Build Your House on the Rock

Funny how a children's song reminds you of where your priorities lie. 

The wise man built his house upon the rock
And the rain came tumbling down! The rain came down
And the floods came up
And the wise man’s house stood firm!
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
And the rain came tumbling down
The rain came down
And the floods came up
And the foolish man’s house went SPLAT!

This song truly illustrates life.  We have a choice whether or not we want to build our house on the sands of this world.
  The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;  idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.  (Galations 5)

Or we could chose to build our lives on the Rock, not Dwayne Johnson, but Christ, and heavenly things.
   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  (Galations 5)


I like the last part best because it puts it into practical terms for your life.

So, build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ
Build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ
And the blessings will come down
The blessings come down
As your prayer go up
So build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Build your life on the Rock and He will use you to set the world on fire!

The Computer Analogy

"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark,"
~ Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking is regarded as one of the most intelligent people on the planet.  However, he has a hole in his life only able to be filled by God.  This statement was made in 2011.  I find however that Hawking has forgotten the parts of a computer.
I compare the hard drive of a computer to the soul.  It lasts even after the computer itself dies because the information can be recovered from this.  Like this, the soul lasts even after the "computer" dies.  What you choose to do with your "computer" also matters.  Accepting the gift of Christ is like getting a warranty for your computer.  You will be able to get a new computer with the same hard drive, even after the first one dies.  When you don't accept the warranty, after the computer dies, it is worthless.  Even though it has the hard drive, nothing can be done because you don't have anything to recover the hard drive with.
Putting your faith in Christ can be hard.  It is like performing an obstacle course blind folded.  But accepting Christ is like adding a person beside you to hold your hand.  You still can't see what lies ahead, but you have someone next to you who can. 
"Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."

Learn to rely on Christ even when you cannot see what lies in the next step or the next mile and He will help you to set the world on fire!

Faith in the Face of Tragedy

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When tragedy strikes, our natural defenses tend to kick in and we start to question our foundations.  We question God’s sovereignty, His grace, we question His mercy, and we even doubt His love.  With the Sandy Hook Massacre behind us, and as we look towards the future, we continue to question God’s purpose, His presence, and His nonexistent intervention.

It was a bright and sunny December 14.  Kids were filing into classrooms and getting settled in, excited for what the weekend might hold.  Out of the blue, the PA system turns on and gunshots, shouts, and cries float out.  Teachers scramble to hide their children from a seeming invisible gunman.  Twenty-six women and children were killed that day, but many more lives were changed.

Weeks after the second largest school massacre in US history, we continue to question the Lord’s presence.  The problem is, though, that He was asked to leave a while ago.  When people request Christ is taken out of schools, He will leave, but don’t anger over the fact that He wasn’t kicked out of schools.  I believe that He did show up that day of unthinkable tragedy.  He showed up in the hearts of teachers who laid down their life for their students.  He showed up in the minds of the first responders who ran onto the scene, not knowing if the steps they were taking would be their last.  He showed up in the hearts of parents who franticly searched for their babies.  And He showed up in the lives of those in Newtown, the ones mourning a great loss.

Another controversy that this brings up is God’s will.  People are constantly using this as an excuse to “show that God is not loving”.  But do we truly understand what God’s will means?  God’s will doesn’t mean that God wanted Adam Lanza to murder 26 people; it doesn’t mean that it was a good thing, or even right.  But God’s will means that God will use it.  That even though Adam Lanza meant it for evil, God meant it for good.  God will use this grief to bring praise and glory to Him, and to ultimately further His kingdom.  Just because we don’t see the change in our life doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. 

So as we ponder all of the possible questions, we need to remember one thing, to pray.  To pray for the families of those first graders, to pray for the students at Sandy Hook, to pray for the people of Newtown, to pray for the Lanza family.  Pray for God’s grace and love to cover them, and for them to find peace in this time of pain.  And be thankful for those who you can hug right now, because you never know what the future may hold.

Faith ~ My 2013 Tropicana Speech

Everyone has faith in something.  Faith in your parents that they raised you right.  Faith in your teachers that they speak truth.  Faith in government officials that they make the right choices for America.  Faith in your medical doctors, lawyers, and police officers that they will keep you safe.  Faith in the chair that you are sitting in; that it will hold you.  But what about faith in something greater than yourself.  A being that is not of this world.  One that controls our universe more than we do, and could control our destinies.  Perhaps it is not visible, and even words themselves can’t describe the incomparable enigma.  Around the world, people are putting their faith in something that they can’t see, hear, or touch.  Millions are choosing to believe in something that may or may not exist.  For reasons such as the complexity of a single particle of pollen, to DNA, from the birth of a star, to the birth of a human, there are things that cannot be scientifically explained.

 Faith is becoming a prominent role in the daily lives of Americans.  Everyday people are turning to faith to live out their lives.  People who weren’t sure what they believed in, are turning to something to stand on.  Former atheists such as CS Lewis are finding that there can’t be an absence of a creator and a controller.  Scientists that study the human genome are discovering that the complexity of our minds cannot be explained by the evolution of a single celled organism or a result of a natural phenomenon.  Humans are discovering something greater than themselves.  Something humbling and right.  People are dedicating their lives to their beliefs and having faith in something inexpressible.

Faith has always been an important part of my life.  I have been taught about a god who is loving, just, and forgiving.  One who gave His Son, so that we might live.  When I am down, or weak, I turn to a god who takes my burdens and carries me.  I choose to live my life for something beyond me, yet with a passion that takes over me like a conflagration.  It burns inside of me and I cannot explain it.  But isn’t that what faith is, something that even the greatest minds cannot explain.  I am learning to live by faith, even when I cannot see.  And when it is the hardest, that is when I truly rely on faith itself. 

 Faith is constantly growing.  And the scientific results are astounding.  Hospitals are reporting that faith may help people recover faster.  Dustin A. Pardini, of the University of Alabama, and Thomas G. Plante, of Santa Clara University did a study on how religion and spirituality affect substance abuse patients.  It showed that in fact, faith does have an affect on the way people recover.  Dr Daniel Hall of the University of Pittsburg Medical Center says that those who attend weekly religious services have a life expectancy increase comparable to that of those who exercise daily!

What do people ask for when someone is terminally ill, they ask for prayer and for people to have faith.  And when lives are taken, some people are drawn to it.  “But where was God?” some people ask.  Are they questioning His existence, or are they really searching for something to have faith in.  After all faith is believing in something that is indescribable.  Some say that faith is a crutch, a sign of weakness and a false hope in something that cannot ever be seen, but I beg you to consider this: faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see and with faith, impossible is just another word.