I Wonder...

I don't know much, but I do wonder...

I wonder if Tiger Woods really is THAT bad.

I wonder if my kids will ever realize how much I love them.

I wonder if Bama can win it all this year.

I wonder why God Loves me so much.

I wonder why I suck so bad at being good.

I wonder if there is even the slightest chance that Donald Trump's hair is real.

I wonder if there will ever be a Division 1, College Football playoff.

I wonder why Angie has put up with me for all of these years.

and

I wonder if Dick Vitale will EVER shut up.

I wonder about hundreds of things every single day, but I heard a very old song today that you know very well, and it made me think to myself;

I don't wonder who wrote the book of love. I know the answer to that one, because He is Love.

That's all I need to know today.

Check Up

In Matthew Chapter 13 we read:

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector's booth. "Follow me and be my disciple," Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.
Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with such scum?"
When Jesus heard this, he said, "Healthy people don't need a doctor — sick people do." Then he added, "Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: `I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.' For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners."

This is one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture, because it references the two groups that all people fall into, when it comes to accepting Salvation by Grace.

There are "sinners" and there are "Pharisees", but the funny thing is that; they both sin, and they both judge.

The sinners judge themselves to be not good enough for Salvation (which is true. None of us are after all...) and that they have to clean up their lives before they have a shot. The Pharisees are too busy judging the sinners, to see their own sin staring them in the face, and think that they are already good enough.

So, Grace steps in. Grace says "Of course you sin, that's why I'm here." Grace says, "Of course you judge, luckily I don't". Grace says, "Come, be healed, and rest." After all, only the sick need a doctor.

So, feeling well today?

Giving Thanks

I love Thanksgiving Day. It is such a wonderful time to be with family and friends, and celebrate with thankful hearts for the many blessings in our lives. However, we have to make sure that we don’t relegate Thanksgiving to one day a year as a holiday. Thanksgiving should be our lifestyle.

The Scripture tells us; “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” – 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 – 18

Don’t miss this! It says to be thankful IN all circumstances, not be thankful FOR all circumstances. Let’s face it, there are going to be plenty of things that happen in out lives that we are not going to be thankful for. However, we are told to be thankful during those times.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day, and I spent the entire day in bed with some sort of virus that wiped me out, and had my body aching head to toe. I missed thanksgiving football, family and food. Trust me; I was NOT thankful for that. But I was thankful during all of that. I was thankful that I had a comfortable bed in a nice warm house. Can you imagine what living through a virus like that would be like out on the street?

It’s easy to get down when things don’t go our way. It’s a lot harder to stay that way, when thankfulness is a part of your daily life.

Just a Thought

I like to pick sports games against the betting lines. If I ever had any disposable income (an oxymoron in my world) I might even bet on a few of them. I hate beer, but like vodka. I invest in the stock market, let my wife manage our family’s finances, and used to watch “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” with devoted regularity. I don’t have a tattoo, but that’s only because I have never been able to think of anything that I wanted permanently etched on my body.

The next time you’re in a church service, make a paper airplane out of the bulletin, give it a good toss, and chances are you will hit someone who thinks at least one of the activities above are sinful. The problem is that none of them are expressly prohibited by anything in the Bible (unless you are willing to do tricky things with the language or remove things from their context). That’s one of the big struggles with being a “Christian” in a society more than 2,000 years removed from the time the last of the Scriptures were written—all of the gray areas. Jesus never said, “Disciples, don’t drink alcohol.” He never told any parables about the effects of R-rated movies on his followers. He never chastised the Pharisees for spending too much time playing video games. Of course, he was pretty clear on things like adultery and divorce. And he really got worked up when the religious folks passed judgment on those who didn’t live up to their lengthy lists of societal and religious rules.

When Jesus walked around Palestine, the people who most upset him were the Pharisees. Why? Because they focused on their petty, pseudo-religious rules while losing sight of the important stuff - like loving God and loving people. We do the same today. Lots of the “rules” in our comfortable “Christian” subculture are based more on tradition than on the Bible. They have more to do with the notion of “being separate” from the world than being made in the image of Christ. And how significant is it that this attitude of separation places great emphasis on some issues of outward appearance (alcohol, smoking, tattoos, entertainment) and not others (unthinking consumerism, gluttony)?

The fact is that, over the past two millennia, the Church has done as much to drive those in need of hearing the Gospel away, as it has to bring them in. And it has all been in the name of “being separate”. We would do well to remember that Jesus Christ did not evade the world, He invaded the world. It seems to me that the way to reach more people is for the Church to admit that we suck at this life thing just as much as everyone else, and that we survive on God's Grace and Mercy alone. Then, we just might get the chance to tell others about that Grace and Mercy.

Just a thought…

Not At All What I First Began To Write...

Straight from the "Please Tell Me This Is A Joke" file, comes THIS STORY from the Associated Press about a pastor who says that his church plans to burn Bibles on Halloween.

This guy told a local TV station's news crew that the King James Version of the Bible is the only correct one, and that all other versions are "satanic", and "perversions of God's word". So, they're going to get together on Halloween night and burn the other versions.

I have a HUGE problem with this, but I'm NOT going to rant about it!!!

The problem is that what I originally wrote was; "This IDIOT told a local...", and then I caught myself and had to go back and change it. Now, the rest of this rant is going to be something completely different than what it originally was.

“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” - Winston Churchill

For four hundred years (from Joshua to David) Israel had never been able to wrest Jerusalem from the control of the Jebusites. Throughout this time, the nation of Israel was fractured and fragmented. Bickering and controversy kept the kingdom from being completed. With a king submitted to God, they were able to realize the potential that did not exist until that unity was established. United, Israel took Jerusalem. You'll find out about this in 1 Chronicles 11:1-9 (no matter which version you should choose to read...)

We accomplish so much more when we stop fighting each other, and begin to fight together. The Church is crippled, and it is a self-inflicted wound. Bickering and arguments rage over ridiculous and inconsequential things, like which version of the Bible they read among other things. I wonder where the world would be right now if the Church, instead of choosing conflict, chose to cooperate. Would slavery and starvation be a problem in the world? Would poverty be so pronounced in the world and would there be anyone who has yet to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ?

Let’s bring this down to a personal level. What if each one of us decided to lay aside our differences and petty arguments and join with one another to serve God? What if every time I started to publicly call someone an idiot, because I completely disagree with what they're doing; I instead wrote something like this? No doubt, the world would be changed.

Let’s do it! Choose to change the world by starting in your own mind, your home, your church, your neighborhood, and your city. We can accomplish so much more when we join together.

3 Quick Words

A quick word from a believer: "Hello old friends. Really nothing new to say, but the old, old story bears repeating; and the Truth grows stronger every day." -- Rich Mullins

A quick word from The Word:
One day Jesus left the house where He had been staying and sat beside the lake. A large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat there and taught as the people stood on the shore, using the acoustics of the water so that everyone could hear. He told many stories, such as this one:

"Listen!

“One day a farmer went out to plant some seeds. As he scattered the seeds across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath where the dirt was hard packed and the seeds could not sink into the soil. So, the birds came and ate them. Some seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, since their roots couldn't grow in the rock, and they died. Other seeds fell among thorn bushes and weeds that grew up and choked out the tender plants. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!"

"Now listen to what I have said and you will understand."

Then, Jesus’ disciples came to Him and asked Him, "Why do you use stories when you talk to the people?"

He replied, "You understand the things that I tell you, because you pay attention, but others do not. Those who really listen to my teaching will understand, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not really listening, even what little they do understand, they will forget.

I use these stories, because some of them look, but they don't really see. They hear, but they don't really listen or understand.

This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says,

‘When you hear what I say,
you will not understand.
When you see what I do,
you will not comprehend.
For the hearts of these people are hardened,
and their ears cannot hear,
and they have closed their eyes—
so their eyes cannot see,
and their ears cannot hear,
and their hearts cannot understand,
and they cannot turn to me
and let me heal them.’

"But your eyes are blessed, because they see; and your ears are blessed, because they hear. This is the truth: Many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn't see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn't hear it."

"Now listen to the explanation of the story about the farmer planting seeds:"

"The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don't have deep roots, they don't last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are harassed for believing God's word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God's word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so God’s word never has a chance to grow in them and change their lives The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God's word and it changes their lives, and then through them it changes the lives of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times the number of people who fist heard it!"

and finally...

A quick word from a Non-Believer:
"I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history." -- H.G. Wells

God Works in Mysterious Ways

I have had a pretty rough couple of days, but (as usual) God found a way to bring me around. During our morning worship services at Marathon, I simply prayed, “Lord, I need healing!”

A friend, Richard Hill, walked up to me between services and handed me a DVD that he wanted me to check out. I glanced at it and noticed that it was a video of Steve Brown, whon we both enjoy listening to. Later this afternoon when I had a chance to sit down for a few minutes, I pulled out the DVD, and realized that I had prayed for healing, and was handed a DVD entitled “The Great American Medicine Show – Real medicine for the soul”.

That alone was enough to make me say a prayer of thankfulness, and I was indeed enjoying the DVD when one of the performers walked out on stage, and went into an “in character” monologue of my favorite passage from GK Chesterton’s classic “Othodoxy”.

“A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again,” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again,” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”

Thank you Father for this reminder that brought me back to earth, and back into your healing hands.