Stupid Water Policy

Posted on 18 May 2012 by Richard

Where I live, and in most of North Texas, we are under the control of the North Texas Municipal Water District. Starting about a year ago, we’ve been under drought restrictions as far as the use of water goes.

But then, God sent rain, and the lakes gained the 12 feet or so that they were down. As of 22 Mar 2012, the lake has been full or above full.  Yet, the drought restrictions (“severe”) have been kept.  It’s now middle May, and they are STILL on “severe” restrictions.

It seems to me that they have a poor opinion of us regular water users… that if they lift the restrictions now, we won’t obey restrictions when (if) they need to be returned.

Instead of removing the restrictions, they have left them at “severe”, but have gone to a “relaxed” level 3.

C’mon, you bureaucrats – just take off the restrictions!

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Busy time

Posted on 10 March 2012 by Richard

Finished up the taxes earlier in the week, using a program I like, called TaxACT.  It’s an entirely free program – even the electronic filing is free.  I usually tell 2 or 3 people about it; especially when I hear that they are paying good money for those “other” programs.  I also warn people that TaxACT keeps bugging the user to purchase the “Deluxe” version; I just ignore it… for not having to spent $20-$30 on a tax program, I’m willing to put up with a minor inconvenience.  As they say, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).  But I’ve talked about it here, so anyone who sees this can read about it.

Did a bunch of tree trimming last weekend when it was cooler, but I may have waited a bit too long; one of the trees was flowering, and I inhaled a bit of pollen, which bothered my throat/lungs.  All better now.

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Great Day!

Posted on 5 March 2012 by Richard

Just wanted to take a short moment to praise God for a great Lord’s day this day.

The morning message was pretty awesome; about the need for patience (and I have a long way to go in this area).

Then the evening service topped the morning message about living by faith.  Out of the thousands of messages I’ve heard in my life, I can remember about five, and I have two or three saved off so that I may re-listen to them. This evening’s message will be joining them. It’s a message I need to hear often.  I know it’s so easy to get frustrated when things don’t work out how we expected, yet as the redeemed of the Lord, we should have better faith in Him.

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Bless the food

Posted on 22 February 2012 by Richard

Was reading in Deut the other day, and ran across v10: When though hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD they God… (I added the emphasis on “then”)

Just made me think about the practice of thanking God for the food before we eat.  Seems that afterwards may be more Scriptural?  Or maybe just that we do it at all…

 

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Filthy Rags

Posted on 13 February 2012 by Richard

I was listening to a message last night, and the preacher made a reference to Is 64:6 … all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;…

This verse is frequently used (correctly) when talking with someone about his soul. It is very clear that our best works are merely filthy rags to God.

I fear, though, that we may sometimes forget this verse after we are saved; somehow, some Christians seem to think that their good works are now a valuable treasure to God. They pray for a person, and tell God what great things that person has done.  Or we expect answers to prayer because of some great work we have done. Not so – our best works, even after salvation are STILL filthy rags in God’s sight.  He answers prayer because He is good and He chooses to do so, not because we’ve impressed Him with our works.

To avoid misunderstanding, I should go on to say that the Scripture is VERY clear that we ARE to do good works after we are saved (Eph 2:10 and many other passages).  These works are for the purpose of bringing glory to God (Matt 5). But we should not consider someone closer to God because of his works, or that because he has done great things, God will answer his prayer more than yours.

Also, I should say that I am not saying that we should not recognize achievements. By all means, honor a pastor who has been with a church on his various anniversaries – the longer he has been there, the rarer it is, and the more honor (honor to whom honor is due) he should receive from us… just don’t think that his works have made him more important to God.

Filthy rags: true of the works of saved people, too.

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Taxing

Posted on 23 January 2012 by Richard

Was reading in the Bible about how God told the Israelites to raise funds (taxes).  When they took a census, there was a small fine for every person: the rich and poor paid an equal amount… wouldn’t THAT be a novelty for the US government.

The “rich” that we keep hearing so much about “soaking” or “making to pay their fair share” actually pay the bulk of the taxes in the US.  Much, of course, depends upon how one defines “rich” — usually, it is anyone who makes more than you do.

 

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Moses

Posted on 23 January 2012 by Richard

We’re so used to the story of Moses and the burning bush that we often don’t realize how unusual the situation is… consider a worker today who has a well-established career… he lives in a distant suburb.  One day, he’s driving into work and sees a car hovering in the air, suspended by nothing. Who wouldn’t turn aside to see something that our senses tell us is impossible?

And then… just imagine, he hears the voice of God, telling him that he God has chosen him for some task.  Him!  With a past he wants to forget, God wants him!

Can you imagine the situation!?  No wonder Moses was afraid and made excuses!  Who of us would not have acted in a similar fashion?

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Joseph

Posted on 23 January 2012 by Richard

One of the frequent sayings in offices is “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know”… such a statement is often used to justify the fairly common situation: a highly talented individual often doesn’t move up and less talented ones do.  This statement is half right (or half wrong).  According to the Bible it’s not merely what you know, but it is also dependent upon the situation God puts one in.

Consider Joseph.  He became the number two man in Egypt.  Yes, God gave him the ability to interpret dreams, but he also was in the right place at the right time.  It was God who created the situation that allowed Joseph to rise to such a position.  Yet Joseph also had to use his ability; consider what would have happened if when the butcher and the baker were sad, Joseph, instead of trying to help them, had launched into his own pity party. He used the ability God gave him when there was no apparent benefit to himself.  Because he did so, his ability was remembered much later, and he was brought before Pharaoh.

The lesson from this is to always try to help others, whether or not there is an advantage to us; we should leave the circumstances to God and have faith in Him that all is for the best.

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The Love of God

Posted on 23 January 2012 by Richard
Recently, my pastor made an comment after the service to the effect that we really don’t know how much God loves us, and I’ve been thinking about that.
We know that God is love, and we know that He demonstrated His love to the world in that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
But somehow, after we become believers, we seem to forget this truth – we think that God loves the lost, but that we, His adopted children through the new birth had better measure up, or we’ll get into trouble.
Nonsense!  If God loved us before we were saved, when we were alienated and enemies of Him, how much more does He love us when we are redeemed and His own.
We somehow get the idea that if we don’t keep up doing good works, God is going to “get” us — we forget that not only are our best works “filthy rags” before we are saved, they remain “filthy rags” after we are saved.  Our good works do not impress God, nor do they cause Him to love us.  Our good works are a way to show Him that we love Him, but they do not bring us into His favor.
We so often try to take God down to our level in this area – we try to behave to stay on the “good side” of our parents, friends, wives, husbands, etc… but God is not  like that – He loves His children.  Period.  We don’t need to be good to be loved by Him – He loved us when we were yet sinners.

If He loved us enough to send His Son to die so that we might have fellowship with Him, will He love us any less now that we are His children?

Some churches, sadly, effectively preach that we must obey God in order for Him to like us and be happy with us… that’s just not so — God is pleased with the efforts we make to obey Him, but AT BEST our best efforts are filthy rags, and He loves us regardless.

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Christmas reflections

Posted on 24 December 2011 by Richard

Two years ago, believing ourselves to be obeying God, we left a church we’d served at for 20+ years to find a closer church.  It was no easy decision; we left with some tears and with much trepidation – were we following the Spirit of God, or another spirit?

But God led us to Lighthouse Baptist Church in Wylie, about three times closer and with a great Spirit.  We’ve been so blessed!

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