Consequences

God's Word is really great. It applies to every aspect of life. It also has some incredible verses of sarcasism packed with wisdom. If you don't believe me just read it, books like Malachi...come on that is classic sarcasm. I recently found a verse that was just great for those who think their is not consequesces for doing wrong. It is Luke 12:48a, and it says:

"But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows."

Doesn't this just speak to you! Think about it from a drunk drivers point of view. He broke the law and deserves punishment. But it gives a real picture of what sin does. How? It shows us that wrong is wrong whether we know it is or not. Right and wrong is not relative, it doesn't depend on how a human feels. It doesn't matter whether we feel that what we do is wrong it matters whether it IS wrong. So how do we know? You may ask: "Is cussing really wrong?" "Is drinking beer wrong?" "Is leaving flaming bags of dog poo on a doorstep wrong?" How do we determine what is wrong? I have one question, who gave you that job? To know what is truly right is to know God. He determines right from wrong. Need a good place to start try Exodus 20. It is more commonly known as the 10 Commandments. Oh I must warn you that there are consequences for doing wrong. The least is embarrassment; the worst is never knowing God.

Moral of this Story: Avoid being "beaten with few blows."

Sign me up

Okay we are going to take a look at the issue of church membership. Most people have a very weird idea of what church membership means, and they miss out on what God wants to do with them. I went to college about 45 minutes away and then I went on to pursue a graduate degree in TX. I moved into a dorm at both schools. I found a church during my undergrad schooling in which I was on staff, but when I went to TX I didn't work on staff at a church so I had to find one to "plug-in-to." My school gave us one semester to find a church and join. Some of you would have a problem with that. You would whine..."I don't want to leave my home church," that you only go to rarely now that you have moved away. "It will be dropping all the people who love me," those people would understand if you are following where God leads.

Now to get down to it...watch your toes! Do you want to be considered an adult when you go to college? Most of the college students are 18 and over, so act like it. Make a decision. Cut the apron strings. Follow God with your own faith and not relying on Mom or Dad's to surfice for you too. Church membership is simply joining in with a group of like-minded belivers to follow the vision God has given for that church. Most people think that church membership is a permanet venture, they are getting that confused with salvation. In Jeremiah 40 before 40:31 the "Graduation verse", God speaks to the exiles and tells them to build, plant, eat, marry... In other words He says grow where you are without holding back. When we hold back somethings and give fully in others are we really truly abandoning ourselves for God to use as instruments? I don't think our tune will be as pleasant. College years are suppose to be an opportuntity for young men and women to prove themselves as adults.

Moral of this story: Grow up and Join God where He is working.

Center of the Universe

I am not a scientist. I just wanted to clear that up before we get started so that there is no questions on this fact.

The Hurricanes are coming and the earth is revolving and rotating so we see changes in the seasons, weather, and life in general. Now it is my understanding that when the earth revolves, it is going around the Sun. Just to be safe we can say that the Sun is the center of the Universe, right? Seasons change because The Creator has set His design in the Universe for this rotation, correct? And according to His design everything revolves around the Sun. (Feel Free to insert Christian based analogy here.) Knowing this, why is that so hard to understand? "Come on we understand?" Really??!! If this is such deeply ingrained knowledge then why do we have people talking about themselves every moment. Basically these people are superficial and self-absorbed. Oh they ask about how your day went, but upon the expectation that they get a turn when you are finished. And if you had problems they can always top yours. Sometimes I plainly just don't want to hear about them. Don't you understand that when all you talk about is yourself you are just giving opportunistic people like me ammunition. And we love ammunition, it can be stockpiled, sold, and used to advance our forces at any given moment. Some of you talk so much about yourselves, giving others ammunition, that you would put gun runners out of business. No wonder they didn't find Weapons of Mass destruction in Iraq, they had talked about themselves so much everyone else had the ammo. Isn't it more fun to have conversations that are not centered on you. I mean really, if we are to treat others as better than ourselves, then shouldn't we shut-up and let them talk. There are thousands of people in the world who are labeled as "quiet", but maybe you won't hush about yourself long enough to hear them speak...or they try to speak but get cut off by overbearing windbags. You have heard it before...2 ears, one mouth. "Be quick to listen and slow to speak..."

Moral of this Story: Shut it up.

Stray Pet Peeve

I really don't know if I have a solution for this or not, but I have beef to pick with folks who "pre-excuse" their behavior. They usually preface a sentence with "I apologize ahead of time for the way I will act." Most women will blame it on PMS. I don't believe that this is a valid reason for acting inappropriately, even if you do apologize for it ahead of time. Doesn't that mean you are planning to act ugly to someone? Is this premeditation? Would this sort of statement get a murderer off at trial? "I am sorry ahead of time for those I will brutally kill today." Apologies before hand are not true apologies, they are plans. Maybe if we spent more time controlling our actions and less on pre-excuses we would not have to apologize at all.

Moral of this story: I am sorry ahead of time if I offended anyone.

Greatness

Tony the Tiger started something when he first muttered the words, "GRRRREAT!" Honestly we all want to be considered great at something. Whether it is a sport, a job, or just looked up to for who we are; it is what drives us to perfection. But is the pursuit of greatness often selfish? I mean really does trying our hardest to get others to notice how good we are serve others or ourselves? What is our motivation for doing our best? Recognition? To be a part of something bigger than ourselves? Better pay? More friends? As I struggle with the perfect balance with confidence and humilty, I often have to choose in situations to either further myself or stand back and let others be furthered.
I must say that I really look up to Jesus who had to watch the stupidity of humanity and resist the urge to blow us all of the map. He instead shows us a way to react to these situations by his example. Philippians 2:6-7 says, "Who, (Jesus) being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." Perfection chose imperfection. Creator subjects himself to the created. I think another point we can take home from this is that even though Jesus stepped down from Heaven for people, that act of love and grace has given him the title of GREAT!

Moral of this story: Greatness sometimes doesn't come from making it to the top, but holding it all up from the bottom.

Needy People

You may not recognize these people until it is too late. They are not you typical leeches that suck the life our of people at the drop of a hat. No these folks are subtle in their vacuuming process of life. Usually it is the ones you lest expect. Haven't recognized them yet? Let me give you a few clues to watch out for. During conversation do they often relate back to the same short list of issues that usually deal with them not having something? Is it getting clearer? Does alot of what comes out of there mouth have to do with the lack of relationships in their lives? Are they telling you about the latest "Joshua-Harris-how-to-find-spouse-in-30-days-or-less" book they just read? Do they mask their reason for reading it as wanting to get closer to God? It should be pretty clear now, you should have names in mind. These are Needy people. Actually they "needy" to get their head unstuck from their own rear and live life. God never meant for us to pursue marriage with as much time, money and energy as most people are giving it today. He wants us to take advantage of our time with out a spouse to capatalize on the opportunities we will miss when we are married and have different priorities. When was the last time you help a stranger at the grocery store? Or cut your neighbor's grass? Or took a friend out to lunch for no reason? Why have we put so much into our own selfishness that we miss lessons from Jesus' parables. Remember the Good Samaritan? That guy didn't think selfishly but used his time, money and energy to help someone else. I wonder if he was single? I wonder if he had a copy of "Find 'Em and Marry 'Em Jehovah's Way" in his bag? Maybe he just got it and understood that right then he could stop and help someone without a screaming kid in the minivan.

Moral of this story: Don't stare at your left hand ring finger so much that you miss what is going on around you.

Buying the cow

Lately I have been pondering the simple phrase of "Buying the cow." No this isn't a relationship issue it is the high price of milk. I have seen some places go to $3.50 and the nation's average is close to $4. Milk may do a body good but the finances...Ouch. So what about buying the cow? Will it help to just purchase "Bessie" and have milk anytime you want it? What about just cutting milk out of your diet? I am not a milk expert but I think that after all the processes of feeding the cow, caring for it, and cleaning the milk so it is drinkable; I think I will pay the extra dollar to have the milk. Moral of this story: It is cheaper not to buy the cow, But pay for the milk by the gallon. This is the proven theory behind prostitution, so is buying milk like prostitution. No how dare you think so little of milk.