Cure for the liberal mess? Zombie appocalypse...

As I sit here peacefully in my home, on this gloomy Halloween, my mind has wandered to the current state that our country is in. As I think of everything that has led us down this road we are on, I have come to the conclusion that there really is no way out of it. Sure, we could vote and get a conservative in the white house, but even then, that doesn't change the things that have already been put into motion. That doesn't stop the bills that are in the process of being passed that support a left wing socialist agenda. No, even then the country would still be in a state of regress thanks to the fact that the young voting people of our country were gullible enough to vote for a candidate that dressed himself up as a celebrity. The election that best resembled a high school election, where better stocked vending machines and three hour lunch breaks (Jen's quote) are common promises, but of course high school elections are full of broken promises. And just like candidates of high school elections make those empty, larger then life promises, so did Big O, using the same strategy of a 17 year old teenager to get the votes of his peers. And guess what? We fell for it. No, not all of us of course, there are those of us that the larger community calls "uneducated, religious, right-wing nut jobs" that knew better then to fall for it, recognizing the wolf in sheep's clothing. But of course, the educated and celebrated left wing population led by the liberal media cast away all doubts and thus our current state is the result.




So what do we do to get out of this mess we are in? We can't do anything about it. It is out of our hands, we took the shovels and dug our own graves and now we are stuck with it until God decides to take us home. We need a zombie apocalypse now more than ever. What? Yeah that's right I said it. Big O made his ridiculous promises that we totally out of reality, if he can do that then I can think big and unrealistic as well. But seriously a zombie apocalypse would do nothing but benefit us right now, for those of us that would survive. Think about it for a moment, it would be a fresh start, the liberals would be zombie chow and us crazy, uneducated, right wing nut jobs would be the one's saying "Told you so." We would have the opportunity to start fresh, there would be no taxes, we could live off the land and raise our kids outside of a liberal education system, all while fighting off the undead scourge. We would really have freedom of religion, free to worship God as we saw fit without having to be tolerant of anyone or anything.



Okay, I know it would be terrible at first. Death and mayhem would be all around us and the possibility of you and your loved one's are not very high. But personally, I would rather risk that chance of living in danger all the time, then live in a socialist government. Say what you will friends, but it would be a benefit in the long run as long as we came together and fought to survive as a team. Until then, we can only hope and pray that things in our country get better before they get worse. Have a great Halloween everyone and be safe. Don't forget the premiere of The Walking Dead on AMC tonight! Should be amazing!

Desperation, the key to a see through life-style

Hello everyone! Sorry it has been so long since my last post it has been crazy the last couple of months. My family and I just moved into a house and I am going to be working two jobs starting next week so it has been pretty hectic. I figured I could find some time and squeeze in a blog post because I don’t know how long it will be before I get the chance to get another one up. So this post is about desperation in our quest to find God’s face. We need to have a desperate attitude when we are crying out to him instead of our plain old boring monotone prayers that a lot of Christians do on a regular basis. So we are going to Matthew 15:21-28 and read a story about Jesus and a woman that wouldn’t give up.

Matthew 15:21-28 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me. My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.” Jesus did not answer a word, so his disciple came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord help me!” She said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes Lord,” She said, “But even the dogs eat crumbs that fall from the masters table.” Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

You know it is not very easy to change God’s mind. While Jesus was on the earth, very rarely did he diverge from decisions once his mind was made up. When he made a decision is was concrete, there was no argument to the fact. But every once in awhile when certain individuals cried out in desperation they caught his attention. So what does it take to get the Lord to stop in the direction he was going and change course towards something else. Simply, desperation. Desperation for a touch from him, a constant nagging if you will. This woman cried out to him following him for God knows how long it doesn’t really go into a specific time or distance, whether it was a mile or seven miles, but the thing is she grabbed onto her hearts desperate want and cry, this being her daughter and kept pursuing a solution to her problem.

Jesus tried to ignore her! He heard her crying out and said nothing! His disciples being the people persons that they were finally said, “Gosh Jesus just hear the lady out! She is getting on our nerves.” Jesus in turn said, “No, I have only been called to Israel.” He was basically saying, this woman is an unbeliever and I can’t help her. But it says even after the Lord say’s this, even after she had been following him for miles and now it seemed as if it were all for nothing, even though she could have turned around and went back home, she fell to her knees and cried out “Lord help me!”

Have you been on your knees lately? You can stand, shout, pray and speak all you want but there is something about a humble and contrite spirit that the Lord loves. There is something about falling down before the maker of Heaven and crying out in desperation, “Lord help” that catches his attention. When you as a person finally realize that you are nothing but dirt in the palm of your creator when you realize that without him you wouldn’t even be a thought, something inside of yo changes and He takes notice. When you have a desperation inside of you, it is enough to make God say, “What do we have here?”

Jesus goes even further in the story, probably testing to see how desperate she really was. He says, “It’s not right to throw the children’s bread to the dogs.” Whoa, talk about a slap in the face. Here he is pretty much insulting her, saying she I not worthy of what he has to offer, pushing her, testing her faith. Most of us would be offended in this day and age we would be like, “Excuse me?” But she didn’t move instead she stayed on her knees and replied, “Yes Lord, but even dogs eat the crumbs from the Masters table.” Crumbs. Desperation. She was begging for mere crumbs. You see this woman had been raised in a secular country, she had been raised worshipping idols and was schooled in the ways of the world but something inside of her, even though she as part of a secular community, recognized Jesus for what he was.

The Son of God, God sent in flesh. Something inside of her that was placed there by God at the moment of her birth, at the sight of the Messiah and Most High, something inside of her screamed, “He’s got what I want, he has what I need, he is the solution to my problem, if I grab a hold of him, if I press in grabbing for what he has, he is sure to offer it to me. I am desperate and this is my only option. I am not leaving him without getting what I need.”

How many options do we go through before we get desperate? Us as Christians should have no problem coming to him with our needs and wants but is he our one and only option? Do we come running to him right away when we recognize the problem or do we come to him after we have exhausted everything else we have? What is your problem? Jesus lives inside every one of us and we should have instant access to whatever he has to give us. The world should see the Kingdom of God in us just as this woman saw it in Jesus. They should be crying out saying we want what you have. I have tried drugs, I have tried sex, I have tried booze but what you have seems to be working. I want what you have. And that’s when we say its not what I have it’s who I have. His name is Jesus and he has everything that you could ever want and he is waiting for you with open arms.

This passage covers two topics, it can be about our attitude of desperation and are we desperate enough to warrant God’s attention and are we living a life of purity and holiness and walking in the kingdom to such a degree that when we are in the world, the world takes notice. That’ the way it should be, we shouldn’t be running to the world for our needs they should be realizing that we got something unique and creative and be asking for our advice. It’s time for us to stop being politically and socially acceptable and start living spiritual. You know that Jesus said, “I did not come to bring peace but a sword?” (Matthew 10:34) What does that mean? That means that we have to quit tip-toeing around the issues that are “case sensitive” and separate ourselves from the world.

The sword divides flesh from your body. Homosexuality? It’s wrong, cut it off. It take’s away the creative purpose between a man and a woman and is an attack on the seed straight from Satan. We still love them and we accept them but we make sure they have limitations set if they don’t deal with their sin just like any other sin and we make sure they know it’s wrong and here is why. Quit being afraid of what will happen and step out and make a difference. If you have a problem with pornography, then unplug your internet or take a baseball bat to your computer. Better your face book account then your soul right? We need to reach the world with Jesus, the real Jesus not the rules, regulations and politics of modern Christianity but the practices of the kingdom.

Kind of branched off onto a bunch of subjects on that post. It needs to be told, too often we dance around the things that are touchy these days. We need to be focused on what is right and what is in the bible not what is our own interpretation of what is right. If it is in the bible then we need to follow it regardless on what people think. We need to live a holy and blameless life, touched by grace so we can share it with the world and then be the church that we are suppose to be and then we can change the world. But you have to start with yourself otherwise everything that you try to do will be in vain.

Seeking the Lord with your whole heart, not a half mind.

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post guys. There has been a lot going on in my life lately. I recently lost my job that I have had for the past three and a half years and have started a new job that is fresh and a new thing for me, something I haven’t done before but at the same time I am very familiar with. It is amazing how much that God takes care of us when our focus is on him and not on the things of the world. Well, we have been looking in Jeremiah these last two posts first in 29:11 and in 29:12 and now we are going to end our three verse study with 29:13.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Does a child quit searching for their father after they are lost only for a little while? Do they only look with a half hearted attitude or do they seek for their Daddy with all their heart, trying to find their way back to his love and embrace? Our Daddy longs to be sought after. But not just this bland pray life that the most of us call communion and two seconds into the word everyday. Do we read one scripture a day and then just put it away or do we read it over and over, write it down, meditate on it, journal it and wait to hear from our father. Are we preparing our hearts to talk to our creator or are we coming before his just plain and average not dealing with things that are inside of us that are keeping us from bringing the veil back completely, not just a little crack.

Seriously, do we want only a quarter of God or do we want the whole thing, everything he has to offer us. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. All means all, it covers every single inch and fraction of what is described. All literally means all. Not half way, not kinda sorta but all. So when God says you will seek me and find me when you seek me with ALL your heart, he is not talking about sitting through an hour and a half church service and expecting to get the full benefits of seeking. It’s not the pastors job to bring you closer to God. It is the pastors job to give you knowledge and maybe a little different perspective on certain things.

It’s like food, you can’t go out to eat all the time, sometimes you have to stay home and cook for yourself. If you continually depend on other people for sustaining your faith and giving you words of knowledge you will wither and die spiritually and never hear from the Lord yourself. You can’t just depend on another person to help you grow in the Lord that’s not how it works. Its not healthy, its like going to McDonalds or Taco Bell for every meal, every single day, seven days a week. You will get sick.

Everyone of us is responsible for our own personal relationship and growth in God, and when you keep reading, keep praying, keep seeking, keep meditating; you will then therefore have an intimacy unlike anything you have had in your life. Now at the same time you can’t just say, “Oh so I don’t have to go to church, all I have to do is stay home and seek the Lord on my own time and terms.” I don’t think so buddy. The church is your family, we are all the body of Christ and even though we are responsible for our own individual growth and walk we still need other parts of our family to keep us accountable before God and to have healthy relationships with. You can’t just lock yourself away in your house away from society and say, “Oh I don’t need anyone but myself. I don’t need the Church.”

A lot of people think that they have been hurt by the church or people of the church but really the person who hurt them was themselves. They aren’t able to get rid of certain lifestyles and attitudes and when other Christians do certain things or say something that they don’t agree with they are so deceived and bitter that they will view it as a hurtful attack on them as a person.

“Oh the pastor doesn’t look at me when he’s preaching, he must hate me. Oh these people are hurting my feelings because they never ask me to do anything with them.”

Well maybe if you would get up off your couch every once in awhile and take some initiative and go out for yourself and say “Hey can I do this with you?” or “Hey do you want to do this?” Quit whining and taking everything so seriously. Get out and do something. Get over yourself and thinking its all about you because it isn’t. It’s about the kingdom and what you can do to help further the name of Jesus to the masses. When you finally do that, when you finally get over yourself and get over your bitter, gossiping and backstabbing attitude something inside of you will break off and you will have a hunger for God unlike anything else you have ever had before.

Paul killed Christians, he was offended by them and sought them out one by one. Until one day Jesus showed up, kicked him off his donkey and said, “Surprise it’s me! I’m the real deal! People have been talking about me for thousands of years, they said I would show up, they said I would crush the devils head, they said I would heal the sick, they said I would die and raise again, they said I would come! I did and I died and now I am alive and in heaven with my father. Seek me, and find me, get to know me.” Paul was blinded of course but what does it say he did for three days? He prayed and didn’t eat or drink anything for three days! Three days! Now that is some serious seeking and you know what? God showed up.

Sometimes God has to humble us and push us off our feet so that we take him seriously and try to find him. We cannot come to Jesus with our regular human everyday life mindset and expect to find him on a one on one personal basis. It is impossible to find God on our own ego and willpower. That’s why we have so many pastors going to the internet for sermons. Pastors actually go on the internet and get sermons because they have become so wrapped up in the affairs of men that they don’t have that quality one on one seeking time with the Lord. Either that or it’s the same sermon week, after week with the same points and no life inside of it.

Now its not every pastor of course but seriously their shouldn’t even be sermons on the internet in the first place. Anyone can get them and say “Oh I had a word from God, hear me roar!” No, we need to get back to the basics and seek after the Lord with all our heart so we can find him. Because only then will we know his heart. We can’t expect to continue in the cookie cutter society of church with same two hour service every week, sing a couple of songs, hear a couple of words and go home happy. No that’s not what Christianity is about in fact that is the most boring Christianity I can think of. I did that for years and years because I didn’t know any better, well I did, but I could never get past my human barriers enough for my heart to be right so I could fully seek him with all my heart and find him waiting for me in the secret place.

Nothing compares to one on one time with God. Find a scripture, focus on that one scripture, write it down on paper and read it and write what comes to you and keep writing and writing until you have nothing left to write and watch as God speaks to you through your own pen. The heart is the center of everything, yet it is deceitful about all things. We must learn to know what is true hear and what is bad heart. True heart is keeping your heart above your head, instead of letting your head control your heart. The key to controlling your heart comes from keeping your mind in check.

Make sure your decisions are heart driven and not flesh driven. You can’t say I have a heart for reaching the sex industry when you have a problem with lust. It just doesn’t work that way that’s like throwing yourself into a pit of snakes. Yuck snakes. Learn to keep your mind in check first of all just as Romans 12 says constant renewing of your mind and once your mind is renewed a new kind of heart will be taking place and God will reveal himself in new and interesting ways. He loves to play hide and seek. One day you might find him in song and worship, then one day through prayer and then one day through meditation in the word. He likes to keep it fresh and new and happening. God has his own style. It is always in trend. Ha ha!

Seek him on your face. Humble yourself, cry out, yell, scream, “Holy, Holy are you Lord. You are worthy to be praised. Here I am Lord, take this fragile human form and consume it with your presence. I long to be a different person, I don’t want to be this man anymore. I want to be a child of the most high, I want to claim my rights as an heir of the kingdom. You promised me all things through your son Jesus who lives in my heart. So please Lord, give me everything, reveal yourself to me oh Lord so that I can go out and pass on what you give me with boldness and courage. Renew my mind so I can have a clean heart free from my ego and pride. Thank you for your love and grace. Thank you Jesus. Here I am.”

God Listens to You

Last time we talked about Jeremiah 29:11 which is about the Lord having plans and hopes for your future. Also, that the only thing he wishes for us as Christians is prosperity. We shouldn't be like the rest of the world, we have a God who provides for us so when the chips are down we need to be putting our faith in him. Today we are going to be looking at the verse immediately following Jeremiah 29:11 and it has to deal with God hearing us when we call.

Jeremiah 29:12 "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you."

I will listen to you when you call. When you are cold and alone in your misery, I will listen to you. When you are left without a place to go, I will listen to you. Cry out to the Lord for he listens to a humble heart. Call upon him with every fiber in your being wanting to be enveloped in the majesty and grace of his presence. Call upon me he says and pray to me with all your heart, and I will listen to you. The creator of heaven and earth whose very fingerprint is etched deep in your soul, will listen to your cry. The one who formed the stars and planets and aligned them properly in the heavens will hear you when you call. Do you realize the total impact of what this says? God the father, the one who puts life into your very being, the one who created every single animal, plant and human being, the one that could destroy us all with his very breath will listen to you. How do you come before someone with such power? How do you bring yourself before the one who you owe your life?

Do you come half-heartedly giving half praises, with no enthusiasm or do you come with a humble attitude, stripped clean and bare, ready as a living sacrifice before your maker. When you come before him and call out to him praying to him with a surrendering of yourself, crying out with a fervent hunger and desperation, God will see your desperation and in return he will grant you the desires of your heart. Now this might be a continual process sometimes taking quit a while. Every time we come to him with a humble heart, more and more of our humanity drops away each we come before him. Dear God today I am bringing you my pride, please help me get over myself and live for others. Help me to not be selfish but to do work that furthers others and your kingdom, your will be done.

Dear God, I just bring you my lust today, protect my eyes, shield them from impurity, guard my mind God. Every time you offer yourself on the altar a different piece of your mindset and attitude falls away, making it easier and for God to come in, because where there is less of you, God loves to be. God listens to me even though I don't deserve it. I could be in the lowest pit on earth, wallowing in my own filth and then call upon the Lord with sincerity in my heart and he will hear my cry and rescue me from myself. We are the makers of our own destruction, we are the ones who do the things that we love but he hates, but yet if we ask him to and call on him to forgive us of our own foolishness he does it with no hesitation he asks for one thing. Our life. Thats it! Nothing big, he just wants to be the number one thing in our life. None of this half-hearted, white washed, watered down Christianity. He wants our 100% allegiance and the desire to bring others to him.

You can't expect to call on God and not have to deal with the consequences of your actions either. It might be an eraser spiritually on God's end you are forgiven but here on man's end you may have somethings to answer to. God I am sorry for punching that guy in the face, but could you please erase the charges of assault and battery. Thanks. Ha Ha no you're forgiven but you still have to pay for what you did. God has grace for you but it is not a crutch. It's not meant t be used over and over again to pick yourself out of the same hole over and over. Grace is an enablement that comes to you from complete surrender to God. That way when temptation comes into your path or a situation comes up that has caused you to fall before you can recall that moment to the grace that saved you and call it back into that moment to help you overcome the attacks of the enemy.

"God by your grace that set me free I pray that you will lift me up over this obstacle in my path. Dear Lord give me the power by your grace to turn the other way and flee just as Joseph did."

We can call on the Lord and pray to him and he will listen. He always listens, make sure that you are sincere in your prayers and callings so that he won't only listen to you, but take action as well. It only says he will listen to you, it doesn't say he will take action. Do you think that after awhile if you keep praying about that same fault and sin as you did last week that God will take action? He will always listen and take mind of you, he is infallible, he is everywhere all at once it is impossible for him not to hear. Make sure when he hears you that he will want to react to your call.

You see, their is a reaction in the atmosphere when God answers prayer. When God answers prayer the same power that was used to create the universe is used in response to your call. The same power that formed Adam out of dirt, that life giving breath and words are used when he answers prayer. The molecules and the crazy scientific stuff I don't understand in the environment around us, all of it forms around his will. Their is a living breathing reaction when God answers prayer, so make sure that when he hears you, you are in a state of humility and repentance. True repentance is turning the other way not wanting to go back, make sure you are not abusing his grace. And will he always answer yes? Not always, he knows what is best for us and he always answers depending on what he knows is best for us and our growth in the kingdom.

God's Plans

Sorry its been awhile guys but it has been a busy couple of weeks. The weekend before last the wife and I went to a Jesus Culture Encounter and it was an amazing spirit-filled experience. I really felt like I was hearing from God through the sessions and that his purpose for me was starting to take fruition. Ever since my wife and I got married in October we have really felt like we were entering a time of rest from ministry related activities. We felt like we just needed to go to church and enjoy our time with God and with each other without getting involved with any extra side activities and wait for God to let us know when we were ready. Well God has really put on my heart that my time of rest is over and that I am now entering a time of seeking. I am still going to sit back and not get involved one hundred percent but instead I am going to concentrate on getting closer to him and really digging in and seeking him on a day to day basis. I have already started to cut several things out of my life that I really feel were holding me back as far as feeling that connection with him and man has it been an awesome couple of weeks since I have let go of my selfish needs and just tried to find him with all my heart. So I have been really meditating on several verses every day picking a new one. What I do is write the verse down on a piece of paper, close my bible and just focus on the verse in front of me. Reading it over and over and letting it sink in until I feel like I need to start writing. So I start writing and I write everything that comes to me until I have nothing left and yet things still start coming to me and I write them down on the paper. After I have written everything I go back over what I have written and most of the time I am amazed at just how I can see God speaking through the writing. Sometimes I can't believe that I wrote some of this stuff and then I know that there is no way that I could have come up with it on my own and that God was speaking to me through the pen. Now I would like to share some stuff with you I am going to start with three verses in Jeremiah. I am only going to do the first one now and then I will post the other two at a later time, I hope that you can find comfort and knowledge in the words that our Father has given me.

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have or you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Even when we think all is lost and hopeless, and times are at it's worst, the Lord knows everything that is in store for us and our families. He see's ahead into the future because he knows all and sees all outcomes. We need to learn to put our trust in the one that put his breath into the earth, the one who gave life to everything that we can see and everything that still remains undiscovered. He wants no harm to come to us, all hard and bad occurrence's are attacks of the enemy and should be seen as such. We need to quit blaming God for our bad occurrence's and events and start blaming the creature responsible. Once we recognize the culprit behind the curtain we can then reveal him for what he is and rebuke him openly in Jesus name and then he has no power over us once he is in the light.

You have a hope and a future already planned out for me, who am I then to question the practices of God? He has promised hope and future for me so what do I give him in return? Do I give him adoration and praise like he deserves or do I give him five quick minutes everyday and then sit in front of the TV for the rest of it? His wish is for us to proser but we can only do so when we put our trust in him and him alone. He wishes no harm should come to us, but that we put our hope and cares in him so that when harm tries to come our way we know that we can rest in the one that knows all things. He can see the light at the end of the tunnel so we must learn to always see the positive in every situation because battle has already been won so we shouldn't worry or have doubt. (See Matt 6:25)

Prosper, Prosper, Prosper.

Prosperity for a Christian is essential. We of all people should be prosperous. If we aren't then there is something wrong with the way that we are living our lives. Are we giving enough? Is there secret sin that is keeping us back from prospering and living fully in the promises that we have been given. God knows all the plans in our own lives regardless if you want him to or not. You might have goals and plans for your life but God might have other things in mind for you. "Oh you want to go to school? Oh that's great but first I want you to go to Africa and reach the sick and dying." "Oh but Lord that is so far away and I can't afford it." SO WHAT!!!! He knows all plans! He will make you prosper. Don't have money for your bills this month? Thats a cinch for God, why is it so hard for our fragile human minds to grasp what He can do? Because we are a simple minded people we look at the numbers and the stacks of bills piling up and our human emotions and instincts kick in causing us to freak out. We have to learn to give everything to him and then he will give everything to us.

I hope this has been insightful to you guys. Next time I will go over Jeremiah 29:12 so read up and get ready. Better yet, read it and write your own thoughts down and share them if you want. We are all meant to have a word from God, we need to stop depending on other people to give us one and start learning to get it ourselves.

The Silver Cord from your ears to your soul

Had the pleasure of attending a free concert last night with local band turned popular "A Rotterdam November" and Fireflight. The sound for Fireflight was a little off but of course it was free and in a high school auditorium but all things considered it was a pretty good show. I hope Fireflight comes back to somewhere like the Knitting Factory because I would definitely pay to see them again.

Music is amazing! It is one of the biggest parts of my life and there is nothing like seeing a live show. Not only is it fun but it also defines the artist, taking them out of the studio without mixers, soundboards and all the technology to make them sound better. Its just them and you get to see if they are really as good as they sound on CD or if its all cover-up. For me the bands live performance is the most important part of their career. I could love a band tremendously, but if they suck live I will hardly listen to them anymore. This has only happened to me a few times, most of the bands that I have seen live have been amazing but their are a few that have just been terrible.

I saw these guys quite a few years ago while they were on tour with Sum 41. I almost left the concert house before Sum even got on stage because these guys were so bad. I mean this video doesn't do it justice. It was at the Knitting Factory too so bad sound was unacceptable. When you are at the best venue in the valley and you sound like poop, that might be a sign to quit embarrassing yourself and quit while your ahead. But then again the consumers don't help things either. I swear some of these people are in straight denial, cheering on the band, having a so called good time when clearly, the band is terrible. Quit encouraging them people! Maybe you should go to a concert sober every once in awhile. The music industry is bad enough these days without tons of crappy bands making it worse. But still for all the Unwritten Laws and Panic at the Disco's you still have your amazing bands that put on great performances every night but they are starting to become far and few between. The music industry is turning into a cookie cutter, all the new bands sound the same and standout bands are scarce. This is not only the secular industry either, the Christian scene is just as bad if not worse then the secular. Anyone listened to Air One lately? We are not suppose to conform to the world right? So why is it that when I turn on a Christian station I hear the same songs being played several times a day and they almost all sound the same? They use the same strategy as top 40 radio playing the same songs over and over and over again until I want to shoot the radio. Now don't get me wrong, there are some popular songs that I like so not all of them are bad but then everything in moderation is fine anyway, well except for drugs they are no bueno all the time. I mean I am a sucker for Taylor Swift's "Love Story" myself, I know thats weird and yes I know I am a guy but come on the girl writes all her own lyrics and the one's in that song just get me every time. Crap I need to stop talking about it otherwise I am gonna start bawling anyways, what I am trying to say is that we as consumers need to say enough is enough. All of us have different views and different tastes, I understand that but still when you have people like Justin Bieber making it in music something is wrong people. The kid doesn't have any talent whatsoever and he sounds like a little girl, where is the substance in that? (Sorry Ashley) We have let the secular mindset and strategy's sink into our lifestyles. We have let the Disney channel raise our kids and now the Jonas Brothers/Hannah Montana era has hit full swing and both secular and Christian markets are benefiting from it. Now I know the Jonas Brothers are Christians and I know that they write their own music but they need to wake up and realize that they are being used. Disney is using them to take advantage of our kids and we need to take a stand and say enough is enough. Thats all I have for now, until next time God bless.

Here is a recommended listening list of some bands/albums that I enjoy.

House of Heroes-"The End is Not the End"

The Classic Crime-"Albatross" "The Silver Cord"

Coheed and Cambria-"Year of the Black Rainbow" "Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3" "No World for Tomorrow"

Circa Survive-"Blue Sky Noise"

Pink Floyd-"Dark Side of the Moon"

A Perfect Circle-"Thirteenth Step"

Chevelle-"Sci-Fi Crimes"

City and Color-"All albums"

Burden of a Day-"Blessed be the Everafter"

Attack Attack!-"Someday came suddenly"

Project 86-"Drawing Black Lines" "Truthless Heroes"

Heavenly treasures Vs. Earthly Possessions! Round 2! FIGHT!

Welcome back everyone! Today I am going to continue to go over the subject that we were going over last time. I posted late in the morning and had to take off to work so I really didn't have time to finish and say everything that I wanted. We were looking in Matthew about focusing on treasures of heaven instead of earthly things and also how when we do that the heavenly treasures themselves will end up manifesting here on earth. I never really went into detail about the second verse and I really wanted to mainly focus on that subject today. I want to start in Proverbs 8:17-18 and a verse that was shared at our prophetic weekend at church that has some relevance to this discussion. The verse says, "I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity." If you dissect this verse a little bit you will actually find out that the word wealth actually translates into substance, something you can actually touch and see with your human hands. It is our reward for seeking and focusing on him and putting him as the priority in our lives. Now I watch movies and play games as much as the next guy and I am a huge geek and I love comics, superheroes and all that good stuff. Just recently I have started learning to shift my focus a little bit not only because I have gotten married and have kids and a baby on the way but because of my spiritual walk as well. Does this mean that I have to stop doing these things completely? No it doesn't it just means that I need to put God and family first and foremost before the X-Box and TV. Now that we got that settled, I want to focus more on the rewards that come when we shift focus to heavenly things and the kingdom of God. Let's go back to Matthew in chapter 6:9 to a verse we all know. The Lord's prayer also contains a little hint if you want to call it that. "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." The whole prayer is amazing but this is the part that I want to focus on. I believe that if we as Christians fully embrace our Creator and put our trust and focus on him that in turn the environment around us will become as it is in heaven. Think about heaven for a minute, their is no sadness, no sickness and best of all Jesus is there. If we walk around with a kingdom thought mentality then there is no reason that God will not reward us for our faithfulness. Miracles will follow and heavenly treasures will begin to manifest, possibly not outright in front of you with a neon sign pointing to it. But hidden left somewhere along the path for you to find it and when you need it most you will find it and the Lord will provide for you. I hope I am making sense in all of this because the last thing I want to do is confuse all of you. I for one am now trying to embrace this lifestyle whole heartedly the best that I can. It's not simple especially with all the distractions that life has to offer and my crazy wandering A.D.D. mind doesn't help things either. But it is a process that takes time, and as long as God looks at your heart and see's that there is progress then he will honor your faith. Taking little bites is highly recommended, because if you try to eat the whole cookie at once you will likely choke and throw up everything that you ate and then guess what? It's inedible, and you need to start over with a new cookie, and then the process starts all over again, yet there is still progress if this happens so don't get disappointed and give up. It happens to the best of us, I don't know how many cookies that I have been through, this one that I have started hopefully will be my last. But if not there is still a God who loves me and has his arms wide open ready to offer me grace. I leave you with this once again from Matthew 6 starting at verse 25, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Cast your care's aside every one. Times are tough and they are probably not going to get any better. The signs are everywhere it seems like there is an earthquake somewhere new every week and we got volcano's shutting down air traffic. Everything points to what Jesus said about the coming of the end of the age. What better time to prepare ourselves for putting our trust and faith in him? Kill the flesh, kill the worrier and God will provide. Until next time my friends, God bless.

Heavenly treasures Vs. Earthly Possessions! Round 1! FIGHT!

Life is full of unexpectedness. Things that you do not plan on always end up popping up and surprising you when you least expect it, leaving you like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming semi about to be pancaked onto the concrete. We have all been here at one time or another whether it be a lay-off at your job or a loved one passing away. During these times it is important that we don't panic and freak out as the world would do in time of crisis. Psalm 23 says that even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death that the Lord is with us and that he comforts us in our time of need. So why is it that when things start to get a little out of our control do we, even as Christians tend to let them get the best of us? The treasury of Heaven never runs out so why is it that we don't trust him with our finances? Is it so hard to believe that the maker of the universe can take care of a small trivial bill? Or help lower the stresses of the things that come with dealing with every day life? I believe that it is just the "America mentality" that we have that causes us to forget about the promises that we are entitled to through the kingdom of God. Matthew 6:19-21 says, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where you treasure is, there your heart will be also." And then later on in Matthew 13:44 Jesus is telling a parable about treasures in heaven as well, "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his JOY went and sold all he had and bought that field." So both these scriptures deal with the same subject but at the same time they are totally different from one another. The first one is pretty much stating that it is not wise to focus and strive for earthly things because they are only temporary they can easily be destroyed, stolen or we can lose interest in them and move on to the next big thing. But instead to focus on heavenly things that are eternal and everlasting not fading away. When you shift your attention off the things of this earth and towards the kingdom of God, you are showing God that your attention is on him and he will reward you not just when you go to be with him in heaven but also while you are living here on earth, which leads into the second verse. I believe that the two scriptures are connected, the second one following the first one. When you focus on heavenly things and start to live out your life how God wants you too then in turn heavenly treasures will begin manifesting themselves on earth. The man found the treasure "hidden" and then sold all he had so that he could have the place that the treasure was located. In other words he gave up all his earthly needs and possessions and put his trust and faith in the treasure that he found in the field. Now I am not saying that you need to quit your job and sit around the house all day playing x-box saying "I am okay, the Lord will provide for me. I don't need to work." This is not the way to go especially if you have a family to provide for. That is not living by faith it is simply being lazy and that is not acceptable. Proverbs 6:6-8 says, "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest." Oh Snap, a little tiny ant has more worth then a sluggard (lazy butt). Enough said. I don't have enough time at this moment to finish up everything I want to say. So next time will get into a little bit more detail about these heavenly treasures and what they could possibly be and how they can make our lives a lot simpler. God bless!

Home school adventures and the innocence of them.

I was home schooled for just about half of my growing up life. I spent kindergarten and part of first grade and part of second grade in a private school, spending the rest of my time up until seventh grade being taught by my mother. We lived in a kind of small northern California town where is wasn't really popular to home school your children. In fact, at that time their was a possibility of getting into trouble for homeschooling your children. But that is not what I am trying to focus on. During my time being home schooled I got to spend a lot of time with my younger brother and my mother. I always finished my school work early and the rest of the day was mine to do with as I see fit. Most of the time I just waited for my brother to finish his work and then the two of us would go outside and look for adventurous things to do. Or Mom would take us on one of her "all day" adventures driving to many different locations during the day finally getting home late in the afternoon just in time to turn on afternoon cartoons. It seemed like my brother and I always found something to disagree on, and by the looks of things it seemed like we fought a lot, which we did. I mean come on, anyone spending large amounts of time together are bound to get into it after awhile right? There were many incidents where him and I injured each other drastically. One time we were playing with this old toy that I had that was a wooden mallet with some different colored wooden pegs that were suppose to represent nails I think. (I know, doesn't sound like such a bright toy idea does it Mattel?) Anyways one day I was playing with it and my brother seemed to think that he was somehow entitled to the rights of my toy since every once in awhile out of my good graces I let him play with it. I refused him his rights and he in turned grabbed the hammer from me. As I tried to grab "My Precious" from his grasp feeling just as demoralized as poor Gollum, he decided to jab the handle of the hammer into my eyeball. Intense pain soon followed with me unable to open my eye. Lets just say my Mom flipped her lid, Jason felt the end of a wooden spoon, (Vengeance is mine sayest the Lord.) and I was in danger of forever being blinding by the end of the hammer. Mom laid hands on me and prayed for me immediately and I experienced my first miracle. Now my eye was jacked up man, the force of the blow had rolled my eye into the back of my head and I couldn't open it at all. Merely minutes after my Mom prayed for me I had one hundred percent full vision back and the pain was gone! That was awesome man, God heals, but that discussion is for another time. My brother, feeling horrible about his actions apologized and of course I forgave him right away because we were young and forgiving people is easy when you are a kid. Plus he was my brother and I wouldn't change any of our adventures for any reason because it has molded the relationship that we have with each other today. I would lay my life down for the man and I know that he would do the same for me, its that simple. Continuing with my story, in fall of 1993 our family left California and moved up to Idaho first to Nampa for a month and then to Kuna where my family still lives and have been there for the last 16 years. When we first got here my Mom of course tried to keep my brother and I home schooling as we had been doing but after while she had to start working so that we could get by. So, I was then introduced to the public school system at 7th grade, having no past experience and having no idea what to expect. In short, my innocence was lost, I had not yet gotten to the point in my Christian walk to where I could prepare myself for the things that surrounded me in my environment. Now I over exaggerate a little when I say my innocence was lost, I was still a good kid as far as I know and I didn't do a lot of things that I could have done at an early age. It was just some words that I learned and some things that I saw led to the corruption of my mind at a young age which still to this day I am trying to recover from. Am I blaming anyone for this? My parents did what they had to do it was not their fault. Also, I made many friends in school that I did not have and could have not had being home schooled, so no I am not blaming anyone for the decisions that I made. I just wish that I would have gotten into the bible at an earlier age and learned how to defend myself from the advances of the world. Because when it all comes down you are responsible for yourself. Your parents are only responsible for raising you how they think you should and how you go from there is completely up to you. Here I am twenty eight years old and finally beginning to take advantage of the gifts that God has given me I only wish I could have had them when I was twelve. So I guess what I am trying to say is don't wait until you are out of school to start building your relationship with God. Home schooled or not this is probably the most important part of your life. Kids today have no excuse resources are unlimited today and they have things that I did not. Internet, unlimited books and an assortment of religious channels on television cover all areas. But the most important tool is the book that hopefully sits very close to you every day of the week. The bible hold the secrets to the universe, so open it up every once in awhile and ask God to give you some insight. Trust me, he won't leave you disappointed.

Start your day off right = Positive attitude

Do you ever have one of those days where nothing seems to go right? We have all been there at one time or another. Whether it be starting off your morning by arguing with your spouse, or the genius that cuts you off on the freeway on the way to work. The devil dresses up annoyance's and irritations in many forms as ways to try to ruin your day most of the time before you even walk out the door. So how do we stop ourselves from stepping or sometimes running directly in the trap that the enemy has set for us? Well first of all its all about our attitude and how we handle the things that come our way. Its very easy to be a jerk when your wife asks you to do something for her in the morning but if you handle any and all comments or requests that come your way with a positive attitude then you will start realizing the change more and more everyday. I am not saying that you will not have your disagreements and arguments, because not all disagreements and arguments are bad, especially for newlyweds. Some disagreements and arguments can help build your marriage. For example when I leave clothes on the floor around the laundry basket and not inside of it and my wife voices her concerns telling me that when I am living out my Kobe Bryant fantasy with my boxers or a pair of socks that I need to make sure they still end up in the basket. Now of course there is going to be some slight arguing and "discussing" if you will but in the end since I have such a good attitude about it I will be one step closer to making sure my dirty clothes will end up where they are suppose to be. My wife will appreciate my efforts and I will have made her happy so therefore I am happy. It's all about the attitude. And the number one way to control your attitude is to start your morning off right. I used to not be a morning person at all. Every chance I got I would sleep in until long hours of the afternoon lazily making my way out of bed sometimes not until way after noon. But I found my day was not as fruitful and that my attitude sucked big time and eventually I learned that I could not do it anymore. Lately, especially over the last few days I have found myself getting up earlier and earlier, first brewing a pot of coffee and sitting at the kitchen table with my bible open. It's amazing how quiet it is early in the morning especially in between the hours of 3-5 A.M. Our pastor says that this is the best time to hear the Lords voice because the rest of the world is quiet. The bars are closed, the kids are asleep and almost everyone has not even got up to get ready for work. Sunday morning for me was amazing I got up at about 4:15 and dove into Romans 6 and fed myself for about 2 hours digesting the living words and even writing up a possible sermon for a later date. The rest of my day was amazing, now my wife was not the happiest because I kind of work her up early and she's pregnant so when she doesn't get her sleep well she isn't happy. So of course that day I went out of my way to make sure that she was as happy as she could be during the day. I did things like clean the kitchen, rubbed her shoulders and various other things to help her feel better and also because I was the reason that she felt the way she did. Men, we cannot be afraid to man up to things that are our fault. The easiest way to avoid confrontations and arguments is to IMMEDIATELY apologize for something when you do it. Now don't give me this, "Well if she wouldn't have said this then I wouldn't have said that." No, there is no excuse for things like that. She is your wife and God gave her to you as a partner in life so there is no reason for you to say hurtful and disrespectful things to her. Treat her with respect and you will get it back not only from her but from God as well. Ephesians 5:25-27 says "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." Verse 28 goes even further saying "In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself." So what it comes down to is loving your wife with the same sacrificing, giving, caring and grace as Christ has for us. Whoa that is heavy, because Jesus loved us so much that he died for us on the cross and that is the same way we are suppose to love our wives with such passion and intensity that we are willing to give up everything for her. It comes down to sacrifice my friends. Sacrifice everything that might be bringing your attitude down and watch as your life and marriage blossoms. Well it wasn't my attention to focus on marriage so much but I don't have an outline for this thing I am just getting on and letting the Holy Spirit work through my hands on the keyboard. I hope this has helped you guys. Wives, its not just the husbands responsibility either remember Ephesians also says "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior." Thats Ephesians 5:22-24. It is both the wives and husbands responsibility to maintain a positive attitude and to handle everything according to the word. If you do this your life will become amazingly more simple and any obstacles and arguments that come your way will easily be settled and you can focus on other things that are more important. Like zombies......

Hi! My name is....

Hi! My name is Eric Clover. I live in Idaho, no not Iowa, Idaho. And yes we do have potatoes but that is not the only thing that we are known for. We also have, um, we have, um....Oh yeah we have an amazing college football team that plays on blue turf. And we have, oh I can't think of anything right now but I am sure that something will come to my mind sooner or later. I love to write, it is one of my great joys in life. I also love my wife and two stepchildren that God has seen to bless me with even though I do not deserve it. But then again do any of us deserve anything? That is the beauty of grace that God offers us. Grace is defined as undeserved favor, something that you are blessed with even though you have done nothing to earn it. Life is like that isn't it? We spend most of it wandering around, trying to find our place in this world oblivious to the plan that God has on our life. It has taken me almost all of my twenty eight years to finally realize what He has planned for me, yet I am still a work in progress just like all of us. In the bible in the book of Romans it says "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." What I have learned over the years is the all really does mean all. No one escapes from the definition of the word it includes everyone on this planet. It doesn't matter if you go to church every Sunday or if you feed homeless people at the shelter on the weekends. We have all sinned and we are nothing without the grace that God offers us through his Son Jesus Christ. You might say, "Great, all this blog is going to be is this guy shoving religion down my throat I don't need that." Take it easy, it won't always be so "God heavy" if you will. I just want to start this blog off right and let you know where I am coming from and what my beliefs are. And its not religion. If there is one thing I hate more than anything it is a legalistic, religious and shallow person. It goes beyond religion or words written in a book even though the words that are written in the bible are alive and stamped by the very breath of God. No its more about a relationship with the one that created you. The one that with a word formed the very dust of the earth into a living breathing human being. No ooze, no monkey, dust. It's about knowing someone that loves you so much, even when you spit in his face by the life that you live he still offers love and grace to you. And their is only one way my friends. It is by the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on a cross over two thousand years ago that you can be saved. And the their is only one way. In John 14:6 Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." There it is folks plain and simple in black and white. There is no other way to find salvation except through the Lord Jesus Christ. Not Muhammad, Buddha, or Krishna for they are still dead laying in the same grave they were buried in. But Jesus Christ rose from the dead after being crucified showing that death no longer had a hold on him and that we could have the same power if we only believe in him and give him our lives fully. I just wanted to start this thing off right, coming all the way out with my beliefs and give you an opportunity to take life to a whole new level. If you don't know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. All you need to do is ask. Pray and say "Jesus, I am a sinner. Please forgive me, I believe that you died on the cross for my sins and that you rose again. Please come into my life and show me how to live" If you say this prayer, you are now part of the kingdom. Feel free to email me: ericclover82@gmail.com and tell me your testimony. I would love to hear about it. Well until next time friends this is Eric Clover saying so long and God bless.