Where is Waldo? [At the 25th Reunion]

I am very glad I went to my 25th high school reunion.

I had a chance to talk, laugh and reminisce with some old friends...people who I spent my growing up years with...some of them...all the way back to grade 1!

I read on someone's facebook wall that they were very nerveous before actually going to the reunion...and this was coming from a person who was very attractive and popular in school...and by all appearances on reunion night...things hadn't changed much.

As I read that wall post...I had to admit...that I too was very nerveous about going to see all the old gang...maybe for different reasons...

As a Christian for 18 years...and a church leader/pastor...for many of those 18 years...I have come to understand to varying degrees the sense of not being understood.

I can still remember clearly not being a Christian...and looking weirdly at these people who live their lives for some guy who died, supposedly rose again...and now lives in the sky...it had a creepy feel to it...and then I met the guy in the sky...and everything changed.

So now going to the reunion...you hope that you can have a time of friendship...laughs...enjoying each others friendship...without queering people out...that you were still one of those "Christians"...

But all in all...I felt the night went by quite well...for me...anyways.

I have found for the last couple days...when I think back to the reunion...I am not envisioning the old familiar faces of the buddies I used to party with...I am seeing Waldo...hidden in the throng of laughing and light-hearted festivities.

Imagine going to your high school reunion...paying your money to get in...bringing your wife...and no one saying hi...no one acknowledging your existence...sitting at a table by yourself and wondering what your wife is thinking about you...what she is thinking about this crowd of people that surrounds you...that ignores you.

Imagine being the guy in high school that was labeled "loser" just because you were a little different, didn't have the clothes, the personality and charisma...

Imagine going to your 25th reunion...with your new wife [married two years], hoping to show people that you really weren't a loser...you had a job [bus driver], you have someone who loves you [a wife]...and you have a life together.

Perhaps you were hoping that these people after 25 years wouldn't still have their caste system...perhaps they would give you the time of day.

I will remember for quite some time...looking at Todd Morgan and his wife...sitting alone at their table...people walking by [including me]...seeming not to notice them.

I will remember my own good intentions...gone bad...as I several times planned on going up to talk...and yet always found someone else filling that time slot...

As I watched them go...I am glad I stopped Todd to see how he was doing...even if it does seem today...like too little too late...

I hope Todd finds an extra heaping amount of courage to come to the 30th...I am planning on taking some time to chat...because he is a person who God the Creator made in His own image...and therefore deserves honor and respect.

Good Morning Humanity!!

Has this ever looked like one of your days?

You turn your head towards the night table by your bed...glance at the alarm clock...

BANG...your eyes instantly explode into full open position...you didn't set the clock and you have 6 minutes to get to work!

You jump out of bed...twist your ankle on some stupid book left by the bed...

As you frantically rush around the dark room...you stub your toe...repeatedly...until you finally grab a brain...and actually come to the understanding that the electric light bulb has indeed been invented...

You stumble down the stairs...mix-matched socks, wrinkled clothes... and hair styled by the Ever Rest mattress company...WHERES MY SHOES?!! I set them by the door...someone moved them!!

After several underbreath death threats...you find your shoes...jump into them...and now the next mission impossible...THE CAR KEYS!!...why can't I learn to hang them up by the door!!...the scavanger hunt continues...finally success...you find them...

You shoot out the door like a bullet exploding from a gun barrel...jump into your car...turn the ignition...nothing...AAAAUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!

At this point you notice that the head light knob is pulled out...you left the lights on...the battery is dead....again...AAAUUUGGGGHHHH!!! [as Charlie Brown would say].

You are late, late, late...for work!!!

You go to grab your cell phone to call for back up...grrrrr...you left it in the stupid house!!!

You jump out of the car...rush to the house...phone the AMA for a boost, from your land line...good news...they will be right over!

You slam the phone down...check that you got your wallet, grab your cell phone and rush back out the door...slamming it shut as you fly through.

You stand on your driveway...tapping your foot...WHERE ARE THEY??!! ITS BEEN THREE MINUTES...how long does it take to get across town anyway!!!

Finally, the tow truck guy comes!! You pop the hood...he hooks up the cables...and tells you to try and start you car...

...you break down and begin weeping...you left the keys by the phone...locked in the house!!

Has this ever been a day in your life? Some might say...a day in my life...that is my life?

There are times when we can totally see Murphy's Law [if something can go wrong...it will] working itself out in our daily plans.

Why?

God created the world...and He created it good.

God made men and women on earth to have dominion and to subdue all things. God is the High King...and men and women were the lesser kings under Him.

Adam and Eve [first man and woman] rebelled against the High King...they were not going to listen to Him...they were going to try and frustrate His plans...fight against Him wherever they could!!

When the first man and woman rebelled...they fell from a right standing before God...and their natures became corrupt...rebellious, sinful...

Men and women today...are born with this same rebellious nature [this is why we need God to supernaturally change our hearts...give us new hearts].

To show us how frustrating we are to Him, the High King...God has caused the rest of the creation...that is "under" mankind's authority...to be just a frustrating to them...

So in the end...Murphy's Law...is really God's Law/Jesus Law...

The good news is that Jesus died to overcome man's sin...and is now presently at work...bringing all of creation back under His control.

Things that make your brain go...aeeawwkkk

I have asked people why they don't believe in predestination...when the Bible says that God predestines...

I have heard some say...that God didn't create robots...and that you can't have a real relationship unless you are given the choice to love...or not to love...

Now, please hear me clearly...I believe in God's predestination...and I believe that man is not a robot...or puppet.

God is greater then us...He can do what we cannot...He can predestine our choices...and do so in such a way that they are freely ours to make...

...some will say..."but how?"

short answer..."Don't know"

But here is something to mull over...meditate on...

God is Triune...God has existed for all eternity, unchanging, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...right?

God never had a beginning...right? Always existed...right?...and unchanging...right?

Was there ever a time where the Father decided to love the Son, and the Son the Father?...or have they always loved each other...they can't remember a time when they didn't [sort of sounds like young children born into Christian homes...a good argument for infant baptism too].

I believe that we are to love God...but I believe the only reason why anyone will love God...is that God first loved them...God gives them spiritual resurrection...and with their new heart they choose God, they love God, they trust God.

Our choice is NOT the primary thing...its Jesus' choice that counts from eternity!

Have Your Cake And Eat It Too...

Does the mention of predestination cause the hair to stand up on the back of your neck?

You get angry when someone starts talking about God predestinating His elect to be saved?

Why does it irk you?

Because its not fair! Why doesn't God save everyone?!

Oh, I see.

So instead, we say that God doesn't predestine...instead everyone has free will.

Hmmm...do you know who is left to their free will...in the teaching of Biblical predestination?

The Bible teaches that when Adam sinned, he died spiritually...and because he was the representative of the whole human race...everyone born after Adam was born with his sin nature.

A nature that loved sin, hated God...and wanted to exalt itself as a god...and tries to remove the True God from His rightful throne.

The Bible teaches that no one seeks after God, they are too busy seeking after sin.

Sinful man wants nothing to do with the Living God...instead he wants to be left alone, left to his own free will, left to make his own decisions as his own little god.

Those whom God saves...He pursues...He seeks them, He becomes a man for them, He enters into suffering for them, and He dies and takes God's wrath for sin upon Himself...for them...and He raises from the grave on the third day...for them!

But remember, even those in whom God has predestined to be saved...don't want to be saved...they too hate God...they too are running from God...they too have used their free will to forsake God, and have exalted themselves instead...


...and here is the irony...God doesn't honor their free will...instead He puts His Spirit within their heart...without their permission [in a sense, against their will...right?]...and gives them spiritual rebirth, spiritual resurrection.

Once God renews them [without asking permission]...then they truly see Jesus for who He is...the Almighty God and Savior...and they then use their will to repent of their sins...trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior...because God enabled them to do so...

But someone still screams...but its not fair!

But wait a minute... you are the one who is demanding free will, aren't you?

Those who reject Jesus' mercy and go to hell will be those in whom God honors their right to continue to use their free will. Those who go to hell will be those who want nothing to do with God...do not want God coming into their lives...do not want God to impose His Lordship upon them at all...and God in all fairness...gives them exactly what they want.

God calls out to these rebels everyday through creation...and He does so in such a clear way that they are without an excuse for their unbelief. God pours His love and goodness on these rebels, giving them life and every blessing...in order that they would see that God is a God of mercy and grace and would turn from their wicked ways. God calls out to these rebels through their consciences...showing them that they indeed have sin and guilt...and that they need forgiveness...they need a Savior. And God sends His servants and His own Son to these rebels to clearly show that the only way of salvation is through trusting in Jesus Christ and His shed blood...and at the same time...turning from being their own little gods...

But the rebels love their sin...they want to be god...they want their free will to rule and reign...so they continue to spit in their Creator's face...

As C.S Lewis once said...there will be two kinds of people on the day of judgment.

Those who say to God "Thy will be done"...and those to whom God will say...before they are sent out of His gracious presense forever..."your will be done".

Those who are eternally lost get exactly what they wanted...and they get what they deserve.

Those who are eternally saved...are only saved because God did not honor their rebellious free will that rejected Him...and instead imposed Himself upon them to change their will...they receive what they do NOT deserve...that is what grace and mercy is...getting what you don't deserve.