Spring Awakenings

I enjoy the fact God gives us different seasons in life and in nature to keep us on our toes. Spring comes early in Alabama and I thought you might enjoy the new bloomings of life springing up around here. May God continue to awaken new things to us for His Glory! As with anything beautiful, you have some nasty things that try to sprout up overnight that you have to get rid of...fire ants. Love you guys.

360

I wanted you guys to see the new service we launched yesterday morning. It's called 360 as it's in the round and it does not have anything to do with Anderson Cooper (ha). It's basically the same gospel, just in a new environment in our Life Center...gym. Same living water, just in a different container. It's purposely a casual environment and the speaker and praise team have to dress more casual so anyone can feel comfortable and welcome.

As you can see, they really put an investment into lighting and the steel trusses you see in concerts that lower down from the ceiling. You can't see it here, but the lighting has a lot of different capabilities and they even made all the ceiling lights have dimming capabilities. It really was awesome as one of the biggest differences is they do more worship...YES!! You go take communion at one of the tables on the outside and all of this goes on simultaneously with a service in the auditorium. Our preacher speaks at the beginning of 360 and immediately goes and changes from jeans to slacks and goes to preach in the auditorium. Our second service had gotten full, so they decided to do 360 and reach out in a different way. I just wanted to share as it is pretty exciting to be a part of this in the church of Christ. Blessings to all as I'm doing this right before I leave the office early to see Dad, Mom, and Grandma at our house!

My Life

Scott and I had been playing phone tag for a couple of months and finally got to talk to each other recently and it was a good conversation. Scott had just seen the movie "My Life" with Michael Keaton that deals with the death of a father and a legacy he leaves behind. He leaves this legacy behind through videos he made for his children while he was dying. Scott said he walked downstairs after seeing the movie with teary eyes hugging whomever he could get his arms around in his family. God has great timing in reminding us of our blessings He has graciously given to all of us during a time the world thinks things are in crisis mode. God has been reminding me through His Word, my wife, friends, children, and my brother that He is the "SOURCE" of all good things in "My Life". I cannot and will not put my trust in what this world has to offer.

God is never in crisis, the Spirit is never in crisis...heaven is not nervous during this global "economic" crisis. I had just been meditating on Ephesians 1 and 2 when Scott and I talked and I can't seem to get away from those 2 chapters and what they promise. I am always a sucker to live vicariously through others when they are touched emotionally and spiritually. I mean, how blessed are we?? Sure, the world throws a lot of junk at us to distract us from the blessings God throws at us every day...He chose us and loved us before time even began. The world tries to get us to believe that financial prosperity is in what you have when God tells us financial prosperity is in what you give... you cannot give what you don't have so I'm thankful God blesses us spiritually, emotionally, physically, and financially. The world tries to convince us it's all about what we can materially give and leave to our children, when God shows us it's what we leave "inside" our children that will leave the lasting legacy for generations to come.

I want to let you all in on something....it is by grace that I have been saved. Profound isn't it ??(ha)! It's not by what I do, what spiritual revelations God is giving me, my profession, how much my kids love me, how good of a husband I am or am not...simply grace. I deserve nothing...but my God gives generously in spite of me, not because of me. This makes me love Him all the more as he lavishly spreads His love on me...I will receive it and let it motivate me on my mission. My mission is not heaven, as heaven is just my destination. My mission the Lord has called me to is to advance His kingdom while here on earth and to destroy the works of the devil through the healing love and power of Jesus Christ and the Spirit He left to dwell within me. (Acts 10:38) Could I fall in love with miracles more than Jesus Christ? Sure I could. Could I think I'm better than others content with comfort and being "safe" spiritually? Sure I could. Could I let the blessings, experiences, and spiritual unveilings God has given me lead to pride? Sure. He will graciously rebuke me if I do this, and will graciously show me when others reactions are not my responsibility. But you know what...I only get one chance at My Life here on this side of heaven and I have not been given a spirit of fear and timidity, I have an inheritance inside of me that had the power to raise Jesus Christ from the dead. That power does not have an expiration date...ha!

I only have one chance as a Dad to instill the power, promises, hope of Jesus Christ, and his active and living word (Hebrews 4:12-13) inside my boys...Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever! By His grace, I am forgiven and am called to pursue the abundant life in Jesus Christ...a city on a hill cannot be hidden and we are called forth to "shine" for His Glory. Let your light shine (Matt. 5:16, Isaiah 60:1)...let your "life" shine! I do look forward to a comfortable "retirement" in heaven, but due to His love for me and my love for others...may His will be done on earth as it is in heaven...through you and me.

I share from my heart in response from meditating on just 2 chapters from His inspiring and equipping word (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Take some time right now to look at Ephesians 1 and 2 and just dwell, verse by verse, what you have because of your union with Jesus Christ and simply...GRACE. They say comparison destroys contentment...compare Ephesians 1 & 2 with what this world has to offer.

Ephesians 1...Spiritual Blessings in Christ

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.(WOW!!) 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.(YES!!) 9And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory. (Are you serious?! Wow)

Thanksgiving and Prayer

15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Ephesians 2...Made Alive in Christ

1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
One in Christ

11Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— 12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
14For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

God said it...I believe it. Love all of you!
Todd

Homeschool science

We have a friend at church who set us up with an incubator and the eggs to go with it. We had to mark the eggs with an X on one side and an O on the other side as we had to flip them twice a day. The incubator had to be 100 degrees and we would have to keep water in there to make it warm and moist. On the 22nd day we finally heard something and then started hearing chirping before it even broke the outer shell to come out. The first chick to come out was the big yellow one in the box at the bottom. He has been a bully from the beginning so we put him in a box by himself as soon as we could.

These little guys look the same and now we have to feed and water the little chicks.

Sad story with the one on the left as he's the runt and was getting pecked really bad by the other 3. It was earlier than we were supposed to, but we took him out of the incubator and thought he'd be dead by this morning, but he's a fighter. We're going to take them with us to Searcy when we head there next week and give them to the Fouts clan with all the other animals on Uncle Joe's land. We needed more responsibility anyways...ha! Talk to you later.

Recent Photos...sorry Papaw (Ha!)

You should be so honored Nana and Papaw that you have made it on to the boys Wii as characters!! You get remembered and thought of each time you come up on the Wii. Papaw, Easton plays you usually...Isaac usually plays Nana. By the looks of things, Nana got the better end of the deal on this one!

As you see in the two photos above, we have some nights that we are blasting Toby Mac on our Ipod and having a fun worship time together. Believe it or not, after we work out to Jesus, we turn the lights off and all lay on our back and listen to slow songs by Chris Tomlin. Even little O lays on his back as we soak in this soul music. (My apologies for the red eye...oops!)

Easton and Isaac had a great year in basketball as they played really hard every game, scored more points than I would have expected, and did it all in a Spirit of Christian fun that was refreshing for sports.

I wanted to end with this picture as the boys picked the flowers, put everyting in the vase on their own, made the cards on their own, and presented it proudly to Marcie. It was very sweet as they said some endearing things to their mother, and it lasted until later that night as Andrew accidentally knocked it down off the mantle and it shattered everywhere! Oh well, it's the thought that counts. We have an amazing mother and wife...I out-punted my coverage for sure. Blessings to all of you!

Todd

City of Angels 09'

This is a picture of me and 3 of the Angels in Cozumel, Mexico. I loved them all, but I made a special connection with Gustavo (Goose) in the red shirt. He has two sisters at the orphanage and is very protective of his sisters and was considered a wild spirit with a bad temper. He had good reason to be over-protective of his sisters after the abuse they had been suffering from before the City of Angels took them in. God did some neat things through my love and attention towards him and I can't wait to see Gustavo in July.

I am asking a favor that I have stayed away from so far...I'm asking anyone who reads this blog to sow into our mission trip to the City of Angels this summer. I have to raise up to $800 and am asking the friends and family that read this blog to consider contributing. Marcie is not going with me this year and I've purposely tried to stay away from purging from those close to me, especially when your 401k has taken a hit. Call it naivety and the fact I don't have a 401k, but we have decided to not take part in the world's recession, so I thought I'd go ahead and ask (ha!)

Please don't feel pressured to give, as I would want you to be convicted by the Holy Spirit to give...not out of obligation or guilt. If you feel convicted, just make the check out to Landmark church of Christ, 1800 Halcyon Blvd., Montgomery, AL, 36117. Put Mexico Mission in the memo on the bottom left, attention: Todd Miller. I will try and not do this in the future unless I absolutely have to, so thank you for taking the time to read this. My heart continues to go out to orphans as I can't imagine growing up without the parents I was blessed with. Blessings to all of you and I promise my next post will be back to normal!

Todd

Winter Wonderland??

Not exactly your Winter Wonderland...is it?! Well, we will take what we can in Alabama. We had gone to a minister's conference at the church of our good friends in Jackson and left there yesterday morning...Jackson got a foot of snow last night!! I know you got 4 to 5 inches in Springfield and no telling how much you got in the Nashville area...don't really want to know (ha). We had to take advantage of what we had and the boys enjoyed a little accumulation on the fort in the backyard. I took Owen to the driveway and we put our handprints on the van and let the snowflakes fall on our tongues. FYI...we did all of this by 8am as we have church to go to this morning and it would be melted by the time we got back from church. You never know, we may get to church and find out they cancelled services due to this "Winter Storm" that hit Montgomery. We feel privileged as they say it does this about once every 3 or 4 years. So, we wait in eager expectation for the next dusting from heaven! Enjoy your snow, wherever you are...and don't take it for granted!! We do love you all and rejoice in your pure blanket of snow...just try and not be jealous of us down here in L.A.