Crossroads

“Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.” 1 Samuel 8:5

As I am about to go to the polls and vote, I feel as if this country is at a huge crossroad. I think this election is much more important that others. At the time of the scripture, Israel had a judge named Samuel and God was their king. Samuel was old, and he had appointed his oldest sons to be judges. They were greedy for money, accepted bribes and perverted justice. The elders met with Samuel, that is when they made the statement in the scripture.

The statement "give us a king"  was a place where they forgot who their king was. Although they had had appointed judges, they also had a King who was in control. That place in their lives was when they lost their faith, and started looking for security. Without God there is no security. Without Faith there is no security. When you get man made security, you lose. When the people of Israel started looking to man for their security they lost their freedom, and God handed it to them, only after warning them of how they would be treated.


I feel like we are coming to the same place in this country. We are straying further and further from God. At the same time this is happening we have threats to this country that has never been before. I think there is a parallel between this bible story and our country. I think we are not just voting for a President, but our freedoms. We are searching for greater security from our government. We are not going to find security from our government. The security we need is from God, and it comes through faith in him. Our country needs to turn to God. God protects us. Our government should protect our freedom. We are at a crossroad of security or freedom. Which way are you going to turn?

He is Willing To Touch Your Uncleaness

² Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”
³ Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.( Mathew  8 2-3 NLT)

In biblical times people with leprosy was considered unclean. The people had bumps sores and lesions on them. Nobody knew what to do about it. Some people thought it was hereditary and other thought it was infectious. People with leprosy were bannished from their communities and made to live together separated from the rest of the people. In some places they were made to wear a certain kind of clothes and ring a bell so other people who were not infected would know when they came close. The closest thing  that I can relate to this is when AIDS first came on the scene in the US.
People have a way of panicing when something comes around that has to do with their health and that nobody knows exactly what it is. I can remember in my lifetime and it is not that long ago that people would say things like that those people need to put on an island or something because they were so scared of it. Thank goodness that when AIDS came around we had doctors and scientist that found out what it was and how it was spread. In the times of Jesus they had no idea any of this.

I would say at the time of Jesus that leprosy was about the most unclean thing around. The most unclean man around knelt before Jesus. He had faith that Jesus could heal him. When the man made a confession of faith Jesus reached out and touched the unclean man and made him clean. The man believed and Jesus was willing. This story was told this way so, that 2000 years later so we can see this story and know that if you are willing to believe and ask Jesus to cleanse you he is willing to reach out and touch you where you are and cleanse you from your uncleaness. You might be the most unclean person in the world but Jesus is willing to touch your uncleaness.

Instinct

This time of year, I am amazed about the bird migrations that happens. Every year I know it is about to get cool because all of the black birds are together, sometimes thousands of them. How does an animal that has a brain the size of a walnut, know to get together with other birds and fly great distances for warmer weather. It is all about instinct. Then I ask myself what is instict. If you look it up in the dictionary it is a behavior. No really? Where do they get this behavior? The dictionary says from evolution. I think not. It is there instict. There brain is not big enough to tell them to do what they do. I think animals know how to listen to God. I think there instict or God's voice is loud and clear. I know this because my bible says why should I worry don't I feed the birds. The voice from God is loud and clear to animals. The reason why the birds go south for the winter according to dictionary is because they can feed there young better the longer days of the warmer climate. What a wonderful God we have, that if we learn to listen to him that he will make all thing work to his good. I think we should all listen to our instinct or God's voice.

It's The Big One

As the days push toward my birthday, I can't help but realize how thankful I am to be alive. I am fixing to be thirty nine and, I almost didn't make it past thirty seven. I think a heart attack, since I survived it, is one of the best things that happened to me. I use to be a heavy smoker. I smoked two to three packs a day. I thought there was no way that I would ever quit. I even told people that wanted me to quit that I couldn't be delivered from cigarettes because, I didn't want to quit. I want everyone to know that the day I quit was the same day I had my heart attack. My doctor that saved my life, told me that the number one cause of heart disease is smoking. He told me that same three times while I was in the Ronnie Green Heart Center at Northeast Georgia Medical Center. The way that he told me this, and my fear of having another one soon, made me quit. I had some help from a drug call chantix also, but I did it. The woman that I am seeing now is allergic to smoke. I would never had met this woman if I had still been smoking. I believe everything happens for a reason. You don't always know the reason, but there is a reason for everything. I think everything that happens is part of God's perfect plan. Some of the things that happens is bad when you look at it from mans eyes but, if you look at from my point of view, bad things that happen can change lives where nothing else would have worked. God changed my life with a heart attack and I am very thankful for it. I will be thirty nine soon and I can't wait to see what is ahead of me.

Thanksgiving 2009

Everyone is blogging about what they are thankful for at Thanksgiving. I am thankful first and foremost, that God pushed me over the edge one night when I was twelve. Ever since that night, no matter what I go through, I don't go alone. I have been through several hard times. In 1996 my dad was dying of cancer, and my mom was in intensive care with double pneumonia. I was living with a girl, which I shouldn't have been, that was on drugs. Our relationship ended when she stole a bunch of money from the same company that I worked for. Through all of that I was not alone. My mother got better. My dad died and without a doubt went to heaven. It hurt me less to see my dad gone than not being able to walk across the floor. I will see him one day again. In 2008 I had a heart attack and went through a recession. I lost my house and all my credit. Through all this I was not alone. The good times have by far out weighed the bad times.

I am thankful for my son. I have custody of him and, I think that is a huge thing to be thankful for, being a man and in Georgia. I am very thankful for the people that I work with. I love just about everyone at Chestatee Ford. I don't think I could work anywhere else and have the kind of friends that I have here. I am thankful for the woman that has come into my life, here in the last few weeks. She is sweet and I think cares about me a great deal. I am thankful I have a job and a place to stay. I think this is going to be one of the best Thanksgiving ever, because I am alive and I am surrounded by people who love me. Thanks to you all.

The Drive To Work

Some people ask me "Why do you drive so far to work everyday?". I tell them most of the time because I found somewhere I could work in the car business and, I will be treated like a human. That is only part of the truth. I enjoy the drive in the morning and, that is the real reason. It gives me time to think and, see the pretty backroads of hall, dawson and lumpkin county. I cross the lake three times in the morning.

On the drive to work, I see an old man sitting in a chair on the front porch of an old white house. I have drove past him for probably five years every morning. Every morning he would wave from his porch as I sped in front of his house, trying to get to work on time. I never until recently noticed that he was sitting there, much less seen him wave. The past few years I noticed him and started waving back. Every morning without fail he would wave and I waved back. His house would always have a truck and a car in a makeshift carport beside his house. He had two utility buildings that looked handmade behind his house. He has two huge oak trees in his front yard that you can tell were there before the old house was built. I started wonder who this man was. I never stopped in to meet him.

About a week ago I noticed that the old man wasn't on the porch waving. Everyday that I go by now I notice things are changed about the house. I noticed that one of the utility buildings has been torn down. I also noticed that they two vehicle in the makeshift carport are gone. I would probably say that the man is gone too. I think that we pass too many things by because we are in such a big hurry, now a days. I wonder what kind of blessing I would have had if I would just stopped in and said hi. I bet if I didn't recieve a blessing that the old man would have. He doesn't know it but he gave me a blessing every morning when, he raised his hand every morning to tell a complete stranger hello.