Acts of God

Whenever there is a great disaster (earthquake, hurricane, tsunami, or tornado) many people call those things "acts of God". I have always been uncomfortable with that statement; it inadvertently blames God for the destruction and death. Many good people die as result of tornadoes and I do not believe their death was the result of God's judgment on them. Check out the link to an article written by Heather Carlton who lives in a suburb of Joplin, Missouri. She was a witness to the destructive tornado that hit that her community May 22, 2011.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/a_real_act_of_god_in_joplin_mi.html

I want to thank my friend Layton Welborn for sharing this article with me.

The End Was Last Week, You Totally Missed It!

The world seems to be in a frenzy to find out when is the end of world.  Apparently last Saturday May 21^st was supposed to be the end; however most of us woke up on May 22^nd. The sad reality is that on May 21^st it was the end for some people; everyday people die both expectedly and unexpectedly.  Some religious leaders focus so much of their ministries on "The End" that maybe they have forgotten that our focus is supposed to be on Jesus "The Beginning".  In Matthew 24:36 Jesus said "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."  We don't know when the "the End" is, we are not supposed to, in fact it is not meant to be our focus.  The reality is we all have an end, that is the bad news; one way or the other death comes for us all.  The story of Jesus is not called "the bad news", it is called the Gospel (the good news).  Jesus came so that we might have life, so that we can overcome sin and death through His power and grace.  Rather than worry about an end we cannot predict, let's focus on a beginning that we can be certain of.  May we all enjoy the great blessings of life found in our Lord Jesus!

Heaven & a Disney Cruise

Every morning my daughter says the same thing as I take her to school; she says “I can’t wait till we are on the Disney Cruise daddy!” I have never seen her more excited about anything in her life. She likes to get online and look at pictures of the cruise ship, she likes to read about all of the activities, and then she starts naming family and friends that she wished could come with us. Side Note: Some of you who are reading this article were named. I find myself at times telling her “enough already, can we talk about something else?” The things we are most passionate about in life are the things we can’t help but talk about, study about, and even invite others to join in with us. When my father died back in January my children could not stop talking about how amazing heaven must be, how much fun Grampy must be having in the presence of Jesus. Their giddiness about heaven at first felt overwhelming and disturbing. I’m not sure if it was my grief or the thought them facing death, but I didn’t want to hear them talk so much about dying and going to Heaven.
The more my kids talked about Heaven and Jesus the more I found myself growing in excitement with the idea of being there with my dad and other loved ones in the presence of our Lord Jesus. I no longer hush my children when they talk about heaven; in fact I often say “tell me more”.

By the way, Abby’s excitement about the Disney cruise has rubbed off too…I can’t wait!!

Happy Mother’s Day! article 2

Thud … thud … thud … thud …     That was the sound every two seconds as we drove through the desert of Arizona; we were on our family vacation to the west coast. The roads were awful, they reminded me of those mile long bridges that go across the Mississippi River in which you feel and hear every bump in the road. So halfway between Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon my mother broke our zombie like coma of endless thuds by saying, “hey, let’s memorize Bible verses!” The 16 year old version of myself said, “do we have to, we are on vacation?” Of course I knew how that sounded right after I said it; however my mother was unfazed by my negativity and we started in Ephesians 3:16.
“16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:16-21 NIV

It took about an hour, but we finally got it down and I had it memorized, mostly. The words stuck, and their power has helped me throughout my life. It is easy to get lost in the mundane, lost in the endless thuds of life and forget how rich we are because of the love of Christ. I have my mother to thank; she is the one who woke me up from the thuds of this world in order to enjoy the riches and power of Jesus. Thanks mom. - Vic

Mother's Day article 1

“I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.” ~Abraham Lincoln


When the rain came down and the waters began to rise in Nashville most adults didn’t know what to do. Some people ran, some stayed, and others panicked; however children all over Nashville knew exactly where to go and what to do. When we watched the news last Sunday we saw boat after boat bringing in survivors and on those boats were mothers holding on to their children. In many news videos I saw children clinging to the mothers as tight as they could. Times like these remind us of why mothers are so special, they are not just caregivers, they are also protectors and counselors. You may never had to cling to your mother because of rising water, but there have been cuts, scrapes, sad days, loss, and struggles that caused you to run and cling to your mother because she knew exactly what to do. Let your mother know how special she is to you today, tell her how much you love her, and say a special prayer thanking God for her. Happy Mother’s Day! - Vic