I don’t like animals in my house.  Pets are just not something I care for at all.  It was not always like this though.  For a period of about five years, starting about twenty years ago, I experimented with all kinds of pets.  Like almost everything I do, I went way overboard.  At one time I ended up with a dog, two cats, a rabbit, two snakes, two iguanas, five turtles, a newt, four geckos, and two aquariums.  Oh yeah, my wife and I also had six kids.

I was out of my mind.  I admit to the insanity that I was going through at that time in my life.

The aquariums were the most fun and the remembrance of setting up these miniature landscapes is what led me to write this.  The turtles, snakes, iguanas and fish allowed me to be creative in building and establishing the habitats that I designed.  It wasn’t as much about the animals as it was those mini creations that I found fascinating.

I learned something about fish, especially goldfish.  The aquariums led to outdoor creations called water gardens.  I have built four of those over the years.  We lived without an abundance of financial resources, as you might imagine, so I looked for ways to do things on the cheap.  I found that I could go to Wal-Mart and buy “feeder” goldfish for about a dime in those days.  So I would pick up about twenty and put them in one of my little ten gallon worlds and see what happened.  These goldfish were not very hardy since they were only bred as food, but some would surprise me and live a while.  But they never got very big.

When I constructed my first water garden I did the same thing.  I stocked it with about forty of those little fish.  It was early spring.  By the end of that summer, one of the goldfish that had started out about an inch and a half long had grown to at least eight inches.  The kids and I called it Moby Dick.  Moby froze that winter and I looked in sadness sometimes at him locked in a block of ice.  But the next spring, when he thawed, that fish was still alive and grew another couple of inches before it just disappeared.  Probably eaten by a bird, I guessed.

Jesus implied that we are like fish when He called the disciples to follow Him and become fishers of men.  The thing that has gone through my mind as I have pondered this brings me to another conclusion about our growth as the church, the people of God.  As our focus has become so inward instead of outward we are becoming like those goldfish that are locked in an aquarium.

The reason Moby grew so big was because of his surroundings.  When you put fish, especially goldfish in a small environment they stay small.  By putting them in a larger one like my water garden they are free to grow like they are meant to.  As Christ followers, we are to be fishers of men also.  We are to go out into the great big world and grow large as we are fed by the Spirit of God and our mission.  But a lot of us are locked into our own aquariums, our church buildings, our programs, our ministries to those in the aquarium with us, and we have stunted our growth.

Let’s get out into the wild, deep waters of the world and become really big fish.  We might become big enough to be used by God to even swallow up reluctant men of God and erring prophets like Jonah.  And like that first freeze showed me concerning Moby, nothing can stop us.

And one more thing; let’s pray that our leaders become more than just aquarium keepers.

Love you all

Tags: aquariums, Christ, christ followers, Church, Creation, fun, geckos, God, goldfish, insanity, little fish, mission, spirit, wal mart, water garden, world

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  Gal 5:22-23

On Tuesday’s discussion, right out of the gate, Doug made some comments about self-control.  Thanks Doug, for pushing this forward.  I have been pondering, jotting down some thoughts and praying about the fruits of the Spirit as listed in Galatians.  I was going to get a series together before I started posting, and then they might come along quicker.  I am so easily sidetracked it seems.  But Doug got me thinking again and I decided to start with the last in the list of fruit since he brought it up and I feel strongly about it also.

All of the fruit are things that should be naturally growing in and out of us as we grow in our relationship with Christ.  They are the visible attributes of truly walking the Christ centered walk.  We are first saved and then as we grow in sanctification these nine things listed as fruit should start to become apparent in our lives.

Self control is listed last but I don’t believe it is any less or more than the others with the exception of possibly love.  But if I stay in reverse order then love will be last.  Self control is a good starting point because it is needed so very much in the church today.  And it needs to be properly understood.

We live in a time and a place, if you are in America, where we are lost in our self-centeredness and materialistic view of life.  The war between the flesh and the spirit is raging in all of us to some degree.  It is so easy to look at everything we do with the attitude of ‘what’s in it for me.’  This is diametrically opposed to the servant attitude we should have.  It is why the world looks at us and sees no difference between us and them.

A well known speaker or preacher that demands a $10,000.00 ‘offering’ or they can’t come, a Christian writer who lifts one catchy scripture out of context and sets up a whole new revelatory way of making our lives richer to sell a million copies of a book, a perpetually smiling preacher telling us how great we all have it in the Kingdom of God while we live on less per year than he spends on his dental hygienics; is this self control?  Is this fruit of the spirit?  I believe I would file it under self-centered greed.

The above examples show people that really aren’t even trying to have their spirits win the war against the flesh.  But there are also those that try too hard in another wrong way.  These we sometimes call legalists, fundamentalists, extreme conservatives.  They try to find ways to make the Law of God, as listed in the Old Testament, or their own made up rules about many mundane parts of life, the methods of achieving and displaying self-control.

You may know a few of these people.  They look at things like tattoos, jewelry, makeup, and the length of both men and women’s hair, as ways of establishing or determining self-control.  There are many other things like alcohol consumption, smoking, dancing, card playing and others that make the list also.  And to many of these people these are not only self control issues, they are salvific issues.  A tattoo will send you to hell.

Then there are monks and other religious orders that simply take a person out of the world.  This is also an attempt at self-control or a method of mastering ourselves.  I even know of some people that declare that their own ‘personal convictions’ demand they do or don’t do certain things like watching TV or going to movies but that it is still okay for the rest of us.  How gracious on their part.  But do they have anymore self-control than I or are they just putting limits on their selves that keep them from actually growing this fruit called self-control.

God may not be honored in a lot of the things we do but we are living in a fallen world, occupied territory as it were, in a battle for our very lives.  Jesus set us free from the Law because He fulfilled the Law.  We are free in Christ but we must live in holiness, which is being separated from the world for service to Christ.  All while an angry enemy roars all around us.

A tattoo is not going to stop that service but self control will dictate that we set some limits.  Some jewelry or makeup will not send us screaming into hell because we had no self-control but the ability to know when we are making clowns of ourselves will display it to the world.  On and on I could go but I don’t want to lose you.

The very ones who practice all these things and many more and say “look at me, I have self-control”, are only living a life of rules and regulations that show no one but themselves any hint of self control.  True self-control is finding that line that separates self-centeredness from service-centeredness; and staying on the side of service.

We have to realize we do have to set limits.  But I believe those limits will be dictated to a certain degree on our place of service, our area of ministry.  A person might have just the right amount of tattoos, piercings,  or long hair to reach a group of lost bikers or youth.

Jesus ate and drank wine with miserable lowlife sinners and did not get drunk or sin in any way they did.  But He had a mission to go to them and tell them the good news.  We have that same mission so how are those that never associate with anyone but those of like-legalistic-mind, accomplishing their mission.

Jesus called a man to be a disciple named Matthew and he was a tax collector.  Jesus also called a man named Simon who was a Zealot.  As far as the Jews were concerned Matthew was an extreme, unpatriotic traitor and Simon was an extreme, patriotic loyalist.  They should have killed each other but instead they loved each other and became servants to Christ and to us all.

That is mastering one’s self.  That is self-control.

Love you all

Tags: Christ, Church, Conservative, consumption, Enemy, Fruit of the Spirit, galatians, Hell, Lie, Love, relationship, Self, self centeredness, Servant, spirit

It is a little past midnight and I am sitting in the living room praying, praising, and worshipping the Alpha and the Omega, The Lord of all creation, the God who came down to earth to live as one of us and to die so we can be reconciled back to Him.  Jesus is just so very amazing.  I love you Lord and am so thankful for your Amazing Grace.

It was the summer of 2007 and it was another first for me in my walk with Christ.  I was down, empty, feeling so very far from God.  I had been in His service for a little over five years and had been pretty much ‘up’ the whole time.  Then, sort of out of the blue, it felt like God was so very far away.  It was nothing I did or did not do and it was not because of anything bad in my life at that time.  Work, home life, church, all of these were fine and even great actually.  I could not explain it then and still can’t.

But I can honestly say that my worship was not exactly how it had been.  I may be different than most, but I have some of my best experiences in His presence while alone with Him.  Like right now after Tammy has gone to bed with our youngest grandchild and I have my headphones on and have been reading the bible and listening to music. Sometimes it is in the truck, just praying or worshiping as I drive alone down the highway.

But maybe that summer I had been just a little too busy.  Work had escalated to a level where it was almost like having three full time jobs.  I believe that maybe it was me and not God that had been too far away.  No matter what or how or who, I felt terrible for a while, at least in spirit.

Then I heard this song on the radio.  It was powerful but I could not find out who did it or its name.  But I did not forget it.

The Church of God held the annual camp meeting at Metro Church of God that year and I wanted to go but was not only too busy but actually not very motivated.  But I finally made myself go on the Friday night service.

I talked to a few people, found a seat and sat waiting, not expecting much.  I had talked to a dear friend and minister for a short time and had told him a little about what I was feeling and he had let me know that God was still good and that maybe He would be there for me that night.  I doubted it really.

Praise and worship started and I stood and I did worship God but it was not as refreshing as it had been at times.  Then the praise team started singing this song.  I am attempting to embed this video for the first time and I hope it works.  Watch it now if you want and I will finish up below.

If that did not wake you up to the awesome reality of God then I don’t honestly know what will.  It did it for me.  I don’t know whether it was me or God but the things this song woke me up to that night changed me once again.  And it was right on time because not long after that the bottom started to fall out.

Work ground to a halt in September 2007 and is still not good.  Every month I have to go into a rapidly dwindling savings to pay the bills.  The kids started getting into more and more trouble and are currently at an all time low or high maybe, which is devastating to me and especially to Tammy, my wife.  And she is also having some mysterious and hard to identify health problems, as some of you know.

Before anyone thinks I need a special song to move me, know that I don’t.  Most of this time that I have served Christ; it has only taken a thought of how He reached out and snatched me from the very gates of hell, to spur me on.  But I now believe He used this powerful song to wake me, humble me, and prepare me for these rather dark days I am in right now.  This song that night had me in tears and totally immersed in His presence in a way that I have not often felt.  It has that effect to varying degrees even now.  And I am at peace with our situation in a way that I might not have been.

As I sit here listening, crying and typing I just want to say to you all, that He is our everything, He is Holy, He is Lord, He was and is and is to come and I can’t speak for you but I ADORE HIM.  We must dare to worship the Holy Lord God Almighty in all situations.  Otherwise we just might not make it.

Love you all

Tags: alpha and the omega, amazing grace, Bible, camp meeting, Creation, Grace, Hell, jesus, lord of all creation, Love, metro church of god, Power, Praise, Self, Service, spirit

I love to read.  I don’t remember exactly how old I was when I first started reading books on my own, just because I wanted to, but I was about eleven or twelve, I think.  I remember back in the 70’s getting lost in the adventures of The Three Investigators.  While other kids who read were following the mysteries of The Hardy Boys, I found that I was more interested in this series because of the supernatural element.

I moved on to other mysteries and detective stories like Ellery Queen and Sherlock Holmes and then my Dad introduced me to Edgar Rice Burroughs.  He was the creator of Tarzan of the Apes and many other larger than life characters that operated in many fantastical, magical, fantasy filled worlds that I found more fascinating than my earlier times helping to solve mysteries.

As time went on I read many genres; westerns, fantasy, science fiction, adventure, action, suspense, horror and of course many of the classics.  From comic books to extensive collections of adventure series, I always had something to read.  I was a quiet, shy, introverted kid that found the most enjoyment while alone with a book.  I had a vivid imagination and could get lost in the worlds of many of the stories that I read.

This has carried over into my adulthood.  I still read a lot but my focus since I was born again almost seven years ago has been on all things theological.  I have focused mainly on anything that helps me to do my work for the Kingdom.  I still have many works of fiction that I intended to read before I got saved that have been placed on the back burner.

I used to read fiction, I believe, to escape this world; this world that I really did not find much joy in.  My atheism and my dislike of people in general didn’t help me in this.  The wonderful and mysterious worlds of fiction kept me engaged on a level that allowed me to find some joy at least.

The introduction to Jesus Christ and His Kingdom has changed me.  I find joy in this world and relationships now because of the changes He has made in me and because of the importance of the work I need to do for Him.  And the investigation into the mystery of God and who He is, is satisfying in and of itself.

Yesterday afternoon I read a work of fiction again.  I read The Shack.  I know that I am a little behind the times on this one and almost did not write about it but I believe I should.  I originally did not want to read this book.  The hype surrounding it actually turned me off to it.  All the highly touted books in the realm of Christianity since I got saved have let me down.

The Purpose Driven Life is more about us than Christ.  The Prayer of Jabez was a misplaced idea about incorporating something that someone else prayed for in a certain context for the enrichment of ourselves,  again.  And I don’t really believe I need to say anything about Your Best Life Now, the title says it all.

Most everyone was saying how life changing The Shack was while the fundamentalist crowd has critiqued every word for theological error.  I read a little about it and figured that I would probably just look for the error in it also.  But yesterday, while sitting alone feeling pretty lousy from this flu or cold or whatever I have, I decided to give it a try.

I read it in three hours.

It surprised me.  It was fascinating and wonderful.  I t was an amazing view of a God that loves us and wants nothing more really, than a dynamic relationship with us; and our trust.
It will probably upset some with the authors liberties in the portrayal of God but I found it rich and authentic.  The relationship of the Trinity went a long way in helping me to possibly understand a difficult concept better.

The idea of a God that reaches out to His hurting children did not quite fit the reformed concept of foreknowledge that was there but that did not bother me.  That, I believe, was the power of the story.  If you allow yourself to lose any critical attitude and immerse yourself in the story, you will get something wonderful from it.

The story and the concepts of God in it fit so well with my growing ideas about who God is.  The relational aspects of our walk with God are just now starting to come to the front of my own and others theological thought.  Emerging churches, missional movements, open theism; all of these have at their core the concept of a loving God who wants us in a rich relationship with Him and each other.  This was a major theme I saw in The Shack.

The portrayal of the trinity as truly one God is exactly what I believe also.  We tend to treat God as three separate gods in our attitudes and speech, but I have always made it a point to see the God of the Old Testament, Jesus Christ, and The Holy Spirit that is here with us now as the same being.  They all share in this relationship and in all the pain and suffering with us.

The last concept put out in the book, the necessity of forgiveness was, in my opinion not expanded as much as I would like, but it was a powerful part of the story.  Forgiveness is one of the major steps to finding peace in this world.

The author made it a point in some interviews that this is a work of fiction.  He is not trying to put out a commentary or textbook about theology.  Take it as that and you will find it enjoyable.  Life changing, I don’t know, but a valuable work to place into your mind for the enrichment of your spirit, I believe it is that.

Read it, enjoy it, but have some tissues nearby.

Love you all.

Tags: Atheism, Christianity, Church, edgar rice burroughs, ellery queen, fantasy science fiction, foreknowledge, Holy Spirit, Jabez, Jesus Christ, Kingdom, Love, mission, Prayer, Relationships, Self, sherlock holmes, spirit, Supernatural, supernatural element, tarzan of the apes, Theology, worlds of fiction