kickball worldseries
I had the weirdest dream last night. My beloved St. Louis Cardinals went to the world series. Now I know this is beyond reality this year because their 10 games out of the running for the division lead. But I can still dream.
But the weird thing is they didn’t play baseball. They played kickball. Now this was too funny to see. Pujols or Eckstein trying to kick a kickball, or Edmonds trying to catch a kickball in left field.Too funny!!!
remember to forget
Hebrews 8:12, 10:17
Jeremiah 31:34
A few years ago I was teaching bible study at a church where it occurred to me there was a lot of animosity in the church. So I decided to do a lesson on forgiving and forgetting. This turned out to be an interesting conversation because a lot of them said it was impossible to forget, especially to do it intentionally. My purpose was to tell them in order to forget, you first have to forgive. Then you will no longer hold it against them because it has been forgiven.
My teaching was flawed. I was wrong. To forget means to remember no more by accident. When you forget something, you erroneously allow something to be removed from memory. I believe they were right. If something hurts enough, you can’t just forget about it. It has scarred you. It has left a forever mark.
So here’s my heart on the matter now. God calls us to be holy as He is holy. (1Peter 1:16) To be called a christian means to be Christ-like. So in other words we are to clone ourselves to God. We are to strive to be perfect like God is perfect. There are no infallacies in Him. Nor should there be in us.
God does NOT forget. To forget would mean to be fallible. God is infallible. No where in the bible does God call us to forget the sins of others upon us. But in order to be like Him, we must duplicate His actions by acting as if the sin had never occurred all the while initiating forgiveness.
We are not to forgive and forget. We are to forgive and remember no more. God purposefully casts our sins far as the east is from the west. God purposefully remembers them no more. God purposefully erases them from His memory. God calls us to purposefully do the same. He doesn’t forget. He just remembers no more on purpose.
“To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.”
-Confucius
“You will forgive people more easily when you end your need to make them wrong.”
-Brian Koslow
“The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.”
- -Thomas Szasz, The Second Sin (1973) “Personal Conduct”
Initiating my authority
In Genesis chapter 1 God gave man dominion over every animal in the world to care for them. I was sitting on my porch last night and I kept hearing the scratching of what I thought was to be a baby bird that had fell into the gutter. I brushed it off but the scratching persisted. I couldn’t bear the thought of some baby bird, nightmarish as it may be, to be sitting in the curve of the downspout fighting for it’s life to no avail.
So I ran inside to find a screwdriver and take the gutter apart to rescue the bird from it’s demise. After I disassembled the gutter, I shook it to see if maybe the bird would fall out. No success. I shook and shook and shook to see no bird coming out but the scratching persevered. So I did the next best thing. I turned the water hose on and shot water down the drain pipe. Still, no bird. Still, scratching!
What is this scratching noise and where is it coming from? I stuck my ear to the gutter to hear scratching but the gutter was not the location of the constant commotion.
Beside the gutter sets an aluminum bucket.
Just maybe that sound is in there. To my surprise, it was. I was already late leaving the house and I thought I would do my good deed for the day and release this “bird” from it’s gutter-style grave. But it was no bird in the gutter. It was a bug in the bucket. This weird bug had somehow gotten into this bucket but couldn’t get out.
I replaced the gutter to it’s upright position. I did not release the bug though. It was ugly. Yet that was no reason for not fulfilling my daily good deed. I was rather upset that I couldn’t save a bird’s life. Even if I would have pulled the bird from the proverbial hat, where would I have taken it. I saw no nest in the tin on my roof. And if I had, it really didn’t need to be there anyway. So it was a bitter-sweet feeling.
(For the happy ending) The bug was released today.
Why God????????
Why God? This is probably the biggest question ever proposed other than “Does God exist?”.
Right now I’m reading a book called The 10 Most Common Objections to Christianity by Alex McFarland. May I share an excerpt with you?
“Another person might question how a loving God (if He even exists) could allow massive tragedies such as tsunamis, hurricanes or even human genocide to wipe out innocent people.”
I have no explanation. I am not God. To ask Him why he would do such a thing is to also ask Him why He would paint the sky blue or apply fragrance to the flower. It was his creative decision. So to ask Him why he would harm innocent people is beyond me. But my secondary question is, who is innocent and who is guilty? That’s for another blog though.
But I will say this. People seem to believe that innocent deaths is the punishment for our sinful behavior. But we already know that “the wages of sin is death.(Romans 6:23)” So this is not the case for the death this verse talks about is a spiritual death. So is God punishing innocent people with a physical death by natural disasters?
This question poses a problem to me. The question doesn’t ask but states that people see death as a punishment. It says that people think life is the only thing worth living for. They believe that nothing is beyond the grave. After a successful life here on earth, we can count our money and throw in the towel. It’s over. Death is the death of all that ever existed. Nothing more is beyond the grave, lights out to never be turned on again. Stick a fork in us because we’re done! Death is believed to be punishment.
I see death as a reward. The bible tells me that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). I do not see heaven as my reward although it is a nice place. I do not see my “mansion” as a reward although it shall be beautiful. I do not see pearly gates, streets of gold, a sea of glass, and a fine wedding feast as reward, although they will be marvelous to see.
I see Jesus as reward. I see to be with Him for eternity as reward. I see a glorious celebration with Jesus as guest of honor as reward. So to see death as punishment is by far erroneous. Death for me is profitable. For to live is Christ, to die is gain! (Philippians 1:21)
Do Dreams Come True
I want to write a book. I used to hate reading or writing. That is until Beverly Cleary wrote, “Dear Mr. Henshaw.” This book catapulted me into a book-reading fool. After reading so much, I started to ask myself, “Self, why don’t you write one?” This is a question that I still ask my self. Am I a writer? Could I ever write something that someone besides my wife and closest relatives read? On purpose?
I had two teachers in the 7th and 8th grades that spurred me on with encouragement, support, and reassurance that there was an inner desire that was dying to explain life in printed word. I still remember sitting in that classroom crying that I couldn’t write a story if I wanted to. My teacher had us put together a folder of ten poems, a short story, and a book report.
This folder would represent 50% of our yearly grade. I wrote a poem about everyone in my family, and a story about time travel. I passed with very good grade, thank God!!!!
Later, I really started to get into writing as I moved into High School. I met a girl that loved poetry so she and I wrote alot of poetry together. Mind you thee were not love poems. I was a very disturbed kid and so alot of our poems had to do with killing people and cannibalism.
By the 11th grade rolled around, I had notebooks full of writings. I still didn’t think I was any good. I remember very distinctly sitting in Jr. English and my teacher asked us to respond to a poem Henry David Thoreau had written about a kid who asked his mom what death was like.
I don’t remember my answer, but I do remember her asking if anyone had a problem with her reading our poems out loud in front of class. She only read a few. Mine happened to be one of them. She came across it in the stack and said, “Kevin, may I read yours please?” I replied with a yes. She read mine aloud with amazement in her voice and when she had finished the whole class had turned to look at me in bewilderment. I thought it was good too!
The next year I had written so much “nice” poetry that I decided to take a whack at being poet laureate for our senior class. I admitted a few poems to later find out that I had placed second to Rob Dalton. No offense but a poem about some crappy eagle spreading his wings on class night did not in any way impress me.
So here I am 12 yrs after my graduation wondering if I’ll ever be that writer I want to be. Someday, maybe dreams will come true.
Fred Thompson
I just have one concern (as of present). I hope he can hold up to the reputation that he has built. He has alot of people on his side. The presidency could make him or break him. I hope he keeps the respect he has received up to now.
destination: interupted?
When I was playing cowboy a few years ago, I ran across a guy that could read palms. We were sitting around a campfire drinking a few beers while the sun was setting in the background; very nostalgic.
This friend of a friend said he could read palms so I had him read mine. He told me I had a break in my life line meaning that I would have a tragic accident when I get to my mid-life.
That has somewhat haunted me ever since. I don’t know if this guy knew what he was talking about or what, but it’s always wreaked havoc on my outlook in life.
So my question is, can it be changed? And I guess if it can, will I know that it was changed?
Ponder. Debate. Query.
Identity Crisis
So often I see people trying to fit in. Fitting in by the clothes thy wear, the music they listen to, certain habits they pick-up. I’ll use clothing for the case of conversation. I like to shop at American Eagle or Old Navy. I’d love to shop at Ambercrombie and Fitch or Buckle but I simply can’t afford it. Sometimes I’ll hang out in the clothing dep’t at Wal-Mart or Target, but not for long unless there is something that catches my eyes. But God forbid if I go to the Salvation Army!
But I used to have a problem with my image. I had many. One minute I was a jock and boasted in sports, mainly baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals. I would play alot of golf and I worked out at the gym and was looking pretty good; very sporty. I also love the cowboy life, so I would throw on the boots, wranglers, and cowboy hat and listen to George Strait or Merle Haggard. I played in a rock band so I would throw on my converse shoes and chains and wristbands or bracelets and rock out in the truck.
I had so many looks my friends didn’t know how to act. Neither did I for that matter cause I would wake up feeling like a cowboy and by the mid-day I was wanting to rock, so I had to go home and change clothes. I had multiple images.
But later did I realize where my image lies. I tried to fit in according to the way people have designed it. To look a certain way, to do certain things and to be certain ways. I think they call this a stereotype. God did not design it this way and I think God’s design is way more profitable than man’s.
God said you and I were created in His image. This image that He has created us in is a spiritual image, not a physical one. Gal 5:23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
I like what Paul had to say about clothing yourself.
Col 3:12
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
So why do we fight to fit in when God has created us dressed to the nines and fitting in perfectly? I like the mindset of Derek Webb. He says (paraphrased) that we focus too much on our outer appearance and not on the inner image! Just listen to the song, “T-shirts (What we should be known for)”. This song says we should be know for our love for others and not for the things that we do that do not glorify God.
I no longer have an identity crisis. God has confirmed to me who I am in Him. I am created in His image. I am an offspring of His personality. I still want to be a cowboy. I still want to move out west and drive cattle and work on a ranch. I still want to ride into the sunset while Roy Rogers sings Happy Trails as the credits roll.
I don’t think it matters what I wear on the outside. I mean Adam and Eve wore designer clothes. The fig leaves were designed by God himself, better than Armani, Calvin Klein, Dolce and Cabana, Versaci, or Mr. Hilfiger ever dreamed about!
Just LOVE!!!!!!
