When I witness an exquisite sunset, or a bird of prey soaring, or know the love of my family, or find laughter in the antics of my dogs – at these times I could be content with the belief that this is all there is. At such times of pleasure and peace there is really no need for more. My heart is full and the world is my comfort.

However…When storms blow and lightning strikes, and a spirit of turmoil descends on our home, or when death must be faced or loneliness gathers it’s dark cloud – it’s then I know for certain there is more than this life. I know because if eternal life were a fallacy created for false hope and imagined comfort during those dark hours that hope would have died centuries ago.

Man is fool-hearty for sure. But not so to continue fooling himself. Foundationless homes blow apart in the storm; a boat with no rudder drifts to and fro, aimless on the sea.

Whims come with the absence of worry and burden. Truth is separated from lies like cream rising to the top when left alone to sort it’s self. Perhaps in the darkness we will turn any direction we are called or follow any light. But when day rolls around we realize there was nothing there in the darkness that isn’t there in the dawn. We can only fool ourselves on a part time basis.

God is as real as the comfort He brings and the anger He provokes. In time of need I ask…in time of plenty I am grateful, but I am always aware of where my help comes from. Joy in prosperity will not sell the truth of faith for long. But joy that spans the breadth of emotion…peace that flows like a river through the shallows and the torrents…hope that persists in desperation and follows a person ascending and descending…it is logical to reach out in strife and illogical to credit the reachable God when resolution comes.

Often the same man who doubts or ignores God in peace and safety curses Him in destruction. Those who forget to talk to Him in health and prosperity will, in their affliction, seek Him earnestly. So now ask the question, “Why does God allow strife in this life?” because it brings us closer to Him. He tells us He would rather we be hot or cold – He would rather have your cursing than to be ignored. He wants us to acknowledge His existence and His presence in our lives, His Creatorship. Whether we love Him or hate Him for it He is in charge…He is God!

There is absolutely no reason for the myth of a God - becoming man to bring salvation to a world of sinners - to excite a slave or infuriate a king, but the TRUTH of that God should rock the world. Anyone with an once of passion cannot help but take sides on the issue of the reality of Jesus Christ and it is precisely that passion that sets aside Biblical truth from mythology and fairy tales. Jesus Christ cannot be taken lightly. It’s a fight, flight, or faith moment when that name is said with reverence. There’s POWER in that Name.

God causes the sun to shine or the rain to fall on the just and the un-just. But sun or rains are not the provocateur of faith. Neither is the heart of justice or in-justice proof that there is something more. But the fact that it matters. That it matters whether it be rain or sun or just or un-just, in that is the evidence of God. In the tears of our pain and the jubilation of our success or excess we demonstrate something intrinsic – something God breathed.

JESUS…JESUS…there’s just something about that name. It turns the heart or turns the stomach but it’s there and it’s real. He’s there and He IS to be reckoned with, today, tomorrow, or on the day of judgment.

Love or curse Him but don’t ignore Him.

The Help-mate



1 Corinthians 7:8 “To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am.”

I just watched an old episode of The Waltons, what a heart breaker. John boy falls in love only to have tragedy force his true love to leave him. Richard Thomas played the part so well I felt the joy and passion of young love and the devastating loss of that goodbye. Consuming emotions, all.

I think that is what Paul knew, and why he advised those who could to remain single. Not because there is anything inherently wrong with a loving relationship but because of the complete distraction it must, at times, be to those involved - as it should be. If that person doesn’t take a priority in your life you cannot love them the way God intended.

There has been a renewed debate recently over some old papers, or more accurately, an oversized piece of confetti with some out of context words, which some say indicate Jesus was married. Jesus could not have been married, not because of any wickedness or lust involved but because of His complete devotion to the Father. Jesus had no part of Himself not consumed with passion for the Father. He wouldn’t have put a wife in the middle of His passion OR His mission.

Paul, involved only in the covenant he had made with God, had more time to devote to that purpose. It is a higher calling for sure but most certainly not for everybody or even for a majority. I believe Paul must have known something of the distraction of love and possibly the pain of heartbreak. And Paul opted instead to invest totally in the one who could not let him down – the one to whom he owed his life.

Tomorrow I must say good-bye to my wife of thirty-one years for the second time in a week. We have reached a point of maturity in our relationship where separation is just a part of life when one is called to other service. But still, strangely, it distracts me. It leaves me a little hollow and forlorn. There is something she fills that God does not…and that is how it should be.

But if Paul could not imagine having any part of his life not completely joined to Christ Jesus, I can’t imagine Jesus having any part of Himself to give to anyone other than the Father. Jesus said He and the Father are One. There could be no room there for another covenant. Marriage, while divinely sanctioned, is an earthly venture. Christ’s venture onto the earth was a spiritual one and His covenant will be completed with the “Bride” when we come to His house and are joined forever with Him.

My mother turned eighty this week. I was there to share her heartbreak when my father passed away. I’ve been there to watch her recover. I’ve seen how step by step she has given that part of her that once belonged to my father to her Heavenly Father. She still holds to the romance of seeing her husband again in heaven but she has more time for the Lord in his absence.

Genesis 2:18 “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”ESV

Taking a help-mate is God ordained. I don’t think Paul would say otherwise. But for some, like himself, there is only one Help-mate…the Lord. It is not an easy road but it is good, if you are called to it.

Safe Sex

The subject of "Safe Sex" has become a focus of parenting, schools, government policy, medical practice and insurance coverage, and it is a troubling issue for moral leaders who would rather focus on promoting abstinence. A sign in front of a church shows two wedding bands and suggests "Slip these on for Safe Sex!" With all the debate over the definition of marriage even those are not sure protection. Vows are only as safe as the people making them.

I heard a radio preacher the other day exclaim "Safe Sex? Sex was never meant to be dangerous!"

He''s right! Somewhere in our liberal, anything goes, society we took a beautiful, God ordained act and made it dirty and dangerous. Not that it began with my generation; sexual immorality has been around almost as long as the act it''s self. But the "Baby Boomers" took what was wrong and tried to make it good. (Isaiah 5:20 "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.") We were warned, and look at what has become of it. We teach our children in school how to protect themselves against what they shouldn't be doing because it can make them sick and may kill them...or worst yet, make them Pregnant?

We have made reproduction something to fear and to be ashamed of. One person said that "Women must have abortion as a back up to contraception failure." Murder as a backup to the consequences of immorality? Psalm 127:3 "Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward."

Planned Parenthood tells children to go to court if they do not want to tell their parents they are pregnant and want an abortion. John MacArthur quotes a Physicians Association of Planned Parenthood as saying :

"ABORTION IS A TREATMENT FOR UNWANTED PREGNANCY, THE SECOND SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE."

There it is in a nutshell. Practice "Safe Sex" so as not to catch pregnancy. Even our president said: "I''ve got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don''t want them punished with a baby...."

I would like to know what values and morals he is teaching and where he gets them because last I looked the Bible is pro-abstinence, pro-marriage between one man and one woman, and definitely pro-life. Psalm 139:13 "For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother''s womb."

The Bible reports that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb and while in the womb jumped for Joy to be in the presence of his Lord when Mary came near as she was pregnant with Jesus. Both Jesus and John stood a good chance of being aborted in today''s world. The Bible says fornicators and the sexually immoral are not going to receive the gift of eternal life but we tell the kids "Just be safe". Don''t we care about their eternal safety?!

I know; I can hear the bleeding hearts now, "They''re going to do it anyway. What''s wrong with experimenting and finding themselves sexually?" What''s wrong? What''s wrong is that kids are dying from it and babies are dying from it and we hand out condoms and morning after pills to children - children who should be obeying their parents - parents who should be telling them to abstain. No matter what you think you''re helping with sexual permissiveness and "protection" there was less disease and unwanted pregnancy before we liberated ourselves and our children.

Safe Sex? We teach our children it''s good to come out as homosexual without warning them of the extreme dangers of that lifestyle. Gay marriage does not solve the disease problem. Teach your children there are consequences for everything and every decision. Simple things like self control and purity are set aside and our children are taught instead that if there are any unwanted results of their actions they are victims. Children having children is hard on families and expensive on tax payers. No matter what you or your children have already done the crime is in letting the danger continue.

One man, one woman, together for life - it''s safe and it''s good! Even an unexpected child is a gift. Care for it like life!