Getting Unstuck

     Computers are either the most useful pieces of technology ever invented or "the biggest piece of crap in the world"! What makes the difference?

It all depends on what day you walk into my office.

     Common ground?

     I don't know if you've ever had a computer "lock up" on you. But, if you're breathing in 2011, chances are pretty good that you've sat there in front of the screen... just... waiting... forrrrr... ANyThINNNNGG to happen!!! The trick, I was told, when this happens, is to hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete to interrupt the program that's "not responding" and get yourself out of whatever loop has the computer stuck in an endless cycle.

     Lately, I've had more than one conversation about something with guys I'm meeting with and Cristine's brought up the same topic at our staff meetings - "people are getting stuck in conflict and can't seem to get out". Someone's been rude, been overbearing, been demanding, been thoughtless and the other person is refusing to let them back in before they "apologize first"!

Try this at home.

Lest Ye Be Judged...
    Fighting an uphill battle? You might be a Christian... One of the hardest things about being a professed Christian is that the world will judge you based on the standard God no longer condemns you for. Some of you are judging me right now for ending a sentence with a preposition! The second hardest (in the flesh) is fighting against old patterns and habits you've been steeped in for many years. After all - "train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it" doesn't just refer to the good stuff we're taught, right?

     I believe we will be held accountable and rewarded (or ineligible for reward) for what we have done or left undone (2ee 2Cor. 5.10), we are no longer condemned for our sin because we are no longer sinners, but saints - saved by the grace of God. In fact, we are referred to as saints over 60 times in the New Testament. This does not mean we no longer sin, but that the outstanding theme of our life is not one of sin, rather of sanctification. This is a big bible word for "being transformed into the likeness of Jesus".

Having Trouble with Lust, Quiet Time, or God's Will for Your Life?

     Since the time I've become a follower of Christ - some ten years, now - the biggest flashes on the radar screens of the men around me have fallen into three categories - struggle with purity, struggle with God's will for their life, and struggle with consistency in quiet time with Him.

Know anyone like that?

     This morning, I thought I'd pass on a piece of scripture that hit me in the back of the head pretty hard and jolted me back into alignment with Christ. It comes from chapter 4 of Hebrews. The first century Jews that the writer was addressing were well aware of the holiness of God if they were pressed to consider it. God is Holy - we are not. No one unclean like that could possibly stand in front of his Holiness and not be obliterated. It was a light too intense, a purity too awesome to comprehend, (and thanks to Christ, we will all stand there someday...) In the temple courtyard there was a division. In the temple proper, an even greater division - the "Holy of Holies" - a place where no one, save the High Priest would dare enter, and even then only after proper sacrifices had been made on his own behalf and proper "clean" attire had been donned.

God's holiness was a big deal.

Is it still?