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    My Name is Dan Masters and this is my blog about attempting to live The Abundant Life as a Christian. Here I have posts about family, church, and my recent battle with Cancer.

Not Forgetting Where I Came From

lonely-road This coming Saturday I will be driving up to Gatesville, TX to attend a volunteer training so that I can be a part of our church’s prison ministry. I attended the church’s training a few months back.

That’s a strange and scary ministry to be a part of you may think.

Yes, for most folks it is absolutely terrifying to go inside the walls of a jail or prison. How do you think the inmates feel?

So why would I want to do that?

Well, because I was one of those guys in there. In fact it was 14 years ago that I gave my life to God in a chapel service in jail.

The History

I had a couple of wild years in my teens where breaking the law seemed like the thing to do. I obviously wasn’t very good at it because I got caught, a few times. It was the third time that I realized that if didn’t change that I would be spending a lot of time behind bars.

I didn’t know it at the time but God was setting me up for a divine intervention that would change my life.

Read More »

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Another Battle – No Health Insurance

Previous Post in this Series: The Diagnoses – Esophageal Cancer

As if being told that you have cancer is not bad enough there was another battle brewing in the midst. We did not have health insurance. I’d like to say that the reason for this was that we were independently wealthy and we had no need of such insurance. The reason was actually the opposite.

I was diagnosed with cancer in September of 2009. Back in January of that year I was laid off of my job of 3 years due to the recession. I was offered Cobra through as apart of my severance package but at nearly $1000/month that was not an option especially with being out of work. Besides, my wife had recently started working and she would qualify for benefits soon after that.

A month or two after I was laid off my wife did receive her benefits so we were once again covered. Unfortunately about a month after she started receiving benefits she was also laid off. Now we were both unemployed and uninsured. My wife applied for Medicaid for us and the kids. The kids were approved but we were denied. At least the kids had insurance.

Cobra to the Rescue, or Not

Shortly after her lay off we actually got some good news in the mail. The president had signed into law that they would extend the qualification period of Cobra insurance and also pay for 66% of the premiums for families. This brought our out-of-pocket cost down to around $350/month. While this would be tight with both of us being unemployed it would be worth it. We filled out the paperwork and sent it in the mail.

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He is the God of the Little Things Too

I spent a good portion of yesterday crunching on this task for a project that I am working on for a client. It seemed that no matter which angle I tried to attack this task that I could never get it completed in an easy way. I ended yesterday with a plan on how to complete it that was less then desirable.

This morning I woke up and had the oppertunity to spend some time with God. While I was with Him I felt him tell me that it was easier then I thought. While that made me feel a little better I wasn’t convinced because I still did not know exactly what I was going to do.

After that I checked my email and read the daily message sent to me by Joel Osteen. The title of the email was "The Great I Am" and started off with the scripture:

"God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you’ " - Exodus 3:14

The email went of to talk about how big God is and how He is on our side. It explained that God is saying "I am everything you need. I am your strength. I am your wisdom. I am your protection. I am your provider. I am your way maker. I am your problem solver."

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The Diagnoses – Esophageal Cancer

Previous Post in this Series: Having Cancer as a Christian

“The biopsy came back positive, you have cancer of the esophagus” the doctor said as I sat in the hospital bed. The words were unreal. Here is was, 34 years old, with cancer. I had never had anything wrong with me in my life and here I was with word cancer now permanently attached to my life. How did this happen? Was I going to die? Those and a million other questions started to flood my mind.

How it All Started

This whole event started several months back when while eating. While attempting to swallow I felt like the food I was chewing got stuck in my throat. I didn’t think very much of it at the time. I mean who hasn’t eaten a little too quick and had the same thing happen to them? Unfortunately as time went on this happened more frequently.

Most normal people would go to the doctor when things like this happen to them but I didn’t. The first reason for this was that I am not the type that went to the doctor unless I felt like I was dying. The second was that in some weird way I had learned to live with the little catch in my throat and could swallow most of the time without choking. The third reason was that we did not have health insurance at the time and I didn’t think it was all that serious of an issue. I remember telling my wife if I needed health insurance God would make sure I had it.

After a few months of having this issue I got a job where the health insurance would kick in after three months. Perfect I thought, I’ll just wait it out and then go to the doctor. Three weeks into the new job my stomach started bothering me as well. Uh oh I thought, maybe this is a little more serious, I thought that I might have an ulcer. I finally broke down and went to the doctor.

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Having Cancer as a Christian

It is weird to sit here and think about everything that has happened in the last few months. In life you hear of other people who go through difficult times in your life but you never really know what is involved in their situation. As a Christian we often think because we are on God’s crew that those types of things will not happen to us. Unfortunately that is not true.

The Bible says:

…He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. – Matthew 5:45

The truth of it is that we live in a fallen world and while I believe serving God has its benefits, Christians still can experience their fair share of challenges and disappointments in life. Shoot, if giving your life to God guaranteed that you would have no more trouble in life everyone would serve Him. While serving God does not keep us free from trouble He can turn bad situations ultimately into good ones.

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. – Genesis 50:20

My Situation

My situation was being diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer at age 34 and it has been one of the scariest situations I have ever been in. The fear that comes along with a report like that ranges from “Am I going to die?” to “My God, what is the treatment going to be like and am I going to die anyway?”. Those are just the natural fears that anyone would have in that situation.

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Growing in God by Getting Involved

growingOver 2 years ago I wrote a post on this blog on how I was stepping out and getting involved in church again. The ministry that I had volunteered for was the media ministry. I went to a meeting and even sat up in the media booth during a service to see how to operate their system for the projector.

I thought I was ready but it just wasn’t time.

The service that I sat in was the first and only service that I did anything in regard to the media ministry. I am not exactly sure why things did not work out, but I think there were still some areas in my life that God still needed to work on. It was kind of weird not being involved but I think you need to learn how to receive as a Christian and walk the walk before you can minster. So that is what I did. During that time my wife and I attended a couple of small groups so we still had fellowship and got to know people in the church. We are still involved with the small groups today.

Over the last six months due to some personal circumstances I saw the need to spend more time with God personally and began to do so. During that time I read the book Caught Between A Dream and A Job and am currently reading The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? In both of these books they talk about how God has a plan for your life and how you were created for a purpose. I believe both of these things and set out to see what it is that God has to do for me here on earth.

There are a couple of ways that I am seeking God in order to find out my purpose. Read More »

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Christian Perspective on the Financial Crisis

image description I feel that it is time that I chimed in on the current financial crisis that is gripping the world. I think that I am not alone in my concern about the future and while I have not been directly affected at this point sometimes not knowing is as bad as something actually happening. Hopefully my personal experience in dealing with this will help others that may be struggling during this time.

The Last Financial Crisis

Before tackling the current financial crisis let’s look at the one that just happened seven short years ago. Back in 2001 it was the golden age of the internet. Billion dollar valuations of companies grew on trees and we were all going to be millionaires by 25 and retire billionaires by 30. It was a time of extravagance and money flowed freely.

During this time I was a couple of year into my Christianity and was newly married. I had gotten it into my head that God wanted to bless me and thought that these blessing were flowing through credit. I had gone wild and bought anything and everything that they would let me buy on credit including a house. Three weeks after buying the house I was laid off from my job due to the economy. I hadn’t even made the first payment on the house.

For the next 2 years my wife and I struggled along as she worked full time and I tried to start/run a business in the technology field. After 2 years we were stripped of just about everything (including the house) and found ourselves renting from her dad once again. I struggled another couple of years with the business until we started having kids. A couple of events happened and I found myself hitting rock bottom.

The Turning Point

The turning point for me was when I got into a business financial dispute with a really good friend that cost me our friendship. I remember sitting in my car with my wife looking at her knowing that if I didn’t change things that I could very well lose her next. It was at that point that I decided to quit the business and go get a job and try to take care of my family the way that a real man of God should. Read More »

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New Theme Here at the Abundant Life

I have uploaded a new theme here at the Abundant Life. I had been having several different issues with the previous theme so this one not only looks better but it should funtion better as well. 

Please let me know if you find and problems with it.

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It Can Be Tough Being A Transparent Christian

difficult While looking over a couple of posts here at The Abundant Life I noticed some spelling and grammar errors and started to correct them. In the process of cleaning up my inconsistencies I had to actually read some of the posts that I put up here and started to get a little embarrassed. The reason for my embarrassment was the fact that it has been tough being a Christian, going to church, and having a relationship with God over the last few years. Not only was it was it tough but I was sharing my struggles with the world. Looking back I wonder if that was a good idea as people (especially Christians – sorry) can be really judgmental.

To combat this concern I have to separate what I think people would say about me from what I know God says about me. Read More »

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Blast From the Past – Jason Lozano at Freedom Christian Center

I was setting up my iTunes podcasts with various ministries that I have been apart of and searched to see if Freedom International Christian Training Center with Pastor Jason Lozano had one. While I did not find Podcasts for his ministry I did find this cool video of his testimony that Kenneth Copeland Ministries did on him.

The thing that got me about this video is that I knew him when he first got started and actually helped him knock down a couple of the walls that he mentioned. The other part of the video that got me is that there is actually a picture of him and I together at around the 2:29 minute mark. It is really something to remember where he and I can from and to see where we are now. 

My congratulations go out to Jason, his wife and family, and his ministry for the blessing that God has on their lives.

P.S. Jason, if you read this setup some Podcasts of your messages so I can listen to them!

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