I Can Clearly Now The Rain Has Gone.....

"I can see clearly now the rain has gone". Thats's the partial line from an old song I heard earlier in life. To me today it means we have been in the storm and now we can see the sun peeking out. The clouds are still there but they are retreating. Heading for the horizon. For now, all is clear.

That's what happened this week. My friend that I blogged about earlier, the one who had been in the Mission with me, the one who had found God just to walk away from Him and then found Him again? That one. The dude that had a relationship with Christ but took his focus off Christ. This was the guy who came back like the "prodigal son". Broken and desperate for acceptance. Desiring fellowship with other believers and more importantly desperate to know, really know that God forgave him for turning way and would accept him back. Our job, my job was to reinforce this truth. God will and did forgive you for breaking away. He forgives you for making stupid, selfish choices. He rescues you from damnation with His grace and mercy when you cry out to Him. These things are all true.What I saw this week with my own eyes is when you hold up your end of a deal with God, He will hold up His end.

I told you earlier that this guy had gotten in trouble with the law during this last time he had walked away from God and started getting high. He made a stupid choice amongst a bunch of stupid choices and later, after he'd came back to God, so did the police, with a warrant. They'd busted him, charged him, and the potential penalty was further enhanced by new charges as a "habitual offender". This bumped the penalty from six years in prison to twelve years in prison if convicted. For the past couple of months this dude has been increasingly freaked out. He is working but too poor to hire a "real" attorney. He had only seen and spoke to his court appointed attorney once in the past months. Court trial was last Tuesday. I held my breath as I waited in the back pew of the courtroom because in the back of my mind I feared he had cut and run.

For the past couple of months we talked frequently. I would encourage him to keep a positive attitude. He has been faithful in going to Church and even been recruited to work with the teens at his Church. Because of his past he would be perfect at talking about the pitfalls awaiting these youngsters. I also know he was tempted to run. He told me once that if it looked like he was going to prison he was leaving for Mexico. I told him that was the whole point of this "test". You either fall running to Christ, right to your knees or fall running away from Him. Either way your gonna fall. Week before last we had lunch together and talked about the upcoming trial on Tuesday. I could see scared all over him. We spoke about the what ifs.... then we spoke of the real truth. This was no longer about him and the judicial system. This was about relationship with Jesus. He found himself in a situation that he could not figure a way out of. He knows that the Bible promises that if we trust God and believe in Him He will never forsake us. Sometimes we do go to jail for our criminal choices. In this, Christ goes with you to jail. He don't stop at the bars and razor wire and say "I'll be right here when you get out". Nope he goes in with us. He comforts us and gives us purpose even behind bars. He strenghtens us and comforts us in prison. We have a witness and testimony. This moment he is contemplating running is the moment that satan is rolling the dice on his back, betting against him. This moment of fear that he is experiencing is about the real life application of relationship with Christ. this moment of fear is designed by the enemy to separate us from relationship with Jesus. This moment is used by Christ to strengthen out relationship with Him and out need to depend fully on Him. That is the truth I left with my friend. The truth that all this is about his relationship with Christ.It's still about our choices. You're jammed up beyond your control, who you gonna depend on? Yourself or Jesus?

My friend came through the court room doors with his parents in tow. He came in with with Jesus. He met with his "attorney". He stood before the Judge and was given grace. If he doesn't commit a crime in one year all these charges go away. Grace. Another chance. Hope. Compassion. Forgiveness. These are the things that were expressed by our judicial system. I asked my friend and he said these are the things that are expressed by our God. These are the things that define our Saviour. My friend is a free man today. Not because the judicial system said so on Tuesday but because my Christ said so on Calvary over 2,000 years ago. Praise God.

Nip And A Tuck

My wife thinks she is fat. There I said it. I'm gonna get in trouble but it's crazy. She really thinks she's fat and she's not. She is constantly comparing herself to photos of other women and asking; am I that big? or, do I look like that? The answer is always the same. She never,ever has compared herself to anyone smaller, prettier or more shapely that she is. I think there lays the truth in how she sees herself. She knows how to compare so that she does not feel compelled to change. She sees herself as she is. Just right.

So why does the world have this fixation on changing how we are viewed. The way we are is measured by what we do not have. When we have relationship with Christ we are measured now by what we do have.

I was watching television with my wife tonight and there was the standard issue loose weight commercials. Skinny women on treadmills in spandex telling us all that we need what they have. We need to be them. We need to change so we can be just right. I have met some of those people ,who, for their own reasons have chosen to modify their physical appearance as well as their emotional feelings in order to feel more accepted and acceptable to themselves and others.

Every channel is someone trying to change you. I think about all the self-help guru's out there. I think about the way the Mega-Diet culture has invaded our daily lives with their countless billboards, television, computer and print advertisements that help you identify your shortcomings then offer an easy and affordable cure to all that ails you. Weight problems, emotional problems, wrinkles, gray hair, bad hair, no hair, no problem, we can fix it.

I mean seriously, look around you. We put some serious time and effort everyday into primping, puffing, fluffing, sucking, pressing and dressing to feel good and be felt good about. Oh! how we like to manicure and trim, color and extend, flatten and firm, anything and everything in hopes of being universally accepted more often singularly recognized as the healthiest, most slim, prettiest, most handsome, most desirable, most envied, best dressed, best groomed, smartest, accomplished and exalted among our peers.

So much effort. So much evaluation. Do you think we should consider putting this same effort into our relationship with Christ?

Do we put forth the same passion born of desire to acknowledge and please Christ? What if the wrinkles that appear on our faces were a product of a lifetime of smiles and tears from worshiping our Lord? Would we rush out to erase them? What about the wrinkles in our lives? The scars born of a life of service and sacrifice unto Jesus? Would we seek to press, stretch or color over them? Should we consider the torn garment of our lives without Christ? When we are looking for an example of how we should "be" perhaps we now turn to Christ. When we are trying to compare ourselves to someone so we can own our worth, how about Jesus. Time to turn off the television and open the Bible. Jesus did not make a mistake when he made you. He made you with all the ability to develop into a life long follower of Him. He gave us purpose in and through Him. He gives meaning to all our insecurities and hangups. He leaves nothing to chance. He rewards us with joy and contentment with Him. I keep finding less and less that this world can do to distract me from my purpose. I think Jesus uses this process of our self-awareness to do a little nip and tuck of His own as He removes the obstacles of pride and ego from our pathways. Thanks God.

Have You Been To The Lost And Found?

October 30, 2006 I made my public proclamation of my belief that Jesus is the Son of God, The Savior of my soul and My redeemer. I had ran from Jesus since I was a young man and I wrote this note to myself back in 2006 so I would never forget how Christ has restored, renewed and given my life purpose. I want to share this because I know there are others that have similar life experiences and someday, someway this message may make a difference in their lives.



Tonight I feel as though everything I have considered as loss is now gain. I have waited thirty-three years to be baptized. I wish it had not taken that long but it did. The Lord gave me the one thing that I would need when I was twelve years old. Jesus let me know the truth. I accepted the truth and promptly started piling all the junk in this life that I wanted right on top of the truth. I separated myself from Christ by living like this world. By the world's rules. The Lord waited patiently for years to see if I would willingly dig through the junk drawer of my life, cluttered with things of this world that covered the precious gift of my salvation. I didn't. I couldn't. I was not strong enough. So the Lord started flicking pieces of my life away, removing the worldly accumulations and relationships and abilities. After each major removal of a significant piece of my life it was like God would pause and ask; is that enough? Your life is in shambles. Do you see it yet? The gift I gave you long ago? Do you see it? The Lord removed everything in my life so that through this series of trials and losses He would give my an acute understanding that there is nothing before Jesus.

I had to loose everything and everyone just to pay attention to Him.

When I accepted Him, I gained everything. He has restored my life with His purpose for me.

I can now see where every single life experience up to this moment is of benefit in the execution of The Great Commission. The task at hand to take the Gospel, the guarantee of Christs' salvation thru the message of His willing sacrifice for all peoples, to all peoples. I have a purpose. We have a purpose. We have a testimony. We've been there and done that. We can identify with the lost. We can communicate effectively with the masses of people that still carry the suffocating burden of their own sin, not knowing how to reach for the outstretched hand of our Savior. He brought purpose to my pain and meaning to loss and suffering. He righted and erased my wrongs and made me whole. He promises an everlasting joy and comfort in His presence. Because of this gift that I was unable to earn and unworthy to receive, I do this; I love Him. I trust Him. I obey Him. I love others. In doing these things I am privileged to see all my past come now to count as joy. My future is secure. my path is set. Christ is worthy.

How Does What I Am Going Through Matter?

I know some folks that seem to have gone through life unscathed. They have had and continue to maintain a relationship with Jesus. Their kids are Christ followers that would be the envy of any other family. They seem to have been all at the right place at the right time. When you talk to them their is no hint of trouble or reflection of battles from their pasts. They just seem as close to perfect as I have seen. At least from the outside.

Then there are the "others". There are the guys from the Mission. Folks that once lived on the streets. Broken folks like myself. We were the misfits, The left behinds. Drunks, drug addicts, helpless, hopeless, diseased and discarded. We were looked upon and thought of as the ones who were worth nothing. We sure didn't have any measuring stick that would sum us up. We basically believed we were what we felt. Bad.


We have two major groups and they seem to be polar opposites in the terms of our society and whether or not you'd open the door to the if they came a knockin. That where the rub comes in. Both groups Glorify Christ. There are the ones who heed the call of the Holy Ghost and submit to the shed blood of Christ at the moment the truth is evident. Then there are all the "others". We are the ones who for whatever the reason resist the call of Jesus on His initial invitation. We are heard headed and hard hearted. We are hurting, bitter and broken. We are sick and despondent and angry. Some are broken, ill and desperate. When I read my Bible I see this latter group have moment after moment with Jesus. i have few reading experiences in the Bible with characters who from first call follow The Christ. Samuel and David come to mind. But what about all the others that the new Testament is constructed around. There all broken, ill, lame, desperate and hopeless. These are the ones that Jesus longed for. The Bad. Jesus looked for and tarried for the Bad., I know Jesus looked for me and I was Bad. Thank God today that you matter. Thank God for the thief on the cross because he mattered to Him. Next time you see one of us on the street or under the bridge remember that Jesus came for them to. What you are going through today matters to God because how we deal with it Glorifies Him. That is what it is all about. Glorifying Him