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The Lord’s Prayer
Dec 1, 2007 Devotions Leave a comment
Matthew 6:9-13
9 – After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 – Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 – Give us this day our daily bread.
12 – And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 – And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
When I was in elementary school back in the late 1960′s, each and every morning our teacher would lead us in reciting two of the most important and memorable recitations I know of: the Pledge to the Flag and The Lord’s Prayer. Back then our nation’s schools taught us kids a lot more than just the three R’s. They also taught us why we should love our country and how to demonstrate our love and allegiance to it. They taught us how to be patriots.
What’s more, they taught us the importance of getting along with one another while respecting and honoring our Creator. Unlike the liberals would have us believe, we weren’t force-fed a steady diet of “religious propaganda” in the classroom. We were simply taught that there is a God up in Heaven – the Creator of all things – and that we should take a few moments out of each day to ask Him for the things we need and to thank Him for the many blessings that He has given us. The recitation of the Lord’s Prayer took just a few seconds at the beginning of each day, then the rest of the day was spent learning about our nation’s rich history along with the fundamentals of math, science, and English.
As any honest person who is old enough to remember the 60′s and 70′s will tell you, most of the serious problems that dog our nation today began to grow and fester soon after the ban on prayer in school was put in place. The only moral guidance many of our nation’s youngsters ever received came from their teachers, and when the teachers were told they could no longer provide it, it left a huge void in our society that grows larger and larger with each passing day. Nowadays, instead of starting the school day by reciting The Lord’s Prayer, many kids are starting it with bloodshot eyes or guns in their pockets.
Despite what the liberals say, the correlation between the ban on school prayer and the rise of crime and violence in our nation is both very real and very easy to see when looking back at recent history through unbiased eyes. When it comes to the levels of patriotism and morality in the United States of America, there really was a period we can accurately describe as “the good old days”, and unfortunately I’m afraid they are gone forever.
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My Troubles And Trials With Windows Vista
Nov 30, 2007 Pet Peeves 2 Comments
One day last spring, our home took a direct lightning strike which destroyed approximately $4,000 worth of “stuff” and left us with quite a few headaches. Much to our chagrin, we discovered that one of the items that got fried was Cheria’s whiz-bang Gateway PC that we had bought just about a year earlier. Luckily, the hard drive still worked so we were able to save her precious pictures, but we were still faced with the unpleasant task of shopping for, purchasing, and setting up a new PC.
Well, off we went to do some computer shopping, and after checking prices at a few stores we bought another Gateway system at Office Depot. That beauty was packed with all the latest features and more, and we couldn’t wait to get it home and fire it up! As we removed the “pieces” from the box, we looked them over one by one, quite impressed with the apparent power and quality of Cheria’s new hardware. We just knew she was going to love this baby! Well…
It hasn’t quite worked out that way. The problem? Windows Vista – the latest version of the monstrous pile of code that Microsoft lovingly refers to as “Windows”. What do we not like about Vista? Allow me to list a few of the annoyances for you:
1 – It’s slowwwwww! Cheria’s new Gateway is the most powerful computer either of us has ever owned, but my 2 year old HP running Windows XP runs rings around it.
2 – It’s non-intuitive. Tasks that used to be a snap to complete in XP are now a headache thanks to the way Microsoft’s design team have moved, renamed and changed beyond recognition many of the functions and utilities that Windows users have become accustomed to using over the years.
3 – It’s incompatible. Several pieces of trusty old hardware and software that have served us well for years are now gathering dust because they don’t work with Vista. In fact, we can’t even install Adobe PhotoShop Elements 4.0 which was less than a year old when we purchased the new computer.
4 – It’s unstable. Yeah, I know that Vista is billed as “the most stable Windows version ever”, but, well…apparently it isn’t. Several times a week the new Gateway simply freezes up and sits there waiting for the old “Unplug me from the wall so I can die with dignity!” style of shutting down. At first I thought it was most likely a hardware problem, but after digging around for a few minutes online I discovered that the problem is both quite common and within Vista itself. Microsoft has promised Vista users a service pack to fix “problems with instability” among other things, but I understand that it has been delayed until sometime in 2008. Thanks a lot, Bill.
For the life of me I can’t understand why the guys up in Redmond can’t simply leave well-enough alone. Although it still had its problems, they had finally managed to tweak XP until it was relatively stable, and everyone knew how to get things done in a timely manner because they were familiar with the user interface. New features are always welcome, but what amounts to a brand new operating system isn’t – especially when it works about as well as a car with one dead spark plug.
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It was a cold and snowy day…
Nov 29, 2007 My thoughts on... Leave a comment
November 29, 2003 was a cold and snowy day here in my neck of the woods, and the church I found myself in was downright “chilly” to say the least. The guests talked among themselves through chattering teeth, and the way they were bundled up you would have thought we were having an outdoor picnic on the Alaskan tundra instead of an indoor wedding in southwestern Virginia.
But although the temperature inside and out bordered on freezing, my heart was filled with the warm feelings of love and excitement. In just a few minutes I would be marrying the love of my life!
Cheria came into my life just when I needed her most, and the love and joy she gives to me each and every day are true blessings from God. I thank Him for asking her to accompany me on my journey through the rest of my life, and I thank her for happily jumping aboard. I can’t imagine life without her now. She and our wonderful granddaughters Olivia and Madison have made my life complete. Sweetheart, I love you with all my heart. Happy anniversary!
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All Good Things Come From God
Nov 28, 2007 Devotions 3 Comments
James 1:17 – Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
If you’re like most people, you work hard for a living, and you take pride in the “things” you have accumulated over the years such as a comfortable house, a nice car, and even your children and grandchildren. God wants us to enjoy life and acquire “things” that make us feel happy and secure, but He also wants us to understand that although we “work out” the money we use to buy all of those things, they are still gifts from Him, and Him alone.
Take a few moments to ponder exactly how you acquired the possessions that mean the most to you. Sure, you’re the one who is working the long hours to pay for a great house or a fancy car, but it is God who gives you the strength, knowledge and perseverance required to keep your job and that steady paycheck coming in - and if it ever fits into His master plan for your life He can just as easily take it all away.
It makes no difference whether a person is a believer or not, all good things still come from above. Sometimes we might wonder why God often chooses to bless unbelievers with just as many nice things as believers, and often more, but we can rest assured that it is all according to His plan. As humans, we cannot even begin to understand the mind of God or the motivation He has for doing the things He does.
But we do know that our Creator is filled with love and compassion for all men and women, even the most wicked of sinners. After all, He sent His beloved Son down to earth to die a miserable death on the cross at Calvary so that we sinners could have the precious Gift of Life. Just think about that for a moment. The greatest gift that God ever gives to anybody is given to sinners and unbelievers.
God loved us so much that He offered up His only son, Jesus Christ - the perfect Lamb of God – to be slaughtered so that His shed blood could atone for the sins of the world. We surely didn’t deserve it, but through His mercy and grace He gave us the gift of eternal life anyway. It is my hope that we will always remember that all good things come from God…and I do mean ALL good things!
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“Casey’s Critical Thinking”
Nov 27, 2007 Things I like 1 Comment
I was browsing around the web the other day when I happened upon a blog called “Casey’s Critical Thinking”. As I read through several of Casey’s posts I realized that we have similar opinions on a wide range of topics. As with me, you never have to wonder exactly what he thinks about a given topic – agree or disagree, it’s all there, literally in black and white.
The range of topics that Casey takes on in his blog includes Christianity, politics, and a host of related topics, and he certainly doesn’t shy away from the controversial ones. I’m sure he takes a lot of flack for his opinions, but that doesn’t stop him from writing exactly what he thinks.
I have since started visiting his website on a regular basis, and if you enjoy reading the posts on my site I highly recommend that you check his out as well. It’s good to know there are still a few Christians out there who have no trouble speaking their minds on issues of faith and morality.
Casey’s Critical Thinking can be found at www.carmical.net/blog/.
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How to be saved: God’s Plan of Salvation
Nov 27, 2007 Devotions Leave a comment
Genesis 3:6 – And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He gave them the freedom to eat anything they found there except for the fruit of a single tree which was located in the midst of the garden. But Eve allowed herself to be deceived by the serpent (satan in disguise), and she ate of that tree – and Adam ate of it as well. Adam committed the first sin in human history by failing to obey an explicit commandment which had been given to him by his Creator: God.
Isaiah 59:2 – But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
When Adam and Eve committed that original sin by eating of the forbidden fruit, that one simple act of disobedience plunged them and every human being who would come after them into a state of separation from God. This includes me, you, and everyone else who has ever walked (or will walk) upon the face of the earth, except for Jesus Christ Himself.
Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
As sinners, each and every one of us has been “sentenced” to die after enjoying just a relatively few years of life here on earth. Worse yet, we have been “sentenced” to spend eternity suffering in unimaginable and never-ending misery in a fiery hell, and that punishment will begin immediately after we take our last breath of life.
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
But God is a merciful God, and He made a way for us all to avoid hell and spend eternity with Him in heaven instead. What must we do to redeem ourselves and be saved? Well, there is absolutely nothing we can do ourselves to earn salvation. Except for Jesus Himself (who was fully God as well as fully human), it is literally impossible for any human being to “be good enough” or do enough good works to make him/her worthy of entering into the Kingdom of Heaven and avoiding the fires of hell. That’s the bad news…
The good news is that getting saved is much easier than most people realize. We don’t have to do anything at all except for the following three simple things:
1 – Repent of your sins by first admitting that you are a sinner, and then asking God to forgive you. Regardless of how serious your sins have been in the past or how many of them you actually committed, all it takes to be forgiven for each and every one of them in one fell swoop is to ask God to forgive you. It really is that simple!
2 – Believe and confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice and shed His precious blood in order that our sins might be forgiven. Only the blood of Jesus can wash away our sins – nothing else. Period.
Romans 10:9 – That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Acts 16:31 – And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
3 – Call on Jesus to come into your life and and save you by praying the following prayer or something similar:
“Dear Lord, I am a sinner, and I come before you asking to be forgiven of my sins. I believe that your precious Son Jesus died for me on the cross at Calvary and rose from the dead three days later, and I also believe that today He is alive and well, and with you up in Heaven. I am asking you to save me, and as of this very moment I am committing my life to Jesus – my Saviour and my Lord. This I ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Romans 10:13 – For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
That’s really all there is to getting saved. After you have taken this step – the most important step you will ever take in your entire life – I urge you to find a good Bible-believing church and start attending regularly. Listen to the preaching of God’s Word and study your Bible so that you may grow strong – and continuously – in your Christian life.
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Class-Action Lawsuits against Pharmaceutical Companies
Nov 26, 2007 Pet Peeves Leave a comment
It seems like every few days I hear a new ad on the radio or TV that goes something like this:
“Have you or someone you know ever used (insert name of drug here)? If so, you might be eligible to receive monetary compensation. A class-action lawsuit has been filed against (insert pharmaceutical company’s name here) for damages caused by the use of this medication. But you must act now to protect your rights! Call the law offices of (insert ambulance-chasing lawyer’s name here) today at 1-800-xxx-xxxx to have your name added to the list of plaintiffs.”
Now don’t get me wrong, I certainly have no interest in seeing our pharmacy shelves flooded with dangerous or ineffective products, but the litigation that we’re seeing today is both excessive and immoral in my opinion. Drugs that have been helping millions of people for decades are now being blamed, rightly or wrongly, for causing problems stemming from side-effects that didn’t show up during the testing and approval phases. I believe it is both unfair and unwise for us Americans to go after the drug makers seeking potentially bankrupting judgments for these types of unforeseen problems.
If the Food and Drug Administration approves the sale and use of a drug after independent clinical trials prove it to be effective with relatively few and manageable side-effects, then the company that makes it should not be held liable in the future for any problems that arise years down the road. After all, they conduct medical research, not consultations with a crystal ball. Of course if there is wrong-doing that clearly leads to a drug being approved when it should not have been, that would be a different story, and I would say go after the guilty party(s) for everything they are worth.
You see, most everything in life involves a certain amount of risk. For example, there’s a very small, but very real risk that a child will have a severe reaction and die the first time he or she eats a bag of peanuts, but we don’t let that acceptable risk stop us from letting them try peanuts. And the same holds true for medications.
Our bodies all react a little differently to drugs, and any drug on the market today has probably caused at least a few deaths on occasion, and that includes the old stand-by aspirin. But by and large, the good that most drugs do usually far outweighs the small amount of risk involved in using them. Flu shots kill a small percentage of the people that receive them every year, but you’ll find me at the head of the line to get one come fall.
If we’re wise, we’ll put a stop to all of these witch hunts that the trial lawyers are getting rich from before the drug makers either go out of business altogether or stop researching and making new drugs. Would you like to see a cure for cancer, diabetes or Alzheimer’s some day? How about an effective vaccine for the HIV virus? Yeah, me too. But don’t count on seeing them any time soon if the pharmaceutical companies decide that the only way to remain in business is to only manufacture and distribute drugs that have long and safe track records. My dad used to use the term “cutting off your nose to spite your face”, and it seems quite appropriate here.
I believe it’s time for Congress to enact legislation that provides pharmaceutical companies with immunity from lawsuits over the manufacture and distribution of drugs that cause side effects that don’t show up until after the drug has been tested and approved by the FDA (assuming there was no wrong-doing during the testing and approval process). In my opinion, anything less is simply immoral, and actually quite dangerous.
Disclaimer: This article simply states an opinion – mine. I don’t claim to be a medical expert, and I have no ties, financial or otherwise, to any pharmaceutical company other than seeing my life and the lives of many of the people I love change for the better after going on various beneficial medications.
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The Tower of Babel
Nov 26, 2007 Devotions Leave a comment
Genesis 11: 1-9
1 – And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
2 – And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
3 – And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
4 – And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
5 – And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
6 – And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7 – Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
8 – So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
9 – Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Sometimes we humans get “a little too big for our britches” as my Grandma used to say, and one of the best examples I can think of is the time that a bunch of folks decided to take it upon themselves to build a tower to heaven – what we know today as “The Tower of Babel”. I suppose they figured they didn’t need the Lord’s help to reach paradise, they could simply build a tower and get there on their own.
But God didn’t quite agree, so He confounded their language which made it impossible for them to work together on their wicked enterprise. He then scattered them “abroad” to diverse parts of the world, a process which created what we recognize today as tribes and nationalities. Actually, the Lord went pretty easy on them since He could have easily just killed them off as punishment for their transgression, but instead He chose to let them live.
As always, the Lord was patient and merciful in His judgment, but there will come a day when God’s patience and mercy will run out. That’s why it is so important that sinners repent and ask Jesus to save them before it’s too late. You see, our days on this earth are numbered, and not one of us even has a clue about how long it will be until we die. Not only are we not promised tomorrow, we aren’t even promised the rest of today!
In a nutshell, it all boils down to this: If you die before you “get around” to accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour, you will spend a literal eternity suffering in a fiery hell. There will be no second chances, no pardons, and no parole.
Have you accepted Jesus’ wonderful (and free) gift of life? If not, I urge you to do it right away. After all, as a mortal man or woman you just might take your last breath of life before the sun goes down tonight, and if you wait until you pass on you will have squandered your one and only chance to avoid a nightmare that will be all too real and will never come to an end.
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