A Lesson to be learned in Texas

I am not an expert in Green energy. I am not an expert in just about anything. So when I hear stuff I have to judge it based on what I know. So I heard from a liberal as we were talking that the reason Texas had such difficulties in the recent bad weather, it was Trump's fault because they didn't have this electrical energy stored up for when the peak cold hit to supply the load that was needed. So here I go with what I do know. On the conservative side, I hear that at least 15% of Texas energy comes from green energy as in wind turbines and solar panels. The Wind turbines were frozen and would not turn and the solar panels were covered with snow and would not produce electricity from the sun. So what I do know, to store electricity requires batteries. A lot of electricity requires lots of batteries.  Can you imagine the large number of batteries that would be required to power a large city like Houston or Dallas/Fort Worth? Think about it for a moment. Add to that what I know about Hydro Electric power.  They open up spillways to allow more water to flow to generate more electricity, it is not stored. Take the Diesel Electric train engines that power the heavy loads of trains traveling across our nation. Electric motors are a good way to bring energy to the wheels of the locomotive to move the train. But the electricity is not stored in large batteries. It would be too heavy. The electricity needed is generated on the spot by diesel-electric generators.   a typical train might haul 3,000 tons of freight 500 miles and consume approximately 3,049 gallons of diesel fuel. (Googled it)  Now I have sat at crosstown in Tupelo and watched many a train travel through. You will count approximately 25 to 30 railroad cars per locomotive. Batteries are large and expensive and heavy, that is why the electricity is generated on the spot. I am not buying that it was Trump's fault that there was no storage facility for electricity and that is why Texas had such a tough time in the most recent storm. I am inclined to believe it was the reliance on green energy that did not work during the freak storm that traveled through. You think it through. How many batteries do you want to build to store electrical energy for peak needs?  It works on a smaller scale like a car battery to get your car started but as you drive across the country the electricity needed for your car is generated by an alternator and on older cars by a generator. Look at the number of batteries needed to power an electric gulf cart. Why do homeowners buy an emergency generator to power their homes in a power outage instead of a huge battery pack? It is not feasible on a smaller scale and certainly is not feasible on a larger scale like a state the size of Texas or a city the size of Dallas. Come on man it's not Trump's fault. Think this through. This green energy is not all it is stacked up to be. Thank you, God, for the lesson in Texas.  God bless, LVZ.

Everything I Needed To Know

1These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel.

2Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline,

to help them understand the insights of the wise.

3Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives,

to help them do what is right, just, and fair.

4These proverbs will give insight to the simple,

knowledge and discernment to the young. Proverbs 1:1-4

There is a book that I haven't read but the title says a lot: "All I Needed To Know I learned In Kindergarden" by Robert Fulghum. In thinking on that theme I remember a time when The Boeing Company was sending every employee, every year to a ethics class. It seems a Boeing Executive had done something very unethical, against the law in trying to sell some airplanes to the Navy.  Darleen Druyun was the Navy counterpart in that infamous deal that sent both to prison for a short time. The Boeing Company was fined $615 million, Mike Sears the Boeing Executive received a sentence of 4 months in prison, $250,000 fine, and 200 hours of community service. The Navy officer was sentenced to 9 months in prison, a $5,000 fine, and 150 hours of community service.  The Boeing CEO  resigned.  At the time I was going to one of these ethics training classes, I thought all they were teaching me I learned in Sunday School. As Proverbs says above, not only the Proverbs but the Bible teaches us how to do what is right, just, and fair. I learned a lot as a child in Sunday School, a children's group called Gleaners, and as a teenager what was called VLB (Victory Leaders Band). The Ethics class did cover a lot of the same stuff. Treating our customers and others fairly. Obeying the laws of the land.  It cost the Boeing Company a lot in fines and dirtied reputation. The Navy Officer was promised a job at the Boeing Company and received a signing bonus of $50,000 for a $250,000 a year job for awarding the tanker contract to Boeing. We work for God even in the most secular job as a Christian. The world's word for something I did years ago was snitching. I believe Jesus called it being Salt and Light to the world around us. The worst incident was when I showed a supervisor why I thought a fellow employee had fallen behind on his job. I was sent to take over the job that was seriously late. I found the employee was working on home projects instead of his job. He had access to a lot of woodworking machines in our little shop. Another time I was asked to not close jobs I was working on so the lead could go to the supervisor and say I have 50 jobs open and we need to work Saturday and Sunday overtime to catch up. I knew it was dishonest and in its basic form, it was stealing wages from the company.  On Saturday and Sunday, the lead and whatever team members he chose would work overtime to supplement their salary by closing out the jobs that should have been closed Monday through Friday. My conscience told me it was wrong and I couldn't do that. I was soon taken off that team and sent to another group. These also were ethics violations that I learned in my early Christian Education.  Our job as Christians is to be salt and light to the world around us even on the most secular job there is.  I was doing it but I really don't think I understood the big picture in my early years on the job. It wasn't just at the Boeing company, other places I worked had theft and other forms of dishonesty also. But as a Christian, I had been taught most of what I needed to know in Sunday School and other forms of Child Education. It is in my senior years of my life that I look back and realize I was working for God more than I realized at the time. “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.  Matthew  5:13-16.  Christians are to be salt and light to the world around us even on the most secular job.  God bless, LVZ.

Anti-racist

 Here is what I am thinking about today. It is a thought I got from Andy Stanley. As much as I want to believe that our nation is better, we have people going back to our past and reliving the sins of our past. But is it just Black culture that is doing this or does even I go back to my past and dig up skeletons that should have been buried and left in the past.  All of us have been hurt by someone some time or another. It could be the imperfect parent that raised us. It could be a spouse that hurt us. Have we forgiven and moved on or do we drag it out of the closet every now and then?  If we keep dragging a past sin out of the closet that we have already asked God to forgive us for, have we forgiven ourselves?  Am I a racist?  That is really what I am thinking about today. I remember coming from a meeting on the job that I attended. A Black man facilitated that meeting. There was something I said that I felt could have been taken wrong. I don't remember what it was that I actually said. I was talking to a co-lead when I went back to my desk and mentioned that I felt something I said could have been taken wrong by that Black man. My co-lead then said something that stuck with me, here you are a White man married to a Black woman and you couldn't be racist. I thought to myself, racism is a condition of the heart. The person I married does not affect my racism or lack of it. In fact, I have learned that Black people are every bit as racist as White people.  It is a condition of our hearts.  Do you know that spell check corrects me in the previous sentence.  I capitalized the B in Black and the W in White. It is telling me to correct White to white but does not tell me to correct Black to black.  I think I am being the same to both cultures when I write with a capital letter. Scripture tells us to not show partiality. Perhaps this racism is embedded in our culture.  Anyway, there I go again.  Am I just non-racist or am I anti-racist? Or am I just racist period? I do believe racism is a condition of the heart. A sin. Andy was suggesting that an anti person will speak up and be against racism when they see it. A non-racist will just ignore it and walk away. Do I think racism is still a problem in our country? Yes, I do. I believe people here in the south think I am racist because I am very vocal about what I see. Many in the Black culture and even many Whites think that Blacks cannot be racist because they are a minority and it is only Whites that have embedded racism in them. I think people in both cultures have a heart that is deceitful and desperately wicked. Once again I think it is a condition of the heart. Do I speak out against injustice when I see it or do I say nothing? If we really want to cure racism or any other sin we might need to look to Jesus. His new commandment he gave in his last days on earth. Love one another as I have loved you? Jesus showed his love by dying on a cross for all who have sinned and that includes everyone, including Whites and Blacks. The new commandment that Jesus gave was to love others as much as Jesus loved us. He showed us the way. Love in action. Love that died on a cross for all sin. So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. John 13:34. There are a dozen and more scriptures that repeat this commandment from Jesus himself. I believe that is the real cure for racism in our land today. Paul the apostle as a keeper of the law as a Pharisee was a racist. Until his conversion on the road to Damascus. He kept the ten commandments religiously, but he was against those that did not believe like he believed. He had a conversion, he became a Christ-follower and as a Christ-follower in its truest form, he loved others as Christ loved him. If we live we are an image-bearer of God. We are brothers.  Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. John 13:35  I think I need to be anti-racist and love others just as Christ loved me. It is simple but I believe this is the answer for racism. Love, Love each other. Love as Christ first loved us. For God does not show favoritism. Romans 2:11.  God loves us all. God does not love one culture above another. When we truly love as Christ loved us, I think we could even worship God together as one. God bless, LVZ.

First Step Prayer

 First Step Prayer is the name I gave to a group that I tried to organize here in Verona. Verona is the community where I live. I ran across a scripture in Jeremiah 29:7 that says: And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare. I am not in exile, I chose to move here, but I felt this scripture still applied to me. So then I came up with a name, in any endeavor we should choose to pray to seek God's guidance. The First Step in any endeavor seeking God's guidance should start with prayer.   I write these posts I am trying to learn to pray first and ask God for guidance. I felt I got a confirmation with the name. One of the ministers that support this group commented that the name was good.  I don't remember the exact words. Pray to the Lord for guidance is the First Step. Often we then look to God's word to support us in seeking his will. About the same time, I was reading and probably posted something about 1 Timothy 2:1-2. I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.  This has had a personal impact on me as I want to write these blogs but I feel I need God's guidance. I am in many cases unless I am writing something political trying to teach God's word. I want to rightly divide the word of truth. But even in politics, God desires to guide us.  I will be held accountable to God as a teacher for what I write. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6. This has been a shift in my thinking. Years ago I would think God doesn't care if I buy a ford or a chevy, he just wants me to make the best decision I can. After all, he gave me a brain. But in trying to understand Philippians 4:6, I feel God desires that we pray about all our needs, all that we do.  I am trying to make it a habit to pray first.  About everything. I am trying to be more specific and not just general prayers asking God for guidance every day.  Since the beginning of time, in the Garden of Eden God desires a relationship with us. In Genesis, God would converse with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening, Genesis 3:8. Often I just want to start writing, but I am trying to form the habit of praying first. There is so much instruction for living in the Bible if we look for it. So not only am I trying to organize and facilitate this group to pray for God's guidance for Civil Authority as the aging Apostle Paul instructs a young minister, it is having a personal effect on me as an individual Christian. By the same token, I need God's guidance in my life as does our country, our state, and our little town. Pray about everything. Ask God for guidance even about buying a ford or a chevy. So I feel the name fits, First step prayer just like the AA steps except in AA the 11th step is seeking God or their higher power as AA words it.  As a Christian, our first step should be in seeking God. In everything. Pray about everything, let it be your First Step. And perhaps our second step would be in consulting God's word for direction in everything. God created everything, everything including me belongs to God. Even our finances come from God, not just the first tenth but all of it is God's. God does desire that we are good stewards of the things he entrusts to us. In our last First Step Prayer meeting, one of the pastors asked us to remember to pray for our prayer meeting. It is an important thing we are doing asking God's guidance for our nation and our city. Even when we teach or preach the word of God it has a personal impact on us first before we give to others what God is teaching us. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord. As more than a year has gone by since I first tried to gather the Churches to unite in prayer before Almighty God, I have realized that it was from God and not just a grandiose idea of my own. I do really believe God put this on my heart in the fall of 2019.  Then 2020 happened with full force and how we have needed God's help. God bless, LVZ.  

Forgive: a Core Value

I know that I have written about this several times. Forgive. A core value of a Christian. I am a person with a lot of stories. I felt convicted of some of my stories sometime back especially dealing with exes and the reason is "everybody is somebody God loves". (Andy Stanley).  I have been divorced 4 times, I carried baggage forward.  If you have ever been hurt you probably do also. I heard about a statement made by Tim Ferris: If you don't deal with your demons,  they go into the cellar of your soul and lift weights. I like to refer to scripture so here I go: And don't sin by letting anger control you. Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil. Ephesians 4:26,27.  Don't let demons live in the cellar of your soul and lift weights.  We have all been hurt. Somebody did us wrong.  And if it is way back in the past in a previous relationship, for example, they can't fix it. It is over, there is no time machine to travel back in time and undo the hurt. But no matter how bad it hurts, they can't fix it.  For me or you to get better requires us to forgive. Cancel the debt. Write the debt down, what they owe you, what they took from you, and write cancel on it. If you are still holding on to a debt, you have demons in the cellar of your soul lifting weights.  Andy Stanley says do not let the sun go down while you are still angry does not necessarily mean 24 hours. Perhaps for you, it means before the sun goes down in your life.  These are my words.  Andy gave these three points. 1. Identify who. 2. What was taken. 3. Declare it canceled.  I know people that carried a hurt for their whole life and it destroyed their lives and their relationships because they have demons in the cellar of their soul,  lifting weights.  I want to review my olds posts and perhaps delete some old stories, It will take time. I want to review those things and make sure I wrote cancel those old debts. I don't want demons dwelling in the cellar of my soul lifting weights. God bless, LVZ. 

NO

 Ever been told NO?  I am sure we all have. I am trying to remember a prayer that God's answer was NO and I am not remembering a notable one. Actually, I thought of one. When I was a teenager I'd hear preachers talk about a vision of God's church and it was in relation to that denomination. I prayed about it and asked God to give me a vision of that church as being the true church. It never happened at least like I expected it. I have a vision of what I believe God's church is,  but it is extremely different than what they taught.  So in a way, it was a NO. It certainly wasn't what I was asking for. Yet if I was asking for a revelation without strings attached, I did receive a vision that was different than theirs. But that is not what I want to talk about. I just want to talk about NO. Getting a NO for an answer. I can remember prayers in the positive that impacted me. Is my faith big enough that I can receive a NO and it doesn't affect my faith in a negative way? Is my faith bigger than my answers to prayer? Think of it this way, what if every time a small child received everything they asked for even if it wasn't good for them. They would probably be very spoiled. I sometimes think we would be too if God was just a heavenly go-for. But God is not and he always does what is best for us. Even sometimes when we don't understand, he may say NO. We prayed for Summer for God to heal her and God said NO, God took her. We don't understand. We prayed for Trump, we wanted him to have a second term and it didn't happen. We feel it was a fraud but still when we believe in a sovereign God, God allowed Trump to be replaced. If we are Trump supporters, we were very disappointed and even felt cheated.  But God is a sovereign God and does not always give us what we want. It didn't shake my faith in God because I believe God is sovereign.  I believe God allowed this election to happen the way it did. A NO from God should not affect our faith in him in a negative way. We prayed for healing for several others and God said NO. I heard a story about a guy named Reggie and he prayed for healing and he lost his life. God didn't grant his request but it was like he grew even stronger and leaned in towards God when he realized the answer was NO and God was going to take him. It actually affected him in a positive direction towards God and not away. His faith was not determined by a yes to his prayers. He just had faith that God knew best. This man Reggie set goals to work even harder up to the very end when he knew God was not going to heal him. He wanted to impact others for Christ to the very end, and he did, according to the teller of the story. Our faith in God should be independent of either Yes or NO answers. We ask and God answers according to his will. We believe God is sovereign and we accept his answers as his will. But do we lean in even harder as Reggie did? God bless, LVZ. 

God's Purposes

 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. Psalm 139:16  NLT     You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands. Psalm 119:73 NLT      You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Psalm 56:8 NLT       “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5  NLT                        For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.   Ephesians 5:25-26  NLT                 

God has been at work in my life for a long time. I didn't wake up the morning after I accepted Christ into my heart and know everything I know today. God has worked on me my whole life. I learned different things as I lived. Early on I wanted to live for God as a 19-year-old I remember thinking to work for God I needed to be a Minister, a Sunday School Teacher, A Deacon, some sort of church work. It seems it took me my whole life to realize that if I was living a Christian life, I was salt and a light to the world around me, even on a secular job. But God had a plan before I was even born for me and each of us. We may not be a prophet to the nations as Jeremiah was, but God still had a purpose. Sometimes we are the only Bible other people read. Some of the worst examples of Christianity are other Christians. There was a long period of my life I lived very carnally. I didn't look that much different from a non-Christian. But God was still working on me. He convicted me of my carnal lifestyle. I love to read books and there were books I read that were probably good books but I was using them not to bless others but to manipulate and get my needs met. One that I think of today was "his Needs, Her Needs".  We are all very naturally selfish. We are born in sin. God forgave all of my sins past, present, and future in January of 1984. But John tells us we all have sinned and if we say we have not sinned we lie and the truth is not in us.  God is still working on me. My purpose in writing these posts is to try and persuade others to follow Christ. When you begin to follow Christ you will not have it all together. You will be forgiven but your learning is just starting. God knows you and from the beginning of following him is shaping you for a future purpose. I believe in these pages I write, I tell of my experiences of my relationship with God and how he has changed me. I started this journey very messed up. And as I lived I made even more messes. God still worked with me. God is not subject to time like we are. He sees the beginning of our life all the way to the end of our life and he is working on us to change us into the image of his Son Jesus Christ. The more I have submitted areas of my life over to God the more he has been able to work on me and in me.  If I were to write the story of my life I would call it "Carved By The Master", because I feel like that is what it is like. It's like an old man carving on a plain old stick of wood and as he carves away he makes something beautiful out of the ordinary old stick.  I believe that is what God is doing in my life and our lives if we have submitted our hearts to him.  God is not worried about what we look like in the beginning, he has a plan and if we submit, he will work his plan in our lives.  Setbacks don't worry God, he already saw it coming, remember God sees from the beginning to the end. If we submit to his chastizing and correction, he will fix us. God uses his word often to clean us up, to correct us, to encourage us. Washing of water by the word as it says in the King James version. I used the NLT version above. He has a purpose for each of us. I believe part of my purpose is to persuade you to put your trust in him as I write on these pages of my experiences, my story. One songwriter wrote: God has a plan, a plan for me and for you. If you walk in the light, the light of his word. Then we shall be creation set free. I am going from memory, I hope I got the words right. I have changed a lot from January of 1984, I've been forgiven of a lot of sins over the years. I am still trusting in God that he will complete the work he began even way back from my childhood. I grew up on a church bench. When I was about 5 and older man Brother Kruchenburg paid me a nickel to sit with him in church.  I thought he liked me, and perhaps he did but he was also trying to help my parents with their stairsteps. I walked away in my twenties, but God went after me and brought me back and has been working and correcting me ever since. Carving on a plain old stick to make something beautiful out of my life. If I will but submit to his washing of water by the word. I need to read his word, I need to pray and ask for his guidance which I do. God will complete the work he started. Someday, only God knows the number of my days. I'm not perfect but am secure in his hands. God is a master carver, his hands don't slip. He is still working on me.  God bless, LVZ. 

Cross The Line

 In our world today it seems to be a fad to be called Christian. I think the shutdown is serving to separate sheep and goats. You will find many Christians that are afraid to go to church, afraid of a gathering but are not afraid of Walmart or a restaurant.  How close can we be to the world and still call ourselves Christian?  I have a habit when driving to try and figure out how fast I can go without getting pulled over and ticketed. Some believe you can go 9 miles over and not get ticketed. Like in a 65-speed zone go 70 to 74 and not get ticketed.  I know I think that way.  How much like the world can we be and still be called Christian? How close to the line can we live and not cross over.  I had an accident in a 60-mile zone, I was trying to go 65, in a hurry to get somewhere. I almost avoided the accident but not quite, and I wondered afterward if I had been going sixty would I have been able to stop in time?  God wants us to love him and be devoted to him. I think true love doesn't try to live on the line or as close to the line as I can get. I think true love obeys the speed limit. Maybe I look at it this way because of my legalistic upbringing. In Revelation God says he will spit those out of his mouth those that are lukewarm. But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! Revelation 3:16.   Do we look for loopholes?  In a book I was reading a story was told about a foster kid, I think she was about 15. She had been to several foster homes before. One day she comes down to the kitchen table and asks what are the rules here?  She was looking for a way to go to the line as close as she could. Think of the children of Israel, after receiving the ten commandments they wrote some 600 plus regulations explaining how to keep the ten commandments, there were always loopholes. Jesus came and did away with the old. Yes, we still keep the ten commandments but Jesus had a better way. "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13;34.  Just follow Christ's example. Love as he loved. He gave his all. Jesus died for our sins. No loopholes, don't look how close to the line you can be and still be Christian. Love others as Jesus loved us. Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children, and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2. Have you found a way to give of yourself?  Are you looking for the line so as to not cross it?  I think about that last accident and wonder if I had been going just 60, the posted speed limit, instead of 65, would I have been able to stop in time? I almost did at 65.  God bless, LVZ.

Counter-Culture

 Do you know that Christianity is counter-culture in many many ways. Even in the days of the Roman Empire, Christianity was counter-culture.  I have gradually realized over time that I needed to change my thinking. We grow up in a culture that has been demeaning to others and even to women. I remember after my last divorce that I began praying differently, Instead of asking God to help me find the right woman after my fourth failure, I was asking God to help me be the right man. Change me. In more recent days I felt convicted of my divorce stories. These exes of mine are God's daughters. God loves them as much as he loves me and if I tell my story that puts them in a bad light, I may be hurting one of God's children. I never really looked at it like that. We have modern music that uses the words bitch and whore when talking about women and it is wrong. You may say it is just our culture but it is wrong. We as Christians need to be counter-culture. When society tells us Blacks are not equal, we need to be counter-culture. When society tells us all white men are White supremacists, we need to be counter-culture. Jesus gave us one commandment, love as he loved us. "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  John 13:34-35.  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her... Ephesians 5:25. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.  John 15:17.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, Philippians 2:3. These are different than what we have been schooling ourselves in our society.  These are counter to our culture. We feel good if we become a part of an organization like Black Lives Matter and our culture tells us we are wrong for not supporting an organization like that but it is supposed to be every life, that matters and when we differentiate between man and woman or black and white we are wrong. These scriptures should speak to us regardless if male or female,  black or white. We are to love even our enemies. Our culture is using these things to divide us and drive us apart, setting us up against each other when Jesus, John and Paul are telling us to love one another and value, respect, honor one another.  Christianity has been counter-culture for centuries and we need to continue to be so. I am sure if I tried I could find so many examples. Listen to Joe Namath and so many other celebrities on commercials, over and over we are bombarded in our society with things that are just plain wrong. Often we don't even think about it. Our culture is teaching us so many wrong things in our music, our advertisements, our TV shows, over and over we are bombarded with so many anti-christian behaviors, and most often we pay very little attention to the messages we are hearing over and over again. Love one another, it is so simple, that is God's message to us. We are being taught to hate and to divide through social justice warriors, like ANTIFA, BLM and climate change and so many other social issues. Jesus is telling us to follow his example and love as he loved us. Before we were even Christian, he loved us. While we were still sinners, Jesus died for our sins.  God bless, LVZ.  

Surrender

 O people of Judah and Jerusalem, surrender your pride and power. Change your hearts before the LORD, or my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your sins. Jeremiah 4:4  

God desires surrender, the surrender of our hearts. I have been walking this Christian journey for a long time. In my recent history, I realize I really didn't do a complete surrender at the beginning. God is still changing my heart.  As I ponder this scripture, I wonder if I still have areas of my heart that I have not surrendered? God is the creator of all. He owns everything. He is a sovereign God. This last election did not go the way I wanted it to go. But I believe God is still in control. Last September we lost the mother of my 11-year-old Grandson at 34 years of age. I hear others at the age of 80 beats the corona-virus. People younger than me die of it. A dear sister at church Died of Corona just this past month. I look back at my carnal lifestyle of a few years back, I hadn't surrendered everything. The trials and tribulations God allowed were an attempt to bring me closer. It is said God never wastes a trial. God desires the surrender of our hearts. I had a home in Arlington, WA that I really loved. I remember one time talking to God about it and saying God I really like this home, I value it, but if it means more than it should, if it stands between me and you, take it. I wanted to surrender my heart to God. God took it. I am going through a class right now that is looking at scripture dealing with finances and for years I thought I was doing pretty good because I was pretty religious about giving 10% to God. I felt I had even developed a cheerful heart about giving the 10%. I feel God is dealing with me about the other 90%. It all belongs to God, every last dime. It is another part of my heart that needs to be surrendered. Many times I have asked God to search my heart and see if there is anything else I hold back.  God wants all of us. He wants to be first in our hearts. He develops us and changes us with as much as we surrender. Why is it so hard? I suppose some of it is because we often compare our Heavenly Father to our earthly father and they are not the same.  Our earthly fathers were fallible as we are, imperfect image-bearers.  But it is more than that. Each of us is an individual, with different thoughts and quirks. There are no two alike, God wants us just as we are, he develops our uniqueness as he desires. But he does desire a complete surrender just as he desired the surrender of Judah and Israel back in Jeremiah's day. Have I fully surrendered my heart to him? Are there areas I still keep to myself? Complete surrender of our hearts is what God desires.  God bless, LVZ. 

Writing A Better Story

 I want to write a better story going forward. Even though I finished the book "better decisions, fewer regrets" over a week ago I am still thinking about it. I think the question about what story do I want to tell when my decision becomes history has affected me the most. At this time in my life, I have a lot of stories to tell. I wish more of them were good stories. I wish I had made better decisions. If my life were written in a book there are some chapters I don't want to write.  there are some stories I have already written in posts on this blog I will probably delete although having been posted they are somewhere permanently. I felt convicted sometime back, before reading this book about perhaps not putting some exes in the best way I could. They belong to God just as I do. God loves them just as much as he loves me. I think I need to consider that going forward. The decisions were mine, I made them good, bad, or indifferent. Here I use the word indifferent as in between good and bad,  not the use of the word that I don't care. I do care. The story I wrote is mine because the decisions were mine, nobody ever held a gun to my head with the decisions I made. I take ownership. Like I said earlier, there are some chapters of my story I don't want to tell. A Christian should not have to say I have been through 4 divorces. That alone says I am prone to making bad decisions. I did what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. I look back to a lot of years of being a carnal Christian. Sometimes I didn't look that different from an UnChristian if I can use a title from another book I read recently. I'd rather be remembered as a radical Christian than a carnal Christian. Living a carnal Christian life is not being salt and light to the world around me. I have been claiming Christianity for a long long time and I believe God has been working on me the whole time. What story do I want to tell going forward is one of the questions that I think about the most.  The other question that I think about a lot is " What does Love require?" Love is supposed to be a defining characteristic of a Christian. We are to love our enemies. We are to love others as Christ loved us. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. All five questions are really good questions to ask. I want to repeat them here as I want to remember them all. Repeating helps to remember them. 1. Am I being honest with myself.... really?  2. What story do I want to tell? As I have said above this one really makes me think. 3. Is there a tension that needs my attention? In line with this question if something is bothering you, let it bother you until you understand why it bothers you. 4. What is the wise thing to do?  When I think back to one of my worst financial decisions, this question alone may have helped me make a better decision if I was honest with myself. 5. What does love require of me? This also is one of the most important questions for a Christian to ask as love is suppose to be a defining characteristic of our lives. Sometimes it is lacking. So going forward I want to write a better story of my life. I want the last chapters of my life to reflect better decisions and thereby better stories. I can see where each question is really important, becoming more important in some decisions than others. Love is to be a defining characteristic of  Christian. I want to be salt and light to the world around me. May love shine through. God bless, LVZ.

If I wrote a book of my life the title would be "Carved By The Master". 

Confirmation Bias

I am reading a book I have wanted to read for a while now called "Blackout" by Candice Owens.  I think every liberal ought to read this but they would probably have an aversion to it as I have towards "White Fragility".  We all have Confirmation Bias, every last one of us.  A liberal will only read liberal stuff and a conservative only conservative stuff. If we are Christian and belong to a denomination, we will find scripture to support what we think already.  I remember as a young man in a certain denomination that I was raised in as I studied the Bible, I would often read my denominations material to help understand the Bible. That is confirmation bias. We do it religiously and politically and probably in other areas of life also. Over the years my thinking about a lot of subjects has changed. If we can forgo confirmation bias and read new material that is not supporting what we already believe we might actually learn something. I bet if you read some of my blog posts from when I first started blogging, I have probably changed my mind about something. And there it is still on the internet. It never goes away even when we change our minds. Confirmation bias will prevent us from learning.  It is natural for all of us to do it. It is as old as the Bible. The first to speak in court sounds right— until the cross-examination begins. Proverbs 18:17 (NLT).  Words from King Solomon and it is true. Perhaps it would be good to cross-examine what we already believe? Just something to think about.  God bless, LVZ.

Blood

 Jessica Long is a Paralympic swimmer with 23 metals, the second most for a paralympic athlete.  She was adopted as an infant. The topic was brought up in talking about how important is blood anyway. Many people have grown up very appreciative of their adoptive parents. Dennis Prager says he often asks this question when talking to someone about adoption. Do you have a dog? Do you love your dog? Oh yes, people will say, I love/adore my dog. Dennis will then ask are you blood-related to your dog?  So do you really have to be blood-related to love someone? Obviously, you don't. His question makes a very good point.  Most people are closest to their spouse than just about anyone and they are not blood-related. Do you love all your blood relatives? You a very unusual person if you do. Your lucky if you love half of them.  Anyway, just some food for thought. I had several dogs in my life. Several were very special. One was a collie when I was about 11, I forgot his name. How do you forget a name? The other was a Saint Bernard/lab mix, the most special dog we ever had. I believe I loved that dog. His name was Boomer. He was the best Dog anyone in our family ever owned. He had the sweetest disposition. I believe I cried when he died.  Something to think about, how important is blood really?  Some people seem to think you can't love them as much when adopted but I guess they never adopted.  How can you not love a child?  I have a less than a two-year-old grandchild. I have no connection blood wise. She is the sister of Barbara's Grandchild. I have no blood even between me and this grandson. He is precious as all my grandchildren are. Blood doesn't make them precious. How can you not love a child? I think that is the best argument I have ever heard, do you love your dog?  Are you blood-related to him?   God bless, LVZ.

What Does Love Require?

OK, I have finished the book "better decisions, fewer regrets".  It is a book that suggests five questions we ask as we make decisions. Maybe I have mentioned the first four, maybe not. I know I talked about being honest and my story in the last few posts. Here they are as Andy gives them: 1. Am I being honest with myself, really? 2. What story do I want to tell?  3. Is there a tension that needs my attention?  4. What is the wise thing to do? And number 5.  What does love require of me? I think I have mentioned at least briefly the first 4 in recent posts. What does love require of me?  I recommend reading the book.  I write these posts to meditate and review what I am reading and thinking about. I guarantee I am not as good a writer as Andy is.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-4. "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  John 13:34-35.  As I was thinking about this I know Andy mentioned the second passage above but I am not sure without going back through the book if he mentioned what Paul said to the Philippians.  But I think both scriptures fit this last question. Or support it.  If we do what loves requires it may or may not be best for us but it will be the best for someone else.  I think this is an area we as Christians need to do better at. Love one another as Jesus loved us.  Jesus gave us the ultimate example when he died on the cross for our sins. It was love in action. Love is what is lacking in our world today. In my heart and in yours.  Maybe we do OK at times but I'll bet we can all find times when we didn't love as Christ loved us. Our culture is all about what is best for us.  Listen to a lot of advertisements and what do you hear? Get everything you can get. It certainly isn't about doing what is best for others.  I could help myself a lot by considering the first 4 questions in my decision making. But the 5th question transforms our lives into the image of being Christlike. In humility value others above yourself. Look to the interests of others. Love one another as Jesus loved us. This is way beyond the ten commandments.  Then Jesus says by this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. I think I heard there are about 69 "one another" scriptures in the Bible. Jesus came to do something new and replace the old system of laws and regulations.  The Jews had some 600 plus regulations explaining the ten commandments.  Jesus gives us one commandment and if we could follow just this one new commandment Jesus is giving us we would change our world.  What does love require? What does loving those around us as Jesus loved us require. I know I fall short. God help me. God bless, LVZ. 

Honest Really?

 We as children don't have to be taught bad things, we are born in sin. We have to be taught integrity, gratefulness. It seems we always look for someone to blame. Do we really look inside, look in the mirror, and take responsibility for the decisions we make? Or is there always someone else to blame. As an example, I might use some of the marriages I was in. There were red flags that I ignored. I made the decision to go-ahead after being warned. Can I really blame anyone else? Proverbs tells us the wise see danger and make preparations to protect themselves. The foolish ignore those red flags and suffer the consequences, or pay the price. What if I had really asked a hard question, why am I going ahead with this in spite of the warnings? Am I able to look at myself in the mirror and be honest with myself? Or do I justify my actions with what I want? Ask the question a second time and add really? Honesty needs to be a core value, are we honest when it hurts? You can deal with the truth, you have a starting point, you can fix it with God's help. If you cannot be honest, if you lie to yourself, do you even know where to start fixing things? I had a spouse once that always tried to tell me what she thought I wanted to hear. That's not the truth, where do you start if you don't know the cold hard facts? Can we be honest with the person in the mirror or do we always seek someone else to blame? Even if you listen to bad advice, is it not you that made the final decision to follow that advice?  Do we accept responsibility? Or is there always someone else to blame except us, except me? I really think this deserves a second look, am I being honest really? Ask those hard questions a second time and look inside. Are my motives pure? There were a couple of points Andy Stanley made:  if something bothers you, do you let it bother you until you understand why it bothers you? If there is tension in your spirit, do you give it attention? I think we could make better decisions if we are truly honest with ourselves first of all. The heart is desperately wicked and we try to justify our actions, we try to as Andy said, sell ourselves. I want this, is it really a need? How many times have we given in to advertising and never used the thing we just had to have?  Are we honest.... really?  God bless, LVZ. 

Stories

 I have a lot of stories to tell. All of us do. This thought I credit to listening to Andy Stanley and his series on Better Decisions / Fewer Regrets. I have stories I don't even want to tell that result from bad decisions I have made. The thought that Andy left with me is looking forward. How do I want the story of the next chapter of my life to be? The story can go more than one way depending on the decisions I make going forward. I am approximately 3/4 of the way through my life. I would like the last few chapters to be written in a way I wouldn't mind telling my story. I think of George MacDonald and his stories, often the main character would make mistakes in his life and correct them as he aged. The Character would end up in a positive light in the last chapter. I have so many stories I could tell. I said if I ever wrote a book on my life I would call it "Carved By The Master". So I would like to look to the future and ask in the decisions I make how do I want my story to be. Is it a story I can be proud of or will it be like some of my past chapters that I really don't want to tell?  The choice is mine. That is one of the questions Andy advises us to ask about the decisions we make. When the decision is history will it be a story I can be proud of and want to tell? I have thought back to a couple of stories in my past and in light of Andy's teaching I thought of a couple I can look back on and realize I made a good decision.  One morning when I was taking my son to work at 5 AM I saw a couple of ladies standing on the street corner trying to get a ride. I could tell they were drunk. I thought if they are still there on my way home I will give them a ride so they don't get hurt. They were still there, and I did give them a ride. They were two sisters that had been celebrating one sister's birthday.  One sister got in the front seat and directed me where to go to take her sister home. I did and then she directed me to her house, she wanted me to come in and I knew it would be wrong. She was pretty and that made it really hard. I refused, I realized she was drunk, and also I was wanting to be faithful to my God and my wife. It would have been so easy to give in but my story today would be different. The story could have ended with a child being raised by a single mom, and me paying child support.  Another time a sister-in-law borrowed some money from me, she said she would do anything to pay me back. I didn't want anything from her and refused to accept what she was offering.  I look back and am thankful I did the right thing and have no regrets today.  What if the story had been different and two sisters would either have an issue between them or a hurtful secret to carry to their grave.  Another time I helped a single lady in our church and I was single at that time. I traded cars with her for a day to do a repair on her car and she told me when any man did something like that they always expected something in return.  I really liked her but was really trying to honor my God. I can tell that story with no regrets. Would a different decision have hurt a child of God?  I have other chapters that are not as honorable and I have regrets.  I think this is a good thing to consider with the decisions we make, what will our story be when that decision is history? I wish all my stories were honorable. I do want the last chapters of my life to be stories I can tell without shame.  God has been merciful and extended his grace to me. In the decisions we make, what will the story be after the story is part of our history? Will we have any regrets? We make many decisions every day, what will the story be like? Some of our decisions affect others and can have a long term effect. What will the story be?  God bless, LVZ.

Do Miracles Still Happen?

My thoughts drifted this morning to Sunday night at what we call Men's University. Pastor and one other man organized a get together for men for a meal and a time of study and forming accountability groups. The man told the pastor he was praying for 62 men to show up. It seems there were 68. They counted several times, a couple of people and they counted 68. That is not a miracle. The Miracle was that 62 men registered. The church bought 64 steaks and cooked them. The pastor thought he'd be going without a steak, but even he had one. Somehow everyone had a steak. I'd like to contrast this story with the one I experience in a Church some years back. A deacon was announcing the men's program that afternoon during the announcements. They provide dinner after the Sunday morning service and then go to the Men's program. I was planning on going to the men's program but as he was announcing the dinner and the men's program he said this: If you all are not planning to stay for the men's program don't stay for the dinner, we don't have enough for you all. I immediately thought of the Bible story of the seven fishes and five loves of bread. There are actually two times, once when Jesus and the disciples fed 5 thousand and once when they fed 4 thousand from a meager lunch for one person. I thought if we are Bible-believing church do we not believe anymore that God can make it enough when we bless the food? I did not stay for dinner or the Men's program, after that statement I changed my mind.   In Genesis chapter 1 God spoke into existence this world we live in starting from light to the waters and the land.  All the animals and when he came to his image-bearers he spent more time and fashioned us from the dust.  As I was thinking about this I thought of the million or so descendants of Jacob that Moses led from Egypt to the promised land. God fed them with manna for 40 years. their shoes and clothes did not wear out. To me, that is even a greater miracle than the feeding of the 4 thousand and 5 thousand. Think of it a million people for 40 years. Can God not multiply a few steaks in our day and time. Sometimes it seems Christianity is just a fad and not something we really believe in, a supernatural God that created us from dust and can make our supplies last. Like the widow woman that fed Elijah during the famine. Her oil and meal containers were down to the last meal but they lasted through the famine and fed not only her and her son but Elijah the prophet of God also. God did that I believe to provide for the widow woman and her son because he had already been using ravens to feed Elijah in the wilderness. Miracle still happen and they are only as big as the need. 4 extra steaks not a big deal to a God that fed a million with manna for 40 years. Is the Bible just a bunch of stories or do we really believe it when we pray? God bless, LVZ.

Perceptions

I try to walk every day. I find I get more motivated to walk if I do something, have a purpose for walking. the road I live on is just short of a mile long from one end to the other. So almost every day I carry a bucket and a picker-upper. I try to keep the trash picked up. Some days when I know the road is looking fairly good I get in the truck and go to other areas where I have seen a lot of aluminum cans and I pick those up. I don't pick up all the trash except on my road. Several times people will stop and talk to me. One guy as I was picking up trash asked if I collected aluminum cans. I said yes but on my road, I pick up all the trash. That particular time I was on my road. He invited me to his house, he had a lot of empty cans stacked up and I could have them.  When I am picking up trash I wear old shoes because sometimes in reaching for a can I will step in mud. I wear one of my worst jackets because I don't want to get the good ones dirty.  I am not sure how I appeared to him but after offering me his cans he also said he runs a food bank and they are open until 8PM. I am not lacking food, one of the main reasons I am motivating myself to walk. I felt like he was thinking I am picking up cans for money. I do, I turn them in. I am hoping to collect a good amount throughout the year for a charitable donation. So I was happy to get his cans and from others that from time to time offer me their stash of aluminum cans. Perhaps it was wearing old clothes, perhaps because it is not the most common sight to see someone picking up aluminum cans. But I perceived that he perceived I was needy for food, the invitation to the food bank.  I remember some years ago when I was still an engineer with a good job, I would mow the church lawn to give something of my time. I didn't get paid, I wasn't asked, I just saw it needed to be done. I would also pick up the trash in the parking lot on Saturday afternoon in the church parking lot so it would be more presentable on Sunday morning. The church building was next door to a donut shop that generated a lot of trash. Some people that didn't know me very well would ask for me to trim bushes, I explain, I don't know how to do that. They would explain that they would pay me for the work. I did the best I knew which wasn't very good and never cashed the check. Are these perceptions accurate? Here again, President Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts towards peace in the middle east and the first President in 30 years that did not start a new war. The BLM organization has also been nominated for a Nobel Peace prize, BLM activists were involved in 95% of the riots between June and September of last year. Are these perceptions accurate?  I am reading the book Un-Christian and see where we as Christians and non-Christians make judgments and have perceptions that are not always accurate. In fact, the three most popular perceptions of Christians is that we are anti-homosexual, judgmental, and hypocritical.  And I can see why; often we are very outspoken about our beliefs and perhaps are not real careful how we present our beliefs. Maybe our motivation is not true love. We are to be known for our love for others; we are even instructed to love our enemies. We are to judge other Christians but are not to judge those outside Christianity.  God is really the only true judge and his judgments are righteous because he sees us as we really are. This has been very thought-provoking for me as there have been times in the past when I saw how self-righteous I was or how my motivations were not pure. We try to speak Biblical truths but perhaps are not real careful in our presentation or timing. I don't like to hear this or read these perceptions in this book but at the same time, I can see it. I know many times I have said Christians are not perfect, it is a worn-out cliche. Pastors in Churches deal with the people in front of them and they really are not perfect. I hope I am not part of the problem. I hope I am part of the solution. We have the greatest message to give to a world that needs Jesus but we really are imperfect messengers trying to tell the world about a perfect and loving God. Sometimes we are in the way of those needing to see this Jesus, and they see imperfect Christians. Sometimes Christians are the only Bible some people read. Are we presenting a perfect God adequately? God help me to do better. Help me to be salt and light to a world that really needs Jesus.  God bless, LVZ.