God is Bigger

I have discovered one of the great parts of being a parent is teaching your children to rely on God when the world's trials arise. Recently my son has had a lot of bad dreams. He started to not what to sleep in his room anymore. I used this opportunity to talk about GOD.

"We don't have have to be afraid, buddy. Because God loves us. He made us and He's watching over us. And He is bigger than the monsters in our dreams."

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.


The next day we went down to the public library and checked out Where is God When I am Sc-scared, A Veggie Tales video. Addy watched it four times. It perfectly matched what I had said and addressed this problems. We continued the dialog about God and our fears through that entire day. When night came Adison went straight to bed with no problems. I watched by to check on him and I found him curled up with his stuffed puppy dog singing, "God is bigger than the boogie man. He's bigger than Godzilla or the Monsters on tv. Oh God is bigger than the boogie man and He's watching out for you and me!"

The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

If funny. We all can learn from Bob the tomato and Larry the Cucumber on this. God isn't just bigger than the problems we imagine. He's bigger than the real struggles we face everyday in our real life. Give your fears to God and He's carry you through.

Let it shine, let it shine let it shine!!!!

I was taken to task last Sunday. I was sitting in the back of a church in my new home town. I came because of a promise I made Britta in the middle of the night. I was gonna stop letting disillusionment get in my way. I was heading back. I was getting back into the Word, I was gonna start playing my guitar again. I was gonna stop telling the Spirit that my heart is just too hurt for Him to work in me right now. I was going to finally let it go.

It was a fine service with a good message but the entire time I keep having this line of scripture run through my mind. I tried to ignore it but it wouldn't go away.

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:14-16

After about thirty minutes of this I figured I'd better pay attention. So I prayed, "OK, Jesus... what are you trying to tell me?" And to this I felt the Spirit fall harder than I have since West Virginia. It was like a thunder clap. It's time, He whispered. It's time to shine your light. Or else you are going to smother it.

So It's time for me to start sharing my light again. It's time. I don't know what I'll be called to do, be it music, ministry, service... or just standing on the corner and waving like that old crazy guy used to do in Ottumwa out by KFC. But I'm not hiding it any more. I'm gonna let it shine!

Witch Hunt

Ever been part of a witch hunt? I unfortunately can say I have. As I have said before their was a pursuit of judgment, never justice. And unfortunately, that experience has left me very disillusioned with the entire process. I just keep playing this scene from Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail over and over again.



The church, despite whatever twisted logic we force onto it, was never meant to scorn, cast out and punish those that are different. Christ came to save, heal, restore. Christ went to the rejected, the cast out, the fallen.

The Calling of Matthew
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Matthew 9:9-13

Just as doctors do not treat the physically fit, Jesus did not come to create an elitist clutch of like-minded, pressed collared snobs. He came to save everyone. Jesus came in love, and loved us so much that He gave Himself in love on a cross so that we might enter into death and ever-lasting life with him.

Jesus called on us to help others, love our neighbors and spread the GOOD NEWS. That is out calling. We aren't to beat the hedges looking for phantom witches and make-believe boogie monsters when our lives start to go off track. That does unite the crowd, yes... but in who's name?

Christ stopped the crowed on the witch hunt. He stopped rebuked them... and He saved Her life.

SICK CYCLE CAROUSEL

I have talked with Aldger not longer a go. We shared of the same mistake. We both follow a God so big and so mighty... but we both try buiding something here with our own hands that might impress God. We both forget that God can do things so much more awesome than our two hands.

Sick Cycle Carousel
Lifehouse

if shame had a face I think it would kind of look like mine
if it had a home would it be my eyes
would you believe me if I said I'm tired of this
well here we go now one more time




I tried to climb your steps
I tried to chase you down
I tried to see how low I could get down to the ground
I tried to earn my way
I tried to change this mind
you better believe that I have tried to beat this

so when will this end it goes on and on
over and over and over again
keeps spinning around I know that it won't stop
till I step down from this sick cycle carousel

We learn the lesson. We take Him in. He changes our life but still, the promise of paradise is so hard to believe... that we don't have to do anything to earn this gift. We aren't doing the work.. we are just giving up control to Him so that He can take over and do amazing things through us.

I am back off the carousel and on my knees again.