Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing

- 1 Peter 3:9 (TNIV) [emphasis mine]

I read this verse today, and it really spoke to me. I cannot tell you how many times someone I know at work or outside of work has said an insult, joking or not, and I have come back at them with an insult, joking or not, of equal or greater value. This can be so damaging, and even worse, it can be so deceiving.

How many times do we crack jokes to each other, when, if we were truly honest with ourselves and each other, part of us really doesn’t mean it as a joke. If we were able to be completely honest with each other with it causing any damage I think we all would say that deep down,

we say what we mean, but we disguise it behind a “joke” so that we can say it and still remain friends.

This is not good. This is deceiving.

This verse really spoke to me, and hit me at my core today. My soul is sick. And God is trying to heal it.

We should be the standard. The example. The encouragement. We have the answer. The fix.

So let us no longer repay insult with insult, joke with joke, but let us shock the world (and ourselves) but repaying everything with love, encouragement and blessing

Your thoughts?

It seems like every person who calls themselves a christian (whether they are passionately pursuing Jesus or not) has an opinion as to what it means, or what you have to do to be a christian. I find myself pulled toward two sides. One of them being the seeking of advice from others. You know, “talk to your pastor, or a trusted godly friend”. As far as I can tell, there is nothing wrong with this.

Then there is side two. God. What does God want me to do? “God, people are telling me this, but what do YOU want me to do?”

I find myself wanting to live the christian life the way God wants me to live it, and yet it seems like I cannot go down that path for very long before I have to ask for help – and to be frank – I tend to ask for help from those who can respond instantly and with an audible tone.

There are so many books out there concerning christian living. All seem to evoke that sense of “this will be the last book I will ever have to buy concerning my living for Jesus”. The problem is, I have quite the collection growing of those books. Many of them are very good too!

And thus here I am, and possibly, here you are too. In a world that is growing increasingly evil, how do we distinguish between the junk and the truth? How does God want us to execute our living “Jesus’ way” for God’s glory individually and personally?

More to come soon, in the meantime, what are your thoughts?

But, I am a writer. A speaker. A talker. And I embrace that! I have not always done so, but I do now!

I can be a listener. But I am naturally a born talker.

Forgive me, those who can never get a word in. I know it is not always a good thing. I try to listen to people. Its crucial to relationships. But God made me to be a communicator with my voice and with my words.

So, I embrace the blog! I hope you will embrace my talkative blog with me

Grace and Peace!

Last night I caved in and I purchased it. And I am so glad I did. The basic foundation of the book is as follows,

An evangelical pastor, Ed Dobson, decided to live one year as Jesus lived. To eat like Jesus ate. Pray as Jesus prayed. Observe the Sabbath and attend Jewish customs as Jesus did, as well as read all four gospels every week.

This is very powerful, funny and moving.

I love how the book is set up too. It is not divided up by ‘traditional’ chapters. Each ‘chapter’ is actually a month. And the writing contained within is definitely much more like a journal entry than him talking to you in the expected “teaching” persona.

I finished the first ‘chapter’ (month of January) last night within an hour. I am  so captivated by not only his writing style and the format, but of course the  content within. The amount of misunderstanding we have due to our lack of

knowledge on the culture, time, and Jewish way of life that Jesus existed in and lived out of . Words cannot express to you how inspired and rejuvenated I am when I am reading this book.

I could go on and give you excerpts from the book and talk more in depth about the content, but that would rob you of the experience and “rawness” of actually reading it.

I strongly urge and encourage you to purchase this book. If you cannot purchase the book then contact your local library and rent a copy. You will not regret it!

Shalom.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. A wonderful holiday where we sit around a huge table and pile on WAY too much food and watch football (America’s real past time).

The question I have for you today is…

What are you thankful for?

Family? Friends? Yes. Yes.

What about a roof over your head?

Or the bed that you sleep in and the pillow you lay your head on?

How about your vehicle? “Well my car is ok, but it’s fast becoming a ‘pos’!”

Well that may be so, but you still have a car.

My point in all this? To you get you think for more than a passing moment about all that you do have.

We always want more. There will always be more. More is not going away

When we set our eyes on the ‘more’ we lose sight of what we do have.

And what we do have is a blessing!

So,

What are you thankful for?

I was checking out Los’ latest blog post, and as I was commenting, I realized that my comment could be a good post. So here goes…

It’s strange to most people, but I like to ask random and sometimes seemingly insignificant questions to get to know people better. I enjoy people of all genders, types, shapes, sizes and colors. I love their stories. Their passions.

It’s not about making myself more like anyone else. It’s about connection

Ask a person a crazy question like “chat with me about your favorite thing to chat about” and you will find yourself in connection with creation. It’s an amazing thing what can happen when we take a few minutes out of our day, our life, our moment and just listen to someone’s story.

We all are created by God and have His breath in all of us (saved and unsaved), and to connect to that is to connect with God

I encourage you. Take a chance. When you have that moment to ask someone a crazy question that could lead to a connection, seize it!

So tell me, what’s your story?

Blessings and peace!

While I was lying in bed trying to sleep (something I was not able to accomplish as of yet) I was thinking about scripture I had read recently and I had a thought about something we call the Gospel.

It occurred to me, and I don’t think I am alone in thinking, that when we think of the Gospel of our savior Jesus Christ, we don’t give much thought to it. In fact, sadly, more often then not when we think or talk about the gospel – good news – we think of it as a story and nothing more.

In fact, the gospel is MUCH, MUCH more than this. Romans 1:16 says this:

16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

Ok, now break that down, JUST enough that we are able to soak in what Paul is saying…

Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. [Remember, the gospel is what Jesus accomplished on the cross! (Did you catch that!? ]

Now, why is he not ashamed of what Jesus accomplished on the cross?

Because the gospel is the POWER of God – which – brings salvation to everyone who believes (in this gospel)!

How is this gospel so powerful? Ok, now catch this, because it will make you jump for joy!

Jesus Christ, the SON of Almighty God, came to earth, and fulfilled the law [of Moses and the prophets, etc]. Jesus did what NO ONE else could do. He lived a perfect life, according to the law, THUS becoming the spotless sacrificial lamb…
And then on the cross Christ took EVERY sin ANYONE has EVER commited or WILL EVER commit, and took your name off of it and slapped His name on it and said, “It’s MY sin”.

God exhausted his full anger against sin on Jesus on the cross. God SERVED justice by punishing YOUR sin and MY sin ONCE and FOR ALL by punishing Jesus on the cross.

Because of Jesus being the ultimate sacrifice, your sins are now forgiven in full, and God sees you as righteous! Jesus died and rose again! And now you are free!

THAT friends is the gospel. That is why it is good news. And that is why it is powerful! Hallelujah!

Do not be ashamed!

Grace and Peace!

I only feel it is best to start this blog off by writing about something I am extremely passionate about.

Every year 15 million [15,000,000] children die of hunger

I have a favor to ask of you. Stop. Turn your music or tv off for just a min. Go back and read the above statistic. Think VERY hard about that fact. Think about how big the number 15 million actually is. How soon a year comes and goes.

Think about starving… to death…

If it hasn’t hit home yet, then you haven’t really considered what has just been said. Please, go back and try again.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we cannot fail any longer. SO many of you are doing so much! From the bottom of my heart I thank you, and I know that those children and families that are starving here in America and abroad are thankful. But there is yet more we can do!

Like what? Bug people.

Go ahead, laugh. It is kind of funny. But I am serious. I, like so any of you sponsor a child (or children). We give to charities and organizations and we mention it occasionally in our blogs or to our friends as we pass them by. It’s not enough.

I am most guilty of the above, but it’s something that needs to change. It must change. Don’t be afraid to be a fanatic! “But people will eventually walk away and stop listening” Yes, that is a possibility. But I have faith that most won’t.

When you boast about all the starving children in poverty – instead of what your doing for the starving children in poverty – people will take notice

We can only give so much money. Do so much in a day. But words are free. Thank you for all you do! Let’s start kicking this in gut, rather than just poking it with our finger!

Grace and Blessings