He is Worthy To Be Praised...

Many of us that have known the Lord may have recently found ourselves in a precarious position in our relationship with Jesus and His body and many of us my have doubt creeping in on some of issues that we are facing in life. I have lived most of my life in some kind of christian service or ministry. After leaving my occupation as a men's pastor I have found myself some what jaded by what I have seen over the years within the institutional church but I also remember many great blessings during that time. I don't think I am unique in that regard and after looking back on my personal journey I can only be grateful. I get a little bit nostalgic during this time of year because it was on New Years eve that I came to know the Lord back in 1971-72. The first minute of 1972 I became a new creation in Christ Jesus. My life was forever changed.

I don't know what would have happened had Jesus not came to my rescue. I can't imagine a life unchanged by Him. I remember His promise in the scripture, "Lo, I'll be with you always". I cling to those words because left by myself I am susceptible to the world around me.

To end this year, I want to say loud and clear, "Lord, You Are Worthy To Be Praised". You have taken a life of self destruction and reversed it's direction toward a life of hope and promise.

Here's some of the lyrics of a song I wrote right after my meeting with Jesus on December 31st,1971.

Once I was a young boy bound
Searching for dreams that could never be found
Oh, how I lived my life confused
Oh, how my heart had been mis-used

Then one cold and wintry day
The good Lord Jesus Came my way
And oh how He washed away my tears
And took away all my sins and fear

Praise You Lord! I will never forget that glorious moment!

What do you believe?

Have you ever ask yourself that question? What do you really believe? Are you convinced about anything or is everything and anything up for debate? The trend in America is that almost everything is up for debate. That sounds very sensitive and very middle of the road but the reality of that kind of thinking will ultimately confuse you and actually stymie your spiritual growth and reek havoc on your mental health. I like to have things that I can draw upon that are trustworthy components of good thinking and right thinking so that I can make sound judgements. If everything is up for debate then I really can't move ahead in faith on anything.

The last half of Romans 14:23 says, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Sin is often defined as "missing the mark". The Bible is so revealing about how we should live life and too often we miss the true meaning. In other words, we need to have things that we believe in or we go through life missing the mark. The key to believing is choosing what to believe not avoiding beliefs altogether. Some core beliefs overlap into many religions and moral standards. That's why truth will always prevail as a standard in any religion.

So let's get back to what we believe in. Believe it or not, we all have core beliefs but many of us do not know exactly where they came from. Some came from mom and dad. Some came from the school teacher. Some may have come from an athletic coach or an employer. I can tell you this much. People that are successful in their endeavors have standards of conduct and core beliefs and principals that drive them. I am firmly convinced that many of those beliefs have been handed down by our creator whether we acknowledge Him or not. If we take the time to really examine our core beliefs we may find that many of us think like God. We aren't perfect like God but we have many of his attributes because we are made in his image. I know that we are tarnished and imperfect but I would rather that we stay on the positive aspect of how God created you an me.

Try writing down the things that you believe in and see how they line up in the Bible. You may soon find out that you are endowed by the creator with many of your core beliefs and that by acknowledging Him as the originator of your beliefs you may find yourself seeking Him in gratitude. For those things that don't line up in the Bible, look around a bit and you will probably find the answers to those areas of your life that need repair.

God Love Ya!

Like Mind or Mind Blown....

I don't how you all are doin' out there with so much to think about. There's something about learning from doing that just can't be duplicated by mulling things over and rehashing past performance. The longer you live the more there is to mull over and rehash and many times it just leaves you stymied and confused. Maybe that's why they say that ignorance is bliss. I have to admit, I have a lot on my mental plate and a great deal of it gives me indigestion. I don't know how things got so complicated. I like simpicity like "love the Lord with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul". That's not an event or a concept or a paradigm. It's a relationship and one that I desparately need. I'll tell you who complicated this whole thing. WE DID!

I can't imagine any of us draining the personal relationships that we have with friends and family by relating to them as if they were story book characters. My Dad was real. I know that for sure. He paddled my butt all the way across the corn field when I was nine years old. He also made me a beautiful box kite. Yes, he loved me and he chastized me. I wonder where all that fathering came from. Maybe, just maybe it came from God the Father who loves us all more than any of us will ever comprehend this side of glory.

Are you looking for like minded folks? Is your mind on overload. I suggest that you find a brother in the Lord and have him stand in front of you and scream at the top of his lungs. Then you scream back. That will make you kindred and you won't have to think about one thing.

Peace my friends!

Where is God in all of this?

I have been a part of an awful lot of religious enterprise in my lifetime but none of it compares to my living encounter with God Almighty. As life has gone by it has become more and more apparent to me that much of what we have done in our various religious venues has been all about us and our ideas. It's kind of amazing when you come to think of it. What we have built in the name of God is astounding. With all of our efforts and wonderful initiatives I can't help but wonder about the presence of God in all of this. My initial encounter with the living Christ had very little to do with my effort and everything to do with His drawing me close to Him and eventually yielding my will to Him. What a glorious moment. My life is deeply marked by that visitation and I cannot find anything man made that compares to the presence and power of God.

I have my doubts that God is involved in much of what we conjure up in our religious tribute to Him. I'm certain that He loves us in spite of all this but I doubt that He really feels compelled to bless all of this activity. God is Holy and far above all of our brilliance. Where is God in all of this? I would think that even the most devout have to be a bit curious about the lack of power and presence of God. I am looking forward to the day when we all begin to see what we are actually sowing and reaping. Our God has to be longing for our attention and at the same time quite angered and jealous over our self-imposed religion. We're all the while making ourselves feel good and at the same time angering our God. He is being denied intimate relationship with us because we have decided to do it our own way.

Lord, open our eyes to this. We are blind as blind can be.

I hear that train a comin'

If you are troubled by the where abouts of God then you need not look too far. Stop, Look, and Listen is what we do at a railroad crossing. You look down the track. You look up the track as far as you can. You listen for the rumbling sound of the locomotive. Sometimes you will hear the engine from afar and just as you suspected the red lights start to flash at the crossing because the train will soon be upon you. There is always caution when approaching that railroad crossing because maybe at the time there is no train in sight but you never know when another one will come rumbling down the tracks.

With God it's the same way. The only problem that I can see is that there are way too many times that I fail to stop, look, and listen and the presence of God just passes right by. You can always find God because He is Omni-Present. In other words He is every where all the time. The enemy of God does not have this marvelous power. He can only exist in certain places at certain times with the help of his demonic forces.

The good news is that we can experience the presence of God anytime if we would choose to stop, look, and listen. Church services and sermons don't always facilitate a real encounter with God because those things are too often contrived by man. God is in life. He is in every day life. We all know about the beauty of God's creation but what happens when we really stop, look, and listen. What about at the post office or the coffee shop? The people that serve us there, are they in any way a part of God's presence in our life. Those folks may be a little rough around the edges just like anybody else but why do they exist anyway. Is God trying to meet us right where we live and breathe? Was that His plan? Maybe we have been looking for God in all the wrong places and that has left us wanting. Maybe God isn't religious at all and freely available in the midst of our every day drama.

Isn't it a bit curious that when you read the scriptures you will find that Jesus loved hanging out with the non-religious crowd. I find that peculiar and at the same time quite revealing. Jesus loved life. He loved being around life as He and His Father prescribed. Could it be that God can be found in every day life? Stop, Look, and Listen. You may be surprised at what you hear and what you see.

The Mist and The Rain

I awoke this day to a morning mist and a light rain. Thank you Father for the mist and the rain. They moisten the hard callous ground that has been through a dry spell. Thank you Father because the water loosens the ground and allows it to breathe and the roots are nourished. All of nature begins to awaken and perk up from this refreshing mist that you have provided.

Lord, my soul is sometimes dry and callous as well and I lose touch with my roots because they are choked off from your watering. Bring me a mist from your Spirit and break up the callous ground so that I may breathe praise back to you and glorify you once again. You are a God of mercy and I am in need of your mercy and grace. I love your provision for the earth and I welcome your provision for my soul.

Davey B

On Sabbatical

I have not abandoned my Blog. Just taking a break for the summer. Have been mulling over many things in the meantime. I'm sure that you are keenly aware of the political mood in America right now. There is a spiritual aspect as well. Every civilization has collapsed after 200 years in existence. We have a way of self destructing because we think that we are in control but our decisions drive us into many different directions. The cause and affect of our decision making is the Biblical principal call "Sowing and Reaping". Our decisions are what we sow, the consequences are what we reap.

Talk to ya soon!

Davey B

The Country and the Church......

Our country and our church life in America are under seige. Some don't have this viewpoint but to me there is an uncanny commonality to the direction of both our politics and our religion. It appears from this small mind that they have both succumbed to the overwhelming need for power and success and the results are coming in all over the land. We are in trouble. The best thing about all this is that you have to fall before you can get up and there doesn't seem to be enough to prop this thing up anymore. It's kind of like trying to gain a peace agreement in the middle east without first having a war. Some things just need to crumble. The old foundation needs blown up so that we can build a new one. Over my lifetime I have seen the original foundations of country and faith slowly melting away and so we don't seem to have that sure footing on where we stand anymore. Eventually that will result in chaos.

The hope in all of this is that this kind of fall is a probable catalyst for new vision for our country and our faith. A while back I wouldn't have linked the two this closely together but I am beginning to understand the Lord's hand over nations. For God so loved the "world" covers just about everything and so I have to believe that true believers who have been praying for both church and country are now seeing their prayers answered in the most unusual way. I have this gut feeling that we are on the verge of something significant. If you want to get an American's attention then just start by messin' with their money. A downward economic condition can spread great fear to a society that lives and dies by the pulse of their finances. Even our faith is measured too often by the tithes and offerings necessary to keep the business of church running.

It's all about sowing and reaping. It always has been. I'm all for planting a new seed. One that bears humility and grace. Come brethren! Let's sow together!

The Shifting of America....

I wonder if this just happens as you get older or I am literally seeing a critical shift taking place in America. When I was in my 20's I really didn't pay much attention to politics or religion. In my 30's and 40's I began to see the real influence of politics and religion on our everyday life but I still didn't have enough history or experience to make up my mind on certain issues. In my 50's I began to see a political intensity developing that was opening a major divide between conservatives and liberals. The two parties no longer appeared to be checks and balances to each other as they were intended to be but rather like enemies that hated each other. The church in America has become big business and the marketplace fell for it for awhile but now that is changing. Christianity is losing ground in mainstream America because it has lost its salt.

Now that I am in my 60's I can actually see what may have been the underlying cause of both the political corruption and the weakening of Christian influence in our country.

Proverbs 29:4

By justice a king gives a country stability, but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down.

Our Politics and Religion only work well when the virtues of our leadership result in justice. Justice exists when we live by ethical and moral guidelines.

Does our society have a real sense of what is right or wrong anymore?

Let me put it this way. The furthur away we drift from a sense of moral consciousness then the more likely we are to turn to greed because there is nothing to temper our insatiable desire to have more. When I look at our government and American religion I see them both succumbing to greed and avarice. All of our attention is given to building our man made empires and we are often deceived into thinking that our desires are honest and worthwhile.

If you read the above Proverb, it tells us that a country gains stability through justice. We had stability once in America both politically and spiritually but I am now seeing greed and avarice as the cause of our economic and religious instability.

Those deceived the most are those that govern us and those that lead our churches. They live in a world that is closed and protected and yet at the same time they are subsidized by you and me.
All of that is changing now and it is changing fast. I often wondered what it would take to shake the very foundations of our security. The shift that is taking place could ignite passions beyond our wildest imagination. Make no mistake about this. Our God is in play here. He is the Master of Justice. Whenever we run out of all our futile attempts to establish our own justice then we will have to petition Him for mercy and grace. The end of ourselves can be good because it can provide us with a new beginning with Him.

Lord have mercy on us.......

Art and the Landrymat

Our Vineyard was located in the basement floor of a small shopping plaza and adjacent to our little space was a laundrymat and the owner's name was Art. Art was a man in his mid 50's and Art started coming around during our Sunday morning worship. he would stay in his laundry mat most of the time but he liked to listen to the music that we played on Sunday.

The Vineyard was very high on a program call servant evangelism at the time. Servant evangelism was all about showing God's love in a practical way. Some Vineyard's would serve hot dogs at turn pike exits or rake leaves for the elderly during the fall season. The ideas were endless and the non-religious aspect was very appealing. At our Vineyard we thought that we would start our servant evangelism by ministering to Art and honor the Lord's commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. Art had a very shabby looking sign for his laundrymat and we had a guy in our fellowship that made signs for a living. He made a sign for Art that was about 8 foot in length and about 3 feet wide and it was beautiful. We decided to give Art this sign after church one Sunday and so Ron, the signmaker and a few of us unveiled this new sign to Art.

Art was taken back by this. His head was bowed and he didn't know what to say. He mumbled something like, "nobody gives this stuff away". He wanted to know what we wanted for the sign. We told him that the sign was free and a blessing from God for his business. He started to shake a bit and got a bit teary eyed and looked at me and said, "Dave, I have to pay you for this". I confronted Art with this, "Art, you will rob all of us and yourself of God's blessing if you give us money for the sign." "You have to keep it!" He walked away very humbled by it all. Art was a man full of pride and not used to receiving anything feely. He put the sign up and it looked great and Art became a very close friend of our little Vineyard.

That was a good experience for all of us and got us to thinking about what else we could do in the community.

up next

"The Great Christmas Wrap"

Oh Lord have mercy.......

I pray that the Lord has mercy on us here in the USA because I'm afraid that we are running ourself into a serious situation. Never before have I seen the multitude of problems that are confronting us today. In the past I was always somewhat confident that there was enough integrity in our political system to prevent it from failing. Democracy works well when integrity exists in our political servants. There is an epidemic of irrational behavior in both of our political parties at the moment. The decisions that are being made are reactionary and lack wisdom. There is a shift of thinking taking place right now and a new philosophy of life is being thrust upon us at an incredibly fast pace.

Many do not understand completely what is going on but there is an overall unrest that has never existed before. I have never been so embarrased by my government's behavior as I am right now. Old rules have been broken and the constitutution which is our guidline for restraint has already been abdicated by those that rule over us. It has become all too clear to me that our senators and congressman are not there to serve the people but rather we are here to serve them. The politicians make there decisions based on who gives them the most financial support. They feel obligated to give back to those special interest groups first and not serve the interests of the American people. It's a disaster right now.

It is clear to me more than ever before that a whole nation can be consumed by this greed and innocent people can get hurt. If there is anytime that we need prayer it is now. The time is now. We cannot turn our heads and pretend like everything will go away this time. The fabric of our existence is under attack.

To those of us who know the Lord, we know that the Lord is in control. If you have ever read the Bible at all you will be able to find several examples of God giving a wicked people over to themselves. The great empire of Rome consumed itself into non-existence. I have been a happy go lucky kind of guy all of my life but this time in our nation has me very concerned.

Oh Lord have mercy.......

Another Baby Buhl!

Grandson "Landon John Buhl" just arrived on the scene on March 18th in Atlanta, Georgia. That makes three bouncing baby Buhl's in the last three years. Wow! We are going to take over the world at this pace. Ha!

Thank you Lord!

Spiritual Entrepreneuers....

I have been classified by many as a person with an entrepreneurial spirit. I have grown a business from scratch and I am now seeing my hobby of Sports Card collecting growing into something more than I expected. I have learned a bit more about this kind of gifting as I look back. I always subconsciously wanted people to stay out of my way when I first go after something so that I could get things going unencumbered by those that didn't understand the process of making something out of nothing. Once the process was developed I then was able to transfer that skill to a few folks to expand the development of my venture. True entrepreneurs know what they are doing. They know how it works and they pave the way for others to add on to the process to make it larger in scope.

I have concluded that the biblical version of the entrepreneur may well have been the Apostles that we read about in the Bible. They set the tone. They made it happen. Their drive and motivation was given to them by an awe inspiring touch from God. They helped shape the early church. They were selfless but yet well recognized and their identity was easily seen by those around them. Their ministry was "hands on" and displayed everywhere they went. It wasn't classroom. It was "Liferoom"(that's my newly invented Davey Buhlism). That kind of hands on ministry is sorely missed today. That kind of minstry happens as we go through life. It 's natural. It's life giving and edifying. No wonder we cannot stay on course. Walking with the Lord is not a designated time during the week but rather a daily happening. We have not been trained that way. We have no entrepreneurs. We have instructors. Most entrepreneurs are small businessmen that create a family type atmosphere rather than a cold corporate business model. The small business entrepreneur cannot be bogged down with huge corporate think tanks that like to have meetings.

Whatever God is up to today just might become more visible if those with this kind of gifting would step forward. They are out there and they probably come from the highways and byways of life and not from the seminary.

Unrest in the USA

I never intended this to be a political blog but there is an unrest in our nation that I have not seen in my life time. The Lords principle of reaping and sowing is upon us. It applies to nations as well as individuals. Democracy works well when there is integrity but the absence of that virtue has toppled many. The trust factor is just not there anymore. The financial markets are crumbling because folks are afraid to invest anymore. The oversight of the financial service industry and banking industry has failed. Money has been taken from the American taxpayer and swindled away by ruthless investment advisers.

Irresponsible bankers over extended credit to those that were not able to pay their mortgage. The sum total of all of this is very alarming and should not be taken lightly. What is happening here? What is the root of all of this evil? It's obvious that the love of many has caused many to make unscrupulous decisions. Our nation revolves around money and not moral integrity. Politicians promise those that support them a piece of the American pie. That is the primary motivation for most politicians today. Payback is what keeps them afloat in the country club atmosphere called Congress.

The most grievous in all of this is the fact that we are a nation that was once known as a nation under God. We have traveled far away from any notion of that and we are starting to reap the consequences. This is a critical time for our nation. This may be what drives us to our knees.

Not many of us saw this coming. I have often mentioned my curiosity of why the United States of America is never mentioned in the Bible. We are a young nation compared to some of the civilizations of the world but none have achieved the heights of prosperity seen in the USA. There is much to pray about. I have children and grandchildren. I want our nation to return to God.

Lord, Help us all.....

Take Hold While You Can......

Most of us wander a bit through life and are incapable of being focused 100% of the time. Having said that I am more concerned about what our life is centered around most of the time. In America we are on a determined pace to possess those things that make our life style. This is not a bad thing because within the work ethic we can often learn character and discipline. In that respect, our talents and abilities can be rewarded and I see that is a God-given pleasure of life.

There is an end to this however and most of us never fully recognize this until they reach the end of their life. There have been oodles of big time executives that have made themselves millions and then asked themselves, is this all there is? I have been able to grab hold of some things lately that escaped my grasp while raising my family. It's almost a return to childhood innocence. It's the kind of feeling that makes you want to embrace all of life and enjoy some of the little things again. It was so hard to do this when I was just trying to survive by working hard, helping kids through college and paying for Weddings.

We've all been asked that heart piercing question, If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything? There are numerous things that I would change and a number that I hold dear and wouldn't change at all. My word of encouragement to all who read this is to take hold of life while you can. In other words, life is a journey and if you don't see the journey then you will be disappointed when you arrive at the end of your time on earth. If you see your life as a continuum of things to come then you will view life here as Part I that prepares us for our life in Part II. Whether we understand it or not we are part of a master plan that fits into all eternity. We each have a chance to realize the implications of life here on earth and what it's all about. Rick Warren masterfully addresses this in "Purpose Driven Life".

If you knew that you were part of God's master plan, I'm sure that you would live life differently. Well guess what? We are a part. It's our decision on how we respond. It's not a religious thing. It's not about attending religious events and seminars. It's receiving Him into your life and living in His presence. Take hold of that while you can. It's a life full of joy and sacrificial love. It allows us to free ourselves from religious encumbrance to love the world around us as He does.

That is a beautiful Thing! Let there be Spring!

(God said, "Let there be light" and it worked, I thought I would take a shot at it)

Marty And Pat

Our Vineyard was becoming a small family of believers. One of the pleasant surprises was the coming of two ladies that were the best of friends. Both of these ladies had daughters that attended high school with my oldest son, Aaron. Marty and Pat would come and sit in on our band practices because they wanted to come and worship to the songs we were rehearsing at band practice. They just loved to worship. Neither of these ladies ever attended a non-denominational church of any kind. In fact, they went to the Catholic church in a neighboring town. Marty and Pat gave us much of their time considering that they couldn't convince their husbands to come and visit our little Vineyard while at the same time they both were still attending their Catholic church.

They soon starting singing in the band. Pat would come on Sunday mornings to make coffee and bring doughnuts. Marty had a party at her home for the seniors graduating from my son's high school. She invited me over to do a sing along and pray for them. It was a nice summer evening and a nice gesture on her part for the departing senior class.

I look back at these two ladies as an encouragement and inspiration to our Vineyard. They were able to participate in genuine worship. I can still remember them closing their eyes and raising their hands toward heaven as they sang from their heart words of praise and worship. It was obvious that they had not been able to freely worship before they came to our Vineyard. For them, they were moving into something new and exciting. It was gratifying to see them enjoying worship especially when I knew that we were the first to give them that opportunity.

These gals came to us because of a natural relationship that I had with them because our kids went to school together. I invited them both to our Vineyard while at a high school football game never thinking that they would come. It was such a wonderful experience to see this happening because we were just getting started.

In hindsight, Marty and Pat are a constant reminder on how powerful music and worship can be to the hearts of those drawn to the Lord. True worshippers are not looking to be entertained. They are looking for a music that can bring them into His presence so that they can forget the world and all the problems of this life. There is something mystical about music. Marty and Pat saw it as their pathway to the presence of God. it was a beautiful thing for sure.

Next up,

Art and the Laundry Mat

Seeing God in The Steeler win.......

I was parked in front of Shop'n Save Monday morning listening to a talk show host on KDKA radio talking about the relationship that a football team has with the Pittsburgh community. The talk show host had a completely different spin on that relationship and why it exists.

He said the fans attach themselves to the Steeler team because the attributes that make the team successful are the same attributes that the fans aspire to. The fan sees sacrifice, love, dedication, brotherhood and teamwork. They see the pain and agony that it takes achieve such monumental success and in the end when the success comes they are attached to it because that's what they want to have and that's what they want to identify with. They call it Steeler nation. 350,000 fans from all over the country came to Pittsburgh on Tuesday for a parade to celebrate the Steeler victory.

Why does this happen? I've heard people over the years say something like, "why can't people get excited about Jesus the same way?" Inherent in that question is an obvious criticism of Christianity and the church. Now that I have lived a few years I consider that kind of condescending statement as one that misses the point.

I am seeing God more in life than ever before and because of that I can appreciate the little things more. All of those attributes that I mentioned above are the attributes of Jesus. People identify with those attributes when presented in real life and in a non-religious setting. I am not recommending that we all stop going to church and watch football but what I am saying is that if we open our eyes that we might see the real reason why all of this happens to a community like Pittsburgh. God has made man to achieve, to sacrifice, and to love. He has called us to loyalty and faithfulness. When I see people celebrating victory it warms my heart. It's exhilarating and all of those feelings and desires were to given to us by our loving creator. He must have wanted us to have them. And so to the Glory of God, behold the Lord when victory comes in any endeavor in life and thank Him for such a gratifying feeling. When I see God in life I can rejoice with any one's success because that was part of His master plan to edify us and give us hope.

So, Here We Go Steelers! Here We Go!

Way Beyond the Horizon.....

This past Sunday morning I took a trip to Canton, Ohio. There was a Sports Card Show going on and so I thought I would check it out. On my way to Canton while traveling on a long stretch on the Ohio turnpike I petitioned the Lord.

It went something like this; "Lord, I know that you are busy but can we talk?" "I always have something to say but I need to hear from you. I'll tell ya what Lord, I'm gonna keep quiet and just wait on you."

And so I am dead silent driving along on the Ohio turnpike. I must have traveled about 15 minutes or so in dead silence when I began to approach a very gradual and long upward climb on the highway. I could see the horizon and the sun rising in the morning amongst the clouds and then this thought crossed my mind.

His love is greater than the expanse of that great sky. In fact his love reaches far beyond the horizon. I began to quietly thank him for my life and the time that He has given me here on earth. I felt so small because of the significance of what I was viewing. In the quiet I began to see and hear this thought in my mind.

"If you will come to me more often, you will hear from me" I didn't say a word. I just thanked the Lord for that thought. After pondering that thought I realized that I wonder about so many things because I don't know how to have intimacy with the Lord. The Lord wants us to spend time seeking Him. He enjoys our pursuit and He really doesn't want to be our fast food God. He wants us to sit and dine with Him. I'm glad it's that way. If it was easy it would be way too mechanical and our Lord is way to personal to respond to us like a computer.

Yes, He is a great God. His love is way beyond the horizon and yet He can be reached by little old me. How awesome is that! By the way, I ask Him to come with me to the card show. Why? Every father likes to play with His son!

You will find Jesus in Life not religion

John 1:4

In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

I have a greater appreciation for this verse than ever before. Could it be that we have been looking for Jesus in all wrong places? We try to invite him to our pre-arranged religious settings all the time. This does not seem to fit the pattern of intimacy that Jesus displayed while on the earth. Jesus would walk about interceding in every day life. After all these years I am beginning to see a different reason for such behavior by the Lord Christ. He didn't fit well in the organized religious system of the day but more than that He wanted to participate in every day life because that was His dwelling place. The human part of Jesus was a man who understood life and wanted to be among those who were living life and not those dead in religion.

In Him was life! I am fully persuaded that you have a much better chance connecting with the Lord in your everyday life than you will in any religious arrangement on Sunday or any other day. The Sunday arrangement has a subtle undermining to it's prescribed value in that people tend to dump God after Sunday.

If you want to return to Him or find Him again then I recommend that you look for Him in your everyday living because that is His desire. He is Life and that is where He is. How awesome is that?

Our Theology Can Be Destructive

I was sent this article this morning in response to my last article on the Shack. The book has stirred the pot for sure. It doesn't quite fit into all of our theological pre-conceptions about God and so there is both uplifting joy about this book along with theological debate and criticism.

This is a "Fictional" writing. Those married to theology cannot even enjoy a book like this because it doesn't fit into their theological premise of God. This is exactly what troubles me most about what we have done with our faith in America. I am getting more and more convinced that God is not very interested in our theological stance on many things because these things get in the way of a sincere relationship with Him. We make our own God around our theological interpretations. I'm sure that this is grievous and offensive to the real God.

Please read.

www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090110_18_A11_AdamBe922589

Davey B

The Shack

I read a book last year that was completely different than any other Christian book that I have read. The book was called "The Shack". I don't want to reveal much of the story but you might want to pick it up at your local book store. The author is William Paul Young. The Trinity is depicted in this book in human form. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were just as human as you and I. In hindsight, after reading that book it kind of makes you wonder about how we view God. The book is fiction but it really makes you think about the possibility that maybe we have God pegged all wrong.

You would think that God is all about religion and theology and very little about life. I am convinced after a lifetime of observation that we have created this image of God and because of that we cannot fully embrace this hollow false image of a God that we made. The real God though; What is He really like?

For example;

One of the greatest life changing experiences that we can receive occurs when we are touched in a personal way by God's Spirit. There is a defining moment when that occurs. Many times you are undeserving when it happens and so that rules out any thing that you had to do to earn it. You don't have to have a firm grasp of the Bible for that to happen.

The only necessary ingredient on our part is to make the decision to seek Him out. I have found myself over the years slowly relying on my own theological perceptions about God rather than seeking Him with all my heart, mind, and soul. When we substitute a relationship with God with our self imposed man-made religious activity then we are spiritually dry and still longing down deep inside.

I can't imagine our God creating us the way He did so that we could be religious. The Shack is a book that depicts God as a friend and very available to each and every one of us. All we have to do is seek Him out. Life is too short here on earth to be messin' around with a bunch of religious stuff when we could be loved and supported in an on-going relationship with the real God and not our own imaginary God.

For God so Loved.......