Happy New Year

__________________________________________________
Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden but it is forbidden because it's hurtful.
-Benjamin Franklin
__________________________________________________

Time To Go?

__________________________________________________
I met a friend/brother for breakfast this morning. During the course of our reciprocal conversation he asked this question, 'How do you know when the Lord is leading you away from one church to another?'

To give you some background, this brother and his wife are part of a conservative, Brethren congregation which adheres to a larger, conference minded brotherhood of congregations. This particular brotherhood is experiencing quite a bit of dissention and confusion among its ranks thereby leaving many wondering the same thing this brother asked. One interesting note, based solely on my own personal experience, questions like this seem to be unique to conservative Anabaptist congregations. (I could be wrong in this, but that's another debate for another blog post.)

As we continued our conversation I felt like the Spirit was saying that often the Lord doesn't give us specific direction regarding 'church'. I went on to explain that denominationalism was never God's idea for his people therefore for Him to lead us away from one denomination into another is to endorse something that is outside His perfect plan. Instead He has given us His mind regarding fellowshipping with other believers and coeporately worshipping together and expects us to gauge our current experience by His word. If our experience does not align with our understanding of His word, then the time to move is now. If our experience does align, where else would you go? Further, I felt like the Spirit was saying that if we cannot endorse the creed of our current congregation then how can we continue the pretense.

However, recognizing the possibility for me to have a slanted opinion regarding this specific situation; and recognizing that the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets, I ask each of you reading this if it seems consistent with God's character. I don't ask this because I need to get 3, or 5, or 12 of you to agree with me so I can pat myself on the back, but because I want to make sure that I haven't given dangerous advice. Also, I am fairly sure that this friend will frequent this blog and may benefit from input other than my own.
__________________________________________________

The Tribe of Aaron

Verse of Encouragement

__________________________________________________
I was full of suggestions this evening when Renita asked me which verse should be used as an holiday encouragement on our family picture. Following are some of the suggestions:

First, I recommended Hezekiah 3:3 (she rolled her eyes).
Second, I recommend John 3:3 (again she rolled her eyes).
Then, thinking I was quoting Repent and be baptized every one of you... I recommended Acts 2:15. Upon turning to the reference she read ...for these are not drunken as you suppose. I think that one's perfect!! I guess you'll have to wait and see whether it was the final selection.....
__________________________________________________

Prison Preaching

__________________________________________________
I appreciate good preaching. As a student of scripture I find myself drawn, especially, to good expository preaching. That being said, I find my personal preaching/teaching style to be one of exposition and explanation rather than topical sermons dealing exclusively with contemporary subjects.

Recently I received a letter from the administration at NCCF stating that there would be some significant changes within the institution. Because of these changes, all of the current population would be moved w/in the next 6 months and replaced with an entirely new population. My current ministry approach has been one of teaching 'raw' scripture w/o fluff and sugar. I began on August 14 teaching through the parables of Jesus sequentially and I am currently on track to conclude this teaching on August 22, 2009. However, between now and then my entire congregation will be replaced with a new one. What should I do?

Rather, the question I am really asking is this...how important is sequential exposition in a prison ministry? Would the congregation be better served if I were to relax my approach and take a more topical approach addressing issues as they presented themselves? Should I take more time in researching the felt needs of the congregation? Should I give Biblical-based motivational speeches on topics such as acceptance, forgiveness, victory over sin and good Christian living instead of such methodical teaching from the text?

I've always taken the approach that a prison congregation is no less a congregation and whether I'm free or incarcerated the Word of God is alive and powerful.
__________________________________________________

The Fools Who Never Learn

__________________________________________________
How many times must we run face first into the religious wall before we get the point that God doesn't want us to live in that bondage?
__________________________________________________

Goodbye

________________________________________
vaarwel
au revoir
auf Wiedersehen
arrivederci
adeus

I’m finished. My thoughts have been consumed with whether or not you’re offended far too long. It’s over.

acabado
rifinito
fertig
de finition
________________________________________

The Secret's Out

__________________________________________________
I just read this and found it very interesting. I guess you just never know about some people.
__________________________________________________

No Stones To Throw

__________________________________________________
The following is a letter in Plain Truth magazine.

A mega high-five to Martin Davis for his
observations on “Christians in recovery” in
the September/October PT. He correctly
observes that “too many Christians are
afraid to admit our (post-conversion)
failures and shortcomings. Instead we spend
enormous amounts of emotional energy
trying to maintain the façade that we are
among the chosen, that our commitment
to Christ is unwavering and that with
girded loins and the shield of faith we
have overcome the giants in our paths.”
Oh the hypocrisy that pervades so
much of the Christian community as we
“fall prey to the exhausting belief that we
must make ourselves acceptable to God
(and to each other) by becoming faithful,
money-giving church-goers, perfect parents,
financial successes and untiring prayer
warriors.”
The need of the hour, as Davis clearly
explains, is to “break the chains of legalism
and ‘shouldism’ that hold us in bondage,
by truly realizing that we are already
loved and accepted by our heavenly Father,
just as we are, [and] then perhaps we
would be free to accept others just as they
are, not as we think they should be.”
__________________________________________________

The Battle

__________________________________________________
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy... John 10:10a

...[the devil] accuses [the brethren] before our God day and night. Revelation 12:10c

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. Zecariah 3:1

...Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; Luke 22:31

...your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8b

Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David.... 1 Chronicles 21:1

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. Job 1:6

The above quoted verses convince me that the devil is determined to destroy me. Sometimes my experience feels like he's being way too successful.
__________________________________________________

God Didn't Come To Save The Angels

__________________________________________________
...God didn't come to save the angels.
If He did, there'd be nothing to do.
But He saw a world filled with imperfect people,
And He gave His life for He knew
That He had to save all these imperfect people.
People just like me and you.

This chorus from Mark Bishop really spoke to me last night as I heard my children listening to it. I've heard this song a million times and I even knew the chorus by heart, but somehow last night when I heard it it spoke to where I'm living right now. Being a musician, it's common that song will touch my heart and speak truth to my experience in a way that not much else can. Regardless of what method the truth was delivered, I'm simply glad that this truth is true!!
__________________________________________________

Washed

__________________________________________________
As I was sitting in a restaurant waiting for my comrade to show up last night I felt the urge to pick up my Bible and read. Being the ever skeptical one, I resisted making all sorts of excuses. First I argued that I didn't want to appear 'hyper-spiritual' to the fellow patrons, when I knew I was feeling anything but spiritual. The urge wouldn't subside that easy, though. Secondly I argued that I was simply being sensational and hoping for a 'quick fix'. Still the urge was strong to pick up the Book and read the first thing my eyes fell on. Back and forth the argument went in my mind. Finally I concluded that I had nothing to lose.

Upon picking up and opening up my Bible I noticed I was in the book of Psalms (naturally, since Psalms is in the middle of the book). The argument presented itself to my heart to go elsewhere and find 'substance'. However my eyes fell on Psalm 65.

There will be silence before You,
and praise in Zion, O God,
and to You the vow will be performed

I connected with this verse, I was silent. My last several weeks, and specifically the last few days, have done nothing but reveal the depth of my depravity. I find myself having nothing at all to offer to Him except broken pieces and trash. I simply have had nothing to say to him. I have been silent before Him, out of necessity; yet I choose to praise Him and remain commited in my resolve to Him.

O You who hear prayer,
To You all men come.

This verse didn't really jump or dance before me, but it did reaffirm my knowledge of God's faithfulness to hear when we pray. This verse also told me that even though I'm silent before Him, if/when I do speak He will hear. Not only will He hear, but He's the only one to call on; I have nowhere else to go.

Iniquities prevail against me;
As for our transgressions, You forgive them.

Upon reading this verse, I melted. This verse was the exact feeling of my heart being expressed. Iniquities prevail against me. Prevail! Iniquities are overtaking me. I have felt overtaken, overpowered, overcome and powerless against the iniquities which I have become all too aware of in my life. I have even expressed this feeling to a few brothers (some of which understood and some of which didn't). Suddenly I find, in the scriptures, the exact feeling I have been living with, yet the finish on the verse deals with it. He has forgiven our transgressions! Hallelujah? HALLELUJAH!!! Iniquities overtake me, but God STILL forgives my transgressions. Suddenly I'm glad I opened the Book. I'm being 'washed by the water of the Word'. And then...

How blessed is the one whom
You choose and bring near to You
To dwell in Your courts.
We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house,
Your holy temple

.....and then I realize that GOD is the who has chosen me! I am blessed because of His choice to choose me. Sure, I'm worthless, broken and empty, He chose me. Sure, I'm a sinner and a wretch, He chose me! Sure, I have nothing to offer Him, He chose me!!!
I am satisfied with the goodness of HIS house!!
__________________________________________________

Life

__________________________________________________
Sometimes life just comes at you hard and fast and all you can do is hold on and hope for the best!
__________________________________________________

Pride and Prejudice

__________________________________________________
There seems to be two attitudes hidden the heart of every man. Pride and prejudice. No attitude seems to be worse to accept in others than pride. Pride, and specifically spiritual pride, is a stench in the nostrils of every individual when present. Second to that, and often a counterpart to spiritual pride, is prejudice. Jesus must have known this when using the parable found in Luke 10:25-37. This parable, often refered to as The Parable of the Good Samaritan, seems to address both of these issues head on.

Let’s look first at the cast of characters in this incident. We find Jesus having a conversation with an unnamed lawyer. In this conversation Jesus introduces four fictitious characters to weave a story in which to make a point. These four characters are as opposite of one another as any four individuals you could choose. First Jesus introduces a ‘certain man’. Joe Average Citizen. This man was given no description, no features, no defining details and no name. Secondly He introduces a priest. Priests were the ones responsible for the sacrifices in the temple. No doubt everyone revered these men as ‘men of God’. Thirdly Jesus introduces a Levite. The Levites and the priests worked closely with one another in temple work. While the priests were responsible for the sacrificial duties, the Levites were the oil that made the whole machine of Jewish worship run. The Levites were responsible to see that all the little details were attended to, including, but not limited to, making sure the right vessels were at the right places with the right contents at the right time, and on, and on, and on.

Next, however, Jesus introduces someone quite different than a nameless, faceless (presumably Jewish) citizen, or a priest, or a Levite. A Samaritan. You can almost hear the hiss in the term. Derogatory and demeaning hardly describe the tone and manner in which the Samaritans were referred to. You can imagine the young boys calling each other ‘Samaritans’ as they had their petty disagreements. Tossing the term around with the assumption that Samaritans weren’t worth anything. No, it wasn’t assumption, they knew the Samaritans weren’t worth anything. Half-breeds at best, the Samaritans were ½ Jew, ½ Gentile, ½ idolatrous, ½ orthodox. No one knew for sure what they were, and quite frankly, no one cared.

Why would Jesus use such a motley cast of characters? What lesson needed such contrast to be articulated?

Let’s remember back the first person we were introduced to, the lawyer. Verse 25 tells us that the lawyer asked Jesus what needed to be done to inherit eternal life, simply to test him. Jesus knew this; he had dealt with these tactics before. Being a lawyer, obviously this man knew the written Mosaic Law; therefore Jesus simply asked the question back at him, ‘What does the Law say?’ Like a simple game of pass with a lob one direction and a return pitch, nothing seems amiss. Possibly realizing that his ‘trap’ didn’t spring as desired he was left with no choice but answer. ‘Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.’

Possibly this lawyer was in the crowd when Jesus was asked ‘what is the greatest command’ (Mark 12:28-31) and he answered in the same manner. ‘Right’, Jesus answers, ‘do this and you will live.’ But wishing to justify himself…… the lawyer was still intent on trapping Jesus. ‘Who is my neighbor?’ he asked. Jesus experienced the same thing again in Luke 16:14-15, Now the Pharisees…were listening to all these things and we scoffing at Him. And He said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts…’ Some people simply don’t know when it’s time to quit pushing the issue. How often are each of us exactly like this? Each time we are Jesus responds in the same way as he responded this time………directly.

Jesus replied and said, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’

With no less than 12,000 priests and Levites living in Jericho, and with the temple being in Jerusalem, it’s not a hard to imagine a priest or a Levite being on this particular road. Remember who Jesus is talking to? A Jewish lawyer. To this man the most shocking event in Jesus’ little story was the fact that a Samaritan ‘felt compassion’, while we are appalled that the priest and Levite lacked compassion. No doubt this man knew Numbers 19:11 said the one who touches the corpse of any person shall be unclean for seven days. He also knew Deuteronomy 21:1-9 said If a slain person is found lying in the open country…and it is not known who has struck him, then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one. It shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man…shall take a heifer of the herd…and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water…and shall break the heifers neck there in the valley. Then the priests…shall come near…and all the elders of that city…shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; and they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. Forgive your people…and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.’ And the blood guiltiness shall be forgiven them. So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Quite possibly this lawyer would have been thinking that there was nothing strange at all with the behavior of the priest and Levite. Being ‘men of God’ it would have been unwise for them to have intentionally made themselves unclean for this stranger. Not just unwise, it would have been simply irresponsible. Likewise, he may have thought it equally irresponsible that the Samaritan showed mercy to the presumably dead man, and further evidence of Samaritans ignorance to the things of God. How could the elders measure to the city so that the blood guiltiness of innocent blood could be properly removed if this Samaritan moved the corpse? Obviously this Samaritan lacked proper religious etiquette and manners. Many, many times in our lives as well, official religiousness kills common humanity. Spiritual pride, coupled with our preferred prejudice, kills God’s work of mercy and compassion for our fellow man.

Another scripture which shows this is 2 Timothy 3:1-5 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be loves of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power… We have heard this scripture often to explain and define the current times. Somehow, though, I’ve always missed the point that this isn’t talking about the heathen, unbelieving people around us, but rather it’s obviously talking about professed Christians. In the last days men will have all these wicked attitudes while professing the name of Jesus. They will be so wrapped up in their official religiousness that they miss the call of God to a life of transformation and power.

While there could have been any number of excuses for the priests and Levites neglect of the beaten, unfortunate man, Jesus didn’t consider any of them worth mentioning. What he did consider worth mentioning was the fact that a Samaritan, of all people, who was simply travelling through, was willing to come to this mans assistance. The lawyer probably turned his head away in disgust when Jesus mentioned the idea of a Samaritan. Being ½ Jewish, ½ Gentile, ½ involved in pagan idolatry and ½ orthodox the Samaritans were indeed a despised race. The idea of Samaritans having any qualities worth imitating was unthinkable; preposterous; insane! Anyone who would have even suggested such a ridiculous idea would have been considered almost equally despised.

Yet, somehow this didn’t bother Jesus. He continued on with his story, explaining how the Samaritan was willing to interrupt his scheduled travel for a day or so; willing to further risk his reputation by being involved with this man; willing to reach into his own funds in order to support a stranger; willing to commit to further repayment over and above the initial investment. Jesus was actively arresting this lawyer’s pride and his prejudice and he’s willing to address our similar attitudes when they present themselves.

Proverbs 11:17 says that the merciful man does himself good, but the cruel man does himself harm. While it may stretch our minds a little to consider religion cruel, it is nothing less if that religion keeps us from common human kindness. When we become so entangled with our own religious ideas of what God wants that we can’t see past our official service to him to see the needs of humanity around us we are exhibiting both pride and prejudice.

Jesus said in Matthew 25:34-46 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of my Father…For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see you…? The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.’ Then he will also say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, accursed ones, into eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry…I was thirsty…I was a stranger…naked…and in prison and you did [nothing for me]. Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you…? Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’

Blessed are the merciful, Jesus says, for they shall receive mercy.

Jesus, willing to further challenge the lawyers prideful position of prejudice then asks, ‘Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?’, trying to force the him into admitting and affirming the Samaritans mercy. However, the lawyers pride wasn’t going to fall that easy. His prejudice was too deep to be given up the quickly. His religious position required them both. ‘The one who showed mercy toward him’, he answered, unable to even breath the word ‘Samaritan’. Jesus, willing to give one last challenge, but characteristically unwilling to force him into any acknowledgement simply said, ‘Go and do the same.’

The conversations over. We know nothing more of the lawyer. Did he give up his pride? Did he overcome his prejudice? Did he go and extend mercy to his fellow humans? We’ll never know, but we do know this, the message is the same to us as it was to him.

Will we give up our spiritual pride? Will we overcome our religious prejudices? Will we become more concerned with common human compassion and less concerned with official religiousness?
__________________________________________________

Spiritual Claustrophobia

__________________________________________________
claustrophobia - an abnormal fear of being in enclosed or narrow places.

Is it possible to suffer spiritual claustrophobia?
__________________________________________________

Obummer

__________________________________________________
The United States of America is officially an Obama-nation!
__________________________________________________

Dear Dad

__________________________________________________
As I was mowing my mother's lawn today her neighbor's 15 yr old daughter came out of the house and started walking down the road. At 15 she is in 'mid-bloom' and no doubt struggling (as with any mid-teen) to find her identity. The thing I noticed the most about her was her particular choice of clothing. Her long-sleeved blouse was extremely low cut, maximizing the minimal amount of womanhood she possessed. Given my age, she is young enough to be my daughter and that caused me to consider my own daughters. I have two daughters ages 11 & 8.

As I continued to mow I began praying, asking what causes an innocent girl such as this to dress in such a provocative way. (That's the pious version of what I did.)

(The natural version goes like this.) I said to myself, 'My daughters will NEVER be caught in public looking like that. (The actual version lies somewhere between those two responses.) However, the thought came to me that daughters seek their father's approval. Just as I notice who and what is around me, my daughters notice what catches my attention. When I second-glance a scantily clad female my girls register this in their sub-conscious as a way to get Dad's attention. When I comment on the beauty of a seemingly less than credible female my daughters again file that information away for future recollection.

As these thoughts flooded me I suddenly realized that the exact opposite could also hold true. If I comment on the genuine beauty of a fully-clothed and serene, peaceful lady my daughters will realize that serenity and peace are qualities their father admires in women. As I interact with their mother (with all her old-fashioned qualities) in such a way that they can recognize true passion and love, their inner person which is seeking acceptance from me will emulate their mother's qualities in order to gain their father's attention and approval, will they not?

And what about our sons? Our sons also notice how 'true' men act toward women and what kind of women 'true' men recognize. Sons tend to imitate their Dad. As a recovering pornography and sex addict I take this fact serious. I have begged God to break any chain of addiction and give my sons true freedom in this area. My sons are 10, 3 and 1. I hope and pray that as my sons watch their father live life, they will see that godly qualities and character are the most admirable attributes in a wife. I pray that the Lord will continue to deliver me from the sexual bondages I have been challenged with in the past so that my sons can enter life and marriage with right concepts.

But now the question rides on you! Dad's, what kind of women do your sons and daughters witness you 'admiring'? Does your glance stray or stay too high or too low when female's are around? Can you make eye contact with women and be satisfied or must you examine their anatomy further? Men, your children ARE watching you. Your sons are learning how to treat women and your daughters are learning what kind of woman to be.
__________________________________________________

Free Concert

__________________________________________________

Diary of a Backslider

__________________________________________________
You remember it like yesterday. After years of struggling to find peace you finally recognized your need for something or someone outside of yourself to accomplish the task. Maybe you’d spent all you life on the streets of one of America’s cities plagued with loneliness and acceptance finding only a meager belonging in the low ranks of a gang; or maybe you’d been raised going to church learning Sunday school songs and joining Bible clubs.

Nevertheless, the time came when you recognized that you were a fake. After years of pretending to be tough and participating in every questionable activity imaginable; after years of quoting scripture and dating the preacher’s daughter; after years of wearing the right attire and blending with the crowd you had to admit, never had you experienced for yourself this genuine acceptance and peace that others claimed. Not even once had your life felt like it was less than out of control.

Then came the day you’ll never forget. You wrote the date in the front of your Bible and forever the details are etched into your memory. You remind the devil of that day on a regular basis as you mock his attempt to pull you back into your old habits and attitudes. Was it during the solitude of a nature walk? Was it at the altar in a revival meeting? Was it in a private discussion with another individual? Was it in response to a gospel message or tract? Was it a street preacher, a parent, a friend, a sibling, a child, a lover? Regardless of who it was or what the events you finally felt full acceptance from God.

Never before in your life had you been so honest about yourself. Much of what you confessed no one knew and yet you felt so clean, so free, so alive! How could this God who you had feared all your life even want to accept you after He knew all you’d done? Not knowing all the answers to these questions you accepted them and reveled in your new found spiritual and emotional freedom.

Each day found you experiencing new and deeper truths from the Bible. Each week found you eager to attend church and connect with other believers. Strangely, it almost seemed you were family. Week after week, month after month you maintained a zeal for others to know and experience what had happened to you. You spoke freely of your Savior unashamed of who may hear and what they may think. Often you would sit late at night, or rise early in the morning just to listen to the solitude so that His voice wouldn’t be drowned out by life’s noises.

Your hunger for His word was insatiable and you carried your Bible everywhere you went. Every conversation with your fellow believers soon found itself to be a discussion of God and His love, mercy and grace. You’d rise early to attend prayer breakfasts. You’d stay late to bask in the acceptance you felt at evening worship sessions. Simply put, you couldn’t get enough of Jesus.

As a meager attempt to assist in the distribution of this message you joined various ministries. Soon you were obligated to quit attending the evening worship sessions in order to organize the next outreach effort. These kept you late into the evening and you fell into bed exhausted from a full days work followed with a full evening of administration. Prayer breakfasts were replaced with a few more minutes of sleep. Seldom can you find the time, much less the energy, to spend entire nights in prayer and intercession anymore. You can hardly remember the last time you experienced solitude and you’re not sure you even remember what His voice sounds like.

Life comes at you full steam ahead and between raising children, full time employment and multiple ministry opportunities, not to mention Sunday morning church services, Wednesday evening Bible study and Friday evening youth group gathering you live just over spent. All that you do and everywhere you go is for, about or because of Jesus, and yet you hardly know who He is anymore. You find yourself asking…

Where is the blessedness I knew
When first I knew the Lord
Where is the soul refreshing view
Of Jesus and His word?

Just a few short years ago you laughed at the devils attempts to draw you back into your old, carnal, sinful lifestyle. Now it seems the devil’s laughing at you because you’re there. Once again you find yourself dabbling with old habits. Old attitudes are flaring and your responses are less than noble at times. The strength you once had to resist the ‘firey darts of satan’ now seems to be gone and in its place nothing but a weak, half-hearted praise song.

How did it happen? When did it happen? Why did it happen? No one knows, but this is sure, you have backslidden! Life has overtaken you and you have succumbed. Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
__________________________________________________

Gone Fishin'

__________________________________________________
I'm gone fishin', how about you?
__________________________________________________

Some Things Never Change (I Guess)

__________________________________________________
Regardless of the fact that it was nearly 18 months ago that I 'left the fellowship' of the German Baptists. I just found out tonight that the ghosts of fellowships past still haunt me spreading rumor and sowing strife. The sad part is people are listening and consequently I'm still living in the same drama that the 5 years prior to my 'departure from the faith' was plagued with.

*sigh*

Can I just give up?
__________________________________________________

Prayer Subject

__________________________________________________
Do any of you lack a subject for prayer? If so, please pray for/with me as I prepare for Thursday nite at NCCF. The next parable I'll be expositing is the parable of the sower and the seed along with the parable of the lamp (since they occur together in the text)(Matthew 13:3-23, Mark 4:21-23, Luke 8:4-18). For some reason I'm having a difficult time getting my mind around the emphasis of this text. I'm not satisfied to simply spend 45 minutes discussing the details of the Jesus' object lessons; rather I desire to share the same message He was sharing as He used these parable's originally.

Please pray that I will be led by the Spirit of God as I prepare and deliver this message.
__________________________________________________

Roman Catholic 'Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation'

__________________________________________________
It is not from sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about everything which has been revealed. There both sacred tradition and sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense of devotion and reverence. Sacred tradition and sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God, which is committed to the Church... The task of authentically interpreting the Word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ... It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, sacred Scripture, and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God's most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together each in its own way under the action of the Holy Spirit contributes effectively to the salvation of the souls.
__________________________________________________

We Blew It!!

__________________________________________________
Ok, so I'm the 'Christian who thinks we blew it'. What have we blown? We've blown it when it comes to following our Leader and His lifestyle.

I preached yesterday from Luke 7:36-50 about the story of Simon and Mary and the subsequent parable that Jesus taught. The entire crux of the message was that Simon was a typical church person who thought his life was all together while Mary's life obviously wasn't. Mary was a prostitute. The irony was this, without Jesus healing Simon's leprosy he would have suffered a painful, debilitating, humiliating, seperated, agonizing death. However, once Simon's leprosy was healed he somehow felt justified in judging Mary because she was a low-life, scum-of-the-earth prostitute who obviously had major issues.

Simon reflects too many Christians. Too many of us, myself included way too often, think our life is all put together (which its not, if we'd be honest) and that somehow that qualifies us to sit as judge on our fellow man. It don't, people! Paul asks in Romans 14:10, 12, 'Why do you judge your brother? We will all stand before the judgment seat of God. So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.' If each of us will answer for ourselves, why do I think it's necessary to pre-judge another? My judgment will not affect what conclusion God comes to, will it? Absolutely not, but somehow we think we can do God a favor by pre-determining whether a person is genuine, or sincere, or legitimate, or 'save-able'; and that's where we blew it!! God doesn't need us to be His deputies. He doesn't need a deputy, He's got it covered on His own.

We (Christians, church people) blew it and it's time to repent!!
__________________________________________________

By Way of Announcement

__________________________________________________
My wife's oldest son from her first marriage, Corbin, has given his life to Jesus and would like to make his commitment public by receiving baptism.

This service will take place at the Poplar Grove Meeting House on Saturday, September 27 at 5:00 P.M.

Following Corbin's Baptism will be a time of singing and fellowship in the church basement. Bring finger foods or sandwiches to share.

All are welcome to come share in this celebration.
__________________________________________________

Hear the Promises

__________________________________________________
For some reason I feel like I'm supposed to share these scriptures that the Lord gave me this morning. I don't know what they mean to your circumstance (nor to mine, for that matter) but His promises are sure.
_________________________
Hosea 6:1 Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

Deuteronomy 32:39 See now that I, I am He, and there is no <’elohiym> besides Me; it is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

1 Samuel 2:6 The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to hell and raises up.

Isaiah 30:26b …the Lord binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted.

Job 5:18 For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal.
__________________________________________________

And HE Answered In The Wind

__________________________________________________
The company I am employed by, MulchPlus of Ohio, Inc, has had an interesting journey over the last couple months. I think it's fair to say we were in survival mode when I started on April 28. Gradually over the next several weeks our conversations started gravitating to a more deliberate approach toward our market share. We entertained many, many marketing and operational approaches. Once our busy spring/summer mulch season relaxed we even became somewhat more intentional in our exposure. First we printed new business cards in an attempt to capture brand equity. Secondly, we entered a relationship with our local print media to create 'Top of Mind Awareness' of MulchPlus. Thirdly, we became deliberate in our direct marketing approach of calling on potential customers. And somewhere in the middle of all that we found ourselves praying, seeking and asking for guidance and wisdom in our business model. Psalm 99:6b-7a says They called upon the Lord and He answered them. He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud. We called and He answered, but He spoke to us in the wind.

One average day Jesse and I are in the office doing what we do when a man walks in. This happens regularly, so we thought nothing of it. This man introduces himself as the owner of a pallet factory in Springfield, Ohio. Pallet factory's tend to produce a substantial amount of 'broken's', pieces and generally unusable pallets. We in the mulch industry refer to such material as post-consumer waste. This kiln-dried material holds color enhancers quite well and is a premium feed stock. Incidently, I had been pursuing relationship with another pallet production facility in an attempt to secure just the material supply that this man has available. We three talk for a while and decide that someday either Jesse, or I, or both, would travel to Springfield to see his facility and his supply. John explains that we could have the finished material if we were willing to grind it and get it out of his way. He suspected that there was 6,000 yards of finished material. Pallet company #1 desires to sell me their material. Pallet company #2 says, 'its yours if you grind it'. Hmmm.

Curtain drops. Next scene.

On another average day at the office I was going about my routine tasks when an average looking man with jeans, polo and a bill cap walks in. He introduces himself as being the job supervisor from a clearing company from 'down south'. He explains that his company is clearing a 42 mile stretch across our county for a natural gas pipeline and they need a place to dispose of the ground material. Would we be interested? 'Sure', I say, 'we're always keeping our eyes open for supply'. He says, 'good, there will be approximately 120,000 yards of 'first grind''. 120,000 yards? Did I spill my coffee? No, but only because I wasn't holding a cup. 120,000 yards??? (Typically we sell 20,000 yards +/- annually.) We just hit payload! It's ours for the having. Yet, in spite of all this, we still aren't seeing the 'big' picture. First, we haven't seen any connection between Springfield and this clearing contractor (which there isn't, only that both are clear answers to prayers we almost forgot we prayed). Secondly, we had been fretting that we would not have paying work for our labor force over our 'down' season, and now it drops in our lap. 120,000 yards worth.

And then the wind blew. Softly at first, but it it blew, nonetheless.

Sometime after all the 'happenstance' of two men approaching us I contacted a playground mulch distributor in PA about becoming a local manufacturer. Almost immediately after that contact MulchPlus was approached by a local playground mulch distributor regarding us manufacturing for them. Now we have two playground mulch distributors seriously considering us as their local manufacturer.

Also, as an outlet for our 6,000 +/- yards in Springfield, we contacted the largest bag mulch manufacturer/distributor in Ohio and they expressed interest in our feedstock in Springfield. All of it. How soon can they pick it up?

And then the wind blew. Hard. Hurricane Ike, to be exact. Ike blew all the way up to and through the Miami Valley. Trees down, limbs down, brush everywhere.

Monday morning caught us by surprise. We knew we'd be busy as people brought us their brush from the weekend storm, but never did we imagine the storm that would continue to blow all week. First the City of Middletown contacted us wanting to coordinate for the residents of Middletown to dump brush in our yard at their expense. Next Liberty Township called and in a 20 minute tele-conference we coordinated a similar arrangement with them. Then we contacted the city of Monroe and a third arrangement was made with that municipality.

Suddenly we realized that our advertisement dilemma was solving itself. We cried out to the Lord (about advertising exposure) and He answered in the wind. Immediately every resident in Butler County knows the name and location of MulchPlus of Ohio, Inc. and we didn't have to spend a dime to accomplish it. Rather, the local cities, townships and the county officials themself were promoting our establishment, AND paying us to do it. Not only were they paying us, but they were also taking responsiblilty to contact the local television, radio and print media on our behalf. Income, advertisement and raw stock supply issues all resolved simultaneously. And He answered in the wind.

Then as we put our heads together we realized that we, as a company, needed to pursue beyond our immediate locale and make ourselves available to various other jurisdictions for assistance in their clean-up efforts. Suffice it to say I've talked to mayors, city managers, public works directors, county solid waste managers, commissioners, street department supervisors and more. In a matter of a week I've been in court houses, city buildings, high rise offices and county offices. Each time as the secretary started to head me off I would introduce myself and my service and invariably someone would emerge from a back office and within a matter of minutes I'd be sitting face to face with a high goverment official at whatever level I was approaching. Impossible, unless the Lord's wind blows.

Then one day, mid-week, as I was sharing this with a brother the song, Don't Let Me Miss The Glory by Gordon Mote started playing and it hit me. I was recounting it all from a natural, can-you-believe-it mindset and I was missing the Lord's glory in it altogether. Not anymore.

We called upon the Lord and He answered us. He spoke to us in the wind. Don't let me miss Your glory, Lord!
__________________________________________________

I Laughed

__________________________________________________
....hard!

Our family went to Greenville and watched our brother, David Pendleton's, gig tonight.

We laughed.
__________________________________________________

Rumor Has It...............

__________________________________________________
Our very own, David Pendleton, is going to be in Greenville, Ohio doing what he does best. Where's he going to be?, you ask. Rumor has it he's going to be at First Congregational Christian church, 115 W 5th St at 7:00 pm, Sat nite (September 20).
__________________________________________________

Warfare

_________________________________________________
Our enemies are not people, but evil influences.

The devil is trying to steal peace, kill personalities and destroy relationships. I stand against it. He (the devil) is bent on destroying my ministry and testimony. He seems to be stopping at nothing, even attempting to turn my own against me in order to undermine the message of Jesus through me. In Jesus' name I claim back the areas of relationship the devil is bent on destroying.

We will be victorious!!
_________________________________________________

Religious Mathematics?

__________________________________________________
I asked a brother today why it seemed like churches always were obligated to resolve to the lowest common denominator. However, as I considered it further I concluded that it's only in those churches which lack solid leadership that it happens. Those churches with strong leadership seem to be continuing to press forward into the kingdom while those with weak (or no) leadership at all are sitting around keeping the weak, squeaky wheel from being 'offended'.

Just an observation!
__________________________________________________

Lusts

__________________________________________________
I have concluded myself to be a man totally given over to appetites. I have absolutely no will-power. Controlling me are appetites, desires, longings and lusts. I have no power against my own desire to fulfill my fleshly longings. Nothing frustrates my spirit more than my own inability to say, 'No'! Just because something is legal to me does not mean it's necessary or advantageous.
__________________________________________________

Say What?

__________________________________________________
Wife (to husband): You were a lot freer in your spirit last summer when we were going to (name of previous church) than you have been lately.

How's a husband to respond?
__________________________________________________

Try Jesus

__________________________________________________
......if you don't like Him the devil will always take you back!

We've probably all seen the bumper sticker. I saw it again the other dayand, for some reason, this time it almost offended me. I was so frustrated at its message that I almost got out at stop light and conversed with the driver of the car about it. The attitude of many Christians simply bothers me.

Obviously if a person has a bumper sticker like this they consider themself a 'Christian'. Also, this is probably considered by them to be 'witnessing', and that is why I'm so angry at the whole situation. It's not consistent with the scriptures. Maybe I'm over-reacting. Maybe the first time it was ever stated it wasn't stated with intention of being contrary to scripture. Maybe it was even 'cute' and 'catchy' to those who initially heard it. However, we cannot use principles which are inconsistent with scripture to further the kingdom of God. Can we?

Try Jesus. Where does this thought come from? I find quite the opposite message in scripture. I don't find a casual approach to the Savior taught. I find things like Luke 14:28-33 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be my disciples who does not give up all his possessions.

That doesn't sound like a 'give it a try what do you have to lose attitude', does it? Rather, it sounds like an intentional, pre-consideration realizing that once committed its all or nothing. Jesus hasn't called us to 'give him a try'. He's called us to radical discipleship. No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God, He said (John 9:62) Try Jesus? Hardly the message of scripture.
Our churches are full of people who are trying Jesus, and our collective witness is weak because of it. We have been called, challenged, commanded to 'Follow Me'. That means 'forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. If we aren't 'sold out', completely convinced, radical in our 'following' Christ, never will we 'witness' with any power.

So, Try Jesus.....if that's all you're doing, the devil still has you. __________________________________________________

General Update

__________________________________________________
I read the book of Nahum this morning. As I was reading there were two phrases that jumped out at me. Before I give you the phrases, let me remind you of the setting of the book of Nahum. Nahum is written about/to Nineveh. Nahum is full of warning, judgement and destruction. However, in the midst of all that God's goodness and favor are still seen. Nahum 1:7 says, The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him. Grace. Favor. Mercy. Nahum 2:2 says For the Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, even though the devastators have devastated them... Grace. Favor. Mercy. _________________________
We went to Mechanicsburg Christian Fellowship yesterday. The service was uniquely interesting. I have never experienced a 'collective worship' service like it before. Early in the service the Spirit prompted different ones to openly confess sin issues in their life. As this happened others spoke truth and life to the issue while still others prayed. We sang, we danced, we cried, we laughed, we prayed, we worshipped, we clapped, we shouted, we wept, we experienced God's body drawing closer to one another through Him.
_________________________
Greenville Fellowship had a vision meeting Friday night. Where there is no vision the people perish, and since we don't desire that we came together to again state our vision. The format was more of an open forum. Each person present was given opportunity to share their 'vision'. There was much discussion on celebrating and embracing diversity. Diversity of gifts. Diversity of talents. Diversity of style. Diversity of presentation. Diversity of personality. Diversity of conviction. Diversity of preference. However, as acculturated American anabaptists, I'm afraid (for us) it's easier said than done. As I stated on Rich's site, 'I think it's possible to mistake the ability to articulate a 'vision' for the ability to perform it. Once articulated, a vision must be prayerfully and humbly pursued. NEVER should we rest simply because of our ability to describe a vision in human terms.' Another thought I had during our discussion Friday evening (and Brian eluded to it, but never specifically stated it), 'we absolutely MUST arrest any critical spirit within our hearts if we have any hope of enjoying the blessing of diversity'.
_________________________
I can't decide whether God is trying to 'shake up' my dogma (as one brother suggested) or if the devil is trying to hi-jack God's work. Last Thursday nite I began a series on the parables of Jesus at NCCF. The intent was to record each message and make them available through the chapel so those who missed some of them could stay sequentially with the text. After the service we discovered that the recording was empty. 52 minutes of.......................nothing. So we go Saturday with intentions to move to parable #2 and hopes of capturing a recording this time. Saturday we discover that the problem Thursday nite was the mic jack in the new recorder is broken. Also Saturday, we lose over 1/2 of our service time because of an unscheduled 'housing move' and the subsequent security count. This left me in a bit of a lurch. Since I didn't feel like I had time to give the next parable sufficient examination, and due to the recorder issues, I reached way back into the archives and preached a message entitled, 'Will The Worshippers Arise', with a basic call to genuinity of Christian experience. The 22 (as opposed to 122) men who showed up responded favorably.

I suppose I'm just learning what it means to relinquish control to the One who IS in control.
__________________________________________________

It's Me, O Lord....Standin In The Need of Prayer

__________________________________________________
I am saved by grace, apart from works. I am born-again. I am a child of God. I am 'in the kingdom'. I am saved forever because Jesus lives and is making intercession on my behalf. No one can pluck me out of His hand.

I am spiritually arrogant.

Since all of the above quoted verses are true, I find my flesh becoming bolder and bolder in its cries for attention. What does it matter? Oh, sure, I shouldn't 'continue in sin so that grace can be seen in abundance' but grace will abound if need be.

Simply put, I have become calloused toward the depraved, sinful nature of my heart.

I beg each of you to pray that God will, by His Spirit, break my heart over the exceeding sinfulness of my own heart.
__________________________________________________

Attn: Church

__________________________________________________
I ran across this post in another blog. I think it's our wake-up call. Remember what Nathan told David after his sin with Bathsheba? Wake up, church, sure we're 'saved by grace apart from works', but our neighbors/friends/acquaintances/co-workers/enemies are watching how we live. They are looking for a 'religion' which will positively affect those areas in their life in which they recognize genuine struggles. Read.

How I Stopped Being a Christian
from tolerance_for_all

I was raised a Christian and up until the age of 15 was definitely a strong believer. Church, youth group, mission trips, you name it, I was there. My youth pastor, a man I'll call Jeff, was a trusted mentor and someone that really gave me a lot of my ideas and beliefs about God and following Jesus.
Imagine how surprised I was when I get a phone call saying that Jeff had resigned and was being investigated by the FBI. It turns out that pastor had been involved in recieving and distributing child porn for a long time. As you can imagine, all my ideas about Christianity were sort of blown out of the water. How can I follow the teachings of a man who can't practice what he preaches? At that point, I didn't turn my back on God but I did decide I needed to step away from the church. After having someone else tell me what to believe my whole life, it was time for me to start figuring it out for myself.
During the following years, I went to church occasionally and had nothing against those that did, but I knew that I really needed to find my own faith. I needed to question to be able to grow. So upon entering college, I did not join a church. The hypocrisy and intolerance were things I really didn't want to be around, and I saw no problem with taking a little time to do some soul-searching.
Well, I met a Christian boy at school, and even though I consider myself agnostic I didn't think it mattered. Let me just say that I do not drink, I do not do drugs, I do not sleep around, and I am headed toward medical school so that I can become involved in Doctors Without Borders. He, on the other hand, drank, smoked pot, and was with many girls. But he informed me, often, that I was headed straight for Hell.
When I saw that those who I was learning from weren't exactly taking me down a path that made sense, I started to study things for myself. I studied the Bible in depth, as well as the Koran and Torah, and I am still learning. So these inconsistent men didn't necessarily drive me away from Christianity, but they did cause me to take a deeper look, and I didn't like what I found.
You can question how strong my faith was in the first place since I fell away, but I can honestly say that I hope to never have a "strong" enough faith that I continue to blindly follow, even when things are clearly not as they should be.
So those were the two main situations that made me step back and say 'Wait a second, this religion isn't making a whole lot of sense'. I think that too often, people use religion as a reason to persecute other people and preach lives they aren't living. I don't want to be told that I need church in my life, or told what to believe - nobody has the moral authority to decide what is right for anyone else. Maybe, just maybe, it's time for the Christians to step back, and examine how they are living their lives before they condemn someone else.
__________________________________________________

Schedule on a Crash Course

__________________________________________________
I am facing a ministry dilemma. My dilemma is this, I believe in and am committed to expositional preaching/teaching; not only expositional preaching, but preferably sequential expositional preaching; line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse, thought by thought through the writings of Scripture. What does all this have to do with my dilemma? This...

Recently, at the prison where I minister, there have been significant scheduling changes. These changes have divided the entire population into three groups for all activities (chow, rec, religious services, commissary, school, etc). These three groups have religious services on a rotating schedule week by week. One week group one will have services Sun 10 am and Wed 7 pm. The next week group 2 has that schedule and group one has services Sun 2 pm and Thur 7 pm. The next week group 3 has the first schedule, group two the second schedule and group one has services Sat 2 pm and Tue 7 pm.

My ministry team has two services a month. Our service schedule is the second Saturday at 2 pm and the third Thursday at 7 pm. Here's the dilemma, two services, three groups. In any given month, because of their schedule, I'll minister to two of the three groups. On the next month I'll minister to one of the groups from the previous month and the third group. Add to this confusion a fifth Thursday (or a fifth Saturday) and suddenly I've seen one group twice before seeing another of the groups again.

My question is this, how does one maintain consistency of sequential exposition to any (and all) given group within the chaos of that particular service schedule?
__________________________________________________

Can You Disagree?

__________________________________________________
Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.
-Walter Lippmann

That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false.
-Paul Valery

The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself.
-Sir Richard Francis Burton

Anybody can observe the Sabbath [or any of the other 'letters' of the Law for that matter], but making it holy surely takes the rest of the week.
-Alice Walker
__________________________________________________

Pondering the Deep Thing of Life!

__________________________________________________
Is atheism is a non-prophet organization?

Why do phone companies give you a number to call if your phone doesn't work?

If the universe is everything, and scientists say that the universe is expanding what is it expanding into?

Corn oil is made from corn, Olive oil is made from olives, so what does baby oil come from?

Why don’t roman paramedics refer to IV's as "4's"?

Why do you often see a shoe lying on the side of the street?

What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?

Why is abbreviation such a long word?

Why do we put suits in a garment bag and garments in a suitcase?

If a cow laughed would milk come out its nose?

Why do they sterilize the needles for lethal injection?

How come you never hear about grunted employees?

If a parsley farmer is sued can he garnish his wages?

Did Washington just flash a quarter for his ID?

Could it be that all those trick-or-treaters wearing sheets aren't going as ghosts but as mattresses?

Why do we have to dry raincoats?

Does chewing gum lose its flavor on the bed post overnight?

Why do doughnuts have holes?

Why is there an expiration date on SOUR cream?

How can there be self-help groups?

Why does your nose run and your feet smell?

Why do we call it a hamburger when it is made from beef?

Why do they call it quicksand when it sucks you down slowly?

If you're born again do you have two belly buttons?

If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation or a murder?

Why do corn flakes and Sugar frosted flakes have the save number of calories per serving?

Where do all the missing socks go?

Why does the psychic hotline ask for your credit card number? Shouldn't they already know it?

Why does slow down and slow up mean the same thing?

If air travel is so safe, why do they call it a "terminal"?

Since light travels faster than sound, isn't that why some people appear bright until you hear them speak?

Just before someone gets nervous do they experience cocoons in their stomachs?

Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?

What does the Q in Q-tip stand for?

If a mute swears does his mother wash his hands with soap?

Why doesn't onomatopoeia sound like what it is?

If the cops arrest a mime do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?

How do they get deer to cross at the yellow sign?

What would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?

If something was miss-spelled in a dictionary how would we know

Where do swear words come from?

Was the only reason God gave us a shin is to find things in the dark?

Why is it that when you transport something by car it is called a shipment but when you transport something by ship it is called cargo?

Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Does a fish get cramps after eating?

If fire fighters fight fires and crime fighters fight crime, what do freedom fighters fight?

If you're an atheist and swear on the bible, have you committed perjury?

If horrific is akin to horrible, why isn't terrific akin to terrible?

Why is it when a door is open it's ajar but when a jar is open isn't not adoor?

If it is zero degrees outside today and it is supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be?

If nothing ever sticks to Teflon, how do they get Teflon to stick to the pan?

If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?

If someone with multiple personalities robs a bank who is charged with the crime?

Why do old men wear their pants higher than young men do?

Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

If you're cross-eyed and have dyslexia can you read all right?

Why is yawning contagious?

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Why do banks charge you a " non sufficient funds" fee on money they already know you don't have?

If quitters never win, and winners never quit, than who is the fool who said, "Quit while you're ahead"?

Is there another word for synonym?

Would a fly without wings be called a walk?

If a man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?

Why don't we get goosebumps on our face?

Should you trust a stockbroker who's married to a travel agent?

Why is it when you get from here to there, you're still here and not there?

What are preparations A-G?

Why do men's bicycles have crossbars?

If vegetarians eat vegetables what do humanitarians eat?

What is the purpose of that little ball on top of the flagpole?

Why isn't there mouse flavored cat food?

Why are there flotation devices under plane seats instead of parachutes?

Why do they call them straight jackets when they are never straight?

If 75% of all accidents occur within 5 miles of home, why not move 10 miles away?

Why is it that when you are driving and looking for an address you turn the radio down?

How does the guy who runs the snowplow get to work in the morning?

If a person kills their clone is it murder or suicide?

Can your face actually freeze while making ugly faces?

Why do they say new and improved? It can't be new if it was improved can it?

Why do they report power outages on TV?

Why isn't 11 pronounced onety one?

If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

If trailer parks didn't exist would tornadoes exist?

If WalMart is lowering prices daily, how come nothing in the store is free yet?

If you can't drink and drive why do gas stations sell beer?
__________________________________________________

But You NEED Structure.......!!

__________________________________________________
Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), is an extremely rare disease of the connective tissue. A mutation of the body's repair mechanism causes fibrous tissue (including muscle, tendon, and ligament) to be ossified when damaged.
There is no known cure for FOP.

I heard a quick diddy on the radio yesterday about this disease. The announcement went on to say that death is imminent for FOP patients; or basically, TOO MUCH STRUCTURE IMPEDES LIFE!!! I already knew that, though!
__________________________________________________

Get Real

__________________________________________________
When I first heard about this I thought it surely wasn't true. I figured it was some kind of joke and someone was just having fun on their blog or something. However, sadly enough, it's true! Apparently some people don't take the Word at its word!
__________________________________________________

The Act of (Personal) Justification

__________________________________________________
Why does it seem like conservative, religious types always have to justify every decision they make? In my dealing with many different conservative, Christian cultures I've found that they seldom do anything because. Instead they have thought through and reasoned every act and are prepared to justify every act, every purchase, every decision. Why can they not say they did something, 'simply because we wanted to'?
__________________________________________________

Maintenance Issues

__________________________________________________
We've all had one. You know, that high maintenance vehicle that 'nickle and dimed' you to death. That one car that you should have sold long before you finally did. Replacement was an viable option many miles before it was actually a reality. The car that was almost like a family member, name and all. Eventually, though, the time came when you simply had to remove it from the fleet because it was costing too much in constant repairs. The time had come and it had to go. You could no longer afford to have it in the family. The parting was hard, but necessary because of the out of pocket expense it caused you on a routine basis.

Everyone knows what I'm talking about. We've all been there.

There are also inter-personal relationships which border on the same issue. You know, those 'high-maintenance' friendships. That friend who always has a problem needing a solution. That person who always sees the one cloud on the distant horizon. That person who pulls down the atmosphere of every room they enter and every conversation they engage in because of their tendency toward gloom and doom. You know who I mean because you've met them. We all know them. They're in our churches. They're in our small group. They're in our circle of friends. They're everywhere.

Surely sometime it's necessary to weigh the cost with the benefit received from such a relationship. Surely it's eventually excuseable to cease intimate relations with such an individual. Certainly such a person drags others down. No one can deny a sense of premonition when that person enters and relief when they depart. Why should you be forced to maintain such a relationship?

Are their problems legitimate? Possibly. Are their concerns valid? Probably. Do they offer verifiable dilemma's? Likely, but shouldn't they just 'act' happy? Shouldn't they force a bounce into their step and a chirp in their voice? Shouldn't they smile in the face of such disaster as they seem to perpetually experience?

Shouldn't they?

Shouldn't we?

Shouldn't I?

Could someone check my fluids? Please!
__________________________________________________

Random Quotes on Prayer

__________________________________________________
If Christians spent as much time praying as they do grumbling, they would soon have nothing to grumble about

When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words than thy words without heart.
-John Bunyan

Prayer requires more of the heart than of the tongue. –Adam Clarke

He prays well who is so absorbed with God that he does not know he is praying. -St. Francis of de Sales


The fewer the words the better the prayer. --Martin Luther

We are not told that Jesus ever taught His disciple how to preach, but He taught them how to pray. – D L Moody

Some men's prayer need to be cut short at both ends and set on fire in the middle. -D.L. Moody

Prayer is not eloquence but earnestness
__________________________________________________

Letter from God

__________________________________________________
Dear Aaron,

I remember how devoted you were when you were young in your relationship with me. Every promise you made was pure and you followed through in simplicity. You followed after, seeking me through whatever wilderness, whatever barren situation. You, Aaron, were holy to the Lord.

What did I do against you that you distanced yourself from me and walked after empty things and became spiritually empty? You quit asking, ‘Where is the Lord who saved me from my life of spiritual bondage, who led me through barren experiences, through snares and pitfalls, through spiritual drought and darkness, and through places where it seemed no one had ever been before?’ I brought you into a land of spiritual blessing but you came into it and became complacent and thereby scorned your spiritual inheritance. You quit asking, ‘Where is the Lord?’

I will continue wrestling with your will. Can you change gods where there are no other gods? You have, however, changed your glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled at this, and shudder. You have committed two evils. First, you have forsaken me the source of living water. Secondly, you have chosen other sources of inspiration and they simply have no inspiration for you, nor ever will!

Remember when I saved you from empty religion? But you said by your actions, ‘I will not serve God.’ Every chance you get you return to a religious way of thinking. Even though you jump through pious hoops, you cannot hide your desire from me. How can you say, ‘I’m not being religious?’ Look at your history and attitudes.

As a thief is ashamed when he is discovered, so should you be. You who would rather choose format over faith to give inspiration. You who would rather choose rules over grace in relationship with others. In that manner you have turned your back on me yet in a time of real struggle you will cry out to me to save you. Where are your gods of religion that you’ve created for yourself? Let them save you from your troubles.

Why do you wrestle with me? You’ve transgressed against me. I have vainly sent situations in your life to call you back to me, but you claim innocence.

Aaron, I want you to know this, I reject those things in which you trust (religion, empty rules), and neither will you prosper in them.

For My Glory,
Your Father,
YHVH
__________________________________________________

Religion, Inc.

__________________________________________________
religion - a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects:

I hate religion. Period. I hate everything about it. I hate the way it controls a person. I hate the way it defines a person. I hate the way it imposes extra-Biblical standards on a person (I especially despise that one). I hate the way its followers despise people who don't conform to their standard. I hate the way it casts suspicion and doubt on everyone. I simply hate all that religion entails. Or at least I say I do. Yet...

...I find myself being so religious.

How can I hate religion and yet attempt to use it, simultaneously? Why is it so hard to be a disciple of Jesus the Christ without attaching all the 'stuff'? I look at my wife and children; I think to future prodigy; I look at my 'weak' brothers and sisters; etc, and in every situation I turn to religion to answer the doubts, fears and questions I have. Why? Either I hate religion or I love it. No man can serve two masters. I know that. I cannot turn to religion to answer these issues and 'give them to Jesus'. Either I 'give them to Jesus' or I get religious about them. One or the other. Period.

But I don't know how to 'give them to Jesus' so I 'get religious'. I make rules. I create guidelines. I impose standards. I generate extra-Biblical structure to keep this, or that, from happening. I draw lines. I build boxes. I attempt to get everyone in my sphere of influence to conform.

I LOVE religion!!

edit: I've had pointed out to me in private conversation regarding this issue that religion is not an inherently bad thing. I agree with that; I have to because James talks about 'pure religion'. However, in this context when I use the term religion I'm talking about the Colossians 2:20-23 stuff. You know, the 'touch not, taste not, handle not!' stuff. That stuff which 'are of no value against fleshly indulgence.'
__________________________________________________

You Too?

__________________________________________________
Is anyone else tired of being locked in this physical world?
I'm so ready to be out of this physical body with all its limitations, desires, inconsistencies and sin!
Is it time to go home yet?
__________________________________________________

Revival

__________________________________________________
I wish I had time to write an entire thesis about revival. Shucks, I wish I had time to write an entire thesis; ok, I wish I had time to write, period. Anyhow..........I wish I had time to articualte all the thoughts bouncing around in my head about revival and all that it is and isn't, but I'll just have to toss out a few Scriptures which have come to me lately with very little commentary and let you fill in the blanks.

Let me start with Lamentations 2:18-19... Let your tears run down like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, let you eyes have no rest. Arise, cry aloud in the night at the beginning of the night watches; pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord; lift up your hands to Him...
As I was reading the other morning these verses jumped off the page at me. Lately I have been feeling spiritually stagnant. My prayers have been that the Lord would revive me; that he would restore the joy of salvation to me; that he would draw me into deeper more meaningful relationship with him; etc. Then I read across these verses and it hit me like a truck...my Father has done everything necessary for my salvation. He has done everything necessary for me to be in relationship with Him, now He's waiting for me to respond. He's waiting for me to be diligent; to be genuine; to desire Him completely. He's done it all and now He's waiting for my response. He wants to answer. He wants to be sought and found. He wants me to desire His relationship more than anything else.

Proverbs 2:3-5 says If you cry for discernment, [and] lift your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover knowledge of God.
God wants to be found. He wants to be in relationship with us. He wants to revive our spirit. He wants us to experience things we've never dreamed of. But He knows that if we don't desire that beyond anything else we'll take it too lightly. Therefore He requires us to long, to seek, to pursue Him.

Lest anyone thinks I'm preaching a works salvation/relationship message, let me be clear that God has done everything necessary to bring us into relationship with Him. Now He's just sitting, as a Father does, with His arms out waiting for us to respond to Him. Revival awaits. Renewal awaits.

He's promised He will allow us to find Him. Jeremiah 29:13-14a says You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord. He'll not hide from us if we are seeking Him. The question is, will I seek? Personal revival like I've never experienced awaits. Am I willing to apply the amount of personal effort it takes to walk in the relationship which Christ has purchased for me?

Or will I continue being spiritually lazy?
__________________________________________________

Cry of My Heart

__________________________________________________
It is the cry of my heart to follow you.
It is the cry of my heart to be close to you.
It is the cry of my heart to follow all of the days of my life.

Teach me Your holy ways, oh Lord
So I can walk in Your truth.
Teach me Your holy ways, oh Lord
And make me wholly devoted to You.

Open my eyes so I can see
The wonderful things that You do.
Open my heart up more and more
And make it wholly devoted to You.

It is the cry of my heart to follow you.
It is the cry of my heart to be close to you.
It is the cry of my heart to follow all of the days of my life.
__________________________________________________

AJ Needs Prayer

__________________________________________________
Anthony Johnson, a 54 yr old black male, thinks he's the resurrected Son of God. He says you can feel scar tissue in both his wrists and he claims to have scars on top of both feet. He also says he doesn't have footprints but rather, his feet have written scripture on them. Supposedly if you were to take a footprint in plaster of paris and enlarge it you could read the text from his footprint. If he were to urinate on a sheet of paper, instead of saturating the paper it would simply look like written text. God, himself, has told Anthony that he is Jesus. He says he has accurately predicted the recent tornado's and many other natural disasters. He regularly communicates with God, but more noteworthy is the fact that God regularly communicates back; not through urges and hunches, not through written Scriptures, but through a clear voice heard only by Anthony. While walking, if God has a specific mission he wants accomplished he will simply turn the right or left leg (whichever way leads to toward the specific need) and Anthony will know to turn that way.

When I pointed him to Matthew 24:5 Many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ', and will mislead many, he said, 'that's why I haven't told anyone until now, because I don't want to mislead anyone.'

The catchpoint is this, though, Anthony will readily admit to being a sinner. When asked how he could confess his depravity while claiming divinity he was without response.

Please pray, with me, for Anthony Johnson (an inmate at New Castle Correctional Facility).

Also, pray for Terry Ashcraft.
__________________________________________________

Selfish

__________________________________________________
I was talking to a close friend of mine last night and after the conversation, as I was reflecting on it, I realized I was extremely selfish. As the conversation began he was telling me about what had been happening in his life/work/study/family and I slipped into the 'uh-huh, uh-huh, yeah, uh-huh' mode as I impatiently waited for him to quit droning so I could tell him about me, my work, my study, my family. Me! My life is much more exciting than his, just ask me. I really couldn't believe how selfish I was. I honestly didn't think I was, but now I guess it's obvious!
Sorry Sam!
__________________________________________________

Words & Thoughts

__________________________________________________
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
__________________________________________________

Is It Genuine?

__________________________________________________
I just came upon this article about a revival in Lakeland, Fla. What do you think? Is it a genuine outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Is it sensationalism? Is it nothing more than smoke and mirrors?
__________________________________________________

Sin vs Grace

__________________________________________________
I was totally overwhelmed this morning by the exceeding sinfulness of myself. Somehow I couldn't seem to get past it. I was totally connected with what Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:15 ...Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. I simply couldn't shake the sense of personal depravity. I am a sinner. Above all other sinners. Or, as Oswald Chambers once said, I know that no criminal is worse in action that I have already been in thought. I am simply undone, I know that in me dwells no good thing.

And then I opened and read 1 Timothy 1:15 in context. Notice this...

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into the ministry even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent agressor. (read that last phrase again, even though...) Yet i was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a true statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

Then I realized that everything I was seeing and feeling about myself was absolutely true. It wasn't necessarily an unhealthy sense of self-worth, but possibly, probably a sense of genuine self-awareness. However, the grace of our Lord was (is) more than abundant and it extends mercy to me in my depravity so that He can show His patience, His love, His glory to anyone else who might believe. Then I remembered this hymn from yesteryear...

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.
__________________________________________________

I Couldn't Have Said Better

__________________________________________________
Oh for a heart to love my God,
A heart from sin set free,
A heart that always feels the blood
So freely shed for me!

A heart resing'd, submissive, meek,
My dear Redeemer's throne;
Where only Christ is heard to speak,
Where Jesus reigns alone.

A lowly and believing heart,
Abhorring self and sin;
A constant heart, which nought can part
From Christ, who dwells within.

A child-like heart, that cries for food,
And pines for Divine love;
An upright heart, by grace renew'd;
A copy, Lord, of thine.

-Charles Wesley
__________________________________________________

Ingrown Christianity

__________________________________________________
Ingrown-
1) Grown abnormally into oneself.
2) Inbred; innate:
3) Insular; self-contained:
American Heritage Dictionary

I'm not sure why this thought hit me today but here are some thoughts I've had while meditating on it.

Having grown up in a conservative, secluded, easily identifiable Christian community there were some things I never gave a second thought. Entering adulthood I simply adopted the attitude of my environment and became a self-preservationist along with my peers. Honestly, the thought of affecting or being positively affected by anyone or anything beyond my own culture never entered my cranium. I did, in some small measure, attempt to befriend people outside of my world, but it was just that, otherworldly. It was as though we were speaking two different languages about two different topics at the same time. It simply didn't happen, because due to my insulation, I could hear nothing that was said outside of my own paradigm.

I want to be clear, I'm not wanting to be accusatory by this post. I would, however, like to ask each reader to look in the mirror. Have you ingrown? Have you grown abnormally into your own sub-culture? Have you become self-contained? What influences you? It is impossible to be influenced by things you don't allow access into your life. Somehow, though, I'm not as concerned just now about who we allow to influence us as who we are willing to allow ourselves to reach out to.

Do you reach 'out'? How far?

Do you reach far enough out to touch your neighbor? You know who your 'neighbor' is. Jesus taught us clearly that anyone with a need is our neighbor if we are apprised of their need. Can you allow yourself the freedom to serve your neighbor's needs? What if your neighbor is culturally quite different than you are? Each of us like to be accused of taking the Scripture literally, but be careful not to miscontext and/or miss some texts altogether in our quest for literal application. Far too many times I've heard do good to all men and especially to those of the household of faith quoted with all the emphasis on the end part rather than the beginning. Friends, we're past due on the do good to ALL men part.

Let's ask ourselves this as a measuring stick. When we entertain, to whom does the invitation extend? Sure, there's always a time for entertaining our friends, our family, our long-time acquaintances. Sure, relationships take work, and we should devote times for just that, maintaining genuine relationship with our peers. BUT......if that's the entirety of our social experience; if we never mingle socially outside of our own 'kind'; if we have never even given thought, much less effort, to socializing with people we don't understand have we not become ingrown?

I end with this, I am guilty! Not only am I guilt of being a social recluse, I rather like it. I'm comfortable in my own social circle. Nevertheless, I pray the Lord will grant each of us repentance and the ability to affect and be affected by people. Real people. People who are quite different than ourselves!
__________________________________________________

Journal Entry

__________________________________________________
Wickedness, wickedness is what I'm full of
Sinfulness is who I am
Ungodliness, ungodliness is what I'm bent toward

But...
Righteousness, righteousness is what I long for
Righteousness is what I need

I'm continually amazed at God's ability, rather desire, to love me in all my wickedness, ungodliness and filth. When I take an honest look at my heart I see nothing but ugliness, sinfulness and vulgarity (if you don't believe me, ask Renita); and yet He has said that I'm worth dying for! I don't get it, but I got it and I'm thankful for it!!
__________________________________________________

Prayer Requests

__________________________________________________
I have two specific prayer requests. This is an awkward forum to share these requests in because there are people involved in both situations who read this blog. However, I assure you that none of the specifics of either situation are personal. I simply feel the need for prayer in these two areas.

1 - Please pray with me that the ministry team with which I go to New Castle Correctional Facility will become a unified team. In the past we have experienced unity and communion together. Pray that that will return. Pray with me that we will be able to give a 'distinct sound' rather than each of us speaking in our own 'tongue'. Pray that the unity of the spirit of God, our Father, will again bind our team together.

2 - Pray that Greenville Fellowship will experience the dream that I believe our Father has for us. Pray against the spirit of competition which can so easily rise up within our hearts. Pray that our Father will grant us a united vision. Further pray that not only will we each affirm that vision, but that we will also confirm it in one another as each one works out that vision in their own individual way. Pray, with me, against the onslaught of Satan as he works tenaciously to divide and conquer!
__________________________________________________

Hit Him Again

__________________________________________________
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.

The Lord said to Satan, 'Where do you come from?'

Then Satan answered the Lord and said, 'From wandering around on the earth.'

'Have you noticed my servant Aaron?', the Lord asked Satan.

Then Satan answered the Lord, 'Does Aaron fear you arbitrarily? Have you not built a wall around him and his house and all that he has; but take away the wall of protection and take away your blessings and he will curse you to your face.'

Then the Lord said to Satan, 'Behold, all that he has is in your power............'.

So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.
_________________________
Brian says, 'Reckon yourself dead, brother, reckon yourself dead. Those feelings can't be given thought anymore.'

It seems like every time I start to stumble the devil trips me and then kicks me while I'm down.

Ouch!
__________________________________________________

Hmmmm........

__________________________________________________
If a preacher is confident in the Word of God, it is easy for some to mistake it for arrogance.

-quoted from this blog
__________________________________________________

Now This Explains It

__________________________________________________
If you are going through a solitary way, read John 17, it will explain exactly why you are where you are - Jesus has prayed that you may be one with the Father as He is. Are you helping God to answer that prayer, or have you some other end for your life? Since you became a disciple you cannot be as independent as you used to be.
The purpose of God is not to answer our prayers, but by our prayers we come to discern the mind of God, and this is revealed in John 17. There is one prayer God must answer, and that is the prayer of Jesus - "that they may be one, even as We are One." Are we as close to Jesus Christ as that?

God is not concerned about our plans; He does not say - Do you want to go through this bereavement; this upset? He allows these things for His own purpose. The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, nobler men and women; or they are making us more captious and fault-finding, more insistent upon our own way. The things that happen either make us fiends, or they make us saints; it depends entirely upon the relationship we are in to God. If we say - "Thy will be done," we get the consolation of John 17, the consolation of knowing that our Father is working according to His own wisdom. When we understand what God is after we will not get mean and cynical. Jesus has prayed nothing less for us than absolute oneness with Himself as He was one with the Father. Some of us are far off it, and yet God will not leave us alone until we are one with Him, because Jesus has prayed that we may be.

-Oswald Chambers
__________________________________________________