The Path not taken

Are you traveling a path of fear as you drive home tonight? Are you weighed heavy with worry? Are there decisions that appear to be too great to properly decide? If one were to watch the news with any regularity it would seem the news cannot get anymore negative, and yet it gets worse anyway.

What does our Messiah have to say about the path we are on versus the Path we are to take?

Luke 21:25-36 (NASB)
25 "There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves,
26 men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
27 "Then they will see The Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
29 Then He told them a parable: "Behold the fig tree and all the trees;
30 as soon as they put forth leaves, you see it and know for yourselves that summer is now near.
31 "So you also, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near.
32 "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place.
33 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
34 "Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap;
35 for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth.
36 "But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

Have you "recognized" yet? Are you "On guard?" Are your hearts "weighed down dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life?"

When is the last long time you prayed with and to God to lift your heart, your mission, your eyes to the Heaven to come? Have you ever asked God to allow you a momentary glimpse of Heaven, while here on Earth? Have you so hungered and thirsted after God that this world seemed to momentarily disappear? A moment of Heaven is a moment shared with God, waiting, in happy anticipation of what He is bringing for those who seek Him, those whose knees are raw in repentance and acknowledgment of just What God is.

When Jesus Christ returns every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that He is the Christ, the crucified and Risen One... and we will be taken up with Him.. It will be so fast you won't have time to rethink your current path. All those who do not confess His Name and His place will condemn themselves to another path for all of eternity.

For that path there is no government bail out plan.

Forlorn

Are you forlorn? What exactly is "Forlorn?" How does one get forlorn? Is one person more likely to become forlorn than another? Is it hereditary? Can you marry into forlornity? Can your kids make you forlorn? How about your neighbor?

Here is the dictionary definition:

Hopeless, miserable.

Are you a GM or Ford, or Chrysler employee? You might feel nearly hopeless, or forlorn. Are you a bank employee? You might feel nearly hopeless, or forlorn. Do you have a mortgage that the rate just went up? You might feel hopeless, or forlorn. If you are like many people these days, you're afraid of what today will bring, and you are likely more afraid of what tomorrow will bring.

You get my drift. There are a lot of people who at this moment, feel forlorn.

NASB) Lk 21:25 "There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 "Then they will see The Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

Things here on Earth are tough, that is true. Things were tough in the 20's. 30's. 40's. 50's. 60's. And so on... 1820's. 1830's. 1840's... and so on.

Things were tough in the 1920's, 30's, 40's and on until now, 2008. They will be tough in 2009, 2010, 2011, and so on... That is what it is, life. What makes us forlorn is the amount of hopelessness we allow ourselves to feel and internalize. Much of what we internalize, we externalize through our speech, to our friends, family, co-workers, neighbors. When we externalize we give food to the feeling, whether the feeling is an accurate rendering of reality or not.

As Christians, or followers of Yeshua, Jesus Christ the Messiah and Savior of those that acknowledge and accept Him as the ressurrected Savior; we are told in this verse of Jesus' Words - Stop worrying because there will be weather troubles, nation troubles, and floods but the Son of Man (Jesus) will come back for us in a cloud with power and great glory. What are we to do at that time (which could be this time)?

We are to straighten up, lift our heads up, because that same Savior is coming for us, and all will be well. Really, our worries are for nothing since we know how this story ends and we are going to live it...

Who SHOULD worry? Those that should worry are those that have never acknowledged Jesus Christ as the One who God sent to live sinless here on this difficult Earth for 33 years, be unjustly tried for crimes He did not commit, and die on a wooden cross only to gain victory over the grave as our Savior.... Those who have never repented of their sins, their wrongs, their "junk." It is hard to not worry in light of tremendous pressure on us from every side... However; we do have hope...

This Hope is more than just a catchy political slogan... This Hope is well-placed in Jesus Christ... Have you had a conversation with Jesus lately? Don't be forlorn, have that talk today...

"Betting" on God

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

God is a God Who is not subjected to "the odds" of man. The economy, the election, your relationships, your finances, your fears, your unanswered questions - God is not moved by those in and of themselves. God IS moved by how those issues effect your faith in Him, how you serve and glorify Him, how you represent Him.

Wow, hard to swallow?

I know, and in my life I have had to recognize the error(s) in my ways and realize there is a price for choosing to do wrong, or even by not choosing to do the right thing. There are things we are responsible for, and God doesn't tell us He will intervene in those areas. What He tells us is that He will act in those areas that are supernaturally outside of our control of influence.

Bottom-lining it:
*If we are lazy at our jobs, we might get fired.
*If we steal from our jobs, we might get fired.
*If we are late to work a lot of days, we might get fired.
*If we buy more things than the money we have, we can't pay our bills, bill collectors come take our stuff away, and our credit, as well as our reputations are tarnished.
*If we buy more house than we know we can afford - I am not talking about how much your realtor, your mortgage broker, or even your bank tells you you can afford. I am talking about how much YOU know you can afford - we will fall behind in our payments, we will eventually be foreclosed upon, and we will be out on the street or living in one of our friends or family's basements.
* If we don't brush our teeth, they will rot and fall out... not right away, but over time. In the meantime, your friends and family might not let your stinky breath up in their house when you lose your house, even in their basements! So, brush your teeth!
* If we don't wash our bodies, we will stink. Some take longer for the stink to set in than others... Wash your body! Remember, if you lose your home, your friends won't let you in if you stink. By the way, if you are married, or ever hope to be married - you better re-read the last several points if you don't do so well in that category...
* If we don't read books, study life and living, we will eventually get, or remain stupid, and we won't get or keep our jobs, and we will lose our jobs, and we will lose our house, and so on... Plus, if you are married, or ever hope to be married, you better educate yourself... dinner conversations will be awfully short and boring if we are dumb.
* If we don't study the Bible - God's Word to us, and we don't pray - God's Words for us and with us, we will grow lonely and without His leadership and correction and encouragement, we will be so poor it won't matter what kind of house or job we have.
* If you are banking on the odds that "bad things won't happen to you, that your health will always be good, the company you work for won't one day close, or you might not ever suffer an injury that keeps you from working, or even that the results of the election has terrible impact on your life.... Let it go, those are odds and God doesn't deal with odds.

We need to do our part and help ourselves by making smart decisions, being conservative with our money, working hard at our jobs - whether we like them or not, and we need to help others who deserve our help... I have been helped by a dear friend when my health slammed me with financial needs that I could not meet... God bless that friend!

* Nobody gets out of this world alive... You better find your faith, find God, find your work ethic, find your friendliness, find your "normal" - people don't like to be around people who freak them out!
* Find your "Fight" and find your love.... Sometimes we have to fight for our resolve... Our resolve to continue in a job that pays our bills, but that we hate. A job that we know we won't do forever, but in which we spend more time forwarding chain emails than we do in getting better and doing better at our jobs... A job that isn't glamorous, but is what it is, and we must Fight to keep our attitude in check and positive... Resolve to speak with God more... Resolve to read His Word more... Resolve to be more positive and cheerful. Trust me, no one likes to be around someone who is always down, always negative, always toxic... If you know God, act like it!
* Now I know some of my subscribers - if they have gotten this far in the post - will say, "But you don't know how bad it is for me!!!! But, Butt, Buttttt!" How long are you going to say that in your life? The odds are, a loooooong time. Resolve.

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
This post dedicated to the great Sussex County philosopher CFB.

Buzzards are pretty too, from a distance...

It has been awhile since I wrote on my blog as some of you have reminded me lately. I promised I wouldn't write unless God inspired me to write. Today I was inspired.

Beauty can be deceptive. Sometimes what we think is beautiful, isn't. Sometimes what we think is good, isn't. Sometimes we know it isn't beautiful the closer we get, but we close our eyes, so as to not see the danger. We plod ahead because we want to, and then, when we finally open our eyes, what we thought was beautiful is actually ugly, very ugly.

Beauty can be trickery, and sometimes beauty can be a trap into sin. Think of David, the king on the roof of his palace, looking down upon Bathsheba, the wife of one of his trusted soldiers. She was bathing, she was beautiful, and she was married.

2 Samuel 11:2-5 (NASB) 2Sa 11:2 Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. 3 So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" 4 David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her; and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. 5 The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, "I am pregnant." (emphasis mine.)

Have you ever seen buzzards flying afar off? High in the sky? They are truly beautiful and skilled flyers. They look like beautiful hawks from a distance and when they are aflight surfing the thermals as experts of the sky they are beautiful indeed. Then, when you see a buzzard on the ground, up close, the beauty is gone and we are often repulsed by their appearance and their duty - to eat the dead bodies that accumulate in the wild before they rot. What the buzzards do is beneficial, they are "good birds!" But you don't know how ugly they are from a distance, only when you get closer do we truly and accurately see enough to be repulsed.

That is the way temptation and sin is... from a distance it always appears "beautiful," but then we get close enough to burn ourselves, our family, our reputations, our image before God. In my ministry and counseling practice I see people give it all up, lose it all due to a choice to do the wrong thing before God, their family, their community, and themselves. Then, when it is all gone we look to God and say we made a "mistake."

A famous politician just did this and after years of subtrefuge and outright lying he partially "came clean." The half-truth will not set you free and in the end that politician will have to answer to God and trust me, with God, there are no half-truths.

God looks beyond our ugly sin and loves us just the same, but He is most interested in our repentance and obedience to Him and of His Law. We CAN come to Christ "just as we are" but if we truly come to Christ we cannot help but to be changed. Sometimes we have to come to Jesus daily to confess our sins, I know I do... Remember this; keep short accounts with God. Study God's Word. Talk with God, daily...

Trust me on this, your eyesight will be better because He will help you to see, buzzards are pretty too, from a distance.

The Prayer of "We."

Have you ever read Daniel Chapter 9? I mean REEEEALLY read it? Well then, you are in luck! I will paste it here and place a brief comment at the bottom. Happy reading!

Daniel 9:3-19 (NASB) Da 9:3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, "Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. 6 "Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land. 7 "Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. 8 "Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 "To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; 10 nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. 11 "Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. 12 "Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. 13 "As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. 14 "Therefore the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice. 15 "And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have been wicked. 16 "O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us. 17 "So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. 18 "O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. 19 "O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name."

Now, THAT is prayer! Now THAT is repentence! Did you happen to notice the number of "we's" in Daniel's prayer. Was he guilty of disobedience? No. Was he guilty of idolatry? No. Was He guilty of unfaithfulness? No. Yet he prayed as one who sinned. This prayer is intense and so too was the immediacy of the answer below.

Daniel 9:20-22 (NASB) Da 9:20 Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God, 21 while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. 22 He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.

Perhaps our prayers lack answer because they lack praying, rather than saying... There is power in the prayer of "we." Jesus Christ accepted the punishment for guilt that was not His own. Daniel self-ascribed blame while face-forward pleading to the Living God, and immediately an Angel appeared giving insight and understanding. As it is in all cases regardless of our obedience or understanding, God is God and if we are to be forgiven, we must be sincere in our repentence or perhaps our whispered, politically correct prayers will go unheard by the God of Wonders and God of Might.

"Oh LORD my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the works Thy Hands have done..."

You cannot wear Spider Webs!

Read this:

Isaiah 59:1-8 (NASB) 1 Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken falsehood, Your tongue mutters wickedness. 4 No one sues righteously and no one pleads honestly. They trust in confusion and speak lies; They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity. 5 They hatch adders' eggs and weave the spider's web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a snake breaks forth. 6 Their webs will not become clothing, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity, And an act of violence is in their hands. (emphasis mine.) 7 Their feet run to evil, And they hasten to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, Devastation and destruction are in their highways. 8 They do not know the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks; They have made their paths crooked, Whoever treads on them does not know peace.

What are you wearing right now while you read this post? That is a rhetorical question by the way... I want you to think in terms of what you depend on to "Cover" you. What do you think "covers" your more jacked-up aspects of your life? What covers your wrongs, your sins?

Is it your "goodness?" That would be you're a good person, try to do good, treat people nice, help old ladies across the street, be nice to strangers, and you recycle... Wow, you ARE good! I am surprised you aren't God Himself! I remember when I used to think I was "good." I realized a few years back that I am not at all good. The only good in me is what Jesus Christ grows in me through my study and relationship with Him. What about you? Most of us think we are "good enough" or a "pretty good person." But we are not good enough and when we think we are good enough, we are trying to wear cobwebs for clothing, and that won't work.

Isaiah 59:1-2 (NASB) 1 Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. (emphasis mine.)

We could try to fool God into believing we are "Wearing goodness as clothing" but that simply has no impact on God, because He's God! He see's our naked unrighteousness right through our spider's webs; however, it is our own iniquities (sins) that seperate us from God. He won't hear us and our sins are why His face is hidden from us. To be clothed in Christ's righteousness (true goodness) we must accept Him, claim Him, serve Him, repent of our sins TO Him.... daily. Sometimes even minute to minute we repent. Minute to minute we seek knowledge of and relationship with Jesus Christ. If we seek Him moment by moment we will find Him. If we pursue Jesus Christ moment by moment we will know Him better with each passing moment. If not, He will be hidden from us and we will grow cold in our spider's web coats...

There is absolutely hope for us... In the coming days you will hear more of this hope, and you will find help. In the meantime, go find your Bible... Read it. Pray to the Living God whose inspired Word was given to man so that we could read it and know it and to know Him. Many people died horribly gruesome deaths to bring us this Bible... It would defame their memories for us to allow our Bibles to gather dust in some unknown drawer... covered in cobwebs.

A One-a, a two-a, a three-a...

In order for the below to happen, there are a few things that must happen first. Read Isaiah 11:6-9 then proceed to the next step:

Isaiah 11:6-9 (NIV) Isa 11:6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

Wow! That was nice huh? Wouldn't it be nice if that was the way it is now? It will be the way it will be, AFTER some other things happen first... Read on oh, reader-eternal...

Isaiah 12:1-6 (NIV) Isa 12:1 In that day you will say: "I will praise you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. 2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." 3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 In that day you will say: "Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. 5 Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. 6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."

Yeeeeeikes! That doesn't feel nearly as good as the first passage... Some folks read that passage and they say, "That isn't anymore because it is the 'age of grace' and not the 'age of the law' and so I am not subject to that at all. Uhhhh, let me think about that.... NOT! Prosperity Preachers and Post-Modern Emergent Preachers are leading so many astray with this crap... Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it... "Fulfill the Law"doesn't mean to do away from it or negate it rather it means to bring it to the next level. We must give thanks. We must worship the LORD - which does not simply mean to go to church. We must call upon His Name - and not just when we need Him to get us out of a jam! We must give thanks and sing to the LORD. We must tell the nations... which is EVERYONE!

Who would have you believe that you can have the bear and the lamb hanging out together and the little kids playing with cobras without obedience and worship and service? Read below to see who/what would have you to believe you can skip over obedience to go straight to idyllic:

Isaiah 14:12-21 (NIV) Isa 14:12 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." 15 But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. 16 Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: "Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, 17 the man who made the world a desert, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?" 18 All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb. 19 But you are cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch; you are covered with the slain, with those pierced by the sword, those who descend to the stones of the pit. Like a corpse trampled underfoot, 20 you will not join them in burial, for you have destroyed your land and killed your people. The offspring of the wicked will never be mentioned again. 21 Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the sins of their forefathers; they are not to rise to inherit the land and cover the earth with their cities.

Wow, read that again... I will wait for you... Go ahead, it is worth the time!

Ok, now, let's talk about this. That is some heavy stuff and it is prophesy and it is true.... and, it applies to all of us. Now, I know that this passage is under some debate: Is this about Satan? Is this about the king of Babylon who would pay the price for his sins and his sins against God's people. So, when you worry about someone wronging you, think about this passage. Even kings and Satan himself will get what is coming to them and you will get to live with lions and bears, Oh My!

If you want this: Isaiah 11:9 (NIV) Isa 11:9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,
You have to have this: for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

How do you acquire the full knowledge of the LORD? You learn about Him and His Son Yeshua. How do you do that? Read His Word, Learn of Yeshua, Do what He did, Believe in Him as though He is standing right next to you... because He is. He is not holding a cobra. He is holding your life... and your life is dangerous! What will you do with your life?

Will you make your life a testimony to and of Christ? Will you make your life a sanctuary of Worship and Praise? Or, will you play with bears, lions and snakes?

The choice is yours, but if you were me and I was you, I would get reading... and don't skip Genesis-Malachi... It is all important. Now, let's all sing it together: "A One-a, a two-a, a three-a..." I think I am a little pitchy dawg, but God loves to hear us sing His Name and He is enthroned on our praises...

Don't Go Leaning on Spider's Webs

Read the Scripture below the post and then come back here:

Did you think the book of Job was just about the suffering of a great servant of God, Job? Did you think that the whole book was just about the suffering of Job to prove that God's hold on Job's heart was stronger than Satan's power on Job's wealth, physical health, and family bonds? No, it is not just the tale of the testing of a good man, it is also about the deep love of God within a mortal man named Job, but most of all, it is about great faith expressed through great pain, consistently.

When our faith is seriously tested what do we lean on? We often lean on our intellect, our looks, our reputation, our discipline, our hard work, our previous history of reliability, and yet, those are like spider's webs... They just aren't strong enough to support us and our needs.

Bildad, Job's friend was only trying to help his dear friend, and yet he had it all wrong anyway. He wasn't much help at all, and God rebuked Bildad and his two friends in the end. Are we sometimes guilty of unconfessed sin and that is why our needs don't seem to be heard by God? Yes. Are we sometimes guilty of disobedience and small or absent faith and God doesn't seem to hear us? Yes. Are we sometimes guilty of holding grudges and resentment against someone and God doesn't forgive us until we forgive that person? Yes!

God says to obey Him and He will reveal Himself to us. His plan for our lives will be clarified through our CONSISTENT obedience, over time. There was much wisdom in Bildad's words, yet he missed the vital point, sometimes the path IS hard, and rocky, and troublesome, and sometimes the journey breaks us down until we feel we cannot walk through life any longer... because we lean on spider's webs that WE spin from our own capacity, and not of God's capacity. In one sense Bildad was correct to not assume that because of the appearances of God's blessings upon Job because of Job's apparent faithfulness that Job was, in fact obedient to God.

How many people do you know that behave one way in church on Sunday then live an entirely different scene Sunday afternoon through Saturday night? Maybe it is you that is incongruent with what God wants from you? Maybe your obedience is like a spider's web, it just won't hold up under the pressures and weight of your real life lived by the real you. We often suck our guts in and try to appear as though we aren't as "heavy" as we really are, then we lean on the spider's web, the web knows the truth about us and it falls away like the nothing it is... revealing us for who and what we really are.

We need God. He is a Fortress, a Rock, a Friend that never fails, and never falls for our crap we sling at Him. He knows us and so does the spider's web... Don't go leaning on spider's webs!

Job 8:1-22 (NIV) Job 8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: 2 "How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind. 3 Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right? 4 When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin. 5 But if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty, 6 if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place. 7 Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be. 8 "Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned, 9 for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. 10 Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding? 11 Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water? 12 While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass. 13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless. 14 What he trusts in is fragile; what he relies on is a spider's web. 15 He leans on his web, but it gives way; he clings to it, but it does not hold. 16 He is like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden; 17 it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks and looks for a place among the stones. 18 But when it is torn from its spot, that place disowns it and says, 'I never saw you.' 19 Surely its life withers away, and from the soil other plants grow. 20 "Surely God does not reject a blameless man or strengthen the hands of evildoers. 21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. 22 Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tents of the wicked will be no more."

When Solomon talks... the Wise listen!

Even though Solomon is billed as the wisest man on Earth, he failed often. When someone as wealthy as Solomon fails there are lessons learned if only the reader will take advantage of the experiences of others. We are blessed beyond measure to have the words and thoughts of Solomon written in such an easy to follow medium as the Book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 1:1-7 (NASB) Pr 1:1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 2 To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, 3 To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; 4 To give prudence to the naive, To the youth knowledge and discretion, 5 A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, 6 To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles. 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

After leading us on a path that surely includes whatever station of life any reader may occupy, young person, naïve, wise man, and a man of understanding we are given in Chapter 1, Verse 7; the key, the utter link to any pursuit and acquisition of wisdom; “fear of the Lord.” This is followed precipitously by the rebuke of fools who identify themselves by despising wisdom and instruction.

God directed Solomon to include these chapters from a collection of his 3,000 proverbs leading me to believe these are the most salient and relevant, not only for the audience of Solomon’s time, but also for my generation. We are not relegated to live in this complex world without direction for the simplest or most complex issues we may face. God gave us Proverbs in which we receive amazing tidbits of instruction from Solomon’s vast experience.

How do we live a wise life in light of the snare’s present in this broken world? We read Proverbs, presumed to be the book of Solomon’s middle years with the knowledge that Solomon has already experienced a litany of challenges that frankly, I will not likely face.

Why have You forsaken Me?

The above photograph was taken by me during a tour of "The Holy Land Experience" in Orlando, Florida. I am 150 feet away and the portrayer of Jesus Christ on the Cross is 35 feet above the ground and yet, I cannot take my eyes away from His face strained with pain and the weight of the world's sin resting upon His shoulders.

This photograph was taken during the second portrayal of the day and I thought perhaps on the second time around I wouldn't sob, as I did from my seat in the first portrayal. I was wrong. This portrayal was in the afternoon and I was standing to the right of where the King of kings was pushed down to the concrete as He is lead through the streets right by me! Right in front of me!

I thought I would, having seen many portrayals of the beating and crucifixion of Jesus, would be more methodical in my observation of the "dramatic portrayal" of the event that changed my life and millions more people's lives. On the first viewing, I was sitting on a bench in a pre-arranged area and I had one napkin left over from our lunch... I needed more.

Honestly, I thought I would watch this live drama and appreciate it's accuracy despite the circumstances the weather might infuse into the drama. I thought I could watch with my camera and while moved by the portrayal, I would keep it together. I was wrong. There was an amazing lady and her sweet child sitting next to Colleen; June and Inae... We soon would be linked by sorrow, sobbing, and then joy. Colleen gave away half of my lone napkin to June because maybe she thought she wouldn't be as moved as she was. She was wrong.

When Colleen mentioned the last showing of the day, I said I wanted to see it, but I wasn't as emotional this time, though I knew what to expect, or so I thought. From the perspective of being streetside as Jesus was thrown to the ground with the cross on His back He actually slid on the ground as a result of the force applied to Him by the Roman guard. I found myself wanting to pass the red lines on the roadway to go push the guard away, to help Jesus to safety.

As the moments passed, the singers reaching into my soul and finding lots of tears, I found myself looking into the crowd, watching the faces of the hundreds of people watching this presentation. The faces were contorted, drawn, and deeply sorrowful. Even the children were frozen in their places witnessing this moment in history, as was I.

I found myself swelling with guilt, just wanting to tell this Jesus, "I am so sorry for what I forced you to do!" Then I realized, I didn't "Force" Him, He went willingly. My eyes strained to focus through the torrent of tears, salting my sunburned face as they fell to the ground weighing heavily upon my heart. I tried to focus and photograph the portrayers as they most excellently portrayed their respective characters. All I could think was, "I am guilty, it is my fault..." I saw the same look on many people's faces.

I saw as Jesus looked into the sky at His Father, Jesus looking at me and my disappointment to Him... I saw my sin nailed upon that cross and I felt guilty because I am.

I can also hear Him reaching out to me, forgiving me, loving me despite me sins. I repented, and continue to repent, trying desperately not to forsake Him again...