I sat outside on my lanai…

With my cup of coffee on a bright sunny day last week…

Reading through some old Pentecostal Evangel magazines…

I have ready outside for just such an opportunity to sit and relax!

I came across an article about “Dave and Robin Kidd, who pastor True North Church (Assemblies of God) in Minerva, Ohio, and offer marriage seminars through their Binding Hearts Marriage and Family Ministries.  The Kidd family suffered the destruction of their home to a fire on the night of April 27, 2013.   Their son, Justin, 20, was unable to get out of his basement bedroom, and perished in the fire. The Kidds have continued in ministry during the months following Justin’s death, and reflect this Thanksgiving on the blessing of his life.”

To read the entire interview with

Scott Harrup, Pentecostal Evangel managing editor…

Go to:

http://www.pe.ag.org/archives/connections.cfm

Oh, my heart broke for them…

I have a 23 year-old son…

  I can’t even begin to imagine such a thing…

I prayed, Lord, please comfort them…

Then, I noticed that his parents mentioned…

 He had a blog on WordPress…

And that it was very popular with his youth group…

As I read his posts…

I, first of all, felt the love he had as a youth pastor…

And I was so amazed at the spiritual maturity of this 20 year-old!

(Please check out his entire blog and pray for his family)

http://justinkidder.wordpress.com/

For instance…

I reblogged an awesome post by Reality of Christ last June…

Debunking the lie that God won’t give us more than we can handle!

https://godssceneryandpromises.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/debunked-god-wont-give-us-more-than-we-can-handle/?preview=true&preview_id=7942&preview_nonce=2bf23c0624&post_format=standard

And Justin had posted the same topic to his youth group!

It caught my attention, because…

I had just counseled one of our young adults on the same subject!

God gives us more than we can handle…

God asks us to do difficult things…

But, we aren’t expected to do them alone…

We’re expected to depend on Him and not on our own understanding!!

Here’s

Justin’s Post of Apr. 18, 2013

Can You Handle?

One of the most common things you will hear people say is simply this: “God Will Not Give You More Than You Can Handle.” Seriously…I have lost count of how many times I have heard this said. Not only have I heard it numerous times, I am also guilty of saying this myself over the years…But here is the thing..It actually is another one of the lies that we buy..Before I started studying the word of god, and actually getting to know him better over the last year I have learned that this is actually in fact false.

This Statement, is actually misquoted scripture coming from 1 Corinthians 10:13 which says simply this:

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be TEMPTED beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

Saying that God will not give you more than you can handle, and saying he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, IS NOT THE SAME! Temptation is not circumstances..they are separate. You will be tempted and Tested in life, but as it says with the temptation will come a way out so you can endure the temptation, but he didn’t say he wouldn’t give us problems we couldn’t handle. This is why so many people misquote this scripture.

I in fact now believe the opposite. God does in fact give us more than we can handle. This is for the sole purpose of our need for his divine intervention. We alone can not handle..but with his help we can. That is why he allows test/trials.

Yes the saying God won’t give you more than you can handle sounds good..but here is the catch…just because something sounds good…doesn’t mean its true or biblical. There are plenty of things out there in the world that people will tell you that sounds great, but as I said, that doesn’t mean it is true.

I in fact now believe the opposite. God does in fact give us more than we can handle. This is for the sole purpose of our need for his divine intervention. We alone can not handle..but with his help we can. That is why he allows test/trials.

So what is my challenge to my readers this week?

Before believing anything you hear, go to gods word first. As I already said, just because it sounds good, that doesn’t mean it is true. CHECK IT!

This is a new thing that is new to my youth, since this is what I preached last night, but I have been doubting myself and this message since last night, and just now my Aunt turned on a movie, and it just had a scene that I caught and in the scene this message was just taught by the pastor in the movie, so to me this was a confirmation that this is what was to be shared. And for that I thank god for. I needed that myself.

I just loved his passion for God…

 For God’s Word…

And for the youth he worked with!

Here’s another one of his posts…

Perfectly Broken

An excerpt from Justin’s post on March 28th, 2013:

1.) If we think we are perfect, we simply are not real and we are empty.

2.) We are perfect at one thing…..being broken!

3.) We are imperfect and broken people being brought back together by the Perfect God!

4.) The sooner we stop trying to achieve the perfect life, the sooner we can start focusing on things that matter more, and do greater and better things!

Rest in God’s Peace, Justin…

You truly left a legacy of trust in God’s Word!

Amen!