Back in the Saddle

As you have read from the previous Blog posts a lot has been going on around here. I am please to announce that my father is doing well back up and on His feet and so is my mother recovering from her fall. Now that I have mom and dad back together and we have gotten through our VBS as well as my work with a few other here in Central KY I can focus some attention back to the Blog.

For those of you who continue to hang on I greatly thank you and appreciate your prayers. With all the obligations that I have in life the Blog is the first to suffer a cutback. I hope to have enough time now in the foreseeable future to keep this current at least weekly if not more often, well at least until the phone rings =).

The thought for this week is around spiritual Independence. We just celebrated on Saturday our independence day here in the US. This is a day we celebrate the signing of the declaration of independence and our beginning of becoming a free nation. I want to quote the first paragraph from the declaration of independence for those who need a brush up on their history

"When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation"

In reading through this I would like to make the same declaration about our spiritual bondage.

"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the spiritual bonds which have enslaved and entangled them with this world. To assume among the powers of the creator of the earth and the creator of man that we should declare the causes which impel us to separate"

While I don't claim to be as eloquent as the men who penned these words I do know that we should all desire to separate from the things of this world-Romans 12:1-2. All who sin are separated from God and enslaved to sin Jn 8:34. Unless we find separation from sin we will die in it and apart from God-Rom 6:23.

In Galatians 4 we read about the redemptive work of Christ. We begin enslaved to the elementary principals of this world but when the fullness of time had come God sent His son to free us from sin and bring us into Him. We are no longer slaves but sons and if sons then heirs-heirs according to the promise that God made to Abraham that through his seed all nations would be blessed with Spiritual freedom. Blessed we are that through Jesus Christ we can separate from the sins of this world and be connected to God.

Free at last from the dominion of sin and free at last to look forward to dwelling with God. Will you continue as a slave or will you give everything you have to be FREE.
MPE

Questions from the hospital

Question 2- When can I go home/What do I have to do to go home?

This seems like a very innocent question and one that comes to most every mind when they enter the hospital. This I think may be the most profound of all questions that one can ask. This also has the most far reaching of consequences. Immediately when this question is asked it implies two things: 1) you will go home and 2) there is a time frame for going home. When this question is asked no one expects to hear the words you may not get to go home. Most docs even in terminal cases try to keep the hope of going home alive and well. The very hope of being able to go home will allow the patient to strive and fight through difficulties and force themselves to work through pain, fatigue and ailments to do what it takes to recover. Looking around the hospital I see people in pain and anguish force themselves to get up and walk trying to get the body flowing and working right in order that they can just go home.

Doctors will ask that they walk so much or do so many things and when they can perform these tasks then you can go home but not until then. It is ironic to me that many of these requests go without question. Many just blindly do whatever the doctor wants whether they agree or not. Many will even say "I will do anything to go home if this crazy doctor wants me to do ______ then I will." Sadly some of the patients will never be able to perform these tasks and thus will never leave the hospital to go back home.

When I think about the pain and fatigue of this world and how much many of us just want to go home eternally. Jesus says in John 14 that He went to prepare us all a place to come home to. There are many things that God asks us to do in order to go home. Many people want to argue and fuss to say why should I have to do this or that. "My God would make me do anything"- I have heard some tell me. Jesus says in John 3:36 "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." Many people quote John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever shall believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life." When they quote verse 16 they say see all I have to do is believe I don't have to do anything but say I believe in Jesus. If you keep reading from verse 16 to verse 36 (Jesus is still talking here) you would easily see that belief=obedience. We have to believe in Jesus but not just believe in Him but believe and trust and obey Him.

If you really want to go home-Belief and obedience is the only way your gonna get out of here. Is this a time for questioning why or just doing "Whatever it takes to attain the Resurrection of the dead"-Phil 3:11

MPE

Notes from the hospital

On Wednesday morning of this week my father had some emergency surgery-please continue to pray for him-which prompted me to spend several days by his side in the hospital. The funny thing about life is no matter where you find yourself lessons abound. From the inside of a hospital many of life's questions are asked. A close friend of mine reduced them all to the single question-"what does God look like". While in a future post we may explore that overriding question for now I am going to ask and answer some of these basic questions. Over the next few days and weeks please stay tuned as we take this newly appointed road.

1) Why did this happen to me?- In the egocentric world that we live in for many people this is the first question and the one they initially assign the most value to. Many people want a direct answer for their plight in the midst of a revolving world. They expect God directly had something to do with why they are sick-Have a committed sin? Does God hate me? Why would God let this happen to me?- all these questions sometimes aimed and sometimes leveled at God as the one to blame. This on some levels is a legitimate question-if your looking for the right answer. If you ask this question for medical purposes such as: What can I do to prevent it in the future?, What can I change about my life so this doesn't happen to me? This is, however, an unprofitable question to ask if your looking to assign blame to God. The wise man writes "The rain falls on the just and the unjust" or to put it another way- things just happen. Without rhyme and reason sometimes things just happen. It can drive all of us crazy trying to find a point in a completely random event-things just happen. People have accidents and fall, sometimes hearts fail in the midst of life, sometimes those who are the strongest physically have the weakest hearts and minds. The other answer to this question is maybe the event has nothing to do with you. Your misfortune could be the consequence of an other'ssin. God will forgive sin but will not bypass the consequences of sin. For example if a drunk driver crosses the line and causes a head on collision leaving someone dead or handicapped for the rest of their lives it is entirely the result of sin and not the Innocent party that is to blame. I have had the unfortunate experience of talking with those who have had life altering events that are entirely the result of an other's sin. Some grow from it and use there brush with death to refocus their lives. Others blame God, themselves, society and anyone else they can to delay their own emotional and psychological recovery-"this is vanity".

My friends the only thing in this life we can truly control is our disposition. We can control how we react to the things of life. We can look for good and opportunities to grow. We can find perspective and further understand the brevity of life and look forward to a "city not built with hands whose builder and maker is God". We can choose to be happy. I am going to say that again we can choose to be happy. If we want to be positive and happy we have to choose that course. If we want to look at the bad, assign blame and ponder the never profitable question "why did this have to happen to me" we will be miserable, downtrodden and lonely people who have chosen a life of misery over a life filled with hope.

MPE

Time, Time, Time

All of us ask for more time. If I only had more time I would do this, or if I only had another hour I would do that. The truth is we would just fill that time with more stuff and ask or want more of it. I would love to have the time to do all of the things that I want- and actually I do. You see when we make decisions with the time we have we do end up doing the things we want to do otherwise we would make different decisions. We say with our lips that we want to do other things but I have found that actually or decisions are far more indicative of our desires than our lips.

With my lips (or keyboard) I tell those of you following this blog that I want to be better at it. Unfortunately with my actions I end up spending the time I would normally use for the blog to study, spend time with the family or just decompress from the wonders of my day as a financial planner and manager of other planners.

I ask in this thought that you consider what your actions state about how you really feel and how really dedicated you are to following God. Do you say with your lips that you want to follow Him or are your actions indicative of a deep and meaningful relationship with Him. Do you consider as you make your decisions of the impact it has on your relationship with God? Do you consider that the longer you go without talking to Him the farther you move away? Do you consider that even though nothing can seperate us from the love of God (Rom 8) we are the ones who always end the relationship?

I can honestly tell you that I have not considered the feelings of those who read this blog as I infrequently post. I can tell you however God considers what you choose to fill your time with when you could spend it with Him.