Silent Screams!

I sit here writing this feeling like I have had my heart ripped out of my chest and although it is still beating I lie here watching it beat feeling helpless and out of control. Numb with fear and yet filled with pain. Wanting to stand in the gap but paralyzed in fear. Trying to look for the light at the end of the tunnel but not sure I really want to crawl that far.  Today I faced an attack that was far more painful than even the worst root canal.  

We teach and talk about spiritual warfare as if it is a fairy tail and never really recognizing the battle that is being fought all around us.  We try to wrap our thoughts around it but somehow the image that all to often we come up with is the cartoon angel and the prince of darkness whispering in our ear.  We don't see the struggle of good and evil, the clouded thoughts, confusing voices, empty promises, or the feeling of being trapped.  We don't think of the silent screams of desperation.  We block out all these images because it is painful to think about,  We don't want to be honest.  The truth of the matter is it is real.  There is a battle bigger than you or I .  

Today this battle became very real to me.  Real and unfair.  Today started off as one of those mountain top experiences.  It started yesterday with Chris Tomlin's God of this City repeating over and over on the iPod.  Then through music in youth God was stirring.  Sound went perfect which really helps me focus.  When I was teaching I felt as if I had stepped over the drivers seat and someone else was placing the very words on my lips.  But it continued after the service ended.  People connected.  God was stirring the hearts of the people.  Several people, to which I can take NO credit for, said how what we talked about hit home.  (Remember I said I felt as each and every word was placed on my lips)  My son on the way home showed his appreciation for the message.  He said how it was really good.  Even told me I wasn't like a preacher when I spoke.  This morning he led a prayer group at school.  Daddy was and is extremely proud!  A sixth grader willing to step up and lead.  He was leading this group that rallied behind a cause dedicated to people fighting to make it out of dark desperate and desolate time of their lives. 

I beamed with hope and joy seeing him impact in a passionate way the lives around him.  I well up with tears of admiration and joy as I even think about it.

Too bad the story doesn't come to an abrupt end there.  See that is when the battle began.  How cruel and unfair.  Satan seized and opportunity to  attack.  How would I love to shelter my son and protect him from this viscous attack.  The very core of what he was standing for was attacked.  He was fighting to give a voice to those who feel unloved, untouched, unwanted when thoughts of worthlessness flooded his being.  He was shaken to the core.  As parents we want to shelter our kids, denying God the opportunity of growing them, using them, molding them into the warrior they need to be.  It tore Laura and I apart to be helpless bystanders.  We prayed but never felt that was enough.  Let me take the blows for him.  We read in Romans 8:28 how ALL things work together for the good of those who love Him.  But how?  I know they do but how can you see good in this.

A lesser man would have opted out of the environment but thanks to someone taking time and speaking into his life he was ready to man up and face the world head on.  He couldn't be silenced.  Satan attacked him making him feel alone but because people who are willing to roll up their sleeves and get dirty he saw hope, and the very compassion he was showing was showered lavishly on him.  So next year when he does this again he can speak with authority that love does change lives.  He is a story of hope, promise, compassion, and VICTORY!

Ephesians 4:29

No worries!

Group project for class!  Enjoy!

And the winner is............

You probably expected to see a picture of Obama here or another person ranting and raving about how the United States has damned itself to hell. Sorry to disappoint you. And no I didn't vote for Obama. This election was really hard for me to get excited about. I had issues with both candidates and even more issues with how so many "Christians" viewed God as endorsing either one of the candidates. I have been struggling trying to look at the Bible through a pure heart that doesn't bring any preconceived notions with it. One of the things that I have found intriguing is how God seems to work with governments that are less than desirable. Some of the greatest events in history took place while His people are in bondage. I am not saying we are the new chosen ones but what I am saying is I believe in the sovereignty of God. Not just in the good times but the bad times too. Is God limited by who we vote or don't vote into power? I think not.

It saddens me to see how excited and hateful we Christians got during this political season. We serve a risen King and should barely be able to contain our excitement to worship this King but instead we settle for singing a few songs and hearing a message. We should be both excited and humbled by this thought. Scripture tells us that the world will know us by our love for each other. Well what does the world know about us now. The internet is so full of Christians insulting each other because of which side of the fence we have camped on. Where is the love?

As i said before I have been really trying to connect in a way that I haven't been able to before because of all the baggage I had brought to the table with me. I have realized I serve one God, one King, one president if you will, and have no room to serve any other. Some may call this lunacy but I call it LOVE. Love for the risen Savior. I may not agree with everything the President does or thinks but I want to encourage you to pray for him. Pray for him as a human being who has an incredible amount of responsibility on his shoulders. Pray for him because he too is created in God's image, rather we agree with him or not.

Election Eve!

I sit here on the eve of the Presidential election and find myself being a skeptic. I see people saying they are praying for the election to go the "right" way. I have noticed on facebook numerous people expressing their concern over the election by dedicating their status to the candidate of their choice. I sit here and wonder if maybe we have missed the point. I understand the importance of voting. Blah blah blah! I just think that maybe we should be concerned about our leader more than once every four years. Maybe we should pray for them on a regular basis. Not because he is President but because he is a man created in God's own image. I have heard all sorts of people saying I don't understand how important this election is, and this could be the most important election I might ever be involved in. I have heard people from both sides trying to convince me who to vote for. I love how Christians try to use issues saying this man is God's man. (As if He needs a man to do His will) One side tells me how Obama is worried about social justice so he has to be endorsed by God. The other side tells me McCain is the way to vote because he is antiabortion! I have so many other issues with both of these candidates and I haven't seen ANY evidence of God endorsing either party. I have even been told that if the wrong man is in the White House we could one day lose our right to worship?!? I do understand both sides of the argument but my views on worship have absolutely no connection to any form of government. I am thankful to live in a free country and appreciate each and every drop of blood that was shed to allow me to write openly and freely like this, however those drops of blood did not do near as much for mankind as one man's blood 2000 years ago.

So I encourage you to dedicate your loyalty to the one that matters. The one who four years from now will still be in charge. Go ahead and vote but remember our focus is not on man. No one can take away your ability to worship or serve God. Look throughout history. When Christianity is not easy it seems to rise to the occasion. If you feel the need to dedicate your status I encourage you to dedicate it to the King of Kings!

Looking at life through stained glass windows.

I am currently taking the most thought provoking class of my academic career. The class is called the Life of Christ. Yea I know, should have been an easy class for a guy who has been in church for the majority of his life. How much more is there to really learn that hasn't been covered in Sunday School or a sermon. This class has challenged me to strip away the preconceived thoughts that I had about Christ and how he lived while on earth. In other words to throw out all the baggage we bring with us. The effects are troubling. We no longer can hide in the pews and feel safe. Thankfully this journey had started a few years earlier for me but others have had their cages rattled.

We have pretty much put the ways we do things under the microscope of scrutiny to see how our value system lines up with Christ. We have examined the way Christ lived, who He walked with, and how He taught those around. One of the most recent questions we had to ask ourselves was "how does the life of Christ and the values He clearly held and taught inform the way we engage culture? contextualize?" After going over this question in my mind I wrote this response. "We have done all these things to bring the world to us. We set up programs, fall festivals, Christmas plays, and the list goes on. We do all these community outreach events at our church with a come and see attitude expecting them to flood our services but fail to engage them where they are. I do not see a biblical example of this anywhere. I believe it tells us to GO. What if instead of planning our own events we were to be involved with their events? You know be Jesus to them where they are? Instead of creating our own culture embrace the culture we are already a part of. Stupid things such as handing out water at a local art show may actually allow us to teach in a much more profound way then having a hayride at our members only church meetings!" I am not saying these events don't serve a purpose but they can not take place of living a life of love. Living a life where we are called to LOVE. If we are to be the salt of the earth don't we have to be alive on this earth. It does not tell us to be the salt of the church. We have withdrawn to our churches and look out through stain glass windows at a world going to hell. It looks pretty as we view it through the colored glass that distorts the image of the single mom who struggles to put food on the table. Everything we see is bright and vibrant. We are so comfortable sitting in our pews and voting on a committee to recommend how we will help those with needs. We make ourselves feel better because we recognize a need. All the while afraid to get dirty. One student, Richard wrote a quote that we may not even begin to understand the truth of. "The problem however is that there are too many christian eunuch's that are either too afraid or unwilling to engage the culture." How true. We are so afraid of the culture we create our own. One that if we don't leave we feel safe.

What a weekend!

We went to lakeland this weekend for our second annual trip to the Mirror Lake car show. The weather was warmer than it was supposed to be but much cooler than the previous weekend. We had a bunch of housework to do but sometimes you just need a break. Enjoy the pictures.






We then returned to Orlando for MelissaFest! It was amazing how many people turned out to support her and her family. She looked great and seemed to be handling the situation well. Her and her family are truly inspirations.

Dow drops and frankly I DON"T CARE!

I got up early to hear the news at 5:30 a.m. predicting the Dow would fall 300 points upon opening today. They had financial analyst all over the place. Should we sell? Should we buy? Gold? Silver? How do we invest for the future? Are we headed to another depression? Who will bail us out? Obama? McCain? Should the government try and throw more money at it to try to disguise the problem? These were just a small sampling of the whirlwind of questions being shot around.

Does this scare you? Should it scare you? NOT ME! Maybe it is because I don't have a single dime invested into the markets? I am so sick and tired of hearing about the people who have invested thousands in the market only to lose big. I am equally disgusted with the people who refuse to get a job because they can't find anything that fulfills them. Or I have too much going on to get a full time job. I don't like my job. Quit your whining, make the best out of it. We, as americans have become a bunch of spoiled rotten, whining, babies. Easy for me to say right? I have a job, house, two kids, and only been married once! Well you know why I have those things and I am satisfied. It is easy. I have realized I am not in charge. Everything I have and am is dependent on my relationship with Christ. We still struggle but we don't stress. We worry but we do not let it consume us. I am at a job I absolutely hate, haven't got a raise in 5 years, when 10 weeks without a paycheck. I feel your pain. BUT I do not conform to your I deserve better than this attitude.

We have this idea, a perverted one at that, telling us we deserve to be taken care of. We whine when we get off schedule and eat lunch and hour late. We are envious of the new house that has more square footage than ours. We are not satisfied with a car we desire a Lexus. Not you? Look in your closet (mine too) several outfits? How about the shoes you are wearing, only pair? Just maybe they are, Praise GOD for them. That is one more pair than many third world kids have. We sit and watch the market fall and commiserate with people losing thousands as a mother holds her starving baby in her hands waiting for them to take their last breathe.















I am daily trying to understand what these verses look like when they are lived out...

Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.







We are also reminded that God takes care of the Sparrows so how much more does he care for us. No matter how bad the economy gets, no matter how financially strapped we are God is Good! If we focus on the kingdom the things of this earth seem to matter a little less!