The Platinum Rule

Most of us know the Golden Rule, or ethic of reciprocity, "Do unto others as you would have them do to you." That was a quote attributed to Jesus in the New Testament. That sounds great, doesn't it? It sounds so good that you can find it in just about any other religion as well:

• Judaism, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
• Confucianism, "Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself." 
• Hinduism, "One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself." 
• Islam, "Not one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." 
• Jainism, "A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated." 
• Buddhism, "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find harmful."

I have heard this saying multiple times throughout my life. I seldom saw it applied so I never really took the time to think it out. It did not register with me because I knew no one would want to be treated as I thought I should be. As a child who was physically and sexually abused as a child, I always felt less then. I expected to be treated poorly and looked down on by people. I thought that was my penance for the sexual abuse I had undergone. I was dirty and disgusting and I deserved to be whatever I got because of it. I never once doubted the beatings I underwent were not deserved. I thought that I deserved to be hurt. I was an outcast.

As I grew up, I became very angry and violent. The saying I heard was, "Do unto others as they would do unto you, but be first." That became my motto. In my addiction, my anger and self-loathing grew. I could only find happiness in chaos and that was fleeting at best. I wanted to die, and tried to put myself in countless situations were that would happen. In fact, I tried to kill myself once and almost succeeded. I wanted people to hurt me. I wanted someone to kill me. So at this point, I am sure you can see how the Golden Rule would have not been very Golden of me to follow.

As I got sober, I still believed that I deserved to hurt. I felt that I deserved pain for all of the people I had hurt. After all, there was a massive trail of broken lives in the wake of the tornado my addiction had created. I was actually going to see a dominatrix when I first sobered up. Then the Golden Rule was reintroduced to me by my sponsor. I still had trouble understanding it.

Next he introduced me to the Silver Rule, thinking I could understand that better. The Silver Rule posits, "One shouldn't treat others in a way they would not like to be treated." This still did not work due to my low self-esteem and disappointment in myself. I knew that I deserved all the bad I had gotten in my life and a lot more. When bad things happened, I chalked them up to karma and me reaping what I had sowed.

As I stepped into recovery, that just did not work for me. I had to become more positive, and making amends as I worked through the steps helped me, but I needed more. What I discovered was, as much as I disliked myself I loved my sister. At the time she was the person I loved the most. I did not ever want to see someone mistreat her. Even in my addiction, I always had her back. This is where I came up with the Platinum Rule:

TREAT PEOPLE THE WAY YOU WANT THEM TO TREAT THE PERSON YOU CARE ABOUT MOST

That was all it took to get me to understand the Golden Rule and apply it to my life in early recovery. When I had my son, he was added as a person I care about the most. Then I got married and my wife was added to the list, then my daughter was added after her birth. That expanded my list and made most situations I would find myself in very easy to come up with the right answer to. How did I apply the Platinum Rule? Here are a few examples:

1. Would I want someone to gossip about my sister and spread rumors about her? NO! I would want them to come to her with their problem so that it could be worked out. Therefore, I try not gossip about other people behind their backs and come to them when I have problems. 
2. Would I want someone to beat up my son because they were told that he wronged them? NO! I would want them to be handle the situation like adults instead of hotheaded children. So when I hear someone wrongs me, instead of hurting them as I did in the past I try to talk to them and find out the truth of what is going on. 
3. Would I want someone to yell at my wife if they had a problem with her? NO! I would want them to treat her with respect. So I don't yell at people when I have a problem with them, instead I calmly talk to them so we can squash the issue. 
4. Would I want someone to break into my daughter's house and steal from her? NO! By process of elimination I do not steal from other people. 

As you can see, the Platinum Rule works for just about any situation that you find yourself in. This rule has made a ton of difference in my recovery. When used properly it takes you a minute before you act. Trust me, for a lot of us that is not a bad thing. I was very impulsive in my past, and I seldom made the wisest choices when I jumped right into things. In fact, 99.9% of the time I made the absolute worst decision. That all has changed due to me changing my thought process. Now I ask myself, "Is this how I would want someone to treat my son, my daughter, my sister, my wife?" If it isn't, then I have no business treating them that way.

As usual, thanks for reading! I hope that this is something that you can apply to your life. Let me know if it helps!!

As a quick disclaimer, this is not the Platinum Rule that is trademarked. That Platinum Rule says that we are to, "Treat others the way they want to be treated." That is a horrible rule, in my opinion. I work with a lot of people who struggle with addictions and mental illnesses. Take me for example. If you were to have treated me how I wanted to be treated 10 years ago, you would have shot me in the head and put me out of my misery. That, or you would have got me high. Bad idea, in my opinion! I definitely don't want the Platinum Rule I discuss confused with that one!
 

Holman QuickSource Guide to Christian Apologetics Chapter 7: Is the New Testament Reliable?

Until the 1450 when Johannes Gutenberg made the practice obsolete, all books were handwritten. So for 1400 years the New Testament was vulnerable to corruption. The New Testament was written by the church. Not all churches had all of the books. When a church received a document from an apostle, they wrote copies of it and sent it to other churches, who in turn did the same thing. They also highly valued the books, so great care was made to transmit them word for word. With that said, mistakes were still made.

There were two general ways to copy books. One way had a scribe who would take the book he wanted to copy, sit it in front of him, then copy it word for word. The other way used a text with several scribes writing while someone read aloud the text. This way was much quicker, but there was a problem with the second method that the first method did not have. Some words sound very similar yet contain different meanings, such as to and too or pare, pair and pear.

To deal with the issues of differences in texts, textual criticism was developed. In this, all extant copies of a manuscript are compared to each other. From there they use various techniques to identify which of the texts are the oldest. If differences are found in the text, then earliest texts are preferred. There is another method, which looks at what text the majority of the copies uses and adopt that.

Needless to say, the more copies of manuscripts we have the more accurately we can decipher the original text. With the New Testament, if we only were to use original language manuscripts we would have over 5,300 copies. Some of them date from as early as 125-130 AD, less than 50 years after the book was written. The Magdalen Papyri is dated to 70 AD and 7Q5, a Qumran fragment, has been dated between 50 BC and 50 AD.

To compare, the writings of Aristotle date 1400 years later and the total number of any one book is 49. Tetralogy by Plato has an earliest dated copy 1300 after he wrote it and there are only 7 manuscripts. The New Testament has 5,300 copies in original language, another 8,000 Latin Vulgate from the 4^th Century and 9,300 earlier version in Coptic, Armenian, Nubian and Syriac.

There are about 200,000 variants in 10,000 different places. Most of these are misspellings, interpolation of words or orthographical. Orthographical differences would be theater and theatre, where both are correct. There are the previously mentioned textual criticism methods to sort out differences, but there are about 400 words comprising 40 verses where the original writing is just not known. They contain no essential Christian doctrine.

Archeology and non-Christian writings have also been helpful. Archeology has consistently and repeatedly confirmed the New Testament. There are also the Jewish historian Josephus, the Roman historian Tacitus, Pliny the Younger (governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor) and the Greek satirist Lucian who speak of Christians, Jesus, the crucifixion, John the Baptist and James the brother of Jesus.

As for the word being inspired by God, Mr. Powell looks at the claim by other books to be divine. To decipher which is, we must first determine which is a reliable historical document. The Bible is backed up by archeology, non-Christian writings as well as a remarkable number of ancient copies. Then we look to Jesus claiming to be God. If the resurrection arguments are compelling, t hen we must take Jesus at his word. If Jesus in turn considered the Old Testament to be the Word of God, and what we have just discussed above in this paragraph is true, we have good reason to accept it as well.

Thanks for reading, hope to see you next time when we look at Chapter 8, which addresses if the Old Testament is reliable.

Holman's Quicksource Guide to Apologetics Chapter 6: Where Did the New Testament Come From?

Today we will look at the 27 books that make up the New Testament. They are the bedrock that Christianity is built upon, and knowing more about them allows us to better defend our faith. We need to have answers to questions that are often raised when people have doubts: Who wrote the books? Are the authors trustworthy? Are the books of the Bible historically accurate? Why were these 27 chosen? Why were there some books that were rejected?

Who Chose the Books

The councils of Hippo in 393 and Carthage in 397 fixed the list of books the New Testament contains. There were certain criteria that  needed to be met in order for them to be included. They had to have apostolic origin, meaning they were either written by apostles or an associate who kpet the apostle's teachings. Exceptions were made for Jude and James because they were brothers to Jesus.

They had to be written during the apostolic age, meaning while the disciples were still alive. They had to have been accepted and in use by the church. They also had to agree with accepted Scripture. Last and most important, they had to have been inspired by God  and have the power to transform lives. That last part is the hardest part to define.

As early as 115 AD Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch, referred to "The Gospel." Marcion created a canon that contained 10 of Paul's Letters and the Gospel of Luke in 135 AD. The oldest known list of the New Testament  canon books was compiled around 180 to 200 AD. It contained 23 books. Tertullian, who lived from 120-220 AD quotes from 23 of the 27 canonical books. The reason these books were used was because they preserved the teaching of the disciples, who were comimissioned by Jesus to spread His teaching.

Who Wrote the Books

Polycarp was a disciple of the apostle John. The bishop of Lyons, Irenaeus, was a student of Polycarp. Irenaeus passed on the following in AD 180, which was directly given to him by Polycarp who had been told by John himself. He said that Matthew published his gospel, Peter and Paul founded the church in Rome, Mark wrote what Peter had preached and Luke recorded what Paul had declared. John the disciple of the Lord published his own Gospel in Ephesus.

Clement wrote a  letter to the Corinthians that quoted from 10 different New Testament books in 95 AD and recorded how the book of Mark was written. It is thought by some scholars that Matthew was written relying on Mark. If this is true, than Mark myst have accurately preserved the teachings of Christ or why would it have been copied.

The best explanation for the names given the four Gospels is that those men were the authors. Otherwise, why affix Matthew to one since he was seldom mentioned in the Gospels? Even more so with Mark and Luke since they were not apostles at all. Peter knew about Mark's writing and gave it his blessing, and Paul was known to refer to Luke's writing as "my Gospel" in Eusebius church history.

Dating the Gospels

According to Clement, John wrote his Gospel after the other 3 were written. In his writing he talks about the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem as if it still existed. It was razed in 70 AD, which would put his works as well as the other gospels pre-70 AD. Also the ommission of the destruction of Jerusalem in all of the gospels further supports the books being written before 70 AD.

Acts ends with Paul in a Roman prison. His beheading is not mentioned, so that puts the writing of Acts a nd Luke at the latest in the 60s.The other gospels also have landmarks and customs that would not have existed after  the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

Dating Paul's Writings

Since Paul died during the persecution of Nero around 64-67 AD, his works had to have been written earlier than that. Acts 18:12 is used to date the book. It mentions Gallis as the proconsul of Achiai, who was discovered through a letter found in 1905 that was dated to 52 AD. There is also a famine mentioned  that was dated by the historian Josephys to 45-46 AD. Using this information, Paul's conversion is dated to 32-35 AD with his letters written after that.

What About the Books That Were Left Out?

The Acts of Paul were written by an elder at Carthage while the Didache was of unlikely authorship.The epistle of Barnabas was believed to have been written by an early church father and not Barnabas. The Sheperd of Hermas was also likely written by an early church father. The Apocalypse of Peter was written in the first half of the second century, far to late to have a connection to Peter himself.

Although there are dozens of other books bearing names such as "the Gospel of Peter" and "the Acts of Pilate" they did not meet the criteria for inclusion. Most of these were writtten beyong the apostolic age and some as late as the Middle Ages.

To close, it is curious that the New Testament standards made it more likely to exclude authentic Scripture than to include false writings. Therefore, we see that the New Testament has a very strong case for the information it contains to have been events recorded by those who could reliably document them. Join us next month when we look at the reliability of the New Testament.

Could Jesus Find a Disciple part 1 The offer

Matthew 4:18-21 -  "As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him."

Now picture yourself at work. Imagine that you are the billing specialist for your family's business. It has been in the family for several generations You get to work with your dad, several uncles and your brother. You are at your desk, typing away on your computer one day. There are some forms that you have to get done if you want to get paid for the work that has been done in front of you. As you are typing, some guy who you have never seen walks up to your desk and peers down at you. He has long, curlyl hair and a full beard. He looks to be of middle Eastern descent, if you were to guess. He looks quite dirty and sweaty, as if he has been walking for several hours in the heat.

As you look up at him, he calmly speaks to you with a voice that you can tell is used to being listened to, "Get up from your computer, leave your source of livelihood and follow me. You are used to billing others. I will have you helping others."

He then turns around and begins to walk away in a manner that makes you realize that he expects you to follow. If you are most, if not all of us, you would simply sit there at your desk. You will not walk out of your job without some guarantee that you will get paid at least as well if not better than you already are. Plus, you do not know this man's company, or if he is even employed. He sure didn't look employed, he looked transient. Come to think of it, you may have wondered if he is even sane. Now the questions begin to swirl around in your head.

Is he crazy? Where did he come from? Why did he talk to me? How did he know me? Why me and not someone with a college education? What does he mean "help others"?  What business is he with? How much does it pay? What are the benefits offered, the job perks?

He could just have walked in and spoke to the first person that he saw. After all, you don't know him.  You are pretty good at your job, but it is a small family owned business. You are by no means anyone special. You only have a 10th grade education, because you didn't need any more than that to work for your dad. You have not even put out any applications or resumes with anyone.

It does not take you too long to form your action, which is none. I am going to stay right here behind this desk like I have for the past 10 years. I have a mortage, car payment and utilities to pay and I am comfortable where I am. I even have a paid vacation coming up. I have health and dental insurance and a job that I am already trained for and good at. I am happy, working in the family business. Why would I ever leave?

He turns back around and looks at you one last time, "Let's go" he says. You just look at him and laugh. "I am going no where today, brother. I am happy where I am. I have great benefits, I work with people who appreciate me and our customers love us. You have not even told me what I will make if I go to work for you."

He chuckles, "Follow me and you will see." With that, he is gone out the door, leaving you to stare after him. You look around at your uncle, who is also in the office. He shrugs his shoulders, "That was crazy," he says as he turns back to his computer.

For most of us, that is where the story would end. You now have a story to tell your friends and family the next time that you see them. You would never know what is offered, because you would never go out the door and ask. Or would you? Would you at least go out the door and see what the job description is? Would you find out the salary and the benefits of the job?  Did his assured manner pique your interest?

If so, part 2 of this blog will look at the job description and what following that man actually pays.

The Temple of God......more like a shanty

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 says, "Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple."

Our body is God's temple. That is said because the Holy Spirit lives in us. But do we live our lives that way? For the most part we do not live our lives as if we have even read the Bible, let alone as if we are a temple for the Holy Spirit to live in. A lot of us treat our bodies more like a garbage disposal or an amusement park. If we cannot control our consumption habits, how can we possibly control other habits such as lusting, lying or being a gossip?

When I say garbage disposal, what I mean is that we will throw any and all trash into our bodies. This ranges from junk food to eating too much food. Just because we have mega-Churches springing up does not mean that we need to have mega-waist sizes so that our personal temple matches the one we worship at. This is called gluttony, or overindulging.

Ever heard of gluttony? I hear that it is a sin! The Bible has a few things to say about gluttony. Proverbs 23:21 says that the glutton will come to poverty. Proverbs 23:2 goes as far as to say "put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony" and Phillipians 3:19 says that those who will come to destruction will treat their belly as their god. Does not sound like gluttony is a good thing. It sounds like gluttony is something to be avoided. Maybe this is something we as Christians should attempt to focus on. After all, sin is sin.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 states, "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."

Now we will look at treating our bodies as amusement parks. By that I mean we smoke cigarettes, have premarital sex, overindulge in alcohol and abuse drugs. Is that honoring God with our bodies? I should certainly hope not. That may be honoring the little "g" gods, not the big "G" God that I worship. We tend to take the path of least resistance and focus on what we want to do and what is popular and cool. This is not how we are to live, though. We are to live like the Holy Spirit resides in us, because it does. We should desire what God wants us to do.

Romans 8:5-6 says, "Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace."

Somewhere in the course of our lives we have to ask ourselves if we are living as though our mind is governed by the Spirit. Are we doing as we have been instructed to do. I would argue that we are not. The way we live our lives shows that we have no self-control, which is a very important thing. 2 Peter 1:6 says we are to supplement knowledge with self-control, and Galatians lists self-control as one of the fruits of the Spirit. If we are led by the Spirit, then we will have self-control. If we have the Spirit, you will know it by our fruits.

We may have trouble acting with self-control, but there are ways that we can build it. We need to acknowledge that when Christ died he brought us salvation that allows us to deny our worldly urges (2 Titus 2:11,12). In order to take advantage of this salvation, we must be baptized (Galatians 3:27), cleanse ourselves from the impurities of flesh and spirit (2 Corinthians 7:1) so that we can pursue peace and holiness and through them see God (Hebrews 12:14).

We show that we are truly following Christ by doing several things. In Acts 8:22 the Bible tells us that we should repent and pray so that our hearts can become right with God. Prayer and meditation will open us up to receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Just because it is there does not mean that we use it. As an example, I use public rest rooms all of the time. It has been my experience that almost every one that I have ever been provided both a sink and soap to wash your hands. Yet, I frequently see people walk out of those bathrooms without washing their hands. So it is with the Spirit, accessible to us but left unused.

Another thing that we need to do is surround ourselves with people who are living their lives led by the Spirit. There is a reason to do this. Birds of a feather, flock together. The Holy Scriptures also tells us that not only does bad company corrupt good behavior (1 Corinthians 15:33), but being around positive  Christians who are like-minded allow us to be built up and encouraged (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

When we get rid of the negatives in our lives, we need to replace them with positive things and people. If we do not, then bad things are surely going to seep back into our lives. I would rather be in relationships with healthy people than those who are living in sin, positive Christians as opposed to those who continue to make negative choices and accept no responsibility or hold themselves accountable for their actions.

In my life, I have decided I need to make some changes because there are areas of my life that I could improve in, that I do not have self-control in. The area is gluttony. I overeat all of the time, I do not know moderation when it comes to food and that has began to add up, leaving me with a waist that is almost as big as my chest. I will keep you updated on my progress as I attempt to overcome my last addiction, which is eating pleasure food in abundance, and drop 55 pounds and keep it off.

What I have decided to do is join Weight Watcher's, because it is a lifestyle change as opposed to a diet. I have tried juice fasts for a week, and the Daniel Fast for 40 days, but I have always returned to my addiction to food after it was over. I do not need a phase, but a permanent change. I need a change in lifestyle and a community to support it. I have done that with my other addictions, choosing to attend church for the community it provides, removing myself from those who were engaged in the lifestyle I was trying to leave behind me and actively associating with people who are accomplishing what I am striving for.

That is what Weight Watchers offers me: support, hope and encouragement. I know several people who are active Christians that are also involved in Weight Watchers and have been successful that can offer me support and encouragement in our journey. I will win in the battle with obesity and overeating, because my God is an awesome God. Don't forget what it says in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all this through Him who gives me strength."

What My Son Taught Me on Vacation About Being a Christian

My son has gotten into a habit that I thoroughly enjoy now, but would be annoying if he were to continue it into his teenage years. He never wants to walk anywhere. As soon as we get out of the car, he will turn and look at me with arms uplifted and say," Daddy, carry me" to which I now reply, "You will look really funny riding on my shoulders when you are 16" as I pick him up.

He rides on my shoulders regardless of where we go. He wants me to carry him when we go to the supermarket, the park, Silver Dollar city, the mall, McDonald's or church. He may walk, but he never walks more than 2 or 3 minutes. Every time he asks, I stoop down and pick him up. I simply cannot tell him no.

The reason for refusing to tell him no is the memories I have of my father carrying me on his shoulders. I remember how connected I felt to my dad when I was perched right by his ear, whispering questions and telling him I loved him. I thought I could see everything, and I knew that my dad loved me. That is why I do not tell him no when he asks me, and he never walks more than a couple of minutes.

This all changed yesterday at Walt Disney World Animal Kingdom. He walked, which on occasion he does. What was different this time is that he never asked me to pick him up. We were at Animal Kingdom from 9 AM to 6:30 PM and he walked the entire time. I was surprised, but not truly amazed.

The reason for his walking yesterday is quite simple. He thoroughly enjoyed everything he saw and everything he did while at Disney. There was not a minute that his enthusiasm or curiosity was not piqued. Walking was no longer a chore, it was a path to fulfilling his desires.

As I reflected on the day I was reminded of Matthew 18:3, which says, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

When it comes to our faith, a lot of us are like my son. We expect those around us to do all of the work for us. We expect our pastor and our small group leader to do all the research, and explain everything to us. We do not want to spend time doing anything for ourselves. We lack both enthusiasm and curiosity when it comes to God. Why is this?

The problem is that we do simple math, and think we have the equation worked out: Church + tithe + small group = saved. That is all that we think that we have to do. We may know that we need to do more, but we think that we can coast. We choose to forget the first of what Christ told us are the 2 commandments to live by in Matthew 22, Mark 12 and Luke 10. It was also mentioned in Deuteronomy 6:5.

This command is to love God with our whole heart, mind, strength and soul. When you love something or someone that deeply it never leaves your mind. It is your first thought in the morning, and the last thing in your head as you go to sleep. It is something you enjoy, and it is not a chore.

Part of the issue here is that we are no longer curious when it comes to learning about Christ. I think most of us feel that after we get baptized everything is easy from here. We think, "I am saved, and that is all that I need to do. Why should I have to put time into a relationship?" I think that this is why a lot of marriages fail, too. Once the vows are exchanged and we put the ring on, we feel that we no longer need to work on building the relationship. That is probably a good subject for another blog.

We also lack enthusiasm, because worshiping God is not that the cool or hip thing to do. When your friends ask you why you did not come out last night, it is pretty lame to tell them it was because you were reading the Bible\meditating\praying. Why don't we stay home and do that. What is really so cool about hanging out with her friends.

I don't know about you, but I would much rather have eternal life than the friendship of some drunks and hedonists. That may sound harsh, but sometimes we have to be. Christ said he did not come to bring peace, but a sword that would divide households.

If we're to be divided from our own family, it would stand to reason that we would also be divided from our friends. We need to once again make reading the Bible, praying, meditating and reading books to assist us in living a Christian life a huge part of our life. We need to start enjoying building our relationship with Christ. If we are truly infused with the Holy Spirit we should be. If we are not enthused, than we need to look at what we are not doing right. I will write about how we can make Christ a major part of our lives in the future.

My Testimony Part 3

God had kept his part of the bargain, so I have attempted to keep mine. I am blessed enough to say that I have not gotten into a fight or smoked a cigarette since that night. I am a firm believer in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all through him who gives me strength." Are there days that do not go as planned? Of course, this is an imperfect world, and I believe that Satan tempts us more the better we do. Do I miss the money, of course? But I know what it is to have plenty and be miserable, and I know what it is to have nothing and be content. Money is not the root of all evil, but the love of money is.

I have learned the difference between want and need. Are there things that I want that I do not have? You bet, but I have no needs that are not met. I can do all through he who gives me strength. Do I miss the drugs sometimes? You bet. I can honestly say that I loved drugs and I love the way that they made me feel, but I hate the person they turned me into. I never want to be that person again. I am no longer obsessed by drugs, but the desire is still there on occasion. I have prayed for the desire to be lifted, and it has not happened. I find solace in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, "there was given to me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Personally I like triggers,  I feel that they allow me to realize how strong addiction is and see how much stronger still is my relationship with Christ. A relationship is not made strong during the easy times, but during the times of hardships and trials. I can do all through him who gives me strength. In the end, I am blessed by Christ. I have a wonderful life, where I can help empower people to make better life choices in the future.

I agree that life is about more than just helping yourself, which is why the 12th step is by far my favorite step. It is the pay check at the end of a long and hard work week. Let no one tell you that true recovery is easy, but it is worth it. You have to be true to yourself and to Christ, and realize that only by walking the walk can you truly influence others. James 1:27 says that "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

We are born from this world, but we do not have to be of this world. I have discovered through my continued relationship with Christ that sin is not just doing the wrong thing, but also not doing the right thing. For me, that means not repaying evil with evil but praying for my enemies and those who wrong me. I am loud in the songs I sing of my overcoming addiction with the assistance of Christ in my life.

I know that some may judge me, and that is on them. I will not judge, for my relationship with Christ does not allow that. I cannot gauge other's relationships with Christ, but only my own.  However I will not be the excuse, either through my speech or my actions, which someone has for not entering into a relationship with Christ. I try to show love, forgiveness and compassion to all that I come in contact with. I do this because I would want the same done to me. I once heard it said that going to Church no more makes you a Christian than standing in a garage makes you a car. I agree with that, and I want to be known for my actions, not my words. I want others to see how accepting and nonjudgmental Christ is and come to faith in Him.

They can only see that side of Christ if it is displayed by us as Christians and it all starts with me. Christ has given me a beautiful son, a beautiful wife who has always put Christ first her whole life, a job I enjoy and a story that can be shared with others of how rock bottom can be transformed into a life worth living. I understand how many feel not worthy of Christ’s grace. I remember when I went to my pastor and explained to him about this incredible female that I had met and how I was not worthy of her because I sinned frequently in my past and was new to Christ while she had lived her entire life for Christ. I could not understand how this could be, and my pastor told me a story I will relate to you. 

It is a parable that Christ shared in Matthew about the landowner who hires men in the early morning to go and work his fields for a denarius, which was the common payment for a full day’s work. Three hours later he goes to the marketplace and gets more workers and sends them to his fields. Three hours later he does the same thing, then again three hours later and yet again two hours later. At the end of the day, he paid them all the same and the first hired grumbled about getting paid the same. The landowner told them to take their pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Are you envious because I am generous, he asked them. This parable was not at all about money, but was about God's grace. It means that no matter when in your life you heed God’s call, you will gain Eternal Life. So now, instead of focusing on what God has given others I focus on God's gracious benefits to me and I am thankful for all that have.

I have a life now through Christ that I never had without him and I can finally look in the mirror and love the person staring back at me. I went from a drug addicted felon with no hope and no self esteem to a Christian who can attempt to give to others the grace and hope that was given to me. I can truly do all through him who strengthens me, and so can you. I would strongly encourage anyone considering Celebrate Recovery to look into it, and remember that it is a lifelong commitment. It worked for me and it will work for you. It is not a magical cure; it needs to be actively worked on a daily basis. I hear some say that they are recovered, and to me that says that they are done. I am in recovery, because that to me means that I will continue to work at this program, on myself, and on a better relationship with Christ on a daily basis.


I still get frustrated, still get sad, still feel guilty, still feel lonely and I do not always do the right thing, but I strive to be Christ like and try to ensure that each day I live my life will be better than the day before it. I am no longer a hypocrite; I no longer hate or harbor resentments and anger. Instead I laugh, I cry, I love, I am quick to help and even quicker to forgive. What I once saw as weakness I now often see as strength. Some of those who were once my enemies have become my heroes. It is amazing how your outlook on life changes when you are in recovery.


I owe a lot to the 12 step programs, even more to celebrate recovery, and I owe it all to Christ, for with him all things are possible.

My Testimony Part 2

Two days later, I left behind a house and all of my possessions, taking only a duffel bag of clothing with me. I told my friends I was going on a drug run to Texas, and I never came back. I showed up at the door of my mother’s house and asked her for a chance to stay there until I got back on my feet. That was in July of 2001. I did 90 NA meetings in 90 days, actually more like 150 meetings in 90 days. I found a job waiting tables. By the fall of 2002 I was enrolled in college at OTC with a scholarship from the GED I had taken 10 years prior in prison. I got my associates degree in 04, double Bachelors in Psychology and Sociology in 07 and a Masters in Social Work in May of 2009. I have worked at a residential and outpatient treatment center since January of 08, and I am now the counselor for Greene County Family Dependency Treatment Court.

I did much of this without belief in God. I was never an atheist, more of an agnostic. You could not prove to me that there was or was not a God. I was Thomas and there were no holes to stick my fingers into, so I did not believe. I was clean off of drugs for 7 years, but I was not in recovery. I was drinking, which I justified because alcohol was not my drug of choice. I was getting into fights all of the time. I would not start them, but I went out with friends who liked to start fights and then I would finish them. I was cussing, sleeping around if I got the chance, smoking cigarettes and basically reveling in all of my character defects. I saw a dominatrix on a regular basis to beat me with whips and canes and flogs, because I felt that I deserved the pain. I looked into the mirror and did not like the person that I saw, but I could always look at others and see that I was not as bad as them. I was not where I wanted to be but thank God I was not where I once was.

I thought that I was better. Then I had a bad stretch, possibly my worst stretch ever. My father committed suicide in February of 2008 and I broke up with the mother of my son in and she would not let me see my son for the first several months. I struggled and did not know what to really do. I was out of hope, and my job as a substance abuse counselor was to give hope to my clients. I began to feel that I was a fraud and they were all going to find out. I started to look at the people that I knew who were always happy and no matter what kept their hope and it turned out to be a couple that I knew who were Christians. I went up to my friend Nate and told him what was going on and he invited me to come to Church the following week for service followed by a BBQ. I came, and the first thing I remember seeing was the tattoo wall that hung up in the Church. It was the tattoos that members of the church had and the reasons why they had gotten them. People were dressed in shorts and t-shirts and I did not feel judged for who I was or how I was dressed. Then I heard that they had a recovery meeting, and the next week I checked it out.

I was so nervous that the leader asked me a couple of times if I was okay. I did not feel that I belonged, I was a lost cause. My friends told me to give God a chance to work on me. I probably would not have come back, but the Church was accepting and I did not feel judged. The tattoo wall helped me out a lot. There was also the Celebrate Recovery group that was there, and I came and listened.  I felt that I did not belong at first. I was nervous, and my knee would literally shake the entire time that I was in Church. I wanted the hope I saw people having, but I knew that I did not deserve it. There were people who were there who had not done all that I had done. I was a sinner and could not seem to stop sinning.

In church one day, we read Romans 7:14 and 19, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. For what I do is not the good I want to do, no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing" Wow, there I was in a nut shell. I wanted to do well, but I could not. I was not alone; this guy who is responsible for half of the New Testament felt the same way that I did. In factRomans 3:23 stated, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."   It was not only me it was everybody that was imperfect. This was what I now had to work on.

My faith was weak, and I needed to become strong. I was going to have to separate myself from others and make decisions that would alienate me from my friends. I did not want to be the reason to cause others to stumble, so I had to change a lot of my playmates and playgrounds once again. I would be alone once again, and being alone is something that I hated. James 1:2-4 says that we should, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking of anything."

I realized that the reason I had never been truly happy in my entire life was because I relied solely upon myself, and I could not do it alone. I had my friends, but I relied only on me. No one else was dependable. I always figured that my life sucked, and that was the reason why it got so rough sometimes. I read that in James and for the first time realized that it was the devil working against me finding Christ and building that relationship.

In verse 12 of James 1 it says, "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." If I could just work through the trials of this world, it had to be better, right? I would use my own words to answer that question, but Romans 8:18 says this best "Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." I so look forward to living this life right regardless of the struggles that I face, because of all that I have to look forward to after.

I started off in Narcotics Anonymous talking the walk, and I know that now. I have seen what the difference is between being drug free and being in recovery. I was miserable drug free. I was part of this world drug free, and I was a great example of how to live for you and be completely miserable. I wanted to quit, and still I struggled. Finally, I had enough. I wanted to be the kind of dad that I would want my son to grow into.

I prayed and I made a deal with God one night while I was drinking I behind the wheel of my car going home and there was a police car behind me that was following me turn for turn. I began to start praying to God. (Begging is more like it) I told him that I would quit drinking and fighting and cussing if he would allow me to make it home without getting pulled over and take the cigarette addiction away. That police car followed me through every turn from the bar until I turned onto the street that I live on, and he simply kept going.

Every Day is Joplin

I was listening to the news, and I heard a reporter who had also been to the Middle East say, "It looks like Afghanistan. It looks like Bagdad, everything is leveled. It looks like there was an attack against Joplin." I had an epiphany after he said that. I am in no way discounting the pain and trauma that those in Joplin went through, and will continue to go through for quite some time. They went through a traumatic experience that will impact them for the rest of their lives in some cases. Their anger, their depression and their loss is horrific and no one should have to go through what they went through. Yet still, I had a thought.

The thought I had was probably pretty common for some people. That said, it was instantly profound for me. It may be profound for others. Once I had the thought, I could not believe that it had not dawned on me earlier. That thought was this - There are people who live through the carnage, fear and loss those in Joplin are experiencing on a daily basis. Seriously, think about it. Not a one time incident, but every single day they live in areas that are ravaged.

Think about the kids that live in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, the Ivory Coast, Uganda, Kosovo, Darfur or the Congo? In fact, what about all of the people who live there. Not knowing whether or not your home will be destroyed when you get off work. Not knowing if some government, or independent/gorilla/freedom/republic/people's army will take you or your family hostage. Not knowing if you will get kidnapped into an army on your way home from school, or kidnapped and sold into the sex slave industry.

I heard a father from Joplin talk about it taking him 4 hours to get his family reunited. He recounted the fear that was slowly eating him alive when he was unsure if they were all safe. Until he got them all together he did not know if they were all alive. Then he recounted the relief that he felt when he knew they were all alive. I thought of the parent who has a job in some of these countries that have to go to work each day and never know if their children or their home will be there, or if they will get arrested or killed on the way to work or home after. He goes through the same intense feelings as the man in Joplin. The difference is he goes through those feelings every day.

We are ready to run out and volunteer time and resources to help out those impacted by the tornado in Joplin on Sunday or in Oklahoma on Tuesday. That is commendable, and your resources and your time are greatly needed and extremely appreciated. It is even Biblical:

Matthew  25:5, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in."

1 John 3:17-18, "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

Sadly, it seems that some of us take a stance that is much akin to what George Carlin talked about in his stand up. He called it NIMBY, or not in my back yard. If it isn't NIMBY, then we do not really care about it. Or we may care, but we let other people take care of those situations. It seems to not be that big of a deal to some. The outreaches that I am seeing are occuring all over the place in the Springfield area. It makes me happy to this kind of support.

There is something that is bothering me about it, though. I do not remember seeing this kind of support when 230,000 were killed in the Indonisian tsunami in 2004, or when there were between 250,00-300,000 killed in the Haiti earthquake a little over a year ago. Nor did I see this kind of support when there were almost 140,000 killed in Myanmar during a 2008 cyclone.

Ther are other places outside of the United States that need help also, and there are resources like Convoy of Hope that get that help to them. I am a huge fan and supporter of Convoy of Hope and will some day do a blog on their organization for those who do not know. I hope that anyone reading this blog will listen to my recommendation here, I will even put it in all caps so it sticks out!

WHEN THIS MONTH IS OVER, AND YOU BEGIN TO FORGET ABOUT JOPLIN....... PLEASE DO NOT FORGET ABOUT THE FACT PEOPLE NEED HELP ALL OF THE TIME. SUPPORT THOSE WHO GIVE HELP SUCH AS CONVOY OF HOPE, WORLD VISION, THE RED CROSS OR THE UNITED WAY BY A COUPLE OF TIMES A WEEK/MONTH/YEAR GIVNG THEM DONATIONS OF EITHER YOUR TIME, YOUR MONEY OR ASKING THEM WHAT THEY NEED AND BUYING IT!!!!

Keep up the good work that you are doing and do not ever stop. Teach your kids that community service is something that is done all of the time by setting that example for them!! God Bless you, and continue praying for those who were affected by the series of tornados we have experienced, as well as for those who are in war torn areas, where those who have faith are persecuted and also for those poor children who are getting kidnapped and sold into a lifetime of sexual slavery. Pray hard and pray often!!

It's the End of the World............Not

I am deeply disturbed. Apparently the rapture is tomorrow and I am going to have to miss it. Instead I am taking my son to Walt Disney World for his birthday, which takes precedence. So instead of the rapture, I have to instead be part of the 5 months of torment that Harold Camping has oh so prophetically foretold. I cannot even really be a part of the worldwide earthquake that he has predicted for tomorrow, as I have plans then too. I am bummed that I miss it, but that is life!

I remember the both the story of the boy who cried wolf and chicken little with his falling sky. When I think of them I am reminded of Harold. This is not the first time that he has predicted the rapture and the end of the world. The last time that he predicted the sky was falling was September 6th back in 1994. He turned out to be wrong. Maybe since I will be on vacation for this one I can catch the next one Harold predicts.

So what happens when you misinterpret the world's ending? Do you admit that maybe you were wrong and you do not know more than the angels in heaven or Jesus Himself? Not if you are Harold. He decided that he had done some faulty math, but is convinced that this time he is right.

The sad thing is that there are people who are getting caught up in his prophetic falsehoods. We are warned about this in Matthew 24:11, "and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people." It is said again in Matthew 24:25, "For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." as well as in Luke 21: , "He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them."

Finally, in 1 Timothy 4:2-5 it says, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things..." I don't know about you, but I feel that guys like Harold are predicted in the New Testament repeatedly. In an act of fairness, let us look at how he gets his dates?

Let us look at the Biblical insight that is used here. For starters, the date of the creation of the world as well as the flood is known by Harold based off of........conjecture and some faulty math? He has listed his method, but it would appear to be pretty faulty pencil whipping mixed with speculation that he calls Biblical truth, just like the last time. Take a number here and a number there, pull from the New Testament then the Old Testament until you get what you want. Pretty standard, really.

He then talks about the church age. Never read about a church age, yet Harold claims that it ended in 1988. He claims that the Spirit of God left the church in 1998 and that Satan has ruled the church ever since. Don't know about my church, maybe he means that his is ruled that way.

 So anyway, after the church age ended Harold claims that we began the first 23 years (???????) of the great tribulation. The first 2300 days of the great tribulation began and ended conveniently in 1994 (his first end of the world date). This we will call Great Tribulation I (GT I for short). Then GT II began, which ends in 2011. According to him, Judgement Day then comes on May 21st, 2011.

He says that the world will end 150 days after May 21st based off an irrelevant quote from Genesis about the flood. Yet in Revelation 11 it says that there will be 2 who will witness for 1,260 days and then will be killed and not buried for another 3 1/2 years. I have not heard of this happening in any great city as foretold in Revelations. Maybe God talked to Harold and told him not to worry about the prophets?? Harold takes parts of a whole and tries to mix and mash them where he wants them, omitting what does not fit when it does not agree with him and banging the pieces with his hammer until they fit if he wants them. This is faulty reasoning at best, and false teaching at its worst.

Just to clarify, I am in no way claiming to either be a historical or a Biblical scholar, nor do I claim to be a prophet. I'm just saying that much of the research that I have seen does not mesh with this guys claims last time or this time. I too used my hammer in kindergarden to make the pieces fit where I wanted them to. I can relate, but in this case I believe in the words of Christ and the apostles over Harold. Sorry Harold :(

Back to being serious for a minute. The clincher to his untruths is in the Bible itself. In Matthew 24:36 it says,“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." 1 Thessalonians 5:3 says, "For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them..."

It is reiterated in Matthew 24:42-44 ,“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."

According to the New Testament, we are to not know the time that the end will come because we should be ever vigilant. If we knew when the end was coming, some could rely on not serving God until the last days. By not knowing when the end comes, it will be easy to separate the faithful from the unfaithful and the just from the unjust. Do not be misled, live each day following the two truths that Christ laid out for us. Love God with all your heart, strength, mind and soul and love your neighbor. Talk to you all Sunday!!

The First Step - Denial

The first step of AA, that has been slightly reworded but is also used in NA and other 12 Step recovery programs, states, "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol- that our lives had become unmanageable." Celebrate Recovery says, "We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable." It then lists Romans 7:18 - "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out."


This is a pretty hard concept for some to grasp. I want to do what is right, but I cannot do it. I cannot control my actions. I am an addict, whether it is to relationships, sex, food, stealing, money, shopping, drugs, alcohol, codependency...........you get the point. The word that is not listed here but should be is denial. We have to admit a) that we have an addiction, b)that we are powerless and c) that we cannot manage our lives properly. The first thing we have to do is step out of the darkness of denial, or we will never be able to begin getting better.

So what is denial? Webster defines it as, "refusal to admit the truth or reality." That is what happens in our addiction. We cannot admit reality. We often either hide our issue, hang out with others who have the same problems, or we play it off as not as bad as it really is.

In denial our pain continues, never ending. In Narcotic's Anonymous they have a saying that I have always liked, "Drugs gave me wings then they took my sky away." In the beginning partying is great, but in the end it only ends in shame, guilt, depression, anxiety, isolation, deception, jails and death. Psalms 16:4 witnesses to that when it says, "Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more." Eventually, our addiction is our center of focus, the god that we worship. Only by accepting the help of the big "G" God can we begin to change.

God cannot help us if we do not admit the problem. John 3:20,21 says, "Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God."

1 John 1:5-7 adds:  “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

If we continue to deny the issues we have, then God's light will not shine on us. If I am content on where I am at in life then I will be unable to change. Denial says, "I don't have a problem." If I do not think that I have a problem, then I have nothing to work on. The truth is that we are only as sick as our secrets.

If we keep living a lie than we keep ourselves away from the only power that can truly make us better. The only power that can break the chains of addiction that have us wrapped up so tightly that we cannot move. Hebrews 12:1 says, "let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up, and let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us."

We need to walk out of the darkness into the light of God. We must step into Jesus' unconditional grace and love. Only there will we be able to begin our journey into recovery. In Romans 6: 14, 22-23 states, "For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under GRACE. But now that you have been SET FREE from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE in Christ Jesus our Lord."

If that is not a reason to cry out to Jesus I do not know what is. Here is the first worship song that I heard after I got saved that truly gave me hope and allowed me to step out of the darkness of denial and into the light of salvation!

Is Your Jesus Plastic

There is a question we must all ask about our faith. Do my works match my words? If they do not, where does that place us? In a world of watered-down Christianity, that says that sin is okay and we are going to do it anyway, does our personal theology match the theology written about in the Bible? If it does not, does it really matter? A lot of churches today say that it does not matter. The say that if we only do as much as we feel that we have to do, we will still be saved. Just give a little effort and everything will be fine. That is a pretty common message.

Titus 1:16 says, "They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good." Does this truly sound like we will be saved if we only are going through the motions. God knows hypocrisy, and you have to know it is not high on his list of character traits to have. 

Churches preach come as you are, and I fully believe that. But if you are truly saved and born again, don't expect to stay that way. God loves us, and at first expects us to stumble. He knows that we will have to take some spills before we learn to walk as a Christian. But He strives to make us perfect, if we allow Him to do His work.

George McDonald has a great way to look at our walk with God. He says that every father is pleased with the first time their child attempts to walk. I know I was, I actually got it on video. When he was in his infant stage that was amazing to me. But as he got older I expected him to walk. George McDonald says that when your child gets older, "what father would be satisfied with anything but the manly steps of a full grown son/"

Now what I am asking you today is how is your walk with God. To quote a t-shirt, will the preacher have to lie at your funeral. When you stand in front of God, how do you explain to Him that you were going to start living right tomorrow. Give me a break God, at least I tried. God is not satisfied with a little effort. He does not want some of us, He wants all of us.

Matthew 7:21-23 says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’


If you know something is wrong and continue to give in to temptation, where does that leave you? According to the scripture above, even those who do right may be doing so falsely. The verses before this passage in Matthew state that you will know them by the fruits they produce, because a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. So our faith is displayed by our actions. 


James 2:26 says, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." We might as well be dead if we do not try our best. Will we slip, yes. Will we occasionally stumble, probably. Will we continue to live our lives today as we did yesterday? Hopefully not! Jesus paid it all so that we could change it all. 


We are not who we used to be. Ephesians 4:22-24 says, "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

God wants us to back up our words. God looks at our lives, and He sees inside our hearts. How do we truly feel? That preacher might be able to lie at your funeral, but you can guarantee that you will not be able to lie to God. Don't talk about it, be about it!!

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!!

Matthew 5:14-16

The Sermon on the Mount has some powerful words in it. Jesus was letting people know what will be important in the heavenly kingdom and how we should conduct ourselves while living in the worldly one. In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus lets us know how we should present ourselves while we are in the worldly kingdom when he says, “You are the light of the world. A town built 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 others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

To begin, why would we need to be light in a world that was already lit brightly? The first part of verse 14 lets us know that this world is shrouded in darkness. This is not visual darkness, but a spiritual and moral darkness that covers the world. When there is darkness, there is only one way to remove it. Since light is the absence of darkness, the only way to remove darkness to add light. That would be us as Christians.

What does it mean to be the light of the world? We know Christ and have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Due to this, we as Christians have had the spiritual veil lifted from our eyes. We know longer live in darkness. More than not living in darkness, with the aid of the Holy Spirit in us we have the ability to glow like beacons of hope to others.

We glow like beacons by living for Christ. That is easily said, but what does living for Christ entail? This is the difficult part. We live for Christ by being the city built on a hill, the lamp placed high upon a stand. That may sound like an ambiguous answer, and it is. This means that because of the light that we have been blessed with, we should stand out from the rest of the world. We should not blend in with everyone else. Our light should shine before men!

My light shines before men in many ways, and there are many ways we think cause our light to shine that do not. First, going to church twice a week does not make my light shine. Getting dunked in some water by a pastor does not cause my light to shine. Doing the right thing out of obligation or guilt isn’t the way to brighten the world, neither is living my life well so that I can look down upon or pity others. Sitting in the front row/pew, having the Bible memorized, singing the loudest and raising that hand in worship do not cause light to shine on those around me.

If I want to illumine those in the dark, I must live dynamically. Dynamic living is getting yelled and cussed at, yet talking back to the person in a calm tone. It is not joining in the gossip at work during lunch, but instead putting an end to the gossip when it occurs. It is saying something nice about everyone, and if you can’t not saying anything. It is not judging someone by how they look or dress, or what they have financially. It is saying a kind word to the person you least want, to because they need to get accolades too.

If I live dynamically, I will apply the golden rule. Do not treat others the way that you think that they will treat you, or even the way they have treated you in the past. It says treat others the way you want to be treated. I would challenge you here and say treat others BETTER than you want to be treated. That is stepping out on faith, and I think that if we apply that then the way that others will improve.

Being dynamic is being open and honest about my relationship with Christ. Living dynamically and having a personal relationship with Christ that I keep to myself are diametrically opposed ways of existence.

I can no more hide my relationship with Jesus Christ than you could hide that city on a hill in broad day light, and why would I want to. I want others to know the incredible power of change, of optimism, that comes from the Holy Spirit. Yet, we have to make it sound and look appealing. If I am always miserable, than my light is dimming and others cannot see it.

Sin also begins to extinguish our light. Thou shall not lie means that we should not even tell little white lies, and thou shall not steal refers to cheating on our taxes too. It is still fornication when you take matters into your own hands. It is still adultery when you watch pornography. Lust is cheating. Pride, greed and coveting almost seem like the American way. Here is the clincher, the sin of omission. DOING NOTHING!! Inaction is a huge sin. When we see a wrong and do nothing to make it right, that is a sin. Being silent about my faith when it is my duty to be vocal and lead by example, to always be the bigger person when a situation could go south, that is a sin.

If we are the light of the world, we should let others know what that light is. In truth, they may actually come up and ask us about it. “Why are you always so positive” is a question that I have been asked before. My answer, “I am positive because I know even if I live 30 of the most miserable years here on earth, I have an eternity of bliss awaiting me. I always have something to look forward to.”