I Am NOT Just a Number

No matter how balanced we are in life, sometimes we forget... that all we have... came from the Lord... From the most powerful of countries... to the richest CEO... to the wisest of all theologians.. to the most brilliant of cutting-edge scientists... nothing is decided, permitted, exposed, or enacted without God's stamp of approval... This... for the majority... is a hard pill to swallow... if you believe in the Bible, and its contents... as truth and not legend or myth... then you must believe in everything that is implied... for a person of wisdom, research, skepticism, and doubt... convincing them that faith is imperative for a "free ride in eternity" does not make sense... that is why the Bible says "wide is the road" leading to hell... and "narrow is the road" leading to heaven... this is because... rationale and "sense" mean everything to most people... the road is considered "wide" entering hell... because most people refuse...

What we worry about... bills... keeping our jobs... a promotion... keeping up with others... our kids... our relationships... the future... These concerns are things we cannot control... today's paper (The Ledger) displays flumes of volcanic ash bringing Europe's airports to a halt... farmworkers hit the streets of Lakeland in protests... suicide bombers kill 41 people in Pakistan... where is God??? David, the warrior turned fugitive, found out that the king of Israel was dead... no ruler in the kingdom... David was promised to be king one day... but had found himself in the wilderness.. running for years... Where was God? what now? When our future seems unclear... look for God in the haze... we are a nation who has boxed God into a church building... we leave Him out of almost every portion of our life... anytime God is brought up, we quickly dismiss Him because reality and faith are a misnomer among the relevant... People may try to approach us with with a Bible verse or a sp...

Two impossible tragedies visited great men at the same time... How these men reacted to the impossibility is what set them apart... David's tragedy was that his wife and children were captured by an evil nation's army.. When David's soldiers returned to their homes, their entire city was torched and all of their families were kidnapped... King Saul had a tragedy as well... the Philistines, without their giant, had killed all 3 of Saul's sons and captured his entire army...Saul would now never have an heir take the throne... so he handled this adversity.. his way... and took his own life... Without any hope, or reason to live.. this annointed king... who seemingly had at all... suddenly found his life to be meaningless... David could have made this same cowardly decision... instead... despite his dispair.. and the "unfairness of life", he called on God to lead him... this fugitive warrior... who lived each day being pursued by enemies... never lost hope... neve...

David would soon be a king, but for now he was a fugitive. David found himself running instead of ruling, being chased, instead of being chosen. Once a hero, he now was a wanted man. His earthly successes as a great warrior had only brought him trouble. David's "rich and famous" lifestyle in the palace had come and gone and he found himself in the desert and in caves. His servants were other fugitives and men running from debt. Many of us would have become "lost" in the darkness of the cave. The constant looking over the shoulder for the Israeli army would create panic in even the most level headed of individuals. It was David's faith in God that kept him running... not away... but towards his search party. Twice King Saul found himself within spitting distance of David. David refused to kill the "anointed" king of Israel and waited on the Lord to enact justice. In a frenzy, David could have ended the quest in his timing. Instead, he never forgot...

A COURAGE LOST Anxiety has many triggers... a shattered relationship... a mistake... a victim of a crime... a broken heart... a surfacing fear... age... experience... being falsely accused... The realization that we cannot control the world around us is never thought of as we enjoy our roaring twenties... but the "glamour" 30's... and the years after, the ticking of the death clock rings louder and louder... We look back on all the stupid things we did... and survived... and kiss the pavement for God's grace... Death, after all, is in His hands... so why do we worry about tomorrow? FROM DISCOVERY TO RECOVERY It sounds easy enough... yet we cling so tightly, to what we can control... My "giant" to overcome is a plane... a simple plane... which I have flown, many times, over the years... and yet one day... the panic surfaced... The rough weather and my fellow passenger (a Palestinian doctor) who neglected orders by the pilot to stay seated... im sure, greatly ...

The battle lines were drawn. Two countries standing on two separate hills with only a ravine in between them. The Phillistines and the Israelites were ready for battle. Out of the fog appeared a huge giant of a man. He stood at 9 feet tall, wearing armor weighing over 125 pounds. This Philistine, named Goliath, laughed as he looked at Israel's army and asked "did you come all the way here to just stand in formation?". "Send someone to fight me". Goliath advised them that if he was beat, all of the Philistines would be their servants, but if he won, Israel would be their servants. I Sam 17:11 "When Saul (the king) and all Israel heard these words from the Philistines, they lost their courage and were terrified." [When we are gearing up for a battle, our courage seems daunting. We give ourselves pep talks, pray, and seem to have the strength of a warrior... but when the true test comes... and we watch our "giant" walk toward us for battle... ou...

Theologian Paul Tillich once described anxiety as "the state in which a being is aware of its possible nonbeing". Interesting definition because many people are slaves to the prison of anxiety because of just that.. IAnxiety starts off as a normal coping mechanism to deal with the logistics of life but like many "good things".. turns quickly into a nasty fast-spreading virus.. It saturates every bit of our memory and hard drive... and so.. we call the "big guns", a "geek squad", or.. a Savior.. to bring in the spyware and do a system restore... Our thoughts are so cluttered with muck... Though we pray every morning and attempt to take every thought "captive".. we stand for battle carrying a small USP .45 caliber handgun.. Satan brings a grenade launder, a sniper rifle and an assault rifle with thermal energy and hologriphic site... It looks sometimes as if we dont have a chance to win the match... Sometimes we give into the thoughts o...