Have you ever been rejected? Have you ever wanted to talk to someone and had them say, “Leave me alone!”? Has anyone ever told you, “I hate you!”? Do you ever call and leave a message, and your call is not returned? Do you ever want affection and your spouse has a headache?
Rejection, it’s part of living. Does anyone like it? I sure don’t. Why does one person reject another? I think it’s because we’re selfish. We don’t want to be bothered. We want to be left alone. We don’t want to deal with situations we’re not comfortable with. We don’t see the other person as a human being precious to God, Who loves that person totally and commands us to love him as well. We only see that it is not advantageous to us to love that person, so we don’t.
Has anyone besides me noticed that there’s a shortage of real love among God’s people? I think everyone is looking for love, and it’s not easy to find. If we, the children of God, would begin to truly love one another, love wouldn’t be so hard to find. The kids wouldn’t be turning to drugs and pre-marital sex. The bars would be empty. I am amazed at how preoccupied most Christians are with their own little soap operas while the people around them are dying and starving for love.
Command, not request!
This thing called rejection, How sad it is! If you like this brother’s teaching, another brother regards you as an enemy. If you play this style of music, you can’t play at that church. If you dress this way, speak in tongues, or don’t speak in tongues, you believe in divine healing or in modern medicine, it’s all a big deal to most Christians. “What church do you attend?” they ask. You answer, and they get a funny look on their face.
The question I have for everyone I meet in the Body of Christ is, “Do you love me?” Most believers feel like it’s up to me to be “loveable.” If I believe the same way they do and conform to their code of conduct, they might love me just a little after a while. If I don’t conform, they’ll avoid me. Of course, at a church meeting, they’ll shake my hand or even hug me and say, “How’s it going?” They want to “appear” to be righteous for their audience, but the dirty truth is, they find me objectionable. They don’t love me. Now, there is no possibility whatsoever that a person who rejects me will call me at my home later and say, “Brother David, I perceive there is strife between us, and it grieves me. Can we get together and talk?” That will never happen because the other person feels justified in not loving me. It’s my fault. I didn’t satisfy his requirements. Something about me isn’t right. If only I would change.
We are surrounded by promises, in America, and most of them never had any intention of being fulfilled! Politicians say exactly what they think we want to hear, not because they actually believe it, but simply to earn our trust and our vote. Broken promises have been in the news lately with the “If you like your plan and your Doctor, you can keep them!” lie. The President and his adherents knew from the beginning that was a lie, yet they intentionally repeated it for months.
Contrary to the multitude of unfulfilled promises of politicians, GOD fulfills promises everyday. The Bible is filled with wonderful & lofty promises that, frankly, are incredibly hard to believe. Yet, any one of us can challenge GOD’S faithfulness by apprehending any promise in faith.
At the top of the page is a promise: All things are possible with God. (Matthew 19:26)
Believe that? I mean do you believe it in your LIFE, or just with your head? There is a difference!
There are many, many more!
Pick a promise! Choose one that fits a difficult circumstance in your life. Pick it & believe it! Each & every promise issues from the loving heart of God. Every one! But that’s not the cool part! The cool part is that GOD has spoken each promise to ME and to YOU … as individuals! When GOD says, “Don’t be afraid, for I AM with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I AM your GOD! I will comfort you! Yes, I will help you! And I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness!” (Isaiah 41:10) GOD is talking to me, but HE is also talking to you. All we have to do … is actively BELIEVE! Can you do that? I can …if I remember who GOD is. If I remember He designed Creation, all its moving parts (not the parts mankind has corrupted, but the wondrous ways Laws of Nature,) and brought it into being with a Word! Ha!
In spite of GOD’S vastness, or maybe because if it, GOD has set His unfathomable love on us, and we see that in His promises. All his promises flow from that love and are evidenced in His unspeakable GOODNESS!
The yes to all of God’s promises is in Christ, and through Christ we say yes to the glory of God.2 Corinthians 1:20
LOVE. It’s our deepest, most urgent need. It’s a requirement for life. Every single human shares this basic need, yet in spite of the volumes written on the topic, a vast array of poems and songs written on the subject, few of us have a clear handle of exactly what Love is.
We often hear “Life is a journey” these days, and I suggest that Love is our destination and our source. We taste it on clear sunny days. We smell it in a gentle spring shower. We hear it in the laughter of children, and we get a glimpse in the touch of a loved one. Never a banquet, only a sample, enough to compel us onward … and a Promise.
Love is not weak, easy, or shallow. Love always … always multiplies. The deepest Love is a promise, a unity of hearts, goals, and future hope.
11 I say this because I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. 12 Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me! 14 I will let you find me,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back from your captivity. Jeremiah 29:11-14
As humans, we typically look for the easy route, the path of lest resistance. But the richness of God’s Love takes us always into the deep water without a life jacket, not to drown us, as some suppose, but to empower us to fly higher, dive deeper, push harder, to continue on when there are no landmarks we recognize to take GOD’s love to each and every person. God’s love soothes and inspires. His love never changes … NEVER! Still, it doesn’t always feel like a warm blanket either, but Love is always … always ultimately drawing us to Him: our Source and our Goal, the Beginning and the End. One taste just isn’t enough, but how do we get there?
This song as always been a prayer to me. I’m asking God to show me what Love is … and I know He will answer. Care to take the plunge with me? It’s a little scary, but … is it safe? “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” ~ C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
♫ I Want to Know What Love is ♫
I gotta take a little time
A little time to think things over
I better read between the lines
In case I need it when I’m older
Aaaah woah-ah-aah
Now this mountain I must climb
Feels like a world upon my shoulders
And through the clouds I see love shine
It keeps me warm as life grows colder
In my life there’s been heartache and pain
I don’t know if I can face it again
Can’t stop now, I’ve traveled so far
To change this lonely life
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
Aaaah woah-oh-ooh
I’m gonna take a little time
A little time to look around me, oooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh oooh
I’ve got nowhere left to hide
It looks like love has finally found me
In my life there’s been heartache and pain
I don’t know if I can face it again
I can’t stop now, I’ve traveled so far
To change this lonely life
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
And I wanna feel, I want to feel what love is
And I know, I know you can show me
Let’s talk about love
(I wanna know what love is) the love that you feel inside
(I want you to show me) I’m feeling so much love
(I wanna feel what love is) no, you just cannot hide
(I know you can show me) yeah, woah-oh-ooh
I wanna know what love is, let’s talk about love
(I want you to show me) I wanna feel it too
(I wanna feel what love is) I wanna feel it too
And I know, and I know, I know you can show me
Show me what is real, woah (woah), yeah I know
(I wanna know what love is) hey I wanna know what love
(I want you to show me), I wanna know, I wanna know, want know
(I wanna feel what love is), hey I wanna feel, love
I know you can show me, yeah
GOD is love! He is in the business of LOVE … for the Love of GOD!
AMERICA is unique, not so much for her FREEDOM, but for her Source of Freedom (GOD) and what that Freedom has come to mean culturally i.e. OPPORTUNITY to WORK. There are other nations, other societies, that experience some degree of freedom, some even seem more FREE than America. So, what’s the big deal? What makes American Freedom different … EXCEPTIONAL?
Find another civilization in history that has …
drawn the number of immigrants the USA has in the past century and enabled them to improve their lives.
produced as much increase and improvement across the board – technologically, scientifically, agriculturally, humanitarian-ly, and even spiritually.
allowed virtually complete mobility physically between states and economically from min wage to billionaire to those willing to push through the obstacles
Recent policies have diminished the OPPORTUNITY for work … for self-improvement. Increased taxes and regulations punish small business success, and “NO STRINGS handout” availability reduces the incentive toward WORK! In the process, however, our freedoms are exchanged and lost.
Your Freedom is yours to do with as you please. You can use it to build or to destroy. You can use it to give or to take. You can use it to find happiness or misery. You can use it to help others or help yourself. Your Freedom is yours to do with as you please. Use it or lose it!
“John F. Kennedy broke some sort of record for stating the obvious when he noted that “life isn’t fair.” More evidence for the unfairness of the nation’s evaluations of presidents emerged in a recent Washington Post poll showing that, five years after he returned to Texas, George W. Bush is still blamed by 50 percent of Americans for the current state of the economy. Only 38 percent hold President Barack Obama responsible. The lesson for future presidents appears to be: You may be one of the greatest humanitarians in the history of the world (as Herbert Hoover arguably was, and as was Bush in some ways), but if you’re in office when a financial crisis hits, the public will blame you forever.
The press and academia have provided explanations and justifications for the economy’s sluggishness during the past five years – rationalizations that tend to exonerate Obama for the fact that, for example, annual growth remains very low by historical standards, and the labor force participation rate has dropped every year since 2009. It is now at the lowest level since 1978. We’ve been assured that the aging of baby boomers accounts for the high numbers leaving the labor force. But as Michael Strain notes in National Affairs, the labor force participation rate for the ages 25-54 cohort has hardly recovered at all since 2009 – though the recession officially ended in June of that year.
The Obama administration frequently cites economists who argue that recoveries from financial crisis-induced recessions are slower than those from other recessions. Economic historians Michael Bordo of Rutgers University and Joseph Haubrich of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland have produced data for recessions going back to 1882 and find that recoveries from past financial crises were more than four times stronger than this recovery has been.
Obama has proclaimed, one loses count of how many times, a pivot to jobs. Apparently, that theme is passe. He’s now pivoting to inequality. Any more pivots and he’ll be doing a pirouette.” Read more HERE
In Charleston, South Carolina, a little boy about four years old walked over, looked up at me and said, “You are little!” I said to the pastor standing beside me, “What did he say?” The pastor said, “It sounds like he said, “You are little!” It made the boy feel good since he was so short. But it humbled me. It made me think.
We should look at our biggest giant or mountain and say, “You are little! You are little compared to the God inside of me!” It will humble any mountain or giant to fall. What mountain or giant will the Lord raise you up to stand on top of this coming year? What stormy seas will He cause you to walk on?
On the sea of Galilee, famous for storms, I asked the Lord a question. “Lord, are we near the place where Peter got out of the boat and walked on the raging sea before he fell?” The Lord answered me. “What do you mean Peter fell? This is the sea where Peter walked!” As though He didn’t remember Peter falling. Peter sank but he walked on water. The eleven sat in the boat living in regret. The terror of that storm paralyzed them. They missed that once in a lifetime opportunity. Sinking is better than sitting. When life is over we won’t regret taking a risk for God and sinking. We will regret sitting. And God won’t remember us sinking.
Have you been to the mall? Are your decorations up? Is your baking done? Did you get your Christmas or Hanukkah cards in the mail? How about all the Christmas music on the radio, tired of it yet?
Last weekend, I had to pick up some chocolate chips for my daughter. She wanted to make some fudge. I stopped at the local grocery store and went directly to the baking aisle. It was overwhelming!(I am NOT one who enjoys the art of shopping, so I am typically in and out within 15 minutes!) I headed down the baking aisle in search of a deal on what I needed, spotted the rascals on the left side of the aisle, and stopped momentarily to compare prices. A young woman with long black hair, glasses, and a scowl was behind me where I stopped. She looked up at me (and I’m only 5’5″) and with a sardonic smile said, “Yes, every time you stop, the whole line has to stop!”
Well, I only had stopped ONCE! I kind of looked at her in disbelief, and looked back at the shelf. When she didn’t make a move to circumvent me, I looked back at her and she told me to, “get f*’d!” I smiled politely and said, “same to you!”
As I finished my shopping, though, my heart broke for her and the thousands like her who have been totally engulfed by our secular, anti-goodness society. It’s not a new thing entirely, but godlessness has become a national past time in OUR time. Only recently, has it become socially acceptable to be selfish, self-centered, and unkind. It is everywhere now. (Watch drivers, if you have any doubt.) People think only of themselves, their agenda, their needs and are completely unaware? or unconcerned? with others. “Screw you, lady! You’re in MY way!”
The HEART of the matter is GOD! Many people, whether alone or surrounded by others, are lonely these days. GOD, whomever we understand Him to be, is relegated to a distant dark corner of our pseudo-sophisticated society only to be recognized as the source of some fringe lunatic. Darkness increases while those holding the Light remain well shielded by the protective bushel of their/our choosing, and we wonder why society is breaking down.
The attitude of this one young woman shocked my heart, my reality. She was not suffering from some obvious disease, but her heart is sick. Mine, too, struggles under the burden of perfection portrayed by TV and movies … the perfect Christmas or Hanukkah celebrations always show scores of happy family members laughing and embracing one another with tables loaded with boundless delicacies and truckloads of gifts for everyone. I don’t live there, do you?
But the dingy manger? THAT I can relate to! Our best laid plans sometimes fail.
The hardship of that journey to Bethlehem with Mary at 9 months pregnant? THAT I can relate to … discomfort is a big part of life!
Alone in a strange town, crowds of people milling around yet, no place just for them. THAT I can relate to! Surprises! Unexpected journeys!
Supplies insufficient to the task at hand? THAT I can relate to! Making due with what’s on hand is daily life, and it requires faith in something or Someone bigger than me!
At this point in time, the media (TV, movies, magazines, etc) sets our expectations for more than any of us realize. Today’s movies always show the various holidays … PERFECT! There may be a bit of a struggle to get there, but perfection always arrives. LIFE is not perfect! It is not orderly or predictable. It is our daily challenge to make order out of chaos.
The moral of this story? When the Christmas lights are unplugged, when the Hanukkah gifts are given, when the parties are over and the cookies are eaten, what is left? GOD is there in my emptiness and unfulfilled expectations, and He’s there in yours, too! He didn’t stay in that dingy manger, and the oil has still never run dry! He is not necessarily where we expect Him to be, that’s all. Though we have tried for centuries to package Him and present Him all neat and tidy, He reminds us constantly that HE is GOD, and we are not!
Look for HIM as you celebrate … or as you endure whatever hardships and discomfort is your life. He is THERE!
Posted by Bob Owens on December 15, 2013 at 8:34 am
Authorities are dramatically revising the response time of law enforcement officers to the Arapahoe High School shooting on Friday.
Originally, it was claimed by multiple outlets that responding law enforcement agencies took 14 minutes to arrive at the school, and that the shooter was not located until 30 minutes into the event. As we noted based on this information, this proves that schools need armed staffers and/or faculty on campus because it takes far too long for outside law enforcement agencies to respond to stop an active shooter.
It now appears that our original thesis was confirmed because there was an armed officer on campus who was the reason the shooter was stopped after only shooting one student.
They are now stating that the entire incident was over in just 80 seconds because there was an armed sheriff’s deputy on staff who was alerted over the school’s radio system, who cornered the shooter in the library. It now appears that once the shooter heard the deputy identify himself as a law enforcement agent, he committed suicide.
The rampage might have resulted in many more casualties had it not been for the quick response of a deputy sheriff who was working as a school resource officer at the school, Robinson said.
Once he learned of the threat, he ran — accompanied by an unarmed school security officer and two administrators — from the cafeteria to the library, Robinson said. “It’s a fairly long hallway, but the deputy sheriff got there very quickly.”
The deputy was yelling for people to get down and identified himself as a county deputy sheriff, Robinson said. “We know for a fact that the shooter knew that the deputy was in the immediate area and, while the deputy was containing the shooter, the shooter took his own life.”
How FAITHFUL is God? From cover to cover, the various scribes throughout history record event after event, miracle after miracle of GOD’s faithfulness.
Does that mean no one suffered? Not even close! It means that even suffering has a redemptive purpose. Childbirth hurts, as any mother can attest, but the joy of that new life is more than worth the pain. Our suffering “births” (or brings about increase) of God’s purpose in our life.
So then we always feel secure or safe? Ha! One would think, but no. We are flesh and blood. We are weak! Even when we cognitively understand the enormity of GOD, we manage to suppose our situation, our disease, our family issue is somehow beyond His interest, right?
How then should be face the challenges that confront us in this life? Can you imagine as a young teenage girl (or her fiance) learning you’d been chosen by God to bring His Son into this world? Say What??? Yet, unbelievably, Mary’s response echoes through the ages … “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1)
Christmas seems to spotlight “sore spots” in our hearts and lives. At least in my world, it does. Year after year, I struggle, but this year is different. Or perhaps I should say the struggle is different. I have a dear friend who recently lost his wife. My heart breaks for him as he faces his first Christmas without her together with his girls. I know the GOD of comfort will be with them. I have another friend whose husband just learned he has a brain tumor, yet God’s grace is buoying them through the surgery and treatment. I have still another friend whose work hours were drastically cut suddenly last month. She has barely enough to pay bills, and certainly nothing left for gifts for her family. There are thousands of men and women, many of whom served our nation in uniform, living on our streets with no roof over their heads. There is much suffering. There is unimaginable pain. BUT there is GOD …
Each of us have “sore spots!” Life is not perfect. There are obstacles and traps along the way. Then, there is that one thing, that one huge “sore spot” we can’t seem to shake. We need to foster Mary’s deep understanding of GOD. Instead of struggling against that thing, that “sore spot,” embrace it as a tool for growth. Whew … easier said than done, right?
“Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”
I am not a woman of great financial resources, but I have faith for these and other unmentioned needs. Do you? Prayer is not a last resort, it is a FIRST resort! It is our declaration to GOD that we know He can handle what we cannot. It is acknowledging His greatness and His faithfulness to us, His children. Christmas is the manifestation of His faithfulness in the person of Jesus Christ, who came to take away the sin of the world.
Our pain and suffering may not end, but His faithfulness is more than enough to turn our pain and suffering into beauty. Let’s turn our minds and hearts outward and look for ways to lift the burden others may feel at this time … and everyday!
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
Charles Dickens
You are Faithful & True
You are Faithful & True You are Faithful and True,
You are Faithful & True to your people.
You are Faithful & True You are Faithful and True,
You are Faithful and True to me.
There is no emptiness in You.
No failure or loss, no turning away,
You are the God of all purpose,
You are Hope, You are Life, You’re the end to my strife.
You are Faithful & True You are Faithful and True
You are Faithful & True to your people.
You are Faithful & True You are Faithful and True
You are Faithful and True to me.
It does no real good at this point, to dwell on the enormity of negative aspects of the Obama Administration. The extent of his disrespect for America and for the American people, whether they/we acknowledge that disrespect or not, is inexcusable. Nevertheless, it appears, at least for the present, that our hands are tied. So, beating the dead horse of his outrageous crimes, lies, and deceptions seems more of a distraction from all that is GOOD, all that is holy, and all that is AMERICAN … for me.
I will continue to write about whatever is on my heart, but I expect it to be more God-centered. Of course, it will still flavor my love for this nation and her people, but I choose to look for the GOOD. It may be harder to find than the bad, but I will find some and share it here in the hope that we will all be inspired toward improvement, toward a higher calling, toward genuine service.
A number of times I’ve heard Conservative leaders indicate a dire need to educate the American public about the current status of the political system in the US. The Party of JFK, for instance, is not Obama’s party. Neither is the party of Sen. McCain, the party of most Republicans. Party lines have been skewed … or blurred … or even erased in favor of self-interest.
In light of this mass confusion or mis-identification, some questions are listed below to clarify the mis-information espoused by the media and those pushing to deceive the American people for selfish gain.
So, without further ado, YOU might really be a Conservative if …
you think our federal, state, and local governments ought to be required to formulate a budget and stick to it … Period! (just like you and me!)
you understand government is hired by the People, and must answer to the People for their policies, decisions, and actions.
you know ALL humans are greedy, not just the rich.
you think a “Fair Tax” (or flat tax) is the most equitable way to tax the nation. It’s simple and fair!
you there are many types of intelligence, most of which can not be well measured!
you think any individual’s greatest personal treasure is his/her dignity.
you understand that every human being needs a purpose, a reason to live, and that most find that in work and family.
you know that the earth has “seasons” for various things, and that while the earth is actually cooling, it has nothing to do with “greenhouse gases,” which are actually Carbon dioxide – what you and I exhale and what green plants ingest. You also understand that things like “green” electric cars must be plugged in, and therefore actually use MORE fossil fuel while claiming to be “green friendly.” It’s all a scam!
you appreciate the benefits of living in a nation enriched by a multitude of cultures imported by legal immigrants.
you know Jesus taught “personal responsibility,” not “personal entitlement!”
you wonder where all the bra-burning feminists are when it comes to the growing college interest in radical Islam that enslaves women.
you favor the Constitutional rights of the individual over the assumed “good” of the “collective.”
you think greed has corrupted corporate America, but also government and the Unions, and only a free market can hope to counter greed’s effects.
you know that even when it’s rainy and overcast, the sun is still shining!
you understand a universal moral code is necessary for a civilization to thrive.
you remember the days when neighbors actually knew one another, helped one another, and accepted our differences, instead of suspecting them of any number of crimes.
you understand that “political correctness” is just another word for censorship!
you’ve been a convenience store clerk, a school teacher, a soldier, a mother, and never been on welfare even though it might be more … politically correct.
you think most Hollywood celebs would be much better actors (and people) if they remembered what it felt like to struggle.
you question the message of both Lenin and Lennon!
you understand that making welfare a lifestyle is not HELP, but just another name for slavery.
you believe in the “Hand up,” but not the “Hand out!” For something to have value, it must cost something.
you want our federal government to STOP sending money and weapons to those who are NOT our allies.
you believe all individuals are created equal under the Law, that each individual has the right to pursue his/her life according to his/her dreams, values, and goals as long as they don’t infringe someone else’s right to the same.
you believe we are all different, uniquely gifted and valuable to society.
you believe it is impossible to create an education system that will produce only “successful” students.
you adhere to the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
you are willing to fight to maintain the Right to bear arms in defense of yourself, your property, and your Constitution.
you think education’s role is to equip students to consider options and think for themselves rather than program them how to think.
you think the purpose of government is to facilitate the ability of the People to pursue their individual life, liberty, and happiness.
After watching the hearings this morning with Sec. Sebelius , it seems the questions important to me are not important to those asking the questions. Here are a few of mine. Please add yours!
I am reluctant to EVER enter my SSN on a website. How SECURE is the Heathcare.gov website? What assurances can you give me and the American people that our highly sensitive personal information is SECURE?
If I don’t WANT or NEED different insurance, why must I buy it? Why are unnecessary coverages included in the packages? Why can’t Obamacare be an OPTION?
How is the American public supposed to TRUST a government that obviously lies routinely for its own political purposes?
And finally, if this illustrious administration cannot even get a website up and running successfully, why the hell should any of us expect them to be successful in the actual implementation of this fiasco?
