Men and Women

A wife was very busy preparing dinner, she asked her husband to go to the store for her: "Please honey, go get a gallon of milk and if they have fresh eggs, get 6, thank you so much" A short time later the husband returned with 6 gallons of milk. "Why did you get so much milk"' asked the wife. The husband said,: "Because they had fresh eggs".

Men and women are different. One is from Mars and the other is from Venus, I think. No actually we do think, process information, and react differently.
Men categorize, we put things into different compartments. Ladies, the next time you ask your husband what he is thinking and he responses: "Nothing",that is more then likely the truth, we have a category reserved for nothing. I know every time there was something wrong with my wife and she would call me upset about something, the first thing I would do is try to solve the problem. One time she got her purse snatched and she felt really scared, violated, and angry. The first thing I wanted to do was to hunt the guy down and pound his head. My wife, though, just needed me to listen, hold her and reassure her that everything was going to be OK> My grown daughter is the same way. She is a school teacher (high school algebra 2) and calls me almost everyday as she leaves school. She tells me how the day went, who was her problem classes, and basically how the day went. She doesn't want me to do anything, just listen. But when my son calls me we talk about sports, our jobs, if he can borrow my truck to help a friend move you know "Guy stuff."
I have always been very organized. At work, I take things in, and decide what is most important, what needs to be done, and what can wait. This is one of my strongest strengths, I believe. I enjoy working independently of others. Just give me a job to do, leave me alone and I will do it. My ex-wife is also very good at these things, she is very organized and is

very good at regulating her staff at work, and gets the job done. But at home, she always wanted to "talk" about her day, what went wrong, and what went right, and her "feelings" about everything. We men, don't care so much about our feelings. We have a "feelings compartment" but don't go there very much. When the day is over, we shift into "drive home' mode and then, "time at home, watching the game or whatever" mode.
Can you imagine if Men and Women were alike in this regard? If we were all like women , then we would talk about our feelings, way to much and never get anything else done, and if we were all like men, then nothing would get done after work, because we would all be in the "we are at home mode".
God made us to compliment each other. To a man, everything is about "Logic". If there is a problem the Logic says take care of it. To a woman, you talk about it, about how it made you feel, about how your life is going to change because of it..............OK, which way is better? To me, because I am a man, Logic wins everytime. . But to women, we make no sense, I mean if you can't share your feelings, then what good are you?
What does all this mean? It means that God knew what He was doing when He made us. He knew how important looking at things Logically (yes, Mr. Spock and Data were right) was, AND that we needed to understand "WHY" we felt like we did, acted like we did, and did what we did.
When I was in college I took a course in "Sociology". Best course I ever took in my 3 semesters. Studying people, and how they react in different social circumstances, is amazing. We went to the airport in Dallas, just to observe people. I still do that once in a while. My favorite is going to the Mall, and just watching people (if you can still find a mall!). What have I found? Easy, the women will be inside the store, and the men will be sitting somewhere waiting for them. The women are much more social, they love normally, to talk to each other and show that they care about each other. Men, have to have a topic, sports, beer, cars, something.
So ladies, give your husband a break, the next time he says he is doing "nothing" he usually is. And husbands take a little time to listen, talk, and just care for what your wife is talking about. You wouldn't believe what good this will do for each other. Take it from a man who was married for 24 years, and now been divorced for 6 (I forgot how to listen).
Thank you Lord for making us like we are, and thank you for complementing each other. It makes life much more interesting, but that is good,.

Sauce Will Thicken as it Stands

AS a old bachelor, I cook allot of dinner mixes. You know like helpers. One of the most frustrating things to me is the phrase: "Remove from heat, uncover, sauce will thicken as it stands" I am a guy, I am impatient, when the stuff is done, I want to eat, not when" "The sauce thickens", NOW!!! I mean these boxed dinners are supposed to be fast, right? Where is the convenience, where is the quick meal?
I don't like that phrase, it makes me mad, at times. Have you ever read the ten commandments? The whole thing, you know: "Thou shalt, and thou shalt not's"?
I heard an ad on the History Chanel or one of those channels, that they say there were actually over 300 commandments that Moses brought down from the mountain talk with God, but only 10 made it to the bible. I don't believe that for one minute, but it doesn't matter, those 10 cover everything. But do we live by them all the time, are like me, do you skip the "Sauce will Thicken as it Stands part?'
For you review here are the 10: 1: You shall have no other gods before me. (those gods can be anything, as long as you put them over God.)2:You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is not in Heaven above, or in the Earth beneath, or is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. 3:You shall not take the name of the Lord your
god in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. 4:Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. (Basically rest on Sunday, praise Him that we serve)5:Honor your Mother and Father , because if you do, your days may be long. 6: Do not commit murder 7:Don't commit adultery. 8 Don't Steal 9 Don't bear false witness to your neighbor, (Don't lie)And 10: Don't covet your neighbors house, wife, female or male servant, or his ox or his donkey or anything he has. (you know like: " The one with the most toys wins". Here are the ten again in easy to understand language.: One: Make God Number one Two: Don't serve anything that is not of God Three: Don't get mad and use God's name as in cussing Four: Go to church on Sunday Five: Honor your Mom and Dad (Respect them) Six: Don't Kill Seven: Don't "Sleep Around" with someone Else's wife. Eight: Don't steal Nine:Don't lie and Ten: Don't look at your neighbors stuff or wife or children and wish you could have them.


OK that is all for today, I have to go see if the sauce has thickened on my lunch yet.

GOD: WHY?

In Psalms 22:1 The Psalmist says: My God My God, why have you abandoned me?
Why are you so far away when I groan for help?
Ever felt like that? Things did not go the way you thought they would. God, why are you doing this? I can;t stand this God, why are you allowing it to happen?
Think about how much Jesus suffered on the cross? He had the sins of the world both past and present yours and mine, all on his shoulders. Not to mention the physical pain He was suffering. Soldiers had poked Him into His side, they had put a crown of thorns on His head, and they had whipped and whipped him until He was almost dead. Then they NAILED Him to a cross where He suffered miserably. Think you problems are bad, still? Jesus asked God why this was being done to Him, He had doubt, He asked God where He was when He suffered most. Had His Father, God, Jehovah, abandoned Him? Had He turned His back on Jesus, His only Son? Yes, He had, because of the greater good.
Sometimes things don't work out the way we think they should. Sometimes things work out WAY BAD. Has God abandoned us? Yes it can feel like it, and sometimes He may have to turn His head when we call to Him, why? Because He knows the greater good. God, our Father loves us, so much He cannot watch us when we are hurting, He turns His head, like He had to with Jesus, He wants so bad to rescue us from the disaster we are in. But He cannot. He knows what is lying down the road. He knows what this action will accomplish. Can you imagine what would have happen if God rescued His Son, Jesus from the cross? No sacrifice , would have been made, no access to the throne through Jesus Name. Jesus name would have no power, the Law of the Old Testament would still be in effect. We would still be making animal sacrifices
Kinda puts things in perspective doesn't it?. Our problems are nothing to Him after what He went through.
Lord , I thank you for what you went through for me. I praise you because without that sacrifice, I would surely go to hell. I know you have my best interest in mind, and I know no matter what this world of sin has in store for me, You are the one who is in charge. Praise your name Father for suffering for me. There is NO WAY I could ever thank you enough.
I don't understand why certain happens, but I do know that you have it in your hands. I sometimes get mad at you for circumstances, but You are God, and you were man, and you understand my feelings. I will trust you, regardless of my circumstances.
There is NO ONE above you, there is NO ONE who does for me what you do. Thank you Lord.
I don't think we actually understand how much He loves us, and how much He suffered for us, so that we can be with Him.

The Big Picture

Ever been to one of those boring meeting at work? You know the one with all the cliques : " We all need to be on the same page", "We need to stop putting all our eggs in one basket", and my personal favorite: "We need to all look at the "Big Picture."
What, exactly it, the Big Picture? I was talking to the lady who delivers my paper this morning, I looked down at her car and there were hundreds of papers there. Funny I never thought about how many papers she delivered each morning, just mine. I am quick to call in, if mine is late, but her "Big Picture" is that she has literately hundreds of customers that she tries to deliver the paper on time to each and every day. Maybe I won't be quite so hard on her the next time my paper is a little late.
We seldom see the Big Picture of anything unless we are involved in it. At work I just worry about my job, what do I need to do to get things done, get home and get paid Friday? But my boss, sees that there are 10 of ME's (I know that is not a word), that have to do the same. While I am doing my job over here, there are say 9 more people like me doing their job over there. Maybe someone is sick that day, maybe someone got mad and left early without permission. Maybe someone wanted a raise and didn't get it so they are mad and slacking off on their job. This is my boss' Big Picture. Then there is the Company Mgr, his job is to not only see that things get done, but that customers are happy, he has 3 supervisors like my boss, that he has to look over. He has things like inventory control, damage assessment , coverage, ......to attend to. This is his "Big Picture" Then you got the president of the whole company, who looks at each branch as a whole unit, he has to look at numbers, see which branch is falling behind, which is leading the charge, how the managers of each branch are doing their job, so he sees the REAL Big Picture, as far as the company goes.
How many people are there on the Earth? Billions? This is God's Big Picture. He hears every prayer, every thought, every complaint. He hears when we call out to Him in earnest and He answers. Maybe not in the way we think He should, but He answers. Why doesn't He answer our prayers in the way we think He should? Because He sees, yes, The Big Picture. He sees every life, every problem every victory. He sees that people are getting close to asking Jesus into their hearts over in Africa, and He sees that there is a Minister in Europe that needs to go their and talk to them. So what does He do? He arranges a series of events so that the minister ends up in Africa at the perfect time to share with these people. But He does this billions of times a day.
We have all prayed for something to happen, or not to happen and feel God doesn't answer. But we only see our lives, our difficulties, our friends and family hurting, our stress, our pride, our personal agendas. God sees it all, and cares for US ALL.
How does He keep up with all this? Here is the answer that answers nothing, yet it answer everything, because IT Is THE Answer: Because He is God. I used to hate it when I would ask something like How does God know such and such? My Mom would always say: Because He is God. That felt like a cop-out to me, what kind of answer is that? But it is the only answer. It takes trust to be satisfied with that answer, faith and
trust, and that is what he asks us for.
. You know those pictures taken in space of the Earth? We see a blue beautiful sphere with the clouds, the continents, the blue oceans. It is really beautiful seeing our planet like that. I used to thing that is how God sees us. WRONG, God sees each and everyone of us individually. Sure He can look at the Earth as a whole if He wants to, but He doesn't want to. He wants to look at each and everyone of us. We are his children, as a parent, do you look at your children as a group, or there goes my son, or daughter. Maybe you have two kids that both play soccer, do you look out on the field and think there are my kids? No you look at each of them individually and think, Johnny needs a haircut, or Billy is getting so tall, wow good shot Johnny.................They as we, are individuals and we as parents, as God as our heavenly father ,see each of them, our problems, our strengths, our insecurities, our triumphs, our battles, our worries, our pride, our temptations, our sins, our Heart.
So the next time you in one of THOSE meetings and the saying "We have to see the Big Picture" comes up, smile, think about God and thank Him for seeing the Big Picture but mainly the little one, you.
But not for to long, it may get you in trouble at work.

I won!!!!

I got a email today that said I had won the "Microsoft On-Line Lottery" of 25 Million Dollars. All I needed to do was to send them my name, address, email address, phone numbers, date of birth, drivers license number, social security number, all credit/debit card numbers, and I would then receive a check from them. Of course it may take a few weeks as they are sending it from Kenya.
I know, I know, you have all received something similar to this, we usually don;'t even open these anymore because we know the game. My question though: They must work on someone or they would stop sending this scams.
So here is the deal, they, supposedly, know your email address, but not anything else about you, and they need all that information so they can send you a check. My favorite is the guy who tells you you have an inheritance, but all he has is your email address. The will read: All I have I leave to: ccalvin100@toenails.com.?
Wow how dumb do they think we are? I used to answer these emails with stuff like: Hey dummy, I am not stupid, stop sending me these scams. But they would then just send me more.
Did you know God knows everything about you? Not just your email address, but EVERYTHING. Now that could be scarey to some of us, you know like: "Wait, He doesn't know THAT, does He?" Yes He does. And the cool part about it? He doesn't care to much about THAT. And if you have asked forgiveness for THAT, then He doesn't know about it anymore, because he sent IT flying "as far as the East is from the West". But if your like me, those things that WE remember, and HE has forgotten,(on purpose, I might add) satan uses for his good. He will bring those things up to keep us down, to try and make us give up; You see satan has a long memory, and wants to take us into the fiery pit that was made for him.
My point this morning is, God knows all, every little detail about us, every little hurt, every insecurity every doubt, every sin, every selfish thought, act or deed. He has access to every closet in our mind that we thought was locked and we had thrown the key away, far away. No, God can get in there, He made our minds, so has full access.
There is a reward that God promises us, also. He doesn't need any more information from us for us to receive it. He knows all that, the most important thing He needs from us so that we can be with Him, is Trust. That's it Trust. Trust that He is who He says He is, Trust that He will do what He says He will do, Trust that He is concerned for us, Trust that He loves us, Trust that He made everything that IS (that is allot of stuff:) But mainly Trust that He died for us, so that we can be with Him.
So the next time you get one of "those" emails, ignore it, trash it, and think about the true reward that is waiting for us in Heaven with Him.
If you do actually win one of those "Lottery's" from Kenya" My email address is: ccalvin100@toenails.com:)

What's Up?

I fell I need to explain a few things. This blog started out as a venting against a site I did not agree with at all, and I got Unfriended by it. I was being very vengeful and said some not very nice things. That was a while ago.
When I was a teenager I felt God was calling me to write. I never did anything about it, until recently. I don't know how many of you are reading my blogs, but I have been renewed with ideas, given to me by God, in the last few weeks. I feel God wants to use me in this was more. As you can more then likely tell, my grammar, spelling and such are pretty bad, but I think I have a different perspective on things then a lot of people. You might refer to my perspective as weird, or enlightening your choice
Yesterday in church, the Lord was really dealing with me and my witness. I made a commitment to witness more, especially to the homeless in our city, and to write a new blog everyday. To do this I need ideas, and would like good ones. As you know, I get material from just about everywhere. I see something and this crazy idea comes to mind, (I believe God puts them there, you may not ) I have been told that I have a different way of looking at things, I agree with that, but sometimes they are good views, sometimes to much me in there. I wrote a blog recently about the "Tilt of the Earth" I have been thinking about this, and thought I would use this, as my Logo if you will. A tilted Earth. and "Tilted" Publications as my copy write thing..
I need feedback, comments, thumbs up, thumbs down, grammar lessons, spelling lessons (it is pretty bad when you try to use spelling helps on the computer and you spelled the word so wrong it gives you examples that are no where near what you were trying for:)
I don't know where this may go, but I cannot shake it. I am very insecure and need praise or criticism often. If God really does want to use me in this capacity, then I will do my best, with His help. If you read my "stuff" I thank you, as I call this "Ramblings" cause that is what I feel I am doing.
So, I have a name "Tilted Publications" I have a logo a tilted earth; and I have you, my friends and family. Mainly I have a weird view of the world, thus "tilted". Thank you for your comments, and inspiration, but mainly your prayers.
PS, If you or something that happened to you, end up in one of these blogs, I apologize in advance, I would never share details, don't worry.
Stay Tilted, Love Chris/

"Shields Up"

Ok, I'll admit it, I love Star Trek. Sorry if your not a fan, but I have seen every episode of every Star Trek show at least 5 times. The original was not my favorite, "The Next Generation" is. (To "Trekies" it is TNG") Anyway I have always thought that Capt Jon-Luc Picard was the best Captain. I mean he had just to say a few words and everyone knew what he wanted. My favorites were: "Make it so, Number One" or "Engage" (as he pointed forward, this was said after he told the helmsman to come to course so and so)
Remember when a enemy ship approached and their "Peaceful Ta-tics" had failed (they were on a mission of Peace and Exploration as we all know), but the other ship would show hostile intents and you heard the order (Sometimes Picard, sometimes Rikker) "Shields UP" And then there they were protected by a invisible "shield" that would let their warp cannons, and phasers go through them on the way to their target, but not let anyone "transport" into their ship, (That always bothered me, why could you shoot out with shields up but not transport things in through them, I need an expert on Star Trek to explain that to me), anyway those shields were pretty cool. Of course they didn't last forever, that would be to easy, and boring for the people watching the show. With every hit on the shields they would weaken, "Worf" would say, "Shields down to 33% Captain" followed by: "Re Route all available power to the forward shields" "Aye Captain".............(Another thing that bothered me, if they had available power why wasn't it already applied to the shields, I mean shields were pretty important.)
Anyway what am I getting at other then I am a nerd? Wouldn't it be really neat if we had such a thing as a "Shield"? A shield around our cars would stop accidents. Shields around our homes would keep thieves out. Don't want anyone using your computer why your on vacation,shield. It would be especially useful in the same application used in Star Trek, as protection in battle. Individual soldiers would have their shields, ships at sea, planes, tanks, the whole battle area could be shielded one for the good guys and one for the bad guys. (I think they did this in one of the Star Wars movies.)
Do you ever feel like there are enemy darts coming at you from all sides? I have felt this. It is not a very good feeling, you feel like God has forgotten you, you feel alone, no one cares, you feel useless, hurt, broken, you cry :"What's next God?" Cry out to God at these moments, yell if you have to, scream at Him, tell Him your mad at Him, but then start to praise Him, Why? Because in our praises to God the shields will begin to come around us. The more we praise Him, the stronger these shields will become. Praise to our Heavenly Father, has a fantastic effect on our circumstances, maybe not lesson the attacks, but change Our perception of them. All of a sudden, the darts aren't having the same effect on us, a few still might get through, but we don't care because we are praising our Father, and He will protect us. I believe God sometimes allows a few of those darts to penetrate our shields, just to show us what it would be like without His covering (Shields). Sometimes we need to be reminded of that.
So the next time it seems like the whole world is raining down on you, and you cannot take it anymore, Yell "Shields Up" and begin praising the Lord, with everything you got. When we begin praising Him even when we don't feel like it, that effort will be rewarded with His praise to help us Praise Him more. Does that make sense? He wants us to praise Him, yet He gives us the praise and strength to do it. How awesome is our God?
Keep those Shields powered up, and continue to praise Our Heavenly Father often.
"Engage"...................

...And God Said.................

According to Biblegateway.com there are 615 times in the King James Version of the Bible that the term."And God Said' I haven't looked it up but I imagine almost all of them are followed by the term: "And It was so" Remember the old commercial that had a setting say in a restaurant and two people were talking one mentioned some Wall Street investment company and the whole restaurant paused, and everyone listened to whatever was to be said next, because: "When (forgot the company name) speaks, everyone listens".
It is like that with God, maybe not we human beings, but all of nature, the angels, the heavenly all stop what they are doing and listen. Why? Because God is speaking. ...And God Said.............." for the Earth to be formed, and it was so, And God said .........for water to cover the Earth, and it was so,,,,,,,,,,And God said.........., And God Said, And God Said..............God Just spoke the world into existence God made Adam and Eve, God made everything that is by just His voice, except for one thing. After God formed Adam out of clay, He breathed life into him He did not command for life to come into Adam, He physically did CPR on him and breathed life into him.
OK what is my point? ANYTHING God says WILL happen, But He breathed life into humans. He formed us in His image, and then took a direct step to make sure we had His breath inside us. Ok so That is how much He loves us. The trees, the clouds, the waters of the earth, the mountains, the animals that run around our planet.................were all made by His voice, just Him saying so. You see mankind was lifeless, dead, just as another rock on the face of the earth, until God physically touched us and gave us His breath.
Have you ever taken a CPR class? You know breath 123, compression 123 (Almost sounds like the CHA CHA doesn't it.) I have heard they have changed that now so you can save someone just by compressions only) Have you ever really used CPR to save someone? If you have, your breath (your life) was shared with someone else to keep them from dying. God gave us life by that same way. He breathed into us life, HIS life.

Not only did God make us out of dirt, really, He put Himself into us. Have you ever heard of the "Breath of God"? Songs talk about it, people will ask God to Breath down on us, We seek the breath of fire....things like that? I had never really thought about what these things meant, until recently. God's breath is life, it started this whole human existence. When we invite Him to breath down on us, we are giving Him permission to renew us with His breath. You see, the Holy Spirit is God and when God breathes upon us the Holy Spirit comes into our souls, bodies and mind. Why? To make us feel better, to give us energy so we can dance around with our hands raised.? To make us talk funny? No to give us His power, refreshing, energy, strength............so that we can share Him with others.
When God first breathed the life into Adam, His plan was for us to worship Him as our creator. To live with Him in the Garden. He wanted to share everything with us and commune or talk with Him, to eat, play, work, enjoy all that He had to offer, which by the way is everything, more then we can imagine.
I want God to breath new life into me again. I want that refreshing breath to consume the old me, and bring forth a new, wonderfully changed me. God brought us from death to life once in our life, it is time we allow Him to do it again.
Join me in asking God to Breath down on this World, and help us witness to the dying people around us that need Him and His refreshing breath before it is to late.
Thanks for reading. Chris

Are we all Tilted?

It has been one of the hottest summers on record here in Texas. I just read that here in Austin we are in for our 22 straight days of triple digit heat. This broke the old record of, of course, 21 days.
I see the football season is coming up soon. This always excites me, as a football fan, but more importantly it promises that the heat will end before to long, by January anyway, I mean this is Texas after all.
This got me thinking about how seasons happen,and why. So I did a little "Googling" about the Earths rotation around the sun, our rotation on our axis and stuff like that. I learned all this stuff in school, science, I guess. But a refresher was very interesting. I have always known that the earth is "Titled on it's Axis" and knew this had something to do with the four seasons.
Now, God made all that is, and when He was making the Earth, all the planets, the Sun and all the other stars, solar systems, galaxies, and everything, He had a plan.
I am sure He thought that Seasons would be nice for us here on Earth. Well without Seasons, plants would not have Cycles of growth , there would be no ice forming in the mountains, thus no water melting in the spring and then no fresh water to fill the streams, rivers, oceans. There are many other reasons for Seasons, but you get the jest. So God, who knows all, said to Himself: "I will put the Earth on a slight tilt, this will cause seasons, I will also make the Earth's trip around the Sun not a perfect circle, making it closer to the sun on one trip, and farther away on the other. This will also help with seasons.
I've heard that when we, here in the Northern Hemisphere are in the Summer months, we are actually farther away from the sun then in the Winter season. Why, because we are tilted toward the sun, there by getting more direct sun light then if we were tilted away, as in the Southern Hemisphere. (This is also why they have the opposite season then we, when it is Summer here it is Winter there, and vice versa.
So what am I giving you, besides a refresher course on the planets, and the sun? Our God, who loves us, had the knowledge that just by tilting the Earth on it's axis just a little, would cause the seasons, and all they provide.
Think about it, if God had just put the Earth on a perfectly round circle around the Sun, like our equator matched up perfectly with the suns, the Earth sitting straight up and down, and our trip around the Sun was a perfect circle, exactly the same distance on one side as the other. What would that mean? Well for one thing it would be very boring on this earth. I don't see how we could have any seasons, I mean 85 degrees everyday for our entire life would, believe it or not, get old. There would be no need for a weatherman, there would be no weather that was any different then any other day. Maybe we would still have rain, but that is the only way we would have any degree changes from rain.................
God is so concerned, and has so much love for us, that He knew just this little tilt would be SO good for us. I don't think plants could exist without the seasons, so we might have any in this "perfect weather scenario"
One little "tilt" was all it took to, basically, mean life for our planet. One little "tilt".......Now what problems do you have? What doubts do you still carry? What struggles do you continue to suffer from? There is NOTHING we have problems with, that God cannot solve, with "One little tilt" He solved the problem of life on Earth, so I am sure He would have no problem with our little problem we think is so big, that we cannot continue. Puts it in perspective, doesn't it?
Think about that "Tilt" and think about your problems, which one is bigger? I can see God nudge the earth a little with his hand, just a little push, there perfect.
His hand "nudged" the whole Earth, how can He not solve any problem we have?
One little "tilt"
God will use that same hand he "tilted" the Earth with to help us, ya think that hand is big enough? You bet it is.

Doubt?

Have you ever been at a place where you have doubt, I mean REAL doubt? You know,:"Why Lord, when I prayed so hard, why?" I mean you knew exactly what was supposed to happen. You had it all figured out, Lord, here is what is supposed to happen and how it will happen......And then something happens that leaves you with doubt. Lord, that was not supposed to happen like that, don't you see?
Well this happened to me today. I doubted the Lord, for about 15 seconds. why only 15 seconds? Because after that, actually before that but I wasn't listening, He held me up. He reached down, took a hold of my arms and held them up in praise to Him.
Sometimes God not only ask that we have faith, trust and praise in Him, but He gives us a little help in getting there. Have you ever bought a car from someone who gave you the money to buy it? God is like that, He asks us for trust, faith, and to praise Him, and then when we are so broken we can;t seem to do that, He reaches down and helps us along. This is how He did it today. After some terrible news about a family matter we had been praying for for a long time, I got a scripture in my inbox on my email. 2 Corinthians 4:18 : For we do not stare at the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are for now, but the things that are not seen are everlasting" Basically the Lord was telling me, don;t worry about what you see with your human eyes, for they are but temporary, but look at the things that you cannot see, in other words the Things of God, and remember they last forever. Wow, it was not only what God was telling me, but the timing of it. I subscribe to a "verse of the day" type email service that sends me scriptures everyday. I don't know how they decide which scripture to use on a daily basis, maybe just totally random. But how did THIS scripture just end up being the one for today? How did it appear at the exact time I needed it? (I had checked before I got this bad news, and it was not there!!) Only God.
You see I doubted God, only for about 15 seconds, but I doubted God. For a few seconds, I actually thought God had blown it. I still don't understand Why God did what He did, but I do not think He blew it. I am still confused, hurt a little, confused, yes a little angry, but I have told God this, He understands my feelings, He is big enough to take anything I can throw at Him. You see God sees the "Big Picture", He sees what we cannot.
God knows we will have doubts, He knows when things come along in life, and blow us away. He knows how we feel. Remember his close friend Lazarus? Jesus was human just like us, don't you think He was hurt when He heard Lazarus had died? Then when He came to where Lazarus was, everyone ask Him where he had been, :"If you had been here, JESUS, this would not have happen" (Like it was Jesus' fault that Lazarus had died) We all know how that story ended, Lazarus was raised from the dead and all saw.
Did God tell us that everything would be easy, once we gave our hearts to Him? No.. Did He tell us that our life would be like "Strawberry Fields Forever" (Little Beatles reference never hurts) No He did not. What He promised us is that He would never leave us or forsake us. Can we not do the same ..... I want to "never leave or forsake Him" and if that means trusting Him more, the so be it.

Good Vs. Evil, again.

"Luke, I am your father", "Mister Anderson", "That's CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow","Gee, Mr. Frodo if we don't destroy the ring, Middle Earth will be destroyed"
I am sure you know where these quotes come from, you more the likely can even remember where you were the first time you heard each one.
But the question I am asking is: "What do these 4 movies have in common? Their theme, Good vs. Evil. This is a theme that has been done and done and done, it is in just about every movie, book, play, short story, .............that has ever been written.
What is it about Good vs. Evil, that intrigues us so, that we would pay millions and millions of dollars every year to watch, read, .....the same theme in different ways?
This concept is not new, it is what the Bible's main theme is all about. It comes down to one thing: WE decide what, and who we are going to do or serve. The ultimate question, the only one that really matters, in our life.
What would have happened if Frodo and Sam had not made it to the Mountain of Doom and destroyed the Ring, (with Gollum's help, of course)? Middle Earth would have been destroyed, and the Evil would have won. How about Neo? If he had not made the right decisions, the Machines (evil Machines) would have killed all the humans. You see, all the heroes , yes even CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow,made the right decision that ultimately led to saving the planet, as it were.
Our decisions are a little less stressful, you see, the whole world as we know it, is not hanging in the balance, for we already know which side is going to win, our decision is just which side do we want to be on?
It is easy to quit, just look how many times CAPTAIN Jack started to leave with the prize and abandon his friends, but came back just in time to save everyone.
We could take our reward here in this life, and just go away, or live here for now, knowing our reward is coming, and our eternal life is just over the horizon.
I loved "Spy vs Spy" from Mad Magazine growing up. Those guys always had the coolest ideas to get the other one. Remember in the old days it was easy to tell the good guys from the bad ones, the color of their hats gave them away. Later the color of hats wasn't quite as important (In "The Big Valley" Nick wore all black but he was a good guy?) But you could tell by their actions.
What are your actions telling others? That your a good guy, serving our Lord and traveling this Earth toward your real home? Or just enjoying life so much that no one but you is important?
Life is not a movie, book, or anything for our pleasure. It is for REAL and it matters. Movies are great, don't get me wrong, and sometimes the bad guy is the hero. But in real life, it is easy to tell the difference. (The "Oceans" movies made us root for thief's, but they were set up to be the good guys, because they were trying to rob the Real bad guy. ) That is NOT how it works in real life, though, You must be the good guy to enter the gates of heaven.
But don't worry, it is pretty easy to tell the Good guys from the bad ones, and it has nothing to do with the color of your hat.
Let's all be good guys and spread the word how easy it really is to be one. Tell next time Chris