My Boy

Dad's need to come to an understanding...

the understanding of how much weight they hold in their sons eyes.

Unfortunately, we are always too busy to notice...because we are doing something important.

Hmmm...aren't our children important.

Yesterday, Dave asks..."can I go to Morgan and Mason's to play" [next door neighbors].

My response... "why don't you and I go to the park and play baseball?"

Eyes light up...huge smile... "Let's go"

As we walk to the part we talk on many different things...its great!

At the park we play catch and do a little batting practice...its great!

And on the way home we take turns praying for each other and other people as well...its great!

Thank you Lord for giving me my children...give me Your heart...that I may rightly invest in their lives and truly build their future.

UFC Heavy Weight Champ...AGAIN!

Tonight we watched Randy Coutier keep his heavy weight championship belt..again.

The guy is amazing...he is 44 years old and is truly a wrecking machine.

It was a good night.

Where is the Line?

Some people act as if there were certain lines that could be drawn to divide various relationships or parts of their life.

Where are these lines...I can't see them.

I have many dear friends...and over time we have realized that we have come to differing interpretations on God's word.

We very likely will never start a church together....but here is the cruncher...

...NOT because we don't trust each other.

If you cannot trust a man...then where does the relationship grow?

If I could not become a member @ one of my friends churches because of doctrinal convictions that is one thing...

...but if I couldn't become a member because I couldn't trust him...as a person...then I am really confused about the name "friend".

A friendship or close relationship is founded upon trust...if there is no trust...then where is the friendship?

All lines are really erased.

I heard you...did you hear yourself?

When you listen to a person teach your ears need to listen beyond what he is teaching at the moment and go beyond...

You need to find out if his teachings on day to day life match up to his beliefs on reality...on the whole of life.

Anyone can say "a person needs to be responsible for their actions" but does their view of reality match that teaching?

Does the teachings of atheism foster responsibility?
We are accidents on this mud ball, hurling without plan or purpose throughout an empty vacuum? No reason for life...and no one to answer to when we die...because we cease to exist?

Wow! That's a view of reality that just shouts of responsibility...doesn't it [wink, wink]

How about Hinduism...does this religion foster responsibility?
It teaches us that all reality is one...and that all distinction is really illusion.

This means that good actions verses bad actions are really nothing...illusion!

They can tell you to be kind and feed the poor...but it really doesn't differ from being a jerk and letting the bums starve...because all is really one...no distinctions...they are really only illusion.

Buddhism teaches karma but in the end the life flame that pass on to the next life is of such a nature that the next life really isn't conscious of the previous life. So if I live like a real jerk in this life...some other sucker is going to reap the benefits or curses of it...my personal continuity doesn't pass down...Dale C in this life isn't Dale C in the next...not really responsibility promoting is it?

This belief system also tells you that if you don't get it right the first go...hey there are thousands of other tries...almost like Halo 2 on XBox.


Christianity teaches that you have one life to live, one life to trust in Jesus Christ, the only Saviour, one life to live for God or continue to rebel against Him.
It teaches that God creates and governs all things...He makes the world, He makes the rules, He watches to see what people do with His world...with His rules...and ultimately, one day, everyone will give an account of their life to God...with heaven and hell...hanging in the balance.

Christianity is consistent...it teaches responsibility and its whole worldview supports this teaching.

Comfortably Numb

Pink Floyd sings about being Comfortably Numb...

Do you ever feel it?

Just enough comfort to keep you where you are at.

We live in a world that is governed by the Lord...not us.

When we try and reason things out according to our thinking, instead of His revelation, then things either go really wonky [fall apart]...or we slip into becoming "comfortably numb".

Jesus said that he who tries to save his life will lose it...but he who loses his life, for Jesus sake, will gain it.

Jesus is winking His eye and giving us the old "psssst... things aren't always what they seem."

The minister who reasons I must provide for my wife and family...therefore I must not rock the boat...I must not seek the truth wherever God leads...especially if it leads me away from the denominations beliefs...and away from the paycheck.

Dude! It would be better for you to walk away from the salary...away from the cushy pension, and seek, preach, and practice the truth!

But what about my security...my families security?

You fighting against the Lord, following the traditions of men, instead of the revealed truth of God's word will not give you true security...only shifting sand security.

Security that may seem solid today...but when God brings His judgment...it is a sad foundation indeed.

Young men need to follow the truth of God's word and not be brought into bondage because of their so-called "livlihood".

A livlihood that ignores or runs contrary to God's word is an illusion...God is life, His word is life...when you ignore or run from His word it is not "live [ly] or life [ly] hood...it ends in death.

The minister in his denomination or young man in his vocation reasons with himself "I have put in so many years in where I am...if I left now, because of my convictions, then how would I ever come back from a set back like that?"

Faith in the Lord!

The God who owns the cattle of a thousand hills calls you to be faithful to Him!

I ask this question.

Would you rather be a poor free man, or a wealthy, comfortable [ly numb] slave?

Great men in history have answered this question...not with their lips...but with their blood.

Answer

Jesus was the only person in history who chose to die in the place of others.

Someone might stand up at this point and say that there have been many people in history who have chosen to die in the place of others...but note that these people only chose the time that they were going to die...they were going to die anyway...eventually.

Adam chose to die when he chose to sin...but his choice to die wasn't in the place of others...it actually was the cause of death for others...everyone he was representing...the whole human race.

Jesus, the sinless One, did not have to die "IF" He wasn't coming to die as our substitute...so He not only chose the time in which He would die...He also chose to die...He left the glories of heaven to save us from our sins...Jesus is the greatest hero the world has ever seen!