Courage and the Cowardly lion

Sometimes I find myself in situations that take a lot of courage. Although, sometimes i appear as the cowardly lion instead of the amazing hulk..well in my case more like the Jolly Green Giant. My point being is sometimes I lack the courage to do some things. I do not grab the bull by the horns. Instead I wear that silly red cape and entice the situation. I need to be better and staring that bull in the eyes and standing my ground. I do know this though, cowardly or courageous I know My God or Our God can give us that courage. I know I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. When I am down he will lift me up. When I am a little cowardly he will give me a Lions Roar!

7 Days 7 Lessons [Sovereignty]

Day 2/7:

There have been many times I have doubted God in my life. More times than i am willing to admit. Two years ago coming to Atlanta i was not sure of anything. One thing I know i am sure of today is God's Sovereignty over my life and every situation. A Biblical definition for sovereignty would be He has the absolute right to do all things according to his good pleasure. (ex. Romans 9:15-23) God has authority and power over all things. Many people see Jesus as the little baby in a cheap nativity scene outside a church or your parents house during Christmas. He seems helpless, weak, not alive, not powerful and just sooo.. plastic. If that was the real baby Jesus then we would be doomed. There would be no hope for the world. But luckily that is not the case, God is not a plastic baby sitting on you're lawn. Jesus is sovereign and Lord over all things. He has the power and authority over every thing that exists. including your life, my life. Every morning I get up thanking Jesus that i am alive, that he has created me for a purpose, he has a plan for my life. That God what ever situation i find myself in today you are Lord over it. You have to power and authority to change it.

7 Days 7 Lessons

Seeing how it is my last week here in Atlanta I have begun to reflect on some things that have happened over the past two years being an adopted Hotlantian. So for my last 7 days I will write 7 blogs of things i have learned about myself.

Part 1:

Two years is the longest i have stayed in one place. Since the end of high school I have been moving around living in various places. Indianapolis, IN, Chattanooga, TN, Melbourne, AUS, Atlanta, GA, back to Nashville, TN and then to Lexington, KY in the fall. I guess you could say i was searching for something. The only problem is I had no map to guide me. I was lost. Then kinda randomly I found myself in Atlanta. I had moved here for a job within two weeks of being back from Australia. Now looking back X definitely marked the spot. I have had more closure in my life then ever before. I have seen God's Grace and Favor in my life like never before. I have experienced God's Sovereignty day after day. I have learned to put my trust in Him always. But most of all I have learned to Forgive. I finally understood what real forgiveness was all about. It is impossible for anyone to know what real forgiveness is until they have real Repentance. How can we forgive someone when we are just as guilty as they are. Everyday we dont forgive WE hurt ourselves more than we were hurt by them. It has finally clicked that WE have to preach and walk out the gospel of Repentance and Forgiveness. I have been able to forgive others how I would like to be forgiven. We all make mistakes, but we all do not forgive. Forgiveness is not just these three words " I forgive you" But rather " I love you". God loves us so much he forgives us in an instance. I am not saying everybody can do that. I know its hard for me. But if we could strive to be like Christ, then we can strive to forgive like Christ.

All of these things I have faced before.

Perseverance
-noun
steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

Theology
continuous in a state of grace to the end, leading to eternal salvation.

This word i am capable of doing but often time i am capable of not doing. To persevere means that there is and are hard times. To persevere means you can give up and not succeed. But, to persevere also means that we can get through hard times and we can succeed. Often times we come so close to the end but give up a foot before the finish line. Its like running a marathon and you are on the last mile and right before you brake the tape you decide that you do not want to finish the race because A. you are too tired, B.running the race is "boring", or C. I ran enough to satisfy myself. All these things are dangerous, all these things i have faced before. There have been many times where i just gave up. I was tired, bored and satisfied where i was at. I have been complacent, foolish, and prideful. All of these things are dangerous, all of these things i have faced before. I cant count the number of times i have said, well at least that did not happen, or man that was a close call. I have set myself up to loose the race before it even began. However, there are times when i have won the race, i did persevere through the hard times, the boring times, and the satisfied times. This is not dangerous and i have faced it before. I have faced the hard times and said I will get through this! and you know what? I did. We set ourselves up for failure and we do not succeed all because we decided we could not. Some people say pick your battles. I say we are going to face them so why not persevere through them all. Now i know that life is tough, trust me i know how you feel. Every morning i wake up fighting my battles and not everyday i win but at least i try, i make an effort, i persevere. Paul the apostle says it best i think.

1 Corinthians 9: 24 "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Every who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable."

At the end of the day we run the race not for ourselves but for him who persevered on the cross for our sins, for our tiredness, for our boredom, and for our complacency. We have to run the race in such a way that we can win it. The only way is Christ, we have to persevere, we have to win the race.




Stephen

Produce another to reach another

As leaders of this next generation we are are called and challenged to produce fruit, fruit that remains, fruit that changes the world. Recently i have really taken this to heart. This phrase has burned its way into my everyday thinking. I do not know if i made it up or if its a word mash of things i have heard my whole life but nevertheless it has challenged me and hit me to the core. God has called us to go out into all the world and proclaim His name to every person. At times i am reluctant to do so. I am comfortable in my own life at times... but God has called us to be uncomfortable, to get out of our comfort zones. God has given us a gift to impact people, to produce fruit that remains, to make disciples. We cannot be roof top Christians, waiting on the roof top where nothing can hurt us or make us feel vulnerable. We cannot feel confined to the roof waiting for a savior to save us. We need to be in the action, in the chaos going through trails and tribulations like it says in James 1:2-4 " Consider it a great joy, my brother, whenever you experience various trails, knowing that the testing of your faith PRODUCES endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you maybe be mature and complete, lacking nothing." Through trails, and even persecution Gods gives us endurance, he makes us mature and complete. Giving us the power to make disciples, to produce fruit in our own lives. Like it or not we are the next generations leaders. We are more than conquers. We are over comers of the world. We need to produce another to reach another.

All for now,

Stephen

Waiting Room: Questions and Answers

Have you ever been asked a question that the answer was completely obvious or the question was so stupid it did not deserve an answer? Well, i think God gets a lot of these questions.. especially from me. Now i am not trying to say all questions we ask God are stupid and i am defiantly not saying that God gives stupid answers back. That my friends is not true and that is just asking for a lightning bolt to my face. I do think at times we grow impatient with God if he does not answer our questions right away. We conjure up our own answers if we do not get one quick enough by our own standards. However, in my 24 years of existence i have found out this. A lot of the questions we ask God are easily answered the minute we ask them. We sometimes, including me don't like the answer so we make up our own. If we cannot be patient with God and except his answer then we as a people lack a lot of christian maturity. Sometimes we all need to grow up, its tough sometimes.. trust me i would know. I know its hard sometimes when you are going through a crisis or a tough week. Sometimes God just needs to sit on it for a while too. He wants to give us the best answer! so we better not rush him! I would pray for patience because sometimes we need a lot more than we think.

Much love, Stephen

Personal Judge

Sometimes we are faced with situations where we feel we have nothing to give or how can God use somebody like me. In doing this we judge our selves. We play god or try to be our own saviors a little too much sometimes and in return we get into things only the real God can get us out of. I can just imagine God looking at me from above thinking what situation do i need to rescue Stephen Rohrer from today or jeez Stephen, i wish you would not open your big mouth sometimes! The last 6 years of my life has been a whirl wind to say the least. I have lived in 3 different states and 1 different country trying to find some sense of what i was supposed to do with my life. In 6 years i think i have experienced it all. From death to life, love to heartbreak, selfishness to humility, and pain to happiness. The sky is the limit to the situations I have been through. Most of it was a lot of pain though. I found myself 2 years ago thinking my life was over. I had finally bitten off more than i could chew. I had played god for almost 4 years and at that point there was finally a situation i could not get my self out off. I was scared, angry, and hurt. Stephen Rohrer could not come to the rescue on this one. Only God could! I thank him everyday he did. I finally had enough with me relying on my self. I had placed so much pressure on my life that i felt any day i would explode. The great thing about God is that he can stop what ever he is doing and remove that pressure. There is no circumstance bigger than God! Don't let others or even yourself be the judge of your life. Trust me, somewhere down the line you or your friends cannot help you. One of you is doomed to fail. Save yourself a lot of hurt let God be the Judge and Savior of your life..not yourself. Much Love, Stephen

Fruits of the spirit is not a coconut

In the summer of 2007 I worked at a all boys summer camp in North Carolina and i have to say it was one of my favorite summers of all time. We would teach these Sunday school songs to the kids which they loved! one of them was called the fruits of the spirits is not a coconut. It would go something like this (just imagine my soft but powerful singing voice lol ). "the fruit of the spirit is NOT a coconut, the fruit of the spirit is NOT a coconut, the fruit of the spirit is NOT a coconut for the Bible tells me so, they are... Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, faithfulness, Gentleness and Self control." Most of the time this was screamed super loud and you could not hear for about an hour.

Recently I have been thinking a lot about what the 9 fruits are and this is my thought process so far (they are not finished thoughts by the way). The 9 fruits come straight from God, they are 9 of his attributes and are apart of his personality. What this means is that God's Love, God's Joy, God's Peace, God's Patience, God's Kindness, God's Goodness, God's Faithfulness, God's Gentleness and God's Self control are from the Holy Spirit. The great thing about these attributes is they can be ours as well. I personally need all 9 of these in my life daily. The sad realization that I am coming too is I use only a couple of these in my life. I should probably stop making excuses and take advantage of these amazing gifts God himself gives us.

Thats all for now,

Stephen

lemonade or bitterness

Its funny when you have a life changing experience, little things come up in your life and they seem to try to take control. You become so sensitive and the littlest things seem like they are the worst. One thing I am sure of though, God is in Control. Every circumstance we face there is another one standing in line waiting for its turn. It is a never ending story. However, its nice to know there is someone cheering you on. Telling you, you can do it, the best is yet to come. I guess when life gives you lemons you cant make a limeade. Its lemonade or bitterness. I choose lemonade.

One day is enough

I have to say this past weekend at Campus Harvest wrecked me once again! (In a good way of course). I was not able to get there for friday night because of work. So i had to wake up at 4am hit the road and hope i didnt fall asleep. I do have to say Red Bull definately gives you wings..but kinda like temperary wings. They kinda wear off.. and then you crash! So, with only driving half way there i found myself thinking is this worth it? can one day really change me? The answer to those questions are YES! I was stupid to even entertain those thoughts all because i stayed up till 2am playing Tiger Woods 12. Anyways..i finally make it and let me just tell you the presence of God in that room was overwhelming! Tears of joy started the drip from my eyes. In one minute the mood for that day was set and i was hooked, addicted to the love of Christ, wanting more and more of his presence in my life. That continued the entire day. He worked on my heart nonstop removing things that i didnt even know i still had. It also was so great to see the group that we brought from Kennesaw State totally get rocked! I am so happy to see those students go from one life to another (see picture above) They truly were changed. When God moves, he moves you! So to answer my 1st questions again, Yes one day can change you! Is it worth it? well you tell me! With Love, Stephen