hurricane Dolly

Texas has had it’s first hurricane of the season touch ground today in Southern Texas.  It’s the first Hurricane to hit the US this year, I think, and seems to have made barely Category 1 status.  But, after just checking the latest news, it seems it made a bigger wallop with just over 100mph winds coming onshore.  Let’s hope this is the worst we get for the year. 

I have had flood insurance for the last couple of years, but I didn’t renew the policy this year.  Cost savings was about $300 in my pocket because I’m NOT in a flood zone.  I know it’s more expensive in other areas of Houston if your in a 50 or 100 year flood zone.  The cost seems minuscule in comparison to an actual flooding of my home, but let’s pray that never happens. 

The other issue with hurricanes is that if they enter the Gulf of Mexico, they tend to cause the offshore oil platforms to close down which in turn cause the price of oil to go up and we all know that’s not good news for anybody, especially in the $4/gallon price range we’re already currently paying with all the platforms running full throttle. 

I have always thought about purchasing a generator at my house, just in case, ya know…but never do.  Do you have one?  I guess now is not the time to purchase one, in the middle of hurricase season when they are more popular, but maybe next winter, huh?

Let’s hope this is the end to an already calm season so far of the 2008 Hurricane Season, but seriously we still have until early November…man that’s a long time.

good word for wednesday

Achieving Peace

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.  Where there is hatred let me sow love.  Where there is injury, pardon.  Where there is doubt, faith.  Where there is despair, hope.  Where there is darkness, light.  And where there is sadness, joy.  Amen.

all have sinned

I was speaking to a guy here at work today, and we have had some conversations of church and family and life in the past.  It seems that he is a believer.  This morning when we were speaking he took the Lord’s name in vain by saying the 2 words that make my soul quiver.  For me, that is the epitome of anti-God and the 2 words that should Never ever be uttered from a believer’s mouth…ever! 

So, I continued and closed our conversation, but never mentioned it to him.  Not sure how to say anything or bring it up to him, but the concern is…are you really a believer.  I posted about this some time ago on saying those 2 words here.  

What saddens me is that those words are used in everyday language now and it disgusts me and makes me sad that we as a nation are taking His name in vain and not taking it holy as it should be.  TV/Movies are to blame partially for this, I believe, as it is almost everywhere and even on regular local TV.  The gradual move to secularism and tolerance(I posted about this too) seems to be on it’s continual incline without a thought of or to morality. 

I guess the “If it feels good it must be OK and right and justified” generation is being exploited everywhere as well.  If it feels right then you must accept what I think because i feel it.  Well feelings come and go and just because you think it’s OK doesn’t mean it’s ‘right’ or ‘good.’  Just like the package of hot dogs I bought this weekend made by Hebrew Nation state as their motto “We answer to a higher Authority”  Well, I do to and every word, act and deed will be looked upon by God Almighty and judged. 

“Every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord and all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

I am not perfect and I know that we all sin, but there are some things I will not do and refuse to do as a believer, including taking His name in vain or murder or some other things that won’t happen.  Control of self is definately important as taking responsibility over our actions is.

in a land of milk and honey

What is your faith and hope and trust in?  Is it money or an inanimate object that money can purchase?  I, along with many of you, have found that in these times of financial trouble, are you finding yourself asking similar questions?  Your 401(k) is going down the tubes and your investments are doing the same.  Are you worried?  Where is your hope and faith and trust placed currently?  If you are bothered and concerned about our economy, ask yourself why?  If you worried that God won’t take care of you?  Are you worried that you will have no money and lose everything?  

I’m focused on God and the promises he makes to me.  That he will provide and bless as I continue to be faithful to Him and place my hope, trust and faith in Him, not monetary or inanimate objects.  I will continue to do that in the good and bad times, for where my treasure is there my heart will be also. 

I am focused on my heavenly dwelling and the eventual location of my eternity, not my temporary concerns and the short life that I will live here on earth.  I will enjoy this day as long as it is called today, but I’m not worried about dying or where my final resting place will be because I know in whom I hope and trust-Jesus and His promises to all of us…his children.

where is your eternity going to be spent?

encouragement

This is taken from a real cool short book(if you can call it that) of quotes from great people in our history.  The book is ‘Staying Power’ by Van Crouch.

One of the many quotes I like, and I’ll share a few are these:

“There are no victories at bargain prices”  General Dwight D. Eisenhower

“You hit home runs not by chance, but by preparation”  Roger Maris

“Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes”  William James

“Leadership is not a right — it’s a responsibility”  John Maxwell

“You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do”  Henry Ford

“There is only one you.  God wanted you to be you.  Don’t you dare change just because you’re outnumbered!” Charles(chuck) Swindoll

Have a Blessed Day!

Jesus is Lord

It is reckoned that the earliest and simplest of the Christian creeds comprised just three words; JESUS IS LORD.

Upon the strength of this straighforward confession believers were baptized and welcomed into the Christian community.  With this phrase they were making a statement about Jesus’ identity.  Lord(Kurios in Greek) was the word which the scholars used for God’s divine name(Yahweh) when they translated the Old Testament into Greek.

They knew LORD was a divine title, and they constantly employed it with reference to Jesus.  He was not the latest addition to the pantheon of Roman deities; He was unique in His birth, death and resurrection - and one day every knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord!

Giving in to the pluralistic thinking that grants validity to every religion is false.  We are, if you like, stuck with the great New Testament affirmations of the uniqueness of Jesus.(Acts 4:12-Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.)

There is a myth gaining ground in our day - namely that the world religions(Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, etc) agree on the main things while disagreeing on only peripheral matters.  In fact the differences between them are profound.  The English poet Steve Turner makes this point well in his poem CREED:

“We believe that all religions are basically the same, at least the one that we read was, They all believe in love and goodness, They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God and salvation”

marriage

What a beautiful thing marriage is.  For me, it’s a covenant between you and God first, then you and your spouse.  I find it more meaningful when I look at marriage this way.  It means that I have made a commitment/covenant to God Almighty first and then to my wife.  It makes it more real and strong and that I don’t take my marriage lightly like Hollywood does.

When I got married my Pastor told us “You will both fall in and out of love a thousand times.  But, love is a commitment to each other, not just a feeling.”  That is so true and has really helped me think about how this is relevant to me.  My parents have both been married and divorced several times.  That has been a bad track record for me to look at.  But, I have resolved to break the cycle and that starts with me.  On the other hand, my wife’s parents are still married and they are working on 40 years(which is a great thing!)

Marriage isn’t easy by any means.  It is just like a job in theory.  When you go to work, you learn, spend long hours, work hard and expect results.  The same can be said for marriage.  It doesn’t drive in auto-pilot, it takes work, just like the job you go to. 

Being married for 9+ years now, I have been grateful to love my wifey and spend the time and enjoy the life we share.  I look forward to many more years in the future.  Looking up to other married couples that have been married for 20, 30, 40 years + gives me hope and makes me smile.  I know that being married that long doesn’t happen by auto-pilot, but by hard work.

Make a date night with you and your wifey or hubby and enjoy the time with each other, it will be well worth it.

Blessings!

here we go again

Rev. Jesse Jackson is back at it again.  This time he has talked down and about the Democratic Candidate Barack Obama.  Read what he said here. 

In my opinion, I think that this is a long, tired and need to be out of the limelight person in Mr. Jackson.  As much as we forgive him for his many past mistakes, the record is not a good one in recent memory and I don’t think that he is doing any good for Mr.Obama’s campaign.  I’m not sure why he is enabled to speak out for Mr.Obama, except for that he(Obama) wants a Christian person in his corner given all the hype over the Muslim overtones that seem to plague Mr.Obama and his campaign.

I hope that Obama can get some Righteous folks in his corner to give him a fair shake versus the questionable people he seems to have relationships with in the past.

just my 2 cents.

who is right?

If I’m wrong then who is right?  If I’m right who is wrong?  In this article I just read, a Catholic Church has been vandalised, for the 3rd time.  They aren’t sure why or whom, but it does seem odd that the message left behind this last time stated “Don’t worship idols”  Now, we know in Exodus 20, that God gives Moses the Moral Law through the 10 Commandments(The Moral Law is still valid today BTW)  One of the 10 laws state to not worship idols.  Obviously, the person dismayed made his voice heard by vandalising a Catholic Church.  This is not right or OK by any means.  Just like I don’t believe in abortion because your killing/destroying a life, but that doesn’t give you the right to murder a doctor that performs the abortion or any of the people that work at any of these clinics. 

The answer is not revenge, because God says Revenge is mine, not yours.  I also like that the article states that “Schwieterman tells parishioners that Catholics don’t worship the statues and photos, but rely on them to remind them of the tenets of their faith.” 

The fact that a church has a cross or beautiful statues is not really what is in question in my opinion.  What should be the real question is what’s in your heart?  And I think that whoever committed this lawless crime doesn’t have his/her heart in the right place at all.  Moreover, it is probably an ex member of this Church that was upset with something that had happened at the Church and instead of making their voice known and heard by voicing it amicably, they took matters into their own hands and punished the Church in a very ugly and hurtful way. 

Let’s pray for those who are hurt and have a hard time sharing that hurt with others.

aids

I think it’s about time that Magic Johnson and his wife are finally going on TV to talk about HIV and Aids.  They should have been doing more in the public eye to bring awareness and support to the cause.   It seems they have finally decided to do it after the rise in Aids cases are increasing the Black Women population and that double of White Women.  Here’s the short article.