A WHOLE MAN

“…and if He delivered righteous Lot, vexed with the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, having dwelt among them seeing and hearing, was vexed in his righteous soul day after day with their unlawful deeds)” 2 Peter 2:7-8 (KJ21) When we look around this world, what is it that we see? Would we say that it is similar to that of what Lot was enduring while he was living in Sodom and Gomorrah? Turn on the news and it seems that all we hear about nowadays are war, poverty, conflict, and destruction. When we hear about those things that are occurring around the world, or even locally, it may cause us to cringe and stop to pray. But what about the things that are happening in your immediate sphere of influence? What about the things that you read on your Facebook news feed or what is going on in your coworkers lives? Do you have the same reaction? The sad thing is many of us are outraged when injustice in the form of murder or kidnapping occur but have become desensi...

  "Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?" Proverbs 6:27 (KJV) After having been dormant for over 500 years, on June 12, 1991 Mount Pinatubo began to erupt, and three days later exploded with twice the power of the 1980 Mount St. Helen's eruption. The release of power blasted a cubic mile off the mountaintop and the earth shook for eight hours. The eruption produced an ash cloud that rose over 50,000 feet into the atmosphere. If that wasn't enough, Typhoon Yunga then struck the island nation with fierce winds and torrential rains which mixed with the ash creating what the locals called "Black Saturday! The United States was forced to abandon and eventually close Clark Air Force base, located just a few miles from Mount Pinatubo, due to the devastating blanket of fallen ash. When a vulcanologist was asked to account for the widespread damage which sent thousands of American soldiers and Filipinos fleeing, he replied, "When a volca...

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:34 (NRSV) I heard a pretty interesting quote that goes something like, “How can the world not get along with the Holiest of all, but get along perfectly with you and me?” Maybe you have asked yourself that very question. Maybe not. Either way, I challenge you to examine your life and see where it stands according to scripture. I do this daily through my journaling (not this blog, personal journal) in weighing my life against Christ’s. If we call ourselves Christians, should not our lives bear the same image of Him who we say we follow? When Christ came from Heaven as a man, His teachings were not always comfortable, but they had a cost associated with them. John explained this to us that just as Christ laid down His life for us, we are also to lay down our lives for others (1 John 3:16). How often do you hear someone say that I will just love people as God loves u...

“Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” Matthew 9: 37 (NIV) Everyone wants to be the hero. Never have I encountered an individual who has told me, “I would really love to be the one everyone picks on. I want to be the one who always loses.” It is just part of our nature. As humans, I believe we all have that innate longing for accomplishment in some sort of form or fashion. What is disheartening is when people grow up and lose that passion. We get older and think our time has come and gone. Truly, that inspiration is never gone, but rather is diminished. It is that motivation that allows one person to push past the pain and get one more rep in a workout, whereas another person, who may in fact be fitter and stronger than the first, quit early. The heroes of the faith knew what it meant to dig deep. They knew what it meant to sacrifice. They were driven by a longing to be restored with their Father and point others towards Him. I cannot ...

“Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but one who has a hasty temper exalts folly.” Proverbs 14:29 (NRSV) Anger. It is an emotion that I unfortunately am all too familiar with. Those who know me would not describe me as one who gets angry and some have even said they have never seen me angry or believe that I can get angry. But anger is an emotion that I do express. And it is that emotion that I feel can be the most dangerous when unbridled. It can cause us to lose our inhibition and, possibly, sin. And that is the danger of anger. When we lose control of ourselves, there is no telling what we will do. A driver in Philadelphia shot another driver on the highway. There was a construction blockage on the road, narrowing traffic down to only one lane, creating long backups as cars from each direction took turns getting past the blockage. Well, this driver patiently waited his turn. But just as he was about to get past the blockage, a car came up fast on the shoulder, pass...

"The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe." Proverbs 18:10 (NIV) If you follow the news, there surely has been one headline that you are sure to not have been missed. General Motors, the automotive company, has made the headlines once again and not in a good way. It has issued out another major recall bringing the total up to over 20 million vehicles this year due to the instability of certain safety features of the vehicles. Many of the vehicles on the recall list have even received 5 star safety ratings. Although the smallest of components may be the ones malfunctioning, they compromise the safety of the passengers inside. Isn’t it encouraging knowing that when our faith and trust is placed in the Heavenly Father we are secure? There are many nowadays who misplaced their trust in material possessions, social status, their academic grades, or by the number likes or retweets they get from complete strangers. And what I am sure they are...

 “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.” Psalm 34:1-3 Sometimes you do not need to go far to find the glory of God. At other times in your life you may feel like you are so far away from God that nothing can bring joy into your life because of the void which exists. I believe that it is in each of those moments when we should exalt the Father even more. In every state our soul may be in, we should yearn for Him and desire to bring glory and praise to His name. Since I do not yet have children I cannot extend this analogy to myself, but I have heard from Fathers that one of the best times of the day is when they return home from a long day at and waiting for them at the door is their son or daughter. And with a high-pitched scream, “Daddy!!!!” is yelled as they run into the Father’s arms ...