Attack of the Killer Blog...

Francis Chan :: Fighting Hypocrisy In the Church

2012-01-24T13:58:00.004-06:00

Fighting Hypocrisy In the Church
This is an audio message by Francis Chan. Take a listen and check out more sermons on Sermon Index.

Youcef Nadarkhani's Execution Expected Wednesday or Thursday

2011-09-28T12:37:00.003-05:00

Youcef Nadarkhani is expected to be executed as early as Wednesday (9/28/11) or Thursday (9/29/11) according to several sources.

As discussed earlier, Youcef's case was to be re-examined, Sunday, September 25th, 2011. During this court appearance, Youcef was given the opportunity to recant his Christian faith, to which he responded,

"Repent means to return. What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?"
"To the religion of your ancestors, Islam," the judge replied, according to the American Center for Law & Justice.
"I cannot," Nadarkhani said.

Youcef has been given four "opportunities" to recant and escape his death sentence of being hanged by the Iranian government. He has stood strong for Christ telling the court each time that "he cannot." Many are expecting his execution to be enacted at any moment given the unpredictable nature of the Iranian government.

FoxNews.com has also reported today (9/28/11) on Youcef's current status and has also included statements by House Speaker John Boehner. Boehner had this to say,

[Youcef's case is] "distressing for people of every country and creed."

The State Department declined to comment to FoxNews concerning Youcef's case.

Please be in prayer for Youcef, his family, and the underground church in Iran as well as for the nation itself. Today and the next few days are critical. Urgent prayers are needed on his behalf as well as on the behalf of all persecuted peoples world wide.

I Prayed Some Heresy Today...

2011-09-19T14:11:00.002-05:00

Today our West Blocton HS teens bury their friend, school mate and family member...

Pamela and I lay in bed last night after our Emerge Twenty-Something Bible study looking at our phones (Facebook, of course) in the dark, just reading and not saying a word to each other. Neither of us told the other what we were doing, but we were both doing the same thing. We were reading our teens' Facebook pages. Not that Pamela and I have teens ourselves, per se, but we have a whole gaggle of them from our youth group REVOLVE!Student Ministry. We were reading their comments about their friend.

I finally broke the silence, "It's not fair, is it?"
"No, it's not," she sort of whispered back into the darkness of our room.

Both of us were hurting for our teens so we posted a couple of statements onto their walls to let them know we were praying for them and thinking of them. It seemed small. The prayers seemed small.

I half feared that the tragic events would turn these guys -- not necessarily our students but the school friends, though I worry for our students as well -- away from God instead of to Him. (I half worry that confessing my thoughts of this here in this blog will spark the idea itself as if it hadn't been conceived in their minds already.) If I, in my theological prowess, struggle with the fairness of it all, how would they not be struggling with it already too?

So I got up this morning and prayed some heresy...

Rob Bell's book, "Love Wins" has taken a lot of rightful hits and largely negative critique because of it's promotion of universalism -- the idea that all roads lead to God regardless. Its heresy is seen as so dangerously influential that my far away hero, Francis Chan, wrote a response to it called, "Erasing Hell".

The premise of Bell's book is to say that no matter how people lived their lives, or how they believed spiritually, that God's love is so strong, and so irresistible, that, even if He is rejected in this life, He will ultimately be accepted in the life to come. The implications -- dangerous as they are mind you -- are that no one ultimately misses Heaven. (Notice here how I can't even bring myself to type the phrase "goes to Hell". "Misses Heaven" is such more more palatable and acceptable to our sensibilities.)

So this morning, I prayed that this young guy who lost his life this weekend gets a pass. Here's my prayer in a nutshell:

God I know the rules. There's only one way to You. I don't know what was in his heart, but I'm asking You to bend Your rules for Him if he didn't know You. Please bend the rules... or let there be rules that we don't know about on earth; and that because of those unknown rules he gets to know you regardless. Let Your love ultimately win out.

I don't know this guy's heart, so this isn't a judgment on his eternal state of being. The fact that I don't know, however, is what unnerves me. I pray that he knew Christ, and now knows Him in peace and comfort and in eternal rest. The thing, too, that bothers me is that he came to our youth service a couple of times. My blood runs cold when I wonder what we did on the nights he visited. Did I do my normal, stupid youth pastor junk that makes kids like me and coming to church? Did we goof off and not get through our service because of other stuff? Was the Word that night a side note to all that was going on? Or was there anything of substance that the Holy Spirit could use moments before impact in the back seat of a teen driven car?

God help me?!

It's sobering to think that at any moment we're meeting people for the last time. So I prayed a bit of heresy, and I don't think that God minds, because He knows how we're struggling to make sense of what seems so unfair. I prayed a bit of heresy because I'm afraid ...my hands are actually trembling and my eyes are starting to sting at the corners because of tears that want to come at the next statement... I'm afraid that I didn't do my job very well the night he visited our group. I don't know that for sure, but it scares me nonetheless.

God, you grant heretical requests, right? For once, please, I hope you do... if this heretical prayer of mine is actually needed. In the future, I can't hang my hopes on heretical praying.

Youcef Nadarkhani's Case to be Re-examined...

2011-09-16T08:51:00.002-05:00

Youcef Nadarkhani: Iran

This morning (Friday, September 16th, 2011) The Voice of the Martyr's updated their Facebook status to report that Youcef Nadarkhani's case will be "re-examined" on Sunday, September 25th, 2011. Here's what their status update said:

Youcef Nadarkhani is in an Iranian prison under a death sentence for apostasy. Court is to "re-examine" his case on Sept. 25. Pray for justice for Pastor Youcef.

Please pray for Pastor Youcef. In previous updates of mine, I have outlined how I've been praying but I encourage you to pray as God's Spirit would lead you. Pray for his justice, his salvation, his wife, his children; pray for the underground church in Iran and pray that those that don't know Christ in that country would be saved.

The Nadarkhani's

I can't imagine what Youcef is going through and am so thankful that we get to worship freely here in America. However, we shouldn't take these freedoms for granted. Ever. As an encouragement, don't get comfortable and complacent in your relationship with Christ. Always push for closeness, even when it's easier to just coast along. Reflect on the realities of our relationship with Christ; this world isn't our home, so don't cling to it like it's all we have. Embrace the suffering of others in prayer and petition to God on their behalf. Take nothing of our spirituality for granted, but be happy in Him and find a deep inner joy that comes only in knowing Christ and that, in Him, He has saved us from our sins! We now are His, if we trust in Him.

Asia Bibi: Pakistan

Please keep praying for Youcef Nadarkhani. Please keep praying for Asia Bibi as I have updated information in the past on Facebook concerning her situation. Don't stop calling out to God on their behalf! These, sadly, aren't the only people being severely persecuted, by the way. They are the ones that, for some reason, I've felt a personal need to pray for specifically. I keep praying for all the others, but pray for these in particular as God's Spirit leads me. Prayer is the key in all that they endure.

Shadow of Insecurity...

2011-09-13T15:01:00.002-05:00

Insecurity keeps everything pushed away at truths length,
Albeit our perceived truth,
Which, frankly, may not be truth at all.

After all,
We're seeing through insecurities...

Finding love in Surety that doesn't waiver or break,
When we're vulnerable or when we're strong,
Renders impotent our tendency to be fake.

Then we become who we are
And not the shadow of our insecurity.

Scared of Confession...

2011-09-12T12:38:00.000-05:00

What are we scared of when we hear the word confession? What do we have to hide? A lot. Why do we have to hide it? Because we're scared of what it means to be vulnerable, rejected, alienated, hated, flawed. Why, then, if God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, would He ask us to do something that scares us to death -- to confess our sins to each other?

We aren't afraid to confess to Him, normally. Most of our ingrained theology tells us already that He knows everything about us and that nothing is, or can be, hidden from Him. So telling Him what He already knows takes some of the pressure off of us. We know from Him, we are accepted. He knows how to loves us with all our flaws and sins that the religious elite around us would scoff and count us out for. (Perhaps they are hiding greater sins?)

I wonder how many people I've counted out because of their sins? I wonder how many sins that I've committed and and not counted that make theirs' pale in comparison?

What are we scared of? Our reputations being ruined? Rejection? Or how about growth? Spiritual maturity? When is the last time we confessed our sins to a friend? When was the last time a friend confessed their sins to us? How did we handle that? With love? A listening ear? Gossip?

A wise man once said, and very recently I might add, "That if we can't confess our sins to the community, then the community isn't much like Christ."

I'm convinced that God isn't much pleased with our hiding. Think of Eden... they played a child's game with the Creator too, of hide-and-go-seek. He's good at that game. He has a way of finding us, exposing our inner wounds that will kill us, and then healing us. We've been hiding since Eden first taught us that particular game. He's been seeking us ever since as well. Much of this hide-and-seek can be avoided, if we were more like Christ, less Pharisaical, and a lot more humble, transparent and trustworthy.

Perfect love casts out our fear of His punishment. Our love should be more like His then. Others should be relieved of their fears of confessing because our love is like His.

Not On This Soil...

2011-09-09T12:43:00.004-05:00

Lights of 9/11 Memorial

This September 11th, marks 10 years since that unbelievable morning. It's hard to believe that it has been 10 years. I remember it so vividly still. I remember where I was standing and where I prayed in my office next to my desk in disbelief. I remember having the feeling of, "We're under attack!" as the plans seemed to continue to bombard our country in flaming torrents of terrorism. I remember the panic of everyone, and the uncertainty of everything going on, of that moment. I remember just wanting to go home from my office in Birmingham, Alabama and wanting to be with my wife, Pamela, and six month old son, Caleb. I didn't necessarily feel that we were under any immediate danger being in Birmingham per se, but the feeling of uncertainty and the heightened sense of fragility and vulnerability were unmistakable.

At that time, there was an arrogant sense that this couldn't happen here... not on our soil, not to us, not to Americans. That feeling has changed. Now the sentiment is more like, "When this happens again on American soil," as we've come to expect another, possibly multiple, attacks in our future. The question of attacks has changed from "if" to "when".

Perhaps it wasn't so much arrogance, but more of naivety and a false sense of security. Not on American soil... was the sentiment of September 10th; the eleventh, however, changed that forever. Now in the back of our minds is the numb anticipation that a break-in news cast will again interrupt our "Good Morning America" lifestyles with news that we are yet still penetrable and vulnerable to terrorist attacks despite our best efforts to protect ourselves.

Uncertainty Is All Around Us

Hurricane Katrina Aftermath

Recently, we were jostled from the sleep that we had seen our last Hurricane Katrina when it came in crushing tides of tornado after tornado in April of 2011, ripping our neighbors and loved ones from our very lives. I wonder if in March of 2011 Japan said, "Not here, not on our soil," when they were crumpled to rubble by an earthquake and the still looming nuclear uncertainty of all those exposed to the radiation that followed it? Haiti is still in ruins, and billions of dollars could not save Port Au Prince. Years after the Haitian earthquake there is little change from the destruction that rocked them. I wonder if the Haitians said in their bewilderment, "Not on our soil"? Our eastern seaboard was shaken by its own earthquake and a tropical storm that swamped the southeast. Iowa and the Midwest were flooded and so much damage flowed from the flood's own wake. Our economy is teetering at best, and will not be able to withstand our borrow/spend policies followed by our government. Yet we keep borrowing and spending like the astronaut from the movie "Armageddon" who was convinced he wouldn't survive their mission to the meteor. Eventually, even after saving the world, he had to face his mob-boss-creditors and would experience his own "judgment day" as perhaps we will too.

Not On Our Soil... But Why Not?

Are we so much different from the rest of the world who lives daily in fear that a rocket from terrorists in Gaza or guerrillas in Somalia are going to permanently maim their children, themselves or their friends and neighbors? Why are we any different when radical Islam hails us as the Great Satan and are on a mission from "god" to destroy us or convert us? We have had it so good here for so long, and I wonder if we've taken that for granted?

9/11 Flag amidst rubble

September 11th awakened us to the stark reality that September 10th is no longer a possibility. We are also, sadly, well removed from the unity we experienced on September 12th. Now, on this soil, we live with the with the quiet, numb remembrance of that horrible morning and we mustn't any longer live with the naive arrogance that this cannot happen on our soil. The attacks on September 11th set the bar high for would-be terrorists all over the world to recreate and "one up" such an event that struck our two iconic symbols of wealth and prosperity, and it empowered them by showing that even our military power and might has a penetrable underbelly when it struck the iconic symbol of both power and might, The Pentagon.

On That Heavenly Soil...

We must remember those who have given their lives. Pray for them. Honor them. Love and respect them. But our answer doesn't lie in well placed patriotism or even in heroically honorable civic servitude. It lies solely in the hands of the loving, merciful God-Jehovah.

If we turn completely to Him in trust and unwavering commitment, then no matter what may befall our nation, our world or our families our souls will be forever secure not on earthly soil that sees destruction daily and woes are ever increasing, but on that Heavenly soil... where nothing given to God in Christ can ever be lost.

Youcef Nadarkhani Update

2011-09-08T15:13:00.003-05:00

Youcef Nadarkhani

I've scoured the web looking for any updated information on Youcef Nadarkhani and as it currently stands there's no new information that I was able to find.

Pastor Youcef remains in prison, having had his death sentence annulled for the time being by the Iranian Supreme Court siting insufficient background evidence to prove that he was in fact a declared, practicing Muslim prior to his conversion to Christ. His case was then remanded back to the lower court in Rast where they are waiting on Youcef to recant his Christian faith, as well as to find sufficient evidence to prove to the court that he was a declared Muslim. As it stands, if he does recant all charges will be dropped. However, if he does not, then he most likely will see the death sentence reinstated by the lower court. The Supreme Court agrees with the death sentence, but sited procedural flaws in proving he was once a Muslim. Had they been able to prove this, then he would have been hanged in 20 days.

The Nadarkhanis

Youcef's lawyer, Mohammed Ali Dadkhah, was later sentenced to nine years in prison and ten years of not being able to practice law or teach in the Iranian universities. He was charged for "actions and propaganda against the Islamic regime."

Youcef has been imprisoned since October of 2009. He is 33 years old, married abd has two young sons.

According to Voice of the Martyrs, they had this to say about his prison stay,

The pastor is imprisoned in Lakan prison, where authorities have used various methods, including medication, to [attempt to] convert him back to Islam.

Please pray for Youcef and his family, and as well for Iran to become open to the gospel. Pray that change will come to this nation through Christ. I've prayed for Youcef daily and have been asking God to comfort Youcef and give him peace and to strengthen him against their attempts to convert him. I've prayed that God would use him so strongly while in prison to preach to guards as well as fellow inmates.

It's easy for us to go about our daily routines oblivious to the fact that the church is severely persecuted abroad. We should pray for our brothers and sisters and become co-laborers and co-sufferers for them through prayer to Christ.

I encourage you to pray also for Iran that it would become open to the gospel. We must pray that when God does open the country that we too will be ready to leave everything, every comfort, luxury and presumed security, if necessary, to take the gospel in love and service to this nation. We must be ready to go should He call. Please pray.

Cafe Latte, Inspiration and Being Busted By My Wife...

2011-09-07T15:28:00.001-05:00

Whenever I can, I steal away at lunch to go to Forest Perk Coffee and study, read, write, think and drink $4.95 lattes... No one knows I'm there. I'm free to escape work for an hour, plus it has great atmosphere conducive for studying and making many notes.

Not that I can afford this luxury daily, as my wife's text so lovingly reminded me today... while at Forest Perk. The place I thought no one knew where I was to, you know, "steal away" for a lunch time break. It's one of my selfish indulgences. Really it's no great thing or task, but if you add up $4.95 + $1.00 tip three times or so a week, which equals $17.85 per week and then multiply that times 52 weeks that would rack up a total of $928.20 a year. (Please don't tell my wife how that all adds up...)

I didn't tell her I was going; I just went... and while sitting there reading, studying and writing on Solomon's "Song of Songs," wrapped up in such a deep mind set of God's love for us through a pretty eyebrow raising portion of scripture, she apparently checked our bank account by chance and timing and saw a pending fee of $4.95 processing the instant I swiped my card at my little haven of refuge, Forest Perk.

Her text, and I quote,

"A latte are you serious? On a week when we are trying to save money?? ;)" (Please note the winky face at the end of her sentence...)

My reply, and I quote,

"Lame..." (Please note the lack of winky face at the end of my reply... for being busted.)

Her reply back to me, and, yes, I quote again,

"True party boy" (Please note the sarcasm of her pointing my own snide "Lame..." remark back to me.)

By the way, the ";)" winky face from her texts always means she's just busting my chops and that is her sarcastic emoticon way to let me know that I've been caught or that she's one-upped my wit or something similar to her having the upper hand. Either that or there is something in her eye at the time of typing the text.

I called her once my latte was finished and my mind and heart were rested from the pages of Solomon's wisdom and poetry. My call was to then convince my loving wife that the Forest Perk Coffee shop was my source of inspiration in writing. And, that, as I sat there with momentary writer's block, when I started sipping my $4.95 latte, inspiration began to stream to my pen, and in uncontrollable jerks of sense and reason began to, almost by itself, write page after page of commentary on Song of Songs 1:12 (something I might later share). I told her that had I not gone to Forest Perk and not sipped the latte -- caramel non-fat, btw -- that the pages of my notebook would have remained empty and the world lost of the reason that flowed seamlessly onto the recycled paper of my $1.95 Target brand note pad (since we're putting a price on all things Jeremy now) which would have resulted in further waste of money having not written in the note pad we paid good money for already.

She listened patiently like a trained, seasoned mother to her children... yes, I'll admit that I'm a child and money grows on trees. She then asked in a pleasant yet sarcastically thoughtful tone, "I wonder did the Apostle Paul have lattes to inspire his writings?"

Hmmmm....? Excellent question.

I replied, "No, I don't think those were served in prison." She agreed and said that from now on I should be inspired by the food of the Great Apostle for lunch... bread and water.

I was just glad and relieved that she finally noted my writing on par with the apostle's...

Now, what was it exactly that Paul had said about remaining on the corner of the roof top than in a house with a... what was that again? Who knows!? I just now will be off to work $4.95 worth of over time to compensate my budget busting. (Don't tell my wife, but it will really just be to pad my next week's budget. I like to count my losses and just move forward.)

Thank God for stealing away at lunch to the getaway where no one knows I am but a debit card and a lovingly responsible wife.

Proverbs 30:7-9

2011-08-15T15:09:00.000-05:00

"O God, I beg two favors from you;
      let me have them before I die.
First, help me never to tell a lie.
      Second, give me neither poverty nor riches!
      Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.
For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?”
      And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name." (New Living Translation)

I can't help but think how this text defines our country. Out of meager means, starving to death during winter, unable to sustain ourselves, we began a journey to become a nation free of religious persecution. And God did bless. Then growing rich, we have forgotten God. Oh we remember Him when we become desperate at times. When we need some miracle to sustain our comfort, or to keep us further rooted as transient citizens here below where we aren't supposed to feel at home... then we remember Him.

I can't help think of myself. Of how when things are going so well we are content to blow a kiss toward Heaven Blown kisses are but a long distance disconnect from an actual embrace of the Holy and Divine -- we're too busy to actually run toward Him and kiss Him with our own lips as we're fine to do it from more than an arms length. Who needs the disruption of crossing distance to be near Him? We have all we need and then some.

Grant me these two things as well, God. Give me just enough to satisfy my needs so that there's a constant need to be near You so that I don't forget You and say, "Who is the Lord?" And let me not lie and say "All is well with my soul, for I know Him!" when I do not.

Rich Mullins Quote...

2011-07-27T08:52:00.003-05:00

"Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these my brothers you’ve done it to me. And this is what I’ve come to think. That if I want to identify fully with Jesus Christ, who I claim to be my Savior and Lord, the best way that I can do that is to identify with the poor. This I know will go against the teachings of all the popular evangelical preachers. But they’re just wrong. They’re not bad, they’re just wrong. Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in a beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken..." - Rich Mullins (October 21, 1955 – September 19, 1997)

The above quote was given just prior to Rich's death at a concert. Leading up to his death, he lived on a Navajo Indian reservation in Tse Bonito, New Mexico in a hogan (traditional Native American hut built into the earth) and taught Navajo children music and Christ. He gave all of the proceeds from his music sales to his church and charities and he was paid the national average salary at that time which was around $40k per year. He gave millions of dollars away in his lifetime to the poor and needy.

To read a synopsis of his incredible life and testimony check out this article.

God let us be men and women who live and love like You. Let us not be enamored with the world's system of living. Let us live in this world as citizens of Heaven, knowing that with You is where our true treasures are being kept.

Change me, oh God, by Your Spirit and convict me of all my sins so that I may repent and live my life to love You, Your people and to bring You glory.

Dead Already...

2011-07-26T14:31:00.012-05:00

The thought that "Christians are to be living martyrs," has been swirling over in my mind the last several days. I heard this phrase while I was listening to some old school Keith Green teaching on sermonindex.net and he made this statement, "Christians are to be living martyrs."

I've been praying daily for Youcef Nadarkhani, and I've been careful to not just simply pray that God save his life from being hanged by the Muslim government in Iran. I've asked God to strengthen him for whatever His will is for Youcef. I've prayed for his family and for Iran and that the Gospel would spread through the country like an uncontrollable fire. But in regards to Youcef's life, like mine and yours as a believer, we are to be living martyrs.

"I have been crucified with Christ, it's no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me..." Galatians 2:20 (NIV)

Do we consider ourselves to be living martyrs? If we could transform our thinking to seeing ourselves in this way, that we've already died to Christ, then we don't contemplate our death to come but are overwhelmed by the life we now have.

Have we been truly crucified with Christ? What are the things we are still clinging too in this life that we've not given up for Him? Meditate on this today and tomorrow and the next... have I truly died with Him? Because this is paramount to Christianity. If there has been no death in this life to self, and ego, and pride, and life here on earth, then our attending church, wearing our cross necklaces, listening to Christian radio are all for nothing because these are NOT necessarily the evidences of a crucified life.

To grow we must die. To have we must give. To be something we must become nothing. To increase we must decrease. To be a blessing we must first bless. To be the greatest in the kingdom we must become the least. This is the nature of the kingdom of God in Christ. This type of kingdom living only comes when we have truly died to this life so that we can live in the next. And, really, it's not life delayed but life gained!

Jesus Christ must become everything to us. He must precede and supersede every living priority we have, or ever will have! Faith in Jesus' ability to save will, or it should, result in a self-denying life. This faith in Him should result in a new way of doing things. And it's not just in the doing, but in the being. There is no personal benefit of self-denial in and of itself. If we are giving up things, or attitudes, or "rights" of our former lives in worship to Christ, then we become one with Him in His death and also alive in His resurrection. We become dead to this life only through Christ and alive to God for eternity for His glory alone!

Have we died already? Have we become living martyrs? Do we live our lives in full surrender to His will and His way simply because it IS His will and His way? This is the way of the kingdom and there is no other way but through Christ.

"The call to come to Christ is the call to come and die." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

(un)Explainable Life...

2011-07-22T16:20:00.000-05:00

"I don't want my life to be explainable without the Holy Spirit." -- Francis Chan (from Forgotten God)

Man, think of that statement for a moment... How much of my life (or your life) can be completely explained completely apart from the Holy Spirit? Too much..., maybe nearly everything. I don't want this to be so...

I'm not talking about breathing or the things outside of our cognizant will and pseudo-control. The Holy Spirit provides every person the privilege of our breathing whether they believe in Him or not -- that is irrelevant. What I'm talking about are our accomplishments, hopes, dreams, aspirations, college plans, business plans, marriage plans, sermon plans, church growth plans, Friday night plans, meal plans, vacation plans, miscellaneous funds plans, offering plans, purchase plans, what-I'm-going-to-drive plans, where-I'm-going-to-work plans, what-I'll-name-my-kids plans, where-we're-going-to-church plans, where-we're-going-to-serve plans... get the picture? All of these things are so common place to us that we give little to no thought at all what God's plans are. Most everything we think and do are, for the most part, apart from the Holy Spirit.

What if we lived our lives in such a way that the only way people could explain the things that happened to us or through us is by the Holy Spirit?

How do we change this? Meditate on that. No, seriously... let's meditate on that. Let's seek God and take inventory of everything we have, do, say or plan and give all of it up to Christ. This is what I'm doing in my life. It can be a slow process, but the key is giving up my "rights" to everything. Nothing is mine or my wife's. Not our children, cars, home, clothes, money, plans. If the Lord is willing, we'll do this or that... if the Lord wills we will go to Illinois next week. If the Lord wills, I will leave work at 4:30pm.

Ordering our life around His will begins the process, through faith in Christ to guide us, in an unEXPLAINABLE LIFE. Right now everything is pretty explainable...

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani on Foxnews.com MUST READ ARTICLE*

2011-07-14T16:13:00.000-05:00

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani's story has made the front page of Foxnews.com today! The awareness being raised is refreshing, knowing that the world will have to take note that Christians are being persecuted for their faith in Christ.

This should also be a lesson to us in America. We praise God for the liberty that we have, yet so often disregard. It's a sad state when we can worship so freely and minister to our communities so openly and lack the passion to care to do so. God help us... our brothers and sisters are being beaten and killed for the sake of Christ and we (I!) are more worried about everything else in this life than worshiping Christ!

Keep praying for Youcef. Pray for God's will to be done in Iran. Pray that the Name of Jesus would blaze across the nation of Iran. The church has historically thrived under persecution, so pray the same will be so wherever our brothers and sisters suffer.

"Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ..." Philippians 3:8 (NLT)

Matthew 28:19 (NLT)

2011-07-13T13:40:00.000-05:00

"Therefore, go and MAKE DISCIPLES of all the nations, BAPTIZING them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." Matthew 28:19 (NLT)

Just some questions to consider about this scripture...

First of all, ask ourselves, "Who am I discipling to be a follower of Christ?" Do we come up with any names? If not, then how do we change that?

Secondly, who is this scripture intended to instruct? (Us! The body of Christ. All Believers. Or at least this is the way that I've always heard it preached from every pulpit making the plea for all to go and preach the good news of Jesus.)

Lastly, has the fact that the practice of baptism being relocated to the "ministry" given us "non-ministers" the sense that it's no longer our responsibility to MAKE and BAPTIZE followers of Christ?

I'm sure someone can offer a worthy theological treatise (I know that's above my skill level) on why the "ministry" alone is allowed to baptize people; and hearing it I might concede with their argument. But just a simple reading of this text, acting as if I had never read it before , leads me to believe that this is also a part of my responsibility as a follower of Christ.

Maybe the intention of Christ was to raise up licensed ministers to fulfill these duties. I'm not bemoaning licensing, and I surely can see the chaos that might ensue if every believer was out performing rogue baptisms with no sense of organization or hierarchical structure. The question I ponder though is whether or not the distinction between licensed ministers and the rest of us has sort of mentally relieved us from the duty of making disciples? Have we transferred this responsibility from ourselves to the professionals? This is just something to consider...

And maybe rogue baptisms would be a good problem for the church to have... it seems that if this were the case, it would mean that we were out there fulfilling the commission of the referenced text. I think God might forgive us for that...

Youcef Nadarkhani Update...

2011-07-08T09:22:00.001-05:00

Voice of the Martyrs is reporting that Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani's death sentence has been temporarily repealed by the Iranian Supreme Court. This reportedly happened Saturday, July 2nd, 2011. The Supreme Court had earlier upheld a lower court decision and Youcef was to be hanged (see the above length for more information on the details of Youcef's situation).

According to Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), ""The supreme court has annulled the death sentence and sent the case back to the court in Rasht, asking the accused to repent," Mohammad Ali Dadkhah said."

It's not clear what will happen next if Youcef doesn't recant his faith. It seems that they're repealing his death sentence in order to give him another chance to recant his faith in Christ and will then spare his life.

VOM is also reporting that Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 Youcef's lawyer was arrested and has been sentenced to nine years in prison, along with a ten year ban on practicing law or teaching at any university. His charge is reported by VOM to be "actions and propaganda against the Islamic regime".

Please pray for Youcef, his lawyer and the families involved, as well as the church in Iran.

On Facebook, I've been posting several articles and a letter written by Youcef. I want to bring awareness of what our brothers and sisters are enduring abroad for the sake of Christ's Name. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would give Youcef the strength to retain his faith, not recant, but boldly proclaim the Gospel by his unrelenting stand for Christ.

Please also pray for the persecuted church everywhere. Youcef and his wife and lawyer, sadly, are only one of many families that are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus.

Please visit the Voice of the Martyrs site to see many others who are persecuted as well. This site has much information and many resources available for your use and interests.

Please, let's pray together for all of our brothers and sisters, and that through everything Jesus would be glorified.

About Casey Anthony and Our Attitudes...

2011-07-07T13:34:00.001-05:00

There's a lot of talk in the social media circles currently about the Casey Anthony "not guilty" verdict from this past Tuesday. Most of the talk centers on shock and disgust. The talk that concerns me most is the talk coming from the Christian community. We simply don't know how to deal with this subject and waiver between two extremes. One of hatred and one of veneration of a celebrity. I care what our Christian community has to say on the topic of much debate because whether we want it to or not, it directly reflects who the world sees Christ to be. And right now we're not making Him look that great.

A lot of the Facebook comments I see deal with the outrage that Casey Anthony "got off" for murdering her daughter. Most comments run the gambit of "she may have gotten off now, but God's going to get her for sure!" Or, "She'll get what's coming to her in Hell!" We're even distributing pictures of her and O.J. Simpson together as our own punch lines. I even saw a couple of posts from "Christians" were profanity was used and implied to refer to this "witch" that shouldn't be allowed to live another second. On the other side I've read articles from Christian publications that seem so weak and pacifistic that it doesn't seem the editors would lift a limp wrist to defend their own families if an intruder broke into their homes and tried to harm them.

Everyone, for the most part, has assumed her guilt, largely because of her lies to authorities, her party-girl life style, the various circumstantial evidence, and for not reporting her daughter missing for 31 days among other things. All of these things point to a guilty, or at best, unfit, shady mother in the person of Casey Anthony. However, despite her lies and party-girl lifestyle the bottom line is that we don't really know who killed this poor little girl. This being the case, as a Christian community, we should be very careful in pronouncing God's judgment on a person for a sin we don't know who clearly committed it. This attitude shows clear hatred for someone we don't know is guilty for sure and has now been proven, or tried and found "not guilty" by a jury of her peers in our court system. Has justice been served? Only God and the killer and possible family members know for sure. We the public do NOT.

I typically cry "foul" when Christians quote Matthew 7:1-6 when a Christian wants to deal with or call someones actions sinful. It nearly never fails that someone will quote a part of this text and say, "judge not so that you won't be judged!" I usually point out that they're taking that scripture out of it's intended context. The scripture says that we shouldn't judge someone hypocritically and that we should remove the log from our eye so we can see clearly enough to help our brother with the spec in theirs. We are to help keep people accountable for their sins as well as our own. In light of this verdict, and in regards to the attitudes of a lot of believers on Facebook and other social media, I would say that this scripture would bear some weight in the issue of Casey Anthony. If we have hate for her and what we think she did - by the way, wanting God's judgment to fall on anyone would certainly constitute a level of hatred given the fierce and eternal nature of His wrath - makes us just as guilty of what we presume she did. If we hate anyone in our heart, then we have committed the same sin of murder in God's eyes (1 John 4:20).

The Christian communities' position should come from one of love and understanding that God does bring ultimate justice, even if we perceive that it has been missed here on earth. We should pray for this family because we've seen significant issues and evidence that suggests their lives are not surrendered to Christ and are in need of His forgiveness in a number of areas, much like our own.

Is the murderer off the hook then? Of course not. Should we lament the child abuse that took place? Of course we are. Should we remove the beam that in sin our eye so that we can rightly remove the speck in others' eyes? Yes, of course... if there's a beam there, then remove away! Should we exhibit grace and mercy? Of course. Should we tolerate sin and crime and immorality in our lives and nation? Aboslutely not! This is why we need to be led by His Spirit in all of our dealings. We shouldn't give sin a passing wink, nor should our motives be to want any to perish. God doesn't want any to perish either (2 Peter 3:9)!

This attitude show how ineptly we understand eternal punishment in Hell. We are so quick to resign people there, but we should note that Christ wsan't. The most cruel, deserving-of-Hell-people that I can think of are those who mishandled and crucified Christ. They took the greatest gift ever given to humankind and they trashed Him like garbage. Yet His response was, "Father please forve them, they don't know what they are doing." Even then under excruciating pain He cared for them and didn't want to see God's wrath poured out on any of them, deserving as they were. This doesn't mean that it wasn't, it means that he didn't want it to be if at all possible. That's why He was on the cross taking the sins of us all on Himself and being punished for them for us.

We aren't much like Christ when we become wrath-mongers. Do not mistake that statement for a liberal, bleeding heart, let's-not-punish-anyone-for their-crimes kind of an attitude. Take it for what it is. An understanding that we can't possibly know how terrifying and devastating the wrath of God is and that we shouldn't wish it on any person. Christ has this understanding, and wanted none of us sinners to be apart of it. Let us stive for a deeper love for the dregs of humanity than our current flippant "cast them all into Hell" attitude that some of us carry. Let us hunger for justice for this little girl. Let us pray for justice to come to the murderer as well as their repentance and salvation. But let us not pray with so much venom in our breath. Let our hearts long for what is right, even when what is right becomes difficult to live out. It's not wrong to want justice. It is wrong for us to hate.

One last point I wish to make... in all of our outcry and rage, let us remember to cry out daily to God on behalf of all abused children who are being taken advantage of presently in our world, and not just when they become celebrities on television. Let's cry out to God on their behalf daily. Do we even realize that right now as we read this there is a little girl or boy who is being violently abused by the ones who are supposed to love them the most? Do we realize somewhere in Thai Land there are little boys and girls who are being systemically raped by wicked, evil men for money and to fulfill a sinful lust, some as young as 18 months of age? In Eastern Europe, right now, there are young women who are being sexually exploited and trafficked by ruthless thugs who care nothing for these poor girls who are being crushed and lost to prostitution and drugs forever. Don't our hearts break for these that receive no media attention as well? Or is it just our care to get involved emotionally when our day time television soaps are interrupted and we're forced to finally look and see the evil that's going on in our society every day?

Assaulting God

2011-06-30T15:43:00.000-05:00

The assault on God's image is a sin as old as mankind's original sin. In the Garden, two people decided to strike out on their own and do their own thing. It was for them a sorrowful celebration of self. By their act they "became like God" and by their actions they became something entirely less than what they had hoped.

Their violation was not just in the eating of some random fruit, but their choosing to show God that they can fulfill themselves with lesser things. Remember, their Garden was full of choice fruits with which they could eat their fill without any fear of punishment or disobedience. These intended food sources were, no doubt, of the highest order of creation so as to sustain the highest object of creation... humankind. With their solidarity of action, they shook their fists at God rejecting choice fruits for thistles and thorns... lesser fruits. Think of this for a moment... they chose to sustain themselves on the lesser. Why was it lesser? Because it wasn't intended for them. It was set in the midst of the Garden as a point of choice. God has never desired robots acting mechanically in relationship, but envisioned a creature that He love and who would return His love. After all, this is the essence of His very nature... Love. This is what He is.

In their act of defiance, they assaulted His nature. Rebellion has never been a substitute for love. Love is faithful and kind; it is patient and lasting. True love never fails. Their rebellion was a cataclysmic slight against such a loving God; it was an assault on His Image. It was a strike at His very heart and nature. It was anti-love.

This same assault is happening in America and it seems at an ever increasing rate. Homosexuality is an assault on His Image. God's intentions for humankind were of the purest motivations. He designed for us each our complimenting counterpart in the opposite sex. This complimenting counterpart was designed to bring harmony, completion and expression of His nature. Our joining ourselves to the opposite sex in a marital relationship has so many practical and Divine functions that push mankind forward. Procreation, celebration, completing love, partnership, companionship and only in marriage in each of its functions can we begin to understand the nature and love and relationship we are to have with God our Creator.

For instance, in the function of marriage, once we become parents, we can understand for maybe the first time, the undying love and devotion a father or mother has for a child. As a father, I first began to understand how it was possible for God to love me. I looked at my first child as an infant, who had no talents, skills, could pay no rent, provide no food, who took up all of our time, cried a lot, stunk up our house with dirty diapers, yet in an instance without hesitation I would have jumped in front of a car for him, or gave him my own heart. This is how we first see how God truly loves us so completely. He loves us because we are His.

One more example, in a healthy marriage a husband and wife can experience the intimacy and closeness that God intends for us to have with Him. We know from the Garden account in Genesis that man and woman were created naked and were not ashamed. They walked and worked and talked in the Garden with God and each other naked before Him for there was no need to be ashamed. This wasn't because they were buff and hot and in good physical condition, but because there was perfect trust and love between them and this trust and love never produced fear. Have you ever thought how weird it is that as a married couple you can both be in the bathroom together getting ready to go somewhere and be brushing your teeth together or fixing your hair without a stitch of clothing on and it be completely comfortable, normal, not weird and without any shame? Marriage provides the same context of relationship with which we were supposed to experience in the Garden originally with God. With His model of love, there should be no fear and we can experience a little bit of what He must have intended in the Garden with our spouse.

Sure, some will argue that in their alternative life style they can experience these same things. The difference however is that God is not involved. There's the selfish rebellion again that separated us from Him. In order to be in communion with God the Bible clearly gives us the example that if we don't obey His commands, which is another way of saying -- participating in this life as HE designed it -- then we don't have the light in us (See I John 3). Romans 1 is clear in saying that man and woman have left the natural affections and did degrading, unbelievable, unthinkable things with their same sex. They degraded the relationship God intended and used their bodies in ways God never intended. Again humanity was assaulting God's Image and nature. In that same chapter of Romans, directly in the same context, Paul says that God abandoned them and turned them over to their depravity. He had nothing to do with them and allowed them to live in their degraded, or should I say "lesser", passions.

This lifestyle is an affront and an assault directly on His Image. Satan has taken God's first institutional relationship and has high-jacked it by convincing a percentage of humanity that this lesser fruit is just as desirable and acceptable as His higher-order fruit. The Enemy has deceived our culture and now our nation is choosing to "institutionalize and normalize" homosexuality. Colossians 3 says that because of these sins, God's anger is coming to all who practice sin (read Colossians 3:1-11 for a listing of sins as well as Romans 1). We will see in our lifetime the acceptance by our governing bodies, in full force, the approval of these relationships all over our nation. But guys -- church -- it doesn't make it okay or acceptable.

The scriptures do not change and God will not be mocked by the Enemy for long. God will be long suffering and He will show mercy and grace to those who seek it, but His anger will come and it will not be a time of decadent celebration. Dr. John Piper in the link I've provided above calls it the "new calamity". New in the sense of our institutionalizing and normalizing this type of behavior. Mankind wasn't intended to sustain itself on lesser fruits. God has a greater, purer and more complete plan for His children. He will forgive our sins if we ask, and He requires us to turn from these sins and He does provide a way of escape from temptation for those who have a propensity for such temptations. Through God's powerful Holy Spirit such sins (not just homosexuality, but all sin) can be overcome and we can live in peace with God as He intended originally.

As the church, our response is love and acceptance -- not approval -- but acceptance of such sinners. If we push them away before we ever get to teach and love them in Christ, then they can never be healed from these wounds of sin. We are to share with them the truth because of our love for them and our desire not to see any lost for eternity in Hell. We must pray for them, pray for our nation, and our leaders and show the unconditional love for homosexuals that Christ has for us. This does not mean we should let homosexuals have leadership roles in our churches because of the biblical mandate of holiness that is required to be leaders in the church. We must not be afraid to see sin as God sees sin and we must not be afraid to engage people and governments caught up in these deceptions, but our motives must be for God's glory and not because of our political leanings.

God help us, Your people. Your will is that no one should perish in Hell; please help that to be the will of us, Your people as well. Let our hearts be broken for the lost-ness of the culture around us. Let us be in dire anguish that humankind, apart from You, are tumbling minute by minute into Hell -- that they were never intended for. Please motivate Your people to move beyond the need to have the coolest, hippest churches that have no heart for Your Word despite how difficult Your word may be in the shade of our politically correct sensibilities. We need You God! We need You God...

Social Justice Christianity?

2011-06-23T15:58:00.000-05:00

The seemingly noble endeavor of ending childhood poverty and preventable death wherever they may be found in our world, without providing the Gospel in a lasting and permanent way, is to inflict upon that child an eternity of suffering and loss forever under the banner of do-gooding. To the child with his belly full and heart empty, an unspeakable injustice has been served him.

Think of this for a moment. I just received an email that inspired the above thought (and, yes, you can quote me on it!). Every time we buy a Bible through a particular, and might I add reputable, company a certain portion of the proceeds goes to the efforts of ending childhood poverty, hunger and preventable deaths. It occurred to me that through Social Justice Christianity -- and I question why Christianity has to even be categorized as such -- we can often feel good about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, or healing sick children through medicine only addresses a temporary need. Are these things not needed? Are these not noble and good causes?

"If a person owns the kinds of things we need to make it in the world but refuses to share with those in need, is it even possible that God's love lives in him?" 1 John 3:17 (The Voice)

The Bible says they are worthy. But full bellies and fevers reduced only addresses a worldly and temporary problem. Humanities problem goes much deeper. It's found in the soul. Jesus says in Matthew 16:26, "What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?" (NLT)

There are things more terrible than hunger and poverty. An eternity without Christ Jesus, is an unthinkable divorce from the realm of this temporary life. So Do-Good? Yes! But let's not miss the great for doing the good we should be doing. The greatest gift is the gift of eternal life in Christ. Let's not forget that in our well doing.

Romans 1:20 (NLT)

2011-06-17T15:39:00.000-05:00

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities -- His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

Where Are the Lovers?

2011-06-16T23:54:00.001-05:00

Are there any who love God anymore? Who passionately want Him more than any other? Do any chase after even a moment in His presence? He would give us many. We are much more fond of lesser things.

We can hold lesser things in our grity, dirt-soiled palms, but who can behold the Almighty? He would let us, but do any seek Him?

No we seek every fading thing we can fathom because they offer temporary touching. But what's in a momentary touch but future longing and vague memory of things once held ... or were they? For we can hardly remember them. They don't satisfy for when we put those things back into their paces to fade eternally our memory of them fades as well and we're left longing again. Has He not ever satisfied fully?

None seek Him because He's not a temporary quick fix which is all we seem to stomach. We're whores for now and prudes for later. The eternal seems so distant to our squinting eyes and glory is darkened by drawn shades of ego driven doubt.

He alone can satisfy this insatiable longing with greater things than rags and dust. Do any seek Him?

He makes Himself findable and doesn't hide from those dirt-living weary. Do any love God? He has loved us. Where are His lovers?

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1 John 2:1-2 (NLT)

2011-06-09T13:10:00.000-05:00

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins -- and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

Do Not Love This World...

2011-06-08T08:40:00.000-05:00

Lately, I've been thinking some of Hell. More specifically the people that potentially will fill Hell... to such a degree that it makes itself bigger (meaning more people fall from the edges of this life into its abyss daily).

Francis Chan has a book due out in July called, "Erasing Hell". I've been watching promo videos about this book, reading interviews he's given on why he felt compelled by God to write such a book, etc. It's probably the most anticipated book release I've ever waited for (because I can't think of another!)... but I'm a huge Francis Chan fan. So all the curiosity has got me thinking. As a side note to my curiosity, he's written this book, according to a Relevant Magazine interview, because of all the discussion orbiting Rob Bell's latest release, "Love Wins". It's not the sole reason for his writing but one of the motivating factors.

...So I was driving with my family yesterday through a rough area of the Birmingham metro area and a guy was crossing the street adjacent to us. He was dressed very roughly. He hadn't shaved in a while and looked pretty strung out from drugs or alcohol. This guy wasn't a young kid or teen but was an older gentleman (not ancient for my wiser friends reading this blog) probably pushing fifty or more. That isn't necessarily old, but for the lifestyle this guy is probably living his body is probably 20+ years older inside from the abuses he no doubt has induced on himself. As we passed him, I looked at his face and immediately the question came, "Is he going to one day be in Hell... forever?" The thought sort of jarred me... thinking that this fellow could possibly, if not inevitably, find himself in eternal torment for the life he has chosen.

My next thought was to pull the car over and see if I could talk some sense in to this guy... to see if maybe I could tell him the truth and where his life was leading him. I felt an urgency to almost shout it from the roof tops sort to speak that his life was in mortal trouble and his soul was hanging in the balance of eternity. But I was in a hurry. We were on the way to pick up my son, Caleb, and then we had to run meet a friend at the gym to attempt to make our bodies buff and we were really pressed for time.

The thought occurred to me this morning... who loves this world more? Me or that guy?

1 John 2:15-17 (NLT)

2011-06-08T08:18:00.000-05:00

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

Colossians 3:2-3 (NLT)

2011-06-06T15:33:00.000-05:00

Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.

Weird Like Rain...

2011-06-02T10:29:00.000-05:00

It comes down in drops, or torrents, or a barely visible mist
From up there, somewhere.
If you believe, you know then it comes from Someone and not just something.
If you don't believe, then what a strange occurrence it is.
By chance, unguided, the world gets watered.
Without knowing, its weirdness is exactly what the Earth has ordered.
It is just what it needs
Or its deathly demise would be heaps of tumble weeds.

I wonder when it knew it was needed?
And at what moment was it conceived in the grand scheme of things?
Did the cosmos wait a billion years before it figured it out?
That two parts random gas and one part thin air were needed ingredients
For this primordial soup being stewed without a Chef?

I waited one day in my kitchen for a billion years
And Nothing accidentally cooked any stew for me.

I nearly starved before I realized the simple stew
I could cook for myself from other accidental ingredients
Would taste so good when I stirred the spoon and sipped from it
The concoction that consisted of ninety-five percent water.
Water that came from nowhere,
Unless you can venture to believe that God could conceive
Of something weird like rain.

Remembering...

2011-06-02T09:37:00.000-05:00

Changing the look of one's blog is an exercise in letting go of comfortabilities. It's easy to get comfortable in the way things are, or the way things always have been, and change can come at some discomfort (if you didn't notice I changed my blog's template -- it was difficult, but I managed). This is a good thing, right? I'm only talking of a blog template and not the hard things in life. Many in our area are dealing with a lot of change. Temporary housing, finding a new/replacement vehicle, grieving over people lost in the recklessness of tornadoes.

I'm just reminded this morning that while we've moved on to life as usual, many are still picking up the pieces of shattered lives. Houses can be replaced, cars inevitably will be too, but life is irreplaceable. While we disregard the loss of material goods with a flippant wave of the hand, empty encouragement of "you'll get more stuff" and the promise of a FEMA trailer, many of the homes destroyed perhaps had tiny hand prints in concrete patios with a date of when those reminders were pressed. Just like a song can bring to mind a vivid memory, our homes are where our parents mark our growth on the door frames of our bedroom, the lawns in which we indented with knees and elbows learning to ride our first bike, or the stair case where our pictures were taken with date at arm on prom night. The material possessions all too often are treasure chests full of jeweled memories of our lives which are now being buried in beaches of rubble.

Take time today to remember those whose lives haven't resumed a sense of normalcy yet, and to some degrees will never. Pray for those who are still sifting through the pieces of their lives, thankful they're still alive but wondering where the road before them leads. Be a comfort to a neighbor... or a neighborhood whom you've never met or never lived.

The love being poured out is a testimony to the goodness of God in His people in the midst of devastation. Let us take time to remember and to pray.

Caffee Junction Disaster Relief Facebook Page

2011-05-02T09:48:00.002-05:00

Caffee Junction Church of God has set up a Facebook page called, "Caffee Junction Disaster Relief" that you can "Like" to be updated about immediate needs, ways to volunteer, places that need personnel help, and any information that becomes available concerning the affected areas in our immediate Tuscaloosa and Jefferson counties, as well as outlying areas that need help as well. Please like this page and suggest it to your friends on Facebook. You can find this link through my Facebook page or by searching the name of the page on Facebook.

Once you find the page and "Like" it, you can also subscribe to the page's SMS to receive text updates directly to your cell phone. If you have any questions on how to find the page, subscribe your phone to the SMS, then please email me, Jeremy Hitt, at jeremyhitt@hotmail.com .

David Wilkerson

2011-04-28T16:25:00.000-05:00

I learned yesterday evening, as did most, that Pastor David Wilkerson of Times Square Church in New York City was killed in a car accident.

I very much respected this man as a minister who cared deeply about God's holiness being admonished and upheld in Christian living. He preached of grace and mercy and great salvation and was a Watchman on the walls of this nation. He was unafraid to call us out in our sins against God as a nation, but he was just as equally quick and unafraid to point us to our salvation and forgiveness in Christ Jesus.

His family and church is grieving their loss today, but I'm sure - as their testimony would have it - that "[they] are comforted by knowing that Pastor David has been enjoying the full presence of the Lord for more than a day now."

Concerning dying... D.L. Moody said it this way, "Someday you will read in the papers that Moody is dead. Don't you believe a word of it. At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I was born of the flesh in 1837, I was born of the spirit in 1855. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit shall live forever."

Routine Confessions

2011-04-16T17:55:00.000-05:00

What makes me a true follower of Christ? I've been asking myself this question in a newer way this past week. I say newer because I was around some people who don't go to church and don't profess Christ as their Lord in any open way that I'm aware of. I had to ask myself, "What is different in the way I live my life than how they live theirs?" As well as, "What about my life shows them they need anything different than what they already are experiencing?"

I don't know if those questions make a lot of sense, but the interaction that took place showed me that they and I are really no different in how we live our lives. These people raise their children in a good, healthy affirming way. They are nice like we are. They dress like we dress. Save money like we save. Spend money like we spend. Love the same things that we love. Watch the same shows that we watch. Enjoy the same leisure activities that we enjoy. So I'm curious as to what about my life is different than theirs besides the fact that I attend church twice weekly.

We were in a park in downtown Birmingham where I lied to a crack head about not having money. I say this lady was a crack head but I don't know that for sure. I had a pocket full of cash ($80 to $100 is a pocket full to me which is about what I had) and when she came up to me I just said, "I don't have any money," and kept walking. This was a flat out lie. My wife was standing next to me as we quickly walked past the woman. I whispered to my wife, "I didn't mean to lie." And I didn't. I more meant that I didn't have any money to contribute to her addiction... an addiction I'm assuming she had since she looked the part and came up to me in a park and asked for money. I was just sort of scared and didn't know how to react so I just blurted out, "I don't have any money." Again, a lie.

The truth is I don't have any money... money has me. What gets me it's not even a lot of money. It's just a little money. I know all the household things I need to do with that money. We had ferns and plants to buy. We had a gas grill to buy so we could cook out for our visiting family. We have ball games to buy hot dogs at while we watch our sons play. I couldn't let go of this money to some "crack head".

Confession #1, money -- little money -- has me...

This lady I just assumed was a crack head. Probably a good guess, but I don't know that for sure. I didn't take time to stop and ask her what her addiction is. I didn't take the time to see what she really wanted, in fact she didn't say anything to me really. I think she said, "Hey, sir..." where I cut her off with a lie. What if this lady was an angel (It's more likely she was a crack head, but humor me for a second.)? What if God was giving me some cosmic test that would have catipulted me to Biblical stardome if I'd just taken time to "turn aside and see" what her need really is... okay, she's probably just looking for dope money. I didn't take my time to find out anything about her though and assuming I'm right and she is a crack addict, was my response any better? A lie?

Confession #2, prejudice -- I'm prejudice against crack head looking people...

Would giving her a few dollars have mattered either way? I'll make the argument that enabling her to get drugs, alcohol, whatever wouldn't have done any good for her situation and giving her money would only have staved my guilt and probably further cemented me in my insincere following of Christ. The lie at an opportune time lurking silently beneath the stained glass veneer of a nominal Christian existence would have slipped a little deeper under the skin for perhaps a more opportune time.

Confession #3, lying -- I'm a liar...

My disgust in the whole situation while walking around the park was aimed at God. I asked Him, "When are you finally going to save me?" Everything I feel about my self and see in me says that I'm not really a follower of Christ. What have I given up for the cross? How have I bore any cross, really, of His?

The point of this all is not that I didn't give this lady any dollar bills. Whether I did or didn't really wasn't the point. All of this other stuff is. She was just the crack head preacher that pointed out how I don't really follow Christ in any radical way. I'm safe in my nice neighborhood, at my nice job, with our nice vehicles, in our nice clothes, attending our nice church, in nice weather, eating our nice meals, with our nice-look-like-us friends, typing up our nice blogs, and commenting our nice status updates on Facebook. Hell will be filled with quaint niceness; heaven with radical absurdity.

Confession #4, quaint niceness, I'm both...

Blood Guilt, the Pope and Jewish Exoneration

2011-03-02T13:02:00.001-06:00

The Pope has made an exoneration of all Jews at this time -- and that -- for the crucifixion of Christ in his new book "Jesus of Nazareth: Part II".

This is great for Catholic / Jewish relations but there's just one problem... they are guilty. Actually, both of them are guilty. Actually, WE ARE ALL GUILTY of His crucifixion!

This is not to further the divide of Jewish/Christian relations, but to point out that so long as there is a scripture that says, "for all have sinned and fall short of His glorious standard," (Romans 3:23) that we ALL have blood guilt upon us. Paul wrote that scripture... talk about blood guilt. He was responsible for the persecution of Jesus' followers, so he knew a thing or two about blood guilt and sin. Paul also was able to say, "We've wronged no man..." (2 Corinthians 7:2).

It is true that there was a conspiracy to have Jesus of Nazareth killed. It is also true that many Jews followed the teaching of Christ and became known as "Christian" for following the teachings of Christ. The Pope's teachings are from good intentions, but let's be clear about this: so long as there is sin in humanity, we will forever be guilty of having Christ die on the cross. He loves us so much that He isn't willing that we should die in our sins, separated from Him. God also knew and preordained that the blood of bulls and lambs would not do the trick and be sufficient to eradicate our sin nature. Therefore, He sent Jesus who and lived perfectly, following the will of the Father perfectly... and gave Himself as the perfect, spotless sacrifice so that we -- the ones whom He loves so much -- could be forever free from our sin nature. Now we no longer have a guilty conscience by faith and can stand before God clean and righteous and guilt free.

Let us not forget that our myriad sins drove Christ to the cross. He alone can exonerate us for His death and our sins so that we can have eternal life with the Father!

Leaving Me...

2010-11-07T07:52:00.004-06:00

I kept your scarf;
It was the only thing that I had left of you.

Alone, I was abandoned;
There was no console in your absence.

I wanted to come to you,
To ask you to open again your heart.

But I hurt you too deeply,
And you promised yourself never again.

So here I remain alone,
Leaving me with only your memory.

"Radical" by David Platt

2010-11-06T12:53:00.000-05:00

"Radical" was given to me from a friend via Amazon.com. What a gift from a friend. I had been talking to this friend about some frustrations that I am having with my own life. I was expressing how desperately I want my life to bring God glory but how fearful I am in stepping out, risking it all for Jesus. My friend said, "I have a book you must read."

David Platt is the pastor of the Birmingham, Alabama church, The Church at Brookhills. Brookhills is a very large, mega church in one of the richer areas of the Birmingham metro area but Platt has encouraged his church that they are so blessed so they can be such a blessing. The have taken what many would call drastic steps to make sure they're living radically for Christ.

"Radical" is one of those books that has rattled me, no, to better describe it this book has disturbed me greatly. I've thought so often, arrogantly I might add, that in the area of Christian living I do okay. But this book has the keen sense of using God's word as a mirror to show us where we fall short... no, where we fail miserably. It is easy to get ease in Zion as the scriptures say. The tendency to live life business as usual is just second nature to us. We become so concerned with all things earth that we give little to no attention on where are citizenship is supposed to be as Christians. Our life given to Christ should be just that... given to Christ. That means we are no longer our own. We no longer follow our own will or desire. We hold nothing back from Him. We surrender all sensibilities to live comfortably upon this cursed earth because we've been enjoined to Christ eternally. We have stared our sins in the face, seen how we are corrupt and wicked and miserable and have seen full face the grace purchased for us through the glorious Christ. To live as though nothing much has changed is to make a mockery of Christ's wonderful gift.

What if we lived radically? What does radical living look like? Christ was a radical. He lived radically. He was hated vehemently by the religious establishment and was killed. If our lives aren't hated by the world, then we're living safely... not radically. Radical living is peculiar living. It's holy living. Peculiar holiness will rile the comfortableness of a world violently opposed to Christ. He calls us to live radically... radically opposed to the world's way of selfishness and giving up every worldly comfort to go and spread the gospel.

This is a wonderfully challenging book that I recommend anyone wishing to shed stagnate religion to pick up and prayferfully read. The book is rad, dude... (okay, I couldn't help myself!).

Thank you friend for your Amazon gift...

Communion at Emerge... "On the night of His betrayal..."

2010-11-05T13:41:00.000-05:00

Emerge is our twenty-something college and career Bible study we have on Thursday evenings. We meet at various places in our metro area, normally McAlister's Deli, Fool Moon, Chick-Fil-A or at my home. The group has grown so much over the last year in our common unity, so last night was our first time to share the communion meal together in our home.

It was an awesome night of hanging out and thinking about our lives and purposes for which can only be properly seen through the body and blood of Christ.

As I read the various passages where Christ shared communion, a thought occurred to me in how Paul referenced this shared meal. He said, "On the night of His betrayal..." and it made me think: Here was Jesus with the disciples and they were sharing this most intimate holy rite. What other communion could rival the one that Christ Himself served so symbolically moments before He'd be betrayed and actually shed the blood they were at that moment, in that meal, honoring?

The irony of how near they were to their salvation, their Savior, and yet the meal is marked by being the night of His betrayal. In just moments after eating and drinking, Judas would slither off to the shadows to purchase his eternal fate. In mere hours, Peter would be marked by a renunciation times three of ever having known Jesus. The other ten would abandon Jesus in the garden at the sight of the temple guards. And even with that foreknowledge, Christ was the common-unity that brought them all together and would ultimately bring each of them together again in forgiveness.

With this in mind, I remarked to the Emerge group that we were about to share the same meal and we too are each on the eve of our own betrayals of Christ. It may not come Thursday night or even Friday, but if given enough life (it really won't take much life sadly) upon this earth we will miserably fail Christ and in a sense abandon Him as equally as the disciples had. Yet on that same evening... the evening of His betrayal... the evening of our own betrayal of Him... they were holding in their hands the elements that would wreck any such betrayal of lasting any longer than the deed itself. In the body and in the blood is our own forgiveness... And as we shared together in the communion with each other, and with Christ ever so present, we are to keep Him in rememberance until He comes... until He comes.

Great is the faithful forgiveness or our Christ and Lord despite our faithfulness to rebellion and sin!

Marcella and the Moon...

2010-11-01T19:03:00.021-05:00

Marcella is a duck that paints the moon each night while other ducks go to swim in the moonlit lake. She isn't well like by the other ducks as she is seen as an outsider and not like them. She paints the moon each night in succession and she notices that each evening the moon gets thinner. Finally, the moon isn't visible at all and the other ducks don't know where the moon has gone (these ducks are apparently only 28 days old). They go to find Marcella to see if she knows where the moon might perhaps be. She explains to them that they shouldn't worry because the next evening the moon would return (Marcella must be 30 days old). And just as the duck prophetess predicts, the moon does return and the ducks are all relieved... and of course live happily ever after.

"Marcella and the Moon" reminds me of what Paul discussed with the Christians that gathered at Corinth. "Can the body all be an eye," he asks? He responds to his own question: "Of course not, what an odd thing it would be."

Marcella's love was to paint. The ducks that wouldn't be friends with Marcella all loved to swim instead of paint. Once the disappearing moon dilemma was resolved due to Marcella's... uh, gifts (see where I'm going?) they invited her to swim in the lake.

Like Marcella, God has given each of us gifts or talents that benefit the group, i.e. body, as a whole. Our desire to paint the moon is His desire to equip the body for the task at hand. We often quote the text, "God will give us the desires of our hearts" as a spiritual key to get all the toys we've ever dreamed of getting. While He does desire to give us good gifts as the perfect Father, I think I can make a decent case, from Psalm 37, that those who delight themselves in the Lord will be given the desires of (or implanted into) their heart. In other words, a life God orders will have His desires at heart. It's almost like a quid pro quo relationship, yet one we cannot earn by returned favors. He delights in our heart as we delight in His heart.

Even though Marcella wasn't well received, and just because you are willing to follow God by using your gifts and talents for Him, doesn't mean you'll be well received. Your desires and talents may be weird in others' less discerning eyes, but God uses a few of us odd birds (pun intended) to benefit the whole duck group here on this universe's big moonlit lake.

So follow His calling... paint the moon. Some freaked out ducks are going to need you!

Crazy Love by Francis Chan...

2010-10-29T15:08:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. I'll admit openly that I was reluctant to read any of Chan's books. I unfairly lumped him in with the Emergent crowd of too-cool-for-school, hip new pastors that I aspire to be, and being how I don't like myself too much, I figured I wouldn't like him either (read that again, but now with sarcasm - I do like myself sometimes). This couldn't have been a more wrong appraisal of Chan. He is now one of my heroes and, as a side note, will be at Winterfest this year in March. (Heck yeah we're going!)

"Crazy Love" for me was crazy bad, but in a good way. As with his other book, "Forgotten God," it was terribly difficult for me to read because it points out so easily how I've become a nominal Christian (something I'm allowing God to remedy at all costs). At one point, hours after my allotted reading time for the day, I remember stating out loud to myself "to know this and to not change is to damn my own soul." The temptation now is to forget having read this book and seeing the light that has broken the darkness of a spirit gone to sleep. There's nothing more easy than being spiritually benign.

I've also realized that the lukewarm people of Revelation 3 were not in fact Christian people. It is impossible to be lukewarm and to be Christian, which Chan drills home in page after page of examples of how we too have become lukewarm. I don't want to be God's spit! I want to bring Him the most honor and glory that can be mustered by a Spirit led life.

I really do recommend everyone read this book who is serious about loving Jesus... really loving Jesus. I've got some changing to do...

Pacifier...

2010-10-26T13:36:00.002-05:00

My wife found her hiding behind the overstuffed olive colored chair in our living room. The perfect cover for a four year old not wanting to be caught with her passy. Now how she came across this passy is still not clear to us. We’ve not had a passy in our house for nearly two years. Annsley was a sucker (pun intended) for a pacifier.

Ever since she was able, she had a pacifier firmly in place and was to never be without it. Pamela and I thought we’d never break her from her pacifier. We pictured her graduating from college diploma in hand, passy in mouth, waving to her family that was trying not to be noticed to be related to the passy sucking graduate. But through persistence and much bribery our little Annsley was broken from sucking a passy by the age of almost four. Not bad, right?

Her dependence upon her pacifier was so much that I had to drive to Wal-Mart at eleven o’clock at night to buy a new one, and it had to match perfectly, when hers was lost; something I swore I would never do (Father, please forgive for I have sinned). Once she had been broken of her dependence on taking a pacifier, we burned those wretches (threw them in the trash actually) in the style of spinning wheels being burned in “Sleeping Beauty.” However, like “Sleeping Beauty,” there was one lone spinning wheel, I mean passy, that was forgotten about. And when Annsley found the passy the other day she again didn’t want to give it up. Her mother argued with her reminding her that she was a big girl now and didn’t need a passy any longer. Annsley argued back that she was a big girl who needed a passy. Her mom shot back that when her daddy got home he would be mad that she was not his big girl any more since she was sucking a passy (a low blow I thought). But persistent, Annsley shot back that she could have it until her daddy got home. Touché. She takes after me…

But God invented mothers and put a brain inside their heads. “Mother” was the version 2.0 of “father” and the brain was the upgrade that we fathers didn’t get. In a stroke of pure brilliance, my brain-headed-wife suggested that Annsley give her passy to a baby that really needs a passy. It was a bit manipulative given the fact that we’ve been teaching our children there are kids in the world who have nothing and we need to learn to share our blessings with them. And in the style of a slick televangelist, Pamela pleaded with Annsley shedding a tear and using the TBN tactic of “just sow your passy-seed right now and God will pour blessings of big girl stuff upon you.” Pamela then showed Annsley pictures of all the passy starved children living in the Sudan. At this, I suggested that Pamela stop watching TBN. But she was able to convince Annsley to “mail” her passy to a baby girl that needed a passy. (I also then forbid Annsley to ever watch televangelists as well. She was too susceptible to the manipulation.) So together mother and big girl found an envelope, placed the pink passy into the envelope and she helped Annsley write a letter to “Babies”. The envelope was addressed “To Babies” and the letter said,

“Please give this passy to a baby girl who loves pink,” (her words) signed Annsley.

So mommy and big girl walked to the mailbox dropped in the letter and walked back to the house for fresh big girl cupcakes (also part of the bribe… or God’s blessings, I can’t remember which).

And do you really have to ask? Of course when I got home from work I checked the mail, secured the contents secretly under my shirt and then placed the envelope, the letter and the pink passy in the top of our closet. I just wanted to be sure that when my little big girl was old enough to move off to college, that she could find it in the top of our closet so she would have the passy for her college graduation day.

Scary Sister

2010-10-22T07:45:00.000-05:00

Eye of newt, witches brew,
A ghoulish, gaggle mummy crew..
You know what scares me?

I sure do.

Nothing but my sister
In her princess costume!

Coming Calamity...

2010-10-21T09:29:00.001-05:00

I've gotten several comments from a reader of my blog (I didn't know I had any of those!) who was asking some questions about the posts I made about some dreams that I had a couple of years ago about coming calamity to our nation. Since those few posts, and David Wilkerson's "Urgent Warning", with exception of the looming recession, it seems we've been business as usual in America. Nothing so far has happened. No calamity. No collapse. No decimated city. And no further dreams or words of wisdom or knowledge or messages from God have come concerning this. Things have been quiet.

I'm no "wrath monger" so to me this is a good thing, especially to my human sensibilities because who in their right mind wants to see wrath from God? If there are any out there, then we have no clear understanding or fear of the terrible God that exists. Wrath isn't nice. Wrath from such a cosmic deity as God would be the most unthinkable, terrible thing that could ever happen to a people group in any time in our human existence. Francis Chan wrote in "Crazy Love" (and I'll paraphrase), that if our mind is the size of a soda can and God is countless vast oceans, then how do we think we can understand Him by what little water we can scoop into our can?

The silence makes me even question what I saw "in the light". Did I really dream something from God or am I taking it that way? Was God really speaking to me, or did I just assume those were spiritual dreams? One wise person said, "It's easy to doubt in the dark what you saw in the light." Which is so true. I had no doubts what I saw at the time, but time and distance from the dreams makes it harder to hold onto especially when those dreams and sensings aren't fresh and have grown stale with age.

So what do we do???

I'm glad you asked...

First, we recognize that the problem of our distance from God is real. We must see the ways in which we hold more tightly to this temporary world than we do His eternal kingdom. This causes us not to regard Him so highly in all aspects of our lives.

Once we recognize this, then we should pray and turn away from our clutches of this world by letting go of the things we hold more closely to our hearts than Him. We should ask Him to help us through out our inhibitions that keep us from proclaiming Christ Jesus to our neighbors out of fear for what they may think of us. We must learn to love those who are in love with this world and see every one as the one Jesus died for.

Second, we should prepare our hearts for whatever God's will may be. When we try to figure out the details of such things, especially where details weren't given in prophecies, dreams, etc., we run the risk of missing God's plan because it doesn't match our imaginings or our own plan and how we see things. Remember, He is the author of such things and if we desire to know what the author means then we should ask Him and not guess. If He is silent, then we shouldn't make things up according to our own understandings. Look, we don't have to be in control of every situation. He apparently doesn't want us knowing everything so we will trust in Him instead of our own devising of how to get ourselves out of the mess we're in. We are only capable, apart from Him, of messing things up not making them better.

And, lastly, we shouldn't despise prophetic utterances. I have a tendency to do this even though it seems that I've written things under God's anointing that would be labeled as such. The scriptures teach us to not despise prophecy but try everything according to the Spirit. I'm on no ego trip, so if I've missed it then I'll be the first to admit my error and ask God to forgive me and receive my stoning under His grace. My intentions were to report His word not to manufacture His word. This isn't a confession that I have missed it. Jeremiah preached for 39 years before God performed what Jeremiah was speaking for Him. Our trust is in the Lord, and to quote Jim Elliot, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot not keep to gain what he can never lose." When our life is given to Him completely, it's then our life has never been more sure.

I'm resigned to wait upon the Lord, teach my family to honor God in Christ with all of our hearts and live to bring Him glory upon this Earth. Great is His faithfulness forever.

Gonbies...

2010-10-20T15:51:00.001-05:00

Gonbies are Zombies
We no longer see.
They were here before
But not no more...
They're Gonbies,
Can't you see?

Wishing for Winter Near November... In Alabama...

2010-10-18T20:01:00.000-05:00

"Let me pretend like it's Winter,
So I can wear my new scarf around,
And slide on my pink gloves that Mommy has found."

"I'm in the Winter now," she pretends,
"Let me go put on my jacket."

"Daddy, can you help me put it on?
The zipper is too tough
For my fingers covered in gloves."

"Sure, baby, but just for a minute
It's much too warm still
Even though it's almost November."

"Why isn't it Winter yet, Daddy?
I want to wear my new scarf and gloves!"

"No worries, my dear.
It will be cold enough,
As soon as March is near."

Gathered 'Round...

2010-10-15T15:20:00.000-05:00

To be gathered 'round with friends and family
Makes hearts warm as together we
Give thanks for blessings with bended knee
To our God above who, one day, we'll see
Gathered 'round with those He'll be
Who aren't here to hug so happily
Their hearts more sure than ours may be
Till we all are gathered 'round eternally

From Cold Rain...

2010-10-14T08:21:00.000-05:00

Cold rain drizzling.
(Entombed indoors all day.)
Warm drink sipping.
(Layered blankets, a shallow grave.)
Bound heart freeing.
(Lazy day with you. Oh, keep raining!)

Elsewhere holds my heart in vain,
But here with you from cold rain.

No Hitter!

2010-10-13T16:33:00.001-05:00

The ball was thrown
And the wind was blown
When the bat was swung
As their heads were hung
Because I just pitched
My first no hitter!

Fall Is Upon Us...

2010-09-21T14:50:00.001-05:00

It’s hard to believe that Fall is here, calendar-ly speaking; the thermostat laments another tune. Arguably, Autumn is the greatest season we’ve been given. (I will argue differently in the Spring and Summer. No one defends Winter, however.) There’s so much coziness that is brought upon us, or its need for coziness, while the wind chills the air causing us to wrap up a bit more tightly before we head out on all our goings about. The burnt color palette of turning leaves is picturesque and invites us to bonfires and roasting marshmallows with friends and family. Our summer desires of candied flavored snow cones and fresh squeezed lemonade are no longer the song of our taste buds. The tune has turned toward warm jazzy notes of pumpkin spiced lattes and caramel macchiatos, or more simply to the sweet yearning lilt of a tune – hot chocolate.

Hayrides and pumpkin patches abound as does the desire to snuggle up to a terrifically plotted scary movie… not too scary, mind you. The thrill of bundled up ballgames on Friday nights and walks in the early evening under a sprouting harvest moon makes the Fall a great time for love. Whether it’s the excitement of a young, new romance or the frisky flirting of one more mature, there’s just something about this season that gets in ones skin.

Autumn is felt and smelled as much as it is lived in. It’s identified by the turning of things and more sadly by the loss of some of those same things. I say, for one day far from now, “Bury me in the Fall underneath flamed turned foliage of some beautiful oak or aspen, as the leaves swirling-ly descend downward to fresh dug dirt of dire demise, my spirit will be able to ascend upward through bejeweled boughs as I go up, up past yellowed moon and dazzling sparkle of evening stars.”

Falls is upon us…

You Move Me Still...

2010-09-20T14:50:00.001-05:00

You move me;

I move away from You.

You call to me;

I ignore still.

You’re there for me;

I love only me.

You would die for me;

I fashion a crown of thorns.

You defeat death for me, rising from deathly hallows;

I build castles over your grave and crown “I” as king.

You are relentless;

And I am relentlessly, evilly indifferent to You.

You pull on heart-knitted-strands whispering to me that “You are near…”

I see my kingdoms void of truth then You move me still.

I fall under the weight of Wind-Strewn-Conviction…

You call to me.

Your whisper-breath-presence over my fluttering, vapid heart gives rise to sweeping chills of possibility.

You’re there for me, always there for me…

You’re relentless in pursuing the "No-Good-Gift-of-Me…"

I’m at my end.

I relent...

You relieve...

We rejoice.

You move me still…

Then Comes My Answer...

2010-08-24T12:54:00.001-05:00

After writing the blog below (If you're receiving this via email, then you should pause here and read the one below first... same thing if you're here on the actual site too...) I received an article from Relevant Magazine. Please read it here.

It's amazing to me how frustrating things can be, then God sends a great little article my way that puts the ocean at ease and calms torrential rain and winds into gently blowing breezes to caress the soul.

Thank you, God, for listening...

Some Frustrations on Talking...

2010-08-24T11:09:00.001-05:00

What was I really expecting? Someone to fix me? Someone to really tell me what is on God's heart? Did I really think that talking to a stranger would someone how shed light into murky twilight?

The ability to listen... really listen is lost if it ever was found. I've lost it; you've probably have lost it as well. It cost money to have someone listen, comes in bursts of 55 minutes and at the end you can get drugs. Really, all we do is listen to respond. We're so busy thinking of what will we say next to this person who is going on and on about themselves, while all along we've zoned out on what they are saying to see what we will say next. How do I know this is true? Because I do it. Because it was done to me yesterday. We must all be in the same boat not listening to each other just aimlessly being pushed about by the current of the ocean called conversation. The ocean's name should be changed to Monologue.

I don't know what my expectations were of a meeting I had yesterday to discuss spiritual matters, but whatever they were they weren't met. Could I have met them if someone else came to me? Of course not. And what, again, was I really expecting? The guy to roll out blue prints of my life and say, "Put a nail in plank "A" to attach it to platform "B", then "ta da!" your life now has purpose.

That's all we want, right? Purpose and direction. Why, then, do I expect that two guys speaking together on the topic of something so specifically unknown will more easily come to the "God's Heart" conclusion than actually going to God and seeking His heart? I guess I would just like things quicker than God cares to answer. But what's so bad about waiting on Him? Okay, so God doesn't speak to me in a burning bush... doesn't that just mean that I keep doing what I'm doing until something is specifically said to me in my heart from God; all the while trusting that God is tremendously more skilled in getting me where He wants me than I ever have been of going to that same place by my efforts of following?

We all want to be heard to some degree, rarely do we find anyone listening. I bet Jesus was a good listener... and, yeah, He got crucified too.

Dear Diary... Frustrated. But I will wait upon the Lord... that's probably the point of all my frustrations in the first place.

I Run In God's Goodness...

2010-07-29T11:23:00.000-05:00

We went to run again (last blog about running... I promise) this week and, as is common in southern summers, a storm came up suddenly. I wanted to run outside, Pamela my lovely wife, wanted to run in the gym. On a treadmill. Boo! But I'm pretty persuasive (as her even marrying me will attest too) so she agreed to run outdoors with me at the "Y". My gift isn't as good as it once was because as the storm came up and the rain began it became more persuasive than I and pushed her indoors. However, along with being persuasive, I'm also stubborn, so I ran outside in the rain anyway.

The rain was barely coming down on my walk out to the track, but as I began my run, making the first of eleven laps, as we southerners say, "The bottom fell out." It was invigorating to run in the rain, and I often focus on thinking certain trains of thought to drown out the time and pain it takes me to run several miles. My train of thought on this day was, oddly, rain. I began to think about how we typically act when it rains. We run for cover or stay indoors because goodness knows we need enough sense to get in out of the rain.

A scripture then came to mind, one that I often hear quoted out of context, "God causes it to rain on the just and the unjust." This text is often quoted when something bad happens to someone. "Well you know what the Bible says, it rains on the just and the unjust!" Or, "Hey neighbor! I just found your beloved pet in the street, dead from being hit by a car. But you know what the Bible says, 'It rains on the just and the unjust!'. And I know you're a good church going Christian so I thought I'd just throw that little nugget of scriptural goodness out there to make this bad situation seem somehow better. Have a good day neighbor!" Or something like that...

Anyway, the text is meant as a good thing. God blesses everyone whether they are good or un-good (I know, not a real word). He causes the rain to still come down upon the cursed Earth causing crops to flourish, the ground to be cleaned and cisterns to be filled. Rain is God's goodness on us all. So on this particular run, I ran in God's goodness.

As I focused on this train of thought, my mind went to so many places in this metaphor. I began to think of the rain as the presence of God. (I know, weird and new-age-y...) The first thing I noticed was the rain blinded me. It was raining so hard that I couldn't see well. I thought of how blinding God's true presence is insomuch as to keep Israel from seeing Moses' face for many days by being in God's presence. It is so Other than what we are. I thought of how the priests couldn't stand to minister in God's presence. This was sort of a blindness to them because His presence hindered them from their job, which was a good thing.

Rain was all in my eyes, running down my face, covering me completely. It came pouring in at a hard slant from the west and I was running directly into it. It's driving wind was an obstruction to my efforts. It struck me then that so is God's presence. His presence is an obstruction to my own efforts. Everything that I try to do in my own efforts, if I am to be like Him, He becomes obstructive to. He won't allow us to just "get along" in life outside of His plan, I mean, unless we want to live in total rebellion. I also thought of the obstruction as a testing of sorts. How, in life, God orchestrates tests to try our hearts and to strengthen our characters. The force of wind and rain in my face, and given the fact that this portion of the track is up hill, it made me want to stop running for the opposition. It was no longer easy. But as I urged onward and rounded the turn of the track, the wind became a force to drive me forward. It was as though my broad back became a sail and the wind and rain pushed me forward causing me to run a bit faster than before. The presence of God does this too. It propels us forward. What was once a trial often becomes our experience making us stronger and wiser. We are no longer weak.

I thought then of how the rain saturated everything around me. Where can I go to escape the presence of the LORD? The ground was soaked, the trees were soaked, the concrete was soaked, the intangible air seemed soaked including myself. Then I thought, "There it is! I'm saturated in the presence of God." And my heart turned to prayer during this run, "Lord saturate my life with your presence." But then I had the thought that this is the wrong metaphor. This was an Old Testament metaphor for the Holy Spirit where His presence would come down on man and aid him. The New Testament metaphor is different, better... He'll not just be near (on) us, but He will be in us as a well springing up. He swims in us, not the other way around. Which prophet was it that was told to wade out deeper? But now the Spirit that prophet was in is surging inside us as an altering force, changing and moving us.

As I neared the end of the run, I began to be driven by the desire to finish the race in the rain. It looked as though it was about to subside and stop altogether. I wanted to finish my race in the rain. And there it was again. I want to finish the race of my life in the rain of His presence. I want to push on through life's difficulties and trials not by stopping when it's difficult, but by trudging onward when it's tough and be driven by Him. The force sent to weather me will soon be the force sent to will me forward... to finish the course. I was then reminded that unlike the rain, He abides and doesn't cease.

Every time I experience God's creation like this, I'm reminded and convicted, that this - the elements - are enough to point me to Him; that all of nature testifies of His goodness.

I could have ran inside beside my lovely wife on a treadmill safe from the rain. And that wouldn't have been a bad thing. She would have made the indoor scenery beautiful. But would I have had this conversation? She just puts her earbuds in and listens to music anyway. Outside, out in the rain... I ran in God's goodness.

I Run Birmingham...

2010-07-26T12:52:00.004-05:00

Last Thursday I thought I'd take a run on my lunch break. We are members of the YMCA (affectionately known as the "Y") but I didn't want to run indoors. At the last moment before getting into my truck and heading off to the "Y", I took off from my work parking lot and headed via jog toward the East, toward Birmingham.

I love the city. Not just any city, but this city in particular. From the parks in Highland, to the cafes of homewood and downtown. I love going down to five points and getting something to eat before the place is taken over by the bar dwellers of night. I bank downtown, I read downtown (love the Birmingham library) and now, as of Thursday, I run downtown. I run Birmingham.

I started my run over the First Avenue bridge next to old Sloss Furnace, the city skyscrapers stretched out before me. They seemed so distant, but with every pounding step they grew larger and larger until they loomed over me cooling me with their shadows from the noon time sun. I felt as though I was on an adveture of sorts, not knowing where I was going... just running.

As I ran though, as I often do, I prayed. A particular prayer began to creep up from my heart and into the mouth of my mind, "Can this city be saved?" As I began to pray this, I became overwhelmed at the task of serving the city in such a way that its residents would know Christ... that its businesses would know Christ. I began thinking of revival to the city that would have to come in Biblical proportions for the whole of it to be touched. Then I felt despair in thinking who could go? Who could undertake such a venture? Who could bring a sufficient crusade? Do crusades even work?

I ran down Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd, down to the public library, around the block, up 22nd Street and then left back on First Aveue away from the city. As I headed back over the long bridge, the city to my back and no longer in site, it struck me how out of sight out of mind we are in our churches and how we've retreated safely from the city to the suburbs. Oddly, my prayer had ceased as well no longer able to see the towering buildings.

Now, days later, I'm off to run in the comfort of my neighborhood with its well manicured lawns and parked bass boats and away from the homeless who sleep under Birmingham's bridges. I wonder if I'll pray for the salvations of my fellow suburb dwellers as well? Or will I simply pray for a bigger house? Then I wonder which prayer God will answer?

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"With Your Seed to (insert ministry here)... You Will Receive"

2010-07-15T16:31:00.001-05:00

I just received an email from (insert ministry here) asking for my "seed"... now, I double checked to make sure I knew just exactly what it was they were asking, then realizing they were asking for me to give a monetary offering, I thought, "Why don't we (nominal Christian ministries) just come out and say what we really want?"

The very fact that we call money "SEED" shows the manipulative manner in which we (nominal Christian ministry of choice) will stoop to get peoples' money. The fact that I'm just seeing this use of the word "SEED" as manipulative shows the length to which I've been exposed to pseudo-Christian ministry manipulation so much so that I've never thought of it this way before.

Our wording is wrong..., it's all wrong!

God loves a cheerful giver, and I love to give cheerfully. However, what I don't love is how our modern celebrity ministry builds such expensive big budget ministry that the poor have to support it instead of the poor receiving a hand up by the ministry itself. Sure, I also understand the planting and harvesting metaphor the Bible uses to teach how God blesses when we give. This doesn't excuse anyone from still being manipulative, especially in the name of Christ. The very spirit of using religious language to get more bank roll for (insert ministry here) shows how spiritually/religiously manipulative we've become and we've done so without even noticing (or caring).

Why don't we just come out and say, "Here's an opportunity to give your money to support (insert ministry here)." We've created an entire language that doesn't relate to the world's understanding. It's like our own little secret club with secret words. And you have to be in the club to get the lingo. This sorta goes against the commission, right? We're disconnected from the ones we're sent to by our weird use of terminology... "Christian-ese", if you will allow to borrow an overused cliche. I would respect (insert ministry here) International® if they would just be honest in their robbing the poor by guilting them into "receiving" something from God because of the promise hidden in the manipulative language.

My wife and I (okay, my kids too) are tremendously blessed and we trust God completely for our sustenance. But we don't go around using the false-faith-formulas (isn't the letter "F" the sixth letter in the alphabet? False-Faith-Formula + 6asle-6aith-6ormula... 6-6-6... I think I'm onto something!) we see plastered all over the television to try to manipulatively pull something from Christ's hands so I can be "blessed". He is a good God. He knows what we need. And if we know the good God intimately, we'll know He's trust worthy and that we don't have to scam Him so that He'll finally bless us.

I guess I'm ranting a bit... just hate to see such overtly-subtle (that's possible, right?) language being so prevalently used in the Church; who really has the greatest thing going for us... Christ. I wonder why we need more than Him?

"Jim and Casper Go To Church" by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper

2010-07-14T10:57:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading the book "Jim and Casper Go To Church" by 30 year veteran pastor, Jim Henderson, and Atheist "church rater", Matt Casper. The book was recommended to me, and upon hearing the premise, well, let's just say I was intrigued... .

The nutshell version is that Pastor Jim hires Atheist Casper to go to twelve churches in America and simply give his impression and observations of the churches they visit.

They visit Saddleback, Willow Creek, The Mosaic Church, Imago Dei, Mars Hill (Seattle), Lakewood, The Potter's House, et al. See why I was intrigued? The idea is that we Christians, for the most part, have been to church all of our lives and well, frankly, when looking at how we do church we can't see the forest for the trees. I was intrigued at what an "un-churched" non-believer would see when viewing the creme-of-the-crop, or as Jim Henderson described Saddleback, "the Super Bowl of Churches."

Casper the Atheist makes very blunt observations that really made me question, "What are we doing? And why are we doing it like this?" The question he kept asking the Pastor Jim, after seeing the big celebrity preachers, the laser lights, fog machines, polished "slick" bands singing songs with no soul, the contrived smiles of congregants, being told to be friendly to your neighbor (as though Christians should be told to do this during our meetings or anywhere else for that matter), the compulsory appeals to give so that the big show can be promoted, mega churches, mega ministries, mega egos, and mega bucks was, "Jim, did Jesus tell you guys to do all of this?"

The thing about this book is that it left me feeling despair. Not because of its overly cynical tone, which it wasn't. They were both surprisingly objective in their subjectivity. What left me in despair was because it's true. It's true. It is true... .

I see the problems all the time with the way we conduct church and with the way we the church conduct ourselves. We jump from church, after church, after church going to where we can be "most blessed" or "fed" or because (my favorite) "God is leading us elsewhere," or whatever lame excuses we use to lie about the real reason we are leaving a particular church. Does God really call us to go somewhere else so often so that we can sit more comfortably in some other church's pews and occupy space? I'm not saying it never happens, but why does it always seems to happen to those who are most disgruntled, or hurt or offended? And it seems to always be to a church that is bigger and better. Why doesn't God ever call us to some mission work where we can be useful in some regard? It's really the excuse we give because it removes the responsibility from ourselves, after all, who can blame God for moving us, right? This seems rampant in the pulpit as well and not just in the pews. Ministers are always, seemingly, called to be bigger better places - promotions, if you will. This doesn't discount the countless hundreds of ministers who faithfully hold their places of obscurity, painfully praying for God to move amongst us. But, I'm convinced that God isn't going to move anytime soon. I have a hard time believing He will simply "Pour out His Spirit over our mess," to quote someone I know who gloriously knows a thing or too about obscurity (and I mean that in a good way).

The reason too this book was so despairing is because of its passive call to 'otherness'. James 4:17 says, "If you know what's right to do and you don't do it by ignoring it and going on living like you never knew, then you are guilty, sinful and wretched" (paraphrase mine). Now that I know that we are going about this all wrong, how do I live from this point on and not grieve the Holy Spirit?

Radical change must occur for us to become the church and stop going to church (to borrow a "right-on" cliche), because really that can't happen. We cannot go to church just as though no one can go to tree. (silly, huh?) You might stand near a tree, but you can't go to something that is. You can't go to something that is living. You are either the living thing or you are around or near the living thing and, by implication then, you are not the living thing. (makes sense? sort of?) We can stand near the church that happens to be in a building where we might be at that time on Sunday morning, or we can be the church that is, and, as we live and go and are in the world, we then are that thing.

So the question we have to ask ourselves, am I the church or am I simply around the church? If we answer the question that we are the church, then, remembering a question quoted from Francis Chan in my previous blog "Forgotten God", "What about my life makes the world be in awe of Christ?" Because frankly, a single Atheist named Matt Casper wasn't in awe with the Christ we claim to be buddies with. Despite the latest great technology and celebrity. The church only needs one celebrity; the One hated by the world not loved by it...

"Forgotten God" by Francis Chan

2010-07-07T15:54:00.001-05:00

I was a slow comer to reading anything by Francis Chan. I know, some of you will gasp since you've been reading him since "Crazy Love" (almost next on my list... almost). I filed him away as an uber-hip, emergent type that likes to say cool and deep things from behind funky-thick framed glasses while dawning cool hair, a prius, sipping coffee and thoughfully contimplating the next thing they're going to say while looking cool saying it... and contemplating it type. I was wrong. Again. (So that's why Jesus said Matthew 7:1-2 - thankfully Jesus numbered stuff to make it easier for us to quote Him.)

Before going on our tenth anniversary cruise, I prayed to find a book to read while abroad (Can you say that if you go on a cruise? I've just always wanted to say that, I mean... we were in Mexico). Something struck a nerve to me about this book..., it was on sale. Not really, but it was in the pre-cruise budget my wife gave me and it looked cool, so I picked it up. I only read a couple of chapters while on our tenth anniversary cruise, better things to do I guess, but I wasn't at all prepared for the book.

Now before you go running off and downloading this eBook to your Nook, eReader or Kindle don't expect to hear anything too new. What got me about this book is how challenging the Holy Spirit was to me while I was reading this book. Again, you may read this and not have the same reaction, but it's worth the read nonetheless (I love typing that word).

"Forgotten God" is about the Holy Spirit, in a nutshell (or a book).

I finished the book yesterday, while pacing back and forth on a side walk outside my place of business under the shade of trees, and I cried like a baby. Metaphorically speaking. (Some of you are so literal.) I wanted what Chan wrote about; to be led by the Spirit. In everything. Everyday. And, I don't know if I've ever lived like that. "Why in America do we need the Comforter when we're already so comfortable (paraphrase mine)?" And that was it. In the shadow of my place of business - my bread and butter, my security blanket, my retirement plan, my mortgage payment, my health insurance, my car payment, my comfort, my health club, my non-Churched friends, - all that my job is to me, it hit me like a ton of bricks. "I didn't need God". Granted, if the thunder cloud would have gathered over me, I would have changed my tune, but then I realized something... I hadn't said that. The Holy Spirit had said that.

...and, Jeremy wept.

I paced back and forth, strolling on the sidewalk under comfortable shadow, utterly wrecked. Still am. The question that lingers, "What about my life points anyone to be in awe of Christ instead of me?" The answer that lingers, "Nothing."

The prayer began last week in my heart, ever before I finished this book, "Holy Spirit, form yourself in me?" It continues daily, "Form yourself in me?" It's a request, not a command.

My desperate desire now is to live needing Him, never forgetting Him, no matter how that translates to real life. "Sell my house, move my family to the slums...," if that means living a life led by the Spirit, then... do you know any Real Estate agents? (I know, easy to type and hard to do. But hopefully that was the old me. The new me that was Spirit filled yesterday will hopefully hear and then obey. Because the new me doesn't want to hold on to things of this life that have only temporal value... I would like to not give Francis Chan a reason to write a sequel "Forgetting God.")

Etch Upon My Heart Your Name...

2010-06-11T13:49:00.001-05:00

Etch Your wish upon my heart with the finger of Your Spirit.
Rest the words of Your very voice upon the beds of my ears.
Let me hear Your wooings that makes my heart to swoon.

The sight of but Your shadowy walkings fallen across my face
Causes my eyes to rain weepy waters of weary exhaustion.
To behold Your countenance would be death to me,
But what a savory death to be befallen - smote by thine Presence.

My knees would knock and sweet horror stricken wonder
Would be my gasps to feel Your breath exhaled upon
And drawn back in over my hairs
That You've previously numbered.

Dreaded grace that my diseased spirit cannot fathom or measure
Becomes my leaping joy as a fawn kicking about
In new Spring day life.

All in all, ever satisfying, You are enough
And no temporary trappings of Terra'd-existence
Will ever suffice until I rest peacefully, sweetly, completely
In Your gripping mercy; rocking me, no, shattering me
From Death's sleep to Life's awakening...

Pure soundness of Lost-self found finally,
And forever-ally, in You.

A Den of Thieves...

2010-06-11T07:16:00.004-05:00

I received the following email Friday morning, and thought I'd share this devotion from David Wilkerson.

We are at the epitome, again, of religious profiteering, selling Christ as a cheap trinket. Are our hearts grieved in this practice or have we come to expect it as the status quo? Shame on us, if we don't care that this is taking place. If God's will is to conform us to the image of Christ, and we don't care that the poor are being taken advantage of in the name of Christ, then I must say that we aren't much like Christ who was grieved that His Father's house was being vilely violated. Please read...

David Wilkerson Today

FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 2010

GOD’S HOUSE TURNED INTO A DEN OF THIEVES

Jesus went up to Jerusalem at Passover and entered the temple (John 2:13-17).
What he saw appalled him. Merchants had taken over the house of God! He came seeking a house of prayer and what he found was a preoccupation with the promotion, display, and sale of religious merchandise. The religious leaders were counting their profits. What busyness! Men of God had become hucksters of religious merchandise, running about promoting their goods.

Tables had been set up everywhere in God's house to promote and sell sheep, oxen, doves, candies, incense, and other merchandise for religious purposes.
Money changing hands made the loudest noise in the house—money that was being made on God and religion.

What terrible pain caused our Lord’s compassionate heart to boil with holy anger? His great suffering caused his meek spirit to rage with righteous indignation.

Can you picture that moment? With whip in hand, our Lord stormed into the temple and began flailing in all directions, overturning the tables piled high with merchandise. He scattered the promoters, the pitchmen, the hucksters.

"Out!" he thundered, "Out of my Father's house! You have desecrated this holy place, turning the house of prayer into a commercial market!"

It was one of the most painful experiences in all his ministry but he could not stand by and permit his Father's house to become a den for religious thieves.

Are we willing to fellowship with Christ in this aspect of his sufferings today? Do we share his hurt at seeing God's house once again being turned over to merchandisers? Will we be outraged by the horrible commercialism of the gospel? Will we feel his rage against spiritual hucksterism enough to withdraw from all such activities? Do we feel his hurt enough to renounce ministries that grind out merchandise just for the sake of making money?

Can we share his suffering at this point enough to stand against those who would turn God's house into a theater or entertainment center for promoters?
Can we grieve over all the profiteering on the name of Jesus? Can we get our eyes off the cash and back on the cross?

Sara Bareilles...

2010-05-18T16:08:00.002-05:00

There's nothing more beautiful
Than a woman sitting at a piano,
Eyes closed, heart open,
Singing something unwritten on any sheet,
No care for those around, or not around,
Never minding that -- either way --
Just singing, playing, pure beauty.

Here she is free,
But not free from pain, just free.

Singing, playing, being.

There's nothing more beautiful than this.
Its brevity, gravity, levity.

Regretful Occurrence of Why You're Leaving...

2010-05-18T13:51:00.035-05:00

I should have lived like I loved you.

When you told me we were through,

I thought, "How can this be?"

Then the thought occurred to me...

"I wasn't there for you... ."

I should have lived like I loved you,

And maybe you wouldn't go.

I see you leaving and know

You're the wiser for it.

This occurrence is now my regret,

That I should have lived like I loved you.

REVOLVE! Student Ministry // Message // Let Your Dreams Die So You Can Live...

2010-05-15T11:23:00.002-05:00

Emerge Bible Study Audio // April 29th, 2010 // McAlister's Deli

2010-05-15T10:30:00.001-05:00

Correction to Blog Post, "Heed Wilkerson's Warning"...

2010-05-14T11:30:00.001-05:00

I blew it – but the warning still holds

Posted: March 17, 2009
1:00 am Eastern
© 2010
I blew it. I was wrong, and I'm sorry.
Despite the fact that multiple people told me they read about Times Square Church members making sandwiches prior to Sept. 11, 2001, in the Times Square Newsletter – and the fact that when a staff member of mine called the church he got someone who answered the phone who confirmed it, saying they knew "exactly" what we were talking about, that information was wrong.
There were sandwiches. There were lots of them. But they were not made prior to Sept. 11, according to the officials at Times Square Church I talked with Thursday (who were unavailable at my deadline last week). WND has already added an editor's correction to my column, but, while the sequence of the sandwiches was incorrect, the rest of the story was confirmed to be true.
I'm very sorry for the misinformation about the timing of the event. This is what their official spokesperson told a Faith2Action staff member when he called:

Beginning in July 2001, during one of the services, a strong presence of God came in and there were times of silence before the Lord ... times when the entire congregation was silent before the Lord. … They canceled the church's schedule of activities, and kept the regular services/sermons ... but it all changed into what they described as a heavy burden. They didn't know what was going to happen, but they knew NYC was in trouble, and that they needed to pray, and that's what they did.
The day the planes hit the towers, they knew that was what they were sensing, and they were quickly able to mobilize to help people. They grabbed supplies and vans and headed for the site. They made it past all of the check points, right to Ground Zero, where only the military and official emergency personnel were allowed to go. They were able to share the Gospel with many at the site including victims and rescue workers.

While many were still in shock, Times Square Church, because they were prepared, helped to coordinate those who wanted to help from around the world. According to the Oct. 29, 2001, Times Square Church Pulpit Series newsletter (World Challenge, Inc insert), Times Square Church Pastor Carter Conlon presented a check for $350,000 to the New York firefighters, and another check for $350,000 was given to the local police for the widows and children of 9/11.

I wish I could say that because I was wrong on the sandwiches detail the rest of Pastor David Wilkerson's warning was also invalid, but I don't believe that is the case. Please read below and come to your own conclusions.
I've attached the blog where Pastor Wilkerson's original warning of "an earth-shattering calamity … about to happen" was posted. Several other postings have been made since the March 7 warning I wrote about.
At the end of this column, I've included four links to sermons from Dr. Wilkerson, which I believe apply to where we are right now. This excerpt is from his Sept. 16, 2001, message entitled, "The Towers Have Fallen, but We Missed the Message":

I've sent you prophets and watchmen. You've been warned over and again. I prospered you above all nations. I endured your worship of gold and silver. I endured your shameless sensuality. I endured your mockery, your continuous shedding of innocent blood and murdering of babies. I've endured your timeless efforts to eradicate my name, even from your history books. Now I've stricken in hopes of saving you, that you would repent and turn from your wicked ways so that I could heal your land, and I will destroy your enemies.
Now folks, show me where that's not scriptural. Prove to me from God's word that He will not judge America as He's judged Sodom, Rome, Greece and now Russia.
I just returned from Russia a few months ago and walking through St. Petersburg and Moscow. I was shocked at the total depression. The average wage is $50 a month. Nothing but broken down infrastructures. Everywhere men are lying on the streets drunk on cheap vodka. Drug addicts everywhere now. Such devastation.
I broke down in front of the ministers and wept and wailed.
We met at a hockey arena in Moscow because they tried to rule God out of their society. They went down the same road we're going down and God said, "That's enough." Russia is under severe judgment. He's turned it into a Third World nation.
Here's the message from the prophet Ezekiel.
"Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby you have transgressed. Make you a new heart, a new spirit, for why would you die, O house of Israel? I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, says the Lord God. Wherefore turn yourselves and live."

I'm with you – I don't want a calamity to come. I don't want judgment to fall during my lifetime. I hate reading this stuff. But it's now coming from so many sources, so many watchmen on the wall, that we can no longer ignore it.
The only way I know to avoid it is to get on our knees and repent. To follow the checklist God gave us in 2 Chronicles 7:14: 1) humble, 2) pray, 3) seek God's face, and 4) turn from our wicked ways. If we don't follow that very clear warning directly from God Himself, I'm afraid that the calamity Wilkerson spoke of will, in fact, approach us quickly – regardless of when any sandwiches were made.

It's Always Been You...

2010-05-12T15:39:00.008-05:00

I'd rather have you than a night without fears.
I'd rather have you than a life without tears.
I'd rather have you than a house on rolling hills.
I'd rather have you than a life without ills.
All things considered, I'd rather have you.

If I could climb to the top of Everest,
Or swim the English Channel, still you would be fairest.
If I could do anything available to a few,
All things considered, I'd rather have you.

I'd rather have you than no more worldly cares.
I'd rather have you than all of life's fares.
I'd rather have you than a field of wild flowers.
I'd rather have you than an Emperor's famed powers.
All things considered, I'd rather have you.

If I could reach up and hold the moon,
Or lasso a comet, or swim in a spoon,
All things considered, and a life lived full too,
I'd rather have you... It's always been you.

Hushed Hosannas...

2010-04-27T08:55:00.005-05:00

"All-of-Creation" whispers that You are there. She wishes to shout and to sing of Your abiding, but, at Your wish, is muted from crying out Your Glad Hosannas..., for You wish for those "Created-In-Your-Image" to do the singing.

Oh, how the Grasses and Trees wish to sing Your Name. Roots long hidden under their Earthen beds long to burst forth from the ground and to stretch their vined, sinewy arms toward You in adoration; but they lie still for human arms to stretch jubilantly forth, which, fully, never come.

The Jay and Red bird sing morning songs of Your glory while men still sleep..., they are more rebellious in their worship, you know? But quieten at the stirring of Those awakening from sleep. But, oh their song, if not caged, were allowed to sing. The Earth could not take upon its ears the sound of that feathered choir. They were patterned after the worshiping Angles, but now, hushed from singing, are only allowed morning hums to You.

The Trees do stretch and sway and requested before You created man, and quieting them, if forever they might raise their hand-branches toward You. You obliged them.

"All-of-Creation" now groans of the sin-pollution spilled upon its ever bowing Oceans. The Sky burns with tears the wreckage man has made, seen upon her irises, for she beholds daily, mans' evil from every vantage point.

The Rocks once rebelled, or attempted to, against the Divine-Gag-Order when Your feet walked upon its Ground. They would have cried aloud the glad Hosannas but "Born-of-Man" gave the stage to those "Made-in-His-Image," and on that day, man did sing. They broke the arms of the Palms so man could worship You. And the Palms made no complaint to be broken and trod upon by the One yet to be broken and trod upon. On that day, the Palms got to sing hushed Hosannas that were drowned by the singing of men. They were glad of their morning Opus unheard by any ear but Yours.

The Timbers, used for building houses occupied on Sundays, mourn for the song they hear coerced from man in ritual revels that fall flat under their rafters raised to Him. They can't comprehend the blank stares forward and the in-jubilant manner in which "Those-Meant-to-Sing" drone on from habit and not from heart.

"All-of-Creation" mourns for the songs that are meant to be sang from those "In-His-Image" that are traded for silence and indifference while "All-of-Creation" bites its tongue.

Windy Days...

2010-04-25T16:42:00.002-05:00

The windy days of Spring's torrential rage makes me glad to sit and feel her gentle breeze,
While her angers not kindled and she and the Sun have made peace.
She likes to show off, though, after a rain and thunder storm when she blows through
Branch and leaf bending both trunk and tree; pushing the clouds about blotting the Sun,
Or not, at her whim.

The Sun, however, is a tolerant soul, bearing her mood swings and ebbs and flows
Until she forgets her place, raging into June.
He then stretches his rays so wide and heats the days enough so she can't exert her pride.

He rules the roost, you know?
He tells Spring winds not to blow then no gentle tempest will be felt and scorching heat
We will regret not having Spring's cool, windy days and long for them again.

Apart From You...

2010-04-19T21:34:00.000-05:00

I'm not supposed to be apart from you;

We're supposed to be together.

That's the way it all is supposed to work;

But here I am, and there you are.

My heart is half here,

The other half is there.

I'm not supposed to be apart from you;
We're supposed to be together...

And thus the world is cursed, and all has become night
Until we are together again; never to be apart from you.

Colored Jesus...

2010-04-06T22:33:00.008-05:00

"Daddy, what color are my eyes?" He was driving, the windows down the Alabama April wind blowing in through the vehicle erasing the need for air conditioning. She was riding, back seat, booster seat, inquisitive.

"They're hazel, baby," glancing up in the rear view mirror, briefly, seeing his beautiful baby girl sitting up in her "big girl seat." She was resting her head against the shoulder strap of the seat belt like a hammock, looking out the window in the back of the minivan watching the passing trees and clouds.

"No they're not daddy; they're silver... like the stars." He could see a big grin corner her cheek. Her head remained turned toward the passing scenery. She was seeing her eyes twinkle like the stars at that moment.

Dad just grinned a bit listening to the wind whip into the car now; feeling the wind in his hand as it stretch out the window slightly moving up and down as though it were riding an invisible roller coaster. No radio playing; no sound except road noise and whipping wind.

"Daddy, what color is the sun?"

"Orange, baby girl," still driving, watching the intersections cautiously as they passed through the neighborhood.

"No, the sun is yellow, daddy."

He grins again looking up, glancing again in the rear view mirror, catching brief a grin back from his little girl. Her eyes did look like stars.

"Daddy, do you know which one is my favorite Jesus?"

"No, honey, which one's your favorite Jesus?" intrigued to see how she was going to answer.

"The purple one."

"Where on Earth did you see a purple Jesus?" asking the rear view mirror with nearly a laugh. He was expecting to hear "baby Jesus," or "Jesus on the cross," or maybe the picture of him holding a small child on his knee that she saw in Sunday school or in one her books from home.

"You know, the one I colored purple, remember?"

"Oh sure, baby..., the purple one."

"I don't like the yellow Jesus; the purple Jesus is my favorite one. Which Jesus is your favorite Jesus, daddy?"

Driving still, he didn't answer her for a while and just pondered the question. "Which is my favorite Jesus?" Thinking in the framework of modern Christianity, there were so many to chose from... sort of like chosing a crayon from the box.

New Manhattan Declaration Website...

2010-04-01T08:42:00.001-05:00

The Manhattan Declaration organization has launched a new website with more resources and information. I encourage you to read the declaration and sign it, if you feel so inclined. It has nearly a half-million signatures so far, and is going a long way to unite Christians - across denomination - based on "common ground" issues that are fundamental to Christianity.

Check out the new website...

The Manhattan Declaration

Starry Skies...

2010-02-26T13:45:00.001-06:00

So many stars speckle the sky, like white lent shrapnel
On a fleece black backdrop.
I stare in wonder, while lying on my back next to you
In the cool night grasses,
Not at stars, but at you.
I catch their glimmering reflection in your eyes.

Then I think...

While men dream of being up there in those stars
Exploring unknown celestial seas;
I dream of the uncharted waters of your heart.

We say nothing, only stare being comfortably quiet
In the true wonder, not some distant constellation,
That can't be touched or held.

The nearness of you, not the distance of worlds,
Is the exploration worthy of our energies...
To explore your thoughts, to hold your hand
Making full the spaces between my fingers.

The unseen chord that binds our souls,
Not the calculate-able orbits of polarized planets,
Is the truly amazing wonderment
That confounds physical laws' formula in simplicity.

We lie still and stare at so many stars speckling the sky
And it's you who steals their show.

Green Grasses of Spring...

2010-02-17T14:26:00.001-06:00

I'm excited for the green grasses of spring.
Each joyfully stretching skyward warding off the frost and snow
And dull brown hues of a wicked winter.

Now it has passed and butterflies dance upon blade and petal.
The jay and red bird chirp their songs of new-day;
All is refreshed and vibrant with life.

Awaken the sleeping marmots and newts from wintry slumber;
Their rest is complete...

The green grasses of spring are speaking.

Church Lighting and the Holy Spirit...

2010-02-16T08:34:00.001-06:00

I'm in a bit of dilemma, well, perhaps dilemma is too strong a term, however I do face a conflict.

Last night I attended a presentation on church lighting, smoke machines and lasers. We are in the midst of a slow going youth room redesign project. And, don't get me wrong... I know that if you can't see the speaker’s lips it's hard to discern what he or she is saying. I get that. We do need lighting. The dilemma part, though, is that I'm in youth ministry, and in youth ministry things are a bit different than the Sunday morning adult worship services experienced all across America. We live in a generation where super computers are held in the palms or our hand and the media blitz is at an all time, staggering, height. We know more about Tiger Woods and whom he, um..., keeps company with than we know about anyone else, or care to know about, in our lives. Our teens are geared toward fast moving, thumb nail bytes of information at the click of a button. This trend is making it more difficult for newspapers to deliver the news because there's a generation of readers who know what it is to receive short 160 character text messages of info, and the papers' dilemma is how to get this generation to read a full news print article.

So, I'm in this presentation last night and the salesman was doing his thing to pitch to about 5 different churches what his company has to offer in the latest of lighting technology for church platforms and stages. At one point, he begins to talk about a preacher delivering his sermon and how he can use lighting to create a dramatic effect by "painting" the platform red or blue to achieve the desired mood that the speaker is stressing in his sermon. I turned to a youth pastor friend of mine sitting beside me and said, "We don't really need the Holy Spirit any longer do we?"

The thing, too, that I don't want to do is to necessarily demonize technology. After all, pen and parchment in the Apostle Paul’s day was their ancient version of the laptop. Painted iconography was used to tell, or show, stories and to teach biblical truth – again, technology. Technology isn't the problem, however I have this deep, guttural feeling that it's easy for the ministry to add an effect, such as lighting, smoke, lasers, than to seek and pray and agonize for the true Light who illuminates mankind's hearts. It's much easier to write a check, add some lighting, sound equipment, motion effects, lasers, etc. than it is to make bloody our knees in seeking God with anguished spirit. Plus, it makes us more competitive with our competition down the street, right? And I’m not talking about some bar or night club… no, the competition nowadays is other churches! If we through in some Starbucks coffee, doughnuts and a pastor with cool glasses and a penchant for taking spiritual truths, hipping them up, and forming life groups to discuss the talking points at some hip city location then you have a modern church recipe for modern day church success. All too often what we end up with is an ultra hip social setting that produces ultra hip church attendees and rarely, if ever, do these attendees go on to holiness in Christ. As our pastor put it so aptly, and strikingly, this past Sunday morning, we erect altars to God next to or between the altars of Baal and the Asherah poles (see Judges 6).

I know, I know, the devil is using all the technology and lighting to keep teens distracted in the social settings we call the world. And, if we don't compete with him using the same tools, then we will lose that generation. I don't know if we've looked around lately, but we've already lost them..., and we've used the greatest materials technology has to offer. Maybe dilemma isn't too strong of a term after all.

Technology isn't the devil and can be used to enhance a setting. However, what is the devil is letting anything be a replacement for the true fire on the altar of God. Any illegitimate fire on the altar results in certain death... maybe that's why we've lost a generation to counterfeit fire. We’re too cool for school…

Swinging In Sapling Pines...

2010-02-11T09:54:00.005-06:00

My father would tell my brother and I
How he used to swing in sapling pines.
He would play out all day and roam away
To some pasture far from his home.
Then he made his ascent to the top of its boughs,
And began to lean hard to the ground.

Back and forth, back and forth,
Till the sapling bent like a bow.

Then as the bough would bend

From the ground to the sky

Taking him from low then to high

He would exchange his tree for one not bent

Swinging in sapling pines.

Smiling Over Sequins...

2009-12-30T15:52:00.009-06:00

She stitched the ream of sequins back onto the little girls dress up gown. The little girl, who only moments before, came running into the kitchen devastated that her pretty pink dress up gown had lost the ream of sequins that lined the little gown’s neck line.

After a few moments, “There you go,” the mother said with a grin of satisfaction as the little girl put the gown back on and pranced back to whatever kingdom she had momentarily left to go see the seamstress.

The mother went back to work in the kitchen doing the things that mothers do.

In the midst of her cleaning and washing cabinets and counter tops, the mother heard a faint inaudible whisper, “I saw that.”

Her heart sank a bit from sheer shock of the almost felt whisper in her heart. “You saw what?” she thought in reply.

“I saw you mend the dress,” was whispered back.

“You were paying attention to my sewing?” was all she could think back to the Whisperer. Then in a moment of bare, honest thought the mother’s mind wondered, “Don’t you have more important things to do than to watch me sew?”

“Don’t you have more important things to do than mend a torn dress up gown?”

The mother captured in thought, considered the question. Why did I take time to mend the dress? Why didn’t I just send a little girl along on her way and explain that the dress was torn and that’s just life? After all, I do have so much to do. Nothing would ever get done… then she stopped. She knew the answers before she could finish the silly line of questioning and reasoning to herself as to why she mended her daughter’s dress.

“Exactly,” was whispered back. “You underestimate how much I really care for you. I actually watched you pack a lunch this morning, and it made me smile when you made a smiley face with the honey for a little boy's lunch. I smiled again when I saw you wipe a spot off of your husband’s overcoat this morning without him knowing. You, actually, make me smile often.”

This was almost more than the mother could take. She hadn’t considered that the Whisperer paid attention to such things. Of course her Sunday school knowledge of the Almighty would suggest this to be true, but to have something so profound yet simple to be realized in a whisper went beyond her understanding.

Then He whispered to her again, “You made me smile sewing back on the sequins as well.”

Just then the thoughts the mother was contemplating were interrupted by a little girl who came running back into the kitchen… this time, her shoe was untied.

Christmas -- The Night Before...

2009-12-25T00:00:00.008-06:00

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the... nah, over done!

I'm sitting here, late -- midnight actually -- Christmas morning, but until I go to sleep and wake up I count it still as the night before.

I'm thinking of my children, Caleb and Zeke nestled in their new Snuggies® their Mema and Papaw got for them for Christmas; and then Annsley and Madilyn snuggling up in their new fleece blankets (without arm holes), all of whom are anxiously awaiting Santa to come down our chimney (we have gas logs -- Santa implores real magic when coming down our chimney since he has to magically make one) and give them all they want and asked for on their severally revised lists. All are asleep with the exception of Caleb. He keeps coming in and checking out the situation. I showed him on NORAD that Santa is currently in Guaymas, Mexico with his next stop being in Tucson, AZ and that if he doesn't go to sleep Santa can't deliver the Christmas goodness to our house; so off he slinks, still in his Snuggie® to take on the barely winnable task of falling asleep on Christmas eve... the night before.

I, myself, introspectively consider why all the hub-bub. We plan and work for weeks to make the Christmas season, and especially Christmas day, memorable and in but a moment the day will be done, the money saved now spent, and boxes and bags of beautifully-torn (as it is an art form) wrapping paper sitting in a garbage heap awaiting the return of the sanitation department employees. And I ask myself, did we remember? Did I remember?

I remember the business. I remember the looks on their faces when they open their gifts; nothing is more precious than to see your children delighted and it being your fault -- but you can't take the credit as Santa did all the bringing! I remember the brief disappointment when the package they just uncovered was filled with socks and under wear. (Come on seriously?! Even if they need that stuff can't it wait for two days after Christmas when it's just a trip to Wal Mart?! Who are we parents trying to fool by making the undergrowth of the tree look bulkier... us or them?!) Oh, and for that one I blame Santa... he also brings our needs, not just our wants, right? But did I remember?

That question haunts me. Not because of the terrible sacrilege of giving gifts to the ones we love, but because it's a question that haunts me the night before every new day. Did I remember Him? Not just during the season of remembering such things, but do I remember Him each and every day? (No, not Santa... bigger, greater, holier than he.) Have I grown so accustomed to this city that's built with the hands of man that my once longing heart no longer longs to be with Him? Do I remember? Each day? Him?

Quote to Me Your Love...

2009-12-23T10:35:00.009-06:00

Quote to me a sonnet of your love, or I die.

Sing to me a song from your lips,

Making jealous the Angels created for such eternal expressions, or I perish.

Let our hands touch as no other hands have ever touched.

Let our lips kiss and awaken the jealousies of centuries’ gone lovers.

Songs lose all melody and tone when we are apart.

Flowers don’t bloom; and the sky becomes cloud drawn,

As though they are a blanket of dirt over my coffin blotting out the sun.

Don’t deny me your sonnets or songs; don’t withhold your touches or kisses.

I swear I shall die in misery without them; cause me not to grieve to my grave.

Give me your gaze and look upon me with your love,

Or strike blind my eyes for they become useless

and want only to behold their love.

Sing to me songs of love so that I may hear them,

And know your heart beats for me as does mine for you.

I cannot bear not knowing;

Reassure me again with your kisses,

And rest my heart from its worries.

My Escape...

2009-12-14T10:56:00.023-06:00

Make a way of escape
for me, so I'm not
counted among
the fallen.
Their open-shame-masks
I don't long to wear.
I want to hide, though not from Thee,
but in Thee, so my countenance is lifted
and made to shine like the noon day sun.

Righteousness makes glad my heart
when mine enemies have circled and hurl
accusations like arrows to kill my name
and none hit their mark.

Then You are worshiped when mine
enemies are put to shame and Your little
lamb sends reeling ravenous lions thirsty
to mar Your image in me.

Who can climb Mount God?
None whose hands are clay caked,
dirtied from digging into the dredge heaps
of society searching it for deeper pleasures
no longer found on the surface
but buried as a corpse-treasure out of sight
from what used to please
but now has been made dull.

Who can stand on His Holy Hill?
None whose feet have trudged in forbidden lands of self,
seeking and traversing the uncharted courses of human character
that are found not hidden but well occupied
by so many before them.
These courses are all the routes which man travels
that carry them from the Presence
and are found to be well plodded.
Feet that are muddied by these roads
can never stand surely and are reduced to bent reeds
unable to support any weight of living.

One can ascend; One can surely stand, and does so even now
ensuring us that we too were meant to stand.
Our hands too were meant to grasp He who is no longer seen,
yet we lost our will to clutch.

He does surely clutch, and does so with such force
I can't be plucked or dropped.

Make a way of escape for me so I'm not counted among the fallen.
Make difficult the words of hate
because they once poured like a sieve even when making nice
because they weren't given to You in eternal surrender;
they belonged to me while there was still a me.
Now be 'Thee' in 'me' as all is lost and found in You
and Wind blows in to extinguish the candle flicker of self
and igniting the fire of salvation
blown from coals found upon Your altar.

I am then consumed and You exist as the Light-Blown-Lighted
in the core of my existence and there You are found...
My Escape.

Inspiration's Wooing...

2009-12-10T11:40:00.003-06:00

Inspiration, she comes and calls not in convenient moments
Of ones own choosing, but only hers.
She whispers a single word or phrase then causes the dam
To burst forth, flooding the vacated city beneath its gorges.

Then lakes and streams burst forth
From where once once parched land existed
Saturating its leathered lungs to life.

She comes at her choosing,
You need only to be found listening
With pen and parchment in hand.

Missing You...

2009-12-09T11:14:00.005-06:00

I imagine myself with you, kissing your neck,

Holding your hands,
Pulling you close to me as I am made drunk
From your perfumed embrace.
Nothing else holds my heart so near in this world made mad
By all its leaving.

My imaginings picture me saying, "Don't leave; please stay,"
And you obliging this desperate request
Made with words so sincere,
That have overflowed the banks of my heart,
Spilling out into the air of night,
Where you and I stand alone - only looking -
Not able to speak as you start my way
Ending the tear that my heart was making.

Then some noise, or better some silence,
Awakens my imaginations
Reminding me that you've left and only I remain
With scattered pieces of my heart strewn about the floor.

I try to retrieve the pieces,
Yet find them too heavy to be lifted alone.
So on the floor they remain...
Until I'm through...
Missing you.

The Manhattan Declaration...

2009-12-08T07:23:00.005-06:00

A few weeks ago I blogged about the Manhattan Declaration. Today I signed it.

Certain documents have their way of immortalizing a moment in history. The Nicenes had their creed; Luther had his 95 thesis and the United States has its Declaration of Independence.

Twenty-first century Christians now have the Manhattan Declaration.

This declaration is a statement of Christian conscience; it is a line drawn in the sand that declares Christian unity on three subjects that are marks of rebellion against God in this society. It is a statement that we will stand up to any governmental law, and will pay any price to not concede to the slide of this post-Christian culture. These three topics are:

The Sanctity of Human Life...
The dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife...
The rights of conscience and religious liberty...

This declaration is an effort of Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians and their leaders who have crossed the chasm of difference of opinion and practice to make an unified statement of belief and righteousness.

Go to the Manhattan Declaration website and read the declaration. If you agree with this declaration, then sign it and make the statement not only with electronic pen but with heart and life to never compromise this great faith for this lost society, all to the glorifying of God in our mortal bodies.

Kissed in New York...

2009-11-30T09:15:00.005-06:00

I want to kiss you on the streets of New York
In the evening as chilled winds draw us close to each other.
Let our lips burn away the cold that pushes weaker souls indoors
And away from Outside's embrace.

The streets were not made for traveling, going about restlessly
From one venue to the next, but were laid for kissing,
For this moment, right here, right now.

Stars aligned and Fate did its twisting to get us to this point,
To this crossing street - not so we might be somewhere by following
Its path but only to be lost in rapture in this moment;
Where partially parted lips converge and love is forged
While kissing you on the streets of New York.

Where It's Snowing...

2009-11-30T09:01:00.006-06:00

I want to go where it's snowing, to catch flakes upon my clothes;
To walk on a blanket that has been freshly laid upon the frozen Earth.

I want to watch the blackness of the streets fade under white
Layers at twilight shedding and forgetting the drabness of its
Asphalt covered coat.

I want to catch the frigid flakes upon my tongue
As my nose is stung by chilly winter winds.

I want to go where it's snowing and listen to the silence
As Earth's wintry bed is made,
In hushed hues of opaque frozen flakes
Quieting all that exists under its blanket.

Manhattan Declaration - A Call of Christian Conscience...

2009-11-24T10:25:00.004-06:00

In times of persecution, the churches of God thrive and grow. The pains of persecution sent into action the True Church into a renewed mindset deprived then of complacency and apathy for the lives which Christians are to live. From persecution, stands for that which is right and holy are made at the flogging post and from the fires of flesh burned at the stake, and from diaspora.

In times of persecution, transformation and reformation both occur as the dire straights of the world are produced upon those who would walk in meekness and humility before God.

In times of immorality, however it has caused men to write and declare and to stand for truth though the flicker of the flame grows dim in righteous living there are those who stand for God and His holiness. We are in that time again.

The Manhattan Declaration (which can be read here) is a declaration and a line drawn in the sand for those who would live rightly in these lasts days. The Manhattan Declaration has been written and is signed by 148 church leaders as a treatise affirming the Christian position against:

Genocide of the Un-born
Redefining Marriage
Political Correctness - Barring the Freedom of Religion

This treatise is a call to civil disobedience.

Ezekiel 34: 1-6 - False Pastor's Be Warned...

2009-11-18T15:40:00.002-06:00

I wrote the following message last week and have held it until I was more certain that it could be shared. It is inspired from Ezekiel 34: 1-6 and is a warning to False-Pastors:

Destruction to you "Shepherd-Leaders" who make yourselves fat from the meat of the sheep of which you are supposed to protect! You have exploited them for too long feeding your greed and leaving them exposed as prey and vulnerable. Guess what? It's you now who I'm going to expose for the wolves you are. Guess what? It is now you who will be made vulnerable and I will be the predator that strips your skin from the bones! I will devour you with My crushing jaws and show you what it is like. You shepherds were supposed to be the protectors of my sheep, but you have become their exploiters. Not any longer! I'm putting an end to your greed. "You drink their milk, make clothes from their wool, you roast the lambs, and don't feed or protect them." Well not anymore! I am now their shepherd and will shadow over them with my protection. They will eat from grasses not trampled under your feet, but that which is lush and green and supplied by Me. I will fight off their attackers and thieves; I will care for them with My life as you should have. They will find peace and drink from cool streams. I am the Great Shepherd; no need any longer to fear little sheep, for I will gather you back into my protective fold. Sheep, my little lambs, consider yourselves rescued! My fold is safe for you unlike the folds of the murderous shepherds who think you exist for their benefit. You are My sheep. I've purchased you. These exploitative shepherds are seeing their end. I am seeing to it!

Inspired from Ezekiel 34: 1-6 (The Message)... November 13th, 2009

The End of a Journal...

2009-11-17T09:14:00.010-06:00

This morning I finished my latest journal. I've been journaling as a passionate therapy of devotion since around 2006. Since then I've journaled almost daily with the exception of most weekends and a few spaces in between. This accounts for five journals and 960+ pages of prayers, musings, poems, complaints, ramblings, scripture commentary, short stories, dirges, dreamings and five times a year I write dedications to my children and wife on their birthdays.

I randomly like to turn to past entries from years gone by to see what my mood was like, or what was happening in my world then. I am often surprised at what I had written having forgotten so easily what went on a year + ago. Sometimes I cringe; sometimes I laugh, but I always remember.

Journaling in years gone by has been for me therapy. Having gone through a spate of depression or down times, journaling to me was a way to cry out to God presenting Him with my fears, failures and looking to clear my head of messes I've created there; or just to have someone I could express myself to without fear of what they thought of me at that moment. Very therapeutic, very healing - crying out to God, that is.

Just this week, I looked at my stack of journals sitting on the shelf in my closet and a strange thought came to me about my mortality. I wondered, "How many more journals are left in me?" I looked at them sitting motionless on the shelf not saying anything vocally audible but whispering my life from their pages. How many more whispers are in there, I wondered again? When will I have penned the last sentence in their pages? How many journals will there have been if I maintain this passion of devotion? Ten? Thirty? A hundred?

I was reminded that one day, perhaps one morning as I'm caught up in prayer in those journaled walls that I will pen my last "Amen". Many of my daily entries end with that single-word-sentence... "Amen." One day that word will have so much meaning for a life lived full, "so be it." And for all intensive purposes, bodily it will be so.

We are given one chance to live our lives; and though our bodies end for a short time our lives are never over. We will write journals too in eternity, but different sorts of journals. Journals that don't hail the passing of a day, but a continuing of an existence that never passes but only perpetuates and continues forward. It's hard to fathom, but there time won't pass... it will only grow, and not be able to be measured to show any limitations. Our journals there won't begin with dates, neither will the entries end for everything there will always have been and will continue to always be. The Light there casts no shadows of darkness, nor will the light pass overhead so that we can count it's passing. The Light there will envelope us from every side and angle so that no darkness exists.

Our journals will be written not by fading pen but by eternally worded phrases that drip from lips that will never dry or parch. They will remain fresh and new and whetted by the Spirit of the One we are completely intertwined with there. The branches will not overbear the Vine nor hide it in anyway, but will be sustained by its Life.

Today, or tomorrow, I will purchase my new latest journal and begin to fill its pages with much the same things as before only in a newer past-tense. The pen will fade and the pages of the new latest journal will become brittle and earn a yellow hue, but the Light that writes eternal journals within will continue to grow and never fade. Though my wrist tingles and arm goes numb from pains of writing, though my hand becomes frail and bent in years to come, the whispers from the pages reach His ears and are never forgotten or yellowed with time. "Amen."

These Three Friends...

2009-11-11T11:21:00.009-06:00

Where has Inspiration gone? It seems to have fled from me - from every area of my life. My life isn't lived with her; my spirit isn't being called by Inspiration's wooing. I am not living inspired even unto He having been drained of her friendship.

Where has Desire gone? When will she come back to me bringing with her Inspiration? Their companion, Passion, is gone as well. These three are Friends of the heart and all seem to have abandoned me.

Or maybe I exhausted them months ago and now they sleep, being rejuvenated to be at their best for me again. Oh how I miss them while in their slumber. I wish for them to awaken so that my heart can beat happily again.

Should I awaken them by force, beating upon the door of their dormancy? Is that even possible? Or do they posses wills of their own not able to be turned by my knocking?

What about Desire? Can I will her into life and submission forcing her to awaken by determined actions? But then will it be Desire who is awakened, or maybe only her antithesis Forced-Determination? For the two are not the same.

Desire, she lives deep within and drives with ease over the difficulty of all hindrances. Determination, she is like moss that grows on the tough skin of trees that lives only on the surface and doesn't affect from deep within. Determination seems waning and comes and goes as the winds of my will blows... or not. She quickly changes her face to Complacency and then to Apathy.

Father, can You awaken them gently? They respond to You; You made them. Ask them to get up and to awaken from their sleep and visit with me again. They are needed. When they are gone I simply meander along. Undriven by deepest Desire; unmoved from lack of Passion; not expressive for Inspiration, she has gone as well. This is no life, and purpose is eluded as I sleep too in the absence of my Friends.

You, Father, aren't worshiped well - for Your longing is for more than robotic rhythmic repetitions of catechisms not written in heart.

These three missing Friends of mine make life lived unto You vivid and boisterously exuberant and alive in color. These three are the vehicles of Your joy expressed from once depraved hearts; as my heart remains a pen and ink drawing on pale canvas until it is again painted by the Tripartite Camaraderie gone missing.

Given-ness to You then flows like clear rivers cool and ready for swimming when my Friends are here. Have I yet made my case, Father, for You to awaken them so they can come out again to play?

Staff Appreciation Day...

2009-11-06T17:38:00.012-06:00

This past Sunday (11/01/09) my church "appreciated" us. Arguably, they've been appreciating us ever since we arrived five years ago this month.

Anytime someone makes a fuss over you - in a good way, that is - two thoughts are evoked. First, an overwhelming since of happiness comes over you. To stop and think that people care about you for doing what God has called you to do, causes me to go to that happy place in my heart.

Secondly, an overwhelming sense of embarrasment quickly rushes in because someone is making a fuss over you. The thought of being appreciated just overwhelms you with love and acceptance and thankfulness. But I can never get past the thoughts of, "Aw that's nice, but please... it's not necessary." But then the happiness rushes in again.

The week leading up to Staff Appreciation Day encouraged me especially. Every time I thought of the coming week I would just get happy. Happy isn't the greatest most explicitive adjective in the English language to use, but it's the one that comes to mind that expresses how I would feel. It's fun to be appreciated.

So then the embarrassment began...

One of our youth leaders (my right hand man), Aaron Griffin, went to the lectern and began to read some statements about Pamela and I. His comments - as is the nature of youth ministry - were very funny. The things that he said about our family were so unbelieveable it made me want to meet the family he was describing! He said a lot of nice things and I hope one day we live up to them all...

One of our adult youth leaders (my left hand man), Kenny Hand, then called us to come forward. He nervously began to explain what they had in store for us. Pamela and I will be married for 10 years this June, so the church is sending us to the Caribbean! They've paid for a full week cruise for just Pamela and myself. We couldn't believe it!

But the appreciation didn't stop there... Kenny then said that the church wanted to do something above and beyond the cruise, so they bought me a new laptop that I got to pick out all by myself! I've been wanting a laptop for years, but as saving money would have it... there was always something else to spend the "computer fund" on (typical of having four small children!).

The church also gave each of our children (did I mention we have four?) an envelope with twenty dollars a piece for them to have. The kids - especially Caleb our oldest - were astonished that the church gave them money! This spoke volumes to them of community and love from a church.

Pastor Daniel also sent Pamela and our Administrative Assistant, Letitia, a beautiful flower arrangement - I tried to claim Pamela's for her at first, but she beat me to the card! I understand he also had to send his wife, Benita flowers as well!

We are so blessed to have a loving church family. Pamela made an astute observation. She said that it speaks volumes of the church to give so extravagantly since we've been here for five years. Normally, the "honeymoon" stage of the staff/church relationship is where they kill you with kindness. Our church family is doing it well into the relationship.

I told Pamela on the way home from church that morning that "This is like Christmas!" She replied, "It's better than Christmas, because we actually get stuff!"

Even without the gifts, there has never been a week when I've not felt loved and appreciated by our church - and that's not something I say lightly. We - I - appreciate our church family and our pastor and our youth leaders for the love they continually show us! Here's to five more years...

Oh, and by the way, I'm blogging this at Barnes & Noble from the laptop the church gave me... Bah dah bah bah baaa... I'm loving it! (said to the McDonald's theme song...)

Judgment House Theology...

2009-10-30T10:01:00.012-05:00

This past weekend our youth group wanted to go to a Judgment House... so we went. For those of you who may not be in the "know" on this, a judgment house is basically a haunted house for Christians but with the gospel message.

How are these the alternative for haunted houses? Glad you asked... . First, they're only done in the month of October and are held around the same time as Halloween. Secondly, their intent is to scare the Hell out of us... literally.

Basically Judgment Houses all follow the same M.O. They are a dramatic presentation of what happens in the after life. The groups attending the Judgment House are introduced to a family who you will follow through several scenes of their lives. The members of the family never seem to really have time for church and are all basically "good" people. The one our youth group visited had the mother character volunteering at a local soup kitchen yet she was not a church attending Christian. Then as the scenes go, your group is escorted by a narrator through their lives.

In one scene we are taken to a youth group drama team practice by one of the daughter's friends. At the practice after seeing the gospel performed in a skit she asks her friend how she can accept Christ into her life after her friend witnesses to her in their conversation. The daughter's mother enters the scene to pick her up and the girl excitedly tells her mom that she got saved. The mother is quite turned off and quickly changes the subject about going to get something to eat at a local side walk cafe type of restaurant.

The next scene we are escorted to shows a horrific accident where the daughter and mother are killed by a car jumping the curb onto the restaurant patio where they were eating. We enter the scene just after the accident and bodies are laid all over the place with EMTs attending the scene. The narrator then explains, "This is what happens next...."

At this point, you are escorted typically to a funeral scene where the remaining members of the family contemplate where the others who have died might be. They are all explained to be in Heaven by the father because they were such good people. Then here's where it gets intense...

The next scene is - for some reason - the judgment of the family members who have died. I'm no eschatologist, but what we refer to as the Great White Throne Judgment doesn't happen each time someone dies. This is the judgment that is being depicted but according to scripture is the final judgment after Satan and the demons have been thrown into the Lake of Fire. This judgment also takes place after the Millennial Kingdom is completed (Revelation 20:7-15) not each time someone dies. In the gospel account of the Rich Man, he dies, is buried then lifts up his eyes in torment. No indication that he goes to a preliminary judgment place is indicated. When Lazarus dies he is immediately escorted into Paradise.

Judgment Houses always have the dead family members standing before "the Judge." The daughter - in our case - was brought before the Judge and pronounced righteous and gets to exit the scene into Heaven.

Then the mother is brought forward who is so confident that she is about to get into Heaven as well. She is stopped short by the Judge who looks into the "Lamb's Book of Life" (another clue that we are at the Great White Throne Judgment) and cannot find her name in the book. The Judge pronounces her doom and then very dramatically demons appear from a side door, grab the mother - kicking and screaming violently - and drag her out of the scene and into Hell. Then for dramatic affect the judge begins to call out the actual names of members in your group and brings them forward. He then says something similar to, "Today is not your day, but when you stand here before me will you be ready?" We then exit to Hell... .

At the eventual Great White Throne judgment God will not use demons as his lackeys to take doomed humans to Hell. They will be thrown into the eternal judgment as counterparts in the rebellion. They will not be in a position to gloat over lost humanity.

The next scene is the reason I decided to blog about Judgment Houses and their theology. We then enter into the Hell scene and the room is dark, lighted only with black lights, splattered paint that shows up under the black lights to resemble fire or blood; it's 80 degrees plus in the room to represent the fire in Hell and screams are being pumped through the PA system. The intent, as you can tell, is to try to represent Hell the most horrific way possible to get people to realize the nature of this place.

Then enters Satan... he is dressed in black with a horrific "Satan" mask. Over on the side you can see the mother being whipped and beaten and kicked by demons. Satan begins to get into the face of the crowd screaming and laughing. He grabs the mom and brings her over to the crowd where she begins to plead with us not to ever come to this place and to tell her other family members who were left behind (similar to the Rich Man in the New Testament pleading for a warning for his brothers) about this place.

The problem I had with this scene is that in Hell Satan is not the lord or ruler as some so commonly think. He and his minions don't have thrones in Hell where they rule on beds of lava.

Hell is their judgment just as much as it is any human who dies and goes to that awful place. The old adage, "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven," can't be further from the truth. Satan is called the god of this world referring to Earthly realms. He was cast down from Heaven onto Earth as Isaiah describes. Hell wasn't designed as an eternal bachelor pad where Satan gets to further torment those created in God's image. Also, at the judgment, demons are not going to be the eternal escorts of those who are given Hell - as their choice in this life - by rejecting Christ. Satan and the rebellious angles aren't the reciprocal expression (mirror image) of God and His kingdom. They are created beings that will also come under the same judgment of God as such - created beings.

Now to wrap this up... are judgment houses bad? I don't necessarily think so. The intent is to answer the questions of what happens after this life and how there is an eternal reward of punishment awaiting. At the end of the drama the groups are escorted into a counseling room where the scenes are explained. Our speaker admitted that the scenes we saw in no way depict an accurate portrayal of what Heaven and Hell look like (glad he clarified that point!). But he then took time to explain the gospel and gave the group an opportunity to pray to receive Christ. Many responded and prayed and considered that day the condition of their heart and what their eternity might look like. This is a good thing!

Do judgment houses give impressionable teens bad doctrine on the nature of Satan, demonology and the end judgment? Yes they do. Is that an irrecoverable sin? Of course not, but we do need to be careful not to embed bad theological thinking as common place.

Teens and adults alike can come away with a further cemented theology that Satan and demons are God's partners in tormenting humans. This taints God's image because that isn't the design He intended nor is it at all consistent with God's loving nature in regards to humans. God has no desire to torment humanity, nor does he delight in the death of the wicked according to Ezekiel.

God has went to amazingly extraordinary lengths to buy humanity back from its separation from Him. A human only goes to Hell after having rejected all attempts by the Holy Spirit to draw humanity to Himself. No one ever goes to Hell with an excuse that they didn't know the Way. No one ever goes to Hell and lifts his eyes in torments without knowing fully why they are there and why they deserve their choice to be there. It's not the ignorant unknowing who go to Hell, but the guilty rejectors of Christ who remain eternally separated from Him. In an act of human will, God gives man to his choice, leaving intact dignity of human choice. He doesn't violate mankind's free will, but desires from that free will those who will choose to die to self in this life and, through Christ, gain eternity with Him.

Happy Fall/Harvest/Festival holiday!

Ezekiel 33:33... They will realize...

2009-10-27T11:51:00.008-05:00

I've been staved from writing for some time now. There seems to be no sense of inspiration and the last posting seemed forced. I've contemplated the articles written about the coming judgment that, for some, burn with force and passion only to grow faint and then the fire dies to only a flicker; then becomes only a small pencil-line of smoke. Then the smoke becomes blown by the winds of distraction, forcing our thoughts away from the warnings back to the mentality that brought us to where we are in the first place.

The messages are questioned as is the custom for these things. Judgment on these types of things can falter - as once was the case for me... daily questioning, "Have I heard; have I heard?" These questions have faded into statements, "I have heard; I have heard;" but for most, the questions remain.

I had some inspiration concerning the titled text, Ezekiel 33:33.

The church continues to disembowel itself, cutting from its torso the very "guts" it was formed with. Today in Birmingham, Alabama a preacher stands on the witness stand before judge and jury defending a crooked, wicked politician bought off like Judas only this time it's with 60 new suits fresh for the ministry of the saints. A church in Mobile, Alabama is suing Jefferson county and Birmingham city officials because a judge ruled this week that "charity" bingo is illegal, and this church is upset that its sugar-daddy has been done away with because it receives kick-backs from these establishments. These happen to only be two stories of the day.... One would not be hard-pressed to find further where the church has lost its compass and has bought into the world's way of doing things.

The church is in trouble; we are in trouble and turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the corruption we buy into as well. We're sold out to this planet having revoked our own citizenship to that city not built with human hands. We ignore the warnings of coming judgment because it doesn't fit our popular gospel. We are blind and naked and alone and we cannot see it because part of the package we've bought into is the self-delusions this society (the Enemy) creates in our view of ourselves. We no longer see what is right because we no longer chose to do what is right.

America was built as a bastion of hope to a persecuted people. We framed laws and built a nation based on a moral superseding law that comes from a Divine knowledge that has been shared with us so that there can be unity in diversity... from many people, one. This was based on the knowledge that our government cannot be sustained apart from the Source - God - from which life and justice flow. Now our government seeks to be the Source - god - giving us all that we want and need so as to depend upon it as the all-in-all and the church has jumped on board; Christians have jumped on board with a secular mentality that thinks "the government can take care of the poor, that's not my department."

America has rejected it's partnership with Divinity in being a bastion of hope for the nations, and a friend to sinners - it itself has become the sinner. Judgment therefore is coming and God has warned us so that we would not be caught off our guards and so that those of us who need to repent can and have ample time to do so. God takes no delight from the death of the wicked, but the other side to that coin is that God cannot allow sin to continue unchecked.

Ezekiel 33:33 says, "So when it comes to pass--as surely it will--then they will know that a prophet has been in their midst."

This text isn't so much about the vindication of the prophet than it is about the "they" who will realize that God has moved in justice and mercy. All will realize that He is God when these things come to pass... the key is to realize it and heed the warnings that have been given by His watchmen before they do come to pass. Otherwise one might find themselves the subject of the judgment.

God asks us to turn toward Him, trust in Him, lean on Him and He gives us the power needed to do so completely. He hasn't required something of us that we can not give, however it is often something we won't give... everything. The person who finds his life here loses his life there; the person that loses his life here (giving everything) finds his life there.

To quote the missionary martyr Jim Elliot, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he can never lose." Some will find this statement to be absolute truth, but only too late.

Soon these things are going to happen - and it's going to happen! Are you prepared? Are you trusting Him?

Freedom of Expression...

2009-10-02T14:20:00.004-05:00

Last night at Emerge, our twenty-something / college-and-career coffee shop, we discussed the nature of expression and whether or not it is free. One of our country's basic freedoms guarantees its people that they have the right to free expression and that right is inalienable to them as being human. Where might this notion have come from? This is what we discussed...

First of all, God created us to be expressive. This is evident by viewing nature. Take all things that have been created and compare their ability to express themselves. A hundred chimps on a hundred lap tops clacking away for a hundred years on the keyboards can never compose a sonnet. Sure they may accidentally hit a word or two by chance but they lack the expressive ability to hammer out a thought provoking piece of prose on their love for bananas. Even the howling wolves have never scrawled with their paws in the snow a song they bay at the moon. This is not to say that God didn't design animals to be able to have limited communication. Fireflies light up the night with yellow-hued love calls to attract a mate; squirrels chatter to one another endlessly, but what animal has ever invented the internet or what bird has ever directed a major motion picture? Simply none. Humanity is of a different sort... even when impaired by deafness or muteness we are able to express concepts and ideas through sign language or through brail.

God designed humans to be fully expressive. Where do we think He got that idea? In Genesis God has a conversation with Himself and says, - plurally, I might add - "Let us make man in our image." The first act we see God revealing Himself to humankind is in expressive explosions of creation of worlds with His words. Mankind took notice and followed suit by equally being creative staying true to his nature. Ants have been building for millenniums yet they've never constructed mini-malls nor have they grown past their dirt-holed homes. God's very nature is expressive and we are created in His image.

If then God created us to be fully expressive, then what about the notions of totalitarian governments who won't allow its people to be freely expressive? In essence, these government entities can be classified as evil empires with anti-Christ attitudes that deny people this freedom that has been created in them in an expressive nature and endowed to them by God. These governments are Satanic in nature since his desire is to cease people from bringing God glory in their lives, which is the purpose of humanity. They are quelling God's image in humanity in this restriction.

Is then all expression good and acceptable to God's standard of holiness since we can express whatever we choose?

Take for instance what Paul says twice in his first letter to the church at Corinth. In chapter six (vs. 12) and in chapter ten (vs. 23), Paul says that though all things are lawful, all things are NOT beneficial. This principal can be applied to expression. Though we have been given the freedom to express ourselves and the capabilities to express ourselves, not every expression is valuable to us. Adam and Eve were placed in the garden and given basically one rule, don't eat of that tree. Yet, God didn't place a force field around the tree preventing them to reach it. It was completely lawful - or possible - for them to reach the tree, however their reaching the tree wasn't beneficial to themselves nor to the world! Thus the curse. Not all things are profitable to us and expressing contempt for God by rejecting Him has a dire alternative... eternal separation from Him in Hell, and this is of our own choosing and the consequence of our expression.

Isaiah in chapter six of his writings describes the vision of God seated on His throne and the train of His robe filling the Temple. This wasn't a pretty Renaissance painting, but a terrible vision of God in His holiness. Immediately Isaiah expressed his utter sinfulness - though possibly the saintliest man in Israel at the time - with this metaphor, "Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips and dwell in the middle of a people of unclean lips." Why did Isaiah use 'lips' instead 'hands' or 'eyes'? It would seem clear that hands do evil by murdering, fornication, stealing, etc., but Isaiah used 'lips'. Think of this, both Matthew (12:34) and Luke (6:45) record in their accounts of Christ's life that from the abundance of our hearts our mouth speaks. Isaiah was in the presence of our holy God and in that Light there was no hiding what is in man's heart... sinfulness, not compared to each other but compared to God, and who can ever measure up to that save Christ alone? Man's heart is utterly wicked and that's what comes to light in the holiness of Christ. Our 'lips' express what is in our hearts. It's the tongue - not the eyes - that is the window to the soul.

This is possibly why we can't be fully expressive to the church community at large. If we admitted to our "brothers and sisters" what is on our heart, or what we struggle with in our lives then the facade that we put up on Sunday mornings would be shattered and our credibility lost as stained glass Christians. It's too costly to be vulnerable. There's too much as stake we think. This drives our community to be not much like a community at all. To whom can we go to be expressive? To whom can we be completely vulnerable? How many friends can you tell your darkest fears and struggles to without fear that you will be the topic of every email and cell phone conversation from now until Sunday?

There's one place where all pretense is lost and all fears are consumed... the metaphorical foot of the cross... literally to Jesus. We come to Him with no pretense because there can be none. He knows the deepest struggles we've yet to face and it doesn't change His love toward us one bit.

My pastor, Roger Daniel, said once that the fact that we can't trust the community to express ourselves in our struggles and weaknesses proves that the community is not much like Christ.

This is a problem. Because when we can't express ourselves and where that freedom doesn't exist God's nature ceases to exist - or ceases to be expressed - there too. God created us unlike any other organism in this world. He created us to create. He created us to paint and sing and to write and to love just as He has painted the worlds into existence with His words; and sings the love song of a savior sent to a people needing rescued from a curse of self-choosing; and to love in fathomless expressions of nearness to a people that hold Him at bay with clinched fists of self-centered-ness. All the while knowing that He gave us the freedom to express love for Him... or contempt, but hoping for love.

Paint the Town Red...

2009-09-30T15:47:00.009-05:00

"Paint the Town Red," a fitting expression wouldn't you say? Why doesn't America just dig up the slain students from Tienanmen Square, prop them up next to the Empire State Building and point and laugh at their corpses? Isn't that basically what we've done?

We have shown support - the ESB is the tallest standing building in NYC since the topple of the Twin Towers on 9/11 - to an Evil Empire and mock all those who protest and wish for freedom behind China's walls.

Just to fill you in, the Empire State Building is lighting it's tower Red and Yellow in commemoration of China's 60th anniversary as a nation... a "Red" Communist Nation.

Have we completely lost it as a country that stands for freedom? The hundreds of slain students and intellectuals desired what we have and take for granted all too often..., freedom from an authoritative, oppressive, communist regime. It seems that America has lost its way in standing for freedom for all peoples including the Chinese oppressed.

Here's some fun facts for you concerning the great and wonderful impacts of Communism's take-over and rise in China:

Historian Chang Jung estimates that as many as 72 million people died due to the toll of the revolution and China's communist rule, which has taken an additional tens of millions of lives through years of war, famine, reeducation and wholesale slaughter
During the Great Famine of 1958-1962, 36 million Chinese are believed to have starved as a result of Mao's "Great Leap Forward"
During those years of ruin, peasants ate bark, maggots, bird droppings, human flesh — anything to survive — as government storehouses stood full with grain and other cereals

These statistics can be found in this Fox News article.

Thank you Empire State Building People... you are wonderfully blessed to be able to exercise freedom of expression in honoring a country that does not allow the same to its people... .

Sipping From the Ganges River...

2009-09-24T10:26:00.000-05:00

There is a river that flows through India called the Ganges River. The Hindu's believe this river to be the most sacred, holy river in all the world. It is believed by the Hindus to originate its flow from the lotus feet of Vishnu - the supreme god of the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. It is said among the Hindu peoples that "Even a breeze from the Ganges River can wash away your sins."

However, India has launched the greatest environmental clean up in its nations history - the Ganga Action Plan or GAP in April 1985 - to clean this so-called "pure" river. The river rises from the western Himalayas and stretches east 1,560 miles to drain in the Sunderbans delta in the Bay of Bengal. It is estimated that two million people bathe daily in the river, as well as many cattle, also considered holy by the Hindus; they are watered there daily as well. It is not uncommon to find rotting corpses of both humans and animals in the river. Ecoli bacterium, dysentery and cholera exist in this river as well as many other pollutants from sewage systematically dumped into the river and pollution from industrial manufacturing plants and the hundreds of communities that share the water's borders.

This however doesn't stop millions of devoted Hindu followers from daily drinking and bathing in this river to be cleansed of their sins. The followers also are not unaware of the pollutants put into this river, but they believe that because of its holy origins that it can never be polluted. The secular Indian government knows this to be a problem for its people in controlling disease and due to the health concerns they rightly have, thus the launch of the GAP restoration and cleaning plans years ago.

These believers believe that a drink from the river or by bathing or even a simple breeze from the river holds healing powers both for the body and, again, to cleanse one's spirit from sin. Our American minds cannot fathom drinking from any such source. The booming bottled water industry proves that Americans take our drinking water very seriously and are blessed to have access to clean drinking water without having to go daily to a river to gather personal water for daily needs.

It's unfathomable that anyone could believe such dirty, disgusting, polluted water filled with dead corspes, feces and urine would ever be drank by anyone... especially for spiritual beliefs. But we Christians drink daily from the Ganges River. No, we don't fly or trek to India to drink from its waters but we spiritually sip from the Ganges River and commit the same heinous-to-health acts as these Hindus. We live our lives so secularly with the only notion of a different life - or belonging to a spiritual, heavenly city - when we attend a church service once a week if it's a good week. We have been cleansed by Christ and have sworn allegiance to walk after Him and to follow Him with all that we are yet every day we drink from the pollution of the world. We watch movies and television and listen to songs that promote murder, espionage, chaos, brutality, adultery, fornication, mayhem, deception, homosexuality, lude jokes, innuendo, blasphemy, witch craft, atheism - and these can all be found on current prime time television and PG-13 movies. We watch these concepts and are so inundated by these images and concepts that we think nothing of them.

This is not a diatribe aimed at readers for the sake of condemnation but a revelation received about myself. I am careful to guard my eyes of what I watch but how many countless - seemingly innocent - romantic comedies do we sip into our hearts that promote promiscuity and then chalk them up as great romantic movies. It has escaped us what love and romance actually are to the point that we see couples sleeping together with no thought given to marriage and then get a warm fuzzy feeling about what such a love story it was.

Daily we sip from the Ganges River of pollution and think this is okay because we are saved, or covered, or bought by the blood - or whatever term we use to excuse our natural sinful desires for such vices. This isn't an incitation to throw our televisions, magazines, books, music, etc out the door - but should it be? Is our slow fade into assimilation into this world keeping us from being the Church that God came - the broken and polluted Earth - to die to create?

Someone said to me yesterday that they wished Adam and Eve hadn't eaten the forbidden fruit that caused our Earth and our forms to be cursed, bringing all our pains upon this Earth causing it to groan for redemption. But we drink from forbidden rivers daily and that we shouldn't be so tough on the celestial first couple because we are given daily their same choice and we jump into the river and bathe.

From Above...

2009-09-21T09:13:00.007-05:00

Catching up this morning on the status updates of my Facebook friends, I find no shortage of complaints against all the rain we're having lately in the south. I don't know the official count of how many days worth of rain we've had presently but I stopped counting at one-hundred-eighty-two days straight. I've reminded God several times that this is 4.5 times longer than in the days of Noah.

Of course this can be aggravating to our routine and our wanting to go out and enjoy the last fleeting days of southern summer, but this morning I was reminded of the drought of last year. We were on serious water restrictions and two states were locked in legal battles over how much water the other state should receive from a shared reservoir.

We were praying for rain. People did rain dances. Politicians in the worst stricken areas even called times of prayer that God would deliver rain to a normally saturated area such as ours. Now we have rain by the buckets and our response is to complain. Most of the complaining is tongue-in-cheek and harmless, but some are severely perturbed that we have so much rain as of late. My how our memories are as fleeting as the summer.

Rain was once the sign of blessing and favor but now has become a sign of inconvenience to us. Rain used to make people worship, even inventing gods - such as Baal of the Canaanites who was thought responsible for the winter rains - to praise for rainfall. We know that the One True God - Jehovah - is responsible for all of Earth's functions including rain, however the barometer of much of the church is reading a high pressure in the area of complaining.

We've lost our way a bit. We've become so secular-ly dependent on Wal Mart, Target, Publix, Bruno's, Food World, et al - that we no longer see rain as a blessing. In fact we look at the scripture, Matthew 5:45, that say God sends rain on the "just and unjust," as meaning bad things happen to good people as well as bad people - who really deserve it. We see it with sort of a "raining on our parade" mentality. This is because we've become so blessed that the natural phenomenon known as rain - which was anciently a mark of favor, blessing and prosperity by the "gods" - has become a negative connotation to us who know the true God responsible for it.

Are we so prosperous that blessings have become curses because they don't fit our agendas and wants? We are a spoiled kid crying over the two lollipops held in each hand because they aren't big enough. We must remember from where every blessing comes - our magnificent God! He pours them upon us because of His great love. It has come to the place, however that we are spoiled and in order for God to remain true to His nature as being a good Father, that He will have to do His Fatherly duty and restrain gifts from us to teach us gratitude and to remember Him as the One knowing best.

Rain, in the first place, is where we got the notion that God is up, as in "up there," or "up in the sky." Our ancient brothers who depended on God's good Earth in farming would see the rain falling down from the sky, watering their farms, producing food to keep them from famine and praised God from "where" blessings flowed. They determined that God was up in the sky because the rain falling down was so good and so vital that every good and perfect gift comes from God who must be above where the rain is.

We would do so good as to leave our modernity and progressive theological knowing to turn again our eyes upward in thanksgiving to God from whom all blessings pour... I mean flow.

Webster's Dictionary, Curiosity and an 8 Year Old Boy...

2009-09-18T09:59:00.008-05:00

My wife and I were driving home the other night, it was late as usual, and the only child still awake was our oldest son Caleb. He's eight. From out of the dark silence of our minivan, Caleb spoke up and said, "Hey, dad... we were using the dictionary today at school and I saw the word s_x." He didn't want to commit such a heinous act as actually saying the "e" in "s-e-x-" so he just said the word "blank" between the consonants.

Pamela and I cut a quick glance at each other both thinking, "Here we go... we are going to have the talk." So I spoke up and asked him ever so nonchalantly, "Oh yeah? What's that word?"

He reluctantly said, "You know, 'sex'," very uncomfortably.

What is it about parents making things much more uncomfortable and weird than they need to be? I responded with my no-big-deal-attitude wanting to put him at ease over the word so I screamed "Don't ever say that again, ever!!! How dare you!!!"

Now calm down... I'm just kidding. I didn't do that at all; but that was the attitude of my father's generation in dealing with "the talk". Parent's used to corner the market - some still do - on making naturally-curious-kids feel much weirder over something - unbeknownst to us - that our parents frequented as often as we stayed the night with some friend or ran down the street to the corner store for a gallon of milk. I used to wonder so often why my family needed so much milk!

I responded to Caleb, "Oh, so what did the dictionary say that "it" was?"

The only thing he could come up with was "something about males and females."

With all the other kids asleep, I turned to Pamela with a quick nod and wink as I began to give him this grand fatherly explanation: "Caleb, sex is how mommies and daddies have babies. When two people love each other - a boy and a girl - they eventually get married and when they want to have children they have sex." (Ok, stop squirming in your seat, please, while you read this!) I decided this conversation wasn't the time to begin to explain to him the perils of the real world, jobs, mortgages, stress, gaining weight, night-time-TV and all that contribute to the stopping of parents making all the babies. I decided - in what I felt was a good fatherly move - to kept it simple for him.

My answer sufficed him on what sex is I guess as he jumped to another question. "Dad, does God have one girl out there for me? And how do I know who she is?"

"Phew!" Was my reply. Glad to change subjects! I said, "Yes, there's someone out there that you will meet one day, and that you two will have things in common that you both like and then you'll decide that you will want her to be your wife." I continued, "You'll be old enough to date one day when you become a teenager and you will need to be praying that God will show you the right girl for you."

He thought about that for a moment and said, "Well, there are three girls at school who I have stuff in common with."

I asked, "Oh really?"

He said, "Yes. There's this one girl who likes dinosaurs... and, I like dinosaurs. Then there's another girl who likes guy movies, but sorta girl movies too which I like. Then there's another girl that likes the same food as me." Then very seriously, as though the answer would turn his fated stars forever, "Which one do I pick?"

Pamela and I lost it at "dinosaurs", but not wanting to make him feel weird or funny about sharing with us we kept our laughs very low and under our breaths.

I told him, "Buddy, you keep praying, and mommy and I will keep praying too, and one day you'll meet a girl who likes the same movies... the same food, and, yes, even dinosaurs..., then God will let you know that she's the one that you can marry."

He seemed good with that answer. And eventually, Pamela and I know, that we are going to have to sit down with our precious, innocent little boy and explain to him "the thing" (without an "e") that will both drive him crazy and, if misused, cause him more grief than imaginable. Yet it is still "the thing" too that God designed that will bring him much happiness in marriage... when there's no stress, woes of jobs, mortgage worries, gained weight, the real world and night-time-TV. But thinking about it, it will be enjoyable then too.

It's amazing the conversations you will have with a dictionary, curiosity and an eight year old boy.

Lying Sermons... From Ezekiel 12: 17-13:8...

2009-09-15T13:50:00.005-05:00

I've held the following message since July 20th, 2009. Yesterday while reading again in Ezekiel - the same book from where this message was inspired - I was reminded of this message and the question came to me as recorded in Ezekiel chapter 22: 1-5, "Son of man are you going to judge this bloody city or not?" After prayer, I've decided to share this despite my own personal insecurities, which was the reason that I held this in the first place.

The Enemy battles us by any means necessary and so he capitalized on my weakness of not wanting to offend or come off as one of those "weird doom-sayers". The work of His will, however, is inconsequential to our feelings or weaknesses. Where we are weak He is strong.

We as believers give up our rights to our lives and to this world. The great delusion that Satan propagates to the Church is that we are a people of rights. We have rights to nothing pertaining to ourselves and this life. We are not our own and have been bought with a price. The freedom we receive in Christ is the freedom to do His bidding here upon the Earth... we are free to serve the Master.

Lying Sermons

Shake and tremble church; eat your food nervously in fear and drink your water in terror. God declares: The judgment that I've appointed isn't for some far off day that never comes. Everything will not continue business as usual. Time is almost up and every warning that I have spoken through my servants is about to come true! "False alarms and easy going preaching is about to be a thing of the past for my church!" You lying preachers proclaim that everyone will be alright as long as they cling to their religion and to your system. Well, their religion is false. Your system is false. Everything won't be alright! I am shaking every pretense from your religion that says you can continue to host your weekly services and your assemblies acting 'Holy' all because you showed up and graced a service with your presence. Then you sit there without caring for the truth or the poor and lost. You are only there for a show or a benefit for yourselves. All you really care about is yourselves. Well, soon you will be the show. Soon all that I've warned of will happen and your flimsy self-religion will fall like paper walls and be scattered in the storms of my judgment. You soon will see that I am God! No more doing whatever it is that you want that is inconsistent of my character then pretending to be Holy on Sunday. I will expose everything that is hidden. The sins you commit behind locked doors, well, I will kick open those doors and I'm starting first with the church - my people. You fair weather preachers, so shy from offending, I'm going to offend you first. It's because of you my people are not warned. You've learned to craft sermons with skill, but know nothing of being in my presence or bringing a word and message from me. You call it that, but it's nothing more than a lying sermon sent from your shallow understanding of the way you think my word works. There are no formulas or witch-craft potions that you conjure up to invoke my favor or blessing. I am the Lord God! It's my business to be me and remain in my nature to bless and heal. I bless those according to my favor and loving kindness. I do not jump for you like the dog you treat me like - not needing me until you need me. You lying preachers who preach smooth sayings inoculate my people from the terror and judgment that is coming, you haven't lifted a finger to repair and prepare my people for what is about to happen. You will be among the ruins of a system that has failed you. The people will demand from you answers for why weren't warned and why you said everything will be okay and now it is not. Your lying sermons that once you thought held your kingdoms together is now the very thing that tears it apart. You will soon realize that I alone am God! My judgment is soon and I would warn you to repent but you won't. You don't even realize this message is for you, but you soon will. All that I have spoken I will do. I will open your eyes to who I Am. I'm through with your lying sermons that are nothing more than clever marketing for a crowd not interested in right living.

Inspired when reading Ezekiel 12: 17-13:8... .

Divorced...

2009-09-11T15:27:00.004-05:00

Eight years ago we vowed to never forget the numbers - 9/11. The day rocked our notions that we were untouchable, that our defenses were impenetrable and we said that we would never forget.

We vowed that our lives would never be lived as they had prior to that dreadful day. For a few days, maybe for a few weeks, there was a sense of unity and our petty differences we once held with such high import and magnitude suddenly lost their vigor.

Now eight years later, we seem to be back to the same mentality we had before. It seems that we are more divided, more godless, today than ever. We have broken the vows we made with such passion on that fated day that now only lives on in faint recollections of where we were when we heard the news.

We've divorced ourselves again from God.

We began living again with our entitlement attitudes that someone somewhere owes us something; we live as a nation with diluted ideas of guarantees of belongings and possessions. These ideas of guarantees to stuff - fine homes, cars, things in general - are not guarantees at all. They are blessings... not rights. Billions of children today won't eat. Billions of people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water. There are toddlers this morning who woke up in Indian streets with no parents to care for them because they've been discarded. They will wake up on city sidewalks and make themselves busy with the business of begging for scraps and change just to survive.

It's ever apparent that we missed the message on 9/11.

Emerge... Twentysomething Ministry...

2009-09-08T15:03:00.007-05:00

We recently re-designed our College & Career Bible Study to take on a new form... yes, a coffee shop. Of course, what else right?

We have young college students, the budding young minds of tomorrow, who need an outlet where they can look smart and cool and studious and feel connected in a bohemian-vagabond-artsy sense so we started a Thursday evening coffee shop worship service called Emerge... each week @ 7:30pm.

Emerge features acoustic praise and worship music by our Emerge Worship band lead by Aaron Griffin (vocals & guitar), Brett Hand (bass), Steven Garmon (drums, djembe) and Joseph Pierson (guitar). We also feature - twice a month - worship leaders from the area who come in a do an acoustic worship set; the likes of Kenneth Belue, Cody Stutts, Rock Sandretto and Chace Austin Butler who will be with us October 8th. We host an open mic night every last Thursday of the month and I provide a teaching or discussion each week.

The purpose of this ministry, other than the obvious ministery to this group and giving them an outlet of worship expression, is to be a community for the community in our area. One recent, yet repeated, statistic is that 85% of church-ed kids who graduate high school will actually leave the church most of them indefinitely. Only a small precentage will ever return.

Most average sized churches (65 members +/-) in our area don't have a consistent outreach to this particular group. Our near-future plans are to begin to partner with area churches to provide Emerge as an outlet for their high school graduates and twentysomethings.

My thinking on this is that if we all have a little, and we all put it together, we can all have a lot. (I know that sounds a little socialist, but in this case it's not so bad... anything we can do to reach our liberal college brothers, right?!?! Trust me, we won't be passing out Theories of Surplus Value as our weekly reader. LOL)

If you're in the area and would like to talk further about coming together on this, then I would love to get with you. You may leave a comment here - just your name and church will suffice - and I will look you up and get with you. I will be eventually getting around to each church, but don't wait on me!

Peace and blessings!

President Obama's Speech to our Children...

2009-09-08T07:54:00.005-05:00

I read the President's speech this morning after a long Labor Day weekend wondering what my two sons would be subjected to this morning. I wondered if there would be an attempt to indoctrinate my children to socialized medicine or maybe some other liberal agenda talking point that I'm opposed to and want to protect my children from.

But after having read the speech myself, there was nothing in the speech that I objected to specifically. I know many parents considered keeping their children home from school, which - let me remind everyone - is their freedom and right. I asked the question myself not knowing what was going to be discussed in the speech. Pamela and I, however talked it over and felt that this would be a good opportunity to have our children possibly exposed to ideas that we don't support and take the opportunity to teach them why those ideas aren't the best ideas. We saw this as a teaching opportunity. We sent them on to school prayerfully asking God to guide us in teaching them what is right in His sight. Also, before having read the speech I was pretty sure that President Obama wouldn't do anything too controversial given the fact that he has been embattled all summer over Obama-care, and to do something or say something controversial would ignite a firestorm of further opposition.

I encourage you to read the speech and judge for yourself in the link to the speech given above. The speech was at moments inspiring and keeps the tone very general and encourages kids across America to pursue the American dream and to get an education despite the circumstances in which they find themselves. He also ended the speech with "God bless you, and God bless America." I find that the most controversial part of the speech given the current status of God and public schools... .

Some Borrowed Place...

2009-08-07T10:00:00.010-05:00

Oh to have the view from some borrowed place
That is not our own.
To dream lazily under the sky as we lay in grasses
We've never touched, to breath in air not from here.
Maybe some city skyline whose streets our soles haven't graced,
Or it's park bench on which we haven't sat.
The aromas from some sun scraped vistas I don't yet know
Fill my wantings making me long for some borrowed place.
Pin-pricked back drops of starry skies watched on shores
Depressed by only our footprints.
Or maybe some mountain-scape with summits pressed high
Viewed from some borrowed window
From a room that is not our own.

I long all day for that borrowed place I've never seen,
But in pictures or from stories seen only in dreams.
That borrowed place we are yet to go,
Fills our hearts to be among the cascading climates
Of other places, to feel their warmth or their chill
Not caring either way as long as the view is one we both share.

Let's go together to that borrowed place.

Under the Oaks at Mamre

2009-08-06T08:58:00.014-05:00

Under the Oaks at Mamre,
The Triune Visitor came to sit,
Life, Creator and King, they came
To cool themselves under shaded boughs.

"What occasion brings this call," I asked,
"Why cast your shadow, Lord, here?"

"To gift you," came the LORDS reply, "with a baby in old age."

A laugh is all was heard from inside my tent pitched at Mamre. "Laughable, right, to bear a child in old age?"

"Why now," I pondered as our candles' light has begun to dim, "Would such an idea be conceived?"

Under the Oaks at Mamre,
Sat Prophet, Priest and King.
With two fingers touching Tera's Table
In Life this One as two would spend,
Not divided in Divinity or Humanity, but Divine right for a time Suspend.

Under the Oaks at Mamre,
Sat Counselor, Creator and Comforter.
The Giver of Life, Oh Breath,
Descended to close the chasm of loss.
The Wind of one day's parted waters
To guide home my child's sons from bondage,
Would bring us back here, again, under these Oaks found at Mamre.

Under the Oaks at Mamre sat the LORD bringing news of a gift,
Of a son wrought in old age and a laugh is all we could give.

Now departing from Under the Oaks at Mamre,
This Visitor's time was spent.
Off to light some fire, "My Lord," I called, "come again."

Under the Oaks at Mamre,
The Divine Visitor came to sit.

Red-Metal-Bunk-Bed-Revival...

2009-07-30T10:10:00.015-05:00

Last night after arriving home from Vacation Bible School, Pamela and I were tucking kids into bed. We put the girls to bed first... always first... then headed to the room of our sons. I read their nightly devotion and was getting ready to pray with them when I remembered something. One of the volunteers at VBS had told me that they thought they heard Caleb, my oldest son, say a bad word... the "female dog" kind of bad word!

Wondering where he picked that word up and horrified that my precious, innocent little son was capable of such a word, I began to ask him if he had said any bad words that night at church. He shook his little head back and forth indicating that he had not, but his face went flush with exposure to his forgotten sin telling me that he had.

I pressed again, "Caleb, did you say a bad word tonight?" My voice was soft, but sincere. He then began to stammer around and asked me, "What word?" So I said, "The word that starts with b-i-." He was truly puzzled and didn't know the word. I could tell. I gently but firmly asked him for the truth, "Did you say any bad words tonight at all?" His younger brother wanted to interject on his big brothers transgression, but I halted his input - and then Caleb's face turned flush again indicating to me something had been said. He responded, "I did say one word."

In dramatic shock (for affect) I asked, "Caleb, what did you say???"

"The Lord's Name in vain," was the only response he could make. I was shocked because I had expected some other word. Wanting to make sure he knew what he was talking about, I asked him, "What exactly did you say, son?"

"Oh my G-d!" was his reply again with a flushed-face and nervousness.

I turned a quick glance toward Pamela somewhat relieved that I wouldn't have to re-enact the scene from "A Christmas Story" with bars of soap and a phone call to some unsuspecting parent, but I also spotted an open opportunity for a lesson.

"Now, Caleb, you know that's one of the commandments right? And we're not supposed to take God's name in vain, right?

"Yes, sir."

"Well, son, should we pray and ask God for forgiveness?" He affirmed that we should and I said, "You're going to have to lead this one, okay?"

I grabbed his hand and his brother's hand as well, who had been watching in quiet wonder that his big brother may or may not about to be getting a spanking... he just wasn't sure at this point. He hoped for the former.

What happened next caught both Pamela and I off our guards. As the three Hitt boys all held hands forming a triangle of support, our little lesson was about to transform into a "come-to-Jesus-revival." Caleb began to pray and he became overtaken in heart felt emotion where he couldn't hardly get the words out as he prayed, "Please God forgive me for taking Your..." then he broke into tears, "...name in vain. I'm so sorry, God."

I shot another quick glance at Pamela and both of us were so struck by the deep sincerity of his prayer and repentance that we both were near the point of tears ourselves. Choking the tears back, I began to reassure Caleb that God had forgiven him and that his sins would never be remembered anymore. I told him how proud I was of him and that God was forming him into a great son for His kingdom. I pressed even further by asking him if he believed God had forgiven him, and with a slight smile he nodded in agreement.

Who had expected such deep emotion to be felt by an eight year old boy over such an innocent thing?

The whole atmosphere of the room had changed. Pamela and I went from being on the fast track of getting kids into bed so we could get some peace and quiet ourselves into feeling God's presence surrounding their red-metal-bunk-bed.

Just then, Caleb's younger brother, Zeke began to confess that he also had said a bad word that night. He told me that he had told someone to "shut up!" I asked Zeke if he knew that was wrong, with a smile in my voice, and asked him if he wanted to pray too. He did and he knelt there on the top bunk of their red-metal-bunk-bed and asked God to forgive his sins as well.

What started out as a good night devotion, turned into a red-metal-bunk-bed-revival-of-repentance for two small boys concerned with pleasing a God they are just getting to know.

Just like that, two hearts were changed that night... but they belonged to Pamela and myself.

God had done a mighty work of convicting two of his children... again, me and Pamela. The scriptures say that a child shall lead them. And in the midst of our red-metal-bunk-bed-revival there were no physical manifestations of healing, no bodies falling to the floor, no 3 pole tents, no offerings received in spirited-coercion, but I stood there profoundly humbled by my own lack of sincerity. My heart had been renewed in this little revival of sorts.

Oh, Father, that my prayers would be soaked in tears of child-like sincerity instead of some spiritual-disciplined-obligation to pray to you, as needing to fill some prayer quota for the day. Bring more bunk-bed-revivals into the lives of us, your church. My how we need them... .

Remembering Autumn In July...

2009-07-28T11:10:00.010-05:00

I can feel Autumn, if I try just hard enough,
Remembering the blades of grass in the Fall,
As they begin their muted decline to dormancy.

The sun beats down now in unforgiving rays
Of abusive power it won't apologize for.

I try to remember the cool mid-day air
That neither chills nor stifles breath,
In comfortable draws soaking lungs
With invigorating energy of brisk Autumn air.

I can remember Autumn, if I try just hard enough.

The Song Bird's Song

2009-07-20T10:06:00.008-05:00

The Song Bird sang its swollen chesty song of love

Chirps and chirps and chirps and chirps-

Pausing its serenade to listen to hear loves song sang back to him.

When no song is sang to sullen lover Song Bird

He simply sings his song again

Chirps and chirps and chirps and chirps-

Still no wanting song of love returned only requited

For a moment by crickets and locusts’ calls for their

Own loves serenade.

Still the Song Bird sings his swollen chesty song of love

Chirps and chirps and chirps and chirps-

Waiting and listening for loves recall,

When in the stillness of his Waiting Song an ever so faint chirp he hears.

His love song returned back to Song Bird’s delight

Now singing his serenade not to empty forest of so many creatures not to his belonging

But his song sang to such a Singer who waits too for no empty tune returned

Attack of the Killer Blog...

Francis Chan :: Fighting Hypocrisy In the Church

Youcef Nadarkhani's Execution Expected Wednesday or Thursday

I Prayed Some Heresy Today...

Youcef Nadarkhani's Case to be Re-examined...

Shadow of Insecurity...

Scared of Confession...

Not On This Soil...

Youcef Nadarkhani Update

Cafe Latte, Inspiration and Being Busted By My Wife...

Proverbs 30:7-9

Rich Mullins Quote...

Dead Already...

(un)Explainable Life...

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani on Foxnews.com **MUST READ ARTICLE***

Matthew 28:19 (NLT)

Youcef Nadarkhani Update...

About Casey Anthony and Our Attitudes...

Assaulting God

Social Justice Christianity?

Romans 1:20 (NLT)

Where Are the Lovers?

1 John 2:1-2 (NLT)

Do Not Love This World...

1 John 2:15-17 (NLT)

Colossians 3:2-3 (NLT)

Weird Like Rain...

Remembering...

Caffee Junction Disaster Relief Facebook Page

David Wilkerson

Routine Confessions

Blood Guilt, the Pope and Jewish Exoneration

Leaving Me...

"Radical" by David Platt

Communion at Emerge... "On the night of His betrayal..."

Marcella and the Moon...

Crazy Love by Francis Chan...

Pacifier...

Scary Sister

Coming Calamity...

Gonbies...

Wishing for Winter Near November... In Alabama...

Gathered 'Round...

From Cold Rain...

No Hitter!

Fall Is Upon Us...

You Move Me Still...

Then Comes My Answer...

Some Frustrations on Talking...

I Run In God's Goodness...

I Run Birmingham...

"With Your Seed to (insert ministry here)... You Will Receive"

"Jim and Casper Go To Church" by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper

"Forgotten God" by Francis Chan

Etch Upon My Heart Your Name...

A Den of Thieves...

Sara Bareilles...

Regretful Occurrence of Why You're Leaving...

REVOLVE! Student Ministry // Message // Let Your Dreams Die So You Can Live...

Emerge Bible Study Audio // April 29th, 2010 // McAlister's Deli

Correction to Blog Post, "Heed Wilkerson's Warning"...

It's Always Been You...

Hushed Hosannas...

Windy Days...

Apart From You...

Colored Jesus...

New Manhattan Declaration Website...

Starry Skies...

Green Grasses of Spring...

Church Lighting and the Holy Spirit...

Swinging In Sapling Pines...

Smiling Over Sequins...

Christmas -- The Night Before...

Quote to Me Your Love...

My Escape...

Inspiration's Wooing...

Missing You...

The Manhattan Declaration...

Kissed in New York...

Where It's Snowing...

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani on Foxnews.com MUST READ ARTICLE*