Mayor of Myrtle

“Mayor of Myrtle”.  That’s what we nicknamed our four year old son this week while we were on vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC. It seemed that everywhere we went, our little guy walked right up to complete strangers and announced his full name and that he was four years old. It didn’t matter if we were on the beach, in the hotel, playing miniature golf or shopping, he was going to introduce himself to anyone he came across - hence the new nickname.

One encounter in particular stood out above all the others. He was down at the water’s edge collecting seashells with his little orange bucket and there was a group of three older couples sitting in their chairs right beside him. We watched as he just started a conversation with the older lady sitting on the end. They talked for a few minutes and he handed her one of his shells and came back up to where we were sitting.

The following day as we were sitting on the beach, that same lady came to where we were with a shell of her own for our son. She said that she was going to keep the shell that he had given her and when she got home she was going to write his name and the date on the shell to remember him. It was such a sweet gesture by her to make it a point to share a shell with him like he had shared with her.

He had such an impact on that lady with the simple acts of starting a conversation and sharing what he had with her that she will probably never forget their encounter when she sees that shell with his name on it. Made me wonder if I have the same impact on people’s lives, like my son does, that people wouldn’t ever forget our encounter?

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” - Matthew 5:14-16.

What impact are we having on this troubled world?  Are we letting our light shine by striking up conversations with strangers and giving them something that we have: the Good News of the Gospel?  “As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” - Romans 10:15b.

Have a great day and God bless.

Quarantine

Quarantine. With most of the nation being put on quarantine for the next month or so (North Carolina is until the end of April), it made me wonder if there were any Biblical incidents of quarantine. In the very book of Genesis, we have our first story of a quarantine. “Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, ‘I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.’”- Genesis 6:11-13.

But there was one man and his family that found favor in the sight of God because he was a good man. God gave Noah instructions to build an ark for the protection of the upcoming destruction of the earth. Anyone who heeded the warning of Noah over the next 100 years, while he built the ark, would be allowed to get on the ark and be saved.

But after 100 years of explaining why he was building the ark, no one listened but his own family, “Then the LORD said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.’” - Genesis 7:1. Imagine preaching for 100 years that the world was coming to an end and the only one that believed him was his own family. “Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood.” - Genesis 7:6-7.

Most of us are now in forced quarantine for the next month or so with only our families. Christ is returning soon and then destruction will consume this earth. Are your family members going with you to heaven?  Are you prepared for heaven?  Have you accepted Christ as your own personal Savior?  Noah preached that punishment was coming for 100 years. Christ has been preached for almost 2000 years now. He is coming soon!

Have a great day and God bless.

Social Distancing

Social distancing. It has become the buzzword of 2020 due to the spread of this worldwide Corona virus. People are being asked to self quarantine and practice social distancing in an effort to slow down and ultimately stop the spread of this virus. People are taking precautions not to interact with the elderly, as they seem to be the most prone to not be able to recover from the effects of the virus. I’ve seen stories of people talking to their elderly parents and grandparents through windows of nursing homes and I’ve seen the picture of the little boy and his grandpa playing tic-tac-toe on opposite sides of a glass door.

However, social distancing can have other positive effects outside of just protecting the elderly and those with a higher risk of being unable to recover. It can force families to slow down and spend time with one another. It can force people to either deepen their relationship with God, or maybe even search for God during this difficult time. It can force neighbors to rely on one another for help and even put their needs above our own. Social distancing is not a new fad, ask introverts!

Jesus, Himself, practiced social distancing at times. There were times when He was tired from the constant push of the crowds looking for physical healing. After feeding the 5000, He sent His disciples on ahead to the other side of the lake and took some time to distance Himself from society, “Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone” - Matthew 14:22-23.

He sought time for just Himself and His Father. He needed time to reconnect with God. He needed to realign Himself with the will of His Heavenly Father. What an example that is for us. When the events of life have physically, emotionally and spiritually drained us, do we seek time to reconnect with our Father?  Do we disconnect and search for His will instead of our own will or the will of the world and news media?

Not only did Jesus socially distance Himself when He was worn down, He socially distancedHimself when He was in spiritual distress. The night before He was crucified, He distanced Himself once again to plead with His Father, “And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’ And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.’” - Luke 22:39-42.

We are living in troubling times with a contagious virus to deal with. We have been asked to distant ourselves socially from others to help contain the virus. During this time, who are you turning to for relief of your physical, emotional and spiritual concerns?  There’s a God that would love to reconnect and re-energize His children.

Have a great day and God bless.

New World Order

New World Order. Pandemic, panic, chaos, hoarding, school closings, stock market crashing, government restrictions and curfews. You would think this is all from an upcoming movie, tv show or book release, but it’s not, it’s what is going on in our world today. A lot has changed since just the beginning of this month; fear has set in and people are acting like the end of the world is at hand. I’ve even read some posts that want to correlate the events of today with the end times events of the Bible.

I can understand where they want to make the two relate to one another, but the next prophetic event on God’s calendar hasn’t occurred yet. Both the Apostle Paul in his letters to the Thessalonians and the Apostle John in his letter to the seven churches in the book of Revelation elude to an event to start the events of the end times: the Rapture of the church. When a large amount of the world’s population suddenly disappears, then the end times begin.

The events that are occurring today are setting up those events we find starting in chapter 4 of the book of Revelation and going forward. We have a mass pandemic that no one seems to know how to keep it from spreading. We have people all over the world that are hoarding things like toilet paper, milk, bread and other basic items out of fear. We have world stock markets crashing with no bottom in sight at this point. We have world governments putting restrictions on their people to try and help contain the spread of the virus.

All of these things sets the world up for a person to step out onto the stage with a solution to all the world’s problems. That person will have answers, will be well spoken and will steal the hearts of people all over the world. All he will want in return is all authority over government, finances and religion. He is the Anti-Christ and he is waiting for those holding him back to be removed: the church. Once the church is Raptured from here, he will be unbridled to unleash his terror on the world. At first he will look like the answer to all the world’s problems, but he will turn and people will be too far along to reverse his course.

The only answer to ending the rule of the Anti-Christ will be the return of the true Christ. Jesus will return and defeat the Anti-Christ, the false prophet and Satan and will establish His kingdom here on earth for a thousand years. The question is will you be gone with the Rapture of the church or will you be left behind to deal with the punishment of God?  That’s a question only you can answer. If you want to know more on how you can be saved from the tribulation to come, let me know, I’d love to share Christ with you.

Have a great day and God bless.

Y’all Need Jesus

Y’all Need Jesus. My wife asked me to run out to the local grocery store today to get two containers of icing for a desert she was making for tomorrow. I got to the store and grabbed the two containers and headed to the check out line to pay for them. Once I was done, I made my way to the door just as two employees were coming in with loads of grocery carts. I waited for them to come in before going through the door.

One of the two ladies mentioned the t-shirt I had on that read “Y’all Ned Jesus” and said “amen”.  She also mentioned she would be front and center at church tomorrow praying for everyone’s health. I agreed with her and wished her a good rest of her day and finally headed out the door.

As I walked out the door and started through the parking lot, a young lady was coming into the store dressed in a long robe-like dress and a hijab. I knew right away what her religious beliefs might be and how they were very different from mine. As I walked towards her it was obvious that she easily read my t-shirt and the message on it.

As we approached each other, I smiled at her and said “good afternoon, how are you?”  She smiled back at me and said “good afternoon, I’m fine, thanks for asking.”  We both smiled at each other once again and continued past each other in our opposite directions. No confrontation, no dirty looks, no avoidance of one another. Just two people, with two different religious belief systems, who were able to be civilized and pleasant to one another because there was no other reason not to be.

“Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” - 1 Peter 2:12.

Have a great day and God bless.

Children

Children. Over the past month I have spent a large amount of time traveling through airports from the east coast to the west coast. There have been long layovers, cancelled flights and multiple delays. As I have sat in the various terminals this month, I have been afforded a big chunk of time to people watch. Let me tell you, there are some strange ones out there, but that’s for a different post some time in the future.

Children always catch my attention. Infants, toddlers, small ones and soon to be teenagers. I like watching how their parents interact with them at the various ages. To see those infants flying for the first time, maybe going to be their grandparents on the other side of the country. They are either in their strollers or strapped tightly to their mother’s body so that her hands are free.

Watching the toddlers roam around the airport makes me smile. Some parents give their children quite a bit of leeway, while others keep them close by with a highly watchful eye on what’s going on around them. One thing is true for children no matter what their age may be, their parents think that they are the best thing on earth, and rightfully so.

Every parent has a bias that their child is the prettiest, most handsome, smartest, most talented, and so on and so on. There is nothing wrong with that, as parents we are proud of our children. We brag on their achievements. We brag on their good looks (usually coming from the mother’s side). We show all the pictures we have of them on our phones. It’s what we do as parents.

God feels the same way about His children. He looks down at us and feels a sense of pride that we belong to Him. He is most proud of His children when we do things that glorify Him. If He had a cell phone, He’d be showing off your picture around His throne.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."  - Jeremiah 1:5. He’s known us before our own parent’s knew us. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” - Jeremiah 29:11. Before we were born, He had plans for us.

God loves His children. God takes pride in the things we do to bring Him the glory. Are you a child of God?  If not, there is not better time than now to become one.

Have a great day and God bless.

Overbooked

Overbooked. I have a hard time understanding, in this day and age of technology, how an airline can overbook a flight. I can see it being overbooked by a person or two, if they happen to make reservations at the same time online, but the chances are slim it would happen. But how can a flight get overbooked by two whole rows of people?

As I sat at the gate today in Dallas waiting to get back to snowy Greensboro, the lady at the gate made an announcement that the flight was overbooked by eight people. EIGHT PEOPLE!!!!  That was two whole rows of extra people for this flight. Not only that, how did they not know this until about 30 minutes before we boarded?

Every plane has a limited amount of seats, the bigger the plane the greater the amount of seats, the smaller the plane the less seats there are. Simple to understand right? Yet, today our flight was overbooked by eight people. Like normal, the airline started giving away vouchers for future flights and as the price they offered went up, they finally got their eight people to give up their seats so we could head out.

It got me thinking about Heaven and the abundance of room there for those that accept Christ. There will never be a time where a heaven is overbooked. No one who accepts Christ will ever be turned away. No one who accepts Christ will ever be offered a voucher for another date. There is room for everyone to receive the grace of God.

“For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the ABUNDANCE of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” - Romans 5:17.

God wants you to accept His free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Those that accept Him will never be turned away. God’s love, grace and mercy can never be overbooked.  We serve an awesome God!

Have a great day and God bless.