Aunt laura

My Aunt Laura passed away just this past week.  She was battling cancer and finally God took her home while she was sleeping.  The battle for her and for her family seeing her in pain was put to rest.  She was an amazing woman and a woman who would tell you exactly what she was thinking.  Her friendship with my mom was amazing and from when they first met back in the 1960’s she help give my mom her voice.  She taught her how to speak what was on her mind.  For those who knew my mom, know that Aunt Laura did a very good job.  I had the opportunity to talk with Aunt Laura a few months back and we had a chance to talk about Jesus a little.  It was nice hearing her voice but even more comforting knowing she believed.  Probably more so than ever since she was in a battle for her life.  She is someone who smoked packs of cigarettes a day and she literally had Pepsi as her blood.  I remember days from when I was as young as 3 sliding down hills of snow in Vermont and I could always see how much her and my mom loved one another.  During my moms last couple years, her and Aunt Laura spoke almost every night, it was awesome to see how she could make my mom laugh and even better to hear how they would share with each other.  Knowing that Heaven is for real, I can see Jesus looking at the 2 of them together and thinking ” This is a beautiful thing, but what was I thinking!”  Though I did not talk with Aunt Laura a lot she was always on my mind and in my prayers.  I thank the Lord that my mom spoke with her about Jesus all the time and I had an opportunity to share with her as well.  She will be missed by her daughter and family very much, but is in an eternally better place and reconciled with all who went before her.  As we grieve our loss we must be joyful for her gain.. Amen!! Love you Aunt Laura..

No Gray Area

The most important lesson I have learned from Jesus in my life is that there is no Gray Area.  You either live fully for God or not.  We have to stop trying to be apart of the World because there are things in it that make us feel good.  Even though we are able to see all the good things we do to help people, when we are living a life that fulfills our desires that are not of God, its wasted.  This may seem extreme, but you know what, Jesus was extreme and our rewards come from him.  When you look at the World, the most hungry for Christ and His salvation are those who never knew him.  It hurts me to watch those who have known him for a long time, and because of that take it for granted and live selfish lives.  I am not calling all to martyrdom or to become missionaries to some remote part of the World, but I am calling out those who believe there is a Gray Area.  I want you to know, in God’s eyes, it just means that you are happy just being saved.  Once you truly choose to put Jesus first, I can tell you there is NOTHING that can come between and your desire to continually honor him.  My past has been wiped clean and my heart is being continually healed.  I will no longer say My God, My God, Why have you Forsaken me? rather I will sing a love song to Jesus.. My God, My God I praise you for Forgiving me!  Amen to a Lord that daily bears our burdens.. Amen

Understanding Consequences

There is so much fear thrown around when we talk about sin.  This fear keeps most non-believers from even wanting to enter the church.  However, if we are really to break down the word sin, I think we would come to realize its not as scary as we make it.  Now don’t mistake my grammar for taking anything away from the pain and shame that sin brings with it.  We need to understand that we will never be sinless, but we can always strive to sin less.  Understanding sin means knowing that we missed the mark.  It means we have done something, regardless of how it makes us feel at the time, that was selfish.  We tend to associate sin with the punishment of God as an end to all ends.  Jesus on the cross took care of that for us.  There are, however, consequences to our sins.  This is where we need to take into account how we live our life.  We need to make our sin list short.  This is a pretty simple example and we will chose ” Lust” as the sin:

Two men are struggling with lust.  Their lives are different, in fact they do not even know each other. However, circumstances are the same in their lives.  They both have used lust over their years as a way to medicate and escape reality.  The first man escapes reality through lust by viewing images on the computer.  He goes to sites that are adult rated and he feeds his sinful nature.  There is no doubt that lust has caused him to sin.  Now, the second man escapes reality by not only viewing the computer, but uses it to meet someone, a prostitute.  There again is no doubt that lust has caused him to sin.  In God’s eyes sin is sin and both men will have to deal with conviction, even the same type of conviction from God, which should be a grievous experience whenever we openly choose to sin against him.  However, their consequences are infinitely different.  The first man’s consequence will be conviction for choosing to sin against God.  However, the second man not only has to deal with consequences of conviction from God, but he may also suffer consequences such as disease, being arrested, robbery, murder, etc.  The list could continue on…

This is what we must understand about our lives and how we choose to live it.  The things we do not only affect us, but people in our lives.  We must turn from being selfish and continually look for people in our lives who are broken and basically just need a friend, thats what Jesus did for me.  The time has come for us to understand that we all miss the mark (sin) but we do not all have to suffer consequences that can put us and our families in generational bondage.  Please know that your freedom in Christ is fully paid and we are ALL his Beloved. LET GO AND LET GOD! SELAH…