A thought came to me the other day and I wanted to get it out on the screen. I think it came from either a FaceBook or Twitter post, but the question was: Is God's forgiveness strong enough to wash satan of his sins?
Resolutions are for Quitters!
It's a new year, and that means there are millions of people joining gyms and by Feburary, those same people are back to eating pizza, chips, and drinking pizza (not that there's anything wrong with that) and then the process repeats in 365 days. I will not be one of those people!
I Always Worry
A part of my youth ministry time really had me questioning if they were getting it. In the end, I was the one who got it.
New Site Look
"my Cove" has updated it's look and I'll do my best to explain why. For the first time, it isn't the "I needed a new look" but a deeper explanation of why I changed. We are all on a road together and I was ignoring all the tell tale signs that I was screwing everything up. Don't worry, I'll continue to post like before but now more frequently.
Your Music Sucks
There's a time and place for worship music, however there isn't any reason why all worship music sounds the same or why church worship leaders are using the same boring songs as every other church. How is that helpful to worship?
Déjà vu
You've been in this same spot before, at the same exact moment in time, the same smell, the same clothes: you've done this same thing before but you haven't done it before.
Thursday, June 2
Friday, May 20
The End is Nigh (just not this Saturday)!
2:46 PM
Jesse
The End is Nigh!
I wasn't going to even touch this flaming hive of radioactive bees, but I was randomly flipping through my radio dial on the way home and the guy on that side of the microphone started in on me.
He began to say that that Rapture will be Saturday, and that God even said he was going to let His people in on the date of Christ's second coming, and that it was this Saturday. Normally I would just flip to my metal station, but in all honesty I hadn't heard a single bit of decent evidence that made me think "Okay, maybe they're right" so I was hoping for something to set a fire under me to jump onto the Rapture Train (which, ironically enough, is the name of my Michael W. Smith tribute band).
This guy said the same things that every other person has been saying, but it made me furious because it looks over the most obvious things the bible says. I started arguing with the radio in disbelief that he really was over looking the basic concept of "thief in the night" and was being over analytical of the same verses he was saying was being misinterpreted.
Then, in a fit of rage you can only have with someone on the radio, I screamed out "Why would God want us when we're at this such a broken pile of junk?"
This is why there will be no Rapture Saturday.
God wouldn't want us right now. Why? The church is at its own throat instead of being the beacon we're called to be. We're arguing over dogmatic principles instead of going out and changing the world. God isn't going to take His people because the boat wouldn't be filled enough. Yes, there are some very powerful people changing the world, but the Church as a whole is really missing the mark.
Take these people claiming the Rapture is Saturday. All they're doing is saying "repent, the end is nigh" and what does that do? The end is always "nigh" if you think about it: Rapture or not. We're all on the brink of dying in a random accident, heart attack behind the wheel, or a bad prescription interaction.
The End is Nigh!
These churches that are claiming Saturday is our last time to repent, but they're missing the fact of what repenting means, what kinds of radical changes happen when Christ comes into your heart, and what kind of changes you can make in others, for others, all because of this change.
This is why there will be no Rapture Saturday.
Those claiming other aren't doing anything but promoting fear. They're standing on their corners with their bullhorns. How are they helping? Who are they saving? No one comes to Christ through fear, only pure acceptance. God isn't a God of fear, but one of love. He wouldn't have put Christ to suffer on a cross to scare us into salvation.
This is why there will be no Rapture Saturday.
Here we sit (myself included) arguing amongst one another, pointing fingers, claiming things about God, biblical teachings, personal beliefs, all of this while millions die of starvation in our own backyard. God wouldn't want His children home yet, vecause we're not ready to go home, we're not done with what we're called here to do.
The real issue is what happens Sunday morning, midnight, or even 6:01 EST? We will all be still here, people will still be dying, children will still be starving, and these people speaking for the Church, and at 6:02 EST the Church is put onto trial, by those who have always said God is false, and the Church, as a whole, takes two very large steps backwards, all because these false prophets who people believe speak for Christ, for all of us, but they don't. They speak for themselves in a very blatant breaking of the third commandment: "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name." Exodus 20:7.
Lord, please remind us why we're really here: to do Your work, not our own. Open our hearts to understand the way to You isn't through threats, fear, fire, or brimstone, but through love, and sacrifice, and the truth. Lord, be with those who are afraid they're not worthy of Your love, and remind us all that Your grace is open to all who are open to Your change.
Grace and Peace,
Jesse
PS: See you all Sunday morning.
I wasn't going to even touch this flaming hive of radioactive bees, but I was randomly flipping through my radio dial on the way home and the guy on that side of the microphone started in on me.
He began to say that that Rapture will be Saturday, and that God even said he was going to let His people in on the date of Christ's second coming, and that it was this Saturday. Normally I would just flip to my metal station, but in all honesty I hadn't heard a single bit of decent evidence that made me think "Okay, maybe they're right" so I was hoping for something to set a fire under me to jump onto the Rapture Train (which, ironically enough, is the name of my Michael W. Smith tribute band).
This guy said the same things that every other person has been saying, but it made me furious because it looks over the most obvious things the bible says. I started arguing with the radio in disbelief that he really was over looking the basic concept of "thief in the night" and was being over analytical of the same verses he was saying was being misinterpreted.
Then, in a fit of rage you can only have with someone on the radio, I screamed out "Why would God want us when we're at this such a broken pile of junk?"
This is why there will be no Rapture Saturday.
God wouldn't want us right now. Why? The church is at its own throat instead of being the beacon we're called to be. We're arguing over dogmatic principles instead of going out and changing the world. God isn't going to take His people because the boat wouldn't be filled enough. Yes, there are some very powerful people changing the world, but the Church as a whole is really missing the mark.
Take these people claiming the Rapture is Saturday. All they're doing is saying "repent, the end is nigh" and what does that do? The end is always "nigh" if you think about it: Rapture or not. We're all on the brink of dying in a random accident, heart attack behind the wheel, or a bad prescription interaction.
The End is Nigh!
These churches that are claiming Saturday is our last time to repent, but they're missing the fact of what repenting means, what kinds of radical changes happen when Christ comes into your heart, and what kind of changes you can make in others, for others, all because of this change.
This is why there will be no Rapture Saturday.
Those claiming other aren't doing anything but promoting fear. They're standing on their corners with their bullhorns. How are they helping? Who are they saving? No one comes to Christ through fear, only pure acceptance. God isn't a God of fear, but one of love. He wouldn't have put Christ to suffer on a cross to scare us into salvation.
This is why there will be no Rapture Saturday.
Here we sit (myself included) arguing amongst one another, pointing fingers, claiming things about God, biblical teachings, personal beliefs, all of this while millions die of starvation in our own backyard. God wouldn't want His children home yet, vecause we're not ready to go home, we're not done with what we're called here to do.
The real issue is what happens Sunday morning, midnight, or even 6:01 EST? We will all be still here, people will still be dying, children will still be starving, and these people speaking for the Church, and at 6:02 EST the Church is put onto trial, by those who have always said God is false, and the Church, as a whole, takes two very large steps backwards, all because these false prophets who people believe speak for Christ, for all of us, but they don't. They speak for themselves in a very blatant breaking of the third commandment: "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name." Exodus 20:7.
Lord, please remind us why we're really here: to do Your work, not our own. Open our hearts to understand the way to You isn't through threats, fear, fire, or brimstone, but through love, and sacrifice, and the truth. Lord, be with those who are afraid they're not worthy of Your love, and remind us all that Your grace is open to all who are open to Your change.
Grace and Peace,
Jesse
PS: See you all Sunday morning.
Tuesday, May 10
Do we all forget the bad?
5:43 AM
Jesse
Sunday night we (I have returned to my 6:00 p.m. Refinery service, much to my own relief) started a series on Judges. No, not Judy, Wapner, or Joe Brown, but Shamgar, Deborah, Jephthah, and Samson (to name a few). Now, I’m not highly familiar with Judges, save for Samson’s epic 1000 kill streak with a donkey’s jawbone, so it’s going to be a great series. It not only gives me a reason to look closer at a book I have actually overlook and skipped plenty of times, but it also gives me a chance to jump back into home with a series based around a book of the bible, not a book with some jibba-jabba of how hell is empty.
The last part was a joke. I’m a humorous, remember?
Well, during our intro to Judges, Pastor John talked about how Israel got into this downward spiral of falling away from God, going back to God, and falling away from God, each time getting progressively worse, instead of progressively better. He said Israel fell into the habits they had gotten use to, forgot how they screwed up before, and continued to screw up, finally calling for help, which God gave in for of a Judge, and then they were back doing things all over again, but this time much worse than the generation before. A lot of this had to do with Israel forgetting its past, because we have a tendency to forget the bad stuff that happens in our past.
I thought about that for a moment and let it slide by, but then I really started to think about that statement. Maybe it was because I don’t have a lot of happy memories, or because I may be mentally unstable, but I remember my bad memories, I remember a lot of them, and to be blunt, it makes me a little worried.
Childhoods should be happy, no doubt about that, and to think there are a lot of happy memories, most of mine are slightly dark and depressing. I have a few happy memories, and those mostly have to do with me being alone, and then that’s where it gets dark.
Israel had it rough. They were slaves, brought out of Egypt by a guy with a stutter claiming to be lead by the almighty God. If I was Israel, I’d try to hold onto the good times too. The Red Sea, and the Mana, or the time Moses came off the mountain and saw us partying and broke those giant tablets he was carrying. Man, that was a good party.
Israel is like a child hiding from its past. It doesn’t want to remember what happened, so it holds onto the good stuff to make it through, and then when it hits the fan (you know what “it” is), they plead with God, who is ever loving, and He smiles on them, giving them a Judge to smite their enemies, and get business in order.
I’m not sure when God is sending me my own Samson to smite my enemies, and yes, I know Jesus was that Judge (stop with the Jesus Jukes, okay?) but you know, sometimes we just need a smiter to smite those worth smiting...
Growing up, I had a smiter. His name was Ricky, and for the record he was in fact a stuffed raccoon. Not like a taxidermist stuffed raccoon, but a cute cartoony stuffed animal kind. He smited the darkness, the things that went bump in the night, the horrible days of school, the lousy games of t-ball, the nightmares, the what evers; Ricky was my Judge. He lost an eye during a battle with my older cousin, and I still remember that night, like all the other dark memories.
I don’t too often think back to my childhood. Mainly because, try as I might to think of the good things, I come up short. That doesn’t keep me holding onto the good times and forcing my subconscious to push back the bad. The good times are in deep contrast to the bad times, and do remind me there was a decent enough childhood that I didn’t end up a serial killer, or something worse... like a scientologist... or even more so worse... a universalist...
The last part was a joke. I’m a humorous, remember?
Well, during our intro to Judges, Pastor John talked about how Israel got into this downward spiral of falling away from God, going back to God, and falling away from God, each time getting progressively worse, instead of progressively better. He said Israel fell into the habits they had gotten use to, forgot how they screwed up before, and continued to screw up, finally calling for help, which God gave in for of a Judge, and then they were back doing things all over again, but this time much worse than the generation before. A lot of this had to do with Israel forgetting its past, because we have a tendency to forget the bad stuff that happens in our past.
I thought about that for a moment and let it slide by, but then I really started to think about that statement. Maybe it was because I don’t have a lot of happy memories, or because I may be mentally unstable, but I remember my bad memories, I remember a lot of them, and to be blunt, it makes me a little worried.
Childhoods should be happy, no doubt about that, and to think there are a lot of happy memories, most of mine are slightly dark and depressing. I have a few happy memories, and those mostly have to do with me being alone, and then that’s where it gets dark.
Israel had it rough. They were slaves, brought out of Egypt by a guy with a stutter claiming to be lead by the almighty God. If I was Israel, I’d try to hold onto the good times too. The Red Sea, and the Mana, or the time Moses came off the mountain and saw us partying and broke those giant tablets he was carrying. Man, that was a good party.
Israel is like a child hiding from its past. It doesn’t want to remember what happened, so it holds onto the good stuff to make it through, and then when it hits the fan (you know what “it” is), they plead with God, who is ever loving, and He smiles on them, giving them a Judge to smite their enemies, and get business in order.
I’m not sure when God is sending me my own Samson to smite my enemies, and yes, I know Jesus was that Judge (stop with the Jesus Jukes, okay?) but you know, sometimes we just need a smiter to smite those worth smiting...
Growing up, I had a smiter. His name was Ricky, and for the record he was in fact a stuffed raccoon. Not like a taxidermist stuffed raccoon, but a cute cartoony stuffed animal kind. He smited the darkness, the things that went bump in the night, the horrible days of school, the lousy games of t-ball, the nightmares, the what evers; Ricky was my Judge. He lost an eye during a battle with my older cousin, and I still remember that night, like all the other dark memories.
I don’t too often think back to my childhood. Mainly because, try as I might to think of the good things, I come up short. That doesn’t keep me holding onto the good times and forcing my subconscious to push back the bad. The good times are in deep contrast to the bad times, and do remind me there was a decent enough childhood that I didn’t end up a serial killer, or something worse... like a scientologist... or even more so worse... a universalist...
