daily java

Daily Java:

Psalm 23 

A psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd;
    I have all that I need.
He lets me rest in green meadows;
    he leads me beside peaceful streams.
He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
    bringing honor to his name.
Even when I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid,
    for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
    protect and comfort me.
You prepare a feast for me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
    My cup overflows with blessings.
Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
    all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord
    forever.

(NLT)

Ephesians 2 lesson plan

Here is the lesson plan for Lesson Two of our Ephesians Class tonight. If you can use it, do so to his glory. Again, just don't take credit for it.

Ephesians 2: Alive, at Peace and a Temple of God

We were at one time without the grace of Jesus. All of us were. But God loved us and wanted us to be better than we were and knew there was nothing we could do ourselves to make ourselves better. Because of this, he made his grace available to us. We were brought back to him, like we were when we were young, and like humanity was before Adam and Eve sinned.

We were saved by his grace, not of anything we could do. It was his love and his mercy that brought us back to him. Any goodness or beauty we might have in our lives was because of him and his grace, not ourselves. We were made to do good things, but we were not saved by doing the good things. And he gave us that chance not because we deserved it, but because he loved us. We are not rewarded for what we have done, we are given those things in advance before we can do them. We are made righteous in advance of doing anything.

As a people, Gentiles were once outside of God. Jews were chosen of God as a special people, but became full of pride at this. They considered themselves to be special because of how good they were, rather than because God was great. And the things they did as service to God became things that they felt made them even more holy.

But God decided that, since the Jews had turned from him, he would open his kingdom to the entire world. He made all who served him, whether Jew or Gentile, to be equal in his sight. All were saved. Nobody was a special people simply because they were born in a certain place or did a certain thing. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. From now on it is not what we do that makes us  holy, it is who we are. In other words, it is he who makes us holy. We cannot do anything to make ourselves holy and righteous before God.

When Jesus died on the cross, he reconciled humanity to God. Everyone has the opportunity to know him and to be his people. And his Spirit is available to anyone who comes to him and acknowledges him as God with Jesus as his Savior. He took the two systems of service to God – the Gentile with its one on one relationship with God – and the Jewish – with its corporate worship and system of priesthood – and made them into one people of God. We are all one body with one head, Jesus.

Today, we are all his people. No one is outside the grace of God. All can be members of his family. When we join his family, when we accept him into our hearts, we become part of his family, his people. We become his house and his temple, giving the sacrifices of our lives on the altars of our hearts. No one is outside the power of God to save. And no one is a stranger and an alien to God. We are all his family.

QUESTIONS:

1. What does it mean to be dead because of disobedience and sin? Is there a parallel in our own lives to this?

2. What do you do in your life out of love and not out of deserving?

3. How is it that people can feel that they deserve what God has given them? when you talk to some people, you would think that God was lucky to have them. Why do people feel that way?

4. Why is the system of grace so hard to understand and accept?

5. How does this Good News of Peace (v17) fit in your life? What does it do to you?

All of us are the dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit (22). What does this mean to you?

daily java

Daily Java:

If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. (Ephesians 4:28)

My van got stolen yesterday. It wasn’t organized crime or anything. In fact, it only got driven down the alley and into the garden you can see to the north from the back of the church. The thief drove it into the garden and took out four melons and a few lima beans. Some would consider that a mercy killing, but I like lima beans.

I thought at first that it had rolled down the hill, but I had parked it facing toward Sixth Street. And it was just behind a satellite dish so it couldn’t have gone straight. So it had to be driven down there.

We figure it was a kid because Ella’s Bible briefcase was in the driver’s seat like he needed height to see over the dashboard. And obviously, the driver couldn’t steer very well.

Don’t know who it was. As I said, it was probably kids on a dare. I keep the key in the ignition because the ignition is broken and I am afraid to take it out too many times. A few times it didn’t go back in without a lot of hassle.

And besides, you have seen the van. It is a good van and I like it, but it is not listed in any magazines as a most stolen vehicle. 18 year old Ford minivans are on the bottom of the list.

However, it has been stolen before. When we lived in Kansas City and I pastored a church there, it was taken for a week before the police recovered it. When we got it back, it was filled with junk and filthy. The guy had run a breaking and entering business and took it because it is rather anonymous.

He broke the ignition switch (which is why it is so temperamental now) and I started it with a needle-nosed Vise grip until a friend replaced it. The insurance company totaled it and sold it to me for $100. I have driven it now for six years, so it is a little hard to complain if it gets hurt.

But that is, of course, not the point. The point is that a kid probably took it on a dare, and he was not very old or tall. Or it could be an angry dwarf, but that is unlikely.

And since I go to see guys in the jail who started their pathetic little lives of crime in just that way, it makes me sad for the kids. They may be in there in a few years.

It amazes me at how worthless a life of crime usually is. I read a survey once that said that the average criminal usually make well below minimum wage, counting what he has stolen, and has a lot of fear and uncertainty and, in the end, jail time for it. The idea of wealthy criminals is a fiction. The reality is sad and pitiful.

So my van is home from its little adventure, safe and healthy. And I got a chance to meet the neighbor down the alley who owns the garden.

I also like the fact that I had a verse to go with the van being taken. My son always hated that I could quote the Bible about anything he did. A father’s revenge.

daily java

Daily Java:

Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. No one was sorry when he died. They buried him in the City of David, but not in the royal cemetery. (2 Chronicles 21:20)
Ahaziah was given a decent burial because the people said, “He was the grandson of Jehoshaphat—a man who sought the Lord with all his heart.” But none of the surviving members of Ahaziah’s family was capable of ruling the kingdom. (2 Chronicles 22:9)
So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was peaceful because Athaliah had been killed. (2 Chronicles 23:21)

Three rulers in a row in Judah, all died and no one cared. This was the people of God that God was preserving so that Jesus could come. But even so, none of these people were worth shooting.

Jehoshaphat was a good king and the people loved him. He made a mistake at the end and allied himself with the king of Israel, something God didn’t want him to do. But in general, he tried his best to be a good king and follow the Lord. He was just a little weak.

His son Jehoram, his grandson Ahaziah and Jehoram’s wife, Athaliah, were trash. They demeaned the throne of Israel and the memory of Jehoshaphat.

Jehoram did nothing but foolishness the whole eight years he was king. And one foolish thing he did was to marry one of Ahab’s (the evil king of Israel) daughters. Her family had already been told by the prophet Elijah that they would die a violent death. Ahab, his wife Jezebel and now Athaliah, all did indeed die violently.

When Jehoram died, no one was sorry. I have always thought that was one of the saddest comments in the Bible. Nobody cared. He didn’t even rate a burial in the royal cemetery.

His son Ahaziah took over. He was even worse. One of the first thing he did was to kill all of his brothers so that he would be the only one in Judah who could be king. When he died, people only given a decent burial because everybody loved his grandfather. Again, nobody was sorry.

Ahaziah’s mother, Athaliah took over now and killed all her children and grandchildren so that she could only be queen. One of them, though, Joash, was spirited away as an infant and raised in secret by Jehoiada, the high priest.

She only knew her end was near when she heard the commotion at the crowning of her grandson, Joash. When she went out to see what was happening, she was seized, dragged off and killed.

Her epitaph? Everybody was happy and the city was peaceful.

What a sad ending to people who could have done so much better, who could have done what the Lord wanted and had a long and prosperous reign. But instead, they were wicked and died.

daily java

Daily Java:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. (John 1:1-2)

It is hard to imagine a God that is forever. In fact it is one of the  hardest things to think about that there is.

But there are lots of things that are hard to understand in life, yet we just accept them.

For instance, I am writing this on a computer. I am not too bad on computers, yet I really do not have any idea how it is that they work. To be honest, I have not yet met anyone who really does. They might be good at computers, but they still do not know.

The same with internal combustion engines. I know basically how they do it, but I cannot imagine the stress on a machine that explodes constantly and how it keeps on moving.

Electricity comes to mind, too. My father was an electrician and I understand the basic principles, but it still remains a mystery. There are others, too. the conception of a child. In fact, sex itself. How it is our hearts keep beating for almost a century sometimes. A microwave oven, TV images – the list could go on.

Yet even though I do not understand them, I still accept them. and I use them in my life. But then when it comes to God, even though most people do not understand a lot of other stuff, they will balk at a God they cannot understand.

But he is real. You can see him in nature, in the order of the universe, in the seasons, sometimes strongly in people’s lives.

Psalm 19 says:

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.
Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.

Romans 1:20 says:

ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature.

Give him a chance and let him show himself to you. He will do it through his Son, Jesus. Jesus was that Word from God that told people about God. Listen to him, read about him and let him into your heart.

He loves you.

daily java

Daily Java:

In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7)

There is an interesting observation coming out of the horrific shooting incident in Colorado. Three young men threw themselves in front of their girlfriends and took the bullets that would have otherwise killed the young women.

The blogosphere is amazed. In this age of post-normal stuff, how can a man allow himself to be killed to protect a woman? To those who have been raised on feminist claptrap, it is astonishing. I don’t know how many times I saw it talked about.

Chivalry is being mentioned again. But these acts go beyond chivalry. They go to self-sacrifice, they go to masculine protection, they go back to the whole idea of the man protecting the woman.

And it is frightening to some. They don’t know quite what to do. How can a man in our increasingly feminist culture possibly go back to archaic ideas, to out dated actions? Feminists have tried so hard to kill all of the urges and instincts men feel.

Yet in a moment of crisis they surge back, full force. Of the 15 people killed, three – 3 – were young men protecting young women. Against all their training for the past 20 to 30 years, they dove in front of the women to take the bullets for them, protecting them with their lives.

The Titanic was mentioned again in one post. In reality, a disproportionate number of men stayed on board to let the women go into the lifeboats. The movies do not want to show that, but it was true. The men protected the women. So many times throughout history, the same is shown.

At the theater in Aurora, Colorado, the men protected the women. They gave their lives so that the women could live.

That is exactly how God made men. And it is striking that no matter what the world may say, in moments of crisis, that trait that God so instilled in men came through.

I was in a Halloween House thing one year. I was the wild man in a cage. I was younger and looked fearsome if I say so myself. At one point a group of people came in (they were in guided groups) and I leaped forward, reaching through the bars (fake ones of course) snarling and growling. I have a good growl and it can frighten people.

When one group came through I reached out and growled and the young man reacted automatically by putting himself in front of his date, protecting her instinctively. I loved him for it. I admired him more than he ever knew.

I know I was fake and they were not in danger. But his first instinct, when confronted by a huge creature (I am 6’3” tall and have always weighed over 200 pounds, in addition to having a wild wig and makeup) coming at him, he automatically put her in front of him to protect her.

If I could have, I would have shaken his hand. She probably did not realize what he did. Maybe he was that kind of guy (it was thirty years ago before the feminazis came into power) and maybe he deferred to her a lot.

But even so, like it or not, that was how God made men: to protect their women. Put it any way you want, women are weaker than men.

I believe firmly and strongly that women have no place in combat or for that matter even in the police force. Men are to protect women. A woman who goes into that kind of job loses much of what made her a woman: the nurturing and loving side. I have yet to know a woman who was an active duty soldier or a police officer who had that real mothering ability.

Many disagree with me, but I believe it. Men protect and women nurture.

And as they used to say back in the sane old days, “Vive la difference!”

this week witnessed a horrendous burst of evil

From the least to the greatest, their lives are ruled by greed.
From prophets to priests, they are all frauds.
They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound.
They give assurances of peace when there is no peace. (Jeremiah 6:13-15)

This week witnessed a horrendous burst of evil. A gunman opened fire on a crowded theater killing 12 and wounding over 70 more.

The question is why? Why would a young man of 24 do this. He seemed to have a good life. He was a PhD student in neuroscience and in general seemed fine.

It was a Batman movie and he told the police after he was captured that he was the Joker. The Joker was probably one of the most psychotic villains ever to come out of a movie. It is suggested that the part of the Joker drove the star who played him in the second Batman movie to suicide. What will come out of this in this young man’s diagnosis is only speculation.

But why would someone emulate someone who was so evil?

That always bothered me when I hear of people worshipping Satan. Why? Do they figure that evil has such a hold on the human race that the devil has won, and they might as well get in good with him?

I believe that much of the problem is with our society. We look at evil and it doesn’t bother us as much anymore. The villains get worse and worse in movies. At the comic conventions, you will see more people dressed as bad guys than you will as good guys.

The rationale? Bad guys have more fun, they say. They have a better time. There is even the song by Billy Joel in which he says “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints, the sinners are much more fun.”

Why would people emulate evil? Why would they model themselves after evil?

I don’t know and wish I did. In fact there are a lot of things I do not know and wish I did.

But I think they see the evil having a good time. The vicious evil glee with the Joker in the movie Dark Knight acted was truly frightening. It was as if he had absolutely no soul. He did not care and, as one character in another movie said, he did not care that he did not care.

What do we do? Quite frankly, there is little we can do. Evil will be here in moderate to severe form until Jesus comes again. I do believe that in this nation where prayer in schools was banned over forty years ago we are beginning to reap our harvest. Unless something amazing happens, a move of the Spirit in America, it will only get worse.

But all we can do remain pure in the midst of evil, remain good, remain honest and loving. It seems so futile, but it is also why Jesus died: to save us from evil.

daily java

Daily Java:

God is more glorious than the moon; he shines brighter than the stars. (Job 25:5)

Friday was the 43rd anniversary of the Moon Walk. Three men traveled to the moon, two went to the moon itself and one – Neal Armstrong – walked on the moon for the first time in human history.

It was so amazing. But what was even more amazing was that we would go a few more times and then never again for almost forty years.

But that night was magical. Humanity had walked on the moon.

July 20th, 1969. It was Sunday night and we had a church get together that night after evening services. There were several portable TV sets around the fellowship hall so everyone could watch.

I had been drafted the Monday before to go into the army and I almost felt like my life was going to be over. I would go to Vietnam, get killed and it would be the end.

But for now a man was walking on the moon and we were watching.

He stepped out of the moon capsule and said the immortal words: “One small step for man, one giant step for mankind.” I understand it was a mistake. It was supposed to be “One small step for a man” but Mr Armstrong messed up.

However, it made no difference. We were there and it was great.

We all cheered at the church when it happened and talked about what a future we would have.

But who could have known that we would, in just a few short years, abandon the whole moon quest that John Kennedy had started us on? More rockets would up and then the space shuttles, but the explosion of the Challenger right after takeoff killed the whole thing.

Our children can look at the moon and think of footsteps up there, an American flag on a pole, blast marks where the capsule landed and took off, along with a couple more and then – nothing.

It is kind of like life. You do something great early in your life and you are never able to recover that greatness. As an older man, I marvel at some of the things I was able to do as a younger man, and it seems that my life stopped.

The moon is still there and I would imagine that private space exploration is going to recover that success. We will probably go back to the moon again within the next few years.

But the initial glory, the historical aspect, is gone. We will be going back to that which we abandoned. And though it will be great, at the same time, it will be another trip to the moon.

But it was something then, that is for sure.

daily java

Daily Java:

Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18)
Turn and answer me, O Lord my God Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die. (Psalm 13:3)

Right now I am in the middle of a bunch of depressing psalms in my daily Bible reading. And it is somewhat depressing.

The main reason, I suppose, is that my life is not going very well right now.

I used to have a sparkle in my eye and do not now. I am heavy on my feet and ponderous in my movement. I look dour and not happy. I do not think I would want to be around me if I were not me. in fact, I really do not want to be around myself now, but do not know what else to do, short of dying or something.

A lot of things have happened, both good and bad in the past few years – going back to 1994 in fact. In 1994, I finally left the Church of Christ and went into the Christian Church. It seemed like such a move of the Lord in my life, but it wasn’t what I thought it would be.

Ten years later, I left the Church of Christ in a move I was sure was from God and went into the Assembly of God. I suppose there are few things in life that could have gone worse than that. There were no churches that wanted me. My style of preaching and ministry in general was not what they wanted. I was just not Pentecostal enough to them.

Of course, what they did was confuse the style with the substance. I didn’t bang the pulpit or use a KJV or any of the things they expected and it bothered them.

At one meeting right before my ordination, I was at a revival. As I was standing there talking to the pastor and the evangelist I mentioned that they looked like Pentecostal preachers and I looked like a Presbyterian going out to play golf. They were dressed in black suits with colored shirts and ties, I had on a pair of Dockers, a red knit shirt and a blue blazer. The difference between us was striking.

And that seemed to be the way it went the whole ten years.

I finally left them and came into the Foursquare Church where I had felt very welcomed at a convention in Dallas. The Foursquare Church seemed so open. I told a friend that they were Pentecostals if Pentecostals were normal. When we came back to Boonville, we joined a Foursquare Church there and began the long process of credentialing.

After a year or so, I went to Lincoln as the pastor of a Foursquare Church. The Sunday before I was installed, they had a secret meeting (which I found out about and attended) in which they complained that my style was not right and i was going to change too much. Mind you, I hadn't changed anything, but they were worried about future fears.

It was a fight from the day I cam to the day I left and I left in such a massive depression from which I still suffer. It also destroyed my desire to minister to a Pentecostal church.

The odd thing is both denomination went out of their way to welcome us and ordain me, but when it came down to it, deserted me when I needed them

Now I am alone in that I do not belong to any denomination. And I have no desire to do so. I have always been a Kingdom guy and will remain.

But the problem is what do I do now. No denomination wants me so where do I go? It is a hard question and I have no answer.

daily java

Daily Java:

O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace. (I Chronicles 29:13-15)

The door to my back porch is in an odd place. The whole room is kind of strange, as it is more of a combination room than any I have ever had. The washer and dryer are in the room so there is no room for a table. Since we have a lot of people over, we have put the table in the living room, which makes for not much room for a couch.

We also have our comfortable chairs in the combination room, along with our computers and it is where we watch TV or whatever. But the problem is that Ell’s chair is against the back door. This means that if we want to go out the back door, we have to do a major renovation of the furniture and then kind of squeeze out the door.

The same thing has to occur when Ella puts stuff in the dryer. The chair has to be moved, and most of the time the little table her computer is on.

So we rarely use it.

The other day I was going to hang some rugs over the railing in the back yard, so I decided to go out it. When I opened the back door, the screen door was full of spider webs. There were big ones too. The door had obviously not been used in a while and it showed.

Life in God is like that. We get so involved with our own lives that we forget to seek God. Then when we do, we feel out of practice and kind of odd. Our door to God is full of cobwebs and practically sealed shut from disuse.

God gave us so much: life in him, accessibility to his grace and his blessings, forgiveness of the foolishness we constantly do. And we have trouble finding the time or desire going through his door.

And it will not be there forever. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow and they will not last forever. He will not be there forever.

Open the door to God. He waits for you to do so and will force himself on no one.

daily java

Daily Java:

Only fools say in their hearts,
    “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their actions are evil;
    not one of them does good! (Psalm 14:1)

What’s funny about this scripture is that it is not talking about atheists, it is talking about those who come to church, maybe even get into leadership, teach classes, get on the board, and yet never really acknowledge God in their lives.

On top, they profess him as God. But down in their hearts they don’t. down in their hearts, they have never really been converted to the grace of God.

They are the same people Jesus was talking about in Matthew 14:3. He told a story about a farmer who went out to sow seed. The seed fell on the sidewalk, rocky ground, among thorns and on good ground. The sidewalk seeds did nothing. Seeds on the thorny ground got choked out. Seeds on the rocky ground never got a decent root structure and one day just died. The good ground helped those seeds to grow and was fine.

The people Psalm 14 talk about are the ones that fall on rocky ground. The root structure can’t really go anywhere because when it comes down to it, the person really doesn’t care. He might think he does and even delude himself into thinking that he is really doing the will of God from his heart, but the first real problem, he is gone.

That is why people can be in church so long and then one day be gone. They might leave the area for another job and never get around to going to church. They might find another woman and leave their families behind and never go back to church. They might just get tired or get their feelings hurt or something. And they just stop.

They don’t believe from the heart and because of that they die. They become corrupt and have evil actions and never do any real good ever again.

They are sad to look at. They did stuff that maybe was great at one time, but fall by the wayside by their own choices.

And like Hebrews 6:4-6 says:

For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened — those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come — and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.

To come back, they have to come back to that which they had left. In other words, the rejected it once and now have to recover the love they turned from. And that is almost impossible.

Of course, as Jesus said in Matthew 19:26

Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.

God can bring them back, but you see it so rarely. And it is a shame.

daily java

Daily Java:

Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing!
    The faithful have vanished from the earth!
Neighbors lie to each other,
    speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts.
May the Lord cut off their flattering lips
    and silence their boastful tongues.
They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content.
    Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”

The Lord replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless,
    and I have heard the groans of the poor.
Now I will rise up to rescue them,
    as they have longed for me to do.”
The Lord’s promises are pure,
    like silver refined in a furnace,
    purified seven times over.
Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed,
    preserving them forever from this lying generation,
even though the wicked strut about,
    and evil is praised throughout the land. (Psalm 12)

It feels like the world has gone to hell. Reading the headlines, listening to the news on TV or the radio, it just seems like it has gotten worse.

And you wonder how long will the Lord let it continue.

Those who are godly seem to be disappearing. People in church are accepting things that are wrong and are doing them as a matter of course. Even the leadership are sliding to  this pit in language and action.

It is getting harder and harder to find someone who is godly, or at least seems to be godly.

Jesus had a lot of pushback against his ministry because of the fact that he associated with “sinners” and people of dubious reputation. And he did. But people use this to show that just because we act right, doesn’t mean we are. And they are right.

But at the same time, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of holiness present, even among church members.

So what do we do? The world seems to be going its own way and taking the church with it. You have to wonder if in fifty years, will there be a recognizable church at all. Will the church of the Lord Jesus Christ be anything like what he wants? Or will it be so diluted by ungodliness that it will be unrecognizable?

why do we attract people that want to hurt us?

O God, don’t stay away.
    My God, please hurry to help me.
Bring disgrace and destruction on my accusers.
    Humiliate and shame those who want to harm me.
But I will keep on hoping for your help;
    I will praise you more and more.
(Psalm 71:12-14)

It seems like sometimes people come out of the woodwork to do us harm. We are enjoying our lives and someone will come and be our friends for a while and suddenly turn on us and do us harm.

And the question is why?

Why did they decided to become a friend in the first place and why they decided to turn on us in the second. Why go to all that bother for people who basically are not that important in the grand scheme of things?

It gets old after a while. It also makes you wary of people who want to be your friend.

I am a Pollyanna type of person. I tend to trust people and believe them. it is a stupid trait of mine but it is real. So that makes me an even bigger target of people who want to hurt us.

But I cannot for the life of me figure out why. It has gone on our entire lives. Someone will come and invest themselves in our ministry, then for some reason turn. They will profess friendship and then do something to hurt us.

And I just do not understand why. I am not that kind of person. But I seem to attract that kind of people. It has been so ever since I began ministry and it was far worse since I came into the Pentecostal church.

That was a bad idea, and another whole story in itself.

But why do we attract people like this? I just cannot figure it out.

daily java

Daily Java:

My wife has this cat. It’s name is Prisca. We always name our animals Bible names. Not sure why, I guess it is just because we can.

And she loves her cat. It is not always obedient and lays down an awful lot of hair to suit me. She is also not very affectionate (the cat, not Ella) and will not sit on Ella’s lap enough to suit her.

As far as I go, she leaves me alone and I reciprocate by doing the same with her. But all in all, I try to be a good cat-father to Ella’s cat. Ella loves it and I love Ella so there we are. I buy it food and litter, I don’t beat it to death when it scratches me (which it does from time to time, not on purpose but she has rather long claws).

But Ella loves it. And so it walks around the house freely and doesn’t go in the dumpster when I am tired of it. She talks to it and gives it treats and generally makes over it more than it deserves.

It is of more than passing interest to me that the word cat isn’t in the Bible in any but the Contemporary English Version, one I do not really care for. That is why there is no scripture for this article today. But in general, that translation relies a lot on paraphrase and the word cat isn’t in the Hebrew or the Greek in the scriptures.

I suppose you could make something of that. And some do. But of course, some make something of a lot of things that are unimportant.

I thought it interesting that at the Precious Moments chapel in Joplin, MO, the guy who made all those Precious Moments figurines, the little ones with big eyes and all, drew a picture of heaven on the wall of the chapel. There are dogs running around everywhere. But until recently, there were no cats. A child was sad that cats were missing and the guy was a bit of a sucker for kids, so he drew one.

I don’t know. We have had cats a lot, but they always seemed amoral to me. Dogs have a conscience but not cats. They have a fear reflex but that is because they are not stupid. When a creature that is 24 times your size is coming at you mad, you would be truly stupid not to run like a scalded cat.

But God made them and they perform functions in his world. Ours, of course, performs no function. It is merely Ella’s pet, and it mostly just sits there.

Sometimes we are like that to God. We come to him and accept him and his grace but then we do nothing. We just sit there. We may come to church most of the time and maybe sing a little, eat the communion and drink the juice, shake a hand here and there, then go home and do nothing for the rest of the week.

When it really comes down to it, what good are we? We are like Prisca, just kind of there.

Do you really want to get to heaven and have God tell you that you were like a pet cat, basically worthless? Or do you want to live a life that is full of his grace and love and his power.

The choice is yours, of course.

daily java

Daily Java:

Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. (Romans 1:28-32)

Sounds a lot like today, doesn’t it?

The apostle Paul was writing almost 2000 years ago about a dysfunctional culture, one in fact that for all practical purposes died in another couple of hundred years.

It doesn’t take more than a cursory reading of the paper, or of the internet to see that things are like that today.

Of course, what is funny in some ways is that someone in each culture going all the way back to fourth century BS Greece said something of the same. All cultures see themselves as bad and much worse than the one right before it.

I sure do today. Although the world was not perfect when I was young, it was a fat lot better than today. Immorality is rampant, teenaged girls are getting pregnant out of wedlock at amazing numbers, politicians are immoral and caught regularly in bad situations, crime is bad, young people’s involvement in stealing from each other and others is worse. It just seems that things are going to hell in a handbasket.

It is easy to say that it is the end times, but these things have happened before and will happen again. This culture is going down the tubes and others will come up, flourish and go down the tubes too. what is happening has happened and will happen again.

Kind of depressing, but true.

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Daily Java:

But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the Ark. Then the Lord’s anger was aroused against Uzzah, and he struck him dead because he had laid his hand on the Ark. So Uzzah died there in the presence of God. David was angry because the Lord’s anger had burst out against Uzzah. He named that place Perez-uzzah (which means “to burst out against Uzzah”), as it is still called today. David was now afraid of God, and he asked, “How can I ever bring the Ark of God back into my care?” So David did not move the Ark into the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-edom of Gath. The Ark of God remained there in Obed-edom’s house for three months, and the Lord blessed the household of Obed-edom and everything he owned. (1 Chronicles 13:9-14)

David was full of his victories and his success as a king. He got to thinking that everything he did was good and that the Lord was going to bless him just across the board.

He decided that it would be a good idea to move the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem. He got a bunch of the Israelites together and asked them what they thought and they though tit would be a good idea too. everybody was in agreement and everybody was happy.

The only person he didn’t ask was God.

In spite of the fact that God had prescribed a way of moving the ark back in the Pentateuch, David decided he would make it a bit more ceremonial. He got a new wagon that had never been used to hold the ark while it was traveling. He even probably got matched oxen or mules to pull it and it all looked great.

The problem was, of course, the roads. They were not that good and the wagon carrying the ark hit a chuck-hole. Uzzah, one who had been chosen to walk beside the ark did what was natural. He reached out to make sure the ark didn’t fall. When he touched the ark, he dropped dead.

No one was supposed to ever touch God’s ark. In fact, the only time it was seen was when traveling and then it had a covering. It was as close to the holy presence of God as any earthly thing could be.

It scared David. He didn’t know what to do, so he just parked the ark at a man’s house for three months while he tried to figure what he had done wrong.

Uzzah probably never knew what he had done wrong, or at least never had the chance to regret touching that ark. But what he did was wrong and he died. He did it in a clear conscience but he died because, conscience or not, it was wrong.

The lesson? Just because you think you are doing the right things doesn’t mwan you are. You can do wrong with a clear conscience.

In Jeremiah 17:9-10, the prophet says:

The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
    and desperately wicked.
    Who really knows how bad it is?
But I, the Lord, search all hearts
    and examine secret motives.
I give all people their due rewards,
    according to what their actions deserve.

God is the only one who really knows what the heart should know and it is only in him that our hearts can be schooled in goodness.

Following your conscience can sound good, but it can lead you to death if your conscience doesn’t tell you what God wants you to know.

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Daily Java:

Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes. (Proverbs 19:2)

It is always funny in movies when the main guy gets everybody stirred up to go do something and they go running off, only to discover that they do not really know what they are going to do. They are excited and enthusiastic and have lots of drive and fervor, but no knowledge.

An enthusiastic bunch of people that come together to build a house are good to have, but if they don’t have a blueprint or a foreman who knows what he is doing, they will build a sorry house.

It is the same with doing things for God. You need to know what you are doing and know the Source of your power or it is all for nothing.

The apostle Paul talked about those kind of people in Romans 10:1-3:

I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law.

The people he was talking about wanted to do good things, but refused the good way to do them. They were enthusiastic but in the wrong direction.

Enthusiasm is great and I hate phlegmatic people. But at the same time, I would rather have slower, knowledgeable people who got the job done right, than overly  enthusiastic people who mess everything up.

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Daily Java:

Azel’s brother Eshek had three sons: the first was Ulam, the second was Jeush, and the third was Eliphelet. Ulam’s sons were all mighty warriors and expert archers. They had many sons and grandsons—150 in all. All these were descendants of Benjamin. (1 Corinthians 8:39-40)

We have been reading genealogies for the last few days in our daily Bible reading. And one thing really strikes me as amazing: the number of concubines in the Old Testament. As a guy that interests me.

Each of these people, many of them great Bible patriarchs who were standards of  holiness in God’s sights had mistresses in addition to their wives and each of the mistresses had children.

That presented some difficulties at times when the concubines’ kids got in a fight with the other kids. But the interesting thing about it is that God never once condemned it. Never once did he condemn multiple marriages also.

We go to 1 Timothy 3 as a qualification for elders and the “husband of one wife” but I wonder how much of that is wishful thinking on the part of God. I say that because there were not many men in the Old Testament who followed it.

But he never condemned them for immorality.

It makes me wonder if our system of morality is different from God’s. We think of our system as holy and godly, but maybe it isn’t. Maybe ours is artificial. Maybe we have imposed our own attitudes and ideas on the Bible.

Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time. And, surprise, surprise! My wife doesn’t quite see it that way.

But even so, it bears some thinking.

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Daily Java:

Psalm 6

For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by an eight-stringed instrument.

O Lord, don’t rebuke me in your anger
    or discipline me in your rage.
Have compassion on me, Lord, for I am weak.
    Heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.
I am sick at heart.
    How long, O Lord, until you restore me?

Return, O Lord, and rescue me.
    Save me because of your unfailing love.
For the dead do not remember you.
    Who can praise you from the grave?

I am worn out from sobbing.
    All night I flood my bed with weeping,
    drenching it with my tears.
My vision is blurred by grief;
    my eyes are worn out because of all my enemies.

Go away, all you who do evil,
    for the Lord has heard my weeping.
The Lord has heard my plea;
    the Lord will answer my prayer.
May all my enemies be disgraced and terrified.
    May they suddenly turn back in shame.

daily java

Daily Java:

Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. (Philippians 3:12)

1969, 43 years ago. I had a lot happen that year. As far as times of your life go, it was just about the best – or at least part of it was. It was the year I turned 20.

I started the year off working for Galveston County doing various things. One of these things was seeding the seawall. There were other things I truly do not remember, but it was a good job. I was out in the sun and the guys I worked with seemed to like me, even though they were all older men, or at least older than I was.

I was looking at trying to get a job with the Telephone Company and went several times for the hiring process to downtown Houston at the main office at 3100 Main.

In February, I went to a big youth thing at the Pecan Park Church of Christ. There were kids from all over Houston there. It was part of a gospel meeting and it was youth night. That meant that it was the night for the visiting evangelist to holler at the kids instead of the adults.

Afterwards, as at all of the youth things we had in Houston, everybody went somewhere to do something. Sometimes it was Putt Putt Golf or skating. That night it was bowling at Pasadena Lanes.

My little brother, Gerald was with me and we went almost all over Houston trying to find the place. I almost gave up when I saw it.

That night I met the girl I would marry a little less than two years later. I saw her again a month later at a big youth gathering in Clear Lake City south of Houston and again a short while later at a concert at her church.

A couple of weeks later my job came through and I moved to Houston and got an apartment. And we began dating seriously.

The summer was a fun one. I had a great job that I liked – taking money out of pay phones, one which took me all over Houston to every conceivable business – I had an apartment and I had a girl-friend.

However, I also had a government and in July I got my draft notice and went in on August 13th.

The year ended with basic training, out of which I came in such phenomenal condition, the like of which I have never been again.

All in all, even with the army thing thrown in there, it was the best year of my life. I have had a couple since that were good, but that was the best.

But as good as it was, and as much as I remember it and, quite frankly, would go back to it in a minute, it is gone. It is in the past. And I cannot be living in the past thinking about how great things were 43 years ago.

I press on, I move forward, I go on toward God. And I look forward to more in him.

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Daily Java:

Psalm 4

For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by stringed instruments.

Answer me when I call to you,
    O God who declares me innocent.
Free me from my troubles.
    Have mercy on me and hear my prayer.

How long will you people ruin my reputation?
    How long will you make groundless accusations?
    How long will you continue your lies? Interlude
You can be sure of this:
    The Lord set apart the godly for himself.
    The Lord will answer when I call to him.

Don’t sin by letting anger control you.
    Think about it overnight and remain silent. Interlude
Offer sacrifices in the right spirit,
    and trust the Lord.

Many people say, “Who will show us better times?”
    Let your face smile on us, Lord.
You have given me greater joy
    than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine.
In peace I will lie down and sleep,
    for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.

a church tased a woman for playing too loudly during the worship service

http://kfor.com/2012/06/29/tambourine-player-tased-during-church-service/
A church tased a woman for playing too loudly during the worship service. The report said that:

Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Department Spokesman Mark Myers said, “Nobody could pay attention to the sermon or what was going on so that’s when our deputy was able to take care of the situation.”

Now, was this situation handled right? I believe this church sinned in the eyes of God and the eyes of the world.

First, when confronted with unruly or demented people, Jesus always acted in a healing way. He never sanctioned getting the authorities involved.

Second, in taking this to a sheriff’s deputy, this was in violation of  1 Corinthians 6:1-2:

When one of you has a dispute with another believer, how dare you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other believers! Don’t you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world, can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves?

The church should have stopped and gathered around this woman and prayed for her. Was that sermon so all-fired important that the pastor had to continue at all costs? Was the worship service so wonderful that it had to continue?

They could even have had a group of elders or deacons gather around her and pray. Why could they not stop and consider the woman. She was obviously having problems.

Yes, it was a disturbance and yes, it needed to be addressed before they could continue. But they did this in a way that will only hurt this church.

This church’s influence is severely weakened in the eyes of God and the world. They had no right scripturally to call a deputy to pepper spray or tase this woman. They were wrong.

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Daily Java:

Intelligent people are always ready to learn.
    Their ears are open for knowledge. (Proverbs 18: 15)

When I was a little boy, my family and I were somewhere listening to somebody talk about something. No idea what or where, but it was some kind of information thing, like a museum or exhibit. One of the group asked a question that was a little on the dumb side, but at the same time one I didn’t know the answer to. You know the kind of question: it had a simple answer, and no one wanted to ask it for fear of looking silly, but at the same time, no one really knew the answer.

The person giving the demonstration answered the question and all of a sudden, the whole group was more educated.

I commented that it was a silly question to my father, and he told me that the person who had asked was an extremely intelligent person who had a lot of education. In other words, he was smart enough to look a little dumb in order to increase his knowledge.

How many times do we sit through “lessons” in which we do not learn a key part? And how often do we go without asking for simple clarification for fear of looking foolish? Which means that we stay foolish for fear of looking foolish.

Intelligent people want to know things. There is the old adage “knowledge is power” and to a large extent it is true. Knowledge is no good whatever if you do not know enough to use it.

I suppose that is one reason why I ask people so many questions. I want to know more. I always have. And the sad thing I found much of my college “experience” to be useless because the information I learned was for the most part rote and worthless. And I also found, oddly enough, that many of the questions I asked of my college professors they did not know. In fact, I found that on many of the subjects we were studying, my knowledge was broader than theirs and they had graduate degrees.

I guess they had gone through their educational process doing just enough to get by and to get a degree, where I was trying to learn something.

That doesn’t make me smarter than anyone else or anything like that. But I guess it makes me a little odd to some. I always ask. I always want to know.

It irritates some and I don’t know why. Most people, I suppose, just want to live and let live, to just go through their lives with the minimum effort and “not make waves” by asking questions.

I always applied that same thing to people. I want to know about them, so I ask questions. My son said one day that I asked people entirely too many questions. Then he said, on the other hand, I know more about people than most do. I said that was the point. I want to know things.

My children do not share this quest for knowledge. I have always been a voracious reader, even to the point of reading the dictionary and encyclopedias. I even read ingredients on boxes and cans. I just want to know.

It has done me no real good, I will have to admit. I have accomplished little from the great amount of knowledge I have accumulated. And as I get older, I am losing a lot of that knowledge. The things I learned when I was 30 do not matter many times when I am 62, and I guess the mental hard drive is in the process of being overwritten.

If I had it to do again (a theme that seems to be dominant for this part of my life), I would ask more questions, go to school more, read more, searched more, learned more things, keep my ears open for knowledge.

what i am

I am a born again Kingdom-oriented Christ-follower, filled with the Spirit of God, one who loves God and his church even with its many imperfections. I have no denominational affiliation any longer with no allegiance to any denomination. I have found that all denominations, every single one, have missed the mark and missed the point. I have no idea where I will go or what I will do. But I know this: I will go to my grave serving my King. He is my God. Where else could I possibly go?

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Daily Java:

Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem. (Psalm 137:1)

I grew up in an alternate universe, one in a galaxy long ago and far away, almost a fairy tale world. It was called America in the 1950’s.

It was a bizarre place, one in which people prayed out loud, where people went to church and did church stuff – potlucks, revivals, Vacation Bible Schools – all the weird stuff. They even prayed at schools and in government meetings. In fact, people just didn’t trust someone who had no real church background.

It was one in which the Fourth of July was celebrated with parades and fireworks, people making long, useless speeches about freedom and other people flying little flags and wearing little flags on their lapels.

It was a strange place where no one had ever heard of homosexuality. Most people were not even sure what homosexuality was or how it worked or what “those people” were trying to gain. Until the 1960’s and Christine Jorgensen, no one had ever heard of a transgendered person and then they were viewed, if at all, as freaks.

It was a strange culture in which there were normal homes that consisted of the father and the mother and children, maybe a dog and a cat. It was a place where teenagers grew up and got married, then had children. It was a place where men went to work each morning and women stayed home and took care of the house and children, even to having supper ready when the man came home.

Most homes had only one car and one bathroom and the family ate in the kitchen. The bedrooms were small and the family sat together at night and watched TV together or read or played games. As there were three channels on the TV, there was never a problem what to watch. You watched what came on and usually like it. It was rare for a home to be air-conditioned and no one seemed to mind or even notice. “It’s summer” they would say, “of course we’re hot.”

It was a country where welfare was unknown except for maybe a few poor people in shacks out in the woods. It was a country where girls who became pregnant out of wedlock were embarrassed and went somewhere else to have the baby and usually adopted it to people who would love it and care for it and raise it in a “normal” home.

Men traveled places and slept in the same bed for convenience and no one thought anything of it. Men roomed with men and women with women. People dated, and the dates consisted of going for ice cream or dinner and a movie. The boy picked the girl up at the door and had her back when the girl’s father said. And he treated the girl’s parents with respect.

Men respected women and women expected to be respected. They were usually offended if a man said anything off-color or inappropriate. Children respected adults in general and their parents in specific. “Yes, sir” and No, ma’am” were common comments made by a child to any adult.

If men had differences, they may settle it with a fight, then shake hands and go home. No one was called a liar without some penalty, whether a good smack in the nose or being shunned.

Children went to school and behaved. There was little or no disrespect for their teachers because the teachers would not stand for it. Offenses committed by boys were rewarded by “spats” with a paddle given by a teacher. To be sent to the principal’s office was a humiliating experience.

People had the freedom to do things they wanted to do, like smoking or hunting. Boys would carry guns to school in the backs of their pickups and then go hunt after school.

Girls practiced modesty and “lady-like” behavior. Boys learned to be gentlemen. They dressed up for special occasions, church, parties, dates and even, at times, school.

Pornography was almost unknown. It could only be gotten from special stores or theaters and it was impossible to go into them without someone recognizing you. And that would ruin your reputation.

A good reputation was essential to a person. Wild behavior was almost unknown. Children, in public at least, were behaved because if they were not, word could get back to their parents and they would be in trouble.

The police were respected and viewed as friends and guardians and they were always obeyed. And for the most part, police tried to return that feeling.

The government was far off and people took care of themselves. They expected nothing from the government apart from police and army protection.

It was an alternate universe, one almost inconceivable to our culture today, yet many of us lived in it and it was just a short time ago.

And the results of its loss are now becoming apparent. And our country may be doomed because of it.

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Daily Java:

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (Matthew 9:9-10)

What drew the apostles to Jesus? What made them leave perfectly good jobs and their families and associations and follow this man?

It wasn’t that he was so beautiful. Isaiah said that he wasn’t particularly beautiful or whatever that people would desire to be around him. He had trouble almost from the beginning, yet they not only left where they were and followed him, they stayed with him to the very end.

What made him such that they gave their loyalty to him?

There were several things that attracted people to Jesus. You could see it as they followed him around, even to the point of going without food. How many times did a great crowd of people sit and listen to him even though they were hungry?

The crowds clamored for him, the apostles and disciples stood close to him in all his troubles, and they loved him

For one thing he was an extremely charismatic individual. He was vibrant and fearless and they saw that. They wanted to be near this man who seemed to have no fear when addressing anybody, whether great religious leaders or raving demon possessed people. It didn’t seem to matter to Jesus who he was talking to. He showed absolutely no fear.

He was a strong person physically. He had been a carpenter, an occupation which involved a lot of stone work, so he was fit. He walked everywhere and evidently fasted a lot. He didn’t mind pitching in to help the fishermen. He stood his ground no matter what and showed strength of character. They respected him.

But he also was one of them. He was an ordinary guy with super-ordinary qualities. He was able to talk to highly educated men who were full of themselves and their credentials and yet make them look foolish. He spoke as a common person, yet had authority. He talked like he knew what he was talking about. They identified with him.

He was different than anybody they had seen. And above all, he was good. There was absolutely no scandal attached to him even though he traveled with an extremely diverse group of people, including prostitutes. Some of these women would probably have done anything Jesus asked them to, yet he never did.

And he loved them. They could see it in everything he said and did. He protected them from the super-religious people, he stood up for them when they were criticized, he pushed them to be better than they were, he never accepted second best from them. He loved them.

It was said of Jim Jones in the Guyana People’s Temple group that those who followed him even into death did so because he told them he loved them. He didn’t mean it and was using them, but they thought he did and loved him back.

In Jesus’ case, he loved them event to the point of dying for them. how could they not follow him?

if you are reading this

If you are reading this, send me an email. I would like to know who you are.

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Daily Java:

So Paul went to the Temple the next day with the other men. They had already started the purification ritual, so he publicly announced the date when their vows would end and sacrifices would be offered for each of them. The seven days were almost ended when some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the Temple and roused a mob against him. They grabbed him, yelling, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who preaches against our people everywhere and tells everybody to disobey the Jewish laws. He speaks against the Temple—and even defiles this holy place by bringing in Gentiles.”   (For earlier that day they had seen him in the city with Trophimus, a Gentile from Ephesus, and they assumed Paul had taken him into the Temple.) (Acts 21:26-29)

I believe that the apostle Paul had changed so much that when people saw him, they thought he was a Gentile.

Sooner or later, you start resembling those you hang around with. The apostle Paul had been hanging around with non-Jews for a long time by this time. He had probably adopted Gentile dress and customs, cut his hair like a Gentile, everything else.

When his old Jewish friends saw him, they could probably barely believe their eyes. Here was a man who was Jewish to the max. When they saw him last, he dressed traditionally, he kept the dietary laws, the rituals, all of the Jewish stuff that was so important to these people.

But the problem was, God had changed the system. No longer were the Jews to keep all these old laws. In fact, in Acts 10 he had told Peter that he was not to consider unclean that which God had created. That was just before he sent Peter to preach to a Gentile. Peter could hardly believe it. Gentiles were filthy animals to Jews. Yet God had sent him into a Gentile’s house and told him to tell them of Jesus.

If it had been anybody but Peter, his actions would have been rejected. But Peter was one of the leader apostles, if not the main man. They called  him on the carpet in Acts 11, but he told them too bad. God told him to do it. So they had to agree.

But even though they agreed, even though they knew it was what God wanted, like good Jews, they didn’t want it. They agreed that the Gentiles could do what they did and the Jewish Christians would live like they always had.

When Paul went native, adopting customs of people that were alien to the Jews, they rebelled against him. The Jerusalem leaders of the church tried to defuse the situation by having Paul perform a temple ritual vow. But it backfired. Paul just looked so different that the Jews grabbed him and began to beat him. They were much in their response as Muslims are today in theirs to perceived apostasy.

He was in Jerusalem, he looked like a Gentile, he had a Gentile with him, he was in the temple – many of them assumed that he was that Gentile. He just looked so different.

Once you leave a culture and become immersed in another, you look different. It doesn’t matter what the culture is.

When we were in Germany in the army, we tried a lot to look like Germans. We hated standing out like American idiots. There is nothing wrong with being American, of course. It is still the best country in the world. but again there no reason to stand out like a sore thumb like so many American GI’s did.

For Paul there was no going back. He went ahead and cooperated with the Jerusalem church elders and did the purification vow. But it backfired. He had come too far to go back. Now he had to go forward, whatever else happened.

Of course, there is a parallel to my life. What do I do? I have come so far in my evolution of belief that, whether I want it or not, there may be no going back. I may never get to minister to the people I love.

I have moved so far that I scare everybody. I scare Pentecostals and I scare non-Pentecostals. I do not seem to have any denomination that I can go to now. I am alone.

I know that sounds melodramatic, but it seems to be true. Paul was alone in his beliefs too, but God was using him. I know God is using me in my situation – I do a lot for Firm Foundation – but at the same time, we are flat broke, living on the paltry amount Ella gets each month.

For Firm Foundation I play in the praise band, video the services and record the events, post them on our page, I preach occasionally, I teach Sunday night class, I am the Firm Foundation jail minister, I write articles for about everything, I am the proof reader for the stuff the pastor  wants to put out, we are the hospitality ministry of the church. I do so much, in fact more than I was allowed to do in my last pastoring position.

Yet I am without any kind of financial remuneration. I am also without a church that is mine. If I were doing something that also supported me in the ministry, it would be great, although I still like to preach. I need my own church, or at least my own ministry, rather than being an appendage of someone else’s.

A lot of parallels. And kind of interesting coming on the day after my three day fast.