An Introduction from the Pastor
Hello,
You might be reading this as a church member at Tulsa First SDA church, or you might know nothing about our church, or possibly you are a friend I told about this blog (thanks for checking it out). Either way I welcome you. Who am I? I am the Senior Pastor at the Tulsa First SDA church. I grew up in Michigan all my life, and no, I am not used to the cold, yes that's right I AM NOT USED TO THE COLD. My parents were born in Rwanda, so that means I have dual citizenship. Pretty cool, I know.
I was born and raised in the church, Adventist, if that means anything to you. But for some reason I never really had an encounter with Jesus. It’s interesting how you can live your whole life next to someone and never recognize that they are there. And yes, I remember the first time I had an encounter with Jesus. Well, at least the first time that I noticed He was always with me.
My whole life I never really paid attention to His presence. I lived according to what made me happy, but the reality of it was I was always left sad. Don't get me wrong the world will give you moments of “happiness” but at the end of the day you are left sad, looking for that next moment to be “happy” again. The thing that is really sad, is that the cycle gets more intense! We start wanting to do more to get our “happy”, or should I say cover up our sadness.
When I met Jesus He did something different. He didn't just give me a “happy” like the world, but rather what He did was He took away the sad. I wish I could say that when that day happened I never returned to the sad, but the truth of the matter is we get distracted. It’s like going back to the idea of “never noticing someone that was always there”. Except sometimes we “forget” that someone is always there with us; to help us; to care for us; to love us. That's Jesus by the way. Finding Jesus isn’t the hard part. It’s remembering for the rest of your life that He is there. Just like it’s easy to be forgiven by someone the first time, but when you keep making the same mistake over and over again it begins to be hard to receive that forgiveness.
God’s forgiveness was the same the first time and the next million, trust me I know. My walk with God hasn't been perfect but it has been a walk. There have been times when I have wanted to give up, but God shows me how far we’ve come and I am encouraged about moving forward. God has been my father and my master, my mother and my teacher, my brother and my best friend. I cannot imagine what life would be without Him. Actually I do, it would be nothing…
This blog post isn’t really anything than my transparent thoughts. If there is something that you get from it praise God. If all you notice is the grammar errors, this might not be the blog post for you. I hope for those of you who are church members, that this blog post helps you get to know me more. Those just tuning in I pray that it's a blessing. This blog post was just a little bit of me, the rest may not be the same. Blessings and happy week!