"Where O death is your sting"? Remembering a man of God

Billy Graham wasn’t the only great man to pass away recently. My cousin Daryl died today. He was in his mid-40s but had the intellectual development of a grade 5 or 6er. He was born with excessive fluid pressure in his brain and had several operations to put a tube in his head to drain it. As a teenager he fell into a pool and drowned, but was revived. This incident further contributed to his diminished mental state. Yet what he lacked in IQ he made up for in joy and inner beauty.

Spiritual sociology and the zombie apocalypse

Have you ever sat in a hectic mall and people watched? It’s akin to bird watching, yet you observe the immensity in diversity of the crowds before you. They hurry to and fro in their busy lives; each with a distinctive personality and outward projection. It’s amazing how alive and invigorated they all seem, with family and friends tying them together with unseen bounds. And yet, what we perceive is not an accurate depiction of the reality before us. If life were representative of a movie, we could speculate that the world around us is an ongoing drama, perhaps with comical elements and some adventure. The cast of characters around us are each the protagonists in their own personal unfolding story lines. Such `life’ is observed within the narrative; People living and being people. I am nothing more than a simple bird watcher, a movie goer, and I sit in a dark theatre and enjoy the intrigue of this movie of life on the screen of my retina. Yet because I sit in the dark, I fail to see the reality just beyond the theatre doors: The bigger world beyond my darkened perception. God’s Word allows us to glimpse the outside world: the real world. And to see that those around us, who are like us, are not well. That something is dreadfully amiss, and that humanity is terminally ill.

Men are pigs – advice for women wallowing for courtship

Whitney Houston once asked, how will you know if he really loves you?  There are millions upon millions of single ladies out there, musing about the pairing possibilities in their general proximity. This is not unique to the human condition, but is ingrained within much of the Animalia Kingdom. Their eyes are peeled for the magnificent, and at times odd, courtship rituals that the opposite sex will use to entice them.  These displays assure the female that the male is strong, beautiful, capable of supporting a family, and healthy.  Sexual dimorphism is the reality and starting point for the continuation of humanity.  And it creates a wondrous sexual tension, a magnetism, perhaps an animal magnetism, to draw these anatomically divergent creatures together.

Plato recognized this tension in his theory of forms.  He contemplated that there was only one “formal” reality for humanity: and that the male and female sexes, were infact two different halves of that form.  Meaning, that men and women were akin to puzzles, and only find completion when they come together in a marital arrangement.  This was the only form, as far as I am aware of, that required two pieces to find completion, or wholeness.  I say this not because I’m a Platonist or that I believe you need to be married to he whole, heaven forbid, but to illustrate the “formal” beauty and purity seen in this relationship.  Paul was actually quite fond of the single lifestyle (1 Corinthians 7:8).  But even the pre-Christian ancient Greeks recognized the importance of this union.

Dark Spirits - A black hole trying to take your light

We decided to meet at a coffee shop.  Two strangers brought together by a flyer I posted around town.  A week prior, I had made a flyer inviting people who have questions about God to phone me.  It also invited those suffering from depression to seek me out.  I try things, and if they don’t work, I try other things.  Occasionally, by God’s grace, He elects to use me for some small task.  This was one of those days.

Listen ... I bring Good News

Whether you're broken or whole, this video's balm for your soul.

See a child enjoy life with her Creator:  a life abundant and a life of joy.  Yet, as she grows older a myriad of influences intercepts this relationship and interferes with it.  We see her lured away by the world and seeking to belong in it; Amorous men, the allure of mammon, frivolous parties, popularity, drunkenness and addiction ... empty living.  Her self worth was shaped by her Creator's perception. She was beautiful. Now lost, her worth is defined by the depraved world around her and she doesn't know how important she is anymore, she feels worthless, empty, and alone. 

But watch the Father, the Son, the Husband call to her.  He loves her oh-so dearly.  If only she would return to Him, He would return her lost joy.  Broken, despondent, suicidal, the dominoes are in place and the evil one comes. He is the man-in-black - the father of lies - and he schemes to kill the Master's beloved creation.  "You are worthless" he tells her.  Two narratives are presented in her life: (1) one from the giver of Truth, and the other (2) from the father or lies.  One makes her beautiful, the other makes her worthless. Seek the Truth sister and it will set you free.

"Cast all your anxiety on Him, for He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7 NIV)

Strive for the Father and He will strive for you.  Call Him, seek Him, demand Him in your life.  He is all that matters.  A treasure of endless worth.

What joy to see her return to her first Love, her true Love, her only real Love.  She claws and fights to return to Him, while the world claws and fights to stop her. And suddenly, by turning to Jesus, she is blanketed by His impenetrable embrace and finds peace - true ... lasting ... joyous ... peace.  She is loved and remembers she is beautiful, a child of God, found once again in her heavenly Father's warm embrace.  Praise Jesus!!

(if video doesn't load, use link to view:  https://youtu.be/g8vL3cN1fRc)

(if video doesn't load, use link to view:  https://youtu.be/g8vL3cN1fRc)

Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. (NLT: Matthew 11:28)

Lifehouse's Everything Drama

Thomas the Engine talks Prozac and Purpose

Did you know you matter?  It’s all about perspective and a lack of it.  If you thought you were amazing, you’d feel better about yourself.  If you knew you were loved, you wouldn’t feel so despondent.  So many things can go wrong when we don’t know who we are.  We can grow depressed and suffer a minuscular self-worth.    For others, their self-worth is associated with temporal things such as power and possessions:  things as useful as a snowman on an hot day.  It may seem fun for a moment, but in the context of the grand scheme of things, it is momentary and insignificant.  If one lacks prestigious employment or a pretty face, they feel second tier and cheated of happiness.  Melancholy can be insidious, particularly when generated by unimportant reasons.  It can impair the pace of our journey and obscure the path we should trod.  We live in a Prozac society and we are a Prozac generation.  How can a train locomotive guide us to completion?