This last Sunday was a bittersweet day for Melissa and I as we said goodbye to our precious daughter Alicia. She has grown up to be a beautiful, strong young woman who is now seeking her God given destiny in life. Filled with equal parts excitement, trepidation, anticipation and carefully prepared to climb her own mountains, off she went to Chicago. I don't know how you all prepare for moments like that as parents, but I just criled. That's right, criled. The art of graciously smiling but crying at the same time. My word for the absolute joy and sadness engulfing me as her father watching her fly the nest. So I gave her my last words of loving advice face to face and reassured her to come home if it didn't work out, but knowing it was a life changing moment for her and us. It is a great joy and sense of quantitative relief for us as parents that they made it through those dreaded know it all teen years. But the sadness comes from the break of the parental bond of guidance and protection. My wife and I have always had these distinct roles. She is gifted as nurturer and counselor and fierce prayer warrior, I as protector and provider. Each one of us ideally suited by our wise Father to carry out these duties. Through the progression of DeAnna, Christina, Ricky and now Alicia we have striven to give them a firm foundation of part wisdom, common sense, compassion and most of all unshakeable faith. It is that faith that I know will be tested the most. But God is good!
Anyway, after my wife got a mop and soaked me up off the floor, I composed myself long enough to thank God for his strength and guidance in seeing us through these twenty one years with Alicia and never failing to give us the unconditional love we often need as parents to do our job faithfully! I was also reminded back to when I left home and moved to California when I was twenty. Although, because of my youthful indiscretions and general rebelliousness the sendoff wasn't quite so sentimental. But the pain that my parents experienced at the time was offset by the peace of knowing they had made the right decisions and given me the foundation I needed to take responsibility and grow up into the son they had desired in their hearts to see. So, Alicia if you read this, know that your dad will always see both the busy, bouncy little redhead with those steely blue green eyes and mischievous grin and the strong, fearless and determined radiant young woman you've grown to be. I will miss them both, but am excited for God's great work in your life! Now, that leaves just Rebecca left. The baby has seen it all, both good and bad, taken it all in and is unfortunately for her mom and I growing up too. But that's a story for another day. As for me, it's off to the hardware store to buy a chain and lock to keep her with us forever! ;)
Proverbs 22:6
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
A Lesson of Faith or Lack Thereof...
I don't know if this happens to you but it seems to happen to me, a lot. You think you've got life pretty much all figured out as you mature in age, then something else happens and you realize that you don't. Back to square one! I have been a Christian for many years now. Twenty four to be exact since I gave my heart fully to the Lord and was baptized. I had made a very public proclamation of my faith that day in front of family and friends and the church congregation. I was born again, behold all thing become new, all old things have passed away. That was a milestone day for me and set me on a journey these past two plus decades that have been full of adventure; four moves, four homes, five children, three jobs and countless moments of joy and unfortunately tremendous heartache and sadness. It's called quite simply, life. But something changed that day of hope when I had acknowledged my faith publicly. I had entered into the most rewarding and perplexing relationship with a man called Jesus. Never boring, always challenging, sometimes frustrating but always, and I mean always blessed. Yes, blessed, meaning even though I didn't think it at the time. His answers or silence maybe weren't what I had prayed for or even desired, never the less, if my faith was absolutely childlike, in trust and obedience, He would see me through the trial. His end would always justify the means and I would come away with another blessing that would allow me to place another step forward on His solid foundation for my life. That is of course until that old schoolyard bully came along and took my lunch money again. You know him well! Oh, he goes by many names. Pride, arrogance, conceit, doubt, self empowerment, envy just to name a few. I lump it all into one word faithlessness. You can call it human nature, sin nature or whatever nature you want. The results are the same. Our lack of accepting and applying the real tangible faith that is so generously given to us through the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ and His promises cause us to listen to the voice of this world, Satan, the father of lies.
Fully capable of disrupting the course of our ship, upending the most noble of plans and spoiling the fruit of the spirit, he works tirelessly. He is vehemently opposed to your faith. His one sole mission is to cast dispersions and doubt and break the bonds of reconciliation to our precious Lord and become slaves to our fallen attributes. He seeks and destroys all with extreme prejudice. The bible says he is like a wolf that lurks about ready to pounce and tear apart we the precious sheep of Christ. The results are often devastating and tragic. The Word of God is full of knowledge, wisdom, hope and permanent sustainable victory! Jesus is Lord and Savior, the Word is our blueprint and the Holy Spirit is our Helper. Triple protection with divine substance that is real. I notice when I have fallen in life, it is because of my conscious choosing to not trust Him who loves me more than any other. It is in those circumstances, I often find carnal destruction but more devastating than that shame and spiritual poverty. More importantly, not once in my selfish quest to abandon Him was my situation resolved for blessing. Not once! All situations will resolve themselves but not all will be blessed. That is the difference between exercising your faith and not. When I walk with my precious Lord, my peace is saturating to my soul. I find blessing in my circumstances and the lessons learned become opportunities to encourage and help others. I no longer stand defeated! We will all have trials in our lives and we will have to choose the faith we will use to endure through them. You can choose our leaky, unsteady, shortsighted and unreliable human nature or tap into the well of living water and never thirst. In Him and Him alone is victory and strength. I urge you to take stock of your journey and see where you have gotten to on your own. But I caution you, the veneer of temporal victory will mask the infestation that has eaten away at your soul, much like termites. The damage is usually never seen until you look inside and then it is too late. So choose wisely, seek His truth, accept His salvation and watch the victories build you up and carry you home!
Matthew 17:20
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, Remove from here to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Fully capable of disrupting the course of our ship, upending the most noble of plans and spoiling the fruit of the spirit, he works tirelessly. He is vehemently opposed to your faith. His one sole mission is to cast dispersions and doubt and break the bonds of reconciliation to our precious Lord and become slaves to our fallen attributes. He seeks and destroys all with extreme prejudice. The bible says he is like a wolf that lurks about ready to pounce and tear apart we the precious sheep of Christ. The results are often devastating and tragic. The Word of God is full of knowledge, wisdom, hope and permanent sustainable victory! Jesus is Lord and Savior, the Word is our blueprint and the Holy Spirit is our Helper. Triple protection with divine substance that is real. I notice when I have fallen in life, it is because of my conscious choosing to not trust Him who loves me more than any other. It is in those circumstances, I often find carnal destruction but more devastating than that shame and spiritual poverty. More importantly, not once in my selfish quest to abandon Him was my situation resolved for blessing. Not once! All situations will resolve themselves but not all will be blessed. That is the difference between exercising your faith and not. When I walk with my precious Lord, my peace is saturating to my soul. I find blessing in my circumstances and the lessons learned become opportunities to encourage and help others. I no longer stand defeated! We will all have trials in our lives and we will have to choose the faith we will use to endure through them. You can choose our leaky, unsteady, shortsighted and unreliable human nature or tap into the well of living water and never thirst. In Him and Him alone is victory and strength. I urge you to take stock of your journey and see where you have gotten to on your own. But I caution you, the veneer of temporal victory will mask the infestation that has eaten away at your soul, much like termites. The damage is usually never seen until you look inside and then it is too late. So choose wisely, seek His truth, accept His salvation and watch the victories build you up and carry you home!
Matthew 17:20
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, Remove from here to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Happy Valentines Day!....Really?
This upcoming Tuesday, February 14th is the annual love fest known as Valentine's Day. Chocolates, flowers, romantic cards, candies, hearts and more hearts, teddy bears and dinners out dominate the day all in the spirit of love. It is the one day a year that we glorify the concept of love into a practice of it. Or is it? Now before you think I am going to rain on your dozen roses and dinner at Applebee's evening just hold on. I am going to challenge you instead. But first let me give you a little history lesson into cupid's annual bow hunt.
Valentines Day is named after St. Valentine who was a priest in late second century Rome. Unbeknownst to at first and under the authority of Emperor Claudius II, Valentine assisted in marrying Christian couples and aiding others of the faith in the continuing of their worship. He was eventually jailed and persecuted then stoned, beaten and ultimately beheaded in 269 AD by Claudius for defying the secular rule of Rome. Rome, if you don't know, was given over at that point to all sorts of moral decay and depravity and the once great empire was beginning to crumble under the weight of it's own sin and corruption. Hmmm, sound like any other country you know? Anyway, here was a man of devout faith who professed the love of Christ, supported traditional Godly marriages and love among people who was martyred mercilessly. Killed because Claudius had become angry with him for subverting the excellent rule of Rome and trying to convert him to Christianity. Now, we all know Rome's fate a few hundred years later. You've heard the phrase Rome is burning? Ok, so that chocolate Lindt Truffle doesn't taste as good right now? Well don't worry, I'll fix it. Unwrap another and relax!
Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving have all borne the brunt of attacks by our modern Roman government in recent years through the polarizing over the top political correctness known as secularization. From sordid attempts to abolish Christian symbolism and worship of these most sacred and important holidays, to a campaign to rename and remake the honor of Christ our Lord into the glorification of mans temporal selfishness and materialism, it is doomed to all fail. Why, well, love of course! Because, love conquers all. That is the one human emotion over time that propagated by God the Father and through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ has never lost it's light. In the midst of tragedy, despair, heartbreak, death and veils of tears blooms love. It's ability to heal and restore life and hope is truly magical and supernatural and not of man's own shortsighted volition. Love may lose some battles but will win all wars. Now pop that second truffle into your mouth. All better isn't it? You see Valentine's Day like Christmas and the other days of holy celebration all inevitably come back to one Man who spoke of nothing but love. So when you are out to dinner next Tuesday or picking up some flowers or a special gift for someone you love, remember love is not but for the day but for the seasons. What a difference we would all make in this cold world sometimes if we would stand for love everyday as Christ stood, proclaimed and ultimately died for in His love for you!
1 Cor. 13 1-13
Valentines Day is named after St. Valentine who was a priest in late second century Rome. Unbeknownst to at first and under the authority of Emperor Claudius II, Valentine assisted in marrying Christian couples and aiding others of the faith in the continuing of their worship. He was eventually jailed and persecuted then stoned, beaten and ultimately beheaded in 269 AD by Claudius for defying the secular rule of Rome. Rome, if you don't know, was given over at that point to all sorts of moral decay and depravity and the once great empire was beginning to crumble under the weight of it's own sin and corruption. Hmmm, sound like any other country you know? Anyway, here was a man of devout faith who professed the love of Christ, supported traditional Godly marriages and love among people who was martyred mercilessly. Killed because Claudius had become angry with him for subverting the excellent rule of Rome and trying to convert him to Christianity. Now, we all know Rome's fate a few hundred years later. You've heard the phrase Rome is burning? Ok, so that chocolate Lindt Truffle doesn't taste as good right now? Well don't worry, I'll fix it. Unwrap another and relax!
Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving have all borne the brunt of attacks by our modern Roman government in recent years through the polarizing over the top political correctness known as secularization. From sordid attempts to abolish Christian symbolism and worship of these most sacred and important holidays, to a campaign to rename and remake the honor of Christ our Lord into the glorification of mans temporal selfishness and materialism, it is doomed to all fail. Why, well, love of course! Because, love conquers all. That is the one human emotion over time that propagated by God the Father and through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ has never lost it's light. In the midst of tragedy, despair, heartbreak, death and veils of tears blooms love. It's ability to heal and restore life and hope is truly magical and supernatural and not of man's own shortsighted volition. Love may lose some battles but will win all wars. Now pop that second truffle into your mouth. All better isn't it? You see Valentine's Day like Christmas and the other days of holy celebration all inevitably come back to one Man who spoke of nothing but love. So when you are out to dinner next Tuesday or picking up some flowers or a special gift for someone you love, remember love is not but for the day but for the seasons. What a difference we would all make in this cold world sometimes if we would stand for love everyday as Christ stood, proclaimed and ultimately died for in His love for you!
1 Cor. 13 1-13
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Why Is Peace So Elusive?
Funny thing about my daily devotional time in the morning. It tends to soothe rather quickly the uneasiness of the upcoming days worries and duties. There is always encouragement in the Word and through prayer time. It's almost as if the day's business is complete before it even begins. Why is this so? I believe it's because I've learned over the years that true peace comes from within first. It's not an external benefit. You can't purchase it through a great job, stellar financial planning, great health or material possessions. Those are just comfort food. You know feel good stuff for the moment. As the moment passes you end up yearning for more instead of being content with what you have. I see a lot of that uneasiness in the world today. Certainly on the physical stage of the planet today peace is not breaking out all over the place. There are numerous conflicts threatening the sovereignty of nations and even continents. At any given time there are well over one hundred regional conflicts going on around the world. Whether it be financial, territorial, religious or political, war and strife has become the norm and prosperity and peace has become the rarity. Why do we always seem to spinning out of control? Why can't we all just get along? Why are we often calloused to or apathetic to all the pain and misery? I believe it's because inside most of us whirls our own storms.
Over the centuries and throughout history wars have been fought and millions have died for the cause of peace. But whose peace? Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism? Mohammed, Confucius, Gandhi or Jesus? Blood has spilled and is still being spilled in the name of peace fronted by the banner of some of these great movements today. So which one has credibility? Which great prophet or savior is true and real? Certainly, all of these men have existed. All of them have been written about, researched, discussed and taught in universities, churches, synagogues and seat's of government. Millions of people and whole nations are hedging their collective futures and eternal destinies on the bold promises of such men. Ahh, but therein lies the difference. All but one of these great men are just that, men. They are separated by one unequivocal historical fact. The bones of Mohammed, Confucius, Gandhi and any other men of peace are entombed here on earth. Only one, Who spoke of true peace has not been located anywhere on earth. Many have tried and still do. Outlandish claims are made. Still no bones! Find the bones of Jesus Christ and you discredit the entire Holy Bible and all of Christianity in one big giant swipe! But there are none. Because Jesus is gone. He has gone to prepare His Kingdom for everlasting peace. He is and remains to this today the one true Son of the Most High God and his life and death and resurrection stand as the exception to and replacement of all man's turmoil, failings and sin. He and He alone reigns, gives life, and true peace to all of us. Jesus said " My peace I give to you, not as the world gives." Real peace, spiritual, soulful, inner peace. My human condition fallen and filthy, replaced by purity and forgiveness. Given to me and you by the Prince Of Peace. Only One came to live then die for you. No other has or will ever. He is coming soon to reclaim His Kingdom this time as judge and king not savior. Peace if we are to find it begins with us. It is a wholesale transformation spiritually by laying down our carnal thoughts and lives and accepting the transforming blood of Jesus Christ to reign in our hearts. I encourage you to be over comers of the condition you are struggling with. Calm the inner storms. Jesus also said, "I stand at the door and knock, if any man here my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with me." Find your peace, accept this gift of salvation and life and watch the impact you will have. Peace is contagious and I don't know of anybody who doesn't welcome it's spread!
John 16:33
These things I have spoken to you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Over the centuries and throughout history wars have been fought and millions have died for the cause of peace. But whose peace? Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism? Mohammed, Confucius, Gandhi or Jesus? Blood has spilled and is still being spilled in the name of peace fronted by the banner of some of these great movements today. So which one has credibility? Which great prophet or savior is true and real? Certainly, all of these men have existed. All of them have been written about, researched, discussed and taught in universities, churches, synagogues and seat's of government. Millions of people and whole nations are hedging their collective futures and eternal destinies on the bold promises of such men. Ahh, but therein lies the difference. All but one of these great men are just that, men. They are separated by one unequivocal historical fact. The bones of Mohammed, Confucius, Gandhi and any other men of peace are entombed here on earth. Only one, Who spoke of true peace has not been located anywhere on earth. Many have tried and still do. Outlandish claims are made. Still no bones! Find the bones of Jesus Christ and you discredit the entire Holy Bible and all of Christianity in one big giant swipe! But there are none. Because Jesus is gone. He has gone to prepare His Kingdom for everlasting peace. He is and remains to this today the one true Son of the Most High God and his life and death and resurrection stand as the exception to and replacement of all man's turmoil, failings and sin. He and He alone reigns, gives life, and true peace to all of us. Jesus said " My peace I give to you, not as the world gives." Real peace, spiritual, soulful, inner peace. My human condition fallen and filthy, replaced by purity and forgiveness. Given to me and you by the Prince Of Peace. Only One came to live then die for you. No other has or will ever. He is coming soon to reclaim His Kingdom this time as judge and king not savior. Peace if we are to find it begins with us. It is a wholesale transformation spiritually by laying down our carnal thoughts and lives and accepting the transforming blood of Jesus Christ to reign in our hearts. I encourage you to be over comers of the condition you are struggling with. Calm the inner storms. Jesus also said, "I stand at the door and knock, if any man here my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with me." Find your peace, accept this gift of salvation and life and watch the impact you will have. Peace is contagious and I don't know of anybody who doesn't welcome it's spread!
John 16:33
These things I have spoken to you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
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