Two Houses (Be sure you have a good foundation)

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” - Matthew 7:21-27

So, Jesus has talked about roads and trees and now he breaks out telling talking about houses and foundations. But, just before that he‘s telling people they can’t enter a kingdom called heaven unless he knows who they are. And, he renounces them as workers of lawlessness. It’s remarkable to me that Jesus is calling out people that seem to think or maybe even KNOW that they are in good standing with him. He refers to a group of people that call to him maybe even crying out to him saying Lord Lord and he says of that group of people that not all of them will enter the kingdom. He goes on to say that some will even say that they did great works on his behalf (but they won’t necessarily get in). That’s remarkable for this reason; it seems that we make it a lot easier to get to heaven than Jesus does. We’ve taken God’s Amazing Grace and cheapened it such that anybody that labels themselves as a Christian or even just a good person goes to heaven. To paraphrase a statement from a book that I read recently, it is as though we have made heaven the default position when a person dies. But, it seems to me that Jesus is saying quite the opposite. It appears that he’s painting a picture that we’re all bound to spend eternity in a desperate state unless we are given his approval – approval that changes the default from hell.

Getting down to the foundations… Jesus encourages us not to be hearers of his word only but doers. In fact, he sets a clear distinction between those that hear his words and don’t change their actions versus those that do what he says. Jesus is putting the finishing touch on his sermon. I can hear him preparing his closing as he leads us through the progression 1) If you choose the right road, 2) you will bear fruit like a good tree AND 3) you will build your house like a wise man. And, he essentially says that the wise man’s house will last forever. That’s it! Make the right choice. Live the right life (only by God’s grace). And, you’ll have a house that lasts forever, eternal in the heavens. But, if you make the wrong choice (of paths that is) then you’ll be the tree that bears diseased and rotten fruit yielding a life that leads to a house that is destroyed when the true test of houses comes. Jesus is making it ultimate that a storm will come. The rain will fall, and the floods will prevail. Will your house stand the storm?

You see one day, the end will come. We only have one life to live and then the judgment. That bothers me. It bothers me enough that I have to “test [myself] to see whether I am in the faith” because in the end folks, I simply don’t want to be lost. And, if I am lost, as my grandma would say, it’s nobody’s fault but mine. I want to spend eternity celebrating God’s presence and I want you to be there with me.
Much love (and with many tears)!

Two Trees - Which life will you live?

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits."

So, it would seem like the easy part is over, right? We make a decision for Christ. And, I would not say that the decision was totally ours -- but I’m not going Calvin versus Arminius on you. What does it look like when a life is yielded to God? Here in the next set of verses after Jesus charges his listeners to enter at the straight gate, and to walk on the narrow path, he turns to a warning about false prophets. Thank you Jesus that you warn us about false prophets. We should always be aware that there are many that are not preaching what is true about God. And, there are also some that are preaching a gospel, but they aren’t living the true gospel.

But, halt (as Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast, my friend!”), before we go off on a tirade about bad preachers and other “church folk”, what does YOUR life look like? Or mine for that matter? In the fall of 2008, I sat through a sermon series that knocked me for a loop. The title of the series was “Radical: What the Gospel Demands”. And, it was essentially a knock in the head that said we are indeed saved by grace alone through faith alone, but our lives after coming to faith must look radically different. In other words, at that moment we no longer live for ourselves. And, I know this all sounds familiar, but looking at the words of Jesus and saying let’s take him at face value is a lot different than most of us are taught. We MUST live lives that are yielded completely to God and that meet the requirements that Jesus lays out. What do these requirement look like? Well, first we are living lives that are not indulgent. The way you spend your money and your time are barometers that show your spiritual condition. Secondly, we must obey the primary command of Jesus Christ to his followers to teach other people what it means to worship God and baptize them making disciples to the end of the earth. And, as we do that, we care for the poor and those that are on their way to hell with an urgency that shows in our lifestyle. So, in the end there is a change on the inside that is reflected strongly on the outside. In essence I heard and believe that a life that pursues achieving our dreams (even the American dream) more than it pursues living out the Jesus commands (being led and sustained by the Spirit of course) is probably not truly bearing fruit for God.

So, what this has done to my life is to cause me to look inward. It has caused me to literally wrestle with whether or not my life lines up with God’s word. In other words, is the fruit that I am bearing good or bad? And, in the places where my life doesn’t look like God’s word, am I willing to yield to God, repent, and be obedient? And, quite honestly, I have been rebellious in some areas. I have gone through periods of refusing to pray. I have gone through periods of questioning my salvation as result of my disobedience. I have been so wrapped up in trying to figure out where I stand in light of all that I see in God’s word for myself. And, I think this challenge is good, because it is causing me to look at my fruit. Am I a diseased tree that today deserves to be thrown into the fire? Or am I a good tree bearing fruit. We will recognize false prophets by their fruit. We must also recognize whether or not WE as individuals have truly been regenerated (i.e. born again, born of water and Spirit, whether we are bearing fruit in keeping with repentance). Look at your tree and determine what kind of life are you living. Is it one that brings glory to God because God is inside of you helping to glorify him? If not, join me in praying for God to reveal it to you. And, then respond accordingly!!

So, in closing this entry, I know I will probably get some flack for saying that I question my salvation (and suggesting that you question yours) but, I think it is okay and healthy for all of us to question our salvation sometimes. Paul said in one place that we should “work out our salvation with fear and trembling”. And, he also said in 2 Corinthians 13:5 that we should “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” Because on the flip side, I would say it is a dangerous thing to walk in presumption. Being confident in your faith is one thing, but I think many have cheapened grace down to a prayer card form the first grade when they first said they believed in Jesus. And since that time, many have lived as they desire, not choosing to bear fruit, good fruit. Choose life, my friends!

Much love!!

Two Roads (There are really only two choices.)

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it.”

This is Jesus’ way of starting to close out his sermon. He has several impossible commands such as loving your enemies, doing good to those that hate you, not putting your good deeds on display that others may love you. And, his purpose in all of it was really mounting an impossible list of to-dos to show that the work that his Father wants from is to believe in the Son. That’s it. That’s how you’ll overcome the world, is by believing in the Son.

My take on this specific command from Jesus that we “Enter through the narrow gate (or straight gate as the translation may read) is that there are two choices that we have. There is one choice to make but only two options. If we are to enter God’s kingdom, the way is narrow and small. There isn’t a lot of room for error. Or the alternative is a broad path that is wide and very roomy.

Hearing this recently mixed with some other things made me think. The broad way includes options like all out rebellion against God. It also includes the proud attitude that “I am really okay because I am a good person.” It also includes the option to say that I am a Christian when there has been no change in your heart. But, to contrast these three options (and there may be more, but these are clear) there is a narrow road and small gate that leads to righteousness – that is right standing before God.

And, as I alluded to in the introduction entry to this series, I’m wrestling mentally, emotionally, and willfully to know whether I am dancing and silly little dance in this wide street or if I am crawling and scratching and moving cautiously in the narrow way. I think if we are to know that we know – or at least for me that is – we must wrestle. In the same way that Jacob wrestled with God until he changed his name, we must wrestle with the truths of God’s word to know that our names are changed and written in his book because in the last day, I don’t want to be found to have made the wrong choice.

20 Wisdom calls aloud in the street,
        she raises her voice in the public squares;
21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out,
        in the gateways of the city she makes her speech:
22 "How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?
        How long will mockers delight in mockery
        and fools hate knowledge?
23 If you had responded to my rebuke,
        I would have poured out my heart to you
        and made my thoughts known to you.
24 But since you rejected me when I called
       and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,
25 since you ignored all my advice
       and would not accept my rebuke,
26 I in turn will laugh at your disaster;
       I will mock when calamity overtakes you-
27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
       when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
       when distress and trouble overwhelm you. – Proverbs 1:20-27

In dealing with a child that came to stay with us recently, one night when we were against the wire of a deadline. I laid out two choices for him. I offered him an opportunity to do his reading assignment or lose a privilege AND stay up until he read. In his words, he said, “I choose neither.” What followed was a rather short discussion where I said, that is not an option and if you persist in saying that you choose neither (which is not one of your options), the removal of privilege is the default AND we will sit here until you read. And so it is with us by not choosing, we really are choosing to take the broad path. So my friends, I encourage both you and me to choose life, seek life, and cry out to God because he will not deny us. But we must make our choice before it is too late. Remember “only a few will find it.”

Almost forgot!!  (mUcH lUv mY frIeNds!!)

Two Roads. Two Trees. Two Houses. (Two Choices. Two lives to live. Two Rewards.)

Introduction

I’ve wanted to write a series on this blog. Here’s why. I keep complaining that I have complex thoughts, but I keep throwing out softballs that can be handled in a page or so (maybe even three paragraphs when the truth is, I don’t think in three to five paragraph intervals). Long running thoughts are really closer to three to five year intervals before they are actually resolved. And I think this topic is my best shot at getting something out there that is not nerve wracking (to you that is) yet serious enough to cover in a series. I’m thinking Intro, 3 main parts and a conclusion of it all is what we’ve got in store.

I’ve mentioned before that our church is participating in something called the Radical Experiment. As part of that, we are doing a few things that are intended to point our lives toward living for the glory of God by seeking to “make disciples of all nations”. Part of this experiment is to read through the entire word in a year. Accompanying this reading are several things, one of which is a sermon based on the text (or some portion thereof) that was read during a given week. So recently, a pastor from our church preached on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew Chapters 5-7). The best part about this sermon is that it brought the text from these chapters together in a way that I had never seen it. With the division of chapters that have been ascribed in the bible, it’s not always evident how things really were intended. It would be like having me write a paper and then having you come along and reassign the paragraph divisions. It could make for some confusion on what the point is or was.

As I listened, I learned that there were three major sections to this sermon that Jesus preached. He had an introduction (that we call the beatitudes). He had a main point as seen in Matthew 5:17-20 (that our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees and scribes). And, he had a time where he described the expected response or goal. And, that (the response) is the basis of this set of blog entries that I’m introducing tonight. Jesus tells us as he’s preparing to close his sermon that there are two roads. He then proposes that there are two kinds of trees. And, lastly, he says there are two ways to lay the foundation of a house.

I do not intend to regurgitate a sermon that I heard, but in keeping with the intent of the “random Jarvis thoughts” blog’s purpose, I will extend to you my thoughts on what he said and the thoughts that I had beyond what he said. And, in keeping with the reality of this blog, I must tell you that sometimes I hear things through the complexity of what I am experiencing. And, I have been engaged in a mental battle for about two years about what it means to be a “follower of Jesus Christ”. And, the reason that battle exists is because I think it can be missed. We can hear what someone else tells us it means to be a Christian, but it really is something you must know for yourself. And, you must know that you know without being presumptuous. Presuming on God will only get you killed. And for no extra cost, I’ll throw out God will allow us to roll along presumptuously if we refuse to acknowledge that he must reveal to us the way of truth… See 2 Thessalonians 2:10b-12

Jesus and Morning Care

Like an episode out of "Kids say the Darndest things", as I was riding to work one morning, I had to take a 12 year old friend to school near our house.  I was later than normal because my schedule was changed for that morning.  He asked me a question that I found very interesting. 
    
    He said, "Why aren't you taking me to morning care?"  [Just to give you a little background, "morning care" is a period before school begins where one of the teachers stays with the students that are dropped off super early...6:30 AM ]
     So I responded happily, "We have a different schedule this morning."
     But he whined, "But, I love morning care and I don't want to miss!!"
     So, with a smirk, I asked him why morning care was so important just because I was in one of those moods to have a good debate.  He didn't really give an adequate response.  So, I continued, "Tell me then, do you love Jesus?"
    He responded, "Yes!"
    This was getting good now!  I said, "Well, who do you love most morning care or Jesus?"
    And, now it gets gooder and more interesting because responded that he loved them both the same.  Just when you think you're making a breakthrough, the breakthrough falls through.

The conversation went on mostly with me trying to convince him that as a follower of Christ we must love Jesus above all else.  In comparison to our love for Jesus we must almost hate everything and everybody else.  But, the conversation made me wonder about my own life.  Sure, I'm smart enough to say that I love Jesus supremely.  I'm not a universalist, ya know.  But, in the expression of the way I live, there are things that compete for the adoration that only Jesus deserves. 

Family can be one of those things.  I love Kimberly and Caleb and "my momanem" but I know I must be careful that my love for them is Christ's love and not an idolatrous one.  Work can sometimes be one of those obsessive things as well.  It is easy to look at my job as being the source of my supply, but it isn't my source because it is God who gives me the ability to get wealth.  There again, I must enjoy my work but love the one who gave the ability.  And, I know the list could go on, but I won't persist.  So, what's your morning care?

Much love!!

Busyness has stolen my life

i've been too dang busy to blog because i:
 - work more than 40 hours a week
 - have the privelege of chasing a 15 month old around when i get home from work and on weekends.
 - get to spend time with his mama (if i'm lucky)
 - have to travel for work (sometimes for the whole week)
 - am in the middle of reading 3 books
 - am taking a class from 6 to 8 on Sunday nights (that requires more reading besides what is listed above)
 - have to do yard work
 - have to do house work (the parts that my wife doesn't like to do)
 - have to spend lots of time on facebook checking out what my friends are doing (haha!)
 - think complex thoughts that aren't always easy to blog about either because you would cast me off as a friend or just because they're hard to articulate.

i'm sure there's more, but i don't feel like thinking of it, so i'm quitting.  americans are busy people and apparently somehow i've gotten sucked into that mode.

much love!!

Childhood memories

So, lately I've been somewhere or seen something or talked with somebody about something that took me back to my childhood.

First, the new school brings all the school buses back to the highways.  And, it takes me back to when I used to ride Marengo County School Bus No. 22.  Yeah, you guessed it, I'm old and so was my bus.  The bus driver was Coach Washington.  He picked me up at about 6:05 AM.  I was usually the first to get on even though my stop was second or third along the way.  But, that also meant I was among the first to get off.  I was usually home by 3:30 in the afternoons.  Coach Washington was awesome.  He was a heavy black guy that had been a basketball coach at some point in his career.  He came complete with a constant piece of drool on his lip.  That reminds me of my 15 month old.

The second bit from childhood came when the family was eating at the Pita Hut a couple of weeks ago.  A kid came in and tried to sell us some doughnuts on behalf of his "church".  Out of pity, we helped him out, but told him to give the doughnuts to somebody else.  I pitied the poor fellow because I remember selling doughnuts.  The great thing about selling doughnuts where I lived though is that KrispyKreme was a special treat because there wasn't a KK store there and they weren't being sold in the grocery stores like they are now.  Yeah, I'm both ancient and country.  But, oh the misery of rejection when you attempt to sell something.  And, oh the pain of having to deliver the tons of stuff that you've sold if you do make lots of sales.   Fundraisers are a double edged sword.  So, mamas don't make your babies grow up to be salesmen.

And, the next memory came when I was talking to somebody about Saturday morning cartoons.  I got my fair share when I was little, but the minute my dad thought I was useful for anything (even holding his hammer), he took my Saturday mornings and turned them into opportunities to make money.  We either went to my grandmothers to do stuff (like cut hay, rake hay, bale and stack hay, fix pasture fences, look for the cows - if they got out of the pasture, chase the cows into the catch pen - so we could haul them away and sell them for you your steak or hamburger, feed the cows hay or feed, pull corn, shell peas, pull watermelons, collect eggs from the chicken).  Okay you get the picture.  My grandma lived on a cattle farm and my dad made me work on Saturdays.  And, if it wasn't working there, it was cutting grass.  So, guess what I'm buying a farm and a riding lawn mower.  Caleb's going to be working soon.  That way, he can be a great guy like his dad.  Yes, I can be vain.  :o)

Much love

God still hates idols

The church that I attend is participating in something called the Radical Experiment.  There are five practical components including:

1.To pray for the entire world
2.To read through the entire Word
3.To commit our lives to multiplying community
4.To sacrifice our money for a specific purpose
5.To give our time in another context

As you can imagine, this is pretty challenging.  And if you're trying to be a legalist about all of the components, you are either a professional Christian or you are about to jump of the bridge.  It takes the Holy Ghost and a lot of grace to even try to keep up especially when it comes to including family in the whole picture.

But, I have been really diligent about reading which brough me to the following scripture.

1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,
3 And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.

4 And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
5 And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.

6 In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
7 And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.  -- Ezekiel 6:1-7

And, I just told you all of that Radical Experiment stuff and copied this scripture here to say that we are under a new and better covenant, but God still hates idols (even American ones ;-).  Things that you can buy or make or create in your mind that take the place of God in your life; yeah, he hates them.  So, be careful lest you idolize something and get destroyed along with it.  Reading the prophets makes me search my soul HARD!

Much love peeps!!

Honk for Hell

(Warning! Controversial thoughts found here)

These are Jarvis Wright’s thoughts on the fight over illegal immigration. I’ll tie the title in later. :)

1) Just because you make a law doesn’t make you or that law just. See the Jim Crow era when lots of laws existed that had lots of popular support. However, these laws were evil to the core.
2) Secondly, we are all here illegally in some form or fashion. And, here’s what I mean by that… A long time ago, people from Europe came to this land that we call America on boats. They made the native people sick with their infectious diseases. They evicted the native people from the land they owned (at least according to their law) , and did whatever it took to make that land our own, whether it meant killing, raping, or just humiliating. And, then there’s a long history of other people being dragged over here unwillingly and being forced into a little thing we call slavery. And, then who could forget the thousands of Europeans and Asians who came here illegally and were hated by the ones who were already here.
3) Now! I get that the so-called illegals are taking OUR jobs, and using up OUR healthcare, robbing US of resources and draining our government of cash. But, guess what, the last time I checked, the earth was the LORD’s and all that is in it. So, we should all look around at all the things we claim to be our own, and consider that they don’t even belong to us.
4) My wife summed it up best when during a conversation on politics, she said, “We’re all selfish.” And, that my friends is the number one problem – our own self-seeking pride that wants us to have “our best life now”, not considering how we might show the love of Christ in reaching others to save their life – the current one and the eternal one. So, be less selfish. Preach the gospel for God’s glory to both legals and illegals. You can begin today by considering not seeking your own comforts and your children’s comforts when this world may not exist long enough for your children to be comfortable in. And lest we forget, it will be rather uncomfortable in hell if you teach your children and their children to follow in your footsteps.

So, the jist of all this is not about the laws and who’s enforcing them, but for me it’s a matter of Christ followers getting sucked into political arguments with no basis in the mission given them by their savior. Unless God wills otherwise, America will always have more than enough resources to support those that think themselves to be here legally and those that realize that they are here illegally. It’s all in his Sovereign hands.

In case it’s unclear, unless you are a Native American…i.e. Indian, you’re here illegally as far as I’m concerned. When I see people standing on the side of Highway 280 creating distractions during rush hour with their signs saying HONK FOR ARIZONA, it ticks me off. So, to that, I say HONK FOR HELL. Your prejudice and selfishness may well deliver you there on an express route. A sermon that I heard on Jonah recently may have said it best; don’t allow your national pride to hinder the global mission of God in your life.

Much love! And, I mean that…even if you’re from south of the border.

Is man inherently good or inherently bad?

Here's a post without a lot of fanfare or opinion.  When answering the question of whether man is inhrently good or inherently bad, Jarvis Wright takes the side of scripture that we are all desperately evil and unable to do anything about it.  The more I look inwardly and the more I look around,  the more I look to the following verses for what we are like... 

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.  -- Genesis 6:5-8

Here we see three elements 1)that after the fall of mankind, we are inhrently evil and continually bent on doing wrong and 2)that God is holy and hates sin, and 3)that God is gracious and compassionate toward whom he chooses.  Our only chance is that we would experience the grace of God.  I pray that God is gracious to you and makes his face to shine on you.   Let us turn from our sin, trust him for our salvation, and tell the world. 

Much love!!

Leaving Stuff Behind

"A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous. - Proverbs 13:22"   After attending church on Sunday, July 4th and hearing a great sermon, I specifically thought about the first half of the scripture shown above.   The fine folks here in the United States have a proud heritage that we like to pass from one generation to the next.  And, I don't knock that.  But, there is a greater heritage that we have in Christ that we should pass along to our children.  And, now I need to backtrack because I know you're looking at the scripture and you're looking at my words and you're thinking, that scripture is talking about leaving your children and their children some STUFF.  And, I don't deny that it probably is, but what about good men that don't have money to leave behind.  What would they leave?  And, for those that paid attention in Ecclesiastes to the story about the man that works so hard to leave money to his sons and he doesn't know whether his beneficiaries will be wise men or idiots.  What vanity?! 

So, here's what Jarvis Wright is thinking.  I won't spend the money that God blesses my family with frivolously but I don't plan on hoarding up so that my son(s and daughters) won't have to earn what they get in life.  But, I will pour out the life that I have for God.  So, if there's money for somebody to argue over when I die, great for them.  But, in my estimation, it's more important that we live simply that others may simply live.  And, if you know me by now, I'm not just talking humanitarian aide with.  God is moving us more and more toward pouring out our lives for the sake of reaching others with the gospel of Christ.  So, that means the inheritance that I leave for Caleb and others who may follow him will be an inheritance of a life surrendered to God.  And, the decision that I've made recently, is that I will live that life and journal about that life to leave the journals behind for my son and his future siblings; God willing.  Hopefully, what they see in me daily and what they read about me leads them to know that their dad loves God and loves them; even after I'm long gone.

Much love!!

Father of the Bride

“Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” These were the words I heard in a wedding rehearsal on a recent Friday night. And, there I was holding back tears. I think becoming a dad makes a man sappy. I mean for Christ’s sake it was just the rehearsal. And, my friend’s dad had just walked the wedding coordinator down the aisle. And, the wedding coordinator was too old and too mean to be a beautiful bride. So, why was I tearing up? I think it’s just the idea that a dad would give his daughter to be married to a man. That’s why I hope I never have a daughter to have to give away. I would probably kidnap her and lock her away rather than let her marry some dude that might not treat her as nicely as her mom and I would have.

I also almost cried during a visit to the movies recently. Janet Jackson’s character in “Why did I get married, too?” announced that she and her husband were getting a divorce. And, then they pursued to fight, one wanting to be married and the other refusing. And, the final chapter of the movie ends with them fighting and the husband being involved in a car accident. And, I sat there thinking I never want to be that couple. Once you’ve invested that amount of time into life with a person, you should fight for your love. I’m not saying that I’ll know how to do that if ever faced with the situation, but I hope I learn.

So, I know all of this is random, but guess what? On Friday, June 25, 2010, Kimberly (Patrice) Washington Wright will have been my wife for five (count them, 1-2-3-4-FIVE) years!! Her mom and dad gave her away and I hope they are happy with the decision. I hope to be her beau for many many more years -- maybe like 55 more. So that means we can have no divorces and no car accidents that could potentially leave us grieving for years.

Have you ever had a day like this?

Here's a great little entry on Thabiti Anyabwile's blog that made me laugh, mainly because it characterizes my life. I know exactly how the dinosaurs felt.

I Know Exactly How the Dinosaurs Felt

Are we the crazy ones?

Better yet, am I the crazy one?

Okay, I don’t shy away from the fact that I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And, I consider myself to be a follower. There’s lots of ways that people describe that. Some say that they are “saved”, “born again”, “a Christian” and there are many other ways to categorize the fact that you’ve trusted in Christ for your salvation. Now the tough part is that there are many world religions all with rather different purposes and different gods. And, today we live in a world where everyone has a voice and right to be heard for who they are and what they believe in. And, there are many in this era that would say of the many world religions and the many gods that there are several “paths” to God. But, with Christianity, it is not so. Those whose hearts are being molded by the savior, Jesus, know that he is the only way to God.  There is no convincing them otherwise.

So, the question I have is this, are those of us who claim to follow Christ (and not only follow him, those of us who claim to follow him correctly), are we the crazy ones?  Lots of people reject Christ out-rightly by saying they don’t believe him. Others reject him though they say they follow him, there is no fruit in their lives to say that they do follow him; because their lives look an awful lot like the lives of those in the world. (See 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 to know why this is rejection). And still others claim to follow him but mainstream Christians reject them because they say they are not following right. Examples include Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, SDAs and others. So again, are we the crazy ones?  And even beyond that people from other religions say that he's a prophet or a good man but not "the" Son of the "the" only true and living God.  But, I believe in absolutes. So somebody in this world is right and someone is wrong.

C.S. Lewis made the following quote about Jesus:

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.

So here I am.  I am following this Jesus guy as best I can in a corrupt culture and I am really starting to take him at face value when he says stuff like “love your enemies” or “you can’t serve God and money”. But, I really wonder some days if I’m the crazy one. So as you think about the quote above and you wonder if Jesus is lunatic. Whatever category you place him in, you’ve got to move me there too. If he’s the Son of God then he has and is making me a son of God. And, if he’s a lunatic, then label me in the same way. Just know I’m probably still evaluating too!

Much love!

College and Community

There I was in my driveway on Monday night, trying to repair a window that didn’t want to go back up after letting itself down. And, while doing this, the battery died in the truck. I knew it was dead when the window motor stopped making noise and the interior lights got really dim. So, to prove it to myself, I walked around the truck and turned the ignition… “Click, click, click” is all I heard each time I tried. Important lesson #1, the dude’s that change my oil told me I had a bad battery in December. It lasted almost til June. I think I have validation in not heeding their warning because I got six months more use out of the thing. Important lesson #2, I don’t know why or how, but for some reason we no longer have jumper cables or a car battery charger. These are essential to living with any vehicle. So, I bought a set of cables.

Now, for those that made it past the important lessons #s 1 and 2, the jumper cable thing got me to thinking. When I was in college, I had no fear of going across the hall and banging on a door when I needed something. In the dorm where I lived for four of my four and a half years of college, it was like a close knit community. But, here I stood 12 years post-graduation and I looked at my neighbors houses and decided I didn’t want to bother them. But, really, it would have been a great time to get to know them and possibly even share our life with them. But, instead, I got in the other vehicle, drove to Wal-Mart, bought jumper cables and came back to jump the truck off without any help from anyone.

I know I’m old school, but I like small towns and being friends with neighbors. Oh, if the world were a simpler place, I would move back into a college dorm, but somehow I don’t think my wife would go along with that. And, I’m sure it would be creepy for the 18 to 22 year olds too if I were bee-bopping around. So, I am going to make community where I am and I hope that you'll make community where you are. God created us for relationship. So go relate with somebody. Make a friend for life.

Much love peeps!

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, Huh?! Say that again!

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism – Not my words… It’s a phrase that I’ve been running across in recent months though. And, it is what most teenagers and young adults in America think about God. Breaking it down, it means the following: 1) Deism – there is a God who made the world and is out there somewhere. 2) Moralistic – All I’ve got to do is be a relatively good person and I deserve the best out of this life and I will go to heaven when I die. 3) When I need God, he should be there to attend to my needs. What I’ve just described is a sad reality if that’s what the young of our society gather about God.

In contrast, here’s what I believe about those three points. God, is the creator of earth and all that is in it. But, he has been intimately involved with his creation since the day he made it. He seeks to be glorified by his creation and he personally made the way of our salvation that we would glorify him with our lives. Secondly, as moral as we can be, outside of accepting the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross, we are all destined for a terrible end – eternal separation from God – in the form of hell. And, the reasoning behind that is, at our 'moralest', we are still haters of God and rebels that deserve to die because of our rebellion.  And, as for being there when I need him, he is never far from any of us, but that is not his chief aim in the world. Again, God is the creator, he is the one to be worship and adored – not us.

So, the point I’d like to make here is that we must know more about our God – the true and living God. It is important that Christians know what they believe and be able to articulate it. Beyond being able to articulate it, we must articulate it. And, I think in so doing, just by looking into what it is to be a follower of Christ, some of us might find that we haven’t been following him at all. And, in that case, there is an urgent matter of knowing that you know him because without him, we are destined to perish.

Much love!

Roots

Okay, some of you will see the title of this entry and wonder if I’m going to cover the book written by Alex Haley covering the history of his family from Africa into slavery in America. Some others of you may see the title and think of black magic. I can’t think of how many times I’ve seen an infomercial where somebody says, “She put a root on me!”, exclaiming that someone had done something through use of an old evil practice to hinder that person’s progress through life. And, lastly some of you know that I’m just an old country boy who spent too much time in the hay fields and the woods of rural Sumter County, Alabama. So armed with that knowledge, you might think I’m going to cover horticulture. But, none of these are it.

Instead, I want to talk about the root of who we are and what we do. I recently met a seven year old kid. In him I saw lots of things that had a root of some sort. And, by that word root, I mean an origin. And, in the experience I learned things about myself that I wondered, what are the origin of these? My experience with this little guy made me question where his parents were and what they were thinking to not bring him up with a solid structure? It seemed that he had wondered through most of his life not experiencing real love; the kind of love that I received from my immediate and extended family when I was his age. They thought enough of me and of themselves to guide me through life. Their love affirmed me when I did well. It guided me when I lost my way. It corrected me when I was wrong. But, I looked at this little guy and it was as if he had no consistent affirmation when he did well. He was lost but he fought the very idea that anyone could show him the way. And, he found for himself that he was never wrong. It was only those that offered guidance and correction that could be wrong.

So, to the root of the matter, how far back does blame go for one child who is passed from home to home, never staying long enough to really soak in real love and experience what it is like? And, I am partially to blame because he passed right through here but I find some challenges are indeed too much for one man and his family when work and many other things are calling. Oh, I pray that God helps us to get something right before we leave this earth. Help us to love and help us to explore our roots and eliminate the cause of shallow ones –roots that is.

Much love my friends!
J. Wright

Toes

Okay. This has nothing to do with my toes. Because if you ever saw my toes which have been battered by many door facings, many bed posts, many sofa legs, and most of all the front of my running shoes, it would send you running for the hills so fast and so far that you’d get lost in the process.  So instead, see Baby Caleb's toes.  They're much nicer than mine.

Instead this post is about one of my favorite songs by a person who is somewhere on my list of favorite music artists. Norah Jones sings this song – Toes. And, the phrase that is key is that “[her] toes just touched the water”. This song reminds me of life here with people around us. When the current is swift and strong, we should be jumping in to live life deeply and intentionally, but instead we play around the edge daring to only dip our toes into what could have been.

We prefer life on the bank of the river where we can talk about sports, the weather, and our favorite TV shows. And, when that wears out, we can talk about other people and their faults to take the attention off of ourselves. Instead, we should be going deep, talking about our own needs, our own faults, our own true successes. And, then we should turn our attention to the world around us with love in our hearts and address the deepest need that it has—the need for a Savior King to redeems us from our fallen state. So, friends jump in (if you know how to swim) and show someone who you are and be a friend to someone that needs you.  I wrote this mostly for myself.  I owe a group of people an apology because I feel called to go deep with them but instead I dabble around the edge in bitterness and judgmentality.  And, hopefully soon, I'll have the courage to do that.  :)

Much love my friends!

For a play of the song, here ya go

Dear Old Dad!

I may get scolded for writing this the week of mother’s day, but yesterday I was in the yard getting the grass cut with some unnamed help. As I stood there and thought, I remembered having a grass cutting business when I was ten. Of course this wasn’t my idea. It was my dad’s. He just came home one day, looked at me and said, "I’ve got a yard for you to cut." Now, I can’t remember if I’d ever cut grass a day in my life before then. What I do remember is that we started and we cut the grass at the twins’ new house. (The twins were my neighbors for a while along with their mom and their big sister Vickie – but they moved to town so they were no longer my neighbors. Just thought you’d like this background info.)

Anyway, the thought started with the grass cutting, but it ended up running through a number of places. One of the thoughts was how much I admired my dad because of the type of guy that is. I admire him because he speaks to EVERYBODY. I can be a little shy and insecure when it comes to speaking to random people, but he doesn’t care who you are or where you are, he’s going to say hello in that Southern small town kind of way. I admire him because of all the things that he taught me growing up. He maybe wasn’t always patient with my laziness or my not understanding his explanation on how to do stuff, but I didn’t care. I was just glad he let me tag along. Because of him, I hate to borrow money, I cut my own grass, I know how to work on my own car, and I’m the easygoing-laidback-alwayslaughing guy that I am. I could go on and on, but the main point here really is that I love my dad. He’s a nice guy and I want to be more like him.

Jarvis Wright on addictions

Addictions are real. And, I will say this; Jarvis Wright believes that people can be born with predispositions toward addictions. And, I believe that because we are born a product of the fall. If you have a bible and I hope that you do, see Genesis 3 for more on “the fall”. We can be born with a number of ailments and desires that are a part of our physical makeup that aide us in our rebellion and hatred for God. To see proof that we hate God (that is -- our flesh hates him), see Romans 1:28-30.

So, now that you know where I stand on that, I think it is also necessary that I say addictions should not be taken lightly. In light of first paragraph, we have to trust God to help us in a our time of need to overcome additions so that we don’t just live with them tolerating them and giving into them. Here are two verses that help us to know that he will… 1) No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability and 2) My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." So, he’ll either give us the strength and a way out of the temptation or he himself by his grace will bring us through the temptation -- that is to give into our predispositioned addictions.

Now, here’s what I wrote all of this to say. I’m addicted to peanut M&M’s I eat about three handfuls a day. I can’t fight them. They’re like kryptonite. My knees buckle and I get short of breath if they're around and I'm not eating them. I go into withdrawals if I don’t have them. I'm talking about shaking and sweating and quivering for something that's the size of an almond. And who could forget how they melt in your mouth, not in your hand.

Mucho amor mis amigos

Falling and Laughing

Okay, so we’ve all done it. We’ve seen someone stumble and either fall or almost fall. And, without fail there’s someone that finds that funny. I will raise my hand because I am one of them. I don’t know why, but watching somebody who is clumsy almost fall is an entertaining part of life. And now that I’ve lured you into reading this post by talking about that I’m going to drop in one of my favorite scriptures about stumbling…

Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Psalm 73:1-3

I love this scripture. It is funny to me because I imagine myself literally being close to falling because I am not watching the path that God has me on. I am overtaken with watching how good it appears that the ‘evildoers’ have it. They have no regard for doing good or being good. They have no regard for life beyond this life because the target is enjoying their best life now. In the words of Ray Charles, “Let the good times roll.” They’re not facing any of the problems that I’m facing (seemingly). They have all that a person could want out of life, the quintessential American dream even. The writer of that Psalm goes on to say just that. But, in the end he realizes that as long as God is in control of the universe, it is he, not us or the wicked that will have the last laugh.

The Psalmist wraps it up in this way.

For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works. Psalm 73:27-28

In the end, it’s all about this. We have one life to live here and “then the judgment” as the writer of Hebrews puts it. So, it’s important that every person that follows Christ view life through a lens of eternity. That’s all that really matters. I had a friend tell me today that it seems that all of my facebook statuses bend toward drawing people to Christ. And, my response was simple. But, that’s all that really matters. What good is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul? I mean really now, what good is that?

Yo! Don't forget about Haiti!

Don't forget about Haiti!!

Don't forget about Haiti!!

Don't forget about Haiti!

Don't forget about Haiti!!

On January 12, 2010, the nation of Haiti suffered a devastating 7.0 earthquake about 16 miles west of the city of Port Au Prince. Haiti has been and remains the most poverty stricken nation in the western hemisphere.  The impact of the earthquake took their situation from bad to worse.   As people continue to live in tent cities with little or no sanitation, don't forget that they need us.  Do what you can to save a life and to save a soul.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.  --  Galatian 6:9,10

If you can go, go.  If you can't go, give (even if that means you can't stop at McDonald's on the way home...I'm sure you could stand to miss a meal).   Give to a reputable organizations like Samaritan's Purse or Compassion International.

Warning! This gets political

Subtitle: Jarvis Wright’s view on politics

In light of today’s turbulent political scene where everyone who disagrees with the next guy is an idiot, I thought I should finally get in on the action. So, let me set it all up and tell you how I filter my political views. More than anything, I consider myself a follower of Jesus Christ [meaning that I confess with my mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead resulting in a desire to answer the call "Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men."]  Being a follower of Jesus Christ should work its way through a person’s whole life. At least that’s what I believe. So, my everyday actions, feelings, and thoughts toward my country, my community, my family, my stuff and myself should align themselves with the thought that Christ rules over every area of my life. Got, it? Alright then we’ll move on from here.

So, the primary thought that I have on politics is that Jesus wasn’t a conservative, he wasn’t a liberal and he definitely wasn’t a moderate. But, he was and IS a radical. I am about to make very broad sweeping statements about all of these political alignments, so don’t condemn me until you hear me out. But, I do welcome your thoughts. Conservatives want small government and big business when it comes to our money, but they like to have morality ruled with an iron fist. Liberals like to have big government that helps those in need whether those in need in anyway live morally. And moderates can’t really make up their minds. They like stuff about both sides so they’re afraid to commit to just one. :-) Haha! So, by me saying Jesus is a radical what I mean is that he doesn’t lean in any of these directions (or that he isn’t in this taking sides business). He walked to a different drumbeat; that of his Father in heaven of whose will he said he came to fulfill.

There were liberals and there were conservatives in Jesus’ day. The most conservative were the Sadducees (who didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead) and then there were the Pharisees. At the opposite end of the spectrum were the Zealots who wanted to overthrow the Romans and were willing to risk the livelihood of the nation to do it (sounds radical – or just crazy?) But Jesus didn’t fall into any of their camps, he made his own camp. It was a camp of caring for the lost sheep of Israel and preparing the way for all men that would to receive eternal life. And, so now my point of all this is that for Christ followers, he has made this way and he has left us with a mission. See Matthew 28:18-20. So, why are we more concerned with this world’s affairs and making life comfortable for us and our children than we are concerned about telling lost men and women about Jesus? Why are we more enthralled with the latest gadgets, gizmos and trappings that the pagans chase after than we are with “look[ing] after orphans and widows in their distress and [keeping ourselves] from being polluted by the world”? See 2 Timothy 2:4 and James 1:27… We have a fight but our fight should not be with each other over political “stuff” unless it is unjust to the poor – not your friend that owns the tanning salon that might be hurt by an excise tax but people who are truly poor through circumstances such as oppression and/or calamity. Our fight should be against a very real enemy that is dragging people off to hell at alarming rate. So, brothers and sisters, I urge you live the life you’ve been called to by Christ and preach the gospel both with your lifestyle and your mouth being led by the spirit.

Don’t get me wrong. We should be involved in the political process. We have a very powerful voice called a vote. We should study candidates, we should pray, and we should vote in the way that we believe God is leading. We should also cry foul when we see the defenseless being oppressed. But, more than we are involved in politics for the sake of politics, we should be involved for the sake of the kingdom of Christ.

Stop all that (letter) cussin!!!

Alright, I’ll go ahead and tell you up front, I like to write blog entries that have some redemption at the end. But, since this one will likely lack that, I’m attaching a link to a video that DOES contain actual BAD language but has a redemptive point. It is audio so don’t play it around your children. :-) Just click here.


Now, since the beginning of time mankind has justified himself against everyone else around including God. We always like to use the term that "I’m doing better than , so I must be okay."  Well, for me there’s one particular sin that bothers my conscience but that I still flirt with just a little bit. (Oh, did I say one?) Ha. Here’s one of the sins. And, that sin is not always having wholesome language. In other words, I don’t like to be around people that swear or use bad language. And where I come from it’s called cussin’. I don’t like to be around cussin’, especially from women or young people. At a power plant, I’ll tolerate it. Not sure why on that last part. But, I really don’t cuss (very often).  And, it catches me off guard and bothers me to hear people that do (very often).

So, here’s my justification. If I want to say it but don’t actually do so, then I’m okay, right?  Ha! So, if I’ve adopted a system called letter cussin. Let’s say that you want to fight somebody. I don’t like to fight either. But, if I wanted to, I might say something like “I oughta kick you’re A.” Or if I’m just dumbfounded at the dumbness and the dumbnity of something (or someone), I might get that amazed look on my face and say something like “What the H?” But, that’s about it for me. A, B, D, H (and a very rare S) are enough. I stray away from the granddaddy of them all. I think it is a most offensive word and would rather stay around the fringe of cursing than get really bad by throwing out the bomb.  You know the one.  I don't use it.

For those that wanted to know, there’s my explanation of letter cussin.  So now, don’t make me mad and don’t do anything stupid or else I’ll have to break one out on ya.

Much love!!

Seven out of Ten

I heard this statistic a couple of weeks ago (didn't confirm it but heard it on the radio as the intro to a conference about helping break the trend). And, it broke my heart to hear it.  I’ve heard it before and it is disturbing.  I shutter at the thought of sharing, but here goes. Seven out of ten church attending men view pornographic material at least once weekly. By the sheer grace of God, I am in the three. I don’t take that lightly because I know that the temptation is always there for sexual impurity of any kind to creep into our lives. So again, it is by the grace of God so that all I can boast in is Christ and his work on the cross for being in the three rather than the seven.

Our bodies are demanding and they are prone toward what is wrong.  They urge us to turn from good to evil every moment of every day.  But scripture urges us that love God to 1) remain unstained from this world 2) confess our sin that we may be made whole 3) and to pray for those that are weak. So, pray for the seven. Sin is serious and it kills. Sexual sin kills individuals, it kills marriages and it destroys whole families.  So, men, put up a fight, it's worth it to prevent the shame that the enemy would bring into our lives.

And so no one thinks I'm exalting myself as better than anyone else, I will add this, being in the three doesn’t make me great.  I fight my own battle every day as Paul said, I discipline myself that after I have preached to others, I myself am not disqulified.  Trust me, I have enough mental images from my own corrupt past (and present) or from today’s mainstream media (from ‘Rated PG’ movies to the evening television drama) and even a casual walk or drive through the local community without ever seeing another naked body.  Some of the ladies make sure that there’s not much left to imagine when they suit up to go out into the public eye.  And, I have no control over that.  So, the struggle is real for me without a need to watch dirty movies or visit websites.  So, I make it my aim to follow the example of Job -- “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl…”  No matter what she's got on, I am pretty sure, it's not my job to examine her for anatomical correctness.

Dang, this was a tough one, but this is the stuff I think about.

much love my friends, much love!

Bad Customer Service

Another day, another encounter with the fine agents of Wal-Mart. I actually like the Wal-Mart that is nearest our house. I’ve had lots of good experiences there. But for some reason I chose to go to Wal-Mart 280 on the way homw Wednesday. While there, I realized that I have it good at the Chelsea Wal-Mart because they have all the things we need and in just the right package sizes. And, I bet their fried chicken is fresh and not all dried up like a raisin.

So, here I am, looking for Motrin which has apparently been recalled at all the local pharmacies. I didn’t know that but in case you didn’t know either, now you know. And, then I got the call from Ms Kimberly that her back hurt and she wasn’t fixing dinner so I better get something. Well, I stepped right up to the heat lamp in the middle of the store that had what was probably at one time a fine tray of fried chicken under it. It all looked like it was cooked 8 hours ago. So, I stepped on over to the deli where I THOUGHT (my bad) there might be actual factual “so fresh and so clean clean” fried chicken. Nope. It was cooked at the same time as that over there in the mobile heat lamp and the lady behind the counter had a major ‘tude.

She flinched not, and she smiled not, and she acknowledged not my very friendly “Hey! How are you today?” I took immediate offense. How could you live in the south and be unwilling to engage in the beginning of a good Southern conversation. I won’t belabor the point from here. But good customer service is a lost art. Why can’t people that are at work do the things that it takes to do their job well. If one customer upsets you, don’t take it out on the next customer. Be friendly! Be firm if you have to but be good to your customers if you’re in customer service. It goes a long way.

much love my friends, much love!

Road Rage

I’ve found myself becoming a competitive driver lately. I don’t know if it’s the 20 miles of highway that lie between my home and my office but I find myself being rude to other drivers, This is mostly in terms of seeing someone put their blinkers on to get over in front of me. What do I do? I speed up to prevent them from getting over. It’s a race from Chelsea to Birmingham and back again every Monday through Friday.

So Tuesday morning of this week, I stopped at a traffic light. As I approached the light I got into the left lane because traffic had to start uphill from the light and there was a 18 wheeler in the right lane. Meanwhile, two other fine citizens pulled right up behind the truck rather than getting behind me. When the light turned green the first of those two squeezed over in front of the car that was in front of me. Good for him. The next car was determined to pull over in front of me. I was equally determined (short of getting in accident) that she wasn’t. She won because she was perfectly willing to sacrifice her car, my car and the back part of the 18 wheeler in order to get over. But, her determination infuriated me to a point that I’m sure I letter cussed her in my head (I should write a blog on letter cussing, later). And, then I pursued and kept pulling up beside her to get her to look over at me. But, of course she wouldn’t.

I remained quite upset until I got to the office. At which point, I had to pray for forgiveness and a changed heart, for being too rude to let her over in the first place and then for harboring resentment toward her because she cut me off. I think this is the first time I’ve ever been that angry for such a petty offense on her part. And all this after hearing from Colossians 3 this week... Verse 8 says: But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Oh jolly!!! I think I pulled all of those into my Tuesday morning commute. Pray for me and hold me accountable. I know you will.

much love my friends, much love!

intro

well i fought it but alas i am starting a blog. the basis of the blog are my thoughts. if you want a cutesy family blog, see my wife's (that is if she'll share the link with you). how'd i get here? well, i used to have really good friends, but either they moved away (Scotty, Dereck and probably others) or i moved away from them (Veno, Reynold and probably many more). a guy needs an outlet of thoughts whether those thoughts are good, bad or ugly. so you'll find here my random thoughts and probably some poor punctuation like my dislike for using capital letters at the beginning of sentences where they probably belong. as the title says, i won't just wow you with all my good fluffy thoughts. i am a Christ follower, and i am one with many faults (consuming much grace) and it is my full intent for you to see my faults and hopefully we can grow together -- that is if you choose the follow this here blog.

much love my friends