I Am My Own Gilligan

Remember on Gilligan's Island how everytime it looked like a sure thing that the castaways were going to get rescued, Gilligan would inevitably do something to mess things up and they would be stranded again. That is a lot like my life. God has time and time again came to rescue me from my sin, and I always seem to pull a Gilligan and remain trapped on my island. How many times has God come to rescue me from my mundane life and replace it with the abundant life and I pull something ignorant and blow the whole deal. Things like, I can handle this on my own, or I cant do that, or If God will just give me a sign, or these are the cards I have been dealt and I just have to play them.
Just like Gilligan, if I would just stay out of God's way I would be a lot better off.

Staggering Statistics

Do you remember the old sugarless gum commercial that said "4 out of 5 dentist surveyed recommend sugarless gum to their patients who chew gum."? Do you ever wonder who that one dentist was who recommended sugar gum. He must have been one greedy dude. He was probably telling his patients to chew gum, brush with cake icing, rinse with coke, and floss with licorice. Maybe he just owned stock in the sugar industry.
I read recently that 1 out of every 5 kids born in the world are Chinese. I am the youngest of 5 children, yet other than a love for egg rolls, I don't appear to be Chinese at all.
According to recent research, if you were to take every hockey puck in the world and stack them one on top of another, it would be an indication you have far too much time on your hands.
Here is actually a serious statistic. 10 out of every 10 people die. And 100% of those who die without being born again by accepting Jesus as their Savior will spend eternity in hell. The bible says that God wishes that none should perish. Think about the day that we will all stand before the judgement of God, and He will separate the sheep from the goats. The sheep being Christians, and the goats being those who do not know Him. Can you stand the thought of looking at the hopeless and helpless goats headed for eternal separation from God, and seeing faces you know? Faces crying out, "Why didn't you tell me?". Will you be able to truly say you did everything you could? Jesus is too good to keep to ourselves, 100% of mankind need Him.

Do You Know Mr. Luke Warm

There is a disturbing image in the book of Revelation that I think of quite often. It is a message to the church in Laodicea and Jesus says "You are neither hot nor cold, you are lukewarm and it makes me want to throw up!" (That is the Paul translation.) Do you ever shudder at the thought that it is possible that you can make God sick at His stomach? Pretty scary, huh? Well you can. You see, when we say Jesus is Lord, it involves a lot more than most of us realize. Total commitment is the only acceptable option when it comes to being a Christian. There are those of us who say Jesus is Lord, but we have so at ease at being a Christian that we have forgotten what it was like when we first fell in Love with Jesus. Remember when you were on Fire? What happened? Did you let other lukewarm Christians tell you to just settle down? Did you hear the lukewarmers say things like, "You can't push Jesus and your beliefs on others" so you quit witnessing, or "You shouldn't judge people", so you stopped holding people accountable for their actions, or "You can't protect your children from everything", so you just let them watch whatever,dress however, and listen to whatever because you want them to fit into the world? Have you listened when they have said "That's just not the way we do things in this church."? Have you let them down play the amazing power of God and the miracles and wonders that He does everyday? "Just calm down, people are going to think you are some kind of Jesus Freak". Why do we listen to that stuff?
Think about when you fell in love for the first time. Did that desire to please that boyfriend or girlfriend make you act a little crazy? Granted testosterone can make a man do some some strange things, but when we are in love we all do some crazy things. For instance, my wife and I went to see an M.C. Hammer concert on our first date. I could not stand MC. Hammer, but I was in love and it didn't matter. All I know was where she was, that is where I wanted to be. That is the same craziness we need to have for Jesus. We are so in love it doesn't matter what we like or dislike, what we want, where we go, all that matters is we want to follow Jesus no matter what.
Do you remember when you realized that you were a sinner and on the expressway to hell, but Jesus reach out from the cross and snatched you out of the abyss you were getting ready to plunge into, and you were so broken, so thankful, so grateful, that you wanted to tell the world about what Jesus had done for you? You wanted to read every word of the Bible so you could get to know this wonderful savior even better. Do you remember? Does it still burn in your soul to do what ever Jesus says because you are in Love? It should. Are you still acting crazy like when you first fell in Love? Go on that mission trip, witness to a friend or co-worker, let down all your barriers and allow yourself to worship God, read His word, talk to Him, share your testimony to someone who needs to hear it, open your eyes to God working around you and the wonders He does in your life and the world around you. Don't allow Mr. Luke Warm to bring you down. Let your life reignite their flame and crazy love.

What would Jesus do at the Ballpark?

You ever have one of those weeks when regardless of what you do, everything seems to stress you out? I am having one of those weeks. I am doing all the right things, Praying, spending time with God, studying His word, yet every little thing seems to get on my nerves. You ever have days or weeks like that? You tell yourself things like "Turn your eyes on Jesus upon Jesus and the things of this world will grow strangely dim." and about that time, someone who is obviously posessed by a demon of road rage, cuts you off in traffic. Or, you talk to your kids baseball team about being good sports and having a Christ like attitude and doing all things as though you were doing them for God, when suddenly the bus that says "School for the Vision Impaired" pulls up and the umpires get off the bus and yell "playball". At this point, it is all you can do to smile and pray for that poor umpire, that those scales will fall off his eyes and he will clearly begin to see things your way before you erupt into some kind of Mt. St. Helens explosion sending dust ,bats, hats and grumbles into some layer of the atmosphere that you haven't heard of since 8th grade. So what do you do? What would Jesus do at the ballpark?
In all reality the guy in traffic probably just didn't see you or maybe he is having as bad or worse a week as you are. And the umpires are probably doing a terrific job at something most of us wouldn't dare do or have the skills to do. They are doing it for the Kids mostly. Yet the stress is still there and perception is reality. The ol' straw that breaks the camels back was put on about 20 straws ago and the world keeps piling those straws on. So, what do we do? We ask that age old question "WWJD?" Our first thought would be, he would cast out the demon in that car driving like a bat out of the place prepared for the devil, or perform a miracle of healing on the umps eyes. However if you are like me, and exorcism and healing are not your strong suites, you may have to look elsewhere for some answers.
Do you fashion a whip out of strips of leather like Jesus did and just start driving people out of your life that seem to be ticking you off? There is a time for some righteous wrath, but if used in the improper way, can be considered assault and battery. No, I believe there is a time when you just have to get away and be by yourself and talk to the father. That is what Jesus did on a few occasions. It if is what Jesus did, it probably is a good thing for me too. There is no Biblical account of what Jesus said or prayed about when He went up on the mountain, but I often wonder if it didn't go something like this:
"Dad, you have got to help me out here. This place is driving me nuts. I understand now why cousin John stayed out in the wilderness eating locust and honey and dressed like a Sasquatch. These people are getting on my nerves, I mean I love them, but good grief! I got all the Pharisee's stirred up trying to trip me up everywhere I go, and they are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites with there 2 hour prayers and there noses in the air looking down on everyone. Then there are the disciples. They still just don't get it. Thomas always doubting everything. Judas has his hand in the teal. Peter blurting out crazy stuff all the time. John is so "In Love" with me, he wont give me any space. Then there is the multitudes. Everyone has to have a miracle. Sometimes I feel more like a wonders vending machine than I do the Son of God, Messiah. Cranking out miracles, healings, words of life, not to mention no one ever packs a lunch and we have to keep making fish and chips buffet for 5000. I am more like a Holy ATM than the source of all life."
Maybe His conversations were nothing like that at all, but it is how a lot of mine are. And you know what? I always feel better when I go to Him and just lay it all out there for Him. I think of Jesus sitting at the right hand of God, interceding there for me saying "He is right, I have been there. Those people will drive you crazy. Lets give Paul an extra dose of that peace that surpasses all understanding."
When the world is trying to tear you down, go sit and talk with Jesus. He will build you up, and strengthen you. After all, He's been there.