My Father's Altar: A Struggle of Two Religions

      For the most part, I'm torn between two religions. You see I'm a Christian but my father was a simple man of the Southern Man religion. What is the Southern Man religion, you ask?

     Southern Men, or the Good Ol' Boys, aren't known too much by name but is predominant in the American South. The majority of members are white males with a small portion being white females. It's a religion and philosophy incorporating a variety of beliefs, traditions, and practices, largely based on Christianity and the hymns of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hank Williams, Jr., and Charlie Daniels.

     Good Ol' Boys by mass believe in the Christian God and Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, yet many beliefs are unlike Christianity as a whole and are more "works" based. One such belief is that one should strive to do everything on their own right and by their own means as one hymn by Charlie Daniels says, "I ain't askin' nobody for nothin', if I can't get it on my own." Whereas Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-8, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Again, Paul writes in Philippians 4:6, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

     Another common belief is that if one encounters a quarrel one must not turn and walk away especially in physical abruptness. Differing again Jesus says in Matthew 5:39, "I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also."

      Now, don't get me wrong, there's some good beliefs in there, too, most of which come from the Christian background. They're taught to love their families (their mothers the most) and to be diligent in the work they do. They're not bad people, nor am I saying they're good as no man is good and falls short of the glory of God (Romans 3). Their view is however slightly skewed.

     I could go on with this but by now I'm sure you know what I mean and it's highly probable that you know someone that is a Good Ol' Boy. Being my father's son, I was born and raised with this mindset. Even worshiping my father and his ways, wanting to be more like him. After his passing, people would comment on how every time they see me I look more and more like him or how I act are ways that he would act. This greatly effected me since my father was the hard-working family man that I wanted to be more like and here people were noticing.  


     I was heartbroken from the loss of my father and needed comfort. Here's where I began to be torn. I went to church and all but I didn't allow myself to turn to God. I knew of my father's past, his wilder days. It was there that I began to seek comfort. It was there that I stayed for years but comfort was not to be found. There were pleasures, surely, but they didn't last. 

     I was in the darkest place I had never known. If life is a forest, I was in caught in the thickets held by the thorns. The pain was so heavy that I forgot of the light around me. There was hope but I did not seek it. Not yet anyway. 

     I awoke in a bathtub. Drenched with no memory of the night before or how I got there. How did I wind up there? Not just in that tub, but at that point of my life. I believe I should have died that night, but I was given a second chance. A chance to be used. A chance to find comfort and to share it with others. 


     "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort."

  I realized my own flaws and mistakes. I began to delve into the Good Book to know what it really says. It was there that I saw the image of Christ, the person I long to be more like and the God I long to know more of. 

     I love my father, and in some ways wish to be more like him. I treasure many of his belongings, things that have no monetary value. But I've held on to one "thing" for far too long. His altar is still there, and like Gideon I have to tear it down (Judges 6).

      This is my greatest struggle.






    

More to Give

Love. Compassion. Forgiveness. Insight. Humor. Hugs. High Fives. Hand Hugs. Love. Encouragement. Loyalty. Devotion. Admiration. Love. Kind Words. Music. Dances. Friendship. Focus. Time. Love.

Even when you think you have nothing to offer, there's already more to give.

Salty Popcorn

    

     I had a boss who like a lot of bosses loved to talk. Everyday he'd come in with a story or a joke, and I'd listen politely and nod along. One such story was about when he was still a guardsmen. My mind was so fixated on one part of the story that I soon forgot most of the details of the story, but bear with me.

     When my boss was still a guardsmen he was stationed somewhere I can't particularly remember doing something I don't particularly know. On this base at one of the hangouts they would give away free popcorn. It was the same as the beer nuts effect. They would give away free popcorn so they could sell more drinks. What he said concerning the popcorn made me lose focus, "the popcorn was so salty, you'd get thirsty just looking at it."

      "So salty, you'd get thirsty just looking at it."

     In Jesus' sermon on the mount, He says that we are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13).There's a lot of things that Christ could have meant with this since salt was so versatile in the ancient world. Biblically, it could relate to salt being a purifying agent or as a sign of God's covenant as in Numbers 18:19. It could even relate to Rabbinic literature as a metaphor for wisdom. That's something we'll have to ask the Son Himself when we see Him. Whatever He meant, we are the salt of the earth.

     Have we preserved our saltiness or have we been diluted?

     For Christ gives Living Water. He gives to all that ask for it a well-spring of eternal life (John 4:14). God is the Spring of Living Water (Jeremiah 17:13) and the Water is the Spirit of God and eternal life.

     Do people see us and get thirsty for His water? Are we so salty that they want a drink?

     If not than maybe we should dump a little salt on ourselves. Not literally of course, I don't want you to carry around a salt shaker and thump some out every now and again. We lead others to Christ by being more Christ-like, reading the Word, and praying.

        Everybody is thirsty as it is. But so many times people would rather try to fulfill that thirst with other things be it a job, a man/woman, an addiction. We are all thirsty for God, we're made thirsty. But those other things are like soft drinks and only leave you more parched compared to the Living Water that Christ provides. Only Christ can fulfill us so we may not thirst again.

     "Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life" (Rev 22:17).

     The well springs are full, won't you take a drink?
    

    


    
   

All You Need Is Love

     Until a few months ago, I was heavily into 60’s culture and the hippie subculture. Along with that came a love for a music group you may have heard of called the Beatles. The Beatles were recently voted as “the most influential band of the last half century” in a poll by Zippo. In all of their works, I see that they succeeded in getting one thing right at least; all you need is love.    
    
     Now, I’m pretty sure John Lennon didn’t have my approach in mind when writing this song but who knows. The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:7-8 that all love comes from God and that God is love. All love, true and authentic, stems from God. So it’s true what they say, all you need is love because God is all you need.
   
     “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
   
     “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).
   
     God loves us so much that He gave His only Son to die for us, to take our punishment to the cross. He did this so that we may live, to live a life abundantly here, right now, and to live eternal after death.
   
     There is nothing but our own selves keeping us from that love. “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39).
   
     All you need is love, love, love is all you need. You just have to let in it.

I'm Ron Burgundy?

Alright, so Will Ferrell is one of the funniest comic actors today and arguably Anchorman is his best film. However, you may be wondering why I'm choosing to talk about Anchorman after all the talk about Jesus. Well you can find God's truth anywhere if you look hard enough for it, and I believe I've found it in this particular scene.

This isn't the best clip out there but the only one I could find of this scene. So for a little background knowledge for those of you who haven't seen the movie, - Uh oh...Spoiler Alert...to a six years old movie - Ron Burgundy is the top anchorman is San Diego until a female co-worker joins his team who eventually becomes co-anchors with Ron and for certain reasons gets Ron fired yadda yadda yadda... It's not really important how he got there but up to this point in the clip Ron is unemployed and in the worst slump of his life, going as far as wigging out in a telephone booth as he yells, "I'm in a glass case of emotion!"

In this clip, he's sitting in bar when he gets a phone call for him to come do a news story. He goes into the bathroom, gets cleaned up, comes out and decides to call his ever faithful news team. Upon calling for them, he then realizes that they had been with him the whole time.

Sound familiar?

How often have we been in the worst slumps of our lives, believing that God had forsaken us? Then when we call out to Him only to realize that He was there through all of it. It was only when we finally called out to Him that we realized He was present.

He was always there. He always will be, waiting for us to cry out to Him.

God will never leave us, nor will He abandon us. Deuteronomy 31:6 says, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” God is faithful! In the best of times, in the worst of times, you can rest assured knowing He is there and that He loves you.

So friends, if you're in the dumps, if you're just coasting by, or if you've got it made and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, would you ask Him to assemble in your heart. He's already there waiting on you, waiting on you to call out to Him.

Blocks of Marble

"In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it." - Michelangelo

God is a brilliant artist. You may be familiar with a few of His works. you know the Sun and stars, the Moon, the Earth and all that's on it. Everything in all creation has His signature on it. One of His greatest creations is....us! He made us in His image, in His image He made us, male and female He made us! (Genesis 1:27) Along the way though we got a little messed up with sin, E.G White says it this way in The Desire of Ages, " now sin has marred God's perfect work, yet that handwriting remains."

Back to the marble. We as humans are like that block of stone, and like I said God is the artist. On this earth we are imperfect, but God looks at us beyond that. As the redeemed, He already sees us as in our perfect bodies that we will one day have. In Colossians 1:21-22, Paul says this, "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation."

Holy in His sight, free from accusation!

Now does that mean we are free from sin and free to sin? Not hardly. We are always at war with ourselves between our flesh and our spirit. That's why God as the sculptor is "hewing away the rough walls that imprison" us so others may see us as He sees us. Just as the rest of creation reflects Him so must we. In other words so we may bear fruit. We are the branches, Jesus is the vine, and the Father is the gardener. As the gardener, God is pruning our branches so we may be more fruitful (John 15). Just as God the sculptor is hewing the rough walls revealing the spirit in us.

God sees us as shaped and perfect in attitude and action! Do you?

In closing, never forget "We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that we may declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9).

Bridges

A short time ago, I went through a phase, if you will, where I was really into photography. I still like photography and may take the occasional photo, but it doesn't possess me like it used to. During this phase, one of my favorite things to capture were bridges. There's a few reasons for this. First, I like lines and bridges have lots of them. Second, they're just aesthetically pleasing to me. Lastly, my imagination got the best of me. I would imagine that one day I would find a bridge that would take me away to somewhere else, anywhere else away from my average, troubled life.

There is no bridge of this sort, only ones I envisaged.

But there IS a bridge. Not a bridge of metal, wood, or stone but a man. That man is the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

When sin entered the world, it carved a canyon that we could not cross. A gorge between a sinful world and a righteous, Heavenly Father. 

 By the wood that He hung upon, by the metal that was hammered into His hands, and by the stone that was rolled out of the way of His grave, Jesus built a bridge. A bridge that nothing or no one can destroy. A bridge connecting this world to the Father. By this bridge we are saved. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8)

 Like any bridge you may cross, you have faith that it will not collapse. Why not the bridge that never can and never will?

Overcome

Overcome. That's a powerful word. Here's what Google has to say about it:
   
 o·ver·come/ˌōvərˈkəm/Verb

1. Succeed in dealing with (a problem or difficulty).

2. Defeat (an opponent); prevail: "they overcame the guards"; "we shall overcome".

I've been thinking about this word the past few days. One of my dear friend's favorite bible verses is John 16:33, in which Jesus states, "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Upon reflecting on this verse I begin to realize all of the things that I have overcome in my own life through my faith in Christ Jesus. Understanding this fully would require understanding my testimony, something I will put on here soon. 


There's a lot going on in and around this verse though. Before this verse Jesus was talking with His disciples telling them that “in a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,” referring to His death, resurrection, and then His return to the Father. He says, "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace." We are to rest assured knowing that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the cross bearing our sins, three days later was raised from the dead, ascended into Heaven, and is ultimately going to make His return. He's got everything under control.

Jesus goes on to say "in this world you will have trouble." While we are living here in the world at this time, we are going to have trouble. Life's not going to be easy. We're going to have problems. Big problems. Small problems. Difficulties. Worries. Pain. Sufferings.

"But take heart." Gain courage!

"For I have overcome the world." Jesus Christ the Son of God stepped down from His Heavenly Throne, humbling Himself in our likeness, living a tempted but sinless life, to bear our punishment, to overcome the world.

The plan to keep us away from God was made long ago in the Garden of Eden, foreseeing this God made His plans to reconcile His creation to Him out of love, "greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) It was in the moment that Jesus hung from the cross, suffering from the weight of our sins, that He was closest to the race of man. Likewise, it is often in our sufferings that we are closest to God. We can truly take heart and find comfort as believers knowing that we have the Spirit of God, a spirit of power and great authority. It is with the Spirit through Jesus Christ that we, too, may overcome the world and all of it's troubles.

First Post

Ah, the infamous first post. We meet at last! So I guess this is where I'm supposed to say what this blog is about and what I'm going to do with it. Frankly, I have no idea. There's a lot going on this ol' noggin, there's no telling what's going to come spilling out. One thing I do know is I believe that God is a true, living being who's always there with me. That being said, (Corny Alert) I'm on a journey and God's in the driver's seat. I tried to warn you, it's going to get corny. Hopefully, things will be a little more original than that though. This will be a journal of sorts on that journey. A journal full of things I've learned, reflections on ponders I've had, and opinions on things that may not matter so much and things that maybe do matter as much. Honestly, I'm kinda excited to see where this is going, until then...

Much love,
Charles