Abortion

I double-dog dare you to watch this video.  How open minded are you?  REALLY?  Watch this and find out.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y2KsU_dhwI&noredirect=1

Why Go To Church?

This isn't an origional from me....I found it...but it's really good.  Help yourself.

Why go to Church?

If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this!
If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read it.
If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope!


Why Go To Church?


A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."


This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column,

much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:


"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this.. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" When you are DOWN to nothing...God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

The Behavior of a Christian

Lots of us Christians struggle in our lives, finding it difficult to conform our behavior to what we read a Christian is to be as detailed in the Bible.  I think the struggle is particularly fierce in the teen and young adult years.

But think about this.  The way you live through your personal struggle, whatever it may be, either shows those around you the glory of God, or it shows hypocrisy….therefore reinforcing the non-believer’s arsenal of reasons not to trust Jesus.  Ouch.

I, personally, failed miserably for years in my lifestyle testimony and I shudder to think of how many I may have turned away from the narrow path that leads to eternal life.  I just have to trust that God is much bigger than my personal failures in people’s lives, and that the goodness of God will eventually work and draw them to repentance, for those He is calling, and for those who have tender hearts and minds.

How can we live a life of faith and exhibit behavior that is Christ-like?  I know of only one way.  There are many “Christian” books and teachers out there who give encouraging methods to help you walk the walk, and I think most of them boil down to positive thinking.  But they all fail.  You can stay up nights working to re-program your mind so that you live the way you know you should live.  But if you are attempting to work your way to a holy life, my friend, you are doomed to failure.  I love what Jesus told us, that His burden is easy, it is light.  Man’s methods are cumbersome and heavy, but the Lord’s way is tender and merciful….it is not a struggle.

So follow the way of the Lord, and simply ask the Holy Spirit to give you the strength to live as Jesus lived when He was on the Earth.  This is not a one-time asking.  It is a daily cycle of seeking, repentance, forgiveness, and infilling.  It is the path to a life of purity, power, and passion.  (Romans 8:12-14; 12:9-21)

Favor With God and Man

So we’re moving.  Uhuh.  Don’t worry, we’re staying nearby, but we’re getting a place that’s not so expensive to pay for and keep up. 

But that’s not the point of this post.  Because we’re downsizing, we have given truck loads of stuff away.  Today I filled up a U-Haul truck with bookcases, a king water bed, a twin water bed, a huge entertainment center, and lots of other furniture items.  I took them to a charitable organization (that I won’t name here), because when I called them I was told that they DO accept furniture.

When I backed into their donation area, a guy who works there told me they only take furniture upon “inspection.”  When he saw what I had, he went and got his supervisor.  While he was gone, the thought came to me to pray for favor with these guys.  So that’s what I did.  I just had a moment with Jesus right there at the donation center lot, and asked Him to give me favor with these two dudes.  They came out, and the supervisor asked me what I had to give them.  When I got to the king waterbed, he said they couldn’t take it….it was too big for them.  After a minute or so of conversation on this topic, the supervisor suddenly told me he would take the waterbed.  Why he changed his mind, I have no idea.  Except that I had asked God for favor with him.

And then another worker showed up, and he saw a “Fireproof” sticker I had placed on a cabinet and he commented about what a great movie that was.  So now I was talking with a brother.  And he jumped in the U-Haul and helped me unload, after the other two had disappeared.

God is for us.  Be willing to ask for what you need.  (Psalm 56:9; John 16:23,24)

Erasing Hell

Whether or not you agree with his book  Love Wins, Rob Bell has done us a service by re-starting a most important discussion on a topic that affects everyone….Hell.  Rob has turned a corner in the world of faith towards a belief that a good God would not send someone to Hell for eternal punishment….that we are all going to get a second chance even after we die.

I just finished reading Francis Chan’s response to Rob Bell’s book titled Erasing Hell.  Now, let’s face it.  Hell is a very unpopular subject.  You rarely even hear the word in church on Sunday mornings, and us Christians act like we don’t believe it’s a reality.  Come on.  Don’t we?

I mean, if you really believed that those without Jesus go to Hell, what sort of behavioral change might there be in your life?  Would your conversations change?  Or would things just stay status quo?

Francis Chan’s book is nothing less than a gift to the body of Christ, and should be read by everybody.  There are probably less than five books that I have ever said that about.  His book is well researched, well thought out….and thoroughly Scriptural.  That doesn’t mean that I agree with every statement he makes, but I see the basic premise of the book as essential to be understood by every living and breathing person.

When you have ten minutes, go to www.erasinghell.com and watch Francis talk about this new book.  It may be the most important online video you have ever watched.

Where Were You On September 11, 2001?

I can remember exactly where I was when the Twin Towers in New York went down on 9/11/2001, and I bet you can remember where you were too. 

I was walking down the street in St. Petersburg, Russia at the time it happened.  Unknown to me and my two companions, the news of the Twin Towers and the Pentagon had been broadcast by radio and television as we were sightseeing around the area of our hotel.  As we were returning to our hotel, a car with four men slowed down near us and said something like “God Bless America!” (in English).  I have never figured out how people there knew that we were Americans by just looking at us for just a moment. 

Our lives were changed because of 9/11, in ways that our friends and loved one’s at home were not.  My traveling companions were Kep & Carolyn Stone, Jenni Bales, Don Clendenin, and Jim and Priscilla Kankel.  Initially, it was terrifying to be away from home in a foreign country (especially Russia!) when we heard about the terrorist attack upon our country.  When we all gathered in Kep and Carolyn’s hotel room and watched in disbelief as the Towers crumbled on the TV screen (even though we didn’t  understand the Russian commentator) we cried and prayed for our families at home and for our country, and as we did a peace that passes understanding came. 

The life changing impact for us came as a result of the compassion and sorrow that was displayed by the people we met in Russia, not only for us as Americans who had experienced a horrible attack upon our country (which they had endured for years), but for our country.  A number of times men and women personally spoke to me, with tears in their eyes, about how sorry they were for the loss of life and property in our country.

One man particularly stands out in my memory.  I don’t remember his name, but I remember the Soviet uniform that he wore, his chest adorned with medals awarded in another era, and I remember that he told me (through a translator) that he was in the army that had fought Hitler and held his army back from invading Moscow…and he told me that he was praying for my country, that God would grant us peace, and protection….and I remember the tears in both our eyes as we looked into each other’s souls.

The change that occurred in me because of 9/11 might not be the same that occurred in you, because of where I was, and the people who surrounded me.  I had grown up being taught to fear the Soviets, now called Russians.  But I saw that not only are they people with passions much like ours, but those I met (and I met many) were very kind and very gentle, and very giving to the point of hurt.  We had been there to minister to them on a missions trip, but we were the ones ministered to.

Ground Zero