Fullness of Joy

Psalm 16:11
Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

There are a few things that I've learned about joyfulness. For one, joyfulness is not a condition resultant of your external experiences. Another way to say it is that your not only joyful when things go well for you. Joyfulness is a consistent condition of your heart regardless of your external circumstances. This passage says that your joy will be full if you are in the presence of the Lord. Using deductive reasoning, it would be safe to say that if you are not joyful, you are not in the presence of the Lord. Whom do you think moved from who's presence? You or the Lord?

What Are We?

Hmm. Paul asks a good question. It's actually made me stop and think. I appreciate the question; but what I appreciate more is that Paul can't label me. I like it that way. I don't like labels. Here is a little bit of how I feel about THE Church. I wrote this back in December of '04. We don't belong to a denomination. That's not to say that we are in the “non-denominational” groups, such as Church of Christ. I would throw the Churches of Christ (at least the ones in this area) in the denominational group, although they claim not to be. We have been to several churches/denominations seeking like-minded believers and establishing our doctrine. What we've realized is that you don't let a church or denomination establish your doctrine. You let the Bible and the Holy Spirit establish your doctrine. We have not been to a church where we believed the complete doctrine of any denomination. We do, however, believe some of each church. Every church we've been to has been a blessing to us in one form or another, and we always have taken something away. Sometimes it was “Boy, I'll never set foot in there again!” We personally have been to Church of Christ (was raised in that most of my young life), Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal and some “home” or small group fellowships. Have met some really nice people along the way. Some who I believe are totally sold out to the Lord.

For me to list my complete faith and doctrine stance would take a long time and would probably have to be broken up over several post, but I'll hit the high-lights.

• I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

• I believe the Bible is a literal book, written by man but inspired by God (my preference is KJV). [Theres a couple posts at this link titled Literal Bible]
  

• I believe that Jesus came down from heaven to die for the redemption of all man.

• I believe that His blood purifies and redeems us.

• I believe that we can put away our sinful nature and live a holy life, pleasing to the Lord.

• I believe that you can have assurance of your salvation that no one can take from you.

• I believe that you can forfeit/loose that salvation through life decisions.

• I believe in the New Testament church.

• I believe that the Holy Spirit still works in the way it did in the New Testament.

• I believe that Jesus Christ is coming back a second time to gather his Church/Bride home with Him.

Obviously, this is pretty broad. I didn't hit a lot of hot topics (I tend to skip over the end-times discussions like tribulation, millennia, rapture and so-on) and some that I've argued a lot of my life (baptism, communion, speaking in tongues). Some I'm still trying to figure out.

We are at a church/fellowship (no denominational ties or even name for that matter - started out as a house church) now that is made up of families that don't agree on many of these issues. They may debate them in private or men's-round-table-discussions, but typically aren't preached about from the pulpit. We are there because it is safe for my family to worship there. We have been to places that we may have agreed with more of the preaching, but you didn't dare let your children go to Sunday School or play with many of the other kids out of sight or hearing range. I believe that your children should be involved and should be able to make friends at church.

What it boils down to is believing the Bible. Seeking God's wisdom. Listening to the Spirit. Trusting in Christ Jesus.

Paul, if this is too broad and didn't answer your questions, let me know and I'll take another stab at it. Maybe ask more direct or specific questions; like: what is your stance on...? Or maybe you don't really care. That's fine too.

God bless!

Update

Just wanted to let you know that I'm still alive. I was hoping to get something logged in January, but obviously that didn't happen. We have had quite a time the last few months. Early in December we were coming home from a church meeting at a church we used to attend. The weather was pretty nasty (first REAL snow of the year) and I wasn't used driving the van we purchased in May. To make a long story short, we rolled the van in the ditch, ending up on our side. Kind of an interesting experience. Praise God no one got injured (except my wife getting whiplash). We got the van fixed, but it's given us problems since. The strange part is that the problems are in no way related to the accident.
We also had a water line rupture in the back yard causing it to flood. I mentioned it to the guys at church. "Just start digging at the water leak" they told me. I fell for it. I started digging. I dug for four hours the first day and didn't even find the water line. Two hours the next day...still no line. Two days after that, one of the guys from the church came over to help dig. We finally found the line five and a half feet in the ground. We dug all day and couldn't find the leak. Next day two more guys from the church came over to dig. They found and fixed the leak. We still have a large hole in the back yard that I'm slowly getting filled in.
We've been pretty busy at work. There's a big gathering of orthopedic surgeons in Chicago happening in March that my company always attends so we've been gearing up for that.
The family went through the flu a couple weeks ago. I was the only one to escape it's clutches.
I've really been enjoying some music that I downloaded (legally) off the web. It's all scripture set to music. I've really been enjoying a group called Scripture Song. It's kind of folky. I find it a refuge at work. You can visit them here and download songs from each of their albums. I've got to get some of the CD's. We found them from this web-site that has a lot of different groups/artist that primarily put scripture to music. I can't recommend it all because I haven't listened to them all, but some of it's quite enjoyable to me. Just go to the MP3 page.
I preach next weekend at church. The message that been working through my mind goes along with the message that the elder of our church preach last weekend. Should be interesting. Hopefully my message won't seem conflicting to his message.
We are six animals lighter these days. We got rid of our goats. I didn't have the time or money to get a suitable enclosure built for them. Crazy animals escaped everything I tried in the past. They need something more like San Quentin then standard fencing. Rebellious animals! Our pigs have joined our chickens in the freezer. Fresh bacon, ham and sausage...can't beat it. We have also eliminated all roosters from our flock. We were finding things not-so-desirable in our eggs. We should be in good shape now, and our neighbors should hate us less for not having the natural alarm clocks going off at 4:00 a.m.
That's enough for now. It's getting late for me.
God bless!

Encouraged through Trials

Back in March I told you about our family doctor (Phil) who had a son (John, 14 yrs. old) with cancer. John died yesterday morning after his bone cancer spread to his lungs. Typically you would think this is a tragic event. In the flesh, it is. This family has grown so spiritually minded about this that it's unlike anything I've ever seen. It's obvious that they've grown in the Lord. We've grown just reading the updates about John. The post on his web-site from yesterday announcing his death read:

John died this morning. For some reason Laura and I couldn’t sleep so we sat up and dozed on and off in the living room with John. He was sleeping more soundly than usual and suddenly he woke up bright and excited and said, "I’m going home now. It’s awesome. I’m going to be with Jesus." He was so happy about it. Then he fell into a restless sleep and died peacefully several hours later. God is so merciful.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7,8) Way to go John. I’ll see you in heaven.

Thanks for you prayers....Phil

Phil then posted again after that to convey funeral arrangemnts (times, locations, etc.) and said:

God’s peace is flooding our home.

What a testimony. If you have time, read back through some of their updates on the web-site. It will encourage and challenge you (and probably make you cry).

Blessings.

Tookie to Meet His Maker

As of 9:00 PM EST, Stanley 'Tookie' Williams will be executed at 3:01 EST on Tuesday morning at San Quentin State Prison. His only hope to receive an extension is through an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court that was filed this evening. Things look bleak for Tookie. I have mixed feelings about this whole situation. There has been a lot of controversy over his death sentence. He has had a lot of media coverage in the last few months. In case you haven't watched or listened to the news recently and don't know who Stanley 'Tookie' Williams is, he is one of the founders of the street gang 'Crips'. The Crips, since it's conception, have been blamed for murders that number into the thousands, rapes, burglaries, vandalisms, etc. Tookie was convicted of murdering four people in two separate hold-ups in 1979. He has always denied the murders, despite the many witnesses that have testified on the contrary. Even after his arrest and imprisonment, he was very violent, attacking guards and other inmates. It was years later when he was in solitary confinement that he was given a dictionary and a Bible. This is when Tookie's life changed. This is where Tookie met redemption. He began to speak out against gang violence. He wrote several anti-violence children's books and was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. As if this wasn't enough to get him clemency, he has a whole group of celebrities crying out to spare his life. One in particular is a grown man that goes by the name of Snoop Dogg. Mr. Dogg is a proclaimed member or former member of the Crips. He has nothing but praises to speak about Tookie. Snoop Dogg is a gangster rapper whose songs are filled with gangster sex, gangster violence, gangster drugs and alcohol (so I hear). Obviously Mr. Dogg could stand to read Mr. Tookie's children's books. Doesn't make much sense that a gangster thug would turn out to be one of Tookie's biggest advocates. Those that oppose his execution do so because they claim he has reformed his life and that he can do more good alive than he could dead to help stop gang violence. That's one argument. What about the flip side. Let's say Tookie received clemency and got his sentence reduced to life in prison with no chance of parole. Now every gang member who commits a heinous crime like the ones Tookie is convicted of and gets caught has a map to follow. Get to prison, get redeemed, write a children's book and speak out against gang violence and you have your life spared. If he gets executed, it also sends a message. You do the crime, you pay the price. This is where my feelings start to get mixed. And it gets deeper. As Christians, how do we deal with the death penalty. Do we take someones life (not necessarily Tookie) who hasn't chosen to accept the Lord's redemption? He's had his opportunities, right? I know there are prison ministers. Certainly he had his opportunity. What if he “claims” he's been redeemed? Do we spare his life? And continue to pay for his meals and warmth? I can't justify that. Do we release him back into society on good faith? That would be insane! I know the “grace folks” and the anti-death penalty people say that we need to forgive and forget. I have no problem with forgiving if someone is remorseful. Then we need someone who can judge the depth of someone's remorse. Is it genuine? If we forgive, then what. Then release back into society? Once again, I think it's crazy the way we keep people locked up in prison for years and years while we pay for their food, clothing, air conditioning, recreation, cable TV, lawyers...you get the idea. But what do we do with these people. Even if I did not agree with the death penalty, I need to respect the laws of the land, correct? I'm not saying that I would be the one injecting the lethal poison into his body and say that I was just doing my job. I'm saying that if I or someone I know/love committed a crime that carries the death penalty, I need to be prepared to accept that punishment. Whether I'm saved or not.

What I can relate this to on a personal level is my wifes uncle. He lived like the devil for many years of his life. When he reached forty something, his body began to show signs of his past lifestyle. It began to shut down. He came to know the Lord about a year before he died. His body was already wasted. He lived a reckless life knowing what the consequences could turn out to be. God sentenced his body to death; a painful gruesome death. When he found redemption, God did not hand him down a reduced sentence. He had to pay the pre-determined price he had committed to pay. Tookie knew what the crimes he was committing could lead to. By committing those crimes, he committed to pay the price the law of the land determined any murderer to pay; life for life. Because he found redemption, do we hand him down a reduced sentence, or does he pay the price he committed to pay? Do we change in mid-stream because the circumstances "appear" to change? In Jesus' parable about the laborers, the workers who contracted to work all day for a penny wanted to change thier pay when they realized that others were hired to work for an hour for that same penny. Circumstances around them changed, but that didn't change what they already committed to.

I don't claim to be pro-death or anti-death penalty. I'm kind of a fence sitter here. I feel the legal and prison system is way out of kilter, but I don't have the answers to fix it. I hate to funnel money into people if they are going to sit in a prison cell, but I certainly don't want a hardened criminal released back into society.

Once again, I don't know if execution is the right answer. And I also don't claim that our system is a flawless system. I feel that Tookie needs to pay the price he committed to pay when he carried out the murders. If this makes me a hard person, then I guess I'm a hard person. I don't see any other choice. Just thank God that Tookie had the opportunity to find redemption and pray that he truly knows where true redemption comes from. Only Jesus can set us free. He has redeemed each of us, we just need to claim it. Let's hope Tookie has. And let's hope this doesn't turn into another Rodney King race riot in LA. We'll see.

God Bless!

A Challenge

The man on the left in this picture is Sir Edmund Hillary. The man on the right is Tenzing Norgay. These two men were the first two human beings ever to set foot on the summit of Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. They accomplished this in 1953. Many have done this since. Many more have died trying. Hillary typically gets all of the mention for some reason. We watched a National Geographic documentary on Hillary over the weekend that we checked out at the library. It told about his trip up the great mountain as well as his accomplishments in some of the villages surrounding Mt. Everest. He has done some amazing things for some of the underdeveloped villages of Nepal. He has built school-houses where there have never been school-houses before. He has built hospitals where there have never been hospitals. The fatality rate for children up through the age of twenty was astronomical before he built the hospitals. It is now a fraction of that number. His brother is a carpenter by trade from New Zealand. They built several buildings with their own hands and the help from some of the locals. The villagers literally treat him like a god. They invite him in, give him food and drink and shower him with gifts. They even honor him with festivals.

After watching the show, it left an empty spot in my gut. This man and his family had such a wonderful opportunity to witness to these people about God's goodness and his mercy. About the love that God has for us. About Jesus Christ and what he has done for us, and still does for us. I don't know if Sir Edmund Hillary has any sort of "religion" or a faith in God. I do know that he was participating in the annual festivals that they have. The festivals where they worship the mountains and trees. The festivals where they dress up as eight different gods and dance around to scare away any evil spirits for the following year. I just felt grieved for the whole situation.

I can't blame Hillary for not sharing the gospel with these lost people. If he doesn't know the truth, I can't expect him to share it. All he saw was a people with some physical needs. He may not even see the spiritual needs that they have because he has those same needs. And I do appreciate what he has given to these people. Maybe through his selfless giving, he has opened up an opportunity for missionaries to enter into this part of the world and share. I don't know how God will work it out. This documentary was filmed (I believe) in 1989. A lot could have happened in that time.

This definitely made me search my heart, though. Those people that respect me and look up to me; do I share with them the gospel? Do I just meet their physical needs (which is still very important). Am I missing out on great opportunities by holding my tongue? Even with my own children. They love to serve me like these villagers did with Hillary. They love to give me gifts. Am I missing opportunities with them? I have their hearts, which usually means I have their ears. What message am I sending if I'm not sending the gospel? Good works? "Oh, he's just a nice person". I'm know that I have missed opportunities with people. My family; my children; my friends; my co-workers. This is a challenge to myself. To meet needs where needs need met, but also to share the gospel with those who don't know. I didn't say to share the church. That has been my escape my whole life. "Hey, why don't you come to church with me?" in the hopes that they might get saved through that. What's the problem with me sharing the gospel. God has equipped me with a Bible and the ability to read it.

I pray that God would open my eyes to opportunities that I get. (Sometimes I seem to be oblivious to these opportunities until after the fact; then it's usually too late.) That I would share without fear and not get discouraged when rejection comes. This is the least I could do, isn't it?

God bless!

Checking In

Posting once a month kind of seems like a waste of web space, huh? Oh well, it's free.
Just a brief update:

• My family has been sick off and on (mostly on) for about two and half weeks now. It started as the flu and kind of went through the family that way. After we healed up it turned into the cold. My wife went to bed at six o'clock tonight with most of the children shortly after. Grace (our almost three year old) and I did the dishes for mom so she wouldn't have to face that in the morning.
• We did heal up enough to take a short family vacation into the mountains of West Virginia last week. We borrowed a pop-up camper from a "friend" so we could stay in a state park. We got to the state park and began setting up the camper only to realize that there were big rips in the canvas and the heater didn't work. Did I mention that it was below freezing and the wind was whipping like crazy? We huddled up in one end of the camper and it collapsed. We then huddled up on another bed to try to get through at least one night. At 1:00 a.m. Grace woke up and threw up all over the place. We went up to the lodge and asked if they had a room. Praise God they did! That's where we spent the rest of our vacation. It snowed about ten inches while we were there. When we went to check out, they discounted our room enough to make up for the campground lot that we had paid for in advance. God's provisions always amaze me.
  
• It was my turn to preach this weekend at our fellowship. It was my first time preaching here. It had been about a year since I preached last. There were the typical nerves to hurdle, but God got me through. My family couldn't make it because of sickness so I gave them a practice run at home before leaving for church. That helped a ton. I preached on a topic that has been with me for about a year now and strongly for about two to three months: making sure your heart is in a condition to be used (and even accepted) by God. I used many passages, but a few were the story of the rich young ruler. Jesus turned him away because something else had his heart (his possessions). Various pharisees, and also those that called "Lord, Lord" that he sent away.
• Had a brief discussion with the guy I work with today who is Methodist. I asked him about the lesbian Methodist pastor that they made step down. His response: "I don't know why they fill the news with this junk! This isn't news!" He was the first to jump on the band-wagon when the Catholic sex-abuse scandals were rampant in the news, bashing the priest and looking for someone to listen to the latest joke he had heard. He also stated "I thought we were supposed to be tolerant of those who aren't like us. Why are they doing this?" One thing to note: the Methodist do allow homosexual clergy as long as they are committed to celibacy. I found that interesting.
• God has been putting some families in our lives who seem to be like-minded and mostly without church homes. Not sure what's going on with that. Not all are too local to us, but some are. I have a hard time encouraging these people to attend our church because we are about forty-five minutes from church and further yet from most of the families of our church. I really like our church, but it's hard to establish a sense of community when you are so far away.
  
• Ross and I took the last air-conditioner out tonight. I always drag my feet about it. You never know when the Indian Summer might hit. It's now November so I think we're pretty safe. Actually for the last three weeks it's been more procrastination than anything else. We also got some wood cut up.
• We had to run out on Saturday to get some animal feed. When we got home both of our gardens were plowed up. We have great neighbors!

Well, that's enough rambling for now.

God bless!!

Chickens

This picture shows how our Saturday afternoon started out. We showed up to a member of our churches house at about 12:30 p.m. Our chickens had been delivered the night before by another family from our church. There were four church families there including us. We had been raising these chickens since the last week of July. After eight weeks and several hundred pounds of food, our 78 chickens were ready to be butchered. We made the first cut of a chicken at 12:39 p.m. By about 2:30 p.m. we were finished cleaning the last one. We soaked them in a large cooler over night and bagged them after church on Sunday afternoon. We got them home that afternoon and put them into the freezer. We now have half a freezer full of good, healthy, un-medicated, steroid-free chickens. Obviously, there is a lot that went on between that time (and we do have photographs) that I won't share. All in all, a very educational day. It's neat to work together with brothers and sisters in Christ. They didn't want paid for their services. They wanted to help. Allowing the church to help us saved us about $200 in processing fees. Plus, we learned to to clean chickens. We have pigs that will be ready to slaughter at the end of December/begining of January. Rumor has it, there's a family in our church that can butcher pigs and cattle. I'm not sure if we're ready for that. I'll keep you posted though.

Yesterday

Yesterday was a bit of a whirl-wind day. Our Abigail turned 5 years old. She wanted pancakes, sausage and bacon for her birthday meal. She got a bag full of things from her grandma. One was a bag of balloons. Her first activity was to hand them out to each brother and sister to share in the fun. She's a very sweet girl.

We also got some very good news on our house. We had it appraised last week. Without going into too much detail, let's just say that God is good!

The kids found a cat last Thursday or Friday and asked if they could keep it. It was obvious this cat was used to being around people. My wife said that she would have to call our neighbors and make sure it didn't belong to someone. No answer from one neighbor. It was obvious they were gone. There was no activity at their home for a few days, so my wife left something on their answering machine. We got a call last night that said it sounded like their cat. They had just got home from vacation and received the message. My wife told her that I would take the cat home to them. It was about 8:30 or 9:00 in the evening. The wind was blowing pretty hard with a cool/warm mixed breeze, like it was trying to kick up a good storm. It's pretty dark by this time. I walked out to get into the car and my wife said “Troy, their's something in with the chickens.” I squinted into the dark and sure enough, it's a goat. I gave the cat to my wife to hold and started to chase the goat around. That was not enjoyable. At one point I told the goat “If I catch you, I'm going to kick you...hard!” I eventually caught her, but I didn't kick her. I picked her up and dropped her over the fence. I see why in the Bible, they are the rebellious animals. I'll have to see where she got out today (when it gets light out). I fixed any damage she caused to the chicken pen and took the cat to the neighbors. When I got back from the neighbors, it was blowing even harder. My wife was outside looking around. I got out and started talking to her. Just then, the wind ripped off the roof of another chicken pen. I grabbed my drill and a box of screws and tried to put it back together the best I could. Then my wife expressed concern for the turkeys and guineas. They free-range and are only a couple months old. She wanted to put them into the chicken pen for protection. While I finished putting the roof on, she started chasing poultry; in the dark. She managed to capture the turkeys quite sportsman-like. I was impressed. Then for the guineas. They are fast, feisty and noisy. She caught a couple that were huddled in a group. We both had to chase down the last three. They kept circling and circling. I had to have Eshell block their path while I chased them into a corner so I could grab them. We managed.

We also found our first farm-fresh egg yesterday. It was small and broken, but we were excited none-the-less. I guess I'll be building nesting boxes soon.

Ahh, life in the country. Needless to say, I was ready for bed last night.

The UNITED States of America

There is something that is really frustrating me. Just like there will never be a universally agreed upon church, we will never fully agree on how to handle things; let alone run the country. This is not a political issue. This is more of a social issue. What frustrates and saddens me is the way this hurricane is tearing apart this country. Yes, the devastation was terrible. The looting despicable. I think the worst of it is the political games we play with it. Maybe President Bush should have reacted differently. Maybe not. Maybe FEMA could have been more responsive. Maybe not. Maybe Mayor Nagin or Governor Blanco could have been more pro-active. Maybe not. Do any of these accusations bring the dead and lost back? Does it save those that are still missing or stranded? Does any of this help the displaced that are in shelters like the Superdome, Astrodome or anywhere else get home...or bring back their ravaged homes for that matter? People are still stranded and dying and we bicker about who's fault this is. At least we can count on Jesse Jackson to point out that we should not be using the word “refugee” because it has derogatory racial meanings. Thank you mister Jackson! How many people did that help? For your information Jesse: if I'm stranded in an attic or on a rooftop for a week plus, I don't care what you or the media call me, just help me get out!! I truly believe that if things could have been done more efficiently, the strategy for the future should change. If things were messed up, people should be held accountable. Is now the time and place? Should we be dragging them through the mud now? Let's get the people safe RIGHT NOW. Let's get them the medical attention they need RIGHT NOW. We can settle up later. I know this strife isn't anything new to this country. I know it's intensified because of the media coverage of the hurricane. We have put this under the microscope to analyze. There is always the left and the right. The conservative and the liberal. The Republican and the Democrat. That won't change, either. Why can't we work as ONE when our country needs us so badly? Do we hate each other so badly that we can't work side by side to help out our fellow country-men? If so, we have arrived at a very sorry state. Woe unto us and God help us. I understand that much stress comes with disasters like this. Nobody wants to take blame for something of this magnitude. When we attack each other like this, we are no better than the looters. We are no better than those raping, murdering and pillaging in such a time of need as this. Those looting are looting for their own selfish gain. When our leaders attack each other, they do so to try to gain something. Gain popularity in the polls. Gain a reputation. Gain some sort of an edge over their opponent (enemy?). To those that are pointing fingers when we should be rolling up our sleeves and taking our turn manning the pump to drain the city, please step aside and sit down and let the rest work. To Mrs. Clinton, please sit down. To Howard Dean, please sit down. To Kanye West, please sit down. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, SIT! Rodney King said it best when he tearfully said “Can't we all just get along?”

God Bless!