Golden Road Rez Band

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1El3_kQmeAk&feature=related

They told me about a golden road paved with dreams and fame
I though I'd try to walk it-get down and play the game
The treasures of the world kept comin'...
all my dreams came true
But I didn't realize the price I'd paid for the changes I'd gone through,
Changes I'd gone through

Clinging to the shape of a fantasy,
rolling down the slope of desire
Most of the time spent pulling it out of the fire
I turned away from God and His love,
and I worshipped myself
The idols that I'd built,
all crumbled on my shelf,
They all crumbled on my shelf

But all along I realized
That if I had toIf I had to choose
Between love an' my own sweet lies
Love was bound to lose,
yeah, love was bound to lose

They told me about a broken road
paved with death and shame
I though I'd try to find it...
get away from playing the game
I finally realized the price He paid for changes I've gone
though I finally realized the price He paid for Changes I've gone though
Changes I've gone though

a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people

1 Peter 2:9
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:


See, if you aren't careful you can take verses out of context. Even a word...happens all the time...

The Struggle-Rez Band. Music link at the bottom

The Struggle

Sometimes You scare me by what You cause me to see
And I'm afraid of knowing who I am
Although You've changed me there's still a whole lot of old wineskin
And to open up would destroy the me I'm afraid to show
One part of me doesn't want to grow
But I'm tired of this lingering winter
Tired of ground so hard and cold
Plow Your way through, I'm asking You to, Jesus
Lord, You're my only hope

Without You . . . I can't face myself

My pride wants me to hide inside myself
But I love You an' I don't want our love put on the shelf
I'm tired of fighting to be who I am
Jesus, make me what You want me to be
Because of You I desire reality
A love for You is what I'm dying to receive
Though I hate what I am I understand what You've promised me
You've promised me freedom in the truth
But I can only face myself when I've faced You
An' I'll be ready to face myself when I face You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtad-kbzgiI













































































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Columbus: Spurs good memories from childhood.

Back in the precious time when neighborhood grocery stores were the norm, this was a place that I loved as a kid. I still love grocery stores. Real ones. Not the WalMarts. A real grocery store has a very distinctive scent. Another fond one:

These places routinely made the coolest things in their bakeries. Things like this:

I have a great affection for locally run businesses. Grocery stores, Real barber shops, lumber yards, and hardware stores in particular.

Angel of light...

"there is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being,"-Obama 2/5/09

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/23/obama.abortion/. a couple of weeks earlier

Hope or Real Hope? Choose this day whom you will serve...

Israel: The UN punching bag?

Who the hell are we, I should say the UN, to tell Israel that there must be a cease fire? This country has been living 9/11's on a daily baisis for years and yet the UN has the audacity to look down their noses???
http://news.aol.com/article/israel-gaza-conflict/232890
Israelis have been getting shelled for what seems like forever and yet they are the ones getting bashed for protecting their families!

Plug for Atomic Opera

www.atomicopera.com
sample: http://www.atomicopera.com/mp3/gc/Malediction.mp3

Malediction
The judges sat outside the law
And in their pride no evil saw
In setting teeth to Satan's jaw
And feeding him our children.
When viewed in terms of cost and ease
An unborn child is a disease
A holocaust seen fit to please
Our own convience.
A curse A curse the law it cries.
A curse a curse on mankind's pride.
A curse on him who would deny
God's image in mankind.
Torn from out their mother's womb
Denied the sky - denied a tomb
Conceived in lust to their own ruin
A sacrifice to pleasure.
The doctors with their blood red hands
Who love their money more than man,
With greed their god they lay their plans
The butchers of mankind.
A curse a curse the blood cries out
A curse a curse the heavens shout
A curse a curse on he who flouts
God's image in mankind.
O rid us of this evil, Lord
And turn our hearts by cross or sword.
Our nation cannot long afford
To live beneath your judgements.
A curse a curse upon their heads
O save them Lord or slay them dead
And fill our country with your dread
And turn away Your anger.

Insanity is not so bad.

As long as you tether your ankle to reality it's not a bad thing to go a little bonkers every now and then. I thought my son was going to fall of his chair when I took this on my cell phone!

No reason, I just like the sign.

Merry Christmas Rittman Ohio style!!!

No such thing as excess!!! The kids love this and we need some fun this year desperately!!! You have to give these people credit for boldness!!!

Goodwill Rocks!

Where else will a quarter get you something cool like these things?

He sees you when you're sleeping...he's making a list...and he carries an axe!?!?

Some of where it comes from...

An explanation will come soon. I'm tired right now.

This is Stanley Ryan. Sometime around 1910. I wish that I could have met him.

The Gospel of John Chapter 15. Heavy words.

I have heard so much soft doctrine over the years that there have been times I've actually believed it. Lately it has hit me in a very strong way that Jesus is not a genie in a bottle. There are still far too many people selling God in a way that sooths itching ears. I have read/heard this chapter at least ten times in the last month or so. The message here is very clear: Stick close to Jesus and He will stick close to you. Do your own thing and expect Him to be with you and it doesn't look like you are going to make it. It's been hitting me like a hammer.

John 15
1I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
9As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
11These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
16Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17These things I command you, that ye love one another.
18If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
22If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.
23He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
24If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
25But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
26But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
27And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

Blessings...

I put this picture up in advance of Thanksgiving day with the full intent of making comment prior to, or on, T-day. I'm not into the traditional "horn of plenty" but for me this is the real horn of plenty: A 50's fridge stuffed with processed food and pop!

Just kidding...It is a reflection of the state our fridge has been in ever since a large struggle began for me and my family. Through it all God has provided! We have not missed a house payment nor have we gone hungry. Truly the Lord is good even though His methods confuse the living crap out of me at times.

Due to the nature of cyberspace I don't feel like spilling this particular set of my guts out. Should you be at a point of confusion and struggle..and you feel like the voice of God is as quiet as a mouse breathing...don't be afraid to post a comment and we'll figure a way for me to contact you and I will try to encourage you with a little more detail. My situation may not line up with yours but a shared burden is indeed much lighter. The way I look at it is there is no point in going through rough times if you can't use that experience to help someone else either avoid it or bear a similar thing.

I'll never be able to eat bread again...

What happens when you get married too young...

Can you believe this handsome devil...

Turned into this in just a couple of decades???

Some thoughts on the Virgin Birth

A lot of things I write about are spinoffs of incidents in my life or conversations I have had with other people. The following is a variant of a conversation I have had recently with a great friend over coffee.

We were discussing various things in the Bible and one thing that popped up was the virgin birth. I have no doubt that someone else has said some variant of what's below and maybe a multiple of folks. For whatever reason it was the first time that I had thought of it.

There had to be a virgin birth. There wasn't any other way around it. While God could do anything he wants there are some things that he cannot do as they are contrary to his nature.

For one thing sex is for the marriage bed so for the Father to have sex with a daughter would not only be incredibly creepy it would be a violation of the ten commandments. So there's that.

For another thing, a soul is created at the point of conception so you cannot have a situation where a human soul is occupying Mary's womb and have God's spirit in the baby at the same time. This would be the equivilant of demon posession and God doesn't work that way.

When we become Christians God does indeed come into us but it is only through our willingness that he takes up cohabitation. If Jesus had an earthly father then a human soul would be there thus making it impossible for him to be God. If that had been acceptable then any of us could have been born God via posession and would have made the birth of Jesus arbitrary and trivial.

Going further, accepting the divine conception as truth, if Jesus had to ask God into his heart the way we do then he would have been born without a spirit and that doesn't work either. From the point of God's unique creation of the Christ child God stayed right there through the whole pregnancy.

I don't know how to describe it beyond this. Christ as an avatar doesn't sound quite right. What I do know is that there's no way around a virgin birth.

Matthew 10:29-31 NKJV

This little one got herself trapped in a house that I am remodeling/painting/breaking/fixing. We have the floor torn out of a kitchen and several contractors are working on multiple aspects of the estate. I was working in the basement at the time. I went upstairs to use the bathroom and I saw this sparrow flying all over the place banging her head into the windows over and over again in all of the rooms (I couldn't open the windows because it was too cold and other guys were painting in another area of the house and that's not good for paint at all). She was looking for release everywhere. From her perspective every window promised to reward her chosen direction. Each window lied to her. Many of the same windows lied to her several times. I tried catching her over and over again and she kept flying away from me. Obviously she didn't trust me to release her from her prison so I kept my moves slow and deliberate so as not to speed her on her way to an early demise. Eventually she flew down into the floor of the kitchen and hid. I backed off and went back to my work for a while to give her space. A little later I went back up and there she was again trying desperately for freedom. I started directing her by closing doors to the larger areas as I could steer her flight. After closing off four rooms I had her down to a room with a bathroom. She tried each of the windows again and then went into the bathroom and I followed. I just stood there for a little bit watching her fly around in a very finite space until she finally landed on the floor and just surrendered herself to whatever I had planned for her. I reached down and gently cupped her into my hand and took her outside taking just long enough to tell her that I really was watching out for her. Then I released her to where she really needed to be. Her life would have ended if I hadn't guided her through her false assumptions and move her back to the path that would sustain her.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."-God