LAMININ!!

This morning while having my quiet time I was reading in Matthew 6 about how I was supposed to do things quietly.  My time was almost complete when "for some reason" I picked up my laptop and went to FACEBOOK!  Now, FACEBOOK is not the most spiritual of venues to finish your quiet time with!  But, GOD has a way of being SOVEREIGN!
One of my friends had posted a video of Louie Giglio delivering a message.  It was 8:43 seconds long which is about 7:43 longer than my attention span!  But just about the time I was getting ready to move on to something else I was intrigued by what he said.  Louie Giglio was talking about LAMININ!
Dictionary.com states that Laminin is " a glycoprotein that is a component of connective tissue basement membrane and that promotes cell adhesion"!  It is the STUFF that makes our skin hold together and our teeth remain in our head, and everything in our bodies NOT just float around!  LAMININ is the glue that makes everyone be a person.  That was pretty neat until Louie Giglio displayed on the screen a MOLECULAR drawing of LAMININ!

This is AWSOME!

Now, some may say that this is coincedence or a fluke!  But GOD is no fluke and HE does not operate in coincedence  or circumstance. GOD has everything, AND I MEAN EVERYTHING, under HIS control and held together by HIS glue!  Sometimes WE do not understand HIS workings, but we are HUMAN!  HE IS GOD!!!
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D_e4zgJXPpI4&h=cecf5

JUST SAYIN!!

Today, as I was pondering an issue, GOD brought to my memory a saying that was on a wall poster in my little sister’s room when we were growing up.  Now that was 40 years ago!  So I “googled” the saying and it gave me a list of 10 sayings.  Some of them were not as gripping as others to me, but I share them all as others may need to see them.  It is AMAZING how a SOVERIEGN GOD can use something I saw 40 years ago to bring comfort so much later in life.  I leave it to you to figure out which “saying” I speak of!


1. Alfred Lord Tennyson
It's better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.
2. Richard Bach
If you love something, set it free; if it comes backs it's yours, if it doesn't, it never was.
3. Cinderella
Do you love me because I am beautiful, or am I beautiful because you love me?
4. Joan Crawford
Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your heart or burn down your house, you can never tell.
5. Theodore M. Hesburgh
The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.
6. Lisa Hoffman
Love is like pi - natural, irrational, and very important.
7. Mother Teresa
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
8. Philip Barry
Love: Two minds without a single thought.
9. Albert Einstein
Gravitation can not be held responsible for people falling in love.
10. Mark Twain
Love: The irresistable desire to be irresistibly desired.

CONFESSIONS of a TOOL!

Today I am relishing in the fact that we serve a GOD who is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and closer than a brother.  Too many times we get caught up with in our daily lives and what we PERCEIVE as being important and fail to give GOD his due.  Your family and friends can and WILL dissappoint and do things that we do not approve of.

GOD gives us a limited amount of intelligence (I think mine is more limited than most) to get through life.  Sometimes others intelligence leads them in ways I do not understand.  I WANT to be able to help, but GOD does not need my help most of the time.  Sometimes HE allows me to be used of HIM, but the hardest thing HE has taught me is to give HIM time to work.  If HE leads someone down a road that seems to be one that is "NOT THE BEST", then HE may be teaching them a lesson!  GOD has enough to do without overcoming my good intentions.

Sometimes a yard rake can be GREAT to sweep up leaves.  Most of the time it hangs in the shed.  We only pull it down when it is needed.

Dear Lord, help me to be more sensitive to YOUR leadership and direction when I desire to intervene in other's lives.  Help me to realize that YOU do not need my help.  And when YOU are ready for me to be used of YOU that I will be AVAILABLE for what YOU intend and nothing more.  AMEN!

Just TALKIN!!!

This weekend I had the privilige of spending time with a VERY dear friend of mine.  We just sit and talked mainly.  I LOVED the guidance and wisdom he shared with me.  You see, he is 20 years my senior and he has already traveled many of the roads I will travel in the next few years.
Many things he shared with me has stayed on my heart, but one I cannot shake.  "We want to be BIGGER than what GOD intended us to be"!  Man, I have been meditating that one all weekend!  I cannot get past it!
I ALWAYS am wanting to help!  I want to help start a foundation for students to go to college.  I want to help the elderly with fixing up their houses.  I want to go help sick people get past their illness.

GOD calls us for a PURPOSE!  The apostle Paul was used to lead MANY Christians to a saving knowlege of Christ.  But he says in 1 Corinthians 1:17 "For Christ sent me not to baptize; but to preach the gospel.....".  Baptizing was NOT what Paul was called to to!  GOD calls us to fulfill different tasks.  Just as Paul was sent to preach the Gospel, GOD's purpose for us may be different.  Make sure of what GOD purpose for your life is, then FULFILL that purpose to the fullest.  Don't be led into NOBLE endeavors without GOD's blessing.  My desire is too be used for JUST what GOD has intended for me! 

Just TALKIN!!!

This weekend I had the privilige of spending time with a VERY dear friend of mine.  We just sit and talked mainly.  I LOVED the guidance and wisdom he shared with me.  You see, he is 20 years my senior and he has already traveled many of the roads I will travel in the next few years.
Many things he shared with me has stayed on my heart, but one I cannot shake.  "We want to be BIGGER than what GOD intended us to be"!  Man, I have been meditating that one all weekend!  I cannot get past it!
I ALWAYS am wanting to help!  I want to help start a foundation for students to go to college.  I want to help the elderly with fixing up their houses.  I want to go help sick people get past their illness.

GOD calls us for a PURPOSE!  The apostle Paul was used to lead MANY Christians to a saving knowlege of Christ.  But he says in 1 Corinthians 1:17 "For Christ sent me not to baptize; but to preach the gospel.....".  Baptizing was NOT what Paul was called to to!  GOD calls us to fulfill different tasks.  Just as Paul was sent to preach the Gospel, GOD's purpose for us may be different.  Make sure of what GOD purpose for your life is, then FULFILL that purpose to the fullest.  Don't be led into NOBLE endeavors without GOD's blessing.  My desire is too be used for JUST what GOD has intended for me! 

DIPERVAN! The Amnesia Drug!

July 09, 2007 I experienced a stroke.  A blood vessel in the top of my brain broke and caused me to be put into a drug induced COMA for 20 days.  The drug used to out me into the COMA was called DIPERVAN.  DIPERVAN is called the amnesia drug because it removes EVERYTHING from your memory!  It was like going to sleep one day and waking up the next morning......only it was 20 days later.  I remember NOTHING from those 20 days.  Everything that happended during that time I now have to get told to me from my wife.

GOD calls us to lives this way!  Philipians 3:13-14 says "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, FORGETTING those things which are behind, and reaching forth those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

We are not to glory in past achievements!  We are not to wallow in defeat over past failures!  Do not concern yourself with things of the past.  "PRESS on toward the mark" and do your best to make a difference in TODAY! 

PERSPECTIVE!

Today I was reading the obituaries in the local newspaper!  It is sad when that is the only thing in the newspaper worth reading.  But, that is for another blog!

I was noticing the ages of the deceased......92, 84, 69, 31, 63, 56, 51.....wait, I am 50!  50 is not old!  At least it is not from my perspective!  PERSPECTIVE is: the state of one's ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship according to Dictionary.com.  The way we see things is our perspective.  Can our perspective change?  Can the FACTS as we see them change? 

After reading the newspaper I got up to look at FACEBOOK.  One of my friends posted this: Worry is negative meditation. Think about it. You just keep going over and over in your mind about the problem you're worrying about. The problem is your focus. The Bible tells us to meditate upon His Word both day and night so we will obey it. This puts the focus on the solution (God) rather than dwelling on the problem. 

Man, was that sobering!  The fact GOD instructs us to MEDITATE on HIS word is not so we can be WISE and know HIS word!  It is for our own good!  It is so we will not be focused on the problem!Depression is RAMPANT in today's society.  So many people, including me at times, tend to look at how BAD our problems are instead of putting my  "focus on the solution (God)" and trusting HIM rather than "meditate upon His Word both day and night".  I have meditated this since reading it and am of the opinion that the way we see things may be "just the way we see things"! 

92 is old to a 21 year old.  It is not that old to someone who is 85 years old!  How we perceive something does not make them FACT!  What GOD says is fact!  What GOD does is fact!  GOD does not change. 

A Lesson RE-Learned!

A friend of mine called me yesterday and requested prayer for a lady from his church who had surgery and was having a difficult time.  I promptly sent an email to a group of Christian men I am associated with and have confidence in their CONNECTION to the Throne of GOD!

Upon arriving back at my office this morning I had a response from ONE of my friends.  The others may not have had time to read my email or they may have prayed and not responded to me.  The prayer is what was important, not a response!  The man who responded was not the one who I expected to hear from.  His wife has been battling Lou Gerig's Disease for a LONG time and he should have taking care of HER, not listening to my prayer request! 

I desire to think more of others in need than my problems!  My FACEBOOK profile has a quote on it that I lived three and a half years ago "If it is not a life and death matter, it don't matter!".  Life's issues are overblown sometimes.  We need to realize that our "PROBLEMS" are just items that other people would love to have!  Always remember that GOD can handle any "PROBLEM" we may have.  We just have to trust in HIM!!!

LOVE!

As we celebrate another Valentine's Day, let me start by wishing MY VALENTINE the happiest of days!  I have been married to the BEST WOMAN in the world (for me) for 27 years this Thursday!  And I am very blessed that she has been here for me, through the bad times and enjoying the good times!

GOD has a way of growing us into what HE wants us to be.  Even the scribes and the Chief Priest's were used to accompish HIS plan.  In Mark 11 and 12, JESUS shares with us how when the most learned men of the age were trying to TRAP JESUS with a TRICK QUESTION, scripture tells us in Mark 12:17 that they "marvelled at him"!  They were trying to TRICK HIM and yet they "MARVELLED" at HIS response. 

GOD is not here for us!  I know that we have a difficult time believing or understanding that sometimes, but we are created to GLORIFY HIM!  GOD uses or ignorance and disobedience sometimes to draw PRAISE and ADORATION to him! 

To me, that is what LOVE is all about!  Loving someone even when they are not doing what WE THINK they should.  GOD loves me when I disobey HIM!  Even the Scribes and Chief Priest's were trying to TRAP JESUS, HE loved them.  The CATHEDRAL's quartet used to sing a song called BOUNDLESS LOVE.  GOD's love for us know NO end and is not able to be measured!!!  It is good that we can LOVE someone here on earth while GOD is still teaching us about real LOVE!

We have a GOD who delights in IMPOSSIBILITIES!

At times we get so comfortable with asking GOD for our desires and needs that we treat HIM as a ATM!  We need $200 so we ask for $200!  We need a new job, we ask GOD! We need something that WE CANNOT provide, we ask GOD. 

But what about when there is a PROBLEM that requires more than what we can do?  What about when we find ourselves facing an issue that seems hopeless! 

GOD loves to be trusted.  Luke 1:37 says "For with GOD nothing shall be impossible!"  Does that mean HE can figure out the difficult things?  Can HE make the "IMPOSSIBLE" a reality?

GOD does not operate in our realm of reality.  What we think does not limit HIM.  GOD is able......if we will ASK!

HIS GLORY!!

Some of you ask “Why did GOD choose to save YOU instead of letting you die or leaving you with a disability!”  I experienced a hemorrhagic stroke July 09, 2007.   The only reason I have found is located in a testimony recorded in the book RADICAL by David Platt.  The lady had been on a missionary trip to Guatemala.  She wrote “GOD blesses me so that all the earth will see HIS glory”!  That is the answer to your question. It is not because of ANYTHING I have done, nor because I am worthy!  It is so the whole earth will see HIS GLORY in my life! 

Sometimes I feel ASHAMED that I have no disabilities or signs of a stroke.  BUT, GOD does things HIS way and my healing is definitely only because of HIM.  No other explanation is sufficient!  GOD!!!

How much is IT worth?

Today I was on FACEBOOK reading posts from friends  I posted a quote from the book RADICAL by David Platt.  I posted "How are you going to use your influence, your leadership, your resources in the world around you?"  Questions or thoughts that make me think are priceless to me as I am left to ponder them all day!

Then, another post from a friend was displayed on my screen.  All it said was Matthew 16-24-25.  So being CURIOUS I looked the scripture up on my iPhone application.  When I finished, I also read verse 26 as I was CURIOUS!  Jesus is talking and says "For what is a man profited, if he gain the WHOLE world, and lose his own soul?  or what shall a man give in exhange for his soul?"

Immediately I was STOPPED!   I had read this passage many times in my life.  What is MY soul worth?  What would I give in exchange for my soul? 

Many of you know that I experienced a BRAIN HEMORRAGE July 09. 2007.  I was in a coma for 20 days and hospitalized for 59 days.  The bills for the hospital stay came and insurance paid.  The cost was paid by insurance.  Had it not been, I would have been financially DEVASTATED! 

The cost for my soul has been paid also! JESUS paid the debt for all my sins two thousand years ago on CALVARY!  I did not deserve it, but HE paid it for me.  I can make all the money in the world and not have enough to pay for my salvation.  JESUS is the ONLY WAY!!

Loves her boyfriend. :D

Let me start by saying I was not "creeping" on my son's girlfriend!  She just posted her feelings toward my son and my heart was happy!  I am so glad that both of them love the LORD and are doing their best to follow a CHRIST like lifestyle.

Don't you imagine that GOD feels a lot like I did this when HE sees you and I showing our love for one another?  It makes you understand, if not but just a little, how GOD desires our relationship with him.  Not only does HE want a relationship with us, HE wants us to be happy with each other! 

We make HIS heart feel alot like mine felt this morning when I saw the post.  Not only is my son happy, but I am happy because his girlfriend "Love's her boyfriend. :D"!  But, when there is discord between us, it robs us of the JOY we should be experiencing. 

It is so important for us to learn that when we offend or disappoint that we MUST get it resolved!  The JOY of being where GOD can bless in your life is INDESCRIBABLE!  The turmoil of upsetting or falling short of one's expectations can be just as bad.  Just as we have to repent to GOD when we sin, we must share with the person or person's when we offend. 

I am sure my son will disappoint or upset his girlfriend in the future.  My son disappoints me at times!  But, I LOVE HIM and forgive him.  CHRIST forgave me on CALVARY!  HE asks that I confess so the relationship can be restored........and the JOY !!