Observations from the Storm

"The boat was filling with water, and they were in real danger" (Luke 8:23b).  

My boat has been filling up with water for several months--seven to be exact. 

We were just about ready to leave for church on a  typical Sunday morning last August. Tina was finishing up in the bathroom, brushing hair one last time and considering which ear rings looked the best. She had already complained about not feeling well and I was doing my best to encourage her out the door, believing that she would feel better as the morning progressed.  As the story would develop, she didn't start feeling better, and we didn't make it to church. Instead, Tina spent the next ten days in excruciating pain, suffering a massive heart attack, that went misdiagnosed for a week and a half.

More than half a year later, having suffered devastating damage to her heart, Tina is on the verge of a heart transplant. We are hopeful--yet terrified. Our boat is full of water!

My One Year Bible reading today includes the portion of Luke 8 where Jesus calms the storm. Allow me to share a few observations.

#1--"The disciples went and woke Him up, shouting, 'Master, Master, we're going to drown!'" (v24a)  Their fear was real. They believed death was almost certain. Notice they address Jesus as "Master". He is the boss, the leader, the one in charge, and the one with all of the answers. He is responsible! Like the disciples, my boat is full of water and there is nothing that I can do about it. Bailing water won't help! Swimming lessons won't help! Shouting at the wind won't help! However, shouting "Master, Master!" will always help! "Master" implies that I know who is in control. "Master" says that I know who is making the decisions.

#2--"When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves." (v24b)  I imagine that the disciples woke Jesus up with urgency. I doubt they whispered. They were shouting! Yelling! Screaming! That's how I need to learn to pray--loud and impolitely! Wake up! Help! Master!

#3--"Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm." (v24c)  I like this part. Their cry brought His calm. Their shout brought His stillness. As the song says, sometimes He calms the storm and sometimes He calms me.  

#4--"Then He asked them, 'Where is your faith?'" (v25a)  This is the million-dollar question of the day. Where is my faith? What am I trusting?  There are those wonderful, if not brief, moments when I trust God in between my doubt and despair.  May those moments become minutes, and the minutes become mountain-moving measures of extraordinary faith!

"No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm."

 --Charles Kettering

Let the Writing Begin...

I am so very happy to announce that Tina and I have signed a publishing contract with Kregel Publications to write a new book.  We have been working on a project for quite some time and we are thrilled that Kregel is going to partner with us on the project.  Pray for us as we move forward and as we seek to create something that will have a big impact on broken and wounded lives.  Kregel published Tina's first book, Wounded Women of the Bible, and so it is fitting that we continue together.  This is my first attempt at writing and so Tina will have her hands full keeping me on task.  I look forward to sharing more with you in the near future.  Thanks for your support and I can't wait to share this book with you.  I don't believe anything like this has ever been written before.  We're believing that lives will be changed through this resource.

AWSA Nonfiction Book of the Year!!

Congratulations to my beautiful and talented wife who was today awarded The Golden Scroll Award for 2014 Nonfiction Book of the Year!  Tina shares the honor with her long-time friend and coauthor Dena Dyer.  I couldn't be prouder!

26 Years

26 years ago today, Tina and I pledged our lives together in marriage at the Woodland Baptist Church in Jackson, Tennessee.  We were both young and naive.  But somehow, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, we have managed to build a life together.  We stated on our wedding invitations that we were blending our lives in marriage believing that God could do more with us together than He could with us as individuals.  It's been very true that our lives and our ministries have complemented each other.  Those who know us, know that we work together--it's not always pretty--but we do work together...lol.  Thanks to all of you  have walked beside us throughout these past 26 years.  Some who read this will have known us long enough to have actually attended our wedding way back when.  Since then, we've served six churches together and we've lived in five different communities in three different states.  Happy Anniversary!

New Book

Last week, Tina signed a publishing contract with Kregel Publications.

I remember that more than fifteen years ago, Tina was in the cast of The Promise--a dramatic musical portrayal of the life of Christ, performed in an amphitheater near Glen Rose, Texas.  Over the course of a season, Tina developed some wonderful friendships--including a relationship with Dena Dyer--who is co-authoring the new book with Tina.  I also remember one evening after the show when one of the cast members (don't know who) approached Tina and asked if he could pray for her.  Included in his prayer was a prophetic word that "Tina would be published around the world".  At the time Tina had not written anything more significant than a letter.  She had never taught anything (other than Sunday School) and she had never spoken before a group except maybe to share a testimony.  Tina was a worship leader and a song-writer and so our assumption was that God would publish her music in some way.  In the last sixteen years, Tina has recorded two Cd's of her own songs, she has led worship in some wonderful places, and ever so slowly she began to write articles, stories, Bible studies, and books.  The book that Tina is writing with Dena Dyer is her third and the first to be published.  It's a long way from "around the world" but still, it's got a shot.

You can read some of Tina's writings at her blog:  Journey Moments or visit her website if you would like to invite her to your church or to your women's group:  www.tinasamples.com.

Samples' Family Update

It's about time for an update.  I have not written on the blog for quite some time.  Those that blog know that there are periods of time when you can post multiple thoughts everyday and then there are periods of time where there is just no motivation to write anything.  I don't know if I'm feeling especially motivated today or if I'm just feeling a big guilty for having not written in so long.  Either way...here I go.

I'll start with the family.  Tina signed a conract with Kregel Publications last week to write a book with one of her dear friends, Dena Dyer.  Both Tina and Dena (I like the way that sounds) are gifted writers, teachers, singers, etc.  They both have husbands who are hoping to ride their coattails all the way to the top.  This will be Tina's first published book and the Samples' house is praying for much success.  We plan to take the book on the road and to teach it wherever possible.  When the book is finished and the release date is anounced, I will certainly be letting you know (and asking to come to your church to teach it as well).

My oldest son Jaren will be marrying his fiance Jillian towards the end of this month.  It will be simple and small wedding in the mountains.  Jillian is in the Navy and they will be relocating to San Diego.  I've never been to San Diego but I look forward to visiting.  I hear that it is a wonderful place with great weather.  In the meantime, Jaren continues to teach guitar and to play in his band, A Texas Tragedy, with his brother.  They recently opened for Sheridan at a small venue in Littleton.

Zach, my youngest son, is changing schools.  Next week, he will begin his junior year at Resurrection Christian School.  He has been at Windsor for his entire academic career and so this a pretty big deal.  Rez will allow Zach to improve his grades and to get ready for college in a stronger way.  He is also excited about playing baseball for Rez.  Two years ago they barely missed winning the state championship.  We're looking forward to dedicated christian coaches who want to build strong character into their teams.  Zach is also looking for a car--something around $500--that runs, would be great.

As always, we appreciate your prayer.  We feel like God is doing a great work through our church--Grace River.  Many lives are being transformed as we continue to try to be a safe place where anyone can come as they are and find hope and healing.  I'll share more tomorrow (or the next day...lol).

Me & Tina

Here is one of my favorite pictures.  This is of Tina and myself the night that I asked her to marry me.  We were both 20.  I took her out to dinner to The Old English Inn in Jackson, Tennessee.  After dinner, we went to our Baptist Student Union meeting at Union University where we were both students.  This picture was taken in the hallway at Union.

A Few Suggestions...

For those of you who read my blog regularly, I would like to suggest a few others:

The history of Grace River Church is being recorded by Amy Fulton at http://www.observing-grace.blogspot.com/.  Amy writes about Grace River from her perspective as our #1 sound guru.  You'll find lots of pictures and commentary dating all the way back to our beginning as a church.

My beautiful and talented young bride Tina writes regularly at http://www.tinasamples.blogspot.com/.  She also has a website at http://www.tinasamples.com/.  Tina is a speaker, writer, worship leader and all-around God-gifted individual.  She has a keyboard and will travel if you need a speaker/worship leader for an upcoming event.  She has an amazing testimony and is a compelling teacher.

Our church website is at http://www.chasingrace.org/.  In addition to info about our young church, we hope to soon have audio and eventually video of messages and worship segments.  There are lots of pictures in the photo tab that you can check out.  We have worshipped in 5 locations in our first year.  Last summer we baptized 11 people in a inflatable swimming pool right in the middle of Windsor's Main Park.  Exciting Stuff!

How to Hear from God

"And word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent" (1 Samuel 3:1).

I grew up with a God who was silent--at least that's the way that I learned it. I was told that it was very important that I do the "will of God" and yet I never learned how to discern God's seemingly mysterious will. The stories from Scripture are of a very personal God who speaks, who listens, and who relates to us in a way that can be understood. That's not the God that I grew up with. My God was silent. Ironically, the Bible makes sport of silent Gods--idols who need a creator, who need to be propped up so that they don't fall down, idols who have the image of a mouth, eyes, and ears but yet can neither speak, see, or hear.

And then I met Henry Blackaby--at least I met his writings. Dr. Blackaby's masterpiece, "Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God" is a must-read for anyone who wants to discover and accomplish the will of God. I first worked through the EG workbook when I was preparing to teach it to my youth group in Monterey, Tennessee. It was absolutely life-changing! In "Experiencing God", Henry Blackaby insists that our God still speaks and that he has always been speaking--it's just that we have forgotten how to listen. I won't outline the course of the book in this post but I will highly recommend that you get a copy and study it for yourself.

1 Samuel 3 details an interesting occurence of God speaking to a young boy named Samuel. God was about to do something new. He was rejecting the priestly ministry of Eli and his sons who had become corrupt and he was placing the mantle of ministry upon Samuel. Allow me to walk through the text with you and make some application.

"Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli" (v1). This is always a good place for us to begin. Like Samuel, we can find a place to, "minister to the Lord". This wasn't a perfect place for Samuel. The scripture records that Samuel's son's were doing evil things. You can read about it in chapter two. And yet Samuel was ministering to the LOrd--not to Eli, not to his sons, but to the Lord! Have you ever left a church because of people that you didn't approve of? Have you ever moved on because of people who didn't meet your standard? Fortunately for Samuel (in spite of the shortcomings of Eli's sons), he stuck around. We don't belong to the church that we necessarily like--we belong to the church that God calls us to! And none of us has the right to "move on" unless God clearly tells us to move on.

"And word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent" (v1). Not unlike our day, people had perhaps grown accustomed to a silent God--a God who does not speak. Certainly in the churches that I have served, "visions have been infrequent" and "word from the Lord" has been rare. Let's see what happens.

"It happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well)" (v2). Eli could not see well. How many of our church leaders "cannot see well"? I have to confess that there have been times when my eyesight has grown dim. There have been stages of my life where I was just going through the motions of ministry--doing the things that I knew to do without ever seeing any fresh visions. Some of the most religious people that I know are spiritually blind--doing religious work for all of the wrong reasons. You can always tell because God's work will produce God's results. Man's work will produce man's results. There is an undeniable difference between the two.

"and the lamp of God had not yet gone out" (v3). There is hope! God's light has not yet been extinguished. No matter how dead the church may appear to be--the lamp of God is still lit.

"And Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was" (v3). Don't miss the fact that young Samuel chose to dwell as close to God's presence as humanly possible. He slept near the ark. If we want to hear from God--maybe we should move closer to God. Look for God's activity and get there as fast as you can.

The rest of chapter three describes how God literally spoke to Samuel. Three times He called for him. Samuel at first believed that it was Eli calling him. It's interesting that Samuel could not tell the difference between the voice of the Lord and the voice of Eli. It was Eli who discerned that the Lord was calling Samuel. It was Eli who taught Samuel how to hear and how to respond to the voice of the Lord. Perhaps God spoke in a voice that mimicked Eli's because he was teaching an important lesson. Even though Eli is about to be judged by God--the voice that Samuel hears God speak through sounds like Eli's to him. God can and does speak through any voice that he chooses. Eli was the imperfect priest of God--and yet he was the priest of God. God continued to use his voice. Let me say it more clearly--God speaks through anyone he chooses--including sinful, prideful, wandering, and rebellious priests. We must learn to hear the voice of God even when it comes in a simple clay jar.

"Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him" (v7). I love the fact that we don't have to reach some spiritual milestone in order to hear from God. Samuel did not even know the Lord. He was certainly a seeker and yet he was not one of the spiritually elite. He was just a boy.

Eli taught Samuel a simple phrase to use in response to the voice that he was hearing, "Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening" (v9). One of the main reasons why we might not hear from God is because we are not yet listening. I tend to get caught up in just living my life and I find myself on autopilot. I quit making decisions and thinking about my circumstances--I just go through the motions of living. We have to wake up and listen! The voice of God may come in a still small voice and if we are not listening--then we will miss it.

I've found four biblical qualifiers for hearing from God. Maybe these will help you in your quest to hear from God. Look up the passages that that accompany each qualifier and ask the Holy Spirit to make application for you.

#1--Belong to God (John 8:47).


#2--Believe in God (Matthew 13:58).


#3--Bring to God (Matthew 7:7-8).


#4--Obey God (1 Samuel 15:22-23).

Finally, let me give you a very practical resource that God gave to my wife, Tina several years ago. I'll give you a very brief outline. If you would like to know more than you can visit my wife's website and order the workbook that she has written. Her site is http://www.tinasamples.com/.

A great way to get off of autopilot and learn to listen to God in the details of life is through the acrostic "JOURNEY".

J-esus: Read a verse, a paragraph, or even a chapter from the Bible asking Jesus to speak to you through the words.

O-thers: Notice and listen to what others may be saying. Be present in each conversation as if God was present and speaking to you.

U-nusual events: There are no coincidences! Every event in your day may be the voice of God. Consider why things happen as they do.

R-esources: God blesses us with extra resources many times for a reason. Learn to ask God why He has given you resources? He may speak through them.

N-eeds: In the same way that God speaks through plenty--He also speaks through our lack. Consider why you have a need.

E-motions: The way you feel can be influenced by the Spirit of God. Allow Him to speak through your emotions.

Y-our response: This is the most important part. The voice of God always requires a response. What is He saying? What do you do about it?

I'll conclude by reminding you that the Bible is full of instances of God speaking to people. Let the Bible be your authority and your guide on this and all other issues. People have opinions--but God's word is truth. Read it--Believe it--Live it! Learning to hear from God for most of us is a process. Don't grow impatient and don't give up.

The Secret to My Success...

Allow me to share one small paragraph from the "Church Planter Assessment" that Tina and I underwent on February 25th.

The paragraph is subtitled, "Spousal Cooperation" and on it we scored a 4.8 on scale from 1 to 5 with 5 indicating "exceptional behavior".

The paragraph reads, "His wife is the single most impressive spouse I have ever encountered in an interview. Her gifts are complimentary to his, she works independently, they have been through a lot of fire together and she seems very comfortable in the chaotic and insecure environment of a new church plant. He says, 'we don't make a move until I get a confirmation from my wife.' Smart man".

Tina...

Allow me to send you over to visit my wife Tina's blog today. She is an excellent writer. In fact she has had several articles and devotionals published. She has written for "The Quiet Hour" and "The Secret Place" click. She also has devotionals included in "The One Year Life Verse Devotional" click. She has written two small group Bible study resources: "The Journey" and "Under the Broom Tree". In addition to writing, Tina is a gifted song-writer/worship leader. She has produced two CD's of original music. You can discover more about Tina at her website http://www.tinasamples.com/.

Tina has an excellent post up today at her blog that you will enjoy reading. You can visit Tina's "Journey Moments" blog at http://www.tinasamples.blogspot.com/.

Tina is Home Again!!!

I can't tell you how great it is to have Tina back home.

Zach and I made the trip to DIA this morning to pick her up at the airport. We took special care to navigate down 120th Street in order to pick up a dozen "hot" Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I wanted to go through the drive-thru but Zachery reminded me that if we go in then we would also get a free sample--which we did.

Our timing at the airport was perfect and we were able to meet up with Tina at the baggage claim carousel and get out of the parking lot for the $2 minimum.

We are both making preparations today for Baby Gabriel's Memorial Service tomorrow afternoon. It's been a thrill to once again hear Tina singing at the piano. She remains my favorite vocalist of all time.

I'm cooking up a big pot of chili for dinner. It's rainy and a bit cool here in Colorado and chili sounds great.

Today, God says, "I will honor only those who honor me, and I will despise those who despise me" (1 Samuel 2:30). He then promises, "I will raise up a faithful priest who will serve me and do what I tell him to do" (1 Samuel 2:35).

September 15th

And the good news is....

Tina is flying home on the 15th!!! Continue to pray for her mom's continued recovery.

Sleeping with the Worship Leader...

I have a new article posted today at sbcIMPACT! entitled "Sleeping with The Worship Leader". Let me encourage you to head on over and check it out. You can get there by clicking here.

Tina online....

My extremely talented wife has just put her new website online. I would encourage everyone to go and take a look.

You can access the site here.