I used to drink alot of soft drinks but I switched to unsweet tea.  Joe Thorn had an interesting diagram of the effects of soft drinks on the body.  Made me stop and think a little.

Saturday we had a workday to tackle a few of the finishing details in our building.  I  decided to work on repairing a sheetrock seam where the tape was coming loose.  One of the guys suggested I use caulk to hold it up.  I am not the greatest caulker so I decided to do it my way.

God invented Gorilla Glue to hold just about anything.  It was the perfect thing for this project.  I started applying the glue to the sheetrock tape and it began to drip.  Instead of letting it drop on the new floor, I made sure to catch it with my hands.  It dripped and dripped and dripped and dripped, until my hands were covered with Gorilla Glue.

This article should be a testimonial for Gorilla Glue.  That stuff works.  Well, it seems to work better on hands than it does on sheetrock.  Since, I have an incredible fear of sticky stuff (stickyphobia), I rushed to the bathroom to wash my hands.  It didn’t work!

My hands remained sticky for some time.  The bottle of Gorilla Glue says to wash off with soap and water.  Oh sure, that sounds easy.  I tried soap and water, mineral spirits, turpentine, super Castrol garage floor cleaner and paint thinner.  Finally, after the last coat of chemicals, the stickiness was alleviated.  However, three days later, I am still peeling glue off of my hands.  I wish I would have listened to the advice just to use caulk.  That comes off with soap and water.

How often do we not follow the advice of godly counsel and find ourselves in sticky situations?  How many times have we read correction in the Word of God and not heeded it and gone down the wrong path? 

So many of our problems would not have happened if we would have followed the counsel and advice of the Wonderful Counselor.  Sticky situations usually happen because we have done the wrong thing and complicated our lives.  Life would be so much less sticky, if we would only live by the Word and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Life will never be easy, but it would be easier if we wouldn’t get ourselves in sticky messes.  Some of the holes we dig ourselves into are tougher to overcome than Gorilla Glue.  From now on, I am going to follow advice…

What are you afraid of?

Many people today are scared to death of being used by God. Countless numbers are afraid to respond to God’s call upon their heart, afraid that they will not succeed. The fact is, if God called you, He will equip you. It is only natural to feel inadequate when we know God has appointed us for a work. No matter the task, God is well able to see us through and cause us to be successful at whatever we attempt for Him.

Paul in writing to Timothy said, "That is why I would remind you to stir up – rekindle the embers, fan the flame and keep burning – the [gracious] gift of God, [the inner fire] that is in you by means of the laying on of my hands [with those of the elders at your ordination] For God did not give us a spirit of timidity – of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear – but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control." II Timothy 1:6-7 AMPLIFIED BIBLE

Timothy was also struggling with the same feelings you do. Paul reminds Him that this fear is not of God, but God gives us the power to do the work, the love for His work, and the sound mind to settle our fears. What hinders you? The enemy of our souls would have you to be blind in fear, crippled by inadequacy, and maimed by his lies. If you feel God leading you to do something, you are positioned for success when you answer the call. God has it all planned out for you and wants you to respond. Your frame of mind should continue to be, "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. I am more than a conqueror through Christ who loves me. I am the head and not the tail, above and not beneath, blessed and not cursed." Remember you are chosen by the Almighty; answer the call and change the world. Can one person change the world? Yes, Jesus did. Now go proclaim Him!

Yesterday, Josh and I took our first Tae-Kwon-Do lesson.  What a blast!  To understand what that means, I must take you back 25 years to my childhood.  I was a kung-fu nut.  Every Saturday, I would watch the kung-fu movies religiously.  I wanted to be Bruce Lee.  My secret desire was to be a ninja.  Well, that is not my secret desire anymore but it would be cool to be a ninja. 

Back to the story.  When Josh asked if we could do Tae-Kwon-Do, I was reminded of my childhood dreams.  So, I instantly said yes and we started our lessons. 

It was an incredible time, however, there was a little intimidation.  It was quite humbling to be in a room with 7 to 47 year olds and the 7 year olds are a higher belt class than Josh and I.  Not to mention, there was a 12 year old black belt.  In other words, there were some young kids in there that could probably take me out. 

When you start a class like this, they do not go by age, but by knowledge and skill.  In fact, I can almost guarantee that most of these kids in the room, looked at me and thought, “How come the chubby guy can’t kick above his belt?  Why does he groan when we do the kicking exercises?”  My friends, I am out of shape.  Or as a friend of mine says, “I am a shape: round!”

Thinking about these things makes me ponder how often we are as Christians.  Out of shape!  We can become spiritually lazy and get out of spiritual shape.  We are not as sharp in the Word as we used to be or our prayer life is lacking.  We lack the discipline to keep our inner life in tip top shape because we neglect it.

As believers, it is similar to the Tae-Kwon-Do class.  A 7 year old that is in shape can be superior to a 38 year old out of shape.  We are supposed to continue to grow closer to the Lord and more knowledgeable of His Word, but if we are honest, sometimes, kids know more than us.  Study to show yourselves approved a workman does not need to be ashamed. We must rightly divide the Word of Truth. 

I just realized that today is the 19th anniversary of my being baptized in water.  July 27th was the 19th anniversary of my miraculous salvation in Christ.  Many people do not remember these moments in their lives but for me it was a life-changing and life-saving event.

God miraculously intervened in my life of sin and set me on the path to a new life.  Delivered and set free, God chose to call me into His life.  Thanks be to God!  Who knows where I would be without Him.  It is often that I think of my life before and after Christ.  I am so thankful that Christ has given me a new life and I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

This 19 year journey has had many ups and downs.  Good times and bad but God has seen me through them all.  God is amazing!  I celebrate what He has done for me, but most of all what He has done in me.  I never regret following Him and I am humbled that He has called me to preach the Gospel!

Are you satisfied in your spiritual walk with God?

Psalm 65:4 says, "Blessed is the man You choose, and cause to approach You, That He may dwell in your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house. Of Your Holy Temple."

Notice how it says that blessed is the man God chooses. God has chosen man to dwell in His presence. In our walk with God, we should not be satisfied until we find His presence. He has chosen us to dwell with Him, to commune with Him, and sup at His holy table. I get worried when I do not desire to spend time in prayer; it bothers me sometimes when I don’t want to pray. God draws us to His presence because He wants to be a part of man’s life.

The Psalm also says, "That he may dwell in Your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house." When we find and experience God’s presence, we will be satisfied, but not to the point that we will never need to come back. Once you experience His presence you will be longing to be satisfied all the time. The only way to stay satisfied is through daily communion with the Master. We will be satisfied with the goodness of His house, meaning that nothing of this world will fulfill our longings, only His goodness.

Have you ever seen a poor elderly grandmother, that barely has a dime to her name, yet she has more joy and happiness than anyone you know? She has been satisfied with the goodness of His presence. In your journey, seek to find God and experience His presence. When you do, you will never be the same and He is waiting for you!

We had a great time on vacation but we are glad to be back home.  We packed in alot of great things while we were in Kansas City.  One of my favorites was the Jesse James Farm, once owned by the family of the infamous bank robber, Jesse James.

I have always been fascinated by the stories of outlaws (maybe I shouldn’t share that).  Jesse James was one of the outlaws that I liked to read about as a kid.  I found it interesting at the James farm how they somehow felt his life of crime was justified and when he was killed for bounty, his family considered it murder (note the inscription on his tombstone).

One interesting thing to note was the cunningness of his family and how they were sharp dealers and integrity was never a strong point.  His mom sold rocks supposedly off of his grave and she would replenish them with rocks from the creek.  She also sold his pistol to historians on quite a few occasions.  She would sell it to one historian and then buy a new one that he had never touched and sell it as his pistol again and again.

I wonder where Jesse got his criminal traits from, hmm?

We have been on vacation together for a few days now.  Our family has had some time to spend together, the most we have had in quite a few weeks.  Whenever we have a lot of togetherness, there are always some interesting times with Josh and Hannah.  Hannah’s interesting things I can publish and Josh’s I can’t because he is of the age of consent and information is held to protect the guilty.  Not to mention he would probably hurt me to share some of the details, however, I will talk for cash:)

So here are a few of our “Hannah-isms for the week.

Friday night, Hannah and I were sitting on the couch and she was really affectionate.  She was hugging me and kissing me on the cheek.  She looks at me and says, “I love it when I love you!”  That was her attempt at self-appreciation and you can read between the lines there.  In essence she was saying, “I am actually being nice to you.”

On the way to Kansas City, I was flipping through the radio stations to find a Christian station.  I stopped on a Jazz station (I love Jazz) and listened for a second, when out of the back seat Hannah yells, “No change it!  I don’t like that music,” 

I flip to another station and the next one lands on a classic rock station.  Screaming guitars and something that sounds like Led Zeppelin is playing and I change the station.  Hannah screams again, “No, turn it back.  I like that song!”  Sonya and I looked at each other and agreed we are in trouble.

Last night at World’s of Fun (similar to Six Flags), Hannah was getting off of the worm ride.  It was a small roller coaster.  Sonya was taking her to ride it again, when Hannah exclaimed, “No, I don’t want to go back on that one.  It doesn’t go fast enough.”  That’s My Girl!