God, Life and Other Mysteries

Written May 29, 2008 during our community gathering

To the city, the one that God created and the one He loves,

I want to take more of an interest in you and love you with a new found passion. I don’t want to continually take from you as I please but rather give back to you. I want to help your inhabitants and bring healing where there is hurt, bring joy where there is sorrow and love where there is hate. I want to devote my life to healing it by spreading the love of God so He can heal it from the inside out.  Oh God have mercy on us – your sinful children - who have denied what you have called us to do and have strayed from you! Jesus, give us your passion, your heart and help us to bare your name wherever we go without shame. Lord, give us courage to come out of hiding and to take a stand for what is right and hate all that is wicked. Help us to grab a hold of all that pleases you and forsake our own selfish / sinful desires. With your help we can turn this city around. Forgive us Lord, for the times we prostitute the city for our own good, where we continually take from it and treat it as if it owed us something. It owes us nothing but we owe it our lives. So here it is to the city I commit my life to rebuilding its walls and its people. I knowingly make this vow to you oh city that I can’t do it alone but only with the help of Him who created you. Just as Jesus laid down His life for us to have a way to heaven so must we lay down our lives for the city. In doing so, it is our hope that “greater things are yet to come and greater things are still be done in this city” that she may be directed to Christ our savior in order that He might redeem us – a fallen and miserable people. It is my hope and prayer that we as a community of faith can bring others to an understanding of what God longs for us to do in our cities – it is after all, the great commission!

 The summer of 1996, proved to be a trip that would truly change my life forever. It made me realize how fortunate we are here in America! I had the opportunity to witness this first hand during my churches Nicaragua mission trip. Nicaragua is considered a third world country. Not only are the people extremely poor but they have little hope for a future. In the last twenty years, the people of Nicaragua have battled a civil war which was between the communist Sandinistas and the newly born government lead by Violeta Chamorro. She came into presidency in 1990 and sought to gain and maintain peace. This, however, was not the only problem the Nicaraguan people faced. This country has a history of many natural catastrophes such as volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes and severe mudslides. These disasters have left the people destitute and with little hope of recovery. Our entire mission group was comprised of about ten leaders and twenty high school students. We stayed in a small American University in San Marcos, which was about an hour and a half outside of the city. Our mission was to work in a small elementary school centrally located in San Marcos. We played with the children, did arts and crafts, repainted their school and the guys worked on making an outside basketball court. In the afternoons, we performed skits that were translated into Spanish. I have never seen such a large gathering of people; it was as if they came out of nowhere. The young and old attended and we got the chance to see a community that was torn apart by war coming together. For about three weeks, we spent our time ministering and building relationships that would last a lifetime. I realized there was a great need for material things but even more than that was the need for a savior. We performed dramas and were amazed with the tremendous response we received. We later found out that many of the people had never heard this message of hope before, and had accepted Christ for the very first time! After a couple of days went by we all began to realize what an awesome opportunity God was allowing us to be a part of. We saw His power, majesty and Christ’s heart for the people He came to save. There is a hope you can find only in Him- we saw the kingdom of God advancing!  It truly was an awesome event to have been apart of! Our presence was welcomed even by the president. We had the rare opportunity to meet President Chamorro; we sang some Spanish songs for her and were written in the newspaper. We made sure to let her know we were supporting her and her plight for freedom from the Sandinistas.  The ending of the trip proved to be quite difficult. Each one of us had made special relationships with the children, which made it very hard to say goodbye. I gave away almost everything I brought with me; however, they gave me more than I ever dreamed of giving them!  These people had nothing and were so grateful when they received even the smallest of gifts. The one thing that most of the kids wanted was our love and attention. To give them a hug and by doing that we let them know that they were important. It made me think of all the people here in America who feel the same way but nobody takes the time to just care. Lastly, they made me see that everything in life is worth cherishing because you never know what the future will bring.  In giving you some background about what this trip has taught me, I in turn would like to teach others the same thing those Nicaraguan people taught me. You can make a difference and change someone’s life. Get involved in what is going on in this world/community and stop making excuses for why you don’t want to do anything. You can make a difference. In fact, I practice this in my own life and have seen some amazing results. Once you give of yourself in this way you have a much greater fulfillment and appreciation for life. Being an American can and will spoil us all because we take everything for granted.

For those of us who are Christians, I wonder how many of us ever truly think about Jesus and the price that He paid for us. The price for sin is death and God chose to send His only Son to die the most horrific death – for us! I don’t know about you but it is really hard for me to imagine or to even comprehend this kind of love. In my own humanity, I would never be able to love a complete stranger in this manner! I think I can say with certainty that God’s love far surpasses our comprehension! God gave His perfect, sinless Son and placed Him the hands of self righteous, hateful, brutal human beings. Jesus, knowing the condition of our hearts and all the sins we have done and will ever do was still willing to carry out His Father’s will and die on our behalf! It is difficult to imagine Jesus on that cross but let’s make this personal for a second.  Let your mind wonder to that moment where Jesus was beaten so badly that he barely looked human and then think that while He was nailed to that tree He was thinking about you and me! He was thinking about every hateful word, every evil deed and anything that would keep us from our Holy Creator. By Jesus’ obedience to His Father’s will He provided a bridge by which we can cross over into heaven because His blood covers all our imperfections. I have asked myself why do I deserve this- why do we deserve this? What have any of us done that is so good to gain God’s absolute AMAZING love? NOTHING- we have done nothing! Throughout the Bible God has put His love for us on display and through this free gift of love He shows us that He is faithful, caring and at the same time just. There is a penalty for imperfection which has to be paid - so what does God do? He gave us His Son to pay that penalty and in return has only asked that we accept His payment for sin! How much easier could God have made this for us?!!!! Yet, there are so many who simply don’t see, don’t confess and don’t accept this free gift. Why would we want to spend eternity without this kind of love? Why do you think God gave so much for us – could it be because He knew how horrible eternal damnation would be and as a result God went through great lengths to make it easier for us? I would say that this is a rhetorical question. As I believe this could be answered simply by looking at the very nature of God and who He is! We as humans are confined to the physical world – what we can see, feel, hear, and touch – if something is outside this realm it becomes a bit obscure almost to the point where we would assume it’s not real. I would like to challenge this misconception – sometimes it is necessary to look outside the box because the answers may not be found in the world in which God has created. Rather seeking after God himself for answers He will be faithful to reveal Himself as being true and real! Does the world we live in offer the kind of flawless, sacrificial love that Christ offers us? NO! This requires some seeking outside the box.

Today, as it is Easter Sunday – I am reminded of all the suffering, death and the resurrection my beloved Savior went through to show that He has all power and all authority. I acknowledge that Jesus is/was perfect, He is my atonement for sin, He is the Son of God, He defied death, He was raised to life and in doing so provided a way for us to live victoriously in Him! AMEN!!!

~ALD

I have been reading the book God.net by James Alexander Langteaux on page 39 a paragraph practically jumped off the page at me. It is a question I do believe we should all be asking ourselves. I will put the exert here:

            Sin IS desperately DECEITFUL and diabolically designed to take us all DOWN.Disobedience leads to distraction, and distraction can take us into darkness in any number of ways. … The longer I live, the more surprised I am at how many who claim to be followers of Jesus are allowing the heinous of things to pass through the windows of our souls. If we were completely honest with ourselves, we’ll realize that the bulk of films we watch are full of vile and obnoxious things – things that would have been offensive to nearly all audiences not even twenty-five years ago. How have we allowed ourselves to embrace so much darkness and yet feel absolutely no guilt, remorse or shame? Jesus made no bones about it. He will not hang out where there is darkness and sin. God won’t tolerate our taking it in.  Because what we see is what we will eventually become. AS WE SEE, so SHALL WE BE. I know I sound old fashioned, but there’s no time for fashion when the world is spiraling so wildly out of control. And there’s more than just our single soul at stake. There are souls of all the people we meet – all those we encounter, to whom we should speak – and if we aren’t full of HIS light and filled with HIS love, the words we have for them will be uninspired, unimpressive and unbelievably cold….. God is not looking for people who are holier than thou but for those who are trying like crazy to be more like HIM! I think that the only part of the struggle involves trying; most of the battle is about dying – all about realizing that we are powerless apart from God. When we come to that place, we can lay down our man made holiness and in our very real and honest weakness look to HIM and make us strong. In our weakness HE makes us strong. When we let HIM. When we ask HIM. 

The question at hand: How have we allowed ourselves to embrace so much darkness and yet feel absolutely no guilt, remorse or shame?

I came across a verse in the bible, quite honestly I never thought I would ever find – it is a chilling reminder of who we belong to before accepting Jesus as our savior. John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” One thing that God spoke to my heart about finding this verse and the above exert is: am I going to allow Satan to use me as a tool for carrying out his plans? Weather that be with what I watch on TV, movies I watch or the music I listen to, the way I am around my friends. There are a million ways Satan desires to deceive us, to trap us in believing a lie. What is the opposite of a lie – it is truth. God stands for truth. “Man will suppress, distort, reject and exchange God’s truth for lies.” (Truth Project) 2 Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, 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 truth and be turned aside to fables.” When it describes itching ear my study bible says that this is referring to only hear what you want to hear. How many times have we heard the phrase “if it feels good do it”? It’s the same idea about hearing what you want: it’s how you want to hear it because that is good for you and it suits your purpose. We are so easily deceived as we willing run into sin whereby buying into Satan’s lies. Here is the last example from Isaiah I will leave this post with: Isaiah 44: 14 -17 “He cuts down cedars for himself…..16 He burns half of it in a fire, with this he eats meat, he roasts a roast and is satisfied, he even warms himself and says “Ah I am warm”…..and the rest of it he makes into a god. His carved image he falls down before it and worships it and prays to it and says “Deliver me, for you are my god.” How absurd to make a god out of the same tree that gives firewood – but I wonder what things we make into our own gods perhaps is not a tree or a craved image but rather fame, fortune, and or power. The way we feel about bowing down to a piece of wood I am sure God looks on at whatever we make into our idols and feels that much more disgusted. If we make a god of our own choosing we are deceiving ourselves – we know from John 8:44 who speaks lies and therefore we cannot expect Satan to empower us or our lives. Satan has one sole purpose to oppose God and everything He is – he wants to rob us from our eternity from our creator!! I think this is the answer to the above question about how we can embrace so much darkness with little remorse – it is because we have been deceived! Are we going to let Satan’s lies defeat, destroy and rob us? You know you can stop the subscription to the master of lies and start seeking truth and the one who stands behind it - Jesus.

~ALD

Today while doing my devotions, I came across a verse in Psalm 138: 1-3 which states: “ I will praise You with my whole heart; Before the gods I will sing praises to You. I will worship toward your holy temple, and praise Your name for your loving kindness and Your truth; For you have magnified Your word above all Your name. In the day I cried out, You answered me and made me bold with strength in my soul.”

As I read this, I began to wonder how many times I have taken God for granted for all of the wonderful things and blessings He has given me. How many times have I failed to proclaim Him? How many times have I cried out to Him and received what I asked for? More importantly, how many times have I praised and thanked him? In being honest with myself, I know the answer to these questions and sadly I know not nearly enough. What about you? I think it is possible for us all to agree there are improvements each of us could make. More than ever, I am being mindful to give time to stop and praise Jesus for even the simple things – like waking up this morning. It’s so easy to get distracted by all of the things we have competing for our time but we sometimes need to stop and realize that we have been given one more day to enjoy life, creation and fellowship. There is a saying “what a difference a day makes” – what if we don’t have the time to make a difference? I wonder how many of us are stuck on survive and the rat race that we are not left with anything to give back and therefore miss out on the opportunity to make a difference. A form of tunnel vision begins to implement its self and chokes out our vision and purpose. I saw as this happened in my own life – where I thought I wanted a prestigious job and the American dream. As I started to strive for this goal, I became increasingly unhappy. Why, you may be wondering – well God did not create us to live for ourselves and for us to raise ourselves above everything else. Perhaps, we could even say this form of existence could be called indifference or apathy. We eventually get to a point where we are only looking at ourselves and what’s going on in our own little world and it’s all that seems to matter. When we open our eyes and truly look at the world there is so much we can do and we begin to see everything as an opportunity – it’s all a matter of changing ones perspective. I know from experience, that if you truly want to make a change in your life ask God and He becomes the catalyst to make that happen- He becomes the strength, boldness and hope your soul so desperately longs for. He will put people in your path that will have a similar vision and so begins the journey to becoming free from all of those things that threaten to choke the very life out of you. In return, you will have a deeper more meaningful relationship with God as you watch Him transform your meaningless life into purpose.

Here is another sobering reminder from the book of 2 Timothy 3:1-5 “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying it’s power. And from such people turn away. Let this be a challenge to not be conformed to society’s pressures – don’t settle for comfort without commitment – stand up against this way of life and live the way God intended.

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine before I left Boston, regarding heaven and how we get there. During the course of our talk, a couple of things were brought up like: the idea all religions are the same. I was amazed by this comment – are they really?? My friend went on to say that as long as you are a good person and did good deeds - that is all there is to it. I then said that if this statement was true then all religions say that you have to do something. That something would be doing and being a generally good person; however is that in line with our human nature? No, we are not good! Have you looked around the world lately and seen the destruction? I am sorry but I would not use the word good to describe our current situation!!! When left alone there are all kinds of vices we will find ourselves succumbing to. For a small example: power, money, greed, and deceit.
This sparked an interest to know a little more about what is going on in the general American population and what they think and believe. According to the Barna Group, 90% of Americans pray, but 87% don’t believe in the 10 commandments, 92% own a bible but only 11% actually read it, and lastly 62% claim to have a personal relationship with Jesus. I don’t know about you but these numbers are a bit staggered. If 62% claim to know Jesus and 87% don’t believe in all 10 commandments – can we really say they truly have a personal relationship with Jesus? What does the word relationship mean? To have a bond, affiliation with or a connection between people – it means more than one. So how can they claim to know Jesus but don’t believe His word – the Bible. The Bible is our connection and main source in defining who and what God is and is about. It is through reading His word that the Holy Spirit can speak to us - thus defining the relationship part. Another survey went on to state that 54% of the American population believes that if a person is good enough, does enough and obeys the law that they will earn their place in heaven.
However the bible says in Romans 3: 10-19 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.”
There are NO righteous people, which means that none of us are blameless, holy and pure. The rest of these verses are a reflection of the sinful human condition. Have you ever lied? Have you ever hurt someone with harsh words? Do you become angry with those that oppose you? Are you bitter towards anyone? If you answered yes to any of these questions: than this verse applies to you just as much as it does me and we stand guilty before a holy and just God. More importantly, we will be held accountable to Him for what we have done here on earth. So what can we do to fix our unrighteousness on our own? If we have never been righteous and we are sinful beings how then can we become blameless by our own works? Kind of seems like an oxymoron to me.
In light of the Christmas season, which has just passed where we celebrated Christ’s birth – in Matthew 1: 20- 21 …. “ Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for he will save His people from their sins.” This verse clearly shows us that we needed an intermediate to go on our behalf and save us for our sins - we needed a holy and blameless sacrifice.
Ephesians 2:8-10 states: “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” I think 54% of our society has the way to get to heaven backwards – they are trying to do good works to get into heaven but God gave us Jesus for atonement of our sins and for Him to be the ONLY way to heaven. As a result, of accepting Him good works were created for those who have acknowledged Jesus as Lord and Savior and are shown as a by product to honor and glorify Him. Not to save us!!!!!
In closing, the beginning statement of this post my friend suggested that all religions are equal. However, I disagree. Being a Christian is about having a personal relationship with God and believing that He sent His Son for atonement of our sins and that we accept him as such – realizing that we on our own will never be good enough or do enough good deeds to make up the difference. By accepting Christ as your personal savior, you are acknowledging that He has paid all your debt for sin and that you are not sufficiently able to cover that cost on your own. Whereby, not making all religions equal!

ALD

If we were created with the inherent intent to have fellowship with our creator – and if we are not living up to this expectation – then I guess the question I pose is who or what is being put in this God shaped space? Can people really say that there is no God? I think instead of looking heavenward for the answer they look inside themselves and make their own being into the god in which they seek. The bible warns of this type of sinful nature – can we honestly say we know what the best thing is for ourselves when we did not create ourselves. Is it possible we could truly and fully know what is best for ourselves? Could we live up to our full potential on our own? How can one answer these questions without knowing who their creator is?? I can say with experience that I thought I knew what was best for myself only to discover I can up empty handed. I pushed God aside and He stood there on the sidelines watching as I made decisions that eventually lead me to the realization that in my own strength I would not be able to keep up with this grueling pace. I found myself tired, worn out and beaten down. This made me begin to wonder, if I came to this conclusion pretty quickly – how do millions of people continue to live in this state (miserable, lost and content to settle into the mundane) everyday? Once I gave everything back over to God and let him have the driver seat I began to have a sense of relief, peace and adventure has once again sparked my imagination. In my brokenness, I came to the realization, that I too had been blinded and dissuaded away from my life’s mission (the purpose) for which I was solely created to do. It is in these moments of brokenness with all your wounds exposed – when you stand before God and say I am completely undone – I need your strength, wisdom and most of all your mercy and forgiveness. In this time, God will reveal some of the most precious, deep spiritual truths. As a result, I don’t look at brokenness as a sign of weakness but rather like an opportunity to change and become a stronger individual with godly character. For me recently, I struggle with feelings of inadequacy; however, I began to learn a couple of months ago that I could use this weakness and turn it into an opportunity to let God’s light be revealed. It is in this inadequacy that I am forced to not lean on my own understanding and strength but rather all that Jesus has to offer and His resources far surpass any I can find on this earth! Ultimately, when that good thing which God has promised to complete in you comes to pass - the power and glory of God is revealed and we are made complete. As I look around me I am excited with my revelation about how awesome God is but saddened at the same time because I know there are so many who have not come to this realization.  Instead of trying to learn about who God is they have already judged for themselves that they want nothing to do with Him. How have they come to this conclusion? It is most unfortunate, but many even in my circle of friends and co-workers – have failed to seek truth. Instead they listen to what everyone else has to say on the matter of “religion” and base their own opinion on others opinions. In some strange way, I feel this is a bit like plagiarism; just as someone can get in trouble with the law for stealing someone else’s written work - why then is there not some consequence for stealing others thoughts and calling them their own? Ok, so maybe this is a bit far fetched, but seriously let’s not be a generation that is lazy for taking others word for the truth!!!!!!! Let’s know for certain why we believe what we do and be able to defend it with real solid reasons and back it up with research - like studying our bible.  Which brings me to another question – why are people so afraid of the bible? It is my belief they are afraid of change and perhaps having their inner self become transparent before a holy and just God. My favorite part about reading the bible is watching the darkness that once clouded my vision start to fade and once again my vision is restored to clarity. Yes, my inner most and deepest thoughts and sins are revealed. However, I am able at that moment to ask for God’s grace and forgiveness and once confession is made I feel like a new person yet again! It is my hope and prayer to be able to share God’s love with as many people as possible because this is the only way to heal our dying world that is leaning more and more into hopelessness!!!

            I heard a story this morning, which God used to convict my heart and gently remind me how fortunate I/ we really are to have all of the liberties that America has to offer. Yet, even though we live in the land of opportunity, we still see so many unhappy and sometimes downright miserable people. But why? The worlds standard says having more equates to happiness – then in theory we should be happy. However, this not the case and it can be further concluded that having more does not have anything to do with true happiness and fulfillment in life. If having more does not make you happy what does? I believe it is in discovering God’s purpose and plan for your life and having a relationship with the creator that you will find that fulfilled happy life. For one second, let’s step out of our self centered bubble and take a look at what is really going on in the world around us: like Darfur, Africa where people are literally fighting to stay alive and not knowing each day if this day could be their last.

            From a missonary serving in Dafur, is where I heard the story of a 10 year old girl by the name of Rebecca.  A small intro /background about Darfur: there is a battle going on between the Arab Muslims and the African Muslims. The Arab’s are fighting and killing the African Muslims and it has been recently deemed as genocide. (the attempt to eradicate a race of individuals)  A major event in history that genocide played a major role was during WWII as it was Hitler’s attempt to take out a “race” of people – the Jews. Thousands of innocent people died because of Hitler’s hatered and so the same thing is hapening in dafur to the African Muslims. The thing I found amazingly interesting is that both of these groups called themselves Muslim. However, the African Muslins now are turning away from a religion that seeks to destroy and eradicate them. This is where the story about Rebecca comes in, she and her family were fleeing from the Arab soldiers that where destroying their village. While they were running Rebecca’s mom was 9 months pregnant and was going into labor so they were forced to find a place to hide. In total, it was Rebecca, her mom, 7 brothers and sisters, her step mom and father that had run from the soldiers and where all hiding together. To the horrifying discovery, the soldiers found where they were hiding and opened fire on the entire family. The only one that was not injured at first was Rebecca. Rebecca’s mom told her to run so that her life may be spared but when she did she too was shot and injured. This little girl watched as her entire family was murdered. The people from Rebecca’s village who survived that day found her and carried her away. The injury she sustained was a shattered tibia bone and doctors said that she would never walk again. The missionary who was sharing this story was ministering to the large group of refugees who had fled their villages when he and his wife met Rebecca and eventually adopted her. They felt it was God’s call for their lives to share the love and hope of Jesus to those who were going through unspeakable decimation from the Arab Muslims. God had a plan for that missionary family to meet Rebecca but God also had a plan for that little life to help reach her own people in a remarkable way. With much prayer her leg was miraculously restored – the American orthopedic they traveled to in Northern Africa said that her bones had healed in such a way that was unexplainable. The doctor said she would with time regain the use of the leg and would walk again!!!! After 4 years, she returned back to Darfur, her home, and spoke to her people about what Jesus had done for her – she was urging her people to give their life to serve the one true God and hundreds upon hundreds accepted the loving and caring God that she had found!!!!

            As I heard this story, I was in awe of how much pain and suffering this little girl had been through in her young life; to think at merely 14 years of age God had used her life to change hundreds. God had a specific purpose for her life and He was going to restore not only her leg, give her a new family but also touch hundreds of lost seeking souls with the love that Jesus has to offer. What a beautiful picture! What if we were to imagine the same thing – what purpose does God have in mind for you? Are you running from the call or do you want to serve Him in a mighty and powerful way? God created each of us for a purpose: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you.” Jeremiah 1:1 

            Once we accept Jesus in our hearts, there is a change that occurs. The type of change that we want to stop living for ourselves and giving in to the things that this world has to offer because we see just how shallow and empty they really are. We start to see the things that we once deemed so important start to lose their value – as they cannot bring the kind of true happiness and joy that God brings into our lives. God knows us so well that once we open our hearts up and say “God I want you to use me” amazing things start to happen. The first step is to acknowledge that God has a plan for our life and that we were created with a specific and unique purpose: it is in this openness to hearing God that we will find what we seek – a happy and fulfilling life. We will also come to an understanding that it is by faith we trust completely in God and that He will do what He promised in our lives!!!

Philippians 1:6 says: “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” This verse tells us that because we have believed in Jesus who came as a sacrifice to take our sins away that the Holy Spirit lives in us. The Holy Spirit is ready to enable us to do the task that God created us for and He will be there to help us on this journey.

              In 2 Kings chapter 4 there was a widow who was crying out to Elisha for help from God. She had just lost her husband who was a faithful servant to God and now there were debt collectors who wanted to take her sons as slaves to pay their debt. Elisha told her to gather vessels which I imagine where some sort of jars -the context makes me think these were precious and perhaps even expensive vessels. She was to gather as many vessels has humanly possible. Then she took her one jar or vessel of oil and did as she was instructed.

“Then he said, ‘Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors- empty vessels; do not just gather a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it (her vessel of oil) into all of those vessels, and set aside the full ones.’ So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, ‘Bring me another vessel.’ And he said to her ‘There is not another vessel.’ So the oil ceased. Then she came to the man of God (Elisha). And he said, ‘Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.” 2 Kings 4: 3-7 

             I would like to point out that oil back in that day was similar to today’s world, where people would use oil for cooking, for light, and most importantly for fuel, In essence, this was a very precious commodity. When the woman took her one and only jar of oil and started to pour it there seemed to be an endless supply. God had done a miracle right before her very eyes. It took faith on the woman’s part to believe the man that God had sent her and to follow his instructions which seemed rather odd. The thing I love most about this passage of scripture is that it shows us God’s love, grace and mercy for us. Not only does He have a plan for our lives but He will also give the provisions to enable us to carry out His tasks. This is one example on why we should not limit God but rather we should walk in obedience and have faith that He will take care of our every need. God is able to do immeasurably more than ALL we ask or even imagine. Let’s not put God in a box and confine Him but rather let’s open our hearts and allow God to challenge us to be all that he created us to be! Let’s be like Rebecca and make an impact in this world for Jesus!!!!!

~ALD

1 Peter 5: 8-11 “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking to devour. Resist him, standing firm in your faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

            This past Wednesday, I was on my way out the door to go to work when I realized that my car was not where I had left it the night before.  I was praying for God to give me peace and calmness about everything the day before this happened. I was seeking Jesus to give me peace and rest. I was starting to feel a lot of things coming against me:  my application is not getting done anytime fast, I had hoped for more understanding and support from some that are close to me but this is not the case, finances, family health matters and my job has been getting increasingly more frustrating as everyday continues. Then the next day my car was gone. As I was sitting on that pavement in tears where my car had been – I felt the weight of the world coming down upon me I remembered the verse:  

“Count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives all liberally without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” James 1:2

            Although yes, I did find my car - praise GOD!!! But it was only after much panic - I did not know if it had been stolen or simply towed. I remember feeling a sense of complete disorder and chaos at that moment and that nothing made sense!!!!! This situation, forced me to miss a day of work and pay a great deal of money to get my car back — that was making everything I had prayed for the night before, admittedly, a little more challenging. Not to mention the reason for which the car was taken out of the parking space that was an extremely frustrating matter and really should never have happened. I guess what I am trying to say is simply that we are in a spiritual warfare and Satan knows just how to devour us and take our eyes off Jesus. He knows how to use the things of this world against us and he will do it any chance he can! I realized through my experience last year and this week how important it is to be so close to Jesus. I don’t want that chaos and despair I felt for an eternity!!!! With Jesus there is a peace, calm and rest that nothing of this world can give. The question and challenge I will leave this post with is: are you going to let Satan get away with his wicked little bag of tricks???? Or will you prepare yourself by putting on the armor of God and fight back with all that is in you? Or will you be like a waves of the sea tossed about from the storms life throws at you?

I am writing tonight with a heavy heart, as I was doing some research for my lesson plan on evolution and creation for my teaching application – I found some downright disturbing facts. Actually, as much as they were on attacks on God they cried out to me as the rantings of bitter and cynical atheists. In fact, I find it somewhat comical that this is how they base their “lack of evidence” theory: 1) “If God were to exist, then there would be good objective evidence for his existence.” 2) “There is no good objective evidence for his existence.” 3) “Therefore, probably God doesn’t exist.” (exert from : GOD- The Failed Hypothesis By Victor J. Stenger, 22)

Another one of my favorite quotes from this guys book: “The assertions that science does not study the supernatural and that supernatural hypotheses are untestable are factually incorrect.” (exert from : GOD- The Failed Hypothesis By Victor J. Stenger, 28)

My commentary on this: First he asks, if God were to exist there would be evidence, and then he says without fact or proof that ”probably” God doesn’t exist due to lack of evidence. However, he then goes on to say a few pages to the right that science does not study or test the supernatural how then can he say with certainty that the existence of God is “factually incorrect”????? Does any of this bother anyone else? I mean seriously, this man is suppose to be a prominent scientist or in other words an intellectual thinker and this is what he comes up with. Well, I am at least somewhat entertained by his apparent lack of common sense.

Here is another one from a prominent atheist/ scientist Richard Dawkins: “Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of even, perhaps because of lack of evidence … faith, being belief that isn’t based on evidence, is the principle vice of any religion.” (Is Science a Religion? Richard Dawkins, 57)

Dawkins has forgotten that the evolutionary fossil records are far from complete. If we were to base things on fact- evolution could not withstand as truth due to the amount of holes that are present in this theory. I guess he is also saying that his belief in evolution is not based on faith as well? HAHAHA (good one!)

“There are good reasons to believe in God, including the existence of mathematical principles and order in creation. They are positive reasons based on knowledge rather than default assumptions based on temporary lack of knowledge.” ( The Language of God, Francis S. Collins, 93)

“Science is the only reliable way to understand the natural world and its tools when properly utilized can generate profound insights into the material existence. But science is powerless to answer such questions as “why did the universe come into existence?” “what is the meaning of human existence?” or what happens after we die?”. One of the strongest motivations of humankind is to seek answers to profound questions. We need to bring all the power of both the scientific and spiritual perspectives to bear and understanding about what is seen and unseen.” (The Language of God, Francis S. Collins, 93)

Another point I liked reading this weekend: “Agape or selfless altruism, presents a major challenge for the evolutionist. It is quite firmly a scandal to reductionist reasoning. It cannot be accounted for by the drive of an individual’s selfish genes to perpetuate themselves. Quite the contrary: it may lead humans to make sacrifices that lead to great personal suffering, injury or death, without any evidence of benefit. (The Language of God, Francis S. Collins, 27)

I think the implication of evolution is clear; it is the human attempt to say with certainty that this is how and why the world formed and how we as humans came to be. It is the attempt to say with seemingly good reason that because we can’t see God and don’t have “proof of Him” that he can’t exist. On the other hand, they are over looking the obvious fact that they don’t have all the answers themselves. It appears that in an attempt to find these answers they are reaching for anything that will seemingly explain all of these complicated questions and even the faintest absurdity will be considered as fact. In the process, a lot of these scientists / atheists are mad at God and see him as being a nonsensical entity. They blame God for all the worlds’ problems however can I lovingly remind everyone that it is humans that have caused this on their own. If you honestly think about it - a lot of human suffering is brought about by what we do to one another. It is humankind, not God that has invented knives, arrows, guns, bombs just to name a few. We should not blame God for the consequences of these instruments being misused. Also, we cannot criticize God because He gave us a free will to do as we please. He would not have been a loving God if He had made us His slaves – rather He wanted to have a relationship and fellowship with us. Therefore, we cannot blame God when we choose to use our free will in a destructive manner against our fellow man in any context. I am sure there are many more hardships that humans have created for themselves that God gets blamed for on a daily basis. It is incredibly sad that people turn their backs on God: who created them for a purpose. They would rather sell themselves short by not believing they have purpose and reducing themselves to being merely an animal with instincts. This is the very basis of evolution: if it feels good do it and what is best for you. It is a very heathenistic view of the world which will leave one thirsting for something more.

In my opinion, being a creationist means that you believe that the bible and true science are in full harmony with each other and that there is no need to “check your brain at the door” when entering a church. I could go into more details about how science and the bible coincide but that would make this post entirely too long! Perhaps, I will write that in the future. ;O)

~ALD

I will leave this post with is a story written by William Paley in 1802.

In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone and were asked how the stone came to be there. I might possibly answer that for anything I knew to the contrary it had lain there forever. Nor would it perhaps be very easy to show the absurdity of this answer. But suppose I had found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place; I should hardly think of the answer I had given before, that for anything I knew the watch might have been there …. The watch must have had a maker: that there must have existed at some point in time, and some place or other artificer who formed it for a purpose which we find it to actually answer; who comprehended its construction and designed it’s use. Every indication of contrivance, every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature, with the difference on the side of nature, of being greater or more, and that in a degree which exceeds all computation.”

What are the points being made in this complex writing?

1) The watch is complex

2) the watch had an intelligent designer

3) life is complex

4)life has to have an intelligent designer

“The elegance behinds life’s complexity is indeed reason for awe and for belief in God.” Francis Collins – Head of the Human Genome Project

    I have added some more content to this post as I feel some of the ideas might have been a bit under developed.

What does it mean to have faith? Is it that thing that we cannot see and we choose to say because our physical eyes can’t see it – it can’t exist or do we say it still exists anyway? Do we discern this with spiritual or physical eyes? A couple of examples to illustrate where I am going with this: we can’t see the wind but does that mean it doesn’t exist? No for one can surely say they can see and feel the effects of the wind. We can see things being moved by this force but can’t see the force by which the object is being moved. What about gravity as another example? If someone where to say hey you know what I don’t believe in gravity and jumped off a building – we all know that would be a very foolish choice based on the evidence provided to us about gravity. They would jump to their emanate doom. Therefore, can it be said that because we can’t see something; that in itself has no implication for something not existing. The same thing can be said about God. Just because we can’t see Him does not mean he doesn’t exist as we can see the effects of God all around us. By the sun rising everyday, the birds singing in the morning, the beautiful blue sky cluttered with big white fluffy clouds to a brightly colored flower swaying in a gentle breeze right down to the stars that light the sky at night.

The bible defines faith this way:  “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1  Another translation puts it this way: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Contrary to popular teaching, faith is not mental delusion, presumption or self-deception, but a work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. I came across a great quote by C.S. Lewis who is quickly becoming one of my favorite Christian philosophers: “The state of mind which desperate desire working on a strong imagination can manufacture is not faith in the Christian sense. It is a feat of psychological gymnastics.” If we can perceive the effects of God: faith therefore is expressed in our certainty that He does in fact exist.

In conclusion, I think faith has two elements: 1) being convinced of the truth, being certain of reality, having evidence of unseen things, and 2) believing, hoping in, embracing, seizing the truth.

~ALD

Have you ever wondered why one day we are happy and the next day we can feel something completely different? This is somewhat of a mystery to me other than simply knowing we have forces that work against us. As I was on my way to work this morning, I was listening to a podcast from Pastor Bob Coy Form Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale his message was about Jesus and how He tries to communicate with his people and that sometimes we are so consumed by looking for an answer to the question we often times fail to see the obvious. This was the case for me this morning as I was thinking about my teaching application and my own thoughts of doubt that crept in. Was I really prepared to teach kids? Would I be a good teacher? As these thoughts passed through my mind I could feel my pulse start to rise and a lump form in my throat - what if this is just too big for me to handle? Then my mind wandered back to my recent trip to south Florida, I prayed during this trip that God would open the right doors so that I would know which way I was to go. He put old friends in my path that I haven’t seen in years from First Baptist - both my middle and high school youth pastors, friends from Highlands Christian Academy where I attended high school and old friends form Calvary Chapel. All of them wanted me to come back to South Florida as there were a ton of things that they could really use my help with. In addition, I was granted the most fortunate opportunity to meet with a representative from the Broward County School Board, at which time I learned there was a great need for high school science teachers in south Florida. God reminded me that it was not just coincidence; before I even stepped foot on Florida soil the idea for me to teach high school was already becoming a burden on my heart.

I left Florida and came back to Boston to settle back into the mundane grit that has become my life. I started to wonder was what I experienced in south Florida merely what I wanted to hear or was God truly intervening. It is dangerous ground when we question God - I realized as I was listening to Pastor Bob he was telling a personal story about how God had used various people and circumstances to grab his attention to the very thing he was asking God to reveal; at this moment I realized I too was doing the same thing. It’s like the answer is right in front of you but yet you just can’t see it. In my heart this still small voice said to me - trust in me. I said but God what about all of the things stacked up against me? Like location and timing was going to be really off and what about finances????? I prayed and God reminded me of this verse:

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

~ALD

We live in a technologically advanced world where no longer pen and paper are used to convey our thoughts but rather a word processor. By typing your most precious thoughts in a digital format you can mass produce them and share them with many people even around the world. This very idea got me thinking about sharing with family, friends and maybe even the occasional on looker who might somehow stumble upon my page - what I feel are important aspects of life and what God is trying to teach not only myself but maybe even you. And so it was the idea of a blog.

I have recently asked God to soften my heart and to reveal to me how I can be His light to this dark and dying world - that is so self consumed. It has occurred to me that I myself have been desensitized and did not even realize it. Once I asked God to reveal to me new things and to teach me about who He is and what He wants to do in the lives of his believers - it was like God hit the creative gas pedal. (so to speak)

“Ask and it will be given unto you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened unto you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

I have asked and God has given me a lot to think about and once again my vision is restored to a crystal clear image. What I see in our world today is heart breaking. I can only imagine that if I feel this way how much more does God feel for His people??!! He is deeply imploring His people to take a stand and make change happen. But are we willing to take the stand??????

A small background about me, I was born in Pompton Plains, NJ but most of my growing up years were spent in Sunny Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. When I was in 10th grade I felt God was calling me into the ministry to work with teenagers. Until recently, I had no idea how God would carry out his plan for my life. I currently live in Boston, MA but I believe this is not where He has called me to stay, rather I feel a call back to my home in Fort Lauderdale. Admittedly, God is not ready for me to do this just yet. As I have been reading my bible and praying God has revealed to me there is so much more for me to learn. He has been using the people of Massachusetts as a “virtual learning quest” to train me about the way the world really is. I grew up in a Christian bubble and how was I ever expected to tell the world about Christ if I could not get down on their level? That is one morsel of truth God has revealed to me.

I live in the most liberal of places; there is no inherent right or wrong rather more like a  “we have to tolerate everyone” kind of attitude. Everything is based upon intellectual thought processes from an individual - decisions of right or wrong are left up the individual to decide. Even this seemingly great idea about toleration is still very narrow minded and is not treating everyone fairly. If we are to tolerate everyone, if we are not to make any waves - are we then just forced back into a corner to just merely accept things for the way they are without the prospect of change? In essence that forces us into a corner of hypocrisy - where we are at war with who we want to be but we can’t because we are too afraid of who might see. How is that fair? Will those of us who live like this lose our freedoms all together because we never take a stand and do what is right????

There are a million things competing for your attention how do you know which is the right one to follow? I submit to you that the only way to find the clarity I know to exist is through Jesus Christ  - he brings light to the darkness. What does that mean bringing light to the darkness? It means all other ways will be shown in their actual color there will not be anything to cloud your vision as you will see it for what it really is.

A personal example, I am a scientist and I have to deal with the theory of evolution thrown in my face at every turn. Evolution in my opinion is a way to explain the meaning and God- the creator - right out of our lives. This is one of the several reasons I feel God is calling me to be a high science teacher : to raise awareness to this generation of Christians. When broken down both theories take some amount of faith- you have to believe there is a God or you have to believe that there somehow existed a few molecules that eventually made this completed world in which we live.

Recently, I have been praying that God would hurry up in executing his plan to bring me back to South Florida- but this morning I came to the conclusion that I need to use my time here wisely. God brought me here to Massachusetts far away from my family and friends to teach me about the world in an attempt to teach me how I can better serve Him. In the end, this will ensure that I will be ready to communicate to the future kids I teach on how to survive the challenges they will face.

My hope for this blog is that I can share my journey in finding and understanding God in a deeper more meaningful way.

~Amie Lynn Depue

“The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians -who acknowledge God with their lips and walk at the door but deny Him by their lifestyle.’ ‘That is what unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

Here is an exert of an article that got me thinking about how we as Christians can change the way the world see us -we need to live like we mean it!

MAHER: And that’s a wonderful sentiment. Jesus as a philosopher is wonderful. There’s no greater role model, in my view, than Jesus Christ. It’s just a shame that most of the people who follow him and call themselves Christians act nothing like him.
O’REILLY: Most of them? Most Christians are bad?
MAHER: In this country. Well, most Christians don’t act Christ-like.
O’REILLY: Most?
MAHER: If they would call themselves Christ-likes instead of Christians, maybe it would remind them to act like Jesus.
O’REILLY: OK, so the 65 million Catholics in this country, 85 percent of the population is Christian, 300 million of us, and most of them aren’t doing a good job in their Christianity. Is that what you’re saying?
MAHER: Well, most people who are religious in this country are like the cafeteria Catholics. They pick and choose from the religious parts that they want to follow.

I was asked by how I would respond to this article and why Christians say one thing and yet do another.
Here is my attempt for a reply:

That is a tough question, but first I would examine the lives of those saying they are Christians. As scientist, I am always interested in the population sampled. How has Maher come to this conclusion? What people has he talked to / watched the lives of that have given him this impression? Were multiple places/ church goers sampled? Unfortunately, the American population as a whole tends to rely on what others tell them instead of earnestly seeking the truth for themselves. Laziness in many ways is a corner stone of our society- if it requires work then we don’t want any part of it. I do think this article most definitely reflects this fact. I can guarantee Maher has never earnestly sought after the truth about Christianity. If he can come to the conclusion that Jesus is a perfect role model he missed a boat load of truths on the discovery of this fact!!! It is a cop-out on his behalf for sure. However, there still is a correlation between what we (Christians) say we should do inside the doors of a church and the way we live when we walk out - there is a huge disparity. We should be challenged and strive that much harder to be more like Christ everyday. If we call ourselves a Christian it should not merely be a title but rather a way of life.

In light of this topic I have a recent example to share:
About two weekends ago, I was invited by a lady at work to help feed the homeless. She explained that it would be at St. Paul’s Evangelical Church in the heart of downtown Boston. I was so excited to get involved with doing God’s work and helping others - as many of you know this is where my heart as always been. At first there was a lot stacked up against me:  the train I was taking broke down and then the directions given to me had me lost in the midst of a bustling city crowd. Those of you who have ever been to Boston you know what I am talking about here - it is insane to navigate! :o) I was determined to go I just knew God was going to teach me something! Once I got there I was rushed immediately into work. The people where herded in and out like cattle. I started talking to a couple of the men and women at a table and one of the church volunteers came over to me and said “’Don’t get involved with these People’s personal lives!” I was asked to wash down the tables in another area and not to talk to them. What was actually going on here? Was it out of obligation to feed the homeless that these volunteers showed up to “serve time”?? Aren’t we called to love and extend hope to the hopeless? I personally felt a nominal amount of love shown to these people. The only service done that day was a temporary need was filled - hunger. One could argue that it is God’s way of carrying out his provisions for the less fortunate. Yes, I would agree but what about telling them that Jesus loves them after all, isn’t this a church function? Or letting them know that they with the help of Jesus they can rise above their circumstances - whether that be drunkenness, drugs, disease whatever the circumstances that have brought them to this place in their lives. To know you don’t have to walk this world all by yourself, to know there is a loving and caring God. It could have been more than just a meal to feed hunger, it could have been a life changing meeting with Jesus. Jesus gave us many examples of His love for those who in many aspects were the most unlovable of people. I realized as I left the church that day that they did not get nor did they comprehend the love of Christ. It broke my heart. What type of example is being set for the members of this church? Here is a practical example of what this article was talking about preaching love but yet failing to truly show it! Just merely coming to the half way point just doesn’t cut it. The world watches these types of examples and shakes their head in unbelief when there is apparent hypocrisy.

In order to be truly representative of Christ you have to know who he is. How do you know who he is? You know through actively reading his word and praying. If you don’t give God the chance he will never be able to reveal himself to you because there would be no method of communication for which He could accomplish this. Saying that you have accepted Jesus as you Lord and Savior simply is not enough. Our sinful nature will always take the front seat to our seemingly good intentions. It is a constant battle between what we know what we should do and what we actually find ourselves doing.
However, I have come across a lot here in Boston where people think it is by good works or being good person will be enough to get to heaven. How can you be good when your sinful nature works against all that is good? You on your own you can’t be inherently good. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who think by their own strength they can be like Christ and here is where a lot of that double standard comes into play. However, with God and the Holy Spirit guiding you He can convict you to change your ways by being in His word, praying and getting to know His ways. This is how we as Christians measure what we do as good or bad it’s all according to God’s word.

My challenge would be let’s get to know God with a whole hearted fervor that when the world looks on they KNOW who Jesus is by our actions!!!! Let’s not live a double standard life!!!!

~ALD