CASTIMONIA

Sexual Purity Support & Recovery Group

Jesus Christ

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The Man in the Arena

For all of those that choose to criticize or condemn the ministry, our leaders, or the people in the program:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.“ – Theodore Roosevelt

 

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The Grass is Never Greener

Or more like it is ALWAYS greener on the other side in our minds but never in reality!

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He Hears Your Prayer

A great devotional for Step 11!

Derek Redmond, a twenty-six-year-old Briton, was favored to win the four-hundred-meter race in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Halfway into his semifinal heat, a fiery pain seared through his right leg. He crumpled to the track with a torn hamstring.

As the medical attendants were approaching, Redmond fought to his feet. “It was animal instinct,” he would later say. He set out hopping, pushing away the coaches in a crazed attempt to finish the race.

When he reached the stretch, a big man pushed through the crowd. He was wearing a T-shirt that read “Have you hugged your child today?” and a hat that challenged, “Just Do It.” The man was Jim Redmond, Derek’s father.

“You don’t have to do this,” he told his weeping son.

“Yes, I do,” Derek declared.

“Well, then,” said Jim, “we’re going to finish this together.”

And they did. Jim wrapped Derek’s arm around his shoulder and helped him hobble to the finish line. Fighting off security men, the son’s head sometimes buried in the father’s shoulder, they stayed in Derek’s lane to the end.

The crowd clapped, then stood, then cheered, and then wept as the father and son finished the race.

What made the father do it? What made the father leave the stands to meet his son on the track? Was it the strength of his child? No, it was the pain of his child. His son was hurt and fighting to complete the race. So the father came to help him finish.

God does the same. Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.

Today’s devotional is drawn from Max Lucado’s Next Door Savior.

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Moving Towards God

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By Keith B. @ NotUnknown.com

At the age of nine years old, I understood and accepted that God sent His son to die for me and redeem my sins. I began a journey on that day to know God. Unfortunately, that’s all I did. I began. I didn’t continue. God stayed where He was. Available to me and waiting. I got…sidetracked.

My contact with God wasn’t constant. God was like that neighbor who would knock and not go away, even when I wouldn’t answer the door. I could just feel Him peeking in the windows. So I went my own way, avoiding His gaze, trying to stay just out of reach.

My friend Sean and I were at breakfast one morning, drinking Denny’s outstanding coffee. We were talking about God and knowing Him. Sean held his hands apart.

“Buddy! God is here, and I am way over here. I am either moving toward Him or away
from Him. There is no inbetween!”

Sean speaks in exclamations. That is part of what I love about him. He also speaks from God. I love that about him even more.

Knowing God requires structure for me. Without it, I follow the sound of my own voice. My own voice has always eventually led to destruction. So, to purposefully know God, I put structure in my everyday life. For me, that started with how I make decisions.

What do you do when you are faced with a difficult decision? Maybe you are trying to decide whether you should look for another job. You don’t know whether or not you should stay in a marriage that doesn’t feel alive. Your parents health is declining and you don’t have any idea what to do. Do you have someone you can turn to for guidance? Is there someone you trust completely? Your mother? Brother? Spouse? Best friend?

What about the day to day stuff? Should I apologize to my wife for yelling at her when she started the whole fight by nagging me about the shirt I didn’t pick up and take to the laundry room? My daughter’s best friend stopped talking to her and sitting with her at lunch. Does anyone care about that or is that something you should just take care of on your own?

I found that in all decisions, big stuff and small stuff, my decision making stunk. I convinced myself I made great decisions. Only, when faced with the results of my decisions, I realized I didn’t.

Sean reminded me that God knew me in my mother’s womb, the number of hair’s on my head, the intimate parts of my life I felt too much shame to share with anyone else. And He never walked away. He waited for me to realize how much He wanted to be a part of all my decisions. To do that, I had to let Him into all my decisions. I had to learn how to move towards Him.
In my life I move towards God in a number of ways. I pray purposefully. My friend Lance recently talked about his day being a constant conversation with God about the big things and the little things. I do that. I read His word looking to know more about Him, not about me. Li-wei taught me how to read His word to seek who God says He is and what can I learn about His character. My friends Dan and Jay meet with me every Saturday, to do life together and to speak His word into each other. My wife Roxanne and I pray together for our marriage, our sons, the future, today, for big and small things.

Have you introduced purpose into your life? What are you actively doing to move towards God?

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Castimonia Kirby Meeting Cancelled Tonight – 10-31

Due to Halloween, tonight’s Castimonia meeting at River Oaks Tower will be cancelled.  The meeting will resume next week.