Will your god smash you like a bug?

Most people living and dead believe in a higher authority that I choose to accept as God.  The one and only true God that is the creator of all things.  It’s likely you believe in God the creator, also.  Now suppose you were the creator of all things and one of those things didn’t work right.  Maybe there was a cog broke off a gear or the hole you made was round instead of square.  What would you do?

 

I’m hesitant to apply logic to God, because He is not confined to logic.  He makes the rules and they seem many times to defy logic. But just for the sake of this blog, what do you think God might do?  Wouldn’t He have the right to judge His work and since He created it, to either fix it or destroy it?   Kinda like a potter will smash a clay pot he is working on and rebuild it time and again until he gets it right.

 

As the creator of all things, God created you.  As creator, He has the right to judge His work.  Uniquely God gave man a freewill to do as man chooses.  But, think about this.  Just because God gave man free will, did not mean God no longer has a free will of His own. 

 

As creator, God has the right to judge the quality of His work.  He can smash you like a clay pot.  He can choose to rebuild you.  He can choose to welcome you into heaven to spend eternity with Him.  He can also choose to toss you into eternal suffering.  This is where grace comes in…

 

God recognizes your impections and sees you deserve to die, eternally.  He wants you to live, eternally.  He asked His Son to die for you that you might have life.  His Son said He’d rather not, but if that was the only way you might have life He was willing. 

 

Jesus died a physical death, he beat death and came back to life that you might live. 

 

Now the choice is yours…

 

It is predictable that many will read this and not believe.  God guarantees that all will have an opportunity to believe, but God chooses the time and place.  So if it has not been your time before God to choose, I pray it will be soon as Jesus is coming again and then the choosing will done.  All the choices will have been made.  Life or Death eternal.

 

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Phelps takes #2 spot. No help from bong.

Swimmer Phelps makes the news and breaks another record.  He officially did not win a race.  He has now set a new record.  He is in fact the fastest second place swimmer ever. 

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God gives. God takes away. God restores.

There is much to be learned from history which reveals a common theme of God.  As times rolls by God is blessed by the prayers and faithfulness of those that love Him.  He is repulsed by those that say they love Him and He rejects all that reject Him. 

 

In His pleasure, many times He blesses nations and its people with great wealth and health.  In His anger, He warns of impending rath and many times destroys all He has created.  For the wise that turn back to His way and find pleasure in serving the one true God, He restores all that was lost and blesses even more.

 

Where are you in your walk with God?  Where is He in His walk with you? 

 

Is God giving?

 

Is God taking?

 

Is God restoring?

 

I pray your eyes are on God and you see His pleasure upon your life.  I pray, regardless of the circumstances you face, you are confident of God’s presence and love for you in the midst of the good times and bad.  God bless you and may you experience God’s pleasure.

 
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When I wrote, “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood..” I didn’t know…

Mother Shot To Death Defending Son

POSTED: Sunday, July 19, 2009

UPDATED: 7:30 am CDT July 20, 2009

SAN ANTONIO – A mother of three was shot to death as she tried to defend her son during an argument with rival gang members early Sunday morning, police said.

Officer Joe Rios, a San Antonio Police Department spokesman, said that Patricia Cortez’s 14-year-old son was called outside by a girlfriend at around 4:30 a.m. in the 100 block of Precious Drive. When he went out front, he was confronted by four boys, Rios said.  Cortez heard the commotion and ran to her son’s aide. That’s when Rios said that Cortez was shot in the stomach. She died in the arms of her husband, David De La Cruz.

“I tried to pick her up and I felt the hole, and I said, ‘Honey, you’re hit.’ She was just looking down at the street,” De La Cruz said. Rios said that officers are looking for five people, including the girl who made the call asking Cortez’s son to come outside.

Police have a vehicle license plate and believe the people are all members of a gang. Cortez’s son may have been a member of a rival gang, and the fight may have involved a feud between the gangs, Rios said.”

 

Note: This is a family member of a couple in our church life group.  The life group is a family entity in the richest of definitions and the “family” will be feeling Mike and Veronica’s pain of loss, frustration and anger at this unrighteous act of murder.  Pray for Mike and Veronica as they navigate through troubled waters. 

Sometimes “Freedom” is not all good…

“So I now proclaim ‘freedom’ for you, declares the LORD -’freedom’ to fall by the sword, plague and famine.” God through Jeremiah 

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It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood…

I have an aunt who has a brain tumor.  I have a friend that is partially paralyzed.  I have friends that don’t have jobs.  I’ve got a sister who has lost much of her hearing.  Decisions I’ve made have hurt those closest to me.  Sometimes it is tough to wake up in the morning with a smile and sing Mr. Rodger’s song, “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood…” 

 

But you know, it is a beautiful day in the neighborhood. If for no other reason then, Jesus rose again and died for my sins that I might have life abundant here on earth and life eternal in heaven.  WOW!

 

I was blessed to see my friend in a wheelchair at church, yesterday.  Yes.  It is a beautiful day in the neighborhood. 

 

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How much does credit control your tongue?

It’s America!  It’s the American way.  It’s, “I owe.  I owe.  It’s off to work I go.”  We all have debts.  Everyone owes something to somebody.  The Word says to not be in bondage to debt.  It makes me wonder what bondage looks like in today’s society.

 

God has given you a voice.  It is to speak truth.  Suppose God puts a thought in your head to speak truth to a coworker, boardroom of execs, classroom of kids or worship center of followers? You are about to speak, when the thought comes to your mind… “This could get me fired or maybe the tithing will stop?  How will I pay the bills?”   

 

It seems bondage can come in many forms.  Debt controlling your tongue can surely be impactful on God’s plan for His abundance in your life and the lives of others.  

 

But what do I know, I’m just the janitor.  

 

Note:  Referencing the janitor crack, don’t get me wrong.  I enjoy having thoughts spring forth from a man who is ok cleaning toilets for a living.  I just find it incredulous that you might listen to a man that’s ok with cleaning toilets.  Maybe you should set you sights a little higher.  Ha!

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Dueling Banjos of Sorts…

There was a time in history (much like today) when phophets only had something good to say.  That is to say, “only good” until Prophet Jeremiah came along.  It was one lone prophet warning of impending disaster if the nation did not turn back to God pitted against a bunch of prophets all foretelling peace and prosperity.  God was ready to puke or at least cause everyone else believing in the false prophets to puke.  He spoke again to Jeremiah.

 

 ”Listen, Hananiah! The LORD has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. Therefore, this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.’ “  In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.

 

It’s not easy speaking truth.  Much of Jeremiah’s life was spent speaking God’s Word under a direct threat to his life.  How easily are our actions and words impacted by the desire to please others?  There is but one truth and our perceptions do not influence it. 

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Even Teachers Can Be Doubtful of Smart

In highschool, I took my first biology class and sat at the lab table with cool people the first week.  It wasn’t so much that I wanted to be cool, I just liked the people.  They were always doing amuzing things.  Most of time the amusement was tied to future punishment.  But I like the oddball.  It seems the odd is many times more real and honest than the supposed perfection of the pretty people.

 

Anyway, after a week I had to choose.  Follow the fun of odd or follow my passions centered around science.  I moved from the back corner lab table to the front and center lab table with the smart dull people.  I took my 1st test and received my expected 100%.  Biology came easy for me. 

 

To my dismay, my teacher called me to her desk and wanted to know who’s test I copied.  Talk about being speechless.  It’s true I didn’t study, but that didn’t mean I cheated.  It just meant some things come easy for me.I was with the “bad” crowd in the back and moved up front for the test.    Cheating seemed a logical conclusion to her. 

 

This teacher turned into a life long mentor and friend.  With her encouragement, I interned at Southwest Research in high school and later was hired as a student scientist, even before I graduated from college.  She is special and recently had the Peggy Carnahan Elementary School named after her.

 

My physics training and professional work on the Cruise Missile program underscores a simple fact: “Drawing conclusion with insufficient information is a risky business…”

 

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Creativity Can Get You In Trouble

I grew up with a sister and brother, both older than me.  I worked at being the class clown and most of the time succeeded.  People like a clown.  People are not so fond of smart.  People should stop and consider it takes being smart to really be funny.  But sometimes, the creativity that goes along with smart can get you in trouble.

 

My sister was watching me or some would say, babysitting me one day.  I had been goofing around outside with my friend and broke a pocket knife blade in half.  I instantly fell upon the opportunity.  I went in the house and got ketchup.  I pressed the broken blade against my upper arm and pored ketchup around the blade.  It was an awesome looking wound.

 

I then went running through the house screaming looking for my older sister.  It worked.  She screamed and turned white as a sheet.  It seems she might have even cried a bit if she hadn’t been so mad.  I felt bad.  I think maybe I had gone just a little too far, but it did create a quite the unique memory. 

 

I wonder if my sis remembers the event as well as I.  Probably better… :]

 

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