Hurricane Michael

Hurricane Michael is making landfall as we type!! Category 4!!! Winds are sustained at 150 mph

and they're saying devastation and loss of life and property are certain.

We went to bed last night, it was at a Cat 1. This monster grew to a 4 overnight!!!

I asked our class here at DAEP to pray for Panama City, Florida today.

Fasting and Prayer..

Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, "when you fast, when you pray, when you give.." Jesus expected us to fast, pray, and give. God lead me in these areas of growth and discipleship.

Where's the Beef??

Looking for my killer instinct, dominant gene, my whatever-it-takes resolve!! I seem to have lost it somewhere along the way to gentleness, kindness, and learning to be content in all situations. I need to keep moving forward in my life. I have done well in healing from divorce, restoring broken relationships, being an involved and loving Dad, and accepting God's restoration back to ministry. But, I still lack the something to push faster, higher, and overcome some obstacles. God, give me the vision, strength, and stamina to make it happen.

Praying for Connie Christoph

Connie Christoph, wife of Jim and mother of Sarah and Jamey, has ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). They are friends of mine from back in the days of Warner Southern College (now University), South Lake Wales Church, and Barry/Dana Shick.

I am praying daily for her condition and family.

Mighty To Save

This has to be my newest favorite song these days:

John 16:31-33 (TNIV)

"Do you now believe? A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
- Jesus of Nazareth circa 30-33 A.D.

This of course is when Jesus is speaking to his followers about his death and how they will all leave him alone to suffer and die. I love the part, "In this world you will have trouble." OK - and your point is...

The point is clear in the next phrase. It is for them and us a glance of hope, a knot to hold onto, a glimmer of light in the darkest days..."But take heart! I have overcome the world." WoW!!! Say it again Jesus...I have overcome the world! One more time for those who know this text and line way too well..."I have overcome the world!!"

So whatever trouble we face, let's keep it straight...Jesus faced the world and won! If God raised Jesus from the dead, he too can raise you and I from the depths of hell and destruction, as long as we are breathing - there is hope. "Even though I walk in the shadow of death, you are with me..."

That's something to write home about, hang your hat on, and do a jig in the middle of the mall!

Chasing After You - Lifehouse

Tremendous song by Lifehouse called "Hanging By A Moment"

Desperate for changing
Starving for truth
Closer where I started
Chasing after you

I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm hanging by a moment here with you

Forgetting all I'm lacking
Completely and complete
I'll take your invitation
You take all of me

Now.. I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm hanging by a moment here with you

I'm livin for the only thing I know
I'm running here and crashing
Where to go?
And I don't know what I'm diving into
Just hanging by a moment here with you

There's nothing left to lose
Nothing left to fly
There is nothing in the world that can change my mind
There is nothing else
There is nothing else..

Desperate for changing
Starving for truth
Closer where I started
Chasing after you

I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm hanging by a moment here with you

I'm livin for the only thing I know
I'm running here and crashing
Where to go?
And I don't know what I'm diving into
Just hanging by a moment here with you

Just hanging by a moment
Hanging by a moment..
Hanging by a moment...
Hanging by a moment here with you..

Comedic Conversations With God

This is hilarious stuff by Comedian Tim Hawkins:



Here are some prayers I can recall praying:
- In 1992, Mabel Gillespie (90+ years old) asked me to pray that God would take her to relieve her suffering...she died two days later.

- Emma, when she was 3 asked me to pray for Dale Earnhardt's wife the night he died at Daytona.

- Jon Mark at age 6 prayed for the U.S. Troops and the Afghanistanian people the night we invaded and began the hunt for Bin Laden.

Trajedy in the Chapman Family

Steven Curtis Chapman helped form my appreciation for "Christian Music" and what it brings to the body of Christ, the Church. Chapman, though not my usual choice of listening pleasure, is still one of the few artists and musicians I highly respect. He has been rock solid in his commitment to faith & ministry through music. The news of his daughter's death below I copied from the link provided:

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080522/TUNEIN03/805220370/1005/ENTERTAINMENT

This statement appeared at www.stevencurtischapman.com:

MARIA SUE CHAPMAN, DAUGHTER OF STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN, DIES IN ACCIDENT AT FAMILY HOME

NASHVILLE, TN...5/21/08... At approximately 5pm on the afternoon of Thursday May 21st, Maria Sue Chapman, 5 years old and the youngest daughter to Steven and Mary Beth Chapman was struck in the driveway of the Chapman home in Franklin, TN. Maria was rushed to Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital in Nashville, transported by LifeFlight, but died of her injuries there. Maria is one of the close knit family’s six children and one of their three adopted daughters.


More than five years ago, Chapman and his wife MaryBeth founded The Shaohannah’s Hope Ministry after bringing their first adopted daughter, Shaohannah, home from China. The ministry’s goal is to help families reduce the financial barrier of adoption, and has provided grants to over 1700 families wishing to adopt orphans from around the world. Chapman is a five-time GRAMMY ® winner and 54-time Dove Award winning artist who has sold over 10 million albums and garnered 44 No. 1 singles.
-----------------------------------
I am a dad of three (12, 11, and 7). I cannot imagine, nor would want to, what it is like to lose a child. It's not supposed to happen that way. Parents outlive their kids right? Unfortunately, some of our kids die at a young age and I will never understand why this happens. It is truly a nightmare and one I hope to never live. God rest your Spirit of comfort on this family tonight, tomorrow, the next day, and the next day, and so on...

Leaving Badlands

Read these lyrical lines from the song Badlands and I will explain how I am packing my bags and leaving:

Lights out tonight, trouble in the heartland
Got a head-on collision, smashin' in my guts, man
I'm caught in a cross fire that I don't understand.

But there's one thing I know for sure girl, I don't give a damn
For the same old played out scenes, I don't give a damn
For just the in-betweens,
Honey, I want the heart, I want the soul,
I want control right now

Talk about a dream, try to make it real
You wake up in the night, With a fear so real
Spend your life waiting, for a moment that just don't come
Well, don't waste your time waiting

CHORUS
Badlands, you gotta live it every day
Let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay
We'll keep pushin' till it's understood
and these badlands start treating us good

Workin' in the fields till you get your back burned
Workin' 'neath the wheel till you get your facts learned
Baby I got my facts learned real good right now
You better get it straight darling

Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king
And a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything
I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got

I believe in the love that you gave me
I believe in the faith that could save me
I believe in the hope and I pray that some day
It may raise me above these

CHORUS

BRIDGE
For the ones who had a notion,
a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin
to be glad you're alive
I wanna find one face
that ain't looking through me
I wanna find one place,
I wanna spit in the face of these badlands

CHORUS
---------------------------------------------

I would say to the insightful writer, Bruce Springsteen, I have been living in "badlands" for far too long. I have tried to:
- work myself out of it
- deny that I am living in it
- distract my mind with gadgets and technology
- become cynical of those who seem to be living in "goodlands"
- and with much hell-bent pride and bitterness - believed and lived as if there is no God (or at best, he doesn't seem to have my interests in mind.)

While working the night before Easter this year, well really it was Easter morning after midnight. Anyway, God reminded me that if he can raise his Son from the dead...let me phrase this another way for the over-saturated religious minded readers, which includes me...if he can breath life into a dead man and make him walk, talk, and eat again, he surely can resurrect me and my family from the "badlands" where I live and created with walls of pain and hurt.

This raising of new life includes a bad job situation, declining health due to fatigue and lack of sleep, anger over losing a job/career in which I had spent all of my adult life studying for and doing, a family that has been struggling for a long time, finances in disarray, and general overall sadness of a pathetic path I have chosen or been given by God (I can barely tell the difference these days).

If Jesus walked out of the grave, not in the form a ghost, but as a living, breathing human being - then I will too will walk out of this darkness of misery, shame, and sadness.

I would say to Mr. Springsteen, "Bruce, like you I believe in the love that God gave me, I believe in the faith that He saved me, and I believe in the hope and I pray that someday He will raise me above these badlands...and oh, by the way, you are right...it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive.

EVERYTHING by Lifehouse

This was shown at our church last Sunday during the sermon...twice! It's worth watching again. The song is "Everything" by Lifehouse.

WLEX & Chief Meteorologist Bill Meck

In Lexington, KY I enjoyed the news on WLEX-TV (NBC), where my favorite weather caster Bill Meck still gives the daily report on the weather at www.lex18.com.

He won an award for his coverage of the 2005 tornado at Masterson Station, which also sent us running for cover in our Georgetown home. Well, actually after I saw that the family were bunkered safely in the basement, I ran upstairs onto the deck to try to see a twister! It was lightning like crazy, so I knew the night sky would be lit up enough for me to catch a glimpse of one, but never saw it. It was a terrifying night for everyone in the area and there were prayers ascending from our family and many more I am certain.

Taking Risks

I have been a man of safe choices. Taking a risk is very tough for me therefore I maintain status quo and rarely improve things around me which require much change and transition.

I have moments of huge risk-leaps, but they have been very few. That's why I love this clip of highlights of Boise State beating Oklahoma a few years ago in one of the greatest upsets in College Football history..



God, may you help me take great leaps based on your Holy Spirit's guidance in my life.

The Absurdity of Forgiveness

It's easy for God to do right? It is the idea and for him a fact, yet we are so human and self-aware that when we forgive, we may be truthful and totally full of intent, but still we do not forget.

This makes it so hard to sort of "move on" and be reconciled. We hold onto words, emotions, images, negativity, actions, and so on. So criticism, though I invite it to make me a better, more effective person, I crumble underneath a harsh comment or a rough tone. God has worked on me with this one, to be strong in the presence of sharp commentary, such as from a demanding boss or revengeful foe.

I am a lover of words. Words move my soul, heart, and mind. I feel loved when one uses words to love on me. On the flip side, I feel dishonored and disrespected with words as well. Words hurt and heal me.

When God utters words such as: "You are forgiven", "You are my child", "You are my treasure", "You are the masterpiece of creation", "You are the pinnacle of my creativity", "You are free". I not only believe these things, but I am filled with hope and the stamina to take another step, to live another day.

God help me to be like you...to forgive and forget.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are some nuggets of forgiveness I found in Psalm 103:

3 He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.
4 He saves my life from the grave
and loads me with love and mercy.
5 He satisfies me with good things
and makes me young again, like the eagle.

10 He has not punished us as our sins should be punished;
he has not repaid us for the evil we have done.
11 As high as the sky is above the earth,
so great is his love for those who respect him.
12 He has taken our sins away from us
as far as the east is from west.
13 The Lord has mercy on those who respect him,
as a father has mercy on his children.

17 But the Lord's love for those who respect him
continues forever and ever,
and his goodness continues to their grandchildren
18 and to those who keep his agreement
and who remember to obey his orders.

The Holy Bible, New Century Version®.
Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

The Fog

Dear God,

The fog has drifted in off the shore…my "paper" is due and I’m not ready…it’s like a dream full of unfinished assignments, late projects, and that horrible feeling of failure and playing catch-up.

The A.D.D. monster has barged in again to attack my mind and body. I just can’t seem to win this war. You have to fight for me Jesus! Fight this battle for me so that I can function at work and home today and tonight - tomorrow will worry about itself.

This is more than neurological and medical, it is spiritual - as everything is spiritual.