Have you ever noticed when you have an indoor cat, that they choose the worst days to go outside?  Ours is like that, either its snowing so bad that you can’t see across the deck, or like this morning, its pouring rain out and it thinks its a great time to go and smell the roses!

Ours of course wants to stand in front of the door and shake its paws and think about it for an hour, and so I have to slowly put my foot behind it, and kick it out the door!!!!

The cat then decides it don’t want to be out there and stares at me to let it back in, but I’m not so easy, let it stare, Keith can let it in!!

Cats and people are allot alike, they see something they want,  they get it, then decide this was a bad idea and then stare at it and wonder how in the world they can get rid of it!

Right now our cat is getting soaked, but I figure you can’t get it in a tub to bathe it, so nature is taking care of a problem for me!

God is so good.

What have you desired to have and after you got it, then wished you didn’t gotten it after-all?

If we think about it, all of us have done it a time or two, this past summer I wanted to own my own business and so I got into expediting with my own van. I loved driving all over the country, but I was going in debt faster than my wheels could turn.

Now of course I wish I hadn’t done that, we have to dig ourselves out somehow, and its not going to be easy.

But one thing I’m thankful for is an understanding wife, who should have killed me before I got so far in, but thankfully she didn’t, otherwise it would be difficult to write this, being dead and all!

I’m also thankful to our Lord who also will give you enough rope to hang yourself, but will continue to love you despite our dumb decisions at times.

Over the years I’ve made allot of dumb decisions,  but thats what happens when your making your own decisions and not letting God direct those decisions.

You have to pray and pray,  be patient and let the Lord open the opportunity that he wants for you and sometimes it won’t even be the thing that you thought you wanted.

Just like the cat this morning he saw an open door of opportunity that he wanted, but after he went through it, decided it wasn’t the right thing,  He Should Have Prayed First!!

One of the most mis-understood teachings in scripture is the that of Election, and the confusion stems from the Reformed religion.

They have always connected it with the doctrine of Salvation and although they are related in some ways, election doesn”t  determine if we will enter heaven or not, actually Election is not listed as a scriptural doctrine.

What determines our entrance into heaven is when we accept Christ as our Saviour by faith, and anyone can make a choice if they want to go to heaven or not.  “Jn 3:16 says whoever believes in him can be saved.”

God made a provision that through his son,  that anyone who accepts him can be saved.

If God elected only certain ones to be saved and some to go to hell, that would make him the author of evil and a liar because he said that anyone can be saved.

If election was the only way to heaven,  would mean,  if a family had 4 children, raised them  in church, and if only mom and 2 of the children were elected,  then too bad dad and the other 2 children, you spent a lifetime in church being good for nothing, because you will have to face the fires of hell.

God called all mankind to salvation and when we get saved we become a part of an elect group of people who have been given a guarantee of heaven.

What the Reform also connect to election and salvation is predestination.   In Ro. 8:29 it says  For who he did foreknow,  (and folks, he did indeed know at the time of creation who everyone is that would be born.)

Then it says he also did predestinate, which means he predetermined something to happen before it happened.

But what did he predetermine?   According to the Reformed,  he predestined certain people to heaven and others to hell, but look at the verse closely.

“To be conformed to the image of his son that they might be the first born among many brethren.”

He says that we who are going to be saved will be able to become like Christ, and that there will be others saved after us.

After you get saved, we are to go on to maturity, we are to become more loving, graceful, helpful, faithful, have a servants heart just as Christ did.

We are to become more like Jesus,  God predestined beforehand to give us the ability through his empowering Spirit to be like Jesus.

Its sad that an entire religion can lead so many astray just because they refuse to read what scripture says.

Its also sad that an entire religion is so enthusiastic in condemning so many to hell instead of being able to offer help to the hopeless.

Its my opinion that this religion is the same as the Jehovahs Witness who are elitist, they believe unless your in their belief system,  then you are without help and cannot enter heaven.

I”m thankful that I serve a God who sent his son to redeem anyone who believes that he came to the cross, died and rose again for those who will accept him by faith.

Yesterday I told my wife that I was going to unthaw something, and she said if you unthaw something you would refreeze it!

I had to stop and think about that because I have said unthaw forever,  but if you thaw out something then unthaw it would be refreezing right?

Gets confusing in my old age, but my wife and kids love to pick on me and it seems like its getting easy for them lately, theres so many things to pick on me about!

I use to be so suave and cool, now I use suave to wash my hair and I”m cold all the time!

But at least I still have hair and only need one kind of shampoo, when our daughter Steph comes home to visit, she brings an entire suitcase full of just hair products, she lines them up on the tub and I have to maneuver around and over them in order to take a shower.

Its like going through a mine field,  I usually hit one and it goes flying. But I refuse to pick it up, it”s the principle of it.

But getting older, more daffy and less graceful is a part of life, so is getting sick.

Tonight I went to visit my dad in the hospital, he had a cancerous tumor in his blatter that had to be removed.

He”s 82 and this was the first time in his life he had ever been in a hospital or ever had surgery, he has always been a very healthy and tough guy.

I could tell he was uncomfortable having me, my sister and niece being there seeing him in that condition and to tell you the truth, I kind of got choked up seeing him that way and it made me realize that I won”t have him here on earth for too many more years.

I love my dad but we have never been real close and when he does go to be with the Lord, there will be many things about him that I never knew.

Oh I know the main things, that he”s saved, has kids and a wife and I know his work history, but what about who he really was?

I preached during all the years my kids grew up and they heard me retell stories of my life and they probably know a great deal about me, at least about the things I”ve done.

My kids once said they thought we must be in witness protection because of all the times we moved, but then again, if they knew we were, it wouldn”t be much of a protection, would it?

But that was just kid stuff.

But do they really know how I think? My struggles? My worries?  What I”m proud of?

Those are the things I”ll never know about my dad and I guess the reality is my kids won”t know those things about me either.

There”s some things that we never share with anyone about the real us.

But there is one who does know us better than we know ourselves and thats Jesus, he knows everything about what makes me tick.

I”ve lived with Sal over 34 years and I know her pretty well, but yet there are things about how she thinks that I”ll never know, those deep things that she only shares with God.

I use to think you can never know your wife completely just because she is a woman! And God created woman to be a mystery to us men and even though God created them, even he can”t figure out how they work!!!!

But the fact is, he does understand them, and we could too, if we told everything there is to tell to each other, but we don”t,  and never will, because there are things that we only share with Christ.

And thats alright, because God has to know us completely.

He”s the one who forgives us of our sin, so therefore he has to know every detail of our lives.

I know I will never know everything there is to know about my wife or kids and them about me, but thats alright, what is important is that our Lord knows us.

And because he knows us, we can talk to him about our deepest thoughts and cares.

Throughout scripture we read about how the early people of God were persecuted and many times killed for believing in Jesus Christ that he is the Son of God and that he is the only way you and I can get to heaven.

Those who reject Jesus as that, hate the people who do. When you think about it, why would anyone care if someone believes in Jesus and believes he’s the only way to heaven?

If I believe there is no God, or in Buddha, or in the tooth fairy, who cares? Go and live your life and leave me alone.

But why does it infuriate those who don’t believe in Christ to the point that they want us dead?  If they believe Jesus doesn’t exist or isn’t the only way to heaven, but we do, why should they care?

They care because when God created man, he left a void in every person that can only be filled with Jesus Christ, he then sent his Spirit into the world to convict every person to receive Jesus Christ as Saviour to fill that void.

The world knows the truth of who Christ is, and they don’t want to receive him and so they hate those who have!

They hate the void in their lives and they hate knowing their on their way to hell and so they lash out on those who have what they don’t.

They hate the void in their lives and so they try to fill it with all sorts of worldly pleasures in an attempt to fill it, but no matter what they try, drugs, booze, sex or fame, it cannot be filled.

And so they try alternative lifestyles,  amusements or working to build up financial success but no matter what they attempt to rid themselves of their guilt and emptiness, nothing works.

And so they try to make themselves happy by attacking believers.

I hate to use the word Christians anymore because our churches are full of people who have never received Christ as Saviour, calling themselves “Christians”  but are in pulpits and the pews leading others to hell. Today as strange as this may sound but we have “christians ” attacking believers.

When the Lord returns to rapture the church, if its on a Saturday, Sunday morning almost all churches will still be opened, although believers will be gone, christians will come to church.

Sounds confusing but a true believer is one who has accepted by faith, in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died on the cross, was buried and rose again the third day are the real Christians.  All others are fakes.

But because of this hatred for true believers that they have, they persecute believers in an attempt to shut us up and try to rid themselves of their guilt.

But persecution on believers isn’t always a bad thing, it wakes us up,  it draws us closer to our Saviour and through it, be can have even a closer relationship with God.

Persecution, refines the church and draws true believers together into a tight knit community who become strengthened to keep working and walking with Jesus.

Persecution, cleanses our hearts to rid ourselves from worldly things and lifestyles.

Persecution drives the false christians out of the church, ever notice when a church goes through tough times, how many leave?  Its called a back door revival, God removing the wolves so the sheep can serve and be strengthened.

Persecution if you really boil it all down, is really good for the church, it purifies it, cleans out the sin and leaves those who really love the Lord to do his will.

Don’t fear or run from persecution, embrace it, let God have his will done through it, because God always has a purpose for it.

Trust God, walk with Jesus, keep the faith because the church is about to be purified as persecution against believers will intensify over the next coming years.

Well here we are in 2010, when I was younger I always thought I would die at a young age, I even had dreams that I would never be old, I’m not sure why I thought such a thing, but I did, but here I am in my 50′s.

Its funny though, I was telling everyone I was 50 and my wife told me, your 51 !!!  I had forgot that I turned a year older, it was disheartening to find out I was older!

When I was a kid, the year of 2010 seemed like something that was so far away and unattainable, that was a time that we were suppose to have phones with no lines, computers that would do everything and all sorts of unimaginable things.

Well guess what?  Here I sit with a computer in my lap listening to an ipod that has hundreds of songs that is the size of a credit card, with my cell phone next to me!!!

I’m technologically advanced in the year of 2010!!!!

Things that we were told would happen, I’m now using, it is an amazing thing and I’m thankful that I’ve been around long enough to see it.

But some things never change no matter how many years go by, our daughter in law is having our first grandson, birth is still birth, although the ways of how one can get pregnant have changed, but no matter what, you still need a man!

The world still goes through seasons, and times of global warming and global cooling, thats how God created it and someday Al Gore and all his followers might get it (but I wouldn’t hold my breath).

God is still God and he began a plan thousands of years ago and he is sticking to it, and its never changed.

I’m so thankful that our God doesn’t change, no matter how many years go by, he’s still the same God and his plan was and still is that you and I need a Saviour  in order to enter heaven.

He planned to send his Son Jesus Christ to a world that had rejected him and who had decided to follow Satan, and God said I have a way to me and we can have a way to heaven for eternity and that was by accepting his son Jesus.

Ask forgiveness of  following Satan and turning to Gods son who will cleanse us from our sin of rejecting God and he will forgive and guarantee us a place in heaven.

The world tries to tell us that God has changed, that all you have to be is baptized, or a member of a church or do good deeds.

Sorry, our God has never deviated from his plan, we’re born in sin, we’re sinners who need a Saviour, theres no other way.

God knew about computers, ipods and cell phones back when man was still throwing rocks at their dinner, and he would never change no matter how life on earth would change, sin and sinners still need Jesus Christ.

God said, he would give us his bible to show us how to get to heaven,  he would send prophets in the Old Testament, he would set up his church with MEN as pastors who were heterosexual, not women or gays to lead his church, his plan has never changed.

Man thinks they can change Gods plan, and he laughs at our foolishness and says I am God and I never change, you need to change from a heart full of sin and accept my plan, period.

God is still God, he never changes, his plan has never changed from day one.

Accept it, and stop trying to change it, its futile.

When you accept this fact, and accept his plan, is when you will find peace and have joy in your heart.

God bless us in the year 2010