In our physical world, there are four dimensions. They are height, depth, width and time. The last one is combined with space to form the spacetime continuum. That is a mouthful. But what is being said is that time has substance. Just like a rock or a brick. We are given by our Creator a certain amount of time, no more and no less. So we have control over our time. We can do what we want with our time. No one else can use it or have it without our consent. No one can take it from us. God gave it to us to use wisely. Then can you tell me why we waste our time trying to replace God with things? One woman told me that she loved a certain football team, that when she went to games she would have a religious experience. Some people love to shop until they drop. Some people love making money. Some people love animals. You can pick a subject or object and you will find people who love it with devotion. I was such a wreck when I came to God. That afterwards, I didn’t want to pursue anything but God. I still don’t. Everything comes to me. If I have a need, the need is met. When I first started with God, I gave my car to a needy family. God sees to it that I am never without transportation. What I am talking about is when we stand before God, will He say, I never knew you, depart from Me or will He says enter into My joy?

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Today on the news was the shootings in Dallas. 5 policemen are dead and many wounded and the shootings in Baton Rouge. People are angry about whatever. Everybody is pointing the finger at everybody else. I want you to do something for me. Point your finger at something. Then look at your hand. There is one finger pointing at something and 4 fingers are pointing directly at you. It doesn’t start with someone else. It always starts with you. What are you going to do? Where is your anger going to take you? I have been so angry that I cursed God. I know what it is to have raging anger. And the only person I hurt consistently was me. Anger will eventually kill you. It has no use in anything we do. And it carries with it a great amount of pain. A pain that doesn’t subside very easily. So what are going to do? I know what I did and I would do it all over again. I had to get forgiveness for my sins before the anger and the pain subsided. This is the only place I found in some 40 years of my journey. I didn’t want to give up, but I just couldn’t stand the pain anymore. My life had to change and it did. People would ask what happened to me. Because they saw the difference in me. I know it takes courage to confess that you are wrong. But if you do, life will change as you know it. It will become better than you can expect. And all you have to do is ask God to forgive you and ask Him into your life. And the anger in your life will fade away. So what are you going to do?

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It is the title of a song written by Keith Green 40 years ago. He saw something that was going to happen to the Church. It is funny that I just wrote a series of blogs about this very subject. The series was called the Glitch. I was watching Trinity Broadcasting Network. The host was interviewing a retired pastor in London and he was talking about the same thing. He was using the parable of the 10 virgins. Some friends of mine from Peru wrote and performed a song about the same subject. It was called in English, where is your 1^st love? They wrote that song almost 20 years ago. What I am saying is that if you don’t know Jesus and Him crucified, you will not recognize Him when He returns. When Jesus returns He will gather the Church to Himself. It also says that when He returns people will hide themselves from Him. Because they will recognize the sin in their lives. What can you do about this? God has always been there waiting for you. God wants everyone to make it into heaven. That is why the gospel has been preached for 6000 years. It is so man can understand that he is separated from God and can come to Him. God isn’t willing the any person should be lost. God loves every human being on this earth. And the Church has gone to sleep in the middle of everything. This time in history Jesus talked about it. He called it the beginning of sorrows. There is nothing sadder than a person realizing that they are forever separated from God. Where there is no hope of ever coming out it. God isn’t willing that any should perish and has provided the way back to Him. His name is Jesus.

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Vacation is about over. I loved driving around the hill country of Texas. We will check out to the hotel tomorrow and leave for home. My wife wants to see another attraction then we will leave. We had supper on the river walk. There was a nice breeze and the temperature wasn’t so bad. San Antonio has been over 100 degrees each day. The rain has been going up north to Fort Worth and Dallas. They have had terrible flooding. As long as I can remember I have been in a hurry. Never really taking time to enjoy what I have had in front of me. I always seem to want new and bigger. I could take a project spend 2 years on it and walk away. It is a shame because I have had some good projects. I have written since I was young. I would make up stories and develop them into tales. I have always enjoyed that. The way I tell a story developed over time. I would never reveal the punch line openly. I would wait until people put the story together. Then they would see the punch line clearly. I always wanted people to think and figure it out. Of course, not all people are even interested in the story. But if you write it they will come. That’s a joke. I have collected a vast amount of knowledge. I put it to use in writing this blog. Sometimes it is just too much knowledge. I always find how this knowledge fits together. I would find bits and pieces and then they just fit. I found a saying that Jean Lafitte would say often. Then I found that Jim Bowie would say it also. With what I know about Lafitte and Bowie, I think that Bowie worked on one of Lafitte’s ships. In other words, Jim Bowie was a privateer also. I’ll be headed home tomorrow and now what do I do next?

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It is an idiom. The saying is, you are going to hell in a handbasket. It means that a person is rushing into a situation that is detrimental to their health and wellbeing. I know that people in this country are angry about a lot of things. One is the federal government. I agree that the entire congress and senate, judicial and executive personal should be gotten rid of. I was discussing the situation with a person I had just met and he agreed. The people that are in office don’t care for the American people. And the job of elected officials are to see about the needs of the American people. And not for their own gain or purpose. What happen in England was the same thing. The European Union didn’t care what happened the British people. So the British people voted to leave the European Union. Their vote was against their national government. The English Parliament is now reorganizing. Of course this is against the one global government and economy. For years, little by little, America has pushed toward the one world government. It was never a big move. It was always just a little at a time. Now China owns most of our debt. Japan owns Hawaii. Our national debt, the one that this current administration said that was George Bush’s debt, has been quadrupled in size. Spending hasn’t ended. Medicare was solvent 8 years ago. Now it is bankrupt. All the money was diverted to the general fund to spend more money. Ulysses S. Grant was a better president and he stayed drunk in office for 4 years. Now is the time for all good people to stand up and be counted as Americans.

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Everyone remembers the past with fond memories. Things that happened when you were a child or even as an adult. You can see them as clear as if they just happened. But they are just memories. My wife and I went on a vacation today. Our children are grown and we wanted to do something together. We get so little time together that we strengthen the bond between us again. As we drove to San Antonio, Texas, we kept remembering things we did with the kids and before we were married. I lived in San Antonio so many years ago. I won’t tell you how long ago. We walked on the River Walk near the Alamo. I just couldn’t believe how many young people were walking around. And how many babies they had. San Antonio as usual is hot. The weathermen predicted it would be over 100 degrees for the next few days. That means hot as hell. But the skies were clear and blue. I was very surprised how green the countryside was driving into San Antonio, Texas has had a drought for the past 5 years. But this year has been record rainfall. But there is a record amount of people visiting here. There has been so much development in town, I hardly recognized it. Since I lived here San Antonio has doubled in size. But I have always found that the people act like this is a small town. Everybody knows everybody. As long as I have visited San Antonio, I have enjoyed it. My wife and I will be here for the next few days. For this is the day the Lord has made and I will be glad and rejoice in it.

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I have a story to tell you about people who wanted the freedom we now enjoy. When the English colonized America, they didn’t have enough soldiers or money to supply a military force. England was fighting an ongoing war with France for the Americas. What England did was sent arms and ammunition to the local government. The local government would form a militia to protect the colonies. Because the American Yankees were causing trouble by disrupting commerce, the English sent an army to Boston in 1775. The orders were to go to Concord where the state armory was and confiscate all arms and ammunition. A brigade of British regulars, red coats, left Boston in April of 1775 marching to Concord. Paul Revere and Thomas Dawes left Boston a few hours before the British and warned the people all along the way. Lexington was on the way to Concord. In Lexington the captain called out the militia, all 77 members. They were fathers, brothers, sons and neighbors. As they fell into formation with their squirrel guns and hunting rifles, 400 British regulars marched into Lexington. The captain told them not fire on the British. The British major told the group to surrender their arms. They didn’t move. Then a shot rang out. The British soldiers began firing on the Massachusetts National Guardsmen. 6 fell died and rest began to run as the British chased them. That day, 3900 National Guardsmen turned out and chased the British army of 1500 strong back to Boston. The British suffered over 300 causalities. The National Guardsmen suffered less than a 100 causalities. After the British army made it back to Boston. The British general Gates told a subordinate that the British army was defeated that day by an idea. And that idea was freedom.

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It is a day of celebration for the America people. We do whatever, listen to orchestras playing patriotic music or going to the beach. Of course there is a bar-b-que somewhere in there. Traditionally hamburgers and hot dogs are served with apple pie. It is a festive time for all of us. We are proud of what our forefathers have done for us. And it doesn’t matter where we came from. We all have part in this celebration. People from every nation on earth has come to this country for its freedom. In the dark days before WWII, President Roosevelt in January, 1941, gave his State of the Union address. In his speech he talked about four freedoms that the America people enjoy and that everyone should have. The four freedoms were the freedom of speech, freedom of worship, the freedom from want and the freedom from fear. I would like to recognize some people who have fought to preserve those freedoms. Like my cousin Charles who died in Thailand serving his country during the Vietnam War. And down to my children who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of my family has served this country defending our freedoms including myself. Freedoms are what we have because we live in this country. Where it was founded for that purpose. So today let us honor both the living and the dead who defended our right to freedom. And pray that God will keep our nation from destruction. Enjoy yourself because tomorrow there still is a lot of work to done in this nation. Like the people of WWII that came together as one to defeat a common enemy, like us come together as one. For there is nothing that can stop a nation united as one. I wish you a happy 4^th of July.

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When 9/11 happened, people became afraid of the unknown. The US began circling the wagons. And people went back to church to find answers. It filled the churches for about 3 months. The US took the fight to the enemy. The Glitch was coming in stronger. People began to see the US as their savior. The churches began to empty as fast as they were filled.  What is unfortunate is that 9/11 was just the opening volley. There has been a major disaster every year in the world since 9/11. If it isn’t a flood, it’s a fire. If it wasn’t a fire, it was tornados. Or it was hurricanes. Or it was a volcano or a Japanese nuclear plant exploding. After hurricane Katrina, I heard a few preachers saying that it was the hand of God. And I heard the religious community saying that it wasn’t God. You see those few preachers knew the truth. The others were just deceived. Let alone there were man-made disasters. I am speaking of our current national government. I have never seen any administration try to pull down this government as fast as these people. And the shame of it is that God put them into place because of us, because nobody is listening to God. It isn’t over yet. What is God going to have to do to get your attention? How would you like to become refugees like the Syrians? Did you know that the number 6 is the number of man? We have discussed the Glitch – the recurring error. The 1^st one was the love of money is the root of all evil. The 2^nd was replacing God with man. The 3^rd was refusing to listen to God when He is speaking to us. Despite what you think the only answer to any problem that man has is God Himself. This is the reason we were made to fellowship with God Himself.

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Saddam Hussein had overrun Kuwait. And he was threaten Saudi Arabia. America had to get involved in the conflict. President Bush formed a coalition of nations, both monetarily and militarily. It took two years but the Iraqi army was defeated. The 1990s became the decade of outreach. This new church had grown up. It was now time to put your money where your mouth is. Missionaries from every denomination was sent to every country in the world. The feeding programs were massive. The outreach was so great that African countries were sending missionaries to America. The work of God was endless. The glitch was growing. The fervor of the 1980’s was beginning to wane. People were getting dissatisfied with denominations. Independent churches began to rise up and met the need of the people. And these independent churches were Pentecostal with the Holy Ghost. But violence in this country was growing experientially. All because of no respect for life. This all came about because of the Roe vs. Wade decision of the US Supreme Court in 1973 which allow abortions. As it was in the 1^st century, Christianity came under attack. Christians were being attacked by demonic agendas. People began to wonder away from the Church. Until something horrible happened. The century had turn and a new president was elected. In his first term as a peace time president, he became a war time president. 9/11 happened. I’ll finish the story tomorrow.

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