Living Hazzardously

Little pieces of our journey with Jesus

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God of the good times, is still God in the bad times

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Have you ever had a hard week? Most everyone has had “that week”, I am no different. 

This week I praise God for all the good and for his sustaining grace in some rather uncomfortable and difficult times. I won’t go into these “hard times” but rather I wanted to look at how the God of the night time is still the God of the day time. 

I like music, but I never learned how to read music, mainly because when I was in choir, I was a terrible student. My choir teacher once wrote a comment:  “Charlie is not much use to us!” Not much use? That hit me hard and I never tried again! But instead I whistled, ALOT! My father would whoop me for whistling too much, he hated my whistling.

It reminds me of a movie, I forget the name, where a POW saying something like, “Although they beat us, although they torture us, the one thing they can never take is our JOY! They can never take my joy, I can only give it up!” 

This song sustained me many a day, I hope it brings you joy and hope today. 

In closing, I leave you with some of the greatest lyrics ever penned on paper:

Life is easy, when you’re up on the mountain

And you’ve got peace of mind, like you’ve never known

But things change, when you’re down in the valley

Don’t lose faith, for you’re never alone

For the God on the mountain, is still God in the valley

When things go wrong, He’ll make them right

And the God of the good times, is still God in the bad times

The God of the day, is still God in the night

You talk of faith when you’re up on the mountain

But talk comes so easy, when life’s at its best

Now it’s down in the valley of trials and temptations

That’s where your faith is really put to the test

For the God on the mountain, is still God in the valley

When things go wrong, He’ll make them right

And the God of the good times, is still God in the bad times

The God of the day, is still God in the night

The God of the day, is still God in the night

As the lyrics of the song suggest, God is good all the time.

I hope your Joy today exceeds all your trials and that at the end of your day, you choose joy. Charlie

Monsters under my bed

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Do you remember that book “monsters under my bed” I can like it was yesterday, but I’m not talking about imaginary monsters, these monsters are real!

I was watching some reels today and the theme of monsters kept coming up. One monster was explained from the book “Dante’s Inferno” where hell has “levels” and one level above Satan is betrayal… betrayal is the opposite of established trust. 

I am hard pressed to think of a monster more destructive than betrayal. 

The man who loses a son to a kidnapper, never seeing him again, recalling the night 40 years later. 

A botched abortion where the child is left to die on a cold winter’s day in the open window of a hospital. 

The woman groped as she served her customers in the restaurant.

The grown man discovers he was put up for adoption because it was “inconvenient” to his parents. 

Trust, betrayal… What makes a person betray the trust of another? I’m not perfect, and I too have a story of great betrayal of a friend’s trust. I am guilty of the worst type of betrayal, I know that side, it comes so naturally. I also know the other side of betrayal. I know the feeling of a friend stealing $20.00… I trusted this friend to buy me some “dope”, he simply took that money and avoided me… sounds petty? Well, betrayal comes in every form, and every time it hurts. Every time it sears our conscience, regardless of the roles we are in at the time. 

I stop, I pause and I think, what’s the worst form of betrayal? A friend over money? A co-worker telling lies or “twisting the truth” to advance his own status at work?  A law enforcement officer that doesn’t pursue ticketing of a pretty girl driving too fast but not letting that girl’s husband go as he is trying to get to work on time after the baby puked on him as he was headed out the door? 

Each of us have our own story, each of us have our own journey, each of us have our own “monsters under the bed”. How do we move past betrayal? How do we rebuild trust? How can we be trusted again? Should we….?

After nearly 19 years of a hard marriage, the man found underwear under his bed, they were not his, he knew what that meant, he was no fool. But he decided go on, believing the story that it was her brother’s underwear that got mixed in from the hunting season… . This man I will call Joe, knew in his heart what this meant, he decided “one more chance”… is he a fool? Over two years of cheating, it caught them both in the act, how many more lovers had there been. Joe counted at least 6 others, starting in the first of nineteen years.

 

As I learned of “Joe’s” story, I felt my heart break. Joe was not a perfect husband, he made many mistakes, he knew those mistakes all too well, but one thing Joe held on to after all those years, he said “I never gave up hope! I lost trust, I was betrayed by my closest friend, I did some stupid and hurtful things, but I never quit, I never gave up!”

I still talk to this man I call Joe, I still see him from time to time, but he is a new man now, he has learned to trust again, he has learned there is more than the past that makes a man, he has learned the value of serving others without restraint.

Monsters try to eat us, they lie and tell us “there is no reason to go on living”. Monsters don’t care about you, monsters devour everything. If you looked under your bed and find a monster, know there is hope.

Monsters might hide in the closet, running out the door when nobody is looking or they may blend in under the bed. The point is, monsters only have power when we give them that power, take that power back, give that power to Jesus, start living for the one that never betrays us. 

Jesus said  “Everything is possible for one who believes”.

Monsters, only you can feed a monster, but Jesus can feed you.

With great love from our father in heaven, Charlie

Red pill, Blue pill: “Sinners in the hands if an angry God”

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“Sinners in the hands if an angry God”

On July 8, 1741, a mere mortal man struggled as he delivered his sermon to his congregation. Struggling I say because he wouldn’t lift his face for 45 minutes nor give any eye contact until he was done reading, word after word… Enfield Connecticut would never be the same after that fateful day. Jonathan Edwards preached, the congregation listened and one of the most convicting sermons ever was delivered.

This sermon is still one of my all time favorites and I love to talk about this sermon. In many perspectives, one of the greatest sermons ever delivered to the United States in its Great Awakening era. This great appeal to a sinner’s heart and mind, captured each person and forced everyone to recognize they will be judged by a righteous, good and holy God! Furthermore, this judgment should be more feared than death and will be more painful than human comprehension.

I think it’s safe to say there has been a lot of change from that day to today, so much change that I seldom think it’s the same world. So often I think we humans have “flipped the script” and today’s sermon might be titled “God in the hands of a diverse, equitable and inclusive society”. It doesn’t matter if you agree with the way the world looks now or if you agree with the way the world looked in the 1700’s, it’s different for certain.

So let’s look at the “was then” vs the “is now”.

1741 views2024 views
God is justified in casting all humankind into hellNo GOOD god would send me to hell
Justice means all have earned Hell.Justice is relative, I decide what justice should be
The wicked are condemned to Hell.Hell and Heaven are your own views of eternity
Satan wants all humans as his own.Satan was unfairly treated by an oppressive god.
God restrains Satan, evil is limited.Evil doesn’t exist except as a manmade construct
Lack of visualizing physical death is no excuse and does not mean it should not be feared.Physical death is the end. There is no fear in death, the only fear is dying
Doing good for oneself or others does not make up for sin nor avoid wrath.I do good all the time! ima good person!
That’s your truth, let’s just “agree to disagree”
Hell’s pain is unavoidable. Christ has saving grace, there is no other way to avoid Hell. All paths lead to the same place, Christians are bullies for saying anything different.
God’s salvation is only for his people! Not for all.God is all LOVE. He can’t punish us good folks.

Ohh, I know… I get that this is a simplified generalization of yesterday vs today, but it’s a helpful comparison for my blog, that’s it, a bit of Grace please!

Welcome to the “Matrix” (If you haven’t watched this movie, you may want to take the time right now to watch that movie before you continue reading this blog)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/vKQi3bBA1y8?si=Dbxi7-JoRzZH-msj

Red Pill or Blue Pill?

Blue Pill: To trust in God is foolish. God is antiquated and doesn’t matter now.

Red Pill: God is still the creator of everything.

Blue Pill: A loving God wont send me to Hell.

Red Pill: Well, God is only giving you what you’re asking for, separation from him. Reject God? Ok, here is your forever home…

Blue Pill: Heaven is mine! I can make it however I want.

Red Pill: That’s so silly, just because you want something doesn’t mean you can have it, unless you have that power to grant it… 

The Rabbit Hole: How do Christians hold these truth statements and live our lives like it matters? I remember this statement from “The Truth Project” many years ago and It still convicts my soul daily… “Do you believe that what you believe is really real?” I wish my faith were “really real”, I would act so much differently. But… just because my faith is weak doesn’t prove my beliefs are wrong, it just means I am weak. 

Is God’s word true? How do I KNOW it is true?  If Gods word is not true, what is true? What is the truth? Who decides what is true? Who decides what is not true? Do we all decide for ourselves? And the killer question: DOES TRUTH EVEN MATTER?

Jesus answered this question in front of a world leader: John 18:37

Bible Gatewayhttps://www.biblegateway.com › verse

For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”.

If Jesus thinks truth is this important, we should as well! I love this definition of truth: “Truth is reality as seen by God” that means we don’t get to decide truth. Does that mean God gets to pick what is true? Not really, God doesn’t actually pick, but truth does flow from Him. God is the source of all truth and God simply knows the truth (as His character is truth) and we can be deceived into thinking we get to choose truths. 

The White Rabbit: I hear so many times the reaction “Well, as long as he is happy, what difference does it make?” I’m here today to contest this premise, I’m here to try and show that truth matters. I’m here to shed light on the idea “as long as nobody is being hurt, it’s fine!” THIS IS TRULY HATE SPEECH! Because if you truly love a person, you want them to know what’s real, and what’s not real… or is it just easier to allow a person to live in a fantasy world? Never knowing what’s real and what’s a delusion? I don’t know who is reading this today, but I love you so much that I am willing to take a chance of offending you so that you can know what is really real… That is love speech. 

If you can’t tell, I believe we ALL deserve to know truth vs delusion. I believe a person deserves to have the opportunity to decide for themselves if they want to believe the truth or live a lie… I believe God wants us to know Him, to be with Him for all eternity. I also believe God does not force anyone to love Him but in the end, everyone will know the truth and take a knee to the Creator, some in reverence and love but others out of hatred and conviction… I want you to know Him now, not just on judgment day. 

There is a scene in the movie “The Matrix” where Neo gestures for the Red Pill, Morpheus tells him  “All I’m offering is the truth”. 

Morpheus continues: “You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes”.

Now you decide, Red Pill or Blue Pill? Truth or a Lie?

With all my love and concern for your eternal home, Charlie.