Old Notes Make Way for New Ones...

I have just recently finished filling up an old devotional/sermon notes notebook and before really getting into a new one i wanted to go through and highlight some of what i thought were key notes. Due to wanting to limit my space, this is just a sampling of my notes. You can read all of the posted ones at my googlepages page.
Keep in mind, some of these things are not necessarily statements of complete truth so much as my thoughts at the time.

Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord...

What does it mean to Love the Lord our God with all our heart, (soul, mind, and strength)?
OT Heart = center of a man = person = core of a man = seat of the will = the whole man
Broken (Crushed) Heart = Humility & Repentance
Fat & Uncircumcised Heart = Failure to recognize & respond to God = complacent (come from pride?)
Hardened Heart = Failure to accept God's will (turn away)


Men vs. Women

Men find the solutions to womens problems
Men are always looking to fix things for women when much of the time women just want men to find them

Women find the solutions to mens problems
Women are constantly trying to fix men for themselves, when much of the time men want women just to accept and respect them.

O, Lord my God...
when i in awesome wonder consider all the worlds thy hand has made.
I see the storms. I hear the rolling thunder. Your fire throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee. How great thou art.


Job 23:6

Would He contend with me in His great power?
No! But He would take note of me!

Job thinks that God isn't paying attention?
God already has noticed him. That's why he's in this mess!


There's much more to see. Check it out!

All the Guys (& Girls) Need to Read This! - A bulletin, response, & commentary

The bulletin below has been making the rounds on myspace and i had to comment on it. This principle is one of my major pet-peves.

I know way too many really beautiful girls who think they don't look good... It hurts... because it's our fault, guys I mean YOU. We make girls feel like they have to be perfect. You know what I mean, flat stomach, big boobs, round booty, long legs, sexy lips, and on top of all that, they have to dress like a whore, and be one as well... nobody can measure up to that... and its not fair... because nobody should have to. Girls prefer being called beautiful instead of hott or sexy. The little imperfections are what make people special. If everyone was perfect the world would be so boring, variety is what makes life interesting. So guys, stop making girls have to live up to your, I'm sorry, our... deluded fantasy visions of perfection...

girls who agree repost.
and to the few guys who have balls and agree repost this

In my expereince as a therapist and from talking to girls, guys, men, and women, this is a joke. It amazes me how often this comes across. From what i have seen, women and girls tend to dress up more for themselves and each other. They are looking for someone to make them feel better about themselves and want to be accepted by their peers.

For instance, Married women rarely dress up for their husbands. They dress up when they are going out. They dress up when they are going to be seen by other women. They dress up when they want to feel good about themselves. Rarely do they dress up for their husbands.

At school girls dress up to look good in front of other girls (and to attract guys). Girls are constantly critical of how they and other girls dress. On the other hand, many times most of the guys couldn't tell you how you are dressed differently today than yesterday.

It's easy to blame the guys, but the reality is that more often than not it's about a girl trying to fit into HER OWN or her peers (other girls) expectations and views than the guy's expectations or views.

Take responsibility for you own insecurities, don't blame everyone else.

I have been trying to decide whether it's a good idea to leave this post on my MySpace account or to take it off. I had posted it as a bulletin in response to the initial bulletin, but thought that as my response seems kind of critical or could be taken as attacking, thus it might not be the best idea to make it public for anyone/everyone to see. There is nothing quite like a youth leader appearing as if they are publically attacking a youth from the youth ministry they are involved with. So i put it as a blog post on my MySpace account instead. Now i'm wondering if it would be a good idea to remove it from there as well for the same reasons. However, i really don't want to because i see it as such a major issue that needs to be brought to light and not ignored and swept under the rug.

Any thoughts?

Edit: I have officially removed it...

Answers... hopefully

Mike posted this comment and i thought it would be good to try to answer his question for him.

Ok, strange question. You're confident that Jesus Christ spoke with God and is his last true prophet, right?
Why do you think devout believers of another religon disagree? I'm especially curious about the ones who spoke with God after Jesus, such as muslims, and mormans.

This is not a question that has a simple answer. Especially in the limited space available here. So i will try to answer as best i can in the space i have. First, the Bible makes it clear that Jesus the Christ (Messiah) is not just another prophet. This is made clear in the Old Testament a.k.a. the Jewish scriptures. Let me go through a series of scriptures to deal with this. (I am aware that the Jewish Scriptures have chapter and verse divisions that are not exactly the same as the Old Testament Bible, however the content is the same) . Most of the beginning of this list is basic principles...

1) God is Holy - Leviticus 19:2 Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I, Jehovah your God, am holy.
2) Man is a sinner - Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
3) Sin separates man from God - Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have come between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, from hearing.
4) Attonement is through blood sacrifice - Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you on the altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.
5) Complete or true attonement is only available through the Messiah's sacrificial death - Isaiah 50:5-9 and Isaiah 52:13-53:12
6) The Messiah had to have already come - Daniel 9:25-26 Know therefore and understand, that from the going out of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem, to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in times of affliction. And after sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself. And the people of the ruler who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end of it shall be with the flood, and ruins are determined, until the end shall be war.
- 7 weeks is 7 7's or 49 - the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt in 49 years. 62 7's is 434 years after that that the Messiah was supposed to have been cut off (killed) but not for himself.
7) Jewish Messiah is required for the salvation of both the Jew and the Gentile - Isaiah 42:6 I Jehovah have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand, and will keep You, and give You for a covenant of the people, for a Light of the nations;
8) The Messiah is eternal - Micah 5:2 And you, Bethlehem Ephratah, you being least among the thousands of Judah, out of you He shall come forth to Me, to become Ruler in Israel, He whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.

There are many, many, many, many other prophesies concerning the Messiah/Savior showing that he would be more than just a prophet. I found this website that covers many of the prophesies concerning the coming and fullfillment of the Messiah.

What does all of this have to do with Islam and Mormanism? Simple. These religions treat the Christ as if he is simply another prophet and his coming, death, and resurrection was not the completion/fulfillment of the law that the old testament (Jewish scriptures) and new testament show that he is. Their added "scriptures" are attempts to "complete" by addition what has already been completed. As Revelation 22:18-19 states; For I testify together to everyone who hears the Words of the prophecy of this Book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add on him the plagues that have been written in this Book. And if anyone takes away from the Words of the Book of this prophecy, God will take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which have been written in this Book.

As i said, this is a limited explanation and does not even come close to fully answering your question, but under the circustances and time & space limitations, this is the best i could do.

Part of My Testimony

This is part of my testimony and some of who i am.

I grew up in a Christian home and was saved at a young age. As i grew older i knew that God was real and working in my life.

When i was around 10 or 11 years old God came to me asking me if i loved Him more than something else that was very important in my life. It took me a moment to look at what I saw of the church and decide that if all of these rules, expectation, and lifelessness that is so prevalent was what it meant to be a Christian, i didn't want to love God more than anything else. So I told God that.

It was not long after that that God began taking all of those things away one at a time. Those next years were very difficult as my world completely fell apart. I continued to go to church and was very involved through my teen years. I worked very hard to be a good Christian and was very frustrated being the only person i knew around my age that was actually trying and feeling that instead of my life being better because of it, it was really only getting worse.

So for a while i began to turn my back on God in part. I was angry with Him for what seemed like His abandoning me. As time went by He drew me back and showed me that He was with me and that all that time He was removing those things that i had placed in my life ahead of Him until there was only Him. Since then He has been replacing those things one at a time.

One of the biggest things that had gotten me through those difficult years had been people that God had put into my life to reach me, like my high-school sunday school teacher. It was because God was working through those people and their influence that i even survived through those years.

This has been a huge factor in my life and has led me to be involved in ministering to youth & young adults and counseling with youth, families, and couples.

By the way....

By the way, i am actually on MySpace. Can you guess what the address is.... wait for it... wait for it... That's right! http://www.myspace.com/jcmasterpiece

Rage Against the Machine

I posted this on my MySpace blog on Thursday... What Mike commented in my last post is exactly along the lines of this.

This morning i woke up from a not so great dream and was thinking some more about anger. In my dream i had gotten completely fed up with a bunch of crap people were giving me and i blew up. It reminded me how much anger comes from pain.
When God created us, he created us with amazing abilities to protect ourselves. One of the ways a person is able to protect themself is through anger. When someone is hurt or in pain, many times it is not possible for that person to express that hurt or by doing so it would cause a great deal of problems. As a result they turn that pain into anger in an attempt to protect themself.
Ephesians 4:26 says to "Be angry, but do not sin". Anger in and of itself is not sin. Anger is a feeling. It's what we do with that anger that can be sin.

Just something to keep in mind and remember for when you need it.

Why Do the Nations Rage?

These are some of my thought while i was doing my devotions this morning. Psalm 2:1 asks,
Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?

The chapter goes on to talk about how the wicked attempt to stand against God's anointed, and God promises to/about His Son and the kings.

The first line of the first verse is what i was really focused on this morning. Why do the nations rage? Why do people stand against God? Why do we get so angry?

My first thought was that it's because they have no hope, but that sounded too much like a SundaySchool answer to me so i kept asking.
Because something is missing?
Because they/we feel the need to justify ourselves?
Because me, I, myself (pride)
Because sometimes the only way to stop guilt, feelings of hurt, emptiness, etc. is to turn those feelings into anger...
To make the internal, external.
To give an external source (???find something to lash out at???) to an internal source/problem (???an excuse for our own faillings and guilt???)

So now what? What is the internal problem?
In Psalm 2 those standing against God and His anointed say,
"Let us break Their bonds in pieces
and cast away Their cords from us" vs. 3
They didn't/don't like the Israelite's/God's rules & laws. They made them feel guilty (showed them their sins). ...removed their (self)justification & made them responsible for their own actions.
It's easier to offer a sacrifice to Baal asking for a blessing than to admit and acknowledge self-sin and a need for true repentance.

This is so much of a problem in our society today. What do you think?

Stress About the Job Hunt & the Little Ways God Speaks

The job hunt has been really stressful for both Lori and i. We had been wanting to leave Arkansas pretty much since the moment we got there. We finally felt like we got released from there in the beginning of June. We had felt like the move from Pocahontas to Hartford was more about faith and trust in God than about the job.

Since we have moved here i have been working very hard to find a job. It has been very difficult and draining. The other day Lori and i were having a discussion about it and about how frustrated we are that so many doors seem to be closing with no real direction. It has been causing us to re-evaluate our goals and in part to question God's instructions/our ability to recognize His instruction. In other words just to doubt.

As part of the discussion i had told Lori a number of times that really "i just don't know what to do". Afterwards i just needed to go for a walk to clear my head. I have been walking down to the park, jogging around the park, and walking back trying to just talk to God in the mornings as a part of my devotions. So i went to clear my head and talk to God. As i was walking i was just talking to God telling Him how i feel and that "i just don't know what to do".

As i was walking i went past a house where a guy had been standing there looking at a log in his yard. It looked like a decent sized log but he had ropes tied around it and it looked like he was well on his way to getting it into his truck. I said "good afternoon" as i went by and just kept walking. I thought that maybe he could use some help. But then i figured "nah, if he needs help he'll ask for it". But the thought wouldn't go away. So i told myself that if he was still there when i came back through on my way back that i'd ask if he needed help (not that abnormal of an excuse on my part). I started to feel convicted and gave myself a hard time about it, so i turned around went back and asked him if he needed help...

What kind of response would you expect from a question like that? "Sure, i could use some help" "No thanks, i've got it" or something similar probably. Well, that's not the answer he gave. As soon as i asked, his immediate response was "I just don't know what to do" **SMACK** He said to me exactly what i had said to both Lori and God. The exact words! Needless to say, after some work we got that last log onto his truck with some effort and went on our ways.

I told Lori about it when i got home and apparently she had had a similar experience of God speaking and confirming to her in her time while i had been gone. I'd tell it, but that's her story. It never ceases to amaze me when God just does those little things to give us strength and support right when we need it. It's just His way of saying, "I'm here and I know what's going on. I haven't forgotten about or abandoned you."

My Dangerous Idea

I wrote in earlier posts about the World Question and what my response would be to last years question of what i believe to be true even though i cannot prove it. I promised that i would write about this year's question "What is my dangerous idea?", so here it is.

My dangerous idea is that our modern public educational system is almost completely failing today's youth. If the purpose of the education system is to prepare young people for adulthood and to give them what they need to succeed in life, than it is failing miserably. More and more education above and beyond the basic 12th grade is required to have anything more than a minimum wage job. And oftentimes even that is not enough. I currently have my Masters Degree and am preparing myself to get my Doctorate, but even with all of that education, it was very little preparation for the real world.

The public school system does not prepare people to work and hold down a job, it teaches them to be students. For those people who are not very good at academics (even though they may be great at other things), forcing them to fit into the education system and attempting to force them into a mold that they may not fit simply teaches them to see themselves as a failure instead of building the strengths that they have to help them to be productive.

I do not blame the teachers and educators for this as they often do their jobs very well. Oftentimes they do this at their own personal expense of time, finances, and other potential gain. I believe that the flaw is in the system itself.

In order to explain this properly i need to go over some historical background. Prior to the industrial revolution much of what would have been considered the education of a child was done either through working in the family business, working in the fields, working in the home, and/or doing an apprenticeship/journeyman work. When a child was old enough to be able to do any work,....

Well, that's better, but still not finished...

Not What i Can do For Him, but Who i am With Him.

Isaiah 66:1-2
Thus says the Lord,
"Heaven (is) My throne
And earth (is) My footstool
Where (is) the house that you will build Me?
And where (is) the place of My rest?
For all those (things) My hand has made
And all those (things) exist"
Says the Lord.

"But on this (one) will I look
On (him who is) poor and of a contrite spirit
And who trembles at My word.


This passage talks about how we tend to focus on what we can do or build for God. The reality is that there is nothing that we can do or build for Him that will please Him. He already has it all. He created it all. But the one thing that He does look at and desires from us/his people at the time is that we are/they were poor (depressed in mind or circumstances; also translated humble) and of a contrite (maimed, [figuratively] dejected) spirit and who trembles (afraid, reverence) at My word.

We want to do great things. God wants us to seek and fear Him. When we seek and fear Him, He can use us to do great things. But when we try to do it our way, we inevitably fail.

Poetry & Purpose in Isaiah 61:10-11

Isaiah 61:10-11
א) I will greatly rejoice in the Lord
ב) My soul will be joyful to my God
א) For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation
ב) He has covered me with the robe of righteousness
א) As a bridegroom decks (himself) in ornaments
ב) And a bride adorns (herself) in her jewels

א) For as the earth brings forth its buds
ב) And a garden causes what has been sown in it to spring forth
ג) So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations

The poetic structure of the passage has been highlighted using Hebrew letters

The first section is preparation and lead for the second section
The first two lines are what the author is doing, or who he is
The 4 lines after that explain and flesh why that is so

The second section explains who God is and what He is doing
The last line appears to be the purpose of the entire passage

In the last stanza notice the parallel between the last two lines.
garden ~ Lord God
what has been sown ~ righteousness and praise

In the last stanza i find it interesting that "the earth brings forth it's buds" while "the garden causes what has been sown in it to spring forth"
The first is a natural process while the second is what has been/is being produced (purpose).
That in turn applies to the last line.
"So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations"

Intelligence Tests

Yesterday something i was reading pointed out the first of these two intelligence tests. Being someone who enjoys these kinds of things i was naturally interested,... then caught in the trap. Because of these tests i wasted most of the productive time that i had had yesterday (thankfully i still got the work done that i needed to). But, being the kind person that i am, i decided to share to lack of productivity around the office, and now with you. I got a 20 on the first test so far (although i haven't finished yet), and that doesn't count the 3 or 4 that other people blurted out so i can't count as my own. On the second test, when i left work i had had a score of around 15, but again i'm not through with it yet (and i had a lot less time to work on it).

Let me start you out on the right foot. My wife blurted this one out to me, so i couldn't claim it as one i had figured out so i will pass the answer on to you.
26 L in the A = 26 Letters in the Alphabet. Enjoy and good luck

So how did you do? (What is your 1 day total?)

Sexualizing Youth? Good or bad?

After reading the comments on my last post i decided to pose some questions for the readers and commentators of this site. Kim made the comment that "Society is sexualizing our children at younger ages than ever before", and that this could be causing numerous problems. I commented that i agreed with her, but let's see what you have to say.

1) Do you agree that our society is sexualizing our children at younger and younger ages? Why?
2) Is this something that is a problem? How so or why not?
3) If this is a problem, what can we do to change it?

So now i leave it in your hands...

Feminism and Politically Incorrect Advice for Men

I have been working on and trying to get this post done since about Thursday. Now it's Sunday and i still don't have it finished. I get the feeling that if i don't post this soon, i never will. So here's an unrefined but postable draft.

A friend of mine that i work with found the article, Politically Incorrect Advice for Young Men and bookmarked it. I was focused on getting necessary work work done at the time, so i came back to it later. Much of what this article says i have been recognizing for years and is one of the big issues that i have with today's society. Femminism and our current mentality on love (stemming from the femminist movement) have taken over our society to such an extent that it prevents both men and women from reaching their real potential. There is a reason why so many men abandon their families and so many women are left to raise their kids as single moms.

Anyways this article is about the author's awakening and advice to young men and should really be taken seriously. I especially like what he said in point 7:

Society is addicted to sex. The atmosphere is sexualized. Human relationships have been degraded. The best way to fight sex addiction is to get married. Sexual liberation is not wanting sex (because you have it.)

Understand, i do not fully agree with everything Mr. Makow states, especially in regards to his staying "Make work (not women) your passion". A man that is burried in his work with disregard for his wife and family is called a workaholic. I believe that you should make your work and your family your passions.

Anyways, this article has alot to say about the current state of our society and some of the falacies that pervade it. I recommend that you read it.

What do i Believe?

Last year’s World Question was “What do You Believe is True Even Though You Cannot Prove it?”  I suppose that there are a great many things that i believe, and that i cannot prove.  

For instance i believe that no one is an accident.  I believe that every human being has a purpose greater than themself that they can reach/attain, or not, but never on their own.  I believe that every person has the potential to attain to great things, world changing things, yet never fulfill their purpose.  I believe that there is more to a human being than just a body and mind; that every human being has a soul/spirit.  I believe that there are unseen forces in this world that are at war with each other, continually battling for our lives and souls, attempting to bring those purposes to fruition or to bring us to destruction.  I believe that everything we do is connected to ourselves and the world around us.  Thus as no one is an island unto themselves, nothing one does, does not affect others around them.  Thus nullifying the idea that i can do what I want as long as it doesn’t affect anyone else.  I believe that all of these things are connected, and more.

There are many other things that i believe that i cannot prove by science and mere reason.  What i've stated here is just the tip, of the tip, of the iceberg.

So, what do you believe?

The World Question

It appears that each year the Edge Foundation, Inc. asks an annual "World Question" inviting scientists and intellectuals all over the world to respond with thieir thoughts and ideas. Many of responses end up published in a book. Last year's question was "What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it", with the responses published in the book What We Believe But Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty .

This year the question is "What is Your Dangerous Idea?" The explanation of this question on the website reads

The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What is your dangerous idea? An idea you think about (not necessarily one you originated) that is dangerous not because it is assumed to be false, but because it might be true?

Hopefully sometime soon i will have time to post my responses to these two questions. Untill then feel free to comment on how you would answer them.