Thoughts from Within

  "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because his deeds were evil . For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." --John 3:19-21 We cannot expect those who don't believe physical truth to accept spiritual truth, yet we, as Christians, shake our heads in disappointment when our lost society embraces sin. The fact of the matter is that their conformity to sinful standards should be expected. No greater examples of this can be given than recent news headliners Bruce Jenner, Rachel Dolezal and our Supreme Court. Here's the physical truth: Bruce Jenner is a man . Rachel Dolezal is white and our Supreme Court justices are not law-makers. Jenner was created a man. Dolezal was created white. The Supreme Court was create...

  The Trainer and His Objective The role of a trainer is to prepare another participant for a future engagement. Trainers are to provide the trainee with tools for interacting during that engagement when it arises. If successfully trained, the trainee will use those tools to effect the outcome desired of the trainer . Therefore, it can be assumed that the trainee's performance is a direct reflection of his training, but even more so of the one providing the training... the trainer . The Christian Trainer If you, as a believer, have children, then you are a spiritual trainer regardless of whether or not you desire to be. The parent is either training proactively by obeying God's Word, or he is training myopically (unwittingly) by ignoring God's Word. So often we hear Proverbs 22:6-- "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it" -- and we tie it to Biblical obedience. We all understand that the verse denotes that...

I fail God everyday. There are days I fail Him by sinning willfully and there are days I sin and don't even realize it. We've all been there, I'm sure. When we sin willfully, we understand it and we can choose to correct the behavior at our own inclination. But how can we change the pattern of sin of which we are unaware? A few days ago in my morning devotions, I came across Psalms 19:12. It says, "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults." It struck me, and humbled me as I read, re-read, and pored over it in meditation. Here King David enlightens the believer to recognize that there are sinful actions, thoughts and behavior of which we are completely oblivious. In fact, we are repeat offenders because these sins have not been revealed to us. It got me to thinking, "what are my secret faults?" I'm sure those who observe me closely can tell me, and I could very easily return the favor because it's always easier to poi...

The year 2014 was a roller coaster ride for me and my family, and as with any roller coaster, you start at the bottom. Our ride began in January, homeless and living with my in-laws. It sounds way worse that it played out. Being homeless was actually an answer to prayer. We owned our own home for seven years before we outgrew it. It sold quickly and, to make a long story short, we needed a place to crash until we found a new house. My in-laws were actually very hospitable and patient with us during our tenure there. February was looking up. But that's the only direction it could have headed after receiving news that my dad had prostrate cancer. We spotted a home online, did some research and made an offer. By month's end, we signed paperwork and the house was ours. This was a miracle in itself, seeing the home had been repossessed and was government-owned. The process on houses like this normally takes months and months, but God worked it all out. March w...