Last night, my wonderful wife fixed me. I have this custom cyclocross bike that has no decals on it, so I thought it would be cool to order a custom made decal set to make it even more so an original. The decals that I ordered said, “INSANITY ELITE” for the bottom tube, and “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” for the top tube, and Man, I thought this was going to be cool. After I told my wife what I ordered, she calmly looked at me and asked, “So, how does that forward the cause of Christ?” I stood there with my mouth open, but nothing could come out. She was right, it didn’t do anything for the cause of Christ, and it didn’t bare good witness. My decal set has been canceled and re-ordered to say, “Live4Christ” for the bottom tube and, “Jesus Freak” for the top tube.

We must always remember that what we do reflects back on Christ…and can either move forward or backward His cause. So, do you want to be a help or a hindrance to the cause of Christ?

His Will

We paint this picture in our minds. We get it all set-up in our heads, how everything is supposed to go…and then poof…everything is upside-down and all wrong, well, according to us. We get so wrapped-up in the idea that God is in control, but when He doesn’t do it the way we think it should be done, we get angry or just confused. We start asking, “Why, God?” and “Isn’t this what you wanted me to do?” But we forget, “In His way” and “In His time.” We forget that He has a plan, and though we might not understand it, it is His plan. We need to stay the course and stay faithful to God’s will, that is where we belong…in His will.

Rise and Shine!!!!!

“If a man loudly blesses his neighbor in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.” - Proverbs 27:14

Need I say more?

Rodney

Jammed Airwaves

My back’s been hurt fairly bad for a little while now, and I’ve had to kind’a step back from a lot of my (Physical) activities. This has lead me to having more time to think about what’s really important…Time with God. It’s amazing how we’ve surrounded ourselves with stuff, not just possessions, but entertainment. How much time do we spend in front of the TV? How much time do we spend listening to music? How much time do we spend at the gym with head phones on? How much time do we spend with our brains clouded with stuff???

Psalm 37:7 states, “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him” and Psalm 46:10 reads, “Be still, and know that I am God” How is it then that we can fill our lives with so much noise, and then complain that we cannot hear God’s voice in our lives? It’s like a man that while he’s lighting up a cigarette, asking God to help him quit smoking. If we block out his voice with all of this stuff, we’re not going to hear him. We try and justify the noise, “Well, it’s Christian Music that I listen to!” Great, but have you taken the time to be still before the Lord? “But I only watch CBN!” Great, but have you taken time to be quiet and listen to God? I think there is a big reason that people before the industrial age were able to hear God’s calling more clearly then we do now. We all HAVE TO BE ENTERTAINED at all times in our life.

I’m just as guilty as the next man with this. It wasn’t until my wife made a comment about my new cell phone that I realized how drawn to entertainment I was. I just got a new Phone that had all kinds of media options that included Cellular Video (CV). It’s a cool phone, I can now watch Video TV anywhere…or is it cool? Have I been so distracted? Have I been off the mark? YES, I have. Not so cool anymore. I’ve also started (and not all the time, mind you, but most of the time) turning my radio off in my car when I go to and from work…Time with God. When I mow the lawn, I don’t where head phones anymore…Time with God. I try to keep the TV off as long as I can when I get home from work…Time with God. I’m not saying that everyone needs to do as I do, but the clarity in my life is getting so much better. When the airwaves aren’t jumbled, that single whispering wave, the Spirit of God can be heard. Stop and listen.

Rodney

Why do Christians… (Part 1)

…believe in the Six Day Creation Theory?

In the book of Genesis, when the statement is made, “God created the…” The Hebrew word for “created” that is used literally means “created from nothing” or “Spoken into existence” which understandingly is a hard thing to swallow when it comes to critical thinking. However, when you add in that God is an all powerful God, meaning infinite in power and ability, we have to take away all physical boundaries that we as humans have. In other words, He speaks and it happens or it exists. The other way of thinking on Gods infinite Power, is by understanding that our level of or our ability to understand is limited due to a maximum brain capacity. If for example, you take a business card, and say that the business card represents the maximum level of understanding of the smartest and wisest man in the world; God’s level of understanding in comparison is the size of the universe. So, trying to figure out how God creates something from nothing is like an army ant trying to figure out space travel. This doesn’t mean that a Christian doesn’t use critical thinking. We are inquisitive, we do ask questions like, “Wow, God, how did you do that?!” And though God may not give us the how, through the Bible and Prayer, we can find out the one question that Science (which may someday give us the how) can never answer, “Why?” We believe in the six day creation, not because we've given up on critical thinking; we believe in the six day creation because that is were critical thinking has lead us, to an all powerful God.

Rodney

Answering Their Questions

It’s interesting to me how we as Christians treat the Non-Christian and their questions. We sometimes forget that some of the people that we are talking to were not raised in the Church. They don’t have a solid foundation in anything spiritual. So, how do we reach them in a manor that is not overwhelming or pushy in it’s approach? Let’s get real folks; we often come off as raving loons that try to cram Christ down their throats with very little thought of the big picture. Then when they tell us to get out of their face, we take offence, brush the dust off or feet and leave, thinking that we’ve planted a seed…well, not so much.

The Non-Christian mind doesn’t think the way you and I do. Matter of fact, most Non-Christians think that you are trying to get them to go to YOUR specific church, which in some cases (not all)…GUILTY AS CHARGED! As much as you are trying to lead people to Christ, if there is an underlying attempt to get them into your Church, you’ll more often then not, loose them and quick. You might ask, “How do you know this?” Because I was one of them; I was an adult Non-Christian that couldn’t stand to have people invite me to THEIR Church. It was always, “Come to our Church and see! Our pastor will…blah, blah, blah.” At that point I was lost. I didn’t need to hear how their pastor was going to answer questions…I needed Christ in my life!

The question you need to ask yourself is; are you leading people to Christ because you care about their salvation, or because you’re trying to fill pews at your local church? If you’re trying to fill pews…you’re on the wrong path. You have to care about their salvation…you have to LOVE people, which is why Paul told us that love was the greatest gift of the Spirit; without love all others are useless. Now, don’t get me wrong, bring a friend to Church to help lead them to Christ is not an over-all bad idea, but you might want to call the pastor first and see what the sermon is going to be about. There’s nothing that turns a non-believer off more then a good deep sermon on the evils of drinking or living a sinful lifestyle. It’s better for them to hear a “Good News” Sermon; how about giving them the salvation story first.

Other things that need to be thought about are the ways in which we approach the non-believer. If I give the non-believer the idea that I want him/her to change their way of thinking RIGHT NOW! They’re lost; they become unreceptive to anything that I’m telling them from that point on. However, I’ve found that simple discussions on topics like, “Here’s why Christians believe what they believe.” Or, “Here’s why Christians try so hard to convert other people to Christianity.” Or, “Here’s why Christians believe their way is the only way.” Tell it in a manor of, “Here’s our point of view,” not, “You should believe what I’m saying because….” This usually brings on a multitude of questions from the non-believer…which is not a bad thing. If they’re asking questions, they want to know who Jesus is…they’re seeking.

When the non-believer starts asking you questions, always start out with, “If I can’t answer a question, I’ll find it and get back to you.” You don’t have to be a PHD to tell someone what Jesus has done in your life. You just have to know where to find the answers.

Tell people why we believe, tell them about what he has done in your life, and most of all tell people that we love them.

Rodney

The Joy Thief

"However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name." - 1 Peter 4:16 (NIV)

For the last two weeks I’ve been working the swing shift at work (3:00pm – 2:00am). I found out tonight that I was going to have to come in at 6:00am tomorrow morning and be here all day then through my normal swing shift. So in laymen’s terms, I’ll get home tonight at 2:00am, have to be back to work at 6:00am (that’ll be after only 3 hours of sleep) and then work from 6:00am until 2:00am and then finally get to go home. So, on three hours of sleep I’ll have to work a twenty hour work day.

Anyway, I was getting a bit down about the whole ordeal, and I’ll have to admit a bit irritable, when I realized, being angry was not helping my situation one bit. Why should I let my boss’s steal my joy?

Some times things get hard and out of our control. We cannot let these things get us down, because that’s when the devil get’s to us. When we become angry and irritable, we become quick to speak and slow to listen. We become defensive and sometimes down-right mean, and letting our frustrations out on others is bad for the Christian witness.

This can be a hard thing for a lot of Christians to get through, and why is that? Part of the reason, we don’t spend enough time praising God in the good times. If we never praise him in the good times, how will we remember to praise him in the bad? This is a question that we all need to ask ourselves, “Have I thanked God today for loving me and giving me the gift of salvation?” Thank God every day for giving you another day to achieve the purpose that he called each and every one of us to, being his children.

Rodney

Older Child Adoption

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” - James 1:27

In the U.S. alone there are thousands of Children living in foster homes and group homes that now qualify for adoption. I will be the first to tell you, that they do arrive with emotional issues, separation anxiety, learning disabilities and some physical disabilities. These children have been neglected, physically abused, emotionally abused and even sexually abused, most by the very people that brought them into the world. Allowing these children to grow to adulthood as wards of the state, without a forever family is troubling. Here lately in the news we’ve heard a couple big cases where some of these children were even being abused in there foster homes, this is due to the lack of availability of proper homes for these children. We as Christians have a responsibility to lend a helping hand, either as foster parents or adoptive parents.

Nikki and I looked to the guest room that spent most of it’s time unused and made a decision that, not only was it time for us to have a child, but it was time for us to answer God’s calling to, “look after orphans” as James wrote in his epistle. We started the adoption process approximately nine months ago and we are only a few weeks away from our son, J coming to live with us on a permanent basis! It’s very exciting, and the transition period is going much smoother and taking less time then his therapist and social worker thought. There is a true anointing from God on this adoption which has been an amazing and exciting experience! I had originally had doubts, doubts about myself; would I be able to love an adopted child as my own? Will I be able to handle a child with emotional/anger issues? Will I make a good dad? The answer to all three of these questions is, “yes.” All I had to do is place all of these doubts at the feet of Jesus, and how he has blessed us. J volunteered (all on his own) to pray at dinner time last Monday night. He has changed from a little boy trying to act tuff into a little boy.

These Children need our help, even if it’s one child at a time. Are you willing to open a place in your home? Are you willing to open a place in your heart? Please, be a part of the healing process for these children. Help turn their wounds into beauty marks.

Rodney

Reasons

This first entry is very special to me, it's the reason why I decided to start this Blog and it’s something that is very near and dear to my heart. It’s about misunderstanding, and it’s about reason…our reason, the Christian reason for spreading the Gospel, the reason for spreading the Good News. And I cannot forget, it’s the reason behind telling the lost the truth about Heaven and the truth about Hell; the truth about salvation and the truth about condemnation.

The Canoe Trip

Two men decide to go down river in a canoe for a fishing trip. Nether of the men knew anything about the river they were about to embark on, but they figured, “What could go wrong?” they were just going on a fishing drift. As they were floating down the river they were catching a multitude of catfish, and were having the time of their lives, not recognizing that the water was moving faster. An experienced river guide spots these men from shore and decides to…

Now, let’s say you’re that experienced river guide on shore, and you know that there’s a 75 foot waterfall approximately 500 yards down river, what do you do?

a) Yell out and warn the men to come to shore, that there’s a vicious waterfall ahead.
b) Just pray for them, that somehow God will miraculously lead them safely ashore.
c) Do nothing; I wouldn’t want to stop there fun.
d) Do nothing; they’re not hurting anyone but themselves.
e) Do nothing; they may not like me anymore if I interfere with they’re lives.
f) Do nothing; if they were stupid enough to go on the river with no experience, they deserve what they get.

Now ask yourself, which of those answers shows the most love for the men in the canoe? The sad thing is, we “Do nothing” everyday with our friends and family that are headed down a river toward Hell, simply because we don’t want to offend them, they’re not hurting anyone but themselves, or we wouldn’t want to stop their fun. Sometimes we just opt to just pray for them and other then that still do nothing.

I personally would rather offend someone telling them about Jesus, because I love them, then their blood being on my hands because I decided to do nothing.

True followers of Christ love lost people enough, to take action and tell them about Christ Jesus. We love them enough to tell them the truth about Heaven and Hell; we love them enough to tell them about Salvation and Condemnation; we love them enough to tell them we love them.

Rodney

Biblical References For This Post:

1. Matthew 5:43-48
2. Matthew 10:14-16
3. Matthew 28:18-20
4. Mark 16:15-16
5. Acts 20:25-27