...too small a thing...

Public Nose Picking

Sounds gross doesn't it. The vast majority of people would find it offensive to see folks picking their noses in public. Now this thought occurred to me. Maybe we should start a movement of people who pick publicly to protest the problems we have with health care in this country. Everybody knows that health care cost are out of control. Everybody knows that there is difficulty with with health care insurance industry. We have so many without insurance and they cannot get any medical care, (Unless they go to the emergency room.) Everyone knows these problems are real so if we all start picking our noses publicly then it will call attention to the problem and make a clear statement that we feel this is a problem, and maybe then we can then get somebody else to do something about this problem. So maybe we should all start public picking.

Wait a minute... this seems to be a dumb idea. 

This idea makes about as much sense as taking a knee during the National Anthem. Because the vast majority of Americans find it very offensive for anyone to do this. Also the vast majority of Americans are aware that there are some problems with the police and race issues. Yes, they do exist. But these problems the protesters are trying to call attention to are so very small in reality. Police brutality does exist, but the incidents that are real are so very few and far between. And the truth is that Law Enforcement everywhere in this country is already working diligently and faithfully to fight problems with brutality and blot them out. They already prosecute and fire those who do commit acts of brutality. There is no widespread acceptance or process in place to discriminate against anyone in the world of Law Enforcement. 

Racial discrimination as whole has made huge progress, and we see a very different world than we did when I was a child. Should we not celebrate this? I am very thankful for the fact that we are in a free country, and we are safe because of the LEOs who are on the job day and night. I support law enforcement, and the military, and celebrate our freedom, for all people. Where injustice occurs I want to see it changed. When I do see a problem doing something that offends others publicly, is not the answer. 

The reality is the small problems law enforcement may have with continuing prejudice and discrimination are being inflated and being fanned into flames of racial hatred by the very people who say they are wanting to help. They are disgusting us more than they are inspiring us. Nose picking would do the same as far as disgusting us. 

My point is simple. What the NFL players are doing and being copied by even College and High Schoolers is not working. Their actions are disgusting us instead. I absolutely support their right to speak up and be heard when they feel they should be heard. But I know from experience because of being a Chaplain for law enforcement that what they are claiming about Law Enforcement is  NOT the problem of the size and nature they are trying to make it. Their time could be much better spent to make a difference in the community with education and example instead of being offensive.

If people starting picking their noses in public to protest something, I doubt we can stop them. But none of us would really think it was cool. Employers however could and should say, "Do not pick when you are with the customers." The NFL can snd should tell the players to stand during the National Anthem. 

What You Need This Morning

This world has so much going on. We are all busy, and we all have problems. We need money and time to get the things done that need to be done in our lives. It can be frustrating and stressful. So this morning as I am thinking and praying this thought came to me and I want to share it. you have heard it before and will likely hear it again. You may just breeze on past what I say without giving in much of a real thought but you shouldn't. This is the most important and greatest thing you need. This is what matters most in life. When you die this will be on the minds of many who hear of your death. So the reality is you need this now and every day of your life. So here goes. 

God Loves you. This is the first statement of the most important truths that you will ever hear in your life. 

Second, you are a sinner. While you may try to be good and moral the fact is we all fall short of perfection and have ways that are self centered, deceitful, and wrong toward others and especially toward God. 

Third, God has a plan to bring you into a full and daily relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.  Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice for you to allow you to be in a relationship with Him. All you do is believe and put faith in Him. 

Finally when you place faith in Christ it changes everything for today and eternity. 

You have likely heard all of this before this morning. But is this really what you believe in your heart? If the answer is yes, then it should pave the way for you to have a fantastic day and give you more importantly something to talk about all day long, with a huge smile on your face.

God Bless you today. I need to hear this every day. 

Romans 5:8 ESV 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us. 

Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end  ²³ they are new every morning;  great is your faithfulness

This really is what you need this morning

What You Do Not Want To See / What You Do Want To See

This would be picture you really do not want to see. The floor in any home or business covered with brass casing of rounds of ammunition that have been fired inside the building. There would only be one reason this would happen. To stop an evil or deranged murderer.  

This week The Cobb County Police Department has been undergoing Active Shooter Training. Some might compare ti to "war games." Live action situations where officers enter a setting to take down bad guys who are other officers who are role playing as criminals in the process of shooting people randomly. What you do not want to see is this type of event to ever really take place in Cobb County, or the State of Georgia, or anywhere for that matter. But the reality is that we see this type of senseless killing by way ot the news too often. 

What you do want to see is the fact that the Cobb County Police are training and working hard to make sure should an event like this occur they will be ready to stop the shooter as rapidly as possible. It is sad that this type of event is something that we must be prepare and be ready for incase it really were to occur. 

Every officer for Cobb PD will go through this training over the 7 days of planned events. This is a huge undertaking and one that takes a continuing amount of planning and commitment by the Cobb Police Training Staff. We as Police Chaplains have been participating too, in order to make ourselves familiar with the process of what would occur, and to encourage and support the men and women who serve us.

It is a real honor to these who keep us safe. The Cobb Police Chaplains are all volunteers who realize the need and commit themselves to ministry to Law Enforcement's very special demands on people. 

We have worked to raise some funds to feed the officers who participate in this drill  over the 7 day Active Shooter training period. Thank you to many of you who have given to help Mission Team Inc and Sportsman's Outreach come together to do this small part of training for our officers. If you would like to help feed the officers for the remaining events this next week go to one these Links to donate:

Mission Team Inc      Or     Sportsman's Outreach

 

 

 

Cop Church - CANCELLED - Well ...SORT OF?

This week is Active Shooter Training for the Cobb County Police Department. The picture above was last night as Major Jeff Adcock addressed the officers just before the drill. This is a difficult and full week for Cobb PD and for us as Chaplains. These are live action scenarios that will as close as possible simulate an active shooter type situation. Officers, communications, and other first responders are training in responses to a crisis situations that we pray never happen. But should a crisis occur the Police will seek to be ready to respond and remove a threat as quickly as possible. I am honored to be there to encourage and help in any way the men and women who serve us everyday.  

We have sought to raise funds to provide a lunch meal for the officers during the break in the long day of active shooter. We are providing a Chic-fil-a meal to over 650 officers over the 7 days of training. If you would like to help with this we still need to cover the last few days of cost for this event you can click here to go to Mission Team Inc Donations page.

Because of the Active Shooter Training we will not actually meet at the FOP Thursday October 19 but the Cop Church message iI have recorded. This message is now availible at this Link:

Cop Church Session 5 - Stress from Your Best Guess - Dealing with Reality

I hope you will listen to this audio recording about Faith, and how we are so messed up by doubt, deceit, and delusion. Thanks for your support for the work of Mission Team Inc with Law Enfocement. 

Bitter or Better

There is not much difference between the two words bitter and better. Just one vowel changes what these letters put together mean.

As I think about events in my life and how things have happened in the last year or two I think about these two words. And I ask myself which am I? With all the difficulty I have encountered and events that have taken place and continue to take place in my life I could take a sour attitude in life. But likewise I can be smarter and in a good place to continue to live. No doubt I have had some things happen that are difficult and troubling. My sinfulness and my own doing caused some of these difficulties, but others were just plain old bad stuff from the world. All of them together are yes very difficult, and I realize the strain and stress I have encountered. But God’s Word has told us to expect trouble.

1 Peter 4:12-13 ESV Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

John 16:33 ESV I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

As a matter of fact the Bible tells us that His grace is sufficient and always there even when we have failed or are troubled. Peter denied the Lord. Paul struggled with what he called a thorn in the flesh but the Lord restored and used these men in powerful and dynamic ways. When trouble comes we have to decide if it makes us bitter or better?

James 2:1-4 ESV 2Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

A Remarkable Thought

I like to read Oswald Chambers every morning and this morning these words in the quote below jumped off the page at me. We are all so busy doing things. The truth is that we measure others and our own sense of spirituality by what we do. This is so, so, wrong. It is the Atonement of Jesus Christ that has paid in full for our sin that brings salvation to us. The things we do are only the result of the change that Jesus has brought into our lives by His gift of our salvation. If we measure how "good" we are by what we do we are trashing what Jesus has done for us. It is only by what He has done that we have anything at all. 

The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to believe things. - Oswald Chambers

You see when we truly believe God, and realize what He has done for us, it changes everything about our lives. 

Here is a LINK to My Utmost for His Highest  for today. It is worth a couple of minutes of your time. 

Maybe We Need Fun Control?

The US media and left agenda is up in arms about arms control. Gun control is the hot issue of the news right now in the wake of many events where gun violence has been seen. Funny, my guns behave very well. I have never seen my collection of firearms make a threat or discharge themselves, by themselves in all the years that I have owned guns. Some of my weapons I have owned as long as 45 years. My guns it seems are very well behaved and never hurt anyone. 

You see it is the choice of the person who owns or has the gun, or who has it in their possession that governs wether the gun is used for violence. The same is true for people who have knives, cars, chemicals. or even a baseball bat. Violence and destruction comes from the heart of a person not from an inanimate object. Maybe the problem is what people do with the things they have. Maybe the problem is more what they think is "Fun."

People do not all have the same Ideas about what is "Fun."  Some think that shooting a gun safely on a range is fun and that hunting is a great sport. Some think it is fun to brandish a weapon in front of others to make them seem important or powerful. Some think it is fun to watch people shoot other people on movie screens with all types of guns, missiles, and other powerful weapons. Some go even father and define fun as using a video game to "shoot" bad guys or even in some extreme games anyone who gets in your way. This is fun?

You see we as a society allow some things to creep into our lives as to what we think is acceptable behavior. Things like extreme violence are now acceptable and revered as "fun."  We have taken the Ten Commandments out of our public buildings and schools so that the words, "Thou shall not kill," are no longer known by an entire generation. Might spoil the fun you see. We have made "living together" a totally acceptable and normal practice for young people before they marry because we need to make sure we are compatible. "Safe Sex" is "Fun"and to keep our "Fun" we educate the children about sex. To make sure they know how to use condoms even in elementary schools. Then so as to make sure the continuation of our "Fun" does not get spoiled by the responsibility of a child, we kill babies to make sure we can continue to have "fun" without interruption.  This is a matter of choice you know. Except the for the, innocent life of unborn child who has no choice. 

We have in the name of freedom of speech allowed behavior that is nothing more than rioting. We allow people to dress, act, and live in ways that are totally offensive and destructive to our society because it is their choice and their right. I assume they believe that they are having fun. 

It seems to me instead of "Gun Control" maybe America needs to have some "Fun Control." 

 

What Happened In Las Vegas?

How could this horrible event we now call the Las Vegas Massacre take place? What would cause a man to go so far as to kill so many people and wound so many more? I keep hearing the news reports and the words about the shooter. It seems that he had no political connections, no religious connections and was in fact just a rich man consumed with guns and gambling. Why then would he do such a thing? 

In our society, that does not want to acknowledge the spiritual battle going on in every man and woman's heart, we often seem to overlook the obvious. This man who decided to shoot people for no apparent reason is a mystery to most as to his motive. I will ask a simple question. Could he be demon possessed?  This is a hard conclusion to say for sure, but does that possibility exist? The reality of demon possession is real for certain, as the Bible speaks of it in many places. Unclean or evil spirits are still in the world today. They have no power against those who have faith in Jesus Christ and for me to mention this possibility will make some write me off as a religious nut. Here is a a passage from Matthew.

⁴³“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but it finds none. ⁴⁴Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So will it be also with this evil generation.” Matthew 12:43-45 

I cannot say, nor can anyone say for sure, that this man was demon possessed. But we all seem to look for an explanation and motive and when there is none found we who are believers should consider the obvious. Are we so timid about someone ridiculing us as to not even consider what might be obvious?

I am saddened and so sympathetic to the families of the wounded and slain from this horrible event. My prayers are with them and I hope that all believers are praying for the comfort of God to touch the thousands of people who are directly affected by this tragedy.

Some who would read this may say, "If this is the case, and this man was demon possessed, what kind of God would allow that to happen?"  That is a very difficult question to answer? But I will give the short answer. The God who loves so much that He doesn't make us as robots. We have a choice in life. We call it free will. We can believe God and choose Him or reject Him. This is the God who allows evil to exist. The evil that took place in Las Vegas is wicked, cruel, and opposite from what we know and love about God. But the fact is it is real. Demon possession is also real. Is this what happened? Some will scoff at my thought. But we are in spiritual warfare daily and we are in what appears to be the latter days of this world as we know it.

I know for sure it was not the "guns" who killed the people. It was a man who planned and plotted and then pulled a trigger. Who or what influenced this man to act this way should be investigated and my thought will not likely be understood or investigated. But for sure it is a likely possibility. 

What Happened In Las Vegas?

How could this horrible event we now call the Las Vegas Massacre take place? What would cause a man to go so far as to kill so many people and wound so many more? I keep hearing the news reports and the words about the shooter. It seems that he had no political connections, no religious connections and was in fact just a rich man consumed with guns and gambling. Why then would he do such a thing? 

In our society, that does not want to acknowledge the spiritual battle going on in every man and woman's heart, we often seem to overlook the obvious. This man who decided to shoot people for no apparent reason is a mystery to most as to his motive. I will ask a simple question. Could he be demon possessed?  This is a hard conclusion to say for sure, but does that possibility exist? The reality of demon possession is real for certain, as the Bible speaks of it in many places. Unclean or evil spirits are still in the world today. They have no power against those who have faith in Jesus Christ and for me to mention this possibility will make some write me off as a religious nut. Here is a a passage from Matthew.

⁴³“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but it finds none. ⁴⁴Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So will it be also with this evil generation.” Matthew 12:43-45 

I cannot say, nor can anyone say for sure, that this man was demon possessed. But we all seem to look for an explanation and motive and when there is none found we who are believers should consider the obvious. Are we so timid about someone ridiculing us as to not even consider what might be obvious?

I am saddened and so sympathetic to the families of the wounded and slain from this horrible event. My prayers are with them and I hope that all believers are praying for the comfort of God to touch the thousands of people who are directly affected by this tragedy.

Some who would read this may say, "If this is the case, and this man was demon possessed, what kind of God would allow that to happen?"  That is a very difficult question to answer? But I will give the short answer. The God who loves so much that He doesn't make us as robots. We have a choice in life. We call it free will. We can believe God and choose Him or reject Him. This is the God who allows evil to exist. The evil that took place in Las Vegas is wicked, cruel, and opposite from what we know and love about God. But the fact is it is real. Demon possession is also real. Is this what happened? Some will scoff at my thought. But we are in spiritual warfare daily and we are in what appears to be the latter days of this world as we know it.

I know for sure it was not the "guns" who killed the people. It was a man who planned and plotted and then pulled a trigger. Who or what influenced this man to act this way should be investigated and my thought will not likely be understood or investigated. But for sure it is a likely possibility.