God said

God said
God saw that it was good

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Green and Growing

2 Peter 1: 5-9 “In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.”

I heard this statement the other day.  “You are either green and growing or you are ripe and rotting.” A challenging way to look at our lives to push ourselves to grow. My daughter plays for her high school tennis team and I recently signed her up at a new tennis club for lessons. It was an eye opening experience for her, these kids played at a much higher level that any of the girls in her area. It was fun to watch as she started to raise the level of her game. My daughter has a desire to improve her game, a desire to grow to the next level. Now that she has seen a new level of play she is desiring more than ever to reach that goal. It will be fun to watch her progress over the winter. She has an instructor with a passion for the game and a love to teach. She has kids playing along side of her that also want to improve and to grow in their ability, knowledge and skill. Next fall when tennis season rolls around my daughters tennis game will be at a higher level and she will be more productive and useful to her team. I also know she will enjoy the game more knowing she is striving to be the best she can be.

Paul said in Philippians 3:12 “I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this on thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.”  This is my goal, my resolution, for the New Year. To keep working and to keep growing to develop my faith and knowledge of our Lord. So that I will be more productive and useful in the lives of the people around me.

I will do this by studying God’s word, by listening to the instruction of Godly teachers and by working along side other Godly men and women. People that will raise the level of my game. Remember we are: “Either green and growing or ripe and rotting.”

I pray you will have a joyful New Year knowing you are striving to be the best you can be.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

I Had To Save The Baby!

Proverbs 31:8 “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.”

“I had to save the baby.” Sam said. A friend of mine was telling me a story involving her five year old son, Sam, and his one year old brother Avery. The boys were out in the yard playing and she heard screaming, she ran around the corner of the house and she sees their rooster attacking the boys. Avery fell to the ground and Sam laid on top of Avery to protect him from their crazy rooster. The rooster dug his talons into Sam, pecking at him. She kicked the rooster off of the boys but the rooster kept coming back and Sam just laid there protecting Avery. The rooster finally retreated after their mother hit him with a shovel. Afterwards she asked Sam. What made you just lay there on top of your brother, protecting him, Why didn’t you run away? “I had to save the baby,” Sam said.”

January is Sanctity of Human Life Month, this year marks the 39th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision that legalized abortion in all 50 states. The pastor of the church I attended last Sunday spoke of the “What if’s” of abortion. What if 50 million children had not been lost to abortion over the last 39 years. How many Steve Jobs, Bill Gate’s, Hellen Kellers, Henry Fords, Ruth and Billy Grahams would have been added to our world?

I know a woman who was pushed by her parents and boyfriend to have an abortion when she was a teenager. I asked her, What do you want to say to people?  This is her response. “When I got home that day (after the abortion) my boyfriend said to me, “Did you have fun killing our kid today?” I will never forget it. Abortion pretty much ruins your life. I am still looking for healing, but I don’t want to go there, I don’t want to remember. I would like to help young women who are in the same position I was in, but I know in doing so I would have to tell my story and I am not ready to do that. I need to talk to someone. I need to find healing and forgiveness.”

Mother Teresa said this, "Many people are concerned with children of India, with the children of Africa where quite a few die of hunger, and so on. Many people are also concerned about the violence in this great country of the United States. These concerns are very good. But often these same people are not concerned with the millions being killed by the deliberate decision of their own mothers. And this is the greatest destroyer of peace today- abortion which brings people to such blindness."

If Sam’s mother were to explain abortion to him and then to ask him what he thought. I see him looking up at her with his innocent eyes, responding without any hesitation, “Mom we have to save the babies!”