Blogs for Christian Living
Read some devotional thoughts from prior church planters & lifelong pastors. Mark & Dallas share what they learn daily in their journey walking with God.
Be inspired to live in the fullness of purity that God has set as the standard for His children. Be encouraged to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and the implications of living in relationship with God.
11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. John 6:11-13 NIV Part of our ministry at Blue Fire Legacy is providing care for those who pour into others’ lives frequently. Most often, this occurs in the spiritual and emotional realms, but it…
Continue ReadingI’ll be content when _____________ . All of us can probably relate to a time when we’ve said words like that. I’ll be content when my income reaches a certain level, or my bank accounts are a predetermined amount, or when I have that house or car or relationship . . . The list goes on and on. In my years working in public accounting, I had quite a few clients that were multi-millionaires. They had interest and dividend income in excess of what most people in America live on each year. However, in the midst of all of their wealth, I don’t recall them being truly content with what…
Continue ReadingWhen I was a teenager, I procrastinated doing the loads of laundry that my mom asked me to wash and dry. We were preparing to leave for a youth trip, and it never occurred to me that if I didn’t do the laundry before leaving, she’d stay home to do it. I just figured it could wait until we got back. Evidently, my mom felt otherwise. She let me go on the choir trip, but she stayed behind. I have this nagging nemesis. Maybe you don’t struggle with it, but I do…procrastination. It’s even easier to fall into the trap of procrastination when the task is something that I dread. …
Continue ReadingOne of the costs of love is loss. With loss comes grief. Grief is a strange process. There are moments of joy in the remembrance, lack of hope in not having control, despair in the loss, alternating acceptance and denial of the reality of the situation, anger in the outcome or even the process. We can have moments of rational thoughts that quickly morph into the irrational. Today (January 17, 2020) we are saying goodbye to Duchess, our precious Shih Tzu. Duchess was born October 31, 2004 and came into our life on March 16, 2005. Over the past 15 years she has been a faithful snuggler, energetic encourager, and…
Continue ReadingIt has been a day! It started at about 2:00 a.m. with our aging dog requiring extra assistance for the remainder of the wee hours. Of course, it was also our oldest daughter’s birthday, and I needed to be up hanging birthday decorations to “surprise” her when she woke. This has become a family tradition, and therefore, has transitioned from surprise to the norm, but it is even more important because her birthday is so close to Christmas. It didn’t happen this particular morning. I comforted myself in the fact that this year I was going to actually have the time to make and decorate her cake, even if the…
Continue ReadingWe have resumes and CVs, degrees and certifications – things that we promote to others that tell them we are qualified to do the work that they need done. Even if you are applying for a job that says “no experience required”, they want to know what skills or abilities you have to see if you are qualified to be hired. But in God’s Kingdom, things that qualify us are different than what we would put on a resume. The Lord regularly asks me to do things that I’m not qualified, in the earthly sense, to do. I do numbers Dallas and I used to say that I do numbers…
Continue ReadingAs we are entering winter, and the time of burning fires for heat, I have been working on getting ready by splitting the wood that I gathered earlier in the year. As I worked, I was thinking about how these trees stood tall on the hillside of Legacy Heights and now they are being prepared to be burned in a fireplace or wood stove. One of the trees was over 30 inches in diameter and well over 50 feet in height less than a year ago. Now it sits in roughly 16-18 inch long rounds waiting to be split, stacked and burned. At first it seemed kinda sad to think…
Continue ReadingA friend was telling me about a recent hunting trip. He had sighted a buck that then disappeared into the thickets. After several days of hunting and not seeing much, the buck was a great sight to behold, and he really wanted to take it home. He prayed that if the Lord would cause the buck to come back out into the open, then he would be able to make the shot and take care of the rest. As a good Father, the Lord answered his prayer. The buck came out into the open, and my friend proceeded to take the shot. Missed. Another shot. Missed. And another miss, then…
Continue ReadingAs mentioned a couple of months ago, we have learned to depend on the Lord as THE Provider. This week, I want to share specific provisions for housing. We sold our house in August 2016 with the expectation that the ministry would be getting an RV for us to live in and travel around the country coming alongside pastors and churches. This would be an example of our expectations not being what God intended. After selling the house, we camped in the mountains on some family land for 10 weeks, traveled some, housesat, spent the winter in a dome house outside Westcliffe, lived in my nephew’s bedroom for 9 weeks,…
Continue ReadingThere’s been a trail that has taunted me for the past two summers. It is almost always in the top listings for trails near Westcliffe on Alltrails.com when I’m looking for places to hike. I’ve considered it many times but have hesitated because of the length (about 12 miles). It’s the Venable-Comanche Trail. I’ve hiked portions of it before but not the entire loop. On the Venable side, I’ve been to Venable Falls a couple of times. I’ve also been partway up the Comanche side. Today was the day to go all the way to Comanche Lake. Really not a difficult hike (comparatively speaking), and Ginger, my 11 year-old dog,…
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