I have written over 550 blogs on every subject about God from A to Z. I still haven’t even scratched the surface. The knowledge of God is given to those who seek Him. When I began to seek God, I learned who He is. I wanted to know not from what people said, but for myself. Everybody has a story and tells it their way. So I began to study and read not only the bible, but literature from all kinds of sources. The trick is to let God tell you what is real and what isn’t. Jesus said that He would send the Holy Spirit to be our teacher. So when I would listen to preachers, I would listen to what God said about what they were preaching. God said that you would learn a little bit at time. He said here a little there a little. I don’t think I could have been able to understand the mysteries of God all at once. So this is what I have tried to do. My blogs aren’t heavy theological discussions. But on the other hand, those that know the truth can see God’s hand. And for those who don’t know the truth, it is to get you to ask questions. When you ask questions, answers will come for you to learn the truth. What is truth? There is only one truth and that is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You see the whole bible is nothing but a picture of Jesus Himself. So I still study to learn about God. And I do this for myself and my Father, God.

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How fast does time pass? How fast is a second? How fast is a minute? How fast is an hour? To some people time moves slower than molasses. Then to some people time moves like fire. But how fast does it move in your life? God gives each of us just some much time. On this earth our time is limited. We are to use our time wisely. You know what it is to lose all sense of time. You feel lost and separated from everything around you. You would think that time is just something small and insignificant. But it is part of our fabric of life. It is as important to us as breathing. Time was given to us to be able to tell where we are and what we are doing. It’s that whole space time continuum. We need time to grow, to learn, to develop into a whole person. We also need time to heal. As they say time marches on. It doesn’t stop for anyone. It is relentless in its pursuits. You see time will end. It is finite. There will come a time in our lives and in the earth where all things end. Then what will you do when your time comes to an end? I have made preparations for just that occurrence. I know where I am going and will end up. God has made plans for just that circumstance. As the bible says: Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” (KJV).

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Time heals all wounds. I have heard this saying all of my life. I sit back and look at the many times that I was wounded by different things. I fell out of a tree when I was 12 years old. It caused a concussion. I still suffer from the efforts of it. But the wound is gone. The only bone I have broken was my big toe. It hurt for a long time. I have had my heart broken several times. Some have healed completely and some well it is ongoing.  What happened with my house being flooded out ripped me a new one. I am old enough not go screaming into the night. But you know I want to.  All this time there has been a presence with me. It is like my dad putting his hand on my shoulder. It has brought peace to my heart. Assuring me that things will work out. It has calmed my heart enough to go on. Going on seems like an insurmountable task. If I had to go through this alone, I probably walk away from it all. But instead I going to face my fears and press on. There is so much more for me than this present circumstance. Sometimes the unknown scares the hell out of me. But I know that I am not alone. I am going to the Promised Land. Pray for me that everything will work out like it is supposed to.

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Everybody has had a plan for their life. Always striving to achieve a set goal in mind. But sometimes the plan and the purpose for our lives is unknown. Not that we didn’t have a direction to go in. It was circumstances that took over and changes our direction. Sometimes we just can’t help it. We may even try to fight it but to no avail. The flood in Louisiana has changed my plan and somewhat my purpose in life. We finished clearing out my house. All of the furniture and things we packs were brought to a storage facility. I’m dog tired. I know my sons are exhausted. But we finished the 1^st phase of restoring the house. My family has lived there for a long time. The boys grew up there. And I spent most of my adult life in that house. And now it is time for a change. I don’t know exactly what is going to happen, but it is going to happen. It is now in the hands of God to decide our fate. I think that is what He wanted all along. That I was getting in the way too much. Sometimes we say one thing and do another. But God is patient with us and will work out circumstances for us. I have been relatively calm through this whole process. I wanted to break down and cry or just scream. But I know there is a better way in all of this. As it says in the bible: Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

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My house was one of the houses that was flooded out in south Louisiana. We got into the house for the first time yesterday. It has been a week under water. There is a big pile of furniture in the front yard. All destroyed. It is hard not to get angry and discouraged. I worked all my life to provide for my family and myself. And now I have to start over again. I just want to sit and cry for a while. But my life isn’t over. My family isn’t hurt. And there are things to do. I didn’t want to go to the house yesterday. I was afraid of what I was going to find. And when I went and found it. My family and friends gathered around me and the family. All the young men pulled all the things out of the house. My earthly treasures were saved. Just about everything is out of the house. The insurance adjuster is coming today. What he says will determine what will happen next. I don’t know what to expect. But I know that I will live on. I still have my van to unload. Then we are at it again. We should finish emptying the house today. Then we set up the fans and dehumidifiers. If I weren’t a Christian, I know that I would be discouraged about everything. And would be asking why me. My life is about living for Jesus, no matter what. And even if it kills me. You see I gave my life years ago. And for all practical purposes, God directs my life. It is the only way to live. I have had purpose and direction all my life. And life has gone up and down like everyone else. But I know that: Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (KJV).

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Today we begin in earnest cleaning out my flooded house. I am not looking forward to this. It is going to be a real pain. I’m thankful that only about 4-5 inches of water got into the house, but still it destroyed a lot of things. I have treasures from my great grandmother, grandmother and mother. Again putting it into prospective they are only things. But things that I wanted to hand down to my children. My children have responded with enthusiasm and a sense of urgency. And several nieces and nephews and my brother will be there with us. As so often is the case, you don’t know what people will do until adversity comes. I always wanted God to explain to me why it takes adversity to get people off of dead center. But I am grateful that they are responding. It is stressful enough just having a flooded house. So many people in southwest Louisiana were forced out of their homes by the water. If you don’t know we had rains of biblical proportions. We have had so much rain that 70,000 people were forced out of their homes. That is a good size city. As heart-breaking as it is, I am thankful to God that very few people have died. And that God is still in control of this world no matter what we think. I will still give Him honor and glory for who He is. Ecclesiastes 3:1,10 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: ….I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.” (KJV).

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Louisiana has just experienced its first non-hurricane hurricane. Normally a hurricane will blow through with Gail-force winds and plenty of rain. Well the past week has seen the most unusual storm. People are calling it the storm of the century. A hurricane formed right on top of Louisiana. It stayed for a week. It was being feed by waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Normally Louisiana gets about 6 inches of rain in August. So far it is 60 inches of rain. 21 inches of rain fell in Baton Rouge and Lafayette in 2 days. My home didn’t get flooded out during the rain. But after the rain stopped and the water began flowing to the Gulf, it started backing up. I am staying with my son in another city. It has been a week that I am out of my house. And hopefully if the water recedes, I have lined up a small army of people to begin cleaning up. I am all excited about what I am going to find. My walls are sheet rock. All of the carpet in the house is going to be torn up and thrown away. It takes a life time to collect things and only a week to destroy them. You stop and wonder why it happens to me. As a Christian, I always expected the God would protect me against tragedy. And for the most part he has done that. You look at the church in the first century. They were persecuted and killed, run out of towns or stoned to death. Yet during that time, the church was the strongest it has ever been. Don’t think for one moment that people aren’t looking at you. After all those times you professed Jesus during the good times, people want to see if it is true in your life. And the best place to see God in your life is during adversity.

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Over the years I don’t think that I ever heard any preacher talk about Ananias and Sapphira. It is interesting because it comes down to what a church really is. Everything in life revolves around people. The church is no different from the world, which is unfortunate. The church is to be an example to the world of how God works in man’s life. If you read the history of most denominations, they started with a bang. People prayed and asked to start something special. When God answer their prayers, it started a movement. Churches sprang up everywhere. The gospel was being preached and people were being saved and healed. God was moving like He wanted to. Then man had to control this movement so it didn’t get out of hand. The more man controlled the less God moves. Until God wasn’t there anymore and man controlled the church. This is how and why we have so many dead churches. I have been in 2 revivals so far. The first one lasted 5 years. And how it ended when the pastor and assistant pastor fought over the church. They split the church and God left. The second one lasted 6 months. It started with a bang and the people were amazed at what happened. Then they got bored with God’s wonders. They stopped coming and God left. Ananias and Sapphira were members of the church in Jerusalem. People were giving large amounts of money to the church. Ananias and Sapphira wanted to get in on this glory. Ananias and Sapphira agreed to sell a piece of property and give part of the proceeds to the church. They lied to Peter about how much money they sold the property for. They gave only part to the church. Peter asked Ananias again if this was the whole amount. He said yes and died on the spot. Sapphira come in later and did the same thing. She died in front of Peter. They lied to the Holy Spirit. God knows what is in your heart before you even speak it. The bible says great fear came upon the church. And many separated themselves from the church.

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Have you ever had the feeling of immortality? There was a song that came out a few years ago named “Ten feet tall and bullet proof”. People still have that feeling of immortality because it is partially true. There is a part of us that is immortal, but it isn’t our body. Our body is made of the dust of the earth. The only problem with that is the sin of Adam and Eve. Because they sinned against God, He cursed the earth. The earth is cursed and our body is made from the earth. Well you see the problem. But our spirit is immortal. God made us in His image and likeness. And that part of us will live forever. Man is made up of three parts, body, soul and spirit. Our body is the dust of the earth. Our soul is the life of God in us. Our spirit is our mind, will and intellect. Our spirit is who we are. That is what is going to go to heaven or hell. My brother died last year. Just before he died, he asked me if it would hurt to die. I told him that dying was like walking into another room. The pain in life is on this side with our body made of dust. I told him that when Jesus came to get him, he would go to sleep and wake up on the other side. Once the bond of God’s life is broken, our body will die and our spirit will separate. Then our spirit will go to the appropriate place. This is the mechanics of life.

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I have always been optimistic about many things. I have believed that things will work out because I believe and trust. Somethings haven’t worked and I know why. Many things in our lives must be believed. What you believe is what you do in your life. Believing can be both ways. You can believe it will get better or it wouldn’t. If you believe it wouldn’t, I’ll guaranty that it won’t. We don’t have the power to change a lot of things in our lives. But what we do have is the power to speak something into existence. You see it says in the bible that life and death are in the power of the tongue. What we say is as important as what we do. In fact speaking it comes before doing it. And before we can speak it, we have to believe it. There are so many self-help books out there. I even saw a self-help book for dummies. So if you want things to change then you need to begin changing you circumstances. If you are in bad company, change your friends. Don’t ever expect things to change if you keep doing the same thing over and over again. I have heard people say they don’t have time to do anything different. Your time belongs to you and what you do is up to you. It takes courage to change. If you will become willing to do what you need, then you can believe that it will happen. Then when belief comes, then comes a change. Then when change comes, you will see that you can do it. Optimism is believing that you can change into what you see in your heart. So then believe.

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