I was given a machete on the day of my birth

I thought it was the best gift ever given on earth

Then I got older and saw the swords of the other kids

So I decided that I would always keep my machete hid

I tried to trade it for other swords with which to fight

But some were too heavy and others were too light

I finally found a sword that was just the right weight

So I traded it in for the machete I learned to hate

Other fighters I joined to rescue the enslaved and jailed

But just as the mission started it had already failed

For to begin this so highly important quest

A machete was needed to cut through the forest

When my daughter was 3, she begin to have random symptoms such as mild fever and fatigue that we begin to treat but these symptoms persisted so we took her to the doctor and she was diagnosed with Lyme disease.  Lyme disease starts out with a tick bite.  It first shows up as symptoms of fatigue, fever, headaches, and a skin rash.  When someone is diagnosed with the disease, they are automatically put on antibiotics to bring the body to complete health.  This stops the spread of the disease by eradicating the infestation from the body. One could treat the symptoms of the disease instead of treating the disease: cream for the rash, Tylenol for the fever and headaches, and caffeine and B vitamins for the fatigue.  However with only treating the symptoms, we are only getting rid of the manifest issue instead of treating the root problem.  Left untreated, the root problem will slowly get worse to the point of disabling the person, and in some cases, resulting in death.  So it is no surprise that when someone has Lyme disease that they treat the root of the problem, and not just the symptoms.  Even though the antibiotics can make you sick, have long term effects, and cost more than Tylenol and cream; antibiotics are still preferred because they will potentially save the life of the infected person.  So if this is the case with our physical lives, then why do we not do that with our spiritual lives?  Most Christians and Christian churches just want to treat the symptoms and not the root problem.  Why?  Usually because it is too painful, it costs too much, it takes too much effort, and we do not want to deal with whatever else may happen when we uncover the core issue.  That is why we have churches full of people that are weak Christians and have a watered down gospel.  They will not teach the truth that will change someone’s life because they are afraid they will offend someone or their attendance will go down.  Christians are the best at coveing up their hurts, pains, sins, and issues.  Todays Christians give themselves more over to serving satan every day but they sure as heck look and sound good while doing it.  And we wonder why the world is going to hell.  It is because we have treated the symptoms while the whole time we are destroying ourselves and those around us.

We as humans are greedy…especially those of us in America.  We want more and we want more and we want more.  But the sad part is the things that we want the most of cannot be purchased or traded for.  We can work hard enough or save enough or make enough shrewd business deals to get the “stuff” that we want.  There is one way to attain what we really want more of but we are to prideful to pay the price to attain it.  The worst part is that what we think we want more and more of we really do not want more of it all.  In all actuality we just want a purer and truer form of these possessions without even realizing it.  What we greedy humans want the most of is acceptance, self worth, peace, joy, purpose, and most of all…unconditional love.  We attain more stuff, more toys, a bigger promotion, more influence, bigger parties and more friends but all of these are not greed for those things in of themselves.  They are greed to try and attain more of the intangibles of life that cannot be bought or traded for.  We become greedy for more acceptance, self worth, love, etc but it is not more of these that we want.  We just really want a true form of these.  The only true form of these is found in a personal and intimate relationship with God.  It is not found in being a Christian or in going to church or by doing a daily devotional.  Let me say that again lest you think it was a typo.  It is not found in being a Christian or in going to church or by doing a daily devotional. It is only found in having a personal and intimate relationship with God.  Another way to say it is abiding in Christ and finding your complete identity in him (not in the world and people around us).  In all actuality we are greedy for the right thing as humans when it boils down to it.  However the problem ensues because we try filling that desire with other things and all it does is make that need grow stronger.  It is like we are dying of thirst and we keep drinking salt water when there is a pitcher of fresh water right there beside us.  We are too proud to fill that need with Jesus.  Why are we too proud?  Because then we would not have control.  If the engine goes out in the plane then I want the pilot to attempt to land it safely and not me.  As my life spirals out of control I want God take control and make it right and not me.  And we are also too proud because we think that the person that created us will give us something that we will not like. How does that make any sense at all?   We are the stupidest living organism on the planet because of ignorance of our true desires and because of our pride that keeps us from making it right.

Who do we find our identity in Christ?     (by letting Him be our Kinsman Redeemer)

1. We must be real before God…this comes from desperation

2.  Go to the place most likely to meet him…do whatever it takes

3.  Do not be content or be ok with “good enough”

4.  Deal with and get rid of the false identity and redeemer

5.  Strive for  holiness…judge yourself

6.  Be willing to change/Be moldable

“Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today and may his name become famous in Israel”

Why do we get offended when people say things about us or things happen to us?  Sometimes we get offended or hurt over the simplest things or over something that makes no sense at all.  The problem lies in the fact that we do not know who we truly are.  If we do not know who we truly are then how in the heck do we expect anyone else to know who we are?  So we get hurt by not getting appreciated or for being taken advantage of or for being lied to or mistreated or for a thousand other reasons.  We are not confident in who we are and who we were created to be.  We are not assured that we have purpose and value no matter what happens so when something negative comes our way we get hurt.  If we were confident in the Creator creating his creation perfectly for a specific purpose we would not get hurt or offended by these things.  We should be focused on utilizing the creation for the Creator and our response would be to the world and people around us would be “let come what may.”  Alas for most of us that is not the case because we have yet to find our identity, so we are getting hurt and wounded.  But we as humans are good at covering up the hurt and the pain.  We cover it up so much that soon we develop calluses.  And soon we are being hurt but we are so numb to the pain that we do not even know that we are being hurt.  That is the worst place to be.  If you have no nerve endings then you can lose a finger or arm and not even feel it or know it.  We have become so numb to the pain that we lose part of ourselves without even feeling it or knowing it.  And our response becomes “I am tough enough, I did not need that part of me anyway.”  Then those things about us that we want to protect from getting hurt we hide deep inside us to no one can get to them ever again…including ourselves.  What a tragedy!  So by not knowing who we are and letting others define who we are we have completely lost or hidden away that which would give us the greatest peace and joy.  So in the words inscribed at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi….KNOW THYESLF

Temptation is not a pull of the world and not a pull of the flesh but it is a tool of satan to destroy you and prevent you from being who God created you to be.

My five year old son asked me earlier this week what a christian was.  So I told him that a christian was someone that followed God with their entire life and that also loved Jesus with all their heart.  As soon as I told him that I knew I had just messed up.  So I immediately told him that what I had just said was wrong and asked him to forgive me.  I then told him that what a christian really was, was someone who went to church but probably in most cases did not love Jesus with all their heart and did not follow God with their entire life.

“Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”    Dr. James Dobson

He was born four minutes too late

The iron bars and a drunk cell mate

She was raped more times than not

Choked it down with a whiskey shot

Lost his innocence to his older twin

Escaped fears in crime now and again

Aborted children more than can count

She turned to drugs to drown it out

He was raging and she was high

They hooked up just to get by

Bottomed out in a one room shack

Desperate to get their innocence back

People of worth said their too far gone

Decided wrist slits would move them on

As they try to find some razor blades

A beggar told them of One who forgave

They met Jesus on that back alley

And now they live totally free

I run thru the jungle of my discontent

The way is lost and the energy all spent

I step on the snake of Eden as I stumble and fall

He blends in so well that I don’t see him at all

The monkeys of shame are climbing my back

The voice of the reaper keeps calling me back

One…Two…Three…Four

I can’t shut that painful door

The wildcats of confusion are waiting to spring

Of the tragic ones I will soon be the king

I now live a nightmare that once was my dream

So I try to run faster and faster it seems

Radios, books, music, TV

I try to run with others I see

The tighter I grip the mores stars that I lose

Is it predestined for I have no strength to choose?

Are the wounds on my back self inflicted or not?

They have been there so long, the flesh starts to rot

What is today because they all are the same?

My once deranged mind is now more insane

The vines of this jungle entangle my feet

They choke out more life in this sweltering heat

So I jump in the river for it must be a way out

But it is not one of life but one of more doubt

Manipulation, lies, deceit

The way of life, I just want to cheat

Slides, swings, jump ropes

Such fading hopes

I climb out of the river and stumble ahead

There is a cliff but I shun it in dread

This cliff represents my single greatest fear

But something inside keeps drawing me near

Over the edge is hope, love, and peace

But it contradicts all that my eyes can see

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

The debate rages in my mind and soul

A leap of faith must be taken over the side

I debate it for days and finally decide

I get a running start to take the plunge ahead

But I waited too long and a rhino tramples me dead.