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The Heart of a Lion

Whenever I think of a lion, I don't think of the one in the wizard of oz. I think of the one that you see on the nature channels. I see the big and powerful kind that can tear your head off. I guess the heart of a lion is big as well. Having the heart of a lion can mean many different things to many different folks.The heart of a lion provokes a lot of different images in my mind. I see the lion as all heart when he is on the hunt. He is completely dedicated to the task at hand and very calculating in his approach. It seems to me that the heart of the lion during the hunt is all about staying focused. The lion seems so innocent when you see pictures of him on T.V. lying in some long grassy field while playing with his young. I guess that he is big hearted there as well but you certainly don't want to disturb him.

Jesus was called both a lamb and a lion in the scriptures. I find that to be an amazing combination. Sheep are so quiet and un-assuming. They don't draw much attention to themselves. They need lead around by sheep dogs and shepherds. The more I think about Jesus as both Lion and Lamb the more I begin to see how Jesus lived his life and that maybe we are to live that way too. A simple life is one that is quiet and un-assuming. It's a life that doesn't draw attention to itself as well, but what about those times when Jesus became a lion. He seemed to be stirred at injustice and false religion. He turned over the tables of the money lenders and rebuked them publicly. That was the lion in him.

I don't think that it would be healthy to live your life constantly like the lion. You would always be on the hunt and using your power at will but there has to be a time when we become ferocious with our faith. I've had that happen to me many times especially when I hear people blame or de-value God and His love for us. Something rises up deep inside of me and I go on the attack because I know Him. I know His great love and long suffering for us.

I have concluded that the lifestyle of Jesus is the best one for me. I need to live a quiet and simple life so that I can live in peace and yet I must have a lions heart of conviction when the opportunity presents itself.

Sounds like a plan? Sounds like His plan.

My Baggage?

I love to analyze and find the root meanings for some of the cliches we all say with such regularity. I've heard people often say that some of us carry a lot of baggage. I get a mental picture when I think about someone that is carrying a lot of baggage. I see a person that is on their way to some particular destination but are being slowed down by this cumbersome load of travel bags and suitcases. They look frustrated and not at all in the mood to have a conversation with anyone because they are trying to manage the load they are carrying. The poor guy loaded down with all that baggage is just not able to enjoy his surroundings. That kind of person never seems to be able to relax after such a tortuous ordeal.

Now that I have sufficiently created the mental image of carrying baggage, I can clearly see the anguish in our soul when our lives are bogged down with excess baggage. What are we carrying in those bags anyway? Why are they so heavy and why are there so many? I can only comment on my baggage because I packed those bags myself. One of the bags that really bogs me down is my man-pleaser bag. Man, I stuff that bag full sometimes. That bag is full of my own self-imposed expectations that make it easier for me to make everybody happy. I also have this little guilt bag. The guilt bag is small but very weighty. It is full of all my failures.

I also have a "fear for all" suitcase. I hide all of my fears and uncertainties in that suit case. I don't want anybody to see what's inside that suitcase. It's just too embarrassing. My last piece of luggage is the "my way" travel bag. That bag gets me into so much trouble. It's loaded down with ego and strong willed stuff.

I think that I would throw those bags away if I could find another place to put the contents. I put all that stuff in those bags so that no one else can see them.

The Truth: No matter how hard I try to hide these things in my bags, I clearly show all what's in those bags by the way I travel.

I kind of relate this baggage story to a man trying to hide his hideous frustrations in darkness. What really needs to happen is that those frustrations need to be brought into the light. Jesus is often referred to as light in the scripture. Bringing our dark hidden things to Jesus would not be embarrassing. It would be liberating. He knows our weakness. He knows we are frustrated. He wants to rid us of all this weight. I know that it's difficult to comprehend the humility of God but consider this, He made himself small and human like us so that we could see him. He participated in our hunger and pain and at the same time was the God Almighty. He could have snuffed out every wrong doer in His wake but He stopped and gave us His time.

We need to make new travel plans. We need to empty our bags and travel light. You know what it's like to travel light. You feel free! You can stop and enjoy people. You can go to more places. You can love life when you are free. True freedom comes from knowing the Lord because within that relationship you will find plenty of light and you will be able to see where you are going. The dark places will soon vanish.

Now, if I could just prevent those bags under my eyes from showing up.

East Liverpool and Mars Hill

The title of this post will mean very little to you unless I explain some things. East Liverpool is a small town located in Ohio just across the river from the Weirton, West Virginia area. Mars Hill is located in Athens, Greece. The Apostle Paul made a journey to Mars Hill only to find an idolatrous nation. So what does that have to do with anything? Well, here's how the story goes from here.

We were gathering at my house weekly and throughout the week we were all looking for some action. Someone always seemed to invite a new person to our home every week and so there was always a possibility of a new birth in the Kingdom. I was still working in insurance while all this was going on when one day my sales manager ask me about my faith. He was a delightful man, very soft spoken and always seemed interested in what everybody had to say. He wanted to know what happened in my life that had me on this mission to tell the world about Jesus. I told him the whole story from Nashville to New Years Eve. He seemed very interested and the Holy Spirit seemed to have touched his heart. A week or so later he came to me with an invitation. He ask me if I would speak at his church in East Liverpool, Ohio. He apparently told the Pastor about me and got the green light to invite me to speak some Sunday. I was reluctant only because I had never done any public speaking. I was a rockin' roll musician. Had he ask me to do a gig then I would have felt real comfortable but he ask me to give my testimony and preach a sermon.

I accepted his invitation but not without a lot of concern. I had never been inside the walls of any church for more than a few minutes so I wasn't sure what all went on in church. This was a Methodist church that had 600 members. I prayed my heart out, begging the Lord to give me a word for these people. The word finally came. It was "Mars Hill". I read in the book of Acts about the apostle Paul visiting Athens and during his visit he came upon a place called Mars Hill. It was there that Paul saw a monument with an inscription that said "To the Unknown God". I felt that God wanted me to warn these folks about assembling on Sunday before a God that they did not really know. I didn't understand why God would have me speak on that subject to people who go to church. I was frightened to say the least and you should have seen the look on the Pastor's face when I told him what I was about to share with his congregation.

I was introduced to the congregation by my sales manager and led up to the pulpit by the Pastor. I started in prayer and then slowly began to bare my soul from Nashville to New Years eve. I sang one of my songs and then went right into the sermon. The air in the room was heavy. My heart was heavy as I begin to tell them the word that God wanted me to share with them. I remember warning them not to worship like the Athenians on Mars Hill and that they needed to know this God that they congregated around. I began to plead with them much like Paul did with the Athenians and then I quietly ended in prayer and at the end I ask if anyone would like to come to the front and join me in prayer. That was my biggest surprise. There were at least 150 people trying to gather around me at the pulpit. It was quite a sight. They were in tears with me and we were touching each other and repenting before God together. This lasted a long time and then folks started disbursing. I was drained when it was over. I have never experienced anything quite like that since that day. I was dumbfounded.

In His mercy and grace He spoke through me that day. That was another miracle in my life that I will never forget. The icing on the cake was that my sales manager re-dedicated his life to Jesus.

Next up....

I meet Carlo.....

If I Met God...

If I met God, my life would be radically changed. If I met God, He would help me with some of my questions. If I met God then I would know more about myself. If I met God, I would know what the real deal is instead of all my pre-conceived notions. When I say that I believe in God, that is different. Believing in God means that I think that He exists. It means that my mind has made a rational decision about God. So what! I don't want God to be a logical conclusion in my own mind. I don't want God to be something or someone that I can imagine. I want to know the real one. My imaginary God would be really dumb in comparison.

If I met God, then I would experience the love that God is supposed to have for me. I wouldn't have to walk around every day trying to drum up this imaginary love that God has for me. If I met God, I would never be the same. I would not think the same. I would know what life is all about and I could live it with Him. He would talk to me and I would talk to Him. How cool is that?

Some folks say they believe in God but they never talk about Him. That seems strange to me. If we really knew God then we couldn't help but talk about Him. I love many people. I don't think that I could love others if I wasn't created to love. God must know a lot about love because the whole human race is desperate for it probably because the Bible says that we were made in His likeness and that God is love. Well, if God is love, then I want to know Him and to be loved by Him. If I met God, then I would know real love. I don't think that anything can replace knowing God. I'm afraid that anything that I would drum up as a substitute would fall a bit short. After all, He is God. There is no one else like Him.

If I met God.....

Local Church Offers a $1,000 Shopping Spree!

I just received a personal invitation from a local church to come attend a special Christmas service. This service would give me an opportunity to win a $1,000 shopping spree. There are give aways for the kids also. The invitation suggests that only the visitors that attend will get the chance to register for the $1,000 gift. There is one $1,000 gift card given at each of the three services. That could really tick off some of the members who feel entitled to a piece of the action.

I really don't know whether to laugh or cry. I can see the Pastor and his wife on the post card. They look like a lovely couple and I'm sure that they are well intentioned doing this gimmicky solicitation. In my heart of hearts, I really don't want to come down hard on them. I actually feel for them. This whole thing is so very sad. I don't even know how to comment on this. Maybe someone out there can help me.

For God So Loved

Hey! You Turkey!

Has anybody ever called you a Turkey? Why do they say that anyway? Are you a turkey because you waddle when you walk? Nah, that can't be right. Did you know that Big Bird's costume was made with four thousand turkey feathers.

Anyway, back to the Turkey thing. When I see a Turkey, he looks to me like he's struttin' his stuff and so I don't think that how you walk has anything to do with being called a Turkey.

The more I think of it the more I think it has to do with mental capacity. Turkey's are really dumb. That's it! Folks are calling you dumb when they call you a Turkey. I hear that the Turkey's are bred into profound stupidity. That causes me to really think twice if someone ever calls me a Turkey again. Oh well, enough of this Monday morning revelation.

Have a good time eating your dumb turkey this week!

Fool On The Hill

The Fool on The Hill was largely Paul McCartney's composition.

It turns out that the fool on the hill was the guy on the right.

His name is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He founded and developed the Transcendental Meditation technique. The Beatles were exploring eastern religion in the late 60's and paid a visit to the Maharishi. It turned out to be a very bad experience for those four lads and they were extremely disappointed with their visit.

There was a controversy over the visit and the details were never completely divulged but the Beatles apparently found the Maharishi in a very compromising situation considering his religious influence and so the Boys viewed him as hypocritical after their visit. The lyrics to Fool on The Hill are representative of all the foolish religious leaders that prey on humanity for their own devices. The Beatles were searching. Their music is a reflection of that search. The Lyrics below clearly describe their feelings of the Maharishi.

Fool On The Hill
(The Beatles)

Day after day, alone on the hill,

The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still.

But nobody wants to know him,They can see that he's just a fool.

And he never gives an answer .....

But the fool on the hill,Sees the sun going down.

And the eyes in his head, See the world spinning around.

Well on his way, his head in a cloud,The man of a thousand voices, talking perfectly loud.

But nobody ever hears him,Or the sound he appears to make.

And he never seems to notice .....

But the fool on the hill, Sees the sun going down.And the eyes in his head, See the world spinning around.

And nobody seems to like him,They can tell what he wants to do. And he never shows his feelings,

But the fool on the hill, Sees the sun going down. And the eyes in his head, See the world spinning around.

We find these fools in Christianity as well.

Romans 16:17,18

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

The Journey

Several of you have sent me e-mails commenting on some of my articles. I really appreciate the encouragement and insight. I want to say thanks! After all, it is that time of the year. I also want to re-emphasize the intent of my blog writing. I am writing from my experiences over the last 35 years including the present so that you might have the opportunity to glean some things from my journey that may help you on yours. I made plenty of mistakes through the years and so I had a lot of things that needed correcting along the way but I now understand that the process of correction is how we gain wisdom in our decision making. Life is a whole bunch of sowing and reaping.

I am not writing to convince you of anything but rather to share what I have experienced and how I have come to my own conclusions. We all look at life through our own lens and yet many of us read books and watch movies to gain knowledge and inspiration. We can relate to a good book and be touched deeply by the right movie. You can set the book down when you are finished and walk away from the movie when it is over and hopefully you have added a little more enjoyment to your life as well as a little more insight. That's what this blog is all about. It's just a place to hang out once in awhile.

I have to remind myself from time to time that someone gave me the privilege to have this journey. I didn't plan for my life. It was given to me by the creator of life. I know that most of you that read this blog already acknowledge God as that creator. I am chief among you, as Paul would say, to outwardly profess what I believe and yet that belief does not always appear evident in the way that I live. I have wandered through life at times as if God never existed and I have reaped from that kind of life accordingly. Life is moving way too fast and the speed of it can prove to be dangerous if we choose to live it without Him. When someone says that life is too short they have really said a mouthful and that statement rings true to all of us sooner or later.

We are all writing our own history. The pages in our book are our own. We may still have time to edit some of the typos and mistakes out of our manuscript and so we should give attention to those things while we can. Our lives are like a novel or a movie that communicate something to the world around us. What are we communicating? There were a lot of years that I communicated absolutely nothing of any value because I wasn't a man of convictions. I have finally come to some peace over many of the things that I have struggled with over the years and I can honestly say that real peace is much better than I thought it to be. Thank you for allowing me to enter your world with my thoughts. I consider it a privilege.

Here we go Steelers!

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.
It felt like a black and gold moment.

Davey Buhl

Real Community

It's obvious to me and most everybody else on the face of the earth that most of us love friendships. Friendships are incredible. It's interesting to see how natural friendships seem to develop especially when we are young. Common goals and hobbies bring a lot of folks together. Dar and I ran into an old friend last week. He and I coached baseball together. Our families hung out together bouncing from game to game and so it was only natural to extend that relationship beyond the baseball games. We would often get together during the holidays. As the years passed by and the kids got older our getting together became less frequent. I have to admit it was great to see this old friend and it has really got me thinking since that night.

I struggled to have that kind of friendship in the institutionalized church. It didn't seem real. People would always put on a happy face at church but you knew down deep inside that most of their real friends probably were elsewhere. I was a staff Pastor at a very large non-denominational church for a couple of years and the Senior Pastor had this passion to get everyone into home groups. There was pressure from him all the time to get people into home groups so that they could experience community. I really believe that he was well intentioned and that he knew that real community doesn't really occur on Sunday but it became obvious that the home group development was forced and it just wasn't working. The only place that it was working was with the original groups that founded the church. They were friends to begin with and so community for them was natural. Here again the failure of institutionalized control.

I am starting to get really psyched over the opportunity to experience real community once again and my heart of hearts tells me that it won't be an organized thing at all. It will be more of a happening. I have a hunch that this has been God's design for us all along. The controls and organizational aspect was all our idea. God's idea is relationship. Real life giving relationship and real friendship. Where you see real friendship you see the image of God in all of it.

Don't you see how difficult it can be to recognize real community when we are involved in all these man made organized models. We think that if we organize these things in the name of the Lord that we are doing the right thing. What we are being is presumptuous. We are presuming that we know what is best for us and God. It's subtle but it's our ball game. We want control.

The Lord created us differently. He created a family. He views our life as our Heavenly Father not as our Heavenly Chief Executive Officer. Breaking the religious mold is tough but if you look at your life's history you will see real friendships and you will see pseudo friendships. You have real community with people that really know you. That's God's plan. He just wants included. It sounds too simple but we have really complicated this whole thing. We are made in God's image and yes we are tarnished and flawed but we really do love the things that God loves because He made us to love that way. God is closer to our heart than we think. He also has a community of friendships for each and every one of us if we look in the right places.

The fellow that I coached baseball with knows all about my love for Jesus. He had me pray for the boys before and after the game. I was accepted by him and I loved him for that. He thought it was a privelege to be my friend and he respected my view of life. I never imposed my view on him. I just loved him and his family. Whenever he had a question or two about spritual things he would come to me because it was easy for him to talk to me.

Yes folks, I'm getting excited about the possibilities for real community. I wish the same for you. It's out there if we look in the right places.

For God So Loved....

Your Life is About to Change

Last Friday I took a ride down to Robinson township to meet the guy that I am partnering with in the opening of a new Sports Card and Memorabilia Shop. I have been pondering for awhile about what direction the Lord would take me after leaving the institutionalized church. It never once dawned on me that maybe the Lord would reveal His purposes right where I am. It's very difficult to see the Lord in life's natural setting after living a religious life style of church attendance, home group meetings, seminars, etc. Anyway, my partner and I visited an indoor flea market and I ended up buying a couple of jewlery show cases. They were perfect for me to display my sports cards. I met some of the guys that run the flea market and they are an interesting group. I have grown to really love the collectibles culture. There are so many people interested in collecting relics of the past. Most of the collectibles actually appreciate in value over time. Things of the past can end up being treasures of the future.

I started realizing how important my own past is in regard to my future. I also have begun to see the value of having some history. That's a nice way of saying that I am getting older but at least history gives me some patterns that I can examine and learn from. I have been living daily with great expectation of where all of this sports card stuff is really leading me. Again, living my life without a religious crutch makes me a bit uneasy. It does cause me to seek God more about my every day life. I feel a bit like Abraham. The Bible says in Hebrews that Abrahm when sent by God went out not knowing where he was going. He was just obeying the Lord and trusting Him every step of the way.

I've had this feeling for awhile that God is preparing the way when something happened on the way back from the indoor flea market that removed all doubt. My partner looked over at me and said, "David, your life is about to change". I know that he was referring to the sports card shop but when he said those words they resonated loud and clear in my spirit. I heard the Lord in that announcement. I honestly felt a bit shaken. I believe that this new venture has been orchestrated by the Lord and that there is something special on the horizon. I'm seeing God in life for the first time in many years. I am thrilled that I don't know what the plan is. I don't have any control over it and it is causing me to rely on Him. I just want to be available when the Lord says go and how cool is that, "Go" was His last great command.

Music in The Air

After Marilyn met the Master things really started to cook. We had three couples that just had their lives completely changed by coming to Christ. I felt like I was actually living in an adventure thriller kind of a movie only I didn't know the script. The Lord was the writer and director of this saga and I loved it. We found ourselves getting together immediately. Now that I look back, I wouldn't call our getting together a meeting. It was more of a necessity. We were excited. I was totally immersed into the scriptures and was awe inspired by the Holy Spirit to write songs. I was known for my music and so it was a natural for me to continue my rockin' roll music style while serving the Lord. Back then there was no such thing as "Contemporary Christian Music". Nothing was packaged and commercialized like it is today. I started writing songs about Jesus and it had nothing to do with a "career". It had everything to do with singing and writing about the love He put in my heart.

Norma and Jimmie Joe had powerful voices. They sang in a choir and took voice lessons. We started gathering at our house in Follansbee. We had this huge living room that was just about empty. It had a couch and a TV and that was it and so there was plenty of room for people. I started writing songs and we began to sing them when we got together and the vocals were awesome because of Jimmie Jo and Norma. Our gatherings started to include others almost immediately. The music was front and center and yet almost every gathering that included an unsaved participant ended up as an opportunity for another new birth into the kingdom.

Eventually we gathered at least once a week. There were folks coming from Pittsburgh as well. People were coming to Christ and His music was in the air. Here are some of the song titles. I Cannot Live Without My Sweet Jesus. Resolutions of My Mind. I Can't Do Nothin' Without You Lord. I'm Gettin' Ready.

Here's some of the Lyrics to "I Cannot Live Without My Sweet Jesus"

Please read them. This song clearly reveals the understanding that God gave us about life's spiritual battle while we were yet babies in the Lord.

Look all around you and what do you see
Millions of people struggling for peace

We ain't got the courage to settle it all
and just like the Romans we're startin' to fall

Chorus:

That's why!
I cannot Live without my sweet Jesus
He bought and paid for the things that I did

I cannot Live without my sweet Jesus
He holds the power that makes me live

Not many people are happy and free
They're bound by old satan's demonic disease

He's makes you uptight and hateful inside
He puff's up your head and fills you with pride

Repeat Chorus

The Lord was present. His power and grace prevailed as we learned to seek Him and understand His ways. We were united in Him. We knew it and we were riding the waves the best we could. A fellowship of new young believers was birthed by the Holy Spirit. It was something to behold.

Next Up

East Liverpool and Mars Hill

Time

How precious of a commodity is time? I don't know about the rest of the world but in America time is the currency that supports our busy lifestyles. We are on the move constantly. We think that we are making good time and yet some of us are oblivious about the direction we are traveling. That's what happens when you are moving too fast. You just don't have time to adjust. Most of us just keep moving along anyway. We'll know when we get there. That's how we sub-consciously approach things.

Have you ever wondered about the affect that this is having on all of us? I really don't think that we understand the implications. I have more time now than I used to because I am semi-retired but I still find myself immersed in things that prevent me from partaking in more meaningful activities. The way we spend our time is a clear indicator of where we are investing our soul, our spirit, and our energy. When you think of it in those terms you begin to wonder about what is happening to us as people.

When I read the Bible I begin to see that life is about relationships. It's not about do's and don'ts and religious duty. It's about our relationship with God and one another. Most of us can reminisce about the days of our youth when our relationships were paramount to us and that made life exciting. There was adventure.

Our life style in America has cut into the relational aspect of living. We are often forced to compartmentalize relationships. We join clubs and churches. We have to set aside specific times to have fun because the rest of our time is filled with enormous responsibility. Most of us as we grow older are still living off the relationships that we formed in high school and college. It's harder to develop meaningful relationships when you are raising a family.

Having said that, no wonder we have such a difficult time getting close to God and His purposes. We are hoping that the sermon on Sunday or the weekly home group will take care of that part. That is not the way it is supposed to work. No wonder we cannot see God in our daily lives. We have to set aside time for Him, in all due respect so that we can get our stuff done. Don't you see how insane that sounds? We are really fooling ourselves and missing the real fun in life. I am just now seeing the benefits having a bit more time. I'm starting to seek God more and I am starting to enjoy people more.

The time issue has caused us all to lean heavily on the institutional church to fill our "God" time slot. Giving our God time over to the institutions has created a huge economic empire and millions of leaner's. It's been so subtle. Inadvertently to many we have caused this to happen. The good news is that there is a solution. We can re-arrange some things so that God can have His way in our life. We don't have to quit our jobs and go live in seclusion. I can tell you this much. I have learned through a lot of trial and error that God is more interested in your life outside of the institutional church. I really think that this is the rub with God. He watches us do the Sunday thing on His behalf supposedly and then never hears from us the rest of the week. This is what we have created. We have put distance between us and Him because we have placed our own time controls on our relationship with God our father. How sad is that.

When Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do", He addressed our ignorance with His loving grace. Jesus understands what we are capable of and He understands the dilemma that we have in America. We need to go to Him and ask Him for forgiveness and in doing so we will receive guidance from the Holy Spirit. Life can be good. We just need to give it all back to Him.

He's Setting The Table

I have been watching things develop recently that are very encouraging. I sense a momentum toward something that I haven't felt in years. It seems like the the Lord is preparing the way for what He wants me to do in particular. I am very encouraged about what I believe is about to happen.

About a week ago I wrote in this blog about a guy named Rick. His wife left him 25 years ago for a Pentecostal minister who later became an alcoholic. Rick also has a bi-polar son and he is a major concern to Rick. Rick calls me every week now on Sunday morning about getting together. He's still selling off his baseball card collection and he likes doing business with me. Last Sunday we were to meet at a flea market in the Bridgeville area. On the way down to meet Rick, I sensed the Lord wanting me to pray for Rick and to continue to offer him encouragement. You can imagine the jaded view of Christianity that Rick might have after his wife left him for a preacher.

When I arrived at the flea market I approached Rick and he quickly offered me a book of baseball cards. Rick has recently torn his Achilles tendon and wears a cast. I started our conversation by asking Rick how the foot was coming along. Eventually I had Rick's full attention and I told him that I had been thinking about his situation a lot lately and that I had been praying for him. I also gave him a little assignment. I ask him to keep me informed of any significant change in his life especially in regard to his son and ex wife so that I could pray accordingly. He didn't say much at the time but later on Rick told me that he thought the Lord sent me into his path for a reason. I was a bit stunned by that comment because I haven't really heard anybody outside the institutional church say something like that to me since my early days in the Lord. It felt good to hear him say that. I felt a sense of real purpose and more importantly I believe that the Lord is orchestrating these events.

It seems like this fraternity of sports minded chaps just might be the field that God may have me work. I don't think that I would have ever seen this as a possibility while connected to institutionalized Christianity. The picture is starting to develop right before my eyes. God wants to work with me and through me in every day life. That's how it was at my beginning with the Lord. He's setting the table right where I am and so I am now living day to day with great expectations. I feel like I'm in a new chapter now. I don't want to read to far ahead. That spoils everything. As they say in the blogging world, I'll keep you posted!

God's Patience With Our Towers

After the great flood the descendants of Noah were to scatter themselves about the earth. This was God's original intent and design. A large number of these descendants settled in a fruitful plain called the land of Shinar. As time went by the sons of men that were the descendants of Noah didn't want to follow God's plan for disbursement. They loved the fruited plain and became closely knit and just like before the flood these men and their families wanted to direct their own lives and not obey God and their forefather Noah. Noah and his sons had planned on dividing the population into different tribes and then to go in different directions so that the whole earth would be inhabited according to God's plan.

The people decided to build a city with brick and mortar and the Bible says that they wanted to make a name for themselves. They also wanted to build a tower that would reach the heavens like the most High. You know the rest of the story I'm sure. Their language kept them unified in purpose and so God put an end to the whole escapade by confusing their speech by giving them all different languages.

The part that amazes me is that if you read the whole chapter of Genesis 11 you will see that God let them go pretty far into their building process before He blew the whistle. God's long suffering and patience is much more extravagant than any of us can imagine. Most of us would have destroyed these self serving people long before they built the tower. This is just another indicator of how God longs for us to see the error of our ways and turn to Him. The tower was another way of separating Him from all that He loved. He loved these people and wanted them to follow His plan but just like a loving father He waited patiently to see if they would eventually give up their desire for self control.

This chapter has a whole new meaning to me now. I know that God sees the error in the church but His patience and long suffering keep us a float for sure. There will come a time when we travel too far away from him and when that happens God will cause something to occur in the earth to alter our direction. God is in control. We must never be mistaken about His Sovereign rule of this Earth. I see changes occuring in the hearts of christians all accross America. I see God pulling on their heart strings. Some of us will respond to that call. Someone once said that God draws while men push. There is no greater example of that than the death of Jesus. He even spoke about it before His time came to die.

Jesus said these words.

John12:31-33

Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

A Personal Realization

I have had an interesting week thinking about how each of us have traveled on our spiritual journeys. I began to realize for the first time the real difference in my experience as compared to many others. I have sometimes convinced myself that maybe I was young and very impressionable at the time. I was lonely and so I was a perfect candidate to become a bonifide Jesus freak. The Lord really opened my eyes this week about what really occurred and why it had such an impact on my life.

When I came to Jesus at that New Years Eve Party I was void of any concept of a religious life in church. I never attended church. I never went to Sunday School. I never read the Bible. As a youngster I would watch T.V. shows on the crucifixion during Easter and that's the only information that I received about the Gospel. After watching those shows I remember asking my mom and dad why the people were killing Jesus but they never gave me an answer.

I also remember in grade school praying the Lords prayer with the other kids before classes started. I was always at awe of that prayer time. That was the only time that I prayed with people. I made a big mistake in 5th grade though. I had to write a book report on any book that I wanted to read. I waited until the night before it was due and then came up with a great idea. I would do a book report on the Bible. The teacher couldn't give me a bad grade for that and so I cut up all these religious pictures and pasted them into a scrap book and then wrote a short essay and turned it in the next day. The english teacher, Mrs McElroy, called me up after class and looked me square in the eyes and asked, "David, do you mean to tell me that you read the whole Bible?" I replied, "Sure did and it took me almost two weeks". Obviously she didn't buy my story. She reluctantly gave me a c- but my conscious got a real workout on that one. I sometimes wonder if God used that foolish event to catch my attention later.

You have just read the extent of my spritual life prior to coming to the Lord. I had no other religious bias or church background. I was left all my life wondering about God but never once did I have the religious alternatives that most of the other kids experienced. When I came to Christ there wasn't a religious bone in my body. I really think that it helped me to receive all that He had for me. It doesn't sound like a safe path if you are depending on a religious system to get you through. Without the religious counterpart to rely on I reached out to God Himself and that is exactly what I got. Little old me met the great "I AM" in person.

Later on in life I tried to commit to the institutionalized church and I lost my first love for Jesus. There is no comparison. I realize now why so many church goers have a difficult time personally finding God. I attended many types of churches over the years and more often than not I would never hear the name of Jesus spoken by the folks attending. I never understood that but now I understand and it is oh so very sad.

I can speak from experience. When we are un-encumbered by religion then our chances of making a real connection with the Lord increase dramatically. I don't take pride in what happened to me. I am just so grateful. That's why I am doing all this writing. I want you to know that there is a difference and that God is into us and not religion. He proved to us that we were worth everything on the cross. Not everyone that attends church is into religion but I'm afraid that the institutionalized church is not producing disciples of Jesus. It is building its own empire.

For the sake of all those that read this, I pray that you will see Him as He really is some day and soon if you have not already. Don't worry about attendance and tithing. That is man putting his controls on your time and God's money for the sake of the institution. As well intentioned as it may seem, the institutionalized church will never be able to replace a loving and living relationship with our Father in heaven and His son Jesus Christ.