Words on my walk

 

I am a lyric person. I of course like the music itself; the keyboards, violins, guitars, drums and more. There is something to be said for great orchestration and accompaniment, but what would music be without the words. It sounds nice, but doesn't stir up the same things in me that the words do when put with the music.

  I took a walk this evening on the bike/walking trail near me that goes through the woods, and took my iPod and earbuds with me as I usually do. I have 32 playlists on the device, and decided to listen to the one I labeled "Praise and Worship favorites". I also have one titled "Praise and Worship", but this one is a smaller selection of favorites of mine from that genre' of music. I put the earbuds in, hit play, and started walking and listening.

 I heard that Jesus is my all in all, my strength when I am weak.

 I was reminded that Jesus is my strong tower, a shelter over me.

A song pointed out that worship is all about Jesus, and not about me.

I was reassured that God's grace is enough......even for me.

And that His grace finds me anywhere.

Another song reminded me that Jesus bore my shame and sin, and that He is the worthy Lamb,

And how deep the Father's love is for me, that it was my sin that held Jesus on the cross...... That the power of the cross is mighty, and that God and His works are indescribable.

To top it all off, another song reminded me that Jesus has overcome, He is risen from the grave, and I will rise some day when He calls my name.

   Maybe that is why secular music doesn't hold much attraction for me. There are some country songs I like that say more than the usual "beer drinking, lost my girlfriend to my best friend" kind of so-called music, but they seem few and far in between. Some tell a story, and others are almost a Gospel song.

  But I want and need music that is going to encourage me, that will pull me closer to God, and not to the world. I need songs that will make me think more of God and bring to my mind Scripture verses that are in so many Christian songs. And that is the kind of music I am going to listen to for most of my days.

Are we too casual in church?

I read an interesting article this past week called "Enter the Casual" that talked about how we dress for church and how we approach church. I have been thinking about the issue since I read and shared the article, and I decided to talk about the issue also.... not because I think I can do a better job, but because I do think this is an important issue and I have some other thoughts on it. I may say some of the same things the man did who wrote the article, but I will try to be original. And this is not a "better than you" post.... I have more room for improvement than not.


Does it matter how we dress for church? If you walk into some churches on a Sunday morning, you will see jeans - ripped and not ripped, t-shirts, shorts, flip flops, and maybe even halter tops.

 If you walk into my church on a Sunday morning, you will see most of the women in skirts or dresses, a lot of men in suits and ties or at least with a tie, a few guys in jeans, and maybe a t-shirt or two. Me? I hate ties, and never wear them to church since I have to wear one at work...... and suits? Forget that. It is a button down shirt for me and khakis on Sunday mornings, and often a nice pair of jeans with a button down shirt on Sunday nights... and never tennis shoes.

  If you would walk into a church out West, most of the crowd is most likely going to be in jeans, cowboy boots, and a western shirt. If ties are worn, they are the string tie kind. If you walk into a church in Hawaii, it may be casual and people with no shoes. In the deep South........ you may still find a lot of people who dress up a lot for church. It varies a lot by age, location, type of church, and other factors.

  But does it matter if we go to church in our best, or in clothes we'd wear to Walmart? Does God care? Should we care? I really don't have a concrete answer. I believe the Bible has principles for modesty in how we dress, but I don't know of anything in there that says how we should dress for church.

  I shared the article on Facebook, and a friend commented with "Honestly, I find in the Bible that it's what's in your heart that matters. You can dress up as much as you want to, but if your heart is not right then you are just dressing up for show." Is she correct?

  As I was thinking about this, this came to my mind: If God was at our church in a physical manifestation that we could see and converse with, we would never show up in clothes that we'd wear to Walmart or to play in. We would wear our best. If George W Bush was going to be at my church to speak and I was going to get to meet him and talk to him, I wouldn't show up in jeans, t-shirt, and flip flops. I'd dig out my suit and dust it off, and wear it...... if it fit.

  But we are there to worship the King of Kings, the God of the universe...... and just because we can't see Him, should that make a difference in how we dress and act? Maybe the reason He doesn't seem to show up as often is because we are being too casual.... and not just in dress.

  I could get in trouble for this, but oh well, it wouldn't be the first time......My church has a vestibule or foyer. You walk into the church and you're in that. There are places to hang your clothes, a bulletin board, a water fountain, bathrooms, etc. It is a pretty large area. There are two double doors going into the rear of the sanctuary - or worship center as some people cal it. Now I am going to share something I find disturbing, which would not go over well with a lot of people at my church, but goes well with this being too casual:

  We have Sunday school classes on Sunday morning, and the one for the more senior members of the church is held in the sanctuary. When the classes are over, several people go into the sanctuary after that teacher is done. We sing a chorus, sometimes take an offering for a project, and occasionally some small order of business will be attended to. There are several people who hang out in the foyer while all of this is going on instead of going to their seats...... and they get loud. They get so loud, that the doors leading into the sanctuary are often closed so we can hear the person up front. It usually sounds like there is a party going on out there.... and no, I am not kidding.

  On Sunday evenings, we have pre-services before the evening worship service. There is something downstairs for the youth, something over in the old sanctuary for the kids, and something in the main sanctuary for everyone left over. Not everyone goes to the pre-service, and sometimes the other things let out before what is going on in the main sanctuary..... and again, it sounds like party time. I am one who is waiting out there during that time and I try to be quiet. But the noise bothers me.

  Here we are, waiting to go into what we call a worship service, but acting like we are going to a party. Is that not too casual? To go back to my point I made with clothing, if God was going to be there as a physical person we could see, would we be hanging out in the foyer laughing and carrying on before we went in to worship and spend time with Him? I don't think we would. I think we'd be quiet with a worshipful attitude before we ever got to our seat and sung the first hymn. And I firmly believe the doors to the sanctuary should never need closed during a service because the people waiting in the foyer can't be quiet.

  I am not even sure most of us are doing church right. We go to God's house, dress like we want, act like we want, and don't act like we are there to worship God. And I am including myself in that. Church is almost boring to me. We pray, sing a few songs, take up the offering, maybe hear a few people get up and say what God is doing in their lives, then hear a sermon, and go home. Did we really worship God, or did we just do our required duty as a Christian and check off the box on our list?

  What is true worship? Is it what I described? Is it a bunch of loud musicians on stage dancing around and getting everyone's emotions stirred? Is it being quiet and contemplative?  Is it hours spent in prayer? Is it listening to a long winded preacher?

  This may sound like heresy, but sometimes I feel closer to God outside of church. When it is just me and Him, walking on the bike trail through the woods, driving my car and listening to good Christian music.

  I don't know much we dress up for church matters to God. I don't even know the answer to my question about if we would dress differently if God was there in physical form. I think we would, but maybe we wouldn't.

  But as I have typed this blog post and thought about it, I do believe being casual about being in His house, being casual about worshiping Him is most likely a bigger deal to Him than if we dress casually.... though I am not ruling that out. If we are in church to worship Him, and not just go to check it off our list or keep family or the pastor off of our back...... then we should act like it. Enter the church more quietly with a spirit of worship already on us. If we wait til the service starts to get an attitude of worship, God may already have passed by. Casual dress for church? Maybe. Casual attitude? Definitely not.

The road I am walking

 I love to walk. I don't do it often enough as I am a fair weather walker. I don't like it to be too hot or cold, and I don't like to walk in the rain. I enjoy plugging myself into my iPod and setting out on the bike/walking trail near me that goes through the woods, sometimes taking off the trail to walk on the road that runs beside the trail and crosses it several times.

 I also enjoy taking pictures. As I look at the pictures I have taken on these walks, I realize I take a lot of pictures of the trails and roads I walk. I also realize I enjoy looking at pictures that have roads in them, especially a country road that winds off in the distance. If it is a road or path I am not familiar with, I find myself wondering what is around the bend that is not visible in  the picture.

  Once in a while, I will walk on a different section of the trail or road that I normally walk on, and I enjoy seeing things I didn't see before. A different building, house, vegetation, bodies of water..... it makes the walk more enjoyable to see new things, and to not know what is around the next bend in the road or trail.

  A friend of mine, Tanya Ford Allison posted the following picture she took near where she lives. I have never been there. I have never walked on that road, but there is something about a picture like that one that makes me want to step into the picture and walk that road. To see what is around the bend, to follow the road to the end to see what is there.

  I have been thinking about roads and my obsession with taking and posting pictures of roads and trails. I am far from being the first person to relate this journey to Heaven as being on a road, but it has been on my mind as I look at the dozens of pictures of roads and trails in my photos.

 I have really been struggling with faith lately, and trusting God. I find myself wishing I knew what was around the next bend in the road of my life, but I don't know. I can't see the future, but God can...... He is already there. So why do I worry and fear so much?

  When I am driving my car, I don't worry about what is around the next curve in the road. OK, when I am driving in the dark I worry about hitting a deer, but other than that I don't worry..... or when the roads are snow or ice covered. I don't fret about where the road is going to take me. Even if I am going somewhere unfamiliar, I go by my GPS and have faith that it will take me where I need to go.

  And there is that word: faith..... faith in my GPS. Why is it so easy to trust and have faith in vehicles, roads, electronic gadgets, and other things made by man, yet so difficult to trust the God of the universe who loves me and knows what is best for me? My GPS doesn't care about me. It can't care because it is an electronic gadget. If it can get me where I need to go without me fretting and worrying about what is coming next, than how much more can God get me where I need to be? And why should I worry and fret with Him in control.

  I have found myself thinking often "if God would do this, it would be easier for me to trust Him and have faith", but yet the reasonable part of me realizes that isn't true. I can look back on my life and see where He has helped me and worked out things that are similar to what I am worrying about now.... so what would change if He did something to help my faith? Probably nothing would change.

  Faith isn't just a fuzzy warm feeling that comes automatically. It requires effort. As I continue on this road I am walking to Heaven, may God help me trust Him more. After all, He is the ultimate GPS.

A friend of God

This past week I discovered that I had been "un-friended". A Facebook friend had gone to my profile and clicked to remove me from his list of friends. We had interacted a lot in a Facebook group, and I met him in person at a conference in May and ate at the same table as he did a few times. It made me feel badly. It was made worse by the fact that I had sent him the friend request. I never do that. I still have feelings of inferiority and struggle to believe people actually like me, so I try to avoid rejection as much as I can, and one way is to not send friend requests on Facebook. But I decided to brave it and send a couple. And now he has removed me. I think it was because we disagreed on Muslims. He is very pro-Muslim, and they scare the daylights out of me and I wish we'd close our borders to them.

A few months ago, I had a lady from my own church not just "un-friend" me, but she blocked me, my mom, and my sister. The reason: I post too much about a certain subject, one that is important to me and that I personally struggle with. She also said I am too "snarky", whatever that means - I am sarcastic, but I can't help it.....it runs in my family....... I felt bad about that too, and it was worse that she didn't even tell me that she was blocking me. I found out second hand, which means she was talking about me to at least one person, and I would assume more.

  I have been thinking about this "un-friending" business, and had some thoughts about it - and yes, I do take it too personally, but it is just one of many areas I need to work on:

1) If we remove everyone from our life who disagrees with us on social media or off, pretty soon our world will consist of just me. There are people on Facebook who seem to only comment on posts of mine that they disagree with. That is the only time I hear from them..... and I don't delete them.

2) If someone "un-friends" me, it is their loss. Seriously. I texted my best friend about this latest "un-friending" since he knows this guy too, and that was his reply. "It is his loss." I replied "not much of a loss", but I think my friend is right. I am not perfect. I post things not everyone likes or is interested in, but doesn't everyone? I would love to block sports related stuff from my Facebook feed - especially football - but I don't remove everyone who talks about something I hate with all of my being. I wouldn't have many people left, for one thing, and how shallow I would be to remove people for that reason.

  But I have people who have messaged me and thanked me for posting something that encouraged them. Some say so in public. And I am a unique person that some people do like. Maybe more people put up with me than like me, but that is OK. If they delete me as a friend, they are losing connection with my uniqueness and the possibility that I might post something to help or encourage them. Stranger things have happened

3) Losing a Facebook friend you mainly know through Facebook isn't a huge loss. It is rejection, which can hurt...especially if that is a weak area.... but a few weeks from now it won't make a difference and I'll most likely forget the guy exists after a while.

4) I need to focus on the friends off line and on line who are true friends. And I have made some true friends through Facebook or other social media. I met my best friend through social media through a great woman of God we both know. And there are others who are a constant source of encouragement and friendship.

5) I need to focus on being the kind of friend who isn't so easily offended to delete people who disagree with me or even criticize me. As Christians we shouldn't be so easily offended. Yes, people can say hurtful things, but to delete people for disagreeing with us is pretty lame.

6) God is still my friend and will never "un-friend" me.

  Which brings me to part 2 of my blog: I am a friend of God

1) God will never un-friend me.

2) If God had a Facebook account, He would send me a friend request and not wait for me to send Him one.

3) If I disagree with Him, He will still be my friend

4) If I say rude or hurtful things to Him, He will still be my friend,

5) If everyone in the world walked away from me and hated me, He would still love me and be my friend.

6) He sent His Son to die for me, and has been far more patient and long-suffering with me than I have ever deserved.

7) If I walk away from Him, He lets me go, but never stops calling me back.

8) Some day He will come back for me and take me to a place that is so wonderful that eyes have not seen or ears heard the wonders of that place, and I will live there forever. There will be no "un-friending", no rejection, no pain, no being left out, no inferiority complex, no blocking, no hurt feelings, no one being offended. It will be Heaven, and everything will be perfect.

9) No one's actions, opinions of me, or rejection of me has anything to do with what I am worth or how God views or loves me.

  So let whoever will block me, un-friend me, ignore me, say rude things to me or about me.... I am a friend of God. And He is the only friend who truly matters.


Who am I that You are mindful of me?
That You hear me when I call
Is it true that You are thinking of me?
How You love me
It's amazing

Who am I that You are mindful of me?
That You hear me when I call
Is it true that You are thinking of me?
How You love me
It's amazing

Chorus:
I am a friend of God
I am a friend of God
I am a friend of God
He calls me friend

Who am I that You are mindful of me?
That You hear me when I call
Is it true that You are thinking of me?
How You love me
It's amazing, so amazing, It's amazing 

Chorus:
I am a friend of God
I am a friend of God
I am a friend of God
He calls me friend

May we never forget

 I have a confession. Sometimes being a Christian, the cross, forgiveness, Jesus' blood, the Bible...... it all becomes old hat. I was just praying last night and telling God I don't feel thankful enough for what He has done for me. He knows anyway, so I might as well be honest with Him and tell Him.

  I got up this morning with a song running through my head by The Martins, You Saved Me. It is an awesome song and worth listening to. It is on YouTube, so check it out. I don't know if I have the CD anymore, so I made a mix CD of a bunch of the Martin's songs from my iTunes and headed out to work. The first song on my CD I made was the one mentioned above. After it ended, another song from the same CD that song was recorded on played, and it hit home, especially after what I had prayed last night. The song is called "May We Never Forget." The first verse and chorus goes like this:

Verse 1
The story's so familiar
We've heard it all before
Some days it seems
Like nothing's sacred anymore

Despite the best intentions
Somewhere along the road
We've come to take for granted
This truth that we know

Chorus:
May we never forget
The cross and the blood
The price that was paid
So that we might live

May we never forget
The cost of this love
He'll never forsake us
He'll always forgive
May we never forget

  That song has been played many times on my pc and on the CD when I did have the original CD, but never has it hit home as much as it did today. I thought about it all day, and played the song a few more times on the way home, and I thought more. Do I take Jesus and His death and resurrection for granted? I am afraid I do.

  There is an old hymn that says "Tell me the old, old story, tell me the old, old story,
Tell me the old, old story, of Jesus and His love." But what happens when the old, old story gets so old it doesn't mean as much anymore? What if the story becomes to familiar that we yawn when we hear it?

 The last verse of the song May We Never forget says this:

So let us decide right here, right now
To refresh our memory
Of how it felt to be lost
And how it feels to be free.

  
  Maybe therein likes the answer to not become calloused and, for the lack of a better term, bored with our Christian experience.... think about what it felt to be lost and remember how it felt to be forgiven of everything we ever did and find a peace that we never had before.

  Some of us were saved from "bad" sins, and others of us were saved as young people and never ventured out into sin. The former has a lot to thank God for. He saved them from a life of sin and wiped the slate clean and what they did cannot be held against them anymore. The other group has a lot to be thankful for also. They need to thank God for saving them from going into a life of sin and sparing them all the heartache and pain that they could have experienced.

  I am not a wordsmith, and to try to portray in great words the miracle of redemption is beyond my abilities, but how can we get used to the idea that the King of Kings sent His only Son to die for our sins, and that all we have to to is repent and confess our sins, and He will come into our heart? How can we get used to the idea that if we are faithful to the end that we will live forever in a place that no tongue can describe the wonders of it?

  We cannot dwell in the past, but it would do us good to look back once in a while to remember the pit God brought us from and to be thankful for this Amazing grace and this marvelous plan of redemption that doesn't make sense to any human mind.

  Maybe I am the only one who gets so used to all of this that it becomes old hat, but I doubt it. May none of us forget where we came from, and what God has done for us and will do.


The story's so familiar
We've heard it all before
Some days it seems
Like nothing's sacred anymore

Despite the best intentions
Somewhere along the road
We've come to take for granted
This truth that we know

May we never forget
The cross and the blood
The price that was paid
So that we might live

May we never forget
The cost of this love
He'll never forsake us
He'll always forgive
May we never forget

So let us decide right here, right now
To refresh our memory
Of how it felt to be lost
And how it feels to be free

May we never forget
The cross and the blood
The price that was paid
So that we might live

May we never forget
The cost of this love
He'll never forsake us
He'll always forgive

May we never forget
The grace of our God
The wealth of His mercy out-poured

Forgive us, Lord
Forgive us if we ever forget
Your cross and Your blood
The life that You gave
So that we might live

May we never forget
The cost of Your love
You'll never forsake us
You'll always forgive
May we never, never ever forget

Songwriters
JOYCE MARTIN MCCOULLOUGH, MATT HUESMANN (4012), GRANT CUNNINGHAM (10251)

My thoughts on the 2016 candidates so far

I didn't watch the debates last week, but I did watch some highlights and read a lot about them. I already had some opinions, and they didn't really change much for most of the candidates. According to my Facebook feed, everyone won...... and everyone won.

  Now obviously not everyone won, and some shone more than others..... and some we still don't know much about.

So here is what I think about the candidates. The Democrats and hopefully losers first:

 1) Hillary Clinton. In my opinion, the biggest loser in the debates was Hillary Clinton. You'd think the person who is supposed to be the Democratic front-runner might want to watch the GOP debates to eye her competition........ but nope. She was off taking selfies with Kim Kardasian, too busy to watch her opponents.

  I would never vote for a pro-abortion candidate anyway, so she has that strike against her, not to mention all of her other horrible policies and her endless line of scandals. One would think she and Obama were in a race to see who can end up with the most scandals. She is old, has nothing going for her, has no record, no accomplishments and is avoiding the media like the plague instead of being out there actually campaigning. I think she will be easy to beat. And she is a liar to boot.

2) Bernie Sanders. Again, no way I am voting to him with his socialist and pro-abortion policies. He is outgunning Hillary already and may beat her out for the Democratic nomination. He looks older than dirt, and at 73 would be 77 at the end of a 4 year presidency... if he lived that long. Yeah, I know Regan was old, but he didn't act it and far outshone his age.

3) Martin O'Malley. I glanced at his policies, and they stink. Not only is he pro-abortion, he supports federal funding of abortion. Plus he is a wuss...... after saying all lives matter and making the black lives matter mad, he apologized for saying all lives matter. Really? What a wimp. He is also a crazed climate change politician.

The Republicans, and hopefully one of these will be the winner and be our next president.

My top 3 picks:

1) Scott Walker. I have watched him the last few years and have been impressed with him. A Christian who stands for the right things, and he has cleaned up his state, faced a recall and won, then won a second election, something never done before. I personally believe we'd be better off with a governor as president, and he fits the bill. The only thing I am not sure about him on is immigration..... he may be weak on that, but he is still one of my top picks.

2)  Ted Cruz. Another top pick. He has a spine and stands for all of  the right things. He is not afraid to go up against his own party, and has done so only to get derided and shredded by his own party. I would vote for him in a heartbeat, and believe he'd do an awesome job as president.

3) Marco Rubio. I know, he was weak on immigration in the past, but I believe he has his head on straight now, and people CAN change their minds. He looks presidential, he sounds presidential, has an impressive record and career, and is nice-looking to boot... beside him, Hillary Clinton would look like an old hag, to put it bluntly. I like him a lot and would not have to hold my nose to vote for him.

My possibles: (in no particular order)

4) Ben Carson. I like him, but would need to know more about his stance on the issues before I'd vote for him. He is very pro-life, which is a must for me, but I don't know much else about him. I like the fact that he has no political experience, but that would be held against him by the media and Democrats.

5) Carly Fiorina. I am not ready for a woman president, though I would much rather it be a conservative one than a Democrat/liberal one. I never heard of Fiorina before she announced her candidacy, but she is good. She handles herself very well in interviews and in the debate she was just in, and I like everything I know so far, though there is an article about her praising Islam, and if that is true..... well, then I wouldn't like her so well. I'd need to know more about her before she became a definite for me, and it would help if she were a man...... sorry, but it is true :) Another plus for her in my book is that she is not a politician.

6) Bobby Jindal. I like everything about him, and like the fact that he is a governor. He has stood up to Obama in the past and has de-funded Planned Parenthood in his state, or at least funding from Medicaid for it. He seems to have done a good job as governor, and as it stands now I'd have no problem voting for him, though he is another I would need to know more about on the issues.

7) Rick Perry. I am not sure why, but I am not crazy about Perry. He has a good record as governor, and seems to be pretty conservative. Part of me says he ran once, he should just go away now. I wouldn't have as much trouble voting for him as I did McCain and Romney, and really can't find anything I don't like about him..... he just isn't a favorite.

8) Rand Paul. He isn't a top pick, not even among my "possibles." He says and does a lot of good, but also has some of his dad's ideas and I consider his dad a kook politically. He would be tons better than what we have now, and a definitely better than a Hillary Clinton presidency. I wouldn't have to hold my nose to vote for him, but it would be close.

9) John Kasich. He is my governor, and I have been happy with him. He is far better than our last governor who was a Democrat and better than the governor before that who was a useless Republican. However, why bother getting in the race so late? He needs to just stick with governing at this point. Would I vote for him for president? I'd have no problem doing so if he won the nomination, but he won't.

10) Rick Santorum. I like the guy and everything he stands for, but I don't think he has a chance. And he is another who shouldn't bother running again. I wouldn't have a problem voting for him, but he seems weak to me, and is definitely not a top pick.

My "Who on earth are they?!) candidates:

11) George Pataki. I know absolutely nothing about him except he was governor of New York... and I didn't know that until they said when he announced his candidacy. Would I vote for him? Not until I learned a lot more about him than that one thing.

12) Jim Gilmore. I know less about him as I think he was a governor, but where...... uh, I don't know and I don't care enough to look it up. He isn't even on my radar other than a mention since he is running.

My "no way Jose' candidates. The ones I would most likely stay home if they ran..... they are that bad in my eyes:

13) Donald Trump. He has a spine, and once he says something he will not back down.....something more politicians need to pick up for themselves. He says the right things about illegal immigration and is giving that the attention it needs. Oddly, he is polling the highest of all candidates among Hispanic voters.

  But he is a loudmouth, rude, and arrogant. He is a performer, not presidential material. He has said some things he shouldn't have, has ties to liberals, and can't take the heat just like Obama. I am afraid he will run as a third party candidate and  hand the presidency to the Democrats, and wonder if that is his plan. He is bad news.

14) Mike Huckabee. He has some good points, but I am not a fan. I think he is a RINO, and wouldn't make a good president. And again.... he already ran. Go away. He is better than the others in this mini list, but I don't want to vote for him.

15) Chris Christie. Absolutely not. He is more Democrat than Republican, and has the record to show for it. He would be a mistake as a president.

16) Jeb Bush. Nope. He is a RINO and is weak or wrong on too many issues.. plus though I liked George W, we don't need another Bush. Oddly enough, no one seems to like him and everyone wonders how he is polling as well as he is. He needs to go away, and if he gets the nomination, we will lost.

17) Lindsey Graham: He is a RINO who I like nothing about.,,,,, including his voice. I couldn't vote for him. His record as Senator speaks for him too well......he gets a resounding no from me.


   We have too many candidates and hopefully it gets weeded out soon, but there are a lot of good ones. There are several that I could vote for without holding my nose, which hasn't happened for a while. And my opinion could change on some of them as they debate and some of them trip and stumble.... but if the election were held tomorrow, these are my views right now.

 I do believe we need a true conservative. We have run RINOS the last couple of elections and lost..... because too many didn't want to vote for them. I and many others believe if we get a true conservative in there, we can win. And we need to win before someone else finishes what Obama started and totally destroys our freedoms and this country.

Is there a chapter and verse for that?

  There was an article on Facebook this week about tattoos that go away after a couple of weeks. I glanced at the comments and one stood out. Evidently someone had posted something negative about Christians having tattoos, for this person was demanding a chapter and verse that says that Christians cannot have tattoos.

  We have gotten to a place that most too many of we Christians believe it has to be in black and white in the Bible for us to do it or not do it. There is a word for that: legalism. We tend to look at the Amish, Mennonites, and anyone else who have a lot of outward rules as legalistic... and it can be legalistic to just blindly follow the rules of a church or religious organization and never questioning anything or getting God's will instead of the church's.

  But it can also be legalism to just follow the rules of the Bible and believe we can do whatever else we want if the Bible doesn't specifically say not to do it. The definition of legalism I found says this:

strict adherence, or the principle of strict adherence, to law or prescription, especially to the letter rather than the spirit.

  The Bible is so much more than a rule book. It is God's love letter to us, and is a guidebook for us to follow as we journey through life. It is a book we can go to for anything in our life and find principles to help us know what to do in pretty much any situation. I firmly believe that though not everything is spelled out in "thou shalt nots", the Bible is clear enough for us to know whether something is right or wrong for us to do. If we truly want to know.

  We live too much for "me". It is our right to do this or that. And we will argue with and put down anyone who dares to suggest that a Christian should not do a certain thing. It doesn't help that the church is only 10 years or less behind the world. Whatever fad, habit, sin, or whatever else the world is doing now, the church will be doing in a few years. There are things that were once taboo and wrong to even good people who were not Christians that Christians are fighting for the right to do today.

We wear - or don't wear -  what we want to wear

We view what we want to view

We entertain ourselves however we want to

We talk how we want to talk.

  It is all about me, me, me, and me. One would think that for too many of us, we are the lord and god of our lives and it is all about making the god of me happy and satisfied.

  I have a friend I got into a discussion about modesty. I strongly believe the Bible has principles of modesty and that there is a limit to how much skin we should show. One of those reasons I brought out was we should not dress in ways that will cause others to lust. We are commanded to not do anything to trip our brother up, and though that can be taken too far most of us don't take that at all. This friend told me in no uncertain terms that "there is no way I am going to let some guy's lust problem dictate how I am going to dress!" She, and others insist it is all on the man. It is his fault if the way a woman (or man) is dressed causes him problems, and none of the fault lies with the person who is dressed in ways to cause lust.

  This is not a post about modesty, so I will go on a rabbit trail with that, but think about those statements for a minute. Is it really true that we can dress like a Vicoria's Secret model or a Chippendale dude, and if a Christian brother or sister is tripped up, tempted, and has more problems controlling his lust.... that it is all on them? That we are guiltless because we have a right do dress how we want and to show as much skin as is legally allowed? Now some people are going to struggle with lust if people were covered head to toe, but tight clothes, revealing clothes, low necklines, short shorts, halter tops, no shirt, etc. are going to be more tempting than someone dressed decently. Is it truly following the spirit of that verse about not causing a brother to fall if we are dressing in ways that may likely cause him to fall?

  And granted, the offending your brother could be taken too far, but if we are honest most of us don't take that verse at all. We do what we want and live how we want with no regard to how we might affect a weaker brother or sister.

  A few months ago, a popular book was made into a movie. 50 Shades of Grey was the thing to see. I watched the movie trailer to see what the fuss was about, and that was enough for me to know that anyone who truly wants to keep their mind pure should not see it..... yet many Christians did and hotly defended their right to see it and poo-pooed anyone who dared suggest it wasn't something anyone should see. To me, it was pornography. Not all pornography has total nudity or visual sex acts.

  But the Bible doesn't say we can't watch 50 Shades of Grey...... But it does say not to set any wicked thing before our eyes. It does say to think on what is pure, good, of good report, etc... It does say to look lustfully on a woman (or man) is to commit adultery in our hearts, and I am sure there was lust involved as people watched a beautiful scantily clad woman tied up and abused by a virile shirtless hunky man.

The Bible doesn't say "thou shalt not do heroin, cocaine, marijuana, meth, etc.".... yet even non-Christians know the dangers and would scoff at the idea of Christians doing drugs. We just know it isn't something anyone should do, but especially Christians.

  There is no verse in the Bible that says we should not hurt animals, yet one cannot believe and read the Bible and not know that a Christian should not mistreat an animal.

  I could go on and on with examples of things we know Christians can't do. Granted, too many are twisting Scripture to excuse behaviors and things that would inconvenience them, so even if everything was in black and white in the Bible there are people who would worm around it.

  But if we truly love God. If we truly are taking up a cross, denying ourselves, and following Him....we won't find his commands difficult. We won't try to twist Scripture to suit our purposes. We will make our lives fit into His will, not make His will fit into our lives.

  I believe 100% that God cares about what kind of music we listen to, how we dress, how we spend our time, what kind of movies or TV shows we watch, what kind of language we use, what we put on our bodies or do to our bodies..... if we truly care to get His will and opinion on those things.

  The Bible is full of verses we can apply to our lives and how God wants us to live in every area of our lives... if we want that. If we want God's will and not our own, and truly want Him to be the Lord and God of our lives and not for us to be god.

  I heard a story once that comes to mind as I was typing this blog post: After a couple got married, the husband presented his wife with a list of his expectations and from her that he wanted in their married life. There was a lot on the list, and she found it a burden that caused her to resent her husband. The result was a very unhappy marriage. After her husband's death, she eventually remarried. After she had been married to this second man for a while, she ran across the hated list from her first husband. As she glanced down over his list of demands, she realized with surprise that she was doing everything on the list for her second husband, but didn't mind it at all and did not find it a burden. The difference was it was not demanded of her and there was mutual love and respect so she found herself willingly doing those things out of love.

  If we truly love God, we are not going to need a chapter and verse that spells everything out. We will daily seek His will and weed out things in our lives that we feel may displease Him. It may mean not watching some movies, wearing some clothes, not following some fads, and not doing some things that it seems all other Christians are doing. But we aren't meant to please and be like other Christians. We are to please and be like Jesus.

Extreme Commitment

 

 I was reading a news story today about a woman who is going on a one-way trip to Mars. I didn't know such a thing was happening, but they are going to send some people to Mars to try to set up a colony there. She is leaving behind a husband and two step-sons that she will never see again.

  My first thought was "she's an idiot." I know, not a good Christian response, but she is. And then I thought of her family. How could anyone deliberately leave their spouse and kids to go on a harebrained trip to another planet? It sounds like she is more committed to a wild idea than to her marriage vows. Maybe we need to add an exception to that for better and worse.... "unless I decide to go to another planet, then the marriage is over."

  A lady at work was talking to me last week about how discouraged her grandson is. The kid is in his 20's and just in the last few months he was in Intensive Care because his pancreas was shutting down due to diabetes he didn't know he had. He survived, but has to give himself several shots a day. Then he lost his job because his employer got rid of everyone and brought in new people. Then he totaled his car. He is a Christian, but has really been doubting God and asking why wicked people seem to have no problems, yet he is a Christian and has had a rough time of it. My co-worker is also discouraged because of his recent bad developments. I tried to say some things to help her and hopefully him, but I have been thinking about our conversation and about being truly committed to serving God.

  There was a popular country song several years ago that said "I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden." That was written by a human, but that could be something God said. He loves us enough to send His only Son to die for the sins of the whole world and will save anyone who comes to Him in repentance and give that person eternal life....... but He doesn't promise an easy road to that eternal life. In fact, for many of us that road is mostly uphill with potholes and more thorns than roses.

  It is easy to promise commitment to the love of your life when you're in your 20's, when you are both in great physical condition and seem to have the world by the tails. It is another thing when the house is full of screaming kids, the dishes need done, the car is broken down, or when some cruel disease is sucking the life and vitality out of that young man or woman you promised to be with forever.

  It is also easy to promise to serve God and love Him when our faith is young and everything is going great. When it seems every prayer we pray gets answered, and life is like a bed of roses.

  It isn't so easy to serve God when things aren't going well.

When the womb and arms are empty. When miscarriage is an all too common word in your vocabulary.

When the bills outnumber the money coming in.

When all of your friends are finding the love of their lives and you are still a party of one,

When you find yourself struggling with attractions to the same sex that won't go away no matter how hard and often you pray.

When death takes away a loved one early and leaves you shattered and hurting.

When you have lost track of how many job applications you have filled out, and still remain jobless.

When depression blocks out God and it seems our prayers are bouncing off of the ceiling to fall to the floor.

When the spouse who promised to love you forever leaves you for someone else.

   Unlike Joel Osteen and others like him will tell us, the Christian life isn't easy and being a Christian does not exempt us from bad stuff nor does it automatically fatten our bank account. If being a Christian meant an easy life with no problems, everyone would want to be one...... but that isn't the case. We love and serve God because He first loved us, not to get free stuff and a problem-free life.

  I differ from my Calvinist friends. I believe we can walk away from God, to give up, and go back to our life of sin and miss Heaven after being a Christian. There are many reasons I cannot believe the once-saved, always saved theology, but one reason is this: Why would Satan fight Christians so hard if we can never miss Heaven once we become a Christian? Oh, I have heard their explanations and don't think they hold water. I believe that is one of the big reasons Satan fights us so hard...... he wants to take us back from God, so he throws everything he has got at us.

  I am not one to blame the devil or God for every misfortune that comes my way. Some things are just life, and some things are a result of my own stupidity or sin, but I do believe God lets some things come our way to shape and mold us, and there are things He allows that we may never understand while on this earth, but He always has a purpose. He may like He did with Job, step back and let Satan throw everything he has at us, and we may never know why. It is up to us to keep walking with God.

  When we take that step, whether it be walking down the aisle of the church to kneel at an altar, or to kneel by a beside to confess our sins and repent, and ask Jesus into our heart..... it is a commitment like no other we can make. We can break it like other commitments, but God will never break it. He may test our commitment and allow the devil to test our commitment and come at us with every temptation and trial he has in his arsenal.

  This Christian walk is a walk of faith. It is a walk of commitment. A commitment that says we will keep serving God no matter what. That even when life throws more at us than we can handle, we will still cling to the same God who saved us from sin. That we like Job will say "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."

  Even if it means being single for the rest of your life, if it means never being a mother or father, never being free from desires you never asked for, if it means living in the most sparse of conditions or going to a god-forsaken third world country.....whatever life brings us as a Christian, we must keep walking, be truly committed to serving this God who sent His only Son to save us. And to serve Him though none go with us.