Speechless

Life is nuts. Bills. Jobs. Politics. School. Kids. Fights. Stress. More bills.

And then a close friend of mine died tonight. What do you say? What is there to say when you look at 83 years of life laying lifeless in a bed?

She always told me that God is good. And He is. She told me not to get caught up in the "stuff" of life. And she was right.

You see, we moan and complain, we fight and we fuss, but we all have the same end. And in the end what do you say? She was a good woman and she is with God now.

Life is nuts. Fights. Kids. Money. Work. Drama. And in the end there He is in control all along...and I'm speechless.

Chase the Lion

We've all faced people, places, things, and circumstances that seemed impossible to overcome. We've all felt those bubbles rise up in our guts when faced with a certain "lion". In his 2nd book (first from Multnomah), Mark Batterson challenges readers to "Chase the Lion". I'm personally tired of Christians who are timid, traditional, and just plane tired. This book is a true firestarter. Buy it now! Check out Mark's blog @ www.evotional.com

I wish I'd have said that!

I came up with the idea to put Taco Bell and KFC in the same resturaunt.
Don't you hate it when you have an idea and someone rips it off?

Or have you ever read something and wished that you would have said it first? That's how I feel whenever I hear or read Mark Batterson.I wish I'd have said half of the things he does. It's like he gets in your head and communicates things that you have been thinking about but could never communicate on your own.I just got my copy of his latest book, In a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day.

You absolutley must go and buy it right now, it's that good!
More on the book and Mark later.

No News is News

......Did you hear that Paris Hilton is blond? Apparently that is her hair color.

And what about the latest fall fashions? Clothes are definitely in this season.

Rumor has it that Hollywood will be producing a string of hits in 07' that will include car chases, conspiracy theories, and of course, college guys getting drunk and chasing women.....

Why is any of that mess news? FOX and CNN interrupted war coverage once to talk about that Karr guy who lied about killing Jon Benet Ramsey! When are we going to say enough is enough and demand real news? (props to O for that line) I don't care about the personal lives of Brittany, Justin, Jennifer, or Tom. I just want to know what is really happening in the world.

Read the paper. Educate yourself. Demand the truth.

96 and still kickin'

Earl Blythe was in church last Sunday. He is 96 years old and is 3-4 weeks past a heart attack that damaged half of his heart and caused his organs to start shutting down. Yet, there he was, on the front row, 3-4 weeks later.

He didn't show up out of tradition or routine. He showed up because he loves a God that has been so good to him that not showing up would be an insult to His Lord.

Hundreds of thousands of HEALTHY Christians stay home on Sundays or whatever church day for...Whatever. I'm not judging, I'm just saying...Where have our priorities gone? Save all of the "I don't need to got to church to be a Christian" crap for someone who's buying it. Of course we don't HAVE to go to church, we GET to. See you on Sunday!

T. O. vs. El Nino

The earth has experienced an extreme amount of "suckage" over the last 2 years. War is ugly. Politics stink. Racism is "tha Debil". And Americans keep getting fatter (God bless the hamburger). And on a serious note, who will ever forget the pain that last year's hurricanes brought to our country?

So I've decided to follow the American media's pattern of spin and blame-gaming:

I'll just talk about T.O., because after all his day-to-day mishaps are REAL news!

Seriously, could we please watch 5 minutes of ESPNFOXSPOTRSCNNFOXNEWSMSNBCMNFNFLONNBC without hearing about Mr. Owens, please.

He doesn't have anything to do with anything, except maybe football. Pretty soon he'll get the bum rap that El Nino has and we'll be mentioning T.O. next time there is a Tsunami or something.

That is all.

Heavenly Minded or Earthly Good?

Its been a while, but I'll be brief. It seems like most of the church folks I've been around lately have an infatuation with the end times and tribulation earth? I can only ask why? Why waste good air discussing a place that most of them claim they won't be? While these deep talks on pre-trib and post-trib and divine revelations of hell are going on, millions enter a Christ-less eternity annually, a continent is being destroyed by Aids, terrorists are called freedom fighters, and freedom fighters are called war criminals.

Let's get some perspective and change what we can. Let's fix our eyes on the only One who can fix anything any way.

That is all.

I don't want to be a wanna be

To sleep like a baby is to wake up every 2 hours crying. To sleep like a dead man or a log is to never wake up again. To be busy as a bee is to work yourself to death. To be as fit as a fiddle is to spend most of your life stuck in a musty case or under someone's sweaty chin.

I want to serve God with all that I am, but I want to do it being me. Not who anyone else says I must be, but who God made me to be.

If being a Christian means being in a relationship, than you have to be real.

Transformation

Something wonderful happens inside of a cocoon. A bug turns into beauty. The "grubby", pun intended, turns into something gorgeous. I wonder what it feels like in there? The changing, growing, developing, and stretching must be a roller coaster of emotion. Yet, this is God's way: The wait, time, change.
What goes in will come out different. The caterpillar doesn't just one day say, "I'm a butterflyl now" or "I believe I'm a butterfly." There is a process of transformation.
God tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The reason so many "converts" never really do more than believe, is the lack of transformation. You can't rush growth. Bad things spread fast, like cancer and forest fires. Let's get back to the business of investing in transformation. It is God's way: The wait, time, change.

Next Time...The Dumbming Down of the Gospel

Glory Days

Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros. Punky Brewster. The Snorks and He-Man. Blame It On The Rain and Straight Up Now Tell Me. Jelly Shoes, Slap bracelets, and "parachute pants". MC Hammer Rules! Sike! Word Up!

Teen Spirit and Evenflow. Lumberjack Shirts. Coffee is gooood. I'm a Loser Baby....Brenda, Dillon, Brandon,Andrea, Kelly,David and Steve. Promise Rings and Cross Colors. Hammer Sucks! Whatever! True Dat!

In reality, they do make things better now...different, yet better. While I love to look back, God save me from being stuck there. I do not want to miss out on the blessings of today because I have such an infatuation with the days gone by. Can we please move on? I bet we could change the world if we focused on tomorrow, instead of dreaming about yesterday.

Next Time....Transformation

The Tick

Why did God make ticks? What exactly is the niche of a blood sucking parasite that latches onto you for no reason other than to get fat and give you lime disease? I guess I won’t know until heaven. I had an encounter with a tick following a weekend retreat in the woods of Tennessee, and let’s just say… I won. That beast had some nerve to latch on to and drain me of my hard earned blood. I ate a whole lot of honey buns to make sure that my sugar was just right and this monster grabs onto me and sucks away!!! Of course all it took was a quick touch of the match head and the blood mooching freak was history. One day God is going to deal with the “ticks” who have latched onto His church and His Son, only taking and never giving, sucking away resources and hurting feelings just to feed their bellies. The only way to really get a tick off of you is to burn it. No wonder Hell is hot.

Next Time.....Glory Days

Turn Down That Noise

I was discussing with a friend recently the paradox that is the gender gap. We imagined ourselves as 80 year old gray-hairs complaining about young folks. The conversation went something like this:

"Whatever happend to the good ole' days of hard rock worship music?"

"I remember when everyone listened to gospel gangster rap"

"Boy these kids now days just don't enjoy good old fashioned screamo anymore"

"I wish we could go back to the days of unashamed, zao, strongarm, and underoath"

"Now that was good music"

"Do you remeber those classic Tv shows like Friends, American Idol, and CSI"

"There is just nothing good on TV nowadays"

"zzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

The moral is, there is nothing new under the sun. Today's hardcore is tommorows classic rock. Stop complaining about old fashioned music. And for you older folks, open up your mind and remember that what you think is great, was at one time cutting edge. Let's just respect each other . Let young people be young and old people be old. That is all.

Next Time.....The Tick

Oh Say Can You Si?

This blog will not be about the following things:
That poor Gonzales boy,
Fidel,
Illegal Immigration,
"W",
Puerto-Mexi-Cubano-Haitian-Phillipinos,
Katrina or El Nino.

My only thought is this. Why do we who are suppose to be "aliens and strangers here" act like we belong. Our home is out of this world. We won't take anything with us. Our loyalty is to the King of Kings and His Kingdom. I'm for national pride, but I am against national idolatry. Many have been worshiping the "god" of America, instead of The God. He loved all the world and sent His Son to save ALL. Not just the GOP, not just the USA, and not just the neat and clean. If you are a believer in Christ, stop acting like you are a citizen of this word and it's system. You are just as illegal as 7 million other people who I'm not talking about in this blog.

Next Time...."Turn down that noise!"

Crossed Signals

So you're sitting there looking your "Sunday" best. Fresh outfit, hair perfect, smelling good and feeling good. And then you see him/her. Man they look good. Your eyes lock. "What is going on in that mind" you ask yourself. "Are they giving me THE LOOK" you wonder silently. And then he/she moves toward you. You stand up tall and confident and proceed to introduce yourself....as they walk past you into the embrace of someone else.
Deflating isn't it.
The same thing happens when we we send out the wrong signals about our faith, integrity, and motives. Churches say we care about everyone, and then walk past single adults into the embrace of "married couple". We say we are multi-cultural, yet the only diversity we see is in the fact that some are from irish decent and some are from english. Or how about our heart for the needy, that exsits only on Sunday when we give our offering.
You can't say you care about young people and sing old people songs. You can't say you respect old people and then strip the church of all they know and love. We must make sure that those who are recievng our signals, recieve them loud and clear. There is someone out there searching for answers. Will you lead them to the truth? Or will you walk past them into the embrace of someone who isn't even seeking.

Next Time....Cognitive Dissonance

The Golden Roof

Have you ever seen a box of chocolates? Didn't those chocolates look so tantalizing in their neat rows? Did you ever bite into one only to spit it out because it's contents were...not what you expected?
In my line of work there are many who just like that box of chocolate seem to be sweet and full of flavor on the outside. But once you bite in, they are bitter, and down right toxic.
Some have lost their saltiness by spending so much time trying to be sugar. Salt preserves, gives flavor, sustains life, and is a base. Sugar...makes you fat and rots your teeth. I'm not saying don't be nice. I'm saying, have some substance. Golden roofs and pretty shows mean nothing, when your inside leaves a bad taste.

Next time...Crossed Signals

Tis so sweet

I've encountered many who feel disillusioned by "church" and tradition, and maybe in a way I've found myself feeling that way at times too. It is our own fault. Church and tradition and stuff was never to be the focus. Jesus said "if any would follow me they must deny themselves, pick up their cross daily and follow me". When we take our focus off of the Master and focus on His servants, of course we will get bitter and jaded. When the style we sing becomes the object of worship instead of the reason we sing, of course we'll get tired. I want to trust Him more. I want to move from "business as usual church" to life changing relationship. If you have been hurt by the church, I offer my humble, but maybe too late apology. Don't give up on the Maker of Heaven and Earth because some creation has given Him a bad name. Don't deny the Savior of the world because some misuse His name. Ask for grace to trust Him more.

Next time...the "Bless me Club"