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At the time this was written, there are only 1,102 days left until the 2012 Presidential election. Are you registered to vote, yet?

http://www.register-vote.com/

You think Halloween is scary? Try the House Health Bill!

(Credit Sean Hannity newsletter - 30 October 2009)

House Health Bill – A Whopping 1,990 Pages!

The new House health care bill contains almost twice the number of pages than The Bible and weighs more than 5 pounds! The House bill, which was unveiled yesterday, weighs in at a jaw dropping 1,990 pages { Full text of bill can be downloaded here }.

Sean, who perused the massive document this morning, noticed a few important things. “The one important promise Obama gave that you get to keep your health insurance if you want is false,” Sean said. “Go to pages 92 and 18 and you’ll find some frightening language in there that I guarantee you no one in the media is going to pick up on.” Medical devices, such as hearing aids or knee replacements, now come with a 2.5% excise tax. There is also a new tax on health savings accounts and the elimination of non-taxable reimbursements of over the counter medication! “This is great stuff isn’t it?” Sean said sarcastically.

Republican Rep. Joe Barton had the quote of the day when he said the bill is “about four reams of paper” that add up to the American public “getting reamed.”

Faithful to the Word?

Here is a short quote I came across today that I wanted to share with you -- think about it.

"God's Word will never pass away, but looking back to the Old Testament and since the time of Christ, with tears we must say that because of lack of fortitude and faithfulness on the part of God's people, God's Word has many times been allowed to be bent, to conform to the surrounding, passing, changing culture of that moment rather than to stand as the inerrant Word of God judging the form of the world spirit and the surrounding culture of that moment. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, may our children and grandchildren not say that such can be said about us."

Francis A. Schaeffer
http://www.rationalpi.com/theshelter/
The Shelter

A blood donation

We had a great day today at the church, most especially working to prepare for Harvest Fest next weekend as well as giving blood to the American Red Cross. We also had a great lunch (Mexican ... mmmmmmm) afterward with some new friends at the church and we are grateful for the invite from Bobby and Leigha to join them.

Curiously enough (and not by intention) while I was donating blood I noticed I was wearing a t-shirt that said, "Just one drop of Jesus' blood washed away my sin". Pretty cool God moment, eh? And so, as I way laying there donating blood I really had to think about the sacrifice that was made on the cross for me, about the blood that was given so that I could live, long before anyone in my family was even thought of being born. Wow. It is indescribable how much that sacrifice means to me, and how much my life would be totally different had Jesus never came into my life. Two verses came to mind today which are:

Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Hebrews 9:22 says, "In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."

With these two verses in mind, I wanted to say thank you Lord Jesus for loving me enough to give of yourself willingly so that I may be FREE today. I am free because of Christ, and nothing else. I confess that I owe my life, my marriage, my children, and everything I have to that marvelous sacrifice on the cross ... and I am without words tonight considering that truth.

Thank you, Jesus. Good night my friends.

October 23, 2009

Well, another week down and I am that much closer to retirement. Yay!

However, let me tell you about this weekend which looks like it's going to be REALLY awesome! (Hmmmmmm, can a 37 yr old use the word "awesome" and not sound like a geek?) Anyway, tomorrow we have a work day at the church to prepare for Harvest Fest next Saturday, and the church is also hosting the American Red Cross tomorrow for a blood drive. To be honest I am looking forward to donating again cause it has been almost a year and a half since I last gave blood.

Then on Sunday we have a great morning at church planned, followed by that afternoon I am hoping to meet up with a great guy (Brody Harper who can be found @ http://www.brodyharper.com) for lunch/coffee, and then that evening we are seeing Mercy Me in concert here at Frazier UMC. Like I said .... "awesome"!!

And so, I'm settling in to watch Criminal Minds (recorded from this week) and want to wrap this up; so I will close with a great quote I read today from Oswald Chambers which said, "But we must learn that God accepts nothing of the old life! Instead of being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately removing them from us. It is part of our moral education to see our prejudices put to death by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender."

Think I'll go and chew on that one for a while .... bless you friends.

MEN! Step up and raise your kids!

Another great night was spent with my son yesterday. When I got home it got me to thinking about being a Dad and why there seems to be more and more cases of children in trouble where men could have/should have intervened long ago? Look, this might just be my rambling (its my blog so I can do that) ... but just because people can have children does not necessarily mean they should. As I've heard for years, any man can make a baby but it takes a real man to be a Dad.

The Bible is very clear that children are not only a gift from the Lord (Psalm 127:3, "Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him."), but that we (as parents) will be held accountable for how those particular children were raised.

Men ... it's time to WAKE up!!

In my opinion, it's well past the time for men today to step forward and actually be men in their families, and we must take the time to raise our children to respect you, respect other adults, respect authority, and stop trying to be their "best friend" or worse, not be anything to them at all. For example, even though my son is 19, 6'3", 240 something & we go out and do things together as often as we can; I think he knows without any doubt that I will still pop the back of his head when he gets out of line -- regardless of the location or time of day.

I am so sick of seeing children in this nation who are for lack of a better word rejected by their father's for whatever reason. If you were in the room when that child was conceived, then step up and stop being a jerk and shirking your responsibilities to raise your children. You will be held accountable for how you raised or failed to raise your children; and in this day and age there are so many kids who need discipline and to be taught how to grow up it is ridiculous. Men, get off your butts and do something, and quit blaming everyone else for your family's problems -- the responsibility rests with you to bring your children up in the way of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.") .... so DO IT!

OK, I'm done now.

October 11, 2009 - Challenging the Church

This morning we had a wonderful church service where there was a presentation of the Great Commission in a way that was straight forward; without a show or humorous story behind it to water it down. This morning, I saw challenges ... reconciliation ... forgiveness .... and honesty actually demonstrated IN the church. To me, I cannot think of any four things that are MORE relevant to be shown in the church, especially since we are commanded to draw closer to one another as we draw closer to Christ. So, with that some questions came to mind during the drive home today.

- Why do members who simply "attend church" seem to miss these VERY simple things?

- Why is there not more honesty and working with one another for the common purpose (which is to evangelize and make disciples) vice tearing each other apart or being completely fake with one another?

- Why does the song "Stained Glass Masquerade" (by Casting Crowns) so clearly define the norm in churches today and not the exception?

- I wonder if the Apostle Paul could visit our churches today what type of letter would the Lord lead HIM to write?

And so I will say this for the record: Thank you Lord, for leading us to a church where we felt FREE to come home, and that homecoming has led us to be welcomed and challenged to dive back into ministry. I thank you for your continued challenge through the Word, and I ask you to continue whipping our butts and molding us into who YOU want us to be, and not who we THINK we should be.

October 9, 2009

Well, we finally made it to another Friday!! I am sure most think I might decide to rant about the Nobel Prize thing .... but well, after contemplating it all day I have really come to the point of asking, "What's the point?" It's over and done with. Whatever.

Tomorrow the family is headed to Windcreek Park here in Alabama to do some ministry/evangelism work with the church; which in my opinion should be an absolute blessing! Looking forward to Monday and taking the day to just relax and veg out, at least that's the plan right now. Also, I was asked this past week to preach during the next three Wednesday night services at church ... and that is REALLY a great thing. Praying that God blesses all that we attempt to do for Him; because serving Him is all that matters in this world.

I pray that your night is a good one, and that you are richly blessed.

October 6, 2009 - A random rant

So, the lawn mower decided to be difficult this past weekend and now it's in the shop for a few days. And of course, yesterday I had to get a new battery for my truck after being told by a Wal-Mart associate that the battery was fine. Heh ... Did you know that the guy at Auto Zone (who I had re-check my battery on a hunch) actually suggested that Wal-Mart pays its employees in crack because he obviously had no idea what he was talking about? (That was a funny moment though ...)

Then, there is always my favorite news which has the Administration being confused over what to do in Afghanistan; even though every military advisor is clearly spelling it out. Geesh, do the Democrats have a play book or something or do they just read the Nixon memo's for how to screw up the US military? Grrrr!!!

Anyway, yeah ... rant over now. :-)

October 5, 2009

I gotta post a short note just to say that last night Chris and I had absolutely the best time in Atlanta!! Yeah, I know most folks would be shocked to hear that I still enjoy a Metallica concert now and then (but I can say I don't listen to them routinely anymore); but I've always been a "rock pig on a pizza diet" and one metal concert every 4 or so years is not gonna be the end of life. If anything, it gives me an opportunity to spend what I consider VERY precious time with my 19 year old son whom I know one day is going to move out on his own, and then who knows how much time we'll have. Cast stones if you need too - but I've made my peace with the Lord on this one.

Speaking of good times had and to have .... in less than 2 weeks Chris and I go see Queensryche here in Montgomery and if you have never heard their music, they are really impressive in the lines of story-telling and a group that I have always enjoyed listening too. At the very least, their musicianship is amazing and have always inspired me to play better (for those that do not know I have played drums for the past 25 years). Then, less than two weeks from that date the whole family goes to see Mercy Me here in Montgomery. (Gotta love a busy month where I get to continually spend time with my family!!)

Anyway, that's all the news that fit to print from here at Lake Winnebago ... keep those cards and letters coming!

October 2, 2009 - REVELATION!

Wow, what an exhausting and yet refreshing week this has been. I totally missed my normal Sunday post this past week, but hopefully this will make up for it. Many have asked what happened at the retreat (most especially with this status that was posted last weekend: "In Illinois at the Men's Retreat & I'm really seeing some things become clearer regarding the ministry -- but, honesty ain't always pretty.") -- and so, here is the answer.

This past weekend I had the blessing of attending a Men's Retreat in Illinois with No Greater Love Ministries (http://www.nogreaterlove.org) and let me tell you I was challenged by what I heard, opened to hearing God speaking to me, and totally plugged in to the power of the Holy Spirit! In a lot of different ways I have been struggling in my ministry to understand where it is that God is calling me, and how He wants me to be used - and I now have direction, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Just about three weeks ago I had an honest and open meeting with a Pastor friend of mine who after a two hour discussion told me that I could get involved in anything I wanted to at the church, and use the talents God gave me for Kingdom outreach. Wow, I cannot remember the last time I had a blank check handed to me, and I simply felt God's urging telling me to "dive in" and attack this opportunity. And so, after the retreat and of course after making sure that it was God I was hearing from, this past Sunday our family re-joined New Vision Baptist Church (http://www.newvisionbaptist.org) which was the first church we were members of when we came to Alabama, prior to being called to pastor at Bethlehem.

When we came up front to ask to be "plugged in", the welcome we received by the congregation was amazing, and we were simply blessed to be "welcomed home", which was said over and over to us.

In the meeting with our Pastor (Rev J.B. Burt) he pretty much told me that he is needing help in Men's Ministries but did not want me to even think about holding breakfasts or setting up grass cutting events or anything that typically comes with this (GET AWAY from the typical Baptist men's stuff was the immediate instruction here).

What he was asking for help in was to first pray, and then come back to discuss how I could be used; and the answer I received from the Lord (during the pre-mentioned retreat) was in discipleship, accountability, and plain out "stop pretending to be a Christian and live it" Men's Ministries; which we also agreed could roll over to Discipleship Training for the entire church. This is one area that as a Pastor, I have seen is so needed in our churches today, and made me really stop and consider how best to challenge others and myself.

So, it sounds like a huge challenge, right?

How can I possibly do this you might ask?

Well, go forward a few days to this past Wednesday night (2 nights ago) where we sat in the evening service and got thrashed by the Holy Spirit to consider the concept of putting on the full armor of God, and quit pretending to be a follower of Christ. The central mission of the message was to GRAB ONTO the "Faith" (mentioned in Galatians 5:22) and actually live it! I tell you what, I sat there practically balling and realized that what I had been missing was ....... ACTUALLY BEING FED so that I COULD work in the ministry!!

I realized that I was starving spiritually and desperately needed to be poured into, not just emptied over and over for others with nothing coming back in return. Oh, how I longed for this and NOW I had discovered through God's revelation and IMMACULATE and PERFECT timing what I was missing and how I could gain strength to do His work!! HALLELUJAH!! For a year now since I left the pulpit I have not been fed, and it is really that simple and I will not mince words on this. Whether through my own fault or there being nothing of substance to feed on (which sadly was often the case), I was in a spiritual wasteland and starving for nourishment! This was the reason for the confusion, and why I was struggling so much; even as a "Reverend" I needed to be FED!!

So, here I sit in my office having had about an hour of quiet worship before God, I am humbled and amazed at how He works. My heart is rejoicing at this moment considering all that He is in my life, and how perfect He is in His timing, and that He is really all I will ever need. We have joined a church that is not only feeding our souls but is preparing, encouraging, and discipling us to work in a way that I never thought was possible. Truly, this verse comes to mind tonight and brings it all into perspective:

Psalm 91:2, "I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

Thank you Lord, for you are my refuge and all that I will ever need. I trust that YOU, God, know the next step, and I look forward to watching YOU move!! I love you Lord, more than even the air in my lungs.