Sat. 4-26-08

What a day!

I missed writing 2 days now. So let’s catch up…

Thursday… Went to work for a half a day. I was supposed to go and practice singing in the Choir for The Franklin Graham Festival. However, My wife’s health took front seat that evening. She had some blood work at the doctor’s office on Wednesday and the results did not come back as good as hoped. They suggested we go the ER to get everything checked out. She was having some swelling in the legs, possible blood clot, and her blood test showed her kidneys were functioning slowly, possible kidney failure. So we spent several hour at the ER getting everything checked out. She had an ultra sound on her legs, and they did NOT find any blood clots. Her blood tests all came back negative in regards to the kidney thing. She was so worried, but at the same time did not want to be burden on me. She was so sweet. She wanted to make sure I got to my Choir practice. However with everything her and I have been through the last several months, I did not want to take any chances. Thank God that everything came back OK. Now she is still having some pain and swelling the legs. The doc told her to prop up her foot while sitting and not to sit with her right leg on top of her left leg (half indian style). That’s what was causing some blockage and not allowing the blood to flow back up like normal. She is still in pain, but the swelling has started to go down and she is doing much better.

Friday… Yesterday…. Well I also had this day off. I was supposed to sing at the Festival last night. I never made it there. Why? Well, several reasons why. First, I was scared and having some anxiety about being with all those people in a huge arena. I also am a Big Guy and my health could stand some major improvements. In retrospect, I could not fit in the stadium seating. I am either too wide or too tall. Very embarrassing on my part, that because of my size, I couldn’t sit with a choir. Yeah it’s been a long time dream of mine to be part of something of this magnitude. But dealing with the anxiety and not having a place to sit was like a double blow to my emotions. If it were one or the other, I am sure I would have been there. My wife, the sweet thing she is, thought it was her fault because I did not get to practice on Thursday night. Of course it wasn’t her fault, it was mine. I made a decision and I have to live with that decision. I am disappointed in myself that I just couldn’t do what I really wanted to do. It really broke my heart. Right then I learned that I have to do something with my health. I figured if I start taking care of my physical well being, my mental status will improve. It will be a long journey to say the least. Besides my size, I also smoke. Another double threat. One might think that because my father has heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes, that one would take better care of themselves. No, that is not the case for me, I am completely doing all the things that I shouldn’t to prevent those things from happening to me. OK so enough of the negative things. God has always blessed me with over all good health. Despite my shortcomings.

OK so now on to TODAY, Saturday…. My child had a couple of friends spend the night last night. Needless to say we all had a long night but very little sleep. We all got up this morning to head out to the Xtreme Kids Live at the Franklin Graham Festival.
It was an awesome show for the kids. They had extreme sports bicycling, Little Tommy Toons, and "God Rocks" performing. If I was a kid this would have been the show to go to. My son and his friend enjoyed it very much. I on the other hand enjoyed the show, but not the seating arrangements. Again because of my size I had to sit in a folding chair so the experience was not the same. We all met at WLBC this morning and 3 vehicles took all of us over there. Our pastor and his family went, a couple other leaders and their kids went, and then my son and his friends (13 of us in all). Not a bad turn out. The stadium was about a third full. They had some seating blocked off. There was a kids choir that also performed.

After we got home, I took a 4 hour nap. I was exhausted from walking all over the stadium and it was getting hot outside when we were leaving. I don’t do well in hot weather and walking that much. Again there is that health thing. OK so anyways… After getting up, I helped fix supper. We had bar-b-que chicken with BBQ chips for the coating and then roasted red potatoes. YUM YUM!!!!

After getting refreshed and refilled, I sat down at the computer and did some homework to get ready for Sunday School. This week I was asked to put up our Sunday School handouts and discussion guides. So I went to the forum site and printed out the handouts and filled them all out. I took the time to read a couple versions of the same Scripture to better understand what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians. This week’s lesson is focusing on how we should be orderly while worshiping in church. That we should take turns Speaking and Singing ect…. It also brings up that scripture that women are not to speak in church. Now the church Paul was speaking of was not Today’s churches at all. He was talking about the Church of Saints and Prophets. It was disorderly for a woman to speak up, God had commanded that women should discuss with their husbands at home so the husband could speak at the next gathering. In this lesson they do refer to another part of the Bible where Paul discusses the place women have in the church and that they do have vital roles and positions of leadership. Paul was saying women NEVER could speak, just in this type of setting, the Church of Saints. So beyond all of this, I still don’t know all the passages, but there are several places in the Bible talking about women and their roles in the church. Jesus had even mentioned it at least once during his teachings.

Another section related to our lesson, talked about false prophets in 2 Peter 2 and 1 John 4, warning believer of false Prophets and the anti-christ. These passages tell us how to distinguish the true Prophets and teachers from the fake ones. Basically what I have learned in this topic, is that God tells us to read His Word and not to depend on what others teach us. If they are teaching from the Word, then we should study the Word ourselves to ensure accuracy. It is our responsibility to read God’s word and not to believe everything that others tell us about the Bible. It’s like having a driver’s license. You may not know all the rules and laws, but that still doesn’t mean you won’t get a ticket for breaking one of those laws. It’s the same with the Bible. We have to read it and ask God to speak to us, to help us understand it. Ask God what he is teaching US not others about what He has to say. It is our responsibility read, learn and to know God’s word and plan for US. We cannot depend on others to translate the Word to us. Now why then do we have preachers, priests and others in leadership. These men are chosen by God to lead us. Some start out with the best intentions and truly preach what is written in the Bible and then later Falter. They are human like you and me and make mistakes the same way we do. Being in a leadership, they have even a bigger responsibility. They are dealt with by God in another manner. (for another day) If what they teach is wrong, they are Judged by God differently than us. We all have a responsibility to read and learn God’s Word on our own and also learn from each other. When learning from each other, it’s a time when God shows some of us a little something different in the same passage depending on what is going on in our lives that time.

I know some of this sounds confusing, but in the end, if we have a Bible, then WE are responsible to learn God’s Word, not a preacher’s or minister’s. God will judge us on what we have read and not read, done and not done, and obeyed and disobeyed. Not that it will matter to us when we make it to Heaven, but each of us will have different rewards in Heaven. Our lives here on earth are a test of our Love of God and willingness to Obey Him. When we leave this Earth, we have to face Him and that is all that matters.

I pray that what I wrote made some sense and that if you are struggling with the whole "GOD" thing, that you find something to inspire you to seek God more and not listen to the ways of our world. If this blog reaches only one person’s life then God has accomplished what He wanted me to do.

God Bless you all

WLBC-Webmaster

Learning Everyday!