Call U Blessed & A Blessing!!!

We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so that we can have the life God planned for us.

All I know is.......IT'S ABOUT TO GO DOWN!!! be blessed. Yeah, you over there looking over here. ;-)

"Jesus responded, "Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believe?"" John 11:40 do u believe???

While I encourage you, I encourage me, so....you gone make it. blessed

Reminding myself of a cooler time

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Hate and the Pulpit by Jim L Evans

I know it's not new, I guess I am just more aware of it. But it does seem to be more prevalent. I am talking about anger and hate filled language spoken from American pulpits. The high profile example is Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The pastor was filmed spewing anger and venom to his predominantly black congregation about the white establishment's treatment of black people. It's hard to call the tirade anything other than what it was--hate speech. And even if we can understand where the anger and hate is coming from--generations of abuse and oppressive segregation, I wonder if fueling resentment is the best way forward. That racism is still a problem in this country is beyond dispute. But deepening the divide will not heal the breach. We have witnessed other examples of sanctified hate: Louis Farrakhan's rants about Jews, John Hagee's tirades against homosexuals, Pat Robertson's suggestion that Hugo Chavez should be assassinated, Richard Land calling Hillary Clinton a witch and Charles Schumer a "schmuck," and we won't even begin to talk about the folks from Westboro Baptist Church and their itinerant ministry of hate. What's going on here? Well, if I might quote an old rock song, "it starts when you're always afraid." Since 9/11 fear has become our primary response to the world. And the list of things we have to fear gets longer every day. We are afraid of being attacked by terrorists again. That's why we are told that the terrorists must be fought over there so we won't have to fight them over here. We are also afraid the resources of the world are running out. Will there be clean water to drink? Will there be gas for my car? Will there be Social Security for my retirement? Will my children be able to afford college? Our way of life and standard of living seem very much at risk, and that makes us anxious and angry. Eventually we become wary of our neighbors. Our fear drives us to ever more isolated forms of living. We spend way too much time watching Fox News and CNN where fear is spooned up every quarter hour. But why drag God into it? Because deep in our bones we believe God could fix what's wrong with our world but for some reason chooses not to. Our sorry state of affairs must be God's punishment for some egregious sin we have committed. And so we start looking for scapegoats. Pat Robertson and John Hagee believe 9/11 happened because America tolerates of gays, lesbians and feminists. Farrakhan thinks Jews are the root of all evil, and Rev. Wright believes it's the white establishment. As fear increases, reason decreases--which is both dangerous and sad. Dangerous because in our fear we are likely to strike out and do harm to ourselves and others. Sad because without reason we will never achieve the vision God has for us as human beings. It's no wonder Jesus told his followers over and over again, "Fear not." It's the key to his command for us to love our neighbors and our enemies. Our fear of neighbor and enemy is the root of all the evil that plagues us. In order to fulfill God's vision for us we must find the courage to love. Otherwise our fear and the resulting hate will consume us. James L. Evans is pastor of Auburn First Baptist Church in Auburn, Ala.


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No Need For A Crystal Ball

People are always saying to me, “I know God has a plan for my life, but what is it?” Yeah, I find myself there. I have been prophesied over and heard people say what I was “called” to do, but still I had questions and what not. So where do we go for answers??? The Word of God, but as I really began to search through the Bible, I noticed something. There is not a lot of information about the will of God for our future. Don’t get me wrong, God does speak of our future and there are scriptures that can give us an idea of what his plan for our life looks likes. My favorite scripture in the Bible, “For I know the plans I have for you…..plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV) So, I have a future??? That’s good. But what about them plans??? So I’m studying this morning and I come across this scripture, Matthew 6:34 and Jesus say, “.., do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” If you go back to verse 25, Jesus is basically saying in a nutshell, don’t worry about where you will sleep, what you will eat, what you will wear because God is aware of what you need and he’s got you. All he is asking is for you to “Cast all your cares on him,” WHY??? “Because HE cares for you” (I Peter 5:7 NIV) So I guess that would include his plan for my life, or maybe his plan for my life is to simply trust that He’s got me. When I really think about it, my desire to know what the future holds is primarily based in fear. I want the security of knowing what the future brings rather than risk trusting God as the unfamiliar future unfolds. I want a light to shine to show the entire journey ahead so that I will know everything about the future and therefore be spared the difficulty of having to trust God. Maybe the simple will of God for my life is to simply rely on him.



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