Smashing!!!!

Well I had heard the rumors, and I guess today I have found out they are true. One of the best, and in my opinion the best, Alternative Rock bands of the nineties is back. After breaking up in 2000, the Smashing Pumpkins are back with a new album...

Zeitgeist is slated for release on July 10th, and I can't wait. In the midst of all the grunge rock of the 90's, the Pumpkins had a style all their own. Reportedly, only 2 of the original members of the band will be back, guitarist/songwriter Corgan, and drummer Chamberlin, but I am excited none the less. Grunge Rock Is Back !!!!

In honor of Blake Lewis on American Idol!

Blake Lewis has developed a huge following, simply because he uses a special skill in oral vocalization called the BEATBOX. Well here is a clip of a guy who I feel takes it to a new level. LOOK OUT FOR THE HAIR!!!! Here is another guy named Yuri, he actually beatbox's with a harmonica.

Do I have to be baptized to get to Heaven?

This seems to be one of the most asked questions by Christians and non-Christians alike, and before I answer this, I feel I need to say a few things first. You may be asking what brought this up, well we are having baptisms at the Stone on the May 27th, and in light of that, we are discussing baptism in small groups this week at TPU. So...I am reviewing my studies over baptism, and felt like sharing what I have learned, and right or wrong, I am sticking to my guns.

The Bible speaks of 3 types of baptism, as far as I can tell, and they are all mentioned in one verse Matthew 3:11.

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

So here the bible speaks of water baptism, baptism of the Holy Spirit, and baptism of fire. Here is my take on each.

1. Water baptism, cannot, get you into heaven. Yep that's what I said. Water baptism simply is a public sign of obedience to Christ, and a symbol of dying to your old way of life and being born into a new life, a life with Christ.

2. Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is what happened to Christ after he was baptised by John. The bible says that John saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Christ like a dove. That is what happens to us when we accept Christ into our lives. The Holy Spirit comes and lives in our hearts, creating a life change.

3. Baptism of fire. Now I guess this one can be debated, but what I get from scripture is that during our Christian walk, Christ is continually doing a work in us. As true followers of Christ, we should strive to be more like Him everyday, and in doing so Christ stretches us beyond our comfort zone. This process, according to the Bible, is called refinement. What is refinement? Well when something is refined, such as precious metal, great heat, or fire, is applied to the item being refined, so that the impurities are removed. This is what God does with us. During our refinement, we are allowed to go through certain things, not to test our faith, but to make us more and more like Christ.

So now back to the question at hand, do you have to be baptized to get to heaven? Yes, but only the baptism of the Holy Spirit is required for entry into heaven. Well that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it. Peace.

Smack Dab in the middle of God's will.

I am telling you what, God never ceases to amaze me! I have been really caught up in, intrigued if you will, by the book of Esther lately. I have no idea why? I am praying daily that God speaks to me on what He wants me to get out of this book in the Bible. I know that sometimes I look back over my life, and at the time certain things were going on, I was asking God, why is this happening. What have I done for me to have to go through this, or what is it You are trying to tell me God? I think we all tend to do this sometimes. Now though, I can look back and see where God was working in my life, to get me to where I am today. The whole time I have been reading through the book of Esther, I have been wondering, did she know she was in the center of God's will, or was it merely a matter of her being available for God to use her. I may never know, but here are my thoughts I will leave you with. I know that God has a plan for my life. I also know that no matter what I may do, God's plan will see it's way through. When I was a seventeen God called me into His ministry, and I did what so many others do, I ran from His calling. I entered into a backsliden state, and if you had of known me back then, you would have never known me to be a follower of Christ. It took me 11 years before I actually threw up my hands and said here I am God, use me. Boy has he. I have been involved in 3 church ministries since then, and all the while I feel that God was preparing me for serving in this church. The point of all this is, that Esther, I feel, didn't know what God was preparing for her to do, but by her being available, she was placed in a position to save an entire race of people, her people, God's chosen people, the Jews. Wow. I want to be that available too.......

Coolest snowmobile video ever !!!!!

I want to freakin do this, these guys are CRAZY!!!!




Can you imagine the RUSHHHHHHHH??????

GOD ROCKS MY SOCKS!!!!!

My quiet time is really rocking right now, and I felt inclined to share what God had to say to me today. I read out of Luke 5:4-11 and Psalm 149.

You know as a Christian, we are taught from day one to be submissive and meek, and often times I feel that meekness is misunderstood to mean that you are weak or timid. I beg to differ. God often times illustrates things to me through the eyes of a child, which in turn causes me to reflect on my own children. I'll put it to you like this, a truly meek individual is neither weak, timid, shy, or hesitant. Meekness in the biblical sense means trusting, confident, and secure. It was right here that God dropped the hammer on me, and showed me something I had never seen before.

My children, both girls, are naturally scared of everything in the world, bugs, dogs, the dark, but one thing that really gets them is a good ol' thunderstorm. They are petrified of lightning, and it never fails, when a storm approached the house when they were young, I could expect a knock at my bedroom door. They would come in and immediately want to crawl into my arms for comfort. They trusted me enough as their father, that as soon as I wrapped my arms around them, everything was alright, they were secure, and confident that nothing was going to happen to them.

As Christians I feel that sometimes we truly forget who God is, and we can all take note of how Simon (who later was named Peter) dropped everything, and followed Christ. Jesus is the One that holds our lives in His hands, and we have to be submissive enough to place our trust in Him, confident that He knows what is best for us, and secure enough in our faith to give our lives totally and completely to Him.

Perry hit the nail on the head.....

Every now and then I slip around and read Perry Noble's blog. It always seems to be so awesome, and about things I have thought about, but just wasn't eloquent enough to put into words. This particular post jumped out and screamed at me, and because I would do it a great injustice to try to explain it to you, I will just let you read it for yourself.

Back from the Beach...

Wow, I had a blast. Tracy and I are back, and things are back to normal, so to speak. We got back from Gulf Shores on Monday, and it has taken me a few days to get back online, but here I am. A couple of things I noticed on this trip. As short a trip as it was, we needed this. I now more than ever realize how truly special my wife is. Secondly, if you are married, and you and your spouse do not get away, alone, just the two of you, nobody else, (have I made it clear?) you are truly hurting your relationship. The whole time I was gone, I wanted for both my girls to be there enjoying what we enjoyed, but at the same time I'm glad they weren't. Sometimes you just have to get away. I came back refreshed, and renewed, but immediately had to jump back into the rat race of life. The beach, awesome, beautiful weather, great walks, even better talks, and killer food. Our favorite place to eat in Gulf Shores is Fish Camp. From the outside it doesn't look like much, but they have awesome food, and something I hadn't ever eaten before, but is now my new fav,... deep fried (anything fried has to be awesome) sweet potatoes. Yep sweet potatoes. I had to ask the waitress about them, and she said they dump them in the fryer, pull them out, soak them in butter, and then pour the cinnamon and sugar to them. UMBOY!! Well anyways glad to be back, and can't wait for the next one. Peace.

Rats!!!, The Final Shakedown

I know it has been drawn out, but here it is the final shakedown of why and how I have used this experience. I believe that God allows us to experience certain things in our lives, and if we look hard enough, something good can come from it. Honestly I am freakin petrified of rats now, simply from this experience. To say that I hate them would be an understatement, I want to WIPE THEM FROM THE FACE OF THE PLANET... now that that's over, here we go. I believe that we all have little rats in our lives, these rats are called temptation. Temptation effects us all in some shape form or fashion, be it drugs, alcohol, porn, internet, email.....the list could go on, but the point is we all have some area in our life in which we are really weak, and we need help in getting through this. Well it just so happens that God left us explicit instructions on how to do just that. Those instructions are in this neat little package called the Bible, and He has given us several ways to resist this thing called, temptation. What I have come up with in my studies is these 3 things:

1. We must first realize who is tempting us. Ephesians 6:10-12 tells us explicitly, that spiritually we are at war, yes I said war, and it also tells us who this war is waged against. We are at war with satan, this is the same satan that Christ battled in the desert when He went to be tempted. We also need to remember, that satan knows his job, and he is very good at it, so the only true way to battle back is to know our enemy.

2. Secondly we must resist the devil. James chapter 4:7-8 tells us 4 specific ways to do this.
1. We must Submit to God's authority. Basically give everything over to God, every aspect of your life.
2. Resist the devil. I know this sounds redundant, but basically when temptation presents itself, you have to walk away. God tells us that if we resist the urge to sin, satan will run.
3. Draw close to God. The easiest way to explain how to do this, is to spend time with God.
Just like any relationship, the more time you spend with someone, the better you get to know them, and what they expect from you. The same holds true with our relationship with God. When I was at the schools I used this cheesy illustration, where I would get 3 volunteers, and have one be satan, one be God, and the other just be themselves. I made them stand side by side about four feet apart with God and satan on either side, and have the person in the middle walk towards God, and away from satan, or vice versa, demonstrating, that the closer you are to God, the further away you are from satan. Dumb I know, but the kids love it.
4. Finally you have to wash your hands and purify your heart. Simply put, those things you gave into, they're in the past. Forget about it and move on. God doesn't want us dwelling on the past, but satan uses that against us to keep us down.

3. Lastly, we have to rejoice. Yep, be happy, cause satan has been defeated, God has won, and the devil is just to dumb to see it. God tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13, that God will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we can handle, through Him. That last part is the key, we get the strength to resist satan from Christ. God always gives us an out.

Well that's it, my longest blog to date, but that's the way I see it. Mojo OUT!!!

BEACH!!!!

I am fixing roll out of the driveway to go to the beach. This is a long overdue trip for my wife and I, without the kids!!! We have been planning this get away for about 3 months now, and to highlight the event it is also our anniversary. I can't believe Tracy has put up with my crap for 12 years. Well anyways gotta go...I'm coming dear.....

Rats, Part 7!!! NEXT TO LAST!!!!!!!

So now here I am in all my glory except my bed clothes and boots. Can you say Deja vu? Now this rat has gone behind the love seat, it's 3am, and my wife is in the chair. I am pissed off, and a little scared, but here goes nothing. I told my wife my plan and said when you see the rat, let me know which way he goes. So, I picked up the end of the love seat, the rat runs out the opposite side, I gave chase, he heads into the living room, and I lose sight of him. I run into the living room, ask my wife where he went, and she says, "I never saw it." What the ...... "You never saw it.." I said. "No, maybe he went down that hole by the door." "What hole?"said I. Needless to say, there was a freakin hole by the door, that Tracy had known about for some time, but she never realized that it was a rat door. I pulled back the carpet, and there it was, a hole just big enough for a rat, that headed straight for my crawlspace. So what did I do, I grabbed the ol' 22 rifle and some rat shot, and head to the crawlspace to kill the rat, which by the way has a spot to stand up in. So once I get down there, I flip on the light, and there he goes. He was way to quick for me. So I look for the hole, and without going into much detail, I found out where they were going in, and it was freakin amazing. The tunnels that were up under this concrete slab that my office was on, they went everywhere. I waited until the next morning, went to Home Depot, bought some concrete, and filled in the hole. By the way, it took 14 bags of concrete to fill all the hole up. Since then I have had no more rats in the house, but I learned a valuable lesson, which I will tell you about in the wrap up......ALMOST OVER!!!