Always.

"Oh my God, He will not delay
My refuge and strength always.
I will not fear, His promise is true
My God will come through always, always!"

That's the chorus of the song "Always" by Kristian Stanfill. We sang that song tonight to close out our communion service at Del Sol Church East. It was a significant moment for me because of the day and who I was standing next to as I sang.

You see, I was standing next to my dad on the day of his last cancer treatment. 

When my dad was first diagnosed with cancer last fall, I was in shock and disbelief for days. Cancer was what I had feared for years and now it has become a reality. It seemed so unreal, so big, so scary, and everything seemed so unsure. There were lots of tests and lots of waiting. And after one test, everything came tumbling down.

At first one of the tests seemed to indicate that the cancer had spread to my dad's bone, which would have made for a terrible prognosis. They had to verify and we had to wait. That was probably the worst two weeks of my life up to this point. Thankfully it ended up being that the cancer had not spread, and though it was serious it was also curable. 

In those two weeks I learned what it really means to trust God. I learned about how to claim God's peace that passes all understanding. And through this whole process I learned more about faith.

Now today, with my dad having finished his treatment, we wait again. We wait to see if it took. We wait to see if the cancer has been eradicated.

We wait in faith, knowing "my God will come through always."

Always.

Got a case of the Mondays?

Mondays get a lot of hate. I don't know anybody who says "Monday is my favorite day of the week". Maybe there are people out there who like Mondays, but I've yet to meet any of them. No, most people I know detest Mondays and make sure everyone knows about it by moping around or whining about it on Facebook. 

But why? Why do we treat Mondays as if they are a hassle and a bother? They're not really the end of the weekend - Sundays are. Mondays are actually the BEGINNING of a new week! Mondays are a great day to start fresh, to change, to do something new.

Now before you go thinking "Ariel, that's easy for you to say", understand that Mondays are always really difficult days for me, especially since weekends are a time of intense work for me, not a time to kick back and relax like most other people. For me, Mondays are the day when I am most physically, spiritually, and emotionally drained. I should hate Mondays in a special way - but I don't. 

Instead, I embrace Mondays. I celebrate Mondays. Why? Because of one reminder from Scripture:

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad today!
- Psalm 118:24 CEV

Mondays are a day to celebrate and be glad! Mondays are a day to thank God for bringing you through the previous week and giving you a new week to laugh, to love, to enjoy music, to take in our beautiful Southwest sunsets, to eat meat, to sing along to your favorite songs, to watch your favorite TV shows, to connect with friends online and in person. 

Mondays are a day to remember that God didn't have to give you and I another day to live, but He did. We should thank our gracious God for Mondays and glorify Him by making the most out of the wonderful gift of Monday.

I'm feel tired of it.

You know all the scandals and controversies in life days? Seems like everyday there's something Congress can't come to a resolution on and it'll be the end of the world if they don't: Fiscal Cliff, Taxmageddon, Debt Ceiling, and so on. Among celebrities, who's dating who, who broke up with who, and who cheated on who. In sports, there are illegal bounties and fake girlfriends. Recently the news was going crazy about Beyonce lip-syncing the national anthem at the President's inauguration. And seems like half my twitter and Facebook feeds are filled each day with enough drama to last a lifetime.

Sometimes I feel tired of it all. 


But if there's one thing I've learned it's never to live by feelings because feeling often life. So I don't have to just feel tired of it all. I don't have to just suck it up and live with it. Actually, I can do something about it. I can be a reconciler. I may not be able to bring reconciliation to Congress or Hollywood, but I can do my best to bring reconciliation in my circle of influence. Matter of fact, God tells me to do so in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 NLT:

"God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation."

According to Scripture, my number one, primary, most important job in life is to be a bridge builder - first between God and people, but a just as important second is to build a bridge between people. To step in division and bring reunion. To go where there is hostility and bring harmony. To get in the middle of fights and work to bring unity. 

To look at scandals and instead of getting tired, get energized and see scandals as opportunities to be the presence and the power of God in the middle of it. When someone is being picked on, criticized, or condemned, to bring grace and love and forgiveness. 

Showing dignity, value, and love to people while speaking truth to them, no matter what? That's something I don't think I'll get tired of. 


Be a reconciler. Be a peacemaker. Be a bridge builder. Yeah, I can do that. Will you join me?

The right to life.

Twenty-two days ago, on December 14th, 2012, a horrible event took place. Twenty-six people were slaughtered in an elementary school in Connecticut - twenty of those people were children. This tragedy was covered seemingly non-stop by the media for days, benefit concerts were put on, and many people have donated money, toys, and other things to help the victims of those senseless killings.

On the same day that 20 children were murdered in an elementary school, another slaughter took place and nobody said a word. Over 2,000 children were murdered in America, and most Americans didn't know and didn't care because it wasn't called murder; it was called "abortion". And that number is a conservative estimate from the CDC. The research arm of Planned Parenthood, the Guttmacher Institute, puts that number at over 3,000 per day.  

Get that - 3,000 innocent American children are aborted every day. Since abortion was legalized forty years ago today, over 55 million Americans have been murdered in the womb. Americans who would have surely grown up to discover amazing medical breakthroughs, become government leaders who would have given wise leadership to our nation, and contributes billions of dollars in taxes to the economy.

I can only imagine how different, and better, this great nation would be if those children were alive today. How much stronger the economy would be. How many diseases would have been cured. And what a more noble people we would be for not allowing thousands of our own citizens to be killed every single day, out of sight and out of mind.

Whatever your viewpoint on abortion, whether you consider it a fetus or a baby in the womb, an undeniable fact is that abortion stops a beating heart. And a heart cannot beat without life in it.

Our nation was founded on the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Let's pray that our nation will turn from this great injustice; that we will respect the rights of unborn children instead of being intolerant of their right to life. 


"You are the one who created my innermost parts; You knit me together while I was still in my mother’s womb. I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart. Your works are wonderful—I know that very well."
- Psalm 139:13-14 CEB

Four words.

Several months ago I read through the book of Hebrews in the Bible and four words stuck out to me, as if they were jumbo sized and flashing in bright lights against the page. Here are those words.

"But we see Jesus ..."

- Hebrews 2:9 NIV

Since it's the end of the year I've been reflecting on these last 12 months and while there have been high points, honestly it seems that this year has been filled with mostly low points. Mostly discouragement. Mostly physical pain. Mostly loneliness. Mostly stress. Mostly disappointment in life. 

Sure, I could blame it on lots of things, like my parents' major health struggles, but nothing would really be a legitimate excuse. I was just beginning to get discouraged. Depressed, actually. My sleep cycle got messed up, I began eating a lot less than normal, I was withdrawing from people, and I've been sad a lot. I was beginning to be glad - but glad that this year would soon be over. It was a self-centered, woe-is-me, pity party kind of glad.

But then I remembered how on Christmas Eve I preached a message about Jesus lighting up our lives, and I started seeing Jesus lighting up different times of this year in my life. I thought about my brother and sister-in-law's wedding in June, how it was the first time in over a year that my whole family had been together, how much fun I had with my brothers, how happy my parents were, and how much I love my new sister and her family. I saw Jesus in all of that. 

I thought about how my parents celebrated their 40th anniversary just two days after the wedding. And how rare that is in a time when many marriages, even among Christ-followers, don't last beyond 10 years. I saw Jesus in that.

I remembered how the Lord has grown Del Sol Church, Northeast and East, and how so many people's lives have been changed. I thought about the couples who had been living together outside of marriage for years, and how they decided to start living a God-honoring life and put themselves in a place where God could bless them - by finally getting married. I thought about the people I've had the privilege of baptizing, and the light bulb moments people in my GrowGroup had experienced, and how people began to see that church can be exciting and fun. And I saw Jesus in all that.

I thought about the good times with friends: zombie parties, movie nights, Walking Dead viewing parties, eating together, laughing together, praying together - and I saw Jesus in those times. 

In many ways, as I look back on this year filled with so much heartache, loneliness, pain, stress, confusion, and difficulty, I see Jesus in all of it. And I've realized the old cliche "I'm too blessed to be depressed" is actually true.

So as you think back on your life this year: where do YOU see Jesus? You don't have to look hard - He's been there all along, in good times and bad. I would encourage you to invest some time before the new year and think back where Jesus has shown Himself to you this year. I guarantee it'll encourage you.

"But we see Jesus ..."

Christmas Light.

It's two weeks until Christmas Day. Christmas is more than just a day about family, love, giving, and kindness. Christmas is first and foremost about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior and King of the world. We don't have to fight a war over Christmas or try to "keep Christ in Christmas", because He never left.

Honestly, you can't even say Christmas without Christ. You can be intellectually inconsistent and call it a "holiday tree" and "holiday lights" instead of a Christmas tree, but that makes no sense because the only holiday which we decorate a tree for is Christmas - not Arbor Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, or Hanukkah. Those are great holidays, but Christmas trees are only for Christmas. As I said, Christmas will always be about Christ. 

How can I say that with such confidence? Why do I not need to fight a war over Christmas and boycott stores who don't use the word "Christmas" in their ads? Because of what God says about Christmas in the Bible. John 1:5 NLT says this:

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it."

No matter how commercialized or secularized Christmas becomes, it can never be denied that Christmas is about Christ. Christmas will always have Christ in it because He is the Light of the World.

Now since Christmas is just a couple of weeks away and since Jesus Christ came as out Light, I want to encourage you to do something as a way to worship and honor Christ during this time. Here's what you can do: over the next two weeks, keep your eyes open for Christmas light.

When you're looking for it, you'll be surprised where you find it. Sure you'll see Christmas lights on trees and homes, but if you keep your eyes open you'll also find Christmas light all around you. For example, I was at St. Clement's Church in Downtown El Paso recently and I saw some Christmas light in an unexpected place - shining across the pews in this photo I took:




Look for the light this Christmas, let it remind you of Christ our Light, and worship Him in your heart.

The last time we talked.

I remember the last time Mr. Paul Fleshman and I really had a conversation. It was brief, but I'll always remember it. It was the first Wednesday of June, right after our First Wednesday communion service at Del Sol. We sat in the cafe and I told him how the next day I was leaving for my brother's wedding in Scottsdale, Arizona, and he, ever the joker, told me not to stay there. "We have a Scotsdale here, you know" he said, referring to Scotsdale Baptist Church. I assured him I would be back. He told me about the time he was driving through Scottsdale, AZ and his Volkswagen broke down. We laughed together about his story, made some small talk, then I shook his hand and said goodbye.

That was the last time we had a conversation. I'll always be thankful for that. Such a simple conversation, but in it I could tell he loved me. And I loved him. And I enjoyed a silly conversation. 

Mr. Paul loved people. He really, really did. He took many young leaders under his wing to encourage them and remind them to stay on track with the Lord. He did that with Pastor Walter and he did it with me.

I remember him visiting my dad in 2004 when he was in the hospital after his heart surgery. I think Mr. Paul visited more people as our hospital minister than anyone else in our church did. So many people met him while they were lying in a hospital bed. He really cared about people who were sick and hurting.

I remember several times when Mr. Paul and his wife Chung Hi had me over for a meal - just to love on me. I remember them insisting I take some of their home grown vegetable and fruit.

I remember him telling me to come over anytime if I needed to use any study books from his library when preparing a sermon. I never did, but I was always grateful for the offer.

I remember going with our youth to re-roof their home, and taking a break, sitting in the garage, eating fresh made chocolate chip cookies and drinking ice cold Coca Cola. 

I remember when I was examined - "grilled", I call it - to be ordained as a minister, and Mr. Paul asked some tough questions. Why? Because he loved the Lord and loved Christ's Church, so he wanted to make sure I knew my Bible and my Theology. He didn't want some young punk running around teaching who-knows-what in our church. He was like a bulldog about our church - because he loved our church family. I'm thankful for his tough questions. 

And I remember when my mom was first diagnosed with kidney disease last summer. Mr. Paul and Chung Hi gave me a bunch of homegrown grapes to give to my mom. That was such a confusing, scary time - and that simple act of love in fruit form ministered to my heart in a way I can't even describe.


My eyes are welling with tears as I write this. Tears of selfish sadness because I'll never again feel the strong grip of Mr. Paul's hand or hear him pray those strong, confident prayers he always prayed. But also tears of joy - because he is no longer in pain. He worked hard all his life, laboring for the Lord and laboring for his family that he loved so much - and now he is resting, enjoying forever the rewards of his labor. 


I remember the last time we talked here on earth, Mr. Paul. I can't wait to talk with you when I go Home and tell you about all the neat things that happened in our church and in my life. And I owe much of who I am to you.

And since you're up there - say hello to God, Mr. John, Oscar, and Bruce for me.



"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His faithful servants."
- Psalm 116:15 NIV