ALL


God’s view of “perfect” has never and will never change.  We are the ones who have trouble defining that word.  And why do we have troubles defining “perfect”.   We struggle with that word because we’ve never seen it.  As He calls us toward His intent for us, let us remember and be assured that God desires what is truly good for us.  He does not leave us alone to figure it all out.  He is actively guiding us into what is “perfect”.  Where most people find failure in achieving what is good is that they take the responsibility of learning on themselves.  They make themselves the teacher.  Again, what does any man know of what is “perfect”?

Jesus walked this world as a “perfect” man.  And even though we might pour over the testimony regarding Him in the Bible, we might still not comprehend.  It is only when we allow Him to become our ALL that we begin learning.  Give Him ALL and allow Him to decide what is good and what is not.  Run the risk of losing it all?  Well yea!  Who knows better what is good, you or Him?  Answer to yourself: Who knows better what is right for me?  The One who made me and everything I’m required to live in, or the one who is limited by skin.

By His Grace.

Concrete Man


My feet plod along through this withering wind.

And my body is perched top them both.

There is stealth to my way which few comprehend.

But I promise you now with an oath.

If you’ve met this new that I’ve come to be,

Then you’ve stood near the One who is true.

Though my skin and my words are how you see me, 

The One who gives rest is near you.

I carry His word and His promises strong.

Though the wind around me shoves hard.

He has given me power to move forward headlong.

He has made much more than a card.

By His Grace.

The Calling of God (Being a Christian)


You’ve heard of people who say they are “Called by God” to do something.   But did you know every man and woman has a “Calling”?  Well, Yea!  The first calling you’re called to do is accept Jesus, God’s Son.  Some have termed it “Believe” in God’s Son.  And, certainly, there’s nothing wrong with that term.  But do people today understand the meaning of “Believe”?  Likely not.  Words and their real meaning aren’t very well applied these days. 

When we’re called to “Believe” it means, not only to understand that Jesus is the Son of God, but to put everything you are and own under His ownership.  After you’ve done that, everything you are and everything you own belongs to Him.  He has the exclusive right to do with you and your belongings as He sees fit.  This is what “Believing in the Son of God, Jesus, means.  I’d bet you’ve been told or understood it differently. 

The second “Calling” has to do with those who have given themselves to the leadership of Jesus.  And this calling is what most people associate with the word “Calling”.  Once He has accepted you as His disciple (student and servant), He will have certain tasks for you to accomplish for His Father’s Will.  Now, it might be that He will call you into a ministry or something rather obviously “Jesus”.  But it might also be that He will allow you to keep many of the current trappings you now possess.  Dunno. 

But regardless your “calling” from the Lord of Glory, the calling is a full time and continuous situation.  You no longer belong to yourself, regardless what you want to believe.  He can’t lie and He doesn’t take His calling back.  People might throw away the arrangement between Jesus and themselves.  But Jesus does not.  You will be held accountable for whatever task He has given you to do.

He has said that the “Wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear it’s sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit”.  This calling He has placed upon you will be such that you will not know what, exactly, He wants you to do next.  This is by design, lest anyone boast that they know the “Way” (Another misunderstood word).  You’ll need to submit yourself to His leading every second of every day if you want to know His will according to your “Calling”.

I just thought I’d clarify a few items regarding what it takes to be a Christian.

By His Grace.

The Deer


I watched helpless yesterday, as three dogs killed a deer on the other side of  the rushing water.  No sticks to throw.  No voice loud enough to drive them off.  No stones on the muddy bank to throw.  No gun.  And, in the end, there was no hope for the deer as she thrashed bellowing like a bear.  In a short time she would be no more.  And by the time I had arrived her legs had become useless.  Nothing I could have done would change her situation.   I ponder her fate.  How horrible to end her graceful life at the teeth of such ravaging. 

Now I ponder my own future when I too will encounter my last moments.  As all men will do.  Will I have lived for the Glory of He who never dies again?  What pain He endured at the hands of hateful men.  And He did it for us all.  Will I embrace my certain time as He? 

This Deer might have been food on the table of a hunter.  If the circumstances of her death were different.  And yet, look.  How has her death become a testimony for all of us.  Without her terror, this post would never had become.  Now we are left with a ponderous task.  Shall we pitty her and forget her in a moment as we go about our day’s tasks?   Or will we allow that her death impact us toward God’s throne.  May the Lord allow that her testimony of life entering death become a reminder to us that we too are bound for the same place.  And yet we are man, we are not animal.  We make choices.  She could not but obey.  And what is there in your life which the Lord might use to wake you from slumber?  Surely there are more testimonies regarding death.  This whole world yells out the message of God: “I made you that you might seek My face.  Look around you and listen to what is before you.  You will soon come to Me and receive the reward of your life.  What do you say regarding My Son?”

Lord, give me strength to see Your way.  I wish to do Your Holy will for the sake of Your Holy name.  Glorify Yourself in this man.  My time is surely coming.  And I, like all men, have never been to that place.  We are like grass in our way.  And You have determined the end of our days here.  This is a place of testing.  May I move through this place with the power of Your Glorious hand.  May Your Will be done forever.

By His Grace.

10 Minutes.


Take any 10 minutes from your life.  I’d advise the latest 10.  Because they are the ones you will remember best.  Now take time to write what you did, everything you did.  Take time also to write about your surroundings; sounds, sights, feelings, and thoughts.  Now write the why of what you have done and experienced.  Consider your past which brought you to those 10 minutes.  Write about your past and the past of those who have influenced you as you came upon these 10 minutes.  And if you have any more time in your life, write about what will come about because of these 10 minutes.

As we consider the magnitude of such writings, our mind becomes a fog with information.  No man can write the volume of information that comes from our last 10 minutes.  Yet God can.  He does, and will know you.  And, to add to His Majesty, He does this for every person who has ever lived.  Not to mention those yet unborn.  And He does this accounting in the blink of an eye.  How marvelous is God! 

So, if we can’t account (even by virtue of the limit of our time on earth) for a measly 10 minutes of our lives, why do we bother to judge the 10 minutes of other’s lives?  Are we not told to refrain from judging?  And isn’t this the reason?  What do we know, even of ourselves?  We are a flash in eternity.  Yet look at the complexity of our “flash”.

By His Grace.

God’s Voice


The Sovereign God of Glory,

if He spoke one word to you.

You would wither and die.

So He remains at a distance for your sake.

No man can bear the weight of guilt he has.

How’s that for patience.

When He spoke, the entire universe came to be.

How’s that for eloquence.

When He spoke to the Israelites, the mountain shook.

And fire consumed the top.

How’s that for power.

Yet see how much He loves you;

For He now speaks a barely audible whisper to His children.

How’s that for Grace.

Yet, when He speaks next in His normal voice to all which is created,

The entire creation will burn with a heat enough to melt the elements.

How’s that for finality.

Got ears on your head?

Got eyes in your head?

Got common sense about you?

Choose Jesus before the Father speaks, “Go”.

Thunder, lightning, smoke, and immediacy will ensue.

By His Grace.