Details...Details...Details!

In the new revolution of HD, could we be over simplifying our life. Yes, we want to see things clear but to what point. I know this may seem funny or obscene but there is a point. I was watching the synchronize divers from Olympics at a friends house who has HD 64inch TV. The divers do not appear to have their country flags on their rear any longer, now they are placed right of the Adidas symbol which places them on the crotch. So when a friend asked what country the divers were from, immediately the 10-12 viewers went to look at the flag and saw it with amazing detail! I just thought it was funny that some of us was squinting at the screen because the diver had moved a little to find the country flag on his groin!

At that time, I was actually thankful to have a normal TV at home. I do not need the latest thing. I have a friend that bought the new type of phone....you know the text buttons with I-Pod screen, dictionary, etc. He was excited to get this new product but 4 months later and the only thing he has used it for was as a phone. He still hasn't learned how to use it for texting. Sure it is great to have these nice products but are they needed. Many times we find luxeries a necessity. We could get by with what we have without spending the money or time with family. Yes, I could be seen as a old geezer. Telling the young people of today, "When I was a kid....". I am just simply saying that sometimes we do not need what we think we need. Maybe we should simplify our life with how we should spend our time, than look at how we can simplify our life. Sometimes the gadgets aren't worth it.

This comes from a blogger that was caught looking at the details!

The cruel disappearing Magic trick!

I have always had fun with the habit my parents had with me. I would misbehave and one of my parents would say to the other "Your son.....". The angry parent would dis-own me in seconds. One bad decision made me disappear! It was like one of my friend's magic tricks. "Watch me lose a child in one bad decision!". I found myself doing that again this morning. My 7 month old was having trouble staying asleep at 2:30 due to congestion. When my wife woke up this morning for work I told her "Your son kept me up all night!". Now anybody that really knows me would know that I was just kidding but that behavior was followed with the thought "What if....What if God (Papa) said this to me and meant it?"

Wow....what a jaw dropper! I know this may catch people off guard but before you take offense, Think about it! I was given the "License to sin". I have made a commitment to a relationship that in return I was given the license to sin. This is a huge insurance policy that I did not earn but accepted as a gift. How would it feel to be told "your not my child any longer". There would be some major abandonment issues. "But why...what did I do for you to dis-own me???". This level of behavior could domino into a world of despair and pain in no time.

I am thankful to have a father that will love me no matter what I do! I am not trying to test him but I enjoy having this insurance policy...It makes things easier when I do make bad decisions!

Like Sheep

Once you were wandering like lost sheep. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls. (1 Peter 2:25)

On more than one occasion, the Bible compares Christians to sheep. I don't know if I'm really happy about that, because sheep are not the most intelligent animals on earth.

It would have been nice if God had compared us to dolphins. Now there's an intelligent animal. I once had the opportunity to talk to a man who trained dolphins. I asked him, "Are dolphins really as intelligent as they seem?" He said, "In some ways, yes, and in some ways, no. They are very intelligent in many ways, because a dolphin can read a symbol and understand what it means." That is amazing to me.

But Jesus didn't compare us to dolphins. He compared us to sheep. And sheep are some of the stupidest animals around.

They are easily spooked. They are vulnerable. They have no defense mechanisms to speak of. They can't run very fast. They are in constant need of care and attention. They have a horrible tendency to follow each other, even to their own death. It has been documented that if one sheep walks off a cliff, the others will follow.

The Bible says, "All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God's paths to follow our own" (Isaiah 53:6). Think about how many people have bought into the same lies, generation after generation. They fall into the same junk, the same addictions, and the same traps again and again.

We are like sheep. That is a fact. The question is, am I going to be a smart sheep or a dumb one? Smart sheep stay close to the Shepherd, and that is where we all need to be.

To be alone with you - Sufjan Stevens

I'd swim across Lake Michigan
I'd sell my shoes
I'd give my body to be back again
In the rest of the room
To be alone with you
To be alone with you
You gave your body to the lonely
They took your clothes
You gave up a wife and a family
You gave your ghost
To be alone with me
To be alone with me
To be alone with me
You went up on a tree
To be alone with me
You went up on a tree
I've never known a man who loved me

Surrender!

Letting Go!

Sometimes I just have to let go. When I hold on too tightly it nearly, if not entirely drives me to the point of insanity.I’ve found this to apply to all areas of my life. Letting go doesn’t mean giving up or forgetting. It just means releasing your grip, yielding control.I can’t control things.

I can’t control the grade I got on a paper in class or job evaluation that I felt was graded unjustly.

I can’t control the feelings and biases of others.

I can’t control love.

I can’t control death.

I’ve found that in my life, I’ve held too tightly. I have striven for perfection and foolishly become disheartened to the point of paralysis in the times I have failed. And I have failed miserably at times, mostly at accepting grace.Grace is a hard thing, particularly the grace that comes from Jesus Christ.I sin. And when I sin I feel so bad that I send myself the almost subconscious message that God cannot love me. A friend of mine put it best when he stated: “Man, I feel like I’m God’s bad little kid.” I know I am a child of God, that he has accepted me into his family. At times I feel like I’m definitely the bad one, that God is continually disappointed and is giving me the silent treatment.The thing is, he’s not as far off as I make him. It’s just about surrender.

The heart of my issue is that I am not accepting the fact that the blood of Jesus was sufficient to cover all of my sin, and when the guilt I feel over my sin paralyzes me, it is certainly not from Him. It is buying into the lie that the sacrifice Christ made was not enough.

That sickens me.

So I have to let go. Let go of my belief that I can be perfect in my own strength. Let go of the idea that I’ll never be good enough.

I am loved by God, and His love is perfect. Who am I to reject such an unfathomable gift? So my demon is definetly: Surrender! I am sure there are many laymen among us that do not comprehend the depth in the term "surrender" as well.

Thankfully dealing with Grace, love, Travis!