How many times have you destroyed your future and didn’t know what to do? Unfortunately, I can count them on both hands. You know what is funny about all that is that I did it each time on purpose. The first time I was 12 years old. I had an old tire and a long rope. I tied the rope to a tall tree and the bottom of the rope to the tire. I got a 6 foot ladder and climb up on it with the tire. I jumped onto the tire and it swung out to about 10 or 12 feet above the ground. When I reached the highest point of the arc, the rope broke. I landed flat on my back. The fall knocked me out for about 10 to 20 minutes. I had a concussion. I didn’t tell my parents for obvious reasons. It was serious enough to cause dyslexia. How it manifested itself was in my reading ability. In the 10^th grade I had a 6^th grade reading level. Fortunately for me, my mother was a special education teacher. She knew who to do. I caught up to my reading level and passed it. One of the first things I did was read. All through high school I had terrible grades, so my chances of getting into a good university were almost nil. I went to a local university and was doing pretty good. Until I joined a fraternity and it all went downhill from there. Opportunity after opportunity was presented to me and I threw it away until I was 28 years old. That was when I met Jesus. He showed me how I could be someone special. I had to follow after Him and trust that He had my best interest at heart. I have seen so many things that God has done for me and others. The miracles, the healings, and the salvations that God let me be part of. And all I had to do was trust and believe in Jesus. All you have to do is ask for help and God will answer.

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Growing up I was vulnerable because I believe in the good things in life. Those things were friendship, honesty, integrity and loyalty and love. As I began to grow and venture into the world, I found people who didn’t believe so. I was made fun of because I believe. It seemed to hurt more than I thought it would. By the time I got to college, I was a mean bastard. People didn’t want to be around me. I had been hurt so much I gave up on being vulnerable. No one was going to put me through that pain again. But I was alone. Loneliness is as hard and hurts as much as a beating. It can make people do strange things. I wouldn’t talk to people. That made me strange enough. Yet I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. I had a girlfriend in college. She saw something in me and took a change. Unfortunately I wasn’t ready and she walked away. It seemed that no one wanted to have anything to do with me. Until these two businessmen saw something in me and asked me to join them in their business. I was 28 years old. They began to talk about Jesus to each other. They never directly preached at me. It took 3 months of listening before I was even willing to go to church. But when I did go, I met the one person who loved me for me, God Himself. God began to teach how that being vulnerable opens your heart. And when your heart is open you can see clearly. There will always be pain in this world. But if you open your heart you can see their pain. Then you can do something about their pain. Jesus said, I came to seek and to save that which was lost. And He also said, go ye into all the world and preaching the gospel to everyone.

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We are always looking for value. Is it worth the effort we will put into it? We apply this to people also. A value is a benefit or gain to oneself. We as a people are goal oriented. We want a value for everything we do. Or we don’t see the reason to pursue the effort. Sometimes, it just doesn’t seem that it is worth any effort at all. Then tell me why we rescue animals in distress. Why does our heart go out to a baby? Why does our heart reach out to other people? Why is this so? What value or worth is a soul? God created this earth and set things into motion. He knew what man was going to do. Why would He take the effort to build and create this world for us? Because He knew that man would walk away. Can you explain that to me? It is the same reason, we reach out to those hurt and in distress. But the depth of God’s love is so far beyond our feeble skills. There isn’t one person who hasn’t been betrayed. Everyone knows the pain it causes. And yet God loved us. His love is everlasting. And He will forgive us and take us back. How many people, that have betrayed you, will you take back? So, tell me what is a soul worth? And God says to do is to ask Him and He will take you back.

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All the victories, defeats and heartaches are in the past. We only like to talk about our victories. This is to prove to yourself and others that we are special. That we are worth paying attention too. And we hid all the mistakes and tragedies with as much deceptiveness as we can muster. We fool ourselves to the point that we forget all the bad things of the past. There are good things that have happened in the past and we can make them part of our lives. But the rest is just dead weight. Baggage that we can’t carry if we want to live a productive life. I have seen people destroyed by that dead weight. In some cultures of the past, if a man killed another, they would tie the dead person to their backs. They would carry the dead person until they died. If a person is a human being, then they carry baggage. It scars your heart and mind and sometimes your body. If only we could just dump this baggage and go on with our life. I have struggled with this for a long time and wanted a better way. I didn’t have the power to change my life. But one day I met the person who had the power to change my life. He showed me how I could dump the baggage and live a good life. He began to change my heart, my thinking, and all the bad habits. He showed me I had hope for a future. Even though I had screwed up a lot. I could become a different person. But it was not by my power that I could this. It was only by the power of God could this happen. God said, when I forgive your sins, and not remember them anymore. They are cast into the sea of forgetfulness. And it is as far as East is from West. God will forgive us and cleanse our hearts and minds to the point that we don’t even remember our past.

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On a sad note, it seems that people want to blame everyone else for their troubles. It is because my dad or my mom or my brother or sister. This is the best excuse or the worst one yet, the devil made me do it. Excuses are everywhere. Why be accountable when you can blame somebody else? I don’t need to take charge of my life when someone else is making me choose wrong things. It seems ludicrous. But this is the order of the day. How did a people come so far away from the truth? Life has never been fair. What you want to accomplish takes patience and work and setbacks. Nothing is ever perfect all the time. There will be trials in your life. But you don’t have to create trouble for yourself when there is enough to go around. A friend was injured in Iraq. His back was fractured in IED explosion. At first he couldn’t walk, then with treatment a miracle happened and he could walk with assistance. He was fussing and fretting over not walking. He had told me before that God had called him into the ministry. I told him that God didn’t need his legs for the ministry. God wanted him to go into the ministry. That was the real question, whether or not he would answer the call. No more excuses for him, he had to choose. He choose God. He went to bible school and guess what happened? He was healed and walks today, because he had to walk through to get to the other side. It is the same for all of us. We have to choose what we are going to do in this life. There are no excuses. And you can’t blame somebody else for your choices. As the bible says, in Psalms 23, though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil for You, God, are with me. It is popular to fall into escapism, but it is not profitable for you in this life or in the one to come.

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The area I live in is mostly agriculture. There are more farmers then that. You can see tractors drive through town on any given day. The industry in our area is mostly tractor and combine sales and service. It is a nice little town. 5 o’clock traffic last for about 5 minutes. We live not too far from a larger city in which I work. But getting back to the farmers of our area, they work the land. They work the land all year long. Not only do they plow and sow crops, they harvest them also. But in the off season they work the land to prepare it for next year. It is a good life for many people. The land has been handed down through many generations. These farmers have to be concerned about what they put into the ground. If they want a certain crop, they just can’t plant anything. There is a state government experimental station located in our community. It helps the farmer with many aspects of farming. People are grateful for this service. Sowing seed has become an art form. They find the right one and sow at a certain time of year. There is even a federal government service to chase away the migratory birds that come to eat the seed sown. Just think about the farmers from 200 years ago, what they had to go through to get a crop. There is a life lesson in the work that the farmer does. He sows seeds to produce a favorable result. If the farmer sows his seed on the side of the field, it will not produce a crop. Then there are the weeds to contend with. You see God’s word is the seed of life. And where the seed falls and grows is just as important as receiving God’s word. God says, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by ever word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. What kind of crop are you producing?

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There are many sounds in this world. In fact if there is no sound at all people will stop to see what is wrong. Everyone and everything needs to express themselves to be heard. Why do you think this is so? And what we actually hear is an echo. Sometimes the sounds around us get to be so much that we hunt for a place that is quiet. When I write the blog I need the least amount of distractions as possible. Usually my cat needs attention when I start to write. And she will rub against me until I pet her or push her away. Recently I have felt an unction or a calling out to me personally. I know that I am not the only one who has heard this calling out. It is like hearing your name called but no one is talking. It is because it is not audible. It is in your heart. Most people don’t understand that you heart can hear. And for the most part it hears better than you ears. Your ears hear the echo, but your heart hears the message. What is the message that is being sent out to the world? It is not hard to understand the message. Most people have heard it and are responding. The message is this world is ending and if we don’t do something it will end faster. Then we as a people will no longer have a place to live. That is only half the message. The other half is that Jesus is returning. That is the part that most people don’t want to hear. But it is true. And when He returns the old world will be destroyed and the new will arrive. And that leaves no place to go for the people who don’t know Jesus. Because when it happens the world we know is over. The only real solution to the problem is to get to know Jesus. And it is very simple to do that. Call unto me and I will answer and show you great and mighty things which you do not know. This is what Jesus is saying as He calls to you.

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As human being, we are bound together as a family. We are made from the same material, the dust of the earth. We come from the same grandparents. We have the same internal organs. The same blood flows through us. Our color may differ, but on the inside, we are the same color. We are individuals that are the same. But greatest of all, is that we are brothers and sisters in the same family. And our blood, or life, binds us closer than anything. We all have the same emotions and desires. So, what is it that separates us so much? Why is it that we don’t trust or believe our neighbor? What is the human cost? Many years ago, actually 1000s, the people of the earth came together as one man. In the most beautiful place on earth, the hanging gardens of Babylon. The king decided and the people went along, that they didn’t need God. They built a tower to shoot an arrow at God, to tell Him they didn’t need Him. God scrambled their languages and they left Babylon. Never since then has the people of earth been of one mind and one accord. Now, Jesus is returning to bring the people of earth into one mind and one accord to worship God. If you listen carefully, you will hear your name being called out of eternity. God is calling home everyone. He wants to bring the whole earth into one mind and one accord. And if you answer that call, you will become part of the kingdom of heaven. And you will become in one mind and accord with God.

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It seems that my emotions change with the weather. I show a brave face all the time, but my emotions don’t. I can be a calm as the sea, and someone will aggravate me and then boom. I don’t show very many sides to my emotions. I want to present a united front in this world, but Lord have mercy. It is almost like a war that rages in my heart, good versus evil. I was raised by good people who taught me to be kind and generous to people. And there are people who I would do anything for. And then there are people who need object lessons almost all the time. Because they don’t understand who they are and where they belong in this world. Then there are people who are hostile to me and what I believe no matter what. What do you do about all of this? Before I met the Lord, I was a wreak. My emotions were all over the place. It seemed that anyone could get a rise out of me. All they had to do was poke me with a stick. I had to learn to control my emotions if I ever was going to accomplish something in my life. God began to teach how to be patient with myself and others. It was a hard object lesson. But I had to forgive stupidity and go on with my life. Many people were affected by my actions. They saw something they rarely see. God had touched their lives. I was thankful for those people. But then there were the people it seems that no one can reach. Those I had to pray for and God began to help them. The longest I ever prayed for a person to get an answer from God was 22 years. The shortest time I had to pray for an answer for a blink of an eye. Use your emotions in the right way and if you need help all you have to do is ask God. It is amazing how it works in my life.

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My father and I had a difficult beginning. Because of things that happened in his childhood, he had problems relating. There was a time that we didn’t talk at all. And I regret that. When we did relate I was grown. We had 6 wonderful years of fellowship. He lived long enough to see me married and have my first son. It wasn’t his first grandchild but he treated him like he was. The reason I related to my biological father is because I connected to my spiritual one. When I came into a relationship with God, He began to heal my heart. This allowed me to relate and forgive my earthly father. My earthly dad smoked all his life. At the end he was smoking 2 packs of unfiltered cigarettes a day. The doctors told him quit or die. He quit smoking and lived 10 more years. Those years were for me. God had arranged that my dad would live long enough for our relationship to bloom. My earthly dad and I talked almost every day. If I didn’t call, he would call and ask if any was wrong. I tried to get my other brothers to do the same. Some did but not all. God healed my heart so I could open it and love again. For a long time I was hurt and angry. Most people would not want to be around me then. But as all things do, they change. And I have been changing ever since. God showed me what real love is about. What Jesus suffered and die for was me and you. Jesus did this because He loved me just as much as God did. With that love, I forgave my father and reconciled our lives to be able to know him before he died. My dad has been gone for 33 years and I still miss him.

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