ALERT

Greetings all,

My email was hacked yesterday and the so and so's have been sending out blogs and emails in my name saying that I am in Scotland and need assistance.   I apologize for any and all problems this may have caused you and am re routing all corespondence through my new email address.  Again, I am so sorry.

De Colores

From the time that we were told that we would be keeping silent from that point until the next morning I knew that something different was taking place.

Here I was in a small wooden chapel (reminiscent of the school house on “Little House on the Prairie”…except red) with some 50 other men, most of us experiencing this for the first time and praying (literally) for a life changing experience.  After a few hours of getting instructions and being led to the chapel here we now were, being asked to keep silent for the next 8 – 10 hours.  And so began my first “Walk to Emmaus”

I could try and explain to you in detail what happened on the walk, but other than the fact that this is impossible (I cannot convey to you the feelings involved in the experience and without that part I would be doing the event a serious disservice), I want everyone that can and will to experience this walk on their own terms with fresh eyes…that was the first gift my sponsors (Pastor Dusty and His wife Audrey Reynolds of the AMAZING Sycamore Church) gave me.  

What I will give you is a little bit of what I am left with after those 72 hours in the woods.

Some quick back story first…I have spent the last decade or so reevaluating many things when it comes to my Christian life…my relationship with Christ.  I have been apostate and have turned my back on Him like a petulant child; hands over my ears, eyes squeezed closed trying to kick away the Hands that were trying to hold me. 

Today, though, I am overwhelmed looking back on God’s  prevenient grace, grace that held me in His love as my orbit spun out of control…waiting like the Father, hungry to embrace His prodigal son when he returns Home. 

This weekend those Arms held me closer than ever before.  I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of love that came to me from people who have never met me…people locally and from around the nation and around the globe…including brothers in prison…who were praying for me BY NAME.  People who were praying each hour of my 72, praying in shifts of an hour each, just to see me move forward with Christ! Grace extended to me by brothers and sisters who came out to serve me…not just volunteering there time and resources, but they PAID MONEY to be there to serve me. Did you get that?  People ministered to my pain, my short comings, my lack and left me with the abundance of His love by being “Jesus with skin on” to me.  Such self sacrifice was so absolutely overwhelming to me.

Which here in my “Fourth Day” (what everyday after the 3 day walk is called), I look back on and recognize that it is just like what Christ was illustrating to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:3-42) “-but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."  They did what all Christians are supposed to do, Love me with the love that He has poured into them…love that is so abundant that it overflows out of us so that those around us can get a drink.  Like those champagne glass towers you see at weddings, filling us up to overflowing (Malachi 3:10, Luke 6:38) and filling up those that we give His love to and so on and so on... 

This has been one of the most pivotal 3 days of my life and I am champing at the bit to see what God does from this point on in my life.  My burn to help those in need was not only confirmed, but the flames were liberally fanned.  I pray that God will let me not only pay back all of you wonderful people involved in my Emmaus experience, but that I can pay it forward sponsoring others and seeing His work in the fields accomplished with my own hands for His glory!

Thank you all, May God bless you 100 fold for what you have done for me! 

In the matchless name of Jesus Christ,

Amen.

De Colores!

If you would like to find out more about the Walk to Emmaus you can here;

http://upperroom.org/emmaus/whatis/

Love Violently

LOVE VIOLENTLY

12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, [a] and the violent take it by force. Matthew 11:12 ~ English Standard Version Anglicized (ESVUK)

(I will tell you this…what I am about to write next I have been living my whole life to get to this moment.  I have seen the work of the Lord pulling me into this direction and this is the primary path of ministry I will spend the rest of my life in.)

A question was asked during our 9:30am Church Service Sunday about what happened to all of the people who came and filled the churches (edifices) after 9/11/2001. Where did they go, why did they leave?  The consensus was that these people came to our churches and cathedrals for comfort, for absolution, for direction and found us…not ready …found US (Christians) no different than their poor, lost selves.

So what does violence have to do with following Christ, and more than that, winning souls for Christ?

I first read the above verse a few years ago and was profoundly troubled by it.  VIOLENCE?  I didn’t get what this was saying and never could have dreamed that when the opportunity for understanding would happen, it would unlock a brand new way of looking at Christianity. 

Merriam-Webster online gives these definitions to the word VIOLENCE;

Definition of VIOLENCE

1

a : exertion of physical force so as to injure or abuse (as in warfare effecting illegal entry into a house) b : an instance of violent treatment or procedure

2

: injury by or as if by distortion, infringement, or profanation : outrage

3

a : intense, turbulent, or furious and often destructive action or force <the>violence of the storm> b : vehement feeling or expression : fervor; also : an instance of such action or feeling c : a clashing or jarring quality : discordance</the>

The third definition is the one I want to focus on here.  Fervor, turbulence, a clashing or jarring quality: discordance.

We look at the nature of John the Baptist...he was called a “Wild Man”, a voice crying (shouting, screaming) in the wilderness “Prepare ye the way of the Lord!” (Luke 1:17, Luke 3:16c-17, Luke 3:8, Luke 3:11)   John had taken all religious convention and tossed it out on its ear.  He was an affront to the very eyes of those in religious power and his statements were unbridled, even furious at times.  John was unashamed, completely sold out to the concept of serving others and serving God and he had no time whatsoever for the religiosity of the Sanhedrin.  He overturned their apple cart…Jesus would then burn it to the ground.

Peter fulfilled his calling from Matthew 16: 15 – 17 transforming through a process of miraculous and unsettling events (the Transfiguration, Feeding the 4,000 and 5,000, walking on the water, Jesus’ arrest, His denial of Christ, Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension) from Simon son of John into Peter (small rock) on the day of Pentecost.  Standing before thousands this once prideful, angry, unstable, brooding and uneducated fisherman from the blue collar hamlet of Galilee spoke with an elegance and breadth that shook people down to the foundations of their very souls (Acts 2). 

The conversion of the Apostles and disciples of Jesus from that day forward was clear and palpable; people could not help but be changed when they were around them.

Acts 2:42 – 47

The Fellowship of the Believers

42 And athey devoted themselves to the apostles’ bteaching and the cfellowship, to dthe breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe4 came upon every soul, and emany wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and fhad all things in common. 45 And fthey were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, gattending the temple htogether and ibreaking bread in their homes, they received their food jwith glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and khaving favor with all the people. And the Lord ladded to their number mday by day those who nwere being saved.

 They were completely self sacrificing – giving their all to everyone because Christ gave his all for us.  They changed the world and are still changing it.

I would ask that you take a few moments and look at the Voice of the Martyrs website and see what amazing things are being done right now, today by those who have given themselves over completely to the service of their fellow man by glorifying the King of Kings  http://www.persecution.com/ .  They are fulfilling the words of Revelation 12:11; “Our brothers conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to their lives even in the face of death. (International Standard Version)”

Don’t you see this is what it is all about?  We gotta get real in this Christian Walk! The ministry is out there; in the community, in the places that are untouched or to those who have forgotten the gospel.  As Christ said in John 4:35b “ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.” We have to get out into the fields!

 I used to believe for so long that our main job as a Christian was to stand and resist the devil…but Christ told Peter that upon Peter’s revelation of who Christ was in Matthew 16, that “Upon this Rock (the revelation of Christ) I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  Gates are not offensive weapons…they are defensive.  We are to build the church in front of the gates of  hell itself and then go on the offensive to save the lives of many!!!!  Here in Savannah last week there were 11 shootings in 24 hours!  Something must be done, it is time to violently and decisively overturn this world’s applecart here in America and across the globe!  (Ofcourse I hold with Christ, Gandhi and Martin Luther King…physical violence is wholly unnecessary and unwarranted in this kind of Love)

Love Violently!  We need to break down strongholds by caring for others, we need to rescue

 drug, sex and alcohol addicted folks by praying for them, loving them and taking them, if even physically, out of the jaws of death and destruction and SHOW them that there is a better way by the example of our lives completey committed to Christ!  LOVE VIOLENTLY!  We must give ourselves over completely to the agape love of 1 Corinthians 13, Love wholly, completely, generously, patiently and we WILL save many from the fate of eternal damnation.  We will give them hope and joy in the life that they live here on Earth and the promise of eternal life after.  LOVE VIOLENTLY!  Give like the widow gave the 2 mites, give out of sacrifice, give because in your giving someone will be saved (many times quite literally) from dying, lost to this wicked world . 

Please…Love and  LOVE Violently!

Sex …Can’t…Heal…Anything.

This is, at times a very frank discussion on this topic – if you are easily offended, I would ask that you read no further.

I have been introspective lately, taking some inventory and seeing, unfortunately, how often I have completely fallen woefully short of the mark.

Regret is baggage that we all carry after a certain age (whether we want to admit it or not) and I believe that in some ways regret is good.  Regret can lead us to the point of identifying times in our lives when we should have turned left instead of turning right.  Regret shows us, as we approach that same fork in the road, the better way to turn this time. 

This point strikes even closer to home when you have children…and doubly so if you are a man and your child is a young woman (I believe.)  Regret can then be turned into an object lesson that (prayerfully) our children can hear and learn from before going down that same broken path.

One of the lessons that I hope to teach my child is that sex, no matter how wonderful in the moment it is, is a panacea for nothing…and at times can even cause much hurt and devastation in our lives and in the lives of others…at times causing wounds that can be permanent.

I grew up an overweight child, craving love and affection that I got sporadically for various reasons (my mother was/is dealing with often crippling illness and my father just never was around).  The lack of affection dug a deep chasm within me that I tried to fill with food (and sadly still do at times even now…old habits…).  Yet food had no arms to hold me so that plan was, ofcourse, doomed to failure.When I was halfway through High School, I experienced a growth spurt coupled with hanging around with a group of guys that really liked physical activity I leaned out.  In fact I had transformed so much between my tenth and eleventh grade years that I was hardly recognizable.  Yet it took me a couple of years to figure out that I was suddenly attractive to the opposite sex and even longer for me to actually engage in sex.  But after my first experience I was like a caged animal unleashed and I craved sex like a fat kid wants cake.

 And, in retrospect, I pursued like-minded women – hurt, lonely, most of them having had their sexual selves awakened prematurely through acts of coercion  and/or violence (as I had been at the age of 7).  Just to clarify, I did not put two and two together until a few years ago where a very good friend pointed this fact out to me.  I had convinced myself up to this time that I was “one of the good guys” finding and helping (at least helping them feel good) little lost birds that needed care and affection…what a joke.  I never took sex from anyone, but I could seduce and ply.  And by the end of the night there I was getting my feel better on with someone that I barely knew, and generally wouldn’t try to get to know any better after that point. Looking back, I know realize that the women I was with were pursuing healing in the act as much as me. “Maybe if I put myself out there like this someone will genuinely love and care for me”.  So here we were two hurting people hungry for the comfort that intercourse seemed to promise.  The awful truth was, we only ended up coming away from the experience a little more diminished, a little emptier than we got naked.  To paraphrase Chris Rock, My penis was no more a syringe full of medicine than was her vagina a cast for my brokenness. 

Sex can’t heal anything independent unto itself.  Sure there is physical release and the endorphins and the closeness of another person and all that noise.  But there is no healing in the act, and out of the context of a loving, committed relationship, it becomes a desperate, repetitious ride on a ship of fools.  How many of us can truly say that after a casual sexual encounter that we parted with that person and ourselves better people for it?  Were we released from the emptiness in our spirits for good, finally satiated …or were we soon back out and about trying to quench that awful hunger with just one more sexual conquest.

And what does this repeated throwing our bodies on the crap table like worn out dice do for sense of self, our purpose, our plans, our esteem, our spirit and soul?  Even the most nymphomaniacal among us (and I have serious doubts about the motivation behind the claim of sex addict) have to admit one certain point…You can love sex, but sex can’t love you!

 I have been burned (in most every sense of the word) by my continued casting into that stormy sea, and worse, have hurt many in the process (not just the women I was with but at times my and their friends and family as well).  This kind of encounter is like filling a hole up in your backyard, inviting friends and family over to admire your handiwork while there is a ticking time bomb sitting in the bottom of the hole ready to explode. And explode it will and always does.  And here you are standing on the fill dirt.  The crazy thing is, you can never tell what is going on UNDER the hole…are you next to a gas line…or cesspool?  How bad will the fallout from your actions be, and how far reaching will they be?

(Ofcourse I am speaking from my point of view here…many of you may disagree so feel free to ignore whatever I post here.)

Again, sex outside of a committed, loving relationship – a relationship where there is mutual respect, give and take, trust, care and appreciation – one that requires real, substantial investment (and that means the scary kind of investment that will cost you if lost…it’s ok, true relationships should always have a little fear mixed in, a hint of the possibility that this other person is so worth it and desirable that if you don’t bring your “A” game you could lose that person!) I.E. MARRIAGE (I know I will take some heat over that) breeds contempt.  Many times contempt is found in silence, not being able to – or wanting to – communicate without the pain of the post-coital rejection surfacing like Jaw’s fin.  This includes those awkward and often painful silences that make the air so heavy that everyone around you feels it, feels the chill (boom). 

Sex (even phone sex, internet sex and masturbation) sends out “feelers” during the act, trying to find real connection with the other person.  We ache for connection on other levels than just the physical; spiritual, emotional, mental trying to find some sameness, some unity.  But when those connections return unfulfilled what follows is awkwardness, pain, bitterness, anger and shame.  Look, we are human beings, and yes our parts are made to fit together to bring mutual pleasure.  But does that give us the right to try to plug into every available (and unavailable) outlet within our proximity?  Isn’t that selfishness? Isn’t that immaturity?  Is that pathetic to anyone else out there but me?  Yes we are people; spirit wrapped up in flesh, what happens when we treat ourselves like the end all and be all to us is the physical?  And what of “our partners”?  Do they deserve to be treated like our waste receptacles carelessly using them to try and find some solace for ourselves and then discarding them when they ultimately fail to satiate our deep down desires for wholeness?

My brothers and sisters, you are worth more than that.  Find the beauty in self because you will never EVER find it through your loins!  If you treat your bodies like a flop house after a while that will be all that it will be good for. 

But it is never too late, as long as you have breath in your bodies, it is not too late to make a change, take a different road.  At long last I am finding healing and I found it through my relationship with Jesus Christ.  He promised to, and is, filling that emptiness that I have had in my soul for so long.  And I guarantee that He can do the same for you – He can love you past your pain!  And I am not talking about some superficial, genuflecting, religiosity here – but a deep, personal, intimate, loving relationship with Christ.  It is possible to have that kind of relationship without sex!  And though I have never been the greatest example of a Christ-centered life, by His grace and mercy He has given me the tools and strengthens me to keep trying to get it right through Him on the daily.

To all that I have hurt in my wrong-headed pursuit of healing – I am truly heartsick and sorry for my abuse of your body and spirit.  I beg your forgiveness.  And to those who are reading this who may still be on the same dead end path (Yes my brothers, There is no great reward waiting for you for getting another notch on your belt) there is Hope and Life available to you RIGHT NOW. 

Honestly, we all need healed.  So why not go to the Doctor this time instead of trying to bind your wounds one more time unsuccessfully?  Trust me, if He can heal a broken down whore and hopeless sinner like me, He can save you too.

Galatians 2:19-20, John 14:27, 2 Timothy 2:8, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Acts 2, Romans 10:9-10

Much Love and God Bless you all.

follow up to yesterday's post

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinney-Vento_Homeless_Assistance_Act and Connecticut does receive McKinny -Vento money...there may be a way to use this law to help this woman

"There has to be a penalty for stealing our services,"...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110425/us_yblog_thelookout/rally-for-prosecuted-homeless-mom-who-sent-son-to-a-better-school-district

"There has to be a penalty for stealing our services,"...smh...Homeless woman faces $15,000 fine and up to 20 years in jail for sending her son to a better school...Please, I need people to respond who think that this is justified...help me understand the reasoning behind this...and, if you can...work something in about Brown vs. the Board of Education where "seperate but equal" was ruled unconstitutional.

Can I Be A Christian and NOT Help the Poor? Part 2

WWJD?  In this case the answer is “What DID Jesus do, and say and teach and believe?”...let's see shall we...

Prov. 29:7. The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor; the wicked does not understand such concern.
Luke 12:33. "Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys."
Luke 3:11. And [John the Baptist] would answer and say to them, "Let the man with two tunics share with him who has none, and let him who has food do likewise."
Lev. 19:19ff. Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.
Prov. 22:9 He who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor.
Prov. 19:17. He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, and He will repay him for his good deed.
Is. 58:10. "And if you give yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will become like midday. And the LORD will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail."
Luke 14:12-14. "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and repayment come to you. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

I could go on...but The Word doesn't just stop there with the warm fuzzies...there are consequences for treating the poor and downtrodden with so much disregard...

Is. 10:1-3. "Woe to those who enact evil statutes, and to those who continually record unjust decisions, so as to deprive the needy of justice, and rob the poor of My people of their rights... Now what will you do in the day of punishment, and in the devastation which will come from afar?"
Jer. 5:28f. "[The wicked] do not plead the cause, the cause of the orphan, that they may prosper; and they do not defend the rights of the poor. Shall I not punish these people?" declares the LORD. "On such a nation as this, shall I not avenge myself?"
Ezek. 16:49ff. "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it."
Luke 16:19-25. "Now there was a certain rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day. And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table; besides, even the dogs would come and lick his sores.
Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.'
But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony...'"

Seems pretty clear cut the calamity the Lord will visit on a person or COUNTRY that fails to look out for the poor and needy.  And as Christ stated in his excellent parable in Matthew 25: 31 - 46;

31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

So "Can I Be A Christian and NOT Help the Poor?"  Not according to the Bible, at least...not a good one.  But you must choose for yourself which is more important...to serve God or to serve Count - wait, this isn't really about Country is it...so I guess it is serve God or political expediency?  So am I first a Christian or an American?  As Peter said in Acts 5:29…” We must obey God rather than men.”

Resources:
http://www.zompist.com/meetthepoor.html
http://niv.scripturetext.com/matthew/25.htm