To all of you who are actively serving and to all of you who have already served I just want to say from the bottom of my heart....

THANK YOU!!!

I salute all of you for being so willing to stand in the gap and defend our freedom. You truly are America's Hero's!

I pay tribute to you through this video...

At first glance you probably didn't think the image above represents victory - BUT IT DOES.

At first glance you probably didn't think about odds being overcome in that very moment - BUT THEY WERE.

At first glance maybe you thought this man deserved what was happening to him - BUT HE DIDN'T.

But just maybe perhaps you thought of something else...

Instead of thinking these things were happening to Him, maybe you thought - He was happening to them!

Maybe you thought Jesus was making a "Public Spectacle"!!

Colossians 2:13-15

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

I never even considered this until this morning.

Thank you Lord for showing this to me!

How great is the God who makes a "public spectacle" of things?!?!

I read this verse this morning and can't shake it....

Proverbs 27:21

21 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,

but man is tested by the praise he receives.

The crucible purifies silver and the furnace purifies gold. So does that mean man is purified by the praise he receives??

In other words, does praise test our purity?

Does how we handle praise show our level of maturity?

This scripture has really got me thinking this morning.

What do you think about it?

Sometimes as Christians we get it wrong.

We wake up every morning starting the day with a sense that we can conquer the world for Christ and make Jesus' name more famous. But as the day unfolds and challenges or unexpected issues come our way, we find ourselves at the end of the day wishing for one of the popular Staples "Easy" Buttons.

Sometimes we wish we could just hit that button and make everything "right" again.

As if making things "right" made them easier.

But what about the fact that most of the things that were done "right" in the Bible were done the hard way?

What would have happened if David when facing Goliath had an "easy" button?

What would have happened if Jonah when trying to dodge Ninevah pushed an "easy" button?

What woud have happened if Stephen when being stoned to death had an "easy" button?

How might our lives be different if Jesus pushed an "easy" button?

As Christians we tend to associate things that are hard as being unfair or not right. When in reality some of the most difficult things we'll ever do are the right things.

Sure it would be nice to hit an "easy" button when temptations came our way but where would we get our character development from if we didn't conquer our temptations with the help of Christ?

I would so love to hit the "easy" button when a loved one passed away in my life, but in doing so, would I be losing a greater understanding and appreciation for the true value and meaning of life?

It's easy to wish and want an "easy" button as a Christian. But didn't God make things easy enough when He sent His son to die on a cross for us?

All we have to do is believe in and follow Him. What Christ did for us was by no means easy, but if you really want to look at it and examine things, God sent us an "easy" button in Christ.

It's just that we tend to forget that.

One of the things that simply rocked my world when I first discovered Jesus and His time on earth was the fact that he spent more time with sinners and outcasts than religious leaders.

And for doing so he faced all kinds of ridicule and criticism from those same religious leaders.

But Jesus knew exactly who needed his presence the most.

Mark 2:17

17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Jesus puts the religious leaders in their place and opens their eyes when he says this in verse 17. He didn't come for the healthy but for the sick.

So when I read this and think about who Jesus spent most of his time with I have to ask myself,

Who Am I Hangin' With?

I'll confess to you that you won't see me hanging around a bar or some night club seeking sinners. But what if I did?

How would I be judged?

I imagine the judgment would be much like the same kind of judgment Jesus received.

People don't want to get dirty or go to the uncomfortable places to reach someone but that's exactly what my Lord did for me.

If Jesus wasn't found in those ugly places where would I be now?

I'm a HUGE football fan. Be it the NFL, College Football or High School Football I'm luvin' it!

I love the atmosphere, I love the game and I love the shear thought of just being around it.

I love me some football!

So as you might guess I was watching College Gameday on ESPN Saturday when they did a story on all the motivating traditions different schools did before they took the field.

Needless to say it was very interesting. I didn't realize that so many schools did such a variety of things before taking the field. Now, I'm not a huge Notre Dame fan, but I do like to catch a game or two when I can. And I've always known about their "Play Like A Champion Today" sign that each player touches in their own special way before taking the field.

I just didn't know so many other schools did such a variety of other things and I was very interested in the way CGD covered this story. As I watched about seven minutes of the story they eventually came to the Notre Dame sign pictured above and just as soon as I seen that sign this thought occured to me...

"Why don't Christians go out into the world with some kind of motivational tradition like this? Instead of "Play  Like A Champion Today why don't we Christians have a sign or something that says, "Represent Christ Today!"??

I don't know what triggered that thought.

Maybe there is just something spiritual about football 8-) but as I was taking in all the different things each school did before going to do battle on the field I wondered why Christians aren't this motivated to go out everyday and do battle in the world?

Maybe if we adopted this same kind of mindset we could make a little bigger impact in the world. Seems to me that a lot of Christians forget that Christ already won the victory. Now we just gotta go out and RUN UP THE SCORE!!!!

"Represent Christ Today!"

I was reading from the book of 1 John this morning when something immediately grabbed my attention...

It was a Heading in Chapter 2 over verses 18-27. Here's what it says in the NIV translation...

Warning Against Antichrists

Yeah, the word Antichrist is PLURAL not SINGULAR!!

For the longest time I always thought that we need to be careful and keep an eye out for THE Antichrist when in fact it says here that there are MANY Antichrists.

Look at verse 26...

   26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.

Those who are trying to lead you astray. Again PLURAL.

Who are they in your life?

Identify them and take note. This scripture serves as fair warning that we have to be on our guard.

What are your thoughts on Antichrist being PLURAL instead of SINGULAR??