Tomorrow the promise of the future for us. What will happen tomorrow? Who will I become? Will I even recognize that person? Do you know that we are not even guarantied tomorrow? The only thing that God guaranties for us is now. Today is the day and now is the time for salvation. So our tomorrows are based upon the good graces of God. All the best laid plans of mice and men aren’t worth a pile of beans without God in our lives. So what are supposed to do? How are we going to live or survive this world? Man wants what he wants. The heart of man will strive to create something for himself. Even though it will not last past our lifetime. Man will continually strive to build or make for his glory. When you look at the grand scheme of it all, what man can do is no more than a joke. God didn’t design us to be alone. God’s plan is for us to be part of His plan. He designed us to accomplish His plan on this earth. The bible says that there is nothing new under the sun. What was shall be again. Why isn’t there something new? Why can’t we have original thought? God didn’t design us to be frustrated. God wanted us to live our lives in peace and harmony on this earth. He wanted us to enjoy the life His gave us. It is man because of sin, who thinks that he is god and can do anything. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, their eyes were opened and they saw that they could walk away from God. And man has been doing just that ever since. Tomorrow is guaranteed when we join with God and His plan for us. All you have to do is ask God for help. And He will answer you.

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We all look at the past as something cherished. Even if it was the most horrible time in our lives. We all compare our lives now with what we had. It isn’t fair because the past is gone and can’t be changed. No matter how good or bad it was, it will remain the past. The only thing that is real in our lives is change. It can be good for some and bad for others. But it will happen. God designed us that way for our benefit. He wanted us to have the opportunity to be able to improve our lives. Sometimes it looks like what we are doing is just useless. But there is a plan for our lives and it does unfold in our lives. Whether you can see it or not. It is funny to watch people who think that they can stop God or His plan. Yet people think that they are greater than God. They tried even to the point of death to do their thing. You have heard me talk about a death spiral. It is the last effort of someone or something to stop what they put into motion. There is only one person who can stop a death spiral. That is God Himself. God designed this world to the very detail of life. There is no one that knows what to do except God. We are the image and likeness of God. He wanted to share His life with us. Our spirit, who we are, will never die. We are eternal beings. That is where we get the idea and sometimes misguided that this flesh will live forever. This flesh that we wear will return to the earth where it came from. Our spirit will go on to be with God or not. That is the question that every person must answer in this life time. As we say, it is time to pick your choose.

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What I have to say is really going to offend some people. Before anyone can understand, they have to face the truth. Although, I will say man. I mean mankind, both men and women. The most low-down, backstabbing, lying, cheating, stealing worthless animal on this earth is mankind. There is no intrinsic value in man. Human beings have devolved into the lowest form of life on this earth. Despite the strides man has made in knowledge, they have become useless. All the animals on this earth, except for man, are doing God’s will. Man is the one who is destroying the earth, our home. There is only one redeeming value that man has. It is that God’s loves us unconditionally. God is trying very hard to bring us home. God works miracles to keep us alive long enough to make that decision. You know what is the saddest part of all this is, that most of mankind will not choose God. Have you ever figured out what the torment of hell is? It is that God loves those in hell as much as he loves those in heaven. But those in hell can’t share in God’s love, forever and ever, Amen.

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I have seen people pray and think that God didn’t answer them. I have never seen God not answer a just prayer. God may not tell you the answer but one will come. When I was younger, I had a roommate 1 summer. He kept asking God for answers and he said he hadn’t received any. That summer he was inspired to write 25 songs. He was a musician. Take a wild guess where the answers were to his prayers. This is the 3^rd story about God’s providence. This story is from the 1970s and 1980s. This story is about a young black man born in poverty. He went to a public school and excelled in basketball. His mother was raising him alone. She prayed that the inner city wouldn’t take her son away. The city was going to move the family into the projects. She knew that her son would have no chance to survive. She went to mayor of her city and asked if she and her family could stay out of the projects. The mayor knew who the young man was and agreed. Not only did he agree, he help this young man to get into a private high school. The only problem was this young man’s education was poor. He had to build his vocabulary. He had to learn 5 new words every day for a year just to catch up. He did. In his junior year, he led his high school team to the state championship. In college, he did the same. He was drafted into the NBA in 1981. He was the #2 pick in the draft. He went on played in the NBA. And final ended up coaching. Of course I am talking about Isiah Thomas. Without his mother’s prayers and God providing for his family, you would have never known about him. God takes what you have and uses it to provide for you and your family. It doesn’t matter what we think, God is always there and working in our behalf. It is part of God’s inheritance for His children.

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There are 3 stories about God’s providence I want to tell. I don’t know if I can tell them all in one blog, but I’ll try. They are all true stories. My first story happened about happened about 2800 years ago. One of the preachers in the school of the Prophets suddenly died. He left a wife and 2 sons and vast amount of debt. The creditors weren’t going to take his house, they were going to take his sons as bondsmen. Literally they would be slaves unto the debt was paid. His widow went to the head of the school, who at that time was the prophet Elisha. She asked Elisha for God’s help in this situation. Elisha asked her what she had left in the house. She said all they had left was a pot of oil. It was about 1 or 2 gallons of oil. Elisha told her to go to her neighbors and borrow pots. As many as she could get into her house. Then he said, shut the door with your 2 sons and pour the oil into the pots. She did exactly as Elisha said. She filled all the pots she had. When there was no more pots the oil stopped flowing. Elisha said sell the oil and pay the debt and the rest you can live on. And so she did. God took what she had and used it to provide for her and her sons. My next story happened in the 1950’s. This was a very similar story. A young woman lost her husband. She had three young children at home. Her husband was the bread winner. She was a housewife. After the funeral was over and the family had gone home, she didn’t know what to do. She was praying, asking God for help. Every time that friend or family would come over to see about her, she would bake a pie for them to eat. She was a very good cook and her pies were delicious. Friends and family started asking her to bake pies for them. They paid her for the pies. At first it was just to help out financially. But the volume of sales of the pies began to increase. Until it became a business. God had answered her prayers. God took what she had and used it to provide for her and her family. I’ll tell the 3^rd story next time.

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We are hard wired with compassion. It is a trait to help people in need. Some look at it as a weakness. But it is actually a strength in our lives. If we are moved with compassion to help people, we will need moral courage to carry it through. When you see people hurting or in dire need, there is a strong feeling to help that rises up inside of us. That is compassion. It isn’t based upon who the person is or what they have done. It is based on the need in their life. Sometimes we can’t help them directly, but there is always something we can do. Jesus was moved with compassion as He looked upon us. Then He did something about it. Compassion is looking at people through God’s eyes. This is where we see passed their front into their heart. It doesn’t take anything away from us, but it can be a great reward for us. A great joy in my life has been helping other people. It is fulfilling as human being to know that I helped someone. When compassion will rises up in you, let it out and see what happens.

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What is going to be your legacy? What are you going to leave behind that is worth something? Many people plan for an estate to be given to their children or whoever. It could be land or whatever you think is worth something. What about your prayers or your wishes for your children? Could it be as simple as your values you try to pass on to your children? Every parents wants the best for their children. They work all their lives to provide food, clothing and shelter, but an opportunity to do better than they did. My parents not only paid for college, they also said if I graduated they would give me a car. I didn’t finish. Girls and Vietnam got in the way. I tried to go back, but it never really worked. So I went to work after my time in the US Air Force. When I did marry I wanted more for my children. 2 of my sons graduated from college and the other 2 are working. I have dedicated my life to God. I pursued Him with a whole heart. I taught my children God’s teachings and how to live a good life. I never gave up on my values. God says to train up a child in the way he should go and when he is older he will not depart from it. I’m counting on it. My sons have chosen to live their own lives. I keep praying for them. And I’m believing God that His word will work in their lives as it did in mine. I believe a legacy can be your prayers and wishes for your children as well as other people. I know that the prayers of my ancestors are still working in me.

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They are the opposite sides of the same coin. There seems to be a real push for pleasure. Sports venues are bigger than ever. Since the 1960’s, sex has been taken to the height of religion. Drugs and alcohol are the standards of the day. It seems that morals are disappearing. You know that the US Army had to begin teaching a moral standard during basic training. They did this not to train mercenaries. There is so much chaos in this world, that people are looking for a way out. It seems that pleasure has been the go-to answer for people. But the only thing that the pursuit of pleasure has caused is pain, the one thing people want to escape. The pursuit of pleasure is a force multiplier of pain. It’s a vicious circle. And if you don’t stop, it will become a death spiral. I have never met a human being who has the power to change their lives. Man doesn’t have the power. The only person who has the power to change lives is God, Himself. And I know that the pursuit of pleasure is only a pretense to block God out of man’s consciousness. You can chase any pursuit you want. Nothing on this earth will change a person’s heart except God. And the pain will not stop until your heart is changed. Then the answer really is the pursuit of God and His righteousness to change your heart and stop the pain. And God is waiting for you to call.

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I would watch that cartoon faithfully. I would watch all the Saturday morning cartoon’s until mom made me go do my chores. I also liked the cowboy shows in the afternoon after school. It is funny that all those shows are about good versus evil. If you look at any show on TV today it is the same. But as I look at all the shows on regular TV and cable, there is only a handful that I will watch now. Television is a learning tool. It can teach you anything. And it does exactly that. Do you know why the entertainment industry is struggling? It is very simple. It is not about entertaining people. It is about teaching the masses their agenda. I subscribed to a news magazine for years. It is very good and informative. Then it was sold to an outrageous marketing group. They lost most of their subscribers including me. After the magazine was purchased by another group. They made a real effort to try to get their old subscribers back. They talked to me but I wasn’t wanting to get the magazine again. The damage was done. There is a movie coming out next week. It is a sequel back from a series that I have followed since I was a kid. The film was made 2 years ago. They have been promoting this movie for a year. There is toys, souvenirs, t-shirts, and every possible thing that you can buy. Do you know why they are doing this? That movie studio is trying to make money. They want to make up for all the losses they have suffered with the other movies they made. You know what the saddest part is, they won’t give up making the stupid movies. Why does it take disaster for people to stop and turn around? It doesn’t have to be that way. Ask God and you will receive all that you need to live this life. Just ask.

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I have a friend that went with my son to Iraq in 2004 during the shooting war. They were based in Bagdad. During a mission in 2005 their tank rolled across an IED. It exploded and the tank commander was killed along with a trooper in the back. The rest of the squad was injured in some way. My friend had fractured his back and nobody knew. He tried to help everybody out of the tank but passed out for pain.  After two days in the hospital, his captain went looking for him. The medics didn’t see any physical wounds so they didn’t treat him. But he couldn’t walk. The captain immediately got him help and he was evacuated to Germany. There he began to recover. By a miracle of God, they got him on his feet. And with assistance he shuffled a few feet. But the prognosis was not good. They said he would never walk again. They moved him to Walter Reed Hospital for further testing and therapy. Before he left there he was walking with assistance. They moved him to San Antonio for the rest of his recovery. We wrote letters to each and I could tell he was getting despondent. He has a wife and two children. He told before he left for Iraq that God had called him into the ministry. All of that was on hold. His wife wrote saying she didn’t know what to do. When a person needs to hear the truth to help them, you do it in love. I wrote to my friend that God had called him into the ministry. God didn’t call his legs into ministry, but him. If he never walked again in his life, it still didn’t negate his call into the ministry. I told him he could function just as well without legs in the ministry. He saw the truth, he needed to go on with his life. Today after ten years, he walks just fine. He also went to bible school. The truth will set you free and if you are free, you are free indeed.

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