I think that one of the most beautiful illustrations of the character of Jesus Christ comes in John chapter eight.  The religious leaders showed the attitude that is so common in mankind which brought a woman caught in adultery so they could bring Jesus to the test.  They cared nothing of the woman's condition nor did they really care about the law of God.  They enjoyed manipulating the law so they could exert control over people.  Jesus sees the woman and realizes that she has been caught in a very real sin however his response is not what you'd expect.  He simply states that those who have never sinned should cast the first stones to kill her.  Many have speculated what Jesus was writing in the sand but to me the statement itself is enough to make even the strongest, most self righteous person wince.  They departed leaving Christ and the woman.  Jesus then speaks to the woman and asks where her accusers are...they were nowhere to be found.  Now it's interesting the Jesus, who is the fulfillment of the law states simply:  neither do I condemn you, now go and sin no more.  I stand in awe of God on this because it's so wonderful to see He is not seeking the destruction of the human race but the salvation.  He isn't looking for a way to get even for all the rotten things we've done to ourselves or each other but rather reaches out in mercy to a sinful and rebellious mankind.  It's so interesting that many claim to hate Jesus or feel that the bible is the worst form of legalism but here we see the true character of God.  It isn't that He can't see our sin or the sins of the world but rather that He chooses to see the sacrifice of Christ as worth far more than the punishment we so richly deserve.  This is a clue for us as Christians.  It's not about ignoring sin nor being so obsessed with it that we can't function but rather a view which chooses to agree with God that the sacrifice of Christ is worth more than anything in the world and it effects the way we live.  It's not that we don't confront sin but I believe it's essential to know why we do confront it.  Are we looking to better ourselves or others honestly?  Does judgementalism have it's roots in insecurity?  Does it seem easier to blame others than to take some personal responsibility?  I believe it does seem easier but as I see more and more of the goodness of Christ I see how much better His ways are than mine.  Christians can blow it, unbelievers certainly can but He never makes mistakes nor does He ever have anything in mind for us that isn't best.  I know that many wrongs have been done in the name of Jesus but this is not the fault of Christ nor the bible.  We are marching on towards increasingly difficult days, I can't march on without Christ.  I know the mess that I am without God.  I may not always do right but living a life that tries to do the best I can and ask for the grace of God is certainly better than a life dedicated to self indulgence or self pity.  I'm glad to know I'm not the center of the universe but I am even more blessed to know that the creator of this universe loves me enough to give me a chance to accept His blessings. 

Lately there's been quite a stir on some of the sites that I've seen on the net where it seems to be the trend to deny the Trinity and there's a suggestion of some deep study that's revealed the bible isn't true.  I've got some news for you:  if you don't believe the bible in it's entirety and accept the cannon of scripture for what it says you'd better examine your sources very carefully and see where you're headed.  I just finished reading John chapter three where Jesus very clearly talks about the Trinity.  Verse six shows that yes, there's a Holy Spirit:  "Humans can only reproduce human life, but the Holy Spirit (oops, I guess He does exist!) gives new life from heaven.  Yeah, I don't think Jesus was getting all colorful in his speech when he was talking about the Holy spirit...that would be the other member of the Godhead...not to be confused with a third God but a member of the Trinity and the three in one Godhead...so Israel can still be in perfect harmony with the scripture when they are told that they should behold that their Lord is one God...He still is...this is a mystery but it's also clear.  Uh oh, another problem for those that don't believe in the Trinity arises in verse 16:  God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son....hmm, who would Jesus be describing here?  Could it be that he sent himself?  I think that's ridiculous enough for someone as unschooled as I am to not except such a thing.  Verse sixteen also mentions Him as the Son of God thus the last member of the Trinity is mentioned quite clearly.  You know what bugs me about all these little 'revelations' floating around now?  They come against the scripture yet love to quote scripture as the partial source of their inspiration.  It's either the Word of God in it's entirety or you are quoting something which is false and messed up...guess maybe you should make up your mind on that before quoting it.  I'll go a step further - if this is just something a man wrote and you're using a bunch of man made material to show how the bible isn't accurate which one really takes presidency over the other?  I don't know about you but the Word of God is going to remain my staple.  I happen to believe that it's right exactly the way it is and to put the bible on trial leaves me putting myself on the stand.  It's ridiculous and arrogant to attack the bible with a bunch of man made material.  Try pulling such a thing with the Koran and see what happens.  I believe the bible 100%!

Have you ever read in John where it's talking about Jesus working the miracle to provide wine for the wedding party and wonder what in the world He did that for?  Honestly it brings me to one of my firm beliefs about God.  You can't look at John chapter two here and see that everyone witnessed the miracle of Jesus and turned to God or that it did anything else of eternal significance.  This is a fun one for people who are religious and have to have some kind of clever reason why God does everything.  Religion seems to have a pressing need to have God all figured out.  The world seems filled with books that seem to have found a loop hole in the bible somehow and manages to unlock the secrets to the universe but I believe that God's ways are above our ways and His thoughts are beyond our natural mind...thus you can't have Him all figured out.  This is an important division between us being mortal and He immortal.  God has the right...if I can say it like that...to be God and we as humans are free to accept Him for who He is.  The goal in life is not to figure it all out but rather to get to the place where in spite of all the uncertainties life brings choose to have faith in He who is indeed higher than we are.  Most people strive so hard to declare their independence from God but as a human being you are either influenced by God or the devil, there's no in between road that's neutral or even truly free thinking.  No person is really unbiased.  We are effected by what we've seen and experienced in life wether we like to admit it or not.  I love how freely the term 'liberal' is used.  Who is really liberal in their thought?  Can anyone say they don't have a slant on every single thing they say?  Who of us can really say that we're completely accepting?  Only God is truly free thinking but this is not to say that He doesn't have certain biases...for example He will never accept sin which is nothing more than "missing it".  There are so many times when it's not so easy to simply find that 'perfect' scripture to back up what we want to believe anyway.  The scripture is described as living and therefore doesn't have to say what we want it to say.  There's many examples of Jesus healing people in the bible but it wasn't always the same method He used.  Sometimes he made a dirt spit ball and put it in someone's eyes or He would lay hands on them and ask what they saw and have to make adjustments.  Why would this be?  God can do it any way He sees fit.  Why are some healthy while others are not?  We live in a fallen world and contrary to many misguided people it isn't because God is playing some kind of chess game with us.  He gave us choice and freewill and as is so often the case the first man decided to abuse that freedom to do what he wanted to do.  So what's my big point here?  If we really want to know God we must actually spend some time with Him and learn who He is from experience.  Not just time going over the bible to memorize scripture but taking that extra minute to say thanks for the good things in life that He has brought us and really mean it.  This is where so often I am aware of Him really showing kindness to me even when I don't deserve it in my opinion.  God isn't a crossword puzzle or scientific formula..He's a person who wants to have relationship with us.  We could use some relief from the standard cold religious format on one hand but we could also use some time away from people commenting all about Him when they don't do one thing with God at all and use their frustration with the church as an excuse to never go once to any church.  It's not so much about which church you go to as which God you really serve and just how that relationship with Him is doing.  It takes a real friend to actually want to know you and take that time to discover who you are.  I don't know many like that with me but in all fairness I'm not like that with many people either.  God is not a person I can afford to not know nor can I use the name Christian as an excuse to do what I want to do only I say praise God more often.  If I really want to know Him, I'm going to have to take the time to worship Him, talk to Him...spend time with Him otherwise I am without excuse to blame the church or anyone else for having a shipwreck of a life.  Once again we see there's a difference between saying you know God and actually knowing Him.  This is why only the goodness of God leads to repentence.  Judgement is something any fool can walk in wether they go to church or not but to know the goodness of God enough to talk about it takes actual commitment.

I'm thinking that my reading in Malachi is just what I need today.  It's talking about there finally being a separation between those that fear (respect) God and those that don't.  I find it especially interesting because it's written to the people of Israel as a representative of the people of God as a whole.  It is talking about a time where there were a lot of people running around having little or no respect for God and couldn't seem to imagine that there was a requirement of them at all to have any obligation towards God.  I find verse 15 especially telling where the people are saying "blessed are the arrogant."  For those who do evil get rich, and those who dare God to punish them go free from harm."  I have seen this time and time again where people seem to have lost touch with the fact that it's not about acting like you care about God or throwing a few dimes in the offering basket (or not).  Seeing how we can fool the pastor by hiding our hangover is not the same as coming to church to worship God and to hear the Word of of the Lord.  There is a difference between actually wanting God and pretending to care.  The world doesn't need one more Christian that doesn't act any different then they do without Christ.  The people in Malachi have hit a point where they no longer really care what God thinks.  Just like today we have churches filled with people that run around with the name Christian but their lives tell a different story.  Hypocrisy is at an all time high.  People aren't making a mistake and then repenting before God so they can go back to doing right but rather they are living lives that are a mistake and there's no repentance at all.  The fact is there's a trend in the world today to not leave the church and follow our own practices but rather destroy all things that would dare suggest we aren't walking right.  There seems to be no reward for doing right and there's a lot of ill will towards people that chose to live a lifestyle outside of the world's way.  The key to forgiveness isn't covering up every lousy thing you're doing and creating a conspiracy so you've got a reinforced lie to protect you.  What if the bible is actually right?  What if living a lifestyle that's pleasing to God is actually better?  Could it be that this will lead to better marriages?  Could it be there's an advantage to telling our kids to do right and leading be example instead of hoping they can't figure out what a hypocrite mommy and daddy is?  What if saying it alone doesn't hold much merit?  Maybe you have to live it before it's worth anything.  There's a difference between making a mistake and being a mistake.  Malachi 3:18 is relevant for then and now I believe:  "Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those that serve God and those who do not."  Is God a judgmental jerk?  No, but there's a difference between right and wrong and equalizing everything to make it seem like doing wrong isn't that bad isn't the answer nor is it what the message of righteousness is all about.  If forgiveness is nothing more than and excuse to do wrong then why be a Christian at all?  We're forgiven so we can do right.  We're forgiven so we can serve God knowing He loves us so much that He won't give us the punishment that we really deserve.  There's no excuse to abuse the freedom we've been given.  Just another example of the fact that just because we can do something doesn't mean we should rather we should use the freedoms God has given us to do all the good we can.

Well, we are on our way to being done with our new album(s) this year.  It will be really good to have that off our back to be honest.  What always gets me about it is that when we're done laying down the vocal tracks we still have to come in and try and get the instruments done.  Julie and I know the joy of that to the bitter end since we have to play not just on the faster stuff but the slow as well.  RD and her get the big work load with all they have to do with their own lives plus the mixing to finish the album and then there's the endless hours spent getting the cover art done and the albums burned to disk.  My hat's off to everyone that works so hard to get this done.  I hope we can finish off the instruments tomorrow night at least and have that off our back for a bit.  Next we have Anne coming here with her friend.  I wonder if this will bring the big changes for us that we're looking for.  The future can look pretty bleak sometimes if you want to know the truth, and I'm sure you do.  I don't see anyone willing to pick up what we're doing right now and choose to live a life bigger than themselves for the sake of the future.  Could we be moving onto something else that's big or are we closer to the end of things as we've known it for so long here at last?  All we can do for now is put one foot in front of the other and hope we can do some good with our lives and be pleasing to God.  I took a few pictures that I liked of our recording session.  Mostly some attempts at looking artsy.  I kind of liked some of them and will add them to a slide show here and on my other blog site.

I can't help but come up to September 11tth and not have myself think about what I was doing when the United States was attacked by terrorists that fateful day.  I wasn't even in the United States at the time.  I was looking at my laptop which my mom had brought me in the Philippines.  I thought I'd look at the news a bit before going to bed and I saw the first pictures of the World Trade Center.  I couldn't believe my eyes and at first I figured it must have been some terrible accident.  I ran up to wake up the other missionaries that were there with us and we all were horrified to learn of the scope of what had just happened in our country so far away.  We were in a place that already was having some serious trouble with Muslim extremists and some missionaries had just been captured at the time.  Beheadings were also becoming the norm for some parts of the Philippines at that time.  We learned that we would have some serious trouble getting back to the US if we didn't come home right away so we made the preparations to come back to the US.  I had my wife and our two little children with us at the time and we all felt it best to come home.  I had actually run across some missionaries that said they were from California so it the things happening in New York didn't much effect them...even then I knew this was the stupidest thing I had ever heard...weren't we all Americans?  Weren't we all effected by this tragedy no matter what state we were from?  Little did I know that this would severely impact our lives and we have not been back to the Philippines since.  I look at these things and I have to realize that not all is dark but there was (and is) also the influence of great good in my life.  Providence has never ceased to be evident to me.  I can never deny that hand of God who has not only been faithful to bring me and my family all over the world...everywhere from Africa and Europe to many different places in Asia.  We've had the awesome privilege to see so much.  I've lived in India, seen the wonders of Thailand and more recently have been able to see the incredible beauty of Japan and enjoy the hospitality of the wonderful people there.  Always God has been faithful to bring us home too and this is essential for a successful equation you see.  I would be remiss to not mention the person who has most influenced my life.  Yesterday was my mom's birthday.  She is and will always be one of my all time heroes.  Many find that their heroes have great short comings and are all too human.  My mom is indeed human but she's yet to let me down in any significant way.  She is the one that led me to the Lord in the first place...not by converting me with fancy words but by showing a lifestyle that I couldn't help but be curious about.  That curiosity led me to the Lord whom I could not live without.  I think of the famous words I've heard that say we shouldn't grieve over the death of great people but rather rejoice that such people have lived.  My mom is still with us today and for that I'm ever thankful.  Many have passed to give us the freedoms we now enjoy and I salute their courage to provide the life we now enjoy.  I thank God for His mercy and graciousness to me personally and to the world at large.  I thank God for the United States of America which is indeed the greatest nation on the face of the earth and I recognize and honor the sacrifices my own mom has made that have allowed me to experience Christianity and has opened so many fantastic doors for me and my family.  I thank God for all of this.  May God bless the United States today and every day.  I also say God bless you mom!

..A Bit Scary!
 This is very interesting and just a bit scary
 ... But is it scary enough to generate something
 besides talk? I'm afraid far too many Catholics,
 Protestants, and Jews will wait until it hits them
 upside the head on a very personal level before they
 will do something besides talk about it But by then
 it will be too late.
 The Muslim religion is the fastest growing
 religion per capita in the United States, especially
 in the minority races!!!
 Allah or The Lord Jesus Christ? . By Rick
 Mathes
 Last month I attended my annual training
 session that's required for maintaining my state
 prison security clearance. During the training
 session there was a presentation by three speakers
 representing the Roman Catholic, Protestant and
 Muslim faiths, who explained each of their beliefs
 I was particularly interested in what the
 Islamic Imam had to say. The Imam gave a great
 presentation of the basics of Islam, complete with a
 video. After the presentations, time was provided
 for questions and answers.
 When it was my turn, I directed my question to
 the Imam and asked: "Please, correct me if I'm
 wrong, but I understand that most Imams and clerics
 of Islam have declared a holy jihad [Holy war]
 against the infidels of the world and, that by
 killing an infidel, (which is a command to all
 Muslims) they are assured of a place in heaven. If
 that's the case, can you give me the definition of
 an infidel?"
 There was no disagreement with my statements
 and, without hesitation, he replied,
 "Non-believers!"
 I responded, "So, let me make sure I have this
 straight. All followers of Allah have been commanded
 to kill everyone who is not of your faith so they
 can have a place in heaven. Is that correct?"
 The expression on his face changed from one of
 authority and command to that of "a little boy who
 had just been caught with his hand in the cookie
 jar."
 He sheepishly replied, "Yes."
 I then stated, "Well sir, I have a real
 problem trying to imagine Pope Benedict commanding
 all Catholics to kill those of your faith or Dr.
 Charles Stanley ordering all Protestants to do the
 same in order to guarantee them a place in heaven!"
 The Imam was speechless!
 I continued, "I also have problem with being
 your 'friend' when you and your brother clerics are
 telling your followers to kill me! Let me ask you a
 question. Would you rather have your Allah, who
 tells you to kill me in order for you to go to
 heaven, or my Jesus who tells me to love you because
 I am going to heaven and He wants you to be there
 with me?"
 You could have heard a pin drop as the Imam
 hung his head in shame. Needless to say, the
 organizers and/or promoters of the 'Diversification'
 training seminar were not happy with Rick's way of
 dealing with the Islamic Imam and exposing the truth
 about the Muslims' beliefs.
 In twenty years there will be enough Muslim
 voters in the U.S. To elect the President! I think
 everyone in the U.S. . Should be required to read
 this, but with our liberal justice system, liberal
 media and the ACLU, there is no way this will be
 widely publicized. The most puzzling thing to me
 is... Once Islam takes over, there will no longer be
 a liberal media or an ACLU, or a liberal justice
 system. So in effect, they are slitting their own
 throats by not publicizing this.
 If you will, please pass this on to your
 e-mail contacts. At least that is one thing we can
 all do. Then no one can say they were not warned in
 time.
 This is a true story and the author, Rick
 Mathes, is a well-known leader in prison ministry.
 The man who walks with God always gets to his
 destination.
 If you have a pulse you have a purpose.

Today marks the first day of home school for my kids.  We do not take this time at all lightly.  I have never used it as an excuse to fool around all day and ignore the training of my children.  I always take the time to fill out a letter to the Superintendent of Schools as required by law but more then that I like to put some info on the kids and what we've done through the summer and how much I appreciate the fact that we can teach the children at home.  It's really a privilege to be able to do this.  I prayed this morning that God would really give me the ability and grace to not only fulfill the state's requirements for the kids education but also far beyond that God's expectation of me during this time.  People abroad can never understand what an awesome blessing home schooling can be.  Even here in America there's very little understood about it outside of certain circles.  Beyond everything else to me it's important to do this because I want to teach moral examples to the kids and let them know that it's not wrong to have God involved in education...fact is the dumbest thing you can ever do is remove God from the class room.  I'm excited to begin another year.  I thank God for this honor and I ask that He bless us during this time.  God please continue to give us favor with our government both locally and nationally to finish this process.  I'm so thankful for those that have helped make this possible.  I'm very thankful to my mom and to Laurie who made a way for this to happen.  It's time consuming and it's very much work but these children are more than worth every second of this time.