As I write my first blog entry ever I stopped to think about many firsts in life. As a kid playing sports I remember my first home run, my first no hitter as a pitcher. Playing basketball I remember my first dunk, okay maybe I’m still waiting on that first.
\nIn my marriage I remember the first date with my wife, the first steps of our children and too many other firsts that don’t have any significance for you but mean a great deal to me.
\nThere are still other firsts that are very important in my walk with the Lord. The first mission trip, the first time I felt called into the ministry, the first person I shared the Gospel with. Our lives are filled with these firsts and who knows how many firsts you have that are yet to happen in your life. So, I want to encourage and challenge you to step out and accomplish a first in your life for the Lord, maybe it is reading the Bible for the first time through, or sharing your faith for the first time.
\nWhatever your next first is, make it a memorable one and let it be something that has an impact for the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As I write my first blog entry ever I stopped to think about many firsts in life. As a kid playing sports I remember my first home run, my first no hitter as a pitcher. Playing basketball I remember my first dunk, okay maybe I’m still waiting on that first. In my marriage I remember […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastorsblog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2dF3Y-3l","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oakgrovebaptistchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oakgrovebaptistchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oakgrovebaptistchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oakgrovebaptistchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oakgrovebaptistchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=207"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/oakgrovebaptistchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1220,"href":"https:\/\/oakgrovebaptistchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions\/1220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oakgrovebaptistchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oakgrovebaptistchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oakgrovebaptistchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}