What Independence Day Means to Me (Mine is January 31st, and again on Easter)

The 4th of July is called Independence Day. It is the day that the United States declared that it would no longer be dependent on Great Britain. The United States, in the Declaration of Independence, told Great Britain that they would no longer be under their control. Most people, when they hear Independence Day automatically think of July 4th. I do not.

There is another date that comes to my mind when I hear the words Independence Day. The date that comes to my mind is January 31st, 2009. You see, when I hear independence my mind as one who is in recovery instantly defines that word. I think of no longer being dependent upon something to be able to function or exist. When I think of independence I think of recovery.

The word recovery was never part of my vocabulary. Not unless I was in a serious car accident or had overdosed, which I did frequently. It was not part of my language because I was what most would consider a lost cause, a lifer. I had been smoking cigarettes, using drugs/alcohol for over 25 years when 2009 rolled around. I was not really expected to change my ways. Most people had given up on me.

It was the same as pretty much every other year when 2009 started, yet at the same time it was really different. I had stopped shooting up in 2001, and had traded out my addiction to drugs for an addiction to alcohol. I could justify that. It was legal, and at least I wasn't doing drugs. Soon my drinking spiraled out of control and by 2009 I would wake up some nights with shakes and have to drink to make the shakes subside so that I could go back to sleep.

My addiction in 2009 was just as bad if not worse than it had ever been. It may have been legal, but I blacked out most nights and frequently drove home when I had no business walking. I am still amazed that I never killed anyone. In all, I have totaled 4 vehicles. The worst accident I had I flew a Firebird 97 feet and got 32 into the air before crashing into trees.  Plus, I was still smoking cigarettes, getting into fights, sleeping around, cussing and I was a very outspoken Agnostic.

There were some differences, though. I was a father, which had only happened two years earlier. My father was gone, having committed suicide in February of 2008. I was also fighting with my son's mother over visitation, which was rough. Finally, I had started going to church in Fall of 2008. That was different for me as church was also not in my vocabulary.

I would still adamantly tell you that I was Agnostic, but I was going to church because a couple that were the only friends I thought I had were going there and they had a recovery meeting that I could go to and be honest without seeing clients from the facility that I worked at. I was not going weekly, but I would go there once or twice a month. Then something happened, my Independence Day.

I had left a bar and was on my way home when a police car pulled behind me and began to follow me. He followed me through multiple turns and I began to make deals with God about me not getting pulled over and the things that I would do if He made me getting home safely a reality. Needless to say, He did and I have had to keep my part of the bargain. You can read about that experience here http://spiritualspackle.blogspot.com/2012/03/impact-that-im-not-who-i-was-by-brandon.html

There is a piece of the Declaration of Independence that also applies here. The founder's of our country said, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." This really applies to all of us who are consumed with life controlling issues.

In my addiction, I had no true life or liberty. I was running from pain and depression, but the truth is without facing them I would never be happy. Freedom is now what you have to do, but what you don't have to do. I had to do drugs, had to drink, had to fight,  had to sleep around to feel better about myself and not feel physically ill.

That is just not a good direction for life, but I did not know any better. I did not know any better because I had lived my life with hope in nothing and no one but myself. Well, myself and my addictions. I would have told you that I was Agnostic but that wasn't really true. I had made addiction my god. It was the focus of my every waking thought. If I was not using, I was making plans to and looking forward to it all day.

There is no independence in that life, only dependence. Over the course of my addiction, I tried everything secular that I could find to no avail. Whether it was rehab, prison, 12 step meetings, counseling or medication I always relapsed sooner than later. The longest I went without use was a 3 month stint. That is including the first 30 days that I spent in a residential drug rehabilitation center.

The outcome was always the same, me using. Then one night I was desperate and I prayed to God to help me overcome my addictions. He has kept his part, and I have not smoked a cigarette, drank, used drugs, slept around or gotten into a fight since then. Phillipians 4:13 is right when it says "I can do all things through He who strengthens me." I am living proof.

I hope that you enjoy a great 4th,filled with baseball games, fireworks and BBQ to bless your day. But while you are enjoying your day I also hope you remember that as a Christian you have true independence. Thanks to the sacrifice of Christ you have freedom from sin and by proxy from death, since the wage of sin is death. This above all we must give thanks for.

So although July 4th is the national date that Americans celebrate their country's Independence on, we are not of this world. I appreciate the sacrifices that our troops made back then just as I appreciate the sacrifices that they make today. More than all of those, I appreciate the sacrifice that Christ made 2,000 years ago that bought me independence from death and the promise of everlasting life. I also am forever grateful for the Holy Spirit that has filled, guided and enabled me to stay abstinent since February 1st of 2009.

Good Friday, Easter and worship music

Today is Good Friday. I worked, then I went on a 20 mile bike ride. During the bicycle ride, which was on the Greenways in Springfield, I enjoyed nature. I looked at God's creation, and it was good. I saw squirrels, rabbits, birds, trees, flowers and a lot of people. How anyone could possibly look at all that I saw today and think it all came from nothing. That there was a time that space, time and matter didn't exist and it all came into being from a "singularity" or that it just all existed just so and now we have life springing from non-living matter without the guidance of a master's hand is beyond me......and totally irrelevant to this blog.

Instead, I want to look at what I did when I got home on Good Friday. I came home and have spent the last 3 hours in front of the computer signing worship songs. I love to worship, and I have listened to my favorites tonight: Brandon Heath, Casting Crowns, Mercy Me, Third Day, Sanctus Real, Tenth Avenue North, Matt Maher, John Waller, David Crowder, Jeremy Camp, Newsboys, Chris and Conrad, Kutless, Chris Tomlin, Finding Favour and Jonny Diaz. Hillsong and Sidewalk Prophets. I am sure that I left some out, and as for the women and rap worship that I listen to.........I just can't hit the notes or rap well enough to sing on a night of worship.

I just want to share a couple of songs with you that really stood out to me. It is not on me to judge anyone, but there are a lot of people that have forgotten what it means to be a Christian. They have forgotten what Good Friday and Easter are about. Christ died for us, and yet we are afraid to look different to the world. We may go to church, we may tithe, we may raise our hands in worship. That does not make a Christian. Are you cussing, fornicating, drinking to inebriation, drugging, lying, stealing, gossiping, etc. I ask you to listen to this Matthew West song and ask if it describes you. Are you going through the motions:

So, are you just going through the motions? If so, you don't have to anymore. You're past sins no longer matter. God is a God of love, and He loves you regardless of what you have done. He loves you anyway:

Jesus loved us so much, that He did not want us to be bound to death. He wanted us to have the opportunity to be forgiven:

How could He possibly remove the debt of sin that we all owe? He paid the ultimate price for us. Jesus paid it all:

But that is not enough. It was not enough for Jesus to simply die for us. Many have died for others. What He did was come back from the dead. For us, He is risen:

Jesus died and came back three days later. Today we remember His death. On Sunday we celebrate His resurrection. Because of His sacrifice and resurrection, we are changed once we accept Christ. He gave us amazing grace and our chains are gone:

So in closing, we are created new because of the Grace that was shown to us not only when Christ died, but when He was resurrected. Because of that I am a new person, I'm not who I was:

What I really want you to focus on as we approach Easter Sunday is that we were born into sin. God loved us so much that He sent Christ to die, so that we could have eternal life. The problem is that most of us take the Grace we were given for granted. We continue to live our lives as the world does. Christ said that they would hate us as they hated Him. We are not on Earth to fit in, but to shine like a lamp on a hill. You are no longer who you once were, so live like it! If you truly believe that Christ died for you, show it. Your attitude of gratitude should set you apart from the world. Your life should do one thing, like a beacon in a world of darkness it should shine:

Stop or Go

I went to  a couple of different churches for services on Easter Sunday. I went to the church that I attend, which is New Life Church. I then went to a church in Branson that is my father-in-laws church, which is called Woodland Hills Family Church. I really enjoyed both services that I attended.

I always love the lessons at my church. We are blessed with Pastor Dan Call, who gives some of the most informative and passionate lessons I have ever heard. During worship and the service I can feel the Holy Spirit working on me. If that is happening to me, I know that it is happening to others. In future blogs I can guarantee that I will expound on the virtues of my Pastor, my home church, my brothers and sisters there as well as the worship team. We are truly blessed at New Life.

The true reason that I am blogging about an Easter service 3 weeks later is that Pastor Ted Cunningham at Woodland Hills had a great sermon. There were a couple of visuals that he handed out that were quite memorable. He handed us a piece of red candy and a piece of green candy as we came into the church.
There was a purpose that is pretty easy to understand. "The red piece stands for stop and the green piece stands for go," he told us. "Ask yourself if you and your family, does your life reflect a resurrected Jesus. I want you to ask yourself, am I a stop Christian or am I a go Christian."

That is some pretty heavy stuff to discuss during an Easter service. There are many that come on Easter that do not usually come, and based on his service there are many will not come back. He said that there are many driving the roads who would leave church that day who think that they are Christians, and they are not. If he were asked to pick a color, that color would be red. He then said that he was not judging, he was fruit inspecting (I found that to be a pretty funny way to look at it).

The best part of his sermon was his acknowledging the truth. He said that he knew that he might offend some of the people there, but was okay with that. "I have not seen some of you since Christmas, and I will not see you again until Christmas. How do you explain to your kids why you only go to church twice a year." He did not talk about heaven or hell, instead he asked everyone to think about what motivates them.

What he talked about was a way to try and get the people who were there that day to think. Christ loved you enough to die, and He did not die a peaceful death. He died one of the most horrific deaths that is possible, and He did not have to. He chose to! That is huge, and the question is.......Do we live our lives in a way that says thank you to Jesus for his sacrifice (a go Christian), or do we slap Jesus in the face with the actions that we make (a stop Christian).

Tithing, showing up at church several times a week and even volunteering make a good church member, but do not make you a go Christian. We are to make disciples of others. We do this by proclaiming the good news that Jesus extolled. We do this by talking to that family member who does not know Christ, even if it makes them mad.

Jesus stated that He would divide families. If you love your family more than you do Jesus, He says that you are not worthy of Him, and that if you do not take up your cross and follow Him is not worthy of Him in Matthew 10:34-38. This is pretty hard to do, if you ask me. Choose Christ over our families if it comes down to it. I am sure it was also hard to walk the Via Dolorosa on the way to Golgotha, but Christ did. To quote a song, Jesus paid it all, yet we seem to be content to ride on his coattails instead of picking up our cross.

So ask yourself this question, are you a stop or a go Christian? Tomorrow we will look at what it means to take up Jesus cross and become a go Christian!!