A Christ Follower: The Journey

The Lord is for me, I will not fear; what can man do to me...?  It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. Psalm 118:6-8 We live in times when being a Christ Follower can be challenging indeed; however, it's only as challenging as a single choice we make: Do we wish to please God? Or do we wish to please other human beings? The ancient wisdom of the words of this Psalm tell us which is better. It acknowledges that God is for you, and He is for me. Because God has this positive affection for us, and we truly believe this, there is not really much anyone, in the long run, can do to us.  It's best for us to take refuge where refuge will make a difference in us, from here to eternity. It's best to find our hope and safety, our comfort and our strength,in the Lord our God... and no place else. It's Really Not Hard It's not hard to figure out why seeking to please a human being, and trusting them, instead of God, is a really bad choice.  Think...

Hi Everyone, It's been a long time since I have been where I can blog, and I apologize to you for my absence; however, I just want to thank you for those of you who are, even now, with very little blogging going on staying with me in my absence. Again Thank You SoJourner

I know my redeemer lives, and, that in the end,  He will live on the earth.   Job Do Y'all Remember? Hey do y'all remember Job? You know Job don't you? He is the guy that, when God was having a conversation with Satan, told him that Job was a "perfect man." Yup! Just get out your old KJV of the Bible and you will see it right there.  Well, Satan didn't like what God said, and in the end, Satan was given some authority to put the hurt on Job to see if he would curse God and die.  Job didn't. As a matter of fact, he did much better than I would do, if I were going through what Job experienced during Satan's all out assault on him. Job Knew What He Knew Job was certain of certain things. In spite of all his suffering, listen in to some of his conversations: "The Lord gives. The Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord . "   Or how about this one: "Though He slay me; yet, will I serve Him." Now this fellow c...

Slavery to Liberty      Sadly, slavery has been a part of culture for millenia. Even God's people experienced slavery, and they were made free because of a deliverer, named Moses, accomplished God's will, and He led them out into the wilderness to begin the journey of freedom.  God  gave these slaves all they needed to journey on a head through the "Desert of Sin." (See Exodus 16:1) I find it interesting that this desert has such a name; yet, this seems to point us to the one, Jesus, who will deliver us from the bondage of being committed to Sin (John 8:32) to freedom found only in Jesus. (John 8:36)  Slavery is not God's will, but it comes because of evil, which is l.i.v.e. spelled backwards. At least this is so in the English language.  While God led His people out of slavering toward liberty, He provided them with liberating limits. That is he gave them standards, by which to live, that would lead them and order their lives. We call the...

In The Beginning GOD Created ... Genesis 1:1a Strange Feeling: It feels kind of odd, after being gone so long from this blog, to pick up with the first verse of the Bible; however, as I think about where to start over, I feel led to start ... well ... at the beginning. These five words of Genesis 1:1 comfort me. They comfort me because, no matter what happens in life, God is always there ready to help us do what He did at the first, and that is "begin." And, as He began, He created. He created the cosmos, and He even created the way for our ancestral parents to live a complete happy life.  If you are reading this, you know how the story goes: They wanted to live independent of God, and eventually lost the life of paradise. They also started experiencing the first stress related maladies. They became aware of being naked, highly anxious, and panic attack ridden afraid. Why? Because the very thing the True and Living God had warned them about happened. They died...

Iron Sharpens Iron! This Weekend This weekend I had the privilege of traveling with Scott Browning to meet up with another group of men from First Alliance Church of Lakeland, Florida, and we all connected with about another 420 men from all kinds of denominations and non denominations of men in Sarasota, Florida.  One thing this ISI Conference reminded me of was just how much modern men, who live in a culture that is assaulting our basic Christ Following way of viewing the world, need to be among other men who are seeking to grow in the Lord Jesus. How? How may a man be a better grandfather, father, husband, son, friend, and confidant in a culture where masculinity is called toxic? How, when the rules, roles and rituals of what constitutes a family, are polluted by redefinition? How can a healthy male be the kind of model he would love to be, when the media floods the airways with the constant psycho babble about gender identity, while shaming you...

When J esus O ccupies Y ou Amazing Things Can Happen: See Below Psalm 119:1 NLT