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To bail or not to bail – that is not the question.

I didn’t get a chance to watch the President make the case for more Socialism last night, but I have heard all I need to hear about it.

There are so many things that could be said about this predicament we find ourselves in. I wrote this post ten different ways in my head while washing my glorious naked body this morning, and as the shampoo drained away so did my fear. No one likes a no-it-all so I won’t pound the drum that I told you so, even though I did. No, instead of yelling to the wind about government education, Ron Paul, the Constitution, taxation without representation, I am going to try and connect the dots to what is really going on in all of this.

There is a foundational premise that we must understand about the world. That premise is that God is good and He has an enemy that is not. God loves us and the Devil hates us. This is key, every bit of knowledge comes from this foundation and is the magnetic north that must be established.

Point #1: Only God makes stuff.

This is rather self evident, but it is a foundational truth. God is the creator, nothing else can be that, He is it. He is the beginning and the end, the big cheese, big daddy, the man, and woman, but let’s not go there. :)

Point #2: Every created thing wants to be God.

God is so amazingly awesome that everything wants to be like Him. It is programmed into our DNA, we are created in the image of God to be like Him, to rule and reign, to create and multiply, to love and be loved. We really really want to be worshiped and praised and adored and put on a pedestal and all that comes with being an awesome God. Even the angels, as glorious as they are, want to be like God – He is just that amazing.

Point #3: God gives people the choice to love.

One of the most amazing feelings is when you realize your mate loves you. Another person has chosen us, out of all the other people on the planet, they said you are the guy or the gal for me. Nothing else satisfies our need to be loved like finding someone that loves us for who we are. The same is true for God. He could have made us love Him, but He hides himself for us to discover and it brings Him great joy when we choose Him. The fact that we must discover His nature all on our own makes it that much sweeter when we do. If we were to see Him in heaven in all His awesomeness, it wouldn’t be as sweet as falling in love with Him from His still small voice.

Point #3: The Devil hates that God get’s all the glory.

I really don’t need to elaborate on this. All we have to do is look into our own lives and see we are the same way – selfish.

Point #4: The ultimate goal of the Devil is to take what God made.

Since only God can make stuff, the Devil has been working overtime to steal what he made and claim it as his own. God really loves what he makes. Obsessively, painfully, loves everything He makes. The heartache we feel when we lose someone or something we love is an attribute of the heart of God. Multiply that by billions and you can see why the Devil is so fundamentally evil. His one goal is to destroy the heart of God and everything that brings God glory because he wants it.

Point #5: Money and currency are ways to steal Gods stuff.

Things that God makes have value or wealth because they have been created. Land, livestock, precious metals, oil, gas, people are all wealth. They have actual value outside of any currency because they are “God stuff”.

Money has no actual value. It only represents wealth and only sometimes is it backed by wealth. Our currency used to be backed by gold and silver, but not any more. Now, it is only currency, an ingeniously fabricated tool to transfer wealth without actually requiring wealth.

Our current “financial crisis” is a ruse, a lie, a trick. We have been sold into slavery to money. The top prize for the devil is people as God places a value on them above Himself. I wish I could really get a hold of that in my spirit, deep down when times get tough, but it is the message of the cross. If the Devil can make people exchange their “God wealth” for money, he has effectively stolen their wealth from God. If we exhaust our lives pursuing money, the devil gets the reward or value of our life. We literally exchange the wealth God placed in us for paper.

If you take a close look at money you will see Egyptian symbols. Call me crazy, but I think that is neat. The history of Israel and Egypt has a striking similarity to the history of all mankind. We may not be making bricks but we are certainly slaves none the less. If you don’t think so, what would happen if you stopped working and paying taxes on your home? We are owned brothers and sisters. Our task masters are government and banks and they are just as cruel as an Egyptian Pharaoh. In a matter of seconds, your entire life is summed up and assigned a value. They call it a credit score.

The most glaringly sadistic example of the Devil stealing God’s stuff is the abortion industry. We can now literally place a monetary value on human life in 2008 by figuring out the fees charged to end a human life. There is much I could say about this, but my heart can’t bear to think about it.

Point #6: There is hope – God loves to set the captives free.

Help is on the way, and it sure isn’t a power grab bail out package from the Republican or Democratic party. If there is one thing I know, one thing that resonates deep within my soul, it is that God loves His stuff. He hears the cry of His people and has promised to never leave or forsake us. Our only problem right now is us. We could fix this country overnight if we turned back to God. If we could only stop giving ourselves over to the spirit of money and put our trust in God. If we could step back and see that the people in power do not have answers, they made the problem, God is the answer.

Our currency says “In God we Trust”, and even though the God they are thinking about is money, we don’t have to go along. We can trust in God Almighty – the God of Abraham, the Father of Jesus Christ, the maker of Heaven and Earth.

All we need to do is ask.

Point #7: God is for us.

Who can be against?

Written on September 25th, 2008 , Business, Deep Thoughts, Faith, Politics
Time

Time has always fascinated me. I spent a great deal of it over the years trying to figure out how, and more importantly where, time actually goes. I have resigned myself to the conclusion that time, like many other things in this life, is a mystery.

An even greater mystery is how we formulate questions that have no answers? That alone is reason enough for me to discount evolution as an explanation for this whole thing we call life.

When an object moves from one spot to the next, say a pen on a desk, where did the pen go that used to occupy the original spot? Experience tells me that the pen simply moved, but if I were able to re-wind time, say take a snapshot of time, the pen would be in the original spot, physically in that spot. Where do all the snapshots of the pen go? How can something be in one place at a specific point in time and yet be somewhere else a fraction later?

One theory is that matter is instantaneously assembling and nothing is “real” only assembled for a moment. As I understand the theory, the whole universe and everything in it is being created as we move through it and once we move past that point in time everything is dismantled instantaneously behind.

Interesting.

I like that idea as it helps explain the mechanics of faith and how things that seem impossible can be made possible in time. If we are constantly being re-written so to speak, it makes sense that the author can change us along the way. Trying to get my head around the rest of the theory makes my brain hurt, so I will be content with my questions for now, even though someday I would like an answer.

I like having answers and perhaps that is why writing interests me. Even though I am a poor wordsmith there is something elemental and satisfying about creating with words. To the best of my knowledge the string of words assembled above have never been arranged in that way before. The images, voices, emotion, and tone generated in my mind and the mind of the reader actually create something. Words become real, instantaneously having life breathed into them, as communication happens and you hear what I was thinking.

Very interesting.

To me, this is the essence of creativity. To take something that was a fragrance in my mind, breathe life into it, clothe it with meaning, and set it into a world only I see within is divine.

It is written that we are created in the image or likeness of God. My particular understanding of this scripture is that “His image” is not so much about arms and legs as it is the desire to create.

We get to father (and mother), like our heavenly Father.

Yesterday, my wife and I were talking with the kids about baby and pregnancy and wondering aloud if Emily would still have been Emily a month or year earlier or later in time. That, like time itself, is a mystery that can never be answered this side of eternity.

I do know that once she was conceived, Emily had always been Emily. We knew her immediately, like a character developed in a story and she is exactly like we imagined she would be.

She just fits in perfectly for this place and time and I can’t imagine my story without her, my wife, or her brother and sister in it.

Written on September 2nd, 2008 , Deep Thoughts, Everyday Life, Faith
Bronze Medal or iPod?

I found this old photo at church of a boy receiving a bronze medal for Royal Rangers.

It got me thinking about where we are today in this post modern world, where perseverance, hard work, and sacrifice seems to have taken a back seat to instant downloads and virtual worlds.

It takes years of work to receive a bronze medal in Royal Rangers. It is the first step to the Gold Medal of Achievement, which is the highest recognition one can receive in Rangers. The Gold Medal of Achievement is equivalent to Eagle Scout in discipline and experience, plus the Word of God.

It is not easy.

There are no shortcuts.

The only way to achieve it is to do it.

I am sure the parents of this young man were proud of him. They probably spent many nights convincing him that all the work was worth it. They had to watch as others tried to pull their son away into an easier path that leads to nowhere. They cried with him, prayed for him, encouraged him all the while letting him know that no matter what they loved him. I bet they watched in amazement at the man that was growing up before their eyes.

I wonder what he went on to do with his life? Whatever it was, I am certain he was successful in it.

I imagine back then he stood alone many times with his peers. He probably got ridiculed for his uniform, or laughed at behind his back, but he held fast to a higher calling. He was probably labeled old fashioned or square or lame. Adults may have even added to the chorus of negative words and looks as they realized their own lack of discipline. Through it all, this young man had the strength to stand and here he is in front of those that scoffed in a place of honor.

Not everyone is a leader, and the leader always takes the shots. All leaders are called, but true leaders respond to that call. Leaders keep their eye on the ball and look ahead to the prize. Those that follow have it easier because they follow a leader who has broken ground, blazed a trail, taken point.

Being a leader is difficult work, but leaders never back down in the face of difficulties.

They simply overcome.

Good job my son, we are proud of you! Congratulations on your Bronze Medal #B274-2008.

Press on to the goal!

Written on July 18th, 2008 , Everyday Life, Faith
Doing Church (not)

I was talking with a friend of mine this morning about religion.

Religion has been on my brain for as long as I was aware I had a brain. For definition, religion is man’s attempt to please God. There are different definitions, but I have found this one to sum it up pretty well.

Many people confuse faith with religion, and there certainly is an element of faith in religion, but faith is not required for religion. In fact, many times religion is in direct opposition to faith.

Religion killed Jesus, religion is powerful all by itself.

There are many good aspects about religion, and I am not debating the merits of established religion, but most often religion is what is left after faith runs out. Other times religion springs up to run faith out. In the post modern area religion is something you do and faith is something you read about.

When people start reading about faith a funny thing happens – they want to experience it for themselves. Read about blind eyes opening, deaf ears hearing, the lame walking, terminal illness being healed, the dead walking and it causes questions to rise. Inevitably,  those questions lead back to religion, specifically why what we do does not line up to what we are told we are supposed to do. If the point of religion is to please God, how can we please Him if we aint doin what He told us to do?

It turns out we can’t.

Read further and we find that the ONLY way to please God is by faith, and pleasing God without it is impossible.

And yet – we drive faith out of everything by turning it into a religion.

I know some will say that religion is faith, and I do believe that is how it all starts. The thing is, we take what God did in the past and invariably create a pattern to replicate it in the future. Let’s say I was reading in the Bible about God blessing those who give. I take that word (hearing) and apply some faith to it (substance of things unseen) and pray for an hour for God to bless me. The next day there is a check in my mailbox, and thing hoped for becomes real. Experience now tells me that “If I pray for and hour about being blessed – God will bless me with a check in my mailbox.” I now make a point to pray an hour every day so that He will do it again”.

And it doesn’t happen. 

Undeterred, I muster up some faith (thing hoped for) and keep at it for a month. 

Still nothing.

I haven’t forgoten what God did and determine to believe harder for the blessing of a check in the mailbox. Before long I am praying to have faith for faith assuming that what is wrong is my activation. If I can just perfect my 1 hour prayer the exact same way I performed it the first time – God will most certainly bless me again with a check in my mailbox.

I have just created a religion. 

Here is what I think happens. The first time I prayed required genuine faith. The second time I prayed still required faith, but now it was tainted by experience. There is still a measure of faith exercised the second time I pray, but I have now injected the outcome. I am no longer open to God moving in an unpredictable creative way and in fact have created a box for God to work in – the check in my mailbox. If God stops blessing me in my prayer time and I keep at it in “faith” looking for the blessing in the same exact way – that is religion. I am trying to please God.

I am convinced of one thing – God never does the same thing twice. In fact I think He is unable to as it goes against His very nature. Nothing in our natural experience is identical. Not one blade of grass, or snow flake or drop of rain or grain of sand. There is nothing predictable about our planet or the universe it spins within, everything is in constant creative motion.

The only place you find replication and predictability is in man.

God makes curves and man makes lines. 

Just look around at your surroundings, everything man makes is in nice little boxes. Everything we design strives to be predictable and tidy and when it behaves differently it is broken. 

This planning and control has filtered into everything we do – especially church. Attend most services and you will see the same pattern: 3 fast songs 2 slow – announcements - offertory - preaching – application – ministry – football. This pattern is repeated every Sunday in every denomination in every city in the world.

Why – because it works?

Because it is predictable, repeatable, convenient, safe, and familiar.

Jesus said in Matthew 10: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.”

Just imagine what would happen in our churches if we did that instead!

My friend and I were thinking about how God could fit that into our Sunday morning services and we came to the conclusion only one thing would be required to make it happen.

Simply change the way we do Sunday morning service.

Actually make room for God to do what He does best – be creative.

Of course that will require faith, which seems to be in short supply in 2008. Perhaps we need to go back and start hearing again.

Written on June 17th, 2008 , Faith, Supernatural
1 year later

This link will take you to Wavy.com where you can watch an updated story on my Pastors Son, Noah, one year after being killed by a lightening strike.

Go Noah!!

Written on May 6th, 2008 , Faith
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