THE ULTIMATE IRONY

OK, So I could not strike for very long? I saw this and could not resist!

ON STRIKE!

THATS IT I AM ON STRIKE, I AM TIRED OF POSTING WITH NO COMMENTS SO LIKE ORAL ROBERTS I AM NOT POSTING AGAIN TILL I HAVE ATLEAST ONE MILLION COMMENTS! OK, MAYBE NOT A MILLION BUT ATLEAST HALF A MILLION! OK, MAYBE NOT A HALF MILLION BUT ATLEAST 5 COMMENTS!

Need Potty Training?

I saw my sister in law potty trained my nephew and felt bad I did not share this ad with her sooner.



We are actually considering a franchise? Let me know what you think?

Garbage in, Garbage out?

I am sure many of you have heard this at least once in your life. If not let me explain, it is the flawed premise that if you are to partake in the evil fruits of the druid secular culture you are filling yourself with garbage and therefore will spew garbage as a result. I can remember a time when I took my rather large CD collection and got rid of it to have nothing but "Christian" music. Now not to say there is anything wrong with that, and before I get blasted for approving of explicit things, which I do not, let me explain my view.
The first real flaw with this is that there is no part of society that is not tainted by sin or sinners, including "Christian" entertainment. I was watching Mark Lowry speak and I have a new respect for him, because he spoke about the only difference between a "Christian Entertainer" and the audience was three feet. The three feet that the stage is raised above the audience. Other than that he suffers with the same sin the rest of us do.
The next flaw is who for certain knows what distinguishes clean "Christian" music from unclean "secular" music? Is "Left Behind" so much better than "The Hunt for Red October?" Because it is on a "Christian" label the Priest has blessed it with Holy Water it is ok? I guess POD is no longer saved cause they are on a secular label?
Truth of the matter is "garbage in, garbage out" operates under the premise that if I see and hear sin up close, I will want to participate in it? THE TRUTH IS SIN LOOKS ATTRACTIVE FROM A DISTANCE, the closer you get to it the more clearly you see it for what it really is. I was around alcoholism my entire life, growing up I watched it destroy lives, hurt and scar people for life. This was more than enough to convince me that getting trashed all the time and becoming an alcoholic is in no way fun or enjoyable.
God sent the Holy Spirit for discernment and that requires us to use it to filter out the culture of our time. We do this in both Christian and Non-Christian environments moving toward what is good and rejecting what is bad. In order to engage the culture we live in and be relevant to today we must watch films, listen to music, read books, watch TV, shop at the mall, and most importantly engage with others. Otherwise we can't begin to do the transforming work of the gospel in our culture and we become ineffective to the ones God has called us to Love.

Its good to be at home!

Well as you all now know I am home, what you did not all know is I was living in Hellston, TX the fourth largest city in the country and the second dirtiest. I can't believe it now, but I started this little journey on July 4th and minus two weeks home for paid time off, I was gone the entire time. Well suffice it to say you learn a lot about yourself and your family while apart. I learned that I can still cook for myself. I also learned I can't do laundry for myself, see dingy grey white shirts. I found out that if you kids are watching a movie and on the phone, the movie always wins, no matter how long it has been since you talked to or seen them. This also applies to your spouse as well, I know I am guilty too! I also found that it can be a pretty lonely world out there without your family. I not only take a new appreciation for being able to spend time together, but also being able to just do the most mundanest of chores together. There is no place like your own bed, but more importantly there is no better place to sleep than holding my wife. I also found that I could get depressed without my wife to talk to. Finally, I know why God paired me with such a beautiful, young, loving, sincere, caring wife. Because, first off He could, second she encompasses everything I hope and aspire to be. She is my earthly reason for being and will make up the better half of my future here on the second rock from the sun. Till I go to be with the Son. I thank God for Him and what He has done with my life thus far, I am more excited than ever to see what He does with our future!

Its good to be at home!

Well as you all now know I am home, what you did not all know is I was living in Hellston, TX the fourth largest city in the country and the second dirtiest. I can't believe it now, but I started this little journey on July 4th and minus two weeks home for paid time off, I was gone the entire time. Well suffice it to say you learn a lot about yourself and your family while apart. I learned that I can still cook for myself. I also learned I can't do laundry for myself, see dingy grey white shirts. I found out that if you kids are watching a movie and on the phone, the movie always wins, no matter how long it has been since you talked to or seen them. This also applies to your spouse as well, I know I am guilty too! I also found that it can be a pretty lonely world out there without your family. I not only take a new appreciation for being able to spend time together, but also being able to just do the most mundanest of chores together. There is no place like your own bed, but more importantly there is no better place to sleep than holding my wife. I also found that I could get depressed without my wife to talk to. Finally, I know why God paired me with such a beautiful, young, loving, sincere, caring wife. Because, first off He could, second she encompasses everything I hope and aspire to be. She is my earthly reason for being and will make up the better half of my future here on the second rock from the sun. Till I go to be with the Son. I thank God for Him and what He has done with my life thus far, I am more excited than ever to see what He does with our future!

Tradition, Tradition what would we be without Tradition

In case you did not know what that is from it is Fiddler on the Roof. Unfortunately it is a very wrong methodology.
The problem is traditionalism fails to distinguish between biblical principles for ministry and cultural methods for implementing those principles. Traditionalism clings to dated ineffective methods in the name of staying truer to tradition than to Scripture.
Bottom line is the result of traditionalism is a Christianity that has all the right answers to all the wrong questions, why? Because the questions being answered are no longer the ones being asked. We have to be culturally relevent to today. The Bible has applications we have to translate those applications to the current days operating system. Like trying to run software on an older version of Windows, it does not work. We have to be relevant to our current culture. Look at God's Word as a prime example of this. Ever read Mathew, Mark, Luke and John? They all tell the same story of Jesus. So why would God tell the same story four times? Each one is relative to different cultural group of that time. Mathew was written for Jews, Mark was written for Romans, Luke was written for Gentiles and John was written for Greeks. Kind of like ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN each telling the news of Jesus. We have to look at how the news is told today, in color, up to the minute, and in relation to how it affects our life in the most sensational format possible. How does Jesus affect our life to today the same way? People don't want to know what Jesus did for Isreal, but what Jesus will do for New Orleans and what he continues to do for all of us in the future. So let go of tradition and start to become a good reporter. Explaining the news of Jesus and all the benefits therein. In the end everyone looks for meaning in their life and convince themselves of false meanings without finding meaning through Christ.

Survival

As I watched the people arrive in Houston going into the Astrodome and watch the peoples will to survive and keep going. I was amazed looking at the children and my heart is crying out to them, I can't imagine how the children are feeling, thinking or hurting.

In Corinthians Paul ended his eulogy with Our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort (v. 7). I believe suffering is not incidental or even accidental in life. Paul did not say the Corinthians MAY share in his sufferings, they WILL share in them. This, however, results not in despair but rather in hope, a hope not in the Corinthians' ability to weather hardship, BUT in God's ability to sustain and strengthen us. This is why Paul can call this hope firm, which is written as God's Word is a guarantee. One thing to see is His warning to not place confidence in our own own spirituality. Cause as he says, it is the ones who consider themselves spiritual who are most prone to fall when faced with hardship. But for those of us who trust in God, Paul says, to be certain that those of you who share Christ's sufferings will also share God's comfort.

So as we see this tragedy realize that we as God's Children are essentially characterized by hardship and affliction. Yet, there is in this the promise of God's comfort. Pray God's comfort for the refugees and families suffering!

The Art of Living

Mastering the Art of Living makes no distinction between work and play, mind and body, information and recreation, love and God. There is no diference. Simply pursuing a vision of exellence in whatever you do, leaving society to decide whether you are working or playing. To the one who has Mastered the Art of Living, he/she is always doing both!

Sent Me an Angel

Just when I feel like the world is spinning out of control my angel steps in and keeps me grounded. Yes I have an angel. My angel is compassionate, caring, sincere, tough, selfless, loving, giving, sensible, confident, affectionate, and GORGEOUS! I am busted yes it is my beautiful wife. I know that she has been through a ton with this move, yet she keeps returning to God and His Word for wisdom. She amazes me with how strong and how selfless she is. I just wanted to say to her and the world I AM BLESSED AND LOVE HER SO MUCH!

Jesus Walks

Luke 1:79
to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."

Fact; Everyone has a shadow. Fact 2; Everyone has a shadow of death, it is part of being live, because without life there is no death. So what is the path of peace. The path of peace is living a life of love that shines on those living the life of death Those living the life of death leads to eternal damnation. Ohhhhh! What did he say, damnation? That's right I used the "D" word. We want to be positive, but again without positivley we have no negativity. I know damnation is negative, but it is reality of having free will. I know none of us want damnation for anyone, including God. Yet he says in His Word that we are to shine on those who are living in darkness.

I remember hanging out with a friend who was convicted of murder and had actually repented, accepted Christ and started living for God in the ministry. He was very bold and called definetly called to ministry, he woud talk to anyone, at anytime about Christ with out thinking twice about it. Well we would go to the bar each night after work and play pool. We would not drink alcohol just play pool and talk about Christ. Well it was a dark hole in the wall and we tryed to keep from drawing attention to ourselves, so we would go to the far side of the bar and play pool. Well it was always busy and there would be people at the table next to us and within a few minutes we would be completely alone at our end. Well my friend would say it was the light that drove them away. I was like the light? What do you mean the light? He would say it was the light of Christ shining through us that would drive them away. So, I finally said ok, I did not agree and that he was being a freaky Christian. So he said ok, tomorrow we will come to the other side of the bar and play pool and everyone will go the the other side of the bar. Well suffice it to say I was wrong. We went to the side closest to the door were all the dart boards where at and within about ten minutes everyone was on the other side of the bar while we played a silent game of pool. I walked to then other side of the bar and looked back and I saw it, at first I thought I was imagining things, but it became very apparent to me that I could see something, LIGHT. It was at that point that I realized the POWER of being a Christian is REAL. That we are really the light of the world I know my experience was a bit weird, yet the truth is that God says we are the light of the World and if we believe it we receive it.

Well knowing we are human, we sin, we intend to sin and we are dark, we sin, and don't intend to and repent so, we become light. In other words if we make a mistake and are sorry, we are the light. We make a mistake and feel no remorse and we are dark. How do we lead, what influences us? Actions, I can say it over and over and over and over, yet it is my actions that speak to others. I look at the Tobacco industry as societys model of repentenance, they were sued for their liability with killing people with the knowledge of the dangers of Tobacco. Ok, so I admit to sinning, let me do my penance and do it again? Sounds like religion to me, we sin and confess and sin again? The Tobacco industry payed MILLIONS of dollars as a penance, yet they still sell their product? This is societies downfall. We sin yet sell it again and again as we payed the penance of our previous sin. If Jesus really walks with us we would not sin the same sin over and over and over again we would be truly repentant and live the life of Light on the Dark and make God happy by increasing the amount of his children who return to him.

God Bless You and Change You for Him!

A Body Dies a Spirit Lives

I lost my sister-in-law a week ago and it has all seemed a bit surreal. I moved here to be closer to both her and my brother. Well I know I was following God's will for my life, but I could not help but feel like I missed something? Then it dawned on me in my prayers for her and my brother. Her body is dead, but her spirit is still alive. The Word says that we don't die we just move from one realm to another. I know it is kind of like duh? I hate to say this, but I feel closer to her now than I did when she was alive. In order to put together some photo books for the visitation I was able to go through all the photos in there home and I found out more about Jaclyn and her family then I had from the past three years of visiting and conversation. Then to make it even better, I had the opportunity to meet many of the people from the photos. It was funny cause the more I prayed for her, the more it became a conversation with her. In the end I was speaking to her like I do God and even better I was hearing her speak back through the people who came. I have to say I have never been so proud of anyone since Richard when Nita died than I had my brother this week. He really has been so strong and such an incredible husband. He has been there through all this and loved so unconditionally I can't begin to tell you! If you would keep Darin, Jaclyn and Jaclyn's family in your prayers. Finally, in memory of Jaclyn we are going to run the next The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training® Nike 26.2 Marathon in Maui. We are going to need to raise money to go and for the society. I am not very good at this stuff so if you would like to send us some greenbacks to help, it would really mean a ton to Darin. Darin ran the marathon in San Francisco in Jaclyn's Honor last year and raised over $27,000 for the Socitey. Go to www.helpjaclyn.com and click on donation to donate.
Bless You!

Abe

Draw near to God and He will draw near to You!

First off, I am blessed to anounce I have been able to attend Joel Osteen's Church and WOW what a church. Second, you may say to yourself as I would, "I could never go to a church with 57,000 people attending." Well after going I will tell you that I could attend this church. Why? Well first of all I was amazed of the number of people who introduced themself to me and who talked to me. I also enjoyed the company of such a diverse and sincere crowd. Suffice it to say I really enjoyed the service and the messages were incredible. It was actually Joel's sister who inspired me for this blog.

You have to move in order for God to move. Bottom line? It is not where you start it is where you finish! I have heard if before and never really understood how to finish in the way God wants me too. So how do we do finish first?
We need to feed our spirit. We can't go more than a couple of days without food, if we don't eat we die! Well, the same is true with our spirit, if we don't feed it, it is like our body. It gets weak and eventually will die. So how do you feed your spirit? Through spending time with God. Through reading the Word, Prayer and helping others.

The beautiful ones

If only we were all what God calls us to be? I don't know why, but we all run from what God calls us to be. I may not know where I am going, I may not know what I need, but one thing is for certain I know what I want. That is GOD. It is easy to warm up to the one we think is beautiful, but try to warm up to an ugly person. That is God. You say how can that be God? You are ugly! Yeah, that's right, is there any sin in your life? If you are a human being then the answer is yes! So, yes you harbor ugliness in you life in a way only God can see. Being transparent can cause you to call yourself for who you really are. A no good rotten low life with nothing, but self providing intentions. If my kids do right I am ok? If I can make it through this week without cheating, all is ok? Wrong! Love is blind, dumb, and fun? Yeah that is right. What if you were told you had one hour to live? What would you do? Would you get drunk? Would you sit and piss and moan about it? Or would you look to what would bring you the most Joy? Your strength is found in Joy? Choose to enjoy it and you will be strong? Most of us think that if joy finds us we will be happy, but truth be told, if we make the choice to find joy we will be strong! So choose joy and help others to find it and God will honor it! So where am I going with all this? Well I have a calling on my life as do all of you. If I deny this calling I can search and search for my joy, but it will always allude me. If I relent to it, repent and give God credence I will find Joy eternal and success beyond my wildest dreams. Do what you fear them most and be relentless in what God has called you to be and you will reap a reward beyond your wildest dreams! God Love You and Keep You where He has chosen you to be! Not where you want to be!

Thankfulness depends on what is in your heart, not what is in your hand.

What keeps us from others? It is interesting cause I have heard many things from many people. Yet one thing rains true that most people don't want to admit. Pride. That's right, pure unadulterated pride! God says pride lands you flat on your face. Pride is why we bless God with the same tongues we cures others with. Who has not been somewhere and looked at another with disgust, disdain, or just outright "I am better than them." What sets us apart from others is nothing more than God's grace. So, how do we show appreciation for the grace God has given to him? We spit in his face by denying others the same love He has shown us. I know I am guilty of it and I have to constantly remind myself that Jesus never saw people as bad, only lost. When we start to see people the same way we honor God's grace for us. Not only that we encourage Him to show us even more grace in our areas of need. Instead of seeing people as society does, being net-worth equaling self-worth start seeing people as God does not for the package, but the contents.

P.S. I am starting to read my posts before I publish them hope it is better!

Life Exists without People?

If you ask me what is wrong with the world today it is that we are able to exist without interacting in a genuine matter with other human beings. Let me explain, I wake up and need to get gas, I go to SAM'S Club and buy gas there is no humans in sight. I need to get some groceries so I go to Wal-Mart and get in line with others who look ahead for the end of the line, because we are trained that waiting in line is bad (just as a side note; I remember a time when I was waiting in line with my three boys and a lady in front of me was complaining about something an using every experlative in the book and what I wanted to say to the lady was "Can you cuss a bit more in front of my kids!" yet I smiled at her and I empathize with her and said good bad and ugly we are all God's kids, suffice it to say she was ugly and I will never forgot her face when I said that, she looked at me and smiled and said "Yeah it is too bad there isn't a law against stupidity." Well not exactly the revelation I was looking for, but she stopped cussing.) So, instead of waiting in line at Wal-Mart I get into the self-check line and check myself out. Again dealing with no people. I continue about my day and have no instances of dealing with people? What is wrong with the interaction removed from society? Is is possible to exist and not interact with others? Yes! Is that wrong? Yes, why did God create you? For relationship! Why did he create others? For relationship! It is the enemies plan to separate us from ourselves so that we can become more accustom to being alone without him or anyone for that matter. I say revolt, resist, reach out to others. If you are lonely and hurting chances are others are too! The great commission? Find them and Love them as you wish to be loved! Show them God through you faith not fear. We are becoming such a closed society with so many avenues to open up which are squelched by the Dark side. We need to stand up for who we are and become who He had called us to be.

Who are we really?

I think we look at society and see a viagra commercial and God looks at society and sees Oysters. We are so desperate to be who we are not and always working to be something more than what should be. We need to stop and be content with who we are. God says you are made in His image. You are made in His image? I am made in HIS image, not my image, but HIS. Hey guess what so are you. Do you want to feel like it? Sure you do as do I. So how do we accomplish this? Botox? Jenny Craig? Plastic Surgery? How about a personal trainer? NO! Why not start treating everyone you meet like they are made in GOD'S image and are His sons and daughters. Try it. I promise it will change your perspective of you.

A day in the life and who I admire!

I think we all suffer from some hypocrisy from time to time, but it is funny how you see some people as more transparent than others. I had the great opportunity to spend the day with Rob at a show in Dallas. I drove in and hung out with Beaugh and Scott and well as you can see someone is compensating for a size issue aye?

Well, I have been to hundreds of concerts in my life time and this was bar far one of the best, Rob and the boys did the most excellent job! But the funny thing is that I have been to plenty of shows with Rob and others in the music industry and I have missed something that I had seen yesterday that has revealed to me why I admire Rob and appreciate his friendship. He has grown so much and this scripture sums it up to me; Proverbs 17:27 A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered. Rob puts everything into what he does and just gives till it hurts and I see him walk off stage emotionally and physically exhuasted and then what? He is bombarded from one person to the next and the funny thing is he does not say much. He just listens to each person say what they have been rehearsing they would say knowing they would get to meet him and he just sits and patiently listens and tries to make them feel as special as he can. It is a very selfless thing to watch once you realize what is going on. Anyway I admire him for what he does and knowing who he is just makes it that more special. Love ya bro!

TIRE?

A covering for a wheel, usually made of rubber reinforced with cords of nylon, fiberglass, or other material and filled with compressed air.
I have been sitting on an idea for quite some time and God has been stirring it up in me. In the mean time the Devil has been trying to unstir it up in me saying, "what a stupid idea," "this is to outrageous," "too big for you to do," "what makes you think you will succeed?"
I know that God has put this in my head, Proverbs 2:2 says 2Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.
God gives us the ability to tune into His wisdom and give us understanding. So you ask what does the definition of a tire have to do with this?

This was one mans stupid idea for a tire which he has held onto for sometime. Well, this is said to redifine the definition of tire? The air quotient is missing here?

Well if this takes off it will revolutionize the tire industry as we know it. Bottomline if you know who God wants you to be then it is your responsibility to act on it and His to provide the means.

Faith without works is dead; is often in the perspective of Man doing the work as a result of his faith in God, but if you reverse it and look at God having faith in you without you doing the work, it is dead. Meaning that God knows the begining and the end we just have to choose to run the race to get there. Don't be discouraged he has faith in you and your works will create life!

Matthew 11:28 Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

I use to think that I had to be busy to be fruitful as a Christian. Boy was I wrong in fact Scripturally speaking, "Come away...all by yourselves and rest a while" ( Mark 6:31 ). Mark explains that "Many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat." Sound familiar? Constant hurry is the mark of an un-prioritised life. It's a sign that second and third things have become first things. So, what should be first? Well I have found that first is your relationship with God, then family, then fullfilling your commitment to God.