There is no more time. No more time for disagreements, no more time for boycotts, no more time for faithlessness. The hour of division is over, and we are awakening and coming into the united reign of the church of Christ. We no longer have the time to disagree theologically, we no longer have time to remain lukewarm. There is a call from God’s people for a big and mighty move of God. His people are waiting and calling out for it, and in order for that to take place we must have the faith to move mountains and the faith that proclaims the dead to life.
We no longer have time to remain sleeping, we no longer have time to remain complacent. There is a coming storm, a coming wave of persecution and a coming wave of testing of the spirit. Jesus said it would be better for people to be either hot or cold, and not lukewarm, because the lukewarm He spits out of His mouth. It is time for the lukewarm to either be made new or to fall away. We are watching it all around us, and it will continue to be more pervasive as we go on.
It is time for the faithful to loudly and boldly proclaim the God of miracles. We have outgrown this foolish sense of lethargy. There is no longer any excuse for the faithful to stand still. It is time to begin to move or be moved out of the way. As the wheat and tares were separated, so will the church be separated. Although we will lose in size, the faith that resounds throughout the body will be greater and more powerful than that which was before. It is time to awaken. It is time to see this world for what it truly is. To step outside of the trap of Satan and to stand in the glorious knowledge of Christ’s love and holiness.
This is a call for the true believers of Christ to arise, to begin to stir, to make noise, and to cause waves. We can no longer remain silent. We can no longer allow the evil one to consume and devour the world. We have a light in Christ Jesus. We have the remedy for the sickness of sin. It is time for the church to come into their true roles. Their true purposes. For hearts to be enlightened and spirits moved to leave everything else behind. It is time for true sacrificial faith. To leave behind the comforts of our routines and the delusions of business. There is simply no longer time to operate within them. There is simply no longer time to allow those around us to fall into condemnation and to stay there. There is simply no longer time to beat down those around us with our words and actions.
As we enter into this new era, this new time of refreshment and filling that we have been praying for, fasting for, and crying out for, we must remember the humble and contrite spirit of Jesus Christ. Who through just three years of meek ministry changed the world and the subsequent generations for the rest of time. The same Jesus who has inspired and completely uprooted the hearts of mankind for the last two-thousand years. The same Jesus waits for His children to wake up. The same Jesus calls for His children to move and to be the true source of light that was the church’s purpose from the beginning.

AEH

            A man set up an inn for travelers at the foot of a high mountain. He would shelter the travelers on this road, give them a good meal and a cozy bed to sleep in and early the next morning he would give them breakfast and send them on their way. He gave them exact instructions, pointed the way to their destination, and sent them off. He knew his service and his directions were correct, for no one had ever had to turn around and come back this way. He helped many on their journey and was satisfied that his labors were good. Yet, the man himself had never traveled the path through the mountains which he confidently directed others to take.

             After many years, the man was ready to retire. He packed up his things and set out on the road to enjoy a long overdue vacation. Up the mountain he went, all day he traveled up and up until it was dark. He knew he was traveling slow due to his age, so at dark he set up camp on a beautiful high ridge overlooking a deep valley. He slept well and, in the morning, he got up, made some coffee, ate a bite, and started his journey. He was surprised to find himself at the edge of a cliff. A sheer drop-off hundreds of feet deep! He cautiously looked over the edge to the bottom of the chasm. The morning light glistened off of hundreds of tents, backpacks, camping equipment, and bones of dead travelers. All lying at the foot of the cliff. He wondered, how could all of these folks have made the same mistake? At that he turned around and went back the way he came, glad that he had been wiser than those who had perished.

               Are you really sure that there is not a place of eternal fire and judgment?

Matthew 24:1-35

Now that we have established that all people have faith and practice faith every day, where do we go from here? One person believes that the light switch will turn on the light (practical faith) and another believes that prayer to God will change things for the better (Spiritual faith). In other words; it’s dark I can’t see so I turn on the light, so I can see [or] The Spiritual equivalent; my situation Is dark and hopeless, so I turn on the switch of my faith; prayer, and now my situation is much clearer, my way is lit by faith.
How different are these two actions? I see little difference. The nonbeliever and the believer obtain a similar result. Illumination and assurance to traverse a dark area of their life, one physically, one Spiritually.
The believer is trained by practice to expect an outcome by his prayer and faith just as a nonbeliever is trained to yield a result by his actions also. Believers do not continue to seek, pray, and trust their Heavenly Father while never seeing any proof that their faith is real. They continue because they do see real results. They see people healed, changed, uplifted, and rescued from what nonbelievers quite often call hopeless situations, and often on a daily basis.
When you flip the light switch, the light turns on, right? What if you turned the light switch on and it didn’t turn on? After a few times, you would just stop flipping that switch, wouldn’t you? You would conclude; “this switch doesn’t work.” Likewise, if a person prays and practices his faith and yet nothing happens, won’t they eventually give up? Of course they will.
Still we see millions who practice their faith for life. Why? Because they are flipping the switch and it is failing each time? Absolutely not, they continue because they are experiencing real, tangible answers and results from their faith when they flip the switch, the light does turn on.
The believer sees, hears, smells, tastes, and touches tangible effects of their faith. Some of these are small things, which affect the believer individually. Others may involve many people who experience the same phenomenon simultaneously. These ongoing events are to the believer, proof that the light switch does work when they flip it. Their prayer and faith Is producing supernatural results.
I offer one such situation as an example of the real results from our faith in God. In the spring of 1991 or ’92 while working at an apartment group my helper and I were repairing a main water line which fed the entire complex. I was in the hole and I sent my helper to get the parts which we needed from the truck. Several minutes later he came back and reported “we did not have these parts on our truck.” I really did not believe him, so I sent him back, we had no place to buy these fittings at the hour, all the hardware stores were closed. The helper went back into the back of the truck a second time and again after many minutes came back with the same result. By now I was somewhat frantic, my German blood coursing through my brain, my need to succeed and give water back to all these poor, dry, people looking more hopeless by the minute. My first response as I walked slowly to the truck was composing my bad news for the manager of the apartments, my second thought was just a simple prayer as I got in the back of the truck, “Lord, please help me to help them.” I sifted thorough the PVC tray, it had probably 200 fittings of different sizes and configurations. After a few minutes of digging, pushing back and forth all these different fittings, once or twice even fooled by a close resemblance, I sadly accepted my helpers report, we didn’t have what we needed. Failure has raised its ugly head and I could not change my situation. I said in a low voice ‘Lord why is this happening?’ At the same moment I looked at the floor of the truck below the bin and saw three fittings lying all by themselves which had fallen out as we searched these three times unsuccessfully. I was too depressed by the immense failure I felt to register the sight properly in my mind. I picked them up to throw them back in the bin with the 200 or so neighbors, but stopped dead as I almost tossed them in. “No, it can’t be” I said to myself. But I couldn’t deny what I was seeing. Right size, right shape, right fittings. “Wow!” I exclaimed out loud at this revelation. The very 3 fittings which I needed to finish the job were in my hand.
At that moment, I uttered a phrase which has become the norm and not the exception, “what are the chances of that?” We diligently searched for these three fittings three times with no success and yet, after much useless effort, here they are in my hand. “What are the chances of that?” Only three fell out of the bin, the very three which we needed. Not one that we did not need fell out. Math was never my strong subject in school and still it is difficult for me, but I am sure all you math experts can formulate a problem which might come close to the odds. 200 fittings x multiple minutes searching x 2 people searching = 3 exact items needed falling together alone in one place. See, I told you math was not my strong suit. It was obvious even to a novice at math like me that the odds of this occurring were ridiculously stacked against me. And yet I could not deny the product in my hand.
I immediately thought providence might be responsible, remembering the litter prayer which I uttered on the way to the truck I even uttered another little prayer “thank you God, this must be from you.” That was the beginning of a sequence of events which changed my life these past 25 years or so.
I went home after this job and told my wife about it and she immediately said that it was God. A few days later I came home from work, the T.V. was on and I was listening to a newscast. The commentator was reporting on a story from Michigan. My wife and nearly all of her family are from Michigan, it is where we go on vacation often, so all things “Michigan” are of interest to us. This report was stunning to me. A young man was playing softball with his wife and young children watching. He was on the pitcher’s mound, winding up for a pitch when out of a clear, blue, cloudless sky a bolt of lightening struck him and killed him instantly before his family’s eyes. Hearing this deeply disturbed me because I was also a young man, with a wife and young children, and I enjoyed playing softball myself. I told my wife about this and she was also deeply moved. We prayed to God, “help this poor family Lord, they have suffered so much,” a devastating loss of a husband and father of 2, struck down in the prime of life. As I prayed I remembered a couple of days before at the jobsite and I couldn’t help saying to myself, “what are the chances of that?”
Fast forward 3 months or so, my wife and children and I are on vacation. My wife tells me that she has seen a van that she really loved and wanted me to see it. She was right, this van was beautiful, bigger and newer, more comfortable and low mileage. It was perfect for our family with one exception, we had no credit or down payment to get it. “Impossible” I said to myself, my credit was a wreck from some bad decisions I made several years previous and I couldn’t borrow a nickel if I wanted to, much less $12,000. Beside this we are 2,400 miles from home on vacation visiting my wife’s family with no down payment money. We would have to sell the van we had, and qualify for a loan, two things I considered impossible. But my wife believed and prayed that it would come to pass though I tried to discourage her, not wanting her to have a big disappointment.
To my amazement, both of these things happened and within 24 hours our old van was sold, and we were approved for a loan. As I sat in the finance office signing the loan documents I said to myself, “Lord, what are the chances of that?” In awe of this blessing. One more office, one last person, the last papers to sign and the van was ours. We sat across the desk from the young lady who turned the last page of the contract. It was an added insurance policy which would pay off the van if either my wife or I was to die. “No way” I said out loud. “That will only add to our payment,” but my wife disagreed, saying it was a “good idea.” The loan officer joined her in her disagreement. I said, “we are young and healthy and neither of us is going to die in the next five years, so why should we spend this extra money?”
I will never forget this young woman’s next words. She said “three months ago, my children and I sat watching my husband play softball. It was a beautiful blue cloudless sky and from out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning struck him as he was pitching the ball and killed him instantly.” Amazement flooded my mind, the very woman we prayed for a couple of months earlier was sitting across the desk from us. We consoled her right there and told her how we had been deeply moved out in California at the news of her husband’s death and of our prayers for her to our heavenly Father. As I signed the papers to get the insurance I said to myself again, “what are the chances of that?”
Calling all mathematicians, from 2,400 miles from home, no money, no credit, to: old van sold, loan approved, and meeting and encouraging a person whom we had prayed for. What are the chances of that? Don’t forget to factor in the odds of seeing a 30 second news story, the odds of being struck by lightning and killed on a clear, cloudless day, being moved to pray for a complete stranger, being 2,400 miles away from home, having no credit, no down payment, and Michigan’s population of approximately nine million people. And here we are alone in an office with just that one person. Just the one in nine million population chance is mind boggling to me.
From one simple prayer on a jobsite the impossible has lost it’s [IM] forever. Funny, isn’t it? If you take the IM out of impossible everything is now possible. This new awareness of the possible has revealed an already occurring truth; God has been hearing, answering, and blessing me for a long time, I just didn’t recognize His hand.
Since that day, I have seen hundreds, no thousands of remarkable (co-HIM-cidences) as my wife calls them. People helped, people healed, people lifted from dire circumstances often in a supernatural, unexplainable fashion. I see these things often on a daily basis and have journals documenting many of them. I am a person of faith. Faith in light switches and faith in God also.
You are also a person of faith, faith in light switches and hopefully much more to come. “What are the chances of that?”
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. And without faith, it is impossible to please Him. For He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
If you are still with me, you are a person who desires more than the light switch which up to now may have been the extent of your faith. Realizing that you are a person of faith is an exciting development. There are doors which all od your life have stood closed. They are locked by our inability to see them in in the flesh because they are spiritual. We did not understand that we were already people of faith therefore we could not recognize their existence. But now, having realized we are faithful creatures, we can see many newer, larger faith related opportunities also exist. I use the word door because a door represents passing through from one place to another place. And on this journey to greater faith, we must pass through the temporal door into the supernatural which awaits us beyond this physical realm. (Hebrews 11:1 & 6)
The existence of God and our coming to Him is not an earthly endeavor. It is a step forward in your newfound faith. We are seeking answers to questions which before were impossible. Since IM is now removed from possible, we can now ask these questions with a new expectation. For me, there were 5 questions which I yearned to find answers for. I call them the Big 5.
1. Where did I come from?
2. How did all of this happen?
3. Why am I here?
4. Where am I going?
5. Where will I end up?
Funny, how our language is sometimes a forerunner to truth. Remember when you remove I am from possible all things become possible? Strangely in the spiritual when you add I AM to possible all things are possible. In the Scripture when Moses asked God this question “Who shall I say has sent me?” The divine response was “Tell them I AM sent you.” Jesus, the Son of God (I AM) also said (I AM) the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father (I AM) but through Me. (John 14:6)
I have found all the answers to the Big 5 in the Bible, not only these 5, but also answers to all of the other questions I have every had. Religions change, churches change, but the Book remains the same. Just like the One who is responsible for its existence. The offer is simple as 1 + 1. If you seek Me with your whole heart, you will find me. This is too simple for some, but for me it was a perfect fit.
Calling all liars, cheaters, haters, users, thieves, fornicators, blasphemers, and deviates. We are all welcome to exchange our filthy rags for shining, pure white eternal garments. Of course, we have to give up our dark, impure ways to be sons and daughters of a perfectly holy, perfectly just God in order to receive these eternal benefits. For me and millions like me, Jesus was the fulfillment of my search. In Him I have found perfect love, perfect forgiveness, and perfect peace, which does not exist here on planet earth. Don’t settle for any of the “generics,” get the real thing!
If you have a sincere heart about finding the destiny for which you were created, look to Jesus Christ, Son of God almighty who came to earth lived with us, died for us and is in Heaven, waiting for us now. The simplicity of salvation is already within your heart; confess and forsake your dark deeds and sins. Ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart, confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and you will be saved. (Romans 10:9) It is as simple as that, don’t complicate it with anything else, salvation is simple so that even the simplest like me can receive it also.
If you have come to this place, congratulations, much more life awaits, for Jesus has come that you have life abundantly. You are a person of faith, practical faith, supernatural faith, and faith in the One true God and His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. I encourage you to read the book, start with the New Testament, the Book of John is an excellent beginning. This new-found faith will grow stronger as you take the truth of the Scripture, it will change you into a new person, a person of faith, a person of quality, and a person of love.
Remember the Bible has all you need to thrive in this life and in the next. The Lord bless you and keep you this day, and every day always.

Ever stand and watch an elderly lady be knocked down and her purse ripped off of her arm? Of course not, you are going toward her, yelling at the one who is doing such an awful thing to a defenseless old lady. You don’t walk the other way and ignore it, you intervene and if necessary assist her if she is injured. Why do you do that?
Ever sit and watch a young girl be raped and beaten by a stronger male? Do you just walk away and ignore her screams of fear and pain? Even if you can’t physically intervene you immediately alert the authorities or others nearby. Why do you do that?
What if you see a car wreck on a lonely road? What if an infant is left in a basket in a park? Or a hungry child stands outside a restaurant window looking at you, as you eat a big meal? What if your neighbor’s house is on fire, someone is lying on the sidewalk motionless or a person is drowning at the beach? If able, anyone will intervene physically immediately. You don’t even know them and you must somehow help them -why?
There are no schools that teach a person to respond to these situations. There is not a universal human law which says we must do these acts of compassion. Nowhere in our educational progression are we instructed on how to respond to someone truly in need. So why do we do it?
The educated will have 10,000 emotional, physiological, and psychological hypotheses to explain it and yet with so many opinions, can they all be right? They feel that they must explain the unexplainable because they are threatened by anything which they cannot rationalize, understand, or control. They feel it is their duty to keep “we the simple” from making the mistake of believing anything which does not fit their idea of reality.
Invisible souls? Invisible God? Invisible Holy Spirit? Eternal life? Ridiculous you say. But is it really ridiculous? If our five senses cannot feel it, smell it, taste it, hear it, or see it, does this make it “not real?”
Imagine it you’re sitting on the porch at dusk on a perfect, still, moonless spring afternoon breathing in the scent of flowers, listening to crickets, and watching the sky, the trees, and the ground disappear before your eyes. The moist dewy air replacing the dryer daytime air as the humidity rises causing you to perspire. You can taste the flavor of wet, grass and trees as you breathe in and out. You reach for a blanket to cover your bare legs as the cool of the night begins to replace the sweat of the days heat.
We breathe in but we do not see the air entering or exiting our lungs, but no one would say that the air does not exist because we cannot see it. We smell the flowers, the trees, and the grass even in the dark, we don’t even know where these smells are coming from, yet because we are not in their presence we do not say they are imagined. We hear the crickets never-ending song, and yet they are invisible to the eye. The forest, the field, and the sky disappear into the night, yet we do not consider them gone, we accept that that which is invisible is there by faith.
Our mouth can taste the world around us as we breath the scents of the surrounding world and our legs can feel the cold unseen creeping up from our feet. Unseen, unheard, tasteless, and scentless. Every sense, sight, sound, taste, smell, and feeling are betrayed by the unknown. All of them impossible for us as human beings to explain. We believe in the air, we believe in the forest and the field, we believe in the flowers and the grass’ scent, we believe in the crickets’ song, we believe in the taste of the outdoors and we believe in the cold of night.
We believe that a child is worthy of saving from the street, we believe that a little old lady should be rescued from a purse snatcher, we believe that a young girl should not be raped or tortured, we believe that a wreck on a deserted road is a call to action, we believe that an infant left alone in a public park is in trouble, we believe that a hungry child at the window of our restaurant should be fed, we believe our neighbors burning house is our duty to try to save life and property, we believe that a person lying face down on the sidewalk needs help and we believe that a person caught in the current and drowning needs us to act.
Why? Why? Why? A thousand times why?
It makes no scientific sense for one human being to react and care for a complete stranger at the possible inconvenience, jury, or death which could befall them. What could it possibly profit them? It will not profit them, rather, it will certainly cost them time, money, injury, or even possibly death to intervene, and yet they do. They can hear the danger, they can feel the danger, they can see the danger, and sometimes even smell and taste the danger. Yet they will often disregard their physical senses and submit to another sense. An invisible force greater than our physical senses. A power so great it overrides our self-preservation protocols, the very opposite reactions which evolution, natural selection, survival of the fittest, and other naturalistic origin teachings would produce.
These are powers which defy age, ethnicity, culture, and explanation. They are impossible to deny, and exist as a universal phenomenon. Everyone has seen it, everyone has felt it, some of us have done it. Like it or not it is as real as your hand is.                    Regardless of who you are, you are a person of faith. When you reach for the light switch you are sure it will turn the light on, even before it happens. At 4:30 in the morning you are certain that within the next hour, the eastern sky will begin to brighten, and dawn will break soon. A hundred times a day you turn a key, flip a switch, push a button, turn a knob, dial a number, text a message, and in each one of these actions you are convinced of what will occur even before it happens. “That is faith!” You are a person of practical faith, oh yes you are.
Among Webster’s definitions of the work faith are; “to trust,” “to believe,” “to be convinced of,” unquestioning belief which does not require proof or evidence, complete trust confidence, or reliance. When we flip the light switch in the dark, we do not believe it will remain dark do we? No, we believe even before it happens by faith. We have faith in the light, the ignition switch, the door knob, and the phone (unless you have my phone, carrier), but that’s for another day.
We are trained by exercise and repetition what the outcome of each of our actions will be and we are totally surprised when the switch, the button, or the knob doesn’t give the usual result. All people practice faith, whether they believe they do or not, they do.
In the dark, we believe that if we walk where we believe the table is we will run into it and pain will result, so we don’t walk there, do we? That is blind faith. The unseen has dictated our physical actions and produced a tangible result. Our faith and belief in the pain which we feel in our foot or knee is rewarded by a favorable result; no pain. Faith has manifested a real measurable result. Likewise, if we believe that the table is in one place when it is not, we are rewarded by the opposite result; pain. Another real, tangible result of our faith, however misguided.
Since we are all people of practical faith, perhaps we should consider other forms of faith also. The forms of practical faith, light switches, etc., which we have already unknowingly mastered are only the beginning of our journey in faith. We can now also accept that the forces which cause us to chase the child to the street, save the little old lady from the purse snatcher and call 911 to assist the young girl being raped are unexplainable and yet real. The fact that nearly anyone would react similarly to each of these situations is proof positive that forces beyond ourselves do exist. Not only do they exist, but they exist in you. If you don’t believe me try to just stand silent the next time a child runs toward a busy street. You just cannot do it. Not rational, not practical, not intentional, yet compelling, irresistible, and oh so real.
We all believe in this common force. All of us do. You are a person of faith, oh yes you are! You believe in this phenomenon, you have seen it, you have heard about it, you have felt it, you already believe in things unexplainable. Remember Webster’s definition of faith; “unquestioning belief which does not require proof or evidence.” You have already experienced and acted on faith beyond the practical light switch faith which you have practiced all your lives. It’s time to accept it, you believe and practice supernatural faith already, yes you do. You are a person of supernatural faith because you cannot deny that you believe in something supernatural.
Back to Webster’s dictionary. Supernatural is defined as; existing or occurring outside the normal experience or knowledge of man, not explainable by the known forces of laws of nature.
Wow, this is exciting. Let it sink in a minute, or an hour, or a week, or however long it takes to wrap your mind around this. If you are like many, you may have denied that supernatural exists and thought yourself far from it. Yet, you have been living it for a long time. This will be exciting to many and scary to some, because until now you thought you were controlling your own life and circumstances. This admission of your participation in the supernatural is the most important thing you will ever do, it is a game changer to every person who is honest with themselves.
If this is the first time you have realized you are a person of practical faith and a person of supernatural faith, don’t be afraid. Many have made this trip before you, many will follow. This is a door which can never again be closed, you have now crossed through it to the other side. So where do you go from here? Webster’s 3rd College Dictionary gives a second half of the definition of supernatural as follows; of, involving, or attributed to God, or a god.
Isn’t it interesting that the word supernatural’s definition is summarized by the words “of, involving or attributed to God or a god.” Webster’s dictionary, a very respected source book with worldwide use and relied upon by millions and millions daily connects the supernatural with God.
Let’s explore this connection on just a face value level. If I believe in or practice things supernatural, I am indirectly giving an unintentional personal testimony that God exists. How odd, even if we have never thought the thought that God exists as a fact, my actions are already supporting my subconscious belief in His existence. You are a person of practical faith, you are also a person of supernatural faith. And some of you must admit now, however hard, your actions reveal that you just might believe in God also.
I hope you are still with me as this is a stunning development. If you’re already a believer in God, you know where this leads. If you are not or have just realized that you are, you should stay right here with me a few more minutes. Mathematically it is a pretty simple equation 1+1+1. But it is as complex as any equation on the earth.
1 You are a person of practical faith, +1 you are a person of supernatural faith, +1 you believe in God.
It could be argued that the first and second 1’s do not qualify the third, but, let’s look more closely. If something happens once in a lifetime that could be considered chance. If I only ran toward the first child going toward the busy street that would be a chance occurrence. If I did this the 2nd time and the 3rd time it would be a pattern of behavior but if everyone does the same thing every time then it can only be called a universal behavior, a fact, or ever a law.
Chance occurrences are rare or varied at best, they can easily be explained, but a universal constant gives the force behind the behavior substance, or a (body) if I can use that word. Something caused you to do that, something causes everyone to do that.                          Someone who denies still that they are a person of faith cannot tread here, but you who are truly seeking the answers that all men have sought from the beginning of time; where did I come from? Why am I here, and is this all there is?
All these questions can now be answered in your new found faith.

u

From heaven gliding down to earth an angel left her wings,

She’d go to live among mankind, and help with human things.

Her mission here was simple to repair a broken soul

Yes it would take an angels touch to make this poor man whole.

 

The moment that he saw her perfect shining angel face,

Smitten in his heart forever, how he longed for her embrace.

Eyes like pools of water, lovely cheek bones rising high

He knew she was from up above and made by God on high.

 

Her voice was sweetly quiet, her smile glowing bright

She lit his world up like the noon sun shining at midnight.

Her angel hair was long and shining beautiful to see

He wondered “God, why did you send your angel down to me?”

 

He loved her from the second that he saw her lovely face

One life would not be long enough to thank God for His grace!

Every morning when he wakes the sun is not as bright

As the first time that she smiles “oh what an awesome sight!”

 

Every day this gorgeous angel fills his life with lovely things

He knows that he is blessed by God and in his heart he sings.

A song of thanks unto the Lord who surely blessed his way

The day He sent His angel down to live with him that day.

 

Day by day this man’s enjoyed these twenty seven years

Still living with his angel through the smiles and the tears.

And when he looks into her eyes he knows within his heart

Together they will finish well, still happy from the start.

To my angel, Marlena.

 

 

                 Two families are at the park enjoying a Saturday afternoon spring day. They are forced by the crowds to set up camp on the outer edges of the grass bordering the sidewalk and the street. They are together, but not by choice.

 

                These two families are enemies. They live next door to each other, but they are worlds apart in their lifestyles. One family is a professional couple with two children, a registered purebred dog and a manicured lawn. Their house is beautifully painted and decorated inside and out. They go to bed early and rise up early also. Their habits are consistent with their careers, carefully managed and quietly carried out.

 

                The neighbors however, are very different. The property line between these two houses is like the border of a war torn third world nation. Trash, weeds, and broken toys litter the front of this house. One of the front windows has plywood haphazardly nailed over it. There are numerous cats living under and around the house and garbage cans. This family stays up late, blasting their music till the wee hours. They have friends like them, coming over at all hours of the night, who honk their horns at midnight instead of getting out and walking to the door. They are the dregs of the whole neighborhood, avoided by the rest of those who live on this street.

 

                The professional couple almost chose to forgo their planned outing to the park when they see that they will be in close proximity to this bunch. After much debate among themselves, they reluctantly give in to the children’s insistent urgings. They get set up while the children play in the park. This couple watches their children closely, monitoring their positions and activities. The neighbors however, let their children run wild; these kids are interfering with the other kids as they play, taking their toys and bullying all the other children. Everyone knows these neighbors; some of you may have them next door to you today.

 

                The neighbors are not watching their children at all; they are lying on a blanket, drinking beer and falling in and out of sleep, totally oblivious to their surroundings. The first couple is careful while the neighbors are careless, go figure! These parents have put the older siblings in charge of the three year old while they sleep and as you can guess, they have completely forgotten about him.

 

                Then it happens, the toddler of this wild tribe is heading for the street, running across the sidewalk toward the busy road, chasing a ball between the parked vehicles while the cars fly by. Without hesitation the neighbor’s dad jumps up and runs toward the street toward the toddler with almost superhuman speed, yelling “stop” in vein as he goes. He reaches out and grabs the little boy as the car approaching slams on its brakes, screeching tires and horns blasting. The car almost hits the man and the boy, but thankfully both are okay.

 

                The neighbors are still on their blanket, although they are now sitting up startled by all of the commotion. The man brings the child to them and they begin yelling at the kid, no thanks offered to the neighbor who just risked his life for their child. This brave and selfless man returns to his place next to his wife, shaken by his experience.

 

                He does not wonder why he acted this way, nor consider that he has risked his life for the offspring of his neighbor whom he loathes. Why did he do that?

 

As a child I was first made aware by my older siblings that the moon when looked at with a telescope resembled cheese. All around its surface were holes which looked a lot like Swiss cheese. My imagination ran wild the first time I saw it. Wow, wow! Wow, wow, wow! All that cheese just sitting there. I love cheese, and the thought of just walking along and picking up cheese anytime was a very ‘heavenly’ thought. 

        Cheese was expensive in the 60’s and as a child, we did not get too much cheese due to that fact. We ate what we could afford in our house. If a block of cheese appeared in the fridge no one touched it, it was there only for the recipe which my mom would make that week. Never can I remember as a child just cutting a piece of cheese from the block and eating it. No way Jose, you could get disciplined for that.

         My school days taught me that the moon was not made of cheese. Those cheesy looking holes were just craters carved by asteroid impacts. What a downer this was. Those early school days also brought new info about many topics. I was very interested in the sciences. Everything science related was my real thirst. Math was not interesting, writing was often tedious, government was so-so. I read the science books and magazines, anything science was wonderful.

          I was amazed to learn that I had come from a monkey, and even earlier from a single-celled creature. This conflicted with my parent’s religious training in church, but my teachers were smarter than my parents, weren’t they?? Darwin intrigued me, and “The Origin of Species” was magic to me. I sucked it in like a sponge. Finally I had realized where I really came from. There wasn’t anything mystical or ‘Godsome’ involved in it at all. I am the result of time, change and evolutionary processes. I was not created by some lofty spiritual force in the heavens after all. Shame on you mom and dad! If you knew this why did you hide it behind this religion and God myth?

          No, my parents could not be trusted in these more complex issues anymore. I would trust my teachers; they were the ones with true wisdom based on fact, not fiction. I held this conviction for many years, confident and assured by scientific fact about my origins.

            Something deep in my mind always plagued me about Darwin’s writings. Did I imagine it? Did he say that if his “theory” was correct that in the future, innumerable transitional remains would be found? Yes he did say that, didn’t he? There are fish, there are vertebrates and invertebrates, plants, insects and all kinds of animals including dinosaurs which have bones made up of the same material man is composed of. All things fully formed, recognizable, not in-betweens who will someday assume form, they already are.

             How can this be? How can not one solid example be named, when they should be in everyone’s garden or study like plant fossils are. Plants! Such a fragile structure! No bones or cartilage or anything durable like a human skeleton. How disappointed I was to see every supposed proof be nothing but frauds.

             It’s 2017, 158 years after the original publication of “The Origin of Species” and yet, not one of these transitional species from single cell to man has been uncovered. Yes, countless numbers of examples of plants and animals have been found in the millions upon millions of archeological digs performed by men and women hoping to be the one. Which one?

The one who kills God for good.

The one who puts an end to this God myth with physical evidence of Darwin’s truth.

The one whose name will be remembered forever.

          And so they dig. They are still digging as you read this. Are you digging? Looking for proof of your beginnings? Look no further than that big cheesy moon. It really is made of cheese you know. And oh yeah, you really did come from an ape. One of the strongest proofs I can think of to support this belief is that anyone could believe this in the first place.

           Mr. Darwin, thank you for your interesting book, but mostly Mr. Darwin, thank you for your words, your own self fulfilling prophesy which proves the origin part of your hypothesis of beginning is simply mooncheese.

 

If you believe, you always will

Until the end, believing still.

The trials of life can never change

your faith in Him or rearrange.

If you believe with all your heart

His love for you, will never part

The winds can blow, the storms assail

But you’re still safe, cause He can’t fail.

Though you still err and sometimes fail

You’ll turn each time you hear His call

For one who’s His can’t live in sin

He will repent and turn to Him.

The old is gone all things are new

If you’re still sinning, it’s not true!

A holy God cannot allow

His bride to worship golden cows

If you believe you’ll never stop

From grace to sin you will not hop.

To please the Father now our goal

Our lives are now in His control.

If you believe that you believe

Yet live in sin you’ve been deceived!

The liars scheme has claimed your soul

The devil’s really in control

To think you’re safe when you are lost

Eternal death will be the cost.

So turn to Jesus, give up your ways

Receive the love that always stays

Within your heart, He always lives

To those He loves He freely gives

Salvation true which will not fade

Eternal life forever paid.

If you still think that you believe

You must be sure, you must receive

The gift held out in Jesus’ hand

Will make you sure, will make you stand.

If you believe you always will

Until the end believing still

If you still doubt this you must rid

For if you doubt you never did

BELIEVE.

 

 

The trees of the orchard were harvested yearly, producing large, beautiful red apples. The apples were splendid and many people were blessed by their beauty and wonderful taste.

Among the cultivated trees grew a wild tree which was not planted by the orchards owner. It was just a little different from the other trees in both leaves and branches. Most of the apple trees agreed that this was not an apple tree, yet the wild tree insisted it was just as much an apple tree as the rest.

Some of the smaller apple trees insisted that the more mature trees should not judge the new tree so harshly. “He’s just a little different, but that doesn’t make him not an apple tree! So what if his leaves come later than ours do and he has no fruit like the rest. He says he’s an apple tree and that’s good enough for us.”

So there was division in the orchard. The trees altogether agreed to wait until the third year, the fruiting year to see what would happen. Finally the third spring arrived and all the trees were in bloom. The new tree also bloomed and all the trees waiting expectantly for the fruit to arrive. The flower of the new comer was not like the rest. His flowers were larger and more bright than the others.

The smaller trees who sided with the wild tree gloated, “look at those beautiful flowers!” Even the mature trees had to admit, his flowers were much more bright and fragrant than their own, though strangely different.

Summer came and all the apple trees dropped their flowers and fruit started to develop on their branches. The stranger dropped it’s flowers also. Everyone waited expectantly to see the fruit which should come, but none appeared. The tree still insisted that he was an apple tree, and the smaller trees continued to defend him.

Fall neared and still not fruit was seen on the new tree. The mature trees had agreed together that this was no apple tree. The less mature also seeing no fruit began to make up excuses for the fruitlessness of their wild friend. They had a meeting and it was decided by the smaller trees that their friend was still and apple tree, just of the fruitless variety.

The mature trees disagreed with them still set in their minds that an apple tree should have apples on it.

James 2:26

In early years, often children are told about a jolly gift giver named Santa Clause. He was not seen, or heard of by any except by those who believed in him. He lived in the far north of the earth, at the topmost point in a wonderful city which no man could see or find.

Santa Clause, although he lived at the north pole, could somehow still look in on them in their everyday lives and would often take notes on their daily attitudes and actions.

‘You better watch out you better not cry, you better not pout I’m telling you why, Santa Clause is coming to town.’ It continues ‘he sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.’

Children who believe (and why shouldn’t they? Their parents would not lie, would they?) would straighten up their attitudes immediately at the threat that Santa Clause would find out about their bad actions and would penalize them by not giving them the gifts which they so longed for. Millions upon millions of children through the years have believed in this mystical benefactor. His existence being fortified by their parent’s constant reminders as a form of disciplinary control over these youngsters.

But as these children matured, information arose; some did not believe, and ridiculed those who did, chasing them to question their once firm faith. Eventually they were convinced that Santa Claus was only a sweet and exaggerated legend of a nice man who liked to give gifts to poor children.

Their faith crushed, they moved on to doubt anything or anyone they could not see, hear, or touch with their senses or intellect.

---

 In early years, often children are told about a loving, gift giver named Jesus. He was not seen or heard of by any except by those who believed in Him. He lived in the far north, above the top of the world, in Heaven, a wonderful city which no man could see or find.

Jesus, although He lived in Heaven, could somehow still look in on their everyday lives, and would often take note of their daily attitudes and actions.

‘I’ve got hands to do, eyes to see, a mind to understand and a mouth to speak, praise the Lord in Heaven who made me.’ ‘He made the mountains and He made the valleys, the skies are His handiwork too, whew!’ ‘My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do. ‘

Children who believe (and why shouldn’t they? Their parents wouldn’t lie, would they?) Would straighten up their attitudes immediately at the threat that Jesus would find out about their bad actions and penalize them by not giving them the gifts which they so longed for. Millions upon millions of children through the years have believed in this mystical benefactor, His existence being fortified by their parent’s constant reminders as a form of disciplinary control over these youngsters.

But as these children matured, new information arose, some did not believe, and ridiculed those who did causing them to questions their once firm faith. Eventually they were convinced that Jesus was only a sweet and exaggerated legend of a nice man, who loved to give gifts to poor children.

Their faith crushed, they moved on to doubt anything or anyone they could not see, hear, or touch with their senses or intellect.