As I entered the large Christmas store, I was excited. I had my decorated bag in my hands. It had my stuff in there. Things I had brought. Nothing fancy or extravagant, but they were mine. They were things I carried. As I walked into the store I was ready for the beauty of Christmas. I opened the door and there were large empty shelves. It looked like there had been something there, but nothing to make me say “wow, I am here”. I was actually a little bit bummed I think. As I passed some of the shelves there were the helpers, the elves and I thought “this is weird. Where was the joy?” They looked down at the bag in my hand and while I thought they might ask to hold it, they did not. Continue reading I Can Because I Want To!
Tag Archives: Bible
Growing Up Is The Way To Go
I often wonder what people are thinking. If a child was not gaining weight or growing, people would be concerned. They would begin to investigate the reason behind the lack of growth. Questions would be asked. Is it an organic reason? An environmental reason? Are the parents not contributing to the growth of their child? Something is not right…what is it? We would be concerned. Continue reading Growing Up Is The Way To Go
Close Encounters Of The God Kind
A week or so ago, I wrote on to tactics of the enemy. One was being disconnected. The other was an attack on health. I received a lot of communication from folks indicating that they were encountering one or the other, or sometimes both. The issue is not whether I correctly saw, but what we are going to do with it.
In December of 2005, I had a couple of dreams. They were brought back to me. Continue reading Close Encounters Of The God Kind
The Silent Become Relevant
The Silent Become Relevant
The other day I wrote an article on the “excessive growth” of Christianity. In that article I touched on the silent generation (1928-1945) and its feelings and relevancy in this time frame. I received phone calls, emails and Facebook messages about that article. One of the key questions from this older group was “how do I become relevant?” Continue reading The Silent Become Relevant
Life – A Spiritual Quest
I thought a lot about the blood moon as we drove back from Boston last night. I thought about it through my sleepless night. I thought how far I have come in my journey with Jesus. When I started I was fearful, tired and really at the end of my rope. But the entrance of Jesus into my heart and my life energized me, changed me. Clearly it was less about me and more about Him.
I know what I believe now causes many to say “good bye” but my thinking was changed by Him and not because I woke up one day and said “this will be a great idea”. I think in retrospect I came in by fear and not by faith only to find something, some one I could believe in. Continue reading Life – A Spiritual Quest
The Process Of Rebuilding
Today is Valentine’s Day. Over the years my wife and I have had a number of great times together on Valentine’s Day. It is not so much a day “to do something” as it is a reminder on a level of our love for one another. I tend not to be a “day” or event person unless we are talking about birthdays or holidays that involve the family.
But, I should be real when I say we have had to work hard to get where we have got to in our marriage. Aside from the power and love of God in our life, I don’t think we would have made it. There have been a number of times in earlier days where I am pretty sure we did not think we could make it. Continue reading The Process Of Rebuilding
Book Update Interrupted Process July 3rd 2013
I have spent a lot of my birthday morning working on the chapter dealing with the characters of the Bible who faced interruption.
Adam-got to bed-wake up married.
Eve-think your promise evaporated in the death of your son.
Noah-build an ark…”Right! What’s an ark.”
Finding out you’re a eunuch.
Pregnant by God.
Well, you get the picture. I am working hard!
Present In Truth
Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
As I read that, there is something truly “present” in what is said. This is not afar, but a present reality. It goes on to tell us that in this hope we were saved. A reality. “Now hope that is seen is not hope.” We know our salvation is there, so is not the completion of something done, and something new upon us?
We have been held back by a future thought process, that seems to not be truth. I recognize that adoption speaks of a maturity(30 years, -“this is my son, whom I am well pleased in.”) or an age, but I think we need to relegate some things to their proper places.
In the scriptures as Jesus heads back to deal with the “Lazarus issue” Martha comes to him with a “past glory” thinking. “If you had been here…” Mary dealt with a future glory, “the son of God who is COMING into the world.” They missed a very present reality. Jesus was not the hope to come, or the glory past, but the glory manifest in their midst.
Lazarus(God help us!) in a grave cloth, bound hand and foot. How did he get out?
It is tie we realized the presence of the presence and walk in the operation of a present reality. A maturity simply because WE ARE! It is time for us to “unbind” them.
God’s Sense Of Humor
(Written over 4 years ago)
Over the years one of my life, I have found that the Lord has a wonderful sense of humor and fun. (Have you ever looked at a platypus?) One of my greatest struggles to get into the kingdom, was the sense of piety(Usually false) and dried up faces. “If God is that serious, I think I will wait a while.” That was my thinking. A dried up church with dried up people.
Admittedly, I was prankster. (I still think “pranks” are fun as long as they do not hurt people.) I did not have to wait for April Fool’s Day to pull a stunt. Convincing siblings that the island we were camping on was going to sink, because “look the hole we dug is filling with water. Get in the boat!” Creatures in drawers and refrigerators. Add to the fact I grew up in an era of “children should be seen and not heard,” and you can see I was “oppressed.” I spent a lot of time in my room, coming up with new tricks. (One time I tied fish line to hangers in my sister’s room and ran it through the floor boards, and my parents spent a long time looking for that “animal,” as I gently pulled the string from the safety of my room.)
But, I finally became a believer despite my best efforts. I felt if Jesus was life and I was His representative, then I should bring life where I went. And the more I read of Jesus, the more I came to understand, He was pretty cool. I found as I read the Greek, it revealed a “man” who used sayings and words of the time, and brought about “plays upon the words” in His challenge to follow Him. Think about it…did Jesus know there was storm coming? I think so. Or He could not have berated people about their knowledge of the weather. So was He having some fun…” Am I saying God is all “fun and games?” Not hardly. But if we leave the fun out of the message we have dried up churches. I take a lot of things seriously in the Kingdom, but I am not going to work hard on the things that have been given to me.
I have challenged church gatherings that if they are going to have joy in their hearts, could they tell it to their face.
Why am I saying this? Because the church is starting to lose it’s joy. We are looking at the wold and thinking we have to walk that way. Not me. I am not saying you have to laugh all the time, but you do have a God that laughs in derision at His enemies. My children and grandchildren bring joy…and laughter to my heart. No one will ever convince me that is bad. When out of your mouth comes streams of doubt, unbelief and bad words, it is time to go back to the well. Only Sunday morning I began to think about the laughter of heaven. It was a challenge for me to think about heavenly things and not be wrapped up in the world. When my grandson Jacob laughs, who cares about the rest of the world.
Laughter is good medicine. All along, the Bible has endorsed laughter, all along we have sensed it to be true, and now, now science cites research and observations that confirm the Bible’s claims. How about it: Let’s make today one of joy and one of laughter. Make you feel better–I promise
