If you’ve ever felt a need to be cut loose of the fetters of insecurity and burdensome regret?

Have you aimed high only to see the target free of marks and the casualties abound just short of the goal?

Do you wonder, what soothes the sting of failure when life has been less than ideal?

I’ve wondered such things and honestly have not cleared all remnants from the back room of my heart.  I was not raised in church but I was taken from time to time, mainly on holidays and special occasions.  As I approached my teen years I came in contact with the good news of Christ’s life and sacrifice for me.  I trusted him and began a journey that I am still traveling today.

As the years have passed I have found the shine of that decision fade. I have struggled numerous times with why such a wonderful gift such as life abundant should lose it luminescence. What lie at the heart of this battle was, as with many believers, the need for answers, became my God. Any hint of doubt or a need for explaining the unknown was the derailment of the joy of my walk with Christ.

Then, as if by design but with the feel of chance, I hit a pit, one which was deeper than my strength to climb out of. I began a journey that even today has more purpose and freedom than at any other stage of my life.

I write this little intro to ask you to consider your own walk in life. Maybe you’ve been religious or not. Possibly you have tasted some things you thought had the flavor of God. Just by chance, you may have decided that any thought of a divine being, or a god, has no place in your intellect. 

What ever the case, I am going to ask you for a few moments of your time, actually about 40 to begin with. I have read the writings of and heard the teaching of men and women, some have been helpful, others have been more academic.  I am thankful for the wide variety instruction.

This young man (he’s my age) helped me the most in the past few years of my voyage…

Check out this and if you like the first, feel free to watch the others…

 

http://northpoint.org/messages/free/it-s-worse-than-you-thought/

 

A word from one of my favorite "Max" writings...

This is really a great excerpt from Max Lucado’s book “No Wonder They Call Him The Savior”.

Our Forgiving Christ

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” ~Luke 23:34 NIV

Have you ever wondered how Jesus kept from retaliating against the mob that killed him? Have you ever asked how he kept his control? Here is the answer. It’s….this statement: “for they do not know what they are doing.” Look carefully. It’s as if Jesus considered this bloodthirsty, death-hungry crown not as murderers, but as victims. Its’ as if he saw in their face not hatred but confusion.  It’s as if he regarded them not as a militant mob but, as he put it, as “sheep without a shepherd.”

“They don’t know what they are doing.”

And when you think about it, they didn’t. They hadn’t the faintest idea what they were doing. They were a stir crazy mob, mad at something they couldn’t see so they took it out on, of all people, God. But they didn’t know what they were doing.

 

10 Random Thoughts That Make Me Think.... Or Chuckle...

Here are 10 thoughts about Church, Church People, Ministers and other Professional Christians...

They are not intended to be in any order, just recorded as I remembered them...

1. Why is it the guy who is healing everyone else has a hearing aid or a pair of glasses?

2. If people who were not like Jesus, LIKED Jesus, how come they don't like church people?

3. Oversaw on Facebook - Not going to church because of hypocrites is like not going to the gym because of out of shape people. (via my friend Chip)  This one will make you think a lot if you let yourself dwell on it...

4. Why is it that all the people who want you to believe that Jesus loves you are always telling you they hate you?

5. It is a shame the only time I really want to talk to God is after I should have been listening to him in the first place.  (for my friends who know I don't like to play the "mystical" game, God doesn't really speak to me in an audible voice, if he did, I would probably pass out and not hear him anyway)

6. This one from Andy Stanley, one of my favorite speakers and authors... If people think church is for church people, then we the church people need to reexamine our messaging. When grace is no longer front and center in the messaging and programming of the church, something else is." 

7. C'mon...  Admit it.... You're like me, you have fallen asleep at church...  Go ahead, confess it...  It will do you some good.   Now, you may not be like me and started snoring...  But then again...

8. Since there is no new thing under the sun how can there be so many "new things" to learn about God.  I find what I've learned about him in tough enough to live...  Did I mention that I think grace is a wonderful thing.  Oh that's right, it's next...

9. Grace is a wonderful thing!  Can't imagine life without it, can't believe I've tried to pretend I could earn it, sadly I forget it when dealing with other people...  Can I get an AMEN!

10. Here we go, this is the last one, not necessarily the least important...  If you, me and any other human can't earn our way to heaven, then why are we trying so hard to prove to others we're on our way there with a bunch of stuff that looks like roosters showing off in a barn yard?