Forgiveness

Have you ever gone on a "forgiveness tour"?  I have and it was a tough thing for me to do.  After a season of my life that I did things that I wasn't proud of God told me that if I wanted to straighten my life out I should go ask forgiveness to those who I wronged and hurt.  Some forgave me and others remained stoic and will never forgive me no matter what.  I have spent some serious knee time begging God to forgive me for my sins, past, present, and future.  Sins of omission and sins of ommission, and even those that I have forgotten about.  Sometimes we must fall prostrate before the Lord, confess our sins and repent like nobody's business.

John tells us, "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.". (1 John 1:9).  And even though when people wrong us - no matter how large or small the issue is, we are reminded to, "Forgive whatever grievances you may have against on another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you." (col 3:13).  Not only are we to forgive each other, but ask God through his son Jesus Christ to forgive us also.  "I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more, says the Lord".  Amen.

pray4u@chaplaincare.us

Fear of Failure

Have you ever been afraid, I mean really afraid?  I have.  I've been paralyzed by the fear of failure, the fear that I won't amount to anything, the fear that I won't live up to my family's expectations, the fear that I won't be a good father and husband, and most of all the fear that I will fail my God with my sinful behavior.  The Bible says "Do Not Fear" or some derivative of the phrase 365 times so it must be an important lesson that we must learn.  God said to Isaiah, "Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand". (Isaiah 41:10)  That sounds very clear to me that the God who created the universe will strengthen us so that we will not be afraid anymore.  We must remember that we will eventually  "walk through the valley of the shadow of death" (Psalm 23), we won't stay there.  David also said to his son Solomon, "Be strong and courageous, and  do the work.  Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God is with you.  He will not fail you or forsake you". (1 Chron 28:20). 

pray4u@chaplaincare.us

Being Thankful

In my last blog I talked about being unemployed since April of this year.  While this, on the surface, seems like a horrible prospect for my future, several things have to to light that I am most thankful for.  Mind you I didn't always have this perspective, but my good wife and my Good Shepherd have intervened in my life to give me a different thought process.  I always had the notion that you are less of a man and a provider if you don't work.  "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat." (II Thessalonians 3:10).  But after study and prayer, God has given me the opportunity to do something with my time - be thankful.  No matter what happens, good or bad I need to be thankful and praise God.  I know that sometimes this is not easy to do, but like the movie Facing the Giants says "we will praise him when we win and will praise him when we lose".  I praise God and am thankful that He has seen that every financial need we have has been taken care of during this period of economic struggles.  I am thankful that God has given me this time to be refreshed in his word, "He makes me lie down in green pastures" (Psalm 23).  I am thankful that I have had much more time to spend with my family and preach the word throughout the valley.  And the Lord has given me time to go for a run and take the dog for a walk on a consistent basis.

But most of all, I am thankful that God has put us in this exact situation at this exact time.  There is something to be learned here, I'm not sure what that is yet, but in time it will be revealed.  As the Psalmist said, "Praise the Lord.  Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; and His love endures forever." (Psalm 106:1).

pray4u@chaplaincare.us

Are you anxious?

In today's uncertainty about the future: will we have a job that I can pay my bills on, can I continue my health insurance, and can I even afford to retire right now, understandably makes us anxious and a bit uneasy.  I must admit that when I lost my job earlier this year (and am still unemployed) the prospect of losing everything that I worked so hard for was paralyzing to me.  But for the love and calming of a Christian wife, I would have been a full blown basket case, sick with worry.  It has been a struggle for me, my family and countless other Americans that have seen hope running out, day by day. 

I am reminded of what Jesus said in Matthew 6:34, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself".  Worry in of itself is not very productive and not very healthy either and we must learn to place our trust in the Lord, Jesus Christ to provide for us and our needs.  God told Joshua to "Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you whereever you go".  Place your trucst and faith in God like Moses did and He will never leave us nor forsake us.

pray4u@chaplaincare.us

Always Faithful

Recently, while walking through our local cemetery to visit my father's grave, I took notice of something that I'm sure most people don't even notice, the overwhelming amount of American flags that adorn the military veteran's graves.  These men and women from the Spanish American war to present day who died in the fight for freedom, and to those, like my Dad died well after his service to his country, remind me of what they fought for - Freedom.  During the Bush years, many from my town would protest the war(s) from in front of the post office and that was made possible by those who served and those who gave their lives.  (I wonder where those protesters are now?)

I'm sure that many of those young men and women went into battle with military chaplains telling them, "Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever your go." (Joshua 1:9).  How many of us are afraid of what we face today.  The Bible says "Do Not Fear", 365 times, so we know that if we place our trust in the Lord we will walk through the darkest valley.

pray4u@chaplaincare.us

Greetings!

This is my first attempt at blogging.  I will tackle tough religious issues, workplace chaplain strategies as well as bringing the Word.