Revelation 20:4-6 NLT

Here we go again. It is taking me longer than I would like to be able to blog but we do what we can, right? So without any more wait, lend me your eyes and thoughts so that I may put them into a state of non-conscious. I am going to go after the next three verses the same way I approached the first three. With has much detail that the Lord gives me and will try to use many cross references to back up everything.

So in the first three verses we saw four key things to remember....

1. An angel has gone down to the bottomless pit with a "chain and key"(death and a burden). Rev.20:1

2. The Angel captured the beast. He will be bound like this for 1,000 years!Rev.20:2

3. Those who take part in the first resurrection will be priest of God and reign with Him for 1,000 years! :) Hope you are there. Rev.20:3

4. Satan will be getting released. :( Rev.20:3

That is the main focus of the first three verses. Now to dig into verse 4...

"Then I saw thrones, and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their forehead or their hands. They all came to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years." Revelation 20:4

Now we see thrones! What are they for? Who is on them? Why are they there? To find this answer we will look back into Revelation alittle bit.

"The twenty-four elders sitting on their thrones before God fell with their faces to the ground and worshiped him." Revelation 11:16

Now before I say what I am about to let me specify this.I try not to put my brain into translating the Word of God because my thinking is corrupt(just like yours and everyone else). However I am not able to find a cross reference on the 24. However it jumps out to me that it(this the Theology of Travis) might/could/maybe be the leaders of the "12 tribes"(Genesis 49)! The other 12 could be...the Apostles? 12 and 12 equals 24 right? Makes sense. Remember that this is my stinking thinking though. Take it, leave it, or challenge it.

These 24 have been given the authority to judge. Judge who? Later in this chapter we learn that God judges us. So who do they judge? Probably nobody. Thats right. Look at the verse again. It never says that they are judging anyone. They have the authority to but it never says that they do. Maybe they are maybe they are not. Once again I cannot find a reference has to what they are judging. By looking at later in this chapter you can see that God judges us. So we can say that they do not judge us. We simply don't know what or who they are judging.

Now we see the souls of all who were killed for being faithful to Christ. Those who turned down the mark that the beast wanted to put on them, or worship the statute were tortured, beaten, and murdered. Rev.13 However those who do not receive the mark are rewarded. They get to reign with Jesus for their faith in Him. They take part in the true life. The life that we are intended to live. An everlasting life. A life of peace, hope, and love. A life with Jesus. Here are a few scriptures that tell you about true life Matt.10:39, 16:25, 18:8-8, 19:16-17, 19:29, 25:46, and 27:52 Only those who follow Christ and trust in nothing else will find life. Narrow road folks.

Something to remember here is that it is not a life like you and I now know. It is eternal, pure, painless, and fantastic. Do not get it confused. It is different.

"This is the first resurrection. (The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.)" Revelation 20:5

So there is two resurrections. One of life. It is the one where the people will be able to reign with Jesus. The other is without a doubt the most depressing thing I have ever seen, read, or imagined. Those who do not get resurrected in the first resurrection will miss out on being with Jesus. They don't get this thousand years, and because they were not on the narrow road, they don't get to spend eternity with Jesus. They never get to see Jesus in His truest form other than when He is on His great throne and on the verge casting them into the darkness that they have chosen. I know of no other sadness that should grieve you like this should. The lost are going to be lost forever. No take backs. It is a choice that they have to make for keeps.

"Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years." Revelation 20:6

Now here we are at the conclusion of this post. It is a simple one. We (those who have accepted Christ) are blessed. We are going to made holy. Not the Holy that we try to live has but the true "Holy." Faultless! Standing side by side with God. Nothing can touch us. We will stand with Him for one thousand years has His representatives. His chosen people. No sin, no Satan.Nothing can possibly compare to the blessing that we are given in Jesus Christ. Be thankful. If you are reading this then be thankful. Not everyone will stand beside the Lord. Be thankful that He broke you enough to be for you to see Him. Realize that you are blessed.

Here are the key points that we covered in these verses.......

1. Those who do not worship or accept the beast are blessed with life!

2. There are two resurrections. One of life and the other (in contrast) of death.

3. We are blessed!

So click the comment tab below feedback on this one. If you think something needs to be covered more than cover it! Spread the Word!

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One Question

I know that this time of year many Christian blogs will be telling of the birth of Jesus. I love that. Many others will not. I am one who will be writing about something different. This is a question that was asked to the small children at my Church recently. I thought that it was a brilliant question. The answers ranged from a baby, a motorcycle, and money all the way to love and their sin. Here it goes......

If you could give Jesus one present for Christmas what would it be?

It's a good one! What would you give Jesus? Let us know!

Upcoming Post!

The next post here will be a continuation of the Revelation Chapter 20 series I started.

Glow in the Dark Christians...(Repost-I Love This One)

Glow In The Dark Christians- Originally Posted 7-7-07

You remember when you was a kid and you got a glow in the dark toy, or poster, or some thing else that would glow in the dark. It made you excited. It was different. You could help but to love it. They are cool. I still like them.
I am about to be short and sweet. We need to glow in the dark as Christians. In order for the object to glow you have to hold it under the light. You have to let it charge.If you went to bed and woke up in the middle of the night you would notice your toy was getting dim if not unable to glow any at all. Why? Because you have to let it have the energy ,that it gets from the light, for it to be able to glow.
What does this mean to us. We have to put God’s word inside of us. It is what lets us glow. We have to hide God’s word inside of us as much as possible so that when we go into a dark place we can shine for God. The more we have in us the longer we can shine for God. The more of His word we have in us the longer we stand against the darkness. Little word=small amount of fight in us. Lots of word= much ground to stand on. Glow we must.

Parting Sins, Parting Water. Same Difference?!

"The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God." Joshua 4:24 NIV
Sometimes when I pray I say the following……
“Thank you for parting my sins and making a way to walk across this world to you.”
Why? Because the same as God parted the sea He has also parted our sin. We are living in this constant state of sin in which we cannot find a way out.It is too deep to swim through! The consequences are coming up behind us. Death surely awaits if it catches us. Death awaits of try to make it though the water(sin) on our own. So we have no choice except to pray to God to save us from the death that is chasing us and the barrier(sin) that is before us. When we do, God will do what He did to the Jordan and to the red sea. He will move our sins and let us travel the road less taken. We can go through Jesus and walk through the water(sin). If we pray it will happen. He will take us through the rough times we face and away from the sins we committed that hunt us. We will find the promises of the Lord are true. If we follow Him.
Yes I do believe that it is much like the parting of the sea. I enjoy walking through the dry land knowing that my God has pulled my sin back off my life so that I can be with Him. If I walk in His plan and not my own plan.

Why Does God Let Us Suffer?

1.Suffering loosens our grip on this life. We some times get so involved in
this world that we forget what is really important and we have
to have those things removed from us.

2. Life is not forever. When others we know die we can learn that
life is a gift that is to be taken serious. We have a mission here.
We have to be willing live out that mission because we are not
promised another day. Make the choices God commands while
we can.

3. Suffering builds character. We face trial by fire. Some things we cannot
do with out experience. Patience, being forgiving toward
others, loving one another. These things come with
experience. We have to learn to do these things. Even faith
must be build with life experience. We do not know how our
faith will hold up if everything is easy.

4. Without suffering we would never get saved. Without suffering for sin
here on earth we would never know what the pain that sin
causes. We would never understand how serious sin is if we
didn’t have to pay for some it here. We would never turn
to God and we would be lost. Right and wrong and we would
not know honestly know that without pain.

5. It is our sin that causes pain. We sin we pay. We all sin. We all pay. No
way around that. Our suffering is a direct result of sin.If we
cheat or have sex before marriage we have no reason to say
I got am STD! Why God? How about if we steal and
end up in jail. Any sin will result in some type of pain. Be
prepared for the price that sin carries.

6. We learn to love God. Without the hard times we would never really know
how good God is. It is when He pulls us through the trouble
that we are in that we really know that God loves us ,thus
we begin to really love God in all His ways.

7. We forget about ourselves. Pearl Harbor, 9/11 had heroes.Heroes who
set the bar could not have done it without the suffering.
In times like that we learn to put others a head of ourselves and
that is what sacrifice is. Laying our lives on the line for some one
or something other than our well being.
This is all I have for now. God is good and He is complex. For us to understand why everything happens we would have to be completely dead and in Heaven. We could go on and on about why God does this our that but the truth is that we can never fully understand Him. The only thing that gets me through alot of things that I deal with is knowing that God does everything for a reason. I don’t understand but my God knows what He is letting happen. Trust is key to facing your suffering.

Revelation Chapter 20:1-3

Do you love The Book of Revelations? I do. I spent quite a while researching it and learning it. However it has been a while since I have talked about it. So to keep from getting rusty I am going to give a little breakdown of one of my favorite chapters. I am only going to do verses one through three right now. The reason for that is simply that it would take a short book to do one chapter in Revelation. Lets take it slow and K.I.S.S.(keep it simple stupid-geared toward me not you)!

"Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit[a] and a heavy chain in his hand." Revelation 20:1

First thing I want to point out is the words "bottomless pit". What is that? Is it the same has hell? Have you ever thought about that? Here are some common names for hell that you will find in the Bible and where you can find them at....

Luke 16:24 this flame
Matthew 13:42 furnace of fire
Matthew 18:8 everlasting fire.
Matthew 3:12 unquenchable fire.
Jude 1:7 eternal fire
Matthew 25:46 everlasting punishment
Jude 1:6 lake of fire
Mark 9:47 Hell Fire
Luke 16:28 Place of Torment
Matthew 22:13 Outer Darkness
Matthew 25:46 Everlasting Punishment

So we see that their is not just one name for hell. It has been called many descriptive things that help to define it. Now in order to find the answer to question like what exactly is the pit you do a cross reference. This is the logical why to understand the Bible. Compare the scriptures and find out what else is said about it.

" Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." Isa 14:15

So the pit is in hell! Some believe that it is in a separate region of hell. They believe that the bottomless is a separate part of hell that is reserved only for satan and his demons. My theology tells me that hell is hell. Be in a different region or not it is still hell. If the people are separated from satan and his demons , then so be it. I am looking forward to not finding out first hand. Hell is hell.

There is mention of a key here. What is the key and who holds it?

"I am the living one. I died, but look I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave. " Revelation 1:18


Christ is defined has holding the keys to death and the grave. So He is the one who gives the key to the angel. He give the angel the key of death! Now with this key comes another object. A chain! A burden! We see that has symbolized with the heavy chain.Where? Lets compare other passages that deal with chains...


"The orchards and fields of my people will yield bumper crops, and everyone will live in safety. When I have broken their chains of slavery and rescued them from those who enslaved them, then they will know that I am the Lord."
Ezekiel 34:26-28


"The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate."
Acts 12:5-7

So chains represent slavery and bondage. They are restricting and they are punishment. So this chain is severely bad news for someone. It means that some one is about to get into bondage. However there is more two it. Lets check it out.

"He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years." Revelation 20:2

We see they chains used here on the dragon-that old serpent, the devil! He puts the devil into slavery! The devil is in punishment! Yes,yes the old defeated one is bound up for a thousand years. Whats going on for these thousand years? Lets cheat and look ahead a few passages...

" Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years.
The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterward he must be released for a little while." Revelation 20:2-3

Oh my! Imagen this...

One Thousand years on this earth with no satan! No tempter! Just peace! Life with Jesus! Ever have one of those days where the bird singing doesn't constitute you slinging your bowl of oatmeal out of the window at the harmless singing bird perched on the branch?! You know that day. When you are just happy! Everything is great. People seem so nice and fragile that you may let some one pull out in front of you! Maybe two! One of those days! Picture that everyday. Picture Jesus being right there. For one thousand years. All of God's children will stand beside him and sing...."Holy is the Lord God Almighty!" WOW! If that doesn't excite you, you need to go check your pulse. That is exciting stuff! We are talking about Jesus and us worshiping Him, beside Him!

One Thousand Years without any sin! Just love! He is gone for now. In that pit that we discussed earlier. Now picture this culture shock. Here you are! Enjoying peace on for the first time since sin took place in Adam and Eve. Then after 999 years, 364 days,23 hours, and 59 seconds of peace and love, in the next second it will all change. If I have learned anything about the Lord it is that He that keeps His word! When He says something will happen it will. When He says when it will happen it happens then! Sure He leaves some mystery to be discovered but He has always been true to His Word. When He says one thousand years, He means a thousand years!

So here we are in this peace and love and then Boom! Here is satan again! Unleashed after one thousand years of bondage. He will no doubt be mad and certain to re-establish the chaos that He created for the last 6000 plus years. He is back! Why must he be unleashed? Why doesn't God leave Him there? That my friend is another post. Coming soon however!

Human Tetris

Maybe the most fun 6 minutes and 19 seconds I have spent on You Tube to date!

Why I Love Esther.

Tonight I have a term paper due in my critical thinking class. We have an open forum. Anything goes. My first thought was should I do it? Just jump out there with a former Sunday School lesson? I ponder for about a week and then another classmate of mine informed me that she wanted to Job. I was blown away! Wow here is my sign! Do it.

How ever instead of a former lesson I made the choice to go ahead and tell why I loved the book that the lesson was on. Not the Bible in general but one specific book out of it. Hence you guessed from the title.

I may have stated before in another post, I love, love , love the book of Esther. Did you know that it is still debated by some that it should even be in the Bible. The reason is understandable to an extent. Not one time are the following mentioned......

God, Jesus, Lord, Prayer, Salvation, or any other religious ritual!

Never in Esther is it mentioned. You hear of fast but it is never said to be a fast of religious beliefs. I better watch out how use that word religion. I was informed that I should never use it when describing my beliefs. Maybe a post for another day! Any way, Esther never directly points to God. That is the main reason I love Esther also! What?! What did that Blog Guy say?!?!?!

I love that because although He is not mentioned in the book it is evident that He is there. The way He set Esther to become queen. How God's chosen people (the Jews) were saved from certain death. God delivered them in a way that is not obvious unless you are looking for Him. It is then that you find Him (Are you starting to follow?) How much does that relate to salvation and how we have to get it? We don't find God until we look. God does not force Himself on us! Atheist see no God in life and the things that happen it because they are not looking for God. If some one was to stop and reflect on all the things that God had to have done for them to happen, the evidence would rock them! God is evident but invisible to those who don't open their eyes.

Ever thought or been asked why God doesn't work today like He did back in those good ol' O.T. days?! Look no closer than Esther. You will quickly see that God does. He doesn't work in any bight shining miracles. No water to wine, no walking on the water, no giant earthquakes, no floods, nothing that will make you say how did that happen? It is all personal! Everything God did in Esther was mold the characters you read about into what He needed them to be at the exact time that they needed to be that person. Is working through people. I love that. It shows that God is the same today has He was then!

For the most part I love it because of how well it relates to my relationship to God is. I don't always see God in my life. Sometime I have to look really hard to see how He is working and what He wants me to do. I don't always see the works of God. None the less He is working. Just like in Esther.

Is God a Liar?!

"Thou Shalt Not Kill" Deuteronomy 5:17, KJV


So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them." Genesis 6:7

Now God said not to kill. Yet He sent a flood to wipe out the earth. There are numerous times that God commanded His people to destroy entire cities. This is the same God right? I mean God would not break His own commandment would He? Of course not! Don't be silly.

What is the difference between a man who goes out and shoots a person in the street for money. Then another man who is a judge and declares the shooter to die?

Motive! Do not kill is saying don't go out and kill someone just because you can or for personal gain. When God destroyed the world with the flood he did it because the world was wicked and evil. God declared that some one had done wrong. In the case of the flood all were guilty of turning from God for their own wicked ways. Everyone except for one family. God delivered what is know has justice.

If a criminal pulls a gun on a cop and the officer shoots Him ,then is the cop a killer? No He was in the right. Now in the same situation. Say that the criminal shoots and kills the cop. Is that murder? Yes it is. He killed and innocent man.
We have people who are appointed to call for justice. Judges, officers, our armed forces,etc.

God is THE JUDGE! The creator of the world says what is right and what is wrong and when someone sins there has to be consequences. There is a penalty. In some events God has declared death to many, some, or none. He judges, He does not murder. He does this because He is a just God. Not a murderer and not a liar.

Examine thyself !

Are you baptist? I am and I can tell it most of the time on Sunday mornings. Lets face it guys and gals. The baptist church gets an "A+" for all of our gossip. We love to talk about the people we worship with. Everyone is guilty of gossip. I think that the biggest problem is that we fail to really look at ourselves or even better we don't want to see our faults.
How much easier is it for us to load up our guns with words to fire at other people instead of at ourselves. Facing our faults and short coming is not easy. It is so much less complicated to look at the person you saw yelling at the K-mart cashier over bad service then it is to realize that you shouted out "Learn to drive" at the car that cut you off by about three car lengths and then didn't pull out going 45 mph making you have to slow down. How dare them! You get my drift.
This weekend we had a visitor at church. Ken Freeman was in town and he was bringing the word. He used the following scripture....

" Examine yourselves, whether
you are in the faith; prove
yourselves (emphasis added)."
2 Corinthians 13:5

When is the last time that you used that scripture? Not read it, not spoke it, or not even taught on it but actually lived it out like the word of God. EXAMINE YOURSELF!

The Baptist guidelines seems to read like this....

"Examine your neighbor. Make
fun of them. Laugh at their
flaws. You know you want to!"
Baptist 1:01
I am also guilty of this. I love to laugh and sometimes it is at the expense of the none knowing fellow Christian and a few others who are not Christian. It is wrong. No matter who it is. We laugh at jokes that seem harmless but I thought about it. Would I tell these guys about the jokes I am telling? What would they say? How would I feel about it. Would the apostles have followed Jesus had He made fun of them for being some stinky fishermen? No! I needed to examine myself and get right with those who don't even know that I have sinned against them.
If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around does it make a sound. Yes it does. If you joke about someone and it doesn't make it bad to them is it wrong even though you know you were joking? You bet it is. Trying to deliberately tarnish the image of another is cruel, rude, and a sin. Jokes are more capable of the same thing.Gossip is gossip. Examine yourself when you feel the urge to gossip and if you still feel good enough about yourself to laugh at them then you can go ahead. I doubt you will though.

Are you banned?

For awhile now my friend has been baned from China's world of blogging. I have recently been inducted into this list. To find out of you are banned in China go to...
Great Firewall of China

Need vs Want (link to a another blog)

My good buddy over at Swap Blog posted a beauty of a post. It is called Need vs Want. I strongly encourage you to go over and take a look at it and his other post.
I cannot currently link to a page with just the post so you will have to scroll down four or five post.

Web Site Watch!

Do you have a good vocabulary? Do you want one? Want to see how much you know? How about doing this while feeding the hungry? Sound good of course it does! To my atheist reader they are not a Christian site.
At FreeRice.com you play a game. The point of the game is to attempt to answer the questions you are given. The questions are all about vocabulary! You are asked to define the word you are given. If you guess it right the people who operate it have it set up so that they can donate 10 grains of rice. You may be thinking 10 grains of rice?! That isn't enough? Picture this. 100 Grains of rice is a plate. If you answer 30 of these questions correct then you provide three meals. You get smarter(according to our standards which base IQ off of vocabulary) and people get feed.
I am asking that you help to promote this site. It is legit. I assume they fund their rice through ad sense has it is clearly visible at the bottom. Me and my Psychology teacher are in a completive grid lock. I cannot get past having 25 points. She is at 41 and stays between 41 and 39. So go have fun, learn, and help to feed somebody.

I think I am saved?!

A friend of mine stopped by yesterday a couple of hours before I went to school. The guy lives right next door to me. He has been to church with me a few times and even spoke to me that he was saved.
He had something on his mind. He said that he goes to sleep at night wondering what would happen if he died. He asked what happens in the rapture. We spend about an hour and a half going over things he was unsure of. This was going in a great direction. He seemed to understand who God was and what the Bible said about and more importantly what he said in the Bible. Until I asked a question...
"Who is Jesus?"
His response...
"A guy who died so that we could go to heaven."
That prompted me to ask the question of "what do you know about Him?"
He died on a cross. That was his answer. Now some people might say ty is correct. I am not content with it though. There is more.
When Jesus died on that cross it was not the sign for the ticket punching to begin. It meant we were just getting started. Jesus didn't only die so when we died we could go to heaven. He died for us to be able to have personal, passionate, living relationship. Salvation is not just heaven. Salvation is the freedom to go and talk with God anytime.
Did you know that at one time people could not do that? Yeah it's true. At one time we had to go find a holy man (priest) to go talk to God. Even then he could only talk to God through a huge curtain . Once Jesus died on that cross the curtain was ripped from the top down to the bottom(another post in that itself). The separation was gone. We can now walk up to God and tell him for ourselves what we have done, our love for Him, give His praises, and just as important talk to Him about our day.
There is so much more than okay I will make it to heaven. The expansion of heaven starts here. It starts with the relationship. Building a strong bond between God and ourselves. I never spend more time on telling people about salvation from hell has i do salvation from being unable to communicate to God.
I told him that he needed to be 100% percent sure. He did pray, he didn't let me pray with him. He said he wanted to be sure that he needed to. The last thing I said to him was be 100% sure. This is to serious not to be 100% certain. Get right with God. If you think your saved you better fall to your knees and make sure that you relationship with God and the acceptance of His Son Jesus is understood and known. It is too serious to risk going to hell.

GODISNOWHERE!

God can seem confusing(though He is not). It is not always easy to see what He is saying. Much like the title of this post-GODISNOWHERE.
Now most people will see this has saying….
God is nowhere
Others however will see it has saying…..
God is now here
We may not always really get what God is saying to us so, before you make a choice on what you believe God is telling you to do. Then look closely and ask yourself is this what I see for myself or is what God showing me.


This is an older post of mine that I enjoy. I saw the GODISNOWHERE some where a long time ago and cannot remember where. I thought it was brilliant to see put the words together and see what people see. In this I also see the atheist who says God is no where, and the Christian who responds God is now here. Both have something they can stand on. The saying can be converted to mean which ever the other one wants. Maybe it is being bias. Maybe it is having an understanding of God. Knowing that He is here is a complex thing that is simple. You stick with God. If you are touch by Him and know that He is real, then you stay true to Him. In time you will begin to gain understanding, faith, and stronger relationship bonds between you and God. You other option is to go explore manipulated bones. Use tools that have been found to be inaccurate, yet the are kept because it is all they have right now. You may even be prompted to learn a fallacy or two so that you can try to crush Christians with you great God rejecting mind. Chose your side. Make a smart, safer, non-selfish move. There are four places most people believe you can go and only one of them is joyful. There is option for me. It is with Jesus Christ.

The Trinity. Do you get it?

The Trinity. Yes , yes what a lovely bunch of mess. I spent many night attempting to figure out who can this be. I will never fully understand and nor do I believe that you will. at least not in this life any way. How ever is what I did come up with...
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Three separate forms of the same person. Confusing yes. However this is not really all that uncommon to relate to at times. Lets look at time. We have three states of time. Past, present, and future. Now we look at that and it is easy to accept that they all are time. In different form but they all are time. God is like that. 3 separate forms but all are really the same thing. I know that one is sort of shaky but it helped me. Okay, so maybe your a sports fan. Maybe you like Micheal Jordan(who doesn't). Michael Jordan is seen in three forms...
A baseball player, a basketball player, and a golfer. Now all though he expresses himself in three forms does that change who he is? Nope, not at all. He is still Michael Jordan.
Now with God we have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Just because God choses do act in different forms do not mean He is not God in all aspects.I hope that maybe this helped to but it into reality for you.

Isn't that Catholic(linked post)

I found a pretty good read over Paradoxology.

It's been five years now that our congregation has been observing Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season. Although our noontime service is rather brief (30 min.), those who attend always find it to be thought-provoking and personally meaningful, including the imposition of ashes.

There have also been a number of other, older, faith-practices which we have introduced into our weekly worship gatherings.
To read the rest of this post click here.

Medicated in Church....

Last night I had take a short trip to the hospital. I had managed to get an infection on my finger tip. It runs at the tip of the index finger and runs slightly under the nail. First of I never knew that an infection would hurt like this does. The infection has made the finger very tender and it is times like this that you realize how much you use you finger.
After I left the Tennessee game I noticed the infection was large. Prior to this I thought that I had cut the nail too short and that was the reason for the tenderness in the finger. How ever now it was evident that it was something else that needs some attention. The fine staff at SMHS immediately confirmed what I had thought. It was an infection. So they write me a prescription for salfameth and hydrocodone. Now normally i would ask for non narcotic but if you have ever been to the doctor you know that waiting to get you prescription is what most of the wait is. So I just chose to take it this one time. Now I am not a fan of narcotic drugs and I believe that treatment is possible without using more addictive drugs when less addictive substitutes are available.
So I woke up this morning and took my pills like a good little patient. I am not a drug user and therefor it doesn't take much to give me a little buzz. My legs were more limber than normal and I had some free mind wandering. My words had to be thought out little more than normal. Now has we were driving there I couldn't help but think this is so morbid. I didn't like not feeling inspired to worship. Going through the motions with out any real focus on God.
That got me thinking. How many times do I just not get it. Do I go to church on Sunday morning and just go through the motions? Is it like this every Sunday? Well, no. However I am not on fire like I should be. I am luke warm. How many Sunday's do I go to church and not give my all. Probably close to 90 percent of the time. I don't want to be slightly medicated. I don't want to be in an altered state of consciousness. I want to be focus and ready to sing a sweet song to the Lord. I have to make a change here. Things cannot be luke warm in this department. My desire for God has to be all or nothing. It has to be 100 percent. I pray that the Lord will help to set my soul on fire for Him. I don't want to be a medicated Christian.

Shadow of the Cross

A little while ago my buddy Rob left the church we attend to go where he believed God was leading him. Rob is a stand up guy. He works hard to see that the Lord's work is accomplished. His journey has taken him to Wichita Kansas where he now helps with the ministry know has Shadow of the Cross.
Shadow of the Cross is a unique ministry in which the team is unlike no other. Rob is goth and is using that to reach other people who are goth. When I first meet Rob I had no idea what kind of man he was. Rob goes about doing the work of God like no other I have ever meet. The links provided in the post will take you their ministry home page where you can learn about some of the good things that they are doing. It is still early in the ministry but I fully believe that God will bless them and is already blessing them.
If you are like me your first thought was goth and God? That sort of goes against each other. Not really. The way we dress has little to do with being goth or involved with God. I see him reaching out to a group that I could never reach out to. Remember that just because someone isn't the image that you expect to see sitting in the pew beside that no way reflects the relationship they have with God.

What would you grab/What to save?

I was taking my visit over to Swap Blog and stumbled upon an interesting post.
The post had been linked from a friend of his named Pink Kitty. It ask the question...
In fire what would you save? So I began to think about it and found that I would burn to death trying to grab 50 different things. I finally narrowed it down. So here is my six( seeing how this is the number they both used)...

1. The rabbit.

2. My cuff links and money clip ( my wedding present)

3. The Vaio.

4. My text books.

5. My Phone ( it is new an I dig it).

6. Our marriage license.

Some are trivial but all currently play an important role in my life at this moment.

What God Wants.

This is a question that people have cried out in their darkest hour, and asked in their most confused moments. Some people even ask themselves this question when they are wanting to serve Him but don't know where to serve. I cannot tell them the answer to that but I can tell you and them how much He wants.
100%
God does not settle for the 50% relationship. Nor will he settle for the 75, 85, or 95% percent. Make mistake that He will not settle for 99.999999 percent. It is 100% all the way. Nothing else will do. This means your prayer life is healthy (the Bible says to pray everyday without stopping), it means obey commandments. When you fail to obey you try again and again until you are free from the sins that bind you up. It means to tell other about God every chance you get. 100% means to make your life Holy.
Allowing God to take control of your life is the first step toward everything in your walk with God. Once you commit you give your all to living for God. Everyday in everyway you have to live for Him. Eat, breathe, talk, walk, sleep. Hide psalms and hymns in your heart so that you will not forget God. Never give up. Why? Because 99.99999 percent means you have been disobedient. Fall but rise up and over come.

The Golden Compass...

Phillip Pullman hates the work of C.S. Lewis. He is an atheist. He has made a movie that is the exact opposite of the Chronicles of Narnia.
Nichole Kidman has the starring role. This movie slickly dumbs down your kids into getting them to watch what the atheists believe to be truth.
The Golden Compass is set to release in theaters on December 7, 2007.
For the full story click here...

Faith Mail

Faith Mail is up and running. At Faith Mail you will read various emails that have been sent to me. It went online today. Feel free to copy and paste them in your daily emails to encourage, uplift, and spread the gospel.
You are strongly encouraged to email me your faith based emails so that they may be posted on Faith Mail.
You can click on the links above to go and check out Faith Mail. Let us know what you think about it and help to build it up.

GOD IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE

I admit that there are times
That I am tempted to despair.
Then God speaks in all His mercy
To let me know He's there.

He took care of yesterday for me.
Tomorrow is in His care.
Today He will walk beside me
In answer to my prayer.

He brings constant joy and comfort
To ease my concerns away.
I could not go on without Him
To be my companion through each day.

I would just like to remind you
To lean hard upon His breast.
Release each trial to Him.
Wait for Him to do the rest.

Written By:
Evelyn D. Putnam

Web Site Watch-Zipskinny

This is a fun fact filled web site. At Zipskinny you find what the title says. The skinny on your own zip. Thats right. Type in your zip and you will tons of information. Average wages, education, professions, marital status, age and much more. You can even compare the results of your zip code to others around you or around the nation. This was a blast.
Click here to go to ZipSkinny.

It really is sad to me.....

They don't believe in God. They choose not to believe that they are created but rather believe that they were able to evolve from other life. Yet the statics say that the odds for evolution to happen would be 10 to the power of 10 to the power of 123. Just so you know that is impossible. You would have a better chance of finding a leprechaun. So why do they stick to their guns. They think that they will change what we believe, they like joke at others belief systems,they are able to accept anything they are told , or just want to debate. One of those four if not all of them can the average atheist fall into.
Why do they write entire blogs about a lies against God? Why waste their time to try to disprove something they don't believe in? Deep down inside they know. Yeah that is why they do it. They have that feeling in the pit of their stomach that says God is alive and He loves them. They fight it with their words and actions to try and make it go away. Wouldn't it be great if they were to all accept it.God has great plans for the atheist if they would stop fighting them.
I have heard it said by many of them that they were once Christian. No they weren't. If they had been they would have loved God and loving being more than feelings they wouldn't, no they couldn't turn away from Him.They would have been committed to Him. They were probably raised in a Christian family. They probably went through the motions of Church, and revivals, and maybe even prayed. However that doesn't make you a Christian. When you are Christian you dedicate your life to God. Separating yourself from the world to live a holy life.You accept His Son to be you savior. It is impossible to be a Christian and not live your life from that moment on for God. That is not what a Christian is. A Christian will profess their faith till the day they die. Seeing how they say they were once a Christian and now are atheist implies the following. They are alive and therefor are not a Christian due to the fact that they didn't dedicate their life to Him if they no longer follow Him. Don't believe that mess of "I was once a Christian." That is a trap by satan to make you think that they may be alot like you and you should give what they say some credit. Research it without being bias.You will find God to be real.
Most of them will say that science shows evidence of evolution. They all must have ran carbon dating test, used radiometric dating first hand, been there when fossil's were discovered, seen evidence first hand that proves that it happened. However over 95% of them refer to books and other peoples writings. They don't refer to their own work in the fields. They call them scholars and brilliant minds. All the while showing bias toward the answers they want. Anyone who believes the opposite is living out childhood fantasies. If they had they chance to use a double blind method and lay their hands on fossils or run radiometric dating they would be lost by the results. They take the words of people who think like them and never question what they say. Quoting authors like what they say is absolute fact without any debate or searching to see if the evidence can be viewed another way. They seem not to use critical thinking. Then call us ignorant.
Most of the atheist blogs I read love to blog about Christian's who fall short and commit sins. Why? What concern is to them? They Bible stats that "everything we think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood".Genesis 8:21
Let me break that down even more. We are going to sin and God knows it. He knows it. So why display it for the world.God already has done that!Our how about tell of evil all people do. Some try to hide it.Like this one here....
Atheist in the prison system...
2% of the State and Federal Inmates are Atheist
The atheist only commit 2 % of the crime? Yeah but here is the kicker..
Atheist make up 14% of the population in North America! All in all if you have the numbers lined up and do the math the numbers are the same. There are just less if them so the margin looks small. 2 out of 14 atheist will go to prison. Same thing for Christian's and other beliefs.They don't tell you that. People commit crime not God.
I was reading recently about how an atheist claimed the death of Cassie at Columbine has never been confirmed to be about God. Referring to the little girl who lost her life for saying that she believed in God. Yes it has! Her classmates who were right beside her and got her blood stained on their clothes witnessed this happen. All people are sinful. I guess since science cannot prove it ,even with many who were witness to it, that it is cannot be said to be true. That is grasping at straws.
Why my blog disrespected with foul language when it is cleared said at top to be a clean site? Who knows. The chat rooms and other blogs were already cluttered with crude uncivilized words that they had to try to containment my site. It won't happen. This blog is God driven. If you cannot handle that then maybe you should stay away. I will not change it, will not shut it down, will not allow the worlds beliefs to spill over and chase of the readers I have who wish to visit a clean site. I will continue to use Blue Collar Blogger to spread the Word of God. If you want to visit and talk civilized then come and visit. If you want come over and leave rude, ill, or foul remarks then don't bother. IT WILL NOT BE POSTED.
This blog is owned and operated by a servant of God who will serve the word of God not matter who likes it or dislikes. Bottom line I am here for God. I will spend my life telling you, your kids, and any one else I meet about God. Like it or not that is the way it is.

Current Blog Rankings

So what if we don't get 400 or more hits a day. If one person was to read this blog in the last 90 days I would call it success. That one mean that one person had to see a post, some scripture, or just clean topics. I don't think the world has the right view on success. We believe that without individual achievements we are nothing important. That is the American view. Our nation is considered and individualist nation. Meaning we focus on personal achievements. Don't believe me then look at our newspapers or the ads for the Army.
"Be an Army of one!"(Something along those lines)
Where as other nations (not all but some) are collectivist. They promote functioning as a unit. In everything. From work, to their family, to play, to care giving. They accomplish their task so that the nation will function as a unit. That is the way it works. Compare these two examples...
"Come and work for "Blue Collar Blogger!"here you are reward with feedback for your insight on topics that you love."
Compared to..
"Come and help "Blue Collar Blogger" be read. Work as a team to accomplish goals that help everyone around you grow."
Which one do you think you would more than likely read in America? See my point?! With that said I do find fun in watching things like the Technorati's blog rankings from time(I guess I have some of the individualist mentality that I just described). While "Blue Collar Blogger" is not considered a success by most. I enjoy my writing and the choice to express myself to be alike and different. So without any more waiting the new ranking as of today, October 15,2007 is.....

1,644,723

Here are the past rankings..

July 30,2007-7,951,183

September 9,2007-2,515,283

Today's- 1,644,723

Prescribed by the Great Physician(sent to me in an email)

The next time you feel like GOD can't use you, just remember...
Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan woman who was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer..AND
Lazarus was dead!

Now! No more excuses!
God can use you to your full potential.
Besides you aren't the message, you are just the
messenger.
Have a great day!!! The SON is shining and He
can certainly use you!



Dear God, I have a problem, it's Me.

There is no key to happiness. The door is always
open.

Do the math .. count your blessings.

Faith is the ability to not panic.

Laugh every day, it's like inner jogging.
If you worry, you didn't pray . If you pray,
don't worry.

Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be
bent out of shape.

When we get tangled up in our problems, be still.
God wants us to be still so He can untangle the knot.

Leave it to a West Virginia Farmer(Linked Post)

The Following Joke came from The Good Report.
A West Virginia Department of Highways employee stopped at a farm and talked with an old farmer. He told the farmer, "I need to inspect your farm for a possible new road. "The old farmer said, "OK, but don't go in that field. "The Highways employee said, "I have the authority of the State of West Virginia to go where I want. See this card? I am allowed to go wherever I wish on farm land."
So the old farmer went about his farm chores. Later, he heard loud screams and saw the Department of Highways employee running for the fence and close behind was the farmer's prize bull. The bull was madder than a nest full of hornets and the bull was gaining on the employee at every step.
The old farmer called out, "Show him your card", "SHOW, HIM, YOUR,CARD!!!!"
Click here to check out their blog.

Who's your Buddy?

How true is this picture? For some not all that true. Well I would say for most. Not just for the lost but the saved also(This will probably get a comment asking who is lost,I believe the lost to be any who have not accepted Jesus has their savior). We have alot of people in our Church today who don't understand something really important about Jesus. He is our friend. To any person there are four stages of relationships between themselves and others.
1. Stranger
2. Acquaintance
3. Friend
4. Enemy
To the lost He is a stranger. To the prayer warriors He is a friend. To those who challenge them He is their enemy. to most He is the guy you see outside while you mow and wave but never even think about going over to talk to Him. He is there. He greets you and you greet Him. He blesses you with a chance for friendship and you are too busy to stop and talk. He comes over to talk to you and you just want Him gone so you can get back to the game.
Jesus wants to talk to you and wants to be your close friend that you talk to on a daily basis whenever you can. He want to be the guy that without Him there you don't want to watch the game. He is God but He is also your friend. Even those who don't want to know Him He wants to be a friend with. Have you ever done that in school. Wanted to meet some body and when you do you find out they really have no interest in you or they just plain dislike you. Maybe you knew some one that gave you that look and when you were in the same room you had that thick atmosphere that made it hard not to notice they didn't like. We do that to Jesus. We let Him know we don't want Him by not praying, not reading His word, not allowing Him to be part of our lives no matter how hard He tries, by just not looking at Him. He knows what you mean with that! He wants to be a friend to you, to me, to everyone.
If I had to choose one friend for life I would want the friend who raised the dead. The one who loves me and will forgive me no matter how screwed(sorry about the language) up I am. He wants me! Why would I not want Him? Lets get the word out that Jesus is our friend!everyone should know this. Look at the picture! It is true guys and gals. Who is your Buddy? It could be Jesus! Let Him in!

The Ugliest Products in Tech History. (According to PC World)

Microsoft Zune, above right
"iMac Flower Power and Dalmatian, left "

The photos you see are from PC World's recent article entitled the "The Ugliest Products in Tech History". I have to agree that some are very much hideous. How ever I like a couple of them. The Zune from Microsoft is a work of art to me. I enjoy the simplicity of the controls and the large screen. The player is no lightweight and cannot be crammed into a pocket but I still like the fact that it doesn't look like every other sexy MP3/Video player you will see out there.
The Nintendo Virtual Boy. I didn't think that anyone remembered those things. I had one when was a little lad. I never did like it much. It was never easy to see what was going on with the game and the thing was ugly and bulky.
Judge for yourself and to learn more about these ugly babies click here(links to PC World).

Who are you preaching to?(linked post)

The following is the the first segment of a good post over at Biblical Preaching.
Preaching can be considered a relatively simple equation. You try to get the biblical message to the people sitting in the pews. Yet we so easily give all our effort to one half of that equation. We may study the passage for hours, but give little or no thought to the listeners. So next Sunday, who will you be preaching to?
Click here to read the full story.

What my Visitors Tell Me

These are the O.S. that visits my site. Has you see XP is still the clear leader. Windows 2000 in second, Vista and the Mac OS X seem tied for third. We finish it out with Windows NT. I am disappointed that the penguin gets no love. Linux will be an at home O.S.. It is just obvious that it is not today.

Now this one is a little more interesting. 45% of the visitors I get use Firefox! That means more security for most but sadly once it is the mainstream Browser it will lose that secure element. IE6 and 7 have 42% and 11%. Making them the main browser. Combined the make up 53% of the browsers out there. Opera 9.X and Safari battle it out for the last place at one percent each.

What is it like to be a Christian?(Linked Post)

The post bellow is from BigDadGib. His blog is growing to be one of my favorites. Stop by sometime to get a great read.
A woman was asked by a coworker,”What is it like to be a Christian?”

The coworker replied, “It is like being a pumpkin.”

God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you.

Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff.

He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed.

Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see.”

This was passed on to me by another pumpkin in my pumpkin patch.

Web Site Watch- Dinosaurs and Man Co-existed Together

Looking around on the net I found another website that really caught my attention. It deals with evidence that dinosaurs and man co-existed. This website doesn't only give you text but it also gives you the pictures of art that proves that dinosaurs were not a new concept at the discovery of some old bones(as would be believed by some). This website shows photos and gives the time frame on which it was made and where it was found.
Here are a few of the photos.


Now here is the thing. If dinosaurs were extinct before we ever arrived then how could these Peruvians have drawn such detailed pictures on these pieces of art. Notice the one with the triceratops and the MAN ON TOP OF IT! Yeah that is sort of a big deal. Evolutionist will have you believe that the dinosaur was unknown to man before the 1800's. This says otherwise.
Visit Dinosaur Art From Ancient Tombs In Peru to read more about these pieces of truthful art. They have many more great subjects to read on their homepage at...www.bible.ca

Web Site Watch...

This is the first in a series I may keep on a regular basis. It works like the title. Surfing the web can be a pain. I was searching for reviews of college institutions and realized that other than big name schools it is hard pressed to find a good review on a school. That was surprising to me seeing how the one I was searching for deals with information technology(they have to be producing some nerds,and nerd is not a negative word to me). I assumed (which never goes good for me) that someone would have written a blog review, discussed it in an open forum, or bashed it somewhere (everything can get negative feedback for something).
The best site I found is collegeboard.com. While it didn't give me the school's student reviews, it is simple to compare any school to any other school you can think of. You can compare three at one time side by side. You can find information on admissions,sports, international students,if it's public or private, their deadlines, the campus life(although it is summed up in one word),and tuition. This web site makes it simple to find what you need. For instance... if you were to click on "Am I on track" it would tell you what you needed to do to meet the requirement to enroll. So if you or some one you know is searching for a college they could easily go here and compare. it.

Can Faith Help You?! No not one bit!

"And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven." James 5:15
What can faith do? Can it heal the sick? Can it cleanse sins? Can it be the factor that says heaven or hell for you? No not all! Faith does not have one merit on where you go. Let me break it down for you...
A man says that he has faith that he can move mountains and tells you he will. He looks to the snowy top and yells " Be overturned and crumble!" Nothing happens.
A woman goes to a hospital and looks at all the sick people and then says "My faith has healed you. You are no longer sick." The person never gets any better.
Last one. A man is standing before God and says " I have faith that today you will let me into heaven and I will see all of the beauty that rest just beyond this gate." He does not go there.
Now you might be saying that faith is what we need to get into those pearly gates and see the the glory of eternal life. I tell you only if you put it in the right thing. Faith avails nothing with out Jesus being the one you are faithful to and have faith in. Nothing else. Without God driving your faith you stand no chance of doing any of these things at all. God is the one has to move. You don't move the mountain on your own will. God is the one who lifts it up and cast it aside.
All the things that we accomplish in this world are driven by faith in something but the miracles are driven not by just faith but faith by God cause them to happen. Your faith is only as good as where you place the faith. If I have faith that I will be the one to cure the sick then I am mistaken. Only God heals. Faith is dead without Jesus being the one who your faith is given to.

Scientists Admit:Evolution Not Supported By Facts

Found a good over at Chick Publications. Here are some the things this man talks about in it...
1.Evolutionists Great Con Men
2.Do Fossils Prove It?
3.But What About Those Bones?
4.But the World Is So Old...Isn't It?
5.Carbon-14 Will Tell Us...Won't It?
6.When Did Dinosaurs Really Live?
7.Why Do They Do It?
This reading is all leading up to a book but for a short 5 minute read it is pretty good. I don't agree with evolutionist being con men but to each his own I suppose. Click here for the read.

Back From Black

Major changes to the good ol' blog have taken place tonight. I really was feeling unmotivated to write and wanted to go exploring other blogs and then do some maintenance on my own. Yes, the black is gone. No reason other than I believe that websites should under go routine changes and updates once a month and makeovers every so often(like once every six months to a year). I think that the colors displayed now and the small changes to the sidebar make the blog a lighter and more fun place to stop by. Hopefully you agree.

365 Days

Ever had one of those bookmarks that has scripture for you to read. You know a "Read the Bible in One Year" bookmark. You then say..." I am going to read the Bible through in a year!" You get all excited and read three days or more of the scripture at a time then all of a sudden you go over the end table and wipe away the dust from you Bible. You open it up and see the bookmark laying there with about 15 days marked off. It has been 15 since you last saw it. You spend the next two days saying tomorrow I will start reading God's Word again! How does that normally work out for you? It's okay most never finish using those. After all the early books of the Bible are not easy or that "fun" to read.So I know how you can get sort of burnt out on them. Yet they are just as important to us as the New Testament. We have to read our Bibles everyday.
I once heard it said this way...
"If your Bible could write a journal, what would it say?"
Would it say, another great day. I am getting all wrinkled up from the page turning I was put through today! Would it say, Hey weekend visitation is a start. Maybe it would say, fizzled again. My spine is stiff from laying around, my cover is dusty, and I think I was used for a coaster today.
Sadly most would say it was the second or third comment in that last paragraph. Our Bibles help us to read and understand God just a much prayer if not more. We learn of His past actions, His love, His Son, His prophecies, and His will for our lives. We see so many ways that God worked in peoples lives and we can then relate to things that God does in our lives by identifying the way He works.
Wren I didn't believe in God I would challenge His to do a miracle and prove to me that He was real. God did not always work in miracles in the Bible! Ever read Ruth or Ester? The way God worked in their lives is more like the way He works in my life. I would have never learned that if I had not read the Bible and studied it.
Reading the Bible from front to back is not hard. It just takes commitment. You will be seeing alot of that word around here (Blue Collar Blogger) because commitment to people, places, things, and God seem to be what I am learning tight now.You have to say I am going to do this and nothing is going to stop me. Use you bookmark, a devotional, or just flip to the last page for your Bible, look at the number at the top of bottom and divide them by 365. You will get the number of pages you have to read in a year to get through that. Can you really not read 2 to 3 pages a day?
How to read the Bible in Five Steps!
1. Pray for God to open you heart to His Word!
2. Open it up to a page of your choice!
3. Read the Bible
4. Meditate(think about what you read till it makes a difference).
5. Pray for understanding of what you just read and to use it.

They Got Him!(Johnia Berry)

The search is over. After almost 3 years. The suspected killer(Tyler Lee Olson)of Johnia Berry is now behind bars. He was caught. I found out on my honeymoon and I was more excited than I though I would. The family of Johnia Berry has been through a battle on this one. The local police were not wanting to give this story much coverage and the family wasn't having it. They fought and fought to get the man who killed their daughter. The local authorities wouldn't let any outside agency (that did demand involvement..FBI and TBI) to get involved and even turned down Americas Most Wanted who badly wanted to help with the case.
While I do encourage prayer and love for this young man I have to let it be said that I am all for justice. So lets pray that he finds God(if already hasn't) and that He repents fully of His sins.
Read more about it, see, and hear audio/video about this case at WBIR

Surprise Post....

What a night last night was. The rehearsal, the dinner, meeting the family members on her side that I had never even heard of. Then the "bachelor Party" which was a blast(and was safe for young children, no dancing women or any of that mess).
We chose the Holiday Inn to crash at because of the 24 hour pool. There was an issue where they tried to tell us it was closed but was later reopened for us by management(or a refund was needed.We called before we came and was told the pool is open and is always open to the guest of the establishment. We were never told it was under construction and closed. It was having concrete work down about 20 feet away from it). We had a blast. The highlight had be four guys who had never played racket(probably not spelled right) ball before playing with their own rules(It was dodge ball for us).
we enjoyed the 10x10 fitness center and even thought about playing Super Mario Brothers at an unbelievable 6.95 per hour(for Mario?). However don't think I am complaining. We all were able to relax and have a good time. Yeah this post really has no point other than my collecting thoughts and helping to ensure that I preserve the memories.
We managed to sleep around 6 a.m. and had to get up at 6:30 a.m.. I had to head of to Gatlinburg to get the cabin keys, Mike needed to go and get a hair cut and Everette had to go play in a Football Game. Ever seen Varsity Blues? Remember the part where they stumbled out of the bar and got rocked by the other team? Yeah the only missing was AC/DC playing Thunderstruck. 26 to 7 the opponents way. He will be okay though. He is now sleeping. Mike suggest that I chug Red Bull on the way up and sip one on the way back. Does that stuff work for any body out there? All it did for me was have me make an extra stop at a C-Store and twitch a little(lack of sleep may be the culprit in the twitching though.
All in all I am really looking forward the ring that will be locked on my finger but more important to me is the woman who will give me the ring. Even with my eyes needing an entire bottle of Clear Eyes I see that today will be a great day. Our fellowship with God will be joined and we will be able to worship Him on a whole other level. Wow! How great is our God guys and gals? He points us where should go and when we move in that direction we are overwhelmed with he beauty of His work. I looked to the clouds when we left the motel this morning and I say pink clouds and then I looked up a little later and the sky above was a gradient blue with pink showing in the sun's spot in the sky. The clouds now were a brilliant purple. The with such a slow, graceful pace that you knew that God was there. Just one of those moments we have were we can say I feel God's hug! I am surrounded by love. Wow.
Please be kind with the comments on typos for this post. I really want to get to bed and am not proof reading or spell checking at all.

Once Again Limited Posting

I will not be posting anything from Friday to next Wensday. I will be getting married this Saturday and will not be taking my computer with me, I feel that it is the time in which the rest of the world should be blocked out from your life and you and your new wife can really focus on each other and the directions you want to go.
A honeymoon is not all about the sex has so many believe it is. It is time to allow our bond together to grow into new levels. We both hope to walk away from this trip with a renewed since of who we are together and what we can achieve together. I fully believe that God has very big things planned for us in the very near future. I just pray that we can utilize the tools he gives us and love each other the way He loves us.
So hopefully Wensday and Thursday night I will have more time to write and work on my typing and spelling skills, and with any luck entertain, educate, or move some one in the direction that God is calling them.

God loves the Atheist!

We has Christians seem to be disgusted with atheist and their entire view. We are wrong for that. We have no right to be repulsed by another human being. We sin just as much as they do. God loves the man or woman who is atheist just like he does the man who sits beside you in church. We should not look at them and say
"I just get so angry when they are talking about God like He isn't real. They bash Him and beat Him down every chance they get. I would just like to..yada yada...!"
Wrong for that. I came across a Christian site that was more atheist blasting then witnessing. We are wrong for that. We should love them. My Dad has slightly different views then I do but it doesn't change that he is still human, my Dad , and my friend. When Atheist put up their blog sites, and you cannot help but go there, then don't go open a blog site to rip theirs apart. I know they don't mind. It could concern them less.
They are not stupid, not all rebellious teens, and not all of them hate Christian people. Love them like you love the person who prays with you. So you don't see eye to eye. Okay do what is right and show them they are people and you love them. Let God deal with the things they do. I will even be so bold as to give you a link to a blog site that I read from time to time. Spanish Inquisitor . This man is intelligent and will talk to you about what he believes. You won't agree with 99% of his blogs but it will make you search for answers(and not just using Google to type in a few words). You will come out stronger and have more faith. You will also learn from people like him that atheist are not out to kill you. God cannot be stopped so you don't have to worry about that. If you want to make a change then show them that you know God lives not just through comments but also through you understanding. Ask him about his header. Interact with him and other atheist. If someone gets rude then brush it off. The man has never been disrespectful to me nor my site.
Go and love because God loved you first. Loved them like you want to be loved by others. Don't kill the love of God by not showing it.

Defense of the Gospel

The followins a small part of a very good post I found over at Out Here Hope Remains

…I am put here for the defense of the gospel. Philippians 1:16

What are we defending these days? It seems that preachers, editors, lecturers, bloggers, and others spend a lot of time defending positions on a variety of subjects. It’s always good to have a discussion….dialogue. But what of this clamoring of swords and shields? Why are we deciding if people are going to heaven or hell based upon their position on _____________________ (you fill in the blank: women’s roles, instrumental music, Bible translations, kitchen in the building, denominationalism, premillennialism, baptism, name of the church, etc.). We can make judgments so easily and then set about to defend them … arming ourselves as apologists of the faith. Only it’s not the gospel we’re defending, it’s our theological territory that we’ve staked out.

Read the full post here.

Tennessee verse Florida

A game that is rich with tradition! No other Tennessee game hold as much as the Florida vs Tennessee came does. This one will prove to be no different.
Both Tennessee and Florida are trying to put together a defense that they can use effectively. Both teams lost over half of their starters from their defenses last year. Tennessee's young defense was ripped apart by California and almost by Southern Mississippi. They had noticeable improvement in the second half. You could really see the confidence growing in the second half against Southern Miss.
Florida had a 49 to 7 lead(may have been 42) going into half time. At the start of the second they were flat. Troy came back to end the game 31 to 59/ They still lost but the fact the Troy was able to score with such ease in the second has to make the Gators nervous.
Both teams appear productive on offense. Tennessee put up good numbers on offense in both outings. Ainge is 55-83 for 547, 5 TDs and 0 interceptions. Foster has 214 yards on 35 carries for 3 TDs. The entire rushing unit has massed up 304 yards on 66 carries (4.6 ypc. Our two top receivers are averaging 20.1(Taylor) and 11.5 (Rogers) yards a catch. Not bad considering we have played one currently top ten ranked team.
Florida is centered around Tim Tebow who is the key player in Urban Meyers Spread Offense. He is currently 31-42 for 536 and 6 TDs. He also has ran for 131 yards on 25 carries with Kestahn Moore running 31 times for 169 yards with 4 TDs. Florida has three receivers with 3 digit receiving yards and two more who are 2 and 5 yards from being in that club.
Special Teams is better at Florida. That is the edge in this game. Yeah Tebow numbers are better but they have yet to play anybody. We will see if they can still put up those numbers with an SEC opponent.
My prediction.... Toss up. You cannot predict this game. This is Florida and Tennessee! Florida seems to have the upper hand with home field and the special teams but falls short on the defense being challenged. If I had to pick I would just have to favor Tennessee because of the defenses arrival late last week against Southern Miss and 19 penalties by Florida in two games for 155 yards when compared to 9 by Tennessee for 80.

Faith in our systems?

The following post comes from Transforming Sermons. It is short and sweet. You should go and check out Transforming Sermons!

How do Christians lose their joy and passion for Christ? Jim Martin has some ideas:

We spend our time and energy talking about our systems. "How will we get this done?" "When is the next meeting?" "Are you on the sub-committee?" Blah. Blah. Blah. Meanwhile, we may find that we can be in meetings (teachers, elders, staff, etc.) and talk with others for hours before anyone ever mentions Jesus or asks whether or not he is pleased with what we are about.

Jim's right.

I find it hard to be positive at times like this...

More sever punishment is needed in country. Crimes like the two you are about to read are exapmles of times where are not being tough enough on repeat offender. Major or minor after a while any time there is reoccurring crime it gets more and more violent as you will read. Look at the amount of times these six people in the first story were arrested (it is in bold)....

No Hate Crime Charges in Torture Case
Wednesday, September 12, 2007 11:23 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By SHAYA TAYEFE MOHAJER Associated Press Writer

BIG CREEK, W.Va. (AP) — Authorities decided Wednesday not to pursue hate crime charges in the kidnapping and weeklong torture of a black woman, instead going after the suspects, who are white, on state charges that carry stiffer penalties.

While federal civil rights or state hate crime charges remain an option, a state kidnapping count that carries a sentence of up to life in prison will provide the best chance for successful prosecution, officials said.

"As a practical matter, sentenced to life, what else can be done?" U.S. Attorney Charles T. Miller told The Associated Press.

Six people face charges, including kidnapping, sexual assault and lying to police in the torture of Megan Williams, 20, at a remote hillside home in Big Creek.

State hate crime charges, which carry a sentence of 10 years, could come later, prosecutor Brian Abraham said. State sexual assault charges carry a penalty up to 35 years in prison.

The woman's captors forced her to eat rat droppings, choked her with a cable cord and stabbed her in the leg while calling her a racial slur, according to criminal complaints. They also poured hot water over her, made her drink from a toilet, and beat and sexually assaulted her during a span of about a week, the documents say.

Williams was not a random target, prosecutor Brian Abraham said Wednesday. She had a "social relationship" with one of the suspects, he said.

The Associated Press generally does not identify suspected victims of sexual assault, but Williams and her mother, Carmen Williams, agreed to release her name. Carmen Williams said she wanted people to know what her daughter had endured.

At one point, a suspect cut the woman's ankle with a knife and used the N-word in telling her she was victimized because she is black, according to the complaints.

It wasn't until an anonymous tip led Logan County sheriff's deputies to the property on Saturday that her ordeal ended, authorities said. She limped toward the deputies, her arms outstretched as she cried, "Help me," officials said.

Williams remained hospitalized Wednesday in Charleston. The hospital declined to release any information about her condition.

The victim had a previous relationship with Bobby Brewster, one of the six in custody, Abraham said. He was charged in July with domestic battery and assault after a domestic dispute involving the same woman.

"She obviously had some sort of social relationship," Abraham said. "That is based on the fact that she was present at his residence on a prior date."

The suspects have arrest records going back several years, according to records from Logan County Magistrate Court, and Abraham said was he familiar with all of them.

"Most of the charges are minor things," Abraham said. "Basically on weekends they get in trouble and by the middle of the week they make up with each other."

Since 1991, police have filed 108 criminal charges against the six.

Brewster's mother, Frankie Brewster, 49, faced the most serious charges among them. She was charged in 1994 with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter and wanton endangerment. She was released from prison in 2000 after serving five years in the death of an 84-year-old woman, court records show.

In Williams' case, Frankie Brewster is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and giving false information during a felony investigation.

Bobby Brewster, 24, also of Big Creek, is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the commission of a felony.

In March, Brewster was accused in criminal complaints of attacking his mother with a machete at her home, according to court records. The outcome of those charges — domestic assault, brandishing a deadly weapon and obstructing an officer — was not immediately clear.

Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, is charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding. Karen Burton, 46, of Chapmanville, was charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony.

Burton's daughter, Alisha Burton, 23, and George A. Messer, 27, both of Chapmanville, are charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery. She previously faced charges of assault during the commission of a felony and battery; in May, she was accused of striking Messer with a shovel and smashing the window of a woman's car. The charges are pending.

All six remained in custody Wednesday in lieu of $100,000 cash bail each. Bobby Brewster is scheduled to appear before a Logan County Circuit Court judge on Monday to be arraigned on the kidnapping charge, according to court records. A date for his mother's appearance on the kidnapping charge has not yet been set.

Public defender Dwyane Adkins, appointed to represent Bobby Brewster, and public defender Betty Gregory, appointed to represent Karen Burton, declined to comment. The other defendants' court-appointed lawyers were either in hearings or did not immediately return telephone calls Wednesday.

Neighbors of Megan Williams in Charleston recalled her as sweet-natured but said her family members kept largely to themselves.

"They were isolated, in a way," said the Rev. Norman Jones of the Greater Emmanuel Gospel Tabernacle, which Carmen Williams attended. "Carmen was very protective of Megan, so it was hard to know her well."

The Second is an older story but was just has violent and happened in my home town...
Judge rules statement can be used in fatal carjacking trial
Carjacking preceded beating, rape and murder of West Knox couple

By Jamie Satterfield (Contact)
Originally published 04:05 p.m., September 12, 2007
Updated 04:05 p.m., September 12, 2007

A federal judge this afternoon shot down a bid by an accused accomplice in a fatal carjacking to shield his statement from jurors.

U.S. District Magistrate Judge Bruce Guyton ruled that federal prosecutors David Jennings and Tracy Stone have the legal right to use Eric Dewayne “E” Boyd’s statement against him.

Defense attorney Richard Gaines had argued that the government was trying to use Boyd’s statement as proof that Lemaricus “Slim” Davidson kidnapped and killed Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23, in January.

Boyd is charged in U.S. District Court not with those crimes but instead as an accessory in the alleged carjacking. Boyd is accused of hiding Davidson, even though he knew Davidson was involved in the double murder.

Boyd is set to stand trial Sept. 19. Davidson and three others face trials next year in Knox County Criminal Court for the actual slayings.

Davidson is alleged to have confessed to Boyd the January slayings of Christian and Newsom, who were killed after a carjacking that turned into a kidnapping and rape.

Christian and Newsom had been out on a date in early January when they were confronted by armed suspects who forced their way into Christian’s Toyota 4Runner.

Authorities and court records show the West Knox County couple were taken to a North Knoxville house where Davidson had been living.

Authorities have not alleged that Boyd was in the Chipman Street house where Christian and Newsom were slain.

Newsom was shot and his body set on fire. Christian was held hostage for several more hours before she was strangled, and her body wrapped in trash bags and dumped in a large garbage can inside the house.

Also charged in Criminal Court are Davidson’s brother, Letalvis “Rome” Cobbins; Cobbins’ girlfriend, Vanessa Coleman; and friend George “Detroit” Thomas.

Trials are pending for each in 2008. Prosecutors have not yet said whether they will seek the death penalty in the case.

All four murder suspects and Boyd remain behind bars pending their respective trials.

More details as they develop online and in Thursday’s News Sentinel.


Both crimes are worthy of strict punishment. In both incidents the attackers had long records.Yet were allowed to return to society with ease. More needs to be done to keep our friends, family, and ourselves safe. I am just has upset at that fact that here in Knoxville we have twice allowed the KKK and a group of neo-nazis to protest and that ran the state 35,000 per protest. Hate groups should not be allowed to form. Those who commit crimes of race like in the first case need to be hit with the "hate crime" title, and those who are guilty of helping to rape and kill to people (like in the second)need to face more than a max of 15 years. To know that a crime is going on like that and not report it is just as bad as taking part. All in all it was around 6 people who knew that the second crime was going on. That is to say they came to the house and saw the girl still alive, tied up, naked, beaten, and smelling of bleach where they had been pouring it onto her and inside of her to cover up evidence. All should be tried for not helping this girl. They allowed her die.
Where are the heroes? I don't know but it doesn't even take a hero to report something like this.

The Al Gore Effect

Why we don't win wars...

..." you realize the US hasn't won a war since those changes(putting God's name in the pledge, on our money, and in our motto was the comments basis)? Maybe your god isn't too keen on his name being invoked like that."

This is a fraction of the comment that was left on one of my post. It made me think what was the last war that we dominated and why? It doesn't take long to find the answer. It was in the paper today.
Did you know that in the past our military would be composed of around 10 percent of our population? If not then you probably don't know that if you count all the military forces and the entire Department of of Homeland Security it will only make up 1 percent our population. The last time their was a war in which the people were involved was the Civil War!
The reason belong to us not enlisting and the draft. You had to get involved. However there is another big reason we are lacking in the war department. It is not from the troops. They are great. Spending! What?! but this war is so expensive?! I know. check this out...
In World War II we spend around 40 percent of our economic output on the war. In the last six years we have used(at the highest priced point of our wars) 5 Percent!
That is a stat to ponder on. We are lacking in the area of winning wars because we have not went all out.
Like it or not the numbers don't lie. We are playing conservative. Our economic input is around 14 trillion a year.We are now spending 650 billion dollars. It seems like a lot (well it is) but to the overall value it is small. If we spent 40 percent on this war we would spend just under around 7 trillion per year!
God never declared America his first love. We don't have any right to think that just because we say God bless America He will. If we want to win wars in God's name then we have to fork over the resources and we have to serve in our military. It all comes down to a lack of effort on our behalf. Why have we not won a war since God's name was placed on our moo-la? Because we have tried to keep it for our own and refused to go all out. 1 percent of our population could not have beaten the German's. Five percent of our money could not have gotten our troops over seas at that time. We are the reason for our short comings.

Our First Execution Since 1960

Daryl Holton who admitted to killing his three young sons and step daughter in 1997 is set to die by the electric chair Wensday Morning at 1 A.M. Holton was suppost to be executed in February but it was delayed. Holton killed his children because his ex-wife had not let him see them in months.
Holton is not fighting the execution and refuses to sign papers from his attorneys or to even speak with them for the last couple of years. To me this shows that Holton is aware of what he did and willing to face the punishment. It is rare that you see a man who seems to be fighting to die. This will be the first execution we have had in 47 years. Pray that Holton has built a relationship with Jesus and is forgiven. He can be if he choses.

Ten Cannots

Found this post over at Swap Blog thought it would be good to share with you all today.
Ten Cannots


This came over the email transome and I KNOW it is worth sharing and applying to our lives (personally, professionally, etc.)

“The Ten Cannots,” authored in 1916 by German emigre William J.H. Boetcker, a Presbyterian minister who died in 1962.

• You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift

• You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong

• You cannot help little men by tearing down big men
• You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer

• You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich

• You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money

• You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred

• You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more money than you earn

• You cannot build character and courage by destroying men’s initiative and independence

• And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.