Rain

I have always enjoyed watching rain fall. Actually I love to stand out in the rain and watch it fall. The colors, the sound, and the tranquility it brings me. Most of all I love the smell.

I know I am standing in a storm. But I don’t see that. I see the pieces. I feel the wind. Hear the thunder. See the clouds. Smell the water in the air.

Despite the storm around me, I feel peace.

I think about how the rain cleans the air and the earth. It reminds me of the water that cleans me through baptism.

In Spring, the rain makes the flowers grow. The Dogwoods blossom. It makes me think of Christ and his resurrection from the dead. And my new life through Him.

Storms always remind me of the time Jesus calmed the storm while his friends panicked. Life is a storm and Jesus calms storms.

I love rain. I hope you do to.

God bless.

The Search for Truth

I want to know Jesus the Christ. My quest is personal and it is real. I refused to be satisfied with anything imagined, man made, or mythical. I want the truth.

Why would anyone stand for anything less? Why live a lie? Why believe just what people say?  BUT we do. I do.

Here is a personal example and the reason I am not using the New International Version in my personal studies for now.

I cut my teeth on the NIV. I can remember winning a new NIV New Testament from my Father for memorizing the entire text of Acts chapter 2 when I was in the 6th grade. This was the translation I carried from class to class in my public high school. I debated from it. I preached my first sermon from it. And for the most part, I believe the NIV equip me to know God.

But then I began to study the history behind the English bible. It is a fascinating history. I was stunned. I found out that men have since the time of the Apostles set out to deceive people to achieve certain ends.

You may have already known this; however, I did not realize every English translation made has been tainted by the mind of the men translating the text. I found it interesting to learn the history behind the different translations during the Protestant reformation. The Protestant translators trying to make the Catholic Church look bad and the Catholic Church trying to produce translations that were “Authorized” so the populous would be “protected” but really controlled. The result created an arms race, okay maybe a publishing race, to produce the official Word of God.

And, we bought it.

Still even today, modern English translations are following the same path. What bothers me is how overtly the owners of the NIV are changing things. I know they want a “modern” translation. I know they want to appeal to a broader audience. In theory these goal are good. But watch out. What truths might be compromised to avoid hurting anyone or to sell more books?

Search out truth for yourself. Don’t believe what people tell you. Weight the evidence. The task is not about getting to know my personal god, a modern god, or the god for cat lovers or whatever the next publishing craze is. It is a quest to know The God who gave us His Word through the things inspired men of God wrote down. The only way to accomplish this is to honestly, and I mean really honestly, look at what the documents say. My attempt is to limit human interpretation and human bias.

To really do this I think one must learn the original languages. However, not all of us are going to take that burden on. I for one am not ready to do so. Therefore, I must pick wisely the documents I read and to read many different ones.

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. Psalm 145:18

May God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, bless you in your search to know Him. May he give us all a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of our hearts will be enlightened.

God bless

Updated Blog Roll

I have updated my blog roll. I have removed some sites and added some new ones. The changes reflect the new direction I have taken in my personal study. Some of the sites I removed are blogs that are not being added to any more. However, one change will be of note and I hope to write about my decision in a post. I have stopped using the New International version and have been doing the bulk of my study from the New American Standard Bible.

The new link on my blog roll is for Stand to Reason. I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed listening to Greg Koukl’s radio show. I am looking forward to getting my copy of Tactics, Greg’s new book. I highly recommend his material. I hope to share some of the things I have learned.

I have updated John Mark Hick’s blog link. He switched to WordPress and has a new site. I am excited to see he is keeping it updated well because I really enjoy his thoughts.

These are just some of the links I find interesting. I hope you enjoy all the links.

God bless.

Anyone Here?

Yep. I have not been posting. I am here. Unfortunately I have been distracted. My fault.

I am working my way back. I have been studying 1 Corinthians. I have discovered Stand to Reason, which I have added to my blog roll, and Apologetics.com. I am part time preaching for a small congregation. Work is keeping me hopping.

I have things to say and will share them in time. Some are still bouncing around in my pea brain and are too complicated for me to understand. Its one of those things were you know about something but not well enough to explain it to anyone. I get a lot of ideas like that. Makes me really wish I could write well.

God bless.

A Note To Myself

Busy, busy, busy. That is how I have been of late. You too? Life happens. I have been filling my evenings with family and wasting time and learning about SQL and dot net programming. Whooo, hoooo. What kind of fun things are you doing.

What I have not been doing is writing on my blog. I have been preaching a couple of time a month. That has been good as I give some time to bible study. But for the most part I feel like I am very disconnected from God.

He and I have been talking about it and that is key. When you do not feel close to God, go talk to him. He is there and waiting. That is the funny part. We are the ones who “feel” disconnected when all the while we really are still connected. We just do not pay attention.

I forget. Forget that God is there. Forget He loves me. Forget He cares and is taking care of me. I forget. I sin and turn away from God.

Thankfully He is waiting. On me and You.

God bless.

Been Getting to Know God

It seems strange to be writing again. I am not sure why I have struggled to get back into the habit of posting. I need to. I have been studying and preaching so I have material. Just not been able to get myself to write.

To say I have been busy would be an understatement. Work is exactly that, work. Church has been a trial. Friends have gone. At times even my sanity seems to leave me.

But, one thing remains. God. He has been so good to me. I cannot describe the comfort I receive from the Spirit. A sense of his presence. Peace in the storm. There is nothing on earth like it.

To know God. The essence of reality. The purpose of Christ’s visit. You are right, his main purpose was to save mankind; however, ultimately, his purpose was help us know God.

1After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. John 17:1-4

Christianity is not about what you do, how you act, what you believe, it is all about who you know. I know I am oversimplifying the whole thing. BUT. A real big but. You can have all the religion you want, obey all the rules in the book, give everything you have away, buffet your body and bring it under your complete control, say you believe….and not know God. And not have eternal life. God is everything. Knowing God is the ultimate goal. Being in his presence for eternity, the ultimate gift.

God bless.

Where am I Coming From

Seems like I have been a little preachy lately. I am. I am angry. Especially at myself. So often I find I have become so busy with life and crap that I forget God. I look up and am off on some deserted path lost. The things in this world are so appealing. They draw my focus away from God. I know you can relate. If not then I am not talking to you anyway. Go read some posts about the older brother.

My feelings are fueled to by some of my new reading. I have been reading from the prophets in the Old Testament. Talk about eye opening. Oh, my. If you think Jesus came to bring a new message from God you should spend some time in the prophets. God is trying to teach a very stubborn people all about mercy and obedience.

God has picked these few men to try to warn his people about their sin. Sin they have committed against their relationship with God. God has been faithful, he has been there, taken care of them, saved them, provided and loved. However, the people, chose to go find security  from other sources. They began to worship idols, sacrifice to other gods. I found it interesting that at one point God accuses them of going into the hills to sacrifice to foreign gods and then immediately going to the Temple to sacrifice too. Needless to say He was not happy.

Do we go worship other things and then go to Church on Sunday to worship God like nothing is going on? Do we try to hide our sin from God and think he is not aware of our deception?

Another thing I have found interesting is the idea that God is something to appease. The thought goes like this, “God asked for these sacrifices to make him happy. Lets make more sacrifices to get him to give us more.” Or today, “We have to go to Church to make God happy, I have to give lots of money to God so he will bless me.”

How more wrong could they be. God wanted to be their God. He wanted them to love him, know him, rely on him, ACT like Him. Over and over he told them through the prophets their sacrifices were detestable. I think this is because their hearts were so far away from God.

I cannot give lip service to God. It will not work. God is not someone you can conger, control, or appease. He is God. We cannot deal with him, make promises to Him or buy Him. He is God. We cannot cheat on him, we cannot find Him anywhere except how He has planed for us to approach Him. He is God.

Sorry, preachin’ again. God has revealed himself in his word. Am I listening. Are you?

What is on Your Mind?

What do you spend time thinking about? Here is my list,

What am I going to eat for lunch, how cold is it outside, what is on CNN and Fox-News, is everyone going to be at work, will I be late for work, are the phones going to be busy at work, is it time for lunch yet, will my coding be right, are we making enough money, work harder, am I too stressed out at work, am I eating right, is the family safe, will I be able to leave work on time, will the traffic be bad on the way home, what is for supper, I have to walk the dog, and the list goes on and on and on.

What is on your list? One thing that strikes me is how little time I spend thinking about, meditating on and talking to God. I just forget. I believe that is a very distinctive characteristic of the human race. We forget. Oh, we never forget to eat, sleep, basically anything we want to do for ourselves. Yes, I think that is it, if it is something we want or is good for me I do not forget. However, if it is for someone else then I just may forget.

Paul wrote in Philippians trying to remind Christians to stay focused. He wrote,

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9

Left to myself I tend to start thinking in the wrong directions. I worry, stress, daydream, and generally wonder all over the spectrum of life’s cares. I need to spend time mediating on the word. I know you do too.

God bless. Stay in the word.

Flashlight Fetish

I have a deep personal love affair with flashlights. Not sure when it really took hold, probably when all the different LED flashlights came available. I really think they are neat. Everyone should have 3 or 4 around the house. I actually carry one with me all the time.

It may be genetic. My Grandfather, Papa, always carried a flashlight too. This Christmas I gave a Craftsman LED equipped Ball Cap away in our family free for all. I put a little card in the package that said, “In loving memory of “Papa” who’s light still shines in all of us.” I have so many fond memories of us giving him a hard time about having a flashlight all the time.

In another way, because he was a good Christian man, his Christian light shines through us too. His dedication to Christ has lead many to know Jesus, especially his Grandchildren. Papa never mentioned a spiritual connection to his love of lights so I will.

“Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”- Luke 2:28-32

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness. John 3:19 says the world loved darkness instead of the light. I hate sitting in the dark at work when the power goes out. I hate sitting in the dark of my sin lost spiritually too. We do not have to be in the dark.

God bless. Turn on the light.

Resolutions 2008: Contentment

You have a lot of choices when it comes to New Year’s resolutions. You could pick the usual culprits, lose weight, eat better, control anger, get up earlier, exercise more, read you bible more, pray more, saving money, and etc. But what if you did something different?

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?” ^{Hebrews 13:5-6}

What if you decided to be content with everything you have in 2008? Everything? I mean everything.  Here is a list of things to be content with,

How much money you have, the things you own, house, car, clothes, shoes, your job, friends, family, your kids, your spouse, your sex life, how about pets or your lack of pets, your looks, and ultimately yourself.

I am not talking about grudgingly accepting your lot in life. I mean really learning to be happy with what God has provided and how God has created you. Remember, He gives good gifts and He loves you.

I have seriously considered trying to get through 2008 without buying any stuff. No new clothes, no car, no major new purchases of any kind. I would limit my spending to food, shelter, and family. Think you could do it? Think for just a minute about all the things you were thinking of getting for yourself next year. Just think about it.

But godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Timothy 6:6

God bless. Think more. Be content.