Dead To Self Radio

This is open to anyone wishing to share their thoughts!

If you are a parent with grown children you may find they will still do childish things. My 24 yr. old daughter is a volunteer firefighter in town, but decided to move out on her own to an apartment in another town nearby so she would be eligible to join a paid Fire Department. This is a good venture on her part, but she still spends a lot of time at our house when she's on call here.  She brings her laundry to momma's laundry service which I don't mind usually, it just gets thrown in with the laundry from the rest of us others.

At Christmas time she decided to get a live tree to put up in her apartment, but got a fairly big tree versus a little one, decorates it and the apartment, it's beautiful! A week or two after Christmas she decided to take it down, it was shedding by then, so without giving it much thought she figures she'll need something to wrap it in to get it down the stairs and out the door to the street. The first thing that comes to mind is the comforter off her bed, so she wraps it up and gets it out, then realizes it's dirty and full of pine needles, packs it up with the rest of her dirty laundry to bring home.

So the comforter shows up with the rest of her dirty clothes for me to launder and I ended up spending almost two hours outside on the back patio pulling out the needles before I could even wash it! Luckily it was a clear day with the sun shining bright keeping me warm as I meticulously de needled the comforter!

I think that was the longest time I've spent outside in years! In the future I must remember to tell the kids "if you buy a live tree, buy a tarp! (Or barrow one from your parents!)"

LOL... so true. Kids!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to look for it!

On the plus side:

Wearing a mask in public during a PANDEMIC means people can't see me talking to myself and they can't read my lips either!

Fun Fact:

In February of 1964 there occurred the only insect invasion that we ever welcomed; the Beatles and we LOVED them!

                         True Love

            For God so loVed the world,
                 That He gAve
                      His onLy
                      BegottEn
                            SoN
                                That whosoever
                  Believeth In Him
                     Should Not perish,
                  But have Everlasting life.

                  John 3:16

Yes!!! Jesus is true love.

I saw that VALENTINE thing from my kid's Lutheran school the other day. Very creative!

Happy TWOSDAY 2/2/22!  May God's blessings be doubled! ♥️&✌️to all!

That won't happen again for a hundred years!

Probably not until the year 2/22/2222! But I guess 2/22/2122 would count as one two! But I don't count on being here that long! 😉

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

Don't return a kindness, pass it on!

 TV Is My Shepherd

"The TV is my shepherd, my spiritual life shall want
It makes me to sit down and do nothing for
the cause of Christ,
It demandeth my spare time,
It restoreth my desire for the things of this world,
It keepeth me from studying the truth of God's Word,
It leadeth me in the path of failure to attend God's House,
Yes, though I live to be 100 I will fear no rental,
my television is with me,
It's sound and vision comfort me,
It prepareth a program for me in the presence of my visitors,
It's volume shall always be full,
Surely comedy and commercials shall follow me
all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of spiritual poverty, forever."

By Pastor Randy Smith

 Dream Vs Reality

When I was young,
I dreamed of a knight in shining armor, a picket fence,
Someone to love and protect me,
We would grow old together.

When I was young,
I dreamed of a family, children of my own,
Loving little ones who'd hang on every word I said,
I'd care for them, tuck them safely into bed.

When I was young,
I had this dream of how my life should be,
But now I'm older and somehow
Life just isn't how I dreamed it would be.

What I got,
A man deep in depression after losing his job,
Not at all the father I'd hoped he would be,
Sometimes I wonder if he even loves me.

What I got,
Children sweet and innocent while they were young,
Now they've grown up to become unruly,
Sometimes I wonder where I went wrong.

What I got,
Just isn't what I dreamed it would be,
But I know there's a reason it has to be,
There's someone up there looking out for me.

And He put me here because He knew
That it is just where I needed to be,
So I would find my way to Him.

So although I didn't get all that I dreamed,
I'm thankful for what I got,
And that He put me right where He wants me

I know there's a reason I'm here
Although it's not always clear
Because I believe He wants what's best for me.

So now I'll stay and I'll pray to God
Knowing that it will all be ok
When I enter Heaven on that day.

By C.S. Bosse

Déjà Vu?

Taking a good look around the world these days brings home the reality of this; it is a perfect description of the present times, although written to a different generation:

Romans 1:18-32
God's Wrath against Mankind

     "18) The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19) since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20) For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

      21) For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22) Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23) and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

      24) Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25) They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised.  Amen. 26) Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27) In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

      28) Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29) They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30) slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31) they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32) Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

This sounds as though we are in some serious trouble here; we are truly living this out right now! Woe to us!

Rock Redemption!


I have been listening to and collecting music since the early '60s, starting with "45s" as they were called back then, which were small vinyl records with a single song on each side. Side A was the hit song from the radio and side B was another song offering. I then began collecting full size vinyl records or albums, which were around 12" in diameter containing 5 or 6 songs on each side, I managed to accumulate about 300 before moving on to cassettes and now CDs are my fancy. I never got into 8track tapes though; since I didn't own a car when they were popular and they came and went so quickly. When I finally got my own car I had a cassette player put in. At one point I even owned a reel to reel tape recorder which I ended up using to record my friend's band and later on I bought a cassette deck that I also used for recording the band.

I've been attracted to all types of music over the years and all types of music groups. Even when I got married and started having kids, I still collected music. But after awhile, I realized that as I was listening to the radio or a cassette in a car full of kids, something didn't seem right. These kids were listening to the music too and sometimes the words that were being used in the songs were not what I would want to hear coming out of the mouths of my children!

Around this time I had decided that I needed to get back to church, I had been brought up going to church every Sunday and for some reason I felt I had to give my children the same in their upbringing.  Although all of my kids went to public school, all but one of my six kids went to a Christian preschool, basically because my sister-in-law had sent her kids there so I just trusted her judgment.  My son had ADHD and went to a special Ed preschool run by the public school system.

Anyway, through my sister-in-law and another friend, I found the bible Chapel I now attend. The more time I spent there the more I learned and soon it all seemed to make sense! The music being sung was of a current contemporary kind and I began to like it! Pretty soon I preferred to listen to it over some of my old fare because of the kids; there was even a new local Christian radio station I could listen to in the car!

Now, the music I listen to most is music that is not necessarily all about God or even what's known as "Christian", but is more God friendly than that of the past. One thing I have noticed a lot recently is that many of the people I listened to in the past keep popping up in the strangest places! Guys like Alice Cooper, Lou Gramm, Richie Furay, John Michael Talbot, Bob Dylan and even Charlie Daniels have shown up in Gospel and Christian Contemporary music.

Actually there are many genres of "Christian" music, Hip-Hop, Pop, Ska, Rock, Alternative, Punk, Punk Rock, Metal and I've even heard of Rastafarian!  Whatever kind of music genre you can name there is a version of it with a Christian theme. I like mostly Christian Rock or Hard Rock, bands like Blindside, 12 Stones, Thousand Foot Kutch, We As Human, Kutless, Spoken, Project 86, Stryper, Seventh Day Slumber, Demon Hunter, etc., the list goes on forever!

So imagine my surprise when I'm listening to internet stations like Broken FM, Reign Radio, Static Radio and URrock Radio and all of a sudden I hear "Salvation" by Alice Cooper or when I'm at a Christian festival in my state and one of the groups playing is The Lou Gramm Band, whose front man just happens to be the former lead singer of the band Foreigner! Or when I find out that one of the founding members of a band I listened to as a teen back in the late '60s and early '70s, Mason Proffit, has gone rogue and joined a Catholic Brotherhood as did John Michael Talbot and is writing worship songs about God. We have heard over the years about Bob Dylan finding faith and the songs he has written professing it, along with Johnny Cash. I even found some Charlie Daniels albums in my local Christian book and gift store!

Then I found out that Richie Furay of the bands, Buffalo Springfield, Poco and the Souther Hillman Furay Band was pouring out music with a new theme and that he has become a Pastor of a Calvary Chapel in Colorado! Or when I find out crazy stuff like, Michael Sweet of Stryper was the co-lead vocalist and guitarist for the well known group Boston, from 2007 – 2011, it just blows my mind!

My latest find has me reeling as well; I was listening to a mainstream rock radio station in my car that I've listened to for years that plays what's known as Classic Rock. They played the song "Never Been Any Reason" by a group I had only vaguely heard of before, Head East. Over the years I think I've only heard that name once or twice, but the song sparked my interest and I had to find out more about the group! So the second I got home I googled it (thank goodness for modern technology!) and what I found out freaked me to no end, turns out that the lead vocalist was none other than John Schlitt of Petra fame! I also found out that John Elefante of the band Mastedon was once frontman for the band Kansas from '81 – '84! Wonders never cease! You never know who has turned their life over to the Lord!

Over the years I have come across many groups with songs that hit a spiritual cord, like Blindfaith's "Presence of the Lord", Eric Clapton's "Tears In Heaven", Bruce Cockburn's "Lord of the Starfields", The Hooters' "All You Zombies", Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky", the Rolling Stones had "Prodigal Son", Rush's "Peaceable Kingdom" or Collective Soul's "You", along with tons of others as well. The first time I heard the album "Far From Home" by Steve Winwood and Traffic with the songs "Here Comes a Man", "Holy Ground" and "State of Grace, I couldn't help but notice the spiritual message ingrained throughout. Not all of these people were devout believers; many were just searching for something to fill the void in their lives at one time or another, others were just trying to spark more interest in their music, but some actually found God!

So it does my heart good to learn that many of the people in the mainstream music world have turned to the Lord. It's actually a good thing when bands don't flaunt their "Christian-ism", because people can be drawn in by the message in the music and not scared away by the thought of listening to Christian music! Bands like Emery, actively look for venues that are "outside the box" to play at, bars, clubs and mainstream music festivals like Vans Warped Tour, just as Jesus reached out to those around him, tax collectors, lepers, drunks, the demon possessed and harlots, anyone in need!

So it just goes to show, you can't always judge a rocker by their appearance or the type of music they play! They might just be ROCKIN' FOR The Lord!

So true! All the awful things I put myself through in my rebellious days, were the exact things that made me realize I needed a Savior. I wasn't thankful for them at the time but I'm sure thankful for them now. God used them for His glory and is still using them now. Thank You Jesus!!

Not all storms come to disrupt your life.
Some storms are there to clear your path.
   

"What I have in Christ is greater than anything I don't have in life."

My bad

Quote"If you want to hear God speak, read your Bible. If you want to hear God speak audibly, read your Bible out loud."

— Justin Peters

Quote from: rickyz on March 09, 2022, 02:36:54 PM"God has a purpose behind every problem. He uses circumstances to develop our character. In fact, He depends more on circumstances to make us like Jesus than He depends on the Bible."
                           -Rick Warren

.

QuoteTo those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, for His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

2 Peter 2:1-3

Brother, I think that is a dangerous perspective. I have many friends who have turned away from the faith because they went by experiences over the Word of God... Jesus prayed "Sanctify them by YOUR WORD... Your Word is TRUTH... Rick Warren has proven to be a false teacher and a false prophet over the years... be careful of people like him.

I did not know that. Thanks for the heads up.

Saved by grace.

"For the Word of God is alive and active, Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

I have to agree with tom, I haven't heard anything about this Rick Warren, but I have heard of others not using the Bible in their preaching.

Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

Are there really such things as False Prophets or false teachers, out there in the world today? I hadn't really given it much thought until recently, when I received an email from the Barnes and Nobel store about some new books by authors I was unfamiliar with. But there was one I thought I had heard of before, Joel Osteen. I didn't know anything about him except that I had seen him speaking on T.V. a few times and I was wondering if he was a Christian preacher or what. So on a whim, I Googled him and found some unsettling stuff, one article was titled "Is Joel Osteen a False Prophet" and another was "Why I Called Out Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer".

In the Bible there are many warnings of False Prophets, in Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus says this "Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions."

1Timothy 6:5 tells us "These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth, to them a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy." And in Galatians 1:6&7 we are told "I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ."

In Romans 16:17&18 we read "I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naïve people." And Colossians 2:8 where we read "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."

As I read through these articles I was greatly disturbed by the allegations, I had seen Joyce Meyer on T.V. before, but never really took the time to listen to what she was preaching. She and Osteen never seemed to be presenting the Gospel in a fashion that drew me in and made me want to watch and listen, actually it never really appeared like they presented it at all!

I had grown up in the Protestant and Methodist churches which never seemed to preach from the Bible and I didn't really learn a whole lot until I found the Bible preaching church I now attend. I find that I am more drawn to speakers who quote the bible and go into detailed explanations, than those who use vague theology as a means of justifying their teachings, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses tend to do.

So as I began reading these articles, I became concerned, I had never heard of the Prosperity Gospel or the Word of Faith movement before and knew nothing about either. I believe Joyce Meyer is a proponent of Word of Faith and Joel Osteen is pushing the Prosperity Gospel.

In the article about Osteen I learned that Joel had not been called by the Spirit or even God, to preach the Good News Gospel, but had been appointed by his mother when his father died some years after establishing the Lakewood Church near Houston Texas. So he was thrown into the position of heading a Charismatic mega church after being the media producer behind The John Osteen TV program whose television outreach had gone to a global market. With no Bible College or Seminary training he became a motivational speaker and author, after taking over for his father. He is very vague in his doctrine and doesn't seem to use the bible as his source of inspiration or for facts, basically saying people can believe whatever they want, but can get wealth, good health and fame from God by working hard and donating to his church. So what once was a church based on relatively sound Bible doctrine became a source of wealth instead of a church founded on Biblical truth reaching out to a lost and hurting world!

What I found out about Joyce Meyers was equally troubling, not only does she live an extravagant lifestyle, spending millions on 5 homes for herself and her children along with a personal jet and expensive cars, all with the money earned from speaking engagements, books sales, and the donations to her ministry; but she preaches a false doctrine called Word of Faith. Although she seems to have had some formal training in ministry at Life Christian University in Florida (which is an unaccredited institution) and has been given an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity by Oral Roberts University which is an accredited institution, her teachings do not follow biblical theology.

Her teachings border on science fiction, one such teaching, is that when Christ died on the cross, He went to Hell and became the devil. Yes, we all can agree He went through Hell on the cross, one can't even imagine the pain and suffering He took on for us, but nowhere in the Bible does it say He went from being God to being the devil, then back to being God again! In 1 Peter 3:18-22, it does tell us that Christ suffered physical death, but was raised to life in the Spirit and went to preach to the spirits in prison who had disobeyed God long ago when He caused the terrible flood, before ascending to Heaven to sit in the place of honor next to God. Those people who died before Christ came to earth are often referred to as being asleep, but will rise along with everyone else on the day of Christ's return to be judged.

Then there is her bold statement that she is in no way, shape or form, a sinner! When the Bible clearly says in Romans 3:22-24 "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

She also preaches that we are "little gods" and if we put our minds to it, we can speak things into existence, such as good health or wealth, the Bible does tell us that we were created in the image of God, but nowhere does it say we have the power to "speak" things into reality just as God did when he created the world! She further insists that one must be careful of what they confess, because the wrong confession is a confession of defeat and failure, which will bring on defeat and failure. Confessing sickness or lack of finances will actually bring them on, you could lose your blessings from God if you make the wrong confession. The truth is, the only thing God requires from us is Faith in Christ and repentance of our sins along with trying to do what is right in the eyes of God.

There are many charismatic speakers, teachers and those that call themselves preachers out there in the world today, unfortunately too many are not out there presenting the truth of the Gospel, but seeking wealth and fame! It's a really scary thought that Oprah Winfrey has gone from being a talk show host, with some strange takes on things, to a "Christian" with even stranger preaching! But what is she preaching? It's not the Gospel, so just what is it? Apparently it's a religion based on the song by John Lennon titled "Imagine" with the following lyrics:


Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

There is a huge movement towards a one world religion where all spiritual paths are equally valid (except if you believe in Jesus Christ of course), and Oprah is right in the forefront of that movement. She is basically saying there is no God, no Christ and we are all masters of our own fate! Actually I think she is into Star Wars big time, because she claims to believe in "the FORCE"!

These are just a few of the many False Prophets and teachers out in the world today. We need to be careful and not let ourselves be led astray by "wolves in sheep's clothing"! Open your eyes and take a good look around the world today! Where is the truth? So far I personally have found the Truth of God's word in the Bible!

I was born and raised in the word of faith/prosperity gospel movement. I spent half of my life in it. God opened my eyes and I got out of that mess and now that I am outside of the fire, I can easily see through all the smoke.

QuoteFor the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.   2 Timothy 3:16-17

Ode To A Scaredy – Cat or All Dressed Up With Nowhere To Go!

So here it is almost 3 mos. post op after a total hip replacement and I'm dressed for Church, ready to go, got my favorite leather boots on!  It's raining and freezing cold, but I think nothing of it, until I step out onto my sidewalk with my crutch in hand and start to slip, it's a solid sheet of ice!  I go back inside, change my boots to snow boots, try again with the same result, so I nix the sidewalk and head out through the garage. So now I think if I just stay close to the parked cars as I walk down the driveway, I'll have something to grab if I start to slip, but again solid ice!  Then I decide I could just walk through the snow on the other side of the cars to get to the one I want, so I start trudging through it only to realize that I still have to stand on a patch of ice to get in the car!  Now I'm really bummed!  Next, I think to myself, I'll have to call someone to come get me, but then I figure out that the driveway is so steep they can't get up and I can't get down!  Now I go inside and change my clothes!  Drat!  Winter you've won this round!   But I'm confident that the Lord knows, that I know, WHERE to find HIM!   His Word is ALIVE & I KNOW WHERE TO FIND IT!  THE B-I-B-L-E!

And now for something completely different "Bowling for Geese"!

There was a time a few years ago, when I was very active in the exercise department. I took aerobics three days a week and on two other days I would jog to and walk around the local park. Then I started having some trouble with my foot which made it very difficult to run or walk a lot so I had to give up the trips to the park for awhile. Finally I was able to get my foot problem under control and started making my rounds in the park again.

The park near my house has a lake in the middle with a paved path that goes around it and has three bridges that cross over it at certain points. I would jog from my house to the park and then walk around the park on the path crossing over the bridge in the middle to make a figure 8. I'd make this figure 8 trip around about two or three times before jogging from the park back to my house. By the entrance where I came in there is a gazebo and parking lot on one side and the basketball courts on the other side along with the restrooms, further down was the high school practice field behind the high school itself. The high school gym teachers used the path in the park for running the mile and aerobic walking during gym class, so every now and then you would have to dodge the kids. The park was also filled with seagulls and geese everywhere all during the spring, summer, and fall months, so much so that it was almost a health issue with all the droppings!

So I would start out jogging from home and when I reached the path in the park, I'd walk, sometimes with my friend and her kids or just the two of us or sometimes by myself. One day I was by myself and on my last trip around with my headphones blaring music from my iPod shuffle, when as I passed the basketball courts this fellow walked out in front of me carrying a basketball. I only noticed him because he didn't look as though he was dressed to play basketball, because he was wearing khaki pants and a polo shirt, as though he was on his way to work or taking a break from it. So I was just walking along behind this guy, listening to my music and day dreaming, we crossed over the middle bridge and started down the path toward the play ground which was near the tennis courts and another restroom. There was a huge group of geese milling around on the grass by the side of the little stream that ran off from the lake. Out of the corner of my eye I could see this fellow leave the path and walk toward the geese, as he got closer he raised the arm with the basketball in hand and let it fly onto the ground just like a bowling ball! He was actually aiming for them! He had invented a new sport, "bowling for geese"! He let his ball go a few more times before gathering it up and walking away after scattering most of the geese!

I was trying not to stare at this marvel, but at the same time wishing I had a camera of some kind instead of my lame cell phone! As I continued my walk, I imagined to myself just how you would score in this game, maybe "x " number of points for how many you could scare into flight and you'd get double if you actually hit any of them! Although I don't condone messing with nature on this level, I found it to be far more humane than the popular sport of using a car to try to hit them as they cross the road in a line during rush hour!

The X-Factor, just one more thing they didn't tell you before you had kids!

When I was growing up as a kid on Long Island, back in the '50s and into the early '60s, there was a show on TV we liked to watch called "The Little Rascals".  It was about a group of neighborhood kids who hung out and went to school together. Two of the main characters were boys named Spanky and Alfalfa and the show centered around the trouble they and their friends would get into. They were always skipping school or "playing hooky" to go fishing. Then the teacher, Miss Crabtree, a pretty young woman, would always have to call the truant officer to go find them and bring them back to school!

When I married and had my first child, I never could have imagined that someday I would find myself facing this type of thing down the road! I didn't even think there were such things as truant officers anymore, much less that I would have to deal with one! Most of us think that when our children miss a day or two of school, all we have to do is write a note explaining why and everything will be fine, no harm done! Unfortunately this is not the case anymore, when you write the note it goes on file as an unexcused absence, the only true excused absences are the ones where a doctor has been evolved and given his written consent as to why the child was unable to attend school during that time.

I raised six kids, five of my own, four girls, and a boy along with a niece that came to live with me just before she turned two. I didn't really have trouble getting them to go to school, although some of them were tardy (or late) frequently, that is until the very last one! She was good up until the age of about twelve when she was in the sixth grade and then something happened! Suddenly everyday was a struggle to get her up and off to school. Sometimes she would fake a stomachache so she could stay home and then be fine later in the day. I took her to the doctor a couple of times, but the doctor couldn't really find anything physically wrong. She was classified as Learning Impaired and was in Special Ed classes, so I tried to get the Special Education department to have the school psychiatrist evaluate her, figuring I'd start there. My husband was out of work and our insurance wasn't that great so I didn't want to waste time and money if there wasn't really anything wrong with her. I got nowhere with the Special Ed department, one minute the case worker would say how they could write a time allowance into my daughters I.E.P., but when I requested that it be done, she said it wasn't possible. I started to feel like I was getting the run around!

Every time I would bring her in late, I'd end up in the principal's office and he was not very sympathetic, he kept telling me if things didn't change he'd have to take action. I had no idea at the time what kind of action he would take! This went on for almost a month, one day the police showed up at the house, a real life truant officer and drove her to school; it didn't seem to upset my daughter too much! Then in the mail I received a summons to show up at court and speak to the prosecutor, with whom I had several meetings and didn't think they had gone too badly until they actually gave me a court date. I then had to appear before a judge who was rather nasty, he basically told me "we don't like your kind" and truancy would not be tolerated, then proceeded to fine me $300 plus court costs, he told me he never wanted to see me in his court again! 

There are some things they just don't tell you before you have kids, one thing is that public schools get "X" amount of dollars from the government when they have "X" number of children in their schools for "X" number of days a year and your child or children better be in that "X" number or else! If not, you'd better have a written documented explanation other than the early onset of puberty! Another thing they don't tell you is that you will be responsible for every "dumb" thing they do and it can cost you some big bucks!

Wake Me Up
By C.S Bosse

Wake me, O Lord
For I am sleeping
I have fallen asleep to your call

Wake me, O Lord
For I am sleeping
I have fallen asleep to your word

Wake me, O Lord
For I am sleeping
I have fallen asleep to your will

Wake me, O Lord
For my heart and soul
Have fallen asleep to your love

I come into your house
Seeking your help
My heavy heart weighs me down
I'm feeling numb and lifeless

Wake me, don't let me sleep
Give me your strength each day
Open my ears to your word

Wake me, don't let me sleep
Give me your strength each day
Lead me in the ways of your will

Wake me, don't let me sleep
Give me your strength each day
Help me give everything to your call

Wake me up, O Lord
Awaken me to the injustice around me
And to the plight of others

Wake me up, O Lord
Show me your love
That I may know how to love them

Won't you wake me, O Lord?
For I have been dozing far too long!

Amen!

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

Song of the Carpenter King
By C.S. Bosse


Jesus, carpenter of the soul
Gone ahead to prepare room for us
In Heaven's golden estate
Jesus, born to a carpenter by trade
But God has made no mistake
Sent to rebuild a world torn asunder

Jesus born to be King
So let all creation sing
Of the carpenter King
Sent to repair the damage done
The battle he has won

Jesus, the carpenter of life
A million broken and empty hearts
He's come to mend in love
Jesus, the cornerstone was made
He left His throne above
And came down to give us life

Jesus born to be King
So let all creation sing
Of the carpenter King
Sent to repair the damage done
The battle he has won

Jesus, the Father's only Son
Has made restoration for our sin 
Built a home for all eternity
Jesus, the good Sheppard
Will return one day
To lead us into His Kingdom

Jesus born to be King
So let all creation sing
Of the carpenter King
Sent to repair the damage done
The battle He has won

I love it!

Heavenly Gates

At long last the lifetime journey had come to an end, the pain, the suffering, and loneliness had all vanished and there in front of her were Golden Gates, she sat staring in awe from the wheelchair which had become a part of her life over the last years. Then the gates opened and gazing into the multitude of faces one caught her eye, jumping up she ran through the crowd and straight into the arms of her beloved husband who had been waiting patiently for this day! Their time on Earth had been a blessing to family and friends, but together again in Paradise was the real treasure! A new life in a new home, built just for those who are willing to follow the Savior!

Note to self:

Dear God,
Have I told you today how AWESOME and AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL You are, have I thanked You for the MERCIFUL gift of Jesus Christ! Each day I am grateful for Your ABUNDANT LOVE and COMPASSION! I am so thankful for the SALVATION and GRACE of life through the SACRIFICE of Your ONLY SON!
Forever Yours faithfully,
Me

When I Stumble

Following hard on the heels of my Lord, I let out a cry and He reached down His hand pulling me up from the mire. As He wiped the tears from my eyes, I whined, "Lord, I want to follow you, but the path is too difficult, it's full of puddles and potholes, thorns and rocks, far too many hardships! Isn't there some other way, one less difficult? I'm so tired, won't you carry me?" His face was radiant, His smile blinding and as He squeezed my hand He gently lifted me up and cradled me in His arms, softly whispering "yes, I am here always!"


Written by C.S. Bosse

Having a firefighter for a daughter can be abit scary sometimes, especially when she answers a call for mutual aid with our fire department to help a department in another town who is battling an explosion and wild flames with a huge cloud of smoke! It was in a Pepsi plant and has turned into a five-alarm fire with some injuries to two firefighters (I pray not mine!) I'm not sure if she will come back here to spend the night or go to her own apartment. Probably won't know how things went until sometime tomorrow, but it's already been on the news! I just hope I can sleep!

Praying sister...

I saw a headline mentioning that fire. And I believe there was a massive fire at a distribution center not too far away in Indiana I believe. Scary stuff.
Praying for your daughter.

Praying

Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts, she made it home safe and sound! The fire started around 6:30 in the evening and they finally got it under control and out around 2am. Apparently, she spent some time in a bucket with a hose, it was probably the first time she had done it! Just so thankful the Lord kept her safe!

A Poem About U

Before U were thought of or time had begun,
God stuck U in the name of His Son.

And each time U pray, you'll see it's true,
You can't spell out JesUs and not include U.

You're a pretty big part of His wonderful name,
For U, He was born; that's why He came.

And His great love for U is the reason He died.
It even takes U to spell crUcified.

Isn't it thrilling and splendidly grand
He rose from the dead, with U in His plan?

The stones split away, the gold trUmpet blew,
And this word resUrrection is spelled with a U.

When JesUs left earth at His upward ascension,
He felt there was one thing He just had to mention.

'Go into the world and tell them it's true
That I love them all - Just like I love U.'

So many great people are spelled with a U,
Don't they have a right to know JesUs too?

It all depends now on what U will do,
He'd like them to know,
But it all starts with U.


Will YOU pass it on.
When Jesus died on the cross he was thinking of you!

(Author unknown)

The Defender

On the Day of Judgment all will stand before the throne, the Accuser stands pointing his finger, ready to spew forth a tale of sin. The eyes of the Accused are cast to the ground; they dare not look up into the face of the Judge, His holy eminence shines forth as a brilliant light. Before the Accuser can voice his accusations, the Defender stands to speak "through thy faith in me and what thou hast done for the least of these, I know thy heart; I have shed my blood to cleanse thee and given my body to spare thee judgment!" The Judge opens the Book of Life, He speaks "your name has been found, you are pardoned, today you will be with Me in Eternity!"

The Pilgrim

The Pilgrim made the long and difficult climb to the mountain top where the guru sat in deep meditation, then breaking the silence asked the age old question "what is the meaning of life?" Looking up the guru spoke without hesitation "have you not heard? The true meaning of life is only found in Christ!" His gaze resting on the tired Pilgrim, lifting his hand he motioned and bid "come, sit and I will tell you of His Magnificent Glory!"

One small act can make a difference!

The other day I stopped into my local Quick Chek store to pick up a sub, some lunch meat and bread. The first thing I always do is to place my sub and lunch meat order on the automated kiosk screen, which I did, then walked around the store gathering all the other things I'd come to get. I returned to wait for my order to be filled, as I stood there I noticed an older woman go up to the machine and start punching the screen. I say older because she was older than me and I'm pretty old, so she was probably in her late 70s or early 80s. I watched for quite awhile as she punched at the pictures on the screen with her fingers, becoming more frustrated by the minute! Finally I got the nerve to go over to her and ask if she needed any help, to which she said yes.

So I then set about to try to help her, but I found that somehow she had gotten the screen into the Spanish mode which I couldn't get it out of, so we moved to the other machine. I managed to direct her in the operation of the machine and she was able to order her half pound of ham thin sliced. She seemed happy that I had taken the time to help her! By this time my order was done and I walked away feeling like I had actually accomplished something!

Although it wasn't a feat of magnificent strength, it was a small gesture which I believe was showing this woman a hint of God's love! I didn't have to rattle on about the attributes of Christ; I just had to be willing to take the time to show her one in a little act of kindness. I believe that even the smallest act of kindness can show God's love to anyone! If we want people to see God through Christ, we need to present ourselves as a mirror of Jesus!

It's important to remember that all we do should be done for the glory of God, every act; every word should be done as a conscious thought, in love. Matthew 25:40 reads "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" And in verse 45 of the same chapter, "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'"

Look at all that Christ did for us on the cross, if we truly believe; we should be willing to step into action for Him!

Glad to hear your daughter made it back safe and sound! That must've been intense!

That "The Defender" writing brings to mind the song "Thief" by Third Day. Very powerful song. If you've never heard it, I highly recommend it! And if you have heard it, another listen is still great ;)

One small act can definitely make a difference! I'm glad that you were able to make that difference for that woman in need.
Its not always easy to do so but the effect it can have can easily improve someone's day and subsequently all those that person interacts with afterwards; like a ripple effect.

  E|

Another step in the right direction...

A few years ago, I was at the post office in town, buying stamps and mailing a letter. I used the automated service or the machine, mailed my letter and was on my way out the door when I noticed this older woman walking with a cane. She was heading toward the door and walking with great difficulty. She would take a step, then stop and totter as though she was going to fall. I was ahead of her so I went to hold the door for her. She smiled and thanked me, it took her a very long time to get to the door and then through it with her unsteady gait, but finally she and I were outside. I asked her if she needed me to help her to her car and she took me up on my offer, she held my arm as I lead her to her car.

I told her I knew a little bit about how it felt because I had total hip replacement surgery awhile before and had to use crutches and canes. She said hers was because of a disease and it wasn't going to get better. She asked my name and thanked me for all my help.

It was a very simple act of kindness, but it made me feel like I had accomplished something big! I didn't have to say anything about the love of Christ; I just had to show it!

 E|  <3  8X  8)

The Perfect Way

As darkness descends we shall shine,
Your body for my folly,
Your grace for my mistakes,
Your blood as cleansing love,
Please sustain me through my time on earth.
Amen!

Author unknown

The Promise of the Rainbow

Genesis 8:20-22
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease."

Genesis 9:8-17
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

Another Perfect Example of God's Love

In Exodus 32:1-14 another picture of God's great love for us is shown.

"Moses had been up on the mountain with God for a very long time and the people grew tired of waiting, so they asked Aaron "come make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."

So Aaron without thinking tells them to collect all their gold earrings and bring them to him and he uses the gold to make an idol in the shape of a calf. Then the people declare "these are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of Egypt!"

Then Aaron builds an alter in front of the calf and tells everyone there will be a big festival to the Lord the following day. Early the next day they all gather and sacrifice burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. They then sat down to eat and drink and turned things into a wild revelry. God sees this and says to Moses "Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, 'These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'"

 "I have seen these people," the Lord said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people.  Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."

But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God saying "why should your anger burn against the people you brought out of Egypt by your great power and mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say that you brought us out for evil intent, only to kill us in the mountains and wipe us off the face of the earth? Turn your fierce anger aside and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your promise to your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.'" Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

This is just another example from the Old Testament of the love God shows his people by sparing them time and again from the judgment that they deserve. His most perfect act of love was sending His son, Jesus, to earth, to live and die once and for all the sins of the past, present and future. Jesus now sits on the throne next to God his Father and intercedes for us whenever things get too hard for us to handle on our own. God only desires to have an intimate relationship with His people, a one on one relationship with each of us. He wants us to take advantage of all He has to offer and this can only be done with the help of Christ. If we truly seek Him through prayer and time spent in the word, He will answer and be our guide to the perfect future. As much as we anger Him, He still does not want us to parish but have everlasting Life through the gift of Jesus Christ, His son!

E.T. Or Part of the Evolutionary Design


Ever wonder if there could really be some truth to those claims of alien life forms from other planets? Oh, not the kind that have become the stuff of science fiction thrillers, you know the kind that can change into different shapes or inhabit people's bodies or have big eyes and heads with little bodies and so many other interpretations of what beings from other planets or worlds would be like, but realistically, from the eyes of the Creator himself! What if Roswell and other events were real, but because scientists couldn't explain it, it was covered up and hidden from us? Much like God, because science can't see and therefore can't explain God, they have tried to cover Him up. I have found that science ultimately points to the magnificence of God, because everything around us seems to scream intelligent design!

Furthermore, since God created our planet, the Earth, along with the rest of the solar system it occupies, and all the other universes, together with all the galaxies in the vastness of space, which goes on forever, doesn't it seem reasonable that God could have created another planet out there that supports life with creatures such as ourselves, but perhaps much older? God is infinite, therefore His love is infinite as well and couldn't He love others from countless planets too? Wouldn't He be able to hear their cries of anguish and feel their pain along with ours? Wouldn't He be able to stretch out His helping hand and infinite grace to them as well? I believe He would want to have the same intimate relationships with them that He desires with us. I also believe that they would have been made in the image of God, just as we are, so they would look and think very similar to us.

Now, I'm not putting forth the theory that God was experimenting with these other creatures on their planets, but I think that God knew exactly what He wanted for each new creation and like us, he set things in motion, probably in a very similar fashion and let them "evolve" through his guidance and nurturing, just as he has done with us. I don't mean evolution like Darwin's theory, because it was just that, a theory and why the scientific community, which should know better, embraced it, is beyond me!  I don't believe that man evolved from an ape, although, we can sometimes behave like them! I believe that man evolved from an earlier form of himself, such as prehistoric caveman, Neanderthal or who ever, which most likely were Adam and Eve. From Adam and Eve came the rest of us and we evolved into what we are today, man with computers, cars, trains, planes, spacecraft, IPhones, IPods , etc.. Man did not change from being a monkey with only natural instincts into human form with a superior intelligence. Man has always been in human form, but has gone from primitive to modern through advancements in technology; with each new discovery whether in science or technology, whatever, we evolve a little more.
 
Now, getting back to my theory, what if God in his infinite wisdom has made many such planets as Earth all over space, all inhabited by creatures like us, with similar histories, God would even have sent Jesus to save them at some point and like us God imprinted "the knowledge of himself" within them, so they could never deny Him. So it is quite reasonable to think that some of them have been around way longer than us and have made advancements in technology way beyond ours, perhaps even to the extent of space travel! Some may be able to travel between planets or other solar systems, maybe even as far as our own solar system and Earth, so some of the "UFO" sightings could very well be real! Perhaps they haven't come to invade or destroy the Earth, but instead, as in Mark 16:15, they were told "go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." They could actually be missionaries from another planet, sent out by God to all the universe (or universes) as in Matthew 28:19 "to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!" and have come here to proclaim His glory! Or instead of Noah and his ark, it was Noah and his spaceship that was being spared from destruction? Sounds pretty far-fetched, like a science fiction novel or movie, but what do we know? We only know the limits of our own little world and its universe. God is infinite, so His possibilities are infinite.

The most amazing thing about God is his abundant love and grace! That He can love each and every one of us the same, that He can answer all our prayers, our questions and provide for us all! That He is by our side 24/7, (Matt. 28:20 "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.") ready and willing to aid us whenever we call on Him. He sent his Son to die and rise again as a final sacrifice for our sins so that we might live and have life abundantly (even for those pesky extra-terrestrials)!  Even if it turns out that we are alone in space and his only creations, He was, is and will be forever! All He asks of us is to believe and trust in Him and He will do the rest!

From the promise of the rainbow to the sparing of the masses in the desert, these are the reminders that I take comfort in during rough seasons that if we turn to Him, He will be stern and solid, yet gracious, forgiving, and loving; everything that a father should be.
Great verses!

I've not really done a deep dive into many biblical references to E.T. creations by God, but I have heard it mentioned before that the verse "I have sheep that are not of this fold" allude to such references. Now I recognize that could be taken out of context but I thought it somewhat pertained here. It is definitely an entertaining theory!

I believe that was referring to the Gentiles...

I believe you are correct. lol

You guys have to realize that some of these writing are not necessarily biblical, but my imagination with some biblical background! 🤔😉

"Heavenly Gates" was in memory of a dear friend from the Chapel who had lost her husband years ago and lived in a care facility spending her days in a wheelchair. A group of us women from the Chapel would visit her and celebrate her birthday until the Lord called her home.

S.O.S. Needed Now

I personally do not care for politics as I feel that the majority of politicians have no concern for the needs of the people, they are selfishly centered on their own gain and that of their political affiliates. Unfortunately, it has been a proven fact that socialism doesn't work, it will not be a "New World Order" but a return to the old-world order, a government run by dictators and the rest of us enslaved. I have this strange feeling that the Covid 19 virus was deliberately used as a means to conquer the world by reducing the number of people worldwide who would stand in the way of the takeover! There has even been some talk about when the vaccine for the virus is found people who have been given the vaccine will be required to have a chip inserted, something like the mark of the Devil during the end times.

I hope America is ready for the overthrow of the government by radicals which began with the farce of an election. If this take over is successful, we in America will truly know the pain people in other countries have felt for centuries as domineering radical groups take away our freedom by doing away with the democracy under which this country was formed. There will be no equality in any form; the middle-class working people of this country will be paying for everything this group has promised to be free! The rich will get richer, and the poor will stay poor, our health care will hit rock bottom, even lower than it was in the years from 2012 to 2016, when a would-be dictator took control of the country!

The only way to survive is to return to the One who can truly save this nation, God! We need to keep our eyes open for the lies and turn our eyes to Christ, asking for His forgiveness, guidance and saving grace! Let's all send Him an S.O.S!

Annoying things during a Pandemic:

Ever notice that when things are going wrong in the world, like a Pandemic and your daily life has pretty much come to a halt, it's the small things that become the most annoying? You break a tooth, but the dentist isn't open, you can't get your prescriptions refilled, the doctor's office is closed, you can't go grocery shopping, you're not supposed to leave the house, etc.

It's a fact of life that annoying things will happen; they may not be serious, but still annoying. I have been making my own mixes of my favorite tunes for over 50 years, going from reel to reel then to cassettes and now to CDs. I have also been using what little skill I have to put together the music that we use in our aerobics classes for many years now. The teacher gets the music and decides which songs and routines we will use and I put them together in the order we will be doing them on to a CD. It's just easier to put one CD in and go through the workout without changing CDs between the routines.

Anyway as I mentioned, I make my own mixes from the music in my collection because I like listening to them in my car. My car is older and doesn't have the kind of stereo system that most cars have now a days, but does have a CD player. Whenever I get new music I have to make a new CD, so I had just put together one of Christian artists covering songs by mainstream artists. I had made it to give to a friend whose husband and daughter, are both musicians thinking they would enjoy it.

I always listen to them first before I give them away, so I had listened to this one once in my own car and it was perfect! Then I had to run out one evening and due to the parking situation in my driveway, I had to use an even older car and thought it would be kool to listen to the CD again. Big mistake! Everything was going just fine, it was sounding great, until I returned home and went to eject it from the player, then the most annoying thing happened! It didn't want to spit it out! Every time I pushed the eject button it would stick its little head out then go back in!

So I thought I might try seeing if I could perform a little operation using some tweezers hoping I could catch it before it went back in, but alas it failed! Now it won't even come up! What could be more annoying than your car stereo swallowing a CD and refusing to spit it out!

Thankfully I had kept the playlist in my iTunes and was able to whip out a second copy! It must be a sign of the times!

                                        EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBERS

          PRINT OUT AND KEEP IT WITH YOUR BIBLE...USE IN CASE OF
                                                   EMERGENCY!

         When in sorrow.......................................................call John 14
         When men fail you.................................................call Psalm 27
         When you have sinned...........................................call Psalm 51
         When you worry........................................call Matthew 6:19-34
         When you are in danger..........................................call Psalm 91
         When God seems far away....................................call Psalm 139
         When your faith needs stirring...........................call Hebrews 11
         When you are lonely and fearful.............................call Psalm 23
         When you grow bitter and critical...............call 1 Corinthians 13
         When you feel down and out.............................call Romans 8:31
         When you want peace and rest................call Matthew 11:25-30
         When the world seems bigger than God..................call Psalm 90
         When you want Christian assurance..............call Romans 8:1-30
         When you leave home for labor or travel...............call Psalm 121
         When your prayers grow narrow or selfish..............call Psalm 67
         When you want courage for a task...........................call Joshua 1
         When you think of investments and returns..............call Mark 10
          If you are depressed................................................call Psalm 27
          If your pocketbook is empty....................................call Psalm 37
          If you are losing confidence in people.........call 1 Corinthians 13
          If people seem unkind...............................................call John 15
          If discouraged about your work............................call Psalm 126
          If self pride/greatness takes hold...........................call Psalm 19
          If you want to be fruitful............................................call John 15
          For understanding of Christianity......call 11 Corinthians 5:15-19
          For a great invention/opportunity...........................call Isaiah 55
          For how to get along with fellow men...................call Romans 12
          For Paul's secret to happiness..................call Colossians 3:12-17

                                     ALTERNATE NUMBERS:
                         For dealing with fear..............call Psalm 347
                         For security.........................call Psalm 121:3
                         For assurance..........................call Mark 8:35
                         For reassurance................call Psalm 145:18

                                          PLEASE NOTE:
     Emergency numbers may be dialed direct, no operator assistance
                                           is necessary.     
                     All lines to Heaven are open 24 hours a day!
                 Feed your FAITH and DOUBT will starve to death!
                                       Pass it on and on.....   

MEET ME IN THE STAIRWELL

       You say you will never forget where you were when
       you heard the news On September 11, 2001.
       Neither will I.

        I was on the 110th floor in a smoke filled room
        with a man who called his wife to say 'Good-Bye.' I
        held his fingers steady as he dialed. I gave him the
        peace to say, 'Honey, I am not going to make it, but it
        is Ok, I am ready to go.'

        I was with his wife when he called as she fed
        breakfast to their children. I held her up as she
        tried to understand his words and as she realized
        he wasn't coming home that night.

        I was in the stairwell of the 23rd floor when a
        woman cried out to Me for help. 'I have been
        knocking on the door of your heart for 50 years!' I said.
        'Of course I will show you the way home - only
        believe in Me now.'

        I was at the base of the building with the Priest
        ministering to the injured and devastated souls.
        I took him home to tend to his Flock in Heaven. He
        heard my voice and answered.

        I was on all four of those planes, in every seat,
        with every prayer. I was with the crew as they
        were overtaken. I was in the very hearts of the
        believers there, comforting and assuring them that their
        faith has saved them.

        I was in Texas, Virginia, California, Michigan,  Afghanistan.
        I was standing next to you when you heard the terrible news.
        Did you sense Me?

        I want you to know that I saw every face. I knew
        every name - though not all knew Me. Some met Me
        for the first time on the 86th floor.

        Some sought Me with their last breath.
        Some couldn't hear Me calling to them through the
        smoke and flames; 'Come to Me... this way... take
        my hand. Some chose, for the final time, to ignore Me.
        But, I was there.

        I did not place you in the Tower that day. You
        may not know why, but I do. However, if you were
        there in that explosive moment in time, would you have
        reached for Me?
       
        Sept. 11, 2001, was not the end of the journey
        for you. But someday your journey will end. And I
        will be there for you as well. Seek Me now while I may
        be found. Then, at any moment, you know you are
        'ready to go.'

        I will be in the stairwell of your final moments.


Author Unknown

Amen!!

Always With You

We have a tendency to think we are all alone in this world. When things go wrong in our lives we become more convinced that it's true. I had a recent experience that gave me a different feeling.

It was one of those nights when we decided to get takeout pizza for dinner, something that happens more often these days now that the children are all young adults and some have moved out on their own.

So after I called in the order, I decided to make a few quick stops on the way to pick it up. My first stop was to the local CVS drugstore where I had planned to run in, grab a couple of things, then on to the next stop. I was in there longer than I expected as I had trouble finding what I had come for. Finally I made my decision and headed to the self checkout to ring up my stuff. I completed my mission and as I was walking out I dug into my pockets for my keys, but as I got to the car I realized the ones I found were not the right ones. They were to our other car which I had decided not to take, but took my personal car, the Chevy Impala, because I like the stereo better.

I'm starting to panic a little, go back inside thinking maybe they are on the floor beside the checkout I had used, walking back through the parking lot toward the store I look around on the ground, don't see anything, get inside, look all around the checkout, nothing! Now I'm in full blown panic mode, dig through my purse and find nothing! Did someone find them and turn them in? Did I lock them in the car? I have a bad habit of locking the door from the inside instead of using the key from the outside.

My mind was racing, I thought about asking the cashier if someone had turned them in, but decided to go look outside one more time. As I started back out through the first sliding glass door I noticed something on the floor right at the very bottom of the second glass door which looked familiar and reaching down began thanking God! Thanked Him on my way to my second stop where I picked up some milk and on the ride to finally get the pizza! All night and into the next day I kept thanking Him!

We always pray and hope for answers to the big things in life, like how to deal with death, illness, etc., but I'm so thankful for the little things He does! I'm forever thankful for His Grace and Mercy! Always by our side, always willing to help, all we have to do is be willing to trust in Him and let Him do His will!

An interesting thing happened as I was on my way home from dropping my son off at work, I planned to stop to pick up some milk on my way back at the local QuickChek. I pulled up into a parking spot right in the front of the building and notice an old fellow with a cane leaning up against the wall. Shut off my car and put my mask on as I finished listening to the song playing on the radio. I then got out of the car and as I walked past this fellow he asked if I had a dollar I could give him, I said I wasn't sure. I go in, buy my milk and think to myself "should I?" I had gotten two quarters as change and dug around in my purse to find two more. As I went by him to my car, I gave him the dollar he asked for. He thanked me and told me to have a good day and take care.

Again, I didn't go too far out of my way, not knowing what the money would be used for, but knew I could spare it in a gesture of good will. We never know what God has in mind for us!

What do Pit Bulls and Christians have in common?

I came out of a local convenience store the other day and saw a beautiful Pit Bull dog chained to the drain pipe, having one of my own (an American Staffordshire Terrier to be precise, just one of the many bull terrier breeds) I wasn't alarmed but rather intrigued. It was half black and half white, just sitting there so sweetly and oh so patiently, waiting for its owner to come out and continue their walk. As I drove away it occurred to me that this breed of dog and Christians had some things in common, at least three that I could think of. First, both are so terribly misunderstood, it's all in the upbringing of the individual. Second, that both are just looking to share a little love and third, that it only takes one badly behaved individual to ruin it for the rest!

So true :)

Jesus died to make all our Fridays GOOD!
He rose and lives again to make all our days GREAT!

Nut In A Torn Bag

I was a nut in a torn bag
Then Jesus found me, Cracked me,
Salted me, Shook me, And threw me into the world!



Author unknown

How rebellious are you?

Rebellion for the sake of rebellion never accomplishes anything, rebellion for the sake of change and growth can be life saving! When Jesus calls are you rebellious enough to answer?

God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way! So, He sent His son Jesus for you to follow! Look for Him today!

Did God Really Say You Couldn't?

Almost everyone is familiar with the following story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and how they gave into temptation ruining man's relationship with God for all the rest of us:

Genesis 2:15-17 "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Then God decided it was not good for the man to be alone, he needed a helper, so God took a rib from Adam and created a woman. The man and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame.

Genesis 3:1-7 "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, "You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die." "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves." When God found out He was very displeased with them.

Then in Genesis 3:12-13 "The man said, "The woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it." Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "the serpent deceived me and I ate."

They were told not to do something but they did it anyway, but is there an underlying meaning to this account? Why would God tell them not to eat from that one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? What was so important about it that they were told "you will surely die."?

Well there are several ideas that come to mind; one would be that God gave man the freedom of choice. Man could choose to follow the directions or commands of God or he could follow his own desires. God said not to eat the fruit or to even touch one certain tree, because He knew what would happen if they did, but he did not stop them, he let them choose. From the very beginning God did not force His will on man, but let man seek Him out on his own. He doesn't tell them that they can't; but His warning is that they shouldn't. The death that God had hoped to have Adam and Eve avoid was the death of their innocence, like a parent with a child longing to keep them safe from the horrors of the world.

Another thought is that this is the beginning of the "blame game" that has been handed down from generation to generation since the creation of the world. First Adam blames Eve for giving the fruit to him, then Eve blames the evil snake for telling her it was ok to eat it. So there it is, the practice of passing the blame to someone else instead of taking the responsibility for one's own mistakes. This is still prevalent in the world today; it's always someone else's fault when things go wrong and not ours. We never want to step up and take responsibility for our own problems or short comings. The reason being we don't want to deal with the consequences; we want someone else to take the punishment.

Still another thought would be that God knows what is best for us and He gives us fair warning not to go against His commands. God is like a loving parent, giving us guidelines to follow throughout life. Things such as the Ten Commandments were meant to help us avoid the pitfalls of life on earth and keep us out of trouble. The whole Old Testament of the Bible is all about God trying to teach His strong willed and stiff-necked people a lesson in love.

Maybe we need to pay more attention to the warnings God has given us and learn how to deal with the consequences of our own actions instead of placing the blame on others. Now is the time to stop being a stiff necked and strong willed people and let God lead us in the right direction through the salvation given freely by His Son, Jesus Christ!

 The Voice of the Serpent

Why is it that the people who think their views should be tolerated, are the ones who are the least tolerant of others? Why do homosexuals think that we should tolerate their adverse behavior and allow them to call their union a marriage? Or let them adopt children? Why is it that children can learn in school about religious holidays and practices, such as the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah or Yom Kippur, along with the African-American celebration Kwanzaa, but not the celebration of Christ's birth at Christmas or the true meaning of Easter? Most people celebrate Thanksgiving, but who are they expressing their thankfulness to? Why do we pledge our allegiance to One Nation under God, but at every turn we try to take Him out of it? Why is it ok to be pro abortion, including partial birth abortion (where the fetus is killed during birth) and to be vocal about it, but you can't speak out against it or the sale of fetal parts? How did profanity and obscenity become an accepted part of the English language? Why is it that believers in Christ must learn to tolerate all these things, but no one seems to want to tolerate them? Why are Christians put down for wanting the world to have some shred of integrity, decency and moral fiber in it?

The new morale for the current American society is; there are no morals, no rules, nothing to guide us through life, except our own fantasies. Our own desires have become the focus and there is no right and wrong, no good or bad. The new philosophy of choice being that of secularism, which assumes that this world "the material world" is all that we have by which and for which to live, so therefore any view of a spiritual essence or of other worldliness is by definition considered irrelevant or irrational. This form of secularization asserts that public life is to be governed by laws that are not influenced by religion, or any transcendent sacred notion. With the philosophy of pluralization all belief structures, such as religions, are held to be true, so you can believe anything you want and say that it is true. Then there is the privatization of beliefs, the socially required and legally enforced separation of our private lives and our public personas. In effect, privatization insists that issues of ultimate meaning be kept within our private spheres. If you take a close look at our society, you'll find that all those protesters from back in the sixties and seventies are now in positions of authority and who's agenda have they been pushing for?

We have let ourselves fall into the trap which was set back when time began, in the garden of long ago, when the serpent said to the woman "Did God really say you couldn't?" It has been a downward spiral for man ever since. The fall of mankind through Adam and Eve, brought sin and shame into this world and with them knowledge of what is right and wrong. They learned the lesson the hard way; they now knew the difference between right and wrong, but they had to leave their perfect home and life behind. After their exile from the garden they began what continues, even to this day, a constant battle to try to cover their shame and the guilt of sin on their own, apart from God. Each new generation putting that shame farther and farther behind them, until today we have no shame at all. We do the most heinous things without thinking; we live by our own terms, doing pretty much whatever we feel like. Then we try to remove the shame further by declaring it to be normal. As though it's one's personal right to kill an unborn child, because a pregnant woman decides she can't deal with the consequences of her behavior. There are circumstances such as rape or incest where pregnancy occurs, but those might be better dealt with in a more dignified manor for both the unborn child and the mother. Then some would have us believe that the sexual union of two people of the same sex is normal or that it is a natural thing for people to be attracted to others of the same sex. When we want to fulfill our desires, no matter how detestable or vile, we comfort ourselves by saying its normal and therefore ok. It's as though we keep hearing the voice of the snake whispering in our ear, prodding us on, saying "Did God really say you couldn't? You will not surely die." So we just keep twisting the truth to fit our desires.

The most upsetting thing is that the church has let this way of thinking filter into its very core, by accepting things as normal which are not, as though it is trying to fit into the world, when what it should be doing is putting God and Christ back where they belong, at the head and center of everything! Ravi Zacharias tells us the three moods of our current culture will do the following: secularization will hurt those we love through loss of shame, pluralization will hurt those we choose to hate through loss of reason and privatization will hurt ourselves through loss of meaning. Perhaps Christians and the church need to stop tolerating the things they know are wrong and start changing from within, putting the focus on becoming more Christ like in their dealings with the world by learning to address the needs of the individual and not to be distracted by their outward appearance or behavior. Maybe our society needs to return to its earlier morals, ethics and values and the church should lead the way!

In need of a makeover?

Have you been feeling down, lost or forgotten; are you in need of a change? Let God give you an Extreme Makeover, you will become a new creation! It's free, all work is done compliments of Jesus Christ; don't miss out, call on Him today for the chance of a lifetime!

 Zombie Apocalypse or Resurrection?

Could there be a real threat of Zombie retaliation? Man has been fascinated with zombies for a long time, not only in horror movies and TV shows, but in third world countries, like Africa and Jamaica, where the belief in zombies is quite real. Practitioners of Voodoo and other mystical religions believe they can bring the dead back to life to accomplish evil deeds.

But are there really such beings as Zombies? It's my thought that zombies do exist here among us right now. There might be at least two or three different types of zombies out there in the world already. One kind might be those people who do not believe in Christ as the Son of God or that God even exists at all and they wander around in a fog, not having any purpose or faith in anything but themselves, like walking dead. They are essentially dead to God.

Another kind could be those of us who believe that Christ died for our sins, rose again and is returning for us. We have died to self and now live in Christ. We are simply taking up space here on earth until He calls us home or He returns, we are dead to the world of sin, but alive through Christ and what He has done for us.

The Bible is full of "zombies" or those who have risen from the dead. In the Old Testament Elijah raised the widow of Zarephath's son in 1 Kings 17:22 and in 2 Kings 4 Elisha raises a Shunammite woman's son. Then again, a man was raised when his dead body came into contact with Elisha's bones in 2 Kings 13. These to me sound like zombies; they came back to life, got up, walked around and interacted with others, but no reports of them attacking and eating their fellow man! All though later on in the New Testament is the account of the demon possessed men and how Christ drove their demons into the pigs in Luke 8:26-39, which comes pretty close!

The New Testament gives some examples that are very well known; probably the most famous of all was when Jesus raised Lazarus after he had been buried for four days in John 11:38-44. He raised a widow's son during a funeral in Luke 7:11-17 and Jairus daughter in Mark 5:21-43. But the ultimate rise from the dead was by Jesus Christ himself, when he was crucified, buried and then rose on the third day! Again He was alive, walking and talking with people! Now if you really want "zombies" this was the real deal, during Christ's crucifixion many of the dead came out of the tombs, Matt. 27:52. Talk about zombies!

But wait, we aren't done yet, there are still more examples to come! Paul raises Eutychus after he falls from a 2nd story window in Acts 20:7-12 and Peter raises Dorcas in Acts 9:36-42. Although all of these certainly sound like zombies to me, I am of the opinion that the real Zombie Apocalypse isn't scheduled until Christ returns.

We read this account of our final victory in 1Corinthians 15:50-58:"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

That to me sounds like a Zombie Apocalypse if ever there was one! In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 we get another image, "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." Philippians 3:20-21 tells us "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control; will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."

The thing that gets me the most, is all these TV shows about preparing for the Apocalypse and Zombies, basically only show people hording supplies and things or building fortresses, but they offer no real solutions. There is but one way to prepare for such events and that is to prepare our hearts to accept Jesus as Christ and as Our Savior, because He is the only one who can save us from such things. If you have not prepared yourself by accepting Christ as your Savior, then you will have no hope of surviving an Apocalypse of any kind and all the supplies and preparations will be for nothing!

Instead of storing up useless things here on earth, we should be preparing to share the love of Christ with others while we are here. So take the time now, while you still have it, to put your Spiritual house in order, get your life back on the right track and be assured of where you will go when the Zombie Apocalypse hits! There are only two places a person could end up in when it's all over, Heaven with God and Christ or Hell with the Devil! So prepare wisely!

A little ghost story:

The Vanishing Girl

The bell clanged loudly; it was time to go back to class. It was my duty, being the newest and youngest teacher at King Elementary School, in the ghetto, to supervise the children at recess and herd them back into the building when it ended.

I was busily doing so when I noticed a little Negro girl pressed close against the schoolyard's iron fence, looking in from the outside. She appeared to be a year or so younger than the children in my class of first graders. She wore a handed down blue dress which was clean and neatly ironed, an old red jacket and sneakers without socks. Her hair was combed and braided with care, blue ribbons adorned each end. Her brown eyes, wide with wonder and excitement, disclosed that she had been watching the school children play. A tiny brown finger rested on her pale lips as if to hold back a secret wish ready to burst forth.

When the last of my wards was safely in the door, I looked for her, but she was gone. Had I only imagined her? As I looked around at the aging apartments across the street, I didn't see her, but looking down by the fence I noticed a blue ribbon laying there on the ground! Perhaps I will see her in the school over the coming years!

Messing with Creation

With all the controversy that has been sparked by the sex transformation of the well-known athlete, Bruce Jenner, here are some of my own thoughts. One of the first questions would be, is it a sin? Well, let's look at it from the beginning; he was created as a man by God, God doesn't make mistakes, humans do. So His creations are perfect the way they are in God's eyes, no improvement needed. So do we as humans have the right to mess with his design? Aren't we showing disrespect to Him by trying to change what He has created?

He has given us the knowledge and skills to use in correcting birth defects and other health problems, along with repairing the damage we do to ourselves, but we carry it a bit too far. We think we can improve things by reconstructing them to fit our own perverse desires. To me this seems like we are trying to steal His glory.

I don't believe it when people say stuff like "I always knew I was a girl in a boy's body or a boy in a girl's body." It just isn't true; the only thing that is wrong with our bodies is our own depraved desires. If you think about it logically, people who undergo a sex change or gender change are only altering their outside appearance; they can never really be transformed totally from the inside out. So people like Jenner, will never be a real woman or a real man. Where are the female organs, ovaries and uterus? Where are the male organs, prostate and testicles? Even if there's a way to add female genitalia or male, they will not function as if they were natural, so all of the money, time and pain can never truly fulfill their dream!

From the "fall of mankind" we have set about to go against creation. We think we know what is best for us, when actually that doesn't play into the scenario at all! We are just trying to fill a void in our lives, a void that should be filled by God! As His main creation we have never liked being told what to do or how to live, that's just our nature. So we pick which ever thing that seems to feel good at the moment.

I believe it's a part of our internal makeup to have a little bit of both femininity and masculinity ingrained in us. For women having a little masculinity helps us to be strong enough to weather the storms in life and for men having a little femininity in them makes them a little more sensitive to others. The problems arise when we decide to let either femininity or masculinity take us over. We are not happy with ourselves as we are and think we will be more appealing to others by changing.

There are actually people who do have a legitimate reason to feel that they are in the wrong bodies, they are called "Intersex" or "Hermaphrodites" because they are born with the genitalia of both sexes. Usually the parents decide which sex the child should be shortly after birth and have the child surgically altered, so the parents could actually pick the wrong sex for the child. These days they are often left to decide for themselves and may never make a decision at all.

There was a time in my youth when I actually applauded women who didn't flaunt their sexuality, by dressing in a way that didn't use sex as a means of covering up for their lack of talent! The problem was most of them actually turned out to be "gay", which was very disappointing to say the least! There also were men whom you knew seemed a little too feminine and they too ended up being "gay"!

The really disappointing thing is when people like Jenner, use it as a means of exploitation! If he was really sincere in wanting to be just a woman, he would not have made such a big deal about it, he would have done it quietly like so many others. He isn't the first, there is a relatively famous model that started out as a boy in some foreign country too, but no one knew until she spoke out awhile ago. There have been so many famous people or children of famous people who have decided to change sexes, but I do find it odd that Jenner has a reality show lined up already!

I do believe that it is a sin against God to alter our sex for our own perverse desires; it's a sin that many have to live with the rest of their lives, but it's no greater than the sin of just changing our sexual preference or abortion, adultery, incest, pornography, drugs or any other.

Perhaps Bruce Jenner will someday be called by Jesus and repent with the rest of us sinners! I'm sure God is waiting!

Can they be Christians?

Our country is in the middle of a huge debate as to whether people of the same sex should be allowed to be legally married; some states have already legalized it. But there is another problem that arises from this issue, marriage has always been defined as the union of a man (male) and a woman (female) and this still stands in most Churches. But recently things have changed even within the Church, some religions have chosen to follow the trend of modern society and allow homosexuals to be Priests, Ministers or Pastors, even in some "Christian" sects. This is a reflection of the sad state of Christianity in the world today. We are being forced to follow today's trend in society, which says don't make waves, let people live their lives the way they want. Unfortunately that is not how Christ lived or how God wants us to live, Christ stood openly against such hypocrisy!

We are expected to give others the freedom to say and do as they like, but we as Christians don't receive the same treatment. It would seem as though Christians are the only ones who don't have rights these days. We are not allowed to speak openly about our beliefs (prayer in schools, pledge of allegiance, etc.) or to even have displays depicting scenes referring to Christ out in public anymore. Everywhere you look, TV, movies, the internet, all have jumped on the band wagon, helping to promote same sex relationships as normal. TV shows and even commercials have added scenes which depict homosexuals in everyday life, even as parents being normal.

Now this type of thing has even started to creep into the most scared of places, the Church, with some actually condoning this behavior by letting "gays" call themselves "Christians". The problem arises with this question, can one be living in the sin of homosexually and also be a Christian? I believe the Bible says no, because when we answer the call of Christ to follow Him, we are to put the things of God ahead of our earthly desires and selfish indulgences, we are to became a new creation, by putting off the sins of the old person we are washed clean by the blood of Christ.

In Ephesians 4:17-24 it says "So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. You however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

Let's also consider 1Corinthians 6:18-20 which says "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

So if you believe in the Bible as the inspired word of God and are truly a follower of Christ and not just a "fan", than this is very important! It is basically telling us not to remain in the sins of our old life, i.e. homosexuality, adultery, thievery, drugs, alcohol, etc., but to start living a life that is honoring to God. God does not want us to continue doing the very things that separate us from Him. If you are truly sincere in wanting to follow Christ by becoming Christ like or Christian, you would want to honor God by letting go of your sexual desires for the same sex or at the very least remain celibate!

  In John chapter 8:1-11, it tells of the woman the scribes and Pharisees brought before Jesus that was caught in the act of adultery and they wanted to stone. They quoted the Law of Moses to test Him, which said that she should be put to death and asked Jesus what should be done. At first Jesus acts as though He doesn't hear them as He stoops down and draws in the dirt. Finally He stands and says "he who is without sin cast the first stone," after thinking this over one by one they all walk away. When they had all gone, Jesus was left alone with the woman and He asked "where are your accusers, has no one condemned you?" She answers "no one, Lord" and He says "neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more." He later continued speaking to the people saying "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

As you can see Jesus did not say "I don't condemn you either, now go and continue in your sin!" Nor did He say "it's ok I'll be dying on the cross soon for your sins and all will be forgiven." He specifically told her not to continue sinning.

I think the biggest miss conception that we all have and that we take for granted is that the forgiveness of the Cross means we can just keep sinning and in the end all will be forgiven. I don't think there is real forgiveness if we never repent of our sins. 2 Peter 3:8-9 says "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." To me that would mean that if God is waiting for us to repent and we never do, then we will perish by ending up in Hell. The only real forgiveness comes when we repent and try not to continue in sin. On the Day of Judgment we will face Christ and our name will either be found in the Book of Life or not. Because Christ knows our hearts, he will know if we have repented or not, if not we will be told by Christ "I never knew you!" Meaning you were not sincere and didn't have a direct relationship with God through Christ. This point is also made very clear in the passage of 1 John 3:4-6 where we learn the following, "Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him."

Christ's death on the cross was not a blank check that we fill in as we go, it was a onetime deal, once for all, but it's a gift that has to be accepted to count. The proof of the acceptance is in the change from our old life to the new one offered by Jesus. So I think the Church has to find a way to take in people with sins like homosexuality and help them to see the importance of making the change by using Biblical scripture to introduce them to what Jesus desires for us. We need to learn to have compassion and to treat them with love as Christ would do, not to condone their lifestyle but to help them grow in the Lord.

So according to Romans 3:22-24 which says "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus," we are all counted as sinners no matter how righteous we think we are. The only difference is that we as Christians have faith that Jesus will show us how to change our lives through his righteousness. The fact that they have shown up on the doorsteps of the Church, tells us that they are looking for the truth. So instead of rejecting them because of their lifestyle or condoning it, we need to step up in love and really try to help them see the change they need to make to become more like Christ or Christian!

Another plus (as per a 26yr old daughter):

Wearing a mask during a Pandemic means you don't need to spend an hour doing your make up before going to work!

Waiting For An Empty Nest:

When I was young I dreamed of marring and having a family, now that having come true I have another dream. I married in my late twenties and was blessed with five children of my own and a niece who came to live with us just before turning two. She came to live with my husband and I along with my first three children, a son and two daughters, because her parents had gotten in trouble with the law. Her mother was sent to prison for selling drugs and her father, my brother, was in and out of jail. They had an older daughter who was taken in by one of her mother's friends, but they didn't want the second child, so my mother suggested she come live with me. So now I had four children, an eight year old daughter, a seven year old son, a three year old daughter and now a two year old niece. They kept me very busy, then six years later I had another daughter and about twenty one months after that, another little girl! A family of six children, a tank full of fish and a Doberman Pincher!

The nest was quite full over the following years, several dogs, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, a cat and even a bird! I did not personally have to take care of all the pets, I fed the dogs once in awhile, but that was about it. I took care of the kids, my husband and the house for the most part. I left my paying job when I had my first child and I would tell myself that when the kids were all in school I would go back. Then as the years went on I changed it to when the kids were all out of school. Now the kids are all grown up and some have moved out, two others have even gotten married. Now I should be able to complete my second dream of returning to some form of paid job, but alas, things have gotten out of control.

My husband had told me years ago that I didn't need to go back to work because for years he had a good paying job and got raises every year, that lasted over twenty years until he lost it. He never was able to find another job that paid that well, his last job was delivering heating oil, but lost that to the PANDEMIC!

Four of the kids have moved out, two have married, one is engaged living with her fiancé and another has moved into an apartment on her own. That leaves two at home, my son in his mid thirties and my second youngest daughter twenty six. My son had a cat for several years, but had to put if down when it got sick, but my daughter has two rabbits and two dogs. Last year in 2021 she became pregnant and had a little boy, so she and her boy friend came to live with us along with his dog.

This is my second grandson, my first is two years old and his parents are married and live in New York. I don't get to see him too often because of COVID. So even though I'd love to see this daughter and her boy friend marry and give this little guy a normal family life, I would never disown any of my children for the mistakes that they make.

So my dreams of an empty nest are put on hold for now, instead of having more time to myself, I'm busier than I've been in years. My daughter works nights at an Animal Emergency Hospital and her boy friend works days, so I'm on call as a babysitter and have to deal with the dogs, I don't do rabbits! Having three dogs can be a handful! Two of them are older dogs, a male and a female, the third one is a little over a year old. The two females are rather needy, the older one Tiffy is a barker and whiner; she barks at every sound and whines as I make her meals. The younger one Missy is very excitable, barking and jumping on people, standing against the sliding door barking at every creature she sees in the back yard!  The male dog Mouth has his issues too, doesn't like my son and can be very needy as well and wants to climb on my lap, being a Pit Bull mix he is big and weighs almost 100lbs. I have to deal with these guys every day, all day.

It's been almost twenty five years since I've had to change diapers and bottle feed a baby, but it's coming back to me slowly. I enjoy spending time with this little fellow; he's so cute and funny! He just turned six months and is able to sit up for quite awhile before he decides to grab for something and lose his balance, but hasn't figured out how to crawl yet. I don't mind the extra burden of the baby or even the parents, it's the animals that are wearing me out!

In the future things will probably slow down when my daughter and her boy friend are able to find a place of their own; they're trying, but it's not so easy to find a place that will let them keep so many animals. In the mean time with the help of the Lord I will have to learn to be patient!

There may come a day when this empty nest dream will be a reality and I won't be as happy as I thought!

I try to live a balanced life rather than a yo-yo life.

Who told you life wasn't worth the fight? They were wrong!

 "Christian" or Not?


I recently read a post on Facebook by a Christian radio station which got me thinking about "Christian" music, particularly "Christian Rock/Metal" music. The post basically stated that there were certain bands they were no longer playing on their station and they went on to name them and give reasons as to why they would not be played anymore.

The station starts off by explaining their definition of a "Christian" band first, saying they believe it is a band whose main goal is to win converts to Christ or to encourage believers and sets an example of Christ in their behavior. Their idea is that if you don't have these goals as a conscious agenda, but still make references to spiritual things, then the band is a "spiritual band" not a "Christian band" which to some extent seems logical.

One of the bands was August Burns Red and the reason was because one of the members had been seen in a video stating that "not to believe in evolution is silly". Upon viewing the video in question, I find that he is acting kind of goofy and doesn't really answer any of the questions posed to him. He does not say anything about Darwin's theory. I believe in evolution myself, but not in that nut case Darwin's theory! I believe in the evolution of man from man, not a monkey! I believe that Adam and Eve were created by God as early man or "cave man", in the beginning and we evolved from them into what we are now, although I do struggle with whom Cain, Abel and their little brother Seth could have married, their sisters?

Another was the band As I Lay Dying, which at one point I never thought of as a "Christian" band anyway, but somehow found its way into the genre. After they heard about the lead singer admitting to his dwindling faith and later he was caught trying to have his wife killed instead of just divorcing her! They dropped them and I can understand why.

Next it was P.O.D. who started out on mainstream radio, my son and his friends were really into them when they first came out, had I known at that time that they were really a "Christian" band, I would have gotten behind them too! They were dropped because on one song they had used the F-word.  Unfortunately they have made several songs for movies using explicit language, but again they were never billed as a "Christian" band, although they seem to have cleaned up their act considerably over the years, their music seems to be less tainted these days! I have also heard Sonny, the lead singer, talk about his faith before and it appears to be very genuine.

I was really disappointed when I learned that Derek Webb, of the well known "Christian" band Caedmon's Call, had gone solo and had used the S-word in a song on one of his albums. I have an earlier album of his that I like, but was really put off when I saw him live at a Christian music festival performing the song in a tent full of adults and young children and he did not omit the word, I had to get up and leave! I don't believe that those kinds of words belong in any song, Christian or otherwise, so I can see having to preview a song's lyrics and possibly the meaning before playing a song. I don't believe that Christian radio stations should have to "bleep out" or sensor songs to play them on the air, if that is necessary then it shouldn't be played at all!
 
Lastly was Jars of Clay. Jars of Clay! Can you imagine that Jars would not be considered a "Christian" band? Why, you say? All because Dan Haseltine made a comment about "gay" marriage! I'm sure that Dan knows it's wrong, but he understands that those kinds of people need love too! We are told to love the unlovable. In the Bible it says to set aside our differences and show respect and kindness to others even when we don't like or agree with the things they do or how they live. We should still be able love them without condoning their lifestyles, how can we disciple them if we shun or ignore them?

I am all for having some kind of filter for the music that gets played on "Christian" radio or any other for that matter; I don't want to hear foul language on mainstream radio either. To me those days are over, I have moved on. But then again if we filter it by Unchristian like behavior or the fact that everyone in a band isn't a believer, aren't we drawing a thin line between Christianity and Legalism? I read an article by Reese Roper of Five Iron Frenzy in which he acknowledged the fact that two people in their current lineup are not believers, does that make their music less relevant? The fact is, I think it's an amazing thing that they can all work together as a unit; maybe there is a lesson in that!

Then, also what happens when Christian bands cover music by mainstream artists? Does that make them less Christian? So many "Christian" bands have covered mainstream music, when I heard the song "Ordinary World" by Red, I thought it was theirs, but it's actually by Duran Duran! Reliant K has covered lots of songs by mainstream artists also, like "I'd Like to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears. On the new Seventh Day Slumber album "We Are the Broken", they covered a song called "Skyscraper" that had been released by mainstream artist Demi Lovato! I told Joseph Rojas, the lead singer, my girls recognized it right away and he said the reason they had chosen it was because the lyrics fit in so perfectly with the rest of the album. The list goes on forever, so many Christian artists have covered so much non-Christian music, but it does not make them believe any less in Christ! Does that mean they shouldn't be played on Christian stations even if the lyrics are clean and the message is sound?

The Jewish religious leaders in the Bible criticized Jesus for spending all of his time with the lowliest of people and not with those they considered worthwhile, but that is what He came for. There are some musical groups made up of believers who have decided to try to reach the unreachable by going to play in bars and clubs instead of Churches, they also have a podcast show and blog where they get down and dirty, discussing all types of issues, from pornography to homosexuality. Emery is one such band. I believe there are bands that are spurred on by their hope of communicating with the lost generation by getting down on their level, by giving them the kind of music that will appeal to them with a message that is truth in biblical terms.

There are mainstream bands too, like U2 with a similar need to make music that has a purposeful meaning, encouraging and up lifting, another such band is Collective Soul. Their hit song "Shine" is about asking Heaven to shine a light on man! Lead singer, Ed Roland's father was a preacher and Ed writes music that shows his love for his father and for his father's faith! Even going so far as to write a song called "Hymn for My Father" in which he states he will follow his father's teachings, I believe Ed is referring to both his earthly father (now in Heaven) and his Heavenly father.

There might even be such things as "closet Christian" bands that don't label themselves as Christian, but actually have Christian beliefs that they openly share in their music. I believe its ok to not have to label ones music, just to be honest and make sure whatever music you are presenting, is edifying and glorifying to God or at least presentable to the rest of the world!

So although I will miss hearing August Burns Red, P.O.D and Jars of Clay playing on their station, I will still listen to it along with many others in order to get my fix of "Good Christian" music!

I have found that I can find out alot about a musician or band when I see them live and hear what they speak to their audience between songs. While this may not be completely accurate, this would be a perfect platform to share their faith. I've seen bands that not only share their love for Jesus but actually have an in place alter call and prayer. I am not ashamed to say the name of Jesus and will use every opportunity I am given to testify to the Gospel. But that's just me!!! <3

That would be a good sign if a band played at a small venue and was the only one to preform, then they would have time to do so. Most of the bands I've seen have been at big festivals that last several days and it's group after group with only time to change the previous band's equipment on the stage. They offer a meet and greet at another place so bands can sign merchandise and talk to people if they want. It's a lot easier these days to find out on social media whether a band once known as "Christian" has left the fold as so many have! I appreciate that tom has taken the time to weed out the failing ones! 👍👍

Words of Jesus:
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Matthew 7:15-20
   This is how I try to look at any situation. If Jesus isn't being lifted up, I don't wanna be there. And I definitely need to be careful. Again, that's just me. Sometimes though, its very hard to tell the sheep from the wolf. I pray His Holy Spirit gives me His discernment. And yes, thank you Tom for your looking out for us in this regard.

I understand how you feel, knowing Biblical truth doesn't always make it easy to pick out the wolves, especially in these dark and confusing times. We just have to have faith that God is in control even when we can't see it, we don't know His reason for letting things happen, but we need to look to Him and His word to find the right path to follow. He shows His love for us in so many ways, big and little! ❤️🙏

How the Virus Stole Easter

By Kristi Bothur
(With a nod to Dr. Seuss)


Twas late in '19 when the virus began
Bringing chaos and fear to all people, each land.
People were sick, hospitals full,
Doctors overwhelmed, no one in school.

As winter gave way to the promise of spring,
The virus raged on, touching peasant and king.
People hid in their homes from the enemy unseen.
They YouTubed and Zoomed, social-distanced, and cleaned.

April approached and churches were closed.
"There won't be an Easter," the world supposed.
"There won't be church services, and egg hunts are out.
No reason for new dresses when we can't go about."

Holy Week started, as bleak as the rest.
The world was focused on masks and on tests.
"Easter can't happen this year," it proclaimed.
"Online and at home, it just won't be the same."

Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, the days came and went.
The virus pressed on; it just would not relent.
The world woke Sunday and nothing had changed.
The virus still menaced, the people, estranged.

"Pooh pooh to the saints," the world was grumbling.
"They're finding out now that no Easter is coming.
"They're just waking up! We know just what they'll do!
Their mouths will hang open a minute or two,
And then all the saints will all cry boo-hoo.

"That noise," said the world, "will be something to hear."
So it paused and the world put a hand to its ear.
And it did hear a sound coming through all the skies.
It started down low, then it started to rise.

But the sound wasn't depressed.
Why, this sound was triumphant!
It couldn't be so!
But it grew with abundance!
The world stared around, popping its eyes.
Then it shook! What it saw was a shocking surprise!

Every saint in every nation, the tall and the small,
Was celebrating Jesus in spite of it all!
It hadn't stopped Easter from coming! It came!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the world with its life quite stuck in quarantine
Stood puzzling and puzzling.
"Just how can it be?"
"It came without bonnets, it came without bunnies,
It came without egg hunts, cantatas, or money."

Then the world thought of something it hadn't before.
"Maybe Easter," it thought, "doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Easter, perhaps, means a little bit more."
And what happened then?

Well....the story's not done.
What will YOU do?
Will you share with that one
Or two or more people needing hope in this night?
Will you share the source of your life in this fight?

The churches are empty - but so is the tomb,
And Jesus is victor over death, doom, and gloom.
So this year at Easter, let this be our prayer,
As the virus still rages all around, everywhere.

May the world see hope when it looks at God's people.
May the world see the church is not a building or steeple.
May the world find Faith in Jesus' death and resurrection,
May the world find Joy in a time of dejection.
May 2020 be known as the year of survival,
But not only that -
Let it start a revival.

A Near Death Experience

Some pretty weird things happen in life, like when your dog is barking in the wee hours of the morning. You get out of bed, let the dog out and after awhile you call him in, but he doesn't come. You look around for him and then you notice he's walking around something on the ground. It looks as though he's picking it up and shaking it, just like he does to his stuffed toys, so you go out to get him and you see a small furry creature lying on the ground. You're not sure, but in the dark of night it looks dead, its fur is all mangled and it's body twisted, so you put the dog away. You come back, put it in a plastic bag, then stick it in the garbage can and go back to bed.

You wake up the next day still feeling unsure as to whether it's really dead, so you take a peek in the garbage can as you're walking to your car on your way to church. Lifting the lid you see movement in the bag, its little head is turning, its little eyes looking around! So you carefully take the bag out of the garbage, it goes limp again and dump the little furry body in the bushes by the tree in your front yard! When you come home after church, the body is gone! Then you realize you've just had your first "hands on" experience with Possum playing possum! Very wild!

It was probably very thankful to its creator that it received a second chance at life by playing dead! Unfortunately it doesn't always end the same way the second time as was the case with this youngster, some dogs play a little too rough!

We as humans tend to play dead also, we say we have died to our old self and have become a new Creation in Christ, but it never really shows in our behavior. We go to Church every Sunday, then come home and go back to our old ways, use foul language, watch adult programming, treat others in a demeaning manor etc., not Christ like at all! Doing away with the old self is a day to day battle, the evil one is always there taunting us, but if we truly have Christ in our heart we can make headway!

God's Perfect Gift

God sent to earth a perfect gift,
From His heavenly home above:
Unique and special in every way,
A gift of His undying love.
Born of a virgin called Mary,
God chose her, His Son to bear.
Instructed to call His Name Jesus,
A gift for all people to share.
Born in a stable with animals,
Placed in a manger with straw:
Mary wrapped Him in warm clothing,
Sent as Redeemer and Savior for all.

No gift was ever so perfect,
Sinless and pure as could be:
All we have to do is receive Him,
And forever our soul will be free.
From a manger to a cross at Calvary,
Obeying His Father's total will:
Now reigning by His Father in Heaven,
Still sinless, alive, and so real.

                   By
       Frances Culp Wolfe

"A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it."
― G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man

TRUE! Makes so much sense!

A thoughtful suggestion from the Skit Guys (Tommy & Eddie):

Something that should be done daily!

        Thank God - for all He has done for you
        Ask God - for His help
        Listen to God - spend time in His Word
        Keep talking to God - all day, everyday

Sounds like good advice!

I like the skit guys.

Me too, I first saw them on a Christian channel JTV! I loved that station because it was like the Christian version of MTV! Music videos, shows and movies, everything you could want! Sadly when we changed our TV subscription it wasn't on there. I miss it so much, there is just to much trash on TV these days!

JTV - I remember that station. I wish it was still available. I was introduced to P.O.D. for the first time on video on JTV. <3

..Blood Bought..

I hate you satan!
I hate you now!
To take the joy
From me somehow...

I bought your lies
I drank them in
I walked your walk
Just like your kin

Foul breath of hell
breathes down my neck
Your only aim
All YOU can get

Lies! Lies!
All you are is lies!

I once gave heed
To such as this
The love of God
Foolishly missed

"You're all alone!"
"Not good enough!"
"Just leave your God!"
"And cling to stuff!"

"Just one drink!"
"Just one smoke!"
"Take these pills!"
"Now take a toke!"

And once I'm weak
Near dead inside
It's then you strike
So deep So wide

"God's not here!"
"It's all HIS fault!"
"Just click away!"
...sexual assault...

It doesn't end
Until I bend
To him again
Then make amends

Down and up
And round and round
You bash my head
Against the ground

But what is this that I have found??

Jesus Christ
comes to my aide!
My feet He cleans
No more to wade

In deaths dark sea
Of deepest woe!
Be gone from me!
TO HELL YOU'LL GO!!

I hate you satan!
I hate your lies!
I hate your filth!
Your ways, despise!

Your WEAK! Vile creature!
Compared to MY God!
You'll never again
Walk where angels trod!

Your head is crushed!
His heal but bruised!
My soul delights!
To hear the good news!

"My redeemer lives!
He lives in me!
My home his breast!
For eternity!"

Next time you come around to me..
Remember this! Listen closely!

I am my beloved's
And my beloved's mine!
He lives to intercede for me
From now to the end of time!

You've got nothing.
My soul is His.
Next time you seek to trip me.
Stop and take this quiz.

Who conquered the grave?!
And rose from the dead?!
Who's seated above?!
Who died in my stead?!

Although you may trip me
Confound all my thoughts
He'll never release me
For I am blood bought.

By John Bosse

Those Who Sleep Must Awake

Those who sleep must awake
For the time comes
Yes, quickly the moment
The silence will break
Those who sleep must awake

Those who sleep must awake
For close the arrival
Near His appearance
His dear bride to take
Those who sleep must awake

Those who sleep must awake
For behold the Judge
At the door standeth
Christian heart reverently quake
Those who sleep must awake

Those who sleep must awake
For accounts must be given
Doth thou pursue righteousness?
All ungodliness forsake?
Those who sleep must awake

Those who sleep must awake
For soon His glorious face
Will marvelously make clear His worth
Oh, for His name's sake
Those who sleep must awake

By Scott Dunkerton

When the World Lets You Down (Losing Heart)

Life is relatively unpredictable; we can plan our lives to the last detail, and it rarely works out to our expectations. There are things in life that turn out to be just another let down. A couple of things recently gave me the feeling of being let down by people I had trusted and that bummed me out!

The first was when I bought the new album by a favorite group, Collective Soul, without really checking it out first. I think I might have heard one song off the album and without thinking went and bought it. I already own nine of their albums and was eagerly looking forward to enjoying this one too. In the past there had never been any reason for me to be concerned with any music from this group, occasionally there were some iffy words used in the lyrics, but nothing out and out foul.

On several of their albums it seemed as though they alluded to a belief in God, which made sense because the lead singer Ed Roland and his brother Dean the rhythm guitarist, were the sons of a preacher. Ed seemed very close to and proud of his father, when his father passed away he wrote a song on the album "Collective Soul" which came out in 2009, with the title "Hymn for My Father" in which it sounded as though Ed wanted to follow his father's example by leading a godly life. They had made their entrance into the mainstream music scene back in '95 with the release of the song "Shine", it's still considered their biggest hit and it's all about Heaven shinning a light on man, showing him how to live! There are some other songs with a hint of spiritually in them like "Never Here Alone", but mostly positive thoughts and lyrics to that effect. Songs all about love, romance and life in general were the substance of their albums for the most part and the sound of the music always intrigued me.

So imagine my shock when listening to the newest album "See What You Started by Continuing" when I got to about the seventh track and there it was something I never expected, the "s" word! It was just there once, but once was enough to bum me out! The title of the song is "Life" and it's kind of ironic that I should consider it a downer! I just think artists should be more creative in their music and not be carbon copies of all the others! Most of the time artists add explicit words thinking it will help sell the music instead of letting the music sell itself. I think it takes far more talent to avoid those words and still convey the same feeling or thought. Luckily with today's technology I was able to make myself a copy minus the offending song which will replace the original!

Another let down occurs when you find out that people are not who they portrayed themselves to be, this is a little harder to get past! Again this brings me back to my obsession with music, early on when I discovered "Christian" music there were some favorite groups I enjoyed listening to, Everyday Sunday was one of them. I own four of their albums and although not overtly Christian in their themes, they were played on Christian music stations, so I figured they were.

Well, I had a real shock when the lead singer Trey Pearson decided to come out and announce to the world that he has given in to his lust for men! Talk about explosion! The people you put your trust in have a tendency to let you down most of the time! Now even the "Christians" are turning to homosexuality, giving their lives over to the Devil instead of Christ!   

It's very sad because you can't be a Christian and a homosexual at the same time. The whole idea of being Christian is to follow and emulate Christ, by leaving the sins of your old life behind and changing, becoming a new creation, so you can't stay in the sin of homosexuality without at least becoming celibate. In John 8:1-11, we are told that as Jesus was teaching in front of the temple one day, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery and put her in front of the crowd. They asked if according to the Law of Moses she should be stoned to death. Jesus kind of ignores them at first, but they press him for an answer so he tells them "he who has never sinned cast the first stone". When the accusers heard this they slipped away one by one, starting with the oldest and soon Jesus was left alone with the woman. Then He says to the woman "where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?" "No Lord" she said, and then Jesus said "neither do I, go and sin no more!"

Jesus didn't say "ok, go back to your sinful life!" He told her to go and not to continue in the sin of adultery! So it's the same for us, we can't follow Christ without giving up our sins. So poor Trey has been tricked by the Devil into thinking he can hold onto his desire for other men and still call himself a Christian! You can't sincerely and truly follow Christ if you can't give up your sins and idols!

We are told in 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

Along with Ephesians 5:3-7 where it says "But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person – such a man is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them."

I interpret these passages to mean that if one is sexually immoral (a homosexual) we should not consider them as Christian and therefore separate ourselves from them. This could also be referred to as being a hypocrite, which is what Jesus often called the religious leaders and the Pharisees who expected the people to follow the laws of Moses, but they themselves did not. The difference would be if a homosexual person were to leave that sin behind and want to become a Christian, then that would be possible, because it's all about changing from the old life to a new one in Christ!

So since Trey has renounced being a Christian in favor of being a homosexual, I can no longer listen to his music with Everyday Sunday, it troubles me to hear those lyrics coming from him knowing where his life is heading! I have to wonder if it was all a lie from the start, if he had just been hiding his true nature all those years! It's not quite the same as with Collective Soul, I can listen to their other music, just not that one song, I'm just sad that they both gave in to the demands of the world!

All though we suffer so many let downs in life, there is one being who can be trusted without fear to never let you down and He is our Creator, God!  As He tells us in Isaiah 46:4 "Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." And again in Hebrews 13:5 "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So take heart, God has given us his son Jesus Christ who will never deceive or leave you and will love you forever!

"Time Of The Season" or "Rhyme or Reason"


"Time Of The Season" or "Rhyme or Reason" - I read a post on Facebook the other day by Rod Argent of the Zombies in which he says "I love the re-working of "Time Of The Season" into "Rhyme or Reason" on Eminem's new album." He goes on to detail his reasons, almost sounding proud that Eminem chose the song instead of coming off mad or upset about the obvious rip off and ends on this note "It has become a TOTALLY different work of art, rather than being a limp cover."

I have to hand it to Rod for taking a sticky situation and looking at the bright side! Being an avid follower of music for over 50 years, it intrigues me sometimes when I hear new covers of the music I grew up listening to. But I must confess I have never been a fan of the practice of "ripping" or "sampling" other people's music into your own which has become quite common over the years. Although I am very familiar with Eminem, he went off my radar years ago and will most likely remain so, but I have to commend Rod for being so wonderfully gracious and kind! I guess he felt similarly when Kiss covered Argent's "God Gave Rock & Roll to You" and had such a huge success with it! Rod Argent you are a true GENTLEMAN!

I AM

I was regretting the past
and fearing the future.
Suddenly my Lord was speaking:
"My name is I AM"
He paused.
I waited. He continued,
"When you live in the past
with its mistakes and regrets,
it is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I WAS.
When you live in the future,
with its problems and fears,
it is hard. I am not there.
My name is not I WILL BE.
When you live in this moment
it is not hard. I am here,
My name is I AM."

by Helen Mallicoat

                          As a Baby, Jesus Came

                           As a baby, Jesus came
                            From His home above
                     He left His throne, and who He was
                          To teach us how to love.

                           As a baby, Jesus came
                         Wrapped in swaddling cloth;
                        Willingly He took on humanity,
                         Though He was one with God.
                                               
                           As a baby, Jesus came
                           To one day grow to be
                       The savior of the human race,
                        For people like you and me.

                           As a baby, Jesus came
                           As God's eternal light
                      That will never be extinguished,
                        But forever shine out bright.

                           As a baby, Jesus came
                         The hope of eternal life,
                        Reconciling us back to God,
                       Giving meaning to our strife.

                           As a man, Jesus died,
                       His blood poured out for all,
                         Cleaning and forgiving us,
                           For this was His call.
                                   
                       Through it all we can live on
                        With Jesus Christ our Lord
                    Who was a baby that first Christmas
                     To give us all an amazing reward.


                             (Author unknown)

Kindness Returned for Kindness


How often does this happen, someone returns kindness for an act of kindness? It's not something that happens very often, people might thank you and go on their merry way thinking to themselves how kind you were, but to repay that act with another act is very rare indeed!

I went to the grocery store and did some quick shopping, all the while with a million things on my mind. Finished and went to the checkout counter piling what I thought was all the stuff in my cart on to it. Got rung up, packed up, paid up and went out to my car putting all my bags in the trunk. Then as I looked down at the shopping cart while I pushed it back to where the carts are kept, I noticed I had forgotten to pay for something, nothing very valuable, just a pack of pocket combs I'd picked up for my husband.

First thought is it's only a little over a dollar, so I should just keep it, but that didn't sit very well, so I decided that since I had to use the ladies room anyway, I'd just go back in and pay for it. So that's what I did.

So I'm standing in the self checkout line waiting my turn because only two out of four were open, the other two were being worked on. I noticed a young woman come up next to me pushing a stroller with a cute little baby in it, she's only got a couple of things in her hands, so I let her go ahead of me. She rings up her stuff, bags and pays for it and as she's leaving says to me "oh you can keep the change". I reply that she might need it for the baby, but she just says "keep it" as she walks away! It's only 51 cents, so I thank her and use it to pay for my combs.

As I left the store I was amazed at the way things went, I showed her a small act of kindness and she returned it with another act of kindness! It's not as hard as we think to show the world a little of God's love!

Tragedy In Life

One of the most tragic things I have ever heard of happened back in May of 2008. The teenage son of the Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman was returning home when he struck and killed one of his younger adopted sisters with the vehicle he was driving as she ran to greet him. His parents, older brother and two other adopted sisters were all close by and were left in shocked horror as this sad story unfolded. How and why? They were a tight knit family with a strong faith in God, why would God choose to take away one of their beloved daughters in this manner? Especially one who expressed a strong desire to know God?

The Lord's ways are not our ways; we do not see the total picture of life, only God can! But we do see the impact God has on our lives and the lives of others and we trust that what he does is for our good, no matter how devastating it seems at the time! Our suffering actually brings us closer to God as we depend on Him for comfort and help getting through life's trials!

The Chapman family must have felt a lot like Job from the Old Testament, who lost everything, his wealth, his family, and even his health, but never gave up his faith in God. Neither he nor Ezekiel who lost his wife, cursed God or felt any hate towards Him, their attitude was one of understanding "that to have God was to have everything"! Steven and his family did not blame their son, but just as Job did, they embraced their sorrow and held on even tighter to God and each other! In time they were able to share their loss and grief with the world and in doing so, offered help and comfort to others feeling the pain of loss. They are now confident that their little princess is with Jesus in Heaven just as she wanted to be!

As a memorial to their precious child, they all got tattoos! The lesson here is one of trusting the Lord in all our circumstances, whether good or bad and being able to show more compassion and mercy toward others by doing so. Steven wrote the song "Cinderella" which was dedicated to her memory; we all have our ways of dealing with loss and sorrow. Over the years since this tragic loss, the Lord has blessed and strengthened Steven Curtis Chapman and his family! His story is truly an amazing one of faith, hope and love!

Jehovah's Witnesses & God's Kingdom

I was going through the canvas bag that I keep my bible in for Lady's Bible study, which I attend every Thursday morning from the beginning of fall and all the way through the beginning of summer. I was doing kind of a fall cleaning when I came across two publications given as handouts by local Jehovah's Witnesses. I received them in the typical door to door fashion, we have all been accustomed to lately. I usually skim through them briefly trying to figure out what it is exactly they are dishing out. I guess I had done that very thing back in 2010 when I initially received the pamphlets and then filed them away with my study bible thinking I'd bring up some of the questions I had during bible study, but don't think I ever did.

I have since taken a second look and was a little troubled by what I uncovered in these writings, one was the April 1, 2010 Watchtower which bore the title The Man Who Changed the World: His Message and You and the other the October 2010 Awake, with its title Whom Can You Trust?  Every time I had taken the opportunity to discuss my misgivings with the door-to-door Jehovah's Witness, I was surprised to learn how versed they are at quoting the bible, but not very good at explaining how they fit in with their theology or even what that theology was! Whenever I questioned them about whom or what Jesus was and how he fit into the picture of this utopian world they were painting, they became a little agitated and basically ended the conversation.

I had a very limited experience with Jehovah's Witnesses growing up, I knew a guy who was in my friend's band back in the '70s, the bass player, who started dating a girl who claimed to be a Jehovah's Witness and she seemed nice enough. She never seemed to preach about her beliefs. They later married and had a child, then just seemed to disappear, that was my only real dealing with members of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

After rereading the two pamphlets, a couple of things stuck out in my mind: number one is that they present God as real and trustworthy, along with how important it is to present yourself as trustworthy in the world and number two; they talk a lot about the Kingdom of God and the teachings of Christ. The things that trouble me the most are those two facts, if God is a real person as they are depicting Him, with human attributes such as: God has a personal name, Jehovah, God is unique, Jehovah hates bad behavior, Jehovah is a loving God and you too can be God's friend. Then I don't understand why they go into such detail about the teachings of Christ and the coming of God's Kingdom while presenting Jesus as nothing more than a teacher or profit, instead of God incarnate, God's son and the King who will rule the Utopian Kingdom of God they are proclaiming?

If they believe that God is real and trustworthy, why don't they believe that Jesus is God's only son or God incarnate? They quote the bible right and left, but somehow they don't think it's the truth. I get the impression from these writings that Jesus is viewed as just some nice guy who taught the world about the coming of God's Kingdom and then died and nothing more. If they believe that God is trustworthy and real, why don't they believe it when God himself says from heaven "this is my Son, in whom I am well pleased", that Jesus' death was the ultimate sacrifice and He has returned alive to His Father in Heaven where He now sits at His Father, Jehovah's right hand? Why aren't they proclaiming his victory and that he is coming back ALIVE to rule God's Kingdom on earth, as it says in the bible?

This is the part I don't understand, how can they paint this beautiful picture of a utopian world, with animals and man all living in harmony, if the Messiah isn't around to help it along? Actually I spoke to a Jehovah's Witness woman who came to my door a while ago, who acknowledged that Jesus was in fact God's son and the King who would rule God's new Kingdom on earth, but thinking back on it now I realize she never said she believed Jesus was actually God in the flesh or that the Bible was the" inspired word of God" as Christians believe.

I've read several more copies of their hand outs and I find it very disturbing that they emphasize Christ death more than His resurrection, even going so far as to have an annual event every year called "The Memorial of Christ's Death". As an explanation for this event they quote Luke 22:19 "Do this in remembrance of me" but not the rest of the complete reference in Luke 22:19 & 20 "And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood." I don't read anywhere in the Bible that this was to be a once a year commemoration of His death only. They stress that one should believe in Christ's work on the cross as the end of death, but don't spend much time on the fact that it's only the beginning of life through Christ. Christ clearly says in John 14:6 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Then what about the Holy Ghost? I get this feeling they don't believe in the Trinity either.They talk about Jehovah, but what about "the Father, Son and Holy Ghost"? First God the Father creates the World and everything in it and then when His most prized creation, man, rebels, He sends His son to reconcile them through His earthly life and death on the cross, the ultimate sacrifice. Christ does not end on the cross, He returned to Heaven as King to sit at the right hand of His Father, Jehovah, where He began, but He leaves the Holy Ghost or Spirit embedded in the hearts of believers to help guide them.

Jesus is the one who intercedes for us with Jehovah God, not Mary his mother, as some religions believe, not a Pope, but Christ, so how can they leave Him as dead? How can you claim to follow God and totally disregard His Son! I just can't fathom it! Even if you acknowledge Him as God's son, but not as God incarnate, you have missed the whole point of His death on the cross, the sacrifice, grace, mercy and forgiveness given on your behalf!

Bad Christian & Believing Lies

I've been hearing the term "Bad Christian" being thrown around a lot lately. There is even a website with a blog and podcast that is run by members of the band Emery, in which Toby Morrell and Matt Carter discuss the idea of being a "bad Christian". The thought of being a bad Christian doesn't sound right to most people but the truth is we are all "bad" according to God.  Romans 3:22-24 says "This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

When I was young my mother brought us to Church every Sunday, but she never really explained why or ever talked about what we learned in Sunday school, so I never really understood why Jesus had to die or even what his death meant. I grew up and drifted away from Church and started making some very bad decisions as a teen. I became involved in what I'll call the "4 no no's", smoking cigarettes, alcohol, drugs and sex, as a result, I got myself in some very "bad" situations, I was pregnant at the age of 19 and again at 20 ( you would have thought I'd learned my lesson the first time, but I obviously didn't) and had two abortions. I had them not because I didn't want children, but because I was scared and believed a lie.

There are a lot of lies out there in the world and if we are not careful, we can easily fall prey to them. Now one of the lies I believed at that time was that life did not start at conception, but that up until a certain point in the pregnancy it was just a bunch of cells and not much more. So to shield myself and others, I believed this lie and went ahead with the abortions. It wasn't until long after them that I discovered this lie. I actually saw fetuses that were as young as 3 to 4 weeks, which is the recommend time frame for the procedure and they looked like little humans with all their body parts formed! So that's when I decided I wasn't going to let it happen again, so I took precautions.

Much later when I was almost 29, I had met my future husband and we were talking marriage, I got this brilliant idea, that maybe I should take out my IUD, the precaution I was using at that time, so my body would be ready to have children when we got married. Another bad decision, I got pregnant again, but this time I was planning to get married, so we would just have to speed it up a little! Well, God had other plans and I had a miscarriage before we were even married! After I was married I had another miscarriage before I finally had my first child and again in between my second and third, I went on to have two other children, plus I raised one of my nieces who came to live with me just before she turned two.

After I had had my first two, a girl and a boy, I had this sense or feeling that I needed to return to the Church. I had continued to go to my mother's church once in awhile, on special holidays, like Christmas and Easter. Through my sister-in-law, who was a Christian, I found a church near my home, which I still attend. At first I wasn't sure I'd like it there, I picked it because I knew two people who went there so I wouldn't feel so out of place and also because it had a nursery for my son and a pre-school Sunday school class for my daughter.

I had been raised a Protestant in my early years and then as a Methodist from about 4th grade on, until I finished high school. I had even tried teaching Sunday school at one point in my early adulthood. That's a really scary thought, how can someone who doesn't really know the Lord teach kids about him! I had 3rd and 4th graders, I tried to follow the lessen books and I thought things went well until I realized one Sunday that a girl in my class was a bully and her mother was worse! I finally gave up teaching Sunday school and soon after stopped going to church, except on special occasions, like Christmas and Easter. I was so put off by this woman's behavior that I didn't want any part of religion!

After living this dreadful life in the past, I had settled down, married and started a family, I felt myself being drawn to the Church again, but this time it was a church that used the Bible as its main foundation. The more I went, the more I learned about God and Jesus; I also realized I was a sinner like everyone else! That was something I had never considered, I just figured if I followed the rules for the most part I was ok. You know, just go by the 10 Commandments, even if it was rather loosely to say the least.

But I have now realized it was God's plan for me to go through these lessons in life to bring me to Him. I think you have to learn to see yourself in the same way God sees you, that we are not perfect beings, but sinners in need of His help. This is the reason Christ came to earth, to take the "bad" in people and make it "good" like Him, that's where the word Christian comes from. So yes Christians start out as "bad", but they have learned to let Christ teach them how to be "good" Christians! I believe God wanted to show me, how He grieved when I aborted my two babies, by letting me feel how it felt by the loss of my three pregnancies to miscarriages. God is a just and loving God, merciful and forgiving, but He lets us go through trials and tribulations in life in order to draw us closer to Him! We need to start believing more in His truth and less in the lies of this world!

Unnecessary Torture

Lately I've been exposed to some things that have felt eerily like methods of medieval torture from the past.  I recently had some X-ray's taken during which I had to lay on my back upon an incredibly hard table for what seemed like hours, it felt more like a torture rack.  I had my teeth scaled which took hours and felt like torture, then most recently I had a tooth pulled, which took way too long to be released from my gum!

Way back in the dark ages, when you had to sit in a waiting room somewhere, like a doctor's office, you would sit around reading a magazine and listening to some piped in music, mostly instrumentals. As the times progressed, they started using radio stations that played what was called "Soft Rock" and lately I've gone to a doctor who actually plays his own collection of CDs and I had the pleasure of listening to some Pat Benatar there once.

But there is a frightening new phenomenon being used in most waiting rooms now a days, it's called a flat screen TV!  The frightening thing about this TV phenomenon is the programs that are put on for people to watch as we count the minutes until our appointment. Talk shows are about the worst thing to be stuck in a waiting with, they can be very offensive, next would be the classic daily soap opera which has taken a turn for the worst with the addition of more explicit scenes and language, perhaps the least offensive would be the game shows or maybe a nature or travel show.  The Judge or doctor shows are interesting sometimes, but usually just boring.

So what do they put on, but those torrid talk shows, like The View or a soap opera, like The Days of Our Lives, it can make you cringe! It's bad enough if everyone in the waiting room is an adult, but what about when there are young children present?  It doesn't seem to matter to the doctors who's in the waiting room, I almost believe that it's a pass time for the employees, when there is a lull in patients.

I was at a dermatologist with my teenage niece once and there were two young boys who came in with their mother just after we sat down. They were probably both under the age of ten or 11 and at first they were content to play with their electronic toys, but soon they were wandering around the room taking in the TV and began watching what was on. There just happened to be a talk show playing with some actress talking about all the drugs and sex she'd been involved in.  Not exactly something I wanted to hear, but what about these young boys?  Their mother was engrossed in the show herself, when at last she realized maybe it wasn't the best for her children (or she just got bored) she finally asked if the channel could be changed, although the next show wasn't much better.

Some places have their own little channel which features info related to their practice, boring but at least practical and not offensive. How do you pick a channel that will be appropriate for everyone?  My personal ideal pick would be music videos, but then again there are some inappropriate videos out there.  I'd prefer videos by Christian artists, but that might upset other people. I don't think I could stand watching Country music either! Such a dilemma, maybe we should just go back to listening to music and reading!

I usually bring something to do when I have to sit and wait, a book to read or a word search puzzle to work on, but sometimes you can't concentrate with some of the junk they show.  I also bring along my iPod, so I can at least listen to my music, but with headphones in, you can't always hear when they call your name.  I've actually almost missed my appointment trying to drown out the TV by turning the volume on my iPod too loud!  I guess there is just no happy medium when it comes to unnecessary torture!

More unnecessary torture!

Back in August of 2009 my son, who works at a liquor store/bar surprised me with tickets to see one of my favorite groups live! One of the delivery drivers was handing out free tickets to see Collective Soul at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville New Jersey as a promotion. So not wanting to waste such an awesome free gift, I immediately made plans with my daughter who had just turned 21 the year before.

So we drive down the night of the concert and after paying $6 to park (nothing is ever really free!), getting in past security with camera intact, we found a spot right in front of the sound board and settled in for the evening. The Starland Ballroom was about the size of a large bowling alley and was converted into a Night Club type venue with a stage set up against one wall and an open floor in front surrounded by at least two or three bar areas and tables. It could easily accommodate well over 300 to 400 people without overcrowding and by the end of the night there was a descent size crowd.

I had never been there before and had no idea what to expect, but there we were right in front of the sound booth. There were two groups scheduled to go on before Collective Soul, so the first one up was a group called Safety Suit and what a shock! The group itself wasn't all that bad, what I could hear of it, the sound was AWEFUL! There were stacks of speakers on each side of the stage and the volume was up so high you could feel the vibrations pelting your body which was very uncomfortable, not to mention there was so much distortion you could barely make out the music or understand a word that was being sung!

I'm not the most experienced person when it comes to working a sound board, but I think I could have done better! I used to hang with a bunch of people who always formed bands that played gigs out at bars and such; I did some recording for them so I know a tad about sound! I was shocked at how horrible the sound was in a well known venue like this! I have been to outdoor festivals that have had better sound, I went to see Rush at the PNC Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey and had lawn seats up on a hill and the sound was amazing!

By the time Blackstone Cherry, the next band came on someone had the foresight to turn it down a bit and they weren't quite so bad! So by the time Collective Soul reached the stage, someone with some knowledge had stepped in and the sound was bearable! Ed Roland, his brother Dean and the rest of the guys tore the place apart! They were AWESOME playing all their hits and almost all the songs off the new album! Ed even did an impression of his dad, who was a preacher, during one song, so I ventured up close to the stage to get a better view of Ed and BAM, I'm blown away! I mean literally being blown away! The AC must have been set on 60 degrees and the ceiling fans on hurricane velocity, it was like being in a wind tunnel! Ok, I understand it was the middle of August and there was a heat wave going on outside, temps in the 90s and humid, but this was a bit extreme! I ended up cowering back by the sound booth until the end!

I'm not really such a wimp, I'm the kind who turns the volume up really loud when nobody is around, but I enjoy having pristine sound, so clear I can hear every note and every lyric! I also enjoy seeing groups play in small venues where one can get up close and personal, I've seen other groups in the past with no problem, so I was a bit bummed by the lack of knowledge or maybe they just don't care about acoustics anymore and volume is all they know!  So although I loved being able to finally see in person one of my all time favorite groups, I left there feeling more like I had been trapped in a torture chamber, than a concert!

Are We on the Road to Ruin?

On July 4, 2022, we celebrated Independence Day marking our 243rd year of freedom, a day set aside to remind us of our independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain and the birth of a new nation, the United States of America, one nation under God. As we proudly proclaim "God Bless America", our history and current events tell a much different story. Our founding forefathers and the authors of the Declaration of Independence had envisioned a nation with God as its sovereign ruler. When we remember and reflect on the significance of the declaration, let us not forget the sovereignty of God in the affairs of human history.

Our early government put its faith and trust in God; it's written in our national anthems and on our money, why then is it not written in our hearts and minds? It would seem that we are turning our backs to God more and more often, trying to distance ourselves from Him. If we take a stroll back through history in the Bible, we find that every time the nation of Israel or God's chosen people, took their eyes off Him, they fell to ruin. They spent much of their time in captivity and under serious oppression.  Time after time, God would set his people up in the best lands, with the best provisions, the land of milk and honey; then again in time they would fall into evil practices and be on the road to ruin. Only when they were captives and under oppression, would they return to God in their agony and loss to be once again restored. Is it so different for us as a nation today? If we continue in our cultural demise will it not lead to the demise of our nation as well? Will God turn his back on us too?

In a quick look at the Bible, some things seem to pop out, that give us some fair warning as to what we are up against. In Deuteronomy 28:1-2, Moses says "If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God." He then goes on to list all the wonderful blessing God has in store for his people, but then in verses 13 &14, he gives this warning to the people, "The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them." At this point Moses goes on to tell them all the dreadful things that will happen to them if they choose to ignore God, but the scariest part comes in verse 49, where he states "The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young." (Which sounds just a bit like 9/11?) And eerily later on in verses 62 & 63, "You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God.  Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you."

The nation of Israel (the Jews) has never gotten to where God wants them to be, over and over He tried to retrieve them from their evil ways, even going so far as to send them a savior, Jesus Christ, whom they reject even to this day. So God opened the option to the rest of us, the Gentiles and by His grace we are saved. In Numbers 14:42-43 there is this warning "Do not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies, for the Lord is not among you. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will not be with you." In view of all this, how can we live in such ignorance as to think that this will not happen to our nation as well?

So when we celebrate the 4th of July let us remember those who fought and gave their lives, along with those still fighting and dying for our continued freedom, by returning to faith in the God of our founding fathers under whom we became a Nation and pray that God will have mercy and save us from ourselves!

Our God is not a god of Hate!

"Freedom of speech can be ugly. Minnesotans saw that firsthand in February 2006, when Andrew Kemple was laid to rest in Anoka after he was killed in Irag. "Parishioners" from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka picketed the funeral, saying homosexuality is a sin that God punishes by killing Americans, especially American soldiers. Rev. Fred Phelps contends when a soldier is killed, it's God's retaliation for America's views on homosexuality."


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I came across this article online, which was the continuation of an earlier article about an incident which took place back in 2006. The new article was about the lawsuit filed by the soldier's father in response to the harassment of the family at his son's funeral and how Fox News' Bill O'Reilly had sided with the family in their suit against the protesters by paying some of the court costs for the soldier's family. The original article told about how parishioners from the Westboro Baptist Church had picketed the funeral carrying signs saying things like "Thank God for 9/11", "God Hates the USA" and "God Hates Fags". After reading this article, I couldn't help but wonder what god they were referring to? Not the God of the bible, not the Creator of the Universe, not the Great I Am, not the Alpha and Omega, not Our God and certainly not the Father of Christ! Because God, the Father in Heaven, is a loving God and does not hate his creations, even though they are wicked and vile enough to picket a grieving family as they lay their son to rest! Apparently the view held by this church's pastor is that the death of American soldiers is a form of God's punishment for the views held by some Americans. But not all of us Americans believe that homosexual behavior is acceptable, so why would he want to punish the rest of us?

Yes, according to the Old Testament in the Bible, God does consider homosexuality a sin, but it's not the only one. God considers many things to be sinful, such as prostitution, pornography, adultery, stealing, murder, etc., is the sin of homosexuality any greater than, say, the sin of prostitution? How do they know it's this sin and not some other? If what they say is true, why wouldn't God hate prostitutes just as much as "gays"? In Romans 3:22-24 it tells us "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ." So, since we are all sinners, why would God just kill a few G.I.s here and there, instead of taking out whole towns, states or even countries, because the USA is not the only nation that practices homosexuality?

In the book of Genesis from the Old Testament, God destroyed the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah because their sin was so great (one of their worst sins was that of homosexuality!). God is wholly and righteous therefore He hates all sin, but not those who sin. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9 If God were a god of retaliation, we would have become extinct long ago! He wiped out mankind once before with a great flood, couldn't He do it again?

Our God is the god of love, second chances, forgiveness and abundant mercy, not hate! This passage comes to mind, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy." Psalm 103:8 and because of His great love for us, he has promised never to flood the earth again. The bible tells us "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17 "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:9-10 and lastly "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13 In these verses, the whole reason God sent Jesus, His son, into the world, was that he should be the final sacrifice and His blood would cover all the sins for all the people of the world.

I believe that the Rev. Fred Phelps at the Westboro Baptist Church missed an important memo from God the Father, the one delivered by His Son, Jesus, with the following message "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:29-31 Instead of opening their hearts in love and compassion, being a light to the fallen world, they have chosen to close their minds and repay evil with evil, this is not the way of our generous, forgiving and loving God! It's things like this, that add to the bad rap Christians are given. How do we get off on these tangents and miss the mark so drastically? Jesus' original message was really quite simple, first love God, then love others as yourself and that he was sent to teach us how. On that note, I don't think I'll be attending this church anytime soon; if they have not learned to love their neighbors, what can they offer the lost, weary and broken hearted?

Another Portrait of a Loving God

Previously I mentioned an article that I read online concerning Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas and their "hate group" tactics. As it turns out Westboro has no affiliations with any Baptist denomination and is under the direction of a man named Fred Phelps. This group's behavior seems almost like a cult and this might account for their "God is anti" propaganda. It sounds as though Phelps has put himself in the place of God and has taught his followers his views which are not biblical. It's just heart breaking to see those people being beguiled into thinking his words and teachings could come from a loving Holy God!

All through the bible there are many examples of the loving nature of our God, a God of grace and forgiveness, a patient God willing to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. He is a God who does not want any of His creations to parish, but gives them many chances to return to Him. 2 Peter 3:9 says this of God "the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Since God is also Our Father in Heaven, like any good and loving parent, He has to discipline His children when they need it, for every action there is a consequence!

Here are a couple of well known examples of God's love and grace toward his creations; we read that in Genesis 18:20-33, God had sent two angels to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because their sin was so wicked and vile; homosexuality was one of their most wide spread sins. When God told Abraham of His plan to do this, Abraham begins the bargaining by asking this question "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?" God assures him that He will not destroy it if fifty righteous people can be found. Slowly God begins to come down in His figures, dropping it down to forty five, then forty, to thirty, twenty, and finally to only ten. Finally He tells Abraham that if only ten righteous people could be found He would spare them all!

Sadly when the two angels reach Sodom where Abraham's nephew, Lot and his family are living, things get really out of hand! Lot invites the visitors to come stay the night with him and during the night all the men of Sodom, young and old, come pounding on Lot's door demanding to have sex with his visitors. The angels put a hold on everything by blinding the men and the next day Lot, his wife, and two daughters high tail it out of Sodom! The angels give them one last word of advice, "don't turn back and look!", but Lot's wife couldn't resist the temptation and ends up as a pillar of salt! So in the end Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because God is a Holy God and must discipline His creations!

Let's move on to another well known example of a loving God. There was this fellow by the name of Jonah who was asked by God to deliver a simple message to the wicked people of Nineveh "straighten up or face destruction" and Jonah wanted no part of it so he ran from God! He jumped a ship and sailed to Tarshish, but God caused the sea to rage and the sailors on the ship blamed Jonah for their trouble and threw him overboard. Next thing Jonah knows he's in the belly of a whale and after three days the fish spits him up on the shores of Nineveh! Now the reason Jonah wanted no part of it was because he knows that God is just too kind and if he takes the message to the nasty old Ninevites, God just may spare them and he didn't want that!

So God tells Jonah a second time to deliver the message that He will destroy Nineveh in forty days, this time Jonah gives in and reluctantly goes and preaches to them. Then to Jonah's horror, the king and everyone else, including the animals, puts on sackcloth, gives up their evil ways and prays, so God does not destroy them (this time!) so Jonah goes off in a huff and pouts saying to God "O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness and repentest thee of the evil."

These are just a couple of examples of how God is a loving, merciful and forgiving God, the Bible is full of them. They can be summed up by these verses in Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." along with John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Later Paul writes this to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5:9&10 "For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."

So in the end, if we truly seek God, we will find Him and when we find Him we will know for ourselves a loving, merciful and forgiving God!

Ever feel violated?

Have you ever had a time in your life when you felt violated? Maybe you've had something taken or stolen from you, had someone break into your car or home? At first you have those feelings of horror, desperation, fear, anxiety and then anger! How could this happen to you?

I got my first car in 1972 when I was 20 and had a full time job. I was still living at home and my parents helped me buy a brand new VW Super Beetle! I'd had it for about a year or so, when one day I was visiting a guy I was dating at the time at work. He worked at an electronic store that sold all kinds of stereo equipment and records. I was planning on buying a record (those were the days when vinyl was all there was!) and had taken my money inside with me thinking I'd be right back out.

While I was inside going through the record section, there were these two guys wandering around the store, all of a sudden the alarm went off and the guys ran out of the store. My friend noticed that someone had tried to remove a stereo unit from the shelf which had set the alarm off and we figured it was the two that had just taken off, we didn't think much about it until another guy that worked there came in and told me he thought someone had broken into my car trying to steal my stereo! So we all ran out to discover that the back side window on my car was smashed and the purse I had so foolishly left on the floor behind the driver's seat was gone!

First the feeling of fear swept over me and then just plain anger! Anger at myself for being so dumb and then toward those who had done this evil deed to me! I was very lucky; there was nothing of any value in the purse since I had the money with me, I didn't have a check book or even any credit cards at that time. The only thing was a gas credit card in my dad's name. I found the purse on the side of the road when I left the store and a few days later someone found my wallet with my driver's license. My dad cancelled the card and we eventually got it back in the mail.

Flash forward to a few years ago and my oldest daughter is living in Brooklyn, New York. We had let her use one of our cars to travel back and forth from the city to our home. We got a call one day from her all in a panic, wanting to know the license plate number and all. She had parked it somewhere near her apartment and it was gone!

It was an old '93 Mazda with some dents, not in really good shape, who would want to steal it? First thing that pops in your head is that some teenagers have stolen it to take it for a joy ride and it was probably in a heap some place! Or maybe it was used in a robbery of some kind! All these things run rampant through your brain!

So after about a week or so of freaking out, she finds out that it was towed away! She starts to feel the sting of violation, now the fear turns to anger, not only did they have the nerve to take it, but now she has to pay the towing costs along with the parking ticket to get it back! Now she really feels violated! It's as though it's being held for ransom!

She's left mentally kicking herself in the butt for being so foolish! But she has just learned a valuable life lesson; some mistakes will cost you not only grief and aggravation, but some money too!

Mistaken Identity or the Perfect Crime

We hear all the time about identity theft, a crime in which people have their identities stolen and how it can ruin their lives if not caught in time, but we rarely hear about this next scenario!

Who does this, creates an identity under one kind of genre to release their music, then ten years later claims it was all a mistake and something they never wanted! I recently found out that a group I liked was living a false life! I had been listening to their music for almost ten years; I even own five of their albums! They were a relatively unknown band from Seattle on the West Coast, but my niece had one of their albums and I began seeing their videos on a Christian TV station and started to like the sound of their music. As time went on I began hearing their music played on more and more Christian radio stations, so my assumption was that this band was Christian, what else would I think?

Since I live in Jersey on the East Coast and they are from the West Coast, I believe I wouldn't have heard of them at all, had it not been for the airplay on the Christian stations, I never heard them played on any of my local mainstream stations!

As I began to like their music more and more, I started collecting their CDs, because collecting music has been my passion for years. I started stock piling music back in the '60s with vinyl albums and continue to this day! Although it's a lot easier these days, in the old days you only had two options, the single in vinyl which was actually two songs or the album which usually had about 10 to 12 songs all together. So if you were buying the album because of one or two favorite songs, you might not end up liking the whole album at first. Today it's so easy to buy just a single song or as many as you want from places like iTunes and Amazon, where you can even listen to them first. I like having physical copies, whether I buy them or make them myself from iTunes.

So anyway getting back to this tale of woe and deceit, I liked them enough to buy their CDs and usually liked the entire album. I even went to see them live at a Christian music festival and their performance was really good! They recently released their latest album called "How to Be Human" and I heard they released a single as well, so I was curious about the album and the song. I checked them out on iTunes and was surprised to find the album marked "Explicit" along with the song!

Shortly after there was a big hullabaloo on FaceBook, because the lead singer Matt MacDonald had posted a rant in which he said in no uncertain terms was he or the band the Classic Crime ever a part of the Christian genre! His exact statement was "I do not associate with any aspects of the Christian genre, or the culture and belief system that comes with it." I found this quite amusing, since their music was only played on Christian radio stations across the country and even overseas! Their albums were sold in Christian bookstores as well! Then Robbie Negrin the guitarist chimes in saying they signed with a Christian record company thinking the company was starting a mainstream or non Christian division. Something is very wrong if it took them almost 10 years to come out of the closet! Contracts or not, they could easily have extracted themselves from the Christian music genre, the record company would not have wanted to continue passing them off as something they weren't, because that would have been fraudulent and against Christian ethics!

I believe, like it or not, they had found a way to sell their music and make money, doing big Christian festivals and concerts was bringing in a lot more money than playing in bars! The Christian radio airplay itself was getting their music out to the rest of us and increasing album sales! They used this ploy to build a big enough fan base so they could eventually get funding on future independent projects, smart or just plain evil?

What was even stranger, was the fact that there were two versions of the song "Wonder" from the album, a "clean" version was also offered, which made no sense. Why offer a clean version if the "Explicit" was what you were going for in the first place? The thing I find the most interesting is that even after the sheepskin cloak was removed, they still manage to show up in Christian music! A song from the new album was featured on a Christian music poll called Christian Rock 20 which is featured weekly on different Christian stations as a PodCast. So they seem to be still milking the Christian genre even though they have expressed their hate and disgust for it in multiple articles online and elsewhere!

I just don't see the reason to continue using the disguise of Christian music, if they claim it's limiting their exposure to the kind of audiences they want! Why not be real men by taking off all their music from Christian radio stations and stop submitting their new music to those stations and start submitting where it was intended in the first place, mainstream radio stations, either local or licensed streaming?

Something doesn't seem right, was it really all just a case of mistaken identity or were they trying to kill two birds with one stone! It would seem as though in the end the Classic Crime is getting away with the "Perfect Crime"!

Getting Back on the Right Track

After taking into account the very basic differences between men and women, the fact that men are "blue" and women are "pink", that neither is wrong, just different and conflict in a relationship is natural, then allowing for our own percentage of fault and not placing the entire blame on the other person, a formula for restoration can be found. Trying to repair the damage done to a relationship will take time and effort, but can be done. One way to start is to put the emphases on changing oneself and not on changing the other. Looking to the Lord and his word for inspiration is one of the best places to start, asking the Lord to transform your own heart and to change you from within. Taking the time to learn how to show love and respect to one another is an important part of life. Our relationships and especially our marriages should be able to withstand the test of time. Our goal should be to erase the stigma of being the "disposable" generation. We have become numb as a society and have learned to dispose of everything without a second thought, wives, husbands and even our kids!

Let's get back to the way God intended us to live, loving Him first, then our family and friends and finally our Country, forgiving as Christ forgave and doing God's will as Christ has taught. Colossians 3:12-14 gives us an easy pattern to follow: "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."

Making Our Way Down The Path

It is my belief that God has a plan for everyone, even those who never answer his call. He can use those unbelievers to push us in the right direction. His plan is for our good, although sometimes we can't see the good when bad things happen. He lets us pick and choose our paths, but ultimately He is in control. I can see this in my own life because somehow after a life of every kind of depravity (alcohol, drugs, etc.), I find myself here on God's doorstep. I had indulged my every whim (or most of them) in the most destructive manner and yet through God's infinite grace I have been spared. I had picked a destiny of my own or so I thought, but in truth God has placed me in this marriage and this situation for a reason. Maybe it's to set an example to those in my family, my husband, and kids. Or maybe it's that the Lord had chosen me and knew I'd come to Him by no other means. Although it's not what I would call the perfect life (or so it sometimes seems), I will remain in it and let the Lord continue to guide me, until he calls me home.

So, ultimately, God lets us choose our own destinies by choosing our paths in life, either the straight and narrow or the wide. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus puts it this way, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." And in Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." But in the end, He makes the final decision. He created us and is in control, no matter what we think or whether we even believe in the God of Heaven and the Universe. His will is done and He is there whenever we need him or even if we don't think we do. All we have to do is seek him and ask. Matthew 7:7-8 says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." We should not only seek him when things are bad, but when things are going well, we need to thank him as well!

So if you are feeling like your relationships have gone a bit a rye, that you are not on the right page, remember what the bible says in Ephesians 5:21-33 "Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one." This is a great mystery, and I take it to mean Christ and the church; however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."

The two key words in this passage, being love and respect, for if a man does not learn to show love to a woman, how will the woman learn to show respect to the man? This can only happen when one or the other, steps out in faith and shows love and respect, even when they don't think it is deserved by the other. It is a sign of true maturity, when we put others ahead of ourselves, letting our pride take a backseat to the needs of others. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 states "Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away."


So it actually becomes a matter of unconditional love and unconditional respect. The man to unconditionally love the woman (wife, girlfriend) and the woman to unconditionally respect the man (husband, boyfriend). Unconditional means it is not based on performance or merit, either past, present or future. It is given even when it is not deserved. The circumstances of one's relationships can be changed by either the man taking the first step and showing unconditional love to the woman or by the woman being the first to show unconditional respect to the man. Men and women were created equal in the eyes of God, but he created them different, male and female, not the same. Each with different needs, the woman with the need to be loved and the man with the need to be respected. When the man feels respected he shows love, when the woman feels loved she shows respect. It is a natural response to the feeling of being unloved to show disrespect. By the same token, when one doesn't feel respected, the natural response is to withhold love. But his love motivates her respect and her respect motivates his love and a new cycle can be started. 

God's love is unconditional, even if we never love Him back, His love will still be there. He doesn't put a price on it either, there are no conditions, no requirements, it's free for the taking, all we have to do is seek Him and love Him back! Jesus came to this earth to show God's great love for us and to show us how to love. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 That He gave his all even unto death! This should be the bases for our relationships, in order for them to work, either one or both parties have to be willing to put aside their own selfish needs for the good of the other.

                        CAUTION 
                    EXPOSURE TO MUSIC....                         
                     May cause sudden                           
                     Outbursts of Joy,
                    Happiness, Energy,                 
                       Creativity,
                      Awareness &
                   Spontaneous Healing!                                                           
                                                                                                                                       
                 HANDLE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Love it!!!

 <3

Is it destiny or choice?

Do you ever wonder if we really pick our own destiny? Do the choices we make affect our destiny? How do we know if we've made the right choices? Ever wonder why you are where you are in life? Did your marriage or relationship start out with both of you pretty much on the same "paragraph" or the same "page" at least, but now you aren't in the same "book" or perhaps even the same "library"? What happened? How do we get back on the same page? Do we want to? Sometimes it's simply a matter of change, one changes, and one stays the same. What then? You entered into the relationship when you were younger, thinking this is the love of your life, then one day after 20 some years of marriage, you wake up wondering what you're doing with this person! What happen? Then you realize something is different, something is gone. You have nothing in common. What then? Do you call it quits, pack up and move on to "greener pastures", start it all over and hope it works out better the next time? What if there are kids? Sometimes you can't just leave it all behind. At some point in one's life it is beneficial to just step back and take a good look around. Who changed and why?

Maybe it's because one of you has become a believer in Jesus Christ and has begun an intimate relationship with God. In the Bible, it states in 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 this: "To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife." And goes on to say in verses 12-16: "to the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?"

So when you started out in this relationship or marriage, neither one of you was saved, things seemed ok. But somehow, somewhere along the line, one of you started to hear the call. Perhaps, it was after the addition of children. One day you felt a strong need to start searching for something of value, some way to instill a moral fiber in the children you brought into the world, a world of confusion and fear. Or maybe it was because you had attended church as a child yourself and when a friend or relative invites you to attend theirs, you do. In the beginning, you would go once in awhile and then more often. Pretty soon, you are going every Sunday; maybe even start attending a few Bible studies.

So, then one day after years of listening and reading, it all makes sense, you could never understand why Christ had to die on the cross, but now the answer finally sinks in and becomes real. He died so you could have life and have it abundantly. So now you start looking closer at your life. You see things in a different light now. Things you thought were ok to do or watch or even say somehow don't seem right anymore. You start filtering out some of the language you use. Some of the shows or movies you used to watch just don't seem appropriate anymore. When you listen to music, the lyrics aren't as innocent as they once seemed. Your whole view of the world is changing; you now have a new understanding of right and wrong.

Now that you have seen the light, you come to the sad realization that your partner doesn't get any of this or care about it or want it. They are quite happy in their old life and see no reason to change. They have no use for God and the saving grace of Jesus. They believe that everything they need, they can get for themselves. You try to share your new found hope, but it falls on deft ears, so you just go about your life wondering what went wrong. As you become more and more involved in your new life, the conflicts between you and your partner start to increase. They start to feel left out because they don't want to share in your new life. You, yourself, start to feel the pinch of alienation, because there are some things about your old life that just don't belong in your new life. So now what? Should you think about ending this relationship and look for someone else?

But the bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 "Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts. Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you - although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to." So now you're stuck, what should you do? How can you be content in the situation God has put you in? Should you follow the crowd or take the "road less traveled"?

In today's culture, we are led to believe that we can do whatever we want, anything and everything is ok. We are encouraged to indulge ourselves in every whim and think only of ourselves. If our marriage isn't working out the way we think it should, then we feel we should be free to leave or cheat on our partner, no matter what the price is to others. Most of us took wedding vows that had words like "for better or for worse" and "until death do us part", so how do we figure we can come and go as we wish? Why is it that when "the worse" part gets here we feel the need to get going? The Bible says in 1 Corn. 7:17 "Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches." So according to this, we as believers are to stay in the same circumstances in which we were called. So with such vast differences in views, how do we make it work? Do we give in to the pressure around us and just go back to the old ways? Or do we take a stand and fight? But how can we fight the tide?

Going against the tide isn't an easy thing to do. But since it's easier to change one's self than to change others, one should start by looking at one's self. Are the new changes to your life apparent to the outside world? Do they show in your actions toward others? Spending time with the Lord in the word and prayer will help us to focus on how Christ would want us to behave toward each other. Once we learn these things, it's a constant daily battle to implement them in our lives. It seems as though we don't always win, but we must keep up the fight, because each time we make a little more progress. Another thing to consider, is how we got here? Looking back on our path to salvation can give us a clue as to how and why we are here. The trials we go through determine who we will become. We say to ourselves "if I had only married this one or that one, things would be so different today", but would you be where you are today in your spiritual life if you had not "chosen" this path?

I can say from my own experience, that had I married someone other than the man I married, I probably would not have found my way to the Lord. It's not because he's saved, he isn't, but because through it I came in contact with others who are. So looking back I can see that the Lord has led me on this path in spite of myself. Even though I "chose" it, the Lord has used it for his own purposes.

So barring extreme physical or mental abuse, but just a growing feeling of separation, how do we become content in our current situation? If there is no threat of violence or bodily harm, but just a feeling of distance through changes in one's own direction, then maybe one should consider the possibilities of remaining in the relationship. But how, is there a way we can reconnect on some level?

The book of Ecclesiastes from the bible, tells of a man who had everything, wisdom, untold wealth, knowledge, power and even all the pleasures he could desire, yet he was not content! He had tried everything and found it all meaningless without one major component! In the end he found that there was only one thing that could make him content in his circumstances. Most biblical scholars believe that this is a reference to King Solomon! The only man in history, to truly have everything, including God's favor! But he found that there is only one way to attain true contentment.  Further on in Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 it says "Behold, what I have seen to be good and to be fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life which God has given him, for this is his lot. Every man also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and find enjoyment in his toil-this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart."

So as King Solomon found, there is only one way to find true contentment in our circumstances, it is to seek God and ask him to make us content. We need to ask God to change our hearts and minds, to give us a spirit of contentment in our marriages, relationships, jobs and our lot in life. Our focus should be on placing others before us and not on our bad lot in life. By placing the focus of our toils on doing our best for the Lord, we can be free in any situation in life and learn to show grace and mercy to those around us, to love the unlovable. This will help us to get through our trials and tribulations. This is why Christ came, to show us by example, how to love one another. We are all sinners, whether saved or not. There are no perfect human beings on earth; we all fall short of the righteousness of God. For this purpose Jesus came to reconnect us with God.

We need to step outside our comfort zone, change the way we think of others and start acting on our beliefs. Just because we show compassion, mercy and grace to the people around us, does not mean that we have to condone their behavior. I can show grace and mercy to my husband who smokes and uses profanity 24/7, even though I don't. I can extend that same grace and mercy to my teenagers, who can't understand why I won't let them live their depraved lifestyles under my roof. I can also practice self control when dealing with my drug crazed alcoholic brother. The Lord has set me on this path for a reason, which until now has never been very obvious to me. So the question still remains, did I really pick my own fate or is it just a slight detour on a more perfect path?

Although this was written during a previous Presidential election it is relevant to what is happening today:

The Lesser of Two Evils: Social Reform or Socialism?

I usually don't pay a whole lot of attention to politics because they can be very scary. Once in awhile I'll listen to candidates running for office and what I hear usually makes me cringe! But with the current Presidential campaigns gearing up and the election looming ahead, one can't get away from it, it's everywhere! But what I've been hearing recently is that our country is actually run by a small handful of influential people with money and the means to buy their way in politics. One way to do that is to buy and control all news media, such as news paper companies and television news shows, that way Americans or we the people, only hear what they want us too, therefore influencing how we think and how we vote.

Before the 2012 election there were a couple of articles about the candidates in the Parade section of the Star Ledger, a local newspaper. After reading the first article about Mitt Romney in the Parade, I was a little confused and a bit unnerved. I guess it was meant to introduce Mitt Romney and his wife to the rest of us in the uneducated population, I found it a bit one sided and the things that were meant to give me a warm fuzzy feeling concerning Mitt and his wife, Ann, only made me more apprehensive! The questions supposedly asked by readers sounded a bit contrived and the answers short and didn't really address the situations mentioned. One of the questions that bothered me the most was where he talked about his financial wealth being dictated by a "blind trust" and his banking may not be done solely in the United States, he said if he's elected president it would probably remain the same.

Another question dealt with an allegation that President Obama may be un American in regards to his politics, implying that Obama was following European standards of government, heavy handed and almost like a dictatorship. We, the ignorant and uneducated, got a big surprise when we found out that Obama was heading toward socialistic reform, not social reforms, a president with a Communistic outlook and back ground!

Later someone brings up Romney's faith and his tithing to the Mormon Church, which again sparks concern. His wife goes into this whole thing about being happy to tithe and crying when they do, but this brings to mind a story from the bible entitled "The Widow's Offering" in Mark 12:41-44 which reads "Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything- all she had to live on." In my mind the Romneys represent the wealthy as depicted in this bible story. So if this was meant to draw us unsuspecting God fearing church goers into the Romney fold, it missed the mark! Then the questioner goes on to ask if the whole tithing thing isn't a form of socialism, to which Romney replies that helping each other is a basic in society, which may be somewhat biblical. The rest of the article is slightly less upsetting, something about opening up the White House to the public and holding concerts there and grandkids running up and down the halls.

Then on the heels of the Romney article is another issue of Parade featuring his opponent, the man already in the White House, President Obama. The article basically follows the same formula as the previous one, with questions from readers around the country being answered by the President and the First Lady. As in the earlier article about the Romneys, the questions are very vague and the answers really don't give any definite resolutions. Then somehow the article ends on the subject of the First Kids going to camp and being missed, along with First Lady not getting angry with the President.

My guess is the newspaper wants or feels it has to give equal time to both of the major candidates and this is their attempt at doing that. So after reading the articles I'm left with this feeling of confusion, almost dread. The debates were no better; the candidates mainly wasted the time interrupting each other and never really gave any clear answers or solutions to anything. The one with Vice President Biden was the worst, he was out and out rude and Ryan was almost saintly with his patience. Biden came off like an idiot, so with behavior like that how can they expect to gain support for a second term?

On the one hand we have a black communist socialist and on the other a white socialist, so down just what road is America traveling? Would Romney have been the one to put God back in the place He once held in America or are we being duped once again and our downfall as a nation getting closer? So I guess what it boils down to; is the age old practice of picking the lesser of the two evils, which is pretty much standard for elections. I can't help thinking our time as a great nation claiming to be the "home of the brave and land of the free" is drawing to an end, almost reminiscent of all the times the Israelites turned away from God and ended up in captivity under brutal rule. Without God we could easily lose our status as a World Power and end up like so many of the other nations in the world under a dominating ruler!

I am all for social reforms, but certainly not ready for socialism!

I'm afraid for our country and the way it is heading. They are pushing God further and further away.

So true these are very scary times, taking away funding for the Police and letting criminals have their way is just wrong! Two mass shootings this weekend alone, one in New York in a grocery store and another in California in a Church. Another thing is the shutting down of production from our own country's sources so that the president's family could make more money in other countries, like China! You have the right to be "gay" and put flags up in schools, but they take the real flag of this country out along with any mention of God or prayer! Some schools even want to teach explicit sex in grades earlier than needed, other schools don't let the parents have any say about what should or should not be taught in schools! America is falling apart very fast because the majority of the people have turned away from God! We need to return to God and Christ to get out of this mess, it's the only way!

Yes I agree 100%. Jesus is the only way.

The original poem from which the song "America the Beautiful" was taken was written by Katherine Lee Bates - 1895

    O beautiful for halcyon skies,
    For amber waves of grain,
    For purple mountain majesties
    Above the enameled plain!
    America! America!
    God shed His grace on thee,
    Till souls wax fair as earth and air
    And music-hearted sea!

    O beautiful for pilgrim feet
    Whose stern, impassioned stress
    A thoroughfare for freedom beat
    Across the wilderness!
    America! America!
    God shed His grace on thee
    Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought
    By pilgrim foot and knee!

    O beautiful for glory-tale
    Of liberating strife,
    When once or twice, for man's avail,
    Men lavished precious life!
    America! America!
    God shed His grace on thee
    Till selfish gain no longer stain,
    The banner of the free!

    O beautiful for patriot dream
    That sees beyond the years
    Thine alabaster cities gleam
    Undimmed by human tears!
    America! America!
    God shed His grace on thee
    Till nobler men keep once again
    Thy whiter jubilee!

       IT'S HARD TO GET
  INTO SHAPE SPIRITUALLY
            IF YOU ONLY
   WORK OUT ON SUNDAY!

One of Life's little wisdoms:

"You're never too old to ROCK & ROLL, if you've got GOD in YOUR SOUL!"

Strange Things

Sometimes God puts strange things in our lives, not bad just strange. The other day I was at the grocery store, finished my shopping and headed to the self checkout isle. I found an open spot, as I was starting to put my bags down I noticed a phone with some keys on top, I had just seen the girl who had used it before me so I picked them up and called out to her. The clerk who was there to help people came over and took them to the girl. I was glad I was able to get them to their rightful owner and went about my business, bought my stuff and bagged it. After loading my groceries into my car I was starting to back out when an elderly woman pulled into the parking spot next to me, so I waited for her to get out of her car, walk around behind mine to get a cart and go into the store. When I was able to back out of my spot I noticed that the trunk of her car was opened and I looked around but didn't see her. I worried that I should run in and try to find her, but decided it would be better to just try and close the trunk. So that's what I did and hoped that the car had been locked.

After I had gotten home there was a package delivered and when I looked to see who it was for I saw that it was address to our neighbor across the street, so I took it over and discovered that our package had been delivered to them.

God had kept me busy that day doing strange things! God's work!

 <3  8)  <3

As I was on my way home from Church this morning I was listening to a mainstream radio station that I've listened to for years now which plays rock, all of a sudden I recognized the words of the song playing as something I'd heard back in the 90's. It was one of the songs by a group I was drawn to early on in discovering a new kind of music that I have since come to love. It was a song called "Flood" by a little known band Jars of Clay! Once I got into their music on Christian radio I forgot that I first heard them on non Christian radio! A little flight back in time!  <3 music!

 <3

Just an observation:

The sexiest thing a man can do is to push his child in a stroller while walking the dog! #RealLove #RealMan

 <3  E|  8X  E|  <3

 <3

"It's everything You've promised, there's no greater love than this from prophets until today, a man laying down His life for His friends, Your sacrifice has spoken, You gave everything and I love you could not be said a better way!"

From "A Better Way" by Downhere

I believe one of life's simple pleasures is playing music EXTREMELY loud while driving alone! (Caution, this may become habit forming!)

A thought from the past:

A walk through the park with Your sun shine on my face, Your wind in my hair and a thousand songs in my ear, what could be more pleasent? Thank you Lord!  <3  <3

 E|  E|  E|

Just a scary thought:

Sting is only 1 year older than me!  ;)  E|  8X

 E|

"You want the world, but you don't want the pain, no! There ain't no easy way out! There ain't no easy way out! You want it all, but you don't want to lead the way! There ain't no easy way out, there ain't nothin' here like that!"

from "Easy Way Out" by Southbound Fearing

What is happening to this country? First the aliens take over our borders and now they are taking over our skies! What happened to the United States of America, the republic for which it once stood, one nation under God, indivisable with liberty and justice for all, the land of the free and home of the brave? America is dying, we need to get back under God NOW!

Yes  E|

Ever take a walk down memory lane? I used to do it quite often in the old days when a turntable and speakers were my main source of music, I'd dig through my collection of vinyls and take a listen reminiscing about when I first heard the songs. Now most of my music is on my iPod, iPad, Laptop and Desktop computer, but I also have a collection of CD's. Many are of artists that I bought, but I also have alot that I made myself. I have been into recording for many years, I started out with a reel to reel tape recorder then moved on to a cassette tape recorder and now I use CD's made on my desktop.

The reason I like making my own recordings is because I can have only the songs I want to hear when in the car or elsewhere. Unfortunately my new car doesn't have a Disc player so I had to get a portable CD player that connects to my car radio. All that being said I ran across an older CD I'd made a while back and decided to check it out. The songs were some early favs when I got deep into Christian music, tunes from the likes of:

Disciple - Regime Change
Plus One - Run To You
MercyMe - In The Blink Of An Eye
Lifehouse - Disarray
Newsboys - You Are My King (Amazing Love)
DC Talk - My Will
By The Tree - Hold You High
Jason Gray - You Are Mercy
RED - Lost
Jonah33 - Tell Me
Luminate - Innocent
Casting Crowns - Every Man
Shaun Groves - See You

A strange combination of artists, but it brought back sweet memories!

 <3

On this day in 2013:

These are sad times indeed for the Christian music industry and the world in general for the passing of Brandon Bradshaw a member of the group Chord of 3, today. Bradshaw who was shot 3 times by an off duty court security officer on Tuesday in the parking lot of a store in Bowling Green died this morning, leaving his wife with a new born son along with other children, family and friends. This kind of thing is heart breaking and should make us consider more seriously the facts concerning gun violence, like how many times guns actually prevent violence vs. how many times they are used for violence. It's true people cause violence and death not guns, but people also make it easy for violent people to get guns. Maybe less guns wouldn't be so bad!

That was a sad day...

Amazing insight by George Carlin

Isn't it amazing that George Carlin - comedian of the 70's and 80's - could write something so very eloquent...and so very appropriate.

A Message by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

If you don't share this with anyone....Who cares?

George Carlin

         Scary and Uncertain Times

Right now, we are living in some really scary and uncertain times, very much like in biblical days. The wars going on around the world and here in our homeland against Jews and others, but one of the worst is the battle for this upcoming presidential election. The democrats are using every trick available to win. First, they bring charges against Trump, using corrupt people in the court system, then the media making fun of him, but now the worst trick has started, Biden is coming after the voters!

I personally have been under the gun, not only have we been receiving phone calls on our landline asking for us to vote for certain democrats running for this office or that, but now I receive TEXT messages asking for donations to the democratic party! Most of the time it's from names I've never heard of, but sometimes it's from Biden himself! Why would I donate to the campaign of someone living off money from China all these years!

It gets even weirder! Recently I received a text from Jimmy Kimmel, I've never even watched his show! It had a picture of him and president Biden and said the following:

"Hi, it's Jimmy Kimmel. I host a "poorly rated" show on TV that Donald Trump hate-watches. I'm intruding on your texts today because I'm interviewing President Biden and President Barac Obama – with special guests George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and more – and you're invited.

Joe made me promise extra malarkey and malarkey there will be.

Are you interested? Pitch in any amount and you will be entered to win a trip out to LA to meet a pair of presidents, two movie stars and one "poorly rated" talk show host. Every cent will help keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office.
Sincerely,
Jimmy"

It even gives you a website if you should be foolish enough to agree. I wouldn't waste my time or my money on something like this. First off how do we know it's not a scam? Second it seems like harassment, if I was interested in helping fund a campaign, I would do it on my own. Another scary thing is that they are paying people to do this. The most recent form of harassment is texts telling me to confirm my vote for Biden, which seems out of place, since when were we told to vote over the phone before the actual election starts and how do they get the phone numbers? It all seems to be like they are using AI to win this election!

The scariest thought that comes to me, is what if the election machines are rigged so that no matter who we vote for the machine rings up another vote for Biden. I have been on this earth since 1952 and these are the most frightening times I have ever been through! Be aware and focus on God through Christ! I've been asking for His guidance every day!  <3  <3

I always look to Jesus and know that He is in charge no matter what happens, and He will be glorified through it all and at the end of it all. You are right though, it is definitely scary and uncertain these days. :-\

Yes, we know God is in control and every thing that happens is part of His plan, but since God is the only one who knows the outcome, it can be abit frightening sometimes! We just have to have faith in Christ and hang on tight!  <3  <3