From My Heart

I do not usually use this blog as a soapbox, but I have been biting my tongue the last couple of days until I think it is bleeding... AND since I have Freedom of Speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, I can do what I want with it. Here's the thing. I, too, think the whole Chick fil A thing has gotten out of hand. Before all my conservative, Christian friends fall over in apoplectic fits, let me explain. I think it has gotten out of hand because the issue at the center of the debate has become clouded in all of the anti this or that rhetoric that has resulted. The issue at the center of the controversy is not gay rights. To my knowledge CFA has never had a discrimination issue and, in spite of a post on Facebook that turned out to be a hoax, they will hire homosexual employees. They do support conservative, traditional family organizations. There are lots of businesses that support LGBT organizations. Any of them in the news this we...

In the event that reading about the creation events in Genesis or just looking at the world around you doesn't inspire you to praise, take a little time to read Psalm 104. This poem, by an unknown author, describes in poetic detail what is documented in the first chapters of Genesis. I love the opening of this psalm. I can only imagine the psalmist struggling for words to ascribe the appropriate attributes to God. Before he even starts recounting the creation story, he is beside himself with praise. "O Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty." v1. Again, I think the translation understates the sentiment and I think the sentence should end with an exclamation point! Many earthly kings are great by human standards and clothed majestically, but the psalmist goes on to tell us that God is clothed in light, the heavens are His tent, the clouds are His chariots and He rides on the wings of the wind. That is some serious splendor and majes...

I have always considered myself fairly creative. I am somewhat musically inclined. I love to draw. There have been times when I did crafts and scrapbooking, etc. and there are things I would love to learn to do better ~ like photography. I also like to write...you can be the judge of my talent in that department. Tonight, I was reading the first chapter of Genesis and was awed anew at the creativity of our God. Realizing that when He started creating the world - the universe - none of it existed other than in His mind. I look at the hugeness and complexity of our universe - galaxies, stars, solar systems. Then proceed from there all the way down to the smallest particles - cells, atoms, protons, neutrons. Do you have an idea of the complexity of a single cell in your body? Not to mention all the bodies of all the other animals some with very minute differences in cell structures that make them entirely different creatures? And, of course, everything in between. "Who can fatho...

Romans 3:23 "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." ALL have sinned....oh, yes, they have...WE have. Is there any difference in sin? Well, that depends on who you ask. But if you ask God...the answer is a resounding "NO". In our human minds, there is a difference. I do not view myself as nearly as bad as the murderer on the nightly news or the terrorist that just blew up a bunch of buildings and hundreds or thousands of people with it. In my little pea brain, compared to that - I'm a great person! The key is in the verse above, though. From Billy Graham to Osama bin Ladin and everyone in between, to God, sin is sin because it causes us all to come up short. It separates us from Him. It interferes with our relationship. Romans 6:23a says, "The wages of sin is death.." Ouch. Not the wages for capital murder, or rape, or child abuse. Just sin. In my post from April 6 , I mentioned two things that we have difficulty grasping that pre...