I drove along a by-way,
my wife quietly beside me,
seeking peace and solitude,
we rode as two, together, as one,
when raced alongside
a driver as blind,
In haste and speed did he, his selfish deed,
In pride he delighted, he reveled in speed,
not knowing a thing,
that damage would bring,
My wife lay dying, her last request,
to drive her along, a beautiful stretch,
we swerved, we banked, and finally sank,
the river consumed,
our bodies exhumed,
The driver, oblivious, his act insidious,
never caught,
for the act he wrought.
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Saturday, May 20, 2017
The Power of Belief: Transmitted Thru Time and Space
I'm a science fan. I recently watched an episode of Stargate Atlantis. In this particular episode, replicators were the adversary. Indestructible machines bent on destroying organic human life and replacing it with their own likeness. The theme is familiar. Now, since they could not be destroyed one at a time, because they replaced themselves too quickly, they had to be destroyed all at once. With something instantaneous. An EMP pulse! Simultaneously they all broke into tiny little pieces! (Emphasis on tiny)
Enter Christ.........The awaited Messiah. Boom! Sin was destroyed.....all at once!
But....and this is a big but......you have to take it seriously and believe! You see the power of belief has been transmitted through time and space somehow in the Holy Spirit and is still active destroying sin and freeing those captive to it even now. How is this possible? I don't know how, because it does not make sense to the rational mind, it continually defies it. The physics doesn't jive. Neither does life after death. All I know is when I was introduced to Christ everything changed. I was skeptical. Just like many before me. I remember standing in front of a mirror, hands outstretched and asking for the Spirit and repenting, seeking some kind of experience like that of those I has met recently, Christians not from the mainstream but of a group of small College age Christians gathered in a small building. They had something I wanted. And I got It!!!
Through time and Space, The Holy Spirit is Eternal. And so My belief in Christ activated a promise he made to each of his disciples during his natural life in ministry. To wait for the comforter, the advocate, the helper who would come and remind them of Me ( C= Jesus) C= comforter somewhat like Einstein's E=MC squared. But. alot more powerful. Sorry Einstein! You were good! But a student is not greater than the Teacher!
So Like an electro magnetic pulse......EMP.....we could all be transformed...better word than saved....for us because unfortunately it has become weakened by misuse.
Paul said....be transformed by the renewing of your mind Rom. 12:2 and that my friends can only happen with the introduction to Christ and through him believe on the one who sent him! The message is still the same, Ancient but powerful. Oh Death where is thy Sting! It was in fear, but perfect love casts out fear.
Enter Christ.........The awaited Messiah. Boom! Sin was destroyed.....all at once!
But....and this is a big but......you have to take it seriously and believe! You see the power of belief has been transmitted through time and space somehow in the Holy Spirit and is still active destroying sin and freeing those captive to it even now. How is this possible? I don't know how, because it does not make sense to the rational mind, it continually defies it. The physics doesn't jive. Neither does life after death. All I know is when I was introduced to Christ everything changed. I was skeptical. Just like many before me. I remember standing in front of a mirror, hands outstretched and asking for the Spirit and repenting, seeking some kind of experience like that of those I has met recently, Christians not from the mainstream but of a group of small College age Christians gathered in a small building. They had something I wanted. And I got It!!!
Through time and Space, The Holy Spirit is Eternal. And so My belief in Christ activated a promise he made to each of his disciples during his natural life in ministry. To wait for the comforter, the advocate, the helper who would come and remind them of Me ( C= Jesus) C= comforter somewhat like Einstein's E=MC squared. But. alot more powerful. Sorry Einstein! You were good! But a student is not greater than the Teacher!
So Like an electro magnetic pulse......EMP.....we could all be transformed...better word than saved....for us because unfortunately it has become weakened by misuse.
Paul said....be transformed by the renewing of your mind Rom. 12:2 and that my friends can only happen with the introduction to Christ and through him believe on the one who sent him! The message is still the same, Ancient but powerful. Oh Death where is thy Sting! It was in fear, but perfect love casts out fear.
Thursday, May 11, 2017
No Tom Foolery Here!
If someone walked up to you and said, " look, I'm going to die and lay my life down, but don't worry, I have all the authority to come back from that and live again." What would you say? Probably the exact same thing those around Jesus said, " your mad!!
Hindsight it is said is 20-20 or perfect in other words. All those born on this side of the cross of crucifixion that was Jesus's to bear, have a choice to explore for themselves whether or not this man was truly who he said he was. The Son of Man, Son of God, Messiah, Christ etc, etc. If we have had 2000 years to explore this profound moment in history, then perhaps we should trust the fact that it has stood for that long and give the benefit of doubt to this remarkable man and his story and his sacrifice. It is not easy, because he said the whole world is blind and under the control of you know who. Like in Harry Potter's story and "the one who must not be named", Voldemort, he blindsided Potter much of the time. We are blindsided too and cannot see around the next corner let lone see directly in front of us. Jesus was unique in that nothing , no wool, no foolery, no deception was too great to blindside him. All the cunning traps, Miss-directions, and Miss-leading lies hidden in the human heart are laid bare. Just like the Old Testament in referring to the Almighty. Nothing escapes his view or judgment.
If that world was dramatically changed forever including the rule and authority's of that time, then perhaps ours can too. The advent of the Holy Spirit was waited for but not entirely under stood by those who waited for it. But after , it was given explosive change was rampant and the new followers of "the way" began the inexorable push into the world and the message of the good news spread like fire, we are told. Those who were witnesses did justice to the one on whom they believed.....and we now benefit still after all these years. Check it out.....
Hindsight it is said is 20-20 or perfect in other words. All those born on this side of the cross of crucifixion that was Jesus's to bear, have a choice to explore for themselves whether or not this man was truly who he said he was. The Son of Man, Son of God, Messiah, Christ etc, etc. If we have had 2000 years to explore this profound moment in history, then perhaps we should trust the fact that it has stood for that long and give the benefit of doubt to this remarkable man and his story and his sacrifice. It is not easy, because he said the whole world is blind and under the control of you know who. Like in Harry Potter's story and "the one who must not be named", Voldemort, he blindsided Potter much of the time. We are blindsided too and cannot see around the next corner let lone see directly in front of us. Jesus was unique in that nothing , no wool, no foolery, no deception was too great to blindside him. All the cunning traps, Miss-directions, and Miss-leading lies hidden in the human heart are laid bare. Just like the Old Testament in referring to the Almighty. Nothing escapes his view or judgment.
If that world was dramatically changed forever including the rule and authority's of that time, then perhaps ours can too. The advent of the Holy Spirit was waited for but not entirely under stood by those who waited for it. But after , it was given explosive change was rampant and the new followers of "the way" began the inexorable push into the world and the message of the good news spread like fire, we are told. Those who were witnesses did justice to the one on whom they believed.....and we now benefit still after all these years. Check it out.....
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Out of Sync with the world and Loving It!
Syncopation; "A disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm....or accents where they would not normally occur."
Now I know this applies in music for flows of rhythmic music...but I apply this daily to the world around me and what influences me each and every single day. Because I am a follower of Christ and much of the time following Christ means chucking the things most people do every day which is hard to do on your own. But those who are Christ's are not alone and we have the gifting of inward presence of the Holy Spirit or "helper" as Christ told his disciples to wait for. Now that was certainly an interruption of what we were before! The once accepted norms of living suddenly became crystal clear and behavior was now conforming to the new creation in Christ..... (or should be ) which means I am out of sync with what I once knew.
Paul said it more clearly like this to those who preach not to steal. Do you steal? Those who preach against adultery, do you commit it? Those who preach against breaking the law, do you break it?..and so on. Now most people have a conscience or some form of inward sense of right and wrong, but where sin is concerned we all sinned and fell short. Short of God's intent for us. Now to be in the world but not of it means a whole new ballgame. I drive a bus every day. Been on the highway lately? Do the limit but find yourself still feeling like a turtle in the midst of a Daytona like race way? Or how about being courteous to another driver and suddenly a blast from behind makes you jump! Because impatience has found another target. Or how about taking a little extra time in line at the super market and you can feel the eyes of those not so fortunate to be behind you.... wishing they could speak their true minds but refrain because maybe it would not be acceptable? Now you know what the Lord knew because over and over again scripture says, he knew what was in their hearts.
Jesus constantly challenged those he was near to to change their minds. To judge not by appearance, but by what was in the heart. So when he healed the cripple on the Sabbath, the Priests and the Pharisees condemned him for it. So now you know. Being bombarded by our western culture every single day (like Lot in Sodom) can be wearing. It is and always will be a battle tactic of Satan to wear out the Saints.
That is why we need to stay close to the one who refreshes by daily prayer and reading of the word and be refreshed by the Spirit given to us very graciously. It was the gift of God to die for us so we could change and not stagnate in the sin we were born with. This means we must not straddle kingdoms any more. Light and dark have no togetherness. Shine a light into. dark room and you can see everything it lands on. Put darkness on light and the light goes out........come on into the kingdom and be joyfully out of sync!
Now I know this applies in music for flows of rhythmic music...but I apply this daily to the world around me and what influences me each and every single day. Because I am a follower of Christ and much of the time following Christ means chucking the things most people do every day which is hard to do on your own. But those who are Christ's are not alone and we have the gifting of inward presence of the Holy Spirit or "helper" as Christ told his disciples to wait for. Now that was certainly an interruption of what we were before! The once accepted norms of living suddenly became crystal clear and behavior was now conforming to the new creation in Christ..... (or should be ) which means I am out of sync with what I once knew.
Paul said it more clearly like this to those who preach not to steal. Do you steal? Those who preach against adultery, do you commit it? Those who preach against breaking the law, do you break it?..and so on. Now most people have a conscience or some form of inward sense of right and wrong, but where sin is concerned we all sinned and fell short. Short of God's intent for us. Now to be in the world but not of it means a whole new ballgame. I drive a bus every day. Been on the highway lately? Do the limit but find yourself still feeling like a turtle in the midst of a Daytona like race way? Or how about being courteous to another driver and suddenly a blast from behind makes you jump! Because impatience has found another target. Or how about taking a little extra time in line at the super market and you can feel the eyes of those not so fortunate to be behind you.... wishing they could speak their true minds but refrain because maybe it would not be acceptable? Now you know what the Lord knew because over and over again scripture says, he knew what was in their hearts.
Jesus constantly challenged those he was near to to change their minds. To judge not by appearance, but by what was in the heart. So when he healed the cripple on the Sabbath, the Priests and the Pharisees condemned him for it. So now you know. Being bombarded by our western culture every single day (like Lot in Sodom) can be wearing. It is and always will be a battle tactic of Satan to wear out the Saints.
That is why we need to stay close to the one who refreshes by daily prayer and reading of the word and be refreshed by the Spirit given to us very graciously. It was the gift of God to die for us so we could change and not stagnate in the sin we were born with. This means we must not straddle kingdoms any more. Light and dark have no togetherness. Shine a light into. dark room and you can see everything it lands on. Put darkness on light and the light goes out........come on into the kingdom and be joyfully out of sync!
Monday, May 1, 2017
Are You Being Twisted?
Everyday and every time you tune in to today's version of news are you being twisted? I can say positively that you are. One of the commands that we as Christians are to follow is this: "Love not the world and anything in it, for the lust of the flesh, the pride of life and the lust of the eye comes not from the Father but from the world." All of the ideas, all of our striving, all of our successes do they help foster love for one another? Or do they foster individuality and a self-ness that builds up the individual and walls off the ability to love another like yourself? I can say that our media fosters fear, doubt, feeds on the negative, and builds up on a 24 hour cycle a feeling of "what's next" to happen and like the old line in the movie " I'm mad as
Hell and i'm not going to take it anymore.!!!" Yes Hell is mad and a mad place to be banished too, because there is no light there, it is without God, separated and apart from the light of the world that was with us in the flesh a short time. But there is hope. an advocate who is now here and has been here for plus two-thousand years, the work of the Holy Spirit. If you will he will come to you and be your helper to resist the call of the sirens, the world and all of its pressures to conform and be molded to it's shape and not Christs. So resist the Devil, and his twisting ways and be renewed in the Spirit of your mind. Be like Christ. Peaceable, loving, sacrificial, giving, and a friend to those who were un-loveable. Love not the world today, and turn "hit the mark" turn and repent of all of it. Draw nigh unto God and he will draw nigh unto you. P.S. Christ led captivity captive......even in Hell.
Hell and i'm not going to take it anymore.!!!" Yes Hell is mad and a mad place to be banished too, because there is no light there, it is without God, separated and apart from the light of the world that was with us in the flesh a short time. But there is hope. an advocate who is now here and has been here for plus two-thousand years, the work of the Holy Spirit. If you will he will come to you and be your helper to resist the call of the sirens, the world and all of its pressures to conform and be molded to it's shape and not Christs. So resist the Devil, and his twisting ways and be renewed in the Spirit of your mind. Be like Christ. Peaceable, loving, sacrificial, giving, and a friend to those who were un-loveable. Love not the world today, and turn "hit the mark" turn and repent of all of it. Draw nigh unto God and he will draw nigh unto you. P.S. Christ led captivity captive......even in Hell.
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