An Apostolic Man In An Apostate World Friday, Mar 3 2023 

Biblical history and Doctrine and Family and Marriage and Motivational and New Testament and Old Testament kennethbow 9:28 am

An Apostolic Man In An Apostate World

What is an Apostolic man? Very simply he is a follower of the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. The current fads and social ideas swirling around him do not faze him. He is Apostolic in his thinking.

He is Apostolic in his doctrine. He is not confused by false teaching or fake Pentecost or plastic Christians. He has read his Bible, studied the doctrine, listened to his Pastor, and there is no doubt in his heart that he is an Apostolic man. 

He is proud to be an Apostolic. Not a sinful pride that would contaminate his Holy Ghost. But a pride born of thankfulness and gratitude, that in a world full of false religion, God has singled him out to be a bearer of the torch of truth. 

Apostolic men are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

  • They will stand in the defiant face of an atheist and proclaim that God is. 
  • They will openly laugh at  an agnostic when he says he is confused whether or not there is a God. In fact a true Apostolic man will lift his voice and tell anyone, I know there is a God for I felt him. I know him and He is personal to me.

The Apostolic man of 2023 does not hide behind the walls of his local church fearful and afraid. He rises each morning to put on the armor of God, and walks into a dark world as the bearer of light of the one true God Jesus Christ.

He looks like an Apostolic man. No punk hairdos or crazy life styles because he represents Jesus Christ. He refuses to disfigure Jesus Christ to the world. He does not get tattoos or earrings or foolish trivial things that contaminate his tabernacle. His appearance is clean, clean shaven, no beards or mustaches or goatees, simple, and godly. When the legions who live in darkness see him, they see a clean wholesome man that represents true manhood. There is no trans gender confusion in the way an Apostolic man dresses and walks through his world.

He acts like an Apostolic man. A true apostolic man puts a bridle on his tongue so that he speaks a language that edifies Jesus Christ. He has put away lying, gossiping, critical words, curse words, and he uses his voice to lift up the name of Jesus Christ~ at home and at the workplace. His speech and his words do not betray his testimony.

He leads like an Apostolic man. He surrenders his self will so he can lead his family in the things of God. He loves his wife, and prefers his wife, for he has read the instructions in the Holy Book, husbands love your wives. He does not provoke his children to wrath for the same Holy Book teaches him he must be gentle unto all men. He does not drive his family, he leads them. He leads them in prayer,  he leads them in being consistent,  he leads them in submitting to authority, and he is an example to his wife and family.

The Apostolic man is not confused. The shifting winds of social change do not deter his course. He has set his sails and he is headed for the Celestial City. His mind is made up, his gait is steady, his direction unswerving. He knows who he is in an apostate world. 

The Apostolic man of 2023 accepts his role of following in the footsteps of the truly great Apostolic men of the past. It began with the Apostles, Peter, John, and Paul. It has continued now for 2000 years and the Apostolic man of 2023 is not about to drop the torch of truth on his leg of the race. 

He is not intimidated by the challenge for he is of a rare breed of men that has survived for over 2000 years, and is as strong today as it has ever been. He is a warrior in the model of Shamgar, Gideon, and David. The Apostolic man does not cower in the shadows, he steps out into the bright sunlight of his world and continues the destiny of Apostolic men for the last 2000 years.

You are an Apostolic man in 2023. Stand strong. Be brave. Walk with confidence in a changing world. 

Stand beside your Pastor and hold his hands up as we continue the march of great Apostolic men of the last two millennials. 

Our forbears all handed us a trail that they blazed as surely as Lewis and Clark made the Northwest Trek. 

Today we proclaim here to reaffirm our commitment to being an Apostolic man in 2023.

 

Modern Day Matriarch Monday, Dec 9 2013 

Biographical and Church news and Family kennethbow 8:34 am

In the long history of the Bible there is only one woman whose life is chronicled, and her age is given. Only one. Maybe that is why you should never ask a woman her age 🙂 It is a Bible thing!

It was not Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist. It was not even Mary, the mother of Jesus. It was Sarah. The only woman in the Bible whose age is given is Sarah. Why? I submit it is because she was a/the matriarch!

A matriarch is a venerable old woman. A woman of great age, impressive dignity, and worthy of reverence.

When a woman is a matriarch she rises above the average. She imprints her life on others. She instills her spirit in others.

When a woman is a matriarch, she leaves behind things ordinary women jettison at the grave.

In many ways matriarchs never die. They live in hearts, minds, and memories forever.

Saturday, December 7, 2013, I attended the home going service of a matriarch. Her name is Ruth Luke. She is the mother of my neighboring pastor Mike Luke.

As I sat in the service listening to the impact she left on so many, my mind went back over half a century.

I was about 5 or 6 years old. I was a very battered, mistreated child who was angry and mean. The people of the neighborhood where my grandmother lived asked her to not allow me to go to their houses. In those days kids played late in the neighborhood until after dark.

I was very mean. I poked the neighbor’s pets with sticks and threw rocks at passing cars.

I was a child pariah.

Across the street from my grandmother’s house on Mark street in Arvin, California, in the 1950’s lived a nice woman. In fact she was the only woman in the entire neighborhood who was ever nice to me.

While others watched to make sure I would not visit their property, she watched to see when I was standing out on the sidewalk looking at her house. She even gave cookies to that childish bundle of anger and hate.

55 years later I went down memory land and thought how crazy life is. The last 15 years of her life I was privileged to spend many times around her talking about “Mark street” many years ago.

Like her namesake in the Bible, Ruth Luke is an amazing woman. She is a modern day matriarch.

She being dead yet speaketh.

Thanks for reading today.

 

The consequence of anger 500 years later Tuesday, Feb 22 2011 

Biblical history and Family kennethbow 7:53 am

I read Martyn Ballestero’s blogs as do hundreds of people every day. While reading the recent posts on anger I thought of a Bible incident that sheds light on anger.

It involved the tribe of Simeon. Simeon and Levi had committed and act that angered and disappointed their aged father.

In their mind they were defending their sister Dinah, but their method was cruel and hateful. It appears that their father thought they were angry when they acted.

In Genesis 49, Jacob, now Israel, passes the patriarchal blessing on to his twelve sons. When he gets to Simeon in verse 6, he says, “cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.”

This was their judgment for their actions in killing the men of the Hivites.

This prophecy comes true over 500 years later when the tribes receive their inheritance. When Simeon is allocated his land it is a portion that is surrounded by Judah. It is the only tribe so done this way. It fulfilled the prophecy Simeon was to be divided in Jacob.

In Joshua chapter 19, the lot for Judah is too large, so it is subdivided so the smaller tribe of Simeon is given a portion of Judah.

The consequences of anger still lingered 500 years later. God surrounded it with praise to keep it from further damage and devastation to the other people of God.

Anger is destructive and it’s consequences last for a very long time.

Thanks for reading today!

 

Santa Claus is dead! Tuesday, Nov 30 2010 

Family kennethbow 3:04 pm

The Physics of Santa Claus

A Scientific Disproof of the Santa Theory.
Original source: sirius@wam.umd.edu (The Human Neutrino aka Linda Harden)
Original Title: IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS?
No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.
There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn’t (appear to) handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total – 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census)rate of 3.5 children per household, that’s 91.8 million homes. One presumes there’s at least one good child in each.

Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west(which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding etc.

This means that Santa’s sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man- made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second – a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that “flying reindeer” (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal anoint, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload – not even counting the weight of the sleigh – to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison – this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.

353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance – this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake.The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim)would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.

In conclusion — If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he’s dead now.

Thanks for reading today!

 

The secret of the Apostle Paul’s success Monday, Jul 19 2010 

Biblical history and Biographical and Family and Marriage and Motivational and New Testament kennethbow 9:05 am

Paul was about 51 years old.  He was slowly making his way from Athens to Corinth.  His mind and body were on overload.  The events and journeys were taking their toll and he was off balance and on the ropes.

On the first journey there had been the opposition in many cities.  It had been a  continual fight until he reached Derbe.  Included in this section of his life was the near death experience of the stoning at Lystra.

Now he was headed toward Corinth with Athens in his rear view mirror.  He reveals his thoughts in his writings.  He was in despair.  He was so low he actually despaired of life.

Paul was at his lowest point. Looming in front of him was his greatest challenge.  Greater than the cities of Asia minor, greater even than Athens, the intellectual capital of the world.

Recently, he accepted the failed completion of a church in Philippi, then Thessolinica, then again in Berea, and finally the collaspe in Athens!

Somewhere along the dusty travelled road in AD 51, Paul decided I will preach Jesus Christ and him crucified, and nothing else.  Beaten and discouraged, Paul was not ready for what would happen in Corinth.

Corinth was the second largest city in the empire, boasting a population of 700,000 people.  Only the capital, Rome was larger.  The city was new, as it had been destroyed only 100 years before by the Romans and then rebuilt.  It show cased modern architecture.

Corinth was only a few miles from a seaport so there were sailors who came to visit the temple that offered 1000 prostitutes as a form of worship to the Gods of Corinth.  There were Roman officials, a large Jewish population, soldiers, orientals, and every strata of life.

Into this morass walked Paul at his lowest point.  The greatest apostle at his worst, pitted against the greatest challenge of his day.  The result is history!

In eighteen months Paul built the largest church in the history of the world.  The lowest estimates are 40,000 and most historians say the number was more like 80,000 people.

The failures of Athens, Berea, Thessolinica, and Philippi, faded as Corinth unfolded.

At the end of his second missionary journey, Paul had fully recovered in every way.  What was his secret?

While reading the books written to Corinth again recently I was struck by the big picture of chapter seven of the first letter.  So often I have seen the mechanics of this chapter, marriage, virgins, widows, servants, free men, etc.

I realized in all this discussion there rested the secret of Paul’s life and success like an un-mined diamond.

He addressed people that were unhappily married, he addressed virgins, he addressed servants, he addressed free men, he addressed widows, he addressed circumcision.

In all of it he stressed for people to be content!

That was Paul’s secret, to be content! He weaves this thread into many of his other writings.

To the Philippians…be content, 4.11

To Timothy…with food and clothes…be content, 6.8, 6.6

To the Hebrews….be content…13.5

It was the balm for every running issue of life.

Servants, be content!

Free men, be content!

Unhappy married people, be content!

Widows, be content!

Whatever your calling, be content!

Maybe, just maybe, if you could forget your Lystras, your Bereas, your Athens, you might reach your Corinth when you least expect it!

Maybe, just maybe, your greatest season of life is waiting for you when you become content.

When the servant seethes in resentment because they are not free, when the unhappy marriage poisons your daily life, when the past disappointments over whelm you, reach out and pick up Paul’s secret of success!

Find contentment in your life and maybe just maybe, there is a Corinth waiting for you!

Maybe at your lowest, and life’s challenge at it’s most formidable, contentment will bring you your greatest moment!

Godliness with contentment is great gain!

Thanks for reading today!

 

A Mother Gone Bad! Friday, May 7 2010 

Family kennethbow 10:47 pm

When Mothers Go Bad!

According to the article I read, she traded her baby for drugs

Much is written and said about mothers this time of year.  It is stated in the Bible to give honor to whom honor is due, and that qualifies mothers to be given honor.

While many argue over other holidays and their origin and godliness, I have yet to hear a dissenting voice raised against Mothers Day.

I add my vote of praise and adoration to every mother who has given of herself to raise children.  It is a great investment of time and tireless energy to see the job to the end.

As I thought of Mothers Day my mind drifted off into the murky areas of mothers who cater to their own selves.  Those mothers who do not care for their children.  Mothers who leave their children in motels, and rat infested hovels, while they party and use drugs.

These mothers are not concerned with nutrition, or grammar, or cleanliness.  These mothers offer no supervision or guide in life.  The child is left to find his own way.  The mother gives no thought to the child’s future.  Everything is about the mother and her wants and needs.

It is amazing how the children of these mothers still cling to their mother’s skirts!  These children are incapable of looking around and seeing that they themselves are malnourished, and dirty.  Their loyalty and love to this unfit, unworthy mother is remarkable!  Even though this mother is not a mother at all they still love her.

And then there is the mind set that these kids adopt.  They bond with a mother that is messed up in her mind and cannot teach or model right concepts.  So they go through life mirroring wrong morals and ideas.  They follow a godless, corrupt woman to tragedy and despair.

Their lives end up broken, miserable, and hopeless.  All this because of the influence and direction a mother provides.

The Bible teaches us the church is our mother, and God is our father.

Thank God for a godly mother that taught us to live right.  We honor the church of Jesus as His bride and our mother!

We are saved today because of the church.  We were taught.  We were corrected.  We were nourished. We were bathed.  We learned manners and respect.  Our mother taught us those things from Sunday School, to Youth Service,  to mid week Bible Study.

But what about the children of those churches that do not care about their children?  It does not bother these churches that their children are undernourished.  They are fed milk forever and never grow strong and mature.

These children are never taught that it is important to follow the Bible on every single point.  Children of these churches have no teaching, no supervision, and no cleanliness.  These children are left to themselves with no instruction or correction.  They are dirty, uncouth, and pitiful.

And you know what? They never look around and see how dirty they are.  They can never see how pitiful and sad they are.  These children of mothers gone bad are loyal to the woman who did not care for their soul.  They love a woman fiercely who did not feed them, cleanse them, or train them to face eternity.

Ask them about their mother.  They will say how wonderful their mother is.  They will trumpet for all to hear how they can dress however they want and still shout, dance, and speak in tongues.  They adopt the mindset of the corrupt woman who gave them birth, but who tragically is a mother gone bad!

Someday they will walk a path straight to the judgment seat of Christ holding their mothers hand.  They will love her to the end.  They will be loyal to her all the way to the last moment.  They will be convinced their mother is good and right.

Confusion will reign when the Judge of the ages, Almighty God himself says, “Depart from me I never knew you, ye that work iniquity”.

It is really quite simple and quite tragic.

These are the children of a mother gone bad.

Thanks for reading today!

 

Are You Surviving or Thriving? Friday, Apr 23 2010 

Biblical history and Doctrine and Family and Marriage and Motivational kennethbow 1:15 pm

Are the tears you shed for your marriage happy tears or sad tears?

Surviving or Thriving?

Somewhere around 3000 years ago a giant named Goliath walked out on the battlefield and challenged the armies of Israel. The gauntlet was thrown down and the challenge was bellowed.  The terms of conflict were clear for everyone.

It was winner take all and no survivors!

I am convinced today there is another challenge, on yet another battlefield.  Satan struts out on the battlefield of America and throws his challenge.  The battle in 2010 is for our homes.  Satan attacks with technology, with Hollywood, with busyness and time constraints, and stress.

One of his most effective attacks is on marriages.  He has rolled out the big artillery the last few years.  He is after the family values in America.

In 2009 there were 2,162,000 marriages in America.  The marriage rate was 7.1 per 1000 people.  The divorce rate was 3.5 per 1000 people.

In the 1996 presidential election 50% of the electorate said moral values were one of the most important issues.  In the 2004 presidential election, that percentage stood at 34 %. In 8 years 16% of support had eroded.

From the 2000 election to the 2004 election, support for gay marriages increased 50% in America.

For the last 30 years moral values have been some of the most important factors in elections.

In 2005, 11 of 17 states amended their state constitutions to prohibit gay unions or gay marriages.  Satan is attacking the Biblical ideal of marriage between a man and a woman.

But he does not stop there.  Satan also attacks the marriages of Christians.

Some statistics say the divorce rate for conservative Christians is higher than the rate for atheists and agnostics.  Others say the opposite.  Tom Ellis, Chairman of the Southern Baptist convention’s council on the family says the true fact is 1 in 39,000 marriages, end among conservative Christians. That is 0.00256%.

The question in your marriage is, are you surviving or thriving?

Are you and your spouse meeting each others personal needs?

Here we are in mainstream America where prayer is illegal, and abortion is encouraged.

Where, if you resist the gay marriage deluge, you practice hate speech, and you are homophobic!

Where our kids walk through metal detectors to get on the school ground and are handed condoms.

Does anybody believe me when I scream….the battle is raging?

If anyone is naïve enough to think you can ignore your marriage, and it will thrive on it’s own, by simple church attendance, you are sadly mistaken!

On January 31, 1996, I ended a journey of 9048 days of marriage.  Over 25 years.  I dated in the church, I married in the church, and was finally divorced in the church.  On that January day in 1996, I started a journey that has now stretched to 5,192 days, over 14 years of living alone.

If I could help even one person to not go down that road, it would be worth it all.  But even more, what if I could I help those still in the marriage, to make that marriage all God intended it to be?

I was driving down the road with Martyn Ballestero a few weeks ago.  We were on main street in Sumner Washington, right in front of McDonalds, in the left turn lane.

God spoke to me.  God said “What did the children say of their mother in Proverbs chapter 31?” In my mind I answered, they called her blessed.  And God said, “What did her husband do?”. I answered he praised her.  God told me to look it up and see what kind of praise the man gave his wife.  I did, and Brother Ballestero wrote a wonderful blog on it.

I hope you will click on the link, go to his blog site and read the blog on how to have the best wife in the world!

http://martynballestero.com/

Thanks for reading today!

=

 

So, How Desperate Are You? Tuesday, Apr 20 2010 

Family and Motivational kennethbow 12:32 pm

So, How Desperate Are You?

Every last one of us have those certain relatives that are our least favorite.  I know a guy who has this aunt and her husband who top his list of least favorite relatives.

He tells me his reasons are myriad. He says she dominated him growing up and bossed him to no end.  While talking to him one day he told me the craziest story I have heard in years.

This aunt of  my friend and her husband were church goers, and after several years were pretty convinced that God had special assignments for them.  Well, their pastor did not share their opinion when he was informed of their intentions.

Well, naturally, when the pastor could not hear from God, (in their opinion), it was time to launch out on their own and pursue their divine calling.

So no one was surprised when they decided to open their own church, and do things the way God was instructing them.  After all they were unique, and the Man of God in their life was not tuned in to the right spiritual frequency.

So they opened shop quite sure the multitudes would flock their way.  They certainly had known all the answers in their church when they attended there, and now was the moment to put their revelations into action!

Well, something seemed a little wrong after several weeks when they could not get any one to attend their services they were holding in their living room.  It must be the community! Or maybe people just were not aware of the incredible opportunity being presented at their small community of about 12,000.

Whatever the reason, they were convinced they needed “Exposure.”  So they were “Led of the Lord” to have an old-fashioned brush arbor meeting right alongside the highway into town.

Out came the tools.  Ax, saw, hammer, chainsaw all made their appearance as these missionaries to suburban America started in like a colony of beavers! Rough-hewn benches with no backs were fashioned.  Man were they fired up.  Just wait till the passing cars saw this, why there would be a traffic jam on highway 17!

Excitement and faith filled the air their first night as she broke out the accordion.  He had his best striped overalls on, with the bible under his arm.  They were ready for the deluge of sinners that were sure to come running to the altar!

Well, the first night was a bust!  No one stopped.  Faith diminished a bit, but hey, God was just testing them!  They would show their metal, ain’t no quitters in this church!

The second night was the same. Then the third.  The first week brought not a single person to their brush arbor revival.  Hundreds of cars were whizzing by and could see them plainly out there with the striped overalls and the accordion.

Okay God, what is the problem they inquired?  It was then my friend told me the most hilarious revival story I have heard! This spiritually “gifted” man and woman became convinced the only thing standing between them and the deluge of sinners waiting to come ,was a few people in the crowd.

So, how to do that? They thought, they prayed, they fasted.  Finally God showed them the answer (Yeah right!)  They were led by God to go and buy some blow up dolls (life size), to put out on the benches so the crowds would be relaxed to come on in!

After much prayer the husband announced the only place he knew that had such life sized dolls was the pornography place over on the state line!  Assuring his wife he had nothing but the purest of motives, and was making a tremendous sacrifice, he set out to get some “Saint bait”, or “Sinner bait”, depending on your point of view.

It did seem to her he was gone a long time to just buy some inflatable dolls.  He did eventually return though.  Sure enough, he had purchased five life sized female dolls.

These particular models did not come with clothes so they set about to “Pentecostalize” them.  After several hours of huffing and puffing, blowing and wrestling with these dolls, they were ready!

Whew! Just in time for church too!  Then more disappointment struck.  The stupid dolls would not stay upright.  The slightest breeze toppled them every which way.  Their clothes kept getting all twisted up.  They tied the dolls, they taped the dolls, they weighted them down.

Church started a little late that night, with the pastor and his wife sweaty and frustrated, but hope still ruled the night.  Song after song, no visitors! Finally a stirring message wasted on airheads and no visitors.

There were tears that night, but they were the tears of the pastor and his wife!

My friend said the last he heard they still did not have anyone in their church, but they became convinced they were being persecuted for the name of Jesus!

So friend, how desperate are you for revival….:)

For the record, I am not that desperate!


Thanks  for reading today!

P. S. This is a true story!

 

Do You Have A Controlling Pastor? Monday, Apr 19 2010 

Family and Motivational kennethbow 3:12 pm

Do you have a controlling pastor?

Max walked up to Pastor Sunday night after service, and asked “ Hey Pastor, would you have time to pop up to the university one day this week and have coffee with me?”

Pastor concealed his surprise and smiled, and said, “Max I’d be glad to.  What day”

So it was a Tuesday as Pastor walked on campus, wondering what this was all about.

He spotted Max sitting at a table in the student center and was greeted by a genuine smile of welcome.

Max asked Pastor if he had ever been on campus before and Pastor admitted he hadn’t.

“So Max, what is this all about” asked Pastor?  Max sobered up and began to explain.

“Well sir, you know two weeks ago when you talked to me about that situation God spoke to you about?” Pastor was nodding slowly now.  Max continued, “Well I feel like I was gone, falling and on my way to being lost when God talked to you.  Honestly Elder, I do not ever want to even get close to the edge again.”

“I thought I had everything concealed and no one would ever know I was starting to see that unsaved girl.  It never went very far, but we did hang out together and even met and went to Sonic once.  We sat in the car and began to kiss.  I knew it was wrong.  I have been born and raised in the church and I have been taught never to date anyone outside the church, but I messed up.”

“It started slow.  We were in an English class together.  I saw her in the library and stopped to chat.  I sat down not knowing the path I started down that day.  Honestly Pastor, I never intended for it to go anywhere, or end up like it did.  Somehow I got more and more involved with her, and then that day at the Sonic: when we kissed for a long time.”

“I was pretty shocked when you came up to me that Sunday and told me God had talked to you about me.  Then when you began to tell me exactly what I had done and that God had revealed it to you, well that was, uh, well, to be honest I was dumbfounded!”

“So I asked you here today because I have decided to take some steps to make sure it never happens again”. Max slid a piece of paper across the table to his pastor. “That sir is all my information and passwords.  I want you to monitor every email, every text message, every phone call I make until you feel I can be trusted not to fall into this trap again.”

It had been many years since the seasoned Man of God had been this bamboozled!  He was speechless.  He looked down at the paper on the desk.  Listed were Max’s email address with his password.  Next were his cell phone number, the carrier, and the password to log on and check his calls and texts.

Pastor said, “Max are you sure about this? “ Max slowly nodded his head and replied, “Looking back I now realize that I had already backslid even though I still never missed a service. I was already in freefall Elder and you and Jesus reached over the edge of the cliff and snatched me back to safety.  Pastor, I never want to get anywhere near that close to going to hell again as long as I live.”

“Pastor I would also like you to walk the campus here with me today.  I would like to show you where my classes are and invite you to stop by any time and see me when I change classes or when I am on this campus.”

Pastor felt a tear begin it’s decent down his cheek as he looked into the eyes of the young man he had pastored for the last 22 years.  “Max, I just have one more question.”  Max  looked up, “Sure Pastor, anything.”

The Man of God chose his words carefully. “Max, what about your father? He is a good man, and a member of our church for many years.  However, we both know he feels like I control our people and their lives.  Won’t he see this as me controlling you by monitoring your emails and texts?”

Max smiled.  “Yep, I am pretty sure he will.” Pastor said, “So how will we handle that?”

Max answered, “Maybe he needs to learn the difference between control and accountability. This might be the best opportunity for my dad to stop trying to protect his son from what he misidentifies as control.”

Max continued, “Pastor I asked you here today.  I willingly gave you my information, and I ask you to hold me accountable so I do not end up lost.”

As the pastor slowly walked back to his car on a beautiful spring day, it seemed the sun was shining like it hadn’t in many, many years.

Max had learned a lesson no university could teach, a valuable life lesson.

Holding someone accountable is not controlling them, it is protecting them.

Thanks for reading today.

 

The Daily Grind. Saturday, Apr 17 2010 

Biographical and Family and Marriage and Motivational kennethbow 6:51 am

Good morning blogging world!

Sleepy and bleary eyed, I wonder again how many people in the world keep the crazy schedule of an Apostolic minister? 🙂

Returning home after being at 33rd annual meeting in Beebe Arkansas. Too much food and too little sleep!

Dr Scheel and his family and church are never surpassed as hosts.  They are incredible!

44 years ago, a 17 year old, single young man, hitch hiked into Beebe with his worldly belongings in a cardboard box and a paper sack.  He was starting a church.

This was to be his second church.  He had already pastored one church and even built a new church building at 14 years old.

2 and 1/2 years later he married a young lady named Vicki, and they started their family.  A couple of years later and their firstborn came into the home.  A son followed four years later, then  three years later the baby girl joined the growing family.

44 years of victory and tragedy, joy and pain, and through it all a great work for God.  There is now a beautiful church plant and congregation.  Congratulations to Dr Scheel and Pastor Scheel for this landmark celebration.

Janice Alvear spoke the first night.  The day speakers were Greg Riggen and Tim Bourn.  William Davis was the night speaker.  All the messages were outstanding.

No one surpasses Lighthouse Pentecostal Jesus Name Church in christian hospitality.

Lighthouse Jesus Name Pentecostal Church, Beebe Arkansas

My thought today is the “Daily Grind.”

We have a fireplace in our sanctuary.  When we have tried to use it the ventilation is poor and our members with asthema have not been able to stay in the room.  The fumes were offensive to their sensitive allergies.

Someone suggested we use logs made from coffee grounds.  I did not know there was such a thing.  I checked. There was.

We tried it and every single person with allergies felt comfortable with the “new fire.”

Someone had found a use for used coffee grounds!

Coffee beans grown and harvested somewhere thousands of miles away, now ground up and used, still had a life!

The grind and purging had taken any irritant out of them and they are perfect as unoffensive fire.

Isn’t life like that sometimes?

The grind of life wears off our rough edges and makes us tolerable to people who might be sensitive.

Even though Life is so “daily”, the daily grind has a benefit.  When our fire burns after the daily grind, it is an acceptable fire.  The toxins of pride and self will have been flushed out with the brewing.

The man who walked across America was asked what discouraged him the most.  Was it the mountains?  Was it the burning desert? His reply……

It was the sand in my shoes, that almost drove me to quit my journey!

May I encourage you today to see the “Daily Grind” as part of God’s brewing process to remove the offensive particles out of your life?

Is it possible that someone can now tolerate, and even enjoy, the warmth of your life, because of that “Daily Grind?”

Just one more reason for that tantalizing, wonderful cup of brew every morning!

Thanks for reading today.

 

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