A Captured Heart
My son Isaiah is celebrating his 5th birthday today. This kid is so amazingly spunky. Needless to say, he has truly captured my heart (as has his sister and his mommy). Weeks back as my wife and I were discussing what to do for his birthday, I had this great idea, so I thought. We would throw him a Texas Longhorns birthday party. He and I are huge horns fans. I was so excited that I began to immediately work on party invitations and we soon passed them out. 
As we began to prepare for this Longhorns birthday party it became extremely difficult to find any type of Longhorns party decorations. I thought about just getting some white and orange decorations (as close an orange as we could find to the UT burnt orange) but I didn’t want to settle for that. My wife and I spent hours online trying to find some place to buy UT party supplies, but couldn’t find anything here in San Antonio.
So Monday morning we woke up, got dressed, got the kids ready and headed out for Austin, TX. We drove about an hour and a half to get to Austin and then drove around the entire city hitting up numerous Party Cities, HEB’s and Wal Marts. We finally ended up at the official UT store on campus and found anything we could possibly imagine. Well, we ended up spending a good amount of money, a lot of time and drained ourselves of energy to get the best decorations that we could possibly get for my sons birthday party.
Then, it occurred to me. I had just gone completely out of my way, totally altered my schedule and dished out way more money than I probably should have. And the reason? All because my son has captured my heart. You see, you don’t mind giving to someone who has captured your heart. As a matter of fact, you desire to give your absolute best to the one who has captured your heart. You will go to great lengths to please whoever that person may be. I couldn’t help but to ask myself if I am giving God my very best. I wonder if there are things that I am not willing to give God. Has He truly captured my heart? Would I completely go out of my way and alter my schedule and even give of my finances just to bring pleasure to Him?
I could never give enough to the one that has captured my heart. What do you think?
Steve said,
August 7, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Absolutely true! Bro – I love the illustration. I’m about to spend my time with God this morning and I read this – it’s definitely going to be a catalyt to my time with the Creator. Thanks for sharing. I miss you man. I’m blogging too. I started off pretty strong, but it hasn’t happened as consistent as I would like.
You’re welcome to check it out – http://www.mylife-mygod.blogspot.com/
Miss you Rob – I was listening to Alivin Slaughter the other day and thought about our old S & T days…your impersonation of him is forever seared in my mind!
J.C. Garcia-Mena said,
August 7, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Pastor Rob,
You are absolutely right. No amount of money or materials can ever measure up to what you have been blessed with. For example, I am thankful to God that He has given me such a great mom that serves Him, who I can pray with, and look to for wise counsel that comes from God. Everyday I pray and ask God to bless her and prosper her because I am very thankful. She is an inspiration to me and I greatly love her. I have learned that in everything we must give thanks. I can’t ever repay Jesus Christ what he gave me. He gave me life. Before Him, I was in the world enduring pain. On July 23, 2006 when I truly came to know Him is when my life took a turn and I received my purpose. I believe with all my heart that the greatest offering we can ever give to God is ourselves. God is looking for vessels to use and this is the greatest way that we can honor and glorify Him. To go into the hurting world and win souls. The Lord has indeed captured my heart. I could never give Him back anything that would equal what he gave me. God knows, and we know, that we can’t give Him back the equal portion of that He has Given us. The only thing he desires from us is our hearts. That we would give him all our love.
P.S. I wish Isaiah a great birthday and many years of life filled with God’s presence. That this young boy can grow up to be a man of God.
God Bless You.
Angelica said,
August 8, 2008 at 2:00 am
I can agree with everyone by saying your absolutely right. When you come to think about it.. how many times do we honestly go out of our way for the Lord. Many times we are hesitant to give but more open to recieve. When God calls us out we don’t always go out of our way to do things for him. I think the majority of our time is spent wisely….. maybe… but not enough time is spent with Him.
Keep blogging Pastor Rob! i read them everyday