The Appeasement Plan

The Appeasement Plan

11/27/13

It is obvious that the majority of humans do not like surprises especially when it comes to major events that adversely affect their lives. Even though mankind has the capability of being mobile and fending off the aggressive natural circumstances, we still like to have a stable balance in our world so that our settings do not change much.  The true character of how humans react is then set into motion when these life changing events occur.  However, how comfortable do we have to get before we totally lose our edge in preparing for such an event? And will we ever regain this edge and ability to purge the darkness with the light of truth before the darkness strikes?

It has been noted throughout history that the people that live within the school district, city, state, nation, realm, etc that their actions reflect what they have been taught.  As with many other issues one can flip through a textbook and read about how the people conducted their daily business and the reader can get a general idea of what that society has taught the people.  These general standards of education were put in place and have been accepted as the norm throughout this country’s school systems, and have provided whoever desires to learn, a basic level of education that has the ability to get them by in life.  But what happens to the system if these standards are lower or directed in such a manner that the minds of the students are not challenged?  This represents an appeasement process that miscalculates the ability to seek out the heart of learning and focus it on subsidizing the student during their prime.

Most of you remember the movie called “Remember the Titans.”  This was an excellent movie on many accounts but basically was football and the race issue.  However, there was one scene in the movie that I found very interesting and the issue that was addressed is an issue that we are now beginning to see the result when students are not challenged.  All of you should know by now I do not have a racial bone in my body.  My parents taught me to treat everyone equally and accept them for who they are and to show them Jesus through my actions and not through the world standards.  The scene that I want to describe to you occurs when one of the white football coaches plays a bit of favoritism for some and not on the others.

It becomes clear that the white football coach is tough and that he understands the game of football very well.  He is however very uncomfortable with having to coach black players and to follow their movements on and off the field simply because he does not wish to upset the general population of the town.  The coach is very well known and respected and from the dialog in the movie one can gather that he has not been too kind to the black community on a regular basis.  A couple of his players that are white obviously are not giving their best and this coach pulls them aside and just reams them a new one.  Now, for anyone who has played the game of football understands that this setting is not uncommon and all of us have been yelled at for not giving it our 100% best on every play.

Within a few plays later it is obvious that some of the black players are not giving it their best either and this same coach pulls them aside and gently talks to them and ten lets them continue to play accordingly.  It is soon evident that the remaining players on the team pick this difference up and once again tensions rise on the practice field.  Later that day the two coaches are having a conversation with each other and the issue of treating everyone equal makes it rounds.  The head coach mentions to the assistant that his actions are damaging the future of the black players and that for them to be accepted in the world they must have the knowledge of how the world is going to treat them. The head coach stressed that if you do not treat everyone of the players equal that you are crippling the ones who you pull along and only harm not only on the playing field but also in their life as well.

Treating any person differently no matter what the setting may be harms them if the rules are not followed the same.  People are smart and they will figure things out when these types of occurrences present themselves.  It has always been a human way of trying to get away with things when that person does not want to deal with an issue.  It does not matter if the issue arises during a football game, at work or when a life threatening choice must be made, if the person has not been adequately trained in dealing with the hard times ability for that person to adjust diminishes greatly.

Appeasing the mind is a dangerous quality that one can offer to any person and it allows that person to fake their way into society.  There is no doubt that people will face some sort of trials in their life and it imperative that we have the know-how of how to deal with these circumstances.  It is not an “if” we have problems for it is only a matter of time until we do experience them.  How can a person be ready for life if they have not been prepared to face the trials and tribulations that life is going to hand them?  It is a must that we make sure that our children know how to think for them and to have the mental stability to adjust to what deals them.  Is a test accurate enough to honestly provide a person with the knowledge of expectancy for the future if the questions for the test are spelled out before the student begins the class?

When I was in my junior year in high school I was at a fairly decent academic school.  It was a large Texas high school and for the most part had high expectations for every student.  Texas as most of you know is a very fanatic state when it comes to football.  Football is its signature sport and it is expected that every high school football team do well each year.  The football programs for the schools draw in a very large sum of money for the district and are considered to be the defining sport of that school and how the year is going to be defined in each sporting category.  In other words, if the football team has a losing season then no matter well the basketball program does it will be compared to the football team for that year; they could even win a state title and be considered second class.  There are many people who disagree with this concept but it is in place and until things change, this attitude and belief will remain.  However, no matter how good of a team a school might have they were still graduating players that could not even balance a checkbook or even write a complete sentence and it was bringing national attention to the state.  So, something had to be done with the standards and a new plan was put into place; starting with the teachers.

The teachers of my high school had regular meetings, so when the first meeting of the second semester rolled around none of the students paid much attention to it.  But when the teachers came out of the meeting and went to their classrooms us students immediately knew something was wrong just by the look on their faces.  The teachers did not say much about things at first and the rumors began to fly around the school that some of the teachers were getting fired for various reasons.  Even though we had no clue what was said in the meeting our minds ran with many ideas concerning the matter.  Within a few hours the truth began to emerge and we understood that beginning next year the teachers were required to take an aptitude test in order to prove that they were competent to continue teaching. Seemed fair to us since they were the ones that continually gave us tests; right?

The remaining portion of the year was tense between the students and teachers but for the most part everything seemed to be normal.  The rumors about the tests and how difficult they were going to be flowed though the rank and file of the teachers worse than what the students could have done concerning a normal teenage issue.  As the school year ended all the students were joyous that another year had passed and that another year closer to graduation was at hand.  For me, the next year would be my senior year and I was looking forward to all of the “privileges” that this status posed.

The summer flew by and school was upon us once again and it was time for the teachers to find out when their test was going to be administered to them.  The tension did not quell over the summer and it was ever present on day one of the new school year.  When we asked the teachers about their summer the majority of tem stated that the main activity for the summer was to study for a test in which they had no idea what was going to be over but to us students this concept was not too difficult to comprehend since we dealt with it almost every week.  Soon after the beginning of school the teachers found out when the “D Day” was to happen as they put it.  It was going to be during Christmas break. 

As the time approached for the teachers testing to occur many of the teachers just simply stopped verbally communicating with each other and concentrated on teaching the subjects that they had been doing for quite some time.  Everyone in the school could feel the tension and it was reflected in many ways as time crept closer to the testing day.  Christmas break was upon us and the students were once again excited to be away from the responsibilities that school had over us.  As the last day before the break came I remember one of my teachers being so worried about the test that he actually said that he did not expect to be back after Christmas break and he even told us that it had been a pleasure to have the opportunity to teach us some things about life before we grew up.  Most of us blew this statement off but at the same time we did hear from reliable sources that the test would determine if teachers kept their jobs or not.

When school returned in January we all were wondering which teachers would still be with us and it soon became a joke amongst all of the student body.  When we walked into the school we went to our first period classrooms and waited for our teachers to show up.  And what do you know, every one of our teachers came back to work on that Monday morning and every one of them had a story to tell about their testing experience.  The common theme for each teacher was that they had no idea of what to study for since nothing was directly relayed to them concerning the contents of the test.  As it turned out, the test consisted of one question in which the teacher had to answer by using complete sentence structure and in the form of two paragraphs.  That was the entire test.

However, as the laughter died down the teachers made another statement concerning what they had learned over the past year.  Most of them, after they got over their anger, understood that the entire process made them better in that it allowed them to reacquaint themselves with how to give and to take a test and that it had reminded them of how to use their brains in order to figure something out that they had learned a long time ago.  They also mentioned that they were lucky to have the school teachers that they did when they were in high school and that they would not have traded those years for anything.  To be honest the methods of how the teachers gave tests for my remaining year changed over that Christmas break and on those lines I truly believe that the change in philosophy from the teachers helped me down the road.

The human mind expects to be challenged in many ways and in reality thrives on this type of situation.  However, if the mind is not trained to overcome adverse conditions then it shall not understand how to figure a way out of things when times become tough.  I have mentioned a few times of some of my younger colleagues who I have asked general history questions in which they have no idea about as their response.  My own daughters have trouble breaking down a sentence and diagramming a sentence, which even though my grammar skills are not the best I do know how to use a direct object and where to put it if necessary.  Yet our testing skills for the state are well within the national expectancy rate.  This represents many flaws in a system that is designed to teach and to bring interaction with students and teachers in order to expand the young minds so that they can advance our society down the road.

Society is also seeing this non caring attitude penetrating the streets with the rise in the number of crimes against innocent people. Communication levels between individuals is also under fire because the younger generations do not even know how to verbally talk with anyone yet they know how they can get pregnant and curse at a teacher for telling them to sit down in class.  There is a reason that the Bible addresses this topic by stating if you spare the rod on a child you will soon find out the results of this failure.  Now, that does not mean that ANY human has the authority to beat a child or any other person but a stern discipline will cause the person to think about what occurred and that they should not repeat it.

When a mind is challenged with a problem it will always bring about the best out of the person at that moment.  Also, it will stick into that person’s mind and will provide an answer when that person’s grandchild is facing a similar situation.  Now this can work in both directions if society allows it in such that if society promotes laziness then that is exactly what our minds will be trained for when attacks come; the opposite is true as well.  Whatever the mind is trained for that is what it will portray in the future towards others and we need to bear this in mind as we sit down and think about the adventures that we are about to endure.

God understands life for He is the one that created life.  He also understands that our minds need to be challenged in order for them to stay current with life.  The ways that we trend towards God also understands will keep us in the dark when challenges are not dealt with accordingly and appropriately.  God designed us to be defined by our challenges and not by our everyday routines that we mundanely complete.  Do we fancy this type of challenged society or have we become a welfare oriented state of mind when it comes to coping with the hardness of life, that is the question that all of us have to answer.

We need to understand that many people will not stand up to the challenges of the world and to complete these challenges for the best interests of the world.  If one watches the news and reads the blogs and websites they will see a pattern that has been rising for a while now that should shed some light on which direction we are heading in.  The time is now for us to stop and to expand our mind’s capacity and realize that the paths that we are choosing are creating destruction all around us.  Out of necessity for our lives and future we need to wake up and realize that our society needs to have God in the center and not having Him sit on the sidelines of our surroundings.

As I look back into history and read about the troubled times of our past, I cannot but wonder how those people survived all of the catastrophes that were presented to them.  The numerous wars and disease outbreaks alone could have brought civilization down to the ground yet the minds of that time found a way to stretch their methods of thinking in such a manner as to keep the societies functioning and productive amongst the trying times.  I am so thankful that I was not born during those times in human history but even with that selfish thought of mine I applaud the people who lived during those times because they had the mindset to find a way to get things done and to survive another day.

As a believer and studier of God’s Word I have ran across some of the most bizarre human experiences that one can imagine.  But while these stories are hard to contemplate based upon modern standards, I can believe the content because of how humans adapt to their surroundings when pushed into service.  There is one portion of the Bible that I had confusion over for a very long time but those passages are becoming clearer to me as each day passes.  For some reason humans cannot seem to figure out how to control each other and allow one person to rise up and take over the world, which leads to a bunch more fun and exciting things.  To me, this description sounds like the minds of civilization have been so condensed that they no longer can function outside of the box so to speak.  And for a long time I could not understand this philosophy that is written about but with the current events of today I now understand the meaning of the beginning of the birthing pains and how the one ruler will come into play since the dividing lines are so wide that only anger and infighting can be produced. 

It seems to me that we as humanity continue to search for our testing skills based upon the known and not the true unknown.  Life deals its cards through the unknown and it is important that we articulate this concept to our children, grandchildren and for anyone else who will drop the dividing lines that we have established and listen to what our history is telling us.  God is alive and He understands everything that we are going to be facing.  Yes, there shall be tough times ahead; I cannot tell you when because I do not know.  Yes, many people will fall apart due to these changes; how many and to what degree I do not know but based upon our mental stability now, it will not be pretty. Yes, governments and nations will disappear and wars will rage; how many I do not know but it is coming.  All of this had been told to us through the words of the Bible, just read it and keep in mind that it is talking about humans and their activities.

I agree with many people that we should expand our thinking about how we are doing things.  I disagree with them on the premise that secular methods and current views need to replace the valued and storied standards that we have had lived with ever since this country was established.  I believe that right at this moment that there is enough people in this country who have a fighting spirit to rise up and defend our country if needed, but if this should happen it better hurry up because those numbers are decreasing by the day.  The sharpness of the mind is being whittled away at breakneck speed and our enemy loves every minute of it.  God is calling us to wake up and to shape up before the predicted events of humanity begin.  The process of torment and pain can be delayed if we only turn back to Him and allow God to change our hearts.  It is easy as that.

So the question remains if society will be allowed to continue its appeasement process of our lives.  The results will be clear no matter which answer is given to that question.  The choice is strictly up to us and whichever way we decided our fate is in our hands.  Let us use our “authority” of choice to boot the “right” of choice out the door.  Let us make the correct choice for our future and get off our butts and dig into the greatest history book that has ever been written.  God loves you and wishes nothing but peace, love, joy and prosperity in our lives.  But in order for this to occur we need to have sharp minds and hearts when the tests come along.  It is also guaranteed that if we are not prepared the opposite will be true in that we will totally destroy ourselves due to the lack of Godly understanding.

DLB

Taking Steps

Taking Steps

11/25/13

The most common method of human mobility is walking.  We may be able to drive a car or ride in a plane to travel great distances, but the method of human movement still relies on the individual personally moving in order to achieve our destination.  The Bible makes reference too many scenes where people are walking and moving from one area to another and it is important for us to look beyond this commonality that all of us share and to understand a little known detail about humans and God.  There is a common tie that is present within God’s plan for our lives and the movements of man and it might seem a bit odd but one will see the connection by the end of this article.

We all know that there was no such thing as cars, buses, planes or any other mechanized vehicles during the ancient times.  It is hard for us to even imagine that the automobile was not even mass produced until the early 1900s and it is even more difficult to imagine us not having any type of modern transportation system in place.  Yet there was a long period of human history where these advances were not present and the only way for man to get anywhere was to use the back of an animal or just to walk from place to place. 

There is nothing wrong with walking in fact it is the best type of exercise that a human can do for ourselves and even though it takes a bit longer to reach our destination we should try it more often.  I find it kind of interesting that walking was the first steps that man took in the mobility processes and how our ideas and concepts of mobility gradually changed and grew from this movement.  The progressive mind and heart that God gave us has accomplished many wonders within our lives and I am anxiously awaiting the next big advance that we will have to offer.  However, if we stop and think about the procedures of walking we can learn a great deal about progression and how we can get from one point of our lives to another point.

A few weeks ago I wrote a series of articles that addressed the progress of our ways and how they related to the processes from a beginning point to a final result.  I touched on a couple of subjects that included our methods of progression and how that even though it is a normal process to advance our ways of living, these ways can become very destructive to humanity if we do not keep them in check.  Man likes to have it both ways as the saying goes and mankind believes that when we accept these views and ideas that everyone will be able to live closer together and better humanity at the same time.  What we leave out is boundaries when this type of belief occurs and those who do not view the situation alike will be considered outcasts and eventually persecuted in some manner.  Humans have an infamous reputation for this and if you do not believe me or have not heard of this before, I ask you to read any portion of history and you will find plenty of examples.

When a person reads the Bible there are many questions that come to our minds.  I know that when I began to read the Bible there were many questions that I had concerning the people and what occurred to them.  I did not at that time ask how and why the people got themselves into the messes and blesses that they incurred, nor did I ask how they arrived at the places that they had these instances occur to them.  I knew that they had walked or rode to these places, but did not go any further in my investigation of actually what was transpiring at that time. As I continued my digging and listening to God, I began to understand some things about walking and taking steps and I have been confounded in realizing that these steps were relevant in the ancient times and are just as relevant to our lives today.

Taking a step in any direction takes energy from the human.  A person cannot move without expending some type of energy that has been produced from within their body.  This type of energy is active energy and will be used up as soon as its lifespan is completed and then more energy is required and then used up.  This cycle continues until the movements cease either by stopping or by reaching the destination that the person desires.  In either case, energy is constantly used in order for the human being to take a step and it does not matter what the steps are to be used.  Now, if we do not have the energy to take this step or the one after the first, then we have a problem with our inner systems and we need to see a physician.  This means that each step that we take or desire to take is important for our daily activities and we need to make sure that we are capable of continuing this stepping process.

The Israelites are a great example of people taking steps for a long period of time and really not travelling too much in one direction.  They used a bunch of energy during those forty years wandering around in the desert, and for many of them they never understood why it took them so long to reach their destination.  It is estimated that there might have been over a million people in this group of wanderers and to orchestrate a group of this size took a bunch of guts and strength.  But what many of the Israelites did not understand is why God allowed them to spend so much time instead of ending their heated torment quickly.  God had specific reasons for this prolonged moving and it was because He wanted His people to understand not only were they free from their captors but that they were being freed from their captivity as well.

Our personal walking in this life proceeds in the same direction and can have similar results if we do not recognize the path that we are taking.  We as humans love to try and make things work on our own, even taking weeks or even years away from our life “trying to find it.”  Unless you allow God to intervene within your life you shall never find the true meaning of your life or find only a portion of what God had intended for you.  Take for instance David, the King of Israel and the one who brought Israel into nationhood and formal recognition within the nations of his time.  Look at the steps that he had to endure before he became king and then compare them to the steps that he took afterwards.  If one looks at these two portions of his life very different circumstances are present and both sets of footprints are clearly visible.  How many lifelong steps did he have to take before he finally understood what God was trying to free him from?  And an important question that we can only try and figure out is when that answer came to David concerning his footsteps and the direction that he was walking.

Each day of our lives represents another footstep that we will take.  There are decisions that we need to make on this same time basis, and some of us have to make choices even quicker for various reasons.  What direction are we actually travelling in and how will it affect our lives tomorrow or in the year?  Do we even notice that our footsteps are being watched?  Do we even contemplate about the decisions that our children will make based upon the decisions of our day?  Every breath that we take is subject to eyes and it is important for us to get our eyes off of our selfish steps and to make sure that we are taking the right steps in the best direction possible.

Humans enter into the desert without even knowing where they are or where they are about to encounter.  The progression of mankind is a normal feature and one that is one of the most important concepts that we need to heed on a second by second basis.  And if man unknowingly enters into a desert without true guidance then they have no one to blame but others; oops I meant themselves.  The desert is a dry heat just as an oven is and even though it may not be as hot as humid heat the prolonged effects on the body will complete the baking process just as easily, all the while we continue to take one more step in the same direction.

God has a plan for each one of us and it does not include self.  God will allow a person to choose self, but those footsteps will drain so much energy from you and you will reap absolutely nothing for your efforts.  It is allowing God to intervene in our lives that causes us to have the energy to make another step in the right direction, a direction that we can be used for everyone and not just our own ambitions.  And while we are letting God take over our innards He will transform our lives enough so that we can recognize just how much of the self we have inside and then we can begin to understand the difference between God’s steps and our steps.

Whether a person knows or accepts this next statement is a personal choice, but God has already set into motion your life and it is strictly up to you to take those steps in life.  It is totally up to you to surrender your own will and give all of your cares and worries to God.  He is perfectly fine with allowing you to choose your own direction, it shall break His heart to see this occur but He has no choice in the matter.  See, God has to allow us to make these choices and for Him to be a just and righteous King, He has no choice but to follow His own stance from the beginning of human history.  There are paths that we take every day and since God created our hearts He understands exactly what we need in order to survive each step.  Yet, He shall not force His will upon us and even those hard core atheists who eventually find God and accept Him as their Savior make that choice to serve God.  It is always our choice to voluntarily take the desert route or the route that God shows us.

Please, please understand that the Bible is full of people and their stories. The Bible is about humans and the choices that they make whether they be Godly ones or not and the realization that each choice that they make will have a directional result along with that choice.  The Bible is filled with personal tragedies and so in secular human history and on the other hand both sources are also filled with wondrous events that embrace the good of mankind.  Each one of us will take steps and for those who believe that standing still and not moving in life is a good thing, well it is actually a step in the wrong direction.  God intends for us to move and while we are keeping our movements one step at a time, He wants us to have our spirits still and listening for Him to send out directions so our steps can be fewer in number.  See, the Israelites did not have to spend forty years wandering in the desert their journey could have been so much shorter if they would have had a pure heart and understood why they were there in the first place.  I guess this truly defines the picture of going your own way or going God’s.

Once we allow God to take hold of our lives our steps become totally different and we are engaged into another direction and environment.  Our direction becomes towards others and not towards ourselves.  It is a progression that frees us from the inside out and cannot be satisfied that has anything to do with self.  Life becomes alive again and our true meaning in life will be evident though our freedom.  But if we choose to ignore our creator and all of His ways our lives will be filled with emptiness in our freedom and all of the choices that we make will sink into the inner dark abyss of our selfishness.  God loves each and every one of us and it His desire for us to understand that we need to be set free from our captors and that after our freedom our steps need to be guided by His path so that we may be truly free from our captivity.

DLB

Communion is Restoration

Communion is Restoration

11/23/13

Communion is a way of life for everyone who attends church.  Though the doctrinal procedures of communion differ in length and content the basic concepts are adherently installed into one beautiful process.  Communion represents the cornerstone of Christian beliefs and will always be the key to understanding what the life, death, and resurrection of Christ means to our lives.  But have we considered the ties that the articles that we use in communion to how they relate in the relationship between God and man?  It is an interesting concept and one that up until now I had never thought about, but it brings this remembrance of Christ more to life now that I understand its deeper meaning.

Many of us who are familiar with communion understand the importance of its symbolism.  Communion is one of the more important commands and remembrance things that Christians do as a testament to the life, death and resurrection of Christ.  Communion is a solemn occasion where one needs to reflect how Christ gave His life for our chance to have a restored relationship with God the Father.  Much has been debated, speculated and even argued about how to conduct the procedures for this command of Jesus and in some instances one has to be a member of that church to even participate, leaving out the true meaning of the unconditional restoration process that Christ gave to us as He ascended into heaven.

The Last Supper is one of the more famous passages in the New Testament.  It is cited many times throughout the year and is used on many occasions including weddings.  Communion should be one of the focal points in all of humanity since it represents the one true way that mankind can redeem itself from all of the dirt that we have obtained in our lives.  It is a unique form of worship and submission that only God could dream about and to fulfill with His son being the centerpiece of the entire process.

The question has been raised concerning the act of blood sacrifice and why its results stopped even though the procedure continued after Jesus was crucified.  It is a logical question and one that is easily explained but can be kind of hard to understand if one does not understand the meaning of both sides of the story.  Generally speaking the altar and blood sacrifice was the means that man asked God for forgiveness of their sins.  By sacrificing the animal and shedding of its life giving blood, man acknowledged to God that he understood that there would be no way that he / she could ever recognize true life in the current state of death that they had chosen to create.  It was the act of shedding the blood and giving the life of the animal that proved to God that man was serious enough about his own living condition that he would give something that was pure in order to redeem himself from a perfect and holy creator.  God created all living things which include animals.  So, you have an item that God created and that man grew and nurtured and then was willing to give it up to a being that was perfect in every way possible, seems kind of unique doesn’t it?  Also, sacrifices were done at a specific time of the year and not in random at all, there was a separation still present for it was not yet time for complete relationship.

Keep this in mind as we fast forward to the time of Christ and the Last Supper passage in the Bible.  The disciples went up to Jesus and asked Him what was going to happen and where Passover was going to be held.  The place for the Last Supper had already been chosen and all of the normal procedures followed just as it was many times before.  However, God had something else in mind for this time and even though the disciples had no clue what was about to happen, Jesus fully understood what was going to transpire and it was to be the culmination of His life for our restoration, yet the ancient procedures still had to be followed in order for perfect placement and fulfillment in God’s orderly manner. 

Jesus makes an unusual statement in that after they had eaten He took the bread and broke it and said to the disciples that it was His body that was going to be broken.  Then Jesus took the cup and told them to drink the wine for it will represent His blood that would be shed for all mankind.  To Christians this is a beautiful symbol of Christ’s life, death and resurrection and everything that His death means for our eternal salvation and restoration with God.  God had the perfect plan in store for His son that would define the way that our relationship had been with God way back before sin entered into the world and through Jesus and the articles of Communion, God gave us another correlation and confirmation that Jesus is the only way that this could happen.

Going back to the sacrificial era, we notice that mankind is represented by the high priest or if you wish to think on a personal level, Abraham.  It was God who created man and it was Abraham who created Isaac.  The process was in sequence as a future symbol that God had a plan for man’s redemption and restoration yet it was not time for this new process to take place, so the sacrificing continued. The innocent and pure animal was used in the sacrificial setting in the Old Testament.  Once again God created the animal from nothing and man nurtured the animal and kept it as pure as possible up until the time for sacrificing.  This too was a pattern that was chosen by God in order for the perfect bridge to be formed so that we may have life everlasting.  It might seem that I am completing some circles right at the moment but make no mistake that each of these items fit perfectly into what God is sharing.

Jesus took bread which was a customary item at this time of the year.  The bread itself came from the wheat that grew in the field.  A farmer had to take care of that wheat and nurture it until it was ready for harvesting.  The farmer did not create the wheat plant, God did. Yet man had to grow the wheat and then harvest it so that it could be used for food.  There is a process that it takes to make bread and this process includes time, for bread cannot make itself.  The bread itself was made by the hands of the human from a plant that was created by God.  The same process occurred with the sacrificial animal as it did with the bread, which brings me to the wine.

Where does wine come from?  It comes from grapes.  Wine is a product of grapes and even though it comes from a natural source it must be processed before it can be consumed.  Who created the grapes?  God did.  Man takes the grapes and grows them each year and then processes them into wine, jelly, juice etc, but in this case we are going to stick to the wine idea.  Wine takes time to process which takes months to complete and cannot happen overnight.  Steps have to be initiated and completed before the wine is ready to drink.  Wine is a purified drink and is safe to drink without having the unknown effects of contamination.

So we now have some specific examples that were used in the sacrificial process and in the Communion process that are connected.  Do I believe that this is a coincidence?  NO WAY!!!  Remember, for everything that God does He has a divine purpose and a flawless plan that is alive and the topic for this article is another example of how God works in everything.  One final question to answer and the pieces will be connected.  That question is how does Jesus fit into all of this lineage and symbolism?

In the beginning of man’s history God and man had a pretty good relationship.  Both parties walked with each other every day and held some pretty detailed conversations I suppose.  But when man decided to separate himself from our Creator, a division occurred that could not be brought back together by any methods that man had to offer.  All parties understood this so God began the restoration process. Restoration does not come over night and it does not come at a low price so man had to understand that it would take a while before this division could be mended. 

God made man perfect in every way possible so our “roots” in origin come from a pure and holy foundation; sound familiar?  When man decided to leave God’s ways, God still wanted a relationship with man and this began the sacrificial process to teach man that a way was possible.  The process used a creation of God by a sinful being to complete the connection of two spiritual realms.  This sacrifice has to be of pure nature and would never be used again after the process was completed; a total sacrifice of that life was required.

He process continued until God choose Mary to complete the restoration process between God and man.  God became the father of Jesus which represented a holy blood line given to a human which then served as the perfect birth process for the one that would be considered the bridge that crosses the separation gap.  Jesus was the perfect created being that combined both the holy and the human which completes the same process that has been demonstrated with the sacrificial process, and the bread and wine process.  Jesus was created by God and born and raised by Mary a human.  This is the perfect example that God has a purpose and plan for each and every one of our lives no matter what your circumstances are or might be.  If there had been any doubt that God does care about us and is not in existence, this article proves that God is alive, He is everywhere and that He has a perfect, fulfilling and complete plan ongoing in each person’s life.

It is stated in the Bible that God loves us and even knew us before we were conceived in our mother’s body.  It is evident that God’s plan for our lives was already in development before the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.  As humans we do not fully comprehend His timing but we need to make sure that we trust God well enough to follow what He has in store for our lives.  It takes both God and man to make the universe work properly and it takes God and man working together to provide our lives with everything we need in order to survive.  In all matters, both great and small from the creation to the ends of the world, God must be present in our lives in order for us to have the true meaning of life.  We need to stop and take a closer look at what God has provided for our lives and to make sure that everyone in the world knows this truth.

DLB

Your Worth

Your Worth

11/22/13

Ever get the feeling that your life has no meaning to it?  All of us have had that thought run across our minds sometime during our tenure on earth.  Ever wonder if someone would show up at your funeral when you leave this physical life?  These questions and many more similar to them pose many different beliefs about how people would react after we are gone.  These settings are the ones that our enemy uses against us in order to make sure that we do not issue our real authority and meaning to the world.  When these doubts come into our minds we need to remember that we do have a purpose in life and that as long as we sit there and do nothing, our true nature for our existence cannot be fulfilled.

There is not a day that goes by in our lives that we feel inadequate or inferior to others in some certain way.  We humans have this complex that needs to be fed every once-in-a-while to reassure us of our status and place in the world.  There are a great number of causes for these feelings to present themselves and when they do we can always count on the world to make sure we feel each and every pain possible while we are being attacked.  There are also days that these feelings seem overwhelming to our lives and the outlook becomes dim or even un-seeable; the light has been shut off at the end of the tunnel if you wish to put it in those words.

This is usually when we cower down and go sit in some hollow and quiet place within ourselves and mope for a while until we look around and see that the surroundings have improved a little.  But in reality when we have these feelings that is the time that we need not to cower but to be aggressive and prove to ourselves and our enemy that we are better and stronger than what the world can throw at us.  If we allow the world to defeat us in any way our motions as a functioning unit will eventually cease and then the feelings of unimportance will grow into a dynamic dysfunctional state that one may never recover.  This is why it is of the utmost importance that we recognize and realize our potential that each and every one of us has within our lives.

As many of you know I am an avid soccer fan.  I have played the sport since I was in junior high, followed the various leagues around the world and even coached a few games in the absence of the head coach of a team.  When I was young soccer was not the most popular sport in this nation so being able to watch matches outside of the country was nearly impossible, and no one would even dream about getting to watch a match as it was occurring; this was due to the technological level of the world along with the fact that soccer was not that popular so the effort would not have been extensive to promote such an event.

As time passed the country’s interests have peaked more and with the internet and everything that it can generate, I now can watch almost any soccer match that I wish and even choose which country’s league to watch as well.  A couple of years ago I located a website that kept the scores from the leagues around the world and it updates itself every two minutes, so even though I am watching one game I can flip over and get updates whenever I want from the other matches that are being played at the same time, kind of like what American football has now as well.

As I was scrolling this website I came across a match that I really did not recognize any of the teams that were playing.  I stopped and took a careful look at them and then switched to a new window and typed in one of the team’s names.  It pulled up the information page and began to read about the team.  It was a reserve team for one of the larger teams in a league.  So I switched back to the scoring page and looked at the teams again to see what the score was and how much time was left in the match.  I then noticed something that I had not seen before on this page and it was the word “OSBOLETE” in capital letters next to the names of the two teams playing.

I laughed at this site at first and then thought to myself that this was a humiliating statement.  Even though I had never heard of these two teams before and I had no idea of why the website had put this word next to these team’s names, I knew that if any member of these teams of any of their family members saw this they might not take it too kindly.  I know that my junior high, high school, and state all star team scores never made the front page of a major newspaper but even at my lowly league level our match was never deemed “obsolete.” This simple word and circumstance can be demoralizing to a person, team or nation if it is continually portrayed to them as such and it is a great example of how words can and do hurt if we allow them to be released into any direction.

Our house is a nice house and our family enjoys its setting quite nicely.  We have plenty of space to live in yet not too much extra room for additional items.  Our house has two bathrooms in it and serves our needs with no complaints.  The upstairs bathroom is where all of us take our showers and baths on a daily basis and we have finally obtained a routine that everyone has the opportunity to take a hot shower or bath when they wish.  For the last few days I have noticed that one of my daughters had dropped a dime on the floor.  Of course being a teenager they would not dare pick it up without being to do so, so the dime was left in its spot.

Each morning as I performed my daily routine in the bathroom I noticed that no one had picked up that dime and even though it was not in anyone’s way it was still lying in the exact same spot that it was when it landed.  I continued to watch this dime not move for three straight days, until this morning when I had completed my bathroom duties I picked up that dime and took it and placed it into my change pile so it can be used.  As I completed this task God showed me a couple of things about our lives and how we perceive them according to the world’s standards and according to His standards.  I had no idea that a while back that a soccer scoring website and a fallen dime would have any connection to our lives, but both represent a Godly concept that many of us often forget.

God has created within our lives a unique ability in that we have the opportunity to make things happen.  It does not matter what we make happen or think about doing in our lives, the potential for us to create an idea or to place that idea into motion and make our lives better is a direct object of Kingdom principles and how our lives were made to operate.  If we choose to sit around and not do what our talents have authorized us to do then we become like the dime that is just lying around on the floor and not serving what it was created to do. Each of us have a talent, gift or special function that has been created within us and we need to understand that our lives have this purpose and if we do not engage this purpose we are actually destroying our life from within our core.

The world is not going to pick you up, dust you off and place you into the perfect setting so that you can function at your utmost potential. The world is going to allow you to lay there on the floor and get trampled on or ignored, which is the job of the world.  We cannot afford to lie around as this dime did, for we are not fulfilling our destiny that we have been created for.  It is evident that we have lost our desire to be productive because we have become lazy due to the fact that we have been lying around for so long that we have forgotten what it means to have any worth.  If that dime had any way of communicating with us I could guarantee that it would be screaming out for someone to use it as it was designed.

There is not one person ever created that is obsolete.  Each person has a potential to develop into the best human being who ever walked the face of the earth.  There will be billions of people who never make it on the front pages of the newspapers or in the market headlines, but look at the majority of those people and one has to ask themselves would I really want that lifestyle anyway?  A person does not have to be popular in order to fulfill their mission and talents in life.  Those soccer players whose match was deemed obsolete had a goal during that 90 minutes of play and that was to do their best for the club that they were representing.  I did not recognize who that team was and I had no clue of who those players were but even though their names were not immediately recognized by the world, they had talent enough to play for that team and one never knows who might be watching that match and report a player or two to another manager.

Those players recognized that they loved the sport enough to play at a common level division and to see what happens during that match day.  Life is the exact same way in that we must participate at the level that we are on each day so that we may fulfill our potential that all of us have inside.  I am not talking about drawing lines that serve as a boundary for what we can do and who we can believe in, I am setting an example for myself and the capabilities that I have; that is what I am referring to in this article.  For a long time we have allowed many detours to appear in our lives that have stopped our progress as a nation and as individuals.  We have limited ourselves with how we think and what we want enough to end our status as the greatest nation on earth.

If our personal and physical lives are in this shape and manner, just imagine what our inner or spiritual life is reflecting.  We continually see our country’s population become lazier by the week.  The common “man” does not even get out of their pajamas any more.  There is a huge difference between the poor and the lazy and even Jesus addressed this issue by saying that a country will always have the poor, yet He mentioned nothing about the lazy; that is until He was overturning the tables in the Temple!  Yes, I went there and I shall continue to go there until God shows me different.

There are many of us who have been blessed enough to have the capability to invest some of our hard earned money into the stock market.  While I am not going to dwell on this issue much the same concept applies to our lives as the stock market.  One has to provide a steady input to receive back gains from your efforts.  If one does not put any initiative into life then do not expect to receive anything back in return and if one dares to have any different opinion of this philosophy where their standard of living is concerned, they are far less than poor, they are the definition of being lazy.

The Church is now flirting with this lazy standard of living because of what she has allowed into the confines of her heart.  It is ok to accept the hurting and the sinners of the world.  Why?  Because you are one of these people and the Church accepted you, right?  You have been taught to be a living and thriving church which has allowed you to see your potential yet you lie there accepting all of the benefits and do nothing.  You have purposefully accepted your destiny as being a lazy church.  If you want a good example of what the Church will be going through, then watch the news every night or read the papers because this is exactly what she will be experiencing very shortly.

God calls us as individuals to live a fulfilled life, in every aspect that we can conjure up.  Yet we see humans squandering their lives each second.  Doesn’t this break your heart to witness?  The youth of today hold gadgets in their hands and have a deeper and more meaningful relationship with that instrument than they do their friends or family.  We have allowed this vampirism to suck the life and willingness to thrive right out of us and we are rapidly becoming zombies to life as we know it (I have heard that somewhere before).  God is calling for us to return back to Him so that He can restore His life back into our inner beings.

We were not made to sit around and do nothing.  Being alive and active is part of our dominion that we have inside us and it is our duty to make sure that we exercise this dominion to the world.  God loves us and it is His desire that we live abundantly and have prosperity no matter which area we choose to be accompanied.  Your life has meaning and we cannot afford to listen to what the world has to offer us concerning this matter.  The world’s standards are based upon a lie and if we accept this lie then we are doomed to sit there on the floor as that dime, and to be honest we deserve nothing more than that option if we choose to stay in that condition.  But God can use us and He does every day even if we do not realize it but in order for us to accept this concept we must return to Him and allow His love to shine through our lives once again.  This concept applies to both on the personal level and on the Church level and if we complete this life giving activity within our hearts, the nations will soon follow as well.

DLB

The Informational Stash

The Informational Stash

11/20/13

The information age is here and most of us have adapted to this way of living.  There is nothing wrong with having an abundance of information but as we all can imagine this wealth can be used for or against us.  At some point in our history humans deemed it necessary to make sure that future generations could have a means to look back and to understand what life was like many centuries ago.  God also constructed this type of bulletin so that we could define our past and make sure that we had the opportunity not to repeat the same mistakes again.

When I was growing up most of you know that I was raised in church.  It was a common sight that each week when we all entered into the building we were immediately greeted by one or more individuals that would offer any type of assistance that was needed.  These people would also hand out a small piece of folded paper that would contain a pretty picture on the outside cover and general information about the services on the bottom portion of the front cover.  When you opened up the bulletin it was filled with the major events and news of the coming week that the church was either offering or announcing other pertinent information that the pastor and staff wanted the congregation to know.

Even though the church information and news was contained in the bulletin many of the announcements would still be repeated from the pulpit just to make sure that everyone in the building had the opportunity to know what was happening.  This was the way and still is in many churches how church information gets passed along to the congregation or to anyone who is interested in attending any church function.  This type of communication is also a good way to keep past information about the church and can serve as a great reference when any historical item needs to be brought back up for any particular reason.  I know that my parents still have a good amount of the bulletins that were handed out from many of their churches, just as a reminder and keep-sake from that time frame.

When I was in high school I have to honestly say that studying was not my forte.  I was a smart young kid but to get me to study was, as one of my friends likes to say, like herding cats.  It was an almost impossible task and according to my logic I really did not need to study much because I was making good enough grades to keep me out of a grounding status.  I had no idea of why I needed to study in the first place and at that point in time I considered books and the information that they contained to be a waste of my time.  So, when I was required to study for things I would open that book and stare at its contents for a while, turn the page and repeat that process until the assigned pages were completed. 

This really proved to my parents and to my teachers that I had no clue of how to study for assignments and it proved to myself that I had the potential but had no intentions of completing this task; and don’t even ask me to read an entire book from cover to cover either.  I considered my time to be more valuable and useful by doing other things and deemed those other things being far greater a life experience than sting behind a desk or table with my nose in a book.  Boy was I wrong, especially since I had no idea that if I combined both of these situations at that time I would have gained so much more knowledge about life than I could have ever imagined.  I look back now and really kick myself for not understanding what my parents were trying to show me by having me read and study.  I know that if I had listened to them and had ignored my stupid ideas back then I would understand much more of what the world is experiencing today.

As my high school years and college years progressed I was introduced to another type of information tool called the bulletin board. When I was attending Lamar University I lived in one of the academic dorms, don’t fool yourself even though it was an academic dorm that does not mean that everyone in that dorm considered themselves to be academic.  Anyway, the first day of classes the dorm mother had a meeting that was required that all students were present and it was at this time that the staff was introduced and general information was handed out to all residents.  The meeting lasted about an hour and covered all of the safety issues of the day along with the general security details about the building.  Many other topics were covered and as normal when the hour long meeting had concluded the majority of the people inside the dayroom were not paying attention.

Our dorm mother, Mrs. A, also made a couple of points clear and even re-iterated a couple of issues to everyone so that no one would have any excuses of not knowing what was being said.  One of these issues was the dorm bulletin board and everything about its whereabouts and contents.  She made it very clear that all dorm information was going to be posted at this location as it became available. She also stressed that it was our responsibility to go to that bulletin board every day and to read its contents because things would probably appear on a daily basis.  She repeated this statement more than once during the meeting and at the end of the meeting asked us where all of the dorm information was going to be located. 

Placing information on bulletin boards was a popular thing to do, I realized this when I got to my first job opportunity.  The hospital followed the same kind of format with general and departmental information that needed to be read by all staff members.  This trend followed all the way up to my current position some 25 years down the road and even today some of the general policies that have been created or changed in some way are still placed on a bulletin board for everyone to read, even if they do not have access to our email system.

The internet is a great source of information but as any other type of communication line, it can provide a wealth of garbage as well.  The concept of email is a great way to communicate with anyone around the world but falling into the wrong hands can bring about a total destruction of a person, company or nation.  The invention of the internet has revolutionized the means and ways that humans communicate with one another.  It does not matter if you are next door to a person or clear across the world for the lines of communication are now interconnected with each other.  This type of informational pathway proves important because the ones who want people to have certain information can provide this information and then have a record of its sending and receiving within a matter of seconds.

The human aspects of this type of communication are still in play but it is easier for those receiving the information to ask questions and get answers to those questions quicker than ever before.  I took an online history class a few years back and found that even though my professor was in Laramie, Wyoming and I was in Delta, Colorado I could send him information and he would receive it instantaneously. All of the communication and interaction during that course was conducted in this manner, it was marvelous and a great way to obtain answers, find information about the class and even receive grades.

The reason that dorm mothers, parents, professors, bosses send out information is to make sure that everyone within that organization or living facility understands what is transpiring during that current period of time.  It would be a total disaster and legal nightmare if these types of informational packets were not made available to those that may be affected by certain events.  Employers and family leaders find it a must to communicate with the necessary people in order to keep the normal flow moving.  If any person in a position of leadership failed to make this type of information unavailable or deliberately withheld important information from the people under their care, then that person should be held liable for any and all damages accrued when the time came and people found out things the hard way.

The legal issues are what drive the points home to everyone that is involved in the communication lineage.  Every aspect of life is dictated by rules and regulations.  It does not matter if one agrees with these rules or not they are there and have been put into place in order for everyone to understand and to grasp the concept of protection and the importance of avoiding problems in the future.  God even follows a legal path to everyday life as well and I am not talking about the legalistic ways that man has put into place within the Church, I am talking about the legal aspects of our lives and the access that our enemy has to our inner core.

There are certain paths that we take in life and there are certain paths that our enemy must follow and when we open up a path then we must understand that he will be right there waiting to follow that path.  Ever stop and look back at your family’s past or history and wonder what traits you or your children might have?  I recommend that each of us do this step and find out what they can expect and it will give you a great opportunity to do some major healing before major problems arise.  If we humans choose to ignore any physical policy that has been put into place then why would it be any different for our spiritual side of life? 

God has provided an excellent bulletin board that is full of information on how we can avoid major catastrophes within our lives.  The forces of nature we cannot control but the actions and purposes of humanity we alone can control and solve if we just understand how to do this process effectively.  The answers are located within the Bible and that is God’s informational stash that He has provided us with so that we can avoid many troublesome times.  The Bible is a legal document about how humans have lived and the ways that they have chosen to follow.  It is also serves as a legal representation of what God and our enemy can operate in and how both sides of the issues can affect our lives. 

Our lives are the central feature of the content of the Bible.  The words in the Bible and the stories within the Bible give us a directional and legal concept of what will occur in our lives.  Many denominations have used this legal stance against the people of the world and have forced them to comply with their legalistic methods in order to subdue the individuality of the human heart.  God posted these stories within the Bible in order to provide us with a roadmap of what not to do and what to do with our lives and this informational stash of knowledge is not meant as a control measure but as a obligation from our Creator to give us a means of escape. 

This is another example of why the Bible is of great importance and relevance to our lives today.  Just as our parents sought to give us guidelines to teach us things when we were young and as our bosses set and comply with guidelines from above, God wants us to have an abundant life and also for us to understand that it is necessary that we read and study these guidelines in order to accurately obtain the freedoms we so desperately desire.  We cannot take the teenage mentality about studying and believe that we know everything that God is trying to show us.  It is impossible for us to figure out everything by this approach.  We must truly study this guidebook and understand every meaning that it has to offer within the confines of our entire life.  Being human means mistakes are going to be made, God understands this and that is a great reason why He has provided us with a book to help us limit our problems.  If we come to His Word and do our best to understand its contents God shall open our hearts wide enough to figure things out and to know exactly what it means for us today.  God is a contemporary God, in the ancient times, in the medieval times and even today.

As I have tried to communicate with the above paragraphs, man has developed various ways throughout history in order to communicate their ideas, plans, and wishes to others that might have interest in what is occurring around them.  Even though people may have no connection to these communities they still have a way to access this information if they choose.  The people that are directly included in these communities can choose to read or ignore the contents of these means of communication.  There are also those who will read these statements and misinterpret them or not fully understand the meaning or importance of what is being said.  All possible motives, angles and future excuses can be used if necessary to defend one’s personal recognition of the posted content; this is a great tool that humans use on a constant basis.

I suggest that we as a nation once again address the issue that we have a major problem that all of us are facing and that we turn back to the Bible for the answers to these issues that we so desperately need.  If we choose not to look into God’s direction we shall surely watch our nation and the western beliefs that all of us in the world desire go up in flames.  But if we turn our hearts back to the eternal provider and open His guidebook and apply its meanings to our lives, we will find comfort and rest from the inside out.  God loves each and every one of us and He created His words of wisdom for our guidance and not for our punishment.  He uses human history in order to provide a measuring stone for our current situations.  God is the only answer for you and every other inhabitant in the world.  Return to Him and He will faithfully restore everything that we have lost.  Reread all of the scripture verses in the old printed bulletins from church, or look at the verses of the Bible that are on the internet.  Which ever way you wish to choose, just open the Bible again and begin to find the answers to our troubled lives.

DLB

The Progression of No Thanks

The Progression of No Thanks

11/18/13

Growing up I was taught a few lessons about being appreciative of the things that I received, and over time I learned the deeper meaning of why this courtesy is extended to others.  We are not guaranteed anything in this life but it sure does feel good when we receive some of the added gifts that we do not have in our possession.  If we do not learn to be thankful for those things a part of our inner being dies and weeds grow in its place called selfishness.  Self is a dangerous game that individuals play with and it is time that we once again return to our thankful ways and restore the giving spirit once again.

I have mentioned in the past about the holiday of Thanksgiving and some of the reasons why this holiday should be remembered on a daily basis and not just stuck to one day of the year.  Research has shown that ha happy heart is healthier than a sad heart and if one stops and thinks about this point, it would make sense to them.  Being happy and content with your life is one of the most important issues that we can address and if our heart is not happy then the core of our stability is rendered damaged.  A happy heart gives and it also is gracious in receiving at the same time, you cannot have one portion without the other portion, it cannot operate on one side alone.

Many of you know that my parents were and still are in many ways ministers and they just finished re-opening a church.  Well being a pastor means that you are invited to people’s houses for dinner, parties, gatherings, meetings, etc.  While this is a good thing and it was fun to hang out with my friends at these houses my parents still expected me to be respectful and kind to the hosts and to make sure that my conduct was not detriment to their house in any manner. 

As our family was leaving all of the normal hugs, handshakes, and goodbyes were said.  A round of thank you for everything filled the air and I usually stood by and waited for the procession to begin to exit out the door.  This time of the gathering was my signal to say my personal thank you for everything speech  and for the most part I accomplished this task with flying colors.  However, there were other times that my mind was focused on something else or I was tired and wanted my bed, those words did not even come close to exiting my lips.  When it was apparent to my parents that I was not going to say thank you to the hosts, I received a gentle reminder to say thank you and at this moment I automatically looked up and said thank you to the hosts with a big smile on my face.  This was engrained into my being for my entire stay at home and there were no variations to this rule accepted either.

There was an old commercial on television about Butterball Turkeys and how juicy they were.  The beginning of the commercial had a family pulling up to a relative’s house and then all of the family walking up to the house.  The boy tugged on his mother’s skirt and she bent over.  The boy had one question for the mother and it was as follows: Do I have to eat the turkey if it’s dry?  This was hilarious to me and for many people out there very practical because of the circumstances it might have been a question that they had asked in their past.  The mother politely responded with a “yes” and they proceeded to the door of the house.  While this was a funny commercial, it also taught a valuable lesson to that child and hopefully reached the many viewers of that commercial as well.  No matter what is being served to you, always receive it with a cheerful heart and be thankful for that is set before you.

As I had said above, my parents taught me this courtesy all the while I was growing up and to this day I continue to keep those standards along with trying my best to implant them into my daughters.  I know that there are times I still slip and stumble in this area but I do my best to be as appreciative for everything that I receive.  However, there was a time in my life when I really did not have this concept in the forefront of my head and to this day the story that I am about to tell you haunts me and makes me angry with myself for the way I acted.

Some of you know that I was in the Air Force before I moved to Colorado.  For the most part my attitude was great while I was in the USAF and had no problems with the military itself.  The problems that I had were on a personal note and had nothing really to do with the government.  Times were tough of course because I was not a high ranking person within that organization and there were many issues that stemmed from this circumstance that attributed to my actions during this event.  At one point the car that we had broke down and my family needed some transportation as soon as possible.  If it was just myself I would have had no problems with walking since everything that I supposedly needed was within a short distance from the apartment, but I had a new baby and my wife did not need to be left without a car in case something happened.

I knew of a pastor friend in the area and I used him as a contact during this time period.  I had some help from my parents as well in initiating this process and once the ball got rolling things were completed pretty quickly.  The pastor referred me to a friend of his who was a retired Colonel and was living right up the road from the base.  I called his number and told him who I was and how I came to get his number.  After the initial greetings and questions I then proceeded to tell him of my situation and that I needed a car for a few days until ours was repaired.  The gentleman had no qualms about lending me his extra car and asked for my address, phone number etc for his personal logs.

Within a few hours he pulled up in the parking lot of the apartment complex and got out of the vehicle.  I knew what to look for since he had told me what I was going to be driving for the next few days.  A nice elderly gentleman stepped out of the car and gently shut the car door.  It did not take too long for each of us to make eye contact and we both began the trek towards each other.  We shook hands and formally introduced ourselves to one another.  I told the gentleman a few more details about the car and re-iterated how long the car was going to be out of commission.  He stated that he had no problems with this as he handed over the keys to his car. 

There were no formal documents for me to sign or to fill out, nor were there any preconditions set upon me, the gentleman fully trusted me and my driving abilities with his car.  The gentleman told me about some of the quirks about the car and as it turned out it was just general conversational information because none of it had anything to do with the short amount of time that I was going to use the car.  After a few minutes, we shook hands again and I gave the gentleman one of the wimpiest, meaningless and cowardly “thank you” phrases that had ever protruded from my lips.  It was one of those moments that if my parents had heard me say this they would have been utterly ashamed of my conduct towards the gentleman.

After a few days my car was fixed and ready to go.  It was taken out of the shop and driven home to where it belonged.  I called the gentleman and said that our usage of his car was over and that he could come get it whenever he desired.  I told him that it was in great shape and that no damage had incurred upon his vehicle.  At this point I had felt pretty good about the entire situation and was excited to have the entire process completed.  We met in the same parking lot and once again greeted each other with a handshake.  I promptly handed over the keys to him and said that everything went well.  Our conversation was quite brief for he had another appointment to attend.  We then said our goodbyes and turned and walked away.  This was the extent of our connection with each other and I never saw or spoke to the gentleman ever again.  More importantly, I never stated a true thank you to this gentleman for the usage of his car.

At the time I did not think about this entire situation but as I look back on it now I have to say that it is a great example of how the kids are becoming in today’s society.  See, I did not know that this gentleman some time before had gone up to the pastor and had offered his car to young servicemen and servicewomen that needed real temporary help.  All of the arrangements had been made long before my situation came into existence.  The gentleman was willing to place his car into harm’s way for someone that he had no clue about but needed help.  I do not know if there were any other categories that this gentleman had in place either, for all I know he could have had a food pantry for the same type of situation of others.  My point is that this person opened his life up to me and I stood there and took what he had to offer and had no real gratitude for his generous offer.  We as humans understand and pride ourselves on the fact that changes or choices we make inside start on an individual level and my selfishness started out on this personal level which is the beginning of the progression of no thanks.

A few years back there was another commercial that became popular and it was concerning people being nice to others while they were out just doing their normal activities.  The setting was in a city and as one knows it can be crowded on city streets, whether driving or walking.  One scene had a man walking and reading a newspaper and not really paying attention to things around him as he approached a crosswalk.  The man continued without looking up just as a car was approaching.  Another man beside this gentleman was paying attention and reached out and grabbed the other man and pulled him back onto the curb as the car passed by.  The man that was not paying attention looked at the other man and gave him a gesture of thanks.

The next scene had a lady who was helping an elderly man across the street just making sure that everything went well as he crossed the road, this too prompted a thank you gesture from the man towards the lady.  The point of the commercial was that if one person does something kind for another person it will instill goodwill in others and trigger them to enact these goodwill measures when necessary or for no real reason at all.  When a commercial deals with this subject then that probably means that it has been noticed by some that these types of gestures are not being demonstrated towards others.

This type of atmosphere is taking hold within many people of the world today.  The attitudes towards many governments, ideologies and philosophies are now reflecting by many people.  Let us take a moment and look at what made this country great.  This country was founded on many principles all of which may not be agreed upon by everyone but we all understand their reasoning behind their establishment.  These principles have been recognized by millions of people ever since they were created yet today, there are many in this country and others like ours who wish to see that these courtesies ignored or even abolished.  The ideas of the younger generations have been indoctrinated to exclude the people of society and the immediate surroundings that are occurring and focus upon their individual wants and grips.

This is a dangerous societal condition that is being promoted now and we must understand that if it is allowed to continue in this manner western society and freedom that we all know about and live in today will be destroyed.  When we look at a mechanism and have more concerns about what others think about us than making sure that a fellow human being makes it across the street safely then we have reached the point that we do not appreciate society and the freedoms that we use; that is taking advantage of a situation and not using it wisely.  I personally witness this scenario each day as I come to work.  The medical field is constantly inundated with these types of people who demand a service but never pay for what they receive, nor are they appreciative of the care that they receive.

We also have noticed that a large percentage of kids who attend school do not wish to be there.  They would rather be out doing something else than sitting in a classroom and learning how to think and survive out in the real world.  These kids are spending all of their time worrying about who they are dating, or how they look or wanting to make sure they have plans for the weekend.  They care nothing about responsibilities or working to obtain the items and wants that they desire; they want things handed to them.  Just think about what our society and future will be when these kids with the attitude that the world owes them everything become the leaders of mankind.

The kids of western thinking now find nothing wrong with demanding things without even believing that they should work for what they want.  They find it logical to scream at their parents and demand that they give them everything they want, like the parents have an obligation to complete this task.  How will our country fare when this type of attitude rules the government; oh wait, that attitude is already being promoted within our governmental institutions around the world.  I guess it is just a matter of time when these attitudes will have enough of us older folks saying “no” to them and more drastic measures must ensue to get what they want from us.  What these people do not realize is that this last example is a component of the no thanks progression and if it continues to progress, look out!

I take concern in something that our own President said a while back in that he has authorized certain laws that he has no intention of following yet the stipulations of those laws are still on the books.  This means that even though he says he will not enforce them the words are there for someone else who follows him the authority to enforce them.  None of know how each one of our lives will turn out and the same goes for our country, so why would anyone place words into laws or decrees that could cause future panic and havoc among their constituents?  This type of activity is ripe for a societal overthrow and demolition of its way of life.

If the individual comes first and society comes second then there is only one area left that follows along this progression and that is God. Once the individual has been claimed against itself and society has been usurped the only logical step that can be taken is removing God from the equation.  When I was young, I remember my father telling me that somehow things were going to drastically change within our world and that it would set up a total different way of life for everyone who was still alive on the earth.  Biblical passages mention this state of the world but dad understood that man’s progression would voluntarily take us there unless we stopped and realized what we were actually doing to ourselves.  I have held onto this thought that dad had, and still has, and once I got my head back into place I began to take notice that everything that the Bible says and what dad said is coming to pass as each day passes.  We are voluntarily setting up laws and regulations that would make things so easy for one person who has the right ideas and is popular at that moment to come in and to issue those laws that are on the books and actually enforce them.

Each day we see in inclusion of standards, beliefs and laws that are solely directed at destabilizing the foundations of our country.  It is a choice that we are embracing and not thinking about what the consequences shall be.  We have pushed God aside and thumbed our nose at His ways and means.  As we have read in the Bible, read about in ancient history, medieval history and witnessing during current history, He is allowing us to choose our ways.  It pains God greatly that we are choosing this path for He understands that at some point in time He must intervene as a parent and try to guide us back to Him.  Yet, we continue to live in our selfish mannerisms and thrive in our daily decisions of self guided bliss.  We feel great and even our leaders are concurring with our wants, so how could there be anything wrong with our lifestyle?

This decision to live in this manner states that we have progressed enough to rule out God in our overall life within our society.  We are voluntarily saying that we do not need God or even the ones who accept God’s ways.  Society wishes to remove all aspects of God from our lives, and God will allow this because it is our choice to do so.  However, there shall be consequences to these choices that we have made, and everyone will be included in these consequences.  We have lived with our trust in mankind long enough to see dependency upon our made up ways, and then ignore them when those flawed ways come into light. 

We have progressed from an individual loss, to a societal loss and now vastly approaching the voluntary loss of God within our lives.  The people who call themselves progressives, you are getting your wish my friends.  For you see if one area of our lives becomes progressive for selfish reasons ten the remaining parts of the world is fair game in the future.  I heard one of the late night commentators ask the question about the government takeover of the American auto industry of why would it be a big deal if the government accomplished this duty?  Look at what is going on now and one should know that the government did not stop there and they took over other areas of our lives.  Which poses the question, what will be next?  The wording is in place and can be used at any time, so I guess we have given whomever a blank check with our lives.

Progression begins within your individual life and continues from there.  There are millions of causes around the world that flood our eyes each day.  There is nothing wrong with being progressive, in fact the way God designed our hearts and minds is to be progressive but in order to maintain this truthful meaning we must understand that we cannot be successful if God is not a part of our lives.  If we do not include God in our choices we will definitely be left out because of our flawed methods of thinking.  It is not God’s will to control our lives but to be a part of our lives so that our lives can be made continually better. 

We are getting a good glimpse of how humanity can progress if we leave God out of our equation and if one wants other examples read the Bible and read history and it will become quite evident of these situations.  There is a way out of this progression and for true progression to take place; all we have to do is ask the right person.  Once we allow God back into our lives and our societies we will find ourselves being thankful for the blessings that have been given to us.  We will also notice that we will want to do good things for others and expect nothing in return and most importantly we will once again be restored and well on our way of progressing as God meant for our lives.

DLB