My beautiful daughter. She lives exactly 797 miles from my front door. I took her to Colorado. I encouraged her to follow her heart and I am very proud of the courage that she displayed in boldly leaving my house and beginning her college education. Yet my heart hurts.
I wanted to keep her at home. For that matter, I never wanted her to even go to school, kindergarten to be exact. The pain is no different. Yet I began letting her go then. She stated on the way to Colorado that she was concerned about my ability to be able to let her go in marriage. MARRIAGE? Who is thinking about letting go in marriage? I guess that is her gentle and loving way of saying get ready for the pain. I love the pain. It is a right pain to have. She is where she is supposed to be for now. Yet the strain on my heart is wonderful and painful. Somehow I am aware of the pain that Christ has for me, He longs to call me home, to His side, to rest with Him forever. Yet there are things that I must do, and be for Him and His.
What a joy it is for me as the father of Tori to know that her brother is close by and cares for her. Let us therefore love one another with His love. I know it pleases me to no end to think of my son acting with my heart on behalf of his sister. Peace...
Friday, September 3, 2010
Why did you allow that wrong to remain?
I asked a young man the other day, why did he allow that wrong to remain in his life? I was floored by the depth of his answer.
Because I thought I could manage sin. Even to type this floors me. Manage sin? Touch sin? I was humbled by this simple concept and yet he was not down with me yet.
This false thought led to another thought that the young man articulated as I asked him what other thoughts, feelings led him to continue in the wrong. Wrong was easier than right. Again, floored by the simplicity and profound statement. His wife was not impressed due to the intensity of her pain from his betrayl and failure but I knew that he had been communing with GOD. Wow.
I asked another question, where was those two thoughts, Able to Manage Sin and Wrong is easier than Right leading you to? Where were you headed before God interceded in your life.
Wrong = Right.
Step One I can manage a little sin...
Step Two Wrong is now easier than Right...
Step Three Wrong is Right...
Lord God, please help us that we would not manage the sin in our lives, manage the wrong but help us to abandon ourselves to You so that You would completely save us from our wrong and our sin so that we may live out Your Right and please You. Forgive us when we have allowed wrong to abide in our lives. Bless this young, wise man. Bless his bride as she heals from her pain.
NOTE: This does not refer to one couple or one man but rather several that I have seen over the last few months. The facts have been generalized to present how God enlightens and heals without revealing sacred information that was shared with a pastor.
Because I thought I could manage sin. Even to type this floors me. Manage sin? Touch sin? I was humbled by this simple concept and yet he was not down with me yet.
This false thought led to another thought that the young man articulated as I asked him what other thoughts, feelings led him to continue in the wrong. Wrong was easier than right. Again, floored by the simplicity and profound statement. His wife was not impressed due to the intensity of her pain from his betrayl and failure but I knew that he had been communing with GOD. Wow.
I asked another question, where was those two thoughts, Able to Manage Sin and Wrong is easier than Right leading you to? Where were you headed before God interceded in your life.
Wrong = Right.
Step One I can manage a little sin...
Step Two Wrong is now easier than Right...
Step Three Wrong is Right...
Lord God, please help us that we would not manage the sin in our lives, manage the wrong but help us to abandon ourselves to You so that You would completely save us from our wrong and our sin so that we may live out Your Right and please You. Forgive us when we have allowed wrong to abide in our lives. Bless this young, wise man. Bless his bride as she heals from her pain.
NOTE: This does not refer to one couple or one man but rather several that I have seen over the last few months. The facts have been generalized to present how God enlightens and heals without revealing sacred information that was shared with a pastor.
The Prophet has spoken
Stephen Hawking, a British theoritical physicist, states that the universe can create itself out of nothing. Spontaneous creation, he wants us to believe. He believes that something came out of nothing. That there was nill, nothing, empty space and that spontaneously something came out of nothing.
There is a problem with his basic math skills. Sometimes we get so very, very smart that we over look the basics.
0 + 0 always and forever = 0.
Nothing + Nothing will always = Nothing.
You can not reproduce 0+0=1 in any lab in the world. Yet Mr. Hawking wants us to follow him by faith. Faith in his mind, his reasoning, in his ablity to see things we can't see. He wants us to respect him like he is a god or at least a sacred prophet entrusted with truth that we mortals can not and will not be able to attain to.
We believe in a supernatural God who can supercede the natural laws.
0 + GOD = Creation.
Nothing + God = Creation.
18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.
Romans 1:18-22 NIV http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%201&version=NIV
That which is known about God is known in the heart and not the mind. The mind demands to understand and the basic concept of God is beyond the mind's ability to grasp. The mind deals in facts while the heart deals in truth. Facts can be made to point in all sorts of directions that lead to wrong conclusions. The truth stands for itself. It is sad, however, that most Christians do not stand for truth.
There is a problem with his basic math skills. Sometimes we get so very, very smart that we over look the basics.
0 + 0 always and forever = 0.
Nothing + Nothing will always = Nothing.
You can not reproduce 0+0=1 in any lab in the world. Yet Mr. Hawking wants us to follow him by faith. Faith in his mind, his reasoning, in his ablity to see things we can't see. He wants us to respect him like he is a god or at least a sacred prophet entrusted with truth that we mortals can not and will not be able to attain to.
We believe in a supernatural God who can supercede the natural laws.
0 + GOD = Creation.
Nothing + God = Creation.
18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.
Romans 1:18-22 NIV http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%201&version=NIV
That which is known about God is known in the heart and not the mind. The mind demands to understand and the basic concept of God is beyond the mind's ability to grasp. The mind deals in facts while the heart deals in truth. Facts can be made to point in all sorts of directions that lead to wrong conclusions. The truth stands for itself. It is sad, however, that most Christians do not stand for truth.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Pray your way through
Several friends heard about a trip I was trying to put together for my family. We were flying to Germany for my wife's parent's 50th. We hoped to visit Switzerland and show our kids where we hung out when I was stationed in Germany. The money was not coming together and the friends tried to get it together for us. But several things happened and business went bad for each of them. They wanted to pay our way to Switzerland but was limited so they began to pray our way to Switzerland. Things changed.
We rented a diesel van and it got great gas mileage. We were able to secure a chalet on the mountain side for $100 per day. The chalet had a full kitchen so our food bill was lowered. The hotel where we were going to stay at was close to $100 per person per day. We ended up going and spending a couple of days on the mountain side at a low cost. We learned something that is still with us. Pray your way through before you plan or pay your way through.
Tori was short for her upcoming tuition payment. We prayed and then looked at the options. We were turned down and it looked like there were going to be severe issues in getting her into school. And then Concord came through. The art of being still, sensing the peace of God and moving toward Him was powerful. It is not that planning is not important but rather that prayer must always go first. There is a way to pray, listening quietly as you move through life and each day. This is a skill to be encouraged and developed.
We are now facing another issue and we are praying our way through. We are lifting the issue before God quietly and consistently and leaving it there on the altar before Him. It is tempting to touch it and try to deal with before the time. This involves the waiting and trusting on Him.
We rented a diesel van and it got great gas mileage. We were able to secure a chalet on the mountain side for $100 per day. The chalet had a full kitchen so our food bill was lowered. The hotel where we were going to stay at was close to $100 per person per day. We ended up going and spending a couple of days on the mountain side at a low cost. We learned something that is still with us. Pray your way through before you plan or pay your way through.
Tori was short for her upcoming tuition payment. We prayed and then looked at the options. We were turned down and it looked like there were going to be severe issues in getting her into school. And then Concord came through. The art of being still, sensing the peace of God and moving toward Him was powerful. It is not that planning is not important but rather that prayer must always go first. There is a way to pray, listening quietly as you move through life and each day. This is a skill to be encouraged and developed.
We are now facing another issue and we are praying our way through. We are lifting the issue before God quietly and consistently and leaving it there on the altar before Him. It is tempting to touch it and try to deal with before the time. This involves the waiting and trusting on Him.
Have you ever encountered the UGLY in you?
I was helping a young man face the damage he had done to his marriage. I asked him a simple question Why did you do what you knew was wrong?
I asked him to be careful about his answer and realized that I cannot know answer the question for myself. LORD God have mercy.
Wow, the power of sin. There is a NO that still floats in my mind, feelings and thoughts. This NO demands that there be no GOD to worship, to give totally allegiance to any person outside of myself. The grace of GRACE. Sometimes I can't say YES but I know HE is worthy. The best that I can do is still myself before HIM and ask for grace to say YES. Not just OK or go ahead but YES!
It amazes me, grieves me that after all I have seen of God's work and hand in my life and others, I still doubt, I still say NO. I am in as much need of GRACE today as I was thirty years ago. Then I could blame it on being a fooling youth, now? Wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked. Yes and totally loved.
My weakness does not smell, my sin does but not my weakness but I despise it the same. My weakness reminds me of the birth of my children - they were delightfully wretched and miserably dependent upon their mother and me and we loved it. They were also poor, blind and naked. Is my NO from my weakness or sin? The GRACE of YES is powerful, wonderful and very fulfilling. I recognize that I am not fully saved - will be when He appears. My heart is saved by which I long for the eternal YES breathed into my soul and body.
Why did I sin when I knew it was wrong? Distance between me and my Savior, Jesus Christ.
I asked him to be careful about his answer and realized that I cannot know answer the question for myself. LORD God have mercy.
Wow, the power of sin. There is a NO that still floats in my mind, feelings and thoughts. This NO demands that there be no GOD to worship, to give totally allegiance to any person outside of myself. The grace of GRACE. Sometimes I can't say YES but I know HE is worthy. The best that I can do is still myself before HIM and ask for grace to say YES. Not just OK or go ahead but YES!
It amazes me, grieves me that after all I have seen of God's work and hand in my life and others, I still doubt, I still say NO. I am in as much need of GRACE today as I was thirty years ago. Then I could blame it on being a fooling youth, now? Wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked. Yes and totally loved.
My weakness does not smell, my sin does but not my weakness but I despise it the same. My weakness reminds me of the birth of my children - they were delightfully wretched and miserably dependent upon their mother and me and we loved it. They were also poor, blind and naked. Is my NO from my weakness or sin? The GRACE of YES is powerful, wonderful and very fulfilling. I recognize that I am not fully saved - will be when He appears. My heart is saved by which I long for the eternal YES breathed into my soul and body.
Why did I sin when I knew it was wrong? Distance between me and my Savior, Jesus Christ.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Hello? Is anyone there?
Please let me know you are enjoying these. If enough people enjoy these I will post more often. If not, I will continue to post when the BLUE MOON WIND BLOWS THROUGH MY DOOR.
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