Finally Recording Some Songs...

Sunday School Video...

On The Altar State of Mind...

When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, "You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages." To that, Calvert replied,

"We died before we came here."

Disillusioned Saints...

I'm finding that my patience proves more worn by entertaining the Church's "saints" than by enduring the wait for the world's sinners. My hearts eyes are becoming increasingly aware of the sad state of our believer's lacking desire for the masses to know the Savior we claim to worship. "Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship." Our bodies? ... our arms, our legs, our minds, our hands, our feet, our ears, our eyes.....how much of my body is devoted to self and not to God!? When we go to work in order to earn money, do we do so with hopes of using that wage to bring glory to God? To send Bibles to those without, to put food in the mouths of those who have not? If this were our purpose, and if we truly rejoiced in seeing God glorified, would not even our jobs become a tool of praise? I am so tired with myself and others! Seeing the Church, Jesus' bride, turn our backs on the One who gives us life eternal. We give our tenth, if we give that at all, and somehow fool ourselves into believing we've done our duty. If I'm not mistaken the woman who gave her two coins was not praised for her abundance, but for the fact that she completely emptied herself for the sake of God.

How much have we forgotten the love of Christ that we're not only apprehensive to do, but even refuse to do the just minimal task for our Savior. When approached with an opportunity to serve we spit our excuses out by the bucket full, as if our excuses pardoned us from our duty to Christ. What a sad state we'd all find ourselves in had Jesus decided to give His Father an excuse in the Garden of Gethsemane rather than being willing to "offer" His "body as a living sacrifice."

The realization we all need to come to is that every time we're unwilling to deny ourselves of whatever pleasure it is we cling to instead of serving God we are very likely denying someone the opportunity to know about the Good News Jesus came to share with the world. The Bible says we should "offer" our bodies. An offering is a willing transfer. God's not going to force us to serve...but should we choose contrary to Him, what does that say of our love and devotion for the one who pulled us out of the muck and mire. Do we want Jesus to be our Lord and Savior...or just our Savior?

A Rebuttal...

Had I a need to run away from Bigfoot I wouldn't run into the woods. If being chased by little green men I would not pause to admire the pretty patterns drawn out in the hay.........now let's read..."He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land." Here's what we know: Jonah was running from God, the God "who made the sea." and he was running away on........duh, duh ,duh (dramatic, suspenseful tone!) A boat. There's humor here. I can smell it.

A Break From Christianity...

Apparently, Halloween is not only a night for young kiddos to take a short break from reality and retreat in to a fantasy world of super heroes and fairy princesses, but also for a few of us older ones to take a break from our foundational beliefs all together.

I'm not sure when it all happened, but it seems that Halloween now affords people with some sort of "free pass" to cast aside their Christian values and replace them with a lot of the things that are so stinky wrong with our culture today. Imagine this is you will...A normally respectful girl, proclaiming Christian, living what seems to be a fairly solid life. However, Halloween rolls around and somehow this same girl finds it perfectly ok to to put on some skimpy, cleavage-flashing (or more like nearly revealing the whole "show") costume. Slutty nurse, slutty cheerleader, slutty cop, slutty sailor, slutty angel, slutty devil...whatever the case may be, notice that there's a theme. Any other day of the year we would think it ridiculous and sinful to dress this way, but for whatever reason people feel as if God gives us pass on Halloween or is taking a nap and won't notice. He isn't Baal and He's not out on a long walk...He's seeing what's going on , and I feel pretty confident that He isn't happy about it.

I don't guess I can really come don't of those who aren't claiming affiliation with Jesus (at least not for the sake of this post,) but for those of you who represent Christ remember that we don't get "day's off." It's a full-time job. Put your clothes back on.