Divide To Unite

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light FROM the darkness. [Genesis 1:1-4]

He is still dividing the light from the darkness.

"And she will bring forth a Son, and you [Joseph] shall call His name JESUS (literally, Savior), for He will save His people FROM their sins."

That is why He came here; 
To be born impoverished in a dirty stable,
To be raised in a town renowned for its evil reputation, 
To go forth to live as a homeless man and itinerant preacher, 
To make the blind to see, 
to make the deaf to hear, 
To make the lepers whole, 
To make the cripples walk, 
To raise the dead 


And to make the mute able to loudly and boldly praise His name. 

And to be betrayed.
And to be beaten and whipped.
And to be nailed, naked and bleeding to the cross.
And die - alone and condemned because of OUR sins.
And die while covered with darkness that can only be lifted by His righteousness.

He rose from the grave having defeated death and the grave with the keys to it all in His hands.

And when we call on Him in our darkest hour and need ... He separates us, His children of light, FROM the darkness.

"I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness." John 12:46

Joey's Surrender

Joey's Surrender

Near the turn of the 19th to the 20th-century, tent revivals were popular and swept across America. This is the story about a young man and his encounter with one of those tent evangelists - not in a tent, but in an unusual place.

The young man’s name was Joey. Joey came from a well-to-do family in a mid-sized town in the Midwest. He was an only son, growing up in a large house with a loving, Christian mother and a stern disciplinarian father. As Joey grew into adulthood, he began to rebel under his father's rules - as happens with most teenagers. He began to drink, causing his father's anger to flare up with all the ensuing arguments that resulted. Another result was his mother's heartache and despair as she watched her loving son'sand her husband’s relationship deteriorate. And she began to pray - incessantly, earnestly, day and night

But as what happens to many of us in our Christian walk, she became perplexed as the condition grew worse - as her son became an adult he clearly had become an alcoholic and her husband completely turned his back on their son. But she continued to pray unceasingly. Many a night, Joey would come home in the dark almost blind drunk and he would look up at the parlor window, and there, he would see his mother's silhouette on the window shade, kneeling on her knees praying her heart and soul out to Jesus Christ. He'd try to sneak in, but it was of course, useless. She'd hear him, and would come to the door to help him in as he'd stagger through the house. She would guide him to the bathroom where she'd clean off his shirt, his skin and hair from the vomit that would be on him. And, though he never admitted it, he was very ashamed of what he was doing and what he had become.

After one particularly bad night, Joey came in the door, fell against a nightstand - breaking an expensive vase, and then staggered into the kitchen where he proceeded to break plates and glasses. His mother came in and began picking up the pieces with no complaint or harsh words, tears streaming down her face. And right behind her walked the father. This, to him, was the last straw. He told her that the "bum" had to go - that Joey was no longer his son, and he never wanted to see him again. She pleaded and pleaded with her husband, begging him to relent. But he wanted Joey out of the house.    

She asked him that if she could find a place for Joey, and would take care of him if that would be all right. Her husband’s reply was that he didn't care, as long as Joey never came into the house ever again.

The next day, the mother went out back behind the house to the old, unused chicken coop. And she began to clean. The old, hard manure was two feet thick but she scooped every bit of it out and hauled it away. She scrubbed the floor, the walls and the ceiling. Then she carried an old headboard, slats, bed springs and mattress out to the chicken house by herself, as well as a dresser and mirror. She put a washstand in there as well. The whole time, Joey lay in the house in a semi-drunken stupor, vaguely aware of what she was doing. He'd heard his father’s words and he agreed in his heart that he was a bum, a no-good-for-nothing. He believed his father's opinion was right in many ways because he still had deep respect for him – as well as for his mother. And he was also filled with shame for the pain he had caused his mother.

When she was done cleaning and re-arranging the chicken house, she tiredly trudged up the stairs to his room and quietly told him that he had to leave, but he had a place to stay.She would still get him food, but he could no longer come into the house. And so Joey left the house he'd grown up in, to live in a chicken house - a place that still smelled of chicken manure, for no matter how much his mother cleaned it, it would never completely be rid of the stench. He lived there for several months.

One day, his mother heard about a famous evangelist who was coming to town. She prayed more than ever to the Lord that maybe this man would be the answer to her prayer - her son recovered, he and his father reconciled, and peace in the family once again. So she went to the revival meetings and afterwards would try to talk to the evangelist but he was always surrounded by so many people and she was so timid that she almost gave up. But the last night he was supposed to be in town, she became emboldened and stood before him and told her story, begging him to come see her son. He agreed.

The next day, the evangelist came striding down the street, turned into the driveway and walked past the house and straight back to the chicken house without any hesitation. He was on a mission from the Lord to save a lost soul. He pushed the door open and saw this bedraggled, sorry excuse of a man laying half-drunk, sprawled out on an unmade, filthy bed. He walked over to the washstand and dresser and began throwing bottles of booze on the floor. Liquor spread across the wooden floor and bits of broken glass lay there as he then began to shake Joey awake.

   

"Young man! Wake up! I'm here to talk to you about God. I'm here to tell you about the love of Jesus Christ for you. You're destroying a life that is in sin and I've prayed about this and I know that the Lord can save you and make you a whole, complete man again."

Joey sat up, and began to scoff and swear at the preacher. "Jesus!! I don't believe in Jesus. If He were here, I'd tell Him a thing or two. In fact, I'd call Him a @#&*%! to His face. I don't believe Jesus even exists!"

The preacher was stunned into momentary silence. Then he said, "Well, if you don't believe in Jesus, then maybe you believe in God the Father!" 

Joey yelled back, "I don't believe in the Father either. He's a @#%&* too!"

Undaunted, the evangelist said, "Well, I know that the Holy Spirit is with you. Surely you know the Holy Spirit has touched your heart at times." 

Joey again responded with more profanity and anger.

The preacher then said, "What about Love? Do you believe that love exists?" 

Joey reared up his angry head and opened his mouth with another bitter retort on his lips, when a thought - a memory - came back to him.

In his mind's eye, he saw a shadow of a woman on a nightshade, kneeling in prayer. He could hear his mother's voice pleading for him, night after night. He heard her begging with his father. He saw his mother scooping chicken manure with a shovel, down on her knees scrubbing the floor and walls; then singlehandedly, carrying his bed and furniture, to the shed. All the memories of her taking care of him, always loving him, swept through his mind. 

And he had to respond honestly, with a whisper. "Yes, preacher, I do believe in the existence of love."

Then, to Joey's astonishment, he saw this evangelist in his nicely-pressed suit, suddenly drop to the booze-drenched floor on his knees, lift his hands towards the ceiling and begin to pray fervently, "LOVE, come down to this young man. Show him your existence. Change his heart and soul and make him a new man! Love, he needs you; he needs you to enter his heart!"

Joey grabbed the man's shirt in both hands and yelled at him, "Are you crazy!? How can you pray to love? Love's not a person you can pray to!! What are you doing?!"

And the preacher looked at Joey, with a tender smile, and tears falling down his cheeks said, "Son, don't you know? Don't you understand? Love is God, for God is love. His existence and love are revealed in the lives of others - and I know you've seen it shown in the life and love of your own dear mother."

Suddenly like a bright bold of lightning on a pitch dark night, light flooded Joey's mind and the Holy Spirit reached into his darkened heart and soul and he knew then that God did exist, that God did love Him. With tears streaming down his face, he fell onto the floor on his knees, and with his pant legs becoming soaked by the now repulsive liquor, he poured out his heart, mind and soul to God in prayer and accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. He became a new man that day; he walked back into that house, asked forgiveness of his parents and a new chance with his father, and rejoiced at the sight of his mother's tears changing from sorrow to joy as she realized the answer to her prayers - a miracle from God.

           

It wasn't so much the preacher's words that changed that young man - though the Lord used them to reach Joey's mind - no, it was the love of his mother that did that. Her love was God's love in action. His love and grace never gives up, never stops pleading, never stops working. Have you someone you're praying for? Never give up, never stop loving and never stop pleading - for God always answers fervent, heartfelt, honest prayers.

In Christ,

Weylin

    1 Cross

+  3 Nails

=  4 given    

Keep your eye on the Eastern sky. "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." Matthew 24:27

The Diver's Cross

The Diver's Cross

A young man who had been raised an atheist was training to be an Olympic diver. The only religious influence in his life came from an outspoken Christian - a fellow athlete and friend. The young diver seemingly didn't pay much attention to his friend's words but he heard them often. 

One night the diver went to the indoor pool at the college he attended. The lights were all off but as the pool had big skylights and the moon was full and bright, it seemed there was plenty of light to practice by so he decided to leave the lights off. The young man climbed to the top of the highest diving board and has he turned his back to the pool on the edge of the diving platform and extended his arms out, he saw his shadow on the moonlit wall. The shadow of his body was in the shape of the cross. He stared at the shadow while the words of his Christian friend echoed in his mind. Then, instead of diving, he knelt down and began to pray, and finally asked God to come into his life.

Then the young man stood and again started to stretch out his arms to begin his dive when a maintenance man walked in and turned the lights on.

The young man looked down...the pool was empty of water. It had been drained for repairs.

The Lord saved the man's life twice that night, all because His servant didn't hesitate to share his love for God. He thought that his words were falling on deaf ears but he kept sharing Jesus anyway. We never know when the seeds we've planted will come to fruition.
Then the young man stood and again started to stretch out his arms to begin his dive when a maintenance man walked in and turned the lights on.
The young man looked down...the pool was empty of water. It had been drained for repairs. 
The Lord saved the man's life twice that night, all because His servant didn't hesitate to share his love for God. He thought that his words were falling on deaf ears but he kept sharing Jesus anyway. We never know when the seeds we've planted will come to fruition.

Heaven's Hall of Fame

The Baseball Hall of Fame: When that place is mentioned, it's more than a place to true fans of baseball. The place is a shrine with the names of heroes engraved there on plaques, photos of their exploits, and personal memorabilia for people to ""OOH" and "AAH" over...

Names like: Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio - and the list goes on. These men are considered heroes and idolized by many. Applauded by the world...

But you say this phrase to people and most would give you a blank stare: Hebrews Chapter 11. HUH? What does that mean? Me, I call it God's Hall of Fame.

It's a list of heroes of the Scripture, starting with the name of Abel, the 2nd son of Adam and Eve. That's as about far back as you can get to find any start of a historical list.

Abel. And what does the verse in Hebrews 11 say about him that was so great? He offered to God an excellent sacrifice, greater than his brother Cain's. And God commends to mankind that Abel was righteous - and he paid for that testimony with his death. God was pleased with Abel's faith. Next...

Enoch. What did he do? -- He pleased God. And what did he get for it? No grave. He so pleased God that one day the Lord just opened the gates of heaven and Enoch walked right in. He walked to Home Plate and never swung a bat. ☺ His walk and faithfulness to God pleased the Holiest of all so much that He just had to take His son home.

Noah... the man who was mocked for 120 years as he built a big ship on dry land, far away from any body of water, warning people of a deluge that was going to come and destroy mankind. And he was laughed and mocked at all that time. Was it the building of the ark that so commended him to God's Hall of Fame? Yes, but more than that - it was what drove him to build the ark without any seeming evidence that water would make it float. Faith. He simply believed God. And God was pleased by Noah's faith.

Are you starting to sense a trend here?

Abraham. Father Abraham. His name and story is the longest in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. Only Moses is given almost as much mention.

What was so special about Abraham? When he was Abram, living in Ur (near an Nasiriyah, Iraq) he already had such a walk of faith with God (which obviously pleases God) that the Lord spoke to Abram to take his wife, his family, his household of goods and servants, and LEAVE his home. Head out across the Mesopotamian valley towards the Mediterranean Sea and then south to the land of Canaan. Abram never hesitated. He just did it. Yeah, mocked at, laughed at, had people scratching their heads for doing it, but he did it. Why? Because he believed God.

He took off for unknown land, believed a promise of prosperity and more children and offspring than there were stars in the heavens. And he believed that too - though he and his wife, Sarah, had no children. But they did later, when they were hitting the century mark. And then God called upon Abraham to take his young adult son Isaac to a place of sacrifice and offer up his only son as the sacrifice.

And he did it. Only God stayed Abraham's hand from slaying his son. God wanted the unseen universe to witness love and faith without peer - a symbol of the love and faith of the Son of God.

Jesus Christ was the ultimate love sacrifice. The highest member of the Hall of Fame - no, the Hall of Faith.

God stayed Abraham's hand from slaying Isaac.  But God did not stay the hands of the executioners that dark, hard Friday long ago. There was no mercy there. There was only love, nailed to the cross.

But the cross is empty. The grave is empty. Jesus is not here anymore. He is in heaven -- and He's still filling out the names of those who are in the Hall of Fame - God's Hall of Faith. Whose names? Our names. Your name, my name, my children's names, and their children's names as well.

We have to have faith to get our names on that list - that list in the Lamb's Book of Life. It doesn't have to be a pilgrimage, it isn't based upon penitence and paying money - it just takes the faith as tiny as a mustard seed to be in God's ultimate Hall of Fame.

There are a great many names on God's list besides Abel, Enoch, Noah and Abraham -- King David, Moses, Daniel, Isaiah, Elijah, Paul, Peter, John, John Huss, Martin Luther, John Wesley...the list is long but every name is as precious to God as the next.

Trust, love, please God. It's not that hard, is it? You just have to have faith.
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

See you at the Hall!!

Eyes Fixed Forward

On the wall of a Nazi concentration camp are carved these words:

~~~~~~~
I believe in the sun, even though it doesn't shine.
I believe in love, even when it isn't shown.
I believe in God, even when He doesn't speak.
~~~~~~~

Can you imagine a skeletal hand gripping a piece of broken glass or stone, cutting into that wall? 
Can you see his eyes squinting in the darkness as he etched each letter? 
What kind of hand could cut out such conviction?
Whose eyes could see good in such horror?
The only answer I can find is: eyes that chose to see the Unseen.

2 Corinthians 4:18 says: "We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever."

It comes down to personal choice. When tragedy hits us, we too, are given the sacred choice to see what we will: the hurt ... or the Healer.

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him Who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Hebrews 12:2, 3

Can I say that I always find the Healer instead of focusing on the hurt? No. I can't say that. I am still a weak, faulty human being. And there are too many times that I can count when I have not prayed to the Lord near enough when I should have - and I've paid the price for it. I despair when I make those stupid mistakes and wonder if I can keep going on. But somehow He gets through to me and lets me know that He's there beside me and that everything will be okay - if not now in this life, then in the one to come. And to believe that takes faith also. I thank God for His faithfulness to a forgetful man like me.

Standing on the Furniture

I wrote this back in 2009. I was in Helmand Province, Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. It was my last deployment in my last year of 20 years serving in the U.S. Navy. I had been through a lot, I had seen a lot of things, I had gone through so much with so many fine men and women of our military that I sat down and reflected on what mattered. It's all about taking chances in life, trusting in God, going and doing what we all have to do but do it without losing faith in God, in ourselves and in life itself.

I named it Standing on the Furniture because when I was a boy I played a game. I would stand on our couch or Dad's recliner (a big no-no, by the way) and I would jump from furniture to furniture while imagining that if I fell off I would fall into a deep chasm. It was life and death stuff. Mostly death because I fell a LOT and also because when my Mom would catch me doing it. She did not spare the rod, trust me. But I would get up and do it again. Somewhere along the line, I stopped jumping...at least, I thought I had but looking back, maybe I didn't. 

How about you?

STANDING ON THE FURNITURE

Two things I think are the most important in life…

And two things I think you need to think about…

1 is: Sometimes you have to stand on the furniture and -

2: You have to break loose your personal scar tissue.

When we’re young children, we all stand on the furniture ….

We all want to be first in line…

We all want to play 3rd base or center field…

We all want to kiss the prettiest girl – or guy, depending on what side of the fence you are on...

OR

We’re going to be astronauts or movie stars…

Life is an endless series of opportunities with no sense of boundaries or limits…

But then as we get older we’re taught that it’s dangerous to stand on the furniture…

And even worse, at some point we begin to believe it.

By age 20 or so, school has pretty much beaten it out of us…

It’s no longer about being first in line –

It’s about getting in line.

If you’re still standing on the furniture at age 30 … and particularly if you’ve fallen off a couple of times –

You’re thought of as being in danger of “personal or professional failure” – whatever that means for a 30-year-old…

If you’re still doing it at age 40…

And you’ve been somewhat successful,

Then you’re called an iconoclast – sort of a dopey guy who does weird things that nobody understands –

But it seems to work out for him and for the people around him most of the time.

Notice I said “Most of the time”

And then, if you’re still standing on the furniture at age 50, they send you to Iraq or Afghanistan or Okinawa or wherever the wind seems to carry you according to its whims…

Society doesn’t really want us to stand on the furniture EVER…

And institutions fear people who stand on the furniture,

But ultimately, it’s not society or institutions that hold us back…

It’s us as individuals.

We fall and get hurt in one way or another,

Then all too often we hunker down in our comfort zones…

We become afraid…

We get hurt physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually…and we’re afraid to pick up the bat again and swing as hard as we can like we used to…

Two or three of our ideas don’t work out right…

And so we become afraid to stretch ourselves mentally-

Or take a risk in our personal and professional life…

Personal relationships go sideways…

We get hurt emotionally…

And we hurt others in the process…

And we become afraid to let the shields down – and commit openly and honestly to one another as individual human beings…

We become afraid to stand on the furniture because we fall off and hit the floor and it hurts…

And the resulting scar tissue causes us to draw back physically, mentally and emotionally – and worst of all: spiritually.

We retreat to the false safety of boundaries we set for ourselves –

Not boundaries set by society or any institution,

But boundaries we set that limit what we can be as individuals.

Now here’s what I want you to think about –

You can’t be a bull in a china closet –

And you can’t be stupid in picking and choosing your fights –

And not every injustice warrants a crusade –

But if you’re going to do anything worthwhile in life;

If you’re going to experience any of your dreams;

If you’re going to make a difference in the lives of others;

And open up to allow others to make a difference in your life –

Then sometimes you have to stand on the furniture;

Sometimes you have to take some risks;

And when you do you’ll occasionally fall and get hurt –

Because life really is a contact sport.

And then comes the hardest part:

Having the courage to get up, break that scar tissue loose, jump up and stand on the furniture again –

To not allow the friction of life and relentless pull of gravity to make you less of a person…

Trust me – I know.

For 52 years in this business called life I have seen individuals at all social levels and ranks that stood on the furniture…

Fell off…

And got back up and made a difference,

I have seen it in my own life.

I’ve made mistakes in my life that have created new scar tissue for me and others, but I’ve also broken loose some old scar tissue for myself – and, I hope, for others as well.

And I know I’m better for it physically and mentally and maybe emotionally –

(Spiritually, I’m not so sure. I’m still trying to get back on track with God on that.)

Because ultimately it’s all about taking risks in life, and it’s only my life – and it’s only your life.

I can’t live yours and you can’t live mine.

But about God again…after I’m 52, then I’m 53, 54, etc…

And someday I won’t be anything on this earth.

All the risks will be done; all the furniture climbing is over; and I’m down and gone but if God is there in me and I’m in Him then maybe all that I’ve gone through and experienced – all the scraped knees, crying heart tears, and broken brain cells – will be brought into perspective and I’ll realize that maybe the reasons I did or did not do what I was supposed to do was what God intended.

Maybe that sounds crazy … or maybe I just jumped off the furniture again and took a risk in a mental and spiritual jump.

Only HE knows for sure…

Maybe I’ll have peace someday and look back and say, “It was all good – even the times that I accepted the merely existent, and stayed off the furniture, and avoided the contact sport of life, and kept the scabs on the scar tissues – because I was afraid to try and take a chance.”

So…what have I learned ultimately?

Take a chance on life…

Take risks…

In living.

In loving.

Tomorrow’s only guarantee is that it will be there whether we’re alive to experience it or not.

And the other guarantee is that God will always be there and tomorrows will be forever because He’s forever and tomorrow wouldn’t exist without Him anyway.

I just hope that I’ve climbed on the furniture enough and took enough risks.

 I hope you do too –

And not give up…

EVER…

On yourself, or God.

~~~~~~~~~ 

Weylin Wendt

February 22, 2009

Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan

Taking the Risk in Faith

It's hard sometimes to have faith. It's not a sin to have problems in faith because God knows our frailties and our failings. His grace is greater than that. Trust in the Lord also includes trusting in His forgiving our shortcomings and our doubts. We should also trust in God's timing for God's time is not the same as our time - especially in this push-button, instantaneous gratification society we live in. The process of sanctification does not happen all at once. It's a lifetime of learning and growing in Jesus Christ. Sometimes we have to take risks and believe, especially when we can't see the future. We never can. But God has the future already mapped out. We just have to trust Him - then it really isn't a risk, is it?

~~~~~~~~~~

Taking the Risk in Faith (From 1 Kings 17 - the prophet Elijah and the widow and her son)

At the beginning of Elijah's ministry, God sent Elijah before King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and proclaimed to them that because of their sins in leading Israel astray from God's laws, that there would be a drought and famine for 3 years. Then God sent him to stay with a widow and her son. When he first arrived, Elijah asked the widow for some bread. The woman sadly said she only had enough for one final meal: "I don't have any bread - only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it - and die."

(1 Kings 17:12)

The widow had completely given up on life. She believed she was preparing her last meal, but Elijah told her to trust God and make him [Elijah] something to eat out of the remaining flour. Elijah said it was God's plan to provide for all her needs...but she must believe.

1 Kings 17:14: "For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.'"

The widow could have used the remaining food to feed herself and her son, but she risked all she had and did as Elijah requested. Even though she could not see the extra food nor understand how it would arrive, she had faith in God's Word and took action based on her faith.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). 

"What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works?...For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (James 2:14, 26)

The risk was great, but God's promise and provision were even greater: "So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the Word of the Lord spoken by Elijah" (1 Kings 17:15-16).

Taking a step of faith ALWAYS requires risk - always requires stepping into the unknown. If we could see every detail about where God was leading and how He would provide, we wouldn't need faith. But if there is any "success" to be had in the Christian walk, it will only come as we daily live by faith; as we live each and every moment by listening intently for the call of God and then trusting Him, even through our fear, as we step into what we cannot see. This is where the true blessings of God reside.

When God calls us to a place where we must be "certain of what we do not see," we must boldly step forward. We must overcome our fears with a faith grounded in the promises of His Word and trust Him with all our heart that He will never leave our side.

There are so many who live their life without hope. Their circumstances seem to indicate that all is lost and they have been abandoned by God. And yet, He continues to call and promises hope through faith and trust; but we must take the step! Let's compassionately share this message of hope with each other and encourage each other, and if we are faithful - to all people around the world. If we are careful to listen, we most certainly will hear His call. He is faithful and will never lead us astray. So when we hear His call, let's be prepared to step and take the risk of faith. 

In Christ,

Weylin

    3 Nails

+ 1 Cross

= 4 Given

Keep your eye on the Eastern sky. "For as lightning comes out of the east, and shines even unto the west; so shall also will the coming of the Son of Man be."  (Matthew 24:27) 

Occam's Razor Says So!

  Occam's razor states that "simpler explanations are, other things being equal, generally better than more complex ones" This is what has been the cornerstone of science in creating hypotheses, theories and, finally, explanations for centuries. The majority of scientists (of all types) agree with this statement. And since they believe the simplest explanation is most likely the most accurate, or better, than I have to hypothesize that when it comes to the theory of evolution vice the belief of the Creator creating our world, the universe and all life - the evolutionary theory fails. Why? The study of the theory of evolution is so complex, so varied - in fact, so argued even among the members of the scientific community - that it fails the basic tenet of Occam's Razor. 
Are you ready for the greatest, simplest sentence regarding creation, so simple that a child can understand it? So simple a sentence that it fulfills Occam's Razor? Are you ready? --- Here it is, one of the oldest recorded words ever written: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1 
Pretty easy, wasn't it? I know, I know - you already knew this verse but I think that sometimes we need to stop and think about God as the Creator and how His claim as Creator of all things directly affects us. In that 1st chapter of Genesis we come to this profound portion of creation - "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness..." Genesis 1:26. Then in verse 27 it says, "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him [man]; male and female He created them." 
The origin of the human race is simply (Occam's Razor) and clearly set forth in the divine record and so plainly stated that there is no reason for any erroneous conclusions. God created man in His own image. There is no mystery to it. It doesn't teach that man was evolved by slow degrees of development or mutation from the lower forms of animal life. The teaching of evolution lowers the Creator to the level of man's narrow, earthly conceptions. Men have been so intent upon excluding God from His sovereignty of mankind and the universe that they degrade man and defraud him of the divine dignity of his origins.
You and I are His children. We come from divine lineage. We come from the hand of God - and redeemed by the very same hand. His hands held Adam when he breathed his first breath, and His hands held Adam's offspring's eternal lives with nails sealing the deal.
It is such love as this that should make us fall to our knees and thank Him from the depths of our hearts - thankful that He created us, that He died for us, that He reaches out to us with everlasting love and grace - all that simply because He first loved us ... loved us from "The Beginning..."   

Wake-Up Call

YAWN!! S-T-R-E-T-C-H! Time to wake up! God is calling!

It has been a year since I have been on this blog. The past few weeks I have been getting the spiritual nudges from the Holy Spirit to re-enter into this blog but for a more specific purpose -- to share Jesus Christ in a meaningful way that anyone who reads the words will have clarity and understanding. This "nudging" has been done by several people and not by my own prompting. I would find myself in a conversation with someone and we would be talking about Jesus in the 4 Gospels or another story in the Bible and I would share my thoughts and would be told, "You should write about Jesus" or "You should be giving Bible studies." I am not ready to begin giving Bible studies again. I am not confident in myself to do so. I have, sadly and regretfully, neglected my Bible studies. I admit it because to say otherwise would be dishonest.

I also have had other instances happen. I have friends that I've corresponded for years via the internet and in postal mail, who recently became on fire for Christ - re-born in Him - and they suddenly have turned to me for guidance and inspiration. This has been most unsettling and humbling for me. Unsettling, because I do not see myself as a good man or a holy man that anyone should turn to for spiritual guidance. But Jesus Christ is real and alive, this I have never doubted nor ever stopped believing. Jesus is always here with you and me. I have, quite honestly, been slumbering spiritually. Spiritual slumber is a deadly condition. It means someone is asleep to the Holy Spirit's nudging and whispering and they find themselves slipping into the ways of the world, the lost world - the world without Christ. 

Spiritual slumberers are self-deceived. They think because they believe in Jesus that everything's okay, that God loves them so much that He will overlook this or that small discretion, the occasional dalliance with sin. Now, most people would scoff and say, 'So, what's a drink or two of booze or beer? It's not big deal?" .... or ... "Looking at that good-looking woman is okay, what does it matter?"

IT MATTERS TO GOD!! 

And it should matter to a Christian. Am I confessing anything to you? No - that's between me and Jesus Christ but I wanted to point out that spiritual slumber can be deadly. Why? "The wages of sin is DEATH." Romans 6:23. Jesus' death on the cross was Him paying the wage (read: DEBT) of sin. He died our debt. He paid what we owe. Why? Because He and the Father love us. Romans 4:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

 Jesus did not deserve to die that death - but we do deserve it. But He (and the Father and the Holy Spirit) did not want us to die eternally. They want us to live with Them again for eternity. Thus, He had to pay the debt owed - He died our death. I had to wake up. If any of you are slumbering, I say to you humbly, "WAKE UP!" Romans 13:11 says - "And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to AWAKEN OUT OF SLEEP; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed."

His coming is near, my friends. Please wake up. If you don't you could miss out on the LAST greatest event in this world's history.