I turned 40 years old and I am 2 years old!!

I praise God for allowing me to see another birthday as I was blessed on May 31st to become a 40 year old man. While I am sure the turning of another decade means something, I am just grateful to be alive another day and to see another year. I thank everyone for the cards and calls. May God bless you and keep you is my prayer.

The one thing I have learned in becoming older is that when I was younger, youth shook off lots of things. If I woke up with a pain or if while working something didn't feel right, you just shook it off. Arm doesn't feel right, just shake it till it feels better; leg isn't responding just shake it till it becomes responsive.

The older I am becoming I realize that there are some pains that you can't shake off anymore, in fact shaking it makes it worse, so you learn to live with it. God sends subtle reminders to remind us to pause, stop, slow down but in youth we ignore them. Becoming older is starting to teach me to read the signs. When the third base coach sends you home, go home but when he gives you the hold sign, you must hold.

I said all of this because I also turned TWO YEARS OLD. I am celebrating my Second Year Anniversary as the Pastor of the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church. I am grateful for the blessing that God gave me through this wonderful church. They have loved me, prayed for me, been patient with me, dealt with me and put up with me!

The same way I discovered in my personal life that its better to leave some things alone, I am learning that in my Pastoral Ministry. I am not a Laissez Faire pastor; letting people do what they want to do, but I am becoming clear that if God's Word doesn't change them, I won't be able to change them.

Sometimes as young ministers we believe we can fix people or change mindsets or "shake people into doing right" but we can't fix anyone. If God can't fix it, it can't be fixed! If God's Word doesn't shake it, it can't be shook! Dr. Fletcher McAfee, Pastor of the Mt Olive Baptist Church in Niles Michigan was our guest preacher on last night.

I always need an older preacher to preach, nothing against my brethren but I need someone who has been there and done that. No Hermeneutical Hurdles, No linguistic languages, No Ecclesiastical End-Arounds, just old-school preaching and Pastor McAfee killed me graveyard dead from Deuteronomy 3:23-27, where basically he reminded me that the people don't belong to me, they belong to God and we must be careful what we say and how we treat God's people.

Because of disobedience to God, Moses was able to see the blessing but not share in the blessing. GRAVEYARD DEAD!!! Moses saw the promised land but didn't get to enter because he allowed his frustration with the people(Which didn't belong to him in the first place) to lead him into anger and ultimately disobey God's orders thereby losing the blessing he struggled forty years in an attempt to obtain.

Some things you don't shake, you just leave it alone. You can actually make it worse by shaking it. When I was younger, I could shake it off, now a little older, shaking it makes it worse and the pain last longer, just leave it alone. Don't miss your blessing fighting with the people and disobeying God. Give the people to the God who created them in the first place. I don't want to see it, I want to share in it.

Good First night of Appreciation,

Owens