Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
An Encouraging Email
This came into the Living Waters Ministry, the other day, and it was such a blessing for me to read.
"A quick funny story, about Trish. This was months ago... she was witnessing to two unmarried young people on the radio, and as she was talking to them, I said to myself (out loud in the car) "She's going to ask them if they're fornicating. She's going to ask them. I just know it!"And no sooner did I say that she said something like, "Now I have to ask you, are you two sleeping together? Because if you are, God sees that as a sin and a violation of the 7th commandment" or something like that. I burst out laughing so hard, not because it is funny (because it's not) but because I KNEW you'd have the chutzpah to ask them that! I think I emailed Todd Friel that day and told him to give you a raise! God bless, sister! In Christ, Mark"
Thank you Mark for your encouraging words! It really means a lot.
"A quick funny story, about Trish. This was months ago... she was witnessing to two unmarried young people on the radio, and as she was talking to them, I said to myself (out loud in the car) "She's going to ask them if they're fornicating. She's going to ask them. I just know it!"And no sooner did I say that she said something like, "Now I have to ask you, are you two sleeping together? Because if you are, God sees that as a sin and a violation of the 7th commandment" or something like that. I burst out laughing so hard, not because it is funny (because it's not) but because I KNEW you'd have the chutzpah to ask them that! I think I emailed Todd Friel that day and told him to give you a raise! God bless, sister! In Christ, Mark"
Thank you Mark for your encouraging words! It really means a lot.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Accountability through the Bible
I am currently going through the Old Testament with my good friend Liz, who is my accountability partner, was my maid of honor, and is my dear friend of more than ten years now. We are halfway through the book of 1 Chronicles. We try to go through a book of the Bible about every two weeks. Of course it depends how large the book is. For example since we are in the book of 1 Chronicles we will read 15 chapters the first week and then 14 chapters the second week.Liz lives in Southern California and I live in Texas so I don't get to see her as much as I would like. But when Sunday rolls around we call each other late at night to do "accountability". She will ask me how I did with my reading and vice versa. We also talk about what God taught us the past week. I always look forward to Sunday nights. I am so thankful that I have a friend as faithful as Liz who seeks hard after God and sharpens me on a weekly basis. Her friendship reminds me of Proverbs 27:17 which says, "As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."
What helps me to plow through the Old Testament is keeping a list either written or on a Word Document of the attributes or characteristics of God in each chapter. This causes me to know God in a deeper way, see how He worked with men of old, and worship him for his Sovereign control over the affairs of mankind. Here are just a few examples of what I discovered when I was in 1 Kings :
- Chapter 1: God is Faithful, Powerful, Blessed above all other gods, Worthy of praise, Sovereign
- Chapter 2: God is Sovereign
- Chapter 3: God is Great, Steadfast and Sovereign
Ultimately we are to be accountable to the Lord first and foremost--for everything in our lives. But it is so important to have someone that will stretch us, encourage us, and challenge us in our walk with Christ. Thank you Liz for being such a wonderful friend for so many years.
Friday, December 7, 2007
"Josh has done many things wrong."
I asked Josh and his wife Kristen, yesterday, as they were walking into Best Buy if they would be on the radio program. They paused, smiled and said "Sure." I had only a couple seconds before air time. In fact, I had my cell phone to my ear as I was asking them-I could actually hear Todd and Ray talking live on the other end. 
While Josh was on the air, his wife and I listened in through the car window on a local land line. I think she was shocked that all this was happening. It's not every day that some crazy lady walks up, out of the blue, and puts you on a radio show.
Kristen listened with a big smile and boldly said, "Josh has done many things wrong." She lau
ghed. Then as Ray was bringing Josh though the law she got more and more serious as the seconds passed. I continued to listen in with her.When Josh got off the air I asked, "So how did it go Josh?" "Well, I sure wasn't expecting that." He said. "Did it make sense Josh-I mean do you understand that you broke God's law and that you need someone to pay the fine?" He nodded.
Josh told me, "I have really cleaned up my life and hate living the way I use to." His wife nodded. They both were honest and Josh explained how he was trying to clean up his life, which I commended him for, yet reminded him that he still needs someone to pay his fine. I think they both got the message after we talked for a while.
I gave them a bunch of tracts which they seemed to really enjoy as well as two new bibles. I challenged them to read a chapter together, out loud, before they go to bed at night. They nodded and said they would.
Click here December 06, 2007 - Hour 1 to listen to the full segment it starts about 40 minutes into the program.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
When the Unthinkable Happens...
There are those moments in time when something so evil and so unthinkable plunges you face to face with reality. The last several years the world has had a good look at the unthinkable-- like the mass killings and massacre of 32 students on the campus of Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia and now the killings in Omaha, Nebraska. Where a young man kills eight people and committed suicide in a shooting rampage.
At times like this we wonder how to make sense of something so senseless and repulsive. Our souls are gripped and afflicted with helplessness and utter frustration. There is nothing we can do to turn back the hands of time. All future preventative measures will never undo the events of the past. With such devestation and calamity there is awakened, inside of everyone of us, a cry of the soul which seeks to find purpose, peace and hope again.
If there is ever a time to ask the big questions of life--it is now. This however, is not easily done anymore in our society. We live in an age where ecumenicalism rules the day and tolerance is driven by religious relativism. As I watch the news, I am impressed to wonder how anyone could be comforted by the idea that religious pluralism is the remedy that the nation had prepared for its people.
So where does one find hope in the midst of such darkness? What Buddhism would suggest is that these shootings were simply a “real illusion” and that suffering is nothing more than negative misdirected energy and that no real answer for such a tragedy exists because logic itself does not ultimately exist only “oneness” does. But try telling that to the parents of those killed. Try telling these parents that any part of the death of their loved one is just not true or was just an "illusion". That is nonesense! We would quickly become aware to the reality that ecumenical unity solves nothing! Either someone is right or no one is right. But all religions can not be right at the same time. What people need in a time like this is real answers to a real situation brought about by real evil.
Christianty offers the only real and lasting comfort in which you have a true, sure, unshakable foundation in the midst of a world which produces these unthinkable events. Christ is the only one in whom there is everlasting life and where the answers to life are solved. The Soveriegn God of the Universe does all things so that He might recieve utter glory. This is the hope that the believer has. A hope that is not moved by cirrcumstances and events in life. We must cling to the Savior because we all have violated the Law of God and calamity one day will befall all of us. Death will kock on our door because 10 out of 10 die. This is a statistic that we can't escape. This could be the day that you die --every 24 hours 140,000 people die.
We die because we have sinned against God. Have you sinned? Have you ever lied (even once--fibs, white lies, etc.)? Have you ever stolen (the value is irrelevant)? Jesus said, "Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery already with her in his heart." Have you ever looked with lust? Or used God's name with discust. This is very serious. If God judges you by the 10 Commandments (which we just looked at) will you be innocent or guilty on the Day of Judgment? You know that you will be guilty, and therefore end up in Hell...because you have missed the mark and so have I. In fact everyone has. But wait! Listen...the Bible has the answer for this delimma that we all face--God sent His Son to die on a cross--then He rose from the dead and defeated death. He died for sinners like you and me. He died that we might live. He died for sinners. Taking their punishment upon himself. So what must you do? You must repent from your sins (turn from them) and put on the Christ (trust in him with your whole being). Cry out to God today. You will never regret it.
At times like this we wonder how to make sense of something so senseless and repulsive. Our souls are gripped and afflicted with helplessness and utter frustration. There is nothing we can do to turn back the hands of time. All future preventative measures will never undo the events of the past. With such devestation and calamity there is awakened, inside of everyone of us, a cry of the soul which seeks to find purpose, peace and hope again.
If there is ever a time to ask the big questions of life--it is now. This however, is not easily done anymore in our society. We live in an age where ecumenicalism rules the day and tolerance is driven by religious relativism. As I watch the news, I am impressed to wonder how anyone could be comforted by the idea that religious pluralism is the remedy that the nation had prepared for its people.
So where does one find hope in the midst of such darkness? What Buddhism would suggest is that these shootings were simply a “real illusion” and that suffering is nothing more than negative misdirected energy and that no real answer for such a tragedy exists because logic itself does not ultimately exist only “oneness” does. But try telling that to the parents of those killed. Try telling these parents that any part of the death of their loved one is just not true or was just an "illusion". That is nonesense! We would quickly become aware to the reality that ecumenical unity solves nothing! Either someone is right or no one is right. But all religions can not be right at the same time. What people need in a time like this is real answers to a real situation brought about by real evil.
Christianty offers the only real and lasting comfort in which you have a true, sure, unshakable foundation in the midst of a world which produces these unthinkable events. Christ is the only one in whom there is everlasting life and where the answers to life are solved. The Soveriegn God of the Universe does all things so that He might recieve utter glory. This is the hope that the believer has. A hope that is not moved by cirrcumstances and events in life. We must cling to the Savior because we all have violated the Law of God and calamity one day will befall all of us. Death will kock on our door because 10 out of 10 die. This is a statistic that we can't escape. This could be the day that you die --every 24 hours 140,000 people die.
We die because we have sinned against God. Have you sinned? Have you ever lied (even once--fibs, white lies, etc.)? Have you ever stolen (the value is irrelevant)? Jesus said, "Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery already with her in his heart." Have you ever looked with lust? Or used God's name with discust. This is very serious. If God judges you by the 10 Commandments (which we just looked at) will you be innocent or guilty on the Day of Judgment? You know that you will be guilty, and therefore end up in Hell...because you have missed the mark and so have I. In fact everyone has. But wait! Listen...the Bible has the answer for this delimma that we all face--God sent His Son to die on a cross--then He rose from the dead and defeated death. He died for sinners like you and me. He died that we might live. He died for sinners. Taking their punishment upon himself. So what must you do? You must repent from your sins (turn from them) and put on the Christ (trust in him with your whole being). Cry out to God today. You will never regret it.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
I just got a phone call that changed my day...
I just got a phone call that a long time family friend of my family named Karen Baugher was in a horrible car accident on the way home last night from a women's Christmas dinner--and that she is in ICU and not expecting to make it. Her husband Terri just called my step dad and was crying and completely broken up saying that "they are expecting her not to make it". News like this will stop you dead in your tracts. It did for me. All the memories of her flooded my mind as I remembered her life. Thankfully she is a believer and loves the Lord. But it just reminds me of the brevity of life and how we take people for granted--when the truth of the matter is every time we depart from our family and friends we should say our goodbyes as if it they were our last. To do otherwise is prideful--thinking that we have forever to live--and we presume that we will be here tomorrow. Please pray for Karen and all those who are involved. I am broken hearted over this but I know that God is Soveriegn and will use this for his Glory.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Mascara Mistake
Sharing my faith often helps me to take my eyes off myself. A passion for the lost will do that to you. One day I was in a rush to leave the house to run errands. I quickly put on some makeup, got dressed, grabbed my car keys and off I was. I enjoy running errands not for errands sake but because it gives me a great opportunity to pass out tracts every where I go. I passed out several dozen tracts and I even had a good one to one talk with someone at the store. I got home and after several hours, looked in the mirror, and to my horror I forgot to put mascara on the other eye...imagine that...a one-eyed mascara monster preaching the Gospel all over town. I'm glad God doesn't look at our outer appearance.
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