Category God’s Love

Jun 7 2011

Watch Out for Aliens

Ever since I was a little boy, I haven’t really been scared of much. I never really was all that scared of the dark. I wasn’t afraid of clowns or spiders. The only thing I was ever scared of was aliens. Yup, that’s right, aliens. I attribute that to a lot of episodes of Unsolved Mysteries on Wednesday nights after church, the show Amazing Stories which used to come on Sunday nights, and the fact that I swear there were aliens in our backyard.

I’ve always been scared of them as long as I can remember. Now of course, why aliens would come all this way to earth just to freak us out is beyond me. It just creeps me out. So on Wednesday night of this week, I did a class based upon my fear of Aliens.

You remember that movie Signs? I loved it, and hated it all at the same time. There were plenty of great spiritual applications though in that movie. Let me share my favorite.

Do you remember in that movie when they had boarded up their home, and headed down to the basement to tough it out? They placed a pick axe in front of the door, and hoped that would keep out the aliens (they can travel light years to earth but can’t open a door?). The little boy, Morgan, said that the aliens would be good problem solvers, and would find a way in. Sure enough, the basement used to have a coal shaft in it. As Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix looked around for it, Morgan was standing in front of the shaft, and an alien grabbed him from behind. Just as Morgan said, they found a way in.

You know, Satan does the same thing. He’s a great problem solver. Just when we think we’re safe, in the privacy of our own home, protected by locked doors, alarms, and whatever else we may have, Satan finds a way in. We protect our hearts by going to church, participating in small groups, reading our Bibles and praying, but Satan still finds a way in.

And you know what the sad thing is? We aren’t easily scared of the power that Satan has. We jump and scream at scary movies, but we don’t flinch at all when we read of the fact that Satan is alive and well in the world.

Remember what kills the aliens in the movie Signs? Yeah, Water. I though it was cheesy as well. These terrible aliens are hurt by water. They have poison gas flowing through their bodies, but water will destroy them.


About the only thing, however, that will destroy the presence of Satan in our lives is…well, water. Being buried in Christ in the waters of Baptism cleanses our souls, our bodies, our lives. That water, which symbolizes the blood of Christ, is the one thing Satan can’t deal with. It drives him away.

At least for a while. Remember, we said Satan was a good problem solver. Becoming a Christian doesn’t make you exempt from Satan. Satan can, and will find a way back into your lives. Be watchful, Satan goes around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Satan is real, but my Jesus beats him every time.

May 17 2011

The Automobile Warranty and Jesus Connection

“As far as the east is from the west,

so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

Psalm 103:12

Today, my wife’s car spent the day in the shop with a blown compressor and condenser.  This was an $1800 repair we had done just back in September of 2010, and it broke again on her on the way home yesterday.  With the Houston heat reaching 105 degrees in the summer, with the humidity at 110%, its obvious that it needs to be fixed.  Fortunately, the warranty covered the problem.  It was fixed 7 months ago, worked well for 7 months, and broke down again.

Kristen and I don’t have $1800 to throw at a broken AC unit every 7 months.  Its just not possible.  But that warranty really helped out.  The part is usually warrantied for 12 months/12,000 miles, however, our mechanic at First Tire and Automotive in Sugar Land, TX doubles the manufacturers warranty on all their repairs.  I wasn’t aware of this last night when I drove the car over to leave it.  I was worried, because even though we were within the 12 month time frame, we had driven 11,985 miles since the original repairs were done.  Not knowing about the doubling of the warranty sent me in a tizzy last night.

All I could think about was what we were going to do.  Were we going to have to fork over another $1800?  Would we just need to sell the car and get something else?  I started to panic, because we just don’t have the money to do either one of those things.  Imagine my relief this morning when the mechanic called and told me that the damage was covered under the warranty.  The best thing was that this warranty was free with my decision to go this particular mechanic.  Better yet, today he told me that if it happened again, that even though the warranty is from the original date of work, they would help in any way they could.

I sat at home all day today, since I had no car to go to the office.  I thought a lot about my life.  I’m covered under an eternal warranty given to me by God.  Its not something I paid for.  In fact, he paid for it himself.  All I had to do was accept it.  Thank goodness God has given me that gift.

I’ve screwed up a lot in my life.  I’ve done a lot of things that I’m not proud of.  I’ve acted in ways that many people would question whether or not I truly was a child of God.  When I start to stray away from God, I feel broken down.  I feel like all my “parts” just aren’t working right.  That’s when I remember that all I have to do is approach the throne of God and seek forgiveness.  He then does a complete system flush, and takes care of those sins.

The great thing about it is, however, that these sins aren’t recorded into a computer where he can go and check to see how long that forgiveness is good for.  As the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us!  Hallelujah!   This verse just describes it ALL!   It is just so awesome that God will forget everything we have done if we just ask Him to. I remember in the past when so called “friends” would hurt me or turn their back on me.  I know i have forgiven them, but I haven’t forgotten what they did.    That‘s a hard thing for us to do.  But God, He forgives and forgets like it never happened. we can let guilt build up in our human minds and continually ask for forgiveness,  but God says, “Forgive what?  I don’t remember any sin.“  I am so overwhelmed by His amazing love for everyone of us no matter how much we have messed up!  God is awesome!

Feb 17 2011

Great Balls of Fire!


There are many narratives told throughout the Bible that are impossible to let go of.  From the beginning of the Bible to the end, many jump out as tall tales, fascinating adventures, or love stories.

–         Noah’s Ark and the Flood
–         The Captivity and Exile of the Israelites
–         The Walls of Jericho
–         The Herculean Samson
–         David and Goliath
–         Jonah and the Big Fish

Aside from the description and accounts of the Life and Death of Jesus, no other story sticks out in my head like the one of Shadrach Meshach, and Abednego.

I believe the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is so powerful, that I believe you could pull this one story out of the Bible and encapsulate every aspect of who God is, and every aspect of who we as Christians should be in our service to Him.

In a nutshell, King Nebuchadnezzar builds a giant statue and tells everyone that when the band plays, everyone of any race, creed, or color must bow down and worship the image.  If  you did not bow, you would be thrown into a fiery furnace to be destroyed.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, 3 Jewish men who were in Babylon due to the captivity of Israel, refuse.  These men have already been mentioned in the first chapter under different names, but they were promoted and honored in the land to positions of authority.

Nebuchadnezzar brings them in and asks them to bow down when the band plays.  He reveals his true egotistical self in the statement: “What god will be able to rescue you from my hand”.  Here, Nebuchadnezzar asserts his own power above all gods.   Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego give an answer at this point that reminds of the devotion that one would expect find in a great love story: “We don’t need to defend ourselves before you in this matter”, OR – Your threats mean nothing to us.

They then go on to show their true faith in their God.  They talk of if you throw us into the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from it, or anything else you throw at us.  BUT IF NOT, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference, O King.  We still wouldn’t serve your gods or worship  your statue.  This obviously makes the King mad, and he orders the furnaces 7 times hotter, and the men thrown in to the blaze.  They were bound, wearing all of their clothing, and thrown in.  The men who threw them in were killed from the intensity of the heat.

The King looks up at the furnace and notices they are walking around, unbound, and there is a 4th person in the fire with them.  He recognizes this person as a son of the gods, later to recognize the person as God.

Here are 5 points I was able to pull from the story to apply to us today.

  1. The Love story here is reciprocal :  They love their God so much, they’re not willing to betray Him, and He loves his servants so much, he would never betray them
  2. There is power in companionship. Surround yourself with good friends.  Could they have done this alone?  The three men believed that God could save them from anything, but their loyalty was NOT contingent on their rescue.    This loyalty had to be easier to have when the loyalty comes with the companionship.  Surround yourself with believers, so you won’t be tempted to abandon God from time to time.
  3. We can’t let an emotional response to God rule our faith. Nebuchadnezzar had several “mountain of God” experiences, in previous chapters, but these emotional outbursts of his allegiance to the God of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were seemingly short lived.  Emotion is not a bad thing, and an emotional response to God is not a bad thing.  However, we can’t base our entire faith on the emotional responses to God.  It has to be rooted, like the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
  4. God saved the three men IN THE FIRE, not FROM THE FIRE. God could have extinguished the flames, but he did not.  This is interesting to note that God saves us the same way today.  He saves us IN the world, not FROM the world.
  5. God continues to confirm His promise to us as He did for Israel. This was an encouragement for Daniel’s Day.  Remember things are bad.  They’ve been in captivity, their land was devastated, their people were scattered, and the situation looked hopeless.  What an encouragement this could be in giving hope to the hopeless.  This story becomes a strong message to the people.   Jehovah is still on the throne.  God hasn’t forsaken us. He will one day fulfill His promises to His people

Interesting to note that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s names were originally something else: Hananiah is a Hebrew name that means “Yahweh who is gracious”. Misha’el means “Who is like Yahweh?” and it also means “to feed” or “to provide” as in how a husband provides for his family. The Hebrew name Azariah appropriately means “Yahweh has helped”.  God certainly did all of those things for these men in this challenging time.