Why Christ?

I have had many opportunities to share with others about our Jesus. I have had a broad (but typical) set of responses. Challenges to actual sinfulness, divinity of Christ, why blood, why Christ and many other things. The facts are very simple but yet we apply faulty logic to the situation. Logic, that if used anywhere else in life, we would be ridiculed and appear as great fools. Yet, for some reason, in matters dealing with our eternal destination we apply this faulty logic and somehow it's OK there?! I want to take this time to talk about a few discussions I have had over the past several years with some people. First off, many people challenge the laws of God, they question the sanity, validity and reasoning or logic that brought them into being. One such law is the penalty of sin. We have this flaw in our rebellious human thinking that says we are allowed to question, rebel and reject laws we don't agree with or like. There are many laws, absolutes if you will, that we have complete faith in on a daily basis - in fact we depend on them for our existence. Take gravity for example, how many of you have woke up in the morning with an overwhelming passion and angst against gravity? We don't ever do that, we trust it. In fact, most of what gravity is can't be truly explained in detail - but that doesn't cause us to doubt it or test it in different ways - we accept it as a higher law of physics. My belief or lack of belief in something does not change it's state of being or it's validity or my subjection to it. I can believe all I want that gravity isn't real but when I jump off the cliff I am painfully aware of this law I challenged all my life. It's the same with other laws of God. The law of blood to cover for sins is a law of God. To break God's law, that life is required of them. I didn't create this law and someone's choice to believe in it or act according to it doesn't change the law or it's truth. The same as my challenge or intellectual attack on a 30 MPH speed limit will not change the fine amount when I break it. In God's gracious nature, He set up a way to fulfill the law, should someone choose to follow the prescription. He set up a response to the law of blood that says that someone can take our place. We understand this somewhat clearly, there are many people out there that I would gladly stand up for to protect them from the consequences of breaking a law - but there are also many people I wouldn't stand up for in breaking a law. God did that personally for us - out of His love for us He sent His Son to die for us and take the punishment of the sins we have chose to let rule over our lives. The other part of Christ dieing for us is that He died for all. He perfectly lived and did not deserve one ounce of the punishment my sins, or even the sins of the world. He was and is the only one to have lived this life perfect and thereby able to carry all of our sins away and remove them from us should we ask Him. Even though many choose to curse His name, many choose to blaspheme Him, insult Him and spit in His face - He died for them also. Knowing that in some way or at some time they would truly see He truly loved them and has been seeking to get back in a relationship with them. He is so passionate about it that He went to the extreme to come here as a man, show us the way in a world full to the brim with false ways we have created to get to Him. Coming here as a man, and setting aside his rights and privileges as the Almighty God He, Jesus, showed us the way to finally and perfectly enter back into communion with our Creator. What a beautiful story of love - I can't see a more perfect example of unconditional love but that of Jesus. He came while I hated Him and died so that at some time I would respond to His goodness and love Him back and become close to Him again. God established this gift that all I need to do is accept it. To accept it is to begin to follow God, just as we were intended to do. But, just as with any gift in our lives, we can choose to not accept it. It is truly a choice. The sad thing is that we run around in our pride and arrogance trying to prove that we can get to heaven or get to God in our own prescribed way. That's incredibly foolish - but yet many people subscribe to this lifestyle. If you had never met me and you get a phone call one day that says come to my house and then I hung up that's pretty cruel. There is no other information and now you are set out to hunt down who I am, where I live and somehow get there. That's cruelty beyond what I could imagine - it's an unattainable goal! But God - He loved us enough to not only call us to Him, but give us directions and instructions to guide us safely to Him. What will our choice be? Continue to challenge the absolute truths we are presented with or accept them knowing that we truly need what is being offered? All have sinned, we have to do something about it. We can't carry it - we have proven that over an over again. It's a weight we can't bear. We attempt to cover the pain and frustration from doing it but in the end, we are still trying to do something about it on our own. We have a gift that is free to us - we need only accept it and begin walking it out. What's your choice?

Awake O sleeper....

My heart has been burning like Jeremiahs, it's like a fire shut up in my bones.....

I have some ideas and thoughts that need to be expelled - soon, very soon. So stay tuned...

Where is the truth?

In reading the stats on the ezraproject.net page I wasn't surprised at all, but it was further confirmation from the evidences I have seen throughout my life. Here's the stats I read:

* Only 16% of Americans read the Bible daily
* Only 29% of men and 43% of women say they read the Bible either weekly or daily
* 75% of Christians overlook the Bible when shaping their worldview
* 41% of Americans rarely or never read the Bible anymore

That's sobering when you read it. Some may say "that's no big deal" - but if you know and cherish the Word like I and others do, you can never respond that way. There are so many evidences, the list is nearly endless of evidences, with the archaeological evidences being unearthed often, that solidify the claims of the bible as true. The testimonies of hundreds of thousands of people as to the life-changing truth in the bible can't be refuted. Just in the past year I have watched the truth of God's Word transform several people in my life. Nothing I could have said or done would have done what the Word of God did in their life. I couldn't have explained to them the feeling or the power that is known through knowing His Word - it had to be experienced - by faith.

If we agree that Satan is against the church (the Christ-followers), than you must admit that much of these statistics are in direct correlation to his own plans to remove truth and provide deception in it's place. What better way to marginalize "christians" and leave the rest of the world grasping at every passing wisp of "truth" for some sort of foundation to life than to remove absolute, life-giving truth from their lives? Socialism/communism/humanism have as a kingpin to their regulations a removal of the Truth - just another ploy of our great enemy of our souls.

My challenge in all this is what am I going to do in my life that can help change this statistic for the better? Here are a few things that I am challenged with:

* Read the bible daily, but not just for readings sake, but for transformation. The bible is written for our transformation, not information. Go into it as a treasure seeker would - having faith I WILL find truth - transforming truth.

* Read the bible to my family regularly. Spend lots of time studying God's word with my children - help solidify the life-changing truth in their lives. Take time away to study the word 1-on-1 with my wife - we need to be unified in and by the truth of God!

* Constantly evaluate my walk according to God's word:
Ephesians 5:10-12
10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.
I need to make sure that the bible I am communicating to others is clear and uninhibited by hypocrisy and rationalization (I may be the only bible that some people read - thereby the only truth that could draw them to Christ)

* Constantly evaluate my environment (i.e. - know what's coming, not so I can live a sterilized life, but so I can be ready for the spiritual battle)
Colossians 2:8
Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ

* Share the truth with others - knowing the Word, I can't help but share the truth with others. How can I watch the pathetic excuse for purpose that the devil has proposed to this world and not seek to displace it? EVERYONE is seeking for truth - when they are presented with it they WILL react, I can't be surprised but encouraged knowing that the persons soul is caused to think.

May God work these out in me - by His grace and power.

I challenge whoever is reading this to the same - where is the bible in your life? Is it a token of your religion or is it the very rock and foundation of your daily walk of life?

Bonjou

I have been in Haiti for a week now. My amazement hasn't stopped. In some aspects it's surreal to be back. I didn't think I would really be able to come back here. Praise You God. In other ways, I am amazed how God is continually moving in this church. God has anointed Seige as a pastor and leader. Him, his team and everyone here are doing mighty mighty things. It is incredible. Last week was spent at their young adult retreat. We were able to integrate into the whole event in such a supernatural way. We had amazing small group time, even with the language barrier. We had testimonies a few of the nights. People giving up old lives, people getting saved. It was incredible. I am tearing up right now in joy just typing this. God is amazing, the gospel is powerful no matter what language, no matter what color. Jesus loves us...He really does. We can't ever forget that. All he wants, all he has ever wanted was to get back with His love. This next week we will be serving at the church and at a few orphanages. I know God has amazing things for us this upcoming week and I can't wait. On a personal note, I miss the heck out of my family :) Also, my creole is growing like crazy, I have been able to have meaningful conversations fully in creole, and if you know me, that's an INCREDIBLE blessing for me. Praise God. I am journaling each day the details and hope in the next few weeks to get parts here on the blog to share God's glory and power that is moving with force through Haiti from Calvary Chapel Port-au-prince. Orevwa, e Bondye benye ou.

Haiti - 2009

Good morning all, in a few hours I will be getting in a van with 11 others to head to Haiti for a 12 day mission trip. We will be going to work with Pastor Seige at Calvary Chapel Port-au-prince, Haiti. We will be involved with a young adult retreat, village churches, the local church, a few orphanages, and many "Spiritually Spontaneous" things. I email this to ask for your prayers. Our team has already (and is still going through) gone through spiritual attack upon spiritual attack and we need and covet your prayers. God has really grown a bond that I know Satan despises. Here is our prayer request:

- Please pray for: unity, open hearts, safety, joy, filling of the Holy Spirit, health, spiritual protection, effectiveness, wisdom and God's favor

Bondye benye ou

In the name of....

John 14:14 (New King James Version)
14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

So many times we read this verse for what we want to see in it instead of what's actually in it. I don't want to talk about the context in detail. Just one note about it, this verse was explicitly spoken to a special group of men (the disciples) and a disciple is to have their life totally sold out to Christ. Hence, the reason why this verse was applicable to them. Ok, now onto the portion I wanted to discuss. This is Jesus talking to His disciples. If I ask anything He will do it. Oh wait, no...it says, if I ask anything IN HIS NAME, He will do it. So what, I end my prayer with "in Jesus name, AMEN" I am good right? Was the prayer answered? "No, not really, but that's normal, I just kinda pray because I feel better and I know I am supposed to" I struggle with this mentality myself. I pray out of duty and not out of a desire to talk with God or to genuinely place a need before Him. So when I pray I struggle with expecting it to be ignored or go unanswered. Totally my fault, I will admit that, but what am I doing wrong? Well, the beauty of God's word is that it always has an answer, we need only look. In the same chapter, a few verses previous, Jesus gave us the explanation of "asking in His name: John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" Ok, so we know that only by Jesus can we approach the father. We also know that the father is who we are praying to when Jesus taught us how to pray by what we call "The LORD's Prayer" He starts it out with "Our Father, who art in heaven" I think I have the overall concept down in my mind, practicing it in spirit is another thing entirely. So, here goes:
I heard a great analogy in a book titled "The power of prayer and the prayer of power" he went about it like this: To come to the Father we must come in Jesus' name. Because by our own name we were rejected, and will always be. If you wanted to talk to a very high up official in a corporation or in government, how do you get in to see them? The easiest name is to name-drop. "Hi, I want to talk to the president, I know so-and-so" Knowing this high-up official has now enabled you to come in their name. The same is true for our relationship with the Father. We come to Him, not because of who we are or what we have done, but because of what Jesus has done and who Jesus is. My attitude must be one of total humility in Jesus and what He has done for me. This attitude must carry on in prayer. When I approach my holy God, I come to Him THROUGH Jesus, not through myself.

Let me close with this:

- God wants to answer our prayers
- God can answer our prayers
- God will answer our prayers
- God the Father is who I am praying to
- God the Son is who I am praying through
- God the Spirit is who prompts and ministers to me in prayer
- To get to the Father (in prayer) I must go through Jesus (name drop my Savior)

Mirror of God

In my prayer time today God gave me a fresh sight of what He means by us being salt and light. I have used the analogy before that we are like the moon, but wasn't able to personalize it enough. I see us better now as mirrors. There are 2 things that have to happen for a mirror to be used properly. First, it needs to be at the right angle to reflect the light or image. If I am living my life at my own pace, at my own whims and according to my own desires, the angle of that mirror is off. I am not reflecting God to this world but a hideous distortion of Him and myself. So my first issue is to get the mirror off of myself and angle it or point it towards God. The second issue to deal with is the reflectivity of the mirror. In other words, how clean and clear is the glass so that the image or light being portrayed is clear and perceivable. Have I let the world come up and dirty up the glass? Have I myself begun to not keep it up. We are told to work out our salvation with fear and trembling in Philippians 2. I see keeping this mirror clean as one of those items we need to work at. Again, with the mirror not clean, as with the bad angle, what is seen is distorted and confusing. Is that not a picture of this world today? Do they not have a distorted and confused view of the Christian community as a whole? Do they not then pass that on to their interpretation of God? Brothers and sisters, what are we reflecting in our lives and claiming "it's Jesus!"????????

Foe or friend

In my previous post I talked about being a friend of God and what that means in relation to heaven admittance. I now address the "foe" portion. Many people ask the question "If God is so loving, how can he send a person to hell" This is a question that is so often asked but I'm sad to say it isn't always well answered by many. The statement is flawed in many ways, let me address a few. Number one, God doesn't send a person to hell. Here's the deal, no matter what anyone believes (belief doesn't change an absolute - i.e. - if I jump off a building believing I will fly, I still splat on the ground) we have two choices for our eternal resting place. One being spending it with our creator, friend and most of all LORD. The second is in hell with our tempter, destroyer and lord. We spend our time in eternity with who we chose to follow in this life. If we choose to follow satan then we get to be with him, it's that simple. You say though, "I didn't choose satan." You didn't? Sure you did, if you didn't choose God, you chose satan. "Well that's narrow minded", you say. Is it? It may be but it's true. There are many many roads to take to get to satan, but only one to get to God. "See, you're being narrow minded again" Am I? If I said "To get to the south pole from Florida you have to go south" you would agree right? Right. You narrow minded person!!! I don't want to go south, not in any way, I want to go east and east alone. "You can't" you say. That's what you think! I think I can get there going east. "But you can't!" Yes I can. "How can you say that?" I feel like it's the way for me, you can go south if that works for you but I am going east. (See how stupid this sounds?) Think of it in a spiritual sense........................how many ways are there to heaven?

Friend or foe

When I get to heaven, my "admittance" to the glorious place of tales, of dreams and of truth won't be because I was a good person. It won't be because I said a prayer, or that I went to church and actually enjoyed it too. It won't be because I had a favorite bible verse or talked about God to other people. While all those things are evidences of the "ticket" to get admitted, they are not the ticket at all. My "ticket" to heaven is Him (Jesus) knowing me personally and I, Him. See, when I get to heavens gates and stand there before the Father, my best friends (Jesus) will say "Father, he's ours, come on in Joe" If he doesn't know me, why should I be let in, if some random person comes to your front door you don't let them in, you will turn them away. But if you knew them (say a long time friend or family member) you would immediately identify with them and let them in. Think of it this way, if you didn't think enough of God to pursue Him for a few short years on this earth, why would you want to spend eternity with Him doing the things you avoided for years upon years? You never wanted to read the bible, in heaven that same word is proclaimed all day every day. You disliked church for the most part, in heaven it's 24/7 ultra church. You didn't like most Christians, in fact the ones who were all into the bible and God you thought were fanatics, heaven will be loaded with fanatics (mediocrity doesn't exist in heaven) If you are sitting there reading this and say you are fine, you don't have to be some fanatic person to get into heaven I ask you this: What does it take to get into heaven then?

Relationship with God façade…don't you think he knows?

This is something that is so crazy that really hit me a few months back.....How much do we live our lives focused on trying to keep up our appearances with others? Too much most likely. I ask another question, how much do we live our relationship with God that way? We try to keep up appearances with Him. We try to trick Him into thinking that we are ok with Him, that we are so close and so blessed and so....you know the drill. Why do we do that? How stupid is it for us to try to front with the Creator of our lives and knower of our every thought and desire?

God and His grace

It's been a while since I posted here. The reason is, I had back surgery and have been playing catch up. I went to a place called Laser Spine Institute and had the work done. The staff were amazing and the whole experience was just awesome. As I sat in the pre-op room and was speaking with my surgeon he mentioned changing the procedure that was originally planned and what was so cool was that I had perfect peace when he was finished explaining the new procedure. I thank my family, friends and brothers and sisters unknown or unnamed for their prayers, God answered them in front of my eyes with the surgery change. I am convinced that if I had gotten the previously planned on surgery I would be in horrible pain still and would be going back. Over the past week I have felt some pains come back though, it sent me into some despair and depression that my back was going to return to normal. I wasn't praying much, more of just complaining. I had a friend call me this past Sunday evening and check on me and my post surgery status. I told him that I was a bit down and had some pains back. He then proceeded to tell me that it was completely normal because my nerves had been impacted and compressed for so long they have alot of damage that has to heal. I felt so much peace come over me from that. God in His grace and mercy chose to give that to me. I most assuredly didn't deserve it (even on our best day we don't deserve His grace and mercy) but He gave it. I will never understand why He does what He does, but I am thankful. God, I thank You for Your fully unmerited favor. I love You!

To seek and save the lost

Over the past week I have been challenged on my mindset on the lost (to be more specific, the people that are following satan to hell) I began to pray for my heart to be broken for them, for my eyes to see them as Jesus does. In those prayers and thoughts I really became frustrated with myself and the church as a whole. Brothers and sisters, we have failed. We (as His church) have taken the call of God to reach this world for Jesus and done very little with it. You may say, "you're wrong! we have missionaries, we have churches galore, etc etc" I say, "yes, and your neighbors are going to hell" That may be harsh, but that's how I deal with myself. Isn't it time we got our focus and our purpose back? Isn't it time we finally said that satan has enough?!?! Do you agree? As a church, we have failed this nation, we have given the role of changing lives over to legislation and court rulings. NO! It is OUR job! We are the world changers, not politicians. There never has been and never will be a politician that changes this world to what God intended. I ask brothers and sisters, check your heart today, ask God to break it for the lost. His heart is broken, aren't we to have the same heart that is in Christ Jesus?

To live for Christ or to die for Christ....

We all remember the shootings in Columbine, they were eerie and sad. For those of us that love Jesus we were even more affected. We remember that there was a key statement that permeated the whole event, it was a question asked by the shooter. "Do you believe in God?" In this case, there was an opportunity to die for Christ. What an honor to die for our precious Lord! But I ask of us all, would you die for Him? Most people who have a decent relationship with Jesus would say "YES!" and I believe them too. I now ask this question, would you live for Jesus? All those who said "YES!" still say the same thing, but do they know what that means? Living for Jesus means that all of my wants and desires are last, His are now first. I know, that is cliche, so let me put it this way. How many of you lower the volume on your stereo that is blasting a teaching or some worship when you get to a stop light? I mean, you don't want people who just don't understand it to hear right? I ask these questions of myself also. When you are talking to someone at work about your weekend, will you say church and friends and other things in a normal tone, but when you say bible or Jesus or God or Spirit you look to your side and say it with a hushed tone? What about when someone makes a statement that is against God or Jesus or christians, and they want you to defend it do you just blush and brush it off? What if a bum comes up to you asking for money with a really lame excuse as to why they are on hard times, do you give them money? Do you act really nice and buy them a meal? Do you share with them that there is a life of endless victory and peace? I am challenged by this, I fully believe that is is much harder to live for Christ than to die for Him. I challenge you today, live for Jesus, truly be that living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to the Lord. When you pray, ask for THY will to be done, not thy will. This is the day the Lord has made, Lord, what do you want me to do with it?

Abortion is murder..........

On my way home today, I drove by three people peacefully holding signs up that said "choice is murder" and "when a mother chooses abortion, she kills her child" and "abortion: america's holocaust". Signs with messages I fully agree with, I can think of many other things that are true pertaining to abortion. I really have no problem with that raw truth. I began to think about what they were doing though. In many ways I don't really see what they are trying to accomplish. Because stating raw fact is only part of the solution. I am all about telling someone what the problem is, but there is no point in that if you aren't stating the solution to that problem. I bet if you were to take a poll of the women who have had abortions, you wouldn't have to go too far into it to find that they truly knew what they were doing. Abortion is a selfish and fearful thing, there is no doubt about that but if you cover it with rationalization you have the recipe for one of the most accepted, heinous and delusional crimes committed in this country, the murder of a truly innocent child that God ordained to be conceived before time began. But you say, "she was raped and conceived, how could you make her look at the product of such a horrible event" Are you telling me that committing murder so you don't want to possibly deal with a bad memory? Continue on, and see that there is a solution to the root problem. These poor women are being lured into a false solution to a "problem" and are so lost, confused and fearful. They don't need a sign, they need a Saviour. They need to know that if they have aborted a baby (or few) they don't have to hold that guilt or that pain anymore, there is forgiveness, there is peace to remove the pain and weight of that choice. The women who haven't committed that abortion yet, they don't have to go through with it. God WILL provide, He always does, we just don't look for it or trust Him enough to ask. There are always some who may say "well the baby would probably be better off" that may be so, but who are we to decide that?! God has a perfect plan for each of His creations. And it is humanism that says we have the right to choose when our last breath is. Friends, if I still draw breath, God has a purpose for every atom in my lungs. The same is true for that life inside the scared and confused mother. I can name many people who were used powerfully and mightily by our awesome God who were illegitimate or abandoned. They never would have been had they been murdered in the safest place God designed, the womb. There are people in my church that I know are here today because the mother chose to trust God outside the abortion clinic. Sure, it was an overwhelming situation, an unwanted or unplanned for pregnancy, but God will provide. Reliant K says it so simply "don't ever underestimate my Jesus"

To those who have or are considering an abortion and don't know this God, know this, He is here for you and cares for you and for that life. Turn to Him and ask Him to give you peace and provide your needs. Follow Him today and begin to listen for His voice by talking with Him in prayer and reading His letter to us, the Bible.

Prayer methods....

Many of us have heard of the "prayer method" of "A.C.T.S." (you start with Adoration, then Confession, then Thanksgiving, then Supplication) But in my prayer time this morning I started out praying with C first. Not sure why, my heart was heavy and I wanted to give it all up to Jesus. I guess you could call it the C.A.T.S. method. It made sense actually, so many times I can't really get my heart right to adore God in prayer until later. As soon as my heart opened up confessing sins to Him, I really desired to adore Him. I then thought of:
Isaiah 59:1-2
1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear.

And this method became much more clear to me, maybe we should try the C.A.T.S. method, obviously this isn't the only way to pray, but it's a great way to guide you sometimes.

THY will be done?

On my ride home from work today I was thinking about how I pray. Something struck me as odd when I was praying about the hurricanes in reference to God's will. We all pray "but Lord, Your will be done" what are we praying there? In most cases, when we pray that phrase we aren't referring to God's permissive will, we are referring to His divine, unquestionable, "gonna be done" will. So what should we really be praying then? Has that phrase become cliche with us now? I think a better statement that we can truly benefit from is "Lord, help me to submit to Your will and trust Your will in this matter" I think that gets the heart of the matter across more clear and honest than to use the phrase "Your will be done" I think that is to be our attitude in our heart, but that attitude can't happen if we don't first trust it and submit to it....

the humanism in me, the humanism in you..

I had the opportunity to listen to a teaching my dad sent me by Paris Reidhead, he was a pastor and missionary in the mid-1900's. The message was titled "10 Shekels and a shirt" (You can find it here) The scripture he read from was in Judges. He spoke with passion about how humanism has crept into every aspect of our life as Christians. Simply put, humanism is that the end for man is happiness and we see God as a means in our life and not the glorious end. Too much of this world is in us today, but yet we don't see it. In our life we let things in (we even let them reign) that would make the early church cringe, something that would make Paul write another "letter-to-the-galatians" to you, but nothing changes. I don't think we realize how holy God really is. If we did, we wouldn't watch the tv we watch, we wouldn't watch the movies we watch, we wouldn't speed that 5-over, we wouldn't roll past the stop signs; but not only because we are afraid to sin, but because we owe God so much, that a life striving towards His holiness is the least amount of love I can show...think about this in your life, I am thinking about it in mine. But some may say, oh, your so legalistic, we live in grace grace GRACE! If you believe that you can continue to sin so that the grace abounds, HEAVEN FORBID! Your Saviour, your LORD, your REDEEMER deserves your love, attention and obedience, it can not and should not be an option in our life. He lived AND died for me, the least I can do is live for Him. There will be choices, yes, but the choice must be easy. Love God? Love me?

Dinner with the Poteaus...

Tonight my family had the privilege to have Seige and Dinette Poteau (Seige is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Port-au-prince, Haiti) over for dinner tonight. They are visiting for a week and will be returning to Haiti this Friday (God willing) It was such a blessing to see Seige again and talk with him. I had the blessing of going to the church a few months ago and teaching the leaders with Pastor Dave from Calvary Chapel Melbourne here in Florida. We got to talk about what God is doing in the church there and catch up on what God is doing in each others lives. It was the highlight of the day being with them. To close the night out, we all sat together on the couch and all of my boys wanted to pray for them before they left and went back to Haiti. What a blessed father I already am. They hugged Seige and Dinette and saw them off. May God bless them!

I hate politics

With political battles looming, one question I have had for a long time is this: Why do churches choose to save money by being a non-profit entity (ie - tax-free) and give up their free speech rights? Should a church/pastor choose to pay taxes and speak freely from the pulpit? or not pay taxes and limit sermons? I some times think that the prior is a better option. Why? Because a pastor should have the ability to freely call out a candidate or party or something political and call it what it is (evil or good) At other times I think that people miss the boat by focusing so hard on politics and not enough on a heart change (we all know you can't legislate morality) Your thoughts?