Controversial Quote

You will disagree with this statement, but I want you to think about it before you judge it. It is a quote I heard on the radio spoken by an author that was being interviewed by Char Binkley from WBCL. Here is the quote.

“The hour on Sunday can be the most dishonest hour of our week.”

What do you think of when you hear that?
How does it make you feel?
What thoughts come into your mind to discredit this statement?

Think back with if you will, to a hard or tough time you have experienced in your life. Health issues, financial issues, belief issues; what did you do during those times? Did you worry, cry in fear, get all knotted up in your stomach. Did you get mad a God?, Did you take it out on Him by not talking to him, or turning away for awhile?
Health issues threaten our existence, so it is a common reaction to take some sort of defensive stand against it.

Now think about what we sing about on any given Sunday morning, we sing songs like:

Forever – Forever God is faithful

In Christ Alone - No guilt in life no fear in death
This is the pow'r of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No pow'r of hell no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand

I’m trading my sorrow - I'm trading my sorrows
I'm trading my shame
I'm laying them down
For the joy of the Lord
I'm trading my sickness
I'm trading my pain
I'm laying them down
For the joy of the Lord

Better is one day - How lovely is your dwelling place
O Lord Almighty
For my soul longs and even faints for you
For here my heart is satisfied
Within Your presence
I sing beneath the shadow of your wings
Better is one day better is one day
Better is one day than thousands elsewhere

Faith – Everything’s gonna be alright I have faith I believe it.

And many others: Here’s my question –

Do we believe the words that we sing on Sunday?
I would contend that we do not as much as we would like to believe we do. This is why I think the quote above, that sounds so strong at first, starts to become clearer to me. If we truly believed the words we proclaim, that God is faithful, that it is better to spend one day in his courts than thousands elsewhere, that we actually release all our worries and sickness to him, then I think we would act much differently outside of the hour on Sunday.

I think we WANT to believe them, but I submit reality is that the words we sing on Sunday are aspirations of our heart, and not something we have actually accomplished; yet something we should always strive for.

So why did I bring this up? Through out the bible, God moves his people. Most often times, the initial call is met with resistance and complaints. But God says, “come here for a minute” so we go to him, and he says, “trust me” so we go and try to do things in our own way, and we mess it up. God says “come here for a minute, Trust me” so we go and do it again, and mess it up. It’s a good thing God isn’t a man, he would be like “If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times.” But He is God, he keeps calling us and perseveres and says, “Trust me”.

God has a much bigger picture in view than we do. We can only see what is right in front of our face, and what has already happened, we can’t see what God sees. So when we come up against hard times, instead of asking “why God?” we should be asking ourselves and saying “what is God up to?” there may be something happening that we don’t understand. Something God knows yet we do not. A Long-term treatment for fear or unbelief is to ask the question: “How can I trust in Christ more than I trust in these issues or fears?”

Take Job for example. The author of Job gives us a movie overview of Jobs life. We are privy to information Job isn’t. We know that God and the devil are talking about him and deciding just how far Satan can push him; meanwhile Job is sitting down on earth enjoying life and eating with his family. I wonder if God and Satan ever have discussions about us like this. Scary huh? Sometimes we look at the news from the Middle East and we look at it superficially, thinking “man can’t these people ever get along?” We don’t even consider what is going on in the spiritual realm. There is an interesting scripture in Daniel 10:1-14

Prince of Persia =some contend that this is a demonic being, how can a man on the ground in Persia withhold an angel from coming to Daniel. And it never mentions the Persian kingdom. Insight into this line of thought is given in Ephesians 6:12…Paul’s letter to the church of Ephesus…If this is true, it is reasonable to believe that there is a prince of Hollywood and the movie industry, and a prince of Miami where there is a large drug problem. The prince of Las Vegas, and many others. How powerful are these princes?

So all that to say, when we come up against things in this world we don’t understand, we would be wise to know that God knows what is going on behind the scenes. There may be a bigger picture unfolding. Trust God

I think it is important for us to realize as Christians, what we sing about has power. What we sing about has truth. What we sing about is the power of God, the forgiveness, love, and hope of Jesus Christ, and the help and leading of the Holy Spirit. If we merely sing the words, we miss out on a beautiful life. One that others will look at and say, “I want that”

But if we believe with ALL our heart, these words that we sing on Sunday and throughout the week, and the words we read in the bible, we will live life and live it abundantly. Now I do not mean that we will never experience trials or struggles in life, rather; when we do, we will be able to lay our fears at the feet of Jesus, When Satan comes a knocking, we can let Jesus answer the door. When our health is getting poor, instead of fearing death, we can look forward to an early meeting with Jesus.
Saying and believing are two different things. However; confessing with our heart what we know to be true in our lives is another. I want us to confess with our hearts to God and to others, that we believe him to be an Everlasting God, one that will never leave us nor forsake us. I want us to confess with our heart in all truth, that we have faith in God to guide and protect us.

I want this to be true to us.

I heard this said the other day, “What we believe about God when times are tough and life is hitting us from all sides, is what we believe about God”

What do you believe about God today?

Amen!

Verses I like

This week in class, we were asked to look through the letters of Paul, and pick various scriptures that we liked and categorize them. I thought I would post them here as well.

Sin - Romans 5:8; I like this verse because it tells us that we don't need to be perfect before we can be loved by God. I have heard people say that they are too bad for God to do anything with them or love them. This verse proves that theory wrong. While we were still sinners, He sent his son to die for us.

Salvation - Romans 5:9; This verse shows us the extent of Gods love, and give us hope for the day he returns. For those of us in Christ, we have much hope that the Glory of God will be revealed in us.

Grace - Titus 2:11; This verse goes back to what Paul tells us in Romans. the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit is for all men who will receive it. Jew or Gentile, there is no favored group when it comes to the love of Christ.

Faith - 2 Timothy 4:7; I like this verse because it tells me that there are no guarantees that life will be ease, and that through faith I can make it through. It tells me that there will be times when my faith is tested, and I will have to fight to maintain it. Only through the strength of Christ, and my faith in Him will I preserver.

Hope - Romans 12:12; I always tell our congregation, that as Christians we have a hope that Christ will return soon and His glory will be revealed. Our Joy comes from knowing that he will return because he has promised he would.

Love - 2 Timothy 1:7; I love this verse, no pun intended, because it inspires me to be strong in my faith. It inspires me to be full of boldness in sharing the gospel with others. I still struggle with this at times, but them I am reminded of this verse and it encourages me to stand strong and be who God made me to be.

Which ones do you like?

What a Blast

Well tomorrow ends our annual family vacation, and what a blast it has been. We had a fantastic week up at Camp Michindoh, and a great time here in Toledo. Yesterday we checked into a Day's Inn, (this hotel didn't warrant a hyperlink) and checked out just as soon as we walked into our room. It had water damage (you could see it on the walls) the carpet obviously had been damaged and there was standing water inside the little plastic card holder that is on the inside of the door. Not to mention the room was tiny. Now I am usually not picky, but to end such a good week on a sour note just wasn't going to do. We switched hotels (right across the street) and the extra money was worth it. We have had an absolute blast at the Splashbay water park and the Toledo Zoo. Tomorrow we will visit Mainstreet UB church. We are looking forward to coming home, but I must say, this has been a wonderful vacation, and one I will cherish.

God has bless us this week with fantastic weather, good friends, great food, and good health. He has given us time together as a family that I think we needed. The boys have really enjoyed having mom and dad around all day for 7 full days. Thank you God for a beautiful family and a great week.

Vacation time Part 2

Well, I must say thank you for those of you who prayed. Ethan was feeling much better today and back to his very, very cute self. He was playing and laughing a lot today so we all feel better that he feels better, Thank you. OH but what kind of story would this be without a twist in it. Well let me tell ya. As I said, he was feeling much better today, lots of sleep last night and a good nap today, lots of dry foods and water and his stomach is getting back to normal. We were heading up to the gym to play off supper and have fun. I pushed him there in the stroller and as we were walking inside, I went to open the big heavy metal doors to the building, and as I did, the bottom of the door basically skinned his big toe alive. I looked down and he is screaming (with no sound coming out of his mouth) and turning to me in major pain. I looked down and his big toe is bleeding all over the place. I scooped him up (sound familiar?) and just hugged him as he screamed. I can't even imagine how bad it hurt, it looked really bad. I thought I had pealed his toe nail back, might have some.

We washed it, poured peroxide over it and bandaged it up, all the while he is screaming and writhing in pain. All he wanted was his mommy, but she had run to town to pick up a few things. Poor guy, I felt so bad. So we came back to the cabin, got him some Motrin for the pain and now he is sleeping, pretty good actually, I hope this doesn't slow him down too much tomorrow. Did I mention how bad I feel?

Did I also mention, Matthew did about the same thing on a rock or piece of metal under the water in the lake today? Yeah he pretty much acted the same way :-) ha ha just kidding, but they did both injure the same toe, so now they are twins.

Anyway, the week is getting better, thank you for your prayers.

Vacation Time

Ahhhh!! That fantastic time of year when you can say goodbye to responsibility and hello relaxation. Oh wait, I have kids, relaxation isn't really a word yet. It is this oasis in the sand that seems to elude me every time I get close to it. Yes, that Holy Grail has once again dodged my firm grip and escaped me once again. Ok enough drama, We are up at Michindoh for the week, and hopefully some quiet time. We were just sitting down to dinner the Reibers and my family and the Yaney's at another table, when Ethan decided to choke on a bit of a carrot and then proceed to spew his supper/lunch all over his dinner plate. (I know just what you wanted to read right? Well I have to share in the fun!) After he stopped, I scooped him up and rushed him out of the cafeteria and to the bathroom for a quick cleanup. So now we get to decide if it's the flu and should one of us go home with him? Or was it just the teething and a bit of an upset stomach? Who knows, so here we sit in the cabin on our first day with a sick kid. Oh the fun of vacation time.

As cynical as I sound, I am sure everything will wok out fine and he will be better by tomorrow. If not, then we will take him home and go from there. SOOOOO.... I guess it is really, goodbye responsibility, sprinkled with a pinch of hello relaxation, with a twist of frustration, and maybe a dash of disappointment.