Tag: Jesus

Three!!!

Even the pros hit an errant shot and yell FORE! Watching a bunch of those on TV at the U.S. Open at Oakmont. And heard a lot of those last year at the Open at Pinehurst, where I was a marshal. All this reminds me to yell THREE when I am in trouble, not on the course, but in life. Hit an errant shot in life and I yell THREE for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

I know this sounds a little tricked up but it’s true. And absolutely helpful. When you do something wrong, or simply need some help, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are always there to help. Unlike FORE, which is meant to tell people to duck, THREE is asking for help. And the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are always there for help. You just need to yell for help.

Remember: the Father has made you with a special, unique purpose in life that is all yours—just like your fingerprints. Jesus has saved you from sins past, present, and future if you simply repent. He’s our model of how to live life, in love. And the Holy Spirit is your guide and empowerer to help you realize your purpose. It’s the Spirit that Jesus gave each one of us. The Spirit that motivated a scared bunch of apostles locked in a room to go out under threat of death to preach the Good News. And died they did for that Good News.

Yell THREE the next time you need help, especially getting out of trouble!

It’s One Step Back Time, But Now Two Steps Ahead.

We all screw up. We’re humans and imperfect, no matter what you think. I recently took one step back but vow to move two steps ahead. That’s how we make progress in life. Make up for the one step back by taking two steps ahead. That’s a winning strategy to live by!

Life is full of twists, turns, and obstacles. Sometimes we not only take a step or two back but we may also veer off the path and go down a dead end. Stuff happens! That’s life. The trick is to stay on the path that God intends you to be on and constantly move forward, even if you take a step or two backwards.

God has a plan for you. A special, unique plan for you that is as unique as your fingerprints. You’re special. Most of us don’t realize that and wander through life as the Israelites wandered through the desert for 40 years. Take a lesson from that story about how it should have taken 11 days to get to the Promised Land but it took them 40 years of wandering. There’s a life lesson in that story for each one of us.

Don’t cry pity when you screw up and certainly don’t beat yourself up. Just regroup and move forward, taking at least two steps ahead.

And if you don’t know the path you should be on just ask God. He’s less than a heartbeat away and always listening. You just have to quiet your world around you and give God some time.

Enjoy the weekend and moving ahead on your path!

He Is Always!

I just took a God “vacation.” Didn’t go to church for two weeks—can’t remember the last time I did that and was not sick—and didn’t pray every day in the morning. I just kinda wasn’t there. I’m now looking back on the past few weeks and realized that although I wasn’t there, God was there. He is always there no matter when we aren’t.

God Creator, Son, and Spirit never go anywhere, no matter where we go. We may be the prodigal sons and daughters going off and squandering what we have been given but God is the Father always waiting for us to return. And rejoicing when we do return.

I’m not kicking myself as I usually do for how I squandered the past few weeks away from God. I’m actually looking it as a good thing for realizing how empty my life is without God. A true vacation from life is when I turn to God, not away from Him.

Have a FANTASTIC week ahead vacationing with God!

Where Is God?

With all the strife and outright wars going on in the world I find myself asking where God is. How can a God defined by love allow so much bad stuff to happen? However, as I start thinking about this the answer pops right out at me. God is there. He is always there. He is less than a heart beat away. He’s waiting for us to turn to Him. He’s waiting for us to treat one another the way we would want to be treated. We’re the ones screwing up. Not God.

If God were calling all the shots day in and day out we would be mere puppets on strings. But God gave us free will to exercise that free will. He may be shaking His head watching us hate and even kill but it’s our decisions. We are a free people—at least while we are on this earth. Then, when time is up, we will be looking back what we did. That accounting determines where we spend eternity.

The decision of what to do and how to act is ours and ours alone. God may be watching but He is not pulling the strings. You can turn your life over to Him but it’s still your free will in control. I just try to make sure that my free will is in concert with what God wants me to do and how to act.

God is never missing in our lives. We are missing in God’s life by choice.

Think about this. Are your actions day in, day out in concert with God? And, remember, His commandment is to LOVE so if you are walking in LOVE you are walking with God.

Think about this and enjoy the day (with an ever-present God!).

Are You Risen?

Easter is now a memory. We celebrated Jesus rising from the dead. He died for us—our sins past, present, and future. Truly repent what you have done and your sins vanish. The operative word is “truly.” You can’t just slough your sins away. You need to anguish in repenting. Jesus is risen. The question now is if you have risen.

My idea of Easter on a personal level is rising up with Jesus. Leaving the “death” of sin aside and rising up to a new life. Sure, I will once again sin along the way. I’m an imperfect child of God and a pretty good sinner on occasion. But I strive for perfection and try to rise up with Jesus.

This isn’t some religious mumbo-jumbo. Rising up involves following Jesus by starting with the one commandment He left us—to LOVE. You can’t rise up with Jesus unless you rise up in LOVE. Not selective LOVE but LOVE of everyone. It starts with a smile, a helping hand, going out of your way, turning the other cheek, and simply treating others the way we want to be treated. LOVE. It’s a Real Secret to Life and it’s the one simple commandment that Jesus gave us.

Enjoy the week and walk in LOVE.

No Better Human Being

I don’t care what your views or “religion” are but you’ll be hard pressed to find a better human being than the late Pope Francis. He wasn’t perfect. None of us are. But for someone on the world stage he both preached and lived a very humble existence. He walked the talk, something very rare in this day and age.

He obviously had to go by the pomp and circumstance of the Vatican. I’m Catholic and I don’t like it. It’s not Jesus—what He preached and how He lived His life. But The Pope did his best to keep everything in his life as down to earth as possible. To emulate Jesus. He will be missed!

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the world leaders attending the Pope’s funeral took a lesson from his life. The world would be a dramatically better place. Heaven on earth. Unfortunately, that won’t happen.

I hope Pope Francis stays in the hearts of the faithful to inspire us. This world needs inspiration—and a lot more light.

God bless the Pope, the new Pope, and all of us!

Good Friday Every Day

Good Friday is an enigma. We call it “good” but it is this solemn day of mourning Jesus dying on the cross. I mean, what is “good” about that? And why have I titled this post to imply ever day should be a Good Friday. Here goes.

I think that Good Friday should be a day of reflection, not mourning. We should reflect on Jesus in human form taking all of our sins—past, present, and future—and pinning them to the cross he hung and died on. No wonder the “human” side of Jesus sweated blood in the garden even thinking about the enormity of that task. I don’t think the sweating blood was over the pain, suffering, and death to come. It was the daunting task of taking all that sinfulness and wiping it out.

I don’t think that we should use one day to mourn what Jesus did. I think that every single day we should reflect on what He did and give thanks for it. Not one day. Every day. That’s why I intend to keep Good Friday every day.

Forget about sins of humanity past and to come. There is so much sinfulness in the world today that just wiping those present sins out is a mind-boggling, incomprehensible task. Thank you, Jesus!

Don’t ever forget that your sins—past, present, and future—are forgotten if you reflect on them, repent, and then ask for forgiveness. That’s the message of Good Friday and the message for every day.

Have a wonderful, blessed Easter Sunday. Jesus has risen! Rise up with Him!

Destroying Lives as Hell Awaits

The fires of Hell are burning brighter than ever. Satan has to loving that there is no kindling needed because the logs of lost souls keep coming and, by the looks of it, a lot more to come. The fires of Hell are burning brighter than ever! There is such animosity and pure hatred in the world that the devil is glowing. Jesus must be wondering why He died for us; as am I.

Take the story of this college freshman who’s life has literally been destroyed by an idiotic sports moron (forgive me God!) who fed an untrue story about her. I won’t even dignify repeating it here. That wasn’t bad enough but tons of other morons ganged on and have made this poor girl’s life a living Hell. They’ll all be surprised the day that their lives are a living Hell forever—as in eternity.

I am one of the most positive people you will meet but the reality of the world is that it is coming apart at the seams. The Godhead of Father, Son, Spirit obviously know what is happening but must be shaking their heads.

Now is the time those of us who see the darkness in this world must ignite and shine our soul lights brighter than ever. Smile, help, donate, turn the cheek, be the better person. I’m no saint—far, far from it—but our world needs help. And it starts one person at a time!

Enjoy the weekend and shine your light brighter than ever!!!

Rise of the Fake “christians”

This is a tough post to write. Clearly, Jesus sent a message to not judge. To look at the log in your own eye before focusing on the splinter in someone else’s eye. But I can’t help it if I am judging. Not that I’m putting myself up as perfection. Trust me, I’m the world’s best sinner. But I just have to write about all the self-professed “christians” (I won’t even dignify it with a capital “C”) out there. Wearing their “christianity” on their sleeves while acting anything like a true Christian.

Let me just be direct and to the point. Jesus made it very, very, very clear that as a follower of His—and that’s what a Christian is, a follower of Jesus—you need to LOVE. No excuses, no outs. You LOVE everyone, regardless of who they are and what they stand for. LOVE. It’s that simple.

I see and hear more people professing their “christianity” but don’t do anything close to loving. They are name callers, are vindictive, and are so far from loving that they are not even close. Jesus is shaking His head while the devil is licking his chops. Because the so called “christians” are not only anything but real Christians. They are devil followers, even if they don’t realize it.

There. I know I am judging and I’ll confess that sin. And I’m not hating the so called rising “christians” because I would be a hypocrite and not a true Christian. I’m doing my very best to LOVE them because that is what Jesus commanded.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Can this be any clearer???

Have a great rest of the week walking in LOVE.

A World Tearing Apart at the Seams.

I am not a negative or fatalistic person. But clearly the world is coming apart. In the United States, demographer Neil Howe has written a book, The Fourth Turning is Here. Simply put, the message of this New York Times bestseller is that history repeats in 80-100 year cycles made up of four “turnings.” The fourth turning is the “crisis” turning. The last three “crisis” turnings ended in WWII, the Civil War, and the Revolutionary War. I’m not predicting WWIII or a Civil War, but neither did the vast majority of people living during those previous fourth turnings.

Obviously, look past the United States to Africa, Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Asia and very clearly the world is tearing apart at the seams. Something has to give and it will. And as the world becomes more secular, turning our backs on God, things will get worse. Just ask the Israelites aimlessly wandering the desert and following false “gods” thousands of years ago. We may think we are a lot better now, and a lot smarter and sophisticated, but in many ways we are a lot worse.

Doom and gloom? No, just reality. I’m a very positive person by nature, always swimming upstream. But I don’t stick my head in the sand or ignore obvious signs.

The world is what it is, which makes me turn to God even more. There is one salvation for this world and it is God—Creator, Savior, and Advocate. That is my fall-back, my compass, and my salvation in this world tearing apart, which I believe it will. God is always, and always will be, regardless of what we do to this world.

If you haven’t already doubled down on God now is a good time to start. Only He can really help make sense of this crazy world! He is the constant and always will be. He is my sanity in this crazy world.

Enjoy the weekend and spend some time with God!