"Call to Action"

Here the just three MAIN headlines I woke up this morning..

1. "8 killed in Nursing Home shooting"

2. " 6 killed in California home shooting"

3. " Man decapitates 5 yr old, kills sister"

I thought to myself..what in the world is happening to our country?...Why on earth would anyone do such horrific acts of injustice and malice?... Has this become the norm that we just read over these articles and fancy about our day?..Does anyone feel like shaking this country back to our roots..our God centered, Christian principled way of living...versus this liberalized society that we have become that has booted God out of our lives to the degree that we are questioning whether or not God's name should ever be used in any setting due to it possibly offending someone..I have righteous anger this morning over what this country is turning into..and how we as Christians are not willing to lead by example..to show our neighbors, friends, co workers, countrymen how a life centered on God looks like..We have diluted our Faith so much that we simply blend into society..No longer do we stand out and stand for God..Well we might be called a Religious nutcase, or a fundamentalist or an intolerant person..Folks we are losing the moral battle in this country and it is centered around the exclusion of God in our lives..The further we push Him away, the further we sink into this moral cess pool we are in..If we could see ourselves from God's perspective, I am sure we look like a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah or Corinth.. Corinth...the most important city in Greece during Paul's day, was a bustling hub of worldwide commerce, degraded culture and idolatrous religion.. Does that sound at all familiar..

Folks the sounding call has been sent out for we as Christians to mobilize in this world..We need to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone in earshot and beyond..We have to take seriously our command to obey God and live our life according to His commands..not some feel good worldly type that fits into this worldly system we live in..It is time for us to take a stand..We will stand for Christ or we will bow out and retreat and allow our families, neighborhoods, towns, cities and states to be run a muck.. We need courageous battle ready Christians to assist in this warfare over our lives and stand our ground before it is ripped from underneath us..

The vocal minority has been reeking havoc in our lives..They have managed to demonize Christians and fully embrace degraded thinking..They have minimized our influence and spread their filth around parading it as the new era, or new way of thinking..the modern 21st century way of living..They have ridiculed our way of life and worked very hard to normalize idolatrous and sexually immoral behavior..

WE MUST WAKE UP AND HEED OUR CALL!!

This is the verse I was take to in the Word when reading those article mentioned above

Romans 1:28-32 (The Message)
28-32Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it's not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting in God's face. And they don't care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best

Folks..If we believe every word of the bible to be True and God breathed..(I do)..then this verse ought to scare you to action..This is exactly what is happening in our world..

The sub title of this little section on Romans Chapter 1 is "God's Wrath on Unrighteousness"..This is God's wrath.. God turning the nation loose over to their vile passions..Basically God is stepping aside and allowing us to destroy ourselves..A form of Wrath is to lift His protection from us..and let us do as we please..

EB

On My Heart !!

I wanted to share some excerpts from the Manly Dominion Book I am reading with the 1:28 class..I read several chapters today and felt an extremely strong calling to apply this to my/our life..I am not sure why the strong tug on my heart and soul, but I certainly want to be sensitive to this type of feeling whenever I get it..

Chapter 16 - Personal Devotions - As a Christian, my heart is a well. The land of my Christian Life is teeming with hostile forces determined to do me harm by separating me from my water source. The world hourly blows in the burying sands of vanity. My flesh (indwelling sin) welcomes in unclean sights and sounds that putrefy the waters. The devil works hard with distractions to harass and dispute my every attempt to drink deeply.

My heart will be kept open, fresh and clear only by my aggressively watching, guarding and keeping the condition of my heart. Passive negligence in my devotional life will result in certain famine.

I should understand my heart is disputed territory. If I go to the prayer closet and discover that my heart is stopped up with apathy and carnality I should not be surprised or deflated. When I find my heart stopped up, it is not time to turn away from the prayer closet with a bone dry bucket. It is time for me to roll up my sleeves and get to work. It is time to do some holy digging by resolute prayer, attentive reading and purposeful meditation. We must not say with fainting dejection "I must be missing something", simply because were habitually required to work at keeping our hearts in a good condition. Heart keeping is a standard daily chore of every Christian.

JC Ryle writes " This paper may fall into the hands of someone who reads the bible much, and yet fancies he is no better for his reading. This is a crafty temptation of the devil. At one stage he says "Do not read the bible at all" and at another he says "Your reading does you no good; give it up". Are you that man? Do you think you are getting no good from the bible, merely because you do not see that good day by day.(This is me). The greatest effects are by no means those which make the most noise and are most easily observed. The greatest effects are often silent, quiet, and hard to detect at the time they are being produced. The word may be gradually producing deep impressions on your heart, of which you are not present or aware....settle it down in your mind as an established rule, that, whether you feel it at the moment or not, you are inhaling spiritual health by reading the bible, and insensibly becoming more strong.

In our personal devotional lives, we can not permit ourselves to be pushed around by our environment. We can not let ourselves be bullied by the world, the flesh and the devil..

That chapter spoke volumes to me and was exactly what I needed to hear as I felt I was getting a parched throat from my study and not the refreshing waters I thought I should..This chapter encouraged me in this area to persevere.

Chapter 17 - Family Devotions - Do you think after the famfest weekend and now this chapter that God is desperately trying to get my attention with regards to my role and spiritual leader of the home and my role and leader of family devotions..I would say emphatically YES

What father would be so uncaring as to negligently permit his family to suffer chronic dehydration of their souls? The head of the household is solemnly responsible to provide spiritual hydration for his whole household; he is the spiritual "irrigation system" for his family.

Our wives are our assigned fields whose souls were to conscientiously cultivate and irrigate with the hoe and water of the word..and each child composes an additional field that the Lord has solemnly assigned to our estates. A loving and godly man will make it a conscientious priority to spiritually nurture every soul that has been appointed to his care (Whew!!)

God fearing parents also are assigned the task of continuously communicating the words of God to their children. Deut 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Soul cultivation needs to be our chief priority. It is quite easy for series of devotionless days to become devotionless weeks, then a devotionless month, then a devotionless year and ultimately a devotionless upbringing in your home

Lets liken our children's soul as an Olympic size swimming pool. If each day, you poured a large pail of water into the pool, by the end of twenty years, you would have some real depth. It would be nearly full to the brim. On the other hand, if you forgot to pour on half the days, the pool would hardly be swimmable . If you neglected pouring on most days, the pool would barely have any water. Do we want our children to have spiritual depth? or are we content for them to be spiritually shallow? Before you know it, your children will be gone an out of the house. The brief day of parenting will soon be over. Today is the day to start pouring so grab hold of your solemn chore to irrigate our families with the Word..

JW Alexendar said " There is no member of a household who individual piety is of such importance to all the rest, as the father or the head: and there is no one whose soul is so directly influenced by the exercise of family worship. Where the head of the family is lukewarm or worldly, he will send the chill through the whole house; and if any happy exception occur, and one or another surpass him in faithfulness, it will be in spite of his evil example....Where the head of a family is a man of faith, of affection and of zeal, consecrating all his works and life to Christ, it is very rare to find all his household otherwise minded"

Chapter 18 - Churchmanship - Prevailing attitudes toward church attendance are of the "I'll participate if I feel like it" variety. I'll participate as long as I feel like it and as long as it's cheap. As long as it's convenient and pleasant. I'll partake. But if your asking me to miss some of my entertainment, rearrange my weekends, weary my body, re prioritize my life or deny myself, then I am not really interested....

Many view their duty toward the church as fluctuating with their feelings. NO longer is church a sacred house where worshipers come to serve the Lord. Now the church has become an amusement park where thrill seekers come to amuse themselves. The pop culture perversion of church has conditioned many to say "What do you offer for me today?" verses the scriptures calling of "How can I serve the Lord today?

The Lord is worthy of our first fruits..the cream..of our lives

The following are guidelines for true churchmanship
1. Regarding attendance - So help me God, my family and I will be there. It will be a priority in our schedules. We would never miss work or class or soccer games because of a sniffle. Why is a sniffle an excuse to miss worship. Why should our employer get a higher priority treatment than our Savior

2. Regarding Worship - So help me God, I will not sit passively back in my pew, waiting to be entertained, but will gird up the loins of my mind, and expend concentration energy as I worship in Spirit and truth. We should be willing to isometrically press our minds against his the sermon for the full duration. If we can give our attention over for three consecutive hours to a football game, surely we can give nearly an hour to listening to God's word preached. The pagan world get well over 100 hours of our waking attention per week..Why should we begrudge the preached Word getting two or three hours of our full attention in the same span?

3. Regarding Service - So help me God, I will sacrificially give myself to serving my local church ministry. A valiant churchman willingly serves his turn in the nursery, and sometimes cheerfully fills in when somebody else forgets. He volunteers to drive the older handicapped saint to church. He is willing to burn the Saturday night midnight oil to teach a Sunday School class. He is willing to habitually go beyond the comfort zone of his familiar friends in order to greet and meet visitors and even invite them over to his home for hospitality. He receives from his Lord and Savior "Well done, thou good and faithful servant"

4. Regarding Public Praying - So help me God, I will take up my solemn duty to carry my share of the load of leading groups in prayer..

5. Regarding Financial giving - So help me God, I will give faithfully and sacrificially to the cause of the Your church and Your Kingdom - To pluck a weed from the roadside and present it to a sovereign would be no better than an insult. Yet how often is God served with that which costs men nothing! Men will lavish hundreds and thousands to gratify their own fancy, what miserable driblets they often give to the cause of God!

Chapter 19 Conversion - Isaiah 64:6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all of our righteous deeds are like filthy garments: and all of us wither like a leaf and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away

Faith is connection with Christ. Christ is on the shore, so to speak, holding the rope of faith and if we lay hold of it with the hand of our confidence, He pulls us to shore. But our good works, having no connection with Christ, are drifted along the gulf of despair. Grapple them as tightly as we may, even with hooks of steel, they can not avail us in the least degree. We can't save ourselves by our good works..but Jesus came to do what we could not do..There on His back, He bore the load of sinners

How can I know if I am really saved? If you are genuinely saved, the Holy Spirit lives in you as a down payment of your salvation. His presence will be observable as He will warm your soul to the things of God, resulting in the gradual melting away of patterns of sin. He produces a love for the Savior and a hatred for sin.

If your life is blanketed with habits and patterns of sin, if your heart is consistently hard and cold to the Bible's urgings and warnings, if your soul is a stranger to the Spirit's stirring up within you a love of Christ that desires to obey His Word, then you have good reason to doubt your salvation. 2 Corinthians 13:5 " test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail the test?

I really felt led to write this all out as it has weighed on my soul very heavy today..and having read all this one and now writing it all down again has forced me to deal with these issues head on in my own life..There are moments in our life on earth that we need to heed the words spoken to us and to apply them to our lives..and not just intellectually understand what we read..This has caused me to think about myself in all these areas and how I conduct myself..where my strengths are and exposing the areas I need serious work on and guidance and strength from God..I just know God is looking out for us and desires for us to do things His way...and if we will do things His way, the wisdom, grace, mercy and Love will runneth over in our very own lives..

EB (footnote - Manly Dominion by Mark Chanski)

How is Your Thought Life?

You know I promised myself that I would never just write in this blog for the sake of writing....that I would only write when felt inspired, compelled or led..and that is why I have not had an entry in a couple of days which has been a bit unusual for me.. My mind has been weighed down over the last 5-6 days with a particular subject that has finally manifested itself into this entry..

I would also like to take a mini sidebar for a moment and speak about another smaller issue that I felt led to say..Everyone has a varying degree of understanding of what the bible has to say..Now I DO NOT mean that is says something different to everyone...let's be clear..I do believe that each person has different layers in which they are able to penetrate of the Word of God..There are those people who skim the surface and spend little to no time reading the bible and as a result are just not able to see and grasp some of the concepts that flow from it...and then there are those who are steeped in the Word every single day and spend enormous amounts of time in it, meditating on it and memorizing it...taking the concept of "bible intake" to a very high level...and it is my belief that those individuals are able to peel back many more layers in order to see a deeper more eternal meaning from the text, than others with less time. My point in saying all this is to say that my entries are a direct reflection of the time I spend in God's Word and what has been revealed to me..I make no bones about the idea that I am unable to see the text the same way my pastor Jeff Long does..I am not able to gather the level of deepness that he is and therefore my perspective may often times seem shallow and simplistic to those who are much more spiritually mature than I...so please when reading this blog, take this into consideration..There may be some who will have light bulb moments when reading and some who will find some interesting nuggets that in previous experience was not seen or understood..I am simply a man who has a desire to study the word of God and try to use the Mind God has given me to understand my role as a Man, a child of His, a fellow brother, a husband, a father, a servant and a son..These are my thoughts as they unfold in my mind in this moment in life and spiritual growth..

That leads me to what I really wanted to discuss and that is "Thought Life".. Let me start at the beginning..Our church held an event this past weekend called "Famfest" where the title of the weekend was called "Different by Design: the distinct roles of men and women"..Now I knew going into this weekend that I was going to be challenged as a man and as a leader.. That was no surprise..maybe I wasn't sure about the level to which I would be challenged...but nevertheless I was certain this weekend would give me a lot to think about and certainly inspire me to blog about..but here is the twist..This blog is not about my design or my role per say..It wasn't until the last 10 minutes of the last breakout session that I heard the sentence that would ultimately lead to this and the previous several days of thinking and pondering over..The last session was titled Manhood 101: what it means to be a real man. In the last few minutes after looking at what all this entails..Jeff Watts spoke about 6 sentences he keeps with him when counseling others and it comes from Promise Keepers.. Now I know very little about Promise Keepers and what all this ministry does but I can glean from the title it has something to do with "mean what you say and say what you mean." Anyway, one of the six questions was this..."How is your thought Life?" In that instance, I was blown away..my mind begin to scramble for direction as to what this really meant and the meaning I was to take from this sort of Epiphany. Think about that question.."How is your thought life?" Have any of you really set around and pondered your thought life..The very idea of thinking about your thought life is somewhat difficult to grasp..but there is more significance in this than most would ever imagine...

So as my mind poured over this question..I begin to remember things in my past that are relevant to this..such as "GIGO"...Garbage in Garbage Out... and an author and motivational speaker I am very fond of Zig Ziglar says that your mind is like an Bank or ATM..You can only draw out of it what you deposit into it..Boy that sounds over simplistic and basic to say the least..but at the core of this statement is your thought life..Most if not all of the things we do originate from our thought life..It is said that which we say flows from our heart..so if anger is flowing from your mouth, then anger is what is inside you..ie. your heart take the anger and moves it to your mind and then your mind expresses itself with words or actions.. I am taking a class called Manly Dominion with Clay Robinson as leader also at Parkwood and in our last class we got on a discussion about the Holy Spirit and the mind...which sparked a small debate as to the role of the mind versus the role of the Holy Spirit..Clay had just gotten a new bible study software called "Logos" and this software really allows you to break down certain themes of the bible as well as analyze certain words and phrases in their frequency and use.. The day after class he sent me verses of how many times "the mind" was used..I was stunned..I literally and this is no joke had to scroll for about 20 seconds solid to get to the bottom of the email..that is how many times it was referenced..I would copy and paste them here but it is so many that it would take up way to much space..I may post in a separate blog for reference..but the point is this idea of using the mind is a very well defined position and God has given us a mind different than any other species He created for a very specific reason..TO USE IT!!!!!Here is one of the many many verses from that bible about the mind ..Jer 17:10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, • to give • every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

It is my position that we are not renewing our Mind with the word of God..We are allowing the world to fill our mind and therefore resulting in our beliefs and actions in life.. It is the secular music we listen to that clouds God's view..It is the TV shows that paint antagonistic views of the Bible..It is the secular books we read that alter our positions..It is corrupting our THOUGHT Life.. How can we spend 8-9 hours a day in the world and 1 hour a day in the bible and expect to think and act like Jesus..You couple this with an already sinful heart and a flesh that desires to fulfill its own desires, you are left with a very difficult road to hoe..No wonder our society is crumbling..no wonder our families are breaking down..no wonder people are leaving the faith for the world..We need to fully understand our thinking, what we spend our thought life doing, will result in the way we live and spend our time.. We are allowing our minds to be possessed by the evil one and his dark ways. Satan is not going to always place an obstacle in your way that keeps you from serving our Lord..he just intercepts our minds and we place our own obstacles..just as Adam and Eve. Satan simply placed the thought of " You can be like God".." Is God really telling you to not eat of that Tree?"..See he uses our mind against us and we allow this to happen..We are not equipped to take on Satan alone..We will lose..We need the power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit to lead us in this battle..

The battle starts in the Mind..Here is what I know..The very minute I realized this idea was the very moment I began to live a life surrendered to God and separate from this world..It is when I realized that my thoughts were obstructing my ability to truly get to know my Lord and discern His desires for me, that I was able to turn the tables on Satan and cast him out of my way..There was a book that alerted me to this and it is called "THE DIVINE DEFENSE" by Robert Jeffress..( http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Defense-Strategies-Winning-Greatest/dp/1400070902)For those of you who have never read this book or who want to understand how Satan attacks your minds, this book is an excellent supplement to the Word of God to help you..Here are a few of the chapter headings to give you a feel for what this book speaks about. 1. Demons in the world today; Satan's sidekicks are no laughing matter 2. Winning the mind games; you are what you think 3 Satan's favorite mind games; four lies that will pull you away from God 4. When satan comes knocking 5. Putting out the NOT welcome mat 6. Storming the gates of Hell; strengthen your resolve to resist..

I share this with you because it was a defining book and moment in my own personal life that revealed to me my thought life was where I had always lost the battle..that if I could capture every thought captive..2 Corinthians 10:5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ

We must fully understand this.. Many books have been written dealing with this issue in some form or fashion..One that my wife felt helped change her life was "Lies Women Believe"..See it is the lies, the distortions, the disfiguring of the Truth that keeps us in bondage to sin and Satan..What goes into your mind is a crucial as to your spiritual walk than any other component..It is our mind that we need to control with the help of Christ in order to defeat this deceptive foe..to win back our families, our culture..tolerance is just a word used today to describe TRUTH as whatever form you feel it should be..THAT IS A LIE..The Truth is absolute..There are no half truths..If something is True then the opposing view by definition has to be False..The Word of God is TRUE...2 Timothy 3:16-17 (English Standard Version)
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

SO my question to you and myself..What do you spend your time on filling your minds with..Is it the things of God(His word) or the things of this world..?

Second..How is your Thought Life? really..think about that..Start there and watch your life begin to be transformed..If you have never really gotten out of your faith and beliefs what you felt you should have, or if you have consistently given in to temptation and went against the things of God, I would submit to you that this is where it broke down..Don't miss this..This is more powerful than you will ever imagine..God gave a you mind...Use it for His Glory..

The Apostle Paul says this Philippians 4:8 (The Message)
8-9Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

EB

Wisdom of Psalms 119

Psalm 119. This psalm celebrates the gift of God's Torah, or covenant instruction, as the perfect guide for life. It thus belongs conceptually with Psalm 19 and overlaps with such wisdom psalms as Psalms 1 and 112. It is far more extensive, and far more elaborate, than they are; it is the longest psalm (and the longest chapter in the Bible, longer than many of the books) and the most carefully structured. By singing and praying its contents, one expresses heartfelt admiration to God, who has so lovingly bestowed this great gift upon his people, and fervent yearning for one's personal life to reflect the loveliness and goodness of the Torah. The psalm's structure observes a strict acrostic pattern : there are 22 stanzas of eight verses each, following the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet in sequence. Within a stanza, the first word of each verse begins with the same letter, the letter to which the entire stanza corresponds. This pattern severely limits the author's liberty in sustaining his flow of thought, but this does not hinder the psalm from accomplishing its goal, which is to enable God's people to admire his Word so strongly that they will work and pray hard to have it shape their character and conduct. The cumulative impact of the psalm is huge.

The psalm uses a number of terms for God's covenantal revelation: “law” ; “testimonies” ; “precepts” ; “statutes” ; “commandments” ; “rules” ; “word”. Except for “precepts” (which appears only in the Psalms), all of these words can be found in Deuteronomy , and denote God's Word, focusing on its role in moral instruction for his people. The person who will “keep” God's instructions will find that his “way” (the moral quality and orientation of his life) will more and more reflect God's own character. Only a few verses in this psalm lack an explicit mention of God's Word: The psalm calls these instructions “righteous” , “true” and “sure” ,and worthy of trust, hope, and faith. All of these are attributes of God himself, and it is no surprise that God's words would partake of his character. Indeed, the law expresses God's own “steadfast love” and “faithfulness”. This psalm reflects the view that the Lord, who abounds in steadfast love and faithfulness and who therefore freely and fully forgives his people when they confess their sins , loves his people without limit, and therefore also guides the faithful in the way of life that is genuinely good and beautiful . The psalm speaks the language of one ravished with moral beauty, to which there is only one fitting response—to try to reproduce this beauty, as much as possible, in one's daily life. There is no pretense of perfection here , only yearning, and trust ,and dependence on God. To say that these commands are “true” is to confess that, with all their elements geared to a particular culture and phase of redemptive history, the principles that underlie them are founded on the very nature of things, and of God. This is why Christians can sing these words with the same yearning, trust, and dependence. The psalm does not tell who its author was, nor when it was written. Many scholars think it comes from after the Babylonian exile, but this cannot be proven. The psalmist identifies with the faithful among God's people, when they face trials , and when they suffer contempt and ill treatment for their faithfulness, even from members of God's people who reject his grace. Even when many of God's own people forsake him, there will be those who want to pursue faithfulness. This fits, e.g., the time before Ezra and Nehemiah carried out their reforms, but it fits many other times as well. The words of this psalm can enable Christians to embrace its aspiration, both when they sing it and when they use those words as prayers for illumination as they attend to God's word in public and in private.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalms%20119;&version=47;

EB

Amazing Grace - Rendition

Jesus - Lord - Savior

YOU MAY WANT TO PAUSE THE MUSIC AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE BEFORE VIEWING THIS VIDEO..JUST SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM AND CLICK PAUSE

EB

"The Sun and the Snow"

I would like to use this forum as another opportunity to document another moment in time that I would like to be able to look back on and relive time and time again..As I mentioned in an earlier post, it is my belief that we rarely slow down long enough to appreciate the moments of life as they come our way..mostly because we are so busy doing much of nothing but in our minds there is no time to sit and think and write about what most would consider trivial..I have a made a commitment to myself to slow my life down enough to try and capture those moments that are short, sweet but extremely meaningful in the grand scheme of life..I know that writing them down allows me an opportunity to revisit them often and remember the times of our life that if we did not write them down, would be gone forever from our memory bank..lost in the thicket of stuff that takes up space in our mind..

So as you all know we just received a pretty good snow for this area and I was glad to see it come and equally glad to see it go...which leads me to this message..I was driving the girls to school this morning and as I looked around at God's creation..something dawned on me that I felt I could use to help explain to my girls about how God is..I would love to say that I never miss an opportunity to try and use the world around me to help create mental pictures and teaching moments for my girls, but sadly all to often I miss those chances, caught up in my own little world..but it is a desire of my heart to do better at this and God has been working on me in this area and peeling back the blindness to allow me to help my girls understand just who God is and how He relates to our life..

As we were driving I noticed that most of the snow has melted away but there are places where some snow exists and even fewer places where there are still lots of snow still in view..So I turned the radio down and tried to use this image to explain to CJ and Jaydin an example of how God is..See the SUN, which in this example is likened to Christ, and the snow, which is likened to SIN was the image I was trying to create( I know snow all white and pure is not a great sin example but stay with me).. The Sun has washed away and melted most of the snow...just like Christ in his Glory can wash away Sin...I exclaimed..but notice there is still some snow (sin) still existing even though the Sun is out and bright and in full effect..This snow (sin) is hidden away in darker places, where the Sun is not allowed to be..and even some that has piled up so high that even in direct sunlight is still there..and that is how we are with some of our sin..We hide it away and tuck it away, trying to keep it from Christ and not allowing Him to wash it clean from us...We hide it in the dark places of our mind and soul...or even worse we let it just pile up until it is so much that we lose Hope or we feel unworthy of God's Love...and that Sin that we don't allow the light to shine on, remains there and blocks the flow of grace from Christ and severely inhibits our relationship with Him..See when the Sun cant shine on the snow, it cant melt it away like it can the parts that are exposed directly to the Sun....In the Bible is says 2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.


Christ is the light of the world and He has come to shine His light on the darkness, to give light of the knowledge of the Glory of God...but if you do not let that light shine on you and expose the sin in your life thru knowledge, then you are essentially rejecting Christ.. You can take this example one step further and say..we as Christians are all lights of the world..Didn't God call us to be Light and Salt of this earth..What does light and Salt do to Snow (sin)..It melts it..It exposes it.. So if you think about us riding around in our cars on the roads(shining our light)...where is the first place snow melts? Not a trick question..Yes the roads and that is because we took our light and shined it in essence on the snow and caused it to melt.. If we will take God's command and share this Good News to all those who are lost, we can be like the Sun melting away Snow..or like Christ in helping people become saved and have their sin remembered no more...but as long as we sit on the sidelines in a blind self righteousness, the sin will remain, even in the midst of our Sun shining bright..but make no mistake, even the largest piles of sin (snow) can be washed away by the Sun (Christ) if exposed to it long enough or properly..


One last point, which by the way, assured me that my teaching moment was sinking in to my girls...because in the middle of this explanation..Jaydin says " Daddy, Daddy" from the back seat..That is like the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song...and at that moment..I realized she GOT IT.. The song " Up come the Sun and dried up all the rain"....Jaydin was connecting the dots in the way that she knew how and for her to draw on another parallel example was a clue for me that she had at least vaguely understood the point that I was trying so hard to deliver...I am not sure how much of the discussion we had this morning made it thru to their understanding...but one thing is for sure...even if this event will never be remembered by them..I know at least for a few seconds, they were able to get a glimpse of the Glorious God we serve..even if it was for a brief moment in time..


Praise God for the Light thru His Son Jesus Christ He has shined on my life and for the sin that He exposed and exposes every day and Thank God that for those who Trust in Him as Lord and Savior, that He forgives that Sin that you lay at His feet and removes it as far as the East is from the West....

EB

Faith of a Child

You know..I am absolutely certain that our kids are used by God to help communicate to us some of the concepts He wants us to understand..There have been many occasions where my kids have taught me a lesson that God was trying to get across to me and by using my kids and the relationship I have with them has been a wonderful example for me to look to in the most unexpected times...I have wrote about some others in this blog and felt compelled again to address a particular example that was shown to me by God thru my children..Paul writes to Timothy in his first letter to him in chapter 1 verse 2.."To Timothy, my true child in the Faith"..Paul was saying here that Timothy has Faith like a child..meaning he trusts the Lord and doesn't question what circumstances he finds himself in..much like a child trust what they are told...(until they get to adolescence, so I am told)..Well I have an example of this very scenario that played out in my life over the snow holiday we just experienced... It was Sunday night and snowing outside, rather hard and my girls were just all excited..They often say that it never snows around here and they are quite right but this snow would be different..As the night was winding to a close, we happened to be watching a movie that had some rather scary parts through out it...I will keep the movie name to myself to minimize the distraction to the point I desire to make..Let me give you a mental picture here..I was laying on the couch just relaxing...I was laying on my left side facing the TV with my legs bent about halfway to where it creates this little area behind the bend of my knees that Jaydin calls her favorite place to sit..So as the scary parts come and go, Jaydin jumps behind my legs and takes refuge behind my legs..as well as CJ, but she was forced to the middle, but still very close to me..As I sat there and watched them cover their eyes and make little noises as if they were truly scared...I noticed that they found great protection in me..They found SECURITY being very close to me, which enabled them to endure the scary parts without having to run to a different room..Then it hit me..out of the blue..I am their Dad and Dads are protectors and provide an overarching sense of security in the home.. I asked Jaydin..." Honey, why do you feel like you need to be in your favorite spot during those scary parts?"...and she responds " Because I am scared"..so I followed that with " can you explain why there?" and she says " because I am safe there"..I giggled but inside I was glowing with pride as I saw my child take refuge in me, because that is what made her feel safe and protected..That is How God feels when we take refuge in Him and allow Him to carry us thru..(This reminds me of a song I love called "He Will Carry Me" by Mark Schultz which is on my playlist at the bottom of this blog)Now we have never practiced being scared and what they should do when scared..It was just instinct for her to gravitate toward me...during those times where she felt vulnerable..

I asked myself..." I wonder what it is about me that she finds safe...I have never really had to protect her form anything consequential where she would learn I would protect her.."...but something inside her told her that Dad (Father) would protect her in case of harm or fear..This translated over to my relationship with my Heavenly Father...See Jaydin put all her Faith in me to protect her without question..She never once doubted that I was where she wanted to go when she faced a difficult situation.. and once she got into her position(behind my legs), she found the courage to face her fears of what she was seeing on TV.. God was saying to me LOUD and CLEAR.. Eddie, you need to place your Faith in me just like your daughter Jaydin in doing with you.. I will protect you..I will calm your fears..I will provide you a refuge..Do not doubt my desire and ability to do these things for you, just as your small child has no doubt that you will provide those for her.. I GOT IT..I could see God working in my life in those moments and just to further expound on God's glory and infinite knowledge..I have been experiencing some fear and anxiety over some issues in my life and have not placed a child like Faith in my Father..My Lord who has promised me that He would never leave me nor forsake me...and no amount of my bible study and quiet time was impacting me the way this real life example thru my own child was..It was a clear to me as a bright sunny day..I literally could feel the teaching going on and the Spirit moving in my heart.. The more I have thought about that moment, the deeper and heavier this has weighed on me..Do you ever find certain enlightenment moments will weigh on you heavier than others..? I mean there will be times when I read God's word and that study will cause a distinct change in my mood thru out the day..Sometimes Somber, sometimes joy and other times curiosity to know more..all of which, though, sit on me all day like a weight forcing me to deal with it until I gain what God has desired for me to learn..This was certainly one of those moments..God has been pressing on me with tremendous voracity to grab hold of this teaching moment and apply it to my life..Not just intellectually understand it..but apply it..Use it to grow spiritually with.. He does not want this lesson to pass me by as just another light bulb moment..He needs me to internalize it and sear it to my heart..and He means for it to have a lasting enduring impact on me...

To Trust and rely on my Lord and Savior..To take refuge in Him thru difficult and challenging times..to gain strength in Him when faced with insurmountable odds..to call on His power when being sifted by Satan and his wiles..I can't do it on my own and I need to rely on God, the sustainer, to assist me and guide me in all situations, decisions, and battles..I am grateful beyond words of His infinite wisdom and knowing exactly how to deal with me..For those who say our God is not a personal God..I say Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart

EB

Parkwood "Ace of Cakes" Decorating Contest

We had a fabulous time in our first ever attempt to decorate a cake in a contest..Our Church sponsored by the Children's Ministry held our first annual "Ace of Cakes" decorating contest last night and we entered, begrudgenly by me, but enthusisatically by Nicki...I must say that Nicki deserves all the credit for the outcome..It was her brain child, her hardwork and her use of "fondit" that helped us secure a position in the top 8..We actually finsihed 7th out of roughly 50 participants...and honestly had no expectations as to even if we could decorate a cake like this..But when it was all said and done, We pulled together a decent rendition of what She (Nicki) had in her mind..Three Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed..Each monkey represented one of our girls..We were judged on creativity, teamwork, presentation and design..So we had all three of our girls help and I must say..this was a blast..We had such a fun time doing this and also got to see some very interesting cakes in the end.. My hat is off to my wife for taking the initiative to sign us up, think of an idea and then place things in motion to pull this off.. I am very proud of her and just maybe, after some practice, might have a cake decorator on our hands. Below are some of the pictures...

NOTE: You can double click the photos to see an enlarged image..Please see the Grand Prize Winner in the enlarged image..You will be amazed at the detail..












Here we had to move our cake to the Top 8 Table for final judging!









8th Place (above)



6th Place




5th Place



4th Place




3rd Place



2nd Place





1st Place and Grand Prize Winner (amazing detail)




Random notables that we felt deserved some recognition













EB

"When my Walk become a Crawl"

I need to start this message saying that this is not for the benefit of anyone really except for me..What I mean is that posting my thoughts here today is a meager attempt to provide myself some accountability but also again to chronicle the ups and the downs..I have written over 20 blogs now on this site and I dare to say all have a positive message or neutral at worse..but this message today is to expose the flesh that tries to rise up against my spirit...so a negative tone may persists through out this blog..and for that I apologize..

How can a man who has been transformed by the Grace of God...still have days that make me feel like a Lost soul..I have this little voice in the back of my mind with a giant megaphone screaming at me saying " Man, have you already forgotten just how far away from God you were before He rescued you?".. " How can you allow yourself to slip so easily after experiencing the dramatic heart transplant performed on you?".."What is wrong you with you..?" I share these thoughts because I consider myself to be a man on fire for God right now and have dedicated my life to living the way He desires for me to live..Yet this wretched Body of death I possess has not given up and still tries to RISE UP against my SPIRIT to wage War..One thing is for sure..The Flesh is wicked and will never stop trying to take you down and rule once more..Satan does not take defeat very well and begins to employ his grandest schemes against you..or those who have surrendered to the Lord God..

I have experienced a period of a couple of days where my flesh has been slowly edging its way back to the forefront of my mind and interrupting my ability to serve my Lord and live out my Faith..and this has culminated in a morning that I wish to forget for I allowed my flesh to show anger toward my girls this morning, so much so that it brought tears to their eyes..After seeing them respond to my carnal nature..I was immediately reminded that I was under attack by Satan and that he was trying to destroy the path I have been working so hard laying for them..Now this anger that came out of me originates from some other areas of my life that happened to spill out on them and they did nothing to deserve that..Conviction has engulfed me this morning and brought about shame in my heart and a sincere need to seek their forgiveness and the forgiveness of my Lord...After dropping them all off at school, I proceeded to the gym as I usually do and began my workout and once again I was listening to a song from way back called "What if I Stumble"..and the words were so fitting for me today..I have not felt so unworthy of God's love as I have this morning..and yet this song reminded me that God loves me for who I am, not as I should be..Praise God that is True, because if not I might as well give up because I am so far from who I should be..that if God required that of me, I would be left out for sure..Here are the words to this song

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today Is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips Then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.

"Is this one for the people? Is this one for the Lord?

Or do I simply serenade for things I must afford?

You can jumble them together, my conflict still remains

Holiness is calling, in the midst of courting fame

Cause I see the trust in their eyes Though the sky is falling

They need Your love in their lives Compromise is calling

What if I stumble, what if I fall?What if I lose my step and I make fools of us all?

Will the love continue when my walk becomes a crawl?

What if I stumble, and what if I fall? What if I stumble, what if I fall?

You never turn in the heat of it all

What if I stumble, what if I fall?

Father please forgive me for I can not compose

The fear that lives within me Or the rate at which it grows

If struggle has a purpose on the narrow road you've carved

Why do I dread my trespasses will leave a deadly scar

Do they see the fear in my eyes? Are they so revealing?

This time I cannot disguise all the doubt I'm feeling

What if I stumble, what if I fall?What if I lose my step and I make fools of us all?

Will the love continue when my walk becomes a crawl?

What if I stumble, and what if I fall?What if I stumble?

Everyone's got to crawl when you know that You're up against a wall, it's about to fall

Everyone's got to crawl when you know that I hear You whispering my name

[You say]"My love for You will never change"

Boy Have I ever stumbled..This song is so fitting for my day..because I have stumbled for sure..

Here is what I know..I am a sinful person and the very minute that I think I am not vulnerable to the wiles of the devil I am defeated.. Satan has planted seeds of doubt and discouragement in my heart and mind and if allowed to stay there, they begin to sprout and grow roots..and that is what has happened to me.. I need God daily, every day, through out the day, to renew my mind...to cleanse me..to cultivate my soul and remove all the weeds and thistles..for they are trying to choke out my Faith and steal my Joy..That is exactly what the devil wants..To rob me of the life I can have in Jesus Christ..

The Apostle Paul speaks to this very issue regarding himself and I am reminded of this passage today..

Romans 7:14-25 (The Message)
14-16I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.
17-20But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.
21-23It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.
24I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?
25The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

Bitterness is anger turned inward and I must not bow down to this feeling..for it is not of the Father..I heard a very wise man say that Bitterness is an acid so strong that it eats away its own container..It will devour you..Bitterness is at the very root of my issues today and I rebuke this feeling from my soul and ask the Lord God to remove this feeling from me and replace it with HIS goodness..

Strong Enough to be Broken :(

EB

"Apprehending God"

3 Therefore I want you to understand that speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

This is a very interesting verse because it speaks to our very nature..We in our natural state of being, can not and will not believe in Christ nor say He is Lord..We are without this mere ability to even think it..

(AW Tozer says in the first page of of his book "The Pursuit of God" this..."Christian theology teaches the doctrine of prevenient grace, which, briefly stated, means that before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man. Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God, there must have been a work of enlightenment done within him. Imperfect it may be, but a true work nonetheless, and the secret cause of all desiring and seeking and praying which may follow. We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit)

It is thru the power of the Holy Spirit that resides in us that enables us to even speak the words..This is further evidence of our sinfulness and our desire to please self and OUR TOTAL DEPENDENCE ON GOD. Without God's help, we are lost and condemned forever...it is only Thru God's mercy and grace that we are elected to receive the Holy Spirit and then we must respond to it when it comes upon us..So if anyone can even acknowledge Christ as Lord(whether they show it or not)you can conclude they have the Holy Spirit in them..because they don't have the ability otherwise..(this is profound to me)

At the very end of Romans 10 this is what is written
21 But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

This is an extremely prolific statement in that God's own people were rejecting Him, even though His mighty hands were open to them..just amazing

Now the actual message of Salvation..and how sweet these words are

10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

You must believe(have faith) in your heart first before God counts you justified...It must be an inner belief and not some intellectual agreement..and inward trust in Christ...then by professing with your mouth (not being ashamed) the inward reality..comes salvation..This is all dependent on the understanding of the complexities of Christ's death and the truths associated with it...Jesus bearing the sin of mankind and then a resurrection that gave evidence of God's acceptance(approval) of the payment (Christ's work) due God for our utter sin..

(Tozer writes "To most people God is an inference, not a reality. He is a deduction from evidence which they consider adequate, but he remains personally unknown to the individual. He must be they say, therefore we believe He is. Others do not even go so far as this;they know of Him only by hearsay. They have never bothered to think the matter out for themselves, but have heard about Him from others, and have put belief in HIM into the back of their minds along with various odds and ends that make up their total creed. To many others, another name for goodness or beauty or truth")

Incidentally Paul uses the actual word "Believe" a total of 6 times and the word "heart" 5 times in this passage of Salvation for All..verses 9-17..Paul is leaving no doubt as to his message here and works is not part of it..yet the people of Israel ignore him and base their belief from works..

12 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” - This speaks again to those who call on Him..remember that we don't have the ability to call on Him unless the Holy Spirit resides in us..for it is not possible and not part of our very nature

As I am thinking this thru, the message of the unpardonable sin comes to my mind(no doubt prompted by the Holy Spirit) and remember it says that those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit cant be forgiven..That means those who receive the Holy Spirit and rejects its calling can never enter Heaven..so it leads me to believe that God is generous with the Holy Spirit but obviously not all will heed its calling..and therefore not believe and therefore not be saved...because if you reject the Holy Spirit, you don't have the ability to speak the words "Jesus is Lord" nor the ability to even conceive it in your mind..and if you cant believe and confess, you cant be saved..This is like one big circle in my little ol mind..but this is exactly why this particular sin is unpardonable..because it totally restricts your ability to carry out the other necessary parts of salvation..so in its very definition..blaspheming the Holy Spirit is condemning yourself and leaving no ability to respond any differently than our nature

1) People will call on Jesus to save them only if they believe he can do so; (2) belief in Christ cannot exist without knowledge about him; (3) one hears about Christ only when someone proclaims the saving message; and (4) the message about Christ will not be proclaimed unless someone is sent by God to do so. That is why Paul was so urgent about spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth, for he believed that the only way to be saved was to hear and believe in the gospel..which is the reasoning for the great commission..our directive as believers..to take the message unto all peoples..not to convert them..but merely take the message

And let me conclude with this because this next statement will cause your mind to scramble for the rest of the day( at least it has thrown my mind into a tizzy)..

On the one hand, God predestines some to be saved. On the other hand, God still longs for all to be saved. Though it may seem impossible to understand how both of these statements are true, the Bible teaches both, and one should not use either truth to deny the other.

EB

"Open Me"

This is a song called "Open Me" by Shawn McDonald that says exactly what is on my heart today..I played this song over and over while at the gym this morning and I do not think I could have said it any better..Just perfect for today...

Would You open up eyes, so I can see

Would You open up my ears, so I can hear

Would You open up my mind, so I can know

Would You open up my heart, so could love You more

I want to serve You, my God

I want to give everything

I want to serve You, my King, yeah

I want to serve You, my Lord

I want to give You everything, yeah

Here I am with my arms open wide

Asking for You to come up, up inside

Won't You make me new, won't You make me true

Jesus, won't You make me like You,

ohWill You touch my eyes so I can see

Will You touch my ears so I can hear

Will You touch my mind so I can know

Will You touch my heart so I can love You more

Won't You open me

EB

"Eternal Souls"

Ok...for those of you that may have been following my blogs..this will be no surprise to you..I spoke earlier about how my mind is constantly being bombarded with ideas and thoughts that I would like to share with those who read this and allow me an opportunity to convey into words what is on my heart..and each day it is a lot like "Plinko"..never really knowing where my heart may take me..Many times it is directly to scripture and others about life in general..Well..I want to share a moment with you that will forever be etched in my heart and soul..a moment with my two oldest girls I will cherish and fall back on no doubt many more times and chronicling this here affords me the opportunity to revisit it as often as I like.. I think many times, we look back on our life and forget all the instances that provide us great joy and seem to only remember the times that inflict great pain..but if we will slow down long enough to let life unfold before us and capture those precious moments that may never return..it will inevitably do our heart and our souls much good..so..please allow me to share one of those tender moments..

I was listening to Focus on the Family today and they had a speaker by the name of Dee Breston..I believe her name is..I may have botched that badly but what matters is what she said that caused a mental synapse to take place in me.. She was speaking about rearing children and how God had come into her life at 21 years of age and transformed her and her thinking..The part that hit me and birthed this message is this.. she said ' I was believing a lie...and the lie was I was wasting my life cleaning bottoms and runny snotty noses..but God impressed on me that I was actually nurturing an eternal soul that had been gifted to me".. WOW..nurturing an eternal soul..I cant ever say I have looked at my girls with that perspective..as much as I love and care for them..that has really never crossed my mind..I mean I know I am accountable for my family and I have a vital role in the rearing of my children..but it was always about them..Not necessarily their soul..and the eternal direction I was guiding them..thru example or words, etc.

So then I had a flashback of a moment where God Almighty pointed me to show me what He desires more of from me..So I get this daily email from a site called ALL PRO DADS...(this is a great site for all the dads who might read this http://www.allprodad.com/ )..This particular day, they sent this email and I just want to copy the exact email here so you can see ...

The real you

In a Newsweek interview, actor Johnny Depp said, "When I became a dad for the first time, it was like a veil being lifted...I was never horribly self-obsessed or wrapped up in my own weirdness, but when my daughter was born, suddenly there was clarity. I wasn't angry anymore. It was the first purely selfless moment that I had ever experienced. And it was liberating. In that moment, it's like you become something else. The real you is revealed."What did your child's birth reveal about the real you? Why not tell them at dinner tonight? Or write them a note and put it on their pillow? We sure spend a lot of time correcting our children. Why not also tell them what a profound difference they've made in our lives?

Ok..so now you have the email..Now I always try to take to heart the things I can do to express my unconditional love to them but this time led me to a moment I will never ever forget..So I took the advice of this email and crafted a letter to my girls..I tried to express to them just how profound of an impact they have made on me...I can be very hard on them and my discipline style lacks a lot to be desired..so I saw this as a perfect opportunity to share with them..My oldest is almost 8 and reads extremely well, so I knew she would be able to read and understand a letter..Jaydin is also a terrific reader for a 6 year old but I was not sure she would be able to grasp the real intent of my letter and my true feelings may not shine thru as I might have hoped...I typed the letter up and printed it off and laid it at their seats where we do our homework every day after school..Here is a copy of that letter..

Girls..I know I spend an awful lot of time telling you what not to do and what to do..As your Dad a large portion of my responsibility is to teach you right from wrong and to share with you the good news of Jesus Christ..but I also want to take a minute to tell you how much I love you and how much I am blessed by having two wonderful daughters such as you guys..From the very day you guys were born, I have been a changed man..You give me reason each and every day to work hard and leave a good example behind for you to follow..I am amazed at how each day brings about new opportunities to share with each other the life we have together..The good times and then those not so good times..I want you to know that I cherish every single minute I have with you and that I will be very very sad when you decide to marry and move out of my home for good..and into your new life building your very own family..I pray every single day that God give me the wisdom to share with you, the love to be kind to you and the humility to admit when I am wrong..You guys inspire me to be the best I can be and I cant tell you how much joy you bring to my life..I love you both so very much that I can hardly explain it. You are so very precious to me.. I love the way you smell. I love the way you smile. I love the way you hug me and kiss me.. I love the laughter you share with me and each other and I especially love the attitude you have toward me..You make it so easy to show my affection for you..To express my Love for you..I am the proudest Dad in this world because God gave me such wonderful, absolutely beautiful girls like YOU..

Thank You for being part of my life..

Thank You for being my daughters..

Thank you for Loving me..

Thank you for sharing life with me..

Thank you for being YOU!!

Your Loving Dad..

Ok..you have the letter and how we got to this point..Now this is where it simply overwhelms my soul..As CJ was sitting at her seat reading this letter, I was going thru her folder making sure everything was in order and I heard her make a sniffing sound..a sound you make when you are about cry..I paused and looked at her and I could see an emotion on her face I had never seen before..I was careful not to interrupt, so I carried on..The more she read, the more she sniffled until she began to cry..I was astonished..She could actually feel the raw emotion that was permeating from my letter..She walked over to me and while crying and sobbing and sniffling, she hugged me intensely...and I asked her.."CJ, honey, why are you crying?" and she said "Daddy, tears of joy" in a faint whisper like voice.. I can barely even type this out due to the emotion that is whaling up inside me even in this moment...which I might add is no comparison to the moment we shared during that hug.. She had looked at me and with tears streaming down her cheeks, she shared with me a moment that I can barely put to words.. A father daughter moment where a simple letter spoke to the heart of a young child so clearly that it was unmistakable..and forever left an indelible impression on my heart..

My message is to never take for granted the small things in life and never take for granted your children know you love them.. You may tell them every single day, sometimes 10-15 times a day, as I had...but there is always room to express that in different ways..just like this simple letter..

I also would like to share with you one last thing..The next day at bedtime, I walk into the girl's room and guess what I saw taped to the wall above each of their beds..Yes it was that very same letter..Can I just tell you that I will never be able to construct such moments but God is so faithful in rewarding us when we will take the time to do the things that nurture His eternal souls..He blessed me with a moment that no amount of money could ever buy..







CJ's letter is right there above the "J"..in typed format







Jaydin's letter is in the middle of this picture..


God is so Wonderful and I am so Blessed to have been gifted such amazing children. I pray that He will be glorified and exalted and that I can make Him proud by leading these precious eternal souls to Love and Adore Christ...for that is my hearts desire

EB

Abba Father ........

Lord..Dear God..Please cover me with your Abiding Love and allow me to feel your presence in my day today.. I am in awe of your infinite wisdom and desire to be inside your will for me. I trust that you know best for me and that everything that happens to me, good and bad, is all because You have willed it so.. Allow my faith to overcome any doubt that lingers in my mind about whether or not you truly care about my everyday problems and concerns..Fill me with your Holiness, Complete me with Your Grace...Strengthen my understanding and belief.. Shine your glorious light on all my darkness..Expose my wickedness for me to see so that I may be washed by the blood of Your Precious Son, Jesus Christ.. Embolden my desire to follow you, trust you and depend on you..Your Grace in Enough..Let that weigh on me today oh Glorious Father, Wonderful Counselor, Redeemer, Creator, Lord of Hosts, King of Kings, Ever lasting Father..The one who saved me from myself..

Amen

EB

Marks of a TRUE Christain - Romans 12:9,11-12

Romans 12:9
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good

cf for Love -1 Timothy1: 5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith

a pure heart (rather than one filled with sinful desires), a good conscience (rather than one laden with guilt), and a sincere faith (rather than pretense and hypocrisy)

Love must be the distinguishing mark of Jesus' disciples.. Love is the fruit of Faith
John 13:34-35
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Then at the same time you are to LOVE, you are to HATE..Hate Evil..Paul says abhor..Websters defines this word as extreme repugnance or aversion; detest utterly; loathe; abominate. I think that is as clear as the English language can make it..but here are some synonyms in case we are not clear - abominate, despise, detest, execrate, loathe

Romans 12:11-12
11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Breaking this verse down is quite difficult because there is so much said..Paul says do not be slothful in zeal and be fervent in spirit in serving the Lord..Slothful in Zeal could have just as well said..Be a fanatic..eager desire or endeavor; enthusiastic diligence; Basically it should be real noticeable in our world who is serving the Lord and who is not..We cant sit back and be a Christian and no one notice and just allow others to walk around lost..We must display zeal..enthusiasm for what Jesus Christ can do for us..and then Paul says fervent in Spirit..What I believe he means here is to understand and handle the word of God carefully, rightfully...allowing the Holy Spirit to guide you..To be accurate in your display. Acts 18:25 helps me reach this conclusion " He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus

Rejoice in Hope - Those who are justified by faith have an unshakable hope, knowing they will be saved from God's wrath on the day of judgment..by virtue of Christ's death..It all boils down to this very concept for me..This future glory also spoken about by Paul in Romans..We must understand and come to know very well the reason we have Hope and where our Hope lies..We will be saved from God's wrath..and be allowed to dwell with him who's hand are scarred from the nails that pierced His Hands..(There is a great song called "One of these days" by FFH that speaks clearly of this Hope)

Be patient in tribulation(difficult times, trials)- we all need to take a second to understand that difficult times are part of life..Becoming a Christian doesn't mean we will live a rosy rest of our life..Be weary of this type of Christianity being preached today...In fact God says he will discipline those He loves..That doesn't mean punish..Discipline is correction..and when God is trying to refine us a potter and his clay, He may have to cut parts of us off in order to achieve the end result He is looking for..We may have to be stripped of certain things in our life..We may have to endure illness and loss in order to be made more like Christ..That is the end goal..Not necessarily happiness but Godliness...To be made in the image of His Son..and AW Tozer nails this point in his book "The Pursuit of God" where we says " The cross is rough and it is deadly, but it is effective. There comes a moment when its work is finished and the suffering victim dies..After that is resurrection Glory and power and the pain is forgotten"..........

but also notice how Paul follows up the comment on tribulation..BE CONSTANT IN PRAYER.. That is the answer to enduring life's most difficult times..to overcoming those refining moments..To defend against the wiles of the devil while he tries to "sift you like wheat".. Prayer is your direct connection to God..Your channel to harness the power of the Holy Spirit..There is no switch, no force field, no galactic ray that can be employed during these times..It is the power of Prayer and the relationship that Prayer offers you with God the Father..The closer you are to God thru Prayer, the better your ability to harness His power..Those who do not know God at all are defenseless against these times of tribulation (whether caused by God or satan) and will try to use their own abilities to make it thru and often times that ends up in giving up..taking ones own life, leaving a marriage, stealing or embezzling from employer..or whatever.. They have no hope and see the only way to make it thru is by them making decisions on their own without the assistance of The Creator..who knows best what to do..Prayer is so central to our faith and who we are as Christians..It can not be emphasized enough..

So in just three verses, much like Romans 12:2..you get a wealth of information in very short and concise sentences..This again shows the vastness and depth of the Word of God..and just how powerful it is.. Studying The Bible requires us to use shovels and hoes and pick axes...not just our hands..We need to dig past the layers to where the real riches are found..In the layers behind the "naked eye" if you will. I liken it to mining for Gold..In order to find Gold, you have to do more than just walk around and pick it up with your hands off the top of the soil..You must dig and dig and sift and sift till you run across those nuggets that eventually pay off for all the hard work and labor you put in..God's word is just like that..There will be times that just on the surface you will learn and glean many things from it, but it's true worth is far deeper than that..It requires a deliberate study of delving past the obvious into the not so obvious...and the understanding that is unleashed in that realm is mind boggling and you begin to get glimpses of just how awesome God really is and how Sovereign are His ways..It is in those depths of study that you begin to uncover the true mysteries of the Gospel..The true riches that God desires to show you..and the circles truly start to come together and Faith that was once the size of a mustard seed can grow to the size of a sequoia tree

EB

(ESV Study Bible, Websters)

Mercy & Grace

What is Mercy and Grace? Isn't the very word self explanatory..? Maybe not..I would like to expound of these two terms for a minute..so humor me..

Mercy - Is when you Deserve something you Do Not Get !!

Grace - Is when you Get something you Do Not Deserve !!

I know when I first heard these two terms described this way, it caused me great pause..I have pondered this and chewed on it to try and discover what exactly is meant here..You might call this a play on words, you might feel this is over simplification of the two words..But I find this to be an exact fit for what they mean to me..

What is Mercy? People will often say..God have mercy on me.. or God have Mercy on us all.. or we seek God's Mercy..If you notice Paul when writing almost every letter he started out with "Grace, Mercy and Peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord"..He actually uses Grace every single time and more often than Mercy..however he uses them often is my point..I found the word to be listed over 260 times...according to Strong's Concordance..This idea of Mercy has been so watered down in our culture today that we have very little understanding of what it means..

Websters reads this way - Forbearance to inflict harm under circumstances of provocation, when one has the power to inflict it; compassionate treatment of an offender or adversary; clemency.

Bible dictionary says - "God's forgiveness of his creatures' offenses,"

So we get Forbearance, Forgiveness, compassion...

So lets look back at the definition I started this with..It is when you deserve something you do not get..We ALL deserve eternal condemnation from God because of our sinful self..but God has compassion and doesn't give us that punishment if..

we believe in Jesus Christ and accept His Lordship over our life...then Grace will come and take away the punishment owed to us..So God's mercy is HIM sparing us, forgiving us, having forbearance on our souls..but that only comes one way..which leads us to the second term..

GRACE..God's favor or help," "pleasing quality, favor, good will,...Thru Grace and Grace alone we are able to be forgiven (have mercy on)..but there is a catch..The only way to receive this Grace is to Believe in Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection as just payment that was due us but thrust upon Him instead...

SO now lets go back to the definition I used at the beginning for Grace.. Get something you do not deserve..Is it becoming clearer..? You get forgiveness, even though you fall short of God's righteousness..You get compassion..You get forbearance..even though you really don't deserve it..because we will never meet God's perfect standard on our own..That Grace that we receive even though we don't deserve it comes from Jesus Christ Alone..He stood in place of us..He bore the sin of humankind so that His people would be saved..remember Jesus did not come to condemn(because we are all already condemned), but He came to Save...

See we must understand that God is so HOLY and so PERFECT and so RIGHTEOUS that He can not look upon sin..HE HATES SIN..UTTERLY AND PROFOUNDLY..Once you grasp that, then you can see just how important Jesus Christ is to all of mankind..Without Jesus Christ, there would be no Mercy..No Grace.. Jesus takes our sinful self and covers it so the Father can now have a relationship with us..making us acceptable in God the Fathers eyes.. All this talk about Mercy and Grace has no real meaning if we cant understand how we are able to receive it..and why we need it..The how and why are prerequisite...The How is thru Jesus Christ and the Why is because we are sinful and fall short of God's expectation (since the fall of Man with Adam and Eve)..

Here is the best part..Nothing we can do can merit God's Grace..More bible study, larger tithe checks, more servant hood, church attendance, helping the poor, lending those in need a hand, mentoring your children..etc,...Nothing you can do will merit Grace from God...except FAITH..Faith in Jesus Christ...Faith in the just payment for our sins acceptable to God as evidenced by the resurrection, to serve as eternal priest for our sake..Our Holy, Just and Perfect God was satisfied with Christ's sinless life in place for us..

I heard on a radio show once where a speaker was describing how Christ intercedes for us...and this is what he said.. It is like a little young boy who loves his mom more than anything in the world and he wanted to show how much he loved her.so he went out to the garden and picked a whole bunch of flowers and weeds and brought them to his mother as a sign of his love..The mother then took the bunch from her young son and proceeded to remove all the weeds and dirt and raggedy flowers until all she had left was a beautiful bouquet..See Jesus takes all our weeds and dirt( our sins and ugliness and unrighteousness and mistakes) and removes them and presents to the father a beautiful person, holy and acceptable to God the Father..So no matter what we have done or how sinful we might be..Jesus will remove that for us just as the mother removed the weeds for that young boy and what is left is just perfect and acceptable...

Jesus Christ desires to make intercession for us..but remember what Jesus had to say in Mark 8:38(amplified)" For whoever is ashamed [here and now] of Me and My words in this adulterous (unfaithful) and [preeminently] sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in the glory (splendor and majesty) of His Father with the holy angels.

EB