Bobby did it!

As a boy growing up it was wonderful to have an older brother, most of the time. When we broke a lamp it was Bob’s fault, after all he was older and supposedly the more responsible of the two of us. It just seemed easier to blame Bob than take responsibility for my own actions. Turns out I didn’t come up with the idea of blaming someone else for what went wrong.

Adam tried to blame God and Eve for his sin, Gen.3:12 The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." God it’s your fault, you gave me Eve! Blame anybody God just don’t blame me. As the voting public we blame those we elected, the democrat blames the republican, the conservative blames the liberal. Teachers blame the students, parents blame the teachers. And all this blame is vice versa!

What ever happened to “be responsible for yourself.” We want to blame someone else for what’s wrong in our lives, especially in America today.

All the focus today is put on who is at fault, not what the root cause was. There is a root cause of what’s wrong in our country and it’s not the voters, politicians or BP! It is us, it’s me, it’s you. You see we’ve personally walked away from God, forsaken him! Jeremiah 15:5-7 (New American Standard Bible) 5"Indeed, who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,
Or who will mourn for you,
Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
6"You who have forsaken Me," declares the LORD,
"You keep going backward
So I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
I am tired of relenting!
7"I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
At the gates of the land;
I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people;
They did not repent of their ways.

No wonder were backing up! There’s that word, REPENT. As a boy growing up we actually had knobs on the TV to change the channel and I loved playing with them. I was king of my own world when I could change the channel on my own. Only problem was that Mom did not always want it changed! She would tell me one time to leave the TV alone. I had to “repent” or get my butt busted! I had to physically turn and walk away from the TV. I had no one to blame, Bob didn’t do it I did.

Just a thought!!

Pray, like a texting teenager!

Ever tried to share a meal with one of todays teenagers? Take one bite, check the phone mumbles something about a new boyfriend/girlfriend. In between sentances stops when the phone beeps to see whats the latest info on their hand held device. I might not always like it when I want to have a conversation, but I'll give them this, they stay connected! I've found that the best way to have a talk with one of my teens is to text them. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:18 that we are to pray on all occasions, "pray without ceasing for you King James believers."Did he mean that we are to go through out the day praying? I don't think so . I do think the Lord wants us to bring to his throne of mercy all our requests no matter how big or small. One thing I give the teens of today, they stay connected to their friends. They can tell you whats going on in who's life and when it's going to happen and how it's going to happen! Well who says we can't stay that connected to God! Just imagine your life if you were so connected to God that every few seconds you checked with him to make sure everything was ok. How different would your life be, what stupid choice would I not have made if I was just connected to God. I Thes. 5:17 in the NIV is rather short and to the point "pray continually". We serve a God who loves and cares about us he wants to know every detail about our lives. Just a thought!!

You're speaking my language, or not!

I was ask a few years ago to council a couple who were struggling in their marriage. When we began our first session it did not take long for an avalanche of problems to come tumbling down. It began with the biggest problem of all, as the husband said “we haven’t talked in six months”. THEY HAD NOT TALKED IN SIX MONTHS. For six months they had shared the same kitchen, the same living room, the same bed, but they had not shared one word. Can you diagnose what might possibly be wrong with their marriage? You see long before they stopped talking they were not communicating, their marriage had become toxic. They were expressing their love for one another just speaking in a different languages.
Here is a link that better explains The 5 love languages. www.5lovelanguages.com
In most folks wedding vows they proclaimed for “better or worse.” We don’t have to stay in the worse column. Any relationship requires work on both parties involved. Work, family, church, all relationships. According to scripture (remember I said we would be real and raw) Ephesians 5:24-26 (New American Standard Bible)
24But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
26so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
It might require a little work on our part to learn our mates love language then at least we can communicate.
The 5 Love Languages will work in all relationships, not just marriage here is the raw part, its easier to give up than get to work. Time to heal some of those broken relationships. Just a thought!