Eight Days of Hope

Eight Days Of Hope is a local organization that started after Hurricane Katrina. A father and son headed to the coast to rebuild a home and years later we have Eight Days Of Hope. Recently they sent teams to Lee County Alabama to help victims of the tornado they had there.  I have friends and there are members of our church that volunteer through Eight Days Of Hope. I helped repair chain saws one time with this friend of mine. I spotted for him as he took down some trees at their new warehouse where they store items and their trailers and equipment. We hear interesting stories from these volunteers as they try to help others after a disaster. Out of Lee County Alabama comes this story of a family that lost their home and some of their family in this tornado. At this one home that was completely swept away except for one room. That room was the lady's prayer room. It was the only thing left standing.  I believe if I heard correctly, that is where the members of the family that survived were gathered. This family is in good spirits even though they lost family members, for they first hand saw God's delivering power. One of the places they tell us to gather for shelter in a tornado is an inner room, a small room in the center of the house. I have seen shingles stuck into the side of a cement building. 2 x 4 driven through walls and complete houses gone in a few minutes. In Tupelo's tornado of a few years ago I saw a doves's nest with babies in it survive in the front of a house where the rear has a porch torn off. God can keep us through the storm. I have put in a tornado shelter and have used it several times during the recent tornados.  It is really something to see first hand the damage a tornado can do.  (This month of April 2019, I think Mississippi had 43 tornadoes and something like 70 for the year. )  And then these people that go into the disaster areas to be the hands and feet of God.  And pray with people as they go. They are very organized and I have seen the trailers they have set up to go into a disaster area. To me it is just amazing to see how a desire to help one family during Katrina has blossomed into something like this.   May God bless them for the work they do.  God bless. LVZ

Bear False Witness

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.  The ninth commandment.

2They lie to one another;

they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.  Psalm 12:2

I heard a sermon on this commandment. We often heard of the little white lie. I remember my mother-in-law from many years back, not wanting to go to an afternoon service. What Lie shall I tell them, my father-in-law asked. My mother-in-law says, don't tell them no lie, I just don't want to deal with them fools today. Sometimes we find it hard to be truthful. The Pastor that spoke the sermon I was listening to, told about Gary Dotson / Cathleen Webb.  Cathleen accused Gary of rape to cover up her having sex with her boyfriend earlier that day. Gary was convicted and spent some years in prison. Some years later as Cathleen became a Christian, she could no longer live with what she had done. She tried to make it right. At first even the courts wouldn't change the outcome of that conviction but eventually Gary was set free.   You know a time I find it difficult, Barbara will ask what I had to eat, and I don't want to tell her. There is no good reason for not wanting to tell her. I am really not sure if I understand why I do not want to be truthful.  We see it in our political climate today.  People are not always truthful, lie, slander, exaggerate, what ever it takes to win the office they seek.  I think of a few years back when I was running for alderman in my community. I was running against two people, a Black woman and a White man. The Black woman was saying I was too conservative because I was a Trump supporter. The White man was saying I was too liberal because I was married to a Black woman. Both things were true, but it was being told in a way to win an elected office. In a more subtle way because of their motivations, they were bearing false witness, they had an agenda. Truth, sometimes we hear the phrase, my truth, which is not truth at all.  Integrity comes into play, do we really desire to be truthful?  Can we really be truthful, why is it so difficult? If we break one of the commandments we are guilty of all.  This pastor told a story of a watch he sold through a site called Escrow.com, not paying full attention, he didn't notice the site he was on was Escrow-com. A fraudulent site. He lost his money and the watch. We have all been defrauded in some way or another. Or perhaps we have exaggerated the truth. I once bought a car for $500 and the seller offered to write me a bill of sale for $100 to save a little bit of money on the taxes. Truth is black and white, it does not need to be exaggerated. Gossip is another form of bearing false witness. Perhaps we have not murdered  anyone, but have we had the integrity to always be truthful? Integrity matters, especially in this age, no any age.  So I think about what I read and heard today. Someone once told my my honesty was subjective. Sometimes we leave something out or add a little to give a different outcome that we desire. God desires us to be honest and not bear false witness, perhaps many of us have not stooped to the level of Cathleen Webb, but have we been tempted to exaggerate or gossip. Or was there a motive behind what we said like the people running for office. Yes, I see it in me. If we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. How we need to live by this commandment today.   God bless, LVZ.

The Fool

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good. Psalm 53:1

Once again we read the words "the fool says in his heart there is no God.  This is what the Bible says. In spite of all the evidence around us, in nature, in creation, some choose to believe their is no God. I have looked at nature in so many ways. I look at even the flowers that rise each spring, they take nutrients out of the soil and from the same dirt one produces a red flower and another a purple flower and another a yellow flower. I can plant seed in the garden and from the same soil, get red tomatoes, yellow corn, etc. I look at the rainbow after many rains and remember God's promise. I look at how God created man in his image, able to create all sorts of things. Intelligent design, yet when we look at God's creation, no two of anything are identical.  We humans can build thousands of things and they can be identical. Take a coin, for a given year, can you find a difference? Yet two trees of the same species are each different and individual.  In the Bible written over hundreds of years by many different authors, yet it has  agreement and unity of purpose.  Yes, one has to choose to  believe or not to believe. We all are born corrupt, in sin, but this God of creation, had a plan for us through his son Jesus. To forgive us of our sins. It is our choice, to accept or reject God. They are fools that reject God. The Bible says so. God bless, LVZ. 

Mark This

22“Mark this, then, you who forget God,
lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!
23The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!”

Psalm 50:22-23
I feel I have learned much from my reading in the Old Testament. One thing that stuck with me from the book of Samuel is young Samuel saying, "speak Lord for thy servant is listening." I recognize God is sovereign in the things I have read.  Here it seems God is saying pay attention, mark this, to the things he is saying. He is sovereign, at the end of our time, we stand before him and give an account for our lives. If we have accepted Jesus as Lord or reject him as Lord by faith, it is recorded. When I was but a teenager I memorized a verse.  So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. James 4:17.    Many times we look at sin as big things, adultery, murder, etc., but God sees the things we consider small, that little white lie as we call it, and if I understand the word, they carry the same penalty, separation from God. Sometimes we feel we are OK, because we did not commit the biggies. But God's word says, we all have sinned. Every last one of us. None of us is good, only God. That is why we need Jesus to forgive us of our sins. If anyone says, he has not sinned, he lies and the truth is not in him. God forgives sin if we believe in him and ask him to forgive us. In that one moment he forgives all past, present, future sins. But our learning does not stop in that moment. We continue to search the scriptures on how to live in this world before a Holy God. In the scripture above as God says, Mark this, pay attention, judgment is his alone. Those who order their way rightly, God will deliver in the judgment. Those who trust in God will not be disappointed.  But those who reject God will be judged by everything they know. It is like it would be better to never read or learn the word, what the word says, if you reject God. You will be held accountable. Then people like me, as I ponder the scripture, and here I am writing about it, wanting to know my God better, I will be held accountable. In a way I teach, I will be held accountable for what I teach. I pray that the words of my mouth, or those that I write, are pleasing in the sight if God. If we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I often will write about my experiences through life. My sins, are ever before God, I believe in him, I confessed my sins and asked him to forgive me of my sins. I remember my sins, but God says they are removed from me as far as the East is from the West. When God looks at us, he sees Jesus, the perfect one, he does not see our sin.  Our penalty is paid in full on the cross.We just celebrated Easter. Jesus paid it all, and rose again. The empty tomb, the empty cross, say he is alive.The Christian cross is empty, often you will see a cross with Jesus still on it. He is not there, he has risen, The tomb, where they buried him is empty. It is interesting that scripture says they borrowed a tomb. If you borrow something, you give it back when you are done using it. Jesus entered that tomb on Friday, lay there all day Saturday and on Sunday he arose and left an empty tomb behind him. Just some grave clothes and a folded face cloth remained, Joseph of  Arimathea got his tomb back. It was only borrowed. God bless, LVZ.

A Folded Napkin

Easter is the time of year we celebrate Jesus resurrection. I heard about the folded napkin twice this Easter Season. It stuck with me. It is described as a tradition,  People being at a dinner and really enjoying the dinner fold the napkin to say they are coming back. If you throw the napkin in the center of your plate your done. It  was something those in the Jewish culture would notice.  The grave clothes Jesus was wrapped in where laying there separate, and just the face cloth was folded neatly.
6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’^a head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. John 20:6-7.  There are good traditions that perhaps we should not ignore.  The Jews have a lot of traditions, holidays that they celebrate. I was not raise understanding some traditions. This folded napkin is something I do not want to forget.  By folding that face cloth, napkin, Jesus was saying; I am coming back. It was something the Jews would recognize. I did a great  hurt when I was young because I didn't understand the importance of traditions. I think back to that time and I wish I'd had family that would have said Leon, you need to do this. A friend asked me to be his best man at his wedding. I made up an excuse, something like work was really busy and I could not get away.  I really don't think I understood how important that was. I probably would have had to buy or rent a suit, I do not dress up. The truth is I didn't want to do it, and I made up some excuse, a lie wrapped in the skin of a reason. It would have been an honor, he thought enough of me to ask me to be his best man. I don't think I understood the significance of that at that time.
But this face cloth folded is something I want to remember. Jesus died on a cross for my sins. He was laid in a borrowed tomb. He rose again, conquered death.  Jesus rose again and is with the Father up in Heaven. He left that napkin neatly folded to remind us he is coming again. It is interesting that Jesus did that, it is recorded in the gospels. He understood their traditions and their way of life. Just a small thing and I don't want to make too big a deal out of it, but it says Jesus is coming back some day. Jesus had told his disciples, what would happen, he would be crucified and be three days in the tomb, but he would rise again. And not only that, he is coming back. They had heard his words but didn't understand, until they came to the empty tomb and saw his gave clothes laying there and the face cloth neatly folded separate from the rest.  The 12 disciples understood and turned the world upside down.  Jesus will return and gather his children, those that believe in him, some day. That is the significance of that folded face cloth in the empty tomb.  God bless, LVZ.

In Times of Discouragement

11Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,my salvation and my God.  Psalm 42:11
Many has been the day when I would turn to this verse during times of discouragement. I think of Lynda Randle singing God On The Mountain. For the God on the mountain is still God in the valley. When things go wrong, he'll make them right. And the God of the good times is still God in the bad times. The God of the day is still God in the night. And so it is in our journey with God, when we go through the bad times, he is there. Sometimes as the poem goes, there is only one set of foot prints in the sand. It is at those times God is carrying us. As a Christian trying to live God's way, there should have only been one marriage for life. But I failed in that area of my life, not the only way I have failed. But I am here to tell you, even in the midst of divorce, God carried me. One instant is forever etched in my mind. I was going through my third divorce. Not just one , not two but now in my third divorce and I was really feeling low. How does a Christian get to this place where you fail so many times?  There I was, and I knew that God hates divorce. His perfect plan is one man one woman for life. I cried out to God in the midst of my pain, what do I do Lord? You feel like you have no right to call on him, you have failed again. But there I was crying out to God. God I can't see what you see. This woman does not want a divorce but I feel in my heart that she is cheating on me. Am I wrong, do I need to just hang in there? Am I being to hasty in seeking a divorce. I was in pain. I was driving down Yakima Street in Tacoma, I had left from my apartment on south 40th to go somewhere on the south end of Tacoma. As I was nearing south 56th street, as I was praying about this, I felt impressed to turn off South Yakima street so as to not drive past where my wife was staying. I went to Park street and continued south. There was a stop sign at 56th. I was about 4, maybe 5 cars back from the stop sign. Then I saw my wife walking across the street in front of me.  She walked to the gas station and got into the van of the man I believed she was cheating on me with. I recognized the license plate number.  Then a voice said in my mind, now don't go over there and make a fool of yourself. I showed you this so you would know. I continued on my way south and continued to work on my divorce.  I learned that day that God still helps us in the midst of troubles. He is ever mindful of the plight we are in.  That wasn't the last of my troubles, but I remember that day because of the way God answered my prayer while I was still praying it.  No reason to be cast down, to be discouraged, because God is with in in every thing we go through.  He delivers us out of all our troubles. God bless, LVZ.

Follow After Good

20Those who render me evil for good accuse me because I follow after good. Psalm 38:20 
Do we stand for good? In chapter 34 I read many are the troubles of the righteous but the Lord delivers him of them all. Some of the troubles I faced resulted from standing for good. Not all but some. We are in a war for the soul of our nation.  Our President while doing good for our nation comes under fire almost daily, maybe not almost, but daily. We Christians have stood silently while many wrongs were forced upon us. It is not wrong to stand up for righteousness. In this culture war we are facing, we can ignore it and do nothing, pretend it isn't happening. Things are guaranteed to get worse. Or we can fight, stand for good speak out against evil.  When I was employed for many years, I didn't think about it as a war. I sometimes stood for what I believed simply because I was a Christian and sometimes I made waves. Sometimes it did affect others, not so much because I was trying to affect others, but I was trying to live by my conscience. I wonder if there were many times I just stood silently and said nothing when wrong was being done? When prayer was taken out of schools, did we protest?  When Roe VS Wade became the law of the land did we fight back?  As I read this this morning I am seeing a wrong being done in our society, it doesn't affect me personally, but am I wrong to step in and try to do something about it?  I know there is fraud involved somehow, I am not sure I understand it fully. I question my motives? We live in a society that perpetuates wrong if it some how benefits them. We live in a society that lies at the drop of the hat if it benefits them in someway.  Truth doesn't matter. We live in a society that attacks us if we express a conservative view point. I saw this on the view. Whoopi violently attacked a conservative who wrote a book expressing some conservative thinking. There was  no dialogue, off camera, this person said Whoppi  said F--- you several times and dis-invited her to the view. Get out of this building etc. This is a battle for the soul of our nation. If a conservative did this, they would be fired. Mississippi put in "God we trust" on our license plates this year and an out of state group is trying to get that removed. We need to stand for biblical values.  I am prayerfully considering this wrong, this fraud I became aware of. Do I do nothing, or do I try to bring it to the attention of someone that may be interested. I ran for a local office a couple of years ago. I ran against two people and lost big.  After it was over, I wondered if I did the wrong thing, because I lost. I have thought much about that since then and think it was the right thing to do as a Christian. We don't always win but we try anyway. I may try again. I find it interesting, in this local small office , conservative or liberal really doesn't come into play. In a small town, you are just trying to pay the bills for the town, and it really has little to do with being conservative or liberal, democrat or republican. In fact some towns require you to register as an independent or all candidates to register for one particular party to save money to avoid running as a democrat or a republican and then running again. Anyway one candidate, a Black person was going around saying I was too conservative for our town because I was a Trump supporter. The White candidate was going around saying I was too liberal for our town because I was married to a Black woman.  I only got 16% of the vote. It seemed silly to me the reasons people voted or were urged to vote one way or the other. Conservative or Liberal did not matter at all in a small town office like this. We just want to pay the bills and keep the lights on in this little town. I know now I did the right thing just by running, God never said I would win. So we fight in this country against Trump, simply because he is conservative. He is doing a lot of good for the country, but that seems to be ignored. Hillary was suppose to win, they gave her the debate questions ahead of time to try and help her and still she lost. She won the popular vote in a few large population centers but lost the electoral college vote. A safeguard our forefathers put in place, because they understood a simple majority is not always right.  Now the left would like to get rid of the electoral college. President Trump in not the only one that won the electoral college majority while slightly behind in the popular vote. It is a safe guard and it can work for either candidate. We are fighting for the soul of our nation. I believe I need to follow after good and expose a fraud if I am able to.  Truth doesn't matter any more. If it feels right or it benefits me go for it, seems to be the norm in our culture.  Dishonesty or fraud do not seem to stop us.  I don't think it is so much about winning but standing for truth and right. I like what our governor said, He wanted to be able to stand before God someday and say I fought for the unborn, the babies in the womb. Probably not his exact words but something similar. We don't always win but we fight anyway.  God help us. God bless, LVZ. 

Indoctrinated or Discipled?

Church folk bother me, at least some of them. I use to be one of them. I still go to church. But I feel there is a difference between being indoctrinated and discipled.  This is how I feel. I can't see into peoples heart. We are not suppose to judge. Recently I saw a post of a young couple that have now been married 52 years. They helped when I was a teenager. They modeled a christian life before me. They were a part of the church I grew up in. I have no idea if they still belong to that organization or not. But that organization indoctrinated me, they discipled me, showed me how to live by example. I believe there is a big difference. There are subtle differences. They pulled me aside one time as a young teenager and told me emotionalism wasn't necessary, the spirit is subject to the prophet. They lived a christian life before me. It wasn't about show, how spiritual they were, they just lived it.  Another pastor asked me where I thought my Bible Knowledge was on a scale of 1 to 10. Being the modest person that I am, I figured a five. He informed me that because I was a part of that organization, it was probably an 8. That is indoctrination. It is not just one church that does this, but many feel they have a special insight into the word of God over other organizations. What this couple that have been married for 52 years modeled before me was what we call relationship. They may have been part of that organization at that time, but they had something deeper. Relationship with God the father. Many today feel that because they prayed a prayer as a child  and go to church every Sunday, they are OK.  They might live Monday through Saturday just like the person next door that don't go to church, but on Sunday they are at their little group reading the Sunday school literature word for word. Being discipled means we figure it out for ourselves, we read the word and try to understand it for ourselves and apply it to our lives and model it for others along the way.  I am not advocating good works to make it in to heaven, but what I am advocating is a relationship with God the father that is more important than our little group over here. I used to listen to Dr Walter Martin on the radio many years ago and I remember one time he mentioned this organization that I grew up in, it wasn't real bad but I didn't like what he said. I thought, you don't understand because you are not a part of our exclusive group that have a better handle on the word of God than most. I remember that thought many years later, how things have changed. I am almost afraid to go to that group anymore. I feel like they still think they are number one. I like the attitude I hear in my church, there are a lot of good places you could have chose to attend, but we are glad you chose to visit with us. I remember another minister that advised me when I told him I was looking for a home church after moving here. You need to find the church where Jesus is at, where Jesus is moving.  I thought,  God shows up at a lot of churches in every town, every Sunday and through out the week too.  Maybe I misunderstood what he was trying to say. But it caused me to be wary, because I do believe God is at a lot of different churches every Sunday morning. I am wary of people that feel they have an inside track with God over others.  I hope I am explaining this well, I don't mean to turn people away from God but to him in a real and personal way. Each generation, each person must find God for themselves. You cannot live on your organizations faith, or your parents faith, or your grandparents faith. You must develop your own faith based on the word of God. There are a lot of good people that can instruct you along the way, but how will you know if they are a Jim Jones from Guyana ( Jonestown ) infamy or not,  if you don't read and develop that relationship on your own? I hope I have explained what is in my heart in a good way. I don't want to turn people away from Church and God, but to God and his Church universal. I remember a joke I heard one time. Saint Peter was showing someone around heaven and he showed them, here are some Baptist folk, here are some Lutherans, here are some Pentecostals and be real quiet here, because ( I will not mention the name here ) they think nobody else is up here. There is an exclusiveness to heaven, you must believe in Jesus and have repented of your sins. But I believe there will be a lot of different folk up there not just one organization. I wonder if they still preach and teach that all Christians will become a part of their organization some day as Christ gathers his followers into one fold. Jesus is the answer, our hope is in his name, there is no salvation in any other. There is an exclusiveness to the gospel, we must believe in Jesus Christ and him crucified, but please do not try and tell me it is in any man made organization or institution.  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16.  I am grateful to that young couple that modeled Christianity for me so many years ago. I say young couple because I remember them as they were then. They are not perfect Christians, I don't think here are any perfect ones on this side of heaven, but I hope I can model this Christianity for others as they did for me. As Paul said,  follow me as I follow Christ. We want to be like the one who died for our sins. God bless, LVZ.

A Beautiful Psalm

1Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers!
2For they will soon fade like the grass
and wither like the green herb.

3Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.^b
4Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
6He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.

7Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,

                over the man who carries out evil devices!   Psalm 37:1-7
Here is a beautiful Psalm. God tells us not to fret because of evil doers, and not to be envious of wrong doers. They will fade and wither. Perhaps this is speaking of eternity, they will not be there. Our time of earth is short in comparison to eternity.  Trust in the Lord. Delight yourself in the Lord. I think trust would be accepting God's word to be truth.  I trust God's word. God created us and this world in the beginning. Sometimes you can talk to Christians and they say they believe God, but they attribute things to God from this world. For example, creation didn't happen in six days. If God spoke into existence all that is, why would we have to include evolution and think God created but it didn't happen in six literal days?  If I could speak into existence, how long does it take to think and speak. If God goes along and thinks of the fishes and all that moves upon the earth, and speaks, how long would it take to speak. If God conceived this universe with its suns and moons and planets. that hold themselves in orbit, how long did it take God to speak it into existence.  I trust in the word of God, to be true. I believe science upholds and confirms the word of God. Imagine if you will a beautiful magazine, and it just pops out of the printer with no intelligent designer thinking it through and pushing the button. The paper just happens into the printer, the arrangement just happens. No intelligent designer. The magazine just happens, from nothing, no designer. I think it takes more faith to believe all that is just happened over billions of years without an intelligent designer, GOD. I do believe God spoke us and all that is into existence. It doesn't take long to speak. It takes an intelligent being to create. We are made in God's image, intelligent creation. We too create. I worked for an aircraft manufacturer,  airplanes are complex, it took the intelligence of many to make this happen. In our lifetime we have seen amazing things. In the beginning, computers took up whole rooms. We have seen the knowledge increase to where now the little cell phone we all can't seem to live without, has more power than those first  computers. Intelligent design. It is amazing. What does it mean to delight in the Lord? I believe my actions of reading God's word, and praying to him, trusting in him show delight. To take great pleasure, I do this daily. I want to hear from God. As I have taken this journey through the Bible from cover to cover, I think of young Samuel and his words, speak Lord for they servant is listening. I want to hear from God. I desire to apply what I hear from him to my life. There are hidden treasures in the Word of God. I want to seek them out. Have I prospered, I believe I have. I have seen my life protected as I have sought to live by what I already know. I seem to have been so discouraged early in my walk with God as evil things happened. With the hindsight I have today, I see God's hand in my life over and over again. Even in my troubles, God was there. Yet I am probably just scratching the surface, this God I believe in created all that is. The delicate balance of this universe to exist, is his design. What an awesome God. The beauty we see in nature, his design. The cunning of the cat, his design. The faithfulness of a dog, his design. The power of a horse, his design. And here we are his intelligent creation, made in his image, able to create, not at his level but still awesome. The reading of a book, that inspires us. The Bible itself, written over hundreds of years by many many authors, breathed by God, inspired by God, shows us our creator.  God bless, LVZ.

Long Life

12Whoever of you loves life

and desires to see many good days,

13keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from telling lies.

14Turn from evil and do good;

           seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:12-14 

19The righteous person may have many troubles,

but the Lord delivers him from them all;

20he protects all his bones,

not one of them will be broken. Psalm 34:19-20

Someone asked what is the secret to long life. I right away mentioned the fifth commandment:  "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. Exodus 20:12  Then I see the scripture above. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Many times we hear different peoples reason that they think they have lived a long life, but as soon as I hear a theory, I think of the fifth commandment.  As I continued reading this chapter I noted:  the righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all:  Living a life pleasing to God I believe is the reason for long life. God desires that we honor parents, and it doesn't say just the good parents, it just says father and mother. We honor because God says so, not because people earn it. I have heard people say you have to earn respect to get it. I believe that is unbiblical.  Who is first, what if no one earns it, what if we have a President we do not like, are we exempt from this Godly principle?  We honor because it is a good thing to do, not because it is earned. Did you ever know someone who lies, even when the lie does not make any sense, or a person that tells you what they think you want to hear, instead of the truth. These days we hear the statement my truth. Just because we believe it or say it does not make it truth. You can believe a lie and be damned. Do we seek peace or cause strife. Stress is a big killer. Seek peace, in our families, where ever we are.  Ephesians 6:3 says:  "Honor your father and mother"--which is the first commandment with a promise-- "so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." Ephesians 6:2-3.      This Psalm continues, the righteous person may have many troubles. but the Lord delivers him from them all. Our trust and hope needs to be in God, pursuing his principles, obeying his commands, his precepts, his standards, etc.  If not in this life then in the next, we will have a long life, eternity is ours if we trust in God. I have known good people who died young, and I believe for them this promise is fulfilled in eternity. But that is not the norm. Most of us do indeed live 3 score and ten.  I believe long life is found in God, his principles for living. Just the other day I heard of a man that smoked all his life and still lived to be in his nineties, I wondered, did he honor his parents while alive? Did he seek peace? Did he speak truth? The promise God makes does say enjoy long life on the earth.
 When I think of this scripture, verse 19, I have had many troubles, but God has delivered me from them all.   God bless, LVZ.

Gods Purposes

10The Lord foils the plans of the nations;

he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.

11But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever,

the purposes of his heart through all generations.  Psalm 33:10,11
I look at what happens in our nation the last few years, it has been God's plan. God saved our nation, spared us for a few more years. I am not sure why, but things happen on God's time table. Actually, I do know why, God is sovereign. The reins of the Kings heart are in God's hands.  I don't understand it all. I don't understand why we had Obama and now Trump, totally different, leading our nation in different directions. The Lord foils the plans of the nation. Those in control during the last administration thought to line things up for Hillary, They still have trouble accepting her loss. It was rigged, even gave her debate questions so she had more time to come up with her answers. Bernie Sanders really didn't have a chance, it was rigged for Hillary. Even the Media which is suppose to be impartial was on board this Hillary thing. And they still are. The Lord foils the plan of the nations, he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever. I don't know what will happen in this next election, but God does. God is sovereign, and I don't see down through time like our sovereign God does. He saw everyone of our days before one of them happens. I think back to Genesis 50:20  20You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. This sovereign God saw Josephs days from one end to the other. What his brothers planned for evil towards Joseph by throwing him in a pit and then selling him into slavery, God used for good.  The plans of the Lord stand firm. His purposes happen through all generations. Some are concerned about 2020, God is still on his throne. Whatever happens will be used by God for our good. Watch for it and depend on it. God is sovereign.  God bless, LVZ.

Acknowledge My Sin

5Then I acknowledged my sin to you

and did not cover up my iniquity.

I said, “I will confess

my transgressions to the Lord.”

And you forgave

the guilt of my sin. Psalm 32:5
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

I am continuing to read in Psalms.  I acknowledged my sin to God. The heart is desperately wicked, who can know it. Many years ago I found an ex wife to ask forgiveness. I thought my motive was right. We do need to ask forgiveness for our part, in any relationship that goes wrong it is not always a  50 / 50 blame. I suppose it could be, but perhaps it is 90 / 10 or any other number. We are still responsible for our part even if it is small. So indeed I thought my motive was good. I walk up to her house and I do ask for forgiveness for my part. As I turned around and walked back to my car, the thought entered my head, you can hide but I can still find you.  I thought where did that thought come from, I realized once again, my motives are not always as pure as I like to think. I have seen that many times in my life. I am thankful when God shows me myself.  Then I acknowledged my sin and did not cover up my iniquity. If we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. One thing I have learned over my life time, Christians are not perfect. I remember the legalistic way I was raised. We are found perfect in Jesus, when we ask him to forgive us and to come into our hearts, he does. After that happens and God looks upon us, he sees Jesus. Our sins have been forgiven. As a young man I saw the failings in my own life, and I thought I had to be perfect, but I wasn't. Just like the small example I saw above, I wasn't perfect. I think that legalistic way of thinking does great harm, why try if I can't live it. That is the way I began to think in my twenties and I walked away from following God. Today, I live in grace, given to me by God above. 1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? Romans 6:1
All these scriptures need to be kept in balance. Because we are imperfect, does not give us a license to sin. When we see sin in our heart, we confess it and take it to God. This is a lifetime process. We do ask Jesus to come into our hearts and he forgives and does dwell in our hearts. That is why we need Jesus, we are not perfect in ourselves, our perfection is found in him. When God looks at us after Jesus comes into our hearts, God sees Jesus and not our sin. If we try to live and please God by our works, we will never make it. No one is good, all have sinned. But our sins are removed from us as far as the east is from the west. God does not see them anymore, he sees Jesus , his son, the perfect one who took away the sins of the world. This was so freeing to me. to be living in God's grace, and understanding that I did not need to be perfect. I cannot fix myself, God takes us just as we are, and he does the work in our hearts. I didn't wake up the morning after I became a Christian and had it all understood, from Genesis to Revelation. It is a lifestyle, a daily living from that point when I first accepted Jesus into my life. God does the work in our hearts from that moment on. I could never live a life good enough on my own. I am thankful for God's grace. There is a song "I Am Redeemed." These words are found in that song, If someone should ask who that I am, tell them I AM REDEEMED.  It is through Jesus, I am found perfect in God's sight, not by my works. God bless, LVZ. 

Six Days

I am reading in the Psalms. This morning as I am reading I think back to a conversation I had this week. Last week I went to creation museum in Kentucky. As I was telling someone about the creation museum and about how the layers we see in sediment supports the Bible narrative and not the evolution theory. This Christian man said but it didn't happen in six days like the Bible says. My thought this morning is when do we believe the Bible and when not? I believe God created the earth and all creation in six days Spoke it into existence just like the Bible narrative says. I asked Why not believe the Bible. If God can do all the miracles he did in the Bible, turning water into wine, healing all manner of sicknesses, walking on water, raising the dead. Taking a boys lunch and turning it into enough to feed thousands, why would the creative power to speak into existence in six days not be true? Jesus was asleep on a ship that entered a storm, his disciples wake him and he speaks and calms the wind and the sea. Do we believe all these miracles and then not believe his word on creation? I understand that sometimes we consider the time when the Bible was written for help in understanding. Just because a part of the Bible was written during a period of time when slavery was allowed in a culture, in a certain government, does not mean God condones it. So How do we determine when to believe the Bible and when to add our own interpretation? Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15   
This is a real concern of mine, as I read the Bible for myself and I write these blogs, do I handle the word of God rightly?  I have a faith in a God and I trust in his word. When we read prophecy written hundreds of years before an event happens and it happens word for word. You can discount the Bible many ways, and I believe one of those ways is saying creation didn't happen in just six days. It is true God transcends time, a day as a thousand years a thousand years as a day. I want to rightly divide and believe the Bible and if God spoke the world into existence, why would it not happen in six days? How long does it take to speak?   This God can see all of my days before one of them happens why does it seem so difficult to believe in a six day creation? When do we have the right to say how it happens and deviate from the Bible narrative? If creation did not happen in six days are all these other miracles false also?  I believe in a creation of six days, I have no comprehension of six days meaning something other than six days.  God bless, LVZ.

Never Be Moved

1O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?

2He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
3who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
4in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the Lord;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
5who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.

        He who does these things shall never be moved. Psalm 15 
Who will dwell in God's tent, on his holy hill?  The answer is given in the next verses. He who walks blamelessly and does what is right. He who speaks truth. He does not slander with his tongue. We live in an age where slander is rampant. Where people judge others according to what they feel. Our feeling are not always correct. Sometimes it feels good to sin. Sometimes the consequences are slow in coming and we think we have gotten away with it. Truth matters, living by God's precepts, his ways, his commands matter. Former Vice President Joe Biden is a touchy feely kind of guy. Always has been, probably always will be. But those on the left are out to destroy him. A good man. That doesn't mean I would vote for him, but he thinks different politically than I do. He is being slandered, not because of any specific wrong doing but because those on the far left, do not want him running for President and so he is open game to destroy before the race for the White House in 2020 barely gets off the ground. This is wrong. Slander no man. to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. Titus 3:2
Our politics these days have become very evil. Those that want to make heaven their home must be consistent in their living and speaking. But they are out to destroy a man because he is not their particular political candidate. It is not truth and righteousness they are after. It is political power and control of this nation. We must not join into these tactics. They are wrong.  I think it was the mayor of Chicago who said, we kick them when they are down. Remember Michelle  Obama's words? When they go low, we go high! Here is another example of some political tactics. Those that are so quick to try and destroy Biden have a different candidate that they do support. If they make missteps, they will cover for them and make excuses for them. I would still like to see the righteous left apply the same standard to the Clintons. Can you imagine what would happen to Trump if he had lied and wiped his hard drive on his computer clean as others have done?  They go by their feelings and what they want and it has nothing to do with truth or righteousness. Unless they change their tactics, they will not be in God's place at the end of this life. What we do in life matters. This treatment of Joe Biden is wrong. Make no mistake God sees. This political campaign for 2020 is going to be the nastiest one we have ever seen. Truth does not matter, it is what I want and what I feel that matters. The end justifies the means. If the treatment of Joe Biden is the norm going forward, we are headed for a nasty ride. It is wrong, it is corrupt, it is not truth but power that people are seeking and it will not end well.  God help us. God bless, LVZ.

God Has Our Back

5For in the day of trouble

he will keep me safe in his dwelling;

he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent

and set me high upon a rock.
6Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the Lord.  Psalm 27:5-6

Here I am reading in Psalm 27. This passage reminds me of yesterdays blog. God protected me in my time of trouble. I felt bad for a long time after the incident I blogged about yesterday. At the end of my career I started to see the hand of God in my life, it had been there all the time, even in this time of trouble. I remember being thought of as so low, lower than a snake. I transferred to another department. I loved mock-up, it is still my favorite job of all time. I took a class during my troublesome time and I realized mock-up was a thing of the past.  CATIA was going to take the place of mock-up. After that first class I realized mock-up was going away.  I had a dream of being a lead in mock-up some day. I knew that dream was not going to happen. I looked around me, even if they kept a small mock-up crew, I would not have the seniority to stay. I took more CATIA classes. I guessed I had about 5 years and I would have to find another job or I would end up in the factory. I did end up in the factory in ECAT, an electrical corrective action team. An engineering supervisor came and talked to me one day, I hear from your supervisor that you are taking CATIA classes, we need CATIA operators. If you are interested come over and talk to my lead and see what you think. I took an hour of vacation and went to the engineering area and talked to his lead to see what I would be doing. At this time I was in the planning group, my first salary job. In that office there were 5 planners including me, and one office clerk. I was on second shift all by myself. When I got done with my work I would seek to help the others in my office and do what I could to help them. Somedays I would come in and I would see this clerks desk just covered with drawings that needed to have a mock-up use only, stamped on them. When my work was done, and any planning work that I could do to help my co-workers, I would attack those drawing and stamp them. At the time I didn't know this lady's husband was an engineering supervisor. She would go home and tell her husband about this planner that would do her work when he got done with his work. That was the engineering supervisor that came to talk to me about coming to the engineering side to be a CATIA operator.  Then  my supervisor told him that I put in an hour of vacation to cover my time to find out about this job. I could have just walked over there and nobody would have said anything. I do it all the time relating to my job. The mock-up shop including planning was an engineering tool. I got the job. On my last day in mock-up planning, we had a crew meeting, the supervisor praised me for the work I had done while in that office. He said something that even I didn't believe until I checked it out after the crew meeting. Of the five planners in that office, 75% of the work orders in the shop had my name on it. After the meeting I checked it out. I went to every job panel and looked through them,  tallied up the jobs that had my name on it somewhere and those that didn't. It was true, it wasn't that I did all of those jobs, but in helping the other planners to do their jobs when my area was done, I ended up with my name on many of their jobs. It was true. I feel God promoted me and brought me out of mock-up with my head held high. I did not have an engineering degree, I was just a Tech Designer. Because of that I didn't think I would ever be lead. I work with engineers that did have a degree and there were other Tech Designers that also didn't have a degree. In my last four years at the company, I was the lead of Design Engineers in the ECAT office. I was asked to take the position as acting lead when they demoted the last lead. I was the most senior employee among the design engineers in that office. I said OK, I'll do this until you find a lead. I kept telling the Engineers in my group to apply for the job. I wasn't going to even apply. Two months later, my supervisor came and asked if I would just take the job, it was mine if I wanted it. I would not have to go through the process that other leads did to become lead. It was mine if I wanted it. God promoted me to my dream.  A year later this supervisor, a new supervisor came to me and said that they wanted to compensate me for being a lead. I was doing a good job and they were happy with me. She asked me to write a one page sheet with highlights of things I had done that she could use to try and get me this raise.  The Electrical Engineering supervisors as a group would meet together, this would include Renton, Seattle, Everett and all Electrical Engineering supervisors, there may be as many as 40 of them discussing how to divide the money for raises. When she came back from the meeting she told me, you got the raise. She said your reputation precedes you, they know you. When your name came up it was a slam dunk, I didn't have to say a single word.  She said when I was trained as a supervisor, I was told sometimes I will have to fight to get the raises for my people, but I was surprised, they already knew you.   
I had one supervisor from another city, when he came to our ECAT office, he would make a beeline to my desk to see what I had on my computer screen the minute he came into the office. He did not check anyone else's computer, just mine.  I feel God had my back, I went through some difficult times standing for what I believed. One time in Shipside Support, I had a lead that told us not to close out out jobs when we finished them. He would go to his meeting with the supervisor on Friday and say we have x number of jobs open and we need to work Saturday and Sunday to catch up. (Saturday and Sunday were paid at time and a half and double time)  As a Christian, I could not do that. When my jobs were finished, I closed them, I would look for another job and if I found it was finished I would close it.  This lead lied about me and the work I was doing, I got sent back to project. It was my word against his. A couple of years later I saw where he no longer worked for the company but I was still there. I wasn't the best employee, and certainly not the smartest, but I learned God had my back. God bless, LVZ.

An Angel?

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:2  

I write this story because of a sermon I heard from Bill Wolfson in Hemet, CA from last week. When Bill was 11 years old he had an encounter that he believes today were angels sent from God. So here is my story, I really don't know one way or the other. It certainly wasn't as dramatic as his story. I recently talked about this time with a friend of mine and he asked me, do you think this was an angel? I said I, don't know.  I was working in Mockup in the late 80's. I came back to the Lord in January of 1984. I was rehired in January of 1985, and this incident happened sometime in the next four years, my memory of the timeline is fuzzy.  I often got called to take over other peoples jobs when they got behind. This was another one of those times. My first day evaluating this job I discovered why this man was so far behind. He was making what I believed to be trophies for his car club, instead of working on the job for the Mockup airplane he was in, he had spent his time making these trophies. I thought about what I had found, there were in a cardboard box in that work area. I thought this company has paid my wages for many years, they were good to me. I decided to bring it to the attention of my supervisor. I went and got my supervisor and should him what I found.  He went back to the office and talked about this with other supervisors. One of those supervisors was good friends with the man I was reporting on. He told him what I had done and it became known by everyone in the Mockup shop. I was lower than a snake, a snitch, it was unforgivable to others in the Mockup shop.  They put me on second shift for my safety. I got threatening calls on my home phone. But I continued to work, it was a miserable existence for a while. One day out of the blue a man I did not know came up to me and quoted  1 Corinthians 12:3;  "Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit." I don't remember if he quoted the whole verse or just the last part, "no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. This man said I have heard all this talk going around the shop about you. They say you claim to be a christian. Can you say; Jesus is Lord? I thought why is this man harassing me. But I said; "Jesus is Lord."  He said that is good enough for me and walked away. I never saw him again.  He had a company badge but I don't believe I had ever seen him before or again. Now that company was probably twice the size of Tupelo, I absolutely did not know every one. I eventually transferred out of the mockup shop into planning and then two years later was able to get a job in Engineering. Was it an angel or not, I really do not know. God bless, LVZ.

Remember Not

6Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
7Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord! Psalm 25:6-7. 
On facebook the other day someone posted that those over forty did their stupid stuff before there was a permanent record on the internet. Its funny, but God has a record anyway. And that record does not lie.  But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Revelation 21:27.   When we are written in the Lamb's book of life, those sins are remember no more. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Romans 3:23 (NLT) 
How are we written in the Lamb's book of life? When Jesus knocks on our hearts door and we open the door and ask Jesus to come in. We repent of our sins. I remember some of my sins, but God don't and for that I am thankful. When we are forgiven and our name in in the Lamb's book of life, our sins are removed from us as far as the east is from the west. It is interesting that God used that term as far as the east is from the west. If it were possible to walk around the world along the equator, and we started going west or east, we could keep going and never get there. If we walk in a straight line to the north, we would get to the north pole and start walking south. Then if we kept walking in that same direction from the north pole, eventually we would get to the south pole and then start north again. But you can never go east far enough to get to the west. That is how great God's love is. When Jesus died on that cross, he died to pay the penalty for every one of our sins, for every person that has ever lived. If we believe in him and repent of our sins, they are remembered no more. For that I am thankful and I often think of late that I could not run for politics, at least on a national level, someone would find something I did  way back in the past and try to destroy me.  It is funny how they made fun of Mike Pence's standard of not wanting to be in a room or an elevator alone with another elevator. The me too movement happened and how many have fallen in disgrace. I have said this before and say it again when God looks at us after we have been forgiven of our sins, he does not see our sins anymore, he sees his son who is living in us. I am thankful for grace, I really am.  God bless, LVZ.

From Messed Up Avenue to Redeemed Boulevard

You might say I started this life on Messed Up Avenue. Picture the Grapes of Wrath model t truck with all the humble belongings loaded on back. Actually in the movie it was a Hudson Six. A load of baggage is what it is. As you move across country to the new address, instead of loading up, you lose an old stained mattress and some other broken down furniture  along the way. In an instant, you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, but that is just the starting point. You begin your journey and Jesus is driving. He takes a hard left and off flies another piece of old broken down furniture(baggage).  He takes a hard right and there goes that old broken down stained mattress.  It is like you keep losing stuff along the way with Jesus driving. At the end of your move you end up on Redeemed Avenue. I imagine that is sort of what it is like to become a Christian. Your messed up to begin with, but Jesus takes over your life and starts unloading baggage as you go The end of your journey will be in New Jerusalem on Redeemed Avenue. I have often thought about the changes that have happened over a life time. Imperfect parents, a dad that was a minister and yet was emotionally and physically abusive.  I didn't have to stay in the neighborhood I grew up in, I was able with the help of the Lord to shed some bad behaviors learned. I am so grateful that one day Jesus found me and changed my life. We come to God just as we are, we cannot fix ourselves. When God begins his work in our lives, he changes the heart. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. Psalm 103:12. When God begins his work in our hearts, it is like the parable of the lost coin. God searches the heart and cleans us up, with the washing of water by the word, (Ephesians). It didn't happen over night, in fact it has taken a life time to get me where I am today. But I am grateful that I don't have to stay in the neighborhood I grew up in. I am so thankful that God takes what is meant for evil in our lives and makes it into good. (Genesis 50:20) Christians face things all their lives and often the afflictions of the present are God at work in our hearts. We are not immune from trouble just because we are a Christian, in fact the Bible tells us to expect persecution, just as Christ face persecution for his good works. I am not there yet but I am on my journey from Messed Up Avenue to Redeemed Boulevard. It has been a wonderful journey, O I remember the sins of my youth, but God does not. I have been redeemed but have not reached my final destination, which is in the New Jerusalem. 
God bless, LVZ

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Fulfilling Prophecy

16For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
17I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
18they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.  Psalm 22:16-18
These scriptures in Psalms 22 are written by King David so many years before Jesus was even born. So many kings had followed after King David until Jesus was born in a manger. These words are describing the punishment of Jesus on the cross. Jesus was nailed to that cross for our sins, that is how his hands and feet were pierced. As he was hanging on that cross some of the soldiers cast lots for his clothing. This is one of the reasons we know the Bible is true. It foretold of events that would happen centuries later. The Bible was written over many years by fallible men but were inspired by God to write what they wrote. It is consistent. How could something so big as the Bible, written over so many years by so many different authors tell the same story and be accurate if it wasn't of a God that sees through time. God sees everyone of our days before one of them happens. Next Sunday is what we call Easter Sunday and we celebrate it every year. It points to the crucifixion of this same Jesus and his story is told over and over again every Easter. Not only did he die on that cross for all of our sins, for me and every one else, but he rose again. He came out of that grave of a borrowed tomb of a rich man. More prophecies that he fulfilled. He conquered death, and because he lives, we have a promise of eternal life with him. Here I am reading of this prophecy of Jesus on this day in Psalms just a few days before Easter. I started reading through the Bible some time last fall. Jesus is written of, throughout all of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, so perhaps it is not such a big coincidence that I read one prophecy here just days before Easter. But I do believe that someone who reads my words, has Jesus knocking on their hearts door, as they read this scripture. It is a simple prayer: Jesus come into my heart and forgive me of all my sins. After a simple sincere prayer like that, Jesus will come into your heart and life and you will be forever changed. A journey will begin that will end in eternity with Christ.    Life has ups and downs, those will continue. Even as I write this, one might say, I am going through one of those downs. But Jesus walks with us and many times he even carries us.  The ups and downs of life will continue. The trials and tribulations of man will continue, but the Christian has Jesus in them and walking through all of life's ups and downs with them. When God looks at us after we have accepted Christ as Savior and Lord, he does not see our sins, God sees Jesus.  Our sins have been removed from us as far as the East is from the West. I may remember some of the things I have done, but God has wiped my slate clean. I have a blog that I am thinking about writing  soon and it is about my journey from Messed up Avenue to Redeemed Boulevard. We come to Christ just as we are. We cannot fix ourselves. but Jesus does the work in our hearts from the inside out. I started on that journey some 35 years ago. Actually I believe that journey started when I was but 4 or 5 years old, because of a memory I have of praying a prayer when I was out in the country with my Dad and his truck wouldn't start. I did pray, "God let this truck start",  and it started.  I believe God answered that prayer that day simply because I still have that memory etched in my mind some 60 plus years later. There were many more sins in my life since that time, everyone forgiven on that cross. 16“For God so loved the world,ⁱ that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”  John 3:16-21.  I  believe in him and asked Jesus to come into my heart so many years ago, and he has never left me. He has forgiven all my sins. God bless, LVZ.