Dazed and Confused

It's now after Thanksgiving and headed for the Christmas holidays. 2017 has been some year, hasn't it? There has been so much depression, confusion, hatred, in this world from all the events that have occurred. Sometimes you get so burden heavy from all of this that you begin to wonder where is God in all this.

Stress has always been around and will continue because Satan is not going asleep. He prowls around seeking whom he can destroy with his demons. He looks for all the weak links in all of us. We all have them. That's because we are not perfect and need what is NOT perfect for us to be filled with help from God. That's a void only Jesus Christ can fill even though as humans in this world try to fill it with so much other stuff. When we do that, it causes confusion and chaos in our lives. You get to be dazed and confused. As the saying goes, "stuff happens". We can expect that stress will attack us almost any time and probably when we least expect it. As a police officer, I had to be as prepared for what I might encounter out in the street each shift. You just never know what to expect but you had better be ready. That's why training is so important. Officers need the right equipment and must be ready to fire their weapon at a moments notice.

Here's another example. Your out on a boat having a great time when the boat is rocked somehow and you fall overboard! You're splashing around trying to stay afloat when you're thinking, "Why didn't I have my preserver on?" Well, it's the same with everyday life! You know that the potential of some type of stress can happen to you when you leave home if you have not already encountered stress in your home! How do you prepare for stress? It doesn't matter what type of person you are because God says that if you trust in him, let him run your life, he will either get rid of the stress or get you through it and have peace at the end.

35 years ago I gave my life to Jesus Christ and there are no human words can explain the peace that I have experienced through major trials such as divorce and heart attacks. If you have not asked God to run your life, please consider today to do so. Just ask Jesus Christ to run your life and ask him to forgive you for all the sins you have committed. We all have sinned! There are no exceptions except Jesus. I know life is better because I put God in my life as a life preserver.

There's No Cops in Heaven.

Hold it! Before you draw your weapons at me, read on. As a former atheist, becoming a Christian was a big thing. After all, I was a cop packing my Baretta and other weapons to do my job. Each day I faced a myriad of problems that could arise at a split second. I dealt with reality each day. What did I care about heaven or God?

Then came that day when I decided to check this "Jesus thing" out. I had NYPD officers(and others)  telling me about the Bible and what Jesus could do for me. Initially, I told them to put the Bible where the sun don't shine. That did not bother them at all! I thought they were all screwed up! Over a period of time, I began to seriously consider what brother officers were telling me about Jesus Christ until I said the prayer asking Jesus to run my life. To say the least, life changed drastically!

To make a very long period of time shorter, I did a lot of studying and reading the Bible. I listened to many teachers and preachers and realized that the Bible was in fact the inspired word of God. But during this time I came to a very "eye-opening" conclusion. There are many religions and denominations all saying they are going to heaven. People think that because they are nice, they too will see God. But when you read the Bible. you find something of importance that denominations won't tell you. They are not in the Bible!! The names of religions and denominations are all man made up!

Man has given titles to everything not just religion but in all aspects of life. It's not the titles of people who go to heaven but only the people who have given their lives to Jesus Christ irregardless of what title they may have had. So to say that there are no cops in heaven is true because those titles don't exist there. BUT they also don't exist in hell! When you die, those titles either fall off going to heaven or they burn off going to hell! So you can say that Catholics, Methodists, Baptists, etc. all don't go to heaven because it's not their religions that get them there but their relationship God. Have they accepted Jesus as Lord?

The bottom line is that you don't let strangers in your house and neither does God! My badge won't get me to heaven but only my relationship with His son Jesus Christ. Where is your relationship with God? He sent His son down here for a reason! If you died today, where would you spend eternity?

Default Programming

When we are born, we are born with a software program that leads eventually to hell. By default, EVERYONE is born with it. No one is exempt! We can go through life thinking we're programmed right because things might seem OK but they're not.

As life progresses, we check out different software programs that exist in life, some good, some bad. But we all have a choice of what program to choose to install. Some programs use food while others use drugs. Some use sports, some use hobbies. There are a multitude of programs to choose from and you can have multiple programs at the same time. But sometimes programs can become corrupt due to viruses that infect our programming. The problem is when a virus hits, it can be too late to recover from the problem and technical surgery must be performed. The infected program must be removed or other programs might become infected and a shutdown could happen.

There are some great programs out there. Sports programs are great for it's physical and mental attributes. We all should exercise to some degree. Healthy living is very important. We all need to be physically and mentally healthy. But there is one topic that is left out here. That is spiritually healthy.

To become spiritually healthy, there is a program available to us called church. This program comes in different sizes and styles. Some of these programs only work one day a week while others work 24/7. Do you know how to tell which of these programs are really working? You can tell by what the program produces in the user of the software program. When a virus hits this particular program, if the software was installed right, it deletes the virus or blocks it. A good functioning program like church is established because of how it was created.

There is a manual for the church program called the Bible. It's a great program only if it's read. But reading it alone does not help the church program. There is one other program that must be installed along with this church program and it is called a relationship with Jesus Christ. This last software activates the Bible program which activates the church program! The output of this last software program results in the ultimate program called heaven.

So I ask you. . . . what are you programmed with? Don't leave home without it!

The Alarm Clock is Ringing!

It's Saturday morning and I'm just sitting drinking my fresh coffee looking outside at the morning sun. I ponder over the latest events in my life and begin to ask God why. . . and what is going to happen? Did you ever get there? Even as a Christian, I wonder why and what will happen and God knows that I ask those questions just like millions before have asked the same. Nothing new for HIM. He knew we would ask those questions.

So I'm sitting outside just seeing the world going by and the continuation of all the problems that are going on. When I take the time just to sit and talk to God, sometimes He answers me right then. It's in His Word what is going on and what will happen. He said as in the days of Noah, so shall it be when He returns. You see, right before the flood, life was just going on and on. People working and partying and not willing to hear or see the truth about what God says. They choose to be blind and disregard what is being declared. It's like your alarm clock going off and off and off and you not acknowledging it. Don't you hear it ringing and ringing and ringing?

In Noah's time, people just scoffed him because who ever heard of building a huge boat on land? It must have been some sight! I could see how people would make fun of such a thing. But all they had to do was listen to what Noah was saying about God. But they didn't and God knew that.

This morning I sit and think of all the topics occurring in the world: Isis, Nuke talks with Iran and their talk of bombing Israel, our elections, Law Enforcement under attack, Black lives matter, police lives matter, abortion, California fires, Russian military invading Ukraine, Clinton's email problems, the EPA floods, shooting in churches, malls and schools, and the list goes on and on. Somewhat depressing because I never grew up with all these things happening.

So as in the days of Noah, so it is today. Jesus said all this would happen BUT we are supposed to discern these events and understand that He

will be returning soon. Of course, as a former atheist I used to scoff at Christians who told me about "end times" also. But now my eyes have been opened because I CHOSE to seek the truth. After all, in the "norm", end times talk sounds like something in the movies. Of course, when your eyes are opened to the truth, you see that it is Satan who uses the media to deceive the world just like Jesus said he would. I was deceived but now my eyes are opened. Jesus said that no man knows the "day or hour" of His return, not even Jesus knows when... only God. But Jesus said that we are to be ready at all times because just like a thief in the night, He will return BUT that we are to know the signs of His return! The signs are all around us. Yes, we've had problems like these for many years but never all at the same time! Have you taken time to seek the the truth in the Bible? 

                                    THE ALARM CLOCK IS RINGING. . . . . .     

     

It's All in Your Mind!

How's your brain today? Your mind is a storehouse of all the things that have entered it from that day you were born. Your brain is like your computer hard drive. Sometimes you have to defrag it to clean it up so it functions better. What's stored up in your mind will determine your attitude.

Each day you see and hear things that go into your mind which will effect your attitude at some point in life. We all have a tendency to become the people we hang with. So, who are your friends? The Bible says, "As a man thinks, so is he". What do you put in your mind each day? What is in your mind, will eventually come out! What you put in your fridge, you will eventually eat!

The attitude you have keeps you going or stops you dead in your tracks. You have a choice to make decisions in your life each day. We make excuses and blame others for the situations we get into. Much of the problems we face are due to the bad attitude we have. How many times officer, have you gone on a call and the other officer, who showed up had an attitude that raised the problem worse!

You have seen all the videos and news reports about officers getting into trouble because of their actions. But remember that those actions had a foundation from the mind. We will always have problems that we must face and most we didn't expect but it is what we have put in our minds determines how we react to those problem. You are not a puppet controlled by someone else. Yes, there are rules and laws we must obey created by someone else but we do have a choice how we react. No one is perfect and we all make bad decisions at times but we have a choice of how we deal with those mistakes. It's only God that can really clean your hard drive.

Today, take some time and think about your life, what you look at, what you listen to and who are your true friends. How you look at those things will determine your future starting now. Maybe it's time to defrag your mind for there is no "undo" button in your mind.

The Sun's Rays

Sunset on the Gulf

My wife and I love to spend time at a jetty in Venice Florida right on the Gulf of Mexico. As you can see they have beautiful sunsets there! This is practically a daily experience seeing such beauty especially when there are some clouds in the sky that reflect the sun's rays.

We get there a little after 1 pm and enjoy the warmth of the sun with the breeze that blows off the water. It's such a peaceful location with no "boom boxes", party people and such. Just people who appreciate the beauty that God created.

There are times in life when you must take some time out and see what God has created. He created many things around the world just for us to enjoy yet we get so "busy" with life, we seldom enjoy these things. Sometimes it takes an event that "wakes us up" to see and experience life outside of our busy world. Remember that God did not make the world busy - we did!

There are many things in life that are right in front of us but we can't see the forest through the trees because of being blinded by life's situations. When the sun's rays are in front of you, you have a hard time seeing because of the intensity of the sun. Therefore, you put on a hat, sunglasses or even raise your hand up to block the sun. When you do that, you can obviously see what in front of you.

God shines His light all the time but it is not blinding yet many cannot see His beauty. As a police officer, I had to investigate crimes which required me to open my eyes to see evidence that might not be easily seen. If I didn't, I could miss valuable clues for evidence.

Take some time soon to look for God's beauty in this world. But to see His beauty, you must drop the world, put on His "Son" glasses, and view what many people never see. Jesus said He is the light of the world. Time is moving on and if you don't take time, time will take you!

Mirror, Mirror

Remember the story of Snow White? There was a part in the movie where the queen asks the mirror, "Who's the fairest in the land? And of course it would answer that she was until one day the mirror tells the queen that Snow White is the fairest in the land! WOW! That makes her extremely mad looking to get rid of Snow White. It's called "growing old".

Yes, believe it or not, the clock does not stop. It keeps on ticking forward. As you get older, you see your body changing into something that you don't like because it doesn't look like it did 30 or more years ago. Life goes on and we all change to some degree, some more, some less.

I am now 65 and don't like it. My mind has not caught up with my physical age. Maybe 45. But God has given us the ability to make choices how we view situations. As a police officer, I was faced with many different scenarios during which I had to make serious decisions in record setting time. But with aging, it just moves along at a turtles pace.

So I stand in front of the mirror gazing at myself and ask God why? God says don't be too concerned about your looks but be more concerned about your heart physically and especially spiritually. This body will eventually die but your spirit goes on forever. Again, God gives us choices, heaven or hell. God does not send people to hell. They send themselves to hell by not obeying what God has asked of us and that is accepting what Jesus did on the cross for us. He paid for our transgressions.

Our physical heart needs the proper nutrients to stay healthy but we live in a world of total junk food. If junk food didn't taste good, no one would eat it. The more junk food we eat, the more the mirror tells the physical truth! We should eat the right foods to stay healthy. But what about staying healthy spiritually?

Spiritual food is the Bible, prayer and fellowship with other Christians. These are the 3 main ingredients for staying healthy with God. But you start with accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and let Him run your life.

I now stand in front of the mirror and ask myself who do I actually see, me or the Jesus in me? I obviously see the physical but am I able to see the spiritual side of me? Mirrors only see a part of you, not the whole. The mirror sees the physical truth but God sees the spiritual truth.

New Years Day 2015

"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also"

—Matthew 6:21

As we enter into a new year, here is something to remember: When it's all said and done, we have three things we can offer God—our treasure, our talent, and our time. Each of these is given to us by God, and each of them should be given back in generous portions.

First, there is our treasure. I urge you to commit yourself to give faithfully and generously to the Lord in this coming year. Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:21 NKJV). Whenever we put our money into something, we develop a vested interest in it. It makes sense to us that we would place our treasures where our hearts are. If we love reading books, or being entertained, or the latest technology, we spend our treasure on those things. And if our heart's desires change, that changes where we put our treasure.

But it works the other way too: Where we put our treasures, our heart will follow. Do you want your heart to be in the things of God? Then put your treasures in the things of God! Develop a vested interest in God's kingdom.

The second thing we can give to God is our talent. God has gifted each believer in different ways. Everyone has something to offer for the work of the kingdom. Romans 12 says, "Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us different work to do" (NLT).

Finally, there is our time. Let's say that one day your phone rang and it was the president of the bank that you use. He told you that an anonymous donor who loved you very much had decided to deposit 86,400 pennies into your bank account each and every morning. At first, maybe that didn't seem like a lot. But then you figured out that it was $864 a day. At seven days a week and 52 weeks a year, those pennies add up to almost $315,000 each year! But the bank president added one thing: "The anonymous giver said you must spend all of the money on the day you receive it! No balance will be carried over to the next day. Each evening the bank must cancel whatever sum you failed to use! Remember, what you don't spend is lost."

That may sound like fantasy, but here's the reality: Every morning, Someone who loves you very much deposits into your "bank of time" 86,400 seconds, which represent 1,440 minutes, which of course equals 24 hours each and every day. God gives you that much to use each day. Nothing is ever carried over on credit to the next day. There is no such thing as a 27-hour day. It's called time, and you can't escape it. Time is ticking away right now. The Bible tells us to "redeem the time"—to make sacred and wise use of every opportunity.

Offer God your treasure, your talent, and your time. Live this next year as if it were your last, because it could be. Make those minutes count!
 - Excellent words from Greg Laurie.