How Can "I" be a Better Leader for My Family?

Usually when I think about great leaders, I think of people who have led people to a great cause or through a major hardship, and it's rare that I ever think of someone close to me as a great leader.  Is it because we deem great leaders as people who accomplish big things or are written in the history books?  Is it because great leaders aren't discovered or realized until they are gone?  To me, I think we have forgotten what makes a great leader a great leader, and we try to imitate/recreate what they have done to try and obtain the same results they accomplished without understanding the foundation they stood on to be a great leader.

I find it interesting that there are so many classes and books that discuss leadership today.  You can learn how to be a servant leader, EQ leader, a manage by exception leader, and the list goes on and on.  One of the foundations of leadership that I have found in my study of leadership has been communication.  If you can communicate well to your team, then you have won half the battle in leading a team or family.  Without clear communication it doesn't matter how great of a servant leader or EQ leader you are, if you cannot effectively communicate your style of leadership is all for not.  The other half of leadership has nothing to do with styles of leadership and being effective in those styles.  I have finally come to the conclusion that other than communication, you cannot make yourself a better leader.  I know that's a bold statement but here's why I believe this today.

I was fortunate enough to go to a grad school at a Christian university and most of the leadership classes centered around leadership from a Christian perspective.  What I didn't realize until a few weeks ago was that the message in grad school wasn't that you can be a better leader if you are a christian and following certain leadership theories, it was that living a Gospel centered/led life will transform you into being a better leader.  Now this may sound the same as just being a christian but it's not!  The pastor at Metro Church preached a sermon about living the Gospel and that's when everything just clicked (many of the references I use in this blog came from his sermon).




The title of this blog is how can "I" be a Better Leader for My family? The reason that the I is in quotations is because that is often how we think, everything is centered around ourselves. Let me tell you this, I cannot do anything to become a better leader for my family, if I am not standing the in gospel. I can try to gain their acceptance by doing various works through a behavior change, but those works are through me and for me, and it will never make me a better husband or father long-term. What often happens is that we cannot keep those works going and we fall right back to the place we were before. We cannot keep up those works because we weren't passionate about it in the first place. My pastor had a great analogy to explain why we do this.

Think back to when you first met your wife or husband, and think about all the sweet and nice things you did for them. Why did you do these things? Was it because you wanted to impress them? No, it was because you were passionate in pursuing your husband or wife. Because you were passionate about your spouse, it was easy and natural to be sweet and romantic. Now think about your relationship with your husband or wife today, it takes work to be sweet and romantic because we are not as passionate as we were before. We're not as passionate because we feel that we have reached a certain level, marriage, and we don't need to continue to dive deeper in the relationship. This is exactly what happens with Christians and the Gospel, and why leadership in the home often fails.

Usually once Christians accept Christ into their lives they feel that the Gospel is only for those who don't know Christ, so our focuses go elsewhere. We focus on attending church more, giving more, volunteering more, and the list goes on and on. Don't get me wrong, these aren't bad things...but we do these things because we have forgotten what the Gospel is about, and think it will make God love us more. This not only is a lie but will also lead to death, destruction, heartache, despair, and pride. The Gospel tells us that it's because of Jesus we are accepted and forgiven, and only because of Jesus' work on the cross and in His life, not because of our works. The Gospel also shows you how die to yourself so you can stop being your own God, and live for Jesus and others.

So the reason you don't spend more time with your children is not because you are too busy or there isn't enough time in the day, it's because you don't want to give up what you enjoy. I'm not saying personal time is a bad thing, but we often make it the excuse every time we fail to spend time with our kids and our spouses. What we need to realize is that we need to be passionate about the Gospel and stand in the Gospel so that our hearts will change, and only then it will lead to you being more romantic to your spouse and spending more time with your kids. Also, standing in the Gospel will let your family see that you are being led by Jesus, and that your submission to Jesus will result in their submission to you. And by this submission to Jesus, He will change not only the person you are, but the leader you are to your family. We just need to realize that we cannot change ourselves, discipline and hard work only go so far and is never a long-term change. Being in the Gospel leads to transformation and a regenerate heart, which is a long-term change that will never be undone.

Husbands, we also need to realize that we are not only responsible for ourselves on the day of judgement, but we are responsible for our families. So don't think for one second that your wife or your children don't need a strong spiritual leader to help guide and lead them. If they aren't spending time in the Gospel, that probably means you aren't spending time in the Gospel. Also, remember that hard times are always going to come our way, and standing in the Gospel is the best way to make it through those tough times. Without a solid foundation in the Gospel, those tough times can lead to hate, confusion, mental breakdowns, and even suicide.

In closing, know that you can read all the self-help and leadership books you want to try and make yourself a better leader for your family, but only by standing in the Gospel can you ever truly be transformed and live it out for your family. The books are great to show you different view points and communication tactics, but they will never transform you into a better leader. Understand the Gospel because it shows you how much God loves you and how much you should love your family. The things that you spend most of your time in are often said to be what you are most passionate about. The question is, are you spending enough time in the things that you should be most passionate about?

American Culture: The Decline of a Nation

My friends would have you believe I am one of the biggest patriots they know, but I have my own concerns  and complaints about America but choose not to talk about them often.  I don't talk about them often because I don't even participate the easiest patriotic duty that is given to me, vote.  Now I have had many people tell me I should vote and that men and women have lost their lives to give me that freedom and I completely agree, but when I feel my vote does not count then what is the use?  Yes, that's the age old excuse but I see it in almost every state and national election.  When a candidate has the advantages of being apart of a major political party, an incumbent, or extra time in a debate it shows me that it's not about who's most qualified for the job, it's about who you know and affiliation you have in America.

When an elected president can lose the popular vote and win the election, it's a slap in the face to the American people saying you don't know what is best for yourselves.  One of the most famous presidential elections where that occurred was the Truman vs. Dewey election.  Dewey wins the popular vote and newspapers begin printing the front page stating Dewey defeats Truman, later to find out the electoral college disagreed with the public and elected Harry S. Truman to a second term.  When your government doesn't listen to it's people when they vote, there is a problem.  You may say well if you voted you could change it, but do you really think that will change the constitution to eliminate the electoral college?  I do love my country and wouldn't live anywhere else, but we do some boneheaded things sometimes.  This leads me to the purpose of the blog, the change in America's culture and attitude will eventually be the demise of this once great country.

For starters, when did the minority get to out rule the majority?  Almost once a month a news story gains national attention because some atheist student or their parents don't like the prayer banner or moment of silence the school permits, and the state agrees and shuts it down.  I don't know the exact numbers but I do believe religious people still far outnumber atheists, so why would we stop something most enjoy for one person or a few people?  Because we have to respect everyone's opinion these days, even if it's not right.  The fact that the American Declaration of Independence mentions God (Creator) and our constitution's first amendment states it cannot make a law barring religious expression (separation of church and state) shows me that our government does what it wants.  So how can the law enforce  a religious expression be taken down if it's protected by the Constitution?  If the atheist students don't like it, don't read it or participate.  Just because you don't like football doesn't mean you should have the program removed from the school.  In my opinion, that is how absurd it is to not allow religious expression in our schools or public offices.  What I find interesting today, is that now our presidential candidates are more open to expressing their religious beliefs and no one says a word.

The second cultural issue is our educational system.  I wrote an entire blog on this topic so I will spend little time on this subject.  In the past it was almost a privilege to go to school and graduate, now it's a burden on the students, parents, and even our teachers.  It's estimated that 7,000 students drop out of school every day, and our government does nothing about this and even worst neither do our parents and teachers.  I've always said you get what you pay for and paying teachers low salaries is why we are in this situation now.  We can spend millions of taxpayers dollar a year to fly government officials and their families (Nancy Pelosi) all around the nation, but we can't give teachers a salary increase?  We spend time pulling people over because of a tail light being out, instead of getting those dropouts and putting them back in school?  We allow dead beat parents to not care about their child's education because the parents are uneducated themselves?  Accepting that this is just the way it is shows me that it's in our government's best interest to keep people there, otherwise who's going to work those minimum wage jobs if everyone graduates?

This leads me to my next topic, America's new idea that everyone's a winner.  When I was growing up and played sports not all teams received a trophy at the end of the season.  If you did well your team was awarded a trophy, if you team was terrible you got nothing.  Now, even if you place dead last your trophy is just a big as the team's trophy who won first place.  Competition is one of the qualities that makes countries and civilizations better, and to remove that only removes one of the oldest pillars of America.  Because we celebrate win, lose, or draw it's no wonder people's work ethic is terrible.  When you are never told you're wrong or terrible at something your self-esteem becomes too high, and the moment they find out they were all of those, things they lose it.  We wonder why suicide is growing in America, it's because people don't know how to deal with failure, maybe they should read about Abraham Lincoln or Jesus.  I doubt your life is worse than those two!  Let our children know they failed or are terrible at something, otherwise you'll have a child who goes on American Idol thinking they can sing, and we've all seen how that turns out.

The final topic is how our government supports the slackers in America.  When I say slackers, I don't mean you lost your job, and you are getting unemployment until you can find another job.  I mean those who stay on unemployment, collect welfare, and food stamps and do nothing to rise up out of the dependency of government support.  I've been down on my luck and collected unemployment, but I found a job and am no longer on unemployment.   It's frustrating to watch those who collect government assistance just continue to do nothing to better themselves, and the government does nothing about it.  I've searched for people to hire in the past and when I've called someone for an interview, they tell me the application was submitted because they have to submit so many to continue to collect unemployment.  I was shocked and disgusted, but it's the same for welfare and other assistance programs.  States basically pay people to stay at home and have more kids so they can receive more assistance.  I am not saying no one should receive assistance, but it should be taken more seriously and regulated.  You get 5 years of total assistance for your whole life, after that you get nothing else, ever!  Some will say well it's the children that suffer if you do that, but to be honest they are already suffering because most of the assistance they get doesn't go to feeding and clothing the children.

In closing, no country is perfect and like I said earlier there's no other place I'd rather be, but things will only continue to get worse if it's not corrected.  It seems that ever since the removal of God in our government things have only gone downhill.  People no longer care and there is nothing to hold them accountable for their actions.  Maybe the smaller support of atheism and more of Jesus would lead to more kids enjoying school and graduating, not committing suicide, understanding there is only one winner Jesus, and having some type of self-worth, and electing those most qualified would solve all our problems?  But for now our culture  accepts our gradual decline in everything compared to the rest of the world, but I will try and do my part to make it better and hope others will do the same.  It's not too late yet, it all starts at home, your community, state, and then nation.  We are all responsible for each other, have you been letting everyone down like myself?

Glory Always to Christ!

My Response to the Top 10 Reason Why I Don't Believe in God (Part 3)

Sorry for the long absence on this topic, but I have opted to not finish Part 3.  The reasoning was due to the lack of views for the blog, as I imagine that her reasons were lacking depth so to argue against them isn't worth the time to read.  I plan to post another blog  over the next couple of days.  If you have any request please feel free to shoot me a message or note at the bottom.

Glory Always be to the Lord!

My Response to The Top 10 Reasons Why I don't believe in God (Part 2)

A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog that discussed a blog I read from a well known atheist blogger and her reasons why she doesn't believe in God. My goal wasn't to bash her reasons, but to explain the other side of the picture for those who are looking for Christ and trying to find their way. You may have noticed that I don't quote the bible much when refuting her beliefs, I only do this because atheists usually don't believe in the bible so it's difficult to make points they may agree with using the bible. Now I am not saying the bible cannot do a far better job than my rambling thoughts and reasons, but if they don't believe in something you can't use it as weight for your rebuttal.

I apologize for taking so long to finish up part two of this blog, my illness set me back from work and life so I have been playing catch up over the past week or two. So lets dive right into the next 3 points that Greta makes for her Top 10 Reasons why she doesn't believe in God.

#4: The Increasing Diminishment of God

Greta's fourth point talks about how God's influence has been reduce once science has found the solution to what we used God to explain. Before we knew of the Big Bang, it was thought that God created the universe. Before we knew what bacteria and viruses were, God was the one causing sickness and death. Before we knew why anything occurred, we used God to fill in the blanks. Her entire "reason" for this belief is that science has found the cause.

What she didn't talk or think about is the fact that increased knowledge doesn't make God non-existent. Before we had the knowledge on why things occurred, it was easier just to "blanket" the cause because of God, since most believers believe that God influences everything. Is this any different than what we do now? When someone does something bad to someone, and then something bad happens to that person we call it karma. So that bad thing that happened to the bad person is just pure coincidence and nothing else. It's funny that we pick and choose what we want to believe in today and that's okay?

As far as illness, I don't recall reading in the bible that only God can cause people to get sick. God can use bacteria and viruses to make people sick, so how can we say that now we know that bacteria causes illness God is removed from that? Greta mentioned that believers use God to fill in the gaps of their misunderstandings, and atheist call it "God of Gaps". I would imagine that Greta or any of her close friends have never been true believers. True believers, that have a relationship with God, understand the world works for them just like it works for everyone else. Just because we don't understand something doesn't mean we just say, "Well, God does that." Greta is using very old believer logic and hasn't updated her knowledge on how believers feel and behave today.

This is probably the biggest problem we face in the world, old world views are used to form opinions on something people generally know nothing about. If I were to do the same about atheist, I would say that atheist are people who struggle understanding who and what God is and don't believe because they don't want some higher being influencing what they should and shouldn't be doing. I know that's not right, but neither is their so called "logic" about non-believers.

#5: The fact that religion runs in families

Greta's fifth point was centered around the fact that people choose to be believers because of their families (social pressure, dogma, and that's all you know). I would agree with her to some extent, but why do we see believers become non-believers, and even better non-believers become believers from families that are the opposite? I believe this happens not because of our own doing, but God's! Believers don't choose to believe in God and be saved, God chooses you to be saved. If you aren't chosen you become a non-believer and vise versa. A families influence only provides the opportunity for the person to learn about God, it doesn't mean they will find salvation. But it doesn't matter if you don't want to be saved and God wants you to be saved, eventually you will become a believer.

You may think, well why doesn't God want everyone to be save? He does, but if everyone went to heaven what would be the point of living morally and Jesus? For those who believe, they will tell you that it wasn't their parents or family that helped them in searching for God, it was the random happening or their friends throughout life. Most parents, not speaking directly to my parents, do a horrible job of teaching their children about God. Because of their lack of knowledge about God, parents often times never build the foundation that is needed to help their children understand who God is and could be in their life. In some families they do a great job in teaching their children, but they force their beliefs on their children only to drive them away. In the long run you find out that the parents foundation of God was built on the wrong legalistic things and not Christ.

What I find interesting is that atheist push their children harder to be atheist than believers push their children to be believers, and the funny thing is that many of the atheist children come to God later in life. I read an article about this atheist column writer who showed her child Jesus Christ Superstar to explain to her child who Jesus was. My first thought is that the film is the worst explanation of Jesus. I'll explain why later. As the child was watching the film she began to ask questions, why are those people following Jesus? The mother's response: because they thought he was magical. The next question was, why is Jesus so important? The mother's response: because they thought he was a powerful king, but he was just another human. These answers the mother provided may have been her feeling, but let the child decide for herself. How would the mother feel if she later found God and became a believer, and her child didnt and went to hell? What I am about to say is not right, but worst case scenario, if God isn't real what do you lose when you die and find out there isn't life after this as a believer? Nothing!

The fact that religion runs in families is a minor catalyst to whether or not someone becomes a believer or not. The same goes for values and morals, just because your family values certain things doesn't necessarily make you value you the same things. In my opinion, it's all about the total environment, not just the family environment. If you grow up in a place where church is common, you may become a believer. If you grow up in a place where church is a lost word, you probably won't become a believer. But again, it's not about what you want and your salvation, if you are elected then there's nothing you can do to fight it.

#6: The physical causes of everything we think of as the soul.

Greta's sixth point deals with the lack of scientific evidence of a soul in humans. To me, this point is absurd since her only conclusion is that consciousness may explain the soul, once science better understands the brain and consciousness.  The reason that it's absurd, is because how do we not know that consciousness is proof of a soul from this side of the physical universe?  Consciousness is the state of being aware of something within one's self, so it doesn't necessarily mean that our soul is our consciousness but is doesn't mean it's not either.  The fact that she doesn't hint at that possibility shows you how one-sided she is in this belief.

For decades now, M-theory (Membrane Theory) and string theory have suggested there are multiple dimensions within our own three dimensions.  If this is true, their data also concludes that we will never be able to see, travel, or detect these extra dimensions.  The reason they assume these extra dimensions exist is all based on gravity and it's lack of power compared to the other 3 fundamental forces.  We won't get into the specifics, but because gravity is so weak compared to the other 3 forces, it was thought that there had to be more dimensions that gravity was spread through to make it the force we see today.  The point is that just because we can't see it, go there, or measure it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.  The same goes for the soul, if it's part of another dimension but embodied in us while in we are alive, it can still exist if we can't measure it.

Not many people believe in ghost and most of the data on ghost can be explained by natural phenomena, but there are instances where they can't be explained.  When normal people, not these television shows, capture ghosts responding to specific questions and requests, it can't be explained.  To me, that is strong evidence that there is a soul that lives within us and after we pass away.  Why they are captured within our dimension I don't know, but the evidence is overwhelming and shown not to be made up or fictional.  

Jesus told Pilate that His kingdom is not of this world.  He could have said of this land, empire, or even earth, but He said of this world.  To me, this suggests that Jesus wasn't talking of this realm/dimension.  Now the bible was written thousands of years before the thought of extra dimensions and science had a grasp on a multi-verse.  For the writers of the bible to be that forward thinking could have only been a coincidence or luck.  I am going to go with neither, since people at that time still thought the earth was the center of the universe and the only planet in existence.  

In conclusion, this blog doesn't exist to bash atheists and tell them they are wrong.  It exists to show people the other side of the story from Christians who are not extremist and the furthest from God.  If you were to take the Muslim extremist and assume that the Muslim faith was just that, you'd be wrong...just like Greta.  When you only look at sensationalist claims from false prophets, pastors trying to make a name for themselves not Jesus, and uneducated believers you will find that the reasoning behind Greta's Top 10 reasons is only skin deep.  The lack of substance behind her argument shows that she isn't sure herself and has no desire to find the answers because what she might find may surprise her.  And the fact she has put that much reliance on science, tells me that she wants others to tell her what to think.  I thought atheist and this whole age of reason thing was to show they are a free thinkers?  Sound likes they just found another source to tell them what and how to think? As for the Jesus Christ Superstar movie, when has a musical ever been a great example of anything?  

My Response to the Top 10 Reason Why I Don't Believe in God (Part 1 of 3)

Sorry I have taken so long to post this blog, I have been in the hospital the past couple of weeks with a nasty infection in the muscle of my right leg. Looks to be getting better and should be fully healed in a few weeks. While in the hospital I couldn't gather my thoughts enough to write. This will be a three part blog as my response to the article I read is rather long. I hope to have all three parts up over the next 5 to 6 days.

About a week ago I read a blog posted by Greta Christina titled "Top10 Reason's I don't believe in God." It caught my eye because it seemed like it would really challenge my faith and make me search for answers. At first glance, it looked like she put some time in to really think about these Top 10 reason's and I thought they would make a great deal of sense to me, but after reading the entire article with an objective point of view, I really wasn't impressed. With the number of people she has following her, and the effort that was put into the blog I really thought it was going to be game changing and that I would not have an answer for her top reasons. From what I take from her comments she seems to be misinformed and didn't do as much homework as she could have to get her theology and logic correct. But that is my opinion and I could be wrong.

But, it almost seemed as if she took someone else's ideas and tried to elaborate on them herself to make the point on why God doesn't exist. The biggest thing I noticed when I first started reading the article was that she capitalized God throughout the entire post. Most articles that I read from other atheists, they don't capitalize God because that would suggest He is a higher power, thus making it a true noun. That was the first puzzling thing to me when I started reading the article, wasn't sure if it was an honest mistake or if it meant something else, but that's neither here nor there.

Greta started her blog off with her #1 reason being: The consistent replacement of supernatural explanations of the world with natural ones. She references that in the past religious people often explained sickness, astronomy, and life all due to some supernatural event, while science now has proven that all of these things have happened due to a certain scientific explanations and by no means are supernatural. What she failed to address is the fact that most of the things she referenced or used as analogies was bad theology and human error in the past.

Nowhere in the bible does it state that the sun revolves around the earth, people in the past thought this because they thought humans were so special that’s how the universe ought to work. But this thought is not biblical nor correct based on science and their observations. The fact that people were killed for thinking otherwise just shows how sinful and jacked up we are as humans. God’s name has been used to do a lot of good in this world, but it was been equally used to do a lot of bad thing as well.

To address the illness and life issue, yes science has proven that bacteria and viruses cause illness but how can she conclude that God doesn’t use that method to infect people? What is more interesting to me and completely erases her first reason is that science isn’t always right either. Science thinks they know something and then they change their minds again. So to say science is the end all to religion is just another way of saying I don’t believe just because I choose not to believe. Even if you do agree that science is right and perfect, scientist say that the universe arose from nothing…before the universe sprung into existence from its infinitely small point, nothing existed before that.

Isn’t that the exact same thing the bible says? God (Jesus) created the universe from nothing, then said let there be light, created land and water, created the sky, then animals, and then people. Now if we use scientists explanation of the start of the universe it goes something like this: the big bang created the universe out of nothing, 360,000 years later or so light shown through the dense mass of the universe, the earth was formed through collisions of rock and minerals while water was brought to the earth by comets, life evolved creating animals, which from a certain species humans arose. This almost sounds exactly like the bible but proven by science…hmmm? I do believe the bible was written before we ever knew of these theories?

She also states that she has not been provided evidence that God even exists, this is why she doesn’t believe in God. When you look out at the universe and think we are here by mere chance with the complex organisms, life, plants, and everything else, and so far we have found no evidence that this happens anywhere else, something has to be control? Scientists say that life should be common in the universe, but we have no radio signals, no visits, and no proof so how can we assume that life is common? All of these things point to a higher power, but because we are human and think we are mighty and we put ourselves, our logic, and pride before the true Creator. The original sin wasn’t only that we disobeyed God, it was that we thought we knew better than Him. Sounds like a repeating theme?

Greta’s next point is: The inconsistency of world religions. This point is difficult to refute because she is right, the different world religions all don’t match up perfectly and they all think they are right, even to their death. But this can also be explained if you were to do your homework on all the major world religions. I am no theological scholar and don’t proclaim I have the answers to everything, but these are my own opinions based on the knowledge I have obtain from my life and readings. From the most basic point of all world religions they do match. At the most basic form you have religions that say do good and in the end you will meet your creator. From there the religions begin to differ due to different interpretations. Of the three major world religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) they all have the exact same foundation. It’s the human interpretation that has caused the differences in acknowledging certain prophets and messiahs.

I don’t know enough about Hindu and Buddhism to understand why they differ so much, so I won’t take a stab on why they don’t match. The reason there is disagreement from who we think God is, is because God is mysterious beyond our comprehension. Greta says that if God did exist He would be more powerful and greater with more effect in the world. I don’t know if she knows it but He is powerful and great. Not sure if I know of anyone that created a universe from nothing. Not sure if I know of anyone that parted a sea. To me that’s power and greatness. God does affect our lives every day, but you just don’t see it. Everything happens just like God intended it to happen. All this bad in the world isn’t because God is doing it, it’s because we have become our own god’s and committed these terrible atrocities to ourselves. Remember in the absence of God comes evil. Greta know that you not believing was known before you were even born, and whatever outcome comes in your life it is what God willed it to be and not yours. To me, that is influence!

The final point I will talk about in this three part blog is Greta’s third point: The weakness of religious arguments, explanations, and apologetics. To me, this is a weak argument in itself that I will spend little time on explaining my point of view. When people talk of a mother’s intuition or a connection between twins, not many people question the theory. When we hear about a mother who has something happen to a child while away, and she is reported to have a sick feeling or thought, that’s okay. But we religious people are asked how do you know there is a God, and some say I feel it in my heart, mind, and soul He’s real, we don’t accept it? Sounds like a double standard because it’s dealing with the supernatural. It’s okay to believe the intuition because there is a cause and effect that we can measure it, but when the cause can’t be measured we become skeptical. But maybe we can measure the cause and effect with science?

I read an article posted on either the New York Times or some major newspaper about 6 months ago and it talked about the God gene. The God gene was describe as a sequence in our DNA and also found in the brain, that when the scientist asked religious people to pray or think about God a certain part of their brain became active. When the same was asked of non-religious people, that part of the brain would not activate. This was also found in there DNA, people who were non-religious did not have a certain sequence in their genes, but those who were religious did.

Now, I am not saying this is 100% accurate, but it makes things interesting because the scientist conducting the survey was an atheist and was hoping to show nothing happens or no difference. So this isn’t some subjective study being conducted in religion's favor. You could say that gene sequence just makes people apt to believe in religion although it may not be true, and point well taken. But they tested this with non-religious beings, and found these regions only activated when thinking about God not a superhero or a random mystical being.

In closing, faith is a feeling of certainty of what you cannot see. To ask a child why he thinks his dad is superman is all based on the faith about his dad, so in essence he will say yes my dad is superman. It doesn’t make him right because he feels that way, but in that kids heart his dad is superman to him. It’s the same for religion, you may not think it’s right but it’s a feeling that those who believe feel. Many who grow up in religion often lose it, and many who grow up without religion find it, so you can’t say that it’s what we’ve been made to believe through culture.. It’s an intuition that us believers share and until you feel and understand it you cannot comprehend it.

Greta I noticed on your blog that you mention you are a lesbian and are happy with your significant other. Now you would expect that I would bash you for being a lesbian but there is no use for that, Matthew 7:3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? But the feeling you have for your significant other is special and no one else can tell you it’s wrong, even though she’s a female? How can you sit and say that is what you feel in your heart is right for your relationship, but others cannot do the same for God? If we go by your logic then you really don’t love your spouse, because if the "feeling" in your heart means nothing, there is not love there at all.

To Glory always be to the Lord!!

End of Part 1 - Here's the link just in case any of you want to read her blog.

http://www.alternet.org/belief/154774/the_top_10_reasons_i_don't_believe_in_god?page=entire

The Failure of America's Education System

Usually I just jump right into the topic that I am blogging about, but for this blog I wanted to start it off with how I usually come up with ideas for my blogs and how I write them.  Most of the blogs I post are based on subjects I have been reading or thinking about over the past week or so.  Usually I will write the subject of my blog about a week before I write the content within the blog.  This allows me to think more about what I am going to write so that it is structured and not just some rambling words that you are reading.  Once a week has passed I begin to write my thoughts and feelings on the subject.  Then I let the blog sit for a few days so I can think of anything else I would like to add, subtract, or clean up.  In this process I try to clean up grammar mistakes but hey we are all human and I don’t catch all of them.

Although the process is fairly simple, it allows me time to make sure I state my thoughts clearly while ensuring that I don’t miss any key points I wanted to make.  This process is something that I learned at a very early age while going to school, and no it wasn’t for writing blogs, it was for writing papers, journals, and other types of academic reports.  I will be the first to admit that I hated having to write papers because it usually meant two things: you had to read a book and then you had to hand write or type your thoughts on to a paper.  Usually you were given guidelines for the paper as well: it can only be 3 to 5 pages, APA format, no use of the first person narrative, and the font has to be a certain size.  In my opinion, this is where the American educational system began to fail their students.

Think about the things you enjoy doing on a daily basis, and I bet one of the reasons you enjoy that activity is because you get to be creative and use your imagination?  This is something I think our educational system has taken away from its students, imagination and creativity.  Today, students are taught to express their ideas in a certain format and structure, and then the teacher only looks for the outlined criteria to determine the student’s grade.  They don’t reward points for thinking outside the box, challenging the norm, or expressing their true thoughts.  This has caused the educational system to grade their students on the same criteria, thus assuming we are all the same or should be the same.

Now I do understand that there should be some type of structure so the teachers can grade their students equally, but this only causes teachers to look for those deliverables in the assignment and that’s it.  The teacher may notice that the student was thinking outside the box and being creative, but the grade they have to give the student is based upon the required deliverables.  I see this being translated into people’s professional careers and it causes people to lose their job and hit the glass ceilings sooner than they should. Their inability to be think outside the box and take projects and run with them with little direction rarely turn out to be successful.  Also, limiting a person’s creativity and imagination only creates lack of competition and mindless robots.

The second failure of the American education system is its lack of competition in the classroom.  When I was in elementary school, we had progress charts in the classroom that let you and others see how you were performing compared to everyone else.  This created a healthy competition because most kids wanted to be number one or near the top.  We also would grade papers together and had to call out our grades in front of everyone, so the teacher could record the grade on the assignment or test.  This made everyone aware of how you performed, and if you didn’t do well you were embarrassed and didn’t want it to happen again.  Now teachers can’t post grades to share with the class, star charts are ancient history, and competition between students has been completely erased.

Now I may step on a lot of teacher’s toes when I say this, but the teacher is at fault for the lack of competition in the classroom.  The teaching position has become more of a "job" rather than a resource/mentoring position, and honestly teachers don’t really care how students perform anymore. Yes they could lose their jobs if they have too many students fail, but that may be their only motivation to ensure everyone passes or just gets by in their class. But what if you made the position performances based? What if each year the average grade for the class had to get better each year? If they teach the same subject every year they should get better at teaching it, and learn how to overcome different students teaching styles right?  What if teachers had to compete against each other, the lowest performer didn't get a raise or didn't receive certain benefits the following year?  If the teacher wants to turn their position into a "job" then they should be evaluated like others in the business world.  In most cases the lowest performer is usually terminated.   

If situations like I mentioned above were in place, teachers would push their students and accepting the thought that C students are okay would go away.  Right now, teachers feel that if the students pass it's because of their teaching skills, if the students fail its because of the student. In my opinion they go hand in hand, you can't take credit for one and not the other. If the student fails that means the teacher failed the student, they didn't push them hard enough to do better. There are a few instances when it is the student, but the title of teacher has taken on a different meaning. It now means preparer, teachers only prepare students to pass state/government tests and nothing else. Many teachers will say that they have to teach to those tests, but what does that have to do with mentoring and going above and beyond?    My most memorable teachers were the ones who took the time to ensure I didn’t fall behind and challenged me to do better.  Just because I was a C student in math didn’t mean that I had to stay a C student.  It was my 2^nd grade teacher who took time with a handful of kids during recess to push us to become A and B students in math, and now math is one of my best skill sets.

Today, teachers pass the buck when students don’t perform to their standards.  The teachers just assume the student has a learning disability, so they send them to some remedial class thinking this will solve everything because they are too busy to invest more time into their students.  You will always have students who try hard, but for those who don't if there is no one there to push them, they will settle for just getting by in school and then later in life.  Before the class starts teachers should ask students what they want their grade to be in that class. Then it's the teachers job to make them achieve that grade. If the student set the bar too low, that is when the teacher should raise it for the student.

America has turned itself into a nation that accepts mediocrity and because of this America has been in a free fall ever since. We have fallen from the ranks of having the best and brightest.  Most countries have to deal with more poverty, crime, and corruption than we do, and they are surpassing us in standard academics.. There is no reason why this should happen, and in my opinion it all falls on our teachers. Push your students and make them better because those students will one day be taking care of you. Do you want those who are okay with mistakes providing you medication or operating on you?  The government says they care but they only dump money into the system, but that is their only involvement in my opinion. And that is one of the biggest problems, no one really cares, including parents.

It is interesting that in other countries children have to fight tooth and nail to get into a classroom, but in America it's the complete opposite.  Children would rather drop out of school than attend  a public school system and get a decent education for free.  But I can see why we have so many dropouts, the people who need to believe in them the most, teachers and their parents, don't believe in them.  One of the best things about my parents was that they cared about my education and development.  They pushed me to be better at every step of the way while I was in school.  I hated school so much I would hide my homework and lie about what was due the following day, but because my parents cared enough to push me and see through the bull crap I got back on track.  Along with my teachers pushing me each step of the way, I have graduated high school, graduated college, and have two master's degrees.  If I didn't have those people in my life to push me every step of the way I may have never made it to college.

Today, parents don't push their kids like they used to in the past.  In the past, parents knew it was education that was going to give their child a better life than they could provide.  Now, they need their children to get a job to help pay the bills or they just don't care how their children perform at school.  The government has become too lenient on these parents, and there is no support system for our students of today.  I always thought it was the law that a child under 18 had to attend school, and if they didn't the parent could get in trouble.  From what I have seen, our state services are too busy to take care of these minor problems.  But if our tax dollars were put to use, we could start putting the pressure on parents to get their kids to school and do well.  I bet if parents were taken to jail for allowing their kids to skip school, things would change.  I bet if the parents tax returns or government checks were based on their child's performance in school they would get more involved.  Because there is no enforcement, it's just a vicious repeating cycle from parent to child to parent to child.

In closing, if changes are not made soon to our educational system America will soon meet the same fate of other great civilizations and countries of the past.  The two things that we need the most are greater involvement from the teachers and parents.  If teachers would be teachers and not make it a "job", the students may be more engaged and want to learn.  I understand I am not a teacher and in "the know" of what all goes on in the classroom and school, but I have been through the process and observed the very things I am talking about.  I can't imagine it's gotten any better, and with teachers getting younger and younger, their thoughts are only on pay and going home after "work".  A pastor's job extends beyond preaching from the pulpit, so should the teachers but they are just speaking in the classroom.  They need to develop, mentor, and invest more into their students.  The parents need to stop being lazy and being worried that they don't known how to help their children with their homework.  It's more about the fact that you care will make all the difference to the child.  Without support the whole system will crumble, or has it already begun to crumble and we are all watching it on the way down?  I pray this isn't the case and I hope that we can turn it all around!

Glory always to the Lord!

Reason Rally and Religion

Over the past week or so I have been reading a lot of articles about this reason rally atheists attended in Washington DC, and it has got me thinking about a few things.  The fact that atheist have to have a rally to celebrate believing in nothing is not only absurd but funny.  Their battle cry is religion is wrong and reason is right, but how do they know that?  How can you, with absolute certainty, say that religion is wrong?  Richard Dawkins the “leader” of this atheist movement said he wasn’t 100% sure that religion was incorrect.  If you aren’t 100% sure then you can’t say something is wrong, right?

Richard Dawkins and his claim to fame was getting atheists to come out and confess their belief in not believing.  I do agree that atheist get a bad rap when it comes to them confessing their unbelief.  People assume that if you don’t believe in anything you are immoral and bad, but that can’t be further from the truth.  I would go as far to say that some atheists behave better than some so called Christians.  But I think the perception about atheists is the product of their own doing and this reason rally only made things worse.

Rallies are usually about getting jazzed up about a specific topic and for knowledge.  I am not saying this didn’t occur at the rally, but it’s rare that rallies include a hate rally by their so called “leader”.  When Martin Luther King formed rallies for civil rights, he didn’t speak about hating and ridiculing, he spoke about love and freedom.  You can’t make things better with hate, you only make things worse and Richard Dawkins doesn’t understand that.  A man of reason isn’t reasonable, go figure.

During this past weekend’s rally Dawkins communicated that atheist should ridicule Christians and others of faith with hatred and contempt.  If that isn’t the most boneheaded thing to say when atheists are trying to clean up their perception, I don’t know what is.  True believers in faith don’t ridicule non-believers, we try to help them see our side of the story for Jesus.  If they don’t see our side then it’s up to God to change them because we cannot do it ourselves.  The fact the Dawkins wants to “hunt down” and test believers faith is a testament that he is no better than the people he is trying to protect atheist from today.  And I know some atheists will say that he is a radical and doesn’t speak for everyone, but why have him speak if you know that’s how he feels? 

I am not against someone being an atheist, but I do believe the reasons why people become atheists are not the most convincing.  Reasons ranging from: I was too burdened as a believer; my life was too terrible for a God to be in control; how can God allow these bad things to happen in the world; religion is just a piece of American culture; and my favorite, if there was a God he would have presented himself to me.  No one thinks about the fact that we have turned our back on God and we rightly deserve all that is given to us. 

Yes it’s hard to understand why family members are taken from us, but that is life, what would we look forward to if everything was perfect now?  Yes God could stop all the bad things from happening, but He’s not going to right now.  Would you help a friend who has disobeyed, lied, sinned, hated, and hurt you?  You may say, well they weren’t your friend, but we all have had those friends in life and we’re probably not their friends anymore.  We have to understand that we are not paying for just our sins against God, but everyone else’s.  Just because we are believers doesn’t keep us from the horrors in life due to non-believers. Look at most of the apostles, not many lived a long and glorious life, and most were executed or murdered.  It’s safe to say their belief was more than likely greater than ours so why should we deserve any different outcome or life? 

Being a Christian isn’t a cake walk, but it’s more difficult when you encounter people like Dawkins.  As a Christian I don’t feel burdened as if I should have to live my life a certain way.  Jesus’ death got rid of the Law so that I could live by grace.  I allow Jesus to lead and I follow and it hasn’t taken me to a place I cannot handle, and no my life hasn’t been easy and perfect.  But my disobedience led to those hardships, but I have learned more from the hardships than the rewards. 

The definition of reason is sound judgment and good sense but nowhere does it state absolute certainty.  Just because you don’t have proof of something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.  If I were to ask you to prove to me that Alexander the Great existed, you could only show me writings and history books.  There isn’t a real photograph or him, only some painting of what he may have looked like.  But we would all agree that he existed?  How is that any different than Jesus?  There is no photo of Jesus, but there is historical reference in the bible.  We have to remember that Jesus, back then, was a nobody to the Romans, so why would Jesus make it into the history books?  When you die is there going to be a history book about your life to prove you lived?  Two thousand years from now you will be forgotten, but the Son of Man, who lived two thousand years ago, wasn’t written into a history book, had no picture taken, and didn’t have technology to save His historical account is revered and remembered by a third of the world.  Coincidence, that would be unreasonable to say so.

We live in an age of technology and information, and because of this we have to see things with our own eyes to believe it.  From my statement about Jesus above, reason would conclude that Jesus did live and is God.  Reason for atheist is to tear down religion, to make everyone be like them, but yet they fight so hard to make themselves different from everyone else.  To me that is a cause without a cause, reason without logic is just hearsay.  But the reason rally did have one great outcome, the rally showed me that atheists want to believe in not believing.  So it tells me they want to believe in something, they just haven’t figured it out yet.

In conclusion, we all won’t know who is right or wrong until we pass away.  Without God, if I only have to look forward to the life given to me right now, then I am great with where I am at…no regrets.  With God, if only have to look forward to this life and the one to come after, then again I am great with where I am at…no regrets.  I am not looking forward to the promise of heaven, I am looking forward to the promise that my Savior and Creator will raise me from the dead so I can be with Him.  To look around and believe all this is by chance is unreasonable.  To put your faith in science, who has been wrong numerous times in the past, is foolish and unreasonable.  But to love and support one another is reasonable.  To live for Jesus because he died for you is honorable and perfectly reasonable.

Glory always be to Jesus!

To Live in Humility

When people think of humility they often think of humiliation.  Although they go together, they have completely different meanings.  To be humiliated is to be shamed or dishonored, but to live in humility means to be humble and to live in total confidence of Christ’s love.  When we are humiliated we often become upset or seek revenge, but to live in humility allows us to look past the judgments and know that we don’t have to base our identities on what others think.  The tricky part is knowing when someone is being honest and trying to make us better, or if they are just trying to hurt us.  It’s one thing to be humiliated, but it’s another thing to humiliate yourself.

When I was 8 or 9 years old my parents decided to take a trip up to see family in Maryland.  The trip was coming to an end so we all decided to have a crab boil.  Numerous crabs were bought and the water was seasoned and before long I was going to have some crab because I LOVE CRAB!  Right before it was time to eat my parents decided they wanted to go take a tour of their cousin’s new home, and guess what I had to go too.  That meant I was going to miss out on some of the delicious crab. 

Well we got to the cousin’s house and completed the tour, which I showed no interest because I only had crab on the mind, and we started to head back to the crab boil.  While we were out taking the tour, my uncle decided to put up a screen door he just bought to keep the bugs from getting in the house.  He just finished hanging the screen door when we arrived, and I jumped out of the car screaming save some for me.  As I began to run inside to get a plate I felt my momentum slow and a fabric push against my face.  Seconds later I lay in the floor with the screen mesh wrapped around me, I just ran right through the screen door my uncle put up.  It was humiliating but at the age it lasted 30 seconds and I was eating the crab I so desperately wanted.  By the way, I just pulled the screen out from the door and didn’t rip it, so it was easily repaired.

But I am not talking about that humiliation, I am talking about when people call us out on things that we do.  Because it’s hard to see our own faults, consciously and subconsciously, sometimes people have to point them out for us.  This is very tough to deal with even when you are aware of the problem.  We can feel attacked and get defensive, but it’s all about whom and how these opportunities are presented that determines how we act upon the comments.  From life’s experiences, most criticisms come from dislike or misperceptions from others we don’t consider close friends or family.  These are the instances when we should look away and not worry about what those individuals say.  But then there are times when our close friends and family point these opportunities out, and at that point you have to decide are they doing this for your best interest or not?

When our friends and family are being honest, they are bringing up these opportunities out of love because they want to see you overcome that sin or negative character trait.  And if they don’t tell you they feel they may lose you as a friend or they have failed you as a friend by not trying to help you overcome a sin.  But if we live in humility we can take those hard discussions and get better from them rather than living in false humility.

False humility is when you falsely accept what others have told you and you do nothing to try and fix the opportunities in your life.  You acknowledge that you have the opportunities and on the outside you are putting on a show for everyone, but on the inside you are still living in sin.  I think we all battle with this, including myself.  It’s tough when someone calls you out for something that you had no clue you were doing, or you knew it was occurring you just didn’t realize it was hurting the people you love the most.

When I was a child I had a huge problem with lying.  I would lie about doing my homework, cleaning my room, and if I took some cookies from the cookie jar.  When you are young you often don’t see the big picture and lying is just a way for you to stay out of trouble at that point in time.  The concept of you losing someone’s trust never crosses your mind at that age.  When I was called out by my parents for lying, I would lie about being a liar.  But as I grew I began to realize that those lies I told affected my relationship with my parents.  They always had to check up on what I said I did: cleaning my room, completing my homework, and where I was going.  Then I would get upset every time they checked up on me because I felt they didn’t trust me, and for the longest time it never clicked why.

On the other side of humility is being humble when complemented because we all know it feels great to get complements!  When you are told that you have done something right or well, it feels great because there is a sense of accomplishment.  YOU feel like YOU have done something right and if YOU wouldn’t have done it, the job would have never gotten done.  If you notice there are a lot of YOU’s in that sentence, but it’s to show that when you take pride in getting complements it becomes more about you than Jesus.  When you live in humility you know that Jesus gave you the talents to complete those tasks, and when you receive your praise you should humble yourself to Jesus. 

When we take pride in the complements we receive we begin to think more highly of ourselves that we ought, and then we start to become prideful, conceited, and arrogant.  We all know what that person is like, sometimes it is ourselves at times, but what we don’t realize is that if we take those complements as rewards now that will have been our reward for eternity.  Jesus makes a great point about this in Matthew 7 when false disciples were casting out demons and performed many miracles and wanting to enter in the Kingdom of Heaven.  What those false disciples didn’t realize was that they were performing these acts for themselves to get praise and recognition.  They weren’t doing it for Jesus, and the reward they received were the praises they received on earth, but they will spend eternity in hell.

In conclusion, if we should boast in anything it should be in Jesus Christ who gave us life and hope.  Living a life of humility isn’t living a dull life with no positives, living a life of humility keeps your head on your shoulders and allows you to grow spiritually and mentally.  If we were all perfect we wouldn’t have needed Christ, then we could boast in ourselves.  But we are not perfect, so listen to those who love you when they point out the opportunities in your lives.  Most of all don’t praise yourself too much, what you accomplish is because of Christ working in your life, not your own doing.  Love on one another and don’t be afraid to speak up to your friends and family when they are in the wrong as well.  We owe it to Christ and ourselves to make each other better so not only can we spread the good news, but to also show what Christ can do while working through us.

Praise always be to My Savior, Jesus Christ!

The Search for Life or the Proof that God does not Exist?

Over the past few weeks I have been reading quite a few science articles to help pass time and grow my knowledge base.  Most of the articles I read deal with space and quantum physics because they both influence astronomy and everyday life.  You may say that sounds boring but it's really interesting stuff when you dive into the topics that have been published.  They write about parallel universes, the medium our universe sits in, and how particles behave in mysterious ways.

Earlier this year I wrote a blog called, “Can Science prove God?” and I talked about particle duality and how it could potentially prove God’s existence.  Over the past few weeks most of the articles I have read have been about the discovery of new planets outside our solar system and will there be life on those planets?  And if there is life what does that mean for religion here on earth?

It’s hard to put in perspective how large and vast the universe is today.  Scientists estimate that the universe is roughly 13.7 billion years old (+/- 0.8%), but in all honesty I don’t think they know.  In my opinion, I think the universe is much larger…we just can't see anything beyond 13.7 billion light years because it’s either too faint or too far away.  What is interesting is that scientists can only see 13.7 billion light years in any given direction from earth, so to assume the universe is 13.7 billion years old would assume we are located in the center of the universe?  It is the same logic people had thousands of years ago, just because that is as far as you can see doesn’t mean it ends there.  People thought they would fall off the earth because they thought the saw the edge of the earth, but it’s all a matter of perspective from where you are located.  Also, the limitations of the speed of light can skew observations and perspectives of the universe.

Light travels at 186,000 miles per second in space, the fastest spacecraft humans have ever built traveled at 11 to 12 miles per second.  The universe is so vast that traveling at 11 miles per second it would still take over 70,000 human years to reach the closest star to earth.  Although the speed of light sounds really fast, it’s still pretty slow when you think about it.  It takes sun light over 8 minutes to reach the earth, which means if the sun exploded we wouldn’t know for 8 minutes after it already happened.  The closest start to the earth is 4 light years away, that mean that stars light take 4 years to get to earth.  So when you think about the objects astronomers have detected that are 13 billion light years away, that is what they looked like and were 13 billion years ago.  So to say the universe is a specific size today is a bit of a guess.

But this blog isn’t about the age of the universe and who’s right and wrong, it’s about what astronomers are looking for in the universe, extraterrestrial life. Most scientists openly admit they don’t believe in a God or any specific religion because they believe in evolution and “spore theory”.  So to prove their point, they are hoping to find life elsewhere to show that a supreme being didn’t create and place us here on this planet.  This is why I say it’s not a race to find life in the universe, it’s a race to try and prove God never existed.  Some say that if they find intelligent life on another planet, what does that mean for the bible or other religious writings?  Were we not God’s greatest creation?  Did we hurt God so badly he created something else or something better?

Even though I am a Christian, I am not saying there isn’t life out there in the universe.  I don’t know and if there was my faith would be just as strong!  To think any different would lead me to believe I was never a believer in the first place.  God never stated exactly what animals He created in the bible, but yet we have thousands of animal species on this planet.  If God allows for life to exist on other planets in the universe that’s okay with me, just because it’s not in the bible doesn’t mean it can’t happen.  My job as a believer isn’t to question God’s words and actions, but to better understand how I can serve a God who gave His life for me. 


God (Jesus) created this universe for Himself not us.  We are just lucky enough to be able to marvel at His perfect creation.  What I find interesting is that scientist admit that the universe is made up of perfect physics.  If the universe was just a billionth of a percent off in any of the four fundamental forces this universe may not exists.  If gravity was stronger by just a fraction, the universe would have never expanded to create everything we see today.  I mentioned in another blog that I do believe in the "Big Bang", Jesus created the universe from nothing as the Father instructed Him to do so.  So everything we see today is a product of His creation.  So to say that the universe is here by mere chance is just insulting. Rather than admitting that something played a role in creating a perfect universe, scientists would rather accept that it was an anomaly.  


Although the search for life elsewhere in the universe is in its early stages, some day there may be a discovery of an alien world that supports alien intelligent life.  But scientists should know that a discovery like that WILL NOT shake the foundations of religion for true believers.  It would be funny to think, if we ever made contact with aliens, that they would step out of their spacecraft and show us a holy bible that is an exact mirror of ours.  And the reason they came to visit was because the bible said that we were God's special creation.  That would truly shock the foundations of Christianity then, because no one would have a reason not to believe and more people would come to Christianity.  


In closing, the search for life in the universe should be exactly what it says it is, a search for life.  We are searching for life in the universe because we don't want to be the only living planet in the universe.  It would be like living in an area with billions of empty houses around you, pretty lonely and scary.  If Jesus created everything in the universe why would it be a surprise to Him or Christians if we found life elsewhere?  How do we not know that God didn't create other beings to exist so that we may interact with them?  God stated that we would rule over the lands, water, and sky...why couldn't that also mean the universe (sky)?  Let's marvel at what the God of the universe created and let it be what it is, His creation.  To read more into His creation would not only be wrong but a slap in the face to the creator.  


Glory always be to the Lord!

Life: The First Quarter

The first quarter is the first 25 years of your life, assuming that you live to be 100 years old, is about what most of us experience in our first 25 years of life.  It may not be the same for everyone, but some of the same experiences we have and face typically occur in those first 25 years.

Most of us really don’t remember our very early childhood, between the ages of birth to about 3 or 4, so to and explain that time period would be a complete guess.  But at about 5 years old we can recall situations and events that stood out to us at that time.  Maybe it was the first time we played a sport, rode a bike, got into a fight, or even found out we cannot fly.  Whatever the situation we remember those bits and pieces for a reason, they were times that we learned or did something for the first time.  Some of the experiences we remember are just happy or sad ones, but usually that is all we remember from that age.

I remember getting my very first “big boy” bike and thinking it was the best bike in the world.  I was so proud of it that I had to show it off to everyone that lived in our neighborhood.  So I began to ride my bike down the sidewalk peddling as fast as my little legs would allow.  Because I had been around the block a few times with other bikes, I knew where the cracks in the sidewalk were and how to avoid them.  But what I did forget about was the light pole set dead center in the sidewalk.  As I began to look down at the sidewalk I blacked out, only to awaken on the ground screaming.  I ran head first into the light pole, thus ending my exciting day. 

Its things like that we laugh at now, but when we were younger those types of things were so dramatic for us.  To me, I think that time in our life so instrumental in our development into our teen years and as an adult.  At that point in our lives we learn what it’s like to become responsible (chores), what friendship is about, what it feels like to have our feelings hurt, and the difference between right and wrong.  Without those essential learnings, we aren’t prepared as an individual to face the real world. 

After a few birthdays here and there you are now a teenager (14-16).  Hormones are racing and school is just an obstacle in your way of hanging out with friends and people of the opposite sex.  We are also learning people can be very rude and mean, and our best interest isn’t their concern.  We become pressured into bad situations, taking part in bad activities, and understanding what two-faced means.  Because status and popularity at that point in life are important, teenagers will do whatever it takes to stay out of or be in the limelight. 

Little do we know that after high school no one cares about who did/was what at that time.  After you graduate it’s a fresh start and being a jock, geek, or whatever in high school accounts for nothing.  Those who hold on to it after high school are the ones who never grow up and end up doing nothing with their lives.  So don’t get stressed about the whole he said she said crap that happens in high school, be who you are and that’s it.  Let God take care of those who hurt you in any way, taking things into your own hands only hurts yourself and the people who truly love you. 

Now at this point in our lives comes a crossroad.  Some go to college, work, or do nothing.  For those that go to college, it’s a time to find out who you really are as a person.  You may do this if you go down the work or nothing path, but college is a bit different.  Now mom and dad aren’t there to help guide you in your decisions.  There’s no curfew, no one to ask if your homework is done, or tell you that you shouldn’t do that.  But because college sometimes helps prolong adolescence, we find ourselves facing situations you would have never thought you’d be in at that point in your life.  Some get their first minor in possession, some get DUIs or DWIs, some drop out because they didn’t take college seriously, and some take care of business and graduate with no blemishes on their record.

At that point in your life you find out how disciplined you are and what your priorities are in life, and from what I have seen this shapes who you may become as an adult.  So have fun in college but not too much fun.  Remember why you are there because it all can be taken from you in an instant.  God blessed you or your family for you to have the means to receive a higher education, don’t throw it away by drinking, partying, or not studying.  Also know that college isn’t just about learning things for a career, it’s about learning to take the ups and downs and move past them.  It’s also about bettering yourself by improving your critical thinking skills and social skills so you can find a good job and be a better person upon graduation. 

For those who go straight into working full-time out of high school, life is much different from those who go to college.  You tend to grow up quicker, get married sooner, and have kids earlier in life…but this is good because it doesn’t allow room for prolonged adolescence, for some.  Just know that life in general is tough, all those things you took for granted growing up in your mom and dad’s house is now your responsibility.  But also know the friendships you made and maintained will be there for you when you are at your lows.  So hold on to those precious few that you can trust, those individuals don’t come along often in life.  Also, live close to family starting out because you’ll find that you need them more often than you think. 

Those who graduated from college feel great and are looking for that dream job, but most of the time that is exactly what it is…a dream job.  Either you find what you want to do but the pay is too low, or you find a job that you would hate but the pay is great.  The other extreme is that no one will hire you because you have no experience.  What the heck?  You spend four years of your life and $40,000 to get a degree to find out it’s worthless, unless you are a teacher, coach, or in medical field.  For most majors, getting into a job usually requires some type of internship (no pay) or years of experience.  So you end up taking a job in a field that you didn’t even get your major in to only find out the people who went to work right out of high school make the same salary you do.  It can be frustrating because they do the same job you do and don’t have the student loans to repay, they are already ahead of you in life.

Know that between 21 and 25 years old you will probably work 2 or 3 different jobs.  Things will be tough and those $80K+ jobs you were promised right out of college was a great recruitment tool to get you to spend more money at the university for that 200 hour major and minor degree.  For me, it took me a long time to get to the salary I thought I deserved, and once I got there I wasn’t any happier.  Money doesn’t buy happiness, as the old saying goes, doing what your purpose in life does.  Most of the people I know who received their degree are working in different fields than what their degree is centered around.  This has even occurred in my life, I have an engineering degree and I work in marketing. 

So don’t worry if you don’t know what you want to do with your life.  A saying I heard long ago says it best, “Don’t worry if you don’t know what you want to do with your life, some of the most interesting 22 year olds I know didn’t know then, and some of the most interesting 40 year olds still don’t.”  Do what you feel you are being called to do and you can never go wrong, and never let money be the deciding factor.  Remember the race is long and at the end it’s usually only with yourself.

In conclusion, the first 25 years can fly by in an instant, so know that the next 25 will do the same thing.  Put God first, family second, and work third always.  You can always find a better job, but you can never remove the scars you put on your family by putting your job first.  Remember that your choices are half chance and so are everyone else’s, so don’t be too prideful it will only lead to your demise.  “Finally don’t worry, or know that worrying is about as useful as trying to chew bubble gum to solve an algebra equation.  The things you really need to worry about will never cross your worried little mind, like some car that broadsides you on some idle Tuesday.” – Baz Lurhman.  Enjoy what you have been blessed with and always give God the glory in all that you do.

To God always be the Glory!

Christians vs. Atheists

So this is a topic that I have been thinking about for quite some time now.  In one of my earlier post I reference Zite and all the articles that I read from the app each day.  Most center around science and space discoveries and the other half centers around religion.  What is interesting is how connected they are but yet each side is trying to disprove the other.  This battle has been going on for centuries and the only thing that may stop it is either Jesus coming back or aliens stating that we are a great science experiment.

My comment above about aliens is a bit extreme but if you watch enough shows from "Ancient Aliens"you can see how some of their points make sense...but it's rare I ever agree with their logic.  What is interesting is that they would rather believe in aliens with no proof of their existence, and not a living God whom they have never seen.  I don't want to get caught up in the physics of why I think aliens don't exist or have visited our planet, but to go to one extreme to another is just crazy in mind.  It is this type of logic that has led to this silent war between atheist and Christians.

From my readings over the past year or so I have realized that most atheist know more about Christianity than your standard Christian.  In my opinion, I believe this has come about for two reasons.  Reason one is that fact that atheists have spent time trying to find out if God does or doesn't exist, and their conclusion of course is that He doesn't.  On the other hand you have complacent Christians who believe by saying a prayer, doing good deeds, and going to church they are saved...therefore no need to learn more about a Man who gave His life for you.  Because of this complacency and misinformation, Christians have become a laughing stock to the rest of the world.

I say this about Christians out of love, not hate or disappointment because I am not perfect either.  But today every half witted Christian gets on TV, radio, or the news and spouts off about some crazy idea they have about God, and the whole world laughs.  I just read an article today that stated a US senator said that global warming cannot exist because it doesn't say so in the bible.  I haven't read the bible word for word, but I do think theology scholars would have pointed that out many years ago when global warming became a hot topic.  But because of this false information, security, and beliefs, atheist have every right to not want to partake in a religion full of posers.

As I stated in another blog, most atheist become atheist over time...unless you were raised in an atheist home.  Because of this gradual move from Christianity to atheism, most atheist know quite a lot about the bible.  Now I am not saying what they know is correct theology, but their knowledge of what is inside is quite profound.  The knowledge they possess about the bible is often used to refute and mock Christians, and because not all Christians get into the word like they should, they tend to find themselves being attacked for their lack of knowledge.

What I do find interesting is that more and more people are becoming atheist, and they have begun to force their beliefs and ways into everyone's everyday life.  When I was younger I attended a public school and over the loud speaker the principle would say a prayer every day.  We then would say the pledge and even said "one nation, under God" in the pledge.  Today things have changed, atheist have become a loud voice in the public and government to get these types of things stopped.  Prayer can no longer be led by a faculty member, teachers can't be partial to Christianity, and to some circumstances you can't even wear cross necklaces at work.

I read an article from the BBC and it stated that two workers were removed from their jobs because they wore cross necklaces around their neck in plain sight.  Now these weren't extravagant super large necklaces, just your typical jewelry necklace so this shouldn't be a problem.  The article stated that the cross necklaces made people feel uncomfortable and created tension in the workplace.  Are you serious, a piece of jewelry makes people feel uncomfortable?  What is next the word church, Christian, or bible will be outlawed in the workplace?  Now if you believe in bible prophecy and revelation, I see that situation coming down the road soon.

In the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson makes the statement "all men are created equal by their Creator."  It's interesting to me that he capitalizes Creator.  I understand the whole separation of church and state, but America was founded on Christianity.  The very thing that made America independent from all other nations, the Dec. of Independence, talks about God and now we want to remove Him.  Why?  Because the minority of individuals don't like being told there is a greater power, when they don't believe that.  And it's sad to say that America caters to the minority.

Now you can say it's unconstitutional or whatever, but the fact of the matter is that if your government is led by individuals, then their freedom of speech and religion cannot be removed because they work for the government.  I have seen managers get fired because they wouldn't allow muslims to take a break to pray, but yet we hush Christian government officials.  I find it interesting that if you are anything but Christian your rights are protected these days.  But maybe us Christians had a large part in doing this to ourselves?

I read an article that asked the question, "Why do we disobey God?"  The article discusses that Christians are fair weather individuals, when things are great we give more, we go to church more, and we pray more.  When things get tough most of those things stop and we question God's motives because they aren't aligned to what we thought was going to happen.  The article concludes that we disobey God because we don't understand how bad sin is for us and the world.  In my opinion, this is why the world view of Christianity is the way it is, a joke.

Atheist look at Christianity and say there is no God because look how bad the world is today.  The world is bad because that is what we humans have caused not God.  God has allowed it to happen because we have disobeyed him repeatedly.  When your parents punished you for doing something you were told not to, you didn't think to yourself these aren't my parent because they would never punish me for something so silly.  Instead you understood why you spanked or grounded and you learned from your mistakes.  In my opinion this is what is happening today.  God at any moment can make it all stop, but continued disobedience means continue hardships.

There was an article posted a few weeks ago and it stated that some big atheist leader wasn't 100% sure there wasn't a God.  The article stated that he felt this way now because no one can be 100% sure of anything that is out of this realm.  What this means to me is that as he has gotten older, he has begun to question if his logic is right.  Now the gentleman will still say he's 99% sure God isn't real, but what he is really saying is that he doesn't know.  In my opinion it's all or nothing, there is no halfway point...and this is how most atheist feel, in my opinion, they don't know.  I a friend whi was an atheist tell me that they were unsure if there was a god and if they got to heaven and Jesus asked him why he didn't believe, he said that he would ask Jesus why he didn't make himself known and speak to him.  In my mind that's a relevant, but stupid question.  When did Jesus not make himself known?  There's a whole half of a book based on his life and teachings.  One man changed the world in 33 years, what has ever come close to accomplishing that?

In conclusion, it seems that there is a struggle for power in America, Christian vs. Atheist.  Neither side is really winning...I say this only because the bible tells us it's only going to get worse for Christian, and I see this trend continue every day.  But I do believe that we should let people voice their feelings, if you want to pray in public...do it, if you don't want to...leave or don't pray.  If you don't want religion forced on you don't take part in those activities or view the material.  It's almost as if Christians and atheists have to have all or nothing, why can't there be a compromise?  If men can get along and live with women, why can't we do the same?  Besides, election states that if God wants to save you, there is nothing that you can do about it, even if you are an atheist now.  At some point in your life God will call you and you will come.  Just because you don't believe in the devil and hell doesn't protect you from those things.  Search your heart and then search your soul, you will find that there is freedom in Christ because death and the grave doesn't have to be our final resting place.

Praise be to God, Always!