The Light Bulb Comes On!

September 28, 2011

Last night after typing up My Story and posted it to my blog,  I went to bed I had some trouble falling asleep.  I usually don’t have any trouble, maybe it was the mountain dew I drank around 11pm, not sure.  My mind was full of different things from the day.  Things I am reading about, church and family things.  Then it hit me, I had been considering getting back to writing more on my blog and was wanting to find a way to organize some of my thoughts in a coherent way that  I could keep up with.  I believe I had found the way to go.  I have  kept a notebook of my studies and notes on books that I have read over the last year.  I had organized it into a way that I could find what I was looking for quickly.  I would just simply use the same type of format that I have in my notebook.  Now I really couldn’t sleep my mind was racing with ideas and how I would start out.   I have loved teaching apologetics, but I know  I couldn’t get away with that each week at church, so, I decided that I will use my blog to post articles, thoughts on what I believe, and bits and pieces of arguments and definitions within the apologetic studies.  I have found my angle, to educated anyone on how I came to believe and trust in God, specifically in my Christian faith.

I realize that this will be lots of work, but I have a passion for it, and I will enjoy doing it.  I know that there are going to be those might read my blog that disagree with me and my worldview, that’s OK.  I would just hope that they as well as anyone would keep an open mind to the ideas that are presented, as I try to do with the books, articles, and blogs that I read.  I will welcome any comments for and against my views expressed.  The only thing I will ask is that the discussions are kept clean of hate speech and name calling.  I will post anything in response as long as it is truthful and free of meanness.    I will follow the rules for myself as well.   I was frustrated a few weeks back when I started dialoging with a gentle man from San Francisco about the truthfulness of the Bible, and after reading his article I found a few things that I questioned and posted a response to.  I gave him a few facts and things to consider in a reply, but he never approved my comments to be seen by the public readers.  I was disappointed that he didn’t post my comments  for whatever reason it was.  I suspect that it might have made his article look bad, I guess I will never know, because after several attempts to contact him now, he has just ignored my messages.    That is also something that I will try not to do to anyone who leaves comments on my blog.  If it becomes time-consuming, I may have to change the time frame in which I respond, but I don’t think that will be a problem, I’m not anyone famous, and I don’t care to be, and hundreds of people will not be reading my blog daily.

So here goes, let the blogging begin, and I hope that it will help you in your journey, to discovering what I have found to true and trustworthy in my relationship to Christ.  As always, I will welcome any comments, questions, and discussions about anything I type.  In my next blog I will summarize what are the factors, evidence, and reasons for my belief in God and my Christian faith.


My Story

September 28, 2011
Amy and me

Amy and me

A few weeks ago our pastor challenged the church congregation to “Be Courageous and Share Your Story”.  A few days later it hit me that one way, not the only way, I could do that would be online through my blog or on Facebook.  So here it is, Here is my story and I welcome any questions, comments, or snide remarks.

I grew up in a great home, a happy home, and while  I felt very sheltered from a lot of crazy things in life, I knew that  I was blessed because of the environment I was raised in.  My parents were both involved in church and so consequently, so was I, but again I didn’t mind.  I loved church, I love the people in the church.  My friends in church were different from most of the other students at school.  I had a few good friends at school, but most of my close friends were in the church with me.  Because I had a long history of being in church I knew a lot about the Bible, facts about God, and felt like I had a grasp on why things were the way they were.  As an early teen I began to notice that my brother and some other friends were making a choice to trust Jesus as their savior and they were baptized later on.  After a few months, it hit me that I knew a bunch of facts about the Bible and God, but I had not yet taken those facts to heart.  I had not really placed my faith, my trust in Jesus in my own personal way.    One night, while at a youth ministry event I really felt convicted within me to stop putting off what I already knew I needed to do and go talk to someone about making my faith personal.   I still get reminders today, because of my job,  of how scary that can be for a teen, to walk out of a pew or crowd and go talk to someone.  I knew what I had to do, grab the closest person near me and make them go with me!  I grabbed a great friend named Susanne and stepped out to find someone to talk to.

That night, April 30, 1988 I sat down with a man who went over the gospel of Jesus with me quickly to make sure I understood what I believed and what my need was.  For the first time I placed my trust in Jesus, that His death on the cross was payment for my sins and even though I didn’t understand it all, I knew that I was far from perfect and that I needed Jesus not only for an eternal life, but for a great life now.  I said a short prayer and asked God to forgive me of my past sins, I placed my belief in Jesus, for who He said he was, and I turned my life over to God to be my Lord, or boss for a lack of a better term.  A few months later I was baptized by my grandfather, who also was a pastor, in Yazoo City, Mississippi.

Since I have placed my faith in God I have had some interesting times, some great times, some challenging times, but they have all helped me grow in my relationship to God.  During my college years, I struggled with the idea that, perhaps I was a Christian only because I was raised in a Christian home.  I didn’t want the faith of my parents, I wanted to own my own faith.  I began to look at all the other worldviews and examine then for myself.  I knew after all, that not all the different worldviews could be correct.  I begin reading books on other religions and studying them to get a better understanding of them.  I admit at first I kept a close grip on my faith and didn’t want to be pulled from my own faith.  Some might say I was studying with a presupposition.   I was lucky enough to be taught though by my pastor and other teachers that I should do the research and examine things for myself and not just except the way things are because someone tells me so.  Trust is earned.  What I read was backed up by what I read for myself and what I found to be true in life.  My faith was becoming my own.

Right before finishing college, I began to question my career and what God really wanted me to do after I graduated.  I had always felt that God wanted me to be a teacher, but the last few months before graduation, I believe that God used a few different people to speak to me about being a pastor/minister.  After a few months of pushing the idea aside I finally quit telling God “no”, and I told God that if He wanted me to do something different with my life I would do it and trust Him for the things I didn’t know.  It was amazing what happened immediately after I had that conversation with God in my prayer time.  I felt this peace just fall over me like a heavy blanket.  I knew right then and there that I was not going to be an orchestra teacher anymore.

Right about this time, God opened a door for me to work in a church as an intern for the youth ministry.  Six months later the church came back and offered me the job permanently.   That was in 1997.  Fourteen years later I have had the joy of serving 3 churches as their student pastor  and have loved every minute of it.  I don’t feel like it is a job, but rather a calling.   Over the past 14 years I have grown in my passion for teaching the Bible and have also found a love for apologetics.  Apologetics is the study of “why you believe what you believe” or backing up your faith with reason and evidence.  Apologetics has allowed me to get a better grasp in what I believe and made my faith stronger.  Over the last few years I have opened up my reading and began to read books from both sides of the debate between atheists/agnostics and believers.  I try to read both sides to get an honest view-point from both sides of the aisle.  I have yet to find anything that worries me or that might cause my faith to stumble.  My passion today still lies with both the teens in this generation and teaching them apologetics that will prepare them for the vastly different world in which they live today.  It is a different world in which I lived in 20 years ago as a teen.

If you have any questions for me I would be glad to try to answer them for you.  I don’t know all the answers, not even close, but I would be glad to share what I have found to be solid ground to stand upon in my life.

God Bless,

John


“I love it When a Plan Comes Together”

July 3, 2010

OK,  just got back from the movies.   I went to see the A-Team movie a remake of the TV show I watched as a child growing up in the 80′s every Friday night at 9:00pm.  I have to say  it was a bit disappointed with the movie tonight.  I’m not sure that if there is a sequel that I will go and see it.    I remember for years watching the Dukes of Hazard, and the A-Team back to back almost every Friday night for years.  It was great family time with the whole family and then off to bed at 10:00 when Dallas came on.  Several things I will remember about those nights like;  it was the one night we got to stay up late and the jokes about dad liking  Daisy Duke.

 Hannibal had his saying at the end of the program after the bad guys were caught and the adventure was over.  “I love it when a plan comes together.”  Everything seem to just work out perfectly and the good guys went home and we waited impatiently until next week to see what would happen again.  Sounds a little of the reality scope of life doesn’t it?  It was no fairy tale ending because they were always on the run from the MP’s and Cornell Decker. 

 The thought occurred to me on the way home that God might have the same phrase that He uses on us when all through our lives different things may happen and they might seem out of control and crazy, but in the end they work out for a “mission accomplished.”  The world can be a messed up place, and because of the sinful choices of people it can be hard to grasp the idea that God is in control and God has plan that He is working out, but it is true.  God is in control , He has a plan, and even when the world is crashing down around us or with us, God is there.

There are so many scriptures that show us that He is in control and that He has a plan for those who are His children.  Jeremiah 29:11, Ephesians 2:10, Romans 8:28 just to list a few.  It is always easier to look back after you have come through an experience and see where God used it to better you or to teach you something, or even to begin a new chapter ministry or life.  The hardest part is trying to see God in situations that you are currently going through, we often look for God working in areas when He may be doing something totally different with a situation. 

Are you going through a tough situation right now?  Do you struggle to find God working in your life some times?  Let me encourage you to do 2 things.  Remain close to God and His people (the church) they will be a great support for you.  Secondly, just keeping doing what God has called you do, being obedient to him with what you know He wants you to do, until the time comes and you know He wants you to do something else.  It may be weeks, months, or even years that will pass before you see how God was with you in a situation or how you grew in the tests and trials you passed through.  Rick Warren, Pastor and Author says in his book “Purpose Driven Life” that God often uses your greatest weakness or failure to be your greatest ministry in life.  Think of the possibilities of how God can use your experiences to help others  who are going through where you have already been.

  Maybe, like Hannibal Smith  you might even say “I love it when a plan comes together!”


Return to Rock Eagle

April 19, 2010

Hey Class of 93, any of you remember the 5th grade trip to Rock Eagle?  For decades now the Gwinnett County Schools has sent the 5th graders on a week-long trip to Rock Eagle in the summer.   I went back to Rock Eagle for the first time since that summer in 1986  this past weekend to pick up a student in my youth ministry from a weekend camp.  We had some great discussions on the road and pulling back into the park reminded me of one of the worst trips I think I have ever had.  Here’s what I mean:

It starts before we even got to camp, the bus we were on broken down on the middle of I-20 and we spent about 1 hour sitting on the side of the road under an over pass waiting for another bus to come pick us up.  After we finally boarded the second bus guess what?  It broke down also about 20 minutes later.  Well after boarding a 3rd bus we finally made it to Rock Eagle.  I should have understood the bus situation.  It was a warning from God trying to keep us away from the camp.  God knew bad stuff was going to happen!

After we got there we settle in our bunks and meet the counselors that were in charge of us.  I don’t remember much but only that we had a very strict counselor and got yelled at often for breathing the wrong way.  It seemed that all the other counselors were very loose and let their students do just about anything they wanted.

Another memory I remember was that some other students from another school kept wanting to fight students from our school.   They started throwing sand in people’s eyes randomly and running off.  I remember several of the guys in our cabin got attacked, I think Jason Brasswell was one of them.

The last memory was the best.  We had heard from the counselors that the movie Friday the 13th was partially filmed  there and like you should tell a bunch of 5th graders that anyway it added to the scary we got later in the week.  One day we decided to go look at the famous pile of rocks made by indians long ago (Rock Eagle)  They school drove us by bus to the big pile of rocks and after we were done they decided to let us all walk back to camp through the woods by ourself with no adult supervision.  I was in the back part of the group and several of us got lost on the way back as it started to get dark.  I remember freaking out as a kid thinking Jason was going to come out and get us with his chainsaw.  Finally we found our way back to camp and then we got yelled at by our super strict counselor for being late.

This was in the days before 2nd graders had cell  phones, heck this was before cellphones  weighed less than 15 pounds and you had to carry them in a big back pack so we didn’t have them to call for help or to call for our parents to come get us from the awful bad camp.   Makes me wonder if the person who invented the cell phone was a 4-H camper with us.

So, just wanted to say thanks Rock Eagle and thanks 4-H club for all the great memories you gave me.  Let’s do it again sometime real soon… NOT.  Well all joking aside, we survived just fine and that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

If you have any great memories of your experience at Rock Eagle please feel free to add comments!

Go Comets class of 1993


Jesus and March Madness

April 7, 2010

Well congratulations to Duke and UConn for their wins in the NCAA tournaments this year.  I enjoyed watching some of the games this year, especially Uconn and Mia Moore.  What they have set as far as records is nothing short of amazing.   Our Pastor, a former collegiate player, has shown me where the women’s skill sets and techniques are so much better than the mens.  After watching a few of the games I must agree with him.

How did you do, our your brackets this year?  Did you enter into any contests or competitions with friends?  A few of the other youth pastors and I had a group and had a good time talking smack to each other.  I did how I expected to do, not any where close to winning.

Every time March Madness roles around  I can’t help but to think about Jesus and the prophecies in the Bible.  There is a lesson to be learned in the odds and mathematics of both the NCAA tournament and with Jesus fulfilling prophecy  Here’s what I mean:

According to BookofOdds.com the odds of picking every single game in the tournament correctly are 1 to 35,360,000,000.  Playing the lottery has better odds in most cases.  This is why some of the companies, like Dr Pepper and Yahoo.com,  can afford to create excitement by offering a 1 Million Dollar prize if you enter and pick every single game correctly.  It’s all about the odds for them and the money involved.

Well now that brings us to Jesus and the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah.  There are over 60 prophecies about this promised Messiah and details of His birth, birthplace, life, death, teachings, His nature, His resurrection, and events after burial, just to name a few.  All these are documented in Josh McDowell’s foundational book called “Evidence That Demands A Verdict” or His updated version “The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict”  (chapter 8, pages 164-202)   Josh McDowell was a atheist who set out to disprove Christianity and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but as he searched for answers he found out through his discoveries that indeed there was one true living God.

In McDowell’s reasearch he brings into the light the work of Peter Stoner in his book Science Speaks.  Stoner does a great job at the probability and statistical mathematics of Jesus and fulfilled prophecy.  Stoner took just 8 of the probabilities of the Jewish Messiah and figured out the odds at which Jesus or anyone would fulfill them.  He came up with a rather large number.  The odds were 1 in 10 to the 17 power.  That would be a 1 with 17 zero’s after it.  [1,00,000,000,000,000,000 ]  Stoner gives a great visual example of that number, because it is so big and hard for us to wrap our minds around.  Imagine that you fill the entire state of Texas with Silver Dollars 2 feet high.  You mark one Dollar with an “X” and then blindfold a man and have him take one guess and find the one dollar with a “X” on it.  Keep in mind that this is only 8 of the prophecies and not the entire lot.  Stoner’s research has been examined for years now and the mathematics in his work has been found to be solid.

Well, where do we go from here?  Let me just encourage you whether you are a believer or not, to take a closer look at the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.  I am quiet sure you will see something different with Him than with any other religious leader in the world.  There is a difference with Jesus because He was who He claimed to be, God.

As always your comments, questions, snide remarks are welcome.


Why I believe Evolution is False

April 1, 2010

I will keep this short and spare you on some of the details.  If you would like the details I will be glad to send them to you or discuss them further.

Using the word FLAWED,  I would like to expound on 6 talking points that place a lot of doubt in Darwin’s theory of Evolution.  The idea came from Chris Sherrod, a friend and fellow student minister years ago.  Chris Sherrod also has written a chapter in the new book from Sean McDowell, called Apologetics for a New Generation.   I love using the acronym  and teaching it to students because of the ease of it to memorize. 

FOSSIL FALLACY - Darwin himself said that in order for the theory of evolution to hold weight that in order we must find proof in the fossils by what he called transitional fossils.  These are fossils that show us the process of evolution at work by finding fossils that are in transition from one form to the other.  Like half bird and lizard or also the half ape-man.  Well how many of these kinds of fossils have we found, Zero!!  Not one transitional fossil has been found yet and this throws great doubt on Darwin’s Theory.  Evolutionist have had to scramble around to try to find other theory’s to support their lack of evidence like “gap theory” which also brings more questions into the argument because it doesn’t fit the facts.

LAWS VIOLATED – In order for evolution to be true, it must break a few key laws of science.  The most important Law broken is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics which states simply that over a period of time all complex systems go from a state of order to disorder.  That over time they breakdown and become less complicated.  Evolution states that everything we know came from a random “Big Bang” in the Universe and we slowly evolved into complex organisms over billions and billions of years.  Imagine taking all the parts of a wrist watch and placing them in a bag and shaking them up and they come together to form a nice new Rolex time piece.

Another Key law broken by evolution is the law of Biogenesis, which states that you can not create life from non-life.  Scientist have been trying this for decades and cannot break this law and create life in the laboratory but cannot.  You will never be able to get life from a granite molecule or life from other non-living matter.

The last law or principal is Cause and Effect.  Cause and Effect simply states that every effect has a cause.  similarly, every cause also is an effect of something else and also has a cause.   The cause is either a “what” or a “who”.  For example; what caused the vase to fall of the shelf?  The earthquake caused the vase to fall.  What caused the earthquake?  Was it the blasting of dynamite at the quarry next door or was it a real earthquake?  You can go on and on with layers of cause and effects.  What caused the earthquake?  Plate Tectonic movement, caused by the heat of the earths core, which is caused by the suns warming rays, etc…..  With respect to evolution, what caused the big bang that started the universe?  Even if you break matter down to its smallest form, to the sub-molecule level and start talking string theory and other new ideas, where did that come from?  Evolution has to answer 3 big bangs in reality not just 1.  The origin of matter, the origin of life, and the origin of conscience thought and a moral compass.

ABSENCE OF OBSERVATION – No one has ever saw evolution happen and there is no way to test it.  Let me point out the difference between Macro-evolution and Micro-evolution.  Macro evolution is the kind that Darwin wrote about.  It is the idea that we slowly evolved over billions of billions of years from a simple cell, primordial goo into fish and from fish to reptiles, from reptiles to birds and eventually other creations to primates to humans.  Micro-evolution also know as adaption is the faster process where in an organism, animal or plant change to adapt or survive from predators or climate.  We have seen and witnessed this process of micro-evolution, but this is not the same as Darwin’s theory of evolution.  Further more these adaptions have not gone from one species to another ie… snake to bird or fish to reptile.  Some examples of this, like the peppered-moth can be found in the section below under Erroneous examples.

WITHOUT A MECHANISM – Evolution has no purpose or reason.  Life cannot create itself and why would it desire to create itself for there is no reason behind all of the small details of the universe.  If there was life from the beginning, why would it need to evolve in the first place?  Why not just stay as the simple primordial ooze that it was.  We know that in nature there are mutations and with the process of Natural selection which we can see in nature, these mutations are harmful at best and most mutations  are eliminated by the process of natural selection and nature.

ERRONEOUS EXAMPLES – There have been many finding through out our history of so-called proof of evolution which have turned out to be false or cases where evolutionist thought or believed to be true without knowledge or fact.  Below are a few examples of many.

Peppered moth – got its name during the industrial revolution in England.  The moths were seen to change from a pure white color to a darker color and have spots that helped camouflage themselves from predators due to the rise of factories and smoke that came from them.  This is an example of microevolution and not macro-evolution.  Notice that the moth was still, a moth.  It didn’t change into a large bird or other species.  The process of Natural selection deems that the ones with spots were able to survive from predators better that the pure solid and lightly colored moths.  As the darker and spotted moths mated their kind and color began to increase as the others decreased.

The changes in the bone structure and skulls of people.  Much is made of height and other features, but in fact they are still human features not ape-men features.  Some finds have recently been under fire by scientist who believe that the few skeletal remains  found of curved or arched back bones were those of people who had a disease such as rickets.   We see people in our time today that have similar issues.

There are other examples such as the Archaeopteryx, Vestial Organs, Past ideas that fetuses had gills in utero, the list could go on but for the sake of time I will not.  Each had been thought of as further proof of evolution , but were found to be incorrect.

DESIGN & DNA – Can you imagine in all the evidence we have in the universe that it all was a random chance rather than a design set forth by a creator.  You can look at DNA and see the complex design and pattern of  life’s code.  DNA is some complex that it would make a computer program from Apple or Microsoft look like first grade math.  The DNA code in one single cell can hold as much information as the equivalent of 500 volumes of an encyclopedia.   The earth is finely turned to support life and if one detail of the earth was different in rotation, temperature, gravity, and etc…. Life would not be able to exist.  Try imagining a computer programing itself or a complicated invention like a watch or computer coming together all by itself.  Seems so crazy right, but if you don’t believe that God exist and created everything, then you have to believe that it all just is a random purposeless accident of chance.

I think it takes more faith to believe in evolution than it does to believe in God.  I really believe that the debate will go on for the next hundred and thousands of years without a single assurance that God created everything through a 6 day Biblical creation and the theory of evolution.  We may never know “for sure” to either side.   That’s when faith comes into play in the role of not having all the answers.  I hope that these points will cause you to think about what you do believe and why you believe it.  I will also follow-up this blog with another entry on why I do believe that there is a God in the near future.  As always I welcome your comments, questions, and opposing views.


Where Did All The Dinosaurs Go?

March 23, 2010

Or rather what caused them to go away would be a better question.  A new report published today about a panel of 41 scientists from around the world says that a 9-mile wide asteroid was the cause of the extinction that took place 65 millions years ago.  You can read the article posted in a yahoo blog here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100304/sc_nm/us_dinosaurs_asteroid

As a 6 day creationist who doubts the earth is any more than 12,000 years old I just simply have to ask, “Where were you when you saw that asteroid hit?”  They say that science is based on observation and last time I checked the oldest people who are still living were only about 116 years old.  Maybe they found a stone tablet with a sentence scratched in it by a dinosaur; “Big Asteroid coming, 9 miles wide, we are all gonna die…..” (mocking the monty python and the Holy Grail scene where they explore the cave and read the writing on the wall)

It’s amazing to me that the theory of Evolution is still given as much weight as it is given even after the decades of research and non-existant proof that has yet to be found.  I know that we don’t know it all yet, and that goes for both sides evolution and creation, I don’t think we will ever know it all.  The Bible says in Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”  Plain and simple this says that there are some things that we will never know or understand in our life, but that those things are for only God to know.

 I am tired of the scientific community making new claims and findings that they infer from the smallest bit of evidence or an educated guess about live thousands of years ago.  They make the news for a day and then are gone into the forgotten library of tapes and archives never to be thought up again, until a liberal college professor assigns a paper on evolution.  To this date there have been no transitional fossils (fossils that show evolution in process for example changing from a lizard to a bird) found, Darwin himself made comment that in order for evolution to be true there would have to be transitional fossils.

The Nebraska Man Drawing

Similarly, the ape-man discoveries of Neanderthal man have been found to be rare examples of people with back and spine problems  like rickets disease for example.  The other findings such as Java man, Piltdown man, Peking Man, Nebraska man, and Lucy, all turned out to have similar stories or have found to be fake.  My favorite story was Nebraska Man found in 1922, that was believed to be undeniable proof by paleontologist was all derived on a single solitary tooth!   Drawings were made of this supposed link to the past.  However, findings didn’t turn out good because some time later Harold Cook found another identical tooth, but this one happened to be attached to the skull of an extinct wild pig!!

It was just a little over 500 years ago that people thought the world was flat, and Christopher Columbus was sailing off to his death in search of a new world.  Just 60+ years ago the Nazi government got together and thought it was OK to slaughter millions of Jews.  These are just some examples of science and “the majority” of where they were wrong, I have no doubt that there will be more claims and events  like these in the future also.

One of the reasons I believe that man has such a hard time giving up on the theory of evolution is that it is simply the only other choice to choose other than accepting the idea that the Bible is true and that God created it.  Are we as people that hard to give up control and admit that we are not the top of everything.  When we recognize the idea that God is the creator and sustainer of life and of the universe we live, we also have to entertain the fact that we are sinful imperfect people who need help and need a savior to help us out of the pit that we are in.  I know I am a sinner and that if Jesus had died for me on the cross I would be in a heap of trouble.

As for the question posed in my title, “Where did all the dinosaurs go?”  I have the answer for you and it is… I don’t know.  It could be an asteroid, a flood, and a few other things as far s I’m concerned, but  I don’t let it keep me up at night.  I look to the Bible and to my relationship with Jesus for answers and if I don’t have an answer to something I trust God that I don’t have to have all the answers.

In writing this blog I feel led to write 2 follow-up blogs about why I believe in the Biblical creation story and why I do not believe in evolution.  I will out line the proof that I have seen on why there is only one choice.


Let Scripture Speak

March 9, 2010

Sometimes, I just can’t find the words to say or to share just the way  I want.  I like to turn to the Bible and let it speak to me, speak for me.   I can’t do a better job than God.  Psalm 51 was a psalm of David.  He wrote it after he was confronted by the prophet Nathan about his sins with Bathsheba and her husband.  He wrote it when he felt probably the lowest spiritually in his life.  No,  I didn’t do anything like David did, but I’m can identify with him and how he felt.  I long for forgiveness and a fresh start in life, ministry, and with my family.   I pray that I will never again find myself far away from God and that He will keep me on the straight and narrow path.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
       according to your unfailing love;
       according to your great compassion
       blot out my transgressions.

 2 Wash away all my iniquity
       and cleanse me from my sin.

 3 For I know my transgressions,
       and my sin is always before me.

 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
       and done what is evil in your sight,
       so that you are proved right when you speak
       and justified when you judge.

 5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
       sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

 6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ;
       you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

 7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
       wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

 8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
       let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

 9 Hide your face from my sins
       and blot out all my iniquity.

 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
       and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

 11 Do not cast me from your presence
       or take your Holy Spirit from me.

 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
       and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
       and sinners will turn back to you.

 14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
       the God who saves me,
       and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

 15 O Lord, open my lips,
       and my mouth will declare your praise.

 16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
       you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
       a broken and contrite heart,
       O God, you will not despise.

 18 In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;
       build up the walls of Jerusalem.

 19 Then there will be righteous sacrifices,
       whole burnt offerings to delight you;
       then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Taken from the NIV Bible


Religion, the “Old Comfortable Shoe”

March 3, 2010

My oldest daughter got her first cell phone last week and the look on her face was priceless when my wife and I sat her down to give her the news and explain the ground rules and responsibilities.  Watching her enjoy her new phone gave me a few thoughts that I thought I would share.

New things are exciting… Phones, Cars, Relationships, etc…  I remember recently when we finally ditched the dish and went with Comcast cable.  My wife and I were enjoying learning about the new On-Demand features and finding new channels to watch.  Does everything fall into that same pattern, is everything in life doomed to have it’s 15 minutes of fame and then fade out into the annals of history like Members Only Jackets and parachute pants.  What about God and church life?  I think the answer is a great big “NO.” 

 I think the one main methods you can keep your Faith in God from becoming “the old comfortable shoe” is to not neglect it and to intentionally change some of the practical ways you live it day-to-day, such as prayer time, study time, how you share it with others, etc…   When you allow your relationship with Christ to become a routine, you can kiss the excitement goodbye.   I know I have allowed it to become that way from time to time and I have to try to snap myself out of the “spiritual coma” that I fall into and wake back up.  The same thing would be true if I neglect to talk with my wife and kids on a regular basis, the relationship would suffer.

Another spiritual sleeping pill you can add is the unpopular, new hush word in many churches that nobody wants to hear about anymore, SIN.  Sin and or Unforgiveness will do more damage to your relationship with God than anything.  When we have unconfessed sin in our life, it blocks the conduits of blessing from God and keeps us from going forward in our relationship with Christ.  If we are holding a grudge against a brother or sister in Christ we really need to deal with that first before anything else.  Matthew 5:23-24 give us that Biblical model to follow.

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. – Matt 5:23-24

In closing would you consider your faith more of a religion than a relationship?  Does your faith seem more routine than alive and vibrant?  If you answered yes to those questions it might be time to stir some things up and change the way you do things.  Ask God if there is anything in your life that is keeping you from enjoying an exciting relationship with Him, I know he will reveal it to you if you ask.


The Adventures of 4 Yr Olds in “Big Church”

March 1, 2010

Zachary

Sunday my wife was working, so I had the kids at church by myself.  I usually have responsibilities with the Powerpoint or audio so many times I don’t get to sit with my family at church on Sundays.  Makes me thankful for the times I do get with them each week.  My 4-year-old son, Zachary has been coming into the morning worship service for the last few months rather than staying in the preschool class and it has been a distraction sometime, but for the most part I enjoy watching him worship in his own ways.  He has the option to stay the whole service or to leave and go to children’s church part of the way through the service.  Here are a few notes I have taken watching him participate in worship in his own way.

I guess we will have to invest into a toy set of drums from his birthday or Christmas.  Recently during the worship music he will take out 2 hymn books and place one on his lap and one on the pew next to him.  Next he will take 2 pens (one for each hand) and start drumming away to the beat of the music.  He stops when the music stops and starts again when another song begins to play.  I’ll have to enlist Daniel, our church drummer, to give him lessons.

He also enjoys wasting offering envelopes by drawing all over them.  But at least he is planet friendly, he will rip open the envelops and draw on the inside before getting another one from the back of the pew.  I’ll have to remind myself to start bringing some scrap paper.   His favorite thing to draw of course is trains.  He can draw you all the different types of cars and couple them together on his paper.   Good to see the hobbies are passed down from generation to generation.

At one point I notices that he was giving the people around us a good stare-down.  He would just stop and look at them and I wish i knew what the thoughts were going on in his head.  Was he examining peoples worship style or trying to give disapproval of their singing voices.  (Move over Simon Cowl)  He gave our pastor’s wife a nice long stare and she just smiled back and kept singing.

Between Allison and my parents I think he had 3-4 pieces of Gum during the service.   He needs to learn to chew it just a bit longer before swallowing the gum, or maybe he just needs some of that stride brand?  When I get home now I have to add cleaning my pockets of gum paper to my to-do list.

This year we have been trying to teach our kids to tithe on a more consistent basis and we have started giving each money to put in the offering at the end of the service.  He enjoys putting his dime in the plate as it comes by and writing his name on the envelop and sealing it up before church.

I’m looking forward to the years to come and what else may spawn from him over the next few years.   I’m glad he is in church and taking in how mom and dad worship and I know that we are creating a foundation for him that will last and one that he can stand on for years to come.  It’s worth the times I have to tell him to listen and stop doing this or that.  He will learn.


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