Before I knew who I was, I stumbled around this world like a drunk man. I didn’t know where I was going or what I was doing. And of course, I had no peace of mind. It almost drove me crazy. The worse of it all was the loneliness. Because I didn’t know who I was, no one wanted to know me or be around me. This led to a lot of anger and bitterness. That was one reason why people didn’t want to be around me. But as I moved forward everything accumulated into a big mess. I don’t know if they just took pity on me or what. But 2 men invited my brother and I to join their business. One of them was a manager of a local cafeteria. We would meet every weekday morning about 1 hour before the business opened. We would have coffee and talk. I would usually arrive before my brother. When I got a cup of coffee, I would sit and listen. These 2 men would talk to each other about what Jesus was doing in their lives. They never directed their testimonies at me. But they spoke about God for me. I listen for almost 3 months. Then they asked me one day if I would go to church with them. I said yes. I wanted to see for myself what was going on. Their church was about 500 people. Everybody was polite and shook my hand. I wanted to know if this was really real. Or was all these claims just smoke and mirrors. I kept my mouth shut and listen and looked. It was the strangest church I had ever been in. But that wasn’t going to stop me from finding out. And boy did I find out.

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All our lives, we want to dwell in safety. Our parents provided some safety. Our community to some extent and even our city we live in has provided safety. But in this world of violence, more and more people have told me that they don’t feel safe. It is an unnerving feeling.  You become afraid and that fear begins to control your life. Soon, fear has complete control of your life. And thus, it brings violence into life, in an effort to be safe. As King David said, why does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord God for He shall never slumber or sleep. There is a children’s song about King David, it says that David could run through a battle and never be hurt. God promise him that he would not see death until God had established his kingdom and he had a family. David became fearless. The enemy army feared David. With the world going crazy, we look for someone or something to make us feel safe. Unfortunately, too many people look to man for help. There isn’t a man in this world that can provide safety to anyone. Beware of the man that says he will bring peace to the world. There is only one person who has the power and will to bring safety back to this world. His name is Jesus. And all you have to do is to ask for it. And you will receive love, joy and peace. As King David said in the psalms, I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

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The bible says not to make a vow lightly. It says that if you make a vow and don’t keep it you are worse than a heathen. It also says a good name is worth more than riches. The bible also says in James 5:12 “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.” What the bible is talking about is being honorable. It is showing us that we should live this way for our own conscience sake. How many times have you taken short cuts to achieve your goals? And those short cuts made you feel bad about what you were doing. That is your conscience hurting. Any person can destroy their own consciousness. Usually it gets cut up a little piece at a time. So you don’t see all of it at once. But when you do see it, it can grieve your soul unto death. I have seen people get sick and die because of this. People who are not religious do live honorable. Because it is satisfying to your being. I have always said you do what is right because it is right and not because it is convenient. This is living honorably. I also found that the weight of not living honorably can crush you like a boulder. It happen to me. So I find that you can’t live without honor.

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My father went into Normandy on D-Day +1. He was a combat engineer. He followed the troops all the way to Germany. He had a picture of himself and his brother looking out the window at Berchtesgaden. My dad fought in the battle for Alaska first. Then fought in North Africa. And finally landed in Normandy at D-Day+1. When he came home, he never wanted to talk about his time in the army. He had seen too much. He wouldn’t even allow guns in the house. When he came home, his old employer offered him a job in Bermuda. Mom said she wanted to go. But dad said he had traveled the world and seen enough for a life time. Dad wanted to go to college to be an engineer. He started but his first son came along. He left college and began to work to support his family. Even though his dream was college and career as an engineer, he never went back. He worked in the Post Office until he retired. Then mom and dad began traveling around the country in their motorhome. Mom and dad both believed that traveling gave you an education. The kind that you couldn’t get anywhere else. When we were all at home we would travel across the country every summer. I never saw my father complain about not getting his way in life. He lived his life for his family and did what was necessary. I did see him get on his knees every night and pray. Often when I would look at the newspaper after my father read it, there would be engineering problem worked out on the pages. Honor and Integrity can’t be taught like math or science. It has to be learned by example. My father was that example to me.

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Yesterday I was talking to the young man that cuts the grass in my yard. We had a good conversation. He has his own business of mowing lawns. I found out that he was in the army, a veteran of Iraq. Not only a US Army veteran, but he was in the 101^st Airborne, an infantryman. He also was in Iraq the same time my second son was there the first time. He told me that his squad was in a Humvee and ran over an IED. 2 of the troopers were killed. He was burned over 50% of his body and had shrapnel in him. They medevac’d him out to Germany and finally to Ft. Sam in San Antonio. When he arrived in San Antonio, his wife came to visit him with her boyfriend. He divorced her while he continued to recover. The army eventually retired him from the service. He settled in our area. He met a young widow with 3 young girls. He married her and settled down here. He told me that his oldest girl just graduated from high school. He was so proud of her. He doesn’t need to work because of his retirement. But he said for his own sake and his family, he is working. I teased him and said, yea you got to pay for 3 wedding. We laughed. But he wasn’t going to stop just because things went wrong in his life. He has honor and integrity that comes out of him as he lives his life to the fullest. I am glad I have gotten to know this young man. I just wanted to shout, hooah.

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Everyone tries to get approval for their lives. Some get a lot and some none at all. But it doesn’t stop us from trying. Unfortunately, I have seen people who don’t get approval make really bad choices. It is ingrained in us to seek out someone who will love or care for our being. When we are children, it is our parents we start out with first. I have seen what not getting approval can do to young lives. Children start out in life perfect. They learn from their parents the lessons hopefully they can use in life. If you want to know what kind of parents a person has, all you have to do is listen and observe the person. As much as people say they aren’t like their parents, they are like their parents. Approval is a good thing. It makes us teachable. And if we are going to survive this world, we need to be teachable. No one knows everything. No one has all the wisdom they need. Or even the ability to put the wisdom into practice. Do you know why doctors practice medicine? It is because that is how they learn to treat people. Everybody wants to be unique. They have ideas that they want to put into practice. You know what is unusual, is that there is nothing new under the sun. What was before will be again. And what is even stranger is that if you go back in that person’s history, you will found an ancestor that has done the same thing. We all seek approval and want to be accepted for who we are. And I only know one person who will accept us as we, faults and all. That is person is the man Christ Jesus. Call upon His name and He will answer you. And He will show you great and mighty things that you don’t know.

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For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. This is a law of Physics for the universe. If you push an object, it will resist being pushed. And brother I know how to push and to be pushed. When I didn’t get my way, I would push back, verbally, physically and spiritually. Sometimes I would push so hard, it sent ripples into my world. That is when I would cause consequences. I don’t want to harm anyone, but I could get angry and push back. It became stubbornness in my life or you could say I became a jackass. Before I came to the Lord, I had a vile and bitter mouth. It was as sharp as any sword. I could do damage to people and it came so easily. It didn’t make me to popular, but I didn’t care. I was so beat-up and hurt that I was going to take the world with me. It wasn’t until I met someone who just loved me for me. He saw all the hurt and put up with the mouth. His love was a soothing salve for the gaping wounds that I had. I began to see all of the consequences that I was causing. I felt bad that I had done so much damage. I didn’t know if the consequences could be reversed. One of the problems I caused took 15 years to erase. But it was only after I came to the Lord that the consequences in my life began to disappear. God healed my broken heart and helped me to live like I was supposed to. I hardly spoke at all for years because of the trouble I caused. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. Choose wisely what you are going to say. Because your words will live beyond your life.

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I found out that a longtime friend died. This man was instrumental in my life. I should say his family was instrumental in my life. The entire family was raised in the church. His dad was a deacon in a local church. His mother would be considered a force of nature. They were by definition a Christian family. One of the grandsons was missionary. I knew most of the family. The mom was the first person to teach me how to pray for someone. She backed me in a corner and had me pray. All I could say was, “God do something”. And guess what God did. This began my prayer life. The man had a precious wife and 5 wonderful children. The oldest child, junior, went home to Jesus before my friend. He had his ups and downs just like the rest of us. But his life was full. He would walk into a store to buy a hammer and lead all the workers to Jesus. He was an evangelist. People from all over knew and loved him. As I did. At one time he was my pastor. He lived in so many different places and still had a normal family life. I know for myself, my life was enriched by this man and his family. And I know that his family is hurting. I pray that God will touch his family and give them comfort. As it says in the bible, that there is nothing more precious to God than the death of one His children.

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If we can remember the time in our lives when we were ruled by love and not by violence. It is unfortunate that as we grew, violence became a part of our lives. First from other children, then it came from everywhere as adults. Man learned how to control their surrounding through force. And each time violence was used, we died a little bit at a time. It is such the opposite of who we really are. Even in the bible, it says in Matthew 11:12 “…now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” When they came for Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, they took Him by force. All of Jesus’ life was based upon love. He loved people so much that people saw it when they met Him. Every time anyone came in contact with Jesus, they saw that He loved them unconditionally.it is still the same today. Jesus loves us unconditionally, for God is love. As followers of Christ, we are to become the image and likeness of God. Which means we are love people unconditionally. This is a tall order for man. We would rather acquire everything through force. This way doesn’t open us to the pain of rejection. Jesus suffered rejection to be able to reach man. Yet He still opened His heart and loved us. Jesus knew that the only way to reach man is love them. It has never changed. Love is the only way to live in this and the world to come. And only by the power of God can we even attempt to live that way. By if we do live that way, it will not only change our lives but the lives around us. The reason that we are to love unconditionally is to be change into the image and likeness of God. And when we do, we will see Jesus when He returns for we will be like Him.

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Easter weekend is the weekend to deal with death. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Death is so foreign to us because we are eternal being. Our spirit will live forever. The bible says that the fear of death has put people in bondage. The bible also says I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live. And again it says I die daily. Again it says as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. It is a liturgy of death. Why does it talk so much about death? Jesus is the example of how and what we are to be to enter the kingdom of God. God made a specific way to enter into the kingdom. It is the way of cross to die to self. We were born in sin. God had to get us to the place where we would be acceptable. And the only way is to die to self. We cannot enter in without our death. God says that we are the image and likeness of Him. We must look like Jesus in his death, burial and resurrection. But with our death is our resurrection. As God raised Jesus from the dead, so will He do for us. When we are born again, we can enter heaven as God has planned. To begin the process, all we have to do is ask God for forgiveness. As it is written, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. I encourage you to ask on the day of Jesus’ resurrection. You have Happy and Blessed Easter.

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