The Clamor

Psalm 97: 1 - "The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of the isles be glad thereof."

You could tell at a glance that she had been weeping. Her clothes were disheveled and torn; and to match, was the soil and the bruises covering her body that were unavoidably seen from any direction. Her eyes reflected that look that you see in eyes of the defenseless victim of a horribly senseless crime.(BUT rainbow colored lighting was now spotlighting her so as to disguise the truth of her torn and ravaged visage).

There seemed to be a strange confusion in the air surrounding her as she struggled to rise up still from the ashes of yet another cataclysmic assault on her royal connection. She now appeared the refugee, though she has been the loving, adoptive mother for so many tired, poor, huddled masses who yearned to breathe free. She had rarely turned away the wretched refuse of the teeming shore. Her lips were still moving but faintly crying, "send these, the homeless tempest-tossed to me , I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

This would be the cover-up of yet another atrocity by a sad and duped group of individuals who felt that they were the heralds of a new day. These modern day evangelists, with eyes glazed with power, and ears which only hear the rhetoric of strangers, were doing their best with the limited biased information given to them. Many may not have been aware that they were being coddled by a more ancient and sinister force solely bent on misguidance, misdirection and murder. This would create the "buzz" and "distortion" to the masses so that the raping and plundering of the past would be seen as a necessary removal of "old fashion bigotry", and the introduction of a better world.

While the clamor of complaints filled the air waves, there continued an assault on the ground in this battle. The enemy troops seemed to be led by one hellacious cry (that for the most part was not understood by the enemy hoards nor discussed by most of the duped, assaulted and complaining masses): "At all cost, do not let Her lift her lamp beside the golden door!"

The assault continued to raise such a cloud of dust and debris that very few could see the real battle was a struggle at the root system. Under the cover of the debris cloud was a hacking, chopping , cutting, sawing, burning, and disfiguring of the foundation. There was a relentless disconnecting excavation effort by the enemy to sever the distracted masses from the TRUTH. The hole left behind by the excavation was constantly being back-filled with open apathy, self preservation and selfish ambition.

So loud and distracting was this excavation that most didn't see nor recognize the Lifted lamp, nor the Golden Door as JESUS. Look and Live!

Psalm 119:105
John 10:9

God Continually reigns ... rejoice and be glad.
Live openly and loudly in love of Him and loving others.

HLFA,

Jeff

The Love and The Glory (Father's Day 2015)

Most of the time in our lives, we grovel in the small grooves of the finger prints of the Father. We are caught by the surprise that there can be dirt and sorrow there. We rarely take the time to lay on our backs, gaze up into the sky, and see that His finger print on our lives is so much bigger than us. O we long for those few brief moments in the busy, burdensome days of our lives that we are able wipe the smudges off of the window pain, look out through the rain to see Him dancing with His kids in the puddles of the fearsome storm.

We will never even begin to understand the Father if the only filter we use is our sin and shame. Our filter should be the Cross, the empty tomb, and the clouds of Christ's returning. Without His Spirit and His Word, the clearest voice we will respond to is the pain; whether self inflicted or life inflicted. Let's take the time to arrange the puzzle pieces of our shattered and discontiquous lives in such a way that "all things that have been working together for good" will shout His love to us, and sing His glory to others.

"O satisfy us early, early with Thy mercy
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad! According to the days wherein Thou hast afflicted us;
Make us glad! And the years wherein we have seen evil.
Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants
and Thy glory unto their children." Psalm 90:14-16

The hand of the Father ... is stretched out still.

The prayer of the Father ... is a continuous invitation to walk beside the Heart of God.

The love of the Father ... is a gentle but firm place to trust the safe keeping of our troubled hearts.

The desire of the Father ... is His children. He desires us.

Fear not in the events ahead; trust, O children, in His loving care for even the smallest events in our lives, for He loves us with an ever enduring and endearing love.

Dedicated to the days of June 18-24 in the lives of the Jeff and Yolanda Redding Family
and to the scars that so many of us bear until we se the only Scars that Remain ...in Heaven.

God keeps pouring love into the painful gaps.


HLFA,
  
Jeff

The Zit

As most people who have known me for some time ... they soon realize that I have never given up on childhood with all its wonder, thirst for living, unquenchable zeal for adventure and its unending supply of irritating questions, usually asked at a volume level that can embarrass the most patient and prepared parent figure. Some are of the belief that childhood must be left at the door of parenthood or exchanged for it... NOT I!

 Matthew 18:3 - "And (Jesus) said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven." {not an excuse for my behavior, just an amazing way to position our lives at the feet of Eternity.}
   
And so begins the discussion: Random Topic chosen by my brain while driving with my Wife? ZITS ...{for whatever reason?)

"Will we have zits in Heaven?" The retort..."Are zits perfect?" The return ..."They think they are; they also must think they are always welcome; showing up at the most inopportune times, and the awkward years (which for some can be a lifetime). We all have them or will get them." The audio at this point turned off but the brain kept on humming.

(Bear with me because of my medical expertise - I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night) What is a zit? It is a biological reaction to a foreign object that is introduced to a well established bio-system (introduced externally or internally). The reaction justifies itself as being the Greeters of the (un)Welcoming committee.

Here is a rough outline of the Events that follow the introduction of the foreigner into the Bio-system: 1. The greeters are waiting in a non-discriminative fashion.
2.The foreigner is detected and profiled.
3.The bio-defense system alarm goes off and the agents of defense wrap their rejection serum around the foreigner.
4. The expulsion process begins with a capture of the foreigner in holding cell.
5.The festering between the two factions create a pressure within the same limited space, until the event begins to elevate to an unsightly protrusion.
6.This expansive pressure allows the surface of the ZIT to thin out to cause the foreigner with his new found fester friends to "burst through" for a rescue and relief to those welcome within the body of the bio-system.
7. The foreign object is expelled from the well established bio-system and clean up and cover up begins.

Sounds like a well oiled organizational plan. This may also sound like most clubs (that we join to beat people over the head with), fellowships (to strengthen our bonds against "them") and even families (an obvious system to contain embarrassment). The problems that arise in each of these organizations may stem from its vision of "how to control" others(control is too constrictive for real love).

Is your fellowship of choice a Permission granting life-system that chooses what "others" to serve; or a Permissive Atmosphere Bio-system that is busy creating to serve others? Does your "follow-ship"(not fellow-ship, think about it leader!)  or leadership create unnecessary zits? Zits are normal, zits will happen... more important; what we do with the foreigner...the stranger, the out cast, the un-lovely, the unfamiliar will determine the health of our living in the Kingdom.

Don't become part of the Un-welcoming Committee. 1 John 1:7- "But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin," In the Light we all see our mutual strengths and weaknesses and realize that we need each gift that comes into our lives. In the light our greatest need is not for control but for cleansing.

Have an awesome life!

HLFA,
  
Jeff

Just Three

Just three. What is the big deal? Only 3 in the midst of billions on the planet – thousands passing into eternity daily unnoticed. They aren't actually missed outside a few family and friends. They made no real mark on their days. The ways of the earth and time has swallowed up their memories, but Tony remembers as he stared at me in my car from a Taco Bell Drive through Window.

This is not meant at all to embarrass anyone or have you searching for who these people could be – they are not to be found on this planet, so don't go looking. The scarey thing is they were loved by God, but no one can truly testify of the condition of their relationship with God before they slipped away because of how quickly they left. I hope as little ones that they Trusted Jesus.

In liberal and conservative Bible believing circles there is a Sunday School default verse that is known by most every child where the Bible is even remotely spoken - “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. So many have heard this and will say, “I know that verse!” Knowing a verse has never saved a single soul from the condemnation of sin. No amount of faithless memorization of the words of the Bible ever rescued any man from Hell Fire (Hey HELL is in the Word --- Jesus was pretty straight forward about the subject – The cruel cross of Jesus was the payment for sin and its consequences – God was pretty serious about this matter of Hell).

Satan can quote and twist God's Word to his advantage to sway men to unbelief. Bibles are everywhere in the USA it is amazing, but our nation seems to grow further away from a daily devotional, and love accountable life before the Living God. Are we growing numb or anesthetized because of our willingness to listen to every voice but God's?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.  DO WE EVEN BEGIN TO REALIZE THE GRAVENESS OF THE DECISION WITHIN THIS VERSE THAT MEN MUST MAKE IN ORDER TO LEAVE THIS PLANET WITHOUT ETERNAL HELL AS THE CONSEQUENCE FOR THEIR SIN? Maybe this will help ...“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on Him.” John 3:36.
A non-condemning God of love, grace and mercy is awaiting all those who by faith receive His Son whom He loves; But those who will not believe … stand already condemned.

Now back to the Three, if it even matters:
Mark committed suicide 2011.
His sister, Candy, a few years later died because of surgical complications 2005.
His brother, Bud, died a year later in his sleep 2006.

Tony’s first words after remembering who I was in the life of his family (after at least 20 years of MIA - I was still the “pizza preacher”)… “You heard what happened to my siblings?” Like I had??? When he mentioned them by name and how they died … the memory of their faces came back so clear … {I had to get alone and cry. Only Three little ones, no earthly mile markers to discuss except for their mode of leaving the planet.} But before I pulled away from Tony … I had to let Him know that in the midst of these tragedies, God loved Mark, Candy, and Bud … "and as many as received Jesus, they had been given power to be Sons and Daughters of God … even to them that believe on His Name."

 I will seek out Tony again, he need not leave this planet without Jesus. Pray for him with me.

Do you care? Pray for those you encounter. Do you care? Speak the truth in love as you have liberty … Share the good news of Jesus everywhere you are, because you never know when One of these little ones will quickly slip away unnoticed.

“How shall they call upon Him whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”   Romans 10:14.

HLFA,

 Jeff