Stumbling Over the Truth

   When I was just a kid, I have to admit that I was afraid of the dark.  One of the responsibilities I had in our home growing up was to put the garbage cans out for the trash pickup.  Unfortunately, I would put off the simple task until the very last moment.  It was usually the night before trash would be picked up that my mom would scold me about getting the trash out and I would, begrudgingly, gather it up and take it from the backyard out to the curb.  The problem was that I had waited until it was dark outside.  The side of the house that I had to use to accomplish my task was unlit and very dark.  My imagination would always get the best of me.   For those of you who are laughing at me right now, we all know that you had your fears too.  Though we don't like to admit it, we are all from time to time controlled by fear.  After all, we live in a very scary world. We live in a very scary world.     In Matthew...

     Yesterday I came home from work to find that my kitchen light wasn't working.  No big deal, except for the fact that today is my oldest son's birthday.  My wife was intending to make him a birthday cake, but with no light it was going to be challenging.  So we decided that the thing to do was to try new light bulbs and if that didn't work, replace the fixture.  This meant a trip to our local Lowes to get what was needed.  The unique light bulbs took a while to find and then we selected (after a few moments of debating price, color, size, etc.) a new light fixture and went home.        The easy and more inexpensive solution would have been the replacement light bulbs, but when we changed them out the light still did not work.  This meant changing out the fixture.  Though the box of the new light fixture assured me that this was a simple task that could be completed by one person but this proved to be not as s...

      Hate .  What an ugly word!  But so much of our world today is filled with it.  I am facing an awkward dilemma about honesty and hate.  Before I go any farther, I want to be fair to those in my past who have been mentors, teachers, and had any kind of impact.  I deeply appreciate all that was taught and modeled for me.  Also, I do not hold any of those people responsible for what I am about to confess.  This is not a lay blame on someone else rant.        With that said, I must come clean and admit to a life that has been filled with hate.  Some where, some how though I know I didn't go to any instructional classes or seminars on this, I grew up learning to hate.  By now you have to be wondering, "Hate what?"  I don't really know if I could finish the answer to that question in one blog.  It certainly would take a great deal of time to state all of the possibilities.      ...

     It has been a long time since I last wrote.  I have often intended to, but never took the time to just write.  There have been many things on my mind that I have really wanted to write about, but maybe the most pressing is on the thought of value.      In an economically challenged world, value has become hugely important.  Our lives have become inundated with practicality and productivity.  No longer do we take the time to live, laugh, and love.  Value is given to everything, and unfortunately value drives our visions and goals.  Our time and more often our sanity is sacrificed doing things that we believe bring value to our lives in hope that we will achieve some level of worth that will make us satisfied with our lives.     One of the biggest questions of Jesus was, "What profit (value) does a man have if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul?" [Paraphrase]  Something we all...

Yesterday I had a heart attack!!! It wasn't my first, though it may be the first time that I have acknowledged one. After years of suffering from reoccurring heart attacks, I have finally come to realize that this deep pain I am experiencing is a result of when I allow my heart to stray from God. Winston Churchill said, "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened." This statement is definitely true of my own life. For years I have felt the pains of my sins but never really associated them with a heart issue. Like a physical heart attack we should recognize the true pains in our spiritual heart as we ignore a loving God. More than my pain though is the thought of the pain that God experiences in His heart as I fail to love Him with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Relativism has quietly crept into everyday thinking and is one of the pain killers Satan uses to help numb us from our h...