Ever since the car accident, my right knee had been hurting. In fact, it would hurt so bad at times that I could barely walk on it. Because of this, I visited the doctor and he believed it was cartilage damage and there was some pills (actually natural) that I could take to elevate the pain and sort of lubricate my knee joint. I got those pills but they really were not helping much and I was just living in pain and coupled with the lack of ability to bend my leg very far.

So, when I arrived at the church on Tuesday night and Pastor Chuck asked me to help move the podium, which would require being on my knees, I was hesitant to say the least. However, I did not say anything and just decided to be obedient to the need that had arisen and suffer through the pain.

There were four of us set to move the podium as I got down on my knees. It hurt, but I just did my best to push that to the back of my mind as I focused on moving the podium. We needed to slide the podium and due to the Plexiglas the podium had to be moved from the base and nowhere else or it might break. And I for one did not want to tell my pastor I broke his podium because I was too lazy to follow instructions. The podium moved slowly across the floor as I pushed on my knee. Suddenly there was a loud pop coupled with a large pain followed by two smaller pops and corresponding pain. Honestly, I figured that it could not have been much worse even though it hurt because as it was there was days I could barely walk.

We finished moving the podium and I stood up ready for the shock, and shocked I was. There was no pain. Let me say that again, there was no pain. I went from great pain and discomfort to no pain. Here is the funny part, as much as I wanted to believe that I was healed, I didn’t say anything for fear that my knee might have been in shock and that later I would feel the pain. Well, I went through the night and the whole next day without pain. It was then that I discovered that I had back my full range of motion on my knee. I was so excited that I just about leapt in the air (but I didn’t because I did that once playing touch football and tore ligaments in the very same knee, but I wanted to jump).

Now, I could have told Pastor Chuck how I was feeling and I am certain that he would have excused me from moving the podium (I know this because he started to yell at me when I was testifying that I didn’t say something, but eventually was praising right along with me). But then would have been healed Tuesday night? I could have wound up missing my healing by bowing out of the service that was needed of me at that moment in time. It makes me wonder how many other blessings we might miss because we don’t jump in and help when asked or when we see the obvious need.

One thing is for sure, I am healed and very excited about it.

Trey Morgan had a great post about being fathers (click here) and it got me thinking.  Partly because it was on the heels of “Bring You Dad to School Day” at my son’s school and partly because I have seen so many people in our “Modern” times where the father is absent or not wanting to get involved.  Take the following as examples:

• One little girl was crying the whole time the dads were there because her father didn’t come (I don’t know why).

• Another child asked another dad sitting next to me, “Why doesn’t my dad care for me enough to come?”  Ouch!!  And how do you answer that.

• Of the 20-30 kids in my son’s class only five parents showed up.

• Of the over 700 students in the school only about 100 parents (which was dads, granddads and moms when the dad was not present) showed up.

What does all of this say about our families?  Trey Morgan said it best when he state, “It takes more than sperm to be a dad, it takes a man to be a dad.”

I just pray every night that God makes me the man that my kids need and my wife deserves.

Just about two weeks ago, on September 30th, I got into a car accident with our one and only car. I believed the light was green, but when every other car (about 3 deep across 3 lanes) comes at you, you realize that it is most likely you who was wrong. In either case, I headed into the intersection at about 40MPH when I noticed these cars coming toward me and immediately attempted to swerve to the left and hit the brakes. This did not stop me from impacting into the front driver’s side of a Honda Element and crushing the whole front end. In addition, I pushed the Honda and myself into a Ford F-350 who in turn crushed the back end of the Honda. My car took a good deal of damage to the front, hood and passenger side as I hit on the front passenger side and then slide broadside into her car. The good news is that NO ONE was hurt.

Immediately, I got out of the car and called 911 to report the accident and informed them that while we were still in the middle of the intersection at least one car needed to be towed. I also called my wife, who was a bit shocked to say the least. Following that, it was time to answer a ton of questions and wait on the police man (who was from Fort Worth Police department and very nice) to finish his report. At one point while I was waiting, I turned around and noticed Jim, a man from my church. In my slightly shocked and dazed state, I had thought it such a strange coincidence that he happened to be driving/walking by on the day I had my accident. Obviously he had come to help me.

This brings up an interesting testimony. A little while back, when we were at another church, my wife and my six-year-old (then three-years-old) broke down (about $3,000 worth of broke down) and were in the middle of traffic. My wife called me and I was stuck at work and could not help because everyone who could have given me a ride had left for the day. I told her to call the church and to our surprise she did not get a warm welcome. In fact, she spoke with the Pastor and his response was very negative when all she was asking for was a ride back to the apartment so that she didn’t have to try and walk home in the middle of after school traffic with a three-year-old. Since that time, we have found an absolutely great church. However, I can imagine what must have been going through my wife’s mind when she could not find someone to help me and placed a call to the church for help. In this case, our wonderful church administrator immediately got a hold of Jim, who is Mr. Fantastic when it comes to fixing anything at the church, and he came to my aide, a significant difference from our last experience.

Jim arrived on the scene as the police officer was still taking statements and asked me what happened. I informed him and then he proceeded to wait with me. As time passed, the police officer assessed the damage and called for a tow truck to take away the Honda. The Ford had a small minor dent from the accident and my car was demolished, but still drivable (sort of, there was metal and plastic rubbing the tires if you turned). Eventually, the police officer finished his part and gave me a piece of paper with his badge number and the police report number. Then everyone left except for me and Jim.

I called my insurance company to find out what to do next and as I was on the phone, another man from my church named James (I know James and Jim) happened by and stopped to help us. The reason this was so amazing and so totally God’s hand in this picture is that James operates (and I think owns) a transport company which has, as James was driving, a three or four car trailer. As I am talking with the insurance, I find out that I have to get it towed myself and then they reimburse me the money. The insurance offered to get the towing service for me, but God had already provided one with James. God is so amazing to set this up to help me in my time of need and I was tremendously blessed by James “happening” by.

We got my car over to Service King for assessment and potential repairs. At this point, the insurance company took over complete with getting us the rental car that we had on our policy. From the time that Jim arrived to help me until I was settled into the rental car was about four hours and the whole time Jim never left my side as a constant help and anchor in the midst of our storm. I am so thankful to God for having a great man like Jim there who is so willing to drop what he had going on to help me at a moments notice. And to top it off, I got to witness Jim in action sharing Jesus with the car rental man and let me tell you Jim is going to be having a lot of people come running to him in heaven because of his savvy way of sharing Jesus. He had this man very engaged in wanting to know about Jesus.

Then as quick as the accident happened, I was pulling out of Service King with the car rental on my way home. I had hoped to still try and make it into work, but I had hurt my right leg when it smashed into the center console and it was beginning to throb. I did go to church that night and received some prayer for my leg.

Before I go on, to understand how much of a blessing the next point is about getting a new car for us is, I need to tell you a couple of things. For starters, Vicky had to show me where the transmission fluid goes and why it is important. I knew about the gas tank, the windshield washer fluid and where the oil went, but I had very little idea about anything else. Vicky, while shocked because she grew up in an area where all the guys at least knew cars, laughed as she explained some of the basics. Of course, her knowledge was limited as well. So, in the past, whenever we would look for a car, we had to rely on the Holy Spirit to tell us which car was for us. That is actually a good thing to do, but sometimes the flesh can get in the way and confuse the issue. To counter this, I asked a friend of my at church named Mitch if he would at least go with me when I look at cars because I didn’t want to wind up with a lemon, because as nice as our old minivan was, it was in a major accident and the airbags did not deploy lending to the fact that there was more wrong with the used car when we bought it then they told us. Mitch agreed to help me.

Now it was up to finding out what the insurance was going to do and we were very happy about that. The reason is that almost two years ago Vicky was hit by a man who ran a red light (several witnesses confirmed this) and then he tried to flee the scene but God stomped on his car and it fell apart as it tried to leave. We found out that the man that hit her did not have insurance. And to make matters worse, when we called in our claim we found out that our insurance was canceled. There was no one who could or would cover the car and the almost $13,000 note still on it. I did try and reinstate our insurance because the money was there, but they would not do it because they knew the car was in an accident. Following that experience, this one was a very welcome blessing.

As good as it was in the unfortunate situation, we did have a little bump in the road. The original estimate that the insurance gave back to us for our car was very low. So low, that I doubted that we would be able to get another car with what was left after the loan was paid off. After a detailed examination of the quote, we discovered several inaccuracies. For example, it said we had a six-disc CD changer, but subtracted money because it said we did not have a CD/Radio system. It also subtracted for not having captain’s chairs and we did. And this was just the beginning. In speaking with my insurance representative, he decided to go back and rework the numbers. When he returned we received another $1.000 in our pay out which was a welcome change and we were very thankful for everyone’s prayers that helped move this situation in our favor.

After all the insurance paperwork was done, a check was sent and all that remained was for us to acquire a new vehicle. We really needed a minivan since we are a family of five and my youngest is still in a booster seat. So, I spoke with my good friend Mitch who deals with cars every day to see if he could be my eyes and ears and assessor of the potential vehicles so that I would know what was a good buy and what was not. I had explained to him about the prior bad credit due to the totaled car that was officially listed as a repossession. Mitch told me that we were going to go to a place that he knew and trusted because he knew the owners. Furthermore, he said that we were going to try and see if we could get it financed with a national company that would greatly help my credit. I agreed, but to be honest I was doing my best not to doubt that I would have a chance at a regular loan. Our last car, the minivan that was totaled, had to be financed through one of those “Note-and-Tote” in house deals because the banks would not touch us.

We arrived at Texas Motors Ford in Fort Worth and I was introduced to several great people who work there. The atmosphere was awesome and I never felt like a dollar sign which has happened to me before like the time the salesman told me to let them repossess the current car I had so that I could buy his. This place was not like that at all and I got the impression this was they way that they were and it was not that I had arrived with Mitch that I got this treatment. I worked with a man named Curtis at the dealership and we looked at a beautiful 2008 Chrysler Town and Country minivan. I took it for a test drive and just loved the car. But again, I was doing my best to smack down doubt that I would be able to get the vehicle and trying not to get too excited about the minivan as I drove it. But it was a sweet ride and looked really sharp with the SVU/minivan redesigned look about it.

Following the test drive, I really struggled a lot to keep my mind focused on the possibilities that God could have been opening up especially when it took so long. To add to my tension, at one point I had to do an interview with Jimmy, the finance gentleman. I knew how my stuff looked on paper and honestly had little hope and the longer it was taking the less hope I had. I was really trying to keep up my spirits, but it was not easy. After what seemed like an eternity, Jimmy came out and asked me to follow him. When I got in his office, he told me that we had good news and that he was able to find me a loan with payments only being $32 more a month than I was paying making it affordable. You could have just about pushed me over with a feather at that moment. I was in shock in a very good, exciting, elated way.

When all was said and done, I drove off of the lot with a new (used) 2008 Chrysler Town and Country that rides like a dream. I had already spoken with my wife about the car because she had a previous engagement that she could not break and she was excited, but not near as excited as when she got to come out and see and drive the car. We are truly blessed with this car that will provide us with a great many years of service.

All in all, I could not begin to tell you how much we are thankful to everyone and to God for all their help. Even though this was a bad situation, God’s hand was constantly involved with it from Jim coming to stand by my side to James who happened to be driving by with a car carrier to Mitch helping me find just the right car and being lead by the spirit to have me try and get a regular loan to everything in the middle and the things that I don’t know about that was worked for us and in our favor. My family and I are truly blessed and we are thankful.

Continuing in the series on marriage, I want to focus on a very important topic and that is the topic of change. Change comes in many forms from the concept of compromising with your spouse over one of the many decisions before you to life changes that alter you for the rest of your life like children or a disability to the ever changing face of your marriage itself. No matter what the specific situation change is inevitable and therefore one we must learn how to handle and face together.

This passage is all about change because it informs us that there is a season for everything. In your marriage, there is a season to court and a season to wed. There is a season to focus on your relationship and a season to have children. There is a season to be young and a season to grow old. Effectively, this passage is telling us that our marriages and our lives are wrapped around the concept that we walk through different seasons and must learn how to change for each season we are in. Just like the way you act when you are tearing something down (v3) is not the same way you act when you are building something up or else you will never be able to achieve each. In your marriage, you must learn how to move with the tides and the changes that come and be open to these changes. Some changes are good like having children, dating and growing old together. Some changes are not often good like losing your job, having bad health and suffering loss within the family. But all of these are seasons that we need to walk through and when you are married you need to walk through together.

In a typical relationship cycle, you will meet somewhere and begin to date until one day something changes and you discover that this is the one person that you want to spend the rest of your life with. That day may be the first day you laid eyes on your spouse to be or it may be many days down the road, but there is a moment in time that everything changes and this person that you are sharing your time with is no longer a friend or a person that you are hanging out with but the one that you are seeking to marry. You pop the question or the question is popped to you and then the wedding is planned (assuming you say yes). The joyous day with all of its pomp and circumstance comes and then bang, everything changes again. As mentioned in an earlier post (see Two Shall Become One Flesh), you are no longer two but one and now you have to discover what that means and how to fit into this new life and how to communicate and survive the jungles and traps of this world. But the beauty of marriage is that you don’t ever have to do it alone because you have your spouse to help you along with God. Then one day, everything changes again when you suddenly discover that a child will soon be arriving. You are nervous and excited, terrified and overjoyed and full of more emotions and love than you ever thought possible. In fact, you discover that even though you did not think it was possible to love any more than you already did, suddenly you have a whole new source of love coming from deep within you for this child while somehow growing your love for your spouse. The day your bouncing bundle of joy arrives you could not be happier and the pain is soon a distant memory. Everyone ohs and ahs at the new child when they see you, but you are left with the amazing responsibility of having to raise this life into adulthood and you realize that life that you once had was gone and everything has changed. But this is not bad and all is not for loss as you discover the amazing feelings you have playing with this new little life that thinks you are not only the center of the universe but the coolest thing since sliced bread, if it was to know what sliced bread was. Over the years they grow and as they move from stage to stage, your life changes from feeding them to helping them walk to disciplining to helping with homework to becoming more of a resource for wisdom and coaching in their later teen years. And depending on your family sizes, you might have gone through that multiple times. Suddenly one day you wake up and discover that all of the children have moved out and it is just you and your spouse all over again. Sure you can visit any time, but at home when the business of the day wears off, it is just you and your soul mate looking back at each other again.

A new day had begun and new changes happened illustrating the simple fact that all throughout your life you are constantly dealing with change. And none of the changes I listed above dealt with changes in technology, economy, jobs and other events that cause families to have to make decisions that are many times well outside of what they had originally planned for. My point being is that we must be flexible and willing to alter plans, adapt to new ideas and concepts, compromise in certain areas when necessary all with the common goal of what is best for your marriage keeping in mind that the center of your marriage is God then the couple.

On that note, let us take a look at a familiar piece of Scripture.

As odd as this may sound, we must understand that God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever and the reason that this is important is because we must understand that while our situations may come as a surprise to us it does not come as a surprise to God. He knew about it long before we did and his Word still applies. Too many people have this impression that God is somehow finding out things when we are as if God is sitting on his throne biting his nails wondering what will happen next. Nothing is further from the truth. God knows all things and has a plan for us and more importantly has set in place His Word which does not ever change (Psalm 119:89). He did this so that we could always have an anchor in the midst of any storm to hold on to and trust in. He also did this so that no matter what we could invoke His Word and expect Him to not only adhere to it but to move heaven and earth in order to ensure that it comes to pass. This is why the Bible tells us that God watches over his Word.

While God is not changing, we do. Things both inside and outside of our control are constantly in motion about us to cause things to change. In some cases, we have control over these changes. For example, one of the spouses gets offered a job in another state that would require a move and the couple sits down and decides together whether or not this is what is best for the family. This decision may involve a compromise of some kind. One of the spouses may have to compromise living near family in favor of this new job and new life in the new state for the family. Whatever the decision, changes in their life that in this case were within their control caused them to be in a position to make a life altering decision that would change the way that they live. Some changes are outside of our control. For example, one of the spouses becomes handicapped due to an injury at work or a car accident and they are no longer able to work causing, perhaps, the loss of a home.

It was June of 2000 when I received a call from a close friend of mine that I had not seen in a couple of years. To be honest, given my situation, I am not even certain how he got my phone number, but he found it and gave me a call. I was living at the time in mid-state New York about thirty miles outside of Albany near my wife’s family. However, I was having a very hard time finding a job because there was just not much need for an engineer in that area. My friend was telling me about the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area in which he and his wife had recently moved because it was teeming with jobs. I was reluctant to move my family so far away from my wife’s family but my wife suggested that we had nothing to lose by opening my resume up to anywhere in the entire United States. Within twenty-four hours, I received something like forty calls most of which were for the Texas area all wanting to interview me. It was becoming obvious that my best chance for a job was not in New York, but in Texas. So, we borrowed some money and began a trip to Texas. While the trip was costing us more than we expected, we hit a major problem in Tennessee. Our thermostat went and we had to get it replaced. For the first time in my life, I think I was entertained by angels because to find a service station was almost impossible. But we finally got directions that literally included leaving the pavement and continuing on a dirt road. Sure enough a little ma and pa service type station was out in the middle of nowhere on this little dirt road. As the man serviced our car, the lady of the station talked to us and heard our story. We were there for several hours and only paid about $90 which both my wife and I knew was way too little for all the work that was done. On top of that, the car never ran so good as it did when they were done with it. I truly believe we were in the presence of angels at that moment. When we returned to the highway, we did a quick recount and discovered that we had enough to get to Texas and enough to return home to the children, but not both. I already had interviews lined up for when I arrived so we decided that there was nothing for us going backwards (except the kids of course) and went on to Texas. It was several days later that I interviewed for Motorola, because it was Fourth of July weekend. Within less than twenty-four hours of the interview, I received and accepted an offer, was in touch with the relocation division and was moved to corporate housing while arrangements were being made for us to return and get our children and stuff. God moved quickly and mightily once I opened myself to change.

When God does something, it is very often far above and more abundant and beyond what we could think or ask for which is why it is important to be open to whatever changes that God would want to bring your way.

Life altering changes do not always come in the form of jobs and easy decisions. My wife and I were told that we would never have children. Our doctor at the time decided that even though it was basically impossible, we would try anyway. After months of doing the charting and temperatures and headaches of not seeing any change, my wife finally got pregnant (see Hearing do you Understand). We were excited and that is when it hit us, were we ready for a child? We had spent so much time trying to get pregnant that we did not consider if we were ready for one. I have learned that no matter how much you read and how much time you spend around other babies; nothing can prepare you for when your little bundle of joy arrives. I can remember the day after in the hospital. Somehow I had this impression that life would halt almost as if it had taken in a deep breath and was holding it for a moment while I acclimated myself to this new little child. But it didn’t. In fact, life moved on whether I was ready or not. My child moved on needing to be changed and feed and cuddled and loved whether I was ready or not. In fact, the baby had no idea about my concerns because she had only just arrived and just needed me. And the best thing I could do was to be there no matter how my life changed because of her. And I have been there ever since through all the good times and the bad and I can speak from experience that I would not trade it for anything.

Even Jesus was flexible to change. Let us take a look at a familiar passage of Scripture, but in a different light.

I am sure most everyone has read this or heard this passage about Jesus’ first miracle before. However, I want to zero in on verse 4 for a moment. We read that when Jesus replies to his mother, he tells her that, “My hour has not yet come.” Jesus is saying that it is not yet time for him to perform a miracle. Another way of looking at this is that when Jesus and God the Father sat down and planned his life, it did not include a miracle at this wedding which is why his hour had not yet come. However, Mary did not respond directly to him but informed the servants to do whatever he said to do. Effectively trusting him to do something and as his mother expecting him to heed to her word. Jesus, you could say, was in a pickle. On the one hand, he had the plan of God that did not include a miracle at the wedding. On the other hand, he had the fourth commandment in which he must honor his mother which I would also point out all of his disciples gather around him would be aware of.

So, what did Jesus do? He performed a miracle because Jesus knew that God, while always the same and his Word is settled in heaven, changes his plan when people do things that cause his plan to be changed. Just look at what happened in Numbers 13 with the twelve spies who went to Canaan and gave a bad report causing God to punish them for forty years instead of taking them directly to the Promised Land.

Even Jesus changed and performed his first miracle at the wedding and honored his mother. Since Jesus is our example, we must also realize that there is a time when we must change. Jesus was steadfast and uncompromising when it came to the Word of God, but when it came to the plan of God he was more flexible because he understood that God, while never changing, does alter things to work into his plan our decisions. We can learn from Jesus and apply this to our marriages. We can be steadfast on the promises of God for our marriages to make us one and bless us, but be willing to be flexible when it comes to how the plan of things within our family will be walked out. If we do, I promise you that you will not only find it easier to work together to face any storm, but will find the blessings of God flowing greater into your family.

I hope this has helped you get a glimpse into the concept of change in a marriage and a life. Next time I am going to discuss the power of the three squeezes. By sure to be checking back for that message.

Love in Christ.

The Marriage Series (so far):

• Part 1 : Marriages – Introduction

• Part 2 : Marriages – Two Shall Become One Flesh

• Part 3 : Marriages – The Role of a Lifetime

• Part 4 : Marriages – The Authority of the Spouse

• Part 5 : Marriages – Hearing Do You Understand

• Part 6 : Marriages – Sex, Wait, That is in the Bible

• Part 7 : Marriages – The Addition of Children

• Part 8 : Marriages – Men Exude Security and Loyalty

• Part 9 : Marriages – Woman Radiate Adoration and Respect

What would you be willing to do for Jesus? What would he ask you to do? Watch this video and see what Jesus might want you to do and see if your response would be the same or different

I am back and with a powerful message to everyone who is the head of the household and the home. Everyone needs to tune in and listen to what God told me about how I was failing my family and how to change that. This is a powerful podcast that no one can be without so listen in and learn how to BE the high priest of the home and wield your authority.

Gossip and slander is a cancer root in a church that needs to be nipped as soon as it is uttered, but all too often we fall into the trap of going along with it. Perhaps it is our curiosity on what might be said about another good or bad, or perhaps it is just our flesh seeking the desires of the flesh. Whatever the reason, we need to not let it grow.

I bring this up because I watched “The Preacher’s Wife” with Denzel Washington (Dudley the Angel) last night. I had been resisting watching this movie for some time because the trailer makes it out to be something it is not. However, I happened upon it the other day and what I saw was good and intrigued me so I thought I would watch and see. I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, there are some Hollywood fumbles in it as it gets the theology wrong about angels. But I can look past that and see the movie for what it is.

That said, there was a moment in the movie shortly after Dudley first meets the pastor he is sent to help and receives the cold shoulder where he inadvertently begins something that could be gossip or slander. The scene went something like this (and I am doing this from memory so I might not get all of the words right, but the intention is).

This scene was a brilliant example of exactly what we should do when we hear gossip or slander especially when it is about the leadership of our churches. We should stop it in there tracks. We should say something along with the Vendor like this:

This is the way we all should be and a stellar example of what Jesus would want. Just take a look at what the Bible says about gossip.

Let us all strive to not gossip or slander, but to take up what the vendor in this movie did and defend those who labor so hard amongst us for our benefit.

God is amazing! There really is no other way to say it. Allow me a moment to tell you about what happened in church yesterday that just blew my family away. But before I can tell you what happened yesterday, let me give you a bit of background.

To begin with, my eldest daughter, Katie, has been playing the clarinet for just about two years now. Back when she started, we knew this was a God thing. When she went to the meet the band night to try out instruments, the band director told her that she was perfect for the clarinet. They gave her a mouthpiece to try but informed her that no one ever gets a sound out of it the first time. Well, she did and got the attention of just about everyone in the room. The man who was helping her told her to hold for a moment as he assembled the whole clarinet and then told her to do what she just did again as he fingered the notes and she blew the air and a short song was played. The band director at this point had walked over and said, “If you don’t sign her up for clarinet you are out of a job.” Of course, she was joking, but as we would learn later, Katie is naturally anointed and gifted for the clarinet.

Well, now she needed a clarinet and we did not have one. I went down to the local music store that the school had dealt with (they have since changed to deal with a better store called Music and Arts) and wanted to sign up for the rental agreement. They told me on the first visit just come down with the deposit. They forgot to tell me that there was a credit check which we failed. So, I was left with a child I knew was anointed to play an instrument that I could not afford to purchase (even a used one). I did not know what to do. My wife, Vicky, and I prayed. God reminded Vicky that she was on this thing called FreeCycle (www.freecycle.org) and that you could post and wanted item. We posted our need and did not know what would happen. A week went by and nothing. Then we received a call from a woman whose daughter played the clarinet in high school and college and has since gotten a new clarinet but her old high school one was just sitting in a closet. She gave us the clarinet. We took it and had some work done on it. The only down side was that the work (new pads and springs) took two weeks and school had started. We had talked with the band director that let Katie stay in the class. Katie sat next to a friend and watched everything she did. We got the clarinet back on a Friday night and she practiced all weekend long. They had a chair test (it is an exam to see how well you play compared to everyone else) on Monday morning and Katie got first chair. Again demonstrating just how gifted God has anointed her.

Since then, Katie finished seventh grade being first chair the whole year. Then she made symphonic band which essentially means she skipped a year in band. Following on this, as an eighth grader she was one of only a select few who made Honor Band and she was the number one eighth grader. I mention all of this not to boast in Katie, but to boast in the Lord who has anointed her.

Fast forward to this summer, where we informed Katie that somehow God was going to get her a new clarinet because it was time. I had been receiving a bunch of overtime at work. The clarinet complete with the needed accessories cost just over $3,100. Family members began to send her money. The Sunday before her birthday while sitting in church, she asked Vicky the following. “If I understand correctly, I want a clarinet that cost $3000 so if I give $30 offering then God will honor that with a hundred fold return of my new clarinet.” I can’t tell you how proud I am of my daughter to have seen us and heard the pastor and learned that from God. Vicky told her yes and she asked for her checkbook and wrote out the check and gave it in offering. On Wednesday of that week, we went down and tried the clarinets and found the one that is to be Katie’s and put it on lay away. God had provided the first $1,100 to put down leaving $2,000 left.

Now, Sunday, yesterday, comes along and pastor comes up to Vicky and gives her some money that he promised to give Katie towards her clarinet. And if it stopped there, that would have been awesome, but it didn’t. During the service (and I was not there, so you will have to bear with my second hand retelling), God spoke to Pastor that God wants Katie to have the clarinet sooner rather than later and he got up and shared about Katie’s need and that God wants her to have the new clarinet and he was believing that this church was going to help her get the clarinet off of lay away. People were coming up and laying money on the altar for Katie. She was so excited on the phone telling me about it. In fact, she said, and I quote, “This is better than my birthday!” She knows that God is coming through and being faithful to her because she was faithful to him. And it is so awesome.

Now, we don’t know how much was given yet but we know that God is in the mix. And he is so awesome and I am so excited to see what he is doing and how he is blessing my family and showing Katie just how big he is and how real he is. As my father in Christ said, Katie “Crossed a line” Sunday when God became so very real to her that there is no going back. And as her father, I am so excited I am bursting at the seams with joy for my God who ROCKS!!!

Sorry I have been working some crazy hours and missed a week or two. But I am back with a powerful AquiCast about being seated in Heavenly Places and what that means. Listen in and find out what is yours because of what Jesus did on the cross and how he comes to reside within you today.

I watched the new Pilgrim’s Progress movie and I was touched by the story and then my devotion was out of Psalm 23. Listen in and see how God skillfully connected the two as only God can to teach me something that I am sharing with you.

Everyone has wondered about Angels and what is their role. In this week’s AquiCast, we take a look at some aspects of Angels including the three named Angels and what functions Angels perform. It is important to understand about Angels since they are used of God throughout the Scriptures and our lives. Listen in and see what God might speak to you about concerning his heavenly host.

Surprisingly, the Bible has a lot to say about our enemy, the devil. And for good reason. After all, God warns us to not be ignorant of the schemes of the devil so that no advantage can be taken of us. In other words, God is telling us, like any good leader, to know thy enemy. But how many of us have really taken to the time to do that or to do that correctly. On this AquiCast, I talk from the Word of God about our enemy and what we need to know so that we can do battle against him. This is a must for everyone to listen in on.

I just recently read a post on Trey Morgan’s blog (The Dirt Joke) where is explains a situation where his wife told him something and then he thought he found out that his wife was wrong and could not wait to gloat over her only to find out that he was wrong in the end.

That post reminded me of a time when I was certain that my wife was in the wrong. As a husband, we want to be right, but all too often we find ourselves charging into a situation for whatever reason without listened and taken to heart the full benefit of the counsel of our wives only to discover that our wives were right. I have learned that for whatever reason God seems to have blessed wives with the uncanny ability to be right most of the time if not almost all the time. And yet, time and time again, we husbands will still charge ahead not heeding the advice from the closest person apart from God with our best interest at heart. It is a strange thing that we do and really need to overcome because I think at the heart of it is pride. Yes, men, I am speaking that our pride gets in the way and does not let us see the wisdom that God has very often endowed our wives with that we desperately need to see in order to not look foolish or worse.

The post about the joke reminded me of a time when I was in college. At the time, my wife was working at night at UPS loading trucks and I was working all day at college (as a student). So, I watched the kids at night and was responsible for getting them to bed and such. Well, one night, our oldest, Katie, had asked me for the “Dinosaur” movie. She was maybe three years old at the time. I scanned all of our VCR tapes (gives you an idea of how long ago it was) and only found one movie that had dinosaurs in it and that movie was “Jurassic Park”. Surely my wife had a better head on her shoulders than to let our little child watch such a grown up movie. So, I continued to look but found nothing. Katie continued to call out for the dinosaur movie. Finally, I pulled out “Jurassic Park” and asked her if this was the movie that mommy would let her watch. She told me “Yes!” I again asked her if she was sure that this was the dinosaur movie and that mommy let her watch this movie. Katie was emphatic about the fact that “Jurassic Park” was in fact the movie and mommy lets her watch it all the time. So, what was I to do but let her watch the movie.

Katie spent the better part of the movie with her head buried in my side as the dinosaurs were scaring her. And I was becoming hopping mad and was rehearsing my speech over and over again about how I was going to give my wife the riot act. After all how could she let a three year old watch this movie. I could not believe it. Eventually the movie was over and I got Katie to bed. I was still upset but it would be several hours before my wife would be home and in all that time I was able to think, rethink and think again about how I was going to handle this. I finally decided to confront my wife when she walked in the door and let her have it because after all my daughters welfare was at stake and she deserved to be told how wrong she was.

After waiting and waiting, my wife finally got home and I could hear the keys in the door. I was ready and waiting as I had prepared myself. As she closed the door, I launched my ambush with, “I can’t believe that you let Katie watch ‘Jurassic Park!’” To which my wife was a bit in shock and replied with a simple, “What?” I proceeded to tell her what happened and how I found out about her dirty little secret that she had going on. As I was retelling the dastardly tale, my wife interrupted me with a single sentence that not only stopped me in my tracks but shattered my whole attack. She said the following, “The dinosaur movie is the ‘Flintstones’ not ‘Jurassic Park!’” Suddenly my frontal assault fell apart and instead of being able to yell at my wife for exposing my very young daughter to such an adult movie, I was the one who crossed the line. My ambushed quickly turned into a retreat as my wife, who was not rightly enraged, countered with “And even if you didn’t know that how on earth could you let her watch that movie?” I didn’t have an answer because, once again, my wife was right. No matter how much my little girl begged and pleaded, I should have never put in that movie and yet I did. If I didn’t feel bad enough, my wife added this little zinger of a line, “And you should trust me enough to know that I would never let her watch this kind of movie!” Double whammy ouch and ouch! She was totally right. Not only should I not have listened to my girl, I should have trusted that my wife would not have shown her that movie and there must be another dinosaur movie in their somewhere.

That night did not go well for me. To make matters worse, Katie, some how, loved “Jurassic Park” and it became her favorite movie for about two weeks where she watched it probably a hundred times. Of course, now that she knew the ending she would instead of hiding yell at the “bad” dinosaur for chasing everyone, but it only served as a constant reminder to me of my folly because I not only didn’t trust my wife but was blinded by wanting to be right and be able to yell at her that I missed that I should have been thinking straight and never put on that movie in the first place. In other words, my pride got in the way and I fell and took my daughter down to some degree with me. Thank God that he corrected this situation and Katie has no recollection of this or the movie to this day.

So, men, husbands, let us swallow our pride and take full advantage of the best resource next to God that has been supplied to us for our benefit and that is the wise counsel of our wives.

Star Trek
Movie Rating: Story :  ★★★★★  Characters :  ★★★★★  Acting :  ★★★★★  Production :  ★★★★★  Family :  ★★★★☆  Overall :  96%
Movie Info: Release Date : May 7, 2009 Running Time : 2 hrs 7 mins Genre : Sci-Fi, Action, Sequel MPAA Rated : PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence and brief sexual content. Staring : Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Winona Ryder Director : J.J. Abrams Written by : Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci

INTRODUCTION:

When I first heard that they were making a new Star Trek movie, I was excited because I love Science Fiction and I love Star Trek. I have not always thought that they have made the best of movies, like The Final Frontier or The Motion Picture, but I have always had a love for Star Trek. I believe it goes back to watching the reruns on television with my dad sitting on the couch and being excited about what adventure Kirk, Spock and McCoy were getting themselves into. Later when Star Trek The Next Generation high the television air waves, we were once again glued to the television sitting on the couch and watching let alone having seen all the movies. So, there has been a lot of love and family for me and Star Trek and it gave me something to look forward to when I heard that they were making a new one.

STORY:

Hearing there would be a new Star Trek was one thing, finding out what the premise would be about was a completely different surprise. Having recently given the new Battlestar Galactica a surprising try and having enjoyed the show, I had some reserved enthusiasm for the time travel concept and the original crew recasted. My biggest concerns were how they were going to “update” and “modernize” the show because they Hollywood has really butchered some family classics in the name of “Bringing the show into the twenty-first century.” So, I was cautious about what they might do. I can say that what was on screen was nothing short of amazing while being completely faithful to the original show.

Without giving away the story details, the movie centers on James Tiberius Kirk and his later days at the Starfleet Academy. We get to see how he meets Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty and the rest of the main cast from the original show. There are plenty, and I mean plenty, of homages to the original show if you are a fan, but they are not forced nor are they integral to the plot so that you can enjoy the movie without having watched one moment of Star Trek in the past. Since it is no secret that Leonard Nimoy appears as “Spock Prime”, as the credits state, there is a time travel event that occurs causing Spock Prime to wind up in the past. This event is the catalyst for the conflict between the Enterprise under the command of Captain Pike and the Narato, the ship that Captain Nero, the bad guy, is commanding. This event, which I am not giving away on purpose, leads to the main thrust of not only the story, but how many of the crew wind up on the Enterprise to begin with. It is a very well put together story and one solid ride from beginning to end that the whole family can enjoy.

CHARACTERS:

The interesting thing about this movie is that most of the characters are all characters we have seen before. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, etc are all familiar characters from the Star Trek universe that we are very intimate with and have a history with. Therefore, making this movie occur at this time and recast these characters was a gutsy move and one that I was not sure was going to work UNTIL I heard that they casted Zachary Quinto as Spock. I knew Zackary, not personally mind you, from the NBC show Heroes and have loved his portrayal of the bad guy Sylar. Especially when I have seen him in interviews and been able to ascertain that he is a very talented actor. From that point, I could think of no one else who would be able to pull off the role of Spock better than Zackary. So, when I read that he was cast, I knew that J.J. Abrams was serious about the movie and the direction.

ACTING:

That said, all of the cast did an amazing job in each and every role of the film. As I mentioned about Zackary, he was amazing as Spock. Just amazing. Equally Amazing was Karl Urban who played Leonard McCoy with amazing accuracy. In fact, if you would have closed your eyes, you would have thought that Deforest Kelley was back from the dead in the movie. He was great. Chris Pine put his own take on Kirk that was at moments a dead ringer for the mannerism of William Shatner and at other times his own creation. The mix making for a perfect blend of what one might imagine a young James Kirk to be. And the rest of the cast was the same. As you went down the line, character after character was great. In fact, the one person I was concerned about was Simon Pegg because he was more of a comedian than anything else in his previous roles and given his trailer appearance where he had one line about the ship being exciting, I was afraid Scotty would be a bumbling idiot. But he was not and the performance by Simon was fantastic.

PRODUCTION:

Everything about this movie was top notch and amazing even down to the sets. The new bridge set was just great. As an engineer, I loved to see how they updated the bridge while maintaining everyone’s stations in their original positions. In addition, I loved seeing the sets for Starfleet and the transporters. All of it was done with great flare.

The computer generated space scenes were breathtaking. I would love to tell you more about this, but if I did, I think I would give away the story way too much here.

I did have one complaint. The lens flare affect, at least I think that was what it was, was used way too much. To the point, where it got very old very fast. I realize that on the bridge especially there were so many places where there were lights that probably would have created that had a documentary been being filmed, but this was not a documentary and could have been avoided. A time or two or three, but the many times it was used just seemed like overkill.

FAMILY FRIENDLINESS:

The movie is PG-13 for intense action and the action does get intense. But no more than any other Sci-Fi movie that is out there. The other reason that it is rated PG-13 is for sexual content and that comes from the always flirting James Kirk. For those who remember the original series, Kirk was always getting it on with the latest crewmember or alien female and here he is hitting on everyone from Uhura or her roommate to nurses in sickbay. There is even a scene where Uhura returns to her room and Kirk is hiding under the bed. We see Uhura strip down to her underwear and Kirk is already in his. You don’t see anything more revealing, but you know what their intentions were. Overall, I would say that this not as bad as could have been, but it was almost not necessary given the rest of the story and from what I have heard from some of the deleted scenes due to time, I would have rather they left this out.

In addition to Kirk’s flirting, there is a some swearing here and there, but to be honest not enough to send my radar off the charts. It was there and my personal stance on swearing is that if you use it or write it you are not creative enough to think of something more intellectual to say and you resort to primal behavior. However, in our society, it seems more and more people are resorting to that so it makes its way into movies and this one has it. But as I mentioned, I remember hearing a word here or there, but not a lot.

OVERALL:

This movie was just fun and exciting and just about everything you go to the movies for.

CONCLUSION:

The Movie Dad is giving this movie his thumbs way up and recommending it for anyone who is a teenager (13 years old) and up. I think the epic space feel of the movie is well worth the price of admission and there is nothing like seeing a movie on the big screen. It is a thrill ride a minute that is fun for the whole family and if you happen to be a Trekker or Trekkie, then you will love all of the references to the original show. Enterprise beam me up!!

Ok, so, I am driving down the road to bring my daughter to dinner for her birthday and see this billboard sign and it catches my attention. Understand that most signs don’t because they are terrible, but this one is a white sign and on one side says LUST and the other side says LOVE in red letters with the words “I am second” in white on a black patch in the center with the website www.iamsecond.com in the corner. I struck me because I really didn’t know what it was about and yet it was drawing me. I did not know then, but I know now that it was my spirit was that was drawing me to this sign.

It is a day later and I am at my computer and I remember this sign and go to the website. It is also plain, but it has a person on the right and a statement “I am second,” that you can click which takes you to a video of them speaking. Well, I was not prepared to hear the amazing testimonies of how God has changed these peoples lives and then to have them declare that they are second or say at the end “I am second” to God. I sat there and listened to several of them. The one I liked the most is the one from Stephen Baldwin where his cleaning lady told his wife she was not there to just clean the house but because they would become Christians and have a ministry. This is an amazing website. You have to check it out.

And it got me to thinking about how I am second. God is in control of my life and Jesus is Lord of my life and I am happily second to them. I can remember a time before them when I was living for me and how lust and pornography got me into trouble with the law on multiple occasions and was leading me down a very bad path. But God got a hold of me and shook me up because he has a plan and a ministry for me down the road. He has had many people like that maid tell me that God has things in store and for a while like Stephen I ran. But I am not running away from God anymore. On July 12, 1992, in a little church in upstate New York I made Jesus lord of my life. And then several years later, while having Jesus as lord, but still trying to be the one in control, I gave everything over to him and told him that I made a mess of things and that if he could do anything with this life it was his. Since then, he has moved me to Texas and given me a great job. He continues to inspire me in writing and also is developing some interesting contacts. I know that God has great things in store and I am excited. But the coolest thing is that I don’t have to worry about one thing. I just get to enjoy the ride because God is in control and “I am second.”

I saw this on Trey Morgan’s blog and it was just so powerful and really a touching reminder of family I thought I would post it here for everyone to see.

The enemy formed another weapons against us and tried to come between my brother and me, but God is good and amazing and awesome and caused this weapon not to prosper as he promised he would. You can read all about it on the Daniel Fast Blog site called “A Call To Fast” where I posted the Testimony by clicking here. Our God truly is an awesome God!!

On Monday December 8th, my wife was waiting in the parking lot outside my office when she noticed that the temperature gauge for the engine was almost in the red zone. This was not good so she immediately turned the car off while she waited for me. When I got in the car, she told me what happened. As I started the car, the temperature shot up to well over half. Since we were at my work and had to get home and I have had a thermostat go in a car before, I decided to drive the car home and watch the engine temperature. By the grace of God, we arrived home without issue.

The next morning, we arranged with my brother to have my sister-in-law bring me to work after she got off from working overnight. On the other hand, my wife proceeded to take our car to a mechanic who checked the car out. We had prayed and hoped that the car would cost us somewhere in the neighborhood of about a hundred dollars as we had just put two hundred dollars in the car to get it to pass inspection. We would later discover that the estimate was about $1,300, which was well above the amount of money that we had available to us.

I was at work when Vicky called me with the news. She was in tears and to be honest I was at a loss for words coupled with the fact that I was in the middle of my office and unable to console her anyway. For a moment in time, I was having d?j? vu and I didn’t know what to do.

Allow me to explain. Almost exactly a year ago to the day, we had a Kia Optima that died in the middle of the road when my wife was returning home. She had James in the car when it died. She called me at work, but as it would happen at that moment in time there was no one would around who could bring me to her. She then called the church we were attending at the time and their basic attitude was good luck with that which was not helping our situation or the fact that Vicky was stranded in the middle of the road with a just about to turn five year old who did not understand why he had to stay in the car. Eventually a police office came by and helped to push the car off the road to a side street and then a tow truck came and towed the car to a dealer to get it looked at. Vicky was stuck having to walk home on a major road with James and lugging the car seat.

The car dealer discovered that the timing belt had snapped and took out a good portion of the engine with it and the repairs came to $3,000. Given what happened with the church and everything else, I honestly didn’t have the faith to turn to God for the answers. I didn’t rely on him or wait on him for what I was supposed to do and made a very bad decision on how to pay for the car. A decision that still haunts me today.

We received the car back and less than a month later; it was totaled in a car accident as my wife was driving home from picking up Katie, my oldest daughter. You could literally see the hands of God wrapped around the drivers and passengers seat as the car that hit them hit the front and destroyed the engine and then spun around and hit the rear section totally missing where they were sitting. The down side was that the man did not have insurance and when we went to file the claim, we discovered that we missed with all my medical issues that our insurance had been canceled.

God provided us a vehicle, the one that was now in the shop and estimated to be $1,300 in repairs and my mind was racing back to last year and what to do. I was saying a silent prayer to God that I couldn’t go back to that because I knew that was wrong, but that he HAD to come through somehow and some way.

Vicky called the church and Gayle, our wonderful church secretary, sent out and email for people to pray at the same time I was sending out an email to everyone I had emails for calling on them to pray for our needs. Gayle prayed with Vicky and helped to encourage her that God would come through somehow.

Mark and Dina are friends of ours from church whom God has begun to knit together. Last Saturday night, we had the opportunity to get to know them when we were invited to their Christmas party at which we had a great time. Dina replied to my email within fifteen minutes with the simple message to have Vicky call. The reason she wanted us to call was because they had a mechanic that they knew and trusted. The long story short is that we transferred the car from the one mechanic to the mechanic that they knew. He gave us a new quote. This quote was about $25 less, but included a bunch more work that needed to be done. This was both great and depressing news at the same time.

Maria and Mario are friends of ours from church who we have knit together with because we share many of the same difficulties as well as both of us having been selected by the Pastor to be Connection Group leaders. About thirty minutes after I sent out the email, I received an email from Maria for our phone number so that she could call and pray with Vicky. However, I was in a meeting and not able to get back to her right away. Since I was taking too long, she called the church and got our number and contacted Vicky and stood with her in prayer as well as encouraged her.

To add to this, a member from our church contacted us and told us that they could help us with the bill by loaning us $600 to be paid back as we were able. This was a tremendous blessing because it immediately showed me that God was moving and that God was taking care of this whole thing, which I should have known from the beginning because that is the kind of God he is and always has been. But you know, sometimes when you fall off of a horse, it is hard to get back on no matter how good the horse is. I just thank God that he is patient with us.

This is where God really gets awesome. I was at my desk at work rubbing my head because my blood pressure was up and my head was hurting and a man comes up to me that I have been working with for the last almost five years and asks how am I doing. I told him that I was not so good. He asked what was up. I told him that the car was busted and that I had hoped that it was be inexpensive, but that it was going to be a lot of money and then he did the most unexpected thing. He moved in real close and said, “Do you need some money?” I was shocked and was not sure what to say other then I didn’t know when I could pay him back and he told me not to worry about that. Now, this happened less than an hour after finding out that the estimate of the car was going to cost as much as it did. In the end, when I found out the actual price of the car the next day, I needed to borrow $600, and I went and asked for the money. This man, who is a sweet and wonderful man asked if that would be enough and then offered me a $1,000 to make sure that I had enough to get by to be paid back when I can.

So, let me break down what God did for us. I found out that the car was going to cost well more then I had and could even think about coming up with. My best hope was my next paycheck, which was ten days away and spoken for to pay rent and Christmas. When I found this out, I prayed and God did the following IN LESS THAN AN HOUR. Gayle encouraged my wife and sent an email having the church pray for our needs. Mark and Dina called with a much better mechanic that did much more that was needed for a total of $1,189. Maria called Vicky, my wife, and encouraged and prayed for her. A member of my church called and loaned us $600 towards the repairs. A man from my offered to loan me money towards the repairs. He turned out loaning us a $1,000. All of this because I trusted in God to supply my needs and He showed up through these people. I don’t know what your need is right now, but I can tell you without a doubt that if you put it in God’s hands, he will take care of it for you just like he did for me and continues to do for me.

WOW! This story is amazing.

Our Hero is Coming Home

After nearly 14 years of equine rescue, I thought that I had seen it all, sadly . . .

I WAS WRONG.

After nearly 14 years of equine rescue, I thought that I had seen it all, sadly . . . I WAS WRONG.

On October 18th, Troy and I were contacted by those in charge of recovering a small horse that was found by hunters wandering in the high wilderness of the Cascade Mountain range. Evident by his halter and dragging lead rope, the bay Arab gelding was clearly not wild. Instead, while he was being transported to Bend Equine Medical Center for emergency treatment, he was kind and gentle, quietly submitting to those who were trying to care for him. Based on what little information that could be gathered, it was estimated that he had been wandering for several weeks. Even for a small horse, he looked to be about 200 lbs. underweight and was INCREDIBLY dehydrated. Once at the hospital, it was confirmed . . . his wounds were severe.

A leg wound on the back of his left front cannon was so festered with rampant infection that its rotten stench filled the room. A ‘makeshift’ bandage of green vet wrap had grown into the leg and effectively become a tourniquet, further adding to the suffering of this abandoned horse. Once the layers of caked blood, puss and bio-matter were removed, the tendons of his leg were clearly visible.

Even more troubling was the fact that his left eye was completely destroyed and hanging out of its socket. There was also a very suspicious looking depressed wound near his left eye. His head, neck, shoulder and front leg gave further evidence of the severity of his injuries, as they were heavily crusted with his own blood. As bad as his eye injury was, his head injury was much worse.

X-rays revealed the UNTHINKABLE. This gentle, little horse with the kind spirit . . . had been shot in the head. His x-rays clearly showed where someone had shot him three inches behind his left eye. The trajectory of the bullet traveled through the top of his lower jaw, shattering it, and continued to penetrate his skull as it exploded into nearly three dozen-inoperable-fragments of jagged shrapnel. Compounding his plight even further, his blood tests showed that he had lost fully HALF of his blood volume.

It was hard to believe, looking at him for the first time, that he had survived for an undetermined amount of time with a horrifically infected leg wound, a broken jaw, a destroyed eye and lethal blood loss, all with an exploded bullet scattered throughout his head. If this weren’t bad enough, he was also left to wander in a high altitude forest while dragging a lead rope. Any one of these things should have destroyed him. Yet, here he was, standing before me, blinking inquisitively at my presence with his one remaining eye. I was overcome with the thought that . . . it was a complete miracle he was standing at all!

It appeared that someone felt his leg wound was just too much for them to deal with; or perhaps they believed that it was a fatal wound. Somehow, they felt that loading up their friend and driving him to a remote location to be destroyed . . . was their best option. A ‘best guess’ is that they shot him in the head and fell unconscious from the impact. Bleeding profusely from his wound, it was believed that during this time, he bled out half of his blood volume. Thinking he was dead, the perpetrators left the scene. Miraculously, he woke up. Somehow summoning the strength to stand, he lurched to his feet and staggered away.

Even though his wounds are grave, he is not. He is continuing to make meaningful progress in his efforts to heal. And in less than one week, this amazing horse will be coming to Crystal Peaks! Because of the severity of his injuries, his recovery will be long and intensive. But the staff, volunteers and kids who come to the ranch are not only up for the challenge of caring for a critically ill horse . . . they can’t wait until he comes home. Instead of ‘waiting’, they are going to him! Since the moment it was determined that this special horse was going to become a part of our family, more days than not, I have driven my truck to the equine hospital filled with young ‘well wishers’ who are determined to help this wounded soul KNOW that he is greatly loved.

In these past days of spending time with our new boy, I have become very aware of something remarkable about him. He is courageous, he is a survivor, he has fought HARD to live, to keep going. Most horses would have perished when faced with just one of his symptoms. Yet, he survived what many would believe to be unthinkable odds. The more I ponder our gelding, the more I realize just how symbolic he is of a vast majority of people.

At some point in nearly each of our lives, we go through “horrible, unthinkable” times. We feel as if we have been lead out into the wilderness, perhaps by those we loved and trusted, badly beaten and left for dead. We stumble away, wandering within the desolation of loneliness, unable to help ourselves, unable to stop the ‘hemorrhaging’, unable to find our way home. The horizon begins to fade into gray. Death looms.

It is then, within our darkest night, our deepest wilderness, our greatest despair, when our hope is bleeding out . . . if we call on His name . . . He comes. Jesus comes into the wreckage of our heart, our blackest place, our wasteland of hopelessness . . . and He leads us home.

Like a soldier returning from battle, or a little horse from the wilderness, we too can fall into the welcome arms of the One who loves us. We, like the soldier or horse, might not look the same on the outside. When we come home from our ‘battle in the wilderness’, we might be scarred or disfigured, we might carry the marks of our wounding. Yet, as one of the little ones here at the ranch has so honestly and eloquently stated about his wounded four legged friend, “It’s not the outside (of a horse) that makes him lovable . . . it’s the inside that I love. It’s not what the outside looks like that makes him a ‘hero’, it’s the inside, it’s the heart . . . that’s what makes a REAL hero.”

Learning from my own experiences, I now know that it’s true, we can never be too wounded for the Lord to heal. We can never be too lost for Him to find. We can never be too broken for Him to love back to life. We can never fall so deep into despair, that His immeasurable love for us-each of us-is not deeper still. There is no such place of sorrow, no such wilderness of pain . . . that He cannot find us, help us stand up and lead us home. Because this little horse is so symbolic of this beautiful truth, we hope that you will be please to know that we have decided to name him in honor of those who have chosen to reach for the hand of the Lord and walk through their wilderness. His new name shall be . . . ‘Hero.’

Written by Kim Meeder

Abortion is a hot topic and there are many people with many esoteric reasons to support their opinion. However, none of them hold a candle to the story of T. Suzanne Eller. Below is her story from her website that you can see by following this link.

Dear friend. . .

Posted October 27, 2008

You ask me why I dare touch such a hot topic in today?s political scene. After all, it?s a women?s right to choose. It?s private. It?s not right to push your opinions on others, you say. Thank you for your questions, for allowing me to be the one to listen.

I don?t often talk about abortion, but friend you asked the question so is it okay that I share my story?

My mom was 15 when she found out she was pregnant with her first. A young naval guy on her base told her he loved her. She believed him. Nine months later she gave birth to a sick child. Cystic fibrosis. She was far from home now. ?You made your own bed; lie in it,? her mother said.

Her husband wasn?t faithful. He was abusive. She was fragile. She got pregnant again, giving birth to another little girl just in time to say goodbye to her first. When her little one died, her husband beat her, accusing her of not taking care of Pamela. What he didn?t understand is that at time they didn?t have the medical knowledge to extend the life of a CF baby.

He was gone for longer periods of time, some times months due to service. Other times, days, due to other women. She was not quite 20 years old, a mother twice over, without money, a phone, and at the mercy of an angry young man.

She fled one day, finding a place with a girlfriend, taking in jobs cleaning homes. She was as poor as ever, but safe and rebuilding her life.

He found her. He wanted to make their marriage work. He wanted her to come home. He wanted sex.

She said no to all of those. He made her give him at least one of them. It was violent. He left, this time for forever.

She found out she was pregnant. It was the worst of times; it was the worst of times. There was not ?best? in this situation. Her remaining daughter was 3. She was 20. At nine months pregnant she walked out of the house, her water broken, a dime clutched in her hand as she looked for a pay phone to call for help.

She gave birth alone later that night in the hallway of a naval hospital. No pink balloons. No birth announcements. No loving family surrounding her. It was a difficult birth: a 9 lb. 13 oz. baby girl. Daughter #3 arrived.

I was that baby.

When I look at her circumstances she had every reason to terminate the pregnancy. But if she had ended that pregnancy, she would have ended me. And generations after me: Leslie, Ryan, Melissa.

That?s why I quietly oppose abortion. It?s why I am grateful that my mother allowed me to choose whether my life was of value, instead of her circumstances or my conception or the hard life we had after that.

Because I love life. I love being Suzie. I love being a mom. I love traveling around the world to share my faith. I love hiking. I love being in the arms of Richard. I love everything that life brings, even if that meant that I had to go through the hard parts growing up, and there were many, to be here today.

Maybe you disagree and I hear you, but this is my story and I can?t change the facts to embrace the issue.

Thanks for asking the question. I love having this conversation w/you.