I wrote this selection about a month ago after driving to work contemplating our energy ‘crises’.
Why do we maintain a dependency on foreign oil when we have resources right beneath us? Are we trying to save it for a rainy day? Well I might be inclined to say it’s pouring outside right now! We have oil, coal, and gas in our own country, right beneath our own soil and water. Instead of shipping it overseas why don’t we use it here? Subsidize with foreign oil not with our own. While we are using our own resources we should be devising ways to use renewable energy sources such as the powers of the wind, water and the sun.
Yes, the Gulf of Mexico oil leak was disastrous on its ecosystem and BP should be held accountable for the safety and techniques they use. Don’t prohibit drilling for the sake of the environment, revise, repair and continue. We must take care of our environment but we must also continue living as well.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
A Menagerie of Thoughts
It has been awhile since I have 'popped' into my blog account; it takes discipline and intention to keep this thing going.
We have now entered 2012, the last Mayan calendar year which of course means the world is going to end, right? I hardly think the God of the universe is controlled by the Mayan calendar and any link between the Mayans and the rapture would only be coincidental. Many 'predictions' have been announced of Jesus' return only to end up a mockery at the cost of true faith.
This is also a presidential election year which depending on the decision made in November it could feel as if the world is coming to an end for some. Television viewers have been accosted by candidate ads filled with lies, half truths and inflated, egocentric claims all at the expense of our valuable time. I have not set my eye on any one candidate but am left to wonder if this will come down to electing the evil we don't know rather than the evil we do know and have experienced. I often wonder if Americans choose comfort and apathy over freedoms and morality when it comes to choosing a president. I am not only talking of sexual morality, but of financial morality, truthful morality and leadership morality if such things do exist.
On a personal level I have undergone my own transformation and have embarked on the Couch to 5k training program. My doctor said get in shape and so now I am working on chiseling it out and have two goals set for the new year. Goal one is to run 2 miles by the end of spring without killing myself and goal two is to run the Warrior Dash in August with my sister-in-law. I do not plan on running to win but on running to acquire the t-shirts!
We have now entered 2012, the last Mayan calendar year which of course means the world is going to end, right? I hardly think the God of the universe is controlled by the Mayan calendar and any link between the Mayans and the rapture would only be coincidental. Many 'predictions' have been announced of Jesus' return only to end up a mockery at the cost of true faith.
This is also a presidential election year which depending on the decision made in November it could feel as if the world is coming to an end for some. Television viewers have been accosted by candidate ads filled with lies, half truths and inflated, egocentric claims all at the expense of our valuable time. I have not set my eye on any one candidate but am left to wonder if this will come down to electing the evil we don't know rather than the evil we do know and have experienced. I often wonder if Americans choose comfort and apathy over freedoms and morality when it comes to choosing a president. I am not only talking of sexual morality, but of financial morality, truthful morality and leadership morality if such things do exist.
On a personal level I have undergone my own transformation and have embarked on the Couch to 5k training program. My doctor said get in shape and so now I am working on chiseling it out and have two goals set for the new year. Goal one is to run 2 miles by the end of spring without killing myself and goal two is to run the Warrior Dash in August with my sister-in-law. I do not plan on running to win but on running to acquire the t-shirts!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Yes, God Does Love You
Yes you are right, God does love you. He doesn’t care if you are red, yellow, black, or white, straight, homosexual, a do-gooder or a murderer. “For God so loved the world…,” it’s taken straight from the Bible in the book of John chapter three verse 16. He loves you, He loves me, He loves the bad guys, the good guys and the wallflowers. He loves the one who has done you wrong just as much as He loves you. And that will never change.
However, the verse does not end there and it is imperative that one looks further because your eternity will depend on it. Obviously God knew we would have a problem, a very serious one at that. If we were created perfect and everyone could get to heaven in their own way then why would God not just end the verse there? God loves us and He has turned us free to find our own way to heaven, the end. God doesn't end there, He goes further, beyond what any of us would volunteer for. He sends His one and only Son, Jesus, to the cross to suffer an excruciating death just so that everyone and anyone could join Him in heaven by accepting His gift of salvation. Knowing that some would reject His perfect sacrifice He went ahead and did it anyway.
Yes, God knew we would struggle with sin before He even formed Adam out of the dust of the ground. He was not surprised when He found Adam and Eve cowering in the Garden of Eden because they were ashamed of their nakedness. He didn’t voice His frustration by saying, “WHAT DID YOU DO??”, or, “Why did you do this to me? I gave you everything you needed for a fulfilling life and this is what I get in return?!” God knew.
Do you have kids? If not you are someone’s child. Did you or your parents foolishly believe that this child being brought into the world was only going to make the right decisions in their lives, give you absolutely no frustrations, no rebellion, no struggles in their quest for independence and be the perfect child. I haven’t met anyone that thought that way and the thing is people keep having children even though they know their kids will not be perfect.
My son has asked me, “Why didn’t God just make us perfect so that we wouldn’t do wrong things?” I will offer the same answer as I have given him. What would mean more to you, someone loving you because they were designed to love you and had no choice but to love you or someone loving you because they, of their own free will, wanted to love you? It is always better if someone loves you because they want to, not because they have to. God wanted a loving relationship with each of us because we want to have one with Him not because we have to.
God has designed us, He has given us boundaries, He has made a right and a wrong. If eternity was not at stake then why would He need to send His Son to die for us? If we were free to live our lives the way we wanted to, without regard to sin, why would He need to send His Son to die for us? If there were many paths to heaven why would He need to send His Son to die for us?
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
However, the verse does not end there and it is imperative that one looks further because your eternity will depend on it. Obviously God knew we would have a problem, a very serious one at that. If we were created perfect and everyone could get to heaven in their own way then why would God not just end the verse there? God loves us and He has turned us free to find our own way to heaven, the end. God doesn't end there, He goes further, beyond what any of us would volunteer for. He sends His one and only Son, Jesus, to the cross to suffer an excruciating death just so that everyone and anyone could join Him in heaven by accepting His gift of salvation. Knowing that some would reject His perfect sacrifice He went ahead and did it anyway.
Yes, God knew we would struggle with sin before He even formed Adam out of the dust of the ground. He was not surprised when He found Adam and Eve cowering in the Garden of Eden because they were ashamed of their nakedness. He didn’t voice His frustration by saying, “WHAT DID YOU DO??”, or, “Why did you do this to me? I gave you everything you needed for a fulfilling life and this is what I get in return?!” God knew.
Do you have kids? If not you are someone’s child. Did you or your parents foolishly believe that this child being brought into the world was only going to make the right decisions in their lives, give you absolutely no frustrations, no rebellion, no struggles in their quest for independence and be the perfect child. I haven’t met anyone that thought that way and the thing is people keep having children even though they know their kids will not be perfect.
My son has asked me, “Why didn’t God just make us perfect so that we wouldn’t do wrong things?” I will offer the same answer as I have given him. What would mean more to you, someone loving you because they were designed to love you and had no choice but to love you or someone loving you because they, of their own free will, wanted to love you? It is always better if someone loves you because they want to, not because they have to. God wanted a loving relationship with each of us because we want to have one with Him not because we have to.
God has designed us, He has given us boundaries, He has made a right and a wrong. If eternity was not at stake then why would He need to send His Son to die for us? If we were free to live our lives the way we wanted to, without regard to sin, why would He need to send His Son to die for us? If there were many paths to heaven why would He need to send His Son to die for us?
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
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