I have been reading and studying Romans 12 for some time now. It’s one of the greatest chapters in bible. Take 3 minuets today and read this chapter, 3 minuets will do an eternity of good. Pay close attention to verse 9-20 it says a lot about love and a standard by witch we should live.

Romans 12:9-20 (New Living Translation)

⁹ Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. ¹⁰ Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. ¹¹ Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.¹² Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. ¹³ When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. ¹⁵ Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!¹⁷ Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. ¹⁸ Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.¹⁹ Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,

“I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,”
says the Lord.

²⁰ Instead,“If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap
burning coals of shame on their heads.”

If I had to wrap up the whole of following after Christ I think this would be a fair way to do it. Often times I think Christians focus so much on just loving God that they don’t allow for other people’s mess ups. They forget that Jesus said, ” The greatest command is to love the Lord with all your hart, soul, and mind, BUT there’s a second that is equal to it, love your neighbor as your self.” Please don’t hear me wrong! We have to love God first and foremost but equal to our love for God we must love people. I think this is were maturity comes in. Verses 9 – 20 are all about maturity. If your live a petty life it’s next to impossible to honor someone over your self, or bless those you persecute you. I’ve never meet an immature person that was patient. Paul in his letter here is tell us to grow up and get some maturity about us. This is what a real follower of Christ looks like. There are a lot of people who claim to know God but until our life’s look like theses versus do we really have this Christianity thing down? My prayer is that as followers of Christ we start to learn to love people in instead of judging them out! We need to start our own love revelation! You can do it right where your at. We have amazing opportunity every day to love someone. In the store or restaurant, or how about even in your own family. Gaining maturity isn’t about a situation but it’s a life style. So let’s grow up together!

p.thad

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I’m a huge John Maxwell fan. I love his books and his teaching. When I saw this interview I knew I had to share it! Ohh yeah enjoy!!

p.thad

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If you’ve known me for any amount of time then you know that I love to study the bible and learn from it. The 3 main guys in the bible that are my personal hero’s are Jesus, David and Paul. Between these 3 guys there is more content and stuff to study then any one human could handle. But today I want to talk about Paul and one of his “rules to live by.” In 1 Corinthians 1:11 Paul is getting ready to make a statement and an accusation, but he sets it up by siting his source of information. He says,

“For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters.”

Did you catch that? Paul stated exactly where he heard his info from. Now I don’t know about you but I’m not a big fan of drama, rumors and playing the he said she said game. I have a hunch Paul wasn’t either. That’s the purpose of what he’s doing by siting his source. As I think about it, if you take something someone else said and don’t give them credit for it in the literary world they call it plagiarism. Plagiarism is punishable by law in most cases. Don’t you find it funny that we want our written facts and the information in the books we read to be true with the source sited to be verified, but in casual conversation it acceptable to just say, “well, I heard the other day…” with no verifiable source? Now I know from time to time we read things and hear things that we can’t remember where we heard it, but when it comes to passing along information and especially if there is an accusation involved it is absolutely imperative that we site our source. This does a couple very positive thing for us. First, it keeps you honest. When you site your source you can’t add to or subtract from the message. Second, it stop potential gossip dead in it’s tracks. When people know that your going to say where you heard something they’ll think twice before telling you a juicy rumor. Always siting your source is just a good rule of thumb. It worked for Paul, I’m sure it will work for us! So take some time today to read the first chapter of 1 Corinthians and notice how Paul communicated with the church, we can learn a lot from his example.

later,

p.thad

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Well I made it… 100 posts in 1 year! It’s been a great ride! Thanks to everyone who left comment, I wish I could afford to give everyone a shirt but I’m not that rich yet! So now with out further ado the free shirt winners are:

1.Vanessa Early – I want a t-shirt! Once again, Saturday night was AMAZING.
It was great having you here in Juneau.

2. Kelsie Remsen -I want a t-shirt too! Good luck on your 7 more posts!
Kelsie

3. Darryl Nelson – I LOVE FREE SHIRTS!!!!!

4. storm – 100 blogs in ayear, very impressive. I don’t know if I’ve written that many checks over the last year.

5. Marz, Destroyer of Evil – Thad = Cool. Keep up the good work, you rock!
P.S. Thanks for all the advice, on behalf of the worship team!

OK winners here is what I need from you:

1. Your Size of shirt

2. The address you would like the shirt to be sent to.

If you would email me thadw@me.com these 2 bits of info I will get your shirt in the mail to you as soon as they come in from the printer. Also, it would be way cool if you took a pic of your self in the shirt and sent it to me. If you didn’t win a shirt you can still have one! I know it’s not the coolest shirt on the planet but for $17 bucks you can help support Omega Summer Slam Youth Conference and get a shirt for doing it! Now that’s a great deal! If you would like to buy a shirt email me and I’ll get it out to you asap! Thanks again to everyone who commented and check back often and always leave your comments!!

later,

p.thad

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It’s finally here, the 1 year mark of this blog. Exciting isn’t it? This is the last few hours you can comment on this blog to get the free shirt. Ohh and for the shirt here it is:

Prov. 14:4

You have till 11:00p Alaska time to comment and then we will choose 5  random people to get a free shirt. Winners will be posted by 12:00p, thus making 100 posts in 1 year! If your not chosen but would like to have one they cost $17.00 and all the proceeds will go to Omega Summer Slam Youth Conference. I don’t make any money on this… it’s for the kids!! It’s an awesome cause that helps students of the Kenai Peninsula. So if you don’t get one for free help the kids and buy one anyway! I only have a limited number being made so first come first serve. Thanks every one for reading I think it’s cool to be able to share some of the things going on in my head. I hope you are challenged by reading and I hope you laugh a few times too. So here’s to another year at thadw.com!!!

p.thad

This weekend has been awesome! The students from Juneau Church of God are awesome! We’ve been having a good time, I’m kinda sad the time has gone so fast. Here is a pic from tonight’s service…Just want to say thanks to Pastor Green and the the gang in Juneau for making me feel so welcome and planning this event. I pray God has touched some students lives through our time together.

P.S. don’t forget to comment on the birthday blog HERE for your chance at  a free t-shirt!!!

Later,

p.thad