Morning Coffee

These times are troubled and these times are good
And they’re always gonna be, they rise and they fall
We take ‘em all the way that we should
Together you and me forsaking them all
Deep in the night and by the light of day
It always looks the same, true love always does
And here by your side, or a million miles away
Nothin’s ever gonna change the way that I feel,
The way it is, is the way that it was

When I said I do, I meant that I will ’til the end of all time
Be faithful and true, devoted to you
That’s what I had in mind when I said I do

Well this old world keeps changin’, and the world stays the same
For all who came before, and it goes hand and hand
Only you and I can undo all that we became
That makes us so much more, than a woman and a man
And after everything that comes and goes around
Has only passed us by, here alone in our dreams
I know there’s a lonely heart in every lost and found
But forever you and I will be the ones
Who found out what forever means

When I said I do, I meant that I will ’til the end of all time
Be faithful and true, devoted to you
That’s what I had in mind when I said I do

Truer than true, you know that I’ll always be there for you
That’s what I had in mind, that’s what I had in mind,
When I said I do

When I Said I Do: by Clint Black

        30 Days until vacation!  30 Days until I can leave behind all of my life’s ridiculous boredom that it has accumulated through the years.  30 Days until Curtis and I get to embark on yet another road trip together, where singing outlandishly loud to music and taking pictures of road signs to record where we’ve been come as second nature.  30 Days until I can ask Curtis, “Are we there yet,” twenty minutes into the trip just because I can.  30 Days until I have eight hours of driving in a car, sitting beside the one I love with the windows rolled down and my feet on the dash, eating road trip snacks.  30 Days until I can join in on the “fun” of metal detecting with Curtis and his father just because…there are some sacrifices worth making when you love someone that much, regardless of how ridiculous you feel doing it. 

        But for now, I’m sitting, waiting, wishing that those 30 Days will go by quickly and my week of vacation will last a lifetime.  However, life doesn’t quite seem to work that way.  No matter how much we try, vacation doesn’t last forever.  

Perhaps that’s why I like photographs so much…they help preserve my memories.     

Four years ago, today, two friends of mine were taken from this world in a fatal car accident to go be their Father. 

Let’s all take some time, now, to have a moment of silence in their remembrance. 

“I will remember you

Will you remember me

Don’t let your life pass you by

Weep not for the memories

——————————————————————————————-

I’m so tired, but I can’t sleep

Standin’ on the edge of something much too deep

It’s funny how we feel so much but we cannot say a word

We are screaming inside, but we can’t be heard

——————————————————————————————-

I will remember you

Will you remember me

Don’t let your life pass you by

Weep not for the memories”

Excerpt from:  I Will Remember You by Sarah McLachlan

I have absolutely no clue where I got the idea for this post, but I know that this is a subject that provokes a lot of questions as well as confrontations.

Many false religious groups and cults teach that a person can lose their salvation, and many quote verses that “prove” their standings.  Unfortunately, they (the verses) can seem extremely convincing when taken out of their context.  I did a little bit of research on this issue, and this is what I found:

SAMPLE VERSES

Used to prove that Salvation can be lost…

2 Peter 1:9 - But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

2 Peter 1:10 - Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.  For if you do these things, you will never fall,

2 Peter 2:20 - If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.

2 Peter 2:21 - It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.

2 Peter 2:22 - Of them the proverbs are true, “A dog returns to its vomit, ” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”

Can you see, now, how, taken out of context, these verses could very easily be misleading.  However, I am going to try my best to explain…

Context #1

We have to first know to whom Peter was writing in this chapter.  In chapter 1, verse 1 of 2 Peter we see that it is being written to other Christians; people who are saved.

2 Peter 1:1 - Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

Context #2

2 Peter 1:4-11 emphasize parts in verse 9 (”…has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins”) and verse 10 (”…For if you do these things, you will never fall.”).

“4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by the evil desires.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.  For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Let’s remember to whom Peter was writing: the saved.  Can saved people forget they were forgiven of their past sins, or at least act as if they have forgotten?  Of course they can.  Many Christians can drift away from God by not doing the things that Peter is commanding of us in verses 5-7.  “…has forgotten he has been cleansed from his past sins.” means that the sinner does the forgetting, not God.  Also notice that Peter makes no mention that the cleansing is now void due to the sinner forgetting.  How awesome is that!?  Verse 10 is merely encouraging the saved to live by verses 5-7 for their own assurance in their own mind, not God’s mind.

Well, “What about the ‘fall’ that is mentioned,” you may ask.  This is simply referring to a falling out of fellowship with God, not a falling from salvation.  Once we are saved, we are automatically adopted into the family of God to become joint heirs with Christ.

Romans 8:17 - Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Our relationship with God doesn’t change regardless of our straying into sin, or stumbling with wrongdoing.  For example, when children disobey their parents, a good fellowship is torn with the parent, but the children are still just as much their child as they were before.  The relationship does not change.

Context #3

What about the dog eating it’s own vomit, or the sow returning to the mud hole?  What is the subject of chapter 2?  False Prophets and their Destruction:

2 Peter 2:1 - But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.  They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them - bringing swift destruction on themselves.

The dog and the sow are not being compared to the saved.  Instead, they are being compared to the false teachers.  False teachers being those who talk like they are Christians, are very knowledgeable about the Bible and can be very deceiving to the saved.  They are the ones who claim salvation, but have never had it.  Therefore, never being a Christian to begin with.

Context #4

Referring to verse 20 when it says that by becoming entangled in the corruption of the world after escaping it by knowing God,  you are worse off in the end.  This is not referring to Christians who have fallen back into sin.  Reading verses 17-19 will reassure you this is not the case.

2 Peter 2:17-19 - 17 These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm.  Blackest darkness is reserved for them.  18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.  19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity - for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

So, as you can see, verse 20 is simply a continuation of Peter describing these false prophets, not Christians.  These false teachers will surround themselves by Godly people to escape the corruption of the world around them; “…those who live in error.”

Context #5

Again, let’s take a look at verse 22, which many may have used to prove that salvation can be lost.  When put into its context, this verse, however, accomplishes the complete opposite.  God is trying to show us that those false teachers, being not truly saved, will return to their sinful nature.  Those who were “dogs” and “sows” were never God’s “sheep” or children.  They were only pretending to be such.

Christians are formally lost sheep.  Once a child of God, you will always be a child of God.

John 10:28 - I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.

John 10:29 - My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

Now, ladies and gentleman, isn’t that just the most fabulous news you could ever hear?!  Our God is so gracious that even if we fall back into sin, we will never fall out of his hands.

“Jump in the water

Jump in with me

Jump on the altar

Lay down with me

My hardest question

To answer is

WHY?

———————————

Someone save me

Somebody save me

Somebody save me

Please don’t erase me”

Excerpt from: Save Me by Shinedown

Some days I feel like screaming at the top of my lungs, “Lord, I am just so frustrated!”  What’s frustrating?  I’ll tell you what’s frustrating me.

I’ve been having a hard time at work today.  More so today than other days.  Regardless, the problem seems to be getting worse.  There was an error made by two people two days back, one being myself and the other being my co-worker.  Early this morning, I found the correction to the error.  Immediately, though, I was told that couldn’t possibly be correct, because my co-worker checked it a second time and had gotten the same result.  However, I knew this wasn’t the case.  I knew that we had both made an error.  I took the problem to my manager, who then confirmed that this was, in fact, an error on both of our parts.  The good news is that the problem is now corrected.  The bad news is that my co-workers seem to have something against me.

I thought to myself, “Well, our manager was kind of harsh when she ’scolded’ us for not be more careful.  Maybe she is upset about that.”  Like a lot of people, I can’t stand it when someone is either mad at or me or mad about something in general.  I sent her an email, apologizing for the error and telling her that it wasn’t her fault.  Was it returned with an email saying, “Thanks.  We’ll be more careful next time”?  Ha!  No.  Instead, the email was forwarded on to another co-worker so that it could be mocked.

I’ve mentioned this issue to Curtis before, and I believe that my age has a huge affect on how I am treated a lot of the time.  I’ve noticed this here at work, outside of work and even with my jewelry business.

What I’m trying to get at is this: Forgiveness.  Is it something you only do once for someone, then if they hurt you again, that’s just too bad?

On Forgiveness

From the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

Matthew 18:21-22 - 21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?  Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

So, is Jesus saying that we only need forgive someone up to 77 times?  No.  Rather, we should be willing to forgive for as long as it takes to settle the issue in our heart.

Why must we forgive?  Put simply, the answer to that is because Jesus has commanded that of us.  For as it is written in the Scripture, if we do not forgive, then neither will we be forgiven.

On Why

Matthew 6:14-15 - 14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Ladies and gentleman, forgiving another is probably one of the hardest commands that God has given us.  Some may think, “Why should I keep forgiving someone who continuously hurts me and rejects my forgiveness?”

If you are unfamiliar with the story about the Unmerciful Servant, then I will try and give you a brief summary.

The kingdom of heaven was being compared to a king who wanted to “settle his accounts with his servants.”  A man was brought to him that owed him a large amount of money.  Since the man was unable to pay, the king ordered that he and his family be sold into slavery.  The man fell to his knees, begging the king to give him more time.  “Be patient,” he asked.  Seeing this, the king took pity on him and relieved him of the debt.  Later, the man went to a servant who owed him a much smaller amount of money and demanded that the money be repaid.  The servant fell to his knees and begged that  he be given time.  The man, instead of forgiving as the king had, had the servant thrown into prison until his debt could be repaid.  When the king found out, he gave the man to his jailers to be tortured until his debt could be repaid.

Matthew 18:35 - This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.

In conclusion, no matter how hard it is and no matter how many times we’ve forgiven someone before, God asks us to continue forgiving until “it” is settled.  Whatever “it” may be, the importance of forgiveness never becomes less.

“This episode for us

Shouldn’t overcome what we’ve got

So let’s move on and get to better days

For all we know, we could be the best

We’ll never know, don’t take the chance

So from today, let’s take a vow

Whatever was wrong, is over right now, will you forgive me?

Can we find forgiveness

In the throws of our misunderstanding, or do we fall apart

Can we find forgiveness

Or do we go on like trying to cover up a broken heart”

Excerpt from: Forgiveness by Kenny Lattimore

1 Corinthians 13:3 - If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

        This post was inspired by a mere act of kindness, which happened to me this morning as I was on my way to work.  Every so often, I like to go to Turkey Hill and grab myself a small cup of coffee before I go to work in the mornings.  Today, though, was different.  Today, I saw my old principal from middle school, who also just so happens to attend my church.  We exchanged our “Hello’s” and “How are you’s,” but then politely went about our morning “routines.”  I was uncharacteristically early this morning, so I was wasting time, looking around for a little bit.  In the meantime, my former principal had left.  I ended up getting myself a cold drink for later as well.  However, when I finally went to the counter to pay for my items, the woman said to me, “He paid for your coffee.”  Honestly, this was the very first time that I was surprised by someone paying for something that I was going to be purchasing.  I experienced this all the time while working at Mel’s.  One specific couple in particular would do it quite often for other people. 

        So, I suppose it’s pretty safe to say that it made my day, and got me thinking.  It got me interested in, and thinking about what the Bible has to say about giving to others.  Here are a few things that I found.

On Christian Giving

        Christian giving is a choice, as shown in 2 Corinthians 9:7, which says:

 ”Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under  compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

        Christian giving is not about the amount given:  Mark 12:41-44

“41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury.  Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. 43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on.”"

        The “return” on Christian giving is perhaps the greatest blessing, knowing that we are the vessels through whom God is working and fulfilling his intent. 

Luke 6:38 - Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Matthew 6:4 - so that your giving may be in secret.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

2 Corinthians 9:6 - Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly, will reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

        Now, many people have taken this the wrong way.  Don’t be foolish in thinking that because you are giving, you will be rewarded.  For your purity of motives has a great affect on this.

On Purity of Motives

Matthew 6:1-4 - 1 Be careful not to do your “acts of righteousness” before men, to be seen by them.  If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.  2 So when you give to the needy, do not annouce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men.  I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

        So, I will ask you (the reader) now; Do you often do gracious things for other people for the mere reason of it benefiting you somehow?  Do you often do your gracious acts in front of others so that they will praise you for what you’ve done?  Or do you, perhaps, simply do it because you feel Christ is working through you to accomplish a certain task, and you want to honor Him by doing so?  Sadly enough, there are many people out there in our world who wouldn’t even understand let alone believe what I was asking in that third question. 

        There is never a bad time to reach out to someone.  Whether it be a random act of kindness or witnessing to them, nothing is too big or too small.  God wants us to love and care for other people just as His son loved us enough to die for us all. 

        Thinking about this, often reminds me of an amazing movie called, “Pay It Forward.”  It stars Haley Joel Osment, Kevin Spacey, and Helen Hunt.  Osment plays the character of a little boy who’s school project was surprisingly made into a nationwide event.  His goal was to “pay it forward.”  If someone were to do something kind for you with no expectation of a reward, you were to then pass that random act of kindness along to a person in need.  It’s an amazing movie with a beautiful story, and I highly recommend it to anyone.  Plus, Kevin Spacey is probably my second favorite actor, because we have to honest with ourselves when I say that no one is better than Morgan Freeman. 

“Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment.”

Quote by: Anthony Robbins

“You don’t owe me a thing, I’ve been there too

Someone once helped me out,

Just the way I’m helping you

If you really wanna pay me back,

Here’s what you do

Don’t let the chain of love end with you”

Excerpt from- Chain of Love by Clay Walker