Christianity doesn't wear well simply as another one of the world's religions. You see, true Christianity isn't a religion at all, it's a relationship with the God who created us through His Son, Jesus Christ, and He isn't interested in our religious practices - He wants our hearts! As C.S. Lewis once said, He is either Lord of all or He isn't Lord at all. He refuses to be acknowledged in superficial ways for forty days once a year or once a week for an hour on Sunday morning! He is Lord on Fat Tuesday and He is Lord on Ash Wednesday and He is Lord on the 363 days that follow or we are just wasting our time!

Colorado Connections

We just returned from an awesome vacation in Steamboat Springs, CO. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, a   wonderful family in our church blessed us with accommodations at one of Steamboat's premier properties: The Sheraton Steamboat Villas with ski-in, ski-out access and plush amenities. Several friends from the church joined our family and my sister Holane's family for a terrific time skiing, tubing, dog sledding, eating, hanging out and playing Spades!

After our dates had been scheduled, I discovered that Shawn was planning a midwest tour for Master's Commission that brought them as far as Denver - 3 1/2 hours from Steamboat Springs the very weekend we would arrive for vacation! (That had to be God!) I got on the internet and found a great Assembly of God church in Steamboat Springs and called to see if they would be interested in hosting the team at one of their services. I knew God was in it when the receptionist picked up and said, "Jeff Ables? I'm from Franklin!" (She is from my friend Brad Bullock's church and knows our church very well.) She put me in touch with the pastor and it turns out he is a Master's Commission alumni who loves the program and understands the whole touring/promotion process. He invited our students to perform their production at his Wednesday night youth service and it was incredible! They put the MC students up at the church for three days and let them enjoy the exciting attractions that Steamboat has to offer. The youth group at the church responded in mass the night XMC performed and I feel like I've made a life-long friend in Pastor Troy Lewis from Steamboat Christian Center! What a thrilling experience it was to get to introduce the XMC team to one of my favorite places on earth!

Another highlight on the trip was watching my nephew Jeremy propose to his girl friend Stephanie! He had arranged with the staff of one of the restaurants on the mountain to have their outdoor camera (which provides live steaming on the Steamboat website) to have it focused on the place he proposed, which allowed many of their friends and family to watch it happen live around the country! The good news is she said "yes!" Now that's a Colorado connection!

Our vacation reminded me of how wonderful the connections God gives us are! Our connection with the family in our church who blessed us with our condo, the connection with that family and others who accompanied us on the trip, the connection with Pastor Troy and our new friends at SCC, the connection made between Jeremy and Stephanie through their engagement: Thank God for the way He connects us! (Especially in Colorado!)