www.choose2care.blogspot.com

I decided to put the CARE Study on a different blog, so I have created www.choose2care.blogspot.com. Come see it here.

WHO CARES?

This subject was addressed tonight during our youth group session at our church. Originally, we were discussing what the Bible has to say about cheating. As much as you can say about cheating (and we did), the discussion stalled when I was giving them suggestions on how to avoid cheating. I gave them a hypothetical example – “What if you were in the hospital the whole night before your quiz. Can’t you ask your teacher for an extension to give you an opportunity to prepare, instead of felling like you have to cheat?” The overwhelming response from the group was that they sincerely believed that their teacher’s really didn’t care about whether they needed help or not. The perception is that the teacher has a job and they do their job – with no regard to the individual needs of the student. Now, many of us adults will want to get into a discussion with the teens about why they didn’t prepare for the quiz ahead of time, but I had to stop and consider the response from the majority of our teens. OUR TEACHERS REALLY DON’T CARE. This comment has stuck with Julie and I all night. Julie is working on her master’s degree in Educational Psychology (way to go, Sweetheart!), and this mentality is pure fodder for her class on student psychology. But the reality is that this brought both of us to tears. It is possible that we are too close to the students to have a truly objective view of this comment, but I look at this from a much broader perspective. Just what do we care about? Why? What do we not care about? Why not?

The phrase “who cares?” defines an attitude of apathy. This attitude, unfortunately, defines the culture in which we live. But just how accurately does this define me? What about you? I believe that the Lord has given me the desire to study this topic during my devotional time. So, I plan on submitting these studies on my blog. I encourage you to study this with me, comment on my posts, give me your input, and share this blog with your family and friends. I don’t expect this to result in some sort of cult following, but I think that this is a topic that we all need to consider. As you read my posts, feel free to encourage, give examples, reflect on your past & present and reinforce any ideas that you feel are valid. In contrast, you are also welcome to use your comments to correct, disagree, or debate. My desire is not to educate. My desire is to learn. It is my belief that the best place to learn from is the Bible. So, my attention will be directed at God’s Word, as well as past and present-day examples.

So, do you care to come along? It may not be as smooth of a ride as you might expect. It may be down-right excruciating. If you plan on using these posts to point the finger at someone else, please don’t read any further. The only pre-qualification is self-application – no hypocrites allowed. Remember the Pharisee when he prayed and thanked the Lord that he was not like the publican? I don’t want to be guilty of that. I want God to do a work in my heart (and yours – whoever you are). Don’t put up a wall of pride. All that will do is dam up the rivers of blessing I feel that God will let flow, if we are only transparent and humble. So, let me remind you, this journey could get rocky, but, then again …who cares?

My Dreamworld...

Noah Loses His First Tooth!

Noah finally lost his first tooth today less than two weeks before his 7th birthday!! Acutally, Julie had to pull it, because his bottom 2 teeth are trying to come in, but the originals didn't want to come out. In Noah's usual dramatic way, Julie had a hard time pulling it as she had to wade through all of the tears. (You would think that she was putting his leg back in place!) After all of the drama this evening, Julie figured she would give him a couple of days before she pulled the other one. Julie is our resident tooth puller for two reasons - I don't have the stomach for it, and she has no mercy - seriously! All of this drama followed another dramatic episode with Noah at his Nanny and Papa's new pool. While I was finishing some of the improvements to their pool deck area, Julie, a.k.a. "No Mercy Mama", was guiding Noah through the trecherous waters of the pool in his new life jacket. That's right, Noah hasn't learned to swim yet, so we have resorted to floating him like a fish bobber in a life jacket, so he can used to his surroundings. I think Memorial Day takes on new meaning at the Paisley house after today, because it is one we won't forget!

FIREPROOF - The Movie

This is a post from a blog that I tried in a different area back in January. I hope that you will understand what the Lord showed me then.

(Dated January 24, 2008)

Sodom and Gomorrah
As Christians, we are accused frequently of being hypocritical. Many people who resist invitations to visit church will use the excuse, "The church is just full of hypocrites! I don't want to become a hypocrite, too!" Many Christians will immediately become defensive at that statement, when in reality the statement is not meant personally - it is just a revelation of a deeper personal issue with the person that has been invited.

Today, I read Genesis 18-19 (the acount of Sodom and Gomorrah) and the Holy Spirit caused me to consider if this could apply to the church today, churches in my area, and ultimately right in my own church. As Christians, we are so quick to mentally and verbally condemn Sodom and Gomorrah for the wickedness that they were swimming in, but we fail to take into account the overall message of this passage. In the twin-city area of Sodom and Gomorrah, you would not think that Abraham would have such a hard time finding 50 righteous souls. As the story goes, they could not find 50...40...30...20...or even 10 righteous souls in both of the cities.

Again, our pride will allow us to point our finger at these cities and proclaim that they were VERY WICKED (and they were). Yet, in our churches, if God were to scan our congregations (and He does), how many truly righteous people would He be able to find? We need to understand, first of all, that none of us are righteous by our own merit (Romans 3:10,12; Isaiah 64:6). But we are commanded to live a righteous and holy life (Romans 12:1; 1 Peter 1:15,16), not in our own power, but in Christ. This can be done, but many of us fail to take our responsibility as a Christian seriously. We have adopted the work ethic of our lazy society and have become lazy Christians (Romans 6:10-12). As a result, we should not stiffen when we are lumped together into the pool of hypocritical Christians, but, rather, we should take it as an opportunity to take Spiritual Inventory. Everyone one of us has a need to walk closer to God - we just need to be transparent with ourselves and willing to admit that we are not yet perfect. But we can't stop there. We then need to make a conscious decision to get those areas right in our lives.

Listen, any of you who know me, know that I am not the shining example that is to be held up as a standard for all mankind. I am just a person - just like anyone else. I had made some very bad decisions, and I have grown to regret things that I have done (and not done) and things that I have said. You may even think that because I go to church regularly, that I think that I am better than someone else - or that I think that I am better than you. NOT TRUE! I am a sinner, just like everyone else. The only difference is that I have been saved by the grace of God. You may have seen the bumper stickers on the back of some vehicles that states, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven." I may not have the sticker on my van, but it is still very true. I am far from perfect, and so are you. But the love and grace of God, gives us all a purpose that have never had before. That purpose is to live our lives in such a way that we please (glorify) God in everything we do.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY: If we did a survey of your church, how many truly righteous people would we find? What are you doing about it?

Trip to PCC

We got back yesterday from a trip to Pensacola Christian College for a conference called, Enrichment Conference. It is designed for those (and their spouses) involved in music, youth, or pastoring church ministries. It was a great opportunity to see old friends from college and Becky Jenkins - our student from home, who is now attending PCC. She has met a young man by the name of Matt, who we met as well. Below are pictures of Julie and I with Becky, Matt and Greg Bryant. We saw many other friends from years gone by, but we regret that we forgot to get pictures of most of them. We will try next time. We hope to return next year along with our pastor and his wife (we think they would enjoy it also). Anyway, (to keep it short) we are very grateful to have been invited and to have attended the conference this past week. We received some very valuable teaching from many men of God, and we have returned to our ministry with a "booster shot". God's been good!