Do You Feel Lost?

Do you feel lost? Do you feel like the world doesn’t really have any answers, that the world is confusing? 

Does it feel like the world hates you or doesn’t understand you? 

That they’re so many problems and evil in the world without any explanation or a real light at the end of the tunnel? 

A lot of people struggle with these types of thoughts. 

The media, corporations and people of different walks of life try to offer guidance, ideas and solutions but when you dig deeper a lot of times they’re taking advantage of people’s emotions and trying to sell people their products. 

Tune in all day to Alphabet News where they will show you doom and gloom all day, feed you the solutions and answers you want to hear while making you hate and despise the other side. 

During the commercial you can see advertisements from Mega Corp Inc. for items to really show support to your causes. For the low price of 19.99 you can buy an item with a slogan on it that will line the pockets of the stockholders. 

Then when the news comes back on they will have an author on that wrote a book that solidifies exactly how you feel and you can buy that book also for 19.99 or 9.99 on Kindle. 

Just make sure you tune in, buy the products, consume the correct beliefs that seem to change every few years or so. The only thing they ask is to never think differently. They already have trained people with words and names to call those who think differently. Last thing you want to do is be called one of those names and then none of the people you associate with will want to associate with you anymore. 

When you’re invested in that world it might seem nice at the time and feel good. It might make you feel like you’re right and a part of something. 

But if you stop to think about it, are you really a part of something? 

Or are you just a fish on the hook? 

A fish that they dangle and throw back as soon as they’re done with them. 

A sheep whose shepherd doesn’t really care if they leave unless they have a use for them. 

Truth is the answers the world offer you are false light, false hope, false happiness. The light they offer is a flashlight in the dark, the batteries run out and it’s gone. The hope and happiness they offer is temporary and fleeting. You have to keep going back to the media, you have to keep buying the products, you have to keep surrounding yourself with what feels good because if you don’t you will start to feel bad again. 

But what if there is a different way? 

A different truth? 

A different life? 

I am talking about The Way, The Truth and The Life. 

I am talking about a fisherman who would never dangle you and toss you back but treasure you. 

A Shepherd who would leave the other 99 sheep to go find you the 1 who is astray. A Shepherd who doesn’t need you He wants you! 

The Light of the World. 

Not false hope or happiness. But true hope and joy which is greater than any temporary happiness. 

You may be reading this and rolling your eyes or getting angry at the thought of Jesus Christ and Christianity. 

But the judgmental hate filled Christianity that you often hear portrayed in media is not the real Christianity. 

The world claims it affirms you, forgives you and loves you but that’s not really true. You make a mistake and the world will remind you of it the rest of your life. If an 18 year old in 1983 commited a crime and was convicted this affirming, forgiving, loving world still makes that person inform any potential employer of their conviction on a job application 40 years later. Say something wrong and you’re cancelled, there is no recovery. 

You may think well I didn’t commit any crimes and I don’t say horrible things. 

Okay think of the worst thing you have ever done. Do you really think that everyone in your circle would forgive you for it? Would they still love you? Affirm you still? 

If you say I haven’t done anything really bad or horrible but what if you did, would they still accept you? 

The difference between the world, your friends, family, loved ones is God will forgive you for all of your sins because He truly does love you. He will cast your sins in the sea of forgetfulness and as far as the east is from the west. He will not bring up your past, no resentment, no guilt trip, just real true forgiveness. 

You repent and believe and you will be saved. Your faith is what saves you and if you’re saved there is no need to fear the world because even if they destroy your body you are eternally secured. 

Truth is there may be some who say, “Well my loved ones will affirm me, love me and forgive me no matter what”. 

Even if you say that in confidence you just acknowledged you’re a sinner. The fact is when you die you will have to face God who is the judge and you will be held accountable for your sins. Because He is fair, that is what we all want in a judge. If someone hurt a loved one or yourself you wouldn’t want a judge to say, “Hey this seems like a really good person so I am gonna let it slide”. You would want justice. Well, there will be justice for your sins. 

But if you repent of your sins and put your faith in God you will be saved. Because the Son, Jesus Christ took the penalty for your sins, my sins and all the world’s sin. But you must have faith in the Son in order for His gift to be given to you. Otherwise the penalty still must be paid. 

I want to conclude by making this clear, while the world may change it’s beliefs and words, God’s Word is eternal and has not been altered or changed. Heaven and Earth may pass away but God’s Word is forever. 

Repent and Believe. 

-Chris 

The Frivolous Pursuit of Happiness

I hear a lot things like, “I just want to be happy” or “when will it be my turn to be happy?”

Businesses and people market things by telling people to find something or someone to make you happy. 

This mentality leads to people making their entire lives revolve around being happy.

And you know what? That is selfish.

Sounds harsh, I know. But if your entire life is about making yourself happy than the above statement is true.

Not only is it selfish but it is an empty pursuit.

Happiness is incredibly fleeting. 

Think about when you got something that made you incredibly happy. Could be a toy as a kid, a gift as an adult, something you bought. 

How long did that happiness last? How long before the item just became another thing in your life?

How long before you needed something else to make you happy? 

Maybe it’s a fun event you went to or a vacation, at the time it made you happy but then it was over and you needed to do something else to make you happy.

Heck there’s been times where I have gone back to a town I visited that was a lot of fun and made me happy when I was there only to feel depressed because the town no longer gave me the same feeling. I was pursuing a fleeting emotion. 

This leads to people having relationships that are purely built on making themselves happy. Even marriages that are built on the foundation of happiness. What happens in that relationship or marriage when happiness leaves? 

It will collapse.

Which will make you unhappy.

Truly if your goal in life is happiness you will spend most of your life unhappy. 

So what should you pursue?

You should pursue the supplier of all things good.

God.

Pursue God and your life will be filled. Filled with purpose.

It will be a life that is about self sacrifice and serving God and His creation. A life that has true meaning. 

Yes there will be happiness along the way but in addition to that, true joy, peace and love.

A life where you truly enjoy the happy moments and our grateful. Not waiting for the next new person, place or thing. 

A life where you have all you need because you have God. Because in the end what good is it to gain the world and forfeit your soul?

Have a Blessed Week,

Chris 

Blessings Will Come

With everything going on right now, and in the past two years, I think this is the best entry for this week’s Throwback Thursday.

The Good Word

Remember God is always there.

Fear not He is with you in your suffering and anxiety, combat what is distressing you with the power of God.

Remember He will never forsake you.

Jesus told us our Father in Heaven values us more than the birds in the air who He provides for.

He also said He has a place prepared for us when we pass away.

God will take care of us on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Trust in Him, the blessings will come. You know this because He provided His grace so you’re already blessed!

Keep watch and look out the blessings can come from anywhere or from anyone.

The Lord will provide because He loves you.

Have a BLESSED week,
Chris

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Dealing With Anger

Proverbs 22:24-25,
“²⁴ Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person,
    do not associate with one easily angered,
²⁵ or you may learn their ways
    and get yourself ensnared.”

As someone who struggles with anger reading that really convicted me.

I often times feel like I lose control, I don’t even feel like me.

The truth is you see anger everywhere, sports, politics, entertainment and sadly Christianity.

Seeing so much anger in the body of Christ really grieves me and ends up ironically making me angry.

I became a hypocrite fast.

People often justify their anger and even use the Bible to add to their reasons.

But in actuality God is Slow to anger and we are called to do the same.

I know it can feel hopeless but hope can always be found in God.

While I still struggle and have bad seasons God has helped me enormously and God can help you too.

Call out to Him in.

I have a story to share that is a tough one to tell. One afternoon during a horrible time in my wife and I’s life I was having rage issues, I was angry all the time and so stressed. I really wasn’t being a good husband at all. I was in the basement of the house we were soon going to have to move out of and I really laid into God. I said horrible things and ended my tirade by saying in a very sarcastic tone, “If you were God, then you could take my angry away.”

Before I could say another word, God in His mercy did exactly that.

My angry was gone in an instant, I felt peace but then deep shame.

I didn’t deserve His mercy, His grace, I deserved quite the opposite but by His own will He chose to take my anger away in that moment.

I will never forget that day.

God is truly good.

Let Him bring peace to your life.

Have a Blessed and Peaceful Week,
Chris

-Bible Verses on Anger
https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/anger-bible-verses/

Anger Management Tips
https://pairedlife.com/advice/Five-Biblical-Steps-to-Controlling-Anger?fbclid=IwAR2S_miM2d2gKnFPPk-qhnhw6h2C5tfywXTHoJoQaosR_-ajXu8hlV6-o-I

Scripture Reading Plan For the Week: (Day Late, Sorry!)

Monday – 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13

Tuesday – Psalm 20

Wednesday – 2 Corinthians 5:6-17

Thursday – Mark 4:26-34

Worn Out

Throw Back Thursday.

This is one of my first blog posts. I look back on this entry and think of two things. One, “Hey that wasn’t so bad.” As I grow in faith and my writing I sometimes expect to find old posts of mine and see bad theology or writing but that was not the case with this entry.

Second and most important I have to say, my goodness has God changed me in the last five years. I still struggle but no where near as bad as in the past. Praise the Lord and all Glory belongs to God.

The Good Word

What gets you worn down? The answer for me is A LOT of things. I am constantly worn down. I struggle with depression, anxiety and obsessive, compulsive behavior. I am constantly worrying about the what if’s in life or how horrible something could go. I make schedules, write out pros and cons, check locks over and over again, reorganize things, I will probably re-read this five or six times before I hit post.

I try all these human made things to make my life the best or most efficient it could possibly be but it just ends up wearing me out worse. I’ll tell myself just to turn to God but then I feel guilty for things I have done, or situations I wasn’t being a good Christian. This leads to me just wanting to shut off from the World and many times from God.

The truth is, that no…

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Satan Has No Power

Satan is not only the tempter but the accuser. Resist him with the Holy Spirit and you will win your battle. Satan has no power over a Christian, we can resist because the Holy Spirit dwells with in us and God is on our side.

This does not mean we will not fall and we will not fail at times. If you do fall don’t let the devil send you into a depression if you do then you allow him to harm you twice.

Notice how I say allow. Take accountability, if you sin don’t blame Satan instead take responsibility, cast out the devil from your mind and repent to God.

God doesn’t expect perfection, if He did the Son would not have had to come. God wants obedience and your love. If you love someone then you will take responsibility for doing something wrong so if you love God take responsibility for your actions.

Part of love is also forgiveness, God will forgive you because He loves you, so ask for forgiveness and move on. If God, who is greater, forgives you than you can forgive yourself.

All power and all glory goes to God and with Him all things are possible.

Remember that and fear no evil.

Have a Blessed Week,
Chris

The Narrow Path is the Right Path

The Narrow Path is narrow because there is only one way, Jesus.

Follow Him and it leads to Heaven.

Look at the alternatives they all come down to works. Make sure to do this, do that, follow this, follow that. And if you are good enough you may get into paradise.

Confusion, anxiety, depression and overall pain come on this path.

That path may seem broad with more opportunity but in reality that path is on shaky ground filled with bumps, holes, entrapments and along the way many, many snakes.

But God offers the narrow path, the straight path right to Him. Just follow the Lord.

If you went hiking and there were two paths one was narrow and led straight to where you were going and the other was filled with rough terrain where you had to find your way all on your own which would you chose?

Some may decide to take the rough road as they see it as a challenge. But when they arrive to their destination, dirty, tired, hurt which path do you think they will take back?

If they chose to go the same way back it would be quite foolish.

Unfortunately many take that path their whole lives and still believe it is easier.

But we know the truth, we know the way and we know the life.

And we will come to the Father through Him.

Have a Blessed Week,

Chris

Worn Out

What gets you worn down? The answer for me is A LOT of things. I am constantly worn down. I struggle with depression, anxiety and obsessive, compulsive behavior. I am constantly worrying about the what if’s in life or how horrible something could go. I make schedules, write out pros and cons, check locks over and over again, reorganize things, I will probably re-read this five or six times before I hit post.

I try all these human made things to make my life the best or most efficient it could possibly be but it just ends up wearing me out worse. I’ll tell myself just to turn to God but then I feel guilty for things I have done, or situations I wasn’t being a good Christian. This leads to me just wanting to shut off from the World and many times from God.

The truth is, that no amount of planning or checking or figuring out the best solution will work as well as taking your problem to God. Take everything to him and let go of your worry. Let go of all the built up anger for people in your life, let go of all the guilt about your own life and trust in him. Don’t focus on pleasing others, do what God wants.

Most importantly, forgive. Forgive others for what they have done to you and forgive yourself for what you feel you have done wrong. Remember as Christ was dying he asked the father to forgive the people responsible for his pain.

Find peace in your life.

God Bless

The Journey: Conclusion

Woman on a Bridge

It was Memorial Day and we took Jane’s Dad out to dinner. We had decided to go to Double T Diner and take the back roads home. But at the last minute Jane suggested we go to TGI Fridays, so it made sense just to go the normal way home.

On the way there is a bridge you have to cross, when we arrived at that point we noticed two cars in front of us had come to a stop, the passenger in the second car was outside, talking frantically on his cell phone. Jane saw a young lady standing next to the bridge, peering over the side. Jane yelled at me to “STOP THE CAR!”

Jane rushed out of the car, when she did the young lady began to swing her leg over the bridge. By the time Jane got to her, she was sitting on the bridge, legs dangling over the side, getting ready to jump. Jane got to her just in time and began consoling her, rubbing her back. The young woman was a nurse who just got served with divorce papers, she had two little twin girls at home but felt like she didn’t want to burden anyone anymore.

I was frozen, not sure what to do. I wanted to pull her off the bridge but I was in her line of sight. What if she saw me and jumped? The wife of the man on the cell phone got out of the car and went over to them. As it turned out the woman was a nurse also, and began talking with her. Jane began to pray (she told me later it was the hardest she had ever prayed in her life). She was praying for a miracle to get this young lady off the bridge.

Than out of the blue a large man came from behind the young lady and pulled her off the bridge. The young lady began to weep, Jane patted the man on the back and thanked him. I watched the man lean over the side of the bridge, breath a sigh and stare out into to the water. Everyone was talking to the young lady now, I looked down at my watch and checked my cell phone, when I looked up the man was gone. I was puzzled who this was and asked the people in the other car if the man was with them, they told me he wasn’t.

No one saw the man arrive or leave, there was no additional cars, we heard no engines in idle, and we were on the middle of a bridge. Who was the man? Was it an angel from God? No matter what conclusions you draw if it wasn’t for Jane, the nurse and the mysterious man those children would have been without their mother.

After watching her help save that woman, I realized Jane had saved me, that’s what she had always tried to do for people. Since she was a little girl she would show kindness, giving to the homeless (one time as a child she gave a homeless man her Happy Meal), being there for friends and family in times of need, always being loyal and showing love to the people she cared about. She would forgive people, and love them, never giving up on her kindness. She was a better Christian than I was even before she was a Christian. God sent her to me, to change my life, to save my life, she was everything I had been asking for.

I realize now that no matter what you do in your life, no matter what bridges you burn there will be a cross for you to walk on to your salvation.

The Journey Part I

I thought I was a believer, that I had strong faith. But what good is faith without works? “Faith without works is dead” That’s what James 2 teaches. I would claim to be a Christian, but I didn’t go to church, I was resentful of the church. How can these people be such hypocrites? How can they continue to do the opposite of what Jesus teaches? Do they really do anything for the poor and needy or do they just care about themselves?

It wasn’t till recently that I realized I needed to ask those questions to myself.

When I was 19, I was still claiming to be Christian but continued sinning without repentance, not following what God teaches us. My only communication with God was, when I fell into brokenness and begged for help, when that didn’t seem to work I would scream at him and yell, wondering where he really was? Having gone to High School in an awful environment, I dropped out. I was severely depressed, I had never had a job, had no car, no license, not even an ID. I felt like I didn’t even exist in the World.

After a while, I dusted myself off and ventured out, I got my GED, got a job, got a car, and had some new friends. I thought everything was going great, not noticing that it was God who was guiding me through all of this. However, I still felt the same emptiness and loneliness.

Then everything changed, I met a young 21 year old woman named Jane. My entire life was different after that. We fell in love right away, spent almost every day together and within three months I asked her to marry me. She said, yes! I was happy beyond belief. Of course we both lived at home, I only worked 12 hours a week for minimum wage at a Taco Stand and she was in college. We obviously couldn’t get married right away. But man was I convinced this was the girl of my dreams.

There was one problem though, she wasn’t a believer. She grew up with an Atheist father, and spent most of her life with the same beliefs before now being an agnostic. I talked to her about my faith, told her about my experiences and others experiences. I felt I needed to save her.

But I was the one who needed saving. I still had the same resentment, bitterness, anger for the World. I had no compassion, no love, no drive to be a better Christian.

After many discussions and a few arguments, I gave up on trying to convert her. I went through an occasional interest in YouTube sermons and a few bible reading days here and there but I was still the same guy. After a while I would settle back in to the same habits.

Jane and I went through some rough patches and had some dark moments. My anger and depression were getting out of hand. At one point the engagement was called off, she left and went to her sister’s house.

I was alone in our home when I began to scream at God, I yelled, I cursed at him. I blamed everything on him, why did he make me this way? Why do I have depression and anxiety? Why can’t he just take it all away? I convinced myself I needed no one but me. Then I did something the bible teaches us not to do, I put God to the test. I told him that he needed to prove himself to me right now.

There was silence, the quietest silence I had ever heard, I could feel it. I truly felt alone, I collapsed and wept. I was more broken than ever. I begged for forgiveness, I told him to lead me, guide me. I immediately felt calm and relaxed, accepting everything that happened.

The next day, Jane came over to grab some things and I asked her to listen to me, I told her everything I needed to change and what I have done wrong. She was very resistant, but I kept praying to God, asking him to guide me in my words. Finally she cried and said it was exactly what she needed to hear. After a long talk we decided to get back together. We still have our rough patches but things have never been as dark as before that.

I started reading the bible more, watching sermons from all over the World but was still convinced I didn’t need church. Meanwhile Jane’s mother had become a Christian, she was an alcoholic and was close to dying. She had hit rock bottom and turned her life around, she kept writing Jane letters telling her about God and bringing God up to her every time they talked. I was unaware of the changes going inside Jane’s mind.

Then one day Jane said, “I want to go to church” I was shocked and excited. But also at the same time I was scared, I didn’t want to go to church, I still believed I could be a Christian on my own.

We searched for a while and finally found a church. We started going but didn’t go as often as we should have and didn’t full commit like we wanted but we still considered the church our home. Then one day a notice was posted on their website, the pastor had decided to quit ministry and the church was up for sale. Jane and I were so upset that we decided not to go through the whole process again.

For almost a year we watched sermons online and had discussions on Christianity. She had started going to a university which required religious studies courses and before long she was teaching me things. Every time I asked her about her beliefs she kept telling me she wasn’t ready to call herself a Christian, she still wasn’t sure. At one point during a time when she was feeling guilty about her mistakes and depressed about what other people had done to her. I told her “Go over and sit down and pray, confess all your sins and offer your heart to Jesus.”

She did this but when she came back she described the experience as “Weird” and that she still wasn’t sure if she was a believer. This went on for months finally I asked her why? She looked down and said “Because I don’t feel I am worthy”

I told her, “None of us are.” She smiled and looked down, I gave her a hug, looked at her, then asked her the question again, she looked up at me and said “I am a Christian” Her smile lit up the room, I hugged her, and felt a new love radiate through my body as I held her. It was one of the happiest moments of my life. When she offered her heart to Jesus, he took it, like he always will to anyone who asks. But we still needed to find a church.