The Wreaking of Havoc

I think we should ban autmobiles and go back to horses.Very few people statistically are ever run over with horses. But, cars, that's another story. Ask any insurance company, those cars are flat deadly and wreak havoc all over the world. Sometimes there are 10-20 car pile-ups on major freeways. We should ban them, just sayin.' Just post a person with a pooper scooper everytime you leave the house and we're good. Or a diaper for the horse, although that might get messy after the first turn around the city. And while we're at it, let's get rid of knives. Knives are nasty creatures, I use them all the time and cut my fingers regularly. Sometimes I bleed on the food and have to throw it out. Have to use copious amounts of band-aids to fix my fingers. Shameful. I think getting rid of them altogether is good. After all most of us now have food processors or those jam-the-tomato-on-the-cutters-doo-dahs and we can probably cope. Just because Grandpa Hoozits knows how to make a knife doesn't mean anything, right? And what about drugs, you've tried banning those, yeah not so effective. Or poisons? People keep making them.Huh. Must be something we can do. But let's be serious about gun control for a minute: even in Europe where guns are rigidly controlled, they have had massacres like ours: Dunblane, Ireland; Kingsmill, Ireland; Norway, etc. So what do we do to prevent these atrocities? How do we save the lives of our precious children amidst a world filled with people bent on destruction, driven by evil? Their hearts are evil, not the implements they choose. The gun didn't wreak gavoc on the earth, but their hearts surely can and do. We must live in truth and understanding, with a healthy dose of forgiveness.Without the seeds of forgiveness, we become cold hearted, self-centered people. The hearts of men are desperately wicked. If we do not want to fall into that category ourselves, we have to be a vigilant and prayerful people. We could not have saved those blessed children in Newtown, CT.because of the personal actions of a messed up kid. But we can be aware of our own hearts and keep them fully centered in Christ. It's never easy to do that; it's nearly always difficult. But as the world grows colder, thanks to the kind of evil we saw in Connecticut, we must stay warm with the love and forgiveness, the fruits of the Holy Spirit. And it will require every ounce of strength, every modicum of God's power in our hearts to stay in that place. As the Allstate Insurance advertisement claims, we need to be protected from "mayhem." Or the wreaking of havoc.

What do the "righteous" do?

First let me define "righteous"- it's a legal term that means right standing. The ONLY way we get there is by acceptance of Jesus as our Savior. That's it. We don't get there by works, although works are an important part of following the Lord. Sometimes Christians get that backwards.We can't work our way to the Lord, no matter how "good" we are on the surface. But we should follow Him daily by doing the things He asks us to do. Enough said on that. So what do people who love Christ do when every sign around them shows things swirling down the toilet of sin and destruction? They trust. They refuse to bow their knee to what's happening. I read a short piece from a brother in Christ this morning, and by and large it was true. We must pray in the gap for our land and our people because things are quickly spiraling out of control. We must stand firm in our principles. We must not buckle under the pressure to believe what the world believes about things. But he left out one key piece of the puzzle: trust (faith). When Daniel's three friends were faced with being thrown in a furnace hotter that the human body could survive, they looked the king in the eye and with humility told him flat that it didn't matter whether God saved them or not, they would not bow their knee to his image. The king became enraged and pitched them into the fire.We know the rest of the story: a fourth Man "like the Son of God" appeared in the flames and walked around in the furnace with them. They didn't even so much as have the smell of smoke on their clothing. What we need to see in that is a) God doesn't remove us from the fire, He stands beside us in it, and b) trusting God when everything around us is dark and evil is essential. We are only in the beginnings of fire right now. Because we chose to elect a President that does not operate in our values, that fire is going to burn ever hotter. We cannot and should not sit on our comfortable couch and watch Desperate Housewives. We must pray, repent, and hope. God can and will do as He chooses. But unless we use our faith muscles we will get soft and worthless. Our Lord loves those who trust Him and those who believe in His love in their lives.

Controversial me

My earthly dad had a very black and white personality. No such thing as lukewarm in his world- either you loved him or hated him and vice versa. It appears I have the same effect on people. Good for me. Must be doing something right. A friend from Twitter called me "auspicious" this morning. What a compliment. The word means "favorable" or "prosperous." While some days I don't feel so prosperous, I know that I am blessed beyond a lot of folks. So my babbling this afternoon will be about that. 1. I am blessed because a man on death row says he trusts me not to condemn him further. Say what you will, that is a huge compliment. And amazing, considering where the guy has come from in his life. That statement recently almost brought tears to my eyes. 2. I am blessed because I believe in the redemption of the lost. Redemption, by the way is not perfection, it is "adoption" or "purchased." If we were all perfect we'd be walking on water all the time. I've run into many people who demand perfection and therefore can't see redemption standing in front of them. (Snarl) 3. I am blessed because I have friends and relatives who love me. And I am blessed to love them back.There's not enough of that in the world- true friendship that lasts through time. I am fond of telling my friends that when I get a friend, I intend to keep them forever. If God can do it for me, I can do it for them... and Him. No matter what we encounter in our lives, the ability to love is everything. America's love has grown cold. People are living in fear, anger, and bitterness. Because of it, our nation is polarized into opposing forces that cannot meet without compromising the values of the people. Instead of rational thought we have judgments and opinions that are running amok throughout the nation.So I will hold fast my blessings listed above. Who knows how someone will try to steal them.