Christmas 2010

Well here we are, about 2000 years since the birth of Jesus. It was a rather quiet event considering the magnitude of what was going on, God coming to earth in the form of a little baby to redeem the world from sin back to Himself. Just a couple of thoughts, there is a lot of tradition involved in this Christmas. First is the date Jesus was born, I have read lots of discussion on when Jesus was born and my conclusion is that noone can be dogmatic about when he was born. Summer and winter dates are given. The best arguement I have read is around December. Does it matter? Who knows? It seems to matter more to those who Christians who don't believe in celebrating Christmas at all anyways. Many say that Christmas should not be celebrated because it falls on a Pagan holiday and has Pagan roots and celebrates the sun god. Well, I don't remember ever worshipping the Sun God. Here is my thoughts. You ask anyone about why we have Christmas and with the exception of a select few, almost everyone will say becasue of Jesus or Santa Clause. I don't think there is any reason we should stop celebrating the Birth of Jesus. I was drawn and quartered by a couple of "Christians" last year because I would still celebrate the birth of Jesus. As long as I teach the whole truth about Christmas and Jesus, I don't see the need to withdraw. I am thankful for this time of year when we as Christians can call attention to Jesus in a world that does not know who He is and be a witness to them. Let's move on.

Well let me throw some questions out there for you to look up in the Bible.
1. Did Mary ride a donkey to Bethlehem?
2. Why did they wait to the last moment to go to Bethlehem? Or did they?
3. What did the InnKeeper say? What InnKeeper?
4. How old was Jesus when the Wise men visited Him?

Yall have a merry Christmas season.

The Digital Nativity Story

I ran across this on Andy's Blog. I thought it was great. What would it be like if Jesus were born today?

The Value of a Life, Butch Bays

The Value of a Life, Butch Bays

Well what can I say? An Icon in our community, Butch Bays, as well as our parish was murdered the other day. We are all left trying to make sense of his murder. It brings up memories of the senseless murder of my niece a few years ago. It definately shows a lack of respect for life. God gave us life and He is the only one that has the right to take it. Some in our society don't think life should be protected unless it is theirs. I truly wander how much the teaching of evolution has to do with it. After all in evolution importance of life comes from the individual or other individuals. It is determined by what you can do for me. In Christianity the value of a life comes from God. The value of something is determined by how much someone wants to pay for it. Jesus paid for us with His own life. If Jesus is God and God is infinite then how much are we really worth. Somehow we need to get back to teaching our children the  value of life and who places value on life. We need to teach them to protect life. We need to teach them that life has infinite value to God from conception to the oldest person alive. If Butch Bays had been incapacitated for His whole life and was dependent on others, he would have been infinitely valuable to God. We should see everyones life the way God does. And to the dismay of some, the killers life has the same value as the person they killed.

The Pastor and the Window Washer

A pastor was walking through a hospital and came across a man that was covered from head to toe with bandages. He asked what kinda work he did. The man said he used to be a window washer. The pastor asked when did you give it up. The man replied, about halfway down.

"That's My King" - Dr. S.M. Lockridge

Pa Joe was a Gift

Pa Joe was a gift. God gives us many gifts. I am thankful for the gift of memory that God has given us. Through this gift I can remember some really good times and good friends. After I found out about his passing, I was remembering fond memories I had of him. He was a gift that God gave to many of us. He was a gift God gave to his wife Mollie Sue. He was a gift God gave to his children. He was a gift to his grandchildren. He loved each one very much. He was a gift God gave to me. I was very privileged to have known him. First as a future father in law. Needless to say, I was intimidated by him when I first started visiting over there. He was kinda hard to understand with a chew of Levi Garret. Many times I just nodded at what he said, though I didn’t really know what he was saying through that chaw. But we quickly became friends as we found common ground in the Air Force. He had retired from the Air Force a few years before and I had my sights set on joining in a few years after graduation. Many of our conversations revolved around this. We both enjoyed football. We would talk about the Saints and the Cowboys. Baseball, I never figured out if he hated or liked the Yankees. But he would always talk about them, not in a bad way, but we would talk about George Steinbrenner and the antics of the team. I really think he liked them. Once I entered the Air Force, we could really talk shop. I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about until I had entered. He was always interested in what was going on in the Air Force. After I got out of the service and moved back, we had to make ends meet in whatever way we could. That included working on our own cars. He was the king of the shade tree mechanics. We did what we had to, to keep the cars running. I was mechanically inclined, but clueless once it got passed plugs and filters and other minor repairs. He had worked on engines all his life. Even in the Air Force he worked on airplane engines. As I said we didn’t have a whole lot, so if we needed a tool or a part, we would manufacture (jerry rig) something. He was good at this. I would help him with some of his vehicles. Including “The Tractor”, that he purchased from a farmer that was mad at it because it kept backing him into the creek. It had a few homemade manufactured parts on it also. I remember having to rebuild the engine in my truck. There is no way I would have done it without him there to show me what to do. Ugh, he made a good supervisor. Well we got it working and it ran for more years to come. Eventually we had to rebuild the transmission on my son’s blazer. We got him over to the house to help. I am not so sure any of us knew what we had tackled there. We got it together though. As I said, he loved his kids. And he loved his grandkids. Who can forget him saying “Once upon a dime” and our kids saying, no that’s not right. Joe never seemed to be in a hurry. But I have an image in my head from what my kids told me. When the four wheeler caught on fire, they were amazed to see him jump off the porch and run with a fire extinguisher to put it out. . I will never forget Christmas mornings, when the kids would take the presents to him for him to open. I will never forget going fishing with him. The lake was kind of on the low side and the wind blew us into an area that was too shallow for the motor to be used. So we used the trolling motor that was not bolted to the front of the boat. I think we must have spent an hour going against the wind trying to find the channel so we could use the main motor. Finally someone came along and showed us where the main channel was at. He was very punctual. He would pull that pocket watch out grab his thermos and head off to work. Just like clockwork every time. It had been a few years since I had talked with him, but when he was in the hospital down at Bernice, I ran down there and it was just like old times. We talked about the same old things just like always. Well I could go on, but Pa Joe was a kind soul who would help anybody. We love you and will miss you Pa Joe.

Headed to Town

A fellow met his buddy walking down the road all dressed up and asked where he was going. He said New Orleans. Said I heard their is plenty of liquor, fast women and adult shows. His buddy ask why he was carrying his Bible. Well I thought I might stay over to Sunday and go to church. Harold Danley gave this illistration and wow, did he hit the nail on the head. Many live like the devil during the week and then go to church like they never did anything wrong.

Where Were you on 911? (9-11-2010)

Where were you, or what were you doing on Sept 11, 2001? That's just like the question you here, where were you when John Kennedy was shot or what were you doing when you heard Pearl Harbor was bombed. Well we can kind of set markers in our lives with historical events. In my life i can remember where I was when the moon landing occured, being stuck on the couch, before cable as a teenager all summer from an illness and the only thing on tv was the Watergate Hearings and soaps. I remember being in basic training when the Shah of Iran arrived for cancer treatments while his country had just come under control of Radical Islam. I remember where I was at when I heard the Columbia and Challenger incidents occured. How about Little Jessica stuck in a well. Or the first Star Trek the Next Generation Movie, or Black Monday. All of those occured on the same weekend of Oct 17, 1987. Oh and that was the weekend I got out of the Air Force. And a slew of other events that I remember that I could carry on for pages. But to the date at hand.

I had flown from Little Rock to Kansas City for a training class on a fire alarm panel, so we could be qualified to install it. That was on the 10th. On the 11th we were in class, I had 2 tickets to the KC Royals on the front row next to the dugout for 10$ each. Do the research and you will find I had one heck of a deal. Needless to say thatgame was canceled that night. But while in class the owner came in andannounced that 2 planes had struck the twin towers and the pentagon and it looked like it was intentional. He said we were gonna take a break because our companies were trying to contact us and also that the planes were being ordered to land and many of us were gonna have to scramble to make transportation arrangements. I remember checking the Internet and also knowing that the phones were working, I determined in my own mind it was a limited attack and not the full scale attack I had been looking for by Russia while I had been in the service. I also wandered about the Rapture. I spoke with my secretary and asked what she thought. She was a good Christian lady and said no this was not it. I had only gotten truly saved just a couple months earlier. Well we went back to class while my companie arrayed some transportation. The only thing we could do was for one of my coworkers to rent a vehicle and drive up that day so we could drive back on the 12th. My thoughts had also turned to my family. I told my daughter not to go to college that day cause I didn't want her in public places. It wasn't until I got out of class and to my hotel room that I realized just how big this was. One report had gas prices at some stations in KC at 6$ a gallon. To be honest, when they mentioned the Twin towers in class, I didn't know what they were talking about. The next morning my coworker and I set out for home. We listened to news on the radio all the way back to the Little rock airport about 3 in the afternoon. The only vehicle moving was a police car. I checked out my van and told the toll lady that it must have been interesting around there today. She said not really, that I was the first vehicle to check out all day. Ingot home to see my kids and the bf watching news. And they were asking me what I thought and what was gonna happen next. Inassured them life would go on, but wouldn't be the same.

Over 3000 precious souls stepped into eternity that day. Except for the terrorist, they all expected a different destination for their day. None of the expected to be standing before God on that day. The thing is we don't know when it is gonna happen. What a comfort for your family to know that you are in Heaven with Jesus and not in Hell in torment and agony. If you have not made a decision for Christ, do it today. If you need help, email or message me here. I had a young boy that was lime family to me that died in Iraq a few years ago. We had talked about his salvation and I was able to assure his parents of where he was. It was a major comfort to them. Don't leave people wandering. God bless those who died in this tragedy and there families.

Newspaper Headlines in the Year 2035

Newspaper Headlines in the Year 2035*Castro finally dies at age 112; Cuban cigars can now be imported legally, but President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking.

* Spotted Owl plague threatens Western North America crops & livestock.

*Last remaining Fundamentalist Muslim dies in the American Territory of the Middle East (formerly known as Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon).

*George Z. Bush says he will run for President in 2036.

*35 year study: diet and exercise is the key to weight loss.

*Nursing home event...Bill Clinton denies allegations of affair with candy striper.

*Texas executes last remaining citizen.

*Upcoming NFL draft likely to focus on use of mutants.

*Baby conceived naturally...scientists stumped.

*Authentic year 2000 "chad" sells at Sotheby's for $4.6 million.

*Ozone created by electric cars now killing thousands in Los Angeles.

*Average height of NBA players now nine foot seven inches.

*Microsoft announces it has perfected its newest version of Windows so it crashes BEFORE installation is completed.

*New California law requires that all nail clippers, screwdrivers, and baseball bats be registered by January 2036.

Wesley Harty Update 1 Year Later

Well yesterday was the one year anniversary of Wesley's incident. Wesley is doing well. In fact yesterday on the aniversary of when his life was saved physically, he was saved spiritually by asking Jesus to be his Lord and Savior. We rejoice that he is doing well, but especially that he has decided to follow Jesus. Thank you Lord for doing only what you can do.

Bruce Got Saved Today!!

Of all the people God has allowed me to witness to before He saved them, Bruce had to be my favorite. Six people I had not known, one I have known for the last 2 years, but Bruce, I have know since 1988 as a customer. He is 92 years old now and his wife passed away the first part of the year. He told me he had lost his will to live. He said since his wife had died he missed making her mad. I was around them enough to know she liked him to aggravate her. Bruce lived the dream I dreamed of as a kid. Flying a B-17 Bomber. Of course by the time I was born in 1960 the B-17 was no longer flying. But a kid can still dream right? He told me that he was in when Pearl Harbor happened and ended up escorting ships from the Carribean down the South America coast before they turned to head towards Africa. He told me he only got to drop one bomb during the war. While flying escort they saw the silhouette of a sub in the water following one of the ships. They dropped a big bomb on it and circled to see if they were successful. Eventually a whale surfaced for air before going back under to continue his way. He just laughed about it. But he told me he was ready to go. He has all the aches and pains of a 92 year old and life was no fun anymore. But I had to ask him the question. Do you know where you will spend eternity. His answer was no. After explaining what it takes to get saved, he asked Jesus to be His saviour. I don't know how much longer he has to live, but he said he had a peace in his heart that he was gonna live forever in Heaven with Jesus. Today was a great day.

Two Questions

In Act 9:3-6, Saul asked 2 questions we should be asking and diligently seeking to answer. First he asked, "Who are You, Lord?" It is important we know who Jesus is for when we realize who Jesus truly is, we will ask this second question. "What do you want me to do?" We will take on a servants heart when we see Jesus for who He really is, GOD, LORD, SAVIOR. Are you diligently seeking the answer to these questions?

Back from Camp

Well we are back from MFuge mission fuge camp for our youth in Mobile Ala. I just thought I would share some things about this trip. It has been a busy couple of weeks, so I haven't been on my blog much or even others blogs much either. Well first off, we were kinda late deciding to go to camp. I started to type the whole trip, but it would turn into a book, so let me hit some highlites. Salsa sales to raise money turned out to be a God thing. Our church support is a God thing. At MFuge we and our kids go out in the community to serve. It is an eye opener to our kids and us too. I was in the Childrens ministry track. So we got to work with kids. I got to witness to 6 kids, one was allready saved and the other 5 got saved. Only God can change a heart and this was the harvest that came from a summer of hard work by other campers that had been showing them God's love. We had one of our own get saved during our church group devotion. The one thing that really hit home to me is that of the 6 kids that got saved, when I asked how to get to heaven, they all gave works based answers. These were like, you have to be good, or keep the 10 commandments, etc... The answer is only in accepting the free gift of salvation that is available because Jesus died on the cross as a substitute for our sins that we were supposed to die for. This has been in the forfront of my mind since we got back. I saw God get real in some of our kids lives this week. I pray that they will be serious about God and desire Him above all else. I saw a moving of the Spirit in our group devotion the last night that I had never seen in my kids before. I was truly blessed. God is Awesome. I will try to add some other things later.

Michael Jackson's Body is Missing!!

Well I went to check out of the grocery store today and as I approached the register a couple of little boys were running around and suddenly stopped in the aisle to read a headline on one of those Enquirer type publications. One of the boys read the headline on the front with a surprised voice. "Michael Jackson's Body Missing"!! He was surprised and his buddy responded with as much of a surprise. "OH NO!!" Well I couldn't help but laugh under my breath. Well this got me to thinking though because of something I had heard earlier in the day on a religious program. They were talking about how people look at the Bible as truth. He said "It seems as though, the Bible is looked at as though it is guilty until proven." The Bible has never been proven wrong and many times over been proven right. But yet we are quicker to believe article like these from publications like these that are constantly proven wrong. Sorry, I believe everything in my Bible as truth, not just out of blind faith, but because I have studied it and have seen it proven right time and time again. Thank you God for your word you gave to us.

Independence Day at Lake Claiborne

We have had fun this weekend at Lake Claiborne. I just thought I would make some notes about our weekend there. First we went in the afternoon and passed out flyers to let the campers know we would be offering worship services for the on Sunday morning through our sponsor Rollling Hills Ministries. Each weekend a different church volunteers to do the services. The first weekend of the month falls to my church, Weldon Baptist Church. Walking the campgrounds is a hot one. Sweat, Sweat and Sweat. Did I mention Sweat. But we have a great time. Lots of really really really nice people there. Every once in a while you run into an interesting situation. One of the cabins I stopped at had a lot of drinking going on. The person who accepted the flyer and invitation was nice. But as I turned to leave someone in the background yelled that I had come to the wrong place today. Basically, he was saying my efforts was wasted on them, cause they were gonna drink themselves into oblivion. I guess the next day they would be bragging about how much fun they had throwing up and how great it is to wake up with a headache. The campground was full as usual for this weekend. My wife is still recovering from surgery so I kept watch over her and didn't want her to overdo. And so after the first campground walkthru I was able to convince her to drive and me and my daughter passed out the rest of the flyers. Afterwards we move to the swimming area and unloaded stuff to cook. Not much, just a couple of burgers and weiners. We were eating when my son and his wife showed up. I was pleased see them. And had a great time visiting. Around 7 we moved to the campground so we could watch the boat floatilla. I got about 40 photos of different boats coming by and throwing beads and a couple of water balloons. Then a great fireworks display. We got home around 1030 and I had lots to do for the next morning. It was about 2 before I got to sleep and back up at 630 and to church by 7 for men's breakfast and to load up the sound equipment and back to the house by 8 and at the lake by 845 and equipment set up for services by 9. We have the sound equipment setup down to an art. At 9 people just started coming out of the woods it seemed like. We went from 0 to 55 in about 5 minutes it seems. This is a load of folks. We sang a couple songs and I preached on our Declaration of Independence. Here it is. We make a declaration of independence from sin and death when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. But we also declare our dependence on God. Compare that to the language you find in the declaration of independence I posted on the previous post. But I don't know how well the sermon was, but one elderly woman came forward to talk at the end and said she was going through a divorce. I asked her if I could pray with her and did. I believe it meant a lot to her. We got done, loaded up, headed to Pardon's paradise as usual for something cool, back to our church in time for worship service. It has been a full weekend and we enjoyed it. God bless all. Sorry for the blurry picture. Oh and last note. I notice that I went over 3000 visits. Yay!!!!

The Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

---

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

Things to do when a coworker goes on vacation.

I just had to post this. I thought it was funny.

Death on a Bun

I ran across the following burgers and thought before eating these monsters, you better make sure of your salvation. The first one is from Friendly's Restaurant and is called the Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt. They place a thick and juicy 100% Black Angus Big Beef Burger between two whole grilled cheese sandwiches, complete with lettuce, tomato and mayo. Nutritional Info: 1500 calories, 97 grams fat, 2090 mgs sodium. Artery clogger.

The next one, from the Burger Beast: The Double Coronary Burger is a half pound sirloin burger topped with 2 fried eggs, 4 slices of american cheese,
5 slices of bacon and 2 grilled cheese sandwiches
replacing the buns. Nutritional Value: Well I couldn't
find it, let's just say the other was tame compared to this. Make sure you are saved before eve...n touching this one. It is instant death. But I would have tackled this one years ago. I couldn't even imagine it now.

Approaching Worship

How should we approach corporate worship? Before coming to church we should have gotten our relationship right with God. Our sins should have been confessed, repented of, forgiveness accepted and our relationship restored with God. We should come with clean hands and pure hearts. Don't wait til the end of the service to deal with your sins. How can you truly worship if your sins are not forgiven and your relationship with God is not right? Corporate worship begins before we enter the church doors.

A lawyer, a doctor and a preacher go deer hunting

A lawyer, a doctor and a preacher go deer hunting. The lawyer takes the north end of the fence, the doctor the south end and they put the preacher in the middle. An hour later a deer walks to the middle of the field and all 3 fire at the same time and the deer falls dead. They argue over who killed the deer and finally the doctor says "I can settle this, I have studied forensics." The lawyer says you better have good evidence. After a few minutes the doctor declares that the preacher killed the deer. The lawyer says "how do you know?" The doctor says "because the bullet went in one ear and out the other."

Sometimes we hear it but don't put it into practice. God's blessings come from obedience to Him.

How we see Daddy throughout our life.

How we see Daddy throughout our life.

Age 4 - My Daddy can do anything.
Age 7 - My Daddy knows a lot, a whole lot.
Age 8 - Well my Daddy doesn't know everything.
Age 12 - Naturally Daddy doesn't know everything.
Age 14 - Daddy is hopelessly old fashioned.
Age 21 - Oh, that man, he is so out of date.
Age 25 - Well you know Dad knows a little bit about that , but not to much.
Age 30 - I need to find out what Dad thinks about that.
Age 35 - Before we decide, let's get Daddy's ideas first.
Age 50 - What would Daddy have thought about that?
Age 60 - You know, my Daddy knew laterally everything.

I can truthfully say that I have always respected what my Daddy knew. I might not have liked it, but always knew he was right. Thank you God for giving me a Daddy like him.

Redneck Earnhardt Fan

Sorry, I saw it and just had to post it.

I'm Watching You Dad

This Father's Day, take a moment to contemplate the roles that Dads play in their children's lives. Our kids are watching to see if what we say matches our actions. Challenge and uplift fathers, acknowledging their importance in shaping the lives of future generations.

This taken from: http://www.sermoncentral.com/video.asp?Video_ID=12577

Home Again

Well we made it home from the hospital. An outpatient procedure turned into a 2 night stay. My wife is sore, but I believe we will heal. She is my wife and when she hurts, I hurt. God has so blessed us. Thanks for the prayers.

My Wife's Surgery

Well, I am sitting in a waiting room waiting on my wife to come out of surgery, posting this blog. And my wife is doing fine, though the surgery was a little more invasive than expected, so our stay will be 2 nights instead of outpatient as we had hoped. God has been good to us. Technology is amazing. I am on my wireless laptop, posting about my wonderful wife. Though many could not make it because Willis Knighton Piermont is at least an hour and half from home, we feel like everyone is here because of texting and facebook. I have even been moment by moment in touch with a brother in Christ in Peru whose wife had the same surgery today and we have been leaning on each other and praying for each other all day. We have appreciated every bit of encouragement we have received from others. Brian came by, he is such a great friend and brother in Christ. Thank you Brian. Megan and her husband came by, thanks very much. Megan only about 3 months ago was at deaths door in LSU connected to machines. God was not through with her and though the prognosis was if she recovered she would require extensive therapy and might be back at work in December. Well God showed them wrong. She is already back at work. God has totally blessed us. If you find yourself in a bleak situation, God is always in control.

The Boy and the Pastor

A pastor was walking down his neighborhood street one day and was feeling down cause he didn't think people were getting his messages to help and visit the elderly. Then he noticed a little boy from his church trying to reach the knocker on an elderly woman's door. Excited that at least he had gotten the message he went to help him. He walked up on the porch and pounded the knocker on the door. Then he looked down at the little boy and asked what do we do now. The little boy looked up with suprise and yelled, "RUN!!!"

Tony Nolan

Lance Cpl. Jon Eric Bowman

This is a repost about one of my heros that I think is appropriate for today and is my Memorial Day tribute to a fallen hero.

I meant to post this earlier, but my work seems to have taken on a life of its own, and I haven't had much time to tend to my blog. On October 9th, 2006, while he was in Iraq, I lost a good friend and someone I considered as one of my sons. Jon Eric had been good friends with my son and had dated my daughter for a time. I had the privelidge to coach him in summer baseball and had many heart to hearts over the years. He was an amazing young man. Since I had served in the military, he would come and ask me questions about it and after he was in the marines he would come by when he was on leave to talk about military life and other things. It was one of those things we had in common, although I had served in the Air Force. But I think one of the most important things we discussed was his salvation. I truly believe he was saved, because I can really grill someone about it, because I want to make sure. This can be a comfort to parents to know that there loved ones are in heaven. But I also believe his death was not in vain. On Wednesday we had his funeral. That night in my class we discussed heaven and that Jon Eric was there and to of my boys made decisions to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. So even in death, new life is born. Thank you Jon Eric for your life.

You Kids have It Too Easy

I was listening to KLove this morning and Sterling read this email she got and I just had to pass it along. Have a good laugh.

Sterling
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious stories about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking Twenty-five miles to school every morning.

Uphill... barefoot...
... See More
BOTH ways!
Yadda, yadda, yadda.

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no I was going talk to my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy!

And I hate to say it, but you kids today - you don't know how good you've got it! I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves - in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter, with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napster or I tunes - you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up!

There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished and the tape would come undone, 'cause that's how we rolled, dig?

We didn't have anything fancy like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-..resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win.
You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove ... Imagine that!

That's exactly what I'm talking about!

You kids today have got it too easy.

You're spoiled.

You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or before!

Thanks Mom and Dad

Did you ever notice when you were a kid and someone else did something wrong, you were the one that got the lecture? Now you are grown up and when someone else does something wrong, you give a lecture to your kids? And we said we would never grow up to be like our parents. Thanks Mom and Dad for the lectures. I was listening. I think I may be repeating the same lectures word for word.

Can You Be Plucked Out of God's Hand?

I was listening to a sermon yesterday by Adrien Rogers and this jumped out at me and I thought I would get it down while I still remembered it. There is a false thinking that is around today, and that is you can lose your salvation. I personally believe that if you are "Truly" saved, you can't lose your salvation. Here is a verse to remember:

John 10:29 (KJV)
²⁹ My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

Now this is Jesus speaking, and if you believe the Bible and Jesus, then if we are given to Jesus nothing or no one can pluck us out of His hand. Not us and not even Satan. This is the thought I will put forth today. And it is a logical thought. If Satan could pluck us out of God's hand, he would have done it already and he would have done it to everyone. Therefor no one would make it to heaven. This would make Satan greater than God. And if by chance we did make it to heaven, it would have been because of Satan's goodness, grace and mercy. What a messed up theology that would be. I will try to post some more on the Security of The Believer. But first, be sure of your salvation. If you are not sure if you were to die right now where you would spend eternity, you can know for sure. Admit that you are a sinner and deserve death. The penalty for sin is death. Admit that no amount of good works will pay that debt and get you to heaven. Believe that Jesus paid that price on the Cross for us. Accept that free gift of salvation that He offers and ask Him to come into your heart and be your Lord and Savior. Confess Him before men, another words let someone know of your decision. If you want to talk off this page, my email is mygodsbeengood.blogspot@live.com God Bless.

To My Mother on Mother's Day

I am lucky to still have both my mother and father still alive and still in rather good health, both physically and mentally. Momma was an old country girl. Her parents lived a rather modest lifestyle. Grandaddy had his own mechanic shop at his house. A one man mechanic show. They had a garden and hunted and fished for a lot of their food. The raised hogs and killed and put them up for meat. They had a couple of cows from time to time. They were very frugal and momma would stretch a penny. Something she learned from those years with her parents. Momma could sew and had to to keep us 3 boys and 1 girl in clothes. She would get material and make us boys shirts and my sister dresses. She could sew a quilt, even up to now she still tries to do a little, but her hands are getting so that she has a hard time. She still gets in the truck and goes down to the pond to fish. She was just telling me today that she caught some catfish out of our pond and they weren't mudcat. We can only guess that a crane flew in with fish eggs on its feet and deposited them. Momma had to be strong. Daddy would work offshore a week on and a week off. That left us 3 boys against her. All we had to do was look at our sister wrong and the cry would ring out and here came the belt or whatever was needed. Momma carted us boys and our friends around to baseball games. And she never complained. I remember momma sitting me down and showing me the biology, if you get my drift. But what stuck with me was when I started dating she said, "I better not hear of you mistreating a girl." And she wasn't talking about being abusive. Those words haunted me whenever I was alone with a girl. Thanks, momma. God gave me the right Momma to raise me. God places us in our families, we don't choose them. Thank you God for my Momma.

Old Style Football

I was flipping channels the other day and ran across the 1973 Superbowl game between the Washington Redskins and the Miami Dolphins. I just had to stop and watch some of it. I knew who would won, maybe I was watching to see if the outcome would be different this time. Just kidding of course. But I have a kind of fondness for the older games of about this time. I would have been 12 at the time and remember catching some of the games at my grandmothers house. She liked her football games. I remember her saying, I just can't stand that man. She was talking about John Madden who was coaching the Raiders. We just kinda laughed under our breath. And she liked her wrestling to. I remember her saying, "I wouldn't let him do that to me." Like she was gonna pull a Granny from the Clampettes on them. But anyway, as I watched the game I noticed some differences between today's games and the games of old. One was the amount of information put on the screen. I kept finding myself looking for the score, the time, the down and the yards to go. Plus whatever else information they put up there. I really missed my information. It was kinda like when my dad took me to a Texas Rangers game in 1978. Someone hit a home run and I was looking for the replay, but there was none. The game was in color. The game seemed to be a little slower. Maybe it was me, but it seems the players today are faster. But the biggest thing that I noticed was there was no noticeable to the cameras taunting and overt celebrations. After the quarterback got sacked, the player just got up and went back to the huddle. What where were all the high fives and celebrating. Where was the in your face finger pointing at the quarterback that said I got you. There was no drawing attention to self. Every tackle was the same way. After making a great play to get a touchdown the receiver just jogged back to the sidelines. A few congratulations were offered, but no dance in the end zone? You know what I am talking about. It was almost like a job. But it also looked like they had respect for each other. To say the least, it was weird. And I am ashamed to say this it was kinda boring? Is that saying something about me? Maybe about what I had gotten accustomed to? I remember the stir that Billy White Shoes Johnson started dancing in the end zone after a touchdown while he played for Houston. It caused a stir, now today that would be tame stuff. But we have slowly gotten accustomed to it and look forward to the next celebration to see if the last one can be topped. We get into it when the other teams quarterback gets tackled and our man is standing over him taunting him. That seems to be ok. Where I bet if someone had done that in the 60's they might have gotten banned from the league for life. How did we get to this point. The more we see the less we are affected. Our young people today are bombarded with images on TV that would have shut down the station in my early years. To them it is normal. How many murders do they see on tv during a year? How many inappropriate relationship scenes do they see? How about the music videos? The commercials? I am so tired of Bob, some of you will know who I am talking about. I still turn my head when certain commercials come on. I remember my Granddad flipping channels when certain things came on. Bless you Granddaddy for being an example. But the more you see these things the quicker you get used to it and think it is normal. I am reminded of an old sermon example. If you place a frog in normal temp water and then gradually turn the heat up, he won't notice and think it is normal and won't jump out. He will stay in until it is to late for him to realize he is in hot water and it is going to kill him and then it does. Are we in that hot water? How long will it be before it kills us spiritually? Assess your situation, compare things to the Bible not against the world. Let me give you a hint that I have found to be true most of the time. If the world says it is ok and especially if it is celebrating it and pushing it, it is probably not of God. Run from it. Well we are far from the days of old but we can do the things that honor and please God.

Our Amish Trip

Well we had a good time in Pennsylvania last week. We stayed in Hershey Pa, and I will say more about that on another post. I did want to talk about our visit to the Amish country. We ended up visiting on 2 separate days and that really worked out well. The first day we drove into Lancaster and went to a Mennonite information center where we could hire a guide to ride with us and give us a personal tour of the area for $44 for just my family. I thought that was money well spent. We scheduled and paid for the guide and found out that it would me a Mennonite woman. While we waited we went downstairs and watched a video that basically outlined the differences and similarities between the Amish and the Mennonites. What we found out was that they come from the same groups that came out of Switzerland years ago and settled in this area. So their beliefs are pretty much the same. The big difference would be that the Amish decided to pull back from society and live the life without being connected to the world. The Mennonites decided to go out into the world. They drive in cars, have electricity, phones and get a higher than 8th grade education and work in jobs like us. She told us to look for homes with clothes on the line and green rollup shades. There were some big farms, where whole families lived. Marriages would occur in November. Kids went to one room schools. And there were plenty of them. There were outhouses at the schools and of course no electricity. We got a look at one of the farms where there was a store where they would bring their quilts and other things they would make and sell it. For those who would like to know, the cheapest quilt I saw was $650. The lights were propane powered. A pipe run through and a couple of mantles, like you would find in a propane lantern would be hanging ready to be lit. I saw a fan that was powered with compressed air. The mules they used were the biggest I had ever seen. And I have been around a few. They were allowed to have a tractor for major heavy work close by the house and they could not have inflated tires. Just hard wheels. The mules were used to plow and other things in the field. Horses were used to pull their buggies. The horses were used race horses. The buggies started around $7000. The mowers were the push mowers that have the blade that move when you pushed it.

The next day we went into the town of Intercourse and we went to a pretzel factory before heading back out of town to take a buggy ride tour. This time we got a young man that was maybe 18 or 19, at least I thought so, with a ear ring. He was really nice. As we got down the road a ways, he asked if we thought he was Amish. We all said no. He asked why. Well it was obvious, he didn't look Amish. He didn't have the clothes. He had that thing in his ear. He didn't have the beard. Now here is where I was reminded of something I had forgotten. Only the married men wear beards. Why? It is better than a ring. You can slip that ring off and back on without anyone knowing. It don't work that way with the beard. So it is harder to get away with infidelity. It turns out he grew up Amish and at the age of 14 he decided he would not join the church. I think if I remember that by the age of 16 you had to decide to join or not. I may be wrong about the age. But by age of 16 his dad had asked him to leave because of the way he was living. He moved out and got his high school education and was planning to go to vet school. He says they are on good terms now. He plans on getting his education and coming back to take care of their animals. Here is an interesting thing. If he had joined the church and left, he would be ostracized. But since he didn't join the church he would be accepted. But if he decides to join the church later, he could not work as a vet. He would have to set aside his schooling he got. Because it is from the world. From the world.... They do not have any wires connected to their homes because that would make them directly connect to the world. No wires coming in from the world. So this means they could have lights run off a generator or other source, from their farm. We did see some solar panels. We saw a few little houses, about the size of a large outhouse just outside their homes with a wire coming into it. It was where their phone was. Notice it didn't come into their house. We even saw some using the phone. Something we found out from this young man was that many have cell phones now. Note, no lines are used to get the signal into the house. They are a close knit community and help each other. They will hold church at each others homes, I think every other Sunday. So you may host it once a year or so. The preaching is done in English, but the bible reading is done in a high German dialect. And apparently this is a third language they learn the year after the 8th grade. They are exempt from the mandate of having to purchase health insurance under the new health care bill. They do have a particular problem that is a genetic problem from marrying people in such a close community. You are marrying your cousins basically and outside genes are not coming in. So they have some unique problems there. All in all it looked like a life without the things of the world being right in front of you all the time. It is a slower paced life, but a more physically demanding work than many of us have gotten accustomed to. But their lifestyle is to separate themselves from the world and things that separate them from God. I think it would be good for us all to find things that are distracting us from God and get rid of them. God bless.

Stowers Hill Baptist Church

Well we are back from our trip, and I will share some more on that over the next couple of days. But I would like to give a mention to a church we attended today for Easter services. We always will find a church to go to if we are on a trip. We have found some really good ones. We like meeting our kin folk in Christ. People we never met and yet we have so much in common, especially our Daddy. Today we visited Stowers Hill Baptist Church at: 407 9th Avenue SW, Attalla, Alabama 35954. I put the whole address because if you are in the area around Gadsden, Alabama, this is a special church. We have visited many churches and though this church is small compared to many, it made up for in Christian Love. We have learned how to gauge a church through how we are greeted. And we were greeted and felt loved and accepted. We know that God was in the house. The pastor, Brother Richard Bradfield was outgoing, friendly and gracious. You could tell that God was leading him in and he was preaching the message God had laid on his heart. Of course it was Easter Sunday and as most Baptist churches do they presented special music. You could tell they had put forth a lot of effort, but I believe they put forth a lot of prayer. God had to be blessed, because my family and I were truly blessed. I noticed from their bulletin that they are busy in the community carrying out God's work. But the thing that stuck out to me again was the love we felt and noticed that it was not just directed at us, but towards each other. Even the youth were outgoing and we were greeted by some of them and talked with one. Can I say I have worked with youth for many years and this is not always the case. I felt no pride in the building and was humbled by the outpouring of the heart towards God. If I am ever in the area again on Sunday or Wednesday night (especially since I noticed they eat together on Wednesday nights as all good Baptist do) we will be visiting. How did we hook up with them? Well on Saturday night we showed up at the hotel down the road and started googling. They had a website( www.stowershillbc.org )and had enough information for us to feel comfortable that they were safe to visit.

Can the Critics prove the Resurrection?

Happy Easter. This is the resurrection morning when the tomb was found empty. I wanted to share just a brief portion of an article that can be found at - http://blog.soundrezn.com/2009/08/13/using-critics-to-prove-the-resurrection/ - Critics have been saying for years that the resurrection never occurred. But here are some details that 95% of them agree on.

1. Jesus died by crucifixion.
2. Jesus was buried.
3. Jesus’ death caused the Disciples to despair and lose hope.
4. Jesus’ tomb was discovered (or claimed to be discovered) to be empty a few days later.
5. The Disciples believed they experienced appearances of the risen Jesus.
6. After this the Disciples were transformed from doubters into bold believers.
7. Jesus’ resurrection was the center of preaching in the early Church.
8. Jesus’ resurrection was preached in Jerusalem.
9. As a result of this preaching, the Church was born and it grew.
10. Resurrection day, Sunday, replaced the Sabbath (Saturday) as the primary day of worship.
11. James, a skeptic, was converted when he also believed that he saw the resurrected Jesus.
12. Paul, a violent enemy of Christianity, was converted by an experience which he believed to be an appearance of the risen Jesus.
13. This is one I have added. The disciples did not get rich and the reward for all but one of them was to die because of what they were preaching. If they knew it were false then it seems at least one of them would have said so, to save his own skin.

Take these above and draw your own conclusion about whether there is enough evidence to support the resurrection. Have a blessed Easter day.

Good Friday

As we come to that time of the year we call Easter, a time we remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord, today would be recognized as Good Friday. It seems odd that we call a day on which our Savior and Lord, Jesus was crucified and died. But it was good, because He was born to die. He, Jesus created us to fellowship with Him. He knew before He created us that we would rebel and the only way to redeem us was for Him to come to die for us on a cross. He knew this! Yet He still created us. What Love.

John 15:13 (NKJV)
¹³ Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

You know this is even deeper than the verse above. We are told in the Bible that we are His enemies before we give our lives to Him and become His children. Now we might die for the ones we love, but to die for the ones who hate us? Well that takes the infinite love that only God has.

As you go through this season, focus on who God is and what He did for us and why. Accept Him as your Lord and Savior today.

Wrestling with Salvation

I don't usually watch wrestling anymore, but last night I couldn't help myself. First off the only thing that has been on the TV here in the room has been Hallmark, Lifetime and Disney (I Carly and such). My mind was getting all mushy and such. So I had to have some relief last night. And what did I find, wrestling. Now I probably would have skipped over it, but they were talking about Sean Michaels retiring. Now I had no interest in him, except from a previous web search I did on wrestlers becoming Christians and I was hoping to hear something about Jesus in his farewell speach. I was not disappointed. In his next to last statement of thank yous, he said, "And to my Lord Jesus Christ, who saved me." Now I may have got the first part of the statement wrong, but I got the last half right, because that part stuck in my head. Many people will thank God or Jesus for something, but when he added this to the end that told me something. He knows Jesus saved Him. Some other wrestlers I know of right off the top of my head that have gotten saved were Cowboy Bill Watts (I encourage you to check out his site) http://www.cowboybillwatts.com/ , Dr Death Steve Williams (who I got to shared a plane ride with from Dallas back to his home in the Shreveport area, friendly fellow, BIG fellow) Ted DiBiase the Million Dollar Man, Sting and some others. It is great to see superstars get saved and sharing God's salvation with others.

Amazing Forgiveness

Well we finally made the trip to Hershey Pa, I talked about a while back. We had some vacation points that had to be used in an off-season and we had watched a movie called "Saving Sarah Cain" that made us want to come up and go to visit the Amish country, not far from here. As I was driving up I was listening to an audio CD that talked about Christianity and some of the different aspects of it. One was about forgiveness. An example that he used was of an incident that occured a few years ago at a little Amish school house. A man entered the school house with guns and ordered the teacher and the boys out of the school house. He boarded up the doors and bound the girls. From some of the stuff found later, it is clear he planned on molesting some of the girls before killing them. The police arrived not long after. From some accounts of those who survived the oldest girl offered her life for the others if he would let them go. Then the next youngest did the same. Some of my information is limited, so Google it to get a clearer picture. But at one point he shot all 10 girls at point blank range. Three died at the scene and two before the next morning in the hospital. How would you respond to the one who did this to your child?

A few days later after their children had been buried, they showed up at the funeral of the man who had killed and shot their children. They were there to support his widow and children. They even started a fund for his widow and children taken from the donations people had sent in to help them.

Why would they do this? It is the natural outpouring of true Christianity. Christians are forgiven much, and because of that, we can truly forgive. The Bible teaches us that we all have sinned. Sin is a willful choice to disobey God and it is rebellion from His love. It started in the garden of Eden. Their was only one restriction. Don't eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, yet Adam and Eve found themselves under it looking up and contemplating with Satan about it and came to the conclusion that God was not looking out for their best interest, He was being restrictive because He was a mean God. I find it interesting that they didn't even go to the tree they were encourage to eat a lot of, The Tree of Life. Ok, so I chased a rabbit, it's my blog, haha. But seriously, sin separates us from God and every person needs forgiveness, even if they don't think so. I read a statement one time by a person who ran a mental hospital. He said that about 75% of his patients could go home if they could just knew they were forgiven. When Jesus died on the cross he paid the death penalty that sin brings and provides the ultimate forgiveness if we would only accept it. Since He forgave us, we are to forgive others. The world does not teach us to do that. That is something we have to unlearn when we get saved. Unforgiveness is a poison that leads to bitterness and separation from God's fellowship and then it affects our relationships with others down here. Especially our families and our marriages. I have personally seen it's results in my own life. For me, I had to forgive one of the deepest hurts in my life, but my relationship with God was more important to me than what others might think about me. It is not that I would lose my salvation, but that I could not walk close to God while having hard feelings against those that my Jesus died for and that He loves the same as He does me, (Infinitely).

I saw where Lifetime will be playing a movie on this event tomorrow night called Amish Grace. I hope it portrays the event and forgiveness correctly. I have no faith in the stuff they put on TV anymore. Sorry. But it is about this event at the school house and forgiveness. I find it something that I can't ignore. Maybe it is God trying to tell me something or call my attention to this since I am reminded of this so much since being up here. Our family recently lost a niece to violence and the young man who did it got life without parole the other day. We all know we are to forgive. How do you get past something like that. One thing I find is that it is hard to hold a grudge against someone who has done something grievous to you. Our love for God and His relationship seems to transcend our pride. Did you know that when someone has done something wrong to you and you have hurt feelings toward that person, they have hurt your pride? Maybe more on that later. We are to see the other person as God sees us. How would that change the way we see others? Well these are just some things that have run through my mind lately. Remember, you are forgiven, Just accept that forgiveness.

Ain't Technology Great

As I was headed down the road today, I got to thinking how it used to be at least in my time. I caught part of a movie called "The Grapes of Wrath". I think it was set back in the 30s. Henry Fonda was moving his family to California I think(I never read the book or got to see the whole movie) and I think the were driving across Oklahoma. They drove vehicle that reminded me of the Beverly Hillbillys with stuff hanging off everywhere. It looked like a tough trip.

My dad tells me of when they used to make a trip to Shreveport on Hwy 80. It was an
all day trip, the road was dirt and they had no air conditioner.

I remember going with my grandparents up to El Dorado to pick up car
parts since Granddaddy was a mechanic. Though it was only about 20
miles, it was planned out to get the most out of it. They would leave
a note on the door telling where the keys were (why lock it except to
keep out the illiterate) and fresh tea in the fridge and where the
leftovers were. The biscuits were in the oven haha. When they came
back Granddaddy would go out to the driveway and start looking for
tracks. He had had Rheumatoid fever when he was younger and it left him
bent over and he would walk around out there with his hands behind his
back looking at the ground. Then he would come back and tell us who
all came because the tracks they left. Anyways, we would always eat
sandwiches and eat plain lays outside the grocery store in the shade.


Anyways I remember when we would go out to Dallas, it was a trip and
we had to pack a lunch and carried our own food if we were staying
overnight. The eating joints weren't as abundant as today and we
didn't have the money to eat out. It always seemed like we would stop
at a Texas roadside stop that had picnic tables set up as oil wells. Or
maybe they made it like that later. But I remember when we went on
vacation, momma and daddy pouring over the maps. I learned how to read
road signs and maps and to calculate distance and time. Actually I
like it. I liked knowing where I was, where I was going, what was
coming up and how much longer to the next bathroom.

When I got old enough to be on my own it served me well. In fact I became the
stereotypical male. I didn't need to stop and ask for direction. I
studied those maps and knew all the intersections and towns. I would
sit down and figure the shortest route, the quickest route and the
easiest route. Then one day we stepped up in the world. I joined AAA.
Just tell them where and when you were going and what you wanted to
see and some more information. Within a week I had a thick package of
maps in my hand. It told us everything. I am an information addict. I
loved it. This even told what hotels and gas station were where. I
hadn't had this information before. I was uptown.

Fast forward to today. I am driving down the interstate on a multi-state trip. I don't
have a map in my car and had only glanced briefly at a map right before I left my house. But there
is this thing on my dash by the name of TomTom. He is full of
information. I just put my destination in and presto, instantly I am
told how far it is and the exact time I will arrive If I stick to his
schedule. Don't go missing turns because then he gets an attitude. I
am showed hotels, airports, railways roads, it not only shows me gas
stations, now with technology I can know their prices before I get
there. Ahh want more info? I got Onstar. I press a button tell them
where I want to go or ask where the nearest Burger King is and they
download it to me. I even had something going on with my car yesterday
that concerned me, so I called them and they ran a diagnostic and told
me everything was ok. Let's see, my info center tells me the time,
temp,tire pressure in all 4 tires, gas mileage, how much farther I can
go on a tank of gas. I got a built in cell phone. Remember the day the
only way you could call on a trip was to find a payphone and if someone
died at home they might be buried when you get home before you know
anything about it. With cellphones now we are never out of touch, well
unless you live in my part of the country. Now I get email, check the
blogs and make reservations from this little device we can't do without
now. In fact I am typing this outside of Lynchburg Va on my cell
sitting at a Cracker Barrel. "No thank you, I don't need any desert,
but if you would top off my glass I would be grateful. Thank you." Oh
sorry about that. I am also carrying on a text conversation with my
wife and daughter who are visiting Washington DC on a tour.

Wow, how far has technology come? Our grandparents would be amazed. But you
know there is one Who has always been the same and will always remain
the same. He is so far ahead of technology that this stuff is rotary dial to
Him. He was and is and always will be. What do I mean by that? God has
always existed, He exists now, and He will always exist. God is
infinite, everyone and everything is finite. That means the we have a
beginning and are controlled by time. God created time so He has to be
outside of time. Jesus said "Before Abraham was, I am." Did Jesus
misspeak. No because the Pharisees accused Him of calling Himself God.
By saying I am, he was saying I exist, before time, now in time, and
in the future. But I say all this to say no technology will ever
approach the greatness of the One who loves you.