DIWALI

If your goddess lakshmi can't find her way without you lighting your house up how can she help you? I find it difficult to believe this tradition will help you in your quest to do the following: "I'm striving to eliminate ignorance, become more spiritually awakened. That's my goal as a Hindu. "

The God that I am devoted to, the one true God in the three persons of the Trinity, is not only powerful enough to find his way in the dark if he likes but is so powerful no dark can exist around him. He's powerful enough to convince Abraham to circumcise himself and his whole household. In fact, I'd like anyone out there to give me one good reason that any man would do that without God giving him the very idea of it. A man so moved must be under the influence of something that represents eternity. It also is a very good argument of God being a woman (joke, I love women).

Church and State

It is rather simple to read writings written by those signors of the Constitution of our fair land and find that most of them governed their lives suject to their faith in Jesus Christ. I'm not saying that it is a good thing to have a national church because wherever that's been tried in the past the church became much more like the government, in the most negative sense, and the government less like the church. What if all of those that have attempted to shoe their horse with the open part of the shoe pointed toward the front of the horse (separation between church and state means a state with no church) were tried as criminals for violating the constitution? What if someone that sued to get the 10 commandments covered up was tried as a criminal atheist? What if free speach ultimately meant what our founding fathers viewed as free speach and not as the porn industry calls free speach or freedom of expression?

What if this country was such a nice place to live that we no longer needed a Savior?

Prayerfully consider your vote. Vote as Jesus would but don't stress over everything, its in God's hands and he's on the job.

The last cookie

I'm the one. Yes, I took the last cookie. I'm always the one. Its not because I'm greedy or because I am gluttonous but rather, because I've watched too many cookies go dry and gather the flavor of surrounding air just because there is some taboo about taking the last cookie. What is that about anyway? I was raised that way too. My mother always told me not to take the last one. I'm sorry I never asked her why. Maybe I did but didn't understand the answer. I don't get it. I understand when it is the last drink in a bottle of soda. I'd rather pour that out than drink it because surely its more backwash than soda but what about the cookie?

When we sit around waiting for someone to tell us exactly how to share Christ's love for a fallen world we are what we've been taught, leaving the cookie on the plate because someone else might want it. Its sort of like that law of non-contradiction that I hear philosophers talking about. Jesus is not a plate full of cookies he is the loaves and the fishes and we can't sit around waiting for someone to send us. Jesus already did. We can't wait around for someone to teach us, Jesus does in his word and he sent the helper to fill the gaps. Just go. Don't look for someone to affirm your righteousness or to confirm your ability, just go. The world is waiting. The world needs it. It all starts with Love. Make a plate of cookies and take it to someone. Send a check to a hungry country. Help someone rake their leaves or do their homework or paint their fence. The opportunities abound and all it takes is not passing the cookie by but picking it up and savoring every bite. All it takes is pointing your life toward Jesus.

Read "In His Steps" by Charles M. Sheldon

Pride

Satan knows right where I'm weakest but he doesn't seem to be aware of whom I serve sometimes. Maybe I'm not making him aware.

I've shrunk from the up-front ministries of our church. I simply have experienced too many issues with pride to be in the bright lights of the pulpit. Many times I'm not aware of whether it is my pride or someone else's pride but its devouring the effectiveness of some areas of our church so I chose to serve God in other ways. I'd tell you what they are but then I'd take the risk of being prideful. I will seek counsel with some trusted brothers and most importantly, hit my knees in humble appreciation for what Jesus Christ has done in my life thus far.

I was awe-struck at an article I read in Disciple Journal this weekend. The article "How Rohani met Isa" was so informative and so telling it makes me want to run out and dialogue with the whole nation of Islam. The magazine, as a whole, is so well put together that I can't say enough about it. It is solid biblical teaching that speaks to today's disciple.

Have a glorious day, in spite of yourself! :)

Their forgiveness of a killer mystifies. But anger and revenge simply aren't an option.

The image is an ancient winepress. Is there any doubt that our Lord's justice is far beyond that which we can imagine or begin to distribute? It is not surprising that the Amish community was so quick to forgive. What is surprising is that the concept, in a day when there are more psychologists, counselors, psychiatrists, etc. than there are judges, of forgiveness is so misunderstood.

Jesus, help us to have hearts of forgiveness and not of retribution. Help us to take the reins of the team you have put on our plow and lead us in straight and deep furrows, bringing your Kingdom to bear on this earth in peace and love. Help us to be as fierce in Love as you are and as unwavering in our faith as those fathers of the church that have gone before us. Help us to point our entire lives toward you. Amen.

Robert Randolph and The Family

Whew, they got me dancin' in the office today! Hey whitebread, if you don't wanna stomp your feet and you would rather stay in your seat don't go to Robert Randolph and the Family's site. Leslie and I were watching Christian Rock Videos the night before last (winding down after putting the kids to bed) and these guys came on with their energy, drive, and talent and flat knocked us out of our stupor. Jesus, you keep on giving. Who can know the reaches of the good you put in our lives. Every good and wonderful thing belongs to you. You are worthy of our praise. You are Holy. Your creation cries your beauty, your wisdom, your creativity, your endless Love and Joy.

Augustine in 6 minutes

City of God is a short 6 minutes of audio from Learn Out Loud. The setting is during the reduction of the Roman Empire from its former glory. Barbarians had sacked many Roman villages yet were sparing Christian temples so the Romans were hiding in the temples along with the Christians and then claiming the Christians were the reason for the fall of the empire. Augustine answers these claims in his "City of God".

What do statistics say about 48811?

According to data on http://www.esri.com/data/community_data/community-tapestry/index.html, a site that analyzes census data and characterizes communities according to their standardized terms, 48811 is sunk in “Rustbelt Traditions”, finds itself in “Midlife Junction”, and is considered the “Salt of the Earth”. The first two terms seemed a little offensive until I read the characterizations and discovered (to continue an overused comedy classic) I resemble that remark!

What does this mean to us? It means the majority of us are men, comfortable in our homes watching the game on pay-per-view, suiting up occasionally to hunt or fish, drawing down the equity in our home or our 401-K to buy a boat, snowmobile, quad, or big-screen television and praying that the shop doesn’t close or that the IRS doesn’t find out we cheated on our taxes and cost us our job at the correctional facility. Is that what life is? Is it all really that lame?

So we flirt with the gas station clerk or the bank clerk or the chick on-line (that is really a guy going by the name of hot_lips4u, pretending to be a chick) or maybe we pick up a copy of Hustler at the shop in G.R. and keep it behind the seat of our truck and in that find a little excitement, just a little adventure, to drive back the boredom, the mind-numbing boredom of living in lower-middle class. What could that hurt? No one is the wiser and we come off like the hero when we show up at our kid's sporting event, Mr. Stability strikes again. Or maybe we pick up a six-pack every other night and a case on the weekends, just in ‘case’ we have company and we watch our guts lap over our belt, run our car through the wash twice a week, hit the racetrack on the weekends and do wood-working in our shop to feel like we are accomplishing something. We have a sense of urgency to get something done so we bury ourselves in projects and work and convince ourselves that as long as people keep saying I’m a great guy then yes, I’m a great guy and I feel good and I’m happy and….

Its not enough. That blank stare that is part of the “quiet strength” men show when they get in a crowd of people is fear. Fear that all we’ve built our world around will come crashing down and we’ll be revealed for the counterfeit we’ve made of ourselves. Fear that finally someone will ask us to put our heart into something and all we can offer is stability.

It doesn’t have to be that way. There is a war for warriors today. Knights are still very much needed.

The battle is for the hearts of men. The battle is for the hearts of our kids. The battle is for the hearts of our wives, sisters, mothers. The battle is for our time. The battle plan is laid out in the bible. Throughout human history the battles have been won by blood and power. The Hebrew people were delivered by blood and power. Goliath was slain by blood and power. Abraham was tested by blood and power. Cities have been built and destroyed by blood and power and now we stand, ready for the battle, and stand living in the promise of blood and power. Blood of the Son of God, fierce in battle and fierce in Love, and Power of the Holy Spirit, the very Love and Wisdom of God placed in our hearts and the hearts of all men. By this blood and power the war has already been won but the battles are still to be fought. We can be confident that when we choose to put our faith in His blood and His power that we will endure. Nothing can defeat us, not even death itself. So don’t accept what society tells you is the next greatest thing, it is nothing but feces compared to His blood and His power. Don’t accept that you are not successful unless you are rich, the bible teaches that success is surrender and the weak shall be made strong. If you find yourself fed, clothed, and sheltered you are wealthy beyond most of the world. Its time to give back! Join the battle men of 48811! If you are in it already, stay the course!

The Paradox of the Cross

The cross remains the single-most paradoxical figure of all time. Four unequal legs. Two short legs perpendicular with a short leg and a long leg, in conflict with each other, used in arguably the most gruesome and painful death known to mankind, fashioned of rough-hewn wood, perishable, yet somehow eternal. The figure that can be found in anything man builds yet is the symbol of the single-most rejected idea known to mankind. It is a reminder of Love and Sacrifice and also of the depravity of mankind. People continue to try to remove it from every public place but it is not possible. Even the trees pushing their towering heads above a purplish horizon form the symbol of our Lord and Shepard. A fisherman’s line breaks the surface of a quiet pool in the shape of a cross. The hilt of a sword, the spine of a book and the writing therein, the poles of a planet with its equatorial plane – all crying out the Way, The Truth, and the Life. A light in the present darkness where, in our constant search for identity, happiness, control, love, health, wealth, comfort, and joy we miss and mistake the message of the Cross. Thank You Jesus for the Cross and all it stands for, now and forever.