Celebrate!

In the United States of America we celebrate our independence from tyranny and British rule.  The Deceleration of Independence signed on July 4, 1776 was the birth of the greatest country the world has ever seen.

However, the freedom we enjoy had to be fought for.  There were shooting wars with the British, the Germans, the Japanese and others that threatened the freedom that our founding fathers purchased with blood.  There was the cold war with the USSR.  We have the declared, and now undeclared, war against Al-Qaeda, or some would say Radical Islam.

Fact is, our freedoms, though free for us to enjoy, have been won and are maintained at a high cost.  Brave men and women have died so we can eat our bratwurst in safety and in freedom.

Of course there is more to freedom.  Those of us who have Jesus as our Lord and our Savior are reminded of a King who died for His subjects.  Who gave everything He had so His children could have freedom.  Freedom from sin.  Freedom from condemnation.  Freedom from God’s wrath that is to come.

The moment you believe in your heart that Jesus was the only son of God who died for your sins and on the third day rose from the dead, and you confess it with your mouth, you have freedom.  You can’t earn it.  You can’t be a good enough person.  Jesus had to shed His blood so you that you might live.

Our freedom was bought with a high price.  That is worth celebrating July 4th and every day!

Unless the group who rented the festival area also rented the 5 block area around the festival, this is an apparent violation of the First Amendment, right?  Watch the video and see what you think.  I’m going to call the Dearborn Police Department and see if they have an explanation. (I did and it’s below the video)

Just got off the phone with the Dearborn Police. The lady I talked to in the Public Information office was very nice and was glad I called to get more information. She did decline when I asked if I could record the conversation for playback here, but this is what she told me.

Apparently the City has a right to establish a “Freedom of Speech” area, which they did for this event. A designated area where all groups were welcome to pass out material.

All groups were welcome to rent booths from organizers of the street fair. Four Christian groups did just that and another was allowed to have a booth by court order (not sure what happened there).

No one was prohibited from walking around the street fair and talking to whomever they pleased. However, passing out of materials was restricted.

The group in the video was not arrested. They were detained for awhile so that the rules could be explained to them. It’s not known if they knew the rules ahead of time.

200,000 people attended the street fair and apparently it was a very successful family friendly event.

The City of Dearborn hopes to have a comprehensive response at CityOfDearborn.org in a day or two.

In conclusion, I wonder if the Christian group that made the video was being provocative? Would a better strategy have been to rent a booth and reach others through smoked turkey legs (for example) (mmmm) and the Gospel of John?

There is probably even more to this story, but I think we all have to be careful not to jump to conclusions when we see a video like this. I’m glad I called the Dearborn Police to find out more. Sheds a little different light. If the rights of the Christian group were violated, they should call the Alliance Defense Fund. If not, I would recommend they get a booth next year and see what God can do with some corn dogs (mmmm) and the Gospel of John!

UPDATE: I guess they WERE arrested.

A Star is Born!

Scientists are discovering what God knew all along.  Stars are musical.  You could even say they sing. Gives new meaning to being a star.

Let’s start in Job 38.  God is basically asking Job who he is to question God’s judgment.   Starting in verse 3:

³ Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.

⁵ Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?

⁶ On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone-

⁷ while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?

⁸ “Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,

⁹ when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,

¹⁰ when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,

¹¹ when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?

¹² “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,

Read the whole thing.  It’s very cool!

Did you notice verse 7?

⁷ while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?

The morning stars sing together?  Really?  Really!

I blogged about this a few years ago, but today I found an update.  Scientists have now recorded some of the music that our Sun is “singing”

From the article:

Astronomers at the University of Sheffield have managed to record for the first time the eerie musical harmonies produced by the magnetic field in the outer atmosphere of the sun.

They found that huge magnetic loops that have been observed coiling away from the outer layer of the sun’s atmosphere, known as coronal loops, vibrate like strings on a musical instrument.

I guess God knew what He was talking about.

When I was a kid in Sunday School and a lover of science, I still remember how my Sunday School teacher told me that the Bible talked about springs in the ocean. Springs that scientists were just discovering. Doctors know that laughter does do good like a medicine! Studies also show that prayer works.

You can trust God! And that is music to my ears.

It also reminds me of what God did for us.  He paid for our freedom (freedom from sin and His coming wrath) by sending His Son Jesus.  Jesus was willing to die so that anyone who accepts His gift can be set free forever.  Romans 5:7-8 says:

⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Yesterday we honor those men and women who were, and are, willing to dare to die for a country that honors freedom.  Willing to fight to keep us free.  I am also reminded of a God who loves us so much that He was willing to die so that we could be free to be with Him forever.  All motivated by love.  For the soldier it’s love of country and sacrificing to make a better life for loved ones back home.  For God, He demonstrated His love.  A love for those who would chose to be His children by accepting His gift of sacrifice.

Today is Memorial Day Observed, but really, in many ways, we observe it every day.  By enjoying the freedom we accept as a free gift that was paid for with a high price.

Former Major General Paul Vallely (retired) talks about intelligence reports that point to a possible massive attack against Israel this Summer.  He says those attacks could include biological weapons.  The Major General says that under the plan, suicide bombers and Hezbollah soldiers will invade Israel from the north through tunnels while scud missiles launched from Lebanon rain on Israel.

IF these reports are true and IF Iran launches this attack through it’s proxies in Syria via Hezbollah, I fear for Damascus.  In Isaiah 17, God has a severe warning for the city of Damascus.  That it will be destroyed.  It will be laid to ruins.  Damascus is considered by most to be the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city.  This prophecy has not yet been fulfilled.  If the General is correct and Hezbollah launches a biological, chemical, or even nuclear attack (including dirty nukes) on Israel, Israel would most assuredly send an unmistakable message.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, pray that Muslims would continue to come to faith in Jesus, and pray that Iran, Syria and Hezbollah would have the sense not to attack Israel this Summer, or ever.

Yes, I will race you if you like

It’s weird the things God shows me.  Sometimes it’s weird when He shows me these things.  This one was a particularly painful illustration for me, but one that helped me understand an important principle in being Christ-like.  I call it, “Driven to Meekness.”

It’s a lesson that God has been trying to show me for more than a few months now.  It really hit home when I was driving home Saturday afternoon.  I was tailgating again because someone wasn’t going as fast as I wanted to go.  My heart sunk when she gestured that I was number one when I finally had the opportunity to go around.  It really bothered me, and for good reason.  I was guilty of driving while being a jerk.

What is about driving for some of us?  I am one of the most mild mannered people you will meet (we’ll I’d like to think so most of time) yet when I get on the road that speed demon comes out in me.  And while all of us are guilty of being selfish and at the center of our own universes, that is particularly true of me behind the wheel.  If you are not driving the speed I want you to and I can’t get around you, I get a little upset, and I use my God given gifts of sharp eyes and reflexes to follow closer than is safe, or comfortable for the person I am following.  Add to that that God has allowed me to buy a car with a little power and definitely some quickness that is FUN to drive.  I love to rabbit start off the line and get to 5 over the speed limit as fast (and safely) as I can.  But, if someone gets in my way, well, sometimes that can be an aggravation.  One I sometimes don’t mind expressing with some skillful tailgating.

What does all that have to do with God?  Meekness.  Jesus came to Earth with all power of heaven at His disposal.  By His standards I am slow to understand, slow to obey, slow to be righteous, courteous, long-suffering, slow slow slow.  Jesus could have easily run me over with His supremely superior skill, knowledge and righteousness and laugh as He left me in the dust.  But He’s not like that.  His ministry on Earth wasn’t one of running over the weak because He was in a hurry to get to His destination (the cross to die for us all).  No.  It was the journey itself that was as important as the destination.  As He stopped and He healed all that came to Him, He was revealing the character of the Father.  Jesus comforted the down-trodden and ultimately He died for jerks like me.

It’s called meekness.  Jesus has all power of heaven and earth.  Yet He used that power to serve.  Mark 10:42-45

⁴² Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ⁴³ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

I have a nice car.  I have a certain amount of God given driving ability.  (probably not as much as I think!)  There’s nothing wrong with enjoying those things.  They are gifts from God.  But when I start to get arrogant in my giftings.  When I use them to run people off the road, or scare them, or tick them off then I am not exactly using my gifts for good.

I can have fun driving when it’s safe and when it doesn’t adversely affect others.  I can enjoy God’s gifts, but I need to do so in love!

Galatians 5:22-23

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.

The driving analogy is more than an analogy in the sense that it is literally true for me.  I need to do a better job of driving in love (and I have since Saturday).  It applies to all areas of our lives.  What has God gifted you with?  How are you using those gifts?  Do you get annoyed at others who aren’t as strong as you? as smart as you? as spiritual as you? as fill in the blank as you?

The answer is of course you do!  Our sinful nature is always pulling us in that direction.  But, if we listen to God and obey, we can do better and better.  We can serve more today than we did yesterday.  We can be meek in the areas that we are strong.  I guarantee you that it will be a great witness to those around you.  It’s the best shot you have at being number one in the ways that count.

¹³ All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. ¹⁴ Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. ¹⁵ If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. ¹⁶ But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

My Mamaw died before she saw me come to faith in Christ, but I know she knows even as she celebrates with God.  Here is just a part of my story…

I was just a kid living in rural Oregon.  We lived about 4 miles outside of the little town of Canby, which lies on the Mollala and Willamette rivers about 22 miles south of Portland.  We were not a church going family but we had a good life on our 2 acres there in the Great Pacific Northwest.

When I was about 9 years old, Mamaw came to visit from Mississippi.  Mamaw was Southern Baptist and the sweetest woman you would ever want to meet.  Even sweeter than her famous caramel cake!  My heart was always so full of love for her, probably because her heart was always so full of love for me, and all of her grandchildren.

Sunday came and we all got dressed up for church.  Mamaw and all of us headed into town to the First Conservative Baptist Church of Canby.  I still remember parts of the service.  Mostly the warm feeling I had there.  After Mamaw went back to Mississippi, I decided that I wanted to keep going to church there.  They had a bus that went around picking kids up and so I started riding the bus.  It’s possible that I may have ridden with the next door neighbors some weeks, but I’m not sure.

I really enjoyed Sunday school and I remember the Sunday school teacher showing me a scripture that talked about springs in the ocean and how scientists were only starting to discover that that was true.  I loved science even as a little kid.  I realized that if the Bible was right about science it was probably right about a lot of other things… like Jesus!  I prayed to receive Jesus into my heart.

I remember that as I prayed, in my minds eye I saw light bursting from my heart.  I felt like a scoop scooping out the gunk.  I felt such joy!  It was wonderful!

However, over time, I stopped going to church.  I was the only one in the family going and I guess I just sorta stopped.  I can’t remember why or if there was really a reason.

Fast forward a few years to my 12th birthday (I think it was my 12th birthday).  I remember Mamaw got me the lamest gift.  It was an album of “Songs from Calvary” or something like that.  So lame.  I remember putting it on the top shelf in my closet never to be seen again.  (I wish I had it now.  Not for the music so much, but for what that present represents.)

Fast forward to my teenage and young adult years.  I don’t want to get into great detail, but slowly my life was spiraling downward.  I quit football my Junior year so I could party more with my friends.  I got kicked off the track team my Junior year for skipping school.  I was the first (and probably still only) Student Body President at Canby High School to resign, again, for skipping school.  A promising student and student leader, I dropped out of school my senior year and took my GED.  I was drinking, smoking pot, and partaking in other drugs.  I guess I was trying to escape and at the same time I was killing myself.

I eventually got my life together somewhat and moved to Roswell, NM to start my career in broadcasting.  By the time Mamaw died, I was a weatherman on the local news.  She was always so proud of me.  I remember how sad she was after Papaw died.  Mamaw and I could always talk about such things.  I remember asking her on the phone one time what it was like getting old.  After she said, “Bless your heart,” she told me that it’s like your mind wants to do something, but your body can’t anymore.  I am realizing more and more that she was right :-)

So yes, Mamaw died.  I drove to Mississippi from Roswell for the funeral.  There are many things I remember from that visit, but for time sake I’ll just mention that during the funeral they played her favorite hymn, “Amazing Grace.”

So about 7 years later, I was living and working in Lubbock, Texas.  I was divorced.  My son and daughter lived 350 miles away near Dallas.  I was still drinking a LOT and other things were going on in my life, (someday I’ll share the entire story) but God was drawing me back to Him.  I remember driving to Dallas scanning the radio during that 5 hour trip and listening to part of a sermon and actually being interested in it.  God had placed some godly people in my life, including my now good friend Don Webster who managed a Christian radio station in Lubbock.  God also brought a wonderful (and beautiful) woman into my life.  She was having some medical problems and I was concerned for her.  Then I did something that I hadn’t done since I was a little kid.  I said a sincere prayer.

It was probably the fall of 1999.  I was all alone in my house.  It around 10:30 or 11 at night.  As I prayed, God gave me that same feeling in my heart that He gave me when I first prayed to accept Him into my heart all those years ago.  Joy was bursting from my heart!  but this time it didn’t stop!  Soon I was laughing and I knew.  Jesus IS real!  He IS the answer to all of the questions ever asked.  I was a Christian again (still?)!

So I asked my friend a day or two later, “what do I do now.”
She said, “You go to church!”  Then she said something very interesting.  “God’s gonna wow you.”
“What?” I asked.
“God’s gonna wow you,” she repeated.

I had no idea what she was talking about.

The next Sunday I put on my suit and went over to Trinity Church.  It was only a mile or so from my house and of course it was packed.  I sat up in the balcony and actually saw a couple of people I knew.  I felt very welcome.

Then it happened.  At the end of the service they had us all stand for one more song.  Yes, it was “Amazing Grace.”  I started singing and I closed my eyes and it hit me.  It was Mamaw’s prayers that were being answered that day!  I knew in my heart that she had never given up in her prayers for her precious grandson.  The tears were streaming down my checks and I just said to God, “Tell her I said thank you.”

He told me, “She knows.”

More tears.  My heart full of joy.

I got baptized that Summer at Trinity Church.  I started volunteering at that Christian radio station with my new friend Don and my life has been so different in so many ways ever since.  Of course those are stories for other blog entries.

Back to Hebrews 11:12.  Mamaw’s had Faith.  Even though she died before her prayers concerning me were answered, she didn’t give up.

Mamaw is one of my heroes of the faith!  You probably have some of your own, whether you know it or not.

And while I don’t want to leave this Earth before I accomplish whatever it is that God has me to accomplish, I am so looking forward to hugging Mamaw’s neck as we celebrate in God’s presence together forever!

Tiger Apologizes

Tiger Woods told the world he was sorry today.  His infidelity has turned his life upside down.  His family has been torn apart.  He has lost millions of dollars in endorsement deals.  He has left the game that he loves so much and that God has gifted him so well to play.

Reaction to Tiger’s apology are generally favorable, although there are still many taking shots at him.  So what is God’s perspective on all of this?

First of all I think it’s pretty evident to all that sin has consequences and those consequences can be painful.  The Bible is clear, ALL fall short of God’s standards.  NO ONE seeks Him, not even one.  In other words.  We are ALL guilty.  We can’t help it.  We were born that way.  All of us suffering the consequences of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.

Our sin nature is evident.  We lie, cheat, steal, sleep around.  This is the nature of man left to his own devices.  Sin is wrong.  Transgressions are wrong.  We pay a price for the mistakes we make.  The bigger the mistake, the more damage to ourselves and those around us.

What’s worse, even the slightest mistake makes us unworthy of living in God’s presence forever.  Want to go to Heaven?  Live a perfect life.  Good luck with that.  It can’t be done by mere men and women.

Of course the good news is we don’t have to live a perfect life!  Jesus did that for us.  Since He is God, He was able to pay the price of sin for us.  Death.  Jesus died so we could live.  God cannot lie.  He promised that the penalty for sin is death.  God also promised that He loves us.  This apparent contradiction is resolved at the cross.  The price for sin is paid for by His son.  God’s love is now available to those who can’t live a perfect life.

There is only one catch.  You can’t receive an awesome gift unless you, you know, receive it.  In other words, the Bible says that we have to believe that Jesus is God, that He died for us, and rose from the dead.  If we do that then we are saved.  Romans 10:9 and 10.

Tiger made a huge mistake and he is paying a huge price for it.  I think it is right for Christians to extend love and forgiveness to a hurting person who is suffering as a result of his mistakes.  God gives us second and third  (and fourth and fifth and sixth…) chances.  We should do the same for Tiger.  Even as we hate the sin we can show love to the man.  All of us are just as guilty (maybe not of exactly the same thing, but we all have our issues).  The difference is we are now forgiven and that allows us to share God’s love with others.

The ultimate show of love is to share the good news of God’s gift available to Tiger and to anyone else who will accept it.  That’s what Brit Hume did awhile back.  It created quite a reaction, but to Brit’s credit he stuck by his words because they were true and they were spoken in love.

What about Tiger’s marriage?  Should Tiger’s wife divorce him?  The Bible is clear that infidelity is grounds for divorce.  She is well within her rights to leave Tiger if she chooses.  Forgiveness and trust are not the same thing.  Forgiveness is given, trust is earned.  Tiger is right when he says that his right actions over time are the only way that he has a chance to regain the trust of his wife.  I pray that that happens.

I, for one, will still be a Tiger Woods fan.  I hope that he has a successful life and a successful career.  Of course the ultimate success is measured by our relationship with God.  That relationship starts by accepting His free gift.  I pray that someday Tiger embraces grace.

When Jesus died on the cross and said, “It is finished” and then rose from the dead on the third day, it really was finished.  Jesus completed the greatest exchange in history for those who will accept it.

Let me back up just a few steps.  Joel Engle was in Tucson this past weekend for the Kingdom Men 2010 Conference, “Always Better Together.”  There were nearly 2,000 men in attendance to hear messages like the one Joel gave.  Joel is a Christian music artist and also the founding pastor of “The Exchange” located in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

I’m going to take just this one point that Joel made and expound on it a little bit.  I want to share it with you and drive it a little deeper into this thick head of mine so I can get it into my heart.  I believe that if God’s church can really believe how much we are forgiven, and how much God loves us we will have much more joy in our lives and we will be able to share that with others.

So Joel is on stage Saturday and asks, “How many here think they are Holy?”  A lot of hands went up, but most were hesitant, and a lot of hands didn’t go up.  I was thinking, “I think I’ve been taught that I am, but I’m really not sure.  I know I don’t always act like it.”  And that’s when Joel put this verse on the screen:  Hebrews 10:10 “…we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

We ARE Holy!  Not because of anything we do.  We ARE Holy because of what Christ did.  It’s the exchange, as Joel says.  Jesus took our mess and exchanged it for His Holiness.  We were separated from God, but He made a way back to Him.  Jesus took our sins and unrighteousness and exchanged it for His righteousness!

If you have Christ as your Lord and Savior then you are on the winning end of the exchange.  You definitely got the better deal.  Through no effort of your own, you have been made righteous and Holy in the sight of God.  You have been adopted into God’s family as a son or daughter as a co-heir with Christ and all the benefits of sonship or daughtership.  God Loves you as much as He loves Jesus!  Even though you still sin, you are no longer a sinner.  God is for you and not against you.  It really is good news.  The best news actually.  The God who created the entire Universe wants to be your best friend.  That is amazing if you really think about it.

Many of us fall into the trap of trying to earn God’s favor.  We waste a lot of time and energy feeling condemned because we mess up.  Should we mess up?  Of course not.  There are consequences for making mistakes, and big mistakes can bring a lot of pain.  But know this.  If you have taken advantage of God’s incredible offer and believe that Jesus is who He claims to be, then God is not mad at you.  If you run into His loving arms in good times and in bad, even when the bad times are your fault, He will fix it!  It may take time, but when we trust Him and follow Him, blessings follow.  God delights when we rely on Him.  When we trust in Him and His goodness.

I really believe that if we as Christ’s body can accept this then we can be so much more effective in ministry.  We will quit wasting time striving for God’s favor and instead we can unite in the joy of what God has done and tell others.  God is good!  He LOVES you!

³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and taken advantage of the exchange, what are you waiting for?!  A life of adventure awaits!  Just do what Paul said to do in Romans 10:9-10:

⁹ that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

¹⁰ for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

You don’t even need a sinners prayer.  If you believe that Jesus is who He says He is, the only Son of God, and if you believe that He lived a sinless life and died for you on the cross and rose again on the third day and you confess it with your mouth you have just completed the exchange!    Now it’s time to get in a good church, start reading the Bible and practice living this new life that has been placed inside of you.

I love this line… you are no longer a liar, so stop lying.  Because you have exchanged your sin for His Holiness your nature has changed.  You are no longer a sinner even though you still sin.  This is what the world has a tough time with, and so do we.  If we are made Holy how come we don’t act like it many times?  It’s called our flesh and we will war with it until the day we die.  In the meantime we are to die to it daily and walk in the Spirit so we won’t walk in the flesh and mess up.  But when we do we should run to God.  He always treats us with love.

Never forget and constantly remind yourself.  God is for you, not against you.  He’s not mad at you.  Trust Him.  He sees you as Holy and Righteous and He Loves YOU!