January 4, 2012 • 10:12 am 0
So.. What wakes me from my hibernation from blogging?
This article today: http://cnsnews.com/node/491269
The following is a string of comments, starting with the first one I left, followed by a couple responses…I think you will get the jest of my reaction to the article.
Filed under: Prayer, Thoughts, Abortion, Change, Christ, Government, Hearts, Jesus, Love, Role
October 21, 2011 • 12:26 pm 6
The left needs to stop harping that the rich do not pay enough taxes…
The right needs to quit yelling get a job…
And we all need to stop expecting the government to fix the issues and be a provider of all things…
Just madding that a simple truth of “Do unto others”… Gets so muddled up.
WE THE PEOPLE ARE THE ANSWER…
God gives us time, talent and resources. We are to use them wisely and for His work. We are not to be lazy and hide, expecting something to happen.
Mathew 25:14-30
14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
So what should really be Occupied? Ourselves, doing work that will benefit others. Each one of us has the power to affect the lives of another person. Wall Street, Main Street, back alley’s to suburban streets. In all countries and walks of life.
Stop demanding what you think you deserve. Look at the person next you and do for them what you can with the resources and talent you have. If you can give money, give money… if you can provide a meal, provide a meal.. if you can provide shelter, provide shelter…if you can provide companionship, provide companionship…if you can pray, then pray… If you can, then do what you can. Only as you would expect in return.
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Filed under: Thoughts, Christ, Faith, God, Main Street, Occupy, Provide, Religion, Resources, Talent, Time, Wall Street
September 23, 2011 • 9:18 am 0
That is it I am done…. This needs to be said.
I saw this today on twitter…
Yes I know the person, and yes I know her very well. And my heart breaks when I see these posts… I will not rail on why she feels this way, but it is a situation that is playing out all to often in this so called “society”. Well there is nothing social about what is going on… but I digress, before I go to much further….
I wrote a post about a year ago: Breaking my Silence… Grow Up and it was directed at the person who in part caused the pain of the one my heart breaks for.
So todays post is for her.
My prayer is for you to hold strong to your faith. It is not easy, and everything in the world will tell you to turn against it. The world lies, and when the world lies, well for some reason people listen. They want the easy way out or the quick fix. When all the time the fix is standing right there with them, waiting for them to recognize Him. DO NOT LET THE WORLD DRAW YOU INTO THE LIES.
Please know that you are loved. Loved by a God who know’s his Daughter better than any mortal man, and wants nothing more than for you to have a life of Joy. God knows your pain, because what you are experiencing is not his plan, and He feels your pain with you.
Have faith in him to calm the wind and waves. Peter had to walk with Christ through the wind and the waves back to the boat before the wind died down.
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
I tell my own daughter this as often as I can. I know you need to hear these words. You are Beautiful and I am proud of you. You have made the tough decisions, and you have faced the fear. I don’t know what you are going through, but your strength shows. I know it hurts…but you have FAITH in the one who can bring you back to the boat and calm the storm.
You are loved!!!!
Filed under: Thoughts, Boat, Christ, Divorce, Faith, God, Love
August 19, 2011 • 7:32 am 0
Yes… I am still around and yes, I do plan to return to regularly scheduled programming here at continued…
Just keep these thoughts in the back of your head until…Well really these are the thoughts in my head so I will just put them here to help us all remember… These are just thoughts, not statements of full opinion…
God is a God of order… what does that mean for CHURCH… Acts 6: 1-7 has sent me on a journey.
Truth is hard to see if we don’t change the filter on our lives…
To impact a life, takes Christ acting not just through me, but letting Him be me in any given situation… After all He can be a better ME than me…
Frustration is not brought on by the circumstances you are in. Frustration is brought on by not taking action to change those circumstances…
Writing… Writing… Our IDENTITY is Worthy… So I leave you with…
You are more than flesh and bone….We are all worth dying for… AWESOME….
We interrupt this broadcast to bring you life…
Filed under: Thoughts, Christ, Church, Faith, Thoughts, Truth, Writing
June 27, 2011 • 9:17 am 0
And I am back… Whew what a couple of weeks that was. Physically drained spiritually filled.
Our work from God is the people he puts in our life. We are created to do that work through Christ Jesus…
Some up coming posts to be written (Titles subject to change as post are written):
My most intimate…
Where are you at God’s table (Lessons learned listening to John Maynard talk about Luke 15:11-32)….
Who feeds my desires…
Our Identity as worthy…
Stories Told…
Where are the Dad’s….
So real quick, before I attack work again today.
My heart is broken for this generation, and the crap they are dealing with at such a young age. Satan doing his best to win them to the world. But, when the Holy Spirit moves, He moves. We experienced that movement this past two weeks, and we are blessed beyond measure to have experienced it first hand…
To be continued…
Filed under: Camp, Thoughts, Camp, Christ, Faith, Future, Holy Spirit, Satan, Subjects
June 15, 2011 • 12:34 am 0
I come to these camps with my heart open wide and to love on these kids.
Tonight my heart is heavy…this has been the hardest day of camp ever. If ever I wondered why God has me on the path He does, I have seen it in the hearts of 3 children today.
I looked in the eyes of a three children who are scared. I looked into the eyes of a boy trying to be a man. I looked into the eyes of a boy trying to decide. I looked into the tear filled eyes of a girl missing home.
God’s love is endless and today His love poured out through me. I do not contain enough love on my own to achieve what he did through me.
How does God do it? Why does God do it?
Oh Father the answers to those questions are not important. What matters is the love you give. Deserved or not. You call us worthy. I thank you for the power of your Spirit in my life, and the faith I have is driven by Him. Father love on these Children through me. Guide my words and my action. Hold me accountable to the life of Your Son. In His name Jesus. Amen
To be continued…
Filed under: Thoughts
June 7, 2011 • 7:45 am 3
Continued from here: Love Like Love…
Some of you will say, that there are lot of “I’s” in this post, and I get that. However the purpose of my blogging has never been about me but the person looking at the other screen reading. In all I have been through the lessons I have learned. From Blogged Bible Studies, to Philter48. From Faith35 to Continued….100,000 miles or 40 years. For the past seven years I have blogged hoping that as “you” read my story, maybe a seed of Faith can be planted in your heart. My story is no more important than anyone else. But…
When oh so long ago (5 Years) I started Faith35.blogspot.com my hope was to journal my way through my growth in faith in Christ. At that point I was married 11 years, Emile was 5, CPKIV in process shall we say…. And I was more confused about my faith than ever. I really did not know what I believed, and what might come as a shock, if I believed. So I set out to find out, and it has been a journey that really started seven years ago.
Truth be told. 7 years ago I didn’t know the Love of Christ that I do now. I didn’t see Him at work in the people He placed around me. All of whom were responsible for planting a seed of faith in me. I just didn’t see Christ’s work in my life, because I was to busy fighting issues in my life on my own. Everyone who lives life faces a choice. Do it all on your own or rely on others. Ultimately those others are Christ working through his Body the Church.
God has taken me on an amazing journey the past 7 years, that has me now walking with Christ closer than I ever thought or imagined.
Through the death of my Dad, and two years of grief. God turned my grief to strength, as I realized it is OK to hurt when you miss someone you love. I used that new found, yet untested, strength to push forward through many other trials.
My marriage was struggling bad 5 years ago. By learning to rely on Christ I realized He is the answer to my desires. I no longer have to put pressure on my Amazing wife for my needs. I am free to focus and love on her and my family without worrying about receiving back. The cool thing is I now recognize the love they return to me through God more so than ever before.
3 years ago, my job situation changed and I was taken out of a leadership role. But with Christ as my model, and a building Kingdom perspective, I moved forward with a better understanding of who I worked for. Now through hard work and lots of Faith, I now lead at work with a focus on severing those who work for me.
I know…I know… My struggles and journey of faith are not on par with some others around the world. Heck they don’t even compare to some of the struggles going on currently in my family. They are though what has shaped me to where God has me today. And you see in 2 short weeks, I turn 40…
My age doesn’t really matter much to me, what matters is my confidence to perform the tasks laid out in front of me. I am amazed where my faith is now compared to seven years ago. These past seven years my faith has changed from just believing (Maybe) to reliance on Christ. To be honest as I get closer to 40(two weeks), I still feel like a 16 year old kid that doesn’t have a clue, so I have to rely on Him to get me through. The past seven years I have come to understand how reliance in the power of Christ allows me to react in certain situations. I know when it kicks in by instinct and when it is a struggle to overcome an influence of this world. I hardly recognize the scars from the hard lessons in life. Christ has moved me forward close to Him past those scars…And it wasn’t until recently that I really started thinking about the past seven years. Before recently, I was happy to survive and move forward, now God has me wanting to live and move forward. God has shown me I am worthy.
The list of people who have taught, rebuked and help train me is long, each one has their own story. Each one of them are worthy. Each one has shown me a different part of the Great Body and Church that is Christ.
To the reader who does not know, or has reached out to Christ. At each significant milestone the past seven years a lesson was learned….If God can do this for me he can do this for you. You are worthy. You are worthy of God’s grace and love. You are worthy of Salvation. God has a way of taking your life and proving your worth if you let him… And oh will he show you how worthy you are.
To be continued…
Filed under: God's View, Thoughts, Christ, Faith, God, Worthy
June 1, 2011 • 10:13 am 7
Maybe the shortest post for me. Since last post: Facebook, Boats, and Religion I have been thinking.
Would the world implode if 40 million plus people quit Facebook?
Pass this along to 40 million people who might “LIKE” to try life without Facebook again.
Filed under: Thoughts, addiction, Facebook, internet, LIKE, Needs
May 26, 2011 • 11:52 am 6
FACEBOOK: Yeah I don’t miss it. I do still have twitter, which I use for News and Sports mostly, and to follow a few other bloggers I have gotten to know through the inter-webs. The blog is where I share my thoughts on this life… But as for Facebook, I don’t think I will go back. If you are reading this and have a Facebook account, log off for a week and see if you really miss it. This is not a legalistic decree of, “You shouldn’t have a Facebook account” . Just wonder if others will have the same opinion as me, if they decided to walk away… Completely up to you if you have an account or not.
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This passage of scripture has me captivated. Reading John 21 this morning…
We all know about Peter’s first step out of the boat… But his second trip out of the boat has a different spin…
John 21:7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.
This time there was no step. This time there was no doubt. This time he didn’t ask. This this time once he understood who stood on the shore, Peter jumped… What I love is how Jesus tempers Peter’s enthusiasm…
John 21:10-11 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore…
And again Peter had to get back in the boat…. Hmmm…. Love it when God puts me in a place of discovery through his word.
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My daughter informed me the other day that some of her friends called her “To Religious” Now I hardly ever use the term religion with Emilie in context to how we live our faith. Reading with her through John’s Gospel, I would explain to her that Jesus was not happy with the Pharisee’s and their religion. So in a since I can understand her confusion a bit with the “To Religious” statement. I asked her what she thought that meant…
“Well they say I wear a cross necklace, and relate everything back to God and Jesus, and I don’t say bad words.” (Side note to say: I also hear from teachers and parents that Emilie treats everyone of her peers with respect, and tries to be friends with everyone.) To help her understand I keyed in on the “Bad words” and her respecting others , and explained what her actions said to her friends more so than what the Cross necklace portrayed and asked:
Me: “Emilie they see you act different and you act different for a reason, not just because of it being right or wrong. Emile, what is more important the Cross around your neck or your actions? I barely finished the question…
Em: “My actions and how I treat others”
Me: “And who do your actions matter to the most?”
Em: “Jesus”
Success for now…. I will take it.
Filed under: God's View, Thoughts, Boat, Christ, Facebook, Faith, Religion
May 24, 2011 • 10:12 am 2
Proverbs 4:18 The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
I watch the Sunrises in a different way sometimes. I watch with the sun to my back. I am always amazed as the detail of the landscape is revealed. Shapeless and gray turning brilliant and beautiful as trees became visible and the colors burst forth. I never once turn to look where the sun is in the sky, I just kept watching in amazement as more and more light brings out more and more detail. I get the feeling this is how the light of God will shine in heaven. We will know the source of the light and the details of heaven will be revealed in that light.
Rev 22: 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
Forget about trying to stop Planned Parent Hood, and start spreading the Love of Christ, so that others hearts are affected and changed by that love. So the love will change the heart of someone who may decide to follow Christ, and not to have an abortion or may stop preforming abortions.
I could careless about the money aspect, I want more people to know the Love of Christ.
As a follower of Christ our Role in God’s kingdom is to be the arms and legs of Christ’s love…