Several years ago, a preacher moved to Houston, Texas. Some weeks
after he arrived, he had occasion to ride the bus from his home to the
downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had
accidentally given him a quarter too much change.
As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, "You'd better give
the
quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it." Then he thought, "Oh,
forget
it, it's only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount?
Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it.
Accept it as a 'gift from God' and keep quiet." When his stop came,
he
paused momentarily at the door, then he handed the quarter to the
driver
and said, "Here, you gave me to much change."
The driver with a smile replied, "Aren't you the new preacher in town?
I have been thinking lately about going to worship somewhere. I just
wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change.
I'll see you at church on Sunday"
When the preacher stepped off of the bus, he literally grabbed the
nearest
light pole, held on, and said, "Oh God, I almost sold your Son for a
quarter."
Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read. This is a
really
almost scary example of how much people watch us as Christians and
will put
us to the test!
Always be on guard and remember (as I try to remember) that you carry
the name of Christ on your shoulders when you call yourself
"Christian."
Monday, September 21, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Is this what we want?
I want to go on record saying that i do not watch MTV, with that being said watching the T.V. clip of what Kayne West did, says a lot about the society that we are living in. Here is an excerpt of something I read today. "Kanye bringing Taylor Swift to tears, Lady Gaga thanking God and gays, Jack Black leading the audience in a prayer to Satan, Russell Brand going on and on about what sexual acts he'd like to perform with who... nothing surprising. Welcome to the MTV Video Music Awards (The VMAs), the biggest pop culture phenomenon of the year.
No one knows what the MTV VMAs will deliver. Ever since Madonna's passionate onstage kiss with Brittany in 2003, and Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" in the MTV sponsored SuperBowl halftime show in 2004, audiences have readily braced themselves for what MTV has in store for us next. Sadly, not much would shock our desensitized audiences any more. It's hard to believe that MTV could stuff anything more vile or degrading up their corporate sleeves".
Kayne was not the only thing that MTV did but it was the talk around. "Teen audiences gathered by the millions to watch the show live Sunday night, September 13th. Those that missed the show and heard the buzz at school Monday morning, popped onto the internet on their phones and computers where MTV.com provides the entire show at the click of a button. The MTV VMA's have never been so accessible to this generation of young people".
I was so disgusted with Kanye’s selfish outburst, that I was caught off guard by the next moment, Jack Black’s feeble attempt at humor. Black, giving a tribute to metal music, mused, “Since we’re giving a rock award tonight, who wants to pray to the Devil with me?” He instructed the audience to grab the hand of the person next to them and then prayed, “Dear Dark Lord Satan…” The crowd was interesting, chuckling at first, but then caught in an awkward silence, seemingly not knowing how to react.
Lady Gaga, highly anticipated because of her bizarre persona and fashion sense, sang her song Paparazi, wearing a bizarre outfit that looked like a mix between a showgirl costume and one of Paris Hilton’s bathing suits. The performance showed a little creativity, and a little too much Gaga, ending with her smearing fake blood over her body and face.
A little later on in the show, the bizarre Lady Gaga graced the stage once again, this time wearing a red scarf over her face, to collect her award as Best New Artist. Her first mummified words: “It’s my first CENSORED Moonman!” I guess this censored word is one of her favorite adjectives because just a few seconds later she said, “This is for my CENSORED fans!” She continued. “You’re the best fans in the whole world and I love you. And it’s for God and for the gays!”
If you are reading this, I could keep on going, but why, so this is who we want to follow in this world. I hope that this brings some light to anyone who follows these people.
So what does this teach us:
1. Fame, status and money are what matters.
Watch just a few minutes of the show and you’ll see what our society values. Who is getting the most Twitter tweets? What dress are you wearing? Jay Z is in the house—look at the car he pulled up in and look at him walk with all his body guards!
Character? Selflessness? Honor? Self control? Where are these things? Jesus’ Beatitudes are no where to be found here. They are extinct in this world that is beamed to our kids electronically. The character traits our kids are learning are the polar opposite of Biblical teaching. The role models our kids are choosing aren’t role models at all.
2. Sexual equals successful
Let’s be honest. Sex sells. The artists performing and the videos that won that night were Britney’s Womanizer (the video that begins with her nude in a sauna), Beyonce with her low red dress, Pink’s “pink heart,” and Lady Gaga with her little outfits. Taylor Swift was the only female performer who really stood out as slightly modest that evening.
The big question is, will artists like Taylor resist the pressure to “bare more.” Or, will she venture down the road that Miley is on where the dresses and dances keep getting more revealing as the years in show biz take their toll.
3.Keep it real… do what you feel
After Kanye dishonored Taylor Swift, stealing her moment, he blogged with a weak apology. After his apology to Taylor, he wrote, “I'm sorry to my friends at MTV. I will apologize to Taylor 2mrw. Welcome to the real world!!!! Everybody wanna booooo me but I'm a fan of real pop culture!!!” He went on, “…I'm not crazy y'all, i'm just real.”
All of this comes from the article from The Source
Tell me, am I over reacting??
No one knows what the MTV VMAs will deliver. Ever since Madonna's passionate onstage kiss with Brittany in 2003, and Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" in the MTV sponsored SuperBowl halftime show in 2004, audiences have readily braced themselves for what MTV has in store for us next. Sadly, not much would shock our desensitized audiences any more. It's hard to believe that MTV could stuff anything more vile or degrading up their corporate sleeves".
Kayne was not the only thing that MTV did but it was the talk around. "Teen audiences gathered by the millions to watch the show live Sunday night, September 13th. Those that missed the show and heard the buzz at school Monday morning, popped onto the internet on their phones and computers where MTV.com provides the entire show at the click of a button. The MTV VMA's have never been so accessible to this generation of young people".
I was so disgusted with Kanye’s selfish outburst, that I was caught off guard by the next moment, Jack Black’s feeble attempt at humor. Black, giving a tribute to metal music, mused, “Since we’re giving a rock award tonight, who wants to pray to the Devil with me?” He instructed the audience to grab the hand of the person next to them and then prayed, “Dear Dark Lord Satan…” The crowd was interesting, chuckling at first, but then caught in an awkward silence, seemingly not knowing how to react.
Lady Gaga, highly anticipated because of her bizarre persona and fashion sense, sang her song Paparazi, wearing a bizarre outfit that looked like a mix between a showgirl costume and one of Paris Hilton’s bathing suits. The performance showed a little creativity, and a little too much Gaga, ending with her smearing fake blood over her body and face.
A little later on in the show, the bizarre Lady Gaga graced the stage once again, this time wearing a red scarf over her face, to collect her award as Best New Artist. Her first mummified words: “It’s my first CENSORED Moonman!” I guess this censored word is one of her favorite adjectives because just a few seconds later she said, “This is for my CENSORED fans!” She continued. “You’re the best fans in the whole world and I love you. And it’s for God and for the gays!”
If you are reading this, I could keep on going, but why, so this is who we want to follow in this world. I hope that this brings some light to anyone who follows these people.
So what does this teach us:
1. Fame, status and money are what matters.
Watch just a few minutes of the show and you’ll see what our society values. Who is getting the most Twitter tweets? What dress are you wearing? Jay Z is in the house—look at the car he pulled up in and look at him walk with all his body guards!
Character? Selflessness? Honor? Self control? Where are these things? Jesus’ Beatitudes are no where to be found here. They are extinct in this world that is beamed to our kids electronically. The character traits our kids are learning are the polar opposite of Biblical teaching. The role models our kids are choosing aren’t role models at all.
2. Sexual equals successful
Let’s be honest. Sex sells. The artists performing and the videos that won that night were Britney’s Womanizer (the video that begins with her nude in a sauna), Beyonce with her low red dress, Pink’s “pink heart,” and Lady Gaga with her little outfits. Taylor Swift was the only female performer who really stood out as slightly modest that evening.
The big question is, will artists like Taylor resist the pressure to “bare more.” Or, will she venture down the road that Miley is on where the dresses and dances keep getting more revealing as the years in show biz take their toll.
3.Keep it real… do what you feel
After Kanye dishonored Taylor Swift, stealing her moment, he blogged with a weak apology. After his apology to Taylor, he wrote, “I'm sorry to my friends at MTV. I will apologize to Taylor 2mrw. Welcome to the real world!!!! Everybody wanna booooo me but I'm a fan of real pop culture!!!” He went on, “…I'm not crazy y'all, i'm just real.”
All of this comes from the article from The Source
Tell me, am I over reacting??
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Subaru (money well spent)
Yesterday, Sept. 8th we just picked up our car from Glen Burnie Transmissions, because obviously we needed a new transmission and it cost over $3600.00. Wow, that is so much that it was hard to type. And now next week it goes in the shop to have a head gasket re-placed another 1400. So after all said and done with the 3000.00 we just put into it last month, we will have spent over 8000.00, you might say "why didn't you just a get a new care?" I bought this car in 2001 and I drove it myself (before my wife and I switched) for 6 years, it was my second new car that I ever have owned, so it meant dearly to me (sentimental value), but I have to tell you, it did cross my mind, but we have not had any problems with this car for the first 105,000miles so we decided against it because i knew that we could still count on it. Why do I tell you this story?
Because in today's society, when something does not go the way we want it or we have to put to much time (in this case money)into it we just want to give up. And I look at the life of Jesus and what He had to go through for us. What He had to give up, we all know that if we were Jesus, we would have given up on us. Our lives will not always go the way we want and we will have to invest in ourselves for God's glory. What do I mean? You can not just do it your way, when we do wrong we have to pay the price and it may cost us dearly but if we are true followers of Christ it won't matter how much it takes or the cost because we love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we will do whatever it takes to keep that relationship together.
So my prayer to you is when things are not looking like the way that you want it to be or if you have to make a decision that may cost you (like a friendship or a habit) look towards Jesus for that strength and guidance.
Because in today's society, when something does not go the way we want it or we have to put to much time (in this case money)into it we just want to give up. And I look at the life of Jesus and what He had to go through for us. What He had to give up, we all know that if we were Jesus, we would have given up on us. Our lives will not always go the way we want and we will have to invest in ourselves for God's glory. What do I mean? You can not just do it your way, when we do wrong we have to pay the price and it may cost us dearly but if we are true followers of Christ it won't matter how much it takes or the cost because we love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we will do whatever it takes to keep that relationship together.
So my prayer to you is when things are not looking like the way that you want it to be or if you have to make a decision that may cost you (like a friendship or a habit) look towards Jesus for that strength and guidance.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
25 into 24
This morning i was watching T.V. at home and I saw this clip on the today show of how not to get sick. And the clip was on whether it is good for having retail stores like a CVS, or Walgeen to be able to provide milk, prescriptions, and flu shots. ( btw, I know that some of it can be a good thing) One stop shop, if you will.
And I was thinking (i know it can be dangerous) as the clip ws being played that people are so busy in their lives that they are willing to sacrifice their own personal doctor for a retail store doctor. God gave us 24 hours in a day not 25, He knew that is all that we needed. And what do we do, we try and get more time, guess what, it's not going to happen.
Take a look at you life and write down by time how do you send your time and you will see that if we really thought about it, we do waste some of that. i have noticed and I am guilty of it as well, We keep our lives so busy, that God is just something we don't make time for. Then we wonder why are lives are so busy and confused and maybe even disappointing.
We just don't give God His time. What if we gave 10% (as a begining point) of ourday to Him like we are suppose to be givnig out tithes and offerings. How would your life look like? And I am not talking about the "busyness" of our lives I am talking about our Spiritual lives. I think that this country would not be falling away from God but drawing closer.
It has to start with you and me. Let's Make A Difference. I know that you can do it. if you say no way remember what King David's son Solomon said in Ecclesiates, there is a time for EVERYTHING
And I was thinking (i know it can be dangerous) as the clip ws being played that people are so busy in their lives that they are willing to sacrifice their own personal doctor for a retail store doctor. God gave us 24 hours in a day not 25, He knew that is all that we needed. And what do we do, we try and get more time, guess what, it's not going to happen.
Take a look at you life and write down by time how do you send your time and you will see that if we really thought about it, we do waste some of that. i have noticed and I am guilty of it as well, We keep our lives so busy, that God is just something we don't make time for. Then we wonder why are lives are so busy and confused and maybe even disappointing.
We just don't give God His time. What if we gave 10% (as a begining point) of ourday to Him like we are suppose to be givnig out tithes and offerings. How would your life look like? And I am not talking about the "busyness" of our lives I am talking about our Spiritual lives. I think that this country would not be falling away from God but drawing closer.
It has to start with you and me. Let's Make A Difference. I know that you can do it. if you say no way remember what King David's son Solomon said in Ecclesiates, there is a time for EVERYTHING
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