Scrambled Eggs & Corn Flakes

What are you scared of? What terrifies you? What keeps you up at night? Are you afraid of the dark? Snakes or spiders? Speaking in public? The future? Getting lost? Let's face it, lots of people have lots of fears. For me, my fears are: 1. Heights - or more specifically the sudden stop at the end of the fall from a great height 2. Animals that can eat me (Sharks and crocodiles fit here) 3. Speaking in front of a group of people Some fears are real and some are just inside our heads. But all types of fears affect us the same. Fear keeps us from moving forward, unwilling to take risks, and stunting growth in our faith. We can become so engrossed in our terror that it becomes our sole focus preventing us from living. I have heard fear called "False Evidence Appearing Real" (granted I think the sharks disagree). But, for the most part, this is true. Are we more paralyzed by fears that are physical or the ones we play up in our minds? I can avoid sharks, but I cant escap...

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23. You. Me. My wife. Our pastor. Your grandma. Other extended friends and family. We are all in the same boat. No one is better than anyone else. We are all sinners and we all fall short. No amount of effort on our part. No skills or knowledge we gain will prevent that without the help of God. There's no reason for anyone to think that we are better than anyone else. It happens, though, consciously or unconsciously. I struggle in dealing with my own sin and brokenness. I am not someone you see go up front of church for prayer most weeks. Nor, do I break down into tears when I do pray. I see that a lot, though. There's a lot of people in pain out there. A lot of people struggling with issues and turning to God for help. Now, I don't judge these people (or maybe I do at times), but it does affect me in ways where I can justify certain behaviors which allow me to overlook the state of my sin. And it...

There are some memories that are as clear as the day they occurred. We remember how we felt, what the day was like, and all the sights and sensations we experienced. They can be so vivid as if they were occurring right in that moment. Others we can completely forget about even ones as recently as yesterday. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to why our memories work this way. It's not like we just remember good memories and forget all the bad ones. They just randomly pop in our heads out of nowhere. It could be a location, a song, or a smell that makes us remember things from our past. I thought about this the other day when I found an old prayer journal from my college bible study days. It was filled with a variety of prayer requests (most of them dealt with school or work). But, along with each prayer request there was a written update and answers to some of those requests. We tended to follow up on our prayer requests the following week. It brought to my mind as to do we pon...

I was rummaging around in my files the other day when I found an old notebook from my college days. It was an old journal I used for bible studies, journal entries, prayer requests and answers, and other random thoughts. I could give you all sorts of stories of what I was thinking during my college days - and maybe one day I will. The first entry I had written was called "Materialism" and was dated 9/3/90. In it, I debated with myself if people living now had a harder time accepting Jesus because of all the technological advances and having plenty in America compared to other countries and other times. I came to the conclusion that we were building a bigger reliance on our accomplishments instead of God. Almost 24 years later, I have become even more certain of it. First, let me say money is not inherently evil. It never mentions that in the bible. It is OK to be wealthy, make money, and have nice things. The bible stresses the love of money and greed are the issues. Not, i...