Twas the night before May 21st....

Twas the night before the rapture and all through the land; a lot of creatures were stirring, even a pre-rapture band. Their Bibles in hand while looking up with great care; in hopes that Lord would come quickly with enough taxi fare. My children were dressing to crawl into bed; never thought about next week while laying down their sweet head. And Mom in her rocker with Ipad on lap; was listening to Air1 Radio while I took a nap. When out of the East there arose a great clatter; I jumped to my feet to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash; threw open the window, I thought a cat was in my trash! Then what to my wondering eyes should appear; But the neighbor outside proclaiming that Jesus was near. With a flashlight in hand like the sun changing night into day; I thought for a moment, "This man is in a drug induced haze!" The ramblings he spewed made me pull the hair from my head; because the rapture wasn’t yet occurring like he had said. And though I restrained myself in regards to my health; I cried out with concern in spite of myself. The precious Bible which He held within his very hands; Contained the Truth about the rapture that was escaping this man. I spoke not a word as he called out my name; Then he said, "You should have listened to Harold Camping, but now, what a shame." The people who were expecting Saturday probably meant it in love; but come Sunday they might be still looking upwards to Heaven above. With those who know the Truth, we need to witness abound; so no one looks foolish just standing around. , I turned back towards my bed because it was late; and thought to myself, at least this wasn’t another “Heaven’s gate.” I laid back into bed with the neighbor out of my sight; and I thought to myself, I need to witness to this man after this foolish night.

Is May 21st Just Another Day?

All across America you can see them. Billboards, RV's and people proclaiming to "Save the Date!" May 21st, 2011, Judgement Day! Thanks to a campaign effort by a man named Harold Camping and his radio program, this information is everywhere and they want you and I to take notice.

Let me state for the record though that I for one think that Harold Camping and Family Radio have already made it clear in 1994, that they are tossing darts at a calendar with their various predictions.

The date May 21, 2011 is simply a date. Any significance of that date will be determined once we walk through it.

To predict anything of Biblical significance of that date before hand is not only an ignorant thing to do but is also a disservice to Christianity. It’s ignorant in the fact that scripture makes it clear that NO man will know the day or the hour. It is a disservice to Christianity also because if the “prediction” of Mr. Camping does not occur on May 21st, then the false prophetic uttering makes the non-Christian take the second coming of the Lord even more lightly.

Now, I do believe that May 21st could be the day that the Lord comes back. I also believe that the next day, the day after that or the weeks and months to come after that are also good days for Him to come back. You see, I am not predicting the day but do know that scripture tells us that one day He WILL come back. Is May 21st a good day? Sure. Will He come back on that day like Mr. Camping says? Only God Himself knows. Mr. Camping, nor Family Radio and not even I know the true day.

So, does that mean to kick back and rest easy now? Not so. He is coming back one day soon. Regardless of what people predict, regardless of what the naysayer might say and regardless of if we are ready or not, He will be coming and one day and each and every one of us will stand face to face with Him. We can look at the signs of the times and know that His return is eminent. We can read the book of Revelations and see how it resembles current world events. We can even watch for things to unfold at the temple mount and monitor various other end time events, but in the end, we cannot predict the exact time of His coming.

Sorry Mr. Camping. While the Lord can come back on May 21st, it will not be due to any mathematical equation you came up with. It will only mean that the Lord chose to come back then in His timing. So with that said, the truly proper thing to be doing with the RV’s and Billboards that are proclaiming May 21, 2011 on them is to proclaim the Gospel and reach the lost souls. Do Christianity a service and tell people about Jesus not just a date on the calendar.

Is That Diet Drink Really Good For You?

Popped open the top of a nice cold 12 ounce diet soft drink today. Yes, the word diet has snuck into my vocabulary. Too many pounds, and family history of health concerns has prompted me to think twice about what I eat or drink.

As I tipped back the drink and savored the 'not as good of a taste as the regular drink' flavor, I became curious as to exactly what I was drinking. I already knew of some concerns of any soda drink but just so everyone else is aware, here is a breakdown of the current soda I have and exactly what it contains:

12 ounce diet soda
0 calories
0 fat
0 sodium
0 total carbs
0 protein

Ok, so what am I drinking then? Let's look at the ingredients:

Caramel Coloring, Phosphoric acid, Aspartame, Potassium Benzoate, Potassium Citrate, acesulfame potassium and caffeine.

A little research brought out this tidbit of information on each ingredient.

Caramel coloring can be linked to causing cancer.

Phosphoric acid is commonly used for rust removal and reduces bone density.

Aspartame has 92 different health side effects including blindness.

Potassium Benzoate is a carcinogen and is a cancer causing agent.

Potassium Citrate can cause numbness, tingling in the hands and feet and an uneven heartbeat.

Acesulfame potassium hampers the metabolism of the body, causes headaches and was also used as a paint stripper and degreaser at one time in the past.

And of course, caffeine, which may cause dizziness, nervousness, difficulty breathing, hives and vomiting.


Still thirsty? I am thinking water might be my best bet.

A Focused God on an Unfocused Child

Have you ever been to a point in life in which you are not sure which direction to turn or who to talk to? Have you ever got to that point in which you wanted to throw your hands in the air and just cry out, “Seriously???”

A few years ago, my wife and I dropped all of our trivial stresses in life when we found that our son was legally blind in both eyes at 20/400. We worked closely with an eye doctor that was able to assist him up to a certain point but that quickly came to a plateau and we were referred to a Behavioral Optometrist. After just a few visits with the specialist, we begin to see signs that our son did not just have eye problems but was also struggling with multiple Sensory Integration Disorders or what is also referred to as Sensory Processing Disorder.

During our son’s first year in school, we found kindergarten to be a disaster. Between a teacher who admittedly was not used to handling kids with SPD and his quiet challenging behavior at times, we begin to wonder if our son would have a life beyond SPD. We had not taken him to a Occupational Therapist or any other specialist that could officially label him with SPD so the school district, while trying to be somewhat helpful, was hands off on their approach to my son. In other words, if he ‘acted out’ or had a ‘melt-down,’ they would just write him up as a bully or a hyperactive kid that needed to be medicated.

After somehow managing to survive kindergarten, we breathed a sigh of relief. Our thoughts were, “maybe it was just the teacher.” “Maybe our son is actually normal and all those who judged us for saying he had SPD were right in their attack.” Well, first grade came. The teacher had knowledge of SPD and was very open armed to our son. “I can handle him” she quipped. However, here we are nearing the backstretch of first grade and we are now at that stressful state of mind and aggravation that we had with the kindergarten year. Because the state and school have their hands tied, they refuse to accommodate his disorder or assist him in adaptive learning unless we officially label him.

The labeling is bothersome to me. I know, I know, it is a hang-up that I need to get past. But I also look at my son and know he is a bright young boy. He loves math, he loves school and when he applies himself, he gets A’s on all his papers. The problem though is that applying of oneself. One of his downfalls is being easily distracted and the inability to focus. Due to that, his grades are quickly declining and his love for school is waning.

In the very near future, my son will officially be tested. He will be ran through the battery of sessions and tests to find out where he stands and what we can do to help him cope with his SPD. There is a big unknown of what is to come from this testing. Will insurance assist us this time or will they be a large headache like they were with the Behavioral Optometrist? Will this ‘labeling’ hurt my son in the future? Will he ever be able to obtain a normal job or get a drivers license? Will he be looked down upon as if he has some type of mental illness? Many thoughts run through my head and the stress is ever present.

Thankfully, my wife and I know God. Between our faith in God and our close walk with Him, we are able to carry on spiritually even when our emotions are a wreck. We have learned that regardless of our emotions or stresses, we can never allow them to dictate our worship to God, so even when we are crying on the inside, we still give God our all.

This has helped tremendously as we walk down an unknown path with our son’s SPD. God has given a peace that passes all understanding and allowed us to handle the ups and downs of life with our son. Do we get angry or frustrated at times? Obviously, yes, we are after all, mere human beings. However, God has given us a balance to weigh our problems against Him. When God is in the scale, he outweighs ours or our son’s bad days every time. He is the lifter of the head and provides a place to run to when all the battles seem uphill.

For us, God has been the constant focus when our son has lost his. He keeps us from wringing the neck of the uneducated person who thinks a pill is the answer to the problem. He helps us stay calm when people blame our son’s personality on his upbringing. He holds our hand as we navigate through the ugly red tape of health insurance. He reminds us everyday that even though He is a miracle working God that could remove the disorder from our son at anytime, He also is a God that allows us to privilege a walk down the path of the unknown so we can learn and lean on Him.

We do not know what tomorrow may bring. We do know that our son has made strides and has come a long way already to this point. His social interaction is widening. His vision therapy assisted greatly, and he is beginning to learn how to cope with the moments in which his senses get out of whack. Whatever tomorrow does bring, we know that he is a unique boy and no disorder, no red tape, no uneducated person will be able to hold him back from fulfilling his full potential.

Do you have an ego problem?

At age 16, Bobby Fischer took the game he loved and begin to systematically beat the world’s best, one by one. Years later, he added insult to injury of already fragile egos worldwide by taking down the world champion, Spassky.

Bobby Fischer commented on his talent by stating, "I like the moment when I break a man's ego."

The problem with Bobby Fischer though was that he himself had a large ego, along with other issues to boot.

Bobby Fischer had built himself up so much that his Ego created a salivating desire within him to make sure that other men's egos were broken.

As I read into the life of Bobby Fischer, I begin to think about people in society who have ego problems. I begin to think about how they have built up a mirrored wall so high around themselves that in the end, they cannot see the outside world for what it truly is. All they could see was self. If they did stop long enough to see others, it was merely to brag about oneself or to make sure the other person was still 'beneath them.' The egotistical does not care about others; they only care about making sure that they better themselves.

The word Ego in the Latin is simply the pronoun "I." When one has an Ego, it is all about "I." To clarify though, Ego is also more of a 'self-image' of what one believes they are. That person becomes so engulfed in self that their selective view of self overrules any real opinion of who they are. The person becomes blinded by their ego. They begin to shut out anything that does not fit into their mold of their selective self-image. Their selective self-image becomes them yet a selective self-image is not them at all!

Being blinded my Ego is not healthy. Ego is a removal of the real you and the blurring of the identity that God has given you. When a person begins to move away from their God given identity to create a new self, when they are drawn away from what is right to what they conceive to be right, and then they begin to allow Ego to tempt them. That temptation brings them to be enticed by self. Once Ego has brought them this far, sin is not too far behind. Plato said it best by stating "The cause of all sins in every case lies in the person's excessive love of self." Eventually, that excessive love of self brings forth death. Death of the man who once was identified by God but now identified by "I." Death of what could have been. Death of a persona that could of rocked the World with the message of Christ but chose self. Being blinded by Ego is not healthy and in fact, just downright deadly.

In the Old Testament we see that Lucifer had an 'I' problem.

"I will ascend until Heaven"

"I will exalt my throne above the stars of God"

"I will sit on the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north"

" I will ascend above the heights of the clouds"

"I will make myself like the Most High"

His Ego, his 'I', his self image, caused him to be cast down to Sheol, the uttermost parts of the pit.

The problem with Lucifer is the same problem that people have on this earth. He became a lover of himself. His Ego puffed up. He became blinded by his actions. He did not take heed and in the end, he fell.

We need to be reminded today that ultimately, there is only one 'I'. That I is the " Great I Am!" God told Moses "I Am that I am." Jesus speaks to the Jews and tells them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM."

If anyone in the history of the universe or this world had the right to use the word ‘I’, it was God Himself. After all, he created the Heavens and the earth. He hung the stars in the sky, placed water upon this earth and told it where to start and stop. He was the one that scooped up dirt and made life. AND Jesus was the one that hung upon a cross and died for a mankind that strayed away from their God given identity.

GOD IS THE ONLY ONE WORTHY OF HAVING AN EGO!

Not you, not me, not Bobby Fischer, not anyone! God alone is worthy of saying I AM THAT I AM, point blank, period!

Ego caused man to be banned from the garden, Ego caused this earth to be flooded and Ego is probably causing you to read this right now and telling yourself, “I don’t have an Ego problem.”
Today, let scripture be a reminder of whom and what we should be.

“Better it is to be humble in spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. “ “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Ask of the Lord today to help you remove any mask of selective self image. Pray that your focus be all about HIM and no longer about you. Request that your pride be replaced by humility. Climb out of that mirrored well which you can only see yourself in and come to the realization that there is a whole world out there than you can benefit from and they can benefit from you. Pray today that it no longer be about your will, but God's will.

Saving Facebook from YOU!

Let me start by prefacing this article with a therapeutic moment. Stop what you are doing right now, run to the nearest mirror, look at yourself and repeat after me: “Get over yourself, everyone else has!” Ok, are you back yet? That wasn’t so bad now was it? Now that we have that out of the way, let us move on to some ways to help save Facebook from YOU. Enjoy this article and remember, it is not all about you…..but if it is…..get help. ;-)

Let’s start by stating the obvious; it’s not all about you! The makers of Facebook did not sit down at a computer one day and begin coding a program with you personally in mind. They had millions of people in mind. They had profit in mind. They had binary codes rambling around their heads that needed released and the only way to do that was by creating a website called Facebook. If they only had you in mind, they would not of had open registration. They would of called this site {insert your name here}book.com. Unless your name is Face, then the website is not about you.

With all that said, then you need to know that not everything on Facebook is directed at you. Quit taking everything you see personal. So what if your cow went wandering off of your farm, that doesn’t mean that someone was out to get you. Someone off’d you in Mafia Wars? It’s just a game! Someone status set you off? Did it have your name written on it? Were you tagged in it? I didn’t think so. It is not all about you!

Facebook does not revolve around you. It will survive without your every input. Photos will still be photos if they do not have your comments below them. Your friends will still go on living if your status is not on their newsfeed in the morning. Someone else will take up the slack in finding out what song they are or what President they resemble. Life will go on in the social network with or without you logged in. It does not revolve around you!

Since Facebook does not revolve around you, how about you spending some time connecting with those you are linked to. No, that does not mean pouring out your life woes onto them. It means shutting up, letting them speak and actually hearing what they have to say. It’s nothing personal, but they probably already know about the bunion on your big toe and don’t need to be reminded of it or how you are coping with it. How about stopping to find out how their day was. How about actually processing their comment in your head before you respond? How about telling them you appreciate them, which leads us to the next point of saving Facebook from you.

I call this point, ‘one upping.’ One upping is when you feel the need to be better than the other person. It is when you need to comment on everything they say with something that will ‘top’ their comment. One upping deals with a deeper psychological problem that this article will not dive into, but then again, being stuck on oneself does fall into that category. You don’t need to be better than the people you are linked to. Notice what Facebook references those people as? Yep, they are called friends. Friends are not the enemy nor are they competition, they are your friends. Constantly trying to one up them will eventually get you de-friended.

Excuse me, your arrogance is showing. Yes, you! The one with the bright yellow hat on!(For those reading this that happen to actually be wearing a bright yellow hat, forgive me…ha!) To define arrogance for this article, we will state it as an attempt to show self-importance. Everybody wants to be loved. Everybody wants to feel important. However, constantly posting statuses or comments in an attempt to show others how important you are or to garner a crowd to pat you on the back is one way to let your arrogance show. It is an attempt to satisfy your constant need or desire of being loved or wanted. Quit trying so hard to have someone acknowledge your self perceived superiority. Let the pats on the back come naturally and when it does, do not let it go to your head.

Ok, now that all of that is out of the way, turn down your Ipod for a second and listen to yourself repeat these words, “Estoy Loco!” Come on, say it,”Estoy loco!” Admit it, you are crazy! Well, not THAT type of crazy. Not the padded cell, extra long sleeve white jacket with straps kind of crazy. I am talking about the type of crazy you need to survive yourself and for Facebook to survive you.
All that paranoia, all that judgmental thinking and all that overly critical analysis of everything written on Facebook is just you. It is your inability to let go and have a little fun. It is your denial of telling yourself estoy Loco! Yes, you are being crazy. You are being silly. You are one step away from being clinically defined….Doh!

There is something to be said about being loco though. When you are able to laugh at yourself, laugh at others and laugh at yourself again, you tend to lower your shield enough to let others know that you are human. You let others know that you are not trying to build a lofty position above them. You also begin to lose the paranoia that everyone on Facebook is out to judge and destroy you. When you learn to live, have fun and get a little loco, people begin to appreciate you more. They will begin to answer your chats again. They will send that cow back to your farm. They might even join you in your “Help this straightjacket is not in style” fanpage.

I have now succeeded in rambling for a good amount of time now but I hope something in here helps somebody out or in this case, helps us all out on Facebook. But if not….if you are still suffering from being a feminist or male chauvinist or feeling mighty superior, then take my next advice and do so immediately:

GO!

Well, don’t unlink from me or delete your Facebook page. I am saying, go as in, take a sabbatical. Log off. Get away from the computer. Live in reality. Realize that though the people on Facebook are your friends, you can also get out there in the real world and see real people and be paranoid about their every comment and facial expression. I am just kidding about that last part. Nobody in the real world is out to get you, unless, well, never mind. Ha!

Get outdoors. Enjoy nature. Look at accomplishments done by people other than you. Look at the landscape. Look at the sky. Feel the wind blow. Note that someone more superior than little you created that very breeze blowing on your face. Get out in the rain. Let it drench you. Make sure you don’t have your nose to lofty though, just saying.

Finally, the last thing on helping saving Facebook from you is for you to simply shut up. Yep, shut up. I will loosely paraphrase a quote by saying, If you have nothing good to say or if your comment is going to be an unwarranted thought that is all about you, then do everyone a favor and shut up. Ok, that was a little harsh. You can still post statuses saying you just stubbed your toe on the lazy dog in your living room. You can tell us you are drinking your fifth Starbucks of the day and you are hyper. But if you feel the need to one up someone or allow paranoia to cause you to react to someone else’s status, then the best advice is to just simply, shut up.

Are you alright? Did you make it this far in the article? You hate me yet? Don’t hate the messenger; hate the game you are playing inside your head. Do Facebook a favor and save it from you. Everybody will thank you for it and who knows, they might even create a fanpage or write your name in their farmville crop!
Have a great day doing whatever you do on Facebook!

Define your journey or it will defy you

In the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible, we read some depressing passages of scripture. Solomon, a man who had it all, a man who only knew of the best things in life, was concluding that life itself was nothing more than vanities. Here was a man, who could give great proverbial advice. Here was a man who could dive deep philosophically with the best of them. Here was a man who, according to 2nd Chronicles, had things that the kings before him never had.

“Wisdom and knowledge are granted you. And I will give you riches, possessions, honor, and glory, such as none of the kings had before you, and none after you shall have their equal.”

Yet somehow, in all of this,in all of the wisdom, in all of the riches, in all the best things life had to offer, Solomon had failed. Solomon was found lacking.

While he was trying to define his journey, In the end, his journey had defied him.

Solomon found that no pleasure, no possession, nothing he had was bringing a complete happiness. Nothing he pursued was fulfilling. His journey was for happiness,but he ended up with frustrations.

As he stopped in to ponder in his journey, Solomon found that he was hating life.

Solomon said that most of the things we strived for on this journey, proved to only be vanities. He realized that even the wisest of men, found themselves to only be fools. He found that for all the sweat, tears, and energy he put forth in the journey, that life was nothing but labor, sorrow and grief.

On an on, Solomon paints a grim picture. He describes the whoas of life.
He shows the despair, the hurts and the disappointments. In the end, he leaves the readers of the scriptures feeling depressed and hopeless about life. "All is vanity," he says, "all is vanity."

As we travel this journey called life, we will find moments of happiness, moments of frustrations, and moments of sadness. Many things will fall within our path.

Things like: Heartache, pain, change,stress,being let down,failure,success, confusion, misunderstandings and hopefully on many occasions, happiness.
If we really wanted to get down to it, and to be real with ourselves

We can admit that like Solomon, that we too can find the negatives, the vanities and the grim outlooks of this life. If we are not careful, if we allow the Solomon attitude to grip us, we risk the very thing that Solomon experienced:

We risk our journey defying us, instead of us defining our journey.

A journey by definition is "To travel or the act of traveling from one place to another." Biologically and psychologically speaking, a journey is "any course or passage from one stage or experience to another."

Whether a journey be physical or spiritual, one can conclude that there must be a drive and there must be some type of desire. It is a combination of these items which allows the person that is on the journey, to walk down the intended path. It is at the time in which the drive is gone or that the desire is lost, a person stops walking and could be found sitting.

When a person finds themselves sitting down and pondering the many things in life, the danger of a Solomon mindset begins to creep in. They begin to get down on their efforts. They allow the pains of life to catch up. Depression and oppression sets in. The very danger of the proverbial throwing in the towel, becomes a realization. It is at this moment, the person unconsciously allows their journey, to defy them.

A quick flip through the pages of the Bible finds many journeys. There was Abraham who followed God and went to Canaan as instructed. His due reward for following that journey was being blessed by God and becoming a great nation. There was Moses who was instructed to go to Mt. Sinai. He comes face to face with a burning bush and was given further instructions from the Lord. So Moses does as he is instructed and goes on the journey.

Many successful journeys are found within the pages of the Bible. But then, we see the likes of Sampson. Sampson was a man who has a relationship with God. He was given abilities that many of men only dreamed of. Yet somehow, Sampson chose to allow his journey to defy him, instead of he defining his journey.

Sampson strayed from the path when he went into the city of Timnah. He strayed once again when he went into Gaza. It was his straying, his temptations, that took him to places he should of never have gone. Sampson was blazing trails were not to have been blazed.

He was a man set apart for God's service. He was a man of power. He once took apart a lion with only his bare hands. With a jawbone from a donkey, he slew thousands. Yet, Sampson had a fundamental flaw in his life and that flaw allowed his journey to defy him.

In the end, Sampson's eyes were gouged out by the Philistines. The hair he had grown as part of his Nazarite vow, was cut off. The feet that led him down the wrong paths, were now weighed down by shackles. Sampson was hooked to a grinding stone like a donkey. Around and around he went. No longer on a journey with intent and purpose, but now aimlessly going in circles.

After parting ways with Abram, Lot wandered from his intended path, to take his cattle to the well watered green valleys of Jordan. He wandered off the path to camp out right outside the gates of the city Sodom. Instead of staying on the right path which was far from sin city, he chose to camp right next to sin.

The journey he once defined, was now defying him. As fire fell upon Sodom, and Lot and his family fleed, the very sin he cozied up next to, had destroyed his wife. Lot could of seen the warning signs there and ran back to the proper path, but he didn't. He chose to continue on down the wrong path and ran to the hills to hide. It was within those hills that his daughters became the next victims of his choosing the wrong path, the wrong journey.

Choosing to stray from the journey has its consequences. Sin has a price. It will cost you and your family much. However, if you choose to stay the course, to walk within the set of footprints provided for you, then no wind, no wave, no false teachings, no fads or relevant gimmick will cause you to leave the path.

The question presented then is a simple one. Are you defining your journey, or is your journey defying you? Are you deciding in your heart that you will only follow Jesus or are you allowing sin, temptations and things of this world to defy you?
Look at your path today. Which one are you residing on? Are you able to carry on a conversation with Jesus or are you finding that He is off in the distance walking a different direction?