I have a confession to make. I am not a fan of reality TV at all, however, I had no choice this weekend as my wife ‘forced’ me to watch part of the Miss America contest that was being broadcast live.

Honesty, I was surprised. The talent part came on just a few minutes after I sat down and boy could some of those girls sing. I mean REALLY sing. Then we got shots of the audience and the parents smiling proudly when it hit me. These ladies are real people. They are someones daughter, sister, friend.

We forget as we watch something like this because we only see what they want us to. Their beauty in their evening gown. Their abilities in the talent show. Their intelligence during the questioning time but when God looks down he sees a person. A real person and nothing more.

Maybe it’s just me but it was a quick shot in the arm to remind me that when I look at someone, when I talk to someone, I need to look past all the superficial, outward stuff and see the real person too.

So I know this isn’t the most ‘Spiritual’ of thoughts for today but I came across an article that genuinely shocked me today. You can read it by clicking the link below:

1/3 of the women in the US military raped

Yes, you did read that right. They also estimate that 90% of women in service are sexually harassed in one way or another! As you read the article it makes statements like “we never go to the showers without our battle buddy so you don’t get raped by men on your own side” literally send a chill down my spine. What on earth is the world coming to when this is the way people behave?

What has happened to our society when this is considered acceptable behavior by those doing it? Even worse, what has happened when their superiors find out and brush it under the carpet? There is a reason God put some standards in place and we need to pray now, more than ever that those standards come back into fashion real fast but what makes me cringe even more is the realization that as I sit here stunned, pointing my finger at the world, this type of thing also happens within the Church. Maybe not to the same extent, but it does. We are guilty also.

Character, doing the right thing when NOBODY is watching is something that needs to be modeled by those in leadership across all the spectrum of society. It is time for people to stand up and be proud of not living the way  undisciplined and uncontrolled people do. It’s time for parents to instill some REAL values into their kids no matter what it takes (and usually it starts by realizing that parenting is NOT a fly by the seat of your pants job and that you need to read and learn from others to be effective in raising your kids).

The only way we can change anything is by first changing ourselves and evidently, some of us have a whole lot more changing to do than others. Without Jesus and prayer, we have no hope whatsoever…

I don’t know if you have been watching the news lately or not, but if you have, you have probably seen a lot of noise about a certain late night TV show and it’s past / present hosts, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien.

For my non-American readers, let me summarize for you in a paragraph:
NBC replaced Jay with Conan but because they didn’t want him to go to another network and start a new show, they gave him a brand new time slot to do something a little different with. It failed. Miserably as did Conan taking over Jay’s old show which promptly lost about half it’s viewers in little over a month! Then they backtrack, tell Jay he can have his old job back and begin trying to extract themselves from the contract they gave to Conan.

And so here we are, the rumors abound that NBC will payoff Conan with anything from $30 – $45 million depending on who you read. Now I know this isn’t a very ‘Spiritual’ subject but come on, $45 million for getting sacked when the reason you’re getting sacked is because you did a bad job is ludicrous. How far could that go to helping some of the survivors in Haiti right now? How many children would live today if that money were spent on food in Africa? (and that would be thousands).

I don’t know how or why big business lost touch with the real world but it seems that they most definitely have. Yeah I know, he has a contract, blah blah blah. It’s time we wake up and smell the coffee aroma from all around us because if we keep being so narrow minded, God tells us there’s only one outcome and it isn’t a good one. With people starving and in need of help, and us so focused on our own entertainment, the only thing we demonstrate as a ‘civilized’ country is the incredible level of selfishness we have learned to accept as normal.

Here is a shameless promotion of my last message, a 2 part look at what it means to ‘Live Like Jesus’ recorded at Family Life Christian Center a few weeks ago…

I know I have a video page but just in case you missed it

Part 1
Part 2

Here’s this weeks column from one of the local papers I write for… If you need a little encouragement, you’ll probably find it here

Spring Observer

I was watching a little show TV this morning called ‘The Worlds Most Expensive…”. Today was the Bugatti Veyron, a 255mph rocket on wheels that only costs $2 million. I watched in awe at this stunning work of art on wheels, admiring the unbelievable interior, the details and effort that goes into making a car of this caliber.

Later, I saw a headline online about Veyron owners being so unhappy at the ongoing costs of the car that one of them actually takes it around on a trailer so he doesn’t have to drive it as much! I wondered why anyone with $2 million to spend on a car would really care but then they gave some examples… $30,000 for the tires, which need to be changed every 2,500 miles (!). Then there is the $20,000 routine servicing every 10,000 miles (yes, that IS $20,000) and the list goes on.

Honestly, it’s quite worrying that anyone could justify this. I mean is one car really worth the same as 2 Rolls Royce Phantoms, 2 Aston Martin’s AND a Lamborghini (and you would still have change) when they are all already ridiculously priced vehicles? No, I don’t believe it is.

Call me old fashioned but surely some of that money could have been put to better use like Sandra Bullock showed this weekend as she gave $1 million to the Haiti fund over the weekend (whereas Madonna incidentally, who is worth considerably more only managed to give $250,000).

All of this comes down to one thing and this is my point today. Money, and how we use it is a great example of our hearts. What we spend, and how much we spend it on is a very good way to judge our selfishness, our self centeredness and ultimately, what kind of person we are. The amounts might change, but the fact remains the same, is your money all about you, or is a good chunk of it about others? I know what God tells me to do in His word but whether I do it or not is all down to me.

You may or may not know this but I write a column for a group of local papers and now that I finally realized they actually publish it online also I figured I would link to it from my blog! So just click this link for this weeks column and take a quick read for yourself…

Ok, I know it’s all over the internet already but why on earth someone would say something this ridiculous is just beyond me. Considering the general public opinion of Evangelical Christianity you would think that leaders and people in positions of prominence would think carefully but alas, Pat knows better it seems. In case you don’t know what I am talking about, he said this:

“And they got together and swore a pact to the devil.”

“It might be a blessing in disguise.”

Now aside from the obvious, how would he know they swore a pact with the devil exactly?, even if they did (which I am not saying they did) WHY oh why would you go on national TV and say something like that. Does it really matter? Isn’t Jesus big enough to deal with it all anyway? Why not just say that Haiti is in a mess and Jesus can help them, period?

And let’s not forget the blessing in disguise comment. I don’t even have the words to say to express what I am feeling about that… Come on… Really?

I am not trying to comment on any other person that claims to be a Christian but really, Robertson could do to use a little more brain power before opening his mouth and making statements like these irrespective of the truth. We won’t win someone for Jesus by sitting there and judging them for all their sins, and that’s not our job anyway. We show the love, you know what I mean?!

Here it is in case you haven’t seen it:

For anyone who doesn’t know (and if you don’t then shame on you) Reinhard Bonnke is probably the most succesful mass evangelist in the history of the world! And NO, that isn’t hyperbole

This book is a summary of his entire life’s work in Africa, from its humble beginnings to the MASSIVE crusades they now hold which see over 1million people IN A SINGLE MEETING give their hearts to Jesus!!! If this doesn’t get your engine going for Jesus you really need help.

The stories, the miracles, the power of Jesus working through Bonnke and his CfaN team is simply awesome to read about and I would encourage everyone to read this bad boy even if it is over 600 pages. I read it in a week and I am a slooooooow reader. There is no doubt whatsoever that Jesus is with this man and his ministry and I would encourage you not only to read the book but follow my link on the side and take a look at his website (www.CfaN.org) where you can sign up to support the ministry. Why give somewhere that sees no results when you can give somewhere that was aiming for 100million documented salvation’s IN ONE DECADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell how excited I am? If only we had another 2 or 3 people like this in the world how different things would be…

I was watching a movie called ‘Bruce Almighty’ over Christmas with my lovely wife and, although I have seen it before I was still surprised at the theological accuracy of some of the films ideas about God considering it was made by a Hollywood movie studio (not all of them though!).

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think for one minute that Jesus sat there parting tomato soup on the Mount of Olives (although that was a very funny bit in the film) but I do think that the portrayal of God as not able to influence free will was absolutely brilliant. When he and Bruce were chatting in the clouds after Bruce has lost his faithful girlfriend, Grace, he asks God how he can make her love him again without affecting free will and God responds with a telling, ‘ahhhhh’, that really sums it all up, both in the movie and in real life.

We want God to intervene, we want God to do it all for us sometimes but remember, HE wants to save the whole world yet the whole world doesn’t get saved. If that’s the case (which it is) then we are naive to think He will come and be our Santa Claus everytime our lives need fixing because sometimes He just can’t. God CANNOT and WILL NOT affect someones free will. He may slap them around the head a little and put a zillion things in their way to point them in the right direction BUT, just like Bruce who asked for a sign and then ignoreed the 3 signs that immediately came in front of him, so people today do the same thing. When that happens, God won’t change them because the very point of creation was free will. The sooner we learn to live with that the better our decisions will be because if He affects free will, we are nothing more than robots and are no longer created in His image.