Distractions, Discouragement, Discontentment and…God?

          Each morning as I drive to work, I pass a sign that always give the same message.  “Expect Delays”.  As I glance at it, I usually feel a sudden discouragement in my spirit and begin asking myself why I even bother to look at that distraction.  In fact, there have been many days where I would try to look the other way instead of at the sign, thinking that it may help, but it doesn’t.  After driving this route for so long, one would expect that I would be used to the morning traffic, but the truth is I am not, and I often find myself in discontentment with the way people drive and city life.

I chose to use the incident with the sign as an opener, but as I continued to spend time talking with God this morning, He showed me more.  Here one example that He showed me:

The Distraction – Sin

The Discouragement – Constant Failure

The Discontentment – We want change.

God – Is calling us out of sin, telling us to rise up from our failures, and allow His Spirit to change us. 

          You see, no matter what the distraction, the discouragement, or the discontentment is that is trying to keep you back from the calling of God; He is always trying to speak to you and show you things that will take you where He wants you.  I only showed one example, but there are many more.  Do not get caught up with the distractions, the discouragements, or the discontentment, but all allow them to draw you closer to God. 

          So today, I praise God for continually speaking to us through our sins, our failures, and our desperation for change.  I praise Him for warning us, as He did with Cain in Genesis 4:6-7, that these things are always there waiting for us to open the door to it, but God loves us so much that He will, by His Spirit, let us know when we are about to do wrong.  He loves us so much that He allowed His Son, who knew no sin, to endure wages of our sins, so that we could enter into His presence forever.  I praise Him for the fact that He sees our discontentment and our desperation for change in life, and He will move and change things around for His glory so that His love can be seen through us to the world.   

~ Jeremy D. Crouch ~  

Good to Great in 2008

"Capture the vision...and run with it."

Well my friends.  I am off to Honduras to help build a couple of churches.  God has been so good to allow me to go.  I am so humbled and pray that He uses the men that are going with us to share His love. 

I will write again when I return. 

God Bless...

Jeremy
"This life is not about you or me...but rather about His Love and sharing His Love with them.  Let us not forget this.  This is our mission.  This is our life.  This is His love."

June 20th, 2008 - 3:01 AM

It is three o'clock in the morning.  I am awake.  Could I get a few more hours of sleep if I wanted to?  Probably, but right now I won't.  First of all, I am drinking a bottle of Dasani.  Secondly I am watching an episode of Carrier.  Finally, I am thinking about doing dishes.  Will I go back to sleep?  I don't know. 

There have been a lot of things on my mind lately.  I don't even know where to start.  God has taken me to many places in my life and I know that He is not finished with me yet.  There are things that I am proud of in my life.  There are things that I would change if I could, but unfortunately God didn't create us to go back in time and change things.  If you think of it, that would be chaos because everyone would be trying to change everything.  Then what would happen if you changed something but you couldn't change it back?  It would be a world of regret.  Thank God that He doesn't allow us to change things.

However, He does allow His love to cover us and His Spirit to change us from the inside.  Yes, He changes us Himself.  I would rather Him change me than myself.  Change...yes that is the topic of this early morning memoir.  As I reflect, I can see where God has changed me.

Six and a half years ago, I lived in a small town in Indiana.  I was a nobody from a nowhere town with barely any friends.  I wanted more of God in my life, but I didn't know exactly what that meant.  I wanted God to use me, but I didn't know what that involved.  Six years ago, I did not know who I would be today.  Just as I do not know who I will be in six years from now.  However, I can say that when we allow the Spirit of God to change us, then He changes us for the better. 

Some of the tests and the trials that we will go through will seem as if the world is ending, but it is not.  Trust me on this one.  Here is an example, that I can think of.  I just watched an episode of Carrier.  It allowed me to reflect back on my 3.5 years on the USS Carl Vinson.  My time spent on this aircraft carrier shows me exactly how God used a tough time in my life to change me.  For it was during these years that I felt the furthest away from God, from love, from myself.  If no one ever tells you this then let me tell you now....it is easy to lose track of yourself in the military.  There were many days and nights that I reflect on where I didn't see the "man of God" that I was supposed to be.  There were times where my anger got to me and my tempers went off.  There were many times I wish that I could erase forever.  However, I see the change that God did in my life. 

When I chose to return to God, I chose to find myself in Him again.  It is when I found myself in Him again, that I truly saw the power of His Spirit working in my life.  No longer was I a teenager who couldn't stand up for himself and didn't know who he was, but now I am a man filled with the Spirit of the Living God.  It was the time at sea and in the Navy that taught me how to discern the things around me and how to trust in God.  It taught me that when I am faced with tough decisions and I do not know what to do, then He will guide me every step of the way.  When I am angered, then He will calm me so that His strength can be seen.  When I am lonely, He steps in the room so that I can maintain my sanity. 

So as I close this memoir for this morning, I thank God for the change that He has done in me.  I know that others may not see the change, but he does, and I do.  And I know that it was only when I chose to return to God, that I found myself again, and that I saw who I was in Christ.  I saw the change that He has done.  And I know that it is not over yet. 

Until Tomorrow...

~ Jeremy Daniel Crouch ~

Is it the end of the journey of love or just the beginning?

Back in January of this year, God put a blog series upon my heart called “The Journey of Love.”  I know that in the past few months, I have been silent and placed this all on the back burner for a while and I thought that I was going to write more, but that is not the case.  For one can never plan exactly what God is planning; however He shows the signs through His Holy Spirit.

This is not my normal blog, but lately God has been placing a lot on my spirit and I must get this one key point out. 

The journey of love begins and ends at JESUS CHRIST.  There is no other way to go along this path that He has called us down.  For it is only through Him and for Him that we live and that we love.  The beginning of the journey of love is at a place where love gave all.  The beginning of the path that God is directing us to travel down begins at the cross of JESUS CHRIST.  It is here, where one must fall prostrate and cry out to JESUS CHRIST to wash away their sins.  It is here, where one must acknowledge the Lord.  It is here where one must realize that none of us are worthy enough of His love, but by His mercy and grace, He shed His blood and gave His life so that we could rise up from the ground beneath the cross and travel the road that He has set before us. 

It is a road that leads into lands unknown.  It is a road where one must continue to remember the love that was sacrificed.  For if one was to forget that love, and then they would easily find themselves wandering off of the path of love.  This is the journey of love.  To preach the gospel to the ends of the world, to go forth and lay hands on the sick, to see the blind see, to see the lame walk, to see the dead live again.  We must help the widows and the fatherless, the orphans and the homeless.  AND WE MUST DO IT ALL FOR THE GLORY OF THE LOVE THAT WAS SHED. 

Unless we are doing what LOVE has commanded us to do, we are not traveling along the journey of love.  Unless we are respecting and acknowledging the Spirit of God in our lives, we are not honoring the LOVE that died for us. 

I write this now with urgency in my spirit.  Some people are not following the journey of love because they do not know where the end is.  Well my friend, the end (even though we can not physically see it) will always be found at JESUS CHRIST.  Our only hope and future is in JESUS CHRIST, the love that was sacrificed for us.  He declared in His word that He will come again and that the end of this time of the earth will come.  However one who follows along the JOURNEY OF LOVE can rest tonight, because the end is not the end, but rather the beginning. 

The cross was not the end of LOVE, but rather the beginning of the outpouring that would save the relationship between man and GOD.  The cross was just the beginning of what was to come, just as the return of our LOVE will be the beginning of eternity with HIM.  This is why you can rejoice, because HE loves you tonight. 

The number one thing that the Spirit of God keeps telling me to share with you is what is found in the book of Revelation when it says to RETURN TO YOUR FIRST LOVE.  Dear reader, know this…that if you have strayed away from the JOURNEY OF LOVE due to your unbelief and doubt, anger or fear of where the road may take you, please….PLEASE….return to your first love tonight.  Tomorrow is not promised to any of us and our peace and hope for tomorrow can ONLY be found in JESUS CHRIST.  Today is the day of salvation. 

All you have to do is acknowledge Him, believe in Him, give it all to Him (repent), love Him, and follow Him.  If you lose your way, then seek for Him.  If you need to hear from Him, then call to Him.  You CANNOT travel on the journey of love unless you read the book of LOVE (Bible) and spend time and talk (otherwise pray) with the One who Loves, JESUS CHRIST.

I pray that you sense the urgency of the message coming forth tonight.  Is this the end of the blog series…I do not know.  It does not matter.  Just know that LOVE is calling out.  The time is now.  He loves you.  He sacrificed His all for you.  He is returning for you. 

Until Next Time,

Jeremy D. Crouch
The following video is so awesome.  Please make time to watch it tonight.  Return to your first love.