Letting Go

I wake up every day,
And it's all around me.
Anger,
Hatred,
Disillusionment...
Broken families,
Fragile lives,
Shattered dreams...
People dying..in my age group,
From my High School.
Yet all we do,
Is cling to our anger.
Fester our hatred,
And be haunted by the past, 
And how life has not gone,
The way we would have liked it to...
We all have our crosses to bear,
A past we need to leave behind.
Demons we need to bury...
But that will only happen,
When we let go,
Admit our brokenness,
Surrender it all,
And give everything up to the One,
Who can make us whole again...

Mean What You Say - Part 3

I don't need to hurt with my hands

I could find some value, destroy it with my mouth

Hey, could you ever love again?

To iterate what I said in Part 1 of this series, hatred comes in three general forms. Violence, the way we treat one another, and the way we speak to them. The power is in us to destroy a person’s life with our hands, but we don’t even need to do that. We can destroy a person’s life just by what we say to them. And once you do that, you establish a pattern. And when you continue to knock people down and say hateful things to them, one has to wonder...is a person with that much hate in their hearts even capable of love?

The answer is yes, but more on that in a minute.

From the womb, we're taught

You make a sound, I walk

You better mean what you say

You better mean what you say

With words like drugs

We speak 'em hard like we know what one does

Hatred doesn’t come out of nowhere. Yes, we’re all born with the potential for it, but our background contributes to it. From the moment we’re born, we’re bombarded with all sorts of things that shape us and make us who we are. And a lot of those are BAD things. Even a normal, everyday person still says careless, thoughtless things, a lot times in judgment of a person. We assume someone who has different views on something than we do is ridiculous for having that view, and in some instances, we even think less of them for it. And then we belittle that person, not taking into account what those words can do them.

I don't need to hurt with my hands

I could find some value, destroy it with my mouth

Hey, could you ever love again?

Words cut. Words hurt. Words kill.

I regret the things I've said

Could you ever love again?

The answer is YES.

Despite all the things we’ve said, despite the hatred we carry in our hearts, we CAN love again. And that love comes from God. We live in a fallen, sinful world, but we serve a God who loves us, created us and wants us to be reconciled to Him. But He won't help unless we ask. God does not force Himself on us. He gives us free will to accept or reject Him. If we accept Him, and integrate Him into our everyday lives, He will make all things new. He will literally change our hearts, and the hatred will dissipate. If we reject Him, we will continue to hate. Sadly, most people choose the latter, and as a result, we shouldn't be surprised when the world goes crazy. That choice doesn't have to be yours.

The next time you’re angry at someone, for whatever reason, before you fire back at them, think about what you're about to  say them. Think about the impact your words could have on them. It could be minimal, but it could be monumental.

Words cut. Words hurt. Words kill. 

“Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.” 1 Peter 3:10

Mean what you say.

Mean What You Say - Part 2

The following is a song by the band, Sent By Ravens. You may or may not have heard of them. They’re an alternative Christian metal band, very much in the vein of Story of the Year, with scream vocals, crunching guitars and heavy drums. The name of the song is “Mean What You Say” and the words are very reflective of what we see today.

Every inch we talk
They make a sound, we walk
You better mean what you say
You better mean what you say
Less God, more gun
They aim for the heart, but we ain't got one
You better mean what you say
You better mean what you say

I don't need to hurt with my hands
I could find some value, destroy it with my mouth
Hey, could you ever love again?

From the womb, we're taught
You make a sound, I walk
You better mean what you say
You better mean what you say
With words like drugs
We speak 'em hard like we know what one does
You better mean what you say
You better mean what you say

I don't need to hurt with my hands
I could find some value, destroy it with my mouth

Hey, could you ever love again?

I regret the things I've said
Could you ever love again?

Think about what they’re trying to convey in that song. “Every inch we talk, they make a sound, we walk. You better mean what you say. You BETTER mean what you say”.

It’s a warning. It’s saying, “THINK about everything you say, before you say it, and make sure you REALLY mean what’s about to come out of your mouth.” And they repeat this twice. The first time...just to put it out there, and then they say it again…just in case you didn’t comprehend it the first time.

The next verse is even more powerful: “Less God, more gun. They aim for the heart, but we ain't got one. You better mean what you say…You BETTER mean what you say”

To a lot of us, it’s no coincidence that as God has become less and less accepted in our society, not only has the violence increased, but our hearts have become harder. But there’s more to it than just that. Think of all the mass shootings we’ve seen the past few years. Regular people just going about their everyday lives, and suddenly without warning, they are gunned down by a person full of hate. And everybody wonders why it’s happening, and what would possess a person to do such a thing, but the reality is, that person with the gun could be any of us. The potential to hate, the desire to kill is in every human being. We’re all born into sin, it all just depends on what happens to a person that sends them over the edge. And the person with that gun will shoot someone who most likely has not done anything to them, but the person that’s being shot is just as capable of pulling that trigger as any other human being if they experience traumas in life that send them over the edge.

“But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” Matthew 15:18-19

Please watch for the 3rd and final part of this series tomorrow. Until then, God bless.

Mean What You Say - Part 1

A common theme that keeps re-occurring with me lately in my walk with God is all the hatred I see in the world today. And not just hatred with violence, that has always been a problem. And with all the terrorist attacks, and mass shootings, and hatred towards the police, people of different religions, different races and just people who are different, we all see that hatred front and center every day. But this goes beyond the hatred of our actions. I’m talking about the hatred of our words, of our minds and hearts, which most of us don’t see, but in reality, is where it all begins.

Before any person is shot, any terrorist attack is carried out, any peaceful protest turns violent, any woman is chastised for breastfeeding in public, hatred begins in our hearts, then comes out in our words, and then comes out in our actions. And it's been rampant lately, in every walk of life. In politics, in religion, and even in the way we deal with and talk to people. Most of the time it’s directed at people we don't even know, but it can also occur with friends and family. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen or experienced arguments with friends where a difference of opinion turns ugly, or a misunderstanding with a family member gets nasty, and the next thing you know, people aren’t talking to each other anymore. The hate is out there, and it’s disturbing.

I know I’m not breaking any new ground here. Hate has ALWAYS been here. And I’ve had many discussions with people over the years who tell me the world is no different today than it was 30-40, or even hundreds or thousands of years ago. I humbly disagree, but I understand why they think this way. Most say the lack of social media years ago kept the same amount of hatred hidden, or off the radar. This may or may not be true, but I think social media has a lot to do with why it HAS gotten worse. Look, social media is great. I’m a constant on Twitter with tweeting about sports, and Facebook with my bus driver rants (which are mostly in good fun), and Instagram with posting pictures of my family, and I love it. Social media is good for reconnecting with friends you haven’t seen in a long time, or family members on the other side of the country, or even making new friends. And it’s also great for posting your opinions on different things, whether it’s sports, or politics, or religion, or whatever. That part of social media, I'm all for. The downside to it is that it also gives a voice and forum to people who have hate in their hearts, and want to put that hatred out there in words. And when that happens, all bets are off as to what the reaction will be. Most of the time, it’s countered with more hate. Someone posts an opinion that is not popular, and everyone jumps on them and calls them every name in the book, as if that somehow makes it better. And I’ve done this in the past, I’m as guilty as anyone. But that’s not who I am, or who I want to be anymore. Thankfully,  in my worst moments, my anger never escalated beyond words But that's not always the case, an unpopular opinion can actually lead to violence. And unfortunately, we have seen a lot of that lately.

Hatred with words can be just as powerful as hatred with actions. But most times, we don’t see this. We blow it off most times cause think we’re justified in our hate. We hate someone who doesn’t support our opinion, our political stance, our method of parenting, our belief (or unbelief) in a Creator. We’re all entitled to these different opinions, and to voice our disagreement with someone,  but most of the time we don’t think about our words before we respond to them. And the reality is, words can cut, words can hurt, and most importantly…words can kill. That is why we need to be careful, and when we say something, we better mean what we say.

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Proverbs 18:21

Please watch for the 2^nd part of this series tomorrow. Until then, God bless.

Be Thankful

In light of the recent racial divide in this country, I've made the statement to several people recently that the world would be better off if it was blind. Admittedly, I've said this out of anger as I have become increasingly frustrated over a hatred and mistrust that, for the most part, I thought was left behind 50 years ago coming back in full force. Regardless of where you stand on the recent events, you can't deny that we are living in some very scary times. And as we continue to progress in terms of technology, it seems we take steps back as a human race.

As a Christian, I know the answer and the solution to all of this is Jesus. I’ve known it for 9 years. However, I have found myself increasingly frustrated over society's inability to see it. And thus, several times in the last few weeks when I've been debating with people on social media, I've at one point thrown up my hands and said, "The world would be better off if it was blind." 

Despite the anger in that statement, there is some truth to it. In a world that has rejected God, anger and hatred take hold of people in a lot of ways, but none more so than the color of a person's skin, their religion, their political affiliation, or sexual orientation. All these things conjure up so much hatred and division. And a lot of it is based on what we see and hear. What if God took that away? What if the world woke up one day, and no one could see? Or hear? What if we couldn't see that a person was white, or black, or Spanish, or Muslim, or Jewish? What if we couldn't hear that someone was a Trump supporter, or a Hillary advocate? Or that someone was gay, or transsexual? Or that they were against abortion? What would people do if they literally had to rely on their senses to survive, and could no longer rely on two things so simple that most of us take for granted: The ability to see someone, and hate them, or the ability to hear someone and hate them? 

Well for starters, the world would shut up. And shut down. Literally. We would no longer see the wars, death and destruction that are waged over religion, race and power. We'd no longer hear that someone disagrees with us. We wouldn’t be able to lash out at them, tell them we hate them, judge them, or assault them. And we'd no longer be able to do anything else for that matter, either. Go to work, take our kids to school. Get the mail. We'd literally be helpless.

All of what I just mentioned is unlikely, but not impossible. God makes all things, gives all things, allows all things and can take away all things. In Job 1:21, it says that “the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away”. It also says the Lord made us all different in Genesis 11:7, when He scattered everyone at the Tower of Babel across the world. The world at that time was one race, and spoke one language. But that all changed when people ignored God's commandment to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth after the flood, and instead tried to build a tower to Heaven. Therefore, God could just as easily take away our sight and our hearing if He wanted to. But He doesn’t because that’s not part of His plan. His plan is for us to love Him and love others, just as He loves us. But unfortunately, we as a people have forgotten that.

So think about that the next time you’re angry at someone because they’re different from you, and you’re tempted to insult them, yell at them, or even physically harm them. Think about what you would do in that moment if, right as you were about to attack them, God took away your sight, or your hearing, and you were suddenly at THEIR mercy. What would you do?

We live in perilous times, people. Use your time, your energy and your words more carefully. Stop the hate, stop the division, and spread more love. And be thankful for the simple things you have in life. Cause like our existence on this earth, it’s all temporary.

The Concept of God (for the unbeliever)

Over the years, I’ve heard many arguments from people who don’t believe in God, or the Bible. And the reasons for their unbelief are usually a variety of things. Some people will say, “How can I believe in something that I’ve never seen?” Others will insist, “If God exists, why does He allow so many horrible things in this world to happen?”. And still another one (directly questioning the Bible), “Why would you believe a whole bunch of stories in a book written by illiterate men, thousands of years ago as the Word of God?” These are all legitimate questions, for the non-believer. And the answers, while requiring explanation, are simple at their core. 

Addressing the first question: “How can I believe in something that I’ve never seen?”, there is a very simple answer to that. One of the main points of the Christian Faith is believing that God is real even though, we have never seen Him. Several bible verses point to this. Hebrews 1:11 says, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Romans 8:24 elaborates further on this by stating, “For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see?”. And 2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” These verses, from 3 different books in the Bible, all fit together to form a basic explanation as to why, as 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “We walk by faith, not by sight”. We believe the Bible to be the Word of God. A God we’ve never physically seen. So faith, by its very nature, requires believing in something you cannot physically identify. 

The next logical question that a non-believer will ask is, “If God exists, why does He allow so many horrible things in this world to happen?”. We’ll come back to that one in a bit, as I want to address the 3^rd question first, which is “Why would you believe a whole bunch of stories in a book, written by illiterate men, thousands of years ago as the Word of God?”.

Let's talk about the “concept” of God for a moment. Putting aside whether or not He is real, what IS the definition of God? According to a definition in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, God is “the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/god )

Therefore, if the “concept”, or definition, of God is this supreme, all powerful, all knowing Being, that means He can literally do ANYTHING. If means He can create the earth and the universe simply by saying, “Let there be light” and it be so. It means He can create man from the dust of the earth by saying, “Let us make man in our own image”, and it be so. And it also means He can take these imperfect, illiterate men, scattered across the globe, and over the course of 1,500 years, put His words into their minds, influencing them to document them, and those words eventually evolve into a book called the Bible, and have it be the perfect, unequaled Word of God.

So, after reading all of that, your next legitimate question is “If God exists, why does He allow so many horrible things in this world to happen?”. The answer is very simple. We live in a fallen, sinful world. And it has been that way since Adam and Eve sinned for the first time in the Garden of Eden. This wasn’t how God intended it to be, but man's nature is not perfection, it’s sin. Now you may be asking, “How can God be so angry with Adam and Eve over a piece of fruit?”. It wasn’t over a piece of fruit; it was over rebellion to God. God told them they could eat from any tree in the Garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:17). And the reason for that was because of what that tree brought with it, which was exactly as advertised, meaning Adam and Eve knew this beforehand. But once Satan told them they could be like God (knowing Good and Evil), they gave into that temptation, and sin entered the world. And this has led to wars, disease, famine, murder, sexual immorality and countless other sins. And because we were now living in this world full of sin, and we are imperfect human beings, we would live in constant rebellion to God. 

So now, some of you are probably asking, “Well if He’s God, why doesn’t He just put a stop to all of this? If He’s perfect, all powerful and all knowing…why doesn’t He just wipe out the Devil, sin, all the evil in the world, and be done with it? Well, that is His plan. And He could have just snapped his fingers a long time ago and taken care of it. But when God created man, He didn’t just create the people of that time. He also knew of every single person that would ever be born in the future. And He knew all the sins they would commit. This includes everyone from the first people on the face of the earth, the people in the time of Jesus, the people in the Middle Ages, and everyone in the world today. He knows it all. He’s God. And because He’s God, He’s perfect, and nothing LESS than perfection can ever be in His presence. It would literally contradict with Him. That's why Jesus had to live a perfect life, and become sin FOR man. Because when you accept Jesus, and go before God, He no longer sees your sins, He sees Jesus.

So to summarize…how can we believe in something we’ve never seen? Because we walk by faith, not by sight. Why do we believe the stories in a book written by imperfect men thousands of years ago? Because God is perfect, and can influence them to write His perfect words. And finally, if such a God exists, why do so many horrible things happen? Because this is a fallen, sinful world, in need of a Savior. And that Savior’s name is Jesus. Trust in Him today, and be saved. 

Why Do We Divide?

We divide with our thoughts, 

We divide with our words, 

We divide with our actions, 

Why?

We hate with our minds,

We hate with our hearts,

We hate with our mouths,

Why?

We fail to see we all come from God,

We fail to see we were made in His image,

We fail to see we're all the same, 

Why? 

Why do we divide?

Why do we hate?

Why do we fail?

There is hope in the Cross,

There is hope in His name,

There is hope in His grace,

But will we change it all,

Before it's too late?

Hate
Hate comes in words.

Hate comes in actions.

Hate comes in devaluing life.

Putting one person over the other.

It robs us of our potential.

It prevents us from moving forward.

It leads to destruction.

And it is pointless.

There is a solution.

There is a chance.

There is HOPE.

It is not popular,

It is not cool,

But it is the only way to heal the world.

He knows your thoughts,

He knows your heart,

He knows your hate,

He KNOWS your pain..

Give that all over to Him,

Realize you can't do it without Him,

And you will begin to heal.

You will begin to love,

You will find peace,

And you will become a light to the world...

By His Stripes...

He took those lashes,

For you...

Took that beating,

For me...

Had that side torn open,

For us...

Took those nails in His hands and feet,

For every man...

Took that spear in His side,

For every woman...

Bore those wounds,

So the world could live...

Because of that sacrifice,

We have a chance.

Because of that love,

All is not lost.

Look to the cross..

Look to the Son of Man..

Look to Jesus..

By HIS stripes...

We WILL be healed....