General Update

I'm getting worse at keeping this current. Part of the reason is that we just returned from spending 2 weeks in Panama City with the family. We had a great time, great food, great fun and it all went way to fast. I'm so glad we got to spend that time. I know it was good for all of us to have that much time to be together. I can't remember when we had that much time to spend together without major projects or agendas to accomplish. I did take my work with me and fortunately wasn't overly busy which made it possible to spend a little more time with the fam than I had anticipated. It wasn't really a vacation as we would describe but it got my out of the daily grind and that was very beneficial.

So I'm back in the saddle here and working on some things that have some great potential. Praying those will work out. Also looking to God for direction about our future in some areas so that is often on my mind.

I'll try to make the next post a little deeper or at the least focused on something worth reading.

We've Gone Soft

I have found, for me at least, that since my mind wanders a lot, that when I study the Bible and passages speak to me I can meditate on them better by putting down my thoughts on paper. Basically a study journal. Quite a few of my "journal entries" end up here on the blog.

Today is no different. The verse of the day at biblegateway.com, one of my study resources, is Ecclesiastes 11:5. “As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.” (NIV)

I have a saying that is not original to me but I use it a lot. It says, "There are two sure things in life. 1. There is a God and 2. You're not him." This saying is another way of stating Ecclesiastes 11:5. His ways are truly not our ways.

I'll admit that while I say the above quote quite a bit, I have a hard time with that reality. I don't understand what God does. Why would he take a 18 year old girl in a car accident who had incredible talents and an exceptionally bright future. Does God want my family to be burdened down by having an extra house for sale for over a year? He knows how desperately we need to sell the house. It was sold a year ago, we thought. What is he doing?

So many questions that simply have to be answered by the reality that we "cannot understand the work of God." I know God knows best and I trust that, however, I still struggle with not trying to "figure God out". This is a struggle for all of us not just me.

God has revealed to me that part of my problem I believe is a bigger issue that is prevalent here in the United States. We as a culture don't want any type of discomfort. We go to great lengths to keep ourselves from having difficulty. Like spoiled children we pray for God to remove the pain or relieve the frustrations we have and then get upset when he doesn't answer the way we want. In America we forget that life is hard. We have it so good we don't know what it's like to live with daily suffering. We have become soft. You would think that with the travels I have made to 3rd world countries and having seen the poverty and suffering that millions live with on a daly basis that I would be more thankful and less prone to frustration at my own little problems.

God forgive me for questioning your plans. Help me to remember how blessed I am and to respond with thanksgiving in spite of the difficulties I may experience. They are but light afflictions.

Still here

I have been slack on writing and I just realized it has been a month since I wrote. For two of those weeks I was in extreme pain as I experienced my second attack of Gout. The first attack was 3-4 years ago. In addition to the pain I have been very tired. Fortunately I am operating now at about 95%. Still some discomfort but I can get around almost normal.

In addition to that, work has been busy so I haven't had time to dedicate to the blog. I do have quite a few things on my mind that I will post later. For now I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still here.

I do want to thank the Lord for my Mom as well as the Mother of my two boys. God has blessed me immensely with an amazing mom and an incredible wife who is a tremendous mother to Connor and Hunter. Their dedication to their calling deserves recognition. I love you both.

Did He Die For You?

Something occurred to me this week. I hear people say in reference to Christ dying on the cross that he paid for the sins of the world. The reality is that He did NOT. Before you accuse me of false doctrine consider that if He did die for the sins of the whole world there would be no need for Hell. Selah. We all agree that Hell is a place for punishment. However if your sins are paid for then there is not debt to be paid and no punishment that needs to be enforced.

My point is that Christ died for those he knew would be redeemed. So let's say that there were 1.6 billion people throughout history that accepted the gift of salvation, then Christ took the sins of 1.6 billion people. Clear?

Some may say that my "revelation" is really not that big of a deal. Maybe not. Maybe you have already thought of it before I did. There is a high probability to that as I am a little slow sometimes. I really am just pointing out that our terminology is wrong. Not the first or the last time I'm sure.

As simple as my thought may be, this does lead us down the road to the very debated and humanly unsolvable topic of predestination. All I will say about that topic is that ultimately we cannot rationalize in our human mind, nor can we argue with what God chooses to do with HIS creation.

Many people have a hard time accepting that God chose or knows who will be saved and who will not. Hyper-calvanism takes this topic and runs crazy with their human perspective on a issue that clearly falls under the void in human understanding and finite reasoning.

For me, simple as I am, my thought that God died for me, one of his elect, drives me to one conclusive reaction. Worship! How can I not worship a God who called me even while I was young, placed me in a home that feared and worshiped the one true God, pursues me daily to be closer to Him as my Father, and has given me all the riches of His Son who took MY place. Why do we argue about things we cannot understand? Instead, let us worship in the reality that He is God and we are NOT. There is ultimate freedom in letting the Creator be the Creator and the creation be just that.

Balance

I have only been on this earth for 34 years. I'm not a wise person by many standards but I do think a lot and observe even though I also am a talker. So as I have grown older I find one thing very difficult to achieve and yet I have come to the conclusion that it is of the utmost importance in life. You can read the the title of this and know I am speaking of balance. It can also be referred to as priority. What get's first dibs from your attention.

As a follower of Jesus Christ the first priority in life is our relationship with Him. That's a no brainer. The next no brainer in the line of priority is family. 1 Timothy 5 covers that issue. But here is where I get hung up a bit. Between church and the work place (career).

I believe you should work to live not live to work. Of course that can be skewed if your idea of living is "high on the hog" as the saying goes. If one is to provide for his family, it requires holding down a job that usually requires a 40 hour week commitment at the least. Church on the other hand now requires quite a bit of time if you are to be involved on a deeper level than just coming to church on Sunday morning.

We often look to those in ministry as special people, and they are. They have a tremendous calling. All of us as believers are called to full time service though. People in paid full time ministry positions don't have to worry as much about the balance between making a living and serving the body of Christ. They get to do both at the same time.

I am searching for the balance. The fine or maybe not so fine line of working to grow a business and a career to provide for my family, and serving in an effective, committed way in Church. Not just on Sunday. Understand that I want to put more time into Church activities and ministry, NOT less, but not at the expense of my family or my job. I want to find the balance point. Some would say "you can never serve to much in God's work. He will take care of the rest". That would be essentially full time ministry. All to often men and women in full time and non-full time ministry have poured themselves so much into serving that they abandon their God given responsibilities to care for their families. They will, I believe, be held in judgment for that.


What I am saying is there needs to be a balance. So here is where I am with my priorities:

My walk with God
My Family
Work/Church

If I put work above church my priorities look off. If I put church above work I may loose my salary. You may have a clear direction on your list. Good for you.

This is tricky at best!

What we really KNEEd

I wrote in a previous post about keeping things simple concerning the "church" as we now know it. I have been continually pondering the way we participate in church and how we worship.

Side note: Along with that I have seen recently behavior and undercurrents of sin and spiritual immaturity that upsets me. I'll be the first to admit that I have a long way to go. But it seems I have a desire to at least move to another level that I would expect others to have as well, but I don't see it very much. In my disgust with how some so called believers behave (I mess up to, I'm referring to a pattern) I am reminded of a quote made by a former muslim teacher who became a believer. He said, "Judge a religion by it's Leader, not it's followers." It is true that Christ is the focus, not those around us. That thought is helping me remain.

The other day I asked God, "Is this what you intended your church to look like?" I really wonder if how we have church set up is really effective. I submit it often does more harm than good. Four services a week about different topics with little to no re-enforcement and countless projects, activities, and meetings all aimed at trying to get people off their duff and get to work fulfilling the great commission of making disciples. Yet it doesn't seem to be working. Hmmm. Wonder why?

I could go on for pages with my proverbial red pen but I won't, but believe me I want to. Instead I think there is a solution. No, I know there is a solution. Simple in answer but not so easy. It takes time, patience and sacrifice. It doesn't require a program, no visitation plan, no music style change or staff additions and no "meetings" need to take place (it could be argued that meetings do take place). The solution?

PRAYER

Here is what someone who knew a lot about this subject said:

The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men…Men of prayer." --E. M. Bounds

I want to be that man. It requires a sacrifice of time to meet (there's the meeting) with God and ask Him to change hearts, including mine. Only then will anything we do be successful. Only when God steps in and answers our cry for the Spirit to move will we begin to see progress and changed lives. Maybe the only meeting we should be having are prayer meetings, even if it is only a handful of people. It's not a one time prayer of 5-10 minutes. It has to be significant time before the throne of God asking for Him to move in a powerful way.

I'm not a great prayer warrior, though I want to be. I do know this much, that as long as we try to make it happen and ask God to bless what we do we will never see change. We have to ask God to do something great and to show us how to help. We need our wounds healed and our bills paid and food on the table but none of those things are even close to how desperately we need spiritual healing, purification and revival.

Prayer is the answer. Not programs.

Mr. President, with all due respect please SHUT UP!

I don't like politics. that needs to be clear up front. I think I have one other post in my blog having to do with the subject. I also don't watch much news. Like most my age and younger I hit the web to get the highlights and continue with my day unless something major is going on that demands my attention.

In spite of my lack of attention to all things political and the hyper-negative news full of talking heads I have still been unable to ignore the biggest talking head of them all. The mike-hog we have as a president.

He is constantly making speeches. It's unreal how many "talks" he has over every move he makes or every idea and plan he wants to sell the American people. What happened to letting your actions speak louder than words. He is like a used car salesman trying to get us to buy a really bad car, hoping if he talks enough it will convince us to make the purchase.

It doesn't matter if I voted for him or not, or whether he is republican or democrat. Case in point I think Bush should have never opened his mouth. Here is the best way to sum up both of these presidents: It is best to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt!

The following is an portion taken from an article by Gene Healy. VP of the Cato Institute. You can read the entire article here. It is worth reading.

"Today's president is a constitutional monstrosity: a national talk-show host with nuclear weapons.

Our founding fathers didn't want a president who'd perpetually pound the bully pulpit. They viewed presidential speechifying as a sign of demagoguery, and thought Congress should take the lead on most matters of national policy. They expected the nation's chief executive to pipe down, mind his constitutional business, and keep his hands to himself.

From Washington to Jackson, presidents gave about three speeches a year on average. In his first year in office, President Clinton gave over 600. Things have changed, but it's not clear they've changed for the better."

Here is my final take on this: In my experience, when someone talks a lot about their agenda or their viewpoint it is usually because they are trying to convince you to join their cause. If it needs that much talking to be sold, it's not worth buying.