God's saving grace, Job style

Ever have a " Job" experience? This is like a renewed version of that. On my walk this morning, I was feeling like a Job experience was coming on. Pictured here is our grandbaby on the bus, you can see her in the window. Inches below her is where the SUV caved into the bus, just missing her, the paramedic said it was inches. She's OK, wouldn't stop shaking, but is now running around asking for donuts. She said to her mommy, "I didn't die, Mommy!" She was slammed against the window, but no injuries. Victory. Within minutes, a friend called and wanted the car back he was letting us use. We only own a 15 passenger van, and that has approx $1,500 worth of front end repairs that need to be done right now, that literally just got worse, all of a sudden. Then I got a letter from a lawyer that says we owe them a sum of money that they said they were donating to help us form our new non profit. At the same time, I was being attacked by someone we know who stole money from us, and is now being belligerent about it. The world has a phrase that talks about, "When it rains, it pours." The Biblical account about Job had all these terrible things happen to him within minutes, losing almost everything he had. We haven't lost everything, but this all happened, or was going on, within minutes of each other. Some, like my wife having cancer, have been a few weeks, but some of the details we're dealing with are having to happen now. Even though we have not yet seen the victory of all of this, we know in the end we will. With Job, Satan asked God if he could try Job, and God agreed. Please pray with us, as we pray, as Job did, "Even if He slay me, yet I will praise Him." The victory in ours, when the battle is The Lord's. Hosanna, Amen.

The stain of sin removed.

My wife's mom is turning 70 this weekend and we are celebrating, because we know she is 70. We don't doubt that she is, we know she is. Jesus Christ healed everyone who was brought to Him. Everything about the cross says we can receive His salvation and His healing. Most of us believe we can receive salvation, if we believe. But not all of us actually believe that we can be healed. Can Jesus heal us, OH YEAH! But the light switch that goes on inside of us that enables us to receive that healing is missing. We need to receive. Earlier I wrote about our ditches being covered with snow, and that it was hiding what was underneath. Today as I walked that same ditch I saw what the snow was hiding, trash. As I stood before the cross today, I repented of all the passion that I have not been crucifying daily inside of me. I asked God to remove the stain of the sin of compromise from my life, so that I would not be a blockade of my family receiving a blessing from Him, including healing. As I stood before a physical cross that was on top of a beautiful 1800's chapel that is in our town, after I prayed, I looked down and there was a black cat between me and the church! A sign that my stain remained? I started singing as the Lord ave me the song,, "What can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood os Jesus..." the cat left and went and stood by the bathrooms! Let us allow the blood of Christ to flush everyone of our sins and the effects of those sins, in Jesus Name. So let us come before the cross today, receive forgiveness of our sins, let Him remove the stain of sin, and let us receive healing and salvation today. Let it be just as believable as Lisa's mom turning 70. Let us believe.Let no remnant of me remain, but just as the sun rises everyday, and we see it's effects, let Christ so shine through me that all people see is Christ. In Jesus Name, amen!

Be Like Billy

Billy is an imaginary character. He or she never worries or fears, he's just free to be Billy. He runs in the fields with reckless abandon because he's free too. Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow isn't even being thought about, because it's today, it's right now. He or she doesn't worry, because there's actually nothing to worry about. He doesn't have to go to wrk or school he goes to his calling, his calling to be like a little boy or girl, to be as free as a child is, with no worries. His name is Billy and he knows that. He doesn't worries about who he is, because he's Billy, His dad named him that. He doesn't busy himself with the worries of this world, there's to much fun stuff to do. School and work is actually fun because he enjoys it, he actually makes it fun. There's no such thing as drudgery, unless someone tries to take is joy away, and tell him things like, "Go to your room." "You can't do that." "Stop I'm telling you." "Grow up." Billy doesn't like the idea of growing up, grown ups worry too much. Billy has no agendas. Maybe for a while he'll just lay on the grass and for hours watch the clouds, and maybe pray a little. He likes talking to God, because God is his friend. And when worries even try to come, he just talks to God about them, and they just fly away. Just like that. Oh, and when the stars come out at might, that's when Billy really starts to be amazed. The clouds are coll, and wispy and stuff, but the stars, oh my, those bright, brilliant stars. Look at all of them. They go on forever. And then, every great once in a while, one just shoots across the sky! Billy loves looking at the hand work of God, but he'd never say it like that. He'd say, "Isn't that cool!" As he watches the bee hover over head (He's never been stung by one, so why should he worry) he's amazed that it can just float there. Then when he's at his friends house, the house of wimpy, he stands between the humming bird feeders and stays real still, then they come. He can hear the beating of their wings as they just hover. For a while they just sit there, right in mid air, and just look at you. Is Billy OK, will he hurt us...no, he's just a kid. Then they go for the feeders, licking up the sugary confection. For minutes Billy just sits there and listens and watches, captivated by birds that seem to not have wigs, but rotors like a helicopter, or propellers on a plane you can just see the blur of. His friend Tommy's house is truly a house of wimpy. Tommy has the run of his house and he literally gets to do what he wants, all day long, with no one to tell him what to do. He paints for hours, because he loves too. He plays his drums because he loves playing like all of his favorite great jazz players of old. Then he's just take a bath, right in the middle of the day, just sit in the bubbles and think, sometimes about nothing, just sit there, cause' that's what he wants to do. Billy would never do that, but he thinks it's cool Tommy does, because that's what Tommy wants to do. He'll be out of the tub soon, so then he and Billy can do stuff together. Tommy likes to bake, a and Billy loves to eat, so their a really good match. They spend hours together...and when they get hungry, Tommy will make the most amazing dish Billy has ever tasted. Then they just play again. We need to be like Billy, or Tommy, or Sally...we need to rest a lot more, and when we work, we need to have joy with it. We need that peace of a child on a warms summer day. A place at the fire just watching the flames lap up the kindelin. Sit in a bubbly bath, and sip that frothy confection. These kind of people just wander about the hose singing a sweet song while they do some needed things, but we won't call them chores, because that's no fun. Why don't we trust more, like Billy. Maybe we grew up too much.

Eating in moderation

Romans 1:24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. I am sad to say I have been guilty of this. Whenever I choose to eat like a pig, even in this "small sin" some would call, thou not I, we treat the temple of God, our bodies, as if they were our own. Food was not meant to be worshiped, or lusted after, but was made to nourish us, sustain us, and yes taste good. Because we have so many products, that have now become staples, that are so sugar based, it's no wonder they feed our lusts. Food can be addicting, and it can trap us if we don't eat in moderation. So let us not continue in this way, but let us worship the creator instead of the created.

Sin never has enough, so don't give it any.

Sin is like a snake that wants to creep into our lives, then it always does what it's supposed to, it bites us. Maybe that's why God had sin first appear as a serpent. It weasels it's way into our lives, gets buried in, then never wants to let go, and always wants to take over our lives.
Sin wants to run our lives, and it's always in the wrong direction. Even when it all seems so good and right, if it's sin, it will lead to destruction, and even death. If God be fore us, who can be against us? What separate us from the love of God...nothing can. Nothing has the ability to, even for a moment.

The die to it diet!

So I feel like The Lord wakes me up this morning with the phrase in reference to a diet; Die To It. We have to crucify the flesh with it's passions, and most of us Love food! (Gal 5:24) So if we are able to put to death our fleshly passions, then we will be able to focus on those things we actually should be passionate about, like feeding the starving, or taking care of orphans. God wants us to have passions, He just wants them to be just passions. Holy passions, blameless passions.

Gluttony

It all started by chocking on a piece of turkey, on Thanksgiving day. Nice start. Then I got on the scale and I am officially heavier than I have ever been. 267. Just a number right? Just the largest number I've personally attained to. Not a good number at all. Then I eat late, and so much, that I wake up chocking on acid reflux at 2 am. Nice. Then I opened my bible and came up with Isaiah 55: Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. 3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— Then I looked up the definition of gluttany, and here's what Wikipedia has to say: Who wants to admit to this right? Church leaders from the deeply-ascetic Middle Ages (e.g., St. Gregory the Great, St. Thomas Aquinas) took a more expansive view of gluttony, arguing that it also consists of an anticipation of meals, the eating of delicacies, and costly foods, seeking after sauces and seasonings, and eating too eagerly.[2] St. Gregory the Great, a doctor of the Church, described five ways by which one can commit sin of gluttony, and corresponding biblical examples for each of them:[3] 1. Eating before the time of meals in order to satisfy the palate. Biblical example: Jonathan eating a little honey, when his father Saul commanded no food to be taken before the evening.[1Sa 14:29] 2. Seeking delicacies and better quality of food to gratify the "vile sense of taste." Biblical example: When Israelites escaping from Egypt complained, "Who shall give us flesh to eat ? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely ; the cucumbers and the melons, and the leeks and the onions and the garlic," God rained fowls for them to eat but punished them 500 years later.[Num 11:4] 3. Seeking after sauces and seasonings for the enjoyment of the palate. Biblical example: Two sons of Eli the high priest made the sacrificial meat to be cooked in one manner rather than another. They were met with death.[1Sa 4:11] 4. Exceeding the necessary amount of food. Biblical example: One of the sins of Sodom was "fullness of bread."[Eze 16:49] 5. Taking food with too much eagerness, even when eating the proper amount, and even if the food is not luxurious. Biblical example: Esau selling his birthright for ordinary food of bread and pottage of lentils. His punishment was that the "profane person . . . who, for a morsel of meat sold his birthright," we learn that "he found no place for repentance, though he sought it carefully, with tears." [Gen 25:30] The fifth way is worse than all others, said St. Gregory, because it shows attachment to pleasure most clearly. To recapitulate, St Gregory the Great said that one may succumb to the sin of gluttony by: 1. Time (when); 2. Quality; 3. Stimulants; 4. Quantity; 5. Eagerness In his Summa Theologica (Part 2-2, Question 148, Article 4), St. Thomas Aquinas reiterated the list of five ways to commit gluttony: Laute - eating food that is too luxurious, exotic, or costly Nimis - eating food that is excessive in quantity Studiose - eating food that is too daintily or elaborately prepared Praepropere - eating too soon, or at an inappropriate time Ardenter - eating too eagerly. Aquinas notes that the first three ways are related to the nature of the food itself, while the last two have to do with the time or manner in which it is consumed ...it is a defect to eat, like beasts, through the sole motive of sensual gratification, and without any reasonable object. Hence, the most delicious meats may be eaten without sin, if the motive be good and worthy of a rational creature; and, in taking the coarsest food through attachment to pleasure, there may be a fault."[4] in the Bible (King James Version)== Proverbs 23:20-21 "Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags." Proverbs 23:2 "And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite." Wow, what do you say to that, except, I am sorry Lord, please forgive me, I repent, you alone are God, and I will exalt You!