Scrambled Eggs & Corn Flakes

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" Acts 1:8 Ummmmm....you do know Jesus is talking to us here. Not just his disciples, this is a message to all of us. When I first read this passage years and years ago, I immediately thought "There is no way I am going to a third-world country with inadequate plumbing, oppressive heat and humidity, insects of enormous size, and where drinking the local water might give me hallucinations". I am sure there's a few of us who have been there. We can come up with many excuses as to not going, very few that get us to go. I am not saying every Christian has to go on an overseas missions trip. That's not a requirement for being a card-carrying Christian in good standing. The Lord may never call you to an overseas missions trip. He is, however, calling each of us on our own personal missions trip to b...

As I have said on numerous occasions, Christmas is my favorite time of the year. Despite the snow (this year in Cleveland we have been lucky with almost none), the mood is light and upbeat and people seem to be generally nicer to one another. (Except of course when shopping for the hot new toy of the year - in which case everyone loses their mind). Families reunite, kids look in anticipation towards the presents for them under the Christmas tree. We all have the memories of Christmas. early Christmas morning, attacking the tree, to see all the presents one received. Parents didn't get much sleep on Christmas Eve night. Gifts. I enjoy receiving them as well as giving them. Getting someone something unique that they wouldn't get for themselves and would really like is a joy. To be able to put a smile on another person's face is a wonderful feeling. Especially, if it is something that person has always wanted (at least for that year). It is very satisfying to bring joy into ...

Three years ago, we had the tragic shooting in Sandy Hook. When it happened I wrote down in my journal what I was feeling in the moment. The following is what I wrote at the time and I will follow up after my reflection since then. "I'm speechless. I'm very sad and I am bitterly angry. I decided to write these thoughts down the day this happened, rather than down the road when I can reflect and maybe sugarcoat my thoughts. I want my thoughts to be raw, I want to speak what's on my mind and heart unfiltered. Mostly, I want to remember what I thought when I heard this happen. On this day, a gunman or two opened fire in an elementary school in Connecticut. As I write this, 27 lay dead, 18 or more are children from kindergarten to the fourth grade. This on the heels a few days ago of a shooter killing two in a Oregon mall before killing himself. This summer, another lunatic opened fire in a movie theater killing many watching The Dark Knight Rises. Earlier this year, a ...

Persecution: A program or campaign to subjugate or eliminate a specific group of people, often based on race, religion, sexuality, or social beliefs. Forgive me, because I plan on ranting today. I was reading online about a year ago, how in North Korea, 33 Christians were to be executed as enemies of the state. They had been planting underground churches (maybe 500) in one of the most repressive dictatorships in the world. They were involved in this knowing that death could be the end result. Yet, they went ahead following what God had called them to. Obedient to God, even if it means their deaths. Kim-Jong un, the dictator of this country considers them a threat, punishable by death. I am going to assume these people have been even tortured for their faith. They live under a regime, knowing this, and yet continue to work for the Kingdom. They suffer for following God. I have not been able to find out if these people were executed as information from North Korea is sketchy at best....

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" Matthew 11: 28-30. Lots of our lives tend to be hectic. Rushing around from place to place. Doesn't matter if it is work-related or our personal lives. We tend to be always on the move. Putting in long hours at work, rushing home for dinner, and get household chores done. If you have children, there is the added homework, school events, and extracurricular activities to add to one's schedule. It is fairly certain, that for a lot of us, 24 hours in a day may be too few hours. Because of this, our lives become rushed. Getting from place to place makes us impatient. We become frustrated with obstacles that keep us from our schedule. This could lead to anger and bitterness and place stresses on the physical side of life. We become slaves...

2015, where has it gone? As I write this journal, it is the beginning of November one day before my 45th birthday(when did I get this old? That's a different story) Still, Thanksgiving and Christmas to go before we hit the end of the year. It seems like yesterday that we were beginning the year, and then through the summer. Now, the air has a slight chill to it. The leaves are changing color and falling to the ground. A rainbow rain of sorts. Christmas music is playing the stores are already decorated and it's November 9th. I enjoy Christmas so I am pretty cool with it. Other friends of mine, not so much. Before we know it, 2016 will be upon us. That's what happens. They say time flies and they were not lying. Doesn't seem that far away thinking what 2015 would bring us. When the year started, I was in preparations for a missions trip to India. This was a major undertaking and a giant leap in trusting God. This was so far out of my comfort zone. There was equal part...

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people" Ephesians 6:18 Prayer is something I feel is very important. I don't do it as often as I should, but I still feel its important. It's a tough task I think though. We can easily find excuses not to do it. Our lives are busy and we run out of time in a day before we realize we haven't prayed. I have tried over the years to have a weekly prayer meeting at our church. At times, it was a difficult experience. We could get one other or maybe even two on some occasions. But most of the time, it was just my wife and I - or sometimes just me. I felt called to lead a prayer group, but there was no response to it. After a couple of years doing it, I finally decided to end leading the group. We have a church of hundreds and yet we were struggling to draw one person consistently. At times it became a point of ...

My wife likes to run. Lots of early mornings, she will jog around the neighborhood multiple times. Or, depending on the weather - she will go run at a local gym. She has participated in 5K's and half-marathons over the years. Yet, she didn't start her running with a half-marathon. You can't just jump into these things (unless you are a physical freak)It takes time, practice, and training to build up to a level of doing longer and longer races. The first time she ran she didn't run 13 miles. It took some training to prepare for that kind of race. Athletes know to be ultimately successful, they have to train and practice daily. The only way to get better is by daily repetition. Honing one's skills and techniques is important if they want to be successful. It also requires focus and dedication on your craft, to the exclusion of other things. "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" 2 Timothy 4:7 Paul, here, explains ...

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" Hebrews 12:1 In Hebrews 11, the author points out a list of people who were faithful. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Moses' parents, Moses, Rahab whose faith are stated here. In 11:32, he mentions others like David, Samuel, the prophets among others about how their faith allowed them to experience amazing things. And, even today, those people are witnesses to us regarding what faith in God results in. Think about that. All the famous people in the bible witness to us just like being surrounded by a cloud. Kind of feels like a safe, protected sort of place. A very hopeful thought to us as we move forward in our lives. It's an interesting thought that all those who came before us are still witnessing to us today. That's a lot of believers to th...

The more I watch Browns games, the more I wonder I think I suffer from self-abuse I have 30 books sitting in a pile, recently purchased, and currently unread With the way my year has been going, I have forgotten what it felt like to smile and laugh India on my mind; My mind on India Looking back, India was well worth the trip Ever notice there is almost always a break-up between The Bachelor or Bachelorette and the winner of that TV contest? Hard to believe that doesn't work out. Best new TV shows this past year was The Flash and Blackish Anything really good ever happen between the hours of two to four AM? God does show up in the most unexpected of places Other times, it can be hard to see where God is When did we become a society of parrots rather than deep thinkers? Three things I would love to do: Have my own sports talk show on radio or podcast; own a comic book store; and host a horror movie show on TV I want to be the kind of Christian that makes the devil work ...

Metallica is my favorite band. There, I said it. Since I was a teenager, I have listened to heavy metal music. Iron Maiden, Kiss, Anthrax, Motley Crue, Megadeth, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, and Guns n Roses were bands blasting on my headphones. Would explain some of the hearing loss as I got older, or maybe I just use it as an excuse when I'm not really paying attention. Anyways, as great as all those bands are, Metallica was my favorite. I own all their albums and have seen them live at least four or five times. Over the years, I have listened to them less and less, but whenever I want some pounding heavy metal, I listen to them on my IPOD. If you know Metallica, you will know that they are not a Christian band. Don't know what their true views are on Christianity and if any of the members are believers, maybe some, maybe none of them. But, you can easily say that you wont hear them on your local Christian radio station. So, you might ask me "Chris, how do ...

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people" Ephesian 6:18 I will be the first to admit that I do not pray as often as I should. Sometimes, I turn to God only during a crisis. Or, after a prayer is answered move on to the next situation. It's easy to get out of practice with your prayer life. I have always felt that prayer suffers from the fact that it's not so flashy. It's not like worship & singing, preaching, or even reading and studying the bible. It also could be that we don't do well in silence (I know I don't). We need noise. Just sitting in the quiet can be a little bit unnerving. Or, we might not like the answers we might get. I am guilty of feeling all those ways with prayer. I would say early on that I prayed off and on - more off than on I must admit. But, lately I have made a more concerted effort to pray daily. Usu...

Risk. That's a four letter word that ranks up there with some of the mightiest curse words. It's what every person in the world faces at many times in their lives. No one can ever avoid it. Life has its risks. There are those who thrive on risk taking and others who shy away from it as best as they can. Risking has its costs - financially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. On the reverse side, the potential benefits from risking can be immense. In our walk of faith, we will encounter many opportunities where we will be called to risk. Stepping out of our comfort zones. Not a place a lot of people like to be. Fear of rejection, fear of failure, or fear of ridicule can be obstacles from risking. What stops you? I know what stops me and it is a lot of fear. There are many instances of risk taking when we read the Bible. Abram risked going from the land of his birth and family to a land God called him to. Moses risked by falling God's call to Egypt to free the natio...

Do you ever feel like God owes you something? That because you believe in Him, that He owes you something for that? Whatever you need or desire - God is obligated to give you. That if not for you, perhaps, that God would not be whole. Silly, maybe. But we each go through that now and then. It's a little prideful. I know, because I do that on too many occasions. Usually, when I am going through some kind of hardship or turmoil in my life. We feel since we believe in a loving God that he wouldn't let us go through any troubles. Or we can become jealous seeing "good" things happening to others but not us. Wondering why we stand outside of God's "love". There are lots of times these thoughts can creep into our minds. It's easy to do in my mind. We don't want to have pains or hardships - that's basic nature. We believe in a God that we know truly loves us. Therefore, our minds say, an all-powerful God would have the ability to keep problems fro...

"What do I do now, Dad?" Those were the words I said out loud to the night sky on the early morning of the 5th of July just outside my parent's house. It was in that moment I realized how much I needed his advice and how I wouldn't hear his voice again on this side of Heaven again. There are moments in life that you will never get out of your head, no matter how hard you try. July 4th is always going to be one of those days. My father had just passed away. It was all too surreal. Too much like a dream. My dad was going to be around forever. He was too strong, maybe too ornery perhaps, to ever die. Yet, here we were. Dealing with what had just occurred. When these things happen, it is fairly easy to run through your mind over the last moments. Things you wish you had said or done. Something you didn't do and should have. Not just in those moments, but over the last months when you knew time was precious. Times we could have talked more, jokes we could have share...

The Fourth of July will never, ever be the same for me. It never will be. We will never look back on this day as just Independence Day anymore. This is the day that we lost my father to cancer. As you get older, you begin to realize that there will come a time when the people you love will inevitably pass away. It's a fact of life that at some point in the future, we will all pass on. But, no matter how much you prepare yourselves for it, the reality of it strikes you with the full force of an out of control train. You're never every fully ready. I have talked about my father many times on this forum. A good man, a wise man, a sarcastic man. One who was loyal to friends and family and one I never heard a disparaging word about in my travels. The rock and foundation of our family. If you looked up dependable in the dictionary, his picture would be right there. For the last year of his life, he had struggled with cancer. They had diagnosed him in 2014 with esophageal cancer. ...

"For we walk by faith, not by sight" 2 Corinthians 5:7 What is faith? Some definitions are a strong belief or trust in someone or something. Allegiance to duty or a person. Firm belief in something for which there is no proof. What do we have faith in? A lot of people would say God. Others have faith according to their belief systems. We can have faith in other people, that they wouldn't harm us. We can have faith that our job (company) is secure or one's vehicle will get them from place to place. There's also the amount of faith we place in ourselves, in what we are able to do. "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see" Hebrews 11:1 What causes us to lose faith? Being let down by someone or something can have that effect. Trying our best and coming up short can cause us to question the faith in our own abilities. Difficulties can also crush one's hope and make them lose faith. When we don't see some...