DEATH

Ya I know, kind of a bad topic. I never really thought about if someone who died was going to heaven or not. But now I wonder. Take my dad for example. He's getting up there in age. I know someday he will die. But I don't know if he will go to heaven. Is he a good dad? Yes. Husband? Yes. Good person? Yes. But did he accept God as his Savior? I don't know. Should I ask him? Ya, I don't think so.



Someone else I know is dying of cancer. Is she going to heaven? I don't know. Is she a good person? Yes. But again I don't know if she has accepted the Lord as her savior. I guess I can only pray that they will. I don't think my prayers can overide Gods word, but I don't think it can hurt.



I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you know someone has accepted God, it seems like it's easier to deal with them dying. But could someone who you think has not accepted Him really have accepted Him and you don't know it?



Take me for example. What if one night while sitting in front of a fire, in my back yard, drinking beer as I was talking to God I accepted Him as my savior? No one other than me and God would have known. That doesn't mean I wouldn't be saved, just means people would be surprised to see me in heaven.



So for me I guess ignorance is bliss. And I hope I am the most surprised person in heaven!



God Bless!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

What is up with the happy holiday crap? I just don't get the politically correct movement. I find myself going out of my way to piss these people off. I get it if you don't believe Jesus was born. That's fine don't say Christmas. But I do believe so I'm gonna say Merry Christmas and if you don't like it go hi-five yourself. And every store, radio station, tv station uses happy holiday. You mean to tell me not one single company has the balls to say Merry Christmas? Because you don't want to offend someone is no reason to kick Christ to the curb.

I know this isn't a good Christian attitude but that's between me and God. I'm sure He will forgive me because I'm gonna ask Him to.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

GRANDAUGHTERS

Tomorrow is my grangdaughters birthday. She will be 5 years old. Where did those years go? She is a sweet little girl. She seems to be the happiest when she does things for others. I think she gets that from her Grandma. And I'm really impressed by how she looks after her cousin Candace. She will go toe to toe with anyone when it comes to Candace. I have found this out first hand many times.



Emma still uses a "binky". Usually just when she sleeps. But really any time she is nervous. It's really not her fault. It was just always easier to give it to her rather than try to break her of using it. There were always reasons but really comes down to being lazy on our part. Last year Emma was starting to show interest in going fishing with me. So I figured great maybe I can get her to stop using the binky. So I told her she couldn't go until she stopped using it. She told me she would stop on her next birthday. Well then thats when you can start going fishing I told her. There really hasn't been much said about it since. Then the other day she said we could go fishing after her birthday because she won't be using her binky! It seems like she really will stop. I hope so, I can use a fishing buddy.



You hear people say "the best thing about grandkids is you can send them home". Well for me it's that I get a second chance. I really wasn't a very good father to my daughters. Ya I went to work so we could live decent but thats pretty much where it stopped. I could write forever on how I wasn't a good father. But theres no way of going back so I'll just try to do better this go around!



HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA

MARY

Being raised Catholic Mary was talked about a lot. But now going to a Baptist church I couldn't help but notice we very rarely mention her. I understand that Jesus should be our main focus but come on. She was the virgin, yes virgin mother of our Savior. That alone is something worth talking about. Can you imagine what she went thru when that was sprung on her? Then to be told your Son will die on a cross to save everyone. To come to learn that she basically is not His mother but that He is her Father. I can't even imagine the amount of faith she had.

That's why it was so refressing today when, at church, we talked about Mary. A lady at church, Diane, got up in front of everyone and gave Marys perspective of Jesus life. She did a great job. I was kind of expecting it to be glossed over but it wasn't. She talked about what Mary must have been thinking and feeling. And about the questions and doubts Mary must have had. And thru it all the faith she had in Gods plan.

We don't talk about Mary much at church but when we do theres nothing held back. It sure was nice to hear it. And this is just another one of those things I've been thinking about and then there it is answered. I'm telling you, there is some powerful stuff going on here!

GOD BLESS YOU

MIRACLES/ part 2

I guess Jesus had to perform miracles back then to get peoples attention. Till he was born you only had people saying a Savior was coming. God knew some people wouldn't believe it. So, he will be born of a virgin--Still don't believe? He will be perfect in every way--Still don't? He will make the blind see--Nothing? How about making crippled walk? Raising the dead? How about if He dies on a cross and after three days He gets up and goes to heaven?

We have the luxury of knowing all this. We shouldn't need to see anymore miracles.

MIRACLES

Do miracles still happen? Reading the Bible I notice that miracles were going on all over the place. People getting healed left and right. People coming from all over just to see Jesus so they would be healed. It seems to me like it was happening daily.

So why isn't that going on today? Sure you hear about it happening every now and then but not like it was back then. Could it be because we are not as good of a Christian as they were back then? That doesn't seem right. I don't think, In Gods eye, there are different levels of Christians. Just like theres not different levels of sinners.

This is what I think. Back then they didn't have the distractions we have today. Instead of getting on the internet they read the Bible. Instead of watching T.V they read the Bible. They were living as close to Gods word as you possibly can. And their faith in God was unshakable.

Well I guess I'll keep praying for the people who need a miracle and have faith.

God Bless You

THANKSGIVING

I have to be honest and say I've never really liked Thanksgiving. Whenever people would say what they were thankful for I would always think to myself " ya no kidding". It's not like I wasn't thankful for family, good health, job, but do we need a holiday for that?

This year is so much different. I am so greatful for my daughter Danielle who just refused to give up on me. And I'm thankful she asked the question,"what if "? I'm thankful that she has turned out to be a very nice Christian women. She really is a special person.

I'm also very greatful for my wife. She never gave up on me either. And believe me she had plenty of reasons to. I am so greatful that she holds this family together. It seems like she never gets a break. She's always juggling two or three things.

I'm greatful my family is in good health. Im greatful for my grandchildren and their mom's for taking good care of them.

Now this is where this year is different. I now know who I'm thankful to. In years past I was just thankful. This year I thank God for all of my blessings. I am greatful to God, that by His Grace, I was able to accept God as my Lord and Savior.

Happy Thanksgiving

Romans 12-14

This month at church the sermons are about Romans 12-14. The first two weeks seemed easy enough to follow in life. Love one another. Help each other. Don't carry grudges. Forgive each other. They all seem easy enough to follow. I'm sure in some cases they may not be. But over all not too hard.

Then this past week we got into the political part. Now this throws a big monkey wrench in the easy part. Political leaders are put in place by God. Show disrespect towards them then you are disrespecting God. This is where I wish you could pick and choose the parts of the Bible you want to follow. I know it doesn't work that way but just saying.

I am so guilty of not following this part of the Bible. I disagree with a lot of things the government does. Nothing wrong with that. However I do cross the line and turn disagreeing into disrespecting. This will be a struggle for me. However, with God by my side I'm sure I can over come this. And I'm sure there will be a lot of asking God to forgive me on this subject.

God Bless, and if be, Forgive You

El Salvador

My daughters best friend went to El Salvador with a group from Compassion. While there she kept everyone updated on her blog. This is where I should put a link to her blog, but hello, don't know how. It's thepipers.wordpress.com. I think! Anyhow I was amazed by how happy the people seem. They live in poor conditions and are still happy. She also got to visit with a child she sponsors. And my daughter and her husband now sponsor a child.

ONE DOWN

My first 4 weak class is over. I'm really glad I took it. The three guys that taught it sure did know a lot about the Bible. To sum the class up I would say God is good! I really did learn a lot. And as a bonus I had many questions I had answered.

This is going to be a lot of work. I guess work isn't the right word. It's going to be a minute to minute, day to day process. I guess the important thing is to keep pressing forward, keep learning and growing my faith. And when I fall, ask God for forgiveness and get back up. No more looking back!

God bless!

Week 3/ Faith Class

Week 3 of my faith class delt with reading the Bible and prayer. Turns out I'm not alone with the problems I'm having in these areas. Kinda funny how I thought everyone knew and understood more than me, but in reality they have the same stuggles as I do. I guess that holds true in a lot of situations. Things ain't always as they seem.



I did learn some do's and don'ts for both reading and praying. They are not far from what I have been doing. But now I have a better idea of what I should be doing. I think it will help me a lot. One of the methods for reading is a 15 minute devotional. When we talked about that it seemed like too short of a time. But now that I think about it I probably don't average 15 minutes a day now. I'm dissapointed in myself for not spending more time reading the Bible. It's really kinda sad. Jesus died on the cross to save my sorry butt and I can't find 15 minutes in 24 hours to read about him. That is something I have got to change!



God Bless

FALLING SHORT

I feel as though I'm falling short of Gods expectations of me. And I'm not talking big things here. I'm talking about,what should be,smaller things. Well not that they are small. I'm talking about understanding the Bible and praying.

When I read the Bible I can't seem to understand what the meaning is. Or maybe I should say it takes reading it over and over to figure it out. In my faith class everyone seems to understand it more than I do. And when it is explained I'm like oh ok I get it now. I've never been much of a reader. I never thought of myself as a slow learner,but this is proving to be the case. Then I read, on a web site I visit, a question someone had about not understanding the Bible. The answer given was that because the reader did'nt truly believe what they were reading the Holy Spirit was'nt giving them the ability to understand it. Well I don't like that answer at all. Because I do believe and I will not back pedal on that fact. I'll just keep reading and re-reading as long as it takes.

Now on the praying side of this. I can't seem to pray, for any length of time, without my mind wandering off. Like if I'm praying for someone then all of a sudden I'm thinking about something I did with them. Part of my prayers are asking for forgiveness because I wandered off. But I'll just keep on praying and hopefully will get better at it. I think God will be glad when that happens.

God Bless

By the way. Only Adam and Eve created and listening to God's command to go forth and multiply. Told you, takes a while.

QUESTIONS ON PRAYER

I find myself looking for answers on this subject pretty much every day. The definition I'm using is....A personal experience and intimate connection with God. Seems easy enough. Just talking to God. Asking Him for forgiveness, guidance, for me and other people. And also thanking God for everything I have.

John 5:14-15-"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us- whatever we ask- we know that we have what we asked of Him. That seems pretty clear. If I ask, and God approves, I shall receive. Now that I'm writing this I'm wondering what my problem is!

Ok here goes my questions. So what if 2 people are praying for total opposite outcomes? Example- Please let my connecting flight be delayed cause my flight left late. While at the same time someone wants it to leave on time. This probably isn't the best of examples but you get the idea. Or maybe if it's Gods will, everyone would be praying for the same things. Ok that makes sense. I guess I can't think of any examples of people praying in opposite directions. In the above example you would'nt be praying to God, more like just hoping. I guess I can check that question off.

Now what about in the case where there were many people praying that I would accept God? What if I had died before accepting Him? Prayers go unanswered all the time. Then we say"it was in Gods plan." So why pray? Why not just wait and see what Gods plan is? I guess for me it goes back to the what if question.

This is getting long so I'll say, I know why I pray. It's because I feel closer to God when I do. I truly believe He is listening and will answer if it's in His plan. And I pray to thank God for saving me.

God Bless!

Adam and Eve / Take 2

So I had my first faith class this morning. First thought is, four weaks, not enough! So I guess there will be many more classes to take. But I think this will help put me on the right path. I was pretty stund when the first class has, in part, to do with my question about Adam and Eve. This can't be some coincidence. I'm telling you there is some crazy stuff going on here.

It turns out the answer to my question is in the very beginning of the Bible. Genesis 1:26. Then God said," let us make man in our immage, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth ."

Now this may not even be correct but I notice He used the word them. God did'nt say let him. So can I assume there was more than one man created? Or was He refering to Adam and Eve as them? So maybe the Adam and Eve story is just a more detailed account of how God actually created man and women. That would sure clear up my whole freeky looking family tree theory.

I'll keep reading and looking for answers. But for me to have asked the question yesterday, and then get pointed in this direction today really gives me faith that God is listening. And He is trying to help me get some answers.

I also like how God uses the word us in this passage. It's like He's talking to himself. I'm glad I have this computer to put down my thoughts. I don't need my family thinking I have lost my mind and am talking to myself.

God Bless

Adam and Eve

OK, so I've been thinking about this for a while now. I'm sure someone will read this and say, "are you kidding me?" or "you're a Christian?" I'm sure the answer is in the Bible somewhere, Just have'nt found it yet.


So Adam and Eve are put on the earth by God. Then the whole apple and sin thing comes along. Then the two of them have kids. Then what? Their kids have kids with each others kids who are kids of their kids. See where I'm going here? Don't get me wrong, I'm not questioning that it happened. And it's not something that has shaken my faith. I've wondered this for a long time. I wish I had asked my Pastor when we had our meeting.


I do know while reading the Bible it often says something like, the son of---,who was the son of---, who was the son of---. Well if they kept going, would it end with the son of Adam? Could it be that's why it's said we are all brother and sister. And could we all have a family tree that ends with Adam and Eve?
Well like I said in my first post, I'm not a scholar on the subject. But as I'm writing this I've come to the conclusion that I'm ignorant on the subject! But I pray God will reveal answers to all my question. I also pray He will give me the courage to ask the question when I can't figure out the answer.

God bless you!

First Communion

Well today I took Communion for the first time since the 8th grade. This may not be totally true. I may have done it since then, I guess I should say the first time I was able to do it without feeling guilt. That's like 30 some years! That sure is a lot of wasted time.
I'm guessing there are probably people who take Communion and never really even give it a second thought. This is something I always took very seriously. It's what Christians do to remember that Jesus died on the cross and shed his blood so that I can be saved. Man, just writing that chokes me up. To be honest one of the reason for me not partaking before this was the fear of being struck down by lightning. I'm not kidding. It's a fear I had with a lot of things involved with God.
Luckily this was one of the things my Pastor put to rest when I talked to him. That and the fact that I never felt like I was worthy of Gods Grace. The way he put it, and it probably sounded better when he said it, was in Gods eyes you are as good as you can get right now. And I've come to learn that while reading the Bible. Even in the little I have read Jesus says that He has'nt come for the rightous but for the sinners. And that was and is me.


Our God Is Great!

Now What?

OK, so now I'm a Christian, now what? I guess I start trying my best to live a better life. Some things have allready been changing in my life. Been reading the Bible, not the easiest book to read by the way. Study Bible sure does help. Been praying a lot. My prayers never sound as good as other peoples. But I'm faithfull that God understands. I hav'nt been drinking to get drunk. I still drink, just don't feel the need to be drunk. I feel more close to my wife. Can't really explain this one, but it's good.

I know there are some steps I need to take in order to grow my faith. First thing will be to take an introductory class of some kind. Then I would like to get more involved at church. Would also like to make some new friends.By this I mean other Christians. Not that I would bail on old friends, just have some new ones . Iknow this won't be an easy road to follow, but I have faith that God will lead me to where He wants me.

I pray that in the end people can see a difference in me. Not that I care what people think of me. But so they may see the power of God and maybe want to get in on this. Because I'm telling you this is some powerfuul stuff. And I pray that everyone can get in on this.







God bless!!

My Story

Ok so it's official.I was baptized tonight.What an awesome feeling.

Here's my story,I was raised Catholic.I went to a Catholic school thru 8th grade. The last 3 years I went to mass every weekday morning then also on Sunday.There was always something that just did'nt sit right with me.It always seemed the same.Stand now,sit now, kneel now.Say the same prayers at the same time every time.I also could'nt understand how you could just change the rules mid way thru.You can't touch Holy Communion,oh wait,now you can.I also could'nt figure out the going to confession thing.I confess then say 5 Hail Marry's 4 Our fathers and then I'm good too go?And you can't take Communion unless you go to confession.This is one thing that has stayed with me to this day.I have never taken( since 8th grade) communion to this day as I have not been to confession.I will however be partaking on the first Sunday of October.
I stopped going to Church after 8th Grade.When I was going to be married,at age 17,I was told by my church I could'nt be married in a Catholic Church because my to be wife was Lutheran.Really?Wow.Ok so we got married in a Lutheran church,We are still married,30 years.My wife is awesome.She's a special person to have put up with me this long,We have 3 daughters.
My wife pretty much always went to Church.I on the other hand did not.She would try to get me to go but I just would'nt.As my kids got older I started going a little.You know,Christmas,Kids were in a play.But it all just seemed like the same old thing.What really started to get to me as I started going more often was how the people were.Not all of them of course,but many.I knew many of them outside of Church and they were not very Good people.Not that I was either.The differance was I knew I was going to hell.They seemed to think just because they went to church,gave money,volunteered and did all the right things in church they were going to Heaven.I did'nt know much about it but I knew if I was going to hell,I was going to be seeing them in the same line.
When my oldest daughter,Danielle, was in high school she started going to Grace Baptist Church.Her best friend,Molly, got her to start going there. I am so grateful to Molly.Really it is because of Molly both Danielle and I are Christians today.I know it was all in Gods plan. Molly really is a special person if you happen to know her you are lucky!
Danielle really grew as a person at Grace.She worked with the youth.She did a lot of power point presentations.And to this day she actually works at Grace.She is an awesme daughter.She started inviting us to Grace like on Christmas or if she was doing a presentation. So we would go.From the very first time I went there it felt different.That had to be ten or so years ago.Then Christmas would come and we would go to Grace.Ok this is where theFence in the title of this blog comes in.So I would go I would get up on the fence,I would look in and say this is pretty cool.Then the service would be over and i would get off the fence and go back to my life.This went on untill this year. On the fence,Off the fence,on,off,on,off.You get the picture.
Then My wife and I were blessed with granddaugters.As they were getting older we decided to take them to church.I figured why not it's only one hour out of the weekend.So we started going to Grace on a regular basis probably a year or so ago.So back on the fence,this is pretty cool,off the fence.
It was Good Friday of this year and Grace was doing a sevice.We had heard it was pretty cool so my wife and I went.It was kind of a stations of the cross making your way thru the church.So it turned out our first stop was in a room that Danielle had set up and was going to give a talk.And then it happened.She said two words that have been in my heart ever since.They were WHAT IF.She then went on to say what if the story is true?What if God really did send his son to die on the cross to forgive our sins?What if all you have to do is believe this,accept Him as your Lord and Savior,ask for His forgivness and you will be saved. My exact thought was holy crap,all these years and I never thought of it like that.I still get tears in my eyes thinking about it.
But there I was sunday,back up on the fence looking in.Shortly after that,as I was up on the fence I started noticing something.It seemed like most,if not all,the sermons were directed right at me.I'm not kidding.It started to freak me out!So I started to talk to some people about how I was feeling and they told me to talk to Derek,he's a pastor at Grace.Well I had never felt like this before and I surely never talked to a pastor about this before.
So after some time past and more sermons seemed to be directed at me I finally made the call.I went in to talk to Derek and am I ever glad I did.He was awesome.He answered all my questions,put my mind at ease about my doubts.And that is when I became a Christian.I accepted God as my Lord and Savior and asked to be forgiven.
During my time on the fence I often saw people or groups of people putting there hands on people and praying for them.I thought that was kind of odd.Man was I wrong.After i professed my faith to Derek(I'm not even sure if professed is the right word or not)He layed his hands on me and prayed for me.Wow!that was the most powerful thing I ever experienced.He said while praying him,Danielle,Molly,and many others have been praying for me for a long time.All I could think of was,they have to be exhausted.But I'm glad they did'nt give up on me!
Till next time may the Lord be with you.Our God is great!

Warning In Advance

I wanted to start a blog to tell of my jouney to becoming a Christian.If you think it can help you then all the better.This is where the warning comes in.I am by no means a scholar on the subject.I tend to ramble on at times,so these posts will be scattered all over the place.I'm not the best of spellers so that may be a problem.I believe God Sent his son to die on the cross so my sins would be forgiven and I would have the choice of being saved or not.And I choose to be saved.Oh,and I'm not very computer savy either.
I would like to thank all veterans and current members of the armed forces,and the family's,for their sacrifices so I have the freedom to do this.Don't say I did'nt warn you,scattered.
I will be baptized tomorrow and will start my story.