1. Earlier this week, Shane Bunting did what a lot of 22 year olds do ... he went to a party. But after being asked to leave the party as a result of an altercation, he did something that few 22 year olds do ... he returned to the party armed with a baseball bat and a pit bull. That's right ... a pit bull! He released the dog which proceeded to attack three different people (two of which were treated at Ephrata Hospital for dog bites). The local chief of police said during a television interview that he had never seen a pit bull used as weapon in a situation like this before. Really? Bottom line here - this man has anger issues! But he is not alone. A lot of people have anger issues. We live in an increasingly angry world! Why so? Because people in their sinful pursuit of self gratification get angry whenever someone or something gets in the way of that pursuit! IF we are honest ... we would all admit that we deal with anger to some degree. Perhaps not enough to sic a pit bull on someone ... but angry none-the-less. God calls upon us to deal with our anger (Ephesians 4:26, 31; James 1:19-20). A great way to do so is to read through the book of Proverbs (the Old Testament book of wisdom) and read every verse that talks about anger (there are at least a dozen). Then seek to apply God's wisdom and get the anger out of your heart! You (and those around you) will be better for it!
2. I found this article (http://www.transformedblog.com/2013/06/05/a-gospel-that-fits-all-people/) to be quite compelling. The author writes about the gospel in that it is a gospel that fits all people. Not just the beautiful people ... the successful people ... the cool people. But it is good news for ALL people (Luke 2:10; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31). I hope you take a moment to read it.
3. Some nights I sleep well ... others I don't. On some of those latter occasions it is because I have something on my mind and heart. But many times I am not quite sure why I can't sleep. Last night was one of those. I woke up around 4 AM. After laying in bed for almost an hour, I decided to just get up and start my day. But during that time that I remained in bed a rather strange thought hit me. It dawned on me that when we do sleep, we are at the total mercy of external circumstances. Someone could break into our house and we would not know it. A fire could begin to smolder in another room, releasing toxic fumes (and if the smoke alarms don't go off, we could easily succumb to those fumes and never wake up - this side of eternity that is!). And on and on it goes. SO ... as I thought of that I realize that going to bed and falling asleep is actually an act of faith. Because as we do so we are trusting God to keep us while we are snoring away! Even though I did not grow up in a churched home ... my mother did teach me a little prayer to pray before I went to bed each night. You may very well be familiar with it. It went like this: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." Hmm ... for such a little prayer, there is some good theology in that (Psalm 4:8)!
Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj
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