Tue, Oct 31st - 9:58PM

Hey,

God is big. Really, really big. In fact, He's infinite. His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. His priorities are not our priorities. We may be running around in a dither trying to get a nicer car, or some girl to notice us but His concern is our witness and our growth.  Remember how He told us to pray? It starts with Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. We can take a second to ask for some bread to eat, but then its back to forgiving and being forgiven.

We tend to go through life acting like it is about us. Its not. We are not the main character. God is the main character. We think, " If I do this, it will please God." He is already pleased with us. We think "When I did that God responded by doing this (blessing me, or punnishing me)" He already knew that we were going to do that. In truth we did that because He first did something to cause us to do it. He's not responding to us, we are responding to Him.

We read the book of Judges (go ahead, its like 27 pages long. I'll wait) and we think its about the judges. That they are supposed to be great heroes. Its not. Its about God. Its about how patient He is with these power crazy sinners. How He keeps forgiving them. And rescuing them. And they keep coming back and sinning worse. And He keeps forgiving them until finally He doesn't anymore. Jephthah's terrible vow to sacrifice his daughter (Ch 11) isn't somehow OK because he's a judge. It was a stupid, sinful result of his ego.

God is really big. We waste our time trying to figure out ways to make Him do things for us. Instead, we need to try to change our priorities. Look for things that further His kingdom or help us grow. Then when things get hard for us we won't feel abandoned; instead we'll look for how we can grow from it. Or how we can witness by praising Him anyway. We can try to react to what He brings to us, instead of following our own agendas and trying to get Him to help us.

Worship Him. Study Him. But don't ever think that you really understand Him. If you could, He'd be no bigger than you. He is holy, we are desperately wicked. He is infinite, we are dust. People who think they know Him tend to start acting like they are Him. Judging others. Making rules. Keeping people out. But keeping in mind how big He is would keep us in awe. And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Tue, Oct 24th - 10:38PM

Hey,

My daughter forwarded this to me. I'm not up to writing much right now (getting closer though) but this is pretty good:

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS
Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday, 12/18/05.

     Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating
heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the
cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and
kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never
know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life
if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so
important?
     I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all
about Tom Cruise's wife.
     Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a
subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.
     If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not  so bad.
     Next confession:
     I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it
does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit
up, bejeweled trees  -  Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't
feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.
     It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I
don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto.
In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters
celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there
is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house  in
Malibu.  If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the
Menorah a few hundred yards away.
     I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think
Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people
who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I
have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly
atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it
being shoved down my throat.
     Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that
we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as
we understand Him?
     I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.
     But  there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica
came from and where the America we knew went to.
     In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is
a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's
intended to get you thinking.
     Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane
Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this Happen?"
(regarding Katrina)
     Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She
said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for
years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our
government and to get out of our lives.
     And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How
can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand
He leave us alone?"
     In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.
I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body
found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we 
say OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school . the Bible
says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as
yourself.  And we said OK.
     Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they
misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might
damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide).  We said an
expert should know what he's talking about.  And we said OK.
     Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why
they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill
strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
     Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it
out.  I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."
     Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the
world's going to hell.
     Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the
Bible says.

Tue, Oct 10th - 9:25PM

Hey,

The world is amazed by the Amish community's genuine ability to forgive the killer of their children. This article was on the National Public Radio website, a very liberal place.

Tue, Oct 3rd - 9:58AM

Hey,

The long dry spell is ending for me. I no longer feel forsaken. Some things have even started to go right. There are still a few major concerns, but there always are. Thanks a lot to you guys,

I wanted to learn from this. I may even have let it continue more than I should because I wanted to study it. Which may be like letting a cut be infected so that you can watch the color change. Maybe stupid. And I got no great lesson. I do hope that I'll be able to shake it better next time. And I learned that I need to look for tiny steps to start with to change bad attitudes.

Here's what I feel God has said.
I am God. I love you. You have eternal joy guaranteed. But I will do with you what is in my plans. You will not manipulate me. It is very important that you learn to prasie me always, what ever the situation. Learn to trust.

Sun, Oct 1st - 1:09AM

A far- off goal

Until My Heart Caves In
Audio Adrenaline

I'm a warrior, I'm a warrior
I would die for You, for You
My love is fierce, I'm a warrior
I would die for You, for You

I'm a warrior with a warrior's heart
And it burns for You, for You
My love is fierce, I'm a warrior
I would die for You, give it all for You

I won't give up, I won't give up on You
I won't give up on You
I will sing Your name until my heart caves in
Until my heart caves in