Technology is moving at breakneck speeds. A few years ago, cell phones were introduced and the “experts” thought that only the richest business people would have need of them. Hmmm, think they were a little off? Nowadays everyone and their grandma has a cell phone. Literally, grandmas, grandpas, young adults, teens, even kids – everyone has a cell phone.

They talk, they surf the web, and they text. Yes, grandmas text. You may have to show her how, but it is happening.

Technology has changed the way we communicate, but in our rush to move forward I don’t know if anyone has stopped to ask if we should move forward so quickly? I mean just because we CAN do something, doesn’t mean that we SHOULD.

I have read countless articles telling people to get ready because today’s young people all communicate in ways vastly different than their parents, even though their parents are being sucked in as well. And yes, being aware of the changes in communication is very important, but I also think a warning needs to be sounded.

20 years from now, we are going to be the most technological, wired-in society the world has ever seen, and in my opinion, we are also going to be dealing with a society that is socially retarded, unable to cope with problems, and chronically depressed. Oh sure, we will be able to text each other, and share our problems on Facebook, or whatever social networking site is popular at the time, upload pictures of our latest achievements, but we will be so unhappy.

And even though much of what I say here is opinion, I also believe I have the Bible to back me up. For example:

I have to txt u, but don’t wanna use my phone. Instead I wnt 2 talk face2face, so we can be J.

OK, that’s a paraphrase of 2 John 2:11 The ESV says it this way – Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

John here is saying that although he has a lot to say, he doesn’t want to write anymore, he instead wants to come and talk face to face. Not because he prefers it, but because he says it will make their joy complete. John recognized the importance of relationship and how a face to face meeting is superior to a written letter (or how face to face is superior to a status update on Facebook or a text).

We need to be careful how we use the technology that God has gifted us with. It needs to be an enhancement to the face to face relationships we have and continue to foster. If we start to substitute Facebook updates and texts for face to face meetings – our joy will not be complete and we will be moving further on down the road to dysfunction.

Here are a couple more examples from the Bible that back-up what John said. Paul in writing to the church at Ephesus and Colossae said he was going to send a real live person to talk to them. He has just spent pages and pages talking to the churches, but closes each letter saying that someone is coming to them to meet them face to face. Even Paul, who wrote a large portion of the New Testament, understood the importance of meeting in person.

Ephesians 6:21-23 – So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and the he may encourage your hearts.

Colossians 4:7-9 – Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.

Notice in each instance, Paul realized how face to face meetings not only allowed people to form relationships, but also would encourage hearts, something mere letters (or texts) are unable to do.

Yes, I realize the hypocrisy in that many of you will be reading this because I emailed it to you, or posted it on my blog and updated my Facebook profile to let you know about it. But my hope is that I never let my use of technology take the place of face to face meetings and the forming of real relationships.

Just something to think about.

And as a side note – as awesome as the Bible is and as amazing as it is in transforming lives and giving us a picture of who Jesus is, how much more awesome and amazing is it going to be when we meet Him face to face? Just sayin.

I want a movement of God. And I know I am not the only one.

God is amazing…I want to see a powerful move of God. I want to feel the power of God fall all over me. I want to stand in awe at the mighty and powerful arm of God.

We all want that. We all pray for that, long for the day when God’s power and presence becomes so evident in our lives that it changes us forever.

Question…

Have you not seen the sunset?

A baby being born?

Ever ponder the planets, the moon, the stars?

Ever watch lightning move from the dark clouds of a thunderstorm and strike the ground?

Have you stopped to consider Jesus dying on the cross as payment for our sins?

I wonder…if we are not in awe of the beauty of the sunset as it sets on the horizon. If we cannot marvel at the miracle of life. If the universe no longer occupies our minds with wonder…If the awesome power of nature does not stop us in our tracks in amazement…

Will we recognize when God moves again?

Jesus died for us, he was brutalized, spit upon, mocked, ridiculed, tortured both mentally and physically…for you…

And we ask for a movement of God.

If we don’t stand in utter disbelief at the unwarranted and mysteriously beautiful crucifixion of Jesus do we have any chance of seeing God move in lesser ways?

I wonder, maybe God does want to move, maybe he wants to do something spectacular, maybe he already has but we have become so numb to the already amazingly magnificent moves of God that we will be unable to recognize them when they happen.

DON’T LET FEELINGS GET IN THE WAY

Sometimes I feel all alone.

Sometimes I feel depressed.

Sometimes I am afraid.

Sometimes I feel weak.

Sometimes I feel stupid.

Sometimes I feel like a loser.

Sometimes I feel like giving up.

 

It’s a good thing that we don’t have to go on feelings.

 

I may feel alone…but God never leaves me or forsakes me.

I may feel depressed…but God supplies me with joy.

I may be afraid…but with God there is no need to fear anything.

I may feel weak…but with God I am strong.

I may feel stupid…with God I am wise.

I may feel like a beggar…with God I am more than a conquerer.

I may feel like giving up…but with God I am victorious!

Don’t let your feelings get in the way of who you really are.

A child of the King.

It’s a cool line from an equally cool hymn. It doesn’t need much breakdown really. Get me prepared to sing about you. Pretty basic.

But since I am in the habit of breaking things down, let’s break it down.

Tune my heart. Here we are asking God to prepare us. When I think about the preparation I don’t necessarily think of it as an altogether pleasant process. God disciplines the ones he loves. He shows us where we are wrong. Tell us what to do and what not to do. So the tuning process may not be the most enjoyable thing, but it is a necessary thing for the next step.

To sing thy grace. I am going to sing about God. I am going to tell of his wonders. I am going to shout about his love. In order to do this, I must first be tuned. The singing about God is wonderful, enjoyable, passionate, uplifting, it is what we were made to do.

I was thinking about me playing the bass guitar. I don’t get a whole bunch of excitement or pleasure or sense of satisfaction when I strap the bass on and tune the instrument, but I know if I do not tune I will be unable to function in a band where everyone else is tuned, so I go through the process and tune my instrument…now I am ready to play.

Once the playing starts all the tuning is forgotten. I don’t think about the tuning, the plugging in, the copying of music, etc etc etc. I forget about all the mundane processes and am lost when the actual playing starts.

That’s the way we need to be when it come to the things of God. We have to know that we are going through a process, that there is a tuning going on and the tuning is necessary for when we reach the singing. Whether it be playing an instrument, singing, leading a Bible study, preaching, going into prisons, helping the poor, whatever we do for the Lord we have to be willing to go through the tuning, the preparation process in order to be able to effectively minister in the area God has called us.

When God called us, he didn’t say everything was going to be great. In fact He kinda said the opposite. We need to be willing to take the punches if we are going to be able to pull off what God has for us to do.

I have no reason to write right now. Except He is.

Nothing to rail about, nothing to whine about, nothing to praise God for, nothing to question Him about.

OK that’s not really true. Sure there are things going on that I don’t like. Sure every breath, every sunrise, every laugh from my children are all reasons to praise God for, but as I sit here, I have no focus for my aggressions, no pinpoint for my passion.

And that’s OK. It seems that when we are going through the storm, we ask and pray for peace and then when the peace comes we sit around and wonder why we feel so ‘blah’. We feel like nothing is happening, nothing is going on and we wonder what is wrong with us, at least I do.

So as I sit, maybe I should smile and be happy for the few brief moments of tranquility, because I know, from personal experience and from what I read in the Bible that tough, or tougher, times are right around the corner.

And that’s OK because the God I believe in says he will never leave me or forsake me, even when I feel like he is not there. He is.

Hebrews 12:2-3 (The Message)

2 Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how He did it. Because He never lost sight of where He was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God – He could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now He’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.

3 When you find yourself flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

When you’re down and lonely and you need a helping hand.

James Taylor, a troubadour in every sense of the word, sang these lyrics in his song, “You’ve Got a Friend.” Now first things first…I am not even sure what the word troubadour means. I know it has something to do with music, and I think it sounds cool, but whether or not James Taylor is one is up to someone who wants to take the time to get a dictionary and look up the word and see if he matches the definition, as for me, it’s not relevant, I just wanted to use the word.

Now back to the lyric. When he says, when you are down and lonely I think he is making an assumption that we are going to be down and lonely. And it is a good assumption, because all of us at some time or another feel down, lonely, depressed, not right, unhappy, etc and etc. The question is, what do we do when we come to a point like that in our lives.

No offense to Mr. Taylor, but reaching out for someone’s hand, while nice, may not offer the comfort and peace we seek, especially if what we are going through is a crisis of faith or dealing with many of the other ‘issues of life’ that we so often face. And believe it or not, even Christians face issues from time to time (like every day).

So when faced with a struggle, when faced with tough times, when faced with being down and lonely, what do we need? Again, we need more than a helping hand, we need to recognize what our feelings are and then how to respond.

This may sound harsh, but our feelings of loneliness, depression, sadness, etc and/or etc, while possibly valid, are actually a slap in the face of God. Right? I mean, think about it, God has promised to never leave you or forsake you, he promised to never give you more than you can handle, promised to always have a way out for what you are dealing with, has saved you from your sins, promised you a brighter tomorrow, has offered his grace and mercy, not only on a daily, but on a moment-by-moment basis…so any whining or complaining on our parts constitutes a lack of faith, doesn’t it?

Well, I say yes. And if you are in a situation where you are feeling out of it, the Bible in Hebrews 12:2-3 gives us the remedy. First, keep your eyes on Jesus. Simple enough, right? But as we read the verse it tells us to be reminded of what He is, what He has done. It tells us to go over the story again. Like a favorite song or scene from a movie you can watch over and over again and still be moved, the story of Jesus should be like that…we need to often be reminded of Jesus. Read His story, remember what He has done and the fear, pain, hurt will go away.

I LOVE the way the Message puts it…remembering HIS story will SHOOT ADRENALINE THROUGH YOUR SOULS. A shot of adrenaline, I could use some of that! Can you?

 

This is just an excerpt from some writing.  It is a work in progress and is a rough draft, but I thought I’d put it up…

Even with good intentions I miss days and days of writing. Oh well maybe it’s the curse of being human or something? Or maybe it is even for all my talk of how I love writing and how beneficial I find it I don’t REALLY find it that good for me, I mean because otherwise I would make time for it, wouldn’t I?

But as I think, I don’t really make TIME for anything really. I work, eat, sleep, and do it all over again. Oh sure there are days when I write, when I sing, when I spend time with my boys, but it seems like for me consistency in so many areas I find important are difficult. Hmmm maybe it is because I take those things for granted…my writing will always be available, my guitar will always be there, my kids, my wife…but since I am a thinking man I know that one day, maybe soon, maybe later, but one day some or all of those things will be gone and I’ll be going over the lost opportunities I had with those things and so much more.

I don’t want to be in Heaven whining about how I missed this or that. I pray God gives me wisdom, strength, and courage to do what God asks and to do what my heart leads me to do.

I’m not scared enough.  At least I don’t think I am…

Matthew 7:21-23 – “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me your workers of lawlessness.’”

Now of course my first reaction when I read these verses, or read about the sheep and the goats is that I won’t be one of those unfortunate souls that are cast off into the lake of fire, unable to enter the Kingdom of Heaven with a declaration from Jesus that he never knew me, but that is exactly the reaction of the people in Matthew 7.

And these weren’t ‘ordinary’ people.  These were dudes (or dudettes) who were prophesying, casting out demons and doing mighty works.  And they were doing these works in His name!

And these people were not just cast out of Heaven.  They weren’t just asked to leave and called workers of lawlessness, they had the guy whose name they did miraculous things in tell them that he never knew them.

Ouch.

So as I sit here I wonder what sets me apart from these dudes and why am I going to be able to enter the Kingdom as opposed to the workers of lawlessness in these verses?

Better yet…what sets you apart?

 

Not a real deep writing or anything, but something I have been trying to find for some time and I ran across this on the web.  Dont know if it is 100% accurate or not.

I always thought it would be cool to read the Bible in the order that it happened.  Like when one of the prophets is writing prophecies to read them in the order they happen within the history books.  And when David is writing one of his Psalms to read it when he wrote would be cool to me.

So for your viewing, and maybe reading pleasure.  Here is the chronological order of the books of the Bible.

Chronological Order of OT

Genesis 1 – 22
Job
Genesis 23 – 50
Exodus
Psalm 90
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Psalm 91
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
I Samuel 1 – 16:13
Psalm 23
I Samuel 16:14 – 19:11
Psalm 59
I Samuel 19:12 – 21:15
Psalms 34, 56
I Samuel 22:1, 2
Psalms 57, 142
I Samuel 22:3-23
Psalm 52
I Samuel 23
Psalms 54, 63
I Samuel 24 – 31
II Samuel 1 – 7
Psalm 30
II Samuel 8:1-14
Psalm 60
II Samuel 8:15 – 12:14
Psalms 51, 32
II Samuel 12:15 – 15:37
Psalms 3, 69
II Samuel 16 – 20
Psalms 64, 70
II Samuel 21, 22
Psalm 18
II Samuel 23, 24
Psalms 4 – 9, 11 – 17, 19 – 22, 24 – 29, 31, 35 – 41, 53, 55, 58, 61, 62,
Psalms 65, 68, 72, 86, 101, 103, 108 – 110, 138 – 141, 143 – 145
I Kings 1 – 4
Proverbs
Song of Solomon
I Kings 5 – 11
Ecclesiastes
I Kings 12 – 22
II Kings 1 – 14:25
Jonah
II Kings 14:26-29
Amos
II Kings 15 – 25
Psalms 1, 2, 10, 33, 43, 66, 67, 71, 89, 92 – 100,
Psalms 102, 104 – 106, 111 – 125, 127 – 136, 146 – 150
I Chronicles 1 – 16
Psalms 42, 44 – 50, 73 – 85, 87, 88
I Chronicles 17 – 29
II Chronicles 1 – 21
Obadiah
II Chronicles 22
Joel
II Chronicles 23 – 26:8
Isaiah 1 – 5
II Chronicles 26:9 – 23
Isaiah 6
II Chronicles 27 – 32
Isaiah 7 – 66
Hosea
Micah
Nahum
II Chronicles 33, 34
Zephaniah
II Chronicles 35
Habakkuk
Jeremiah 1 – 6, 11, 12, 26, 7 – 10, 14 – 20, 35, 36, 45, 25, 46 – 49,
Jeremiah 13, 22 – 24, 27 – 29, 50, 51, 30 – 33, 21, 34, 37 – 39, 52, 40 – 44
Lamentations
II Chronicles 36:1 – 8
Daniel
II Chronicles 36:9 – 21
Psalm 137
Ezekiel
II Chronicles 36:22, 23
Ezra 1 – 5:1
Haggai
Zechariah
Psalms 107, 126
Ezra 5:2 – 6:22
Esther
Ezra 7 – 10
Nehemiah
Malachi

Order of NT

Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts 1 – 14
James
Acts 15
Galatians
Acts 16
Philippians
Acts 17:1 – 10
I Thessalonians
II Thessalonians
Acts 17:11 – 18:11
I Corinthians
II Corinthians
Acts 18:12 – 20:1
Ephesians
Romans
Acts 10:2 – 28:30
Colossians
Hebrews
Titus
Philemon
I Timothy
II Timothy
I Peter
II Peter
I John
II John
III John
Jude
The Revelation

Acts 14:22 says this:

"We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God"

Sounds like fun. 

OK maybe not fun.

It is safe to say that sometimes bad things happen.  Sometimes things don’t go the way you’ve planned.  Sometimes into each life a little rain must fall and sometimes it’s not just a little rain but a massive downpour.

Nothing too profound here, but hopefully comforting.  The Bible says we MUST go through HARDSHIPS to enter the kingdom of God.  So if, when you go through ‘stuff’ rejoice for it is through hardships that you enter God’s kingdom.  When you go through tough times rejoice for you are on your way to the kingdom of God, and that’s a good thing.

Another thing that can give comfort is the Bible promises in Hebrews 13:5 that God will never leave us nor forsake us.  So even during those times when it seems like He isn’t there He is.  And during those times when it seems like there is no way out, there is not only a way out, but God is leading you and He is leading you into the Kingdom!