Most of us drink at least 1 bottle of water a week. For some of us its at least one bottle a day. Others its 3 and 4 bottles a day. As I bring another case of water home from the store this past week I had to ask myself why is it that we buy bottled water? Why is it that most people buy bottled water?
Of course it because we want pure water, free from impurities or anything that would give it bad taste. I honestly like the way our water taste that comes directly from the tap (and I drink it often), but I’m uncertain about the impurities and chemicals that’s put in the water.
When I buy water the first thing I do is look at the label, to see where it is from, what is the source of the water, and if anything is added.
You have to do that anymore because of the bottled water industry and the turn they have taken. Instead of only pure water, you can now find all kinds of bottled water with all kinds of things added to it. Such things like flavoring to give it a different taste, coloring to make it look pretty, and chemicals to make it last longer.
The gospel of Christ also started pure. The source was Jesus himself. But men tried to change the gospel of Christ too. In Galatians chapter 1, the Apostle Paul said he was astonished that the brothers were turning to a different gospel that was created by man. He gave a warning, “If we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned.”
Paul had a servant’s desire to keep the gospel pure, free from additives or alterations. You may call him the Gospel Quality Control Apostle. There is but one gospel, that which came from Jesus himself and as preached by the apostles. Any different gospel preached by anybody or revealed to anyone after that is not from God, but is from man. We must only put our faith in the pure gospel of Christ.
Live your life this week purely for God.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Training Day
Training Day
I have been watching the winter Olympics this week and have really been enjoying all the events. Lori and I were on the edge of our seats as Apollo Ohno took second place in the short track. Then there was Kearney Hannah who took first place in the ladies moguls as the last person to ski in the event. In total as of today there have been 6 gold medals won by the US. What an exciting time for all the competitors, families, friends, and Fans. Speaking of gold it took until day three of their third time hosting the Winter Olympic Games, but Canada has finally won home gold. Bilodeau Alexandre a Canadian moguls competitor won the first gold medal for Canada that has every been won on their home turf. The Canadian fans roared with excitement as his points came across the screen.
Amongst all the images following Bilodeau’s win, one stood out in my mind. That was the image of Bilodeau’s older brother Fredric.
Fredric suffers from cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair. When his little brother won Olympic gold, Frederic cheered and screamed madly from his wheelchair behind the fence near the bottom of the course.
The joy and pride on Fredirc’s face was unmistakable. Alexandre says that Frederic is his idol and best friend.
This is a quote from Alexandre’s feelings about his brother and his disability that sum’s it all up, “It puts everything back into perspective. I’ve got that chance to train, and maybe one day will be an Olympic champion, and I’ll take it. Even if it’s raining, I’ll take it. I’ll go train. He doesn’t even have that chance, and he has a smile. Every morning he wakes up, and he’s got all the right to complain, and he never complains.…We can learn from those people.”
God has a plan for all of us doesn’t he.
Have you ever thought about how different your life would be if you were born in another country? What about in another town? Or even if you were born just 3 houses down, how much different would your life be? What if you had some type of physical disability, would you be able to wake up everyday with a smile on your face happy to be alive?
We have been given the blessing of knowing Jesus our savior. Some many times we take it for granted though. If it’s raining problems in our lives we use them as an excuse to turn our back on God. If things are not just how we planned we use them as an excuse to point fingers. Sometimes we have no excuse and still we are determined not to take what God has given us and train to be a better Christian.
Let’s count our blessings one by one and train to be better Christian’s today. Let’s take our blessings and share them so that all of us can receive God’s gold standing on his podium listening to him award us with “well done my good and faithful servant”.
I have been watching the winter Olympics this week and have really been enjoying all the events. Lori and I were on the edge of our seats as Apollo Ohno took second place in the short track. Then there was Kearney Hannah who took first place in the ladies moguls as the last person to ski in the event. In total as of today there have been 6 gold medals won by the US. What an exciting time for all the competitors, families, friends, and Fans. Speaking of gold it took until day three of their third time hosting the Winter Olympic Games, but Canada has finally won home gold. Bilodeau Alexandre a Canadian moguls competitor won the first gold medal for Canada that has every been won on their home turf. The Canadian fans roared with excitement as his points came across the screen.
Amongst all the images following Bilodeau’s win, one stood out in my mind. That was the image of Bilodeau’s older brother Fredric.
Fredric suffers from cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair. When his little brother won Olympic gold, Frederic cheered and screamed madly from his wheelchair behind the fence near the bottom of the course.
The joy and pride on Fredirc’s face was unmistakable. Alexandre says that Frederic is his idol and best friend.
This is a quote from Alexandre’s feelings about his brother and his disability that sum’s it all up, “It puts everything back into perspective. I’ve got that chance to train, and maybe one day will be an Olympic champion, and I’ll take it. Even if it’s raining, I’ll take it. I’ll go train. He doesn’t even have that chance, and he has a smile. Every morning he wakes up, and he’s got all the right to complain, and he never complains.…We can learn from those people.”
God has a plan for all of us doesn’t he.
Have you ever thought about how different your life would be if you were born in another country? What about in another town? Or even if you were born just 3 houses down, how much different would your life be? What if you had some type of physical disability, would you be able to wake up everyday with a smile on your face happy to be alive?
We have been given the blessing of knowing Jesus our savior. Some many times we take it for granted though. If it’s raining problems in our lives we use them as an excuse to turn our back on God. If things are not just how we planned we use them as an excuse to point fingers. Sometimes we have no excuse and still we are determined not to take what God has given us and train to be a better Christian.
Let’s count our blessings one by one and train to be better Christian’s today. Let’s take our blessings and share them so that all of us can receive God’s gold standing on his podium listening to him award us with “well done my good and faithful servant”.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Just Five More Minutes
The alarm blaring startled me awake. Just five more minutes, I told myself, as I banged around on the headboard and finally found the snooze button.
I hit the snooze button another 3 times after that and when I finally did decide to get up I was way late.
Have you ever done that before?
I haven't decided if the snooze button is a great invention or a curse. I know it impacts me, because I'll play mind games with it. I'll set my alarm ten minutes early because, I can "sneak" a few extra minutes of sleep in when it goes off.
The quality of the sleep isn't very good, but it seems so much better because it is some sleep I've managed to "steal". Truth be known, I would have slept better if I had set the alarm for the right time and simply got up with it.
I wondered how often God has been calling us and we hit our internal snooze button instead. Just wait a little longer God, just a little longer, just a little longer. Suddenly were running way behind and missed out on the opportunity to listen or to serve.
God puts someone on our hearts and says give them a call or drop them a note. Okay God, just as soon as we get done with .... and then it's weeks later. You find out later they had been going through a crisis time and really could have used some encouragement.
We all do it. I think I do it less now than I used to earlier in my walk, but I'm far from perfect. I'm so glad He is a loving, patient and merciful God.
He's used to people putting other things ahead of time with Him or in obedience to Him.
Why do we do put God on the back burner?
When will you make time to listen and obey?
I hit the snooze button another 3 times after that and when I finally did decide to get up I was way late.
Have you ever done that before?
I haven't decided if the snooze button is a great invention or a curse. I know it impacts me, because I'll play mind games with it. I'll set my alarm ten minutes early because, I can "sneak" a few extra minutes of sleep in when it goes off.
The quality of the sleep isn't very good, but it seems so much better because it is some sleep I've managed to "steal". Truth be known, I would have slept better if I had set the alarm for the right time and simply got up with it.
I wondered how often God has been calling us and we hit our internal snooze button instead. Just wait a little longer God, just a little longer, just a little longer. Suddenly were running way behind and missed out on the opportunity to listen or to serve.
God puts someone on our hearts and says give them a call or drop them a note. Okay God, just as soon as we get done with .... and then it's weeks later. You find out later they had been going through a crisis time and really could have used some encouragement.
We all do it. I think I do it less now than I used to earlier in my walk, but I'm far from perfect. I'm so glad He is a loving, patient and merciful God.
He's used to people putting other things ahead of time with Him or in obedience to Him.
Why do we do put God on the back burner?
When will you make time to listen and obey?
A LETTER TO YOU FROM SATAN
I saw you yesterday as you began your daily chores. You awoke without kneeling to pray. As a matter of fact, you didn't even bless your meals, or pray before going to bed last night. You are so unthankful, I like that about you.
I cannot tell you how glad I am that you have not changed your way of living, Fool, you are mine.
Remember, you and I have been going steady for years. And I still don't love you yet. As a matter of fact, I hate you, because I hate God. I am only using you to get even with God. He kicked me out of heaven, and I'm going to use you as long as possible to pay him back.
You see, Fool, GOD LOVES YOU and HE has great plans in store for you. But you have yielded your life to me, and I'm going to turn your life upside down. This will really hurt God.
Thanks to you, I'm really showing Him who's boss in your life with all of the good times we've had. We have been watching bad movies, cursing people out, stealing, lying, being hypocritical, fornicating, overeating, telling dirty jokes, gossiping, being judgmental, back stabbing people, disrespecting adults, and those in leadership positions, no respect for the Church, bad attitudes.
SURELY you don't want to give all this up. Come on, Fool, let's burn together forever. I've got some hot plans for us. This is just a letter of appreciation from me to you. I'd like to say "THANKS" for letting me use you for most of your foolish life. You are so gullible, I laugh at you.
When you are tempted to sin, you give in HA HA HA, you make me sick. Sin is beginning to take its toll on your life. You look 20 years older, and now, I need new blood. So go ahead and teach some children how to sin. All you have to do is get drunk or drink while under-aged, cheat, gamble, gossip, fornicate, and live being as selfish as possible. Do all of this in the presence of children and they will do it too. Kids are like that.
Well, Fool, I have to let you go for now. I'll be back in a couple of seconds to tempt you again. If you were smart, you would run somewhere, confess you sins, and live for God with what little bit of life that you have left. It's not my nature to warn anyone. Don't get me wrong, I still hate you. IT'S JUST THAT YOU'D MAKE A BETTER FOOL FOR CHRIST.
Your Enemy,
Satan
Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour. (I Peter 5:8)
I cannot tell you how glad I am that you have not changed your way of living, Fool, you are mine.
Remember, you and I have been going steady for years. And I still don't love you yet. As a matter of fact, I hate you, because I hate God. I am only using you to get even with God. He kicked me out of heaven, and I'm going to use you as long as possible to pay him back.
You see, Fool, GOD LOVES YOU and HE has great plans in store for you. But you have yielded your life to me, and I'm going to turn your life upside down. This will really hurt God.
Thanks to you, I'm really showing Him who's boss in your life with all of the good times we've had. We have been watching bad movies, cursing people out, stealing, lying, being hypocritical, fornicating, overeating, telling dirty jokes, gossiping, being judgmental, back stabbing people, disrespecting adults, and those in leadership positions, no respect for the Church, bad attitudes.
SURELY you don't want to give all this up. Come on, Fool, let's burn together forever. I've got some hot plans for us. This is just a letter of appreciation from me to you. I'd like to say "THANKS" for letting me use you for most of your foolish life. You are so gullible, I laugh at you.
When you are tempted to sin, you give in HA HA HA, you make me sick. Sin is beginning to take its toll on your life. You look 20 years older, and now, I need new blood. So go ahead and teach some children how to sin. All you have to do is get drunk or drink while under-aged, cheat, gamble, gossip, fornicate, and live being as selfish as possible. Do all of this in the presence of children and they will do it too. Kids are like that.
Well, Fool, I have to let you go for now. I'll be back in a couple of seconds to tempt you again. If you were smart, you would run somewhere, confess you sins, and live for God with what little bit of life that you have left. It's not my nature to warn anyone. Don't get me wrong, I still hate you. IT'S JUST THAT YOU'D MAKE A BETTER FOOL FOR CHRIST.
Your Enemy,
Satan
Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour. (I Peter 5:8)
Wake up in your Fathers Arms
You know I have learned that with kids you don’t really need an alarm clock especially on Saturday mornings. They are hard to put to sleep some nights but in the morning they are ready to go. Most morning we are awaken by at least one of them.
What is really interesting to me about it is that when our kids wake up, they don’t wonder if we’ll be there in our bed. They come running and jumping, eagerly and expectantly to see us, Sleepy-eyed, bad-breath’d, and morning haried as we may be. They don’t wake up worrying about what they’ll wear today or whether they’ll be warm enough – they expect that they’ll be changed and dressed up nice and warm when it’s cold. They don’t worry about if or what they’re going to eat – they expect that we’ll know that they’re hungry and will serve them a yummy, nutritious breakfast. When they fall down (and mine do a lot) they look towards us – holding out their hands to receive our hugs and kisses to make it “all better”. It amazing how well that really works. They don’t question whether or not we love them – they’re sure of it! They have no worries. They expect that we will take care of their every need.
Don’t you wish you could go back sometimes? No worries – getting pampered and hugged and kissed. Well, I have good news for you… you ARE a baby! Stay with me on this. You are the Lord’s baby! We are his children and he loves us with an everlasting and perfect love. He cares for us just like we care for our little children – in fact, even much, much more than that! It’s hard to believe that God can love you more than your mom and dad or that he can love your own kids more than you do, but he does.
Start on the next morning and come to the Lord as we are – His Children. We need not to worry about anything. Our Father is waiting for the time when we put total trust in Him. He loves us and He knows every one of our needs before even a word is on our lips. Let’s practice putting our worries aside and determine to expect our God to meet our every need. Don’t forget to take some time out of each day to say Father, thank you for loving me.
Mathew 6:32-33
32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
What is really interesting to me about it is that when our kids wake up, they don’t wonder if we’ll be there in our bed. They come running and jumping, eagerly and expectantly to see us, Sleepy-eyed, bad-breath’d, and morning haried as we may be. They don’t wake up worrying about what they’ll wear today or whether they’ll be warm enough – they expect that they’ll be changed and dressed up nice and warm when it’s cold. They don’t worry about if or what they’re going to eat – they expect that we’ll know that they’re hungry and will serve them a yummy, nutritious breakfast. When they fall down (and mine do a lot) they look towards us – holding out their hands to receive our hugs and kisses to make it “all better”. It amazing how well that really works. They don’t question whether or not we love them – they’re sure of it! They have no worries. They expect that we will take care of their every need.
Don’t you wish you could go back sometimes? No worries – getting pampered and hugged and kissed. Well, I have good news for you… you ARE a baby! Stay with me on this. You are the Lord’s baby! We are his children and he loves us with an everlasting and perfect love. He cares for us just like we care for our little children – in fact, even much, much more than that! It’s hard to believe that God can love you more than your mom and dad or that he can love your own kids more than you do, but he does.
Start on the next morning and come to the Lord as we are – His Children. We need not to worry about anything. Our Father is waiting for the time when we put total trust in Him. He loves us and He knows every one of our needs before even a word is on our lips. Let’s practice putting our worries aside and determine to expect our God to meet our every need. Don’t forget to take some time out of each day to say Father, thank you for loving me.
Mathew 6:32-33
32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
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