An Affair of the Heart Part II

It's been almost three weeks since my surgery.  I've had a lot of time to reflect and to see God's blessings in the midst of this.  I received this Psalm from my cousin, Becca who is familiar with trusting God in the midst of the heart issues of my Uncle, her Dad.  Before both surgeries I found myself saying this scripture over and over and asking God to show his mercy in this situation.

Whatever situation that we find ourselves we know that we have a refuge in Him, if you've committed your life into His hands.  You have a destiny in Him.  The reality of this was never more tangible than when I lay in that hospital bed waiting for a life saving procedure that has allowed me to have a new lease on life.  Thanks God, Thanks Surgeons, and thanks to my family, church family and friends!!!  Be encouraged...

A psalm of David.

1Keep me safe, O God,

for I have come to you for refuge.

2I said to the Lord, “You are my Master!

Every good thing I have comes from you.”

3The godly people in the land

are my true heroes!

I take pleasure in them!

4Troubles multiply for those who chase after other gods.

I will not take part in their sacrifices of blood

or even speak the names of their gods.

5Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing.

You guard all that is mine.

6The land you have given me is a pleasant land.

What a wonderful inheritance!

7I will bless the Lord who guides me;

even at night my heart instructs me.

8I know the Lord is always with me.

I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.

9No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice.

My body rests in safety.

10For you will not leave my soul among the dead

or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.

11You will show me the way of life,

granting me the joy of your presence

and the pleasures of living with you forever.

(Psalm 16 NLT)

An Affair of the Heart

It's 02/08/13

Wow, what a journey the past couple of months have been.  I want to share some things that I've been thinking.  As a pastor it's easy to get caught up in everyone else's situations and neglect your own self and that's exactly what happened to me.

On December 24, 2012 I was helping load the truck with music and sound equipment and my chest started tightening up.  Thinking that this was acid reflux symptoms I kept on going.  My chest tightened up again and for the next month I kept having these acid reflux like symptoms.  At Missy's urging I went to our family physician and he did a routine EKG and even said he was 95% sure it was acid reflux.  However, the EKG showed an anomaly.  This prompted a visit to the Heart specialist and he ordered up a nuclear stress test.  That showed some signs that something wasn't right with my heart.  They signed me up for a left heart catheterization.  This test is to check and see if there are any blockages in the arteries of the heart.  The cool thing is if they find something normally they can go in and put a stint in to open up the artery.  I came out of the surgery with the doctor looking concerned.  He said, that I needed a quadruple bypass surgery.  One artery was completely blocked.  Another was 95% Another was 80% and the final one was 75% blocked.  From a simple EKG abnormality to Quadruple by pass surgery.  Surreal.

The surgery was scheduled for the next day.  I didn't even have time to think about it which was probably a good thing.  The family came in and Missy's eyes were red from crying.  Maggie was quietly confident and saying that God has got this.  Justin on the other hand just fell on my feet and started sobbing.  I couldn't hold it in.  I lost it.  All of a sudden realized my mortality.  There are so many things running through my mind.  They say open heart surgery is routine. They do thousands of these things, but I say, it's routine unless you are the one that's getting the surgery!

The doctors and nurses were amazing and my anesthesiologist (one nurse called her the cocktail waitress) did such a great job.  I remember my ride to surgery and then the next thing I know is that they are taking the airway out without any problems and the surgery was done in just 4 /12 hours.  

I feel like I have a new lease on life.  Everyday is a blessing    For my next few blog entries  I want to explore some things that God has shown me through this process.  I realize that God has a purpose for my life and I know he has purpose for yours.  Hopefully you won't have to go through a life threatening situation to realize this, but everything came into focus when this happened to me.  

Some Kind of Wonderful

This morning as I am going through my to do list and browsing Facebook updates I came across one from a friend that said, "I would like something wonderful to happen today."  I hear people say this all the time.  Now Theologically speaking, God does not promise that our lives are going to be wonderful. But, he does bless those that are following His commandments and ask for blessing in their lives, such as Jabez.  Jabez prayed a prayer.  A simple prayer.  "Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory!  Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!"
(1 Chronicles 4:10 NLT)  That's a bold prayer to pray and it wasn't a quiet little prayer it was a shout out to God kind of prayer because of the exclamation point at the end of it!  Hundreds of other names are mentioned in this passage but only one person was mentioned as someone who prayed that prayer. And he believed that if he prayed that God would do what he asked.  And the coolest part is that we aren't left hanging.  It simply says, "And God answered his prayer."  Can we pray those kind of prayers today?  Absolutely.  He is waiting to hear from us!

 

Happy Thanksgiving 2012

from the Rogers family

 

This morning I thought of all the amazing things that God has done to show me his faithfulness in my family and the Crossroads church family. Crossroads has now been holding Sunday services for  a little over a year now at our 1915 Charles Street home.   We have an amazing volunteer staff that has been doing an incredible job getting to the church early and setting up. God has truly blessed us and I am truly thankful for each person on the team!  And God has added to our numbers.  I can't wait to see what the Lord does next! 

There is a moment right before the service starts. We all get together to pray for those coming to the service that day. It's a short prayer usually. But what that prayer does for me is amazing. We all have been running around setting up and making sure that things are ready. The prayer is that pause before the start of the service, nursery, and children's church. That moment is a constant reminder why we are here every Sunday morning. It's that time that I invite Him to come. It's the point when I recognize we are here to worship Him! It's the time that I let everything else go and pray that our human preparation plus the presence of the Holy Spirit will come together and we will see God's salvation that morning!

Last week we had the privelege to spend time with our neighbors at the hotel next door. Many weren't able to come to sit down with us at the table so we ended up bringing plates to their rooms. It was awesome watching Xroads people serve our friends. 

"He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer" (Psalm 102:17 KJV).


Be Thankful!

What Can I Do Today To Make A Difference In Someone's Life?

Last Spring I had the privilege of being in Kingston Jamaica's most impoverished sides of town participating in a week long soccer camp. While most people are going on vacays and visiting pristine beaches, this amazing group of coaches and pastors got together and sacrificed their time and did something that will forever change the lives of 85 kids.  I will never forget the kids faces as we spent time sharing the love of Christ and our love of football (soccer).   Every morning we got up with the sun and downed some great Blue Mountain Jamaican coffee, did our devos and then headed off to a high school soccer field which was more dirt than grass.  Each day we were on the field for 8 hours.  We'd sing songs and then we'd share a story about the love of Jesus.  And then we got to work on soccer skills with premier soccer coaches from all over Jamaica.  It was a soccer players dream to be a part of this and it was something never dreamed of by these kids. We fed them lunch every day and as we did we realized that for most of these kids, that this was their only real meal of the day. Many of us shed tears as we saw  groups of kids going through the trash collecting the leftovers from the lunches we just served.. 

 

You see, we could only do so much.  We could only help the 85 kids we were ministering to.  We came away from that camp asking the question, "Can we do more?"  This trip started as a dream in my friend Doug's head.  He prayed first and asked for God's help.  He saw this trip in his mind's eye.  But he didn't stop there.  He put feet to this dream.  He made this dream a goal.  He started asking for support from local businesses and he asked for help from those that know how to coordinate these trips.  Because of Doug's willingness to make a difference, all of us on the team experienced God's grace and love for a week in Jamaica.  We were given the ability to share Christ's love with 85 kids who's lives where forever changed by that week. 

 

What are you doing today to make a difference in someone's life? 

God is a Generous God

Last year, we started this church with Missy and I  going and transferring a $100.00 from savings to start a church account last year.  $100.00 may not seem like much but we've seen God do a lot with a little.  We've had no outside support other than those who were the pioneering families that gave well over and above.  God's taken our church account and blessed it.  Over the past year we've watched people answer the call in their lives to give and God's provided for our church as we have stepped out in faith.  http://www.crossroadschurchva.com is still in it's infancy stages and we are believing God for the resources to do what He wants us to do in Fredericksburg and beyond.  Pray that God uses us to give generously to this area and see Jesus name glorified. We tithe 10% of what we bring in to help local missions as well as global missions.  Yesterday I had the privilege to write the tithe checks that go to help our community and our church family in S.E. Asia.  What a privilege it is to be able to give and see it be given back to us over and over.  A pastor, former boss and mentor, Eric Watt had a great message in my inbox this morning that I wanted to share with you this afternoon.  


The Measure of Your Own Generosity Defines God's Return in Your Life


Scripture:  "Give and it shall be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke 6:38)


Truth:  God promises to reward those who give.  The habitual giver will be the habitual receiver in God's kingdom.  The greater your generosity the greater your provision will be.  Generous giving is the great anti-does to greed.  Do you struggle with always needing the newest gadget, the best clothes, the new CD, or latest toy?  Learning to be content with what you have (Philippians 4:12) is the secret that opens the door to God's flow of generosity.  Give what you have away with a generous heart and watch God proportionately give it back to you, but this time He will use others to overwhelm you with his generosity.


Prayer: God, You have a plan that I know is best for me.  In at least one small way today, I will be a giver to someone in need.  I now know that my own heart's attitude about giving will determine the pattern of Your blessing in my life.  To show my dependence on You I will become a generous person, and then watch with joy Your generosity flow back into my life.  In Jesus' name, Amen. 

It's been a while since I posted an entry

Adam Cates, a VA Beach Pastor and worshiper said on a Facebook update this afternoon that "If you tend to see a persons problems before you see their potential then you are looking with the wrong set of eyes...Lord, give us eyes to see."  

This statement reminded me of my brother.  In High School my brother was not known as an intellectual giant and neither was I for that matter.  We got decent grades but my brother had what they called back then LD, a learning disability.  He got the help he needed and did very well and he eventually tested out of the program and graduated.  His dream was to become a firefighter/paramedic.

Along the way he had a teacher that saw his "problem" more than his potential. She basically told him that he'd never be able to do that job because of his LD problem. There were too many medicines and procedures to memorize and he'd never be able to do that.  He came home that day devastated. 

Fortunately my family was encouraging and saw potential in my brother.  Plus God gave him a determined heart.  He started volunteering his senior year of high school and then made it to the academy, went to George Washington University for his paramedic training and graduated at the top of his class. He's been serving Fairfax County for many years and has saved many lives in the process. Proud of you, bro.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank God for people that see potential.  I pray that God would help me to be that man of God that can look at another and encourage them in the gifts that He has given them.  Thanks, Adam for the reminder that we need to see others as the Lord sees them.  

-Andy

Tick Tock!

Recently a friend of mine in California had a friend that tragically passed away way before her time.  It really caused her to think about the brevity of life and how we need to make each day, each hour, each minute, and even each second count.

This has become more apparent to me in recent months.  Last month I spoke on the topic of the 11th hour church.  We talked about how in God's economy the last hour of the day is just as important as all the other hours of the day that preceded it.    Does it seem like I'm obsessed with time?  I am.    We need to be ever watchful ever waiting on God to direct us on how to spend our time, like it's our last day.  What are you doing with your 86,400 seconds?

-Pastor Andy
http://www.crossroadschurchva.com

Beautiful Things Thread

Today was a crazy morning.  I spent time trying to get ready after the kids got out of the house but I got phone call after phone call and then next thing I knew it was time to get to my first appointment.  Got half way to my appointment and realized I left my wallet at home.  Turned around, got my wallet and headed back down to Fredericksburg.  Beautiful thing?  Seeing the clouds break through after being a cloudy morning.

By this time I normally would have been getting really frustrated, but not today.  I don't know.  I was in a good mood?  There was an amazing song that someone was listening to and I got inspired and miraculously my set list materialized before my eyes after struggling with it for the past three days.  Beautiful Things.

Even though I had to make some tough choices in the past month, I did it willingly because I knew it was the right thing to do.  It hurt though.  Some things are harder to give up than others.  Are you willing to give up everything for the sake of the Call on your life?  Beautiful Things.

I'm at a place in my life where I am becoming totally dependent on God.  I did my taxes a few weeks ago and looked at what God did with that Adjusted Gross Income that was so little in my eyes!  Beautiful Things.

Final picture:  I was listening to, you guessed it Beautiful Things by Michael Gungor.  I just sat down waiting for my appointment  to arrive and right then and there I saw a young man walk in and I realized he didn't have any legs.  He had running prosthetics and you would never know it by how smoothly he was walking.  Beautiful Things.

When we see things with the Father's eyes, you find the beautiful things in life.

What Are You Going To Do Today?

Today I'm headed off to Elementary School.  Subbing in a Kindergarten class.  I have to get my teaching on!  As much as I want to get my message polished up and my set list together for worship, I know for the next 8 hours I need to be a Jesus follower at Margaret Brent Elementary School.  What are you going to do today?  Are you bringing your "A" game today?  You never know what impact you can make for the kingdom if you set your mind and affections on God.  

Subbing today.  Sure.  Jesus follower? Yes.  Wanting to make an impact for Christ in all that I do? Absolutely!!!

I spent some time today reminiscing (that's what I do when I do yard work) over the past few months.  They have been months of hope and promise until I got news yesterday that something I have been praying and fasting for is not going to happen now.  Talk about a punch in the gut.  The best way to describe how I feel is that I'm down on the ground trying to breathe but can't.  I'm gasping for air but none comes.  I've had this happen in reality a few times in my life and you want your world to end right then and there!  In this case it's called "death of a vision."  It came out of nowhere. But the same news that can send you into depression is something that can be your finest hour, if you will reach your hand up to God and ask him to help you back up.

Missy and I have been on this roller coaster ride ever since August of 2010.  We have fasted, prayed, and listened and walked out in obedience what we felt God was speaking to us.  Patience,  patience is the name of the game.  If God gave you what you asked for at the wrong time it wouldn't be His best.

What happens when you are on the ground, out of breath, and struggling for air?  A tiny bit of breath comes back.  Slowly you get back to a normal breathing rhythm and life starts to look better.  Most of us want the easy way out.  We want the shot of adrenaline that propels us upward into the stratosphere.  But, if you are like me, I'm still lying on the ground.  Waiting to get my breath back and believing that God will lift me up.  It takes longer than I think, longer than my wife thinks but God is reaching down, and he is sending words of comfort.  Words of encouragement.

Finally I turned the mower off and all this was going through my head my thoughts turned toward my Savior.  How this past week 2000 years ago, he was flogged, tortured, ridiculed, and even died.  And all this he did because of you and me.  Good Friday was terrible and bloody, and Saturday must have been a long day for those who loved him and missed Him, but Sunday came bringing life once again!  That same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in You and it will quicken our mortal body, if that Spirit dwells in you.

Thank you God that your Spirit dwells in those who believe in You.  God loves you and wants to breathe life into you today!

-Andy

I've Got Something To Say

There's something to be said when the body of Christ comes together to do something greater than themselves.  Yesterday the Crossroads Church of Fredericksburg family spent the day with the Common Ground church family and worshiped together in the morning and then we spent our afternoon serving the community right in our back yard!  The only way that this would work is if we had plenty of volunteers.  We had hotdogs, hamburgers, and plenty of caring people that reached out to share a meal with our community in downtown Fredericksburg.

We had Volleyball games, corn hole, horseshoes and face painting for the kids.  People stopped by and were blessed with free food and a chance to hang out with our churches.  

Our purpose as believers should be to share the love of Jesus with those who are truly in need of hearing about the hope that is in each one of us.  Our mission is to see Jesus' name proclaimed in the Fredericksburg area and beyond.  Thanks to all those who made this afternoon possible.

Luke 19:10 (NLT)

"For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”  

The Battle for Our Broken Lives

Stories about redemption get me.  And I don't mean like it just gives me the warm fuzzies.  It gets me and I weep and cry and rejoice when I see a story of redemption.  Especially when all odds are against a situation and then at the 11th hour the tide changes and the good guy ends up winning.  Why do redemption stories tug at our hearts?  Because the very one that created us also created a way for us to be redeemed. 

I was watching a tv show the other day and really started to question my watching it until I got to the end.  Like many network tv dramas there are four or five plot lines and everyone of them are riddled with people making wrong choices and hurting one another and making their lives miserable.  But the cool thing about this show is that even though mistakes are made they are trying and striving to do the right thing.  Unfortunately they don't acknowledge that Jesus is one thing they need to redeem their lives but this particular episode had some real redemptive threads.  One of the main characters in the story is kinda a happy go lucky guy that tries to please everyone.  He and his fiance' broke off their engagement because the guy messed up and made some seriously bad decisons.  And then after that his fiance wanted nothing to do with him even though they have a son together.  But today this story took a turn for the best.

In spite of their differences they decided to get married and make it work because they truly loved each other.  It was a powerful moment.  It was a moment that had implications not only for their own lives but the life of their son.  The look on the little boys face when the mom and dad called him over to tell them that they were going to try and work things out was priceless.  It got me.

Wow, why do I get so crazy emotional when I hear redemption stories?  Because, it's my heart's desire  to see people give Jesus permission to come in and change their lives, to give Him permission to repair them, take away their sins and make them into the creation that they were meant to be.  Have you given the creator permission to come in and redeem your life?  If you do, it not only will impact your life but it will impact the lives of others around you!

One of my all time favorite stories in the New Testament is in Mark chapter 2. Four guys went to great lengths for this man to meet Jesus. How many of us are willing to partner today with other believers so that the one who needs a healing touch can meet Jesus? Verse five says that seeing their faith he forgave him of his sins and then in verse 11 he healed him! Your relationship with God not only has a dramatic effect in your own life but your relationship and faith in God has an amazing effect on the lives of those around you!!!

Last night as I was brainstorming for a message my daughter Maggie walked in the door from a Young Life meeting.  She was telling me about someone that came to the meeting who was totally fired up about Jesus.  It got Maggie fired up hanging out with this person.  The fire was catching! 

After Maggie ran off to the kitchen and grabbed some leftovers from dinner, I began thinking about my message I asked God, "Can you give me a pill that would make me fired up about you like that?"  God showed me that we are either in the race or not. If anyone has ever done cross country or ran long distance you know that the race is long and there are amazing times in a race where you are euphoric and excited and there are times where you are just trying to push through.  What can we do to get fired up?

1.  Engage!  Get in the race! 

2.  Be in fellowship with other believers that are encouraging you in your daily walk with God.  (Think of how    Maggie was fired up because she came in contact with someone who was fired up at the meeting!)

3.  Spend time with God.  (The kid that was fired up just came back from a retreat.)

4.  Share with others what God is revealing to you!

This weekend at Crossroads we are beginning a series called "Thrive Not Just Survive".  Come Sunday morning and get in the game!


-Pastor Andy

God did some miraculous things in our midst during the Christmas season here at Crossroads.  We were so blessed to be able to share the Good News with many people that needed to know that there is Hope, and that God has not forgotten them and neither has the church.  

I can hardly believe that 2012 is here!  It seems like just yesterday our launch team was praying and fasting in my basement in North Stafford seeking God to see if it was His will to launch a new ministry.  I look back and marvel at how God put together a team that has stood by in good times and bad to see this church become a reality. God has blessed this ministry and we have seen God provide to get us to where we are.  My encouragement to you today is to pray that God will continue to provide resources so that we can make a big deal about Jesus this year.

We've had ten services and already we have seen God's hand in touching people's lives.  We answered the call to start a church and He provided for us a place to meet right in downtown Fredericksburg.  Thank you Jesus!  God was looking for a place that His Spirit can reside and His impact is already being felt in our neighborhood, the surrounding area and beyond!  Since October we have identified local and global missions to seed into financially.  I am most excited however for all those that have started attending Crossroads on a regular basis.  God is growing the church in a lot of different ways but mostly through the common bond we all share through Jesus Christ.  It is my heart that we continue to reach out to those who are in need so that they can see the salvation of the Lord.  Micah 6:8 says:

"...The LORD has told you what is good,and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." What is our mission at Crossroads?  To be an authentic community of Christ Followers.  We are sinners saved by God's grace and we are desiring to show people that the church can be real, relavant and relational.  Our desire is to provide a place for God's presence to reside and that we go for God with everything we have and bring as many people alongside us as possibile.  

Keep us in your prayers as we continue to answer the call that God has on our lives!  

Twitter Insight

This morning I had my cup of coffee and read through my devotions.  I read a couple of meaningful verses so I decided to share them on Twitter and put #comforting at the end of both tweets.  It got me thinking so I did a search on #comforting.  Here's some of the responses I found.

"Mrs. Smith is the best counselor ever." #comforting
"Sometimes a hug is all you need." #comforting
"Can somebody vox me I want to hear a familiar voice." #comforting
"I really miss what I used to have with my dad, but it was nice talking to him today when I was stressed out." #comforting  
And the picture above was a photo that was tagged, you guessed it, #comforting
And I especially loved this one, "Just checking in real quick" http://tinyurl.com/bltdg3j  ...okay good." #comforting

People are looking to be comforted.  And people will go to great lengths to feel comforted.  They want to know that there is something constant in their life and even when things do change they long for the constant to return.

There is only one constant in this world.  "The Lord your God goes with you; he will NEVER leave you nor FORSAKE you" (Deuteronomy 31:5 NIV).  #comforting

Some of us look to counselors, a physical touch, a phone call, a reuniting of what was a good relationship with your father, and even checking in to see that the blog that boasts the same picture day after day is still up and running.  It's good to feel comfort in the midst of struggle.  My prayer for you this morning is that you will turn to God in your time of need and receive from Him the love that you are craving today.  He's truly a comfort in our time of need.

"The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life" (Psalm 121:7 NLT). #comforting

Thankful? Yes, Yes I Am

"Let us genuinely give thanks to the one continues to give and bless." -Derrel Emmerson


Pastor Derrel was and is a major influence in my life.  I grew up listening to his sermons, sometimes more attentively than others!  He is a faithful man of God and is always reminding me of God's blessings in our lives.  


This is Thanksgiving week and many of us are rushing around trying to get last minute items for the big feast!  I saved the day for our big feast.  We were so busy with things that we almost forgot to take the bird out to thaw!  I can't take complete credit for that because my sister in law, Maria put a Facebook update that she took her bird out yesterday!  Thanks, Maria!  


This morning I thought of all the amazing things that God has done to show me his faithfulness in my family and the Crossroads church family.  Crossroads has now been holding Sunday services for four weeks. We have an amazing volunteer staff that has been doing an incredible job getting to the church at 8:30am and setting up.  God has truly blessed us and I am truly thankful for each person on the team!


There is a moment right before the service starts.  We all get together to pray for those coming to the service that day.  It's a short prayer usually.  But what that prayer does for me is amazing.  We all have been running around setting up and making sure that things are ready. The prayer is that pause before the start of the service, nursery, and children's church.  That moment is a constant reminder why we are here every Sunday morning.  It's that time that I invite Him to come.  It's the point when I recognize we are here to worship Him!  It's the time that I let everything else go and pray that our human preparation plus the presence of the Holy Spirit will come together and we will see God's salvation that morning!  


"He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer" (Psalm 102:17 KJV).


Be Thankful!

Thankful Heart

Last week was a beautiful weekend in spite of the rain, sleet and snow!  Our fall festival was a success, not because we got our name out in our little neighborhood, but because we were faithful in the little things.  God says in his word that if we are faithful in the little things he will give us bigger things. (my paraphrase)  I've been around churches all my life and I love the stage that Crossroads Church of Fredericksburg is at.  After our fall festival was over and we had washed the last pan and cleaned up the last crumb on the floor, we all got together in a circle and prayed. We prayed that the seeds that were sown and we prayed for people to come to Jesus in our generation.  Afterward, we looked at each other and realized that we'd never forget this day! What happened on Saturday spilled over into Sunday morning at our first service and here it is Friday and I'm still marveling!

Have you lost that joy?  Do you wish you could be a part of what God is up to where he's planted you?  Look around!  Be thankful and ask God to use you right where you are at.  Join in where God is at work!  And if you want to join a church where God is at work, come visit us at CCF this Sunday morning @ 1915 Charles Street  @ 10AM in Old Town Fredericksburg!  

-Pastor Andy

Conversation

"Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone"(Colossians 4:6 NLT).

Have you ever been around someone who seems to say just the right thing at just the right time?  And when they do talk they attract people when they start talking?

Knowing God has been so gracious in our lives we should show grace in our conversations with others.  If our conversations are sprinkled with grace it's hard to be critical.  It's hard to be unpleasant.  And what does it mean to be attractive?  Do I use a lot of big words with people to make my conversation attractive?  I looked up attractive in the Greek and in this case it means, "seasoned with salt". We should choose to work grace into all of our conversations and we should choose our words carefully asking God for wisdom so that we can respond in a Godly way to every situation.  

Prayer:  Lord let us be led by your spirit, speaking the truth in such a way that is going to promote life change in us and the people around us.