Monday, May 6, 2013
Lord, let me be of help to someone, but make it quick and not a bother.......
This blog post will be similar to my last blog post, Getting our hands, or car seats dirty, but I'm hoping to expound on it, though it may be a hodge podge of "stuff":
I am including myself in this, but I've been wondering if most of us aren't completely missing it in the church. We have our families and our friends, our jobs and activities, and we so rarely go out of our way to help anyone, really help them, as lead them to Christ, or cause them to want to be Christians.
I read a great fiction book last month, The Gate by Dann Stouten. There was a conversation between Jesus and the main character in the book that I thought nails it:
Jesus:"As a Christian, your job isn't to bring people on earth to Heaven.. That is my job. Your job is to bring Heaven to the people on earth. To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to care for the sick, the crying, and the dying. When you do that, people will start asking 'Why? What's your motivation? What possible reason would you have for making that ...kind of sacrifice for me?' And when they start asking questions like that, then sharing your faith will be easy, then lives will be changed. It's simple really. Do that, and you'll change the world. Don't do that, and nothing will change. Like I said before, what you've done to the least of these, you've done to me"
And something else I read recently in Fearless by Mike Dellosso in the forward to the book
In James Cameron’s 2009 hit Avatar the alien race greets
each other with the words “I see you.” During the course
of the movie we learn that those words mean more than they
appear to mean at first. To the Na’vi “I see you” is so much more
than acknowledging that an individual is present; it is to look
into their soul, to see them for who they really are, their character,
their passions, their hurts and fears and joys and dreams.
Interestingly native tribes in South Africa use the same greeting.It’s quite powerful when you think about it. We are a busy people,
working, playing, texting, surfing; our minds are constantly occupied.
Yes, we’re surrounded by people we never really see. Oh, we see they’re there. They get in our way in line at the grocery store,
cut us off on the highway, give us the wrong amount of change at
the fast-food joint. But do we really see them? Mostly, no.
How radically it would change our lives if we saw those around us as not just bodies populating the landscape of our life, but as
people with lives, with struggles and victories, as husbands trying
desperately to provide for their family and wives exhausted from
working and parenting and running here and there, as employees
striving to do their best in a system that keeps expecting more
for less.
What if we really saw those around us? What if we looked intotheir eyes and found the soul of them? How important would
every connection be? Every word spoken? Every action portrayed?
And what if others knew that when we looked at them we saw so
much more than a body taking up space, that we saw them as a
precious creation, a person made in the image of God. A person.
I want to see people, really see them.
We used to sing a song at church:
"Lord, lay some soul upon my heart,
And love that soul through me;
And may I bravely do my part
To win that soul for Thee"
There are so many hurting people around us, but how willing our we to really do something about it? Some of them are across the street, next door, on the street corner, and even in our own church congregation. Jesus spent most of his ministry helping and loving people........ how much of our time is spent doing so? Do we really want to have a soul laid on our hearts to pray for, to love? Can we sing the above song..... and really mean it?
I was reading a fictional book the other night where white supremacists were finding young teenage boys that no one wanted and recruiting them - that does go on, and not just with white supremacists. Think of the difference we could make if these young people growing up without someone to love and care about them could be met by Christians who would take them under their wing instead of letting them be prey for evil, and headed for trouble.
About 13 years ago, I decided to try something new. I enrolled in the Big Brothers program. The boy who I got as my "little brother" was a scrawny quiet kid of 12. The first time I picked him up, I didn't think it would ever work, but it did. Once he started talking, he wouldn't quit. :-) I was his "big brother" for 4 years and loved it. I got into it to do something for someone else, but it helped me a lot. It was fun, but it involved sacrifices and time. I hate sports, but went to some of his basketball games for his sake. I went to some school band concerts that were OK, and not something I'd normally do, but he was playing in it, so I went. I spent a lot of time and money on him in 4 years, and I don't regret it at all. (His mom would often try to pay me back when I took him out to eat. I wouldn't let her) I was the main male role model in his life for 4 years, and I hope and pray I was the example I should be. His mom told me a while back that she credits me with the man he has turned out to be. I cried when I read that. And really, I didn't do much. I spent time with him, tried to do things he was interested in, loved him, spent some money on meals, mini golf, birthdays, Christmas, etc, but it felt great to do it. I'd love to do something like that again. I wish I could do more.
The thing is, so many of is don't get it. It is all about people. We can't take anything to heaven with us, except for people, yet we are so busy doing things. And yes, we have lives and things we need to do, but when we stand before God, if we can have regrets, we are going to wish we had done more to help people find Jesus, and to make it to Heaven.
We're all busy, but we can still make time. My church has reading course books for the youth and for the missionary society. One year, I was in charge of the youth books. I had to try to get people to read them, keep track of where they were, and report at the end of the year how many people read each book. I got so sick of the excuse half the church gave me "I don't have time." I'd fume to my family later: "I bet if we'd ask them over Friday or Saturday night for pizza and games, they'd have time for that!" Were they being honest? Some of them, maybe, but we do make time for what we want to do. I'd rather they had just said they didn't want to read them.... that is what I do. :-)
I was talking to someone recently and was surprised by something they said. They told me they haven't professed to be a Christian for 3 years. Everyone in their church, and outside the church, just assumes they are where they should be with God. I thought "how sad." I'm not advocating going around taking everyone's spiritual temperature in the church, but if we can't see the people in our own church who are hurting and need encouragement and help, then how can we help people outside of the church........ though we need to do both.
If Jesus was walking the earth today, He would be out there helping people, putting feet to the Gospel. That is what He did when He was here. I am not saying we can't have fun and games, but He viewed people more important than that. Healing them, helping them, loving them. And it is still important.
Read Matthew 25:34-46 (NLT)
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,[f] you were doing it to me!’
41 “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.[g] 42 For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. 43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
44 “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’
45 “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’
46 “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”
If I read those verses right, it sounds to me like helping people, showing them love, is pretty important to God. Important enough that he cast aside the people in the above verses that didn't do it.
As the first book quote said, if we love people and start putting actions to what we believe, we won't have to preach to people, they will want this Jesus we claim to be like and serve.
We can pay our tithe, keep all the commandments, go to church regularly, live an honest life with integrity, but if we don't reach out to others, we aren't being like Jesus at all.
In closing, I am not saying everyone is failing in this area. There are many people who are doing far more than their part, but I fear more of us are not doing what we should, than are. It would do us good to pray for God to send someone across our path that we can be Jesus to, to love, and help in any way we can. The sad truth is, most likely they are already there for many of us, and like the religious rulers in the story of the Good Samaritan, we walk on by and ignore them. We should take caution to only pray that prayer if we mean it. It will cost us some time, maybe money, and inconveniences.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Getting our hands, or carseats, dirty
As my exit came up, I felt like I should get him some coffee and something to eat, kind of brought on by the fact that he most likely assumed I was a Christian - the gospel music. He gratefully accepted my offer, so I stopped at the gas station/convenience store right off the exit and bought him some coffee, a sandwich, and some chips and was on my way.
He didn't appear to be very clean, and also smelled, so when I got home I put a new air freshener in my car and sprayed the seat with Lysol.
There is a reason I stopped and picked this man up. I have been thinking a lot about this idea of getting our hands dirty. Too many Christians, myself included, go through life living our Christian life and rarely go out of our way to witness or help people in need. We do it if it doesn't involve getting our hands dirty, if it causes no discomfort on our part, or takes up time we would rather spend doing something else. I tell this story not to lift myself up, for I don't do enough. There are some Christians who do more, but I'm afraid our churches are filled with people like me. We want to live for Christ and be like Him, but not in every way.
We can dress modestly and look like the gender we are, we can have great attitudes, go to church regularly, and be next to perfect......... but if we never step out of our comfort zone and help people, love the unlovable, and really do something worthwhile, we really aren't much like Jesus after all. He got His hands dirty. He visited the outcasts, the down and out, the lepers and other undesirables. Can we do any less?
I am friends with a dear lady named Pat. She is a wonderful Christian woman whose oldest son is gay. He openly lived the gay lifestyle for years, and she loved him and his friends. She'd visit him and treat his gay friends like they were someone special. Not sure if she still does it, but she would go around speaking about the issue of homosexuality from a Biblical standpoint, and with her son's permission, talk about him and what it is like having a gay son.... she truly loved the sinner, but not the sin. Too many Christians would run from that. They would be afraid to catch the gayness, or other ridiculous ideas. I sat in a Sunday School class in my own church a few years ago where the issue was being discussed and heard these comments, and others similar: "I'd never let my kids around one of those people." "I'd rather have a murder around my family than one of those perverts." Wow, really?! Is it no wonder people in that lifestyle hate Christians and the church so much? I pity the gay person that runs across Christians with that attitude. They will be all the more turned off by Christianity.
Now I'm not saying we should go around picking up hitch hikers. It isn't always a wise or safe thing to do, especially for women, and had I not felt so strongly that I should, I would have driven by. I doubt my actions will bring that man to Christ, but hopefully he will view Christians and God in a more positive light because of what I did. We don't have to be out there witnessing to every person we meet, though that is great if you do, but we can all reach out somehow to people, even those who seem unlovable or are living lifestyles that are destructive, sinful, and that we abhor. Jesus wouldn't pass them by, so how can we and claim to be like Him?
I fear sometimes we just don't love enough. Yes, we still have to say sin is sin and try to stand against the tide of evil, but we cannot sit idly by and not reach out to people, to help them, love them, and be kind. Even if it is taking a plate of cookies to your heathen neighbor.
Maybe you have read my blog post and you're the exception. That is great. I'm not the exception. I need to love more, reach out more to people, do random acts of kindness in His name. We won't win anyone to Christ unless we love them and touch their lives in some way. This has really been on my mind lately, and I've probably done a poor job of expressing my thoughts, but hopefully I can do better in the future. I may never pick up another person walking along the road, but there are other opportunities that face each of us daily, a chance to show love, and to be like Jesus at His best.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Work
I finally have a full time job. I interviewed for it last week, and felt the interview went very well. The lady was very nice and it was a relaxed interview.
The job is a call center for cell phones. I will be taking calls from people with questions about their plan, signing up new customers, etc. Any outbound calls I do will be to existing customers whose plan is up. I will be dealing with customers for a company from Canada called Rogers. I start six weeks of training this coming Monday, and will train 9-6, Monday thru Friday for 6 weeks. The first part of the training will be learning the products, and the second part will be on taking calls and all that entails. After the training is over, I will be working Monday and Wednesday-Saturday, daylight. My shift will be either 8-5, or 9-6 - not sure which. Saturdays will be 10am-7pm. No Sundays at all, which is what I wanted.
My starting pay will be 35 cents more an hour than I was making at my last job, with the possibility of making up to $4 more after 6 months. In addition, it is full time, and my previous job was not. I will get a week's paid vacation after 6 months, and another week of paid vacation after a year, in addition to 20 hours of paid time off after a year of employment. There is a cafeteria on site with everything priced $4 and under.
I am guessing the place may be Christian-owned. They are closed Sundays, have a very strict dress code, and they do telemarketing for pro-life organizations, the National Rifle Association, and other conservative organizations.
Part of the dress code is ties for men, all days but Fridays and Saturdays. I hate ties, and never wear them, so I am going to have to get used to wearing them, but I can live with that for full time work. I'm also not crazy about working every Saturday, but I'd rather work every Saturday and have full time work and no Sundays, so I can also live with that.
I am making a goal: By the time 6 months is up, if all goes well, I am aiming to get my own apartment, hopefully closer to my job. Right now, my drive will be 30-35 minutes one way, and I would like to cut that down when I do have my own place again.
I am feeling hopeful for a change. I am nervous about the job, mainly learning new things, and a part of me is almost afraid it will work out. Also, a part of me is scared I won't make it on my own again, so I would appreciate prayer as I start my new job and start planning for the future.
The job is a call center for cell phones. I will be taking calls from people with questions about their plan, signing up new customers, etc. Any outbound calls I do will be to existing customers whose plan is up. I will be dealing with customers for a company from Canada called Rogers. I start six weeks of training this coming Monday, and will train 9-6, Monday thru Friday for 6 weeks. The first part of the training will be learning the products, and the second part will be on taking calls and all that entails. After the training is over, I will be working Monday and Wednesday-Saturday, daylight. My shift will be either 8-5, or 9-6 - not sure which. Saturdays will be 10am-7pm. No Sundays at all, which is what I wanted.
My starting pay will be 35 cents more an hour than I was making at my last job, with the possibility of making up to $4 more after 6 months. In addition, it is full time, and my previous job was not. I will get a week's paid vacation after 6 months, and another week of paid vacation after a year, in addition to 20 hours of paid time off after a year of employment. There is a cafeteria on site with everything priced $4 and under.
I am guessing the place may be Christian-owned. They are closed Sundays, have a very strict dress code, and they do telemarketing for pro-life organizations, the National Rifle Association, and other conservative organizations.
Part of the dress code is ties for men, all days but Fridays and Saturdays. I hate ties, and never wear them, so I am going to have to get used to wearing them, but I can live with that for full time work. I'm also not crazy about working every Saturday, but I'd rather work every Saturday and have full time work and no Sundays, so I can also live with that.
I am making a goal: By the time 6 months is up, if all goes well, I am aiming to get my own apartment, hopefully closer to my job. Right now, my drive will be 30-35 minutes one way, and I would like to cut that down when I do have my own place again.
I am feeling hopeful for a change. I am nervous about the job, mainly learning new things, and a part of me is almost afraid it will work out. Also, a part of me is scared I won't make it on my own again, so I would appreciate prayer as I start my new job and start planning for the future.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
A Morbid Anniversary by Paul Heil
Borrowed article from Paul Heil of the Gospel Greats radio program:
"A Morbid Anniversary"
In the United States, during the latest year for which reliable statistics are available...
"A Morbid Anniversary"
In the United States, during the latest year for which reliable statistics are available...
- 11,101 lives were lost in gun-related homicides (2011).
- 32,163 lives were lost in all gun-related incidents, including accidents (2011).
- 34,676 lives were lost in motor vehicle accidents (2011).
- 1,212,400 lives were lost due to encounters with abortionists' scalpels.
From the above list, choose the
circumstance that common sense would dictate that the government should be
dealing with to save the most lives.
Unfortunately, there's a considerable lack of common sense in Washington these days.
So, the smallest number above – gun-related homicides – is the one circumstance that's all over the news these days. Gun control, gun control, gun control. The politicians and news media are demanding action! But gun-related homicides were less than one percent as numerous as abortions. (Will there next be a call for "car control" – since cars claim even more lives than guns?)
Nevertheless, at the same time, the government not only does NOT express even the tinniest amount of concern about the holocaust going on every day in the nation's abortion mills, but, instead, fully supports this butchery – in word and, more to the point, the only way the government knows how to support such a "worthy" endeavor – by throwing huge amounts of taxpayer dollars at it.
Last year, Planned Parenthood — an organization originally founded to reduce the black population — did 333,964 abortions, making it the nation's largest abortion chain. Planned Parenthood received 45 percent of its income from the government – $542,400,000.00. Let's see – that's $1,624.13 per pre-born living human being ripped asunder in Planned Parenthood's back rooms and thrown into the bio-waste dumpster. What a deal! And it sounds like business is booming.
(It is indeed ironic that the government's profligate spending means the next generation will have to pay for all of this – while so much of the government's money today is earmarked to wiping out that very same next generation of taxpayers. But then the government has never been accused of being very good with fiscal planning. Ironic, too, is the use of the rallying cry "save our children" in the gun control debate – ignoring an even more obvious way to save our children, on a more basic and much grander scale.)
So, Sir or Madam taxpayer, how do you like financially supporting all of this premeditated killing?
Today – January 22 – is the 40th anniversary ("anniversary" seems like much too pleasant a word for it) of the infamous Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions in 1973 by which the U. S. Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand in the USA. So we have the highest court in the land to thank for the slaughter of some 54,559,615 pre-born children (1973-2011).
54.5 million! That's roughly the total 2012 population of Texas, New York and Georgia – combined! Seen another way, it's equal to more than 17 percent of the entire current USA population – lost!
And it goes on. In the time it's taken you to read this far, at least five more lives have been snuffed out by abortionists in the USA. Think about this – 137 every hour, 3,304 every day (more than the number of people killed in the 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attack), 23,196 every week, 100,516 (roughly the current population of Erie, Pennsylvania) every month.
Where is the outrage? "Out of sight, out of mind" appears to be true. Although 79 percent of Americans told a Marist Poll that they do not support the current abortion-on-demand policy of the government, they went ahead and voted back into office the most pro-abortion government America has ever had. Go figure.
And, lest you think this is not an issue that affects you (beyond as a taxpayer), Time magazine recently reported that, on average, one in three American women will have an abortion by age 45. One in three! The Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood's own research arm, says 43 percent of women of childbearing age in America have experienced at least one abortion. Incredible.
But there is some good news, of sorts. According to the Time article, the number of abortion clinics is declining across the country making access to abortions more difficult, or, at least, less convenient. In fact, over the past 22 years, 70 percent of all abortion clinics have closed permanently, according to the American Rights Coalition. And, in just the past two years, 24 states have adopted more than 90 new restrictions on abortion.
A Gallup poll in 2009 found that 51 percent of Americans called themselves pro-life. That's the first time in Gallup's annual survey – conducted since 1995 – that a majority of Americans identified themselves in that way. What's more, a Pew Research survey at about the same time found that only 46 percent of Americans say abortion should be legal in all cases. That's down from 54 percent the previous year.
The Bible makes it clear that each child is unique from the moment of conception. Each child is a person – for whom God has already made plans. Each child, even from the moment of conception, is an individual God already knows and loves. And we know what God thinks about murder.
The Alabama Supreme Court recently ruled that the term "child" applies equally to born and pre-born children. The Bible does, too. When, in Luke 1:41, Elizabeth recalls that upon Mary's greeting "the baby in my womb leaped for joy," the Greek word used for "baby" is the same word used for any young child. A baby is a baby – in the womb or delivered from it.
And yet the holocaust of pre-born babies continues because that fact is politically inconvenient.
Please do all you can do to support pro-life causes. Most communities have organizations that provide counseling to women with unplanned pregnancies – counseling, for example, for adoption services. Please vote only for pro-life candidates – not just because they could help turn the tide of legislation to protect the unborn, but also because our society seems increasingly influenced by secular public policy.
And, above all, pray for a moral and spiritual revival in this nation. That will do more than anything else could do to turn the tide against this sin. We need to get back to "God first" rather than "me first."
But it's important to understand that God is willing to forgive even this sin. Women who regret having gone through abortion can humbly repent and then seek and receive God's forgiveness. This is becoming more common – and many such women have actually formed ministries to other women who have gone through abortions and now feel the pain and sorrow of bereavement.
How long will God put up with this tsunami of abortion — and the moral and spiritual depravity that fosters it? I don't know. But 40 years is a Biblical time of testing or probation. That time is now up. I fear for our nation. But I trust in our God.
- Paul
Unfortunately, there's a considerable lack of common sense in Washington these days.
So, the smallest number above – gun-related homicides – is the one circumstance that's all over the news these days. Gun control, gun control, gun control. The politicians and news media are demanding action! But gun-related homicides were less than one percent as numerous as abortions. (Will there next be a call for "car control" – since cars claim even more lives than guns?)
Nevertheless, at the same time, the government not only does NOT express even the tinniest amount of concern about the holocaust going on every day in the nation's abortion mills, but, instead, fully supports this butchery – in word and, more to the point, the only way the government knows how to support such a "worthy" endeavor – by throwing huge amounts of taxpayer dollars at it.
Last year, Planned Parenthood — an organization originally founded to reduce the black population — did 333,964 abortions, making it the nation's largest abortion chain. Planned Parenthood received 45 percent of its income from the government – $542,400,000.00. Let's see – that's $1,624.13 per pre-born living human being ripped asunder in Planned Parenthood's back rooms and thrown into the bio-waste dumpster. What a deal! And it sounds like business is booming.
(It is indeed ironic that the government's profligate spending means the next generation will have to pay for all of this – while so much of the government's money today is earmarked to wiping out that very same next generation of taxpayers. But then the government has never been accused of being very good with fiscal planning. Ironic, too, is the use of the rallying cry "save our children" in the gun control debate – ignoring an even more obvious way to save our children, on a more basic and much grander scale.)
So, Sir or Madam taxpayer, how do you like financially supporting all of this premeditated killing?
Today – January 22 – is the 40th anniversary ("anniversary" seems like much too pleasant a word for it) of the infamous Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions in 1973 by which the U. S. Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand in the USA. So we have the highest court in the land to thank for the slaughter of some 54,559,615 pre-born children (1973-2011).
54.5 million! That's roughly the total 2012 population of Texas, New York and Georgia – combined! Seen another way, it's equal to more than 17 percent of the entire current USA population – lost!
And it goes on. In the time it's taken you to read this far, at least five more lives have been snuffed out by abortionists in the USA. Think about this – 137 every hour, 3,304 every day (more than the number of people killed in the 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attack), 23,196 every week, 100,516 (roughly the current population of Erie, Pennsylvania) every month.
Where is the outrage? "Out of sight, out of mind" appears to be true. Although 79 percent of Americans told a Marist Poll that they do not support the current abortion-on-demand policy of the government, they went ahead and voted back into office the most pro-abortion government America has ever had. Go figure.
And, lest you think this is not an issue that affects you (beyond as a taxpayer), Time magazine recently reported that, on average, one in three American women will have an abortion by age 45. One in three! The Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood's own research arm, says 43 percent of women of childbearing age in America have experienced at least one abortion. Incredible.
But there is some good news, of sorts. According to the Time article, the number of abortion clinics is declining across the country making access to abortions more difficult, or, at least, less convenient. In fact, over the past 22 years, 70 percent of all abortion clinics have closed permanently, according to the American Rights Coalition. And, in just the past two years, 24 states have adopted more than 90 new restrictions on abortion.
A Gallup poll in 2009 found that 51 percent of Americans called themselves pro-life. That's the first time in Gallup's annual survey – conducted since 1995 – that a majority of Americans identified themselves in that way. What's more, a Pew Research survey at about the same time found that only 46 percent of Americans say abortion should be legal in all cases. That's down from 54 percent the previous year.
The Bible makes it clear that each child is unique from the moment of conception. Each child is a person – for whom God has already made plans. Each child, even from the moment of conception, is an individual God already knows and loves. And we know what God thinks about murder.
The Alabama Supreme Court recently ruled that the term "child" applies equally to born and pre-born children. The Bible does, too. When, in Luke 1:41, Elizabeth recalls that upon Mary's greeting "the baby in my womb leaped for joy," the Greek word used for "baby" is the same word used for any young child. A baby is a baby – in the womb or delivered from it.
And yet the holocaust of pre-born babies continues because that fact is politically inconvenient.
Please do all you can do to support pro-life causes. Most communities have organizations that provide counseling to women with unplanned pregnancies – counseling, for example, for adoption services. Please vote only for pro-life candidates – not just because they could help turn the tide of legislation to protect the unborn, but also because our society seems increasingly influenced by secular public policy.
And, above all, pray for a moral and spiritual revival in this nation. That will do more than anything else could do to turn the tide against this sin. We need to get back to "God first" rather than "me first."
But it's important to understand that God is willing to forgive even this sin. Women who regret having gone through abortion can humbly repent and then seek and receive God's forgiveness. This is becoming more common – and many such women have actually formed ministries to other women who have gone through abortions and now feel the pain and sorrow of bereavement.
How long will God put up with this tsunami of abortion — and the moral and spiritual depravity that fosters it? I don't know. But 40 years is a Biblical time of testing or probation. That time is now up. I fear for our nation. But I trust in our God.
- Paul
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Favorite Christmas Song #25, Santa Looked a lot Like Daddy, by Brad Paisley
I'm not a big fan of Santa Claus, but I always loved this song. Garth Brooks does a great job on it, but my favorite rendition is by Brad Paisley
Monday, December 24, 2012
Christmas and the Gospel According to Love, guest post by Joy Burgess
This is another blog post in my series of guest blog posts I starte a while back. This one is from my friend, Joy Burgess, and she did a great one. Thanks Joy!
Christmas and the Gospel According to Love
“The Gospel can be summed up by saying that it is the tremendous, tender, compassionate, gentle, extraordinary, explosive, revolutionary revelation of Christ’s love.” - Brennan Manning
I love Christmastime. I enjoy the music: “Oh Holy Night,” “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” Mary Did You Know,” “Joy to the World,” “Silent Night” and the list could go on indefinitely. The church bells behind my home are constantly tolling out Christmas carols, ringing out the story every day. At this time of year, every Christmas light seems to shine brightly, reminding me of the light that came quietly into the world so long ago. Those wrapped packages under the tree whisper the tale of the greatest gift. Yes, so many things about the season draw me in to the incredible realization of what happened on that lonely night in a stable. If I listen close enough, the whole world is singing the timeless story of love – the love of God.
I always knew that God was love. I’m said the verse thousands of times, “For God so loved the world…” What I didn’t realize was how furiously and deeply God loved ME. I didn’t realize that His love was unconditional. I spent too long thinking that His love was dependent on my performance. Every time I made a mistake, I was sure that I had come to the end of Christ’s love for me.
That’s what is so incredible about the love that we celebrate on Christmas – it’s unending, it’s perfect, it’s unconditional, it’s compassionate and it’s reliable. His love is never based on performance, it never changes and it’s as infinite as the great I AM himself. In fact, love is God’s very identity. Everything about God is based upon his incredible love for us. In Dr. S.M. Lockridge’s sermon, “That’s My King,” he says it well: “My King is the only one of whom there are no means of measure that can define His limitless love.”
Recently, I was discussing the love of God with a friend of mine and we were struck with such a stunning thought. Before God sent Jesus, He was fully aware of all our shortcomings as humans. He already knew about every sin that each of us would commit. He realized how far we were from grace. Yet, knowing all of this, He still sent Jesus. That idea takes my breath away every time I think about it. He knew every person that would reject his gift, knew how so many of us would take so long to accept his love and how many times we’d make mistakes, and still, Jesus came.
Sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in the craziness that seems to come with Christmas today. We all seem to have so much to do at Christmas that we often fail to take a moment like Mary to ponder these things in our hearts. I think Mary had just a little glimpse of the explosive, furious, extraordinary love of God and all that it meant for humanity. As I celebrate this year, I want to pause to ponder the greatest expression of love that we’ll ever know – the love of God made flesh, laid in a manger and sacrifice for our salvation.
Christmas and the Gospel According to Love
“The Gospel can be summed up by saying that it is the tremendous, tender, compassionate, gentle, extraordinary, explosive, revolutionary revelation of Christ’s love.” - Brennan Manning
I love Christmastime. I enjoy the music: “Oh Holy Night,” “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” Mary Did You Know,” “Joy to the World,” “Silent Night” and the list could go on indefinitely. The church bells behind my home are constantly tolling out Christmas carols, ringing out the story every day. At this time of year, every Christmas light seems to shine brightly, reminding me of the light that came quietly into the world so long ago. Those wrapped packages under the tree whisper the tale of the greatest gift. Yes, so many things about the season draw me in to the incredible realization of what happened on that lonely night in a stable. If I listen close enough, the whole world is singing the timeless story of love – the love of God.
I always knew that God was love. I’m said the verse thousands of times, “For God so loved the world…” What I didn’t realize was how furiously and deeply God loved ME. I didn’t realize that His love was unconditional. I spent too long thinking that His love was dependent on my performance. Every time I made a mistake, I was sure that I had come to the end of Christ’s love for me.
That’s what is so incredible about the love that we celebrate on Christmas – it’s unending, it’s perfect, it’s unconditional, it’s compassionate and it’s reliable. His love is never based on performance, it never changes and it’s as infinite as the great I AM himself. In fact, love is God’s very identity. Everything about God is based upon his incredible love for us. In Dr. S.M. Lockridge’s sermon, “That’s My King,” he says it well: “My King is the only one of whom there are no means of measure that can define His limitless love.”
Recently, I was discussing the love of God with a friend of mine and we were struck with such a stunning thought. Before God sent Jesus, He was fully aware of all our shortcomings as humans. He already knew about every sin that each of us would commit. He realized how far we were from grace. Yet, knowing all of this, He still sent Jesus. That idea takes my breath away every time I think about it. He knew every person that would reject his gift, knew how so many of us would take so long to accept his love and how many times we’d make mistakes, and still, Jesus came.
Sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in the craziness that seems to come with Christmas today. We all seem to have so much to do at Christmas that we often fail to take a moment like Mary to ponder these things in our hearts. I think Mary had just a little glimpse of the explosive, furious, extraordinary love of God and all that it meant for humanity. As I celebrate this year, I want to pause to ponder the greatest expression of love that we’ll ever know – the love of God made flesh, laid in a manger and sacrifice for our salvation.
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