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My Thoughts On Our Divided Nation

My Thoughts On Our Divided Nation

Post Presidential election, America is still a very divided nation where people — not happy — with the results of the election have resorted to violent protests. The lives of people living in these areas have been turned upside down, police officers are being threatened, protestors have been shot, many others have been arrested and property is being destroyed. There are some that have been able to keep their protest of the 2016 election civil, but unfortunately many others have spiraled out of control with very few voices calling for peace.

With almost every major urban area in chaos, the divisive rioting is heading towards civil war. The atmosphere is so negatively charged, people need only the slightest “justification” to mark another person an enemy creating “lines” between us and them. Whether its black, white, Christian, Muslim, secularist, atheist, Republican, Democrat, LGBT, fill in the blank ______, we’re extraordinarily adept at creating a framework that allows us to “justify” making another person our target of violence.

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November 15, 2016 Filed Under: Journal Tagged With: broken, courage, crisis, featured, God, hope, Jesus, life

How A Stump Can Man You Up

How A Stump Can Man You Up

Life is a journey. At times everything can be going great and life’s good, but often there are times when life gives you a solid throat punch! In tough times we can often feel alone and without any sort of compass to guide us. The boy in the legend below is symbolic of you, of me, and what he discovers is an important reminder for all of us on our road to manhood.

There is rite-of-passage into adulthood story for a Cherokee Indian boy where his father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him, and leaves him alone. To pass the test, the boy is required to sit on a stump (or log) all night and not remove the blindfold until the morning sun shines through it.

He cannot cry out for help to anyone. If he survives the night, he is a man. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each youngster must come into manhood on his own.

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October 25, 2016 Filed Under: Faith Tagged With: courage, faith, featured, God, Jesus, journey, stepup

Why People Dislike “Christians” And How To Change That

Why People Dislike “Christians” And How To Change That

If you’ve spent any time reading the stories shared in the Bible, you see that the early Christians had a major impact on the world around them and truly left a legacy. The question I want to explore is, what kind of impact are we having on the world?

Yes, there are many “called by His name” that are being used by God to change hearts and change lives, but too many are bashing those He came to redeem. Bashing people because of the color of their skin, their race, beliefs and yes…sexual orientation. Bashing people for their political views or affiliations; Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, etc. Basically, bashing a world that doesn’t line up with a distorted “Christian view”. It doesn’t take much courage to label people; to categorize them based on the way they look, talk, if they drink, use profanity or what kind of music they listen to. Somewhere along history’s timeline, since Jesus set the narrative, we’ve made Christianity more about mass producing a church-going-whitewashed-perfect-holier-than-thou-we-are-better-than-the-non-believer tribe instead of meeting the brokenness of humanity right where it’s at.

Is any of this awe inspiring?

Remember the woman caught in adultery? or the women at the well?

To be a follower of Jesus Christ is to love God and others. He said it Himself, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” I don’t know about you, but I do this very imperfectly!

It’s tough to live out this high calling, to love ALL people while holding contempt for so many of them…isn’t it. If we truly want to wave the banner of Jesus Christ to a lost and hurting world, we need to drop the attitude… and man up with some good old courage and boldness (of course speaking the truth in love). Actions bring life to words and we need to inspire a bit more! Instead of dictating to the world how they should live, why don’t we start by showing them how to live by living it out and demonstrating it in our own lives. The problem is that many of us don’t live out the lives we impose on others and we just don’t inspire — at all! Don’t believe me? …ask your kids how amped up they are about the whole Jesus thing.

Ok, where am I going with this?

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September 20, 2016 Filed Under: Faith Tagged With: courage, faith, featured, God, Jesus

We Walk As Lions

We Walk As Lions

Followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to live a life that actively demonstrates to others the worth of the gospel. If the Lion of Judah is running before you, let your life be a billboard for how valuable the gospel is and show that the effect it will have on the life of those who believe it is — fearlessness. Philippians 1:27–28 tells us to; “lead a life worthy of the gospel so that when I come I may find that you stand firm, unafraid of any of your opponents.” One of the ways that our lives can demonstrate the worth of the gospel is when the gospel makes “us walk as lions” — courageous and unafraid.

The righteous are the ones who trust in the Lord — the ones who have faith and place their hope on the mercy, power and wisdom of God. These are the ones who are free from fear. These are the ones whose hearts no longer condemn them (1 John 3:21). These are the ones that are right with God, because of His grace and not because of their merit. And their boldness with God (and with men) demonstrates the worth and the value of the gospel (Hebrews 4:2, 6).

Here’s a song from Skillet’s album ‘Unleashed’ to encourage you…righteous warriors of God!

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August 9, 2016 Filed Under: Faith Tagged With: courage, faith, featured, God, Jesus, life, value

Why Our Next President Won’t Be The Hope We’re Looking For!

Why Our Next President Won’t Be The Hope We’re Looking For!

With a nation deeply divided, the political landscape continues to heat up. One camp rooting for Donald Trump and the other camp rooting for Hillary Clinton, with an almost radical zealot zeal.

Have you ever noticed that we as humans continuously want to find a “king”? This is what disturbs me about these political campaigns, especially the election of the next President of the United States. Sure we call the show politics and the players politicians, but deep down inside we are trying to find leadership — a king. You know all the signs advertising the person’s name and crowds are chanting the names of their king-to-be. It’s as if we are working to establish a kingdom here on earth. Of course we show our support for our king-to-be in a non-violent way (wink wink), most of the time. Are you tracking with me?

In a sense we are transferring power from one kingdom to another and inevitability time reveals that all kings end up being the same. They live for their kingdom and not for us, the voters.

There’s something odd about us, isn’t there? Let’s rewind the tape back to ancient times when the people of Israel wanted a king and God tries to debate with them on how bad of an idea this was. God basically tells them that they don’t know what their asking for, but gives them what they want anyways. Here’s the rub…there is something inside all of us that wants to worship something, but we always seem to choose a “king” rather than choosing God.

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July 19, 2016 Filed Under: Faith Tagged With: featured, God, hope, Jesus

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Life is a grindstone and whether it grinds a man down or polishes him up depends on the stuff he's made of. -Josh Billings

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God's business is putting things right; he loves getting the lines straight, setting us straight. Once we're standing tall, we can look him straight in the eye. -Psalm 11:7 (MSG)

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