The best BLACK FRIDAY deal EVER

Today is BLACK FRIDAY, and any of us who live in the western hemisphere know what that means. It means long lines, camp outs, waiting for "door-buster" deals and that one thing our kids want for Christmas. I just read a comic on Facebook that said, "Isn't it ironic that on the day after Americans give thanks for what they already have, they spend the most money on brand new stuff?". I agree. It is Ironic. Now, I first want to say that I don't think there is anything particularly wrong with Black Friday in of itself. I work in retail (restaurant) and Black Friday is just as big for us as it is for the big box retailers. There are some very very good deals out there, and I'm all for saving a buck, doing Christmas on a budget and not borrowing for Christmas. However, just as we Americans, and for that matter, us as humans, we take anything and everything to the extreme. I've participated in Black Friday before. Some years I've gone out with my dad early in the morning, gotten some deals, then eaten lunch. One year it was the midnight of Thanksgiving, attempting to wait in line at a popular toy retailer, only to learn it was a four-hour wait to get in. It was in the 20s where I was (Chattanooga) and so I opted to return in the morning.

Four hour plus waits are a little extreme for me.

So if you're out there, fighting the crowds, rushing to the next place for the next great deal, just keep everything in perspective. Yes, you are getting great deals, and saving a buck. Know that it is just "stuff", especially when the store runs out, or someone rudely cuts you off. If you are a follower of Christ, use this opportunity to share the Hope that is within you, the reason we all rush to get these great deals on gifts. Be extra nice in an unexpected way. If there is only one of that item left, give it to the woman in line behind you. God will reward your generosity. You can NEVER outgive God. If you feel led, donate to the Salvation Army bell ringers (there are one of the few who still say "Merry Christmas" in public). Do everything this Black Friday as if you are doing it for the LORD.

If you're not a follower of Christ, or if you're not sure, I have a better deal than a $200 42" LCD TV or a $150 iPod Touch. In fact, the deal that I know about is the BEST BLACK FRIDAY DEAL EVER! are you interested?

The Bible tells us that "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). God is perfect and therefore His standards are perfect, and no matter how good we are, we will never meet His perfection. That means you and I have all done something to fall short (or sin) of God's standards. Because we are sinners, we are destined to spend eternity away from him. The Bible also tells us that "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus" (Rom 6:23). So here's where the best deal comes into play. See there is no way we could ever earn our way into God's graces, nor can we earn eternal life. Our sin, no matter how big or small, separates us from God forever. However, God has offered us a way to deal with our sin. He gave us the gift of Jesus Christ, His one and only Son. Jesus was fully man and fully God. The Bible says that Jesus lived a perfect life here on earth, but was tempted in every way we are, yet since He's also fully God, He never sinned. Because God loved you so much and wants to spend eternity with you, He allowed His only Son, Jesus to die on a cross for your sins and three days later rose Him from the dead. The Bible says that if you "Confess with your mouth Jesus is LORD and believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Rom 10:9). That means if you confess your sins to God, believe that Jesus died on the cross and that his death paid IN FULL the price for your sins, and if you verbally ask Jesus to be your Lord and to save you, that God will save you. You will then get to spend eternity with our creator. So instead of an eternity spent separate from God, you'll get to spend eternity with God in Heaven.

God offers this deal to Everyone! He isn't going to make you trust in Jesus, and He isn't going to force you to believe, but rather in His love for you, He will allow you to read posts like this. He will allow you to hear the Gospel presented at a church service, or on TV, or through a friend. He will give you every chance He can to accept this gift. However, every time you reject it, the Bible says your heart becomes a little bit harder, and therefore, you are more likely to continue to reject His gift of eternal life. But the Good News is that if you feel that tugging on your heart right now, God is calling you to receive his gift. Just like you had to receive that ticket from the clerk for that item you waited in line so long for on Black Friday, you need to receive His Gift. You may be thinking, but Karl, you don't know all the bad things I've done. You're right, I don't. But you don't know all of my bad stuff either. However, the Bible says that when we trust in Jesus, God separates us from our sin as far as the east is from the west. It doesn't matter how much or how bad or how deep your sin may be. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9). All we have to do is place our faith and trust in Him. Now THAT is a good deal! No, it's not a Good deal, it's the BEST DEAL EVER!


If after reading this, you want to receive this gift and take part in the best deal ever, confess your sin to God and pray this prayer:

Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I believe that you died on the cross as payment in full for my sins. Thank you for dying for me. I believe that God raised you from the dead. Because of that, I want to make you my Lord and my Savior. I repent of my sins and want to turn from my selfish ways. Please change my heart and be the Lord of my life. Thank you for saving me, Jesus. I love you. Amen.

Do you really know the LORD?

 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' -Matthew 7:15-23 (NIV)

Before God reached out and got my attention, I thought I knew Him.  In my head, I thought that I was a believer, but in my heart, I knew that I was not in His will.  I knew that I was not saved.  See all of our lives, as Jesus says in this passage, bear fruit.   All you have to do is look at what kind of fruit does your life bear?  My life was not bearing the "good fruit" Jesus talks about, but rather the "bad fruit."  If you are living only to please yourself, then you will bear selfish fruit that will taste sweet for a season but then become very bitter over time and will never satisfy you.  If your life has nothing to do with God, or you do not believe in Him, then your life will bear bad fruit that will never give you peace and joy, and you'll never feel the love that He has for you.   But if you are in Christ, your life will bear fruit that will abundantly fulfill you.  Jesus said that He came so that we may have "life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).  Paul tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control.  Do you see evidence of these things in your life today?   When we give our lives to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts forever and our lives begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit.   If you life does not show any signs of these, you may want to investigate if you really know the LORD.   If you know for a fact you are saved, but don't see much fruit now, you may just be like a young tree that hasn't quite reached maturity for fruit to blossom.  If that is the case,  just keep seeking after God and His will and the fruit will bear in time in your life.

Take this time to test your faith.  The Bible tells us to do so: 

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you-- unless, of course, you fail the test?" - II Cor 13:5 

What fruit are you bearing?  If you are bearing the "bad fruit" as Jesus described above, then you might be the one in the end that Jesus says,  'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Don't be one of those in the end.  Check yourself NOW.  If your life is not bearing the fruit of the spirit, test your faith.  Who or what is your faith placed in?  Your works?  Your deeds?  Someone else's faith like your spouse or parent?  Even if you've told others about Christ and have done great works in His name, the Bible says that you are not saved unless you have placed your complete faith in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross for your sins.
 
Here's the beautiful promise - that when you do completely trust in Christ for your salvation, you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and then those good fruits will begin to bear in your life, and you will NEVER be the same.  I haven't been the same since I gave my life to him September 10, 2007!

May God bless you abundantly today, and may you realize how much Jesus loves YOU and wants a relationship with YOU!

 

Teach me to number my days...

 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,  making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.      -Ephesians 5:15-16   New International Version (NIV) 

Today has been quite a different day than I expected.  My son is currently receiving treatment at the hospital for his vasculitis.  My better half is there with him.  I was supposed to go down there this afternoon, bring them lunch and spend time with the two of them..  However, everything changed when one of my children wouldn't cooperate this morning.  This left me to deal with said uncooperative child for the remainder of the afternoon.   

As it turns out, once all the errands requested of my wife were completed, my child settled down and apologized.   I accepted, forgave and we headed home.  Since we got back, I've been working on some things I haven't had time to work on in quite some time due to work, football, church and other commitments. For example, I'm working on my first Sunday School lesson when I begin teaching a young marrieds class on August 14th.  I also decided to update the blog for the first time in quite some time.  Look for the "my story" page with my testimony on it to be updated very soon.  I also needed to turn my attention to some other things that my wife normally deals with.  For example, dinner, laundry, cleaning, home improvement, etc.  The picture below depicts the choices and plans I had for my new found time this afternoon.

From bottom right, going counter-clockwise: (1) Bible, Basics of Biblical Greek
Love Dare; (2) Laundry, RE brand Chair and drill; (3) Putter and golf balls

We ALL are busy people.  We ALL have choices to make with our time, and now that I'm 33, I realize that my time, not my money, is my most valuable resource entrusted to me by my Heavenly Father.  So how does one go about choosing how to spend time?  The verse from Ephesians, Paul challenges the church of Ephesus to live as wise, not unwise.  This means we have to be very diligent about how we spend our precious minutes and seconds.  As much as I love golf, and as much as I believe God put that passion for golf in me so that He may use me in that arena to glorify Him, I knew from my experience, I needed to put Him first.  So what did I do?  Typing this blog was one of the first things.   Before that, I got dinner in the crock-pot and laundry finished up.  Working on my lesson is next and then finishing my long overdue testimony will be next.   After that, I will fold the laundry, put the chair together you see in the picture and then serve dinner.  If there is time after that, I may practice my putting inside or go outside and chip if the weather permits.  But what I'm doing is putting what God desires for me first, and then letting everything else fall in line.

Its not just in the New Testament that scripture talks about managing time.  Moses authored Psalm 90 and in it delivers a very valuable perspective.  We are only here for a certain amount of time.  We will never get that time back.  As much as my old self and my selfish nature would rather play golf, I knew that God would bless me if I put His priorities first, everything else will fall in line.   Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."  I'm so grateful that God got my attention 4 years ago and that I have placed my trust in Christ.  Since then I've been made a New Creation (II Cor 5:17).  Because of that, I have gained wisdom and reading Psalm 90 now makes sense to me...So what does Moses say in Psalm 90:12?


Teach us to number our days,  that we may gain a heart of wisdom.


So I say to you, how are you going to spend your time today?

What a cost...

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

-Isaiah 53:5

You may have read my previous blog entry back in the fall about my oldest son, "Yes, Not Yet, and I've Got Something Better".  As it turns out, my son had a relapse of his previous episode of bleeding.  We just got home Monday from a 6-day stay at the hospital.  Davis had to have a lung biopsy to try to determine what is causing his bleeding.  If any of you are aware of what is involved with a lung biopsy, you know that a chest tube is involved with the recovery.  This turned out to be a VERY painful ordeal for my thirteen year old.  He entered the hospital looking fairly healthy (other than his bleeding lungs) and in fact was very irritable - as I would have been, too -  Thursday afternoon since he had been fasting since Wednesday night at midnight and his surgery got delayed 10 hours.  Unlike his previous stay when he went in feeling bad, he went in feeling okay.  He left feeling very differently

I had somewhat of an idea of what we were signing up for when the Pulmonologist said that my son would need a chest tube.  However, what actually took place was very different.  Anytime my son would cough (which was frequent), laugh (not so frequent on day 1), move (he had to get up to go to the bathroom), or breathe, it was very painful.  At one point on Friday, Davis had to go to the bathroom and this was after his surgeon stopped by and checked on him, after he had to do some breathing exercises and after he had a coughing spell.  When he tried to stand up with my wife's and my help, he began to cry.  Then my wife began to cry, then i began to cry.  It was very pitiful.  But Davis was a trooper.  He made it through the pain and suffering of the hospital to go home yesterday.  Now our prayers are that the doctors get some answers for us.

The main point of my blog entry today was not to talk about the syndrome and his condition, but to focus on that pain of the chest tube that my son endured.  I went home that night and prayed to God that if it were possible for me to switch places with my son.  I would give ANYTHING to take the pain away from my son at that time and put myself in his place.  Then my next thought is what inspired this blog entry.  I thought, "I wonder if God thought the same thing when His son was on the cross."  I don't claim to even have the mind of God or think like Him.  Scripture clearly tells me that I don't.  "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." -Isaiah 55:9.  However, I can always wonder what God thinks in prayer. 

Here I am with one of my three sons - and one of my four wonderful kids - in pain and sick.  He didn't do anything to deserve this.  I would do anything to help my son out and take his place.  But I may or may not ask to do the same for others, though - if I'm being completely honest.  Sure, I'd sympathise with you.  I'd pray and lay hands, claim healing, bring you meals and minister to you the best I could, but I don't know if I would say "God can you have me swap places in order to save him/her?"  But with my child - I would do it in a heartbeat.  Its that thought that makes what God did for us even more amazing.

God loved us SO MUCH that He gave us His one and only Son.  Did you just read that?  His ONE and ONLY son.  Who died the most gruesome, painful death of that time.  Who was completely innocent of any wrong doing.  He was beaten, flogged, pierced, persecuted, mocked, judged, crucified, for OUR sins, OUR wrongdoings and OUR transgressions.  And as the scripture in Isaiah says, "By his wounds we are healed".   Jesus also wento the cross for ALL people.  I'm not so sure I could send any of my sons (remember I have three sons) to endure torture, agony, pain and death on a cross for ALL.  In this spiritual journey, I have a new appreciation for the cost paid for my sins and for your sins. It can be summed up in six words:  Amazing Love - How can it be?

Once more, I'll say, if I had the thought of my son, laying in a hospital bed, on his way to healing (Praise be to God and His son Jesus for by His stripes Davis is being healed) and wanted to swap spots with him, I wonder if God had any similar thought about His innocent Son, our savior, nailed to a cross.  I do believe that God shed tears that day for the pain Jesus endured, just as my wife and I did for our son.  No father likes to see their child in pain.  But being an eternal and ever present God, He knew that price was necessary so that you and I could one day see Him in Heaven.

As far as my son goes, we continue to pray that he has complete healing - claiming Isaiah 40:31 and 53:5 for him.  I'm sorry, Davis that you had to be pierced, prodded, endure extreme pain - only to have no conclusions yet and a long road ahead.  But your experience has drawn me closer to my Heavenly Father and His son, my savior, Jesus Christ.  And for that I am grateful.

May God bless you and keep you all today.

Children of God

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.  Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba,Father.”  So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. Galatians 4:4-7

So I had a revelation today about my daughter.  I have an adopted daughter, and she is my only daughter among three boys.  I am VERY thankful and give ALL the credit to God to say that all four of my children have given their lives to Christ and been obedient in going through Believer's Baptism!  It brings me so much joy as a parent to see your child come to God in faith and place their trust in Jesus Christ.  I believe God celebrates in a similar tune but infinitely much more when one of His children repent and turn to Him...more on that later.

My daughter has special needs and some of her needs really put a strain on our family at times.  Her emotions do not always stay in check; her temper is a challenge, and she can be impossible to communicate with when she gets into "that" state of mind.  When she is in a good spot, she is quite possible the sweetest girl on the planet.  Everyone at church says she has a beautiful smile and is "always happy".  And she is.  When she gets home and comfortable, and especially in danger areas (being tired, being hungry, being frustrated or embarrassed) a switch can flip and her mother and I can just about have enough of her.  However, that being said, we love her as unconditionally as we can.  It's not a feeling most of the time, but an action and a commitment.  Not unlike how God sees us as Paul in his letter to the Galatians calls us His adopted children.

When we act out, don't listen and get ourselves in a state where God cannot communicate with us, I'm quite sure He can get frustrated with us.  He can probably even have anger, but because He is God, He loves all of us - His children -  unconditionally.  This single thought has challenged me to have even more patience with all of my children, but especially with my daughter.  God created her just the way she is, and when she is "driving me crazy"  - I have to do two things:
(1) Have patience and know that God has the same feelings about me when I trip and fall
(2) Look at me and evaluate where I am spiritually that day.  If something is bothering me about her behavior, then something is off kilter with me.

I am thankful for the opportunity to grow closer to God by being entrusted as my daughter's parent.  I pray I can be a better, more godly father.  After all, she is a daughter of God, and therefore my sister in Christ.  I'm also grateful for the reminder that as a child of God, He's not done working and parenting me yet, either.