Heath's Blog

Food Stamps

2011-08-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

On the news today I heard a democrat saying that food stamps stimulate the economy and he was glad to see the increase in food stamps. Do people really buy into these lies? I would like to see an analysis of how much the government spends on distribution, administration, and maintaining ever dollar of food stamps. I bet we spend over $10 for ever $1 we distribute. Maybe if we took this money and actually helped people get work, not only would we help feed the needy but also give them self accomplishment. Making people dependent on the government does nothing to help people or the economy.

Stop the Lying!!!

2011-08-08T19:20:00.000-07:00

I just listened to Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. She is a prime example of what is wrong with the two party system. She, being a Democrat, only wants to just blame the Republicans and put no fault on the Democrats. She uses half truths in order to make the points she wants to believe. Or worse, uses those half truths to make other people believe things she wants them to rather than the whole truth.

The truth is both Democrats and Republicans are to blame for the financial debt and instability. Look at a little history that people ignore. The Democrats were in majority of the Congress the last two years of President Bush. That is when the largest debt increase occurred. Yes, Bush could and should have vetoed the excess spending. This is one example of why I say both are to blame.

Here is a graphic that shows the breakdown:
http://radioviceonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/US-Debt.jpg

Now for the S&P. Many Democrats and Rachel Maddow wants to say only the Republicans are to blame. They choose to leave out this part of the S&P statement.

http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/articles/en/us/?assetID=1245316529563

Our opinion is that elected officials remain wary of tackling the structural issues required to effectively address the rising U.S. public debt burden in a manner consistent with a 'AAA' rating and with 'AAA' rated sovereign peers (see Sovereign Government Rating Methodology and Assumptions," June 30, 2011, especially Paragraphs 36-41). In our view, the difficulty in framing a consensus on fiscal policy weakens the government's ability to manage public finances and diverts attention from the debate over how to achieve more balanced and dynamic economic growth in an era of fiscal stringency and private-sector deleveraging (ibid). A new political consensus might (or might not) emerge after the 2012 elections, but we believe that by then, the government debt burden will likely be higher, the needed medium-term fiscal adjustment potentially greater, and the inflection point on the U.S. population's demographics and other age-related spending drivers closer at hand (see "Global Aging 2011: In The U.S., Going Gray Will Likely Cost Even More Green, Now," June 21, 2011).

So here is my plea. It is time for Americans to quit automatically believe the information they hear from their politician or media personalities that bend the truth. Let’s all start looking to all the facts and quit allowing people to lie to us.

Sister's Testimony

2008-09-23T20:59:00.000-07:00

This is my sister's testimony. I thought it was worth sharing.

Growing up, my parents took me to church and I played the part. I got baptized at 12 years old and I remember wanting to tell my friends, but I was afraid to. Unfortunatly the only reason I got baptized then because I knew I was supposed to. I never really was changed.

Years later I met and married Bryan and we moved to Beebe. We ended up visiting Union Valley Baptist Church and I remember thinking that I had never been so captivated by a sermon before. I grew up going to church but it was different...I never paid attention and I guess looking back it was a mostly a social thing. UVBC's pastor, Brother Tommy, kept my attention (and anybody that knows me well knows that I have the attention span of a gnat).

So Bryan and I decided to join Union Valley, and since I had never been a member of a Baptist Church before I was baptized (Aug. 1999). Soon after that I started reading the Left Behind Series and it scared me. I never felt "changed" but at this point since I had already been baptized twice I kept my mouth shut.

My mom died in March of 2004 and I really took a step back and looked at my life. I heard a song recently that says "I despise my own behavior. This only serves to confirm my suspicions That I'm still a man in need of a savior." That's exactly how I felt (only not the man part because I'm a woman). I hated myself and I struggled with that for almost two years.

I worked at Children's Hospital every other weekend until last summer. Finally in August I got a Monday through Friday position at Children's and I was finally able to attend church services regularly. August through November I really struggled with my insecurity about my salvation. I remember a communion night in late fall that I really lost it. I was crying so hard thinking to myself "He went through the horrific beating and hung on that cross for me, and I am too afraid to come forward because I worried about what my family and friends will think?" I just remember thinking that everybody I knew would think to themselves that I had been faking it for so long and that I was a liar. I was ashamed at the fact that I never "gotten right" earlier.

On Sunday, December 11th, Doug James (my Sunday School teacher) was talking about the day that he was saved. He named that day as the day that he was forever changed. I knew I never had that. Then during the church service, Brother Tommy preached on whether we ever made time for Jesus. It really spoke to me. During the time of decision I was having an all out war inside of me. I was crying and struggling to break free. Then all of a sudden my cell phone starts ringing (I had no idea it was in my coat pocket) and it was the Chicken Clucking song. I scrambled to turn it off and I felt like dying of embarrassment. I thought to myself that it ruined what I was about to do. Then I decided that I wasn't going to continue to let Satan pull me away from what I needed to do. I had spent too much time running from the Lord when I needed to be running to Him. It's kind of ironic that it was the Chicken song (I have different ring tones for different people and only ONE that rings that tune)...it was like God was calling me a chicken. So I broke free from the guilt and shame and then it was like I couldn't get to Brother Tommy fast enough to confess that I had never made time for Jesus but I was ready to do it now. I thank God for being so patient with me and not giving up on me, even though I had long since given up on myself. I believe that God sends storms into your life for a reason and losing my mom meant finding God--completely.

Since then, Bryan and I really almost split. On Valentine's Day of this year we went to marriage counseling and when we left I had made of my mind that I couldn't do it anymore. For four days, I spent every second of free time trying to plan on how I would tell everyone (especially Madison and McKenzie). Bryan and I didn't speak to each other at all that week after Valentine's Day until Friday of that week. He wrote me a note telling me that he didn't want to give up on us. Also in the letter he told me that part of the problem lately was him struggling with his salvation because he had seen a peace about me since December that he had never felt. (I was shocked because he was the son and grandson of Baptist preachers and had even done some preaching himself as a teenager.) Even through the marital storm he could tell that I was changed since December 11th. Friday through Sunday morning I didn't talk to him about the salvation part because I didn't want to influence him either way. I just prayed almost constantly that he would either get saved, or if he was already saved and the devil was just planting doubt in his mind, then he would find comfort.

That Sunday morning was the snow and ice storm and many churches were closed. I knew that we needed to be there Sunday and so I prayed church wouldn't be cancelled. Well we had church and Bryan broke down in Sunday School and asked Jesus to come into his life. So I feel like God allowed us to absolutely hit rock bottom in our marriage so Bryan would take a step back and see what was really bothering him--he needed to give his life to Christ. These last few months have changed our lives and it's because of Him that we are now able to weather life's storms--TOGETHER! It took us longer than it should have, but we finally have given ourselves to Him.

Sorry this was so long, but I have to share my story. Thanks for allowing me to share it with you.

Encouraging Sunday School or Small Groups

2008-08-23T22:01:00.000-07:00

With my last blog, there was some discussion brought up on Small Groups, Sunday School, or both. While this video does not address the differences in opinion of the preferred model, I thought it was a good video for encouraging people to get more involved. I personally like it because it does not assume that Sunday School is wrong, but instead encourages people to get more involved than just Service. This video could be altered to encourage Small Groups as well. I could see that being very useful at the Bayou with the push in Small Groups that is coming up. Sean, show your MAGIC!!!

Getting Past Know!

2008-06-21T22:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, Sean has pushed me enough that I am going to post a new blog even though I have not full wrote it out and finalized it. Over the last year, I have been paying much closer attention to the churches in North America. I listen to a few by podcasts as well as I regularly talk with people at different churches. One things seems consistent among these churches. They are all having problems within their congregation. Whether the church is pastor led, congregational led, or elder led, they all seem to be dealing with issues in there congregation. To bring this point even more to the forefront, I actually had a kid say they they did not want to come to church because there was too much drama and back stabbing in the churches. Looking at this problems in churches, I have come to the conclusion that we have a bunch of members in churches that not gotten past "knowing" about Christ. Throughout our churches, especially in the South, it is all too easy to say the right things just because you "know" what to say. It is easy for these people to hide in large churches and unfortunately they often cause problems within the congregation and the community. So this brings up a question that I would love to hear from people: How can we address the growing population of people in church that have not gotten past Know? I look forward to an interesting discussion.

i-Share Again

2007-09-10T18:16:00.001-07:00

Here is a copy of i-Share without the link.

Everything

2007-09-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

I thought I would repost the last entry with the video in the page. I realize some people do not like to go to linked pages. Once again if this drama does not touch you I would like to know how?

Everything

2007-09-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

This is a drama that I think should be performed in everything church across the world. Do not click on this link unless you are willing to open your eyes up to the evil that keeps us from God.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GwdTg9l_bI

I-Share

2007-08-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

I got this link to a video from a friend and wanted to share it would others.

Heath

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX8qbHK-S70

Pastor for President

2007-05-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

Do you consider yourself a conservative Christian? Well, to many times our actions do not show our believes. Below are links to an interview with Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee. If you are a Christian, I believe you will like what he has to say. It is time to stand up and let our actions (and votes) match our beliefs. I would love to hear what you have to say about the interview, but as for me it is Huckabee for President!

Heath

Huckabee Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxFugLZNGjE

Huckabee Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sJxlzoou1c

Haley's Baptism

2007-04-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

It is such a blessing to have children, but I never knew how much of a blessing it could be until about a year ago when I was able to pray with my oldest daughter Haley to accept Christ. Additional blessing came this Palm Sunday as we got to watch as Haley publicly professed her acceptance as Jesus as her Lord and Savior through baptism. God IS SO GOOD!!!

Coming Back

2007-04-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, I guess there are a few people that actually read this. I am going to try to get back to posting some point on a weekly basis. I have a lot of ideas on topics that I have contemplating. Some of these are Trusting in the Lord vs Stupid Decisions and The Effects of Selfishness on the Church. I will try to post one of these later this week. Thank you all for your support. Sorry that I took a break from this.

Did you notice?

2007-04-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hey there. I have recently had a couple of people mention to me that I have not blogged in a while. I have to say that I was really surprised that anyone noticed. Since I did not get many posts, I did not think anyone was reading it. This will be my test. If you are reading this, please post and if there are some people, then I will start back up.

New Year’s Resolution?

2007-01-01T09:57:00.000-08:00

As a new year begins, like many people, I look back at the last year and reflect on the year. The one thing that I may look differently at is the tradition of making resolutions. Of course it would be easy for me to commit to exercise, losing weight, eating healthier, etc. I do need to do these things, but what does the need to make a resolution really mean? I think the need to make resolutions simply means that we realize that we are failing in an area in our lives. Thinking of it this way, I think we should look at the larger picture of where we are failing instead of just looking at personal selfs. That is what this post is all about.

As you may know, I started taking courses for a Master in Christian Studies almost a year ago. Besides the amazing knowledge that I have learned, the most beneficial data came from the last class that I took, Evangelism and Missions. This class really made me think of how we as Christians do when it comes to Evangelism and Missions. It was VERY disappointing to learn that we are failing when it comes to sharing Christ with others. The majority of the funds and man power are spent in areas where most people have already heard the word of Christ. There is an area called the 10/40 window in which has the most people that have not heard the message of Christ, yet this is where the least amount of missionaries and missionary funds go. If this is the biggest area of need for the Message, why is this where we are spending the least funds and time on. This led me to realize that we as Christians need to rethink how we look at evangelism. I think this must start with how we look at evangelism in our personal lives.

When it comes to personal evangelism, most Christians look at it as the duty of missionaries or pastors to witness to others. As a matter of fact, it is stated that 95-97% of Christians NEVER share their faith with others. That means that only 3-5% of us are willing to truly share our faith. Now this is not sending on a chain letter that says you recognize Christ. This means actually developing a relationship with people and sharing your faith with them. I think this was the most important thing that I learned this last year. How do we are really look at our responsibility of sharing the good news of grace and forgiveness? How important do we look at sharing the most important thing in our lives with others?

Thinking of how we are doing in personal evangelism made me look at things around me and what we are doing in order to reach people for Christ. In spending the time to look at this, I realized that most of the people around me wanted to focus on evangelizing to people that already knew Christ. That really did not make sense because the definition of evangelism is “the winning or revival of personal commitments to Christ.” If these people have already accepted Christ, then we should be focusing on discipleship rather than evangelism. There was one great evangelism attempt that I did participate in, but I actually heard than one youth pastor even say that if we are having programs where there are more lost people than saved people at the program, then something is wrong. While I truly hope that he was misunderstood in this statement, this would go along with how we are reaching the people in the 10/40 window. If we do not want lost people at our church programs, then how do we really think we are going to reach lost people? Since the other religions are growing faster than Christianity and since it seems like more time is spent on tearing other Christians down than is reaching people with Christ, I think it is safe to say that we are failing at the Great Commission.

Well, my conclusion and the closest thing that I am committing to as a New Years Resolution has to do with refocusing on how we look at evangelism. There is no doubt that we are failing and need a resolution when it comes to evangelism. We must have the passion and dedication to share the love and grace of Christ as the Muslim and Mormons do with their beliefs. We must start looking around us for the Holy Spirit to guide us to share the Good News. We must stop looking at Christ in a selfish nature and look at it as our duty commanded in Matthew 28:19-20.

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you;
and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

I ask everyone including myself how many times have you looked at a crowd in a football game and asked yourself how many of these people do not know Christ? How many times have you wondered while walking through the mall how many of these people are going to spend eternity in hell if someone does not share the sacrifice of Christ with them? Even harder, how many times have we looked at a barbarian like Saddam Hussein and were more glad to see him see justice than we were concerned with him spending eternity without Christ? We must look at our world differently and start looking at our purpose in sharing the love of Christ with others. We must stop looking at Christ’s love as just for us and start looking at the importance of sharing this with others. So I hope that when you think of your New Year’s Resolutions, you think about how many people may suffer in eternity because we need a resolution in how and when we share Christ with others. I commit to look harder at the world around me and proactively look at where the Holy Spirit wants to use me and get out of my comfort zone. I am curious how many people with make this resolution with me.

Christmas

2006-12-26T09:01:00.000-08:00

As I sit back an reflect on Christmas, it is sad to see how much this special day have been commercialized. The fight about whether to call it Christmas or Holidays is our own fault because we have lost the true meaning of Christmas. It is great to give gifts and to spend time with family, but we need to spend more time sitting down and really thinking about why Christmas is important to us? What information around the birth of Christ is important? I believe all the details around Jesus' birth are extremely important and that we need to realize how important His act is to our eternity. With that being said, lets all spend some time before the end of the year celebrating Christ sacrificial act.

Twas the Night Before Jesus Came

2006-12-06T22:13:00.000-08:00

I saw this post on a friend's blog from Lafayette and I thought you might enjoy it too.

Click the Link to Read
http://jessicaeh.blogspot.com/2006/11/twas-night-before-jesus-came.html

Should We Be Concern?

2006-12-06T13:49:00.000-08:00

I recently did a research paper on Effective Ways of Reaching Youth of Tomorrow for the Masters in Christian Study class that I am taking. The passion for doing this research paper had to do with some recent encounters that I have had where people seemed more interested in doing things "the old way" than they did in actually trying to save kids from hell. I was really hoping that my passion and concern was over stated, but unfortunately the statistics that I found were even more concerning. Here are three points that really sparked my concern:

~80% of Southern Baptist Churches have an average age of members of 60 years old or higher!
Statistically, if people are not saved by age seventeen, the chances of their ever accepting Christ are almost nil!
88% of the children raised in evangelical homes leave church at the age of 18, never to return.

If these statistics do not concern you, then most people would question if you care about anything. I think we must first realize that this is the state that we are in. I know that I do not want to accept this situation, but the fact is this is what we have created. This also means that most of the things are doing are not working. I do not say this to offend anyone, but because I am concerned that we are losing our youth to hell.

The next thing that we must do is to find ways to share the Truth with the youth. If the old ways are not working, then why would we not look for ways to share this important news. The only reasons that I have heard not to look for different ways is either "we have never done it this way before" or "it makes me uncomfortable." I answer these comments that same way. I say that I am very thankful that Jesus did not try to do it the same old way. If it was not for Him making Himself and other uncomfortable, then we would never have a way to heaven. Is it not worth making ourselves uncomfortable in order for these kids not having to spend eternity in hell.

In closing, I listened to a paper last night on Missional Theology. Donny Granger was able to explain perfectly the passion behind Missional Theology and the "Posture of Pursuit" that we should have toward lost people. This is the passion that I would like to have toward youth. What is the passion? Well, the picture below shows the intensity that we need.

So the question is now to you. Are you willing to passionately pursue after the lost youth putting yourself into uncomfortable situations that could save these kids eternal lives?

2006-12-02T18:03:00.000-08:00

Me Church

It is too unfortunate that some people view church this way. Every imagine WHY?

2006-11-30T21:25:00.000-08:00

I'm a Christ Follower (Mac vs. PC Parody) Part 01

This video was shared with me by a good friend in Lafayette. I hope you enjoy.

Why do we do it?

2006-11-01T15:11:00.000-08:00

I am taking a masters class in evangelism and missions. There was one particular topic that has really brought up a lot of discussion and I thought I would share it with you.

Are the stances that we hold up in church based on biblical reference or just tradition?

Before you answer this, really sit down and think about the things that are important to you or to people that you know. When you think about this, you really need to take into mind all the different types of worship services and denominations. There are ton of differences. You have the unfortunate battle between contemporary and traditional worship services. You might even think about baptism, but what about simply Sunday School. This is definitely a question to think about when someone starts to argue about something being wrong or right. I think we should rejoice in the fact that God gives us the freedom to worship in different ways that are comforting to each individual. Lets keep the bible strong and quit focusing so much on the preferences. I would love to hear your comments.

Faithfulness in Adversity

2006-10-27T07:23:00.000-07:00

Many times in our lives it seems like everything is going wrong. We worry about our finances, our health, our family, etc. I have even heard people say that things were so bad that they had to steal, lie, cheat, etc. because of the situation they were in. Ultimately, they are saying that things are so bad that they must commit a sin. The story of Job really deflates that thought process. The following blog/sermon is designed to address the need to stay faithful in ALL situations and to learn from these situations as well. Let me know what you think.

Faithfulness in Adversity - Life Lessons from the Life of Job

Have you ever heard someone say that “it can’t get any worse than this”? Have you ever had someone continuously complain of their life and say that they do not deserve the situation that they are in. Or maybe, you yourself have asked God, why are You punishing me? This is a common occurrence in our society. Basically, we want to be blessed, but we do not want to learn things the hard way. Some may say that we want our cake and we want to eat it too. Most people might be asking, what is wrong with wanting that? After all, did not God say that he wants to bless us beyond our comprehension? I think this brings to light the importance to look at the complete message of the Bible and not just take the parts that we want to hear. So today I want to look at what the Bible says about our reaction to blessing as well as trials.

The first book that came to my mind about reactions to blessings was the book of Job. I see many puzzled faces out there. Maybe you are thinking to yourself, was it not Job that suffered greatly. Well, when you start off with the book of Job, you will see a very descriptive list of Job and his blessings. The New American Standard Version of the Bible describes it in this way:

Job 1:1-4- (NASB)-
1There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.
2Seven sons and three daughters were born to him.
3His possessions also were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
4His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

Now if this is not a blessing, I do not know what is. These verses describes the wonderful possessions that he has. It describes both the possession in material status as well as a wonderful family. In our society, you might be thinking that I want Job as my friend. After all we want others around us that are doing good in case it will rub off on us. In addition, the story even talks about the celebrations that his sons would throw. Now it is easy to understand these wonderful blessings because the first verse emphasizes that Job was a good man that feared God and hated evil.

Now that I have your attention and have your mind running, lets think about how this applies to our society today. I think it would be accurate to say that today we often look at blessings the same way that they did in Job’s day. We like to look at material blessings as a reward for obeying God. We also like to look at a loss of these blessings as a punishment of sin. While this would not be completely inaccurate, we must challenge ourselves to look beyond the selfish aspect of this thought and look at the bigger picture. That is why in the next few moments I want us to dig into some detail about the story of Job and focus on how it says that we should react to blessing as well as difficult times.

Reaction to Material Things:

So, lets start by looking at the material blessings of Job. Job was obviously blessed with a lot of material things. He had what many would say was more than enough livestock. I have heard two different thoughts to having many possessions. Some people would say that these are blessing that Job earned from his hard work. Others might say that people, like Job, are selfish for having many possessions. I would personally say that both of these thoughts are wrong. There is no where in the book of Job that it says that his blessing were because of his hard work. It does not even say that Job deserved all the material things that he received. For those that would say people with a lot of material things are selfish, I would recommend that they read the first verse. The Bible states that Job “was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.” I do not think Job would be described like this if he was a selfish man.

So are possessions good or bad? Well, when you look at the story of Job, I think it says that it is not the possessions, but rather the attitude toward the possessions. Job did not covet these material items. He lifted them up to the Lord and considered them God’s instead of his. That is much different than our society generally thinks. For example, a few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to have a discussion with a group of people from my work. This group had a mixture of different people. One of them was a devout atheist and the others were from different Christian backgrounds. The topic that really grabbed my attention was the discussion of tithes. Now money is very much a material thing. Basically the discussion was why would people give 10% of their hard earned money to the church. The group was basically coming to the conclusion that we are to give tithes only because we “have” to. Basically, they were saying that we give because the Bible tells us too. This frustrated the atheist and she could not comprehend why we do something because of an old document. I have to admit that I too would find it hard to give it I only thought of tithes this way. I tried to explain that it is much more than this. I explained that I view everything that I have as His. So simply speaking, I am only asked to give at least 10% of what is his back to the church. I continued to explain that I am happy to give this back and that it is important to give out of the right heart. It was interesting to see the faces of these people with this explanation. Basically, there was a silence and the atheist finally spoke up and said that makes more sence, but she would still have trouble giving it away.

So why do I share this story? Because in our society, we are obsessed with material good including money. Many people may give, but they give out of duty rather than happiness. When Satan was allowed to test Job by taking away his material possession, it showed Job’s heart toward these things and I believe it struck a sword in Satan’s side. Job responded by saying:

Job 1:21 (NASB)
21He said,
"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
And naked I shall return there
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the LORD."

Now how many of us would think this way if we lost everything that we had? Better yet, the next verse in Job states that Job did not sin or blame God. In this case, there was a larger purpose to this suffering even though Job did not understand or know about it. Job’s story and reaction still talks to us today and because of his faithfulness and example, hopefully we to can learn to deal with adversity and remain faithful. So next time you are hurting because you have lost something or maybe your health is bad, remember Job and his obedience. Will you reactions glorify God or cause others to stumble?

Stumbling Rock of Selfishness

2006-10-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

Life Lessons from the Life of Jonah – Stumbling Rock of Selfishness

Doesn’t it feel good when you get your way. It is nice to get a new car or a new gadget that we have wanted for a long time. The feeling that we get is a sence of accomplishment and fulfillment. Why is it though we do not always have that same feeling for others. Sometime I even see people that get upset because one of their friends got something that they did not. This is very common in the business world when a colleague gets a promotion over someone else. This is unfortunately one of the common feelings in our society. Our jealousy, or selfishness, makes us stumble and focuses our thoughts on negatives versus positives for others. This is even more severe when someone that we do not like is blessed. I have even heard people get mad at God because He blessed someone that they did not like. I think most people would agree that this does not seem like the right thing to do, but where can we find guidance in the Bible? One clear area we get guidance is in the Book of Jonah.

We learned about the story of Jonah even as little kids. Most everyone knows the story of Jonah who tried to run away from God. He was trying to run away because God instructed him to go to Nineveh and minister to people that he did not like. Even Veggie Tales has a whole movie dedicated to telling the story of Jonah. I would challenge you though to even look deeper into the story of Jonah. We know that Jonah did not obey God. We know that he ran from God (Which is sort of humorous when you really think about it). We know that he spent days in the belly of a fish or whale. And we know that Jonah finally appealed to God and did as he was commanded. I often use this part of the story to teach my kids about timely obedience. I will say, wouldn’t it have been much better if Jonah would have obeyed the first time? Well, what happened after Jonah finally obeyed? We know that Nineveh was miraculously saved because of Jonah’s teaching. Would it not be amazing if God used one of us to turn around sin in a community like New Orleans or Las Vegas? Well, if we will continue on in the book of Jonah, we will realize his response is much more like our internal sinful nature. Below is Jonah’s response to this miraculous change.

Jonah 4:1-3 (NASB)
1But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry.
2He prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.
3"Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life."

When I read this chapter, it really takes me back a step to think of how selfish Jonah must have been to hate someone like this so much that he did not even want to see these people go to heaven. As I try to relate to his thoughts, the main thing that comes to mind is the past and sometimes present hatred I read about with racism. Our history shows that there were people that hated individuals so much, all they wanted to do is enslave them or even kill them. Whether you think about Hitler or slavery in the United States, this must be the type of feelings that Jonah felt toward the people of Nineveh.

When I think of the hatred that someone must have toward people to feel this way, it just seems that they would immediately be embarrassed and feel guilty of these feelings. Well, as we know through history, most people do not react so lovingly. There have been huge wars because of people’s prejudices and their hatred. Well, just as you see in world history, you see a similar response of Jonah. We read that God tried to teach Jonah that he should be happy that these people were saved. If verse Jonah 4:4, God replies. "Do you have good reason to be angry?" Similar like I see in our society today, Jonah still did not turn and love people as God instructs us. God even caused a plant to grow and give Jonah shade, but his heart was so hard that he could not get over his stumbling block of selfishness. To make things worse, Jonah let his anger for the people of Nineveh transfer to anger toward the plant for wilting. He was so angry and he requested God kill him versus asking for forgiveness and seeking shelter. God in all his glory shares His word with us in the remaining chapters. I think that this response should be a sign that we all wear every day. It is written:

Jonah 4:9-11
9Then God said to Jonah, "Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?" And he said, "I have good reason to be angry, even to death."
10Then the LORD said, "You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight.
11"Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?"

I challenge you to now think about how this relates to your life today. Where are the areas in your life that you have prejudices that need to be recognize and removed? Where have you found times that you have transferred anger from one situation and let it effect another part of your life that was a blessing? These selfish thought, actions, etc are stumbling blocks. While we do not know if Jonah ever turned his heart around and once again found the joy that only comes from God, it is not too late for us. We must remove these stumbling blocks of selfishness where we can grow closer to God and be a living testimony of His love. In closing, while we are in the world, nothing makes us be of the world.

What If . . .

2006-10-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was wondering about what if . . . I mean what if something was different. For example, what if Noah kept debating with God about the design of the Ark? If he would have debated with God maybe all man kind would have died in the flood. Or what if Joseph debated with God about caring for Mary and Jesus. Would have Jesus been killed as a baby and we would all be be doomed? Thank God these people obeyed God and did not debate with Him. On the same idea though, what if we quit debating with God and His will for our lives. What would happen if people stopped focusing on themselves and focused on loving others as God commands us to. This "what if" is still in our grasps and it excites me just to think how much God could use us. All we have to do is to be as obedient as others in the bible. What are we waiting on?

Who is number one?

2006-09-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, this may sound harsh, but hopefully you can see the larger point of my thought. What does an atheist, a disgruntled "Christian", and an involved "Christian" have in common. Well, first thing, is that I have recently had to opportunity to talk to all these "self labeled" people about problems in society and situations that we were in. You might even say that these people received cruel and unusually punishment by speaking to me on these manners. LOL

The larger point of this blog is the interesting take aways that I got from all three types of people. These people had one focus on the discussions that we had. That focus was themselves! The atheist mentioned that she did not need other people telling her things that she should not do, etc. She said that as long as she is not hurting other people, that it is ok. One disgruntled "Christian" shared that he was trying to change the youth ministry for years and could not get them to do what He wanted for his family. Another disgruntled "Christian" just took personal attacks on a pastor that was not present and the attacks focused on the fact that that pastor did not support their desires and that he did not do what they wanted/needed. Finally, the involved "Christian" that comes to mind, continued to complain about the department of service and the people that were in the church serving in this department. She complained that it is not fair that she has to serve these kids by staying at the church to make sure they were safe. Now before you go all off on me, I do not believe these people are "bad" people. I think our society teaches all of us to focus on ourselves and to expect others to serve us. Our society teaches us that we should put ourselves number one. This brings me to my point. I feel that the bible teaches us that the only way that we can be fulfilled is by serving and loving others. It teaches us that it is important to focus on others rather than ourselves. This is a huge contrast to our society and the people that I talked to about society and situations. Is it any wonder that our society is continuously in fights and struggles with the mentality of putting yourself first? In addition, what can we do if this same mentality has penetrated our churches and people outside are now seeing this same focus in churches? I would love to get others people feedback on this thought.

LIES

2006-09-07T16:39:00.000-07:00

Why is it that people think they must lie in order to get something done or even to make someone happy. For some reason, a lot of people think that it is ok to lie in order to make someone feel better. For example, I was contacted by a youth at my church today asking me to lie about her being at church last night. The weird part is that the lie was to say that she was NOT there. I could understand her trying to cover her tracks to say she was there when she really wasn't. (I still would not lie for her though.) The reason that she wanted me to lie was because she did not want to hurt her friend. Basically, she did not have the courage to tell her friend that she needed to come to the church to talk to another friend that was mad at her. So now she is a web of lies and is wanting to get me to lie too. She is upset that I would not lie in order to help her friendship with the other girl. I think that if she would have been truthful to begin with, she would not be in the situation she is now. This makes me really think about what other lies are we told in order to "protect" someone's feelings. Isn't it more important to be honest than to start a web of lies to cover up truth.

Family

2006-08-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

If I am going to blog, I have to let everyone see my family. You cant tell me that God has not BLESS ME!!!

Extra Mile

2006-08-20T19:31:00.000-07:00

Today at church, we talked about Christ's lesson about walking the other mile as a Christian. To simplify this lesson, you can basically say that there are certain things in life that we must do even if we dont like it, but we can control how we act toward these demands. Maybe a better way to say that is that we can control how we react to a demand. This lesson can have a huge impact on our society if people would only obey this lesson. To many times Christians get stuck on themselves rather than take the extra mile for Christ. We let everyone know how mad we are that we had to do something instead of looking at how we can glorify God in the situation that we are in. Basically we are focused so much on letting everyone know that we are unhappy that we miss a blessing that God has for us. So I challenge you to look for areas in your life that may seem tough and to ask yourself where you can glorify God in these situations.

Master Artist

2006-08-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

God is the most amazing artist.