Some Trust In Chariots and Some In Horses, But We....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following post was received from a dear Sister in Christ from the greater Cleveland, Ohio, area. She is a precious blessing from God to my life. God has done many wonderful things in and through her life. I think you will be struck, though, by her humility when you read what she has written here. What God spoke to her through the experience of which she writes is certainly a word from God for us all. Be blessed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Lord had to deal with me about fear and trusting in Him this week.

I drive about a 40 minute commute to work each morning that requires me to leave Streetsboro around 5:30 a.m. I pray each morning that the Lord will keep me safe from the deer and other animals, that He will keep my vehicle safe from mechanical failures and that He will protect me against all the crazy drivers on the roads and deliver me safety where I need to travel.

When I hit [a] deer about two weeks ago, I could see the hand of God that protected me as it could have been much worse. However, I have to admit that it knocked the wind out of me emotionally.

Whereas, I had not even given it a second thought for three years, now after hitting that deer, I became so afraid to drive at night and in the early morning hours because I so afraid that another deer would jump out.

As many times as I have seen deer on the side of the roads over the past three years, I trusted the Lord. But since I hit one, I had an open door that the enemy was using to work me over.

He used my fear to keep my mind focused on the deer and on being afraid. Every morning that I had to get ready for work, I awoke with terror about having to drive.

I kept putting this before the Lord and asking Him to heal me of my fears. He gave me a verse in Psalm 91 that says, "Thou shall not be afraid for the terror by night".

I would say this verse as I traveled in the darkness each morning and at night. Then one day, a coworker told me about electronic devices that you can put on your car that makes an sound that the deer hear and would cause them to not run toward your vehicle. I went on the internet and ordered one. Each day I went to the mailbox in anticipation of receiving this device that would deliver me from my fears.

Finally, the device came and ripped the box open and immediately put it on my van. All of a sudden my confidence was up and I wasn't afraid anymore! I couldn't wait to drive to work the next morning because I knew this device would get me through.

As I was getting ready for work the next day, the Holy Spirit whispered to me, "Are you going to put your trust in a manmade device or are you going to trust Me? Are you going to trust something that man made or are you going to trust the Lord of the deer to keep you safe? Are you going to rely on your carnal security or put your trust in my grace?

I wept and swallowed really hard as I asked for God's forgiveness. I realized that I had made that deer alarm my god and that I was trusting in it instead of the true and living God.

I asked the Lord to forgive me and that I trusted in Him and Him only. I have not used the device and I am trusting the Lord for my safety.

The Holy Spirit said to me, "A self-reliant person is doomed to fail, but the wise person depends on God".

Proverbs 20:7 - "Some trust in chariots and some in horses (and deer alerts - smile), but we will remember the name of the Lord our God."

730 Days

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following post is one received from a dear friend and true Brother to us in this journey with Christ. His post speaks to the joy of liberty in our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, and to our need for His presence at the center of our lives, every day. Love you, Brother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What can I say but "Wow!"

I struggled with addiction since I was 13 yrs old. On November 21, 2004, I surrendered. I gave my will and life over to God of my understanding; I opened the door.

I [had] heard the knocks, but refused to listen to them. I knew it was Jesus. I wanted to do things my way, not God's way. I had to be shown, beat down and broken.

I accepted Jesus back in my life, and my life has never been the same.


I have entered a world I had forgotten years ago. I feel like a child again. Everything to me is like a new experience. In some ways, I feel as if I was dead during those 25 years of addiction.

God is beside me at all times, showing me how to live. It is so amazing.

He has given me friends; something I never had before. He took to a city (Sidney, Ohio) where I knew no one. Now I have a network of friends who love me for who I am. I feel worthy now, and know who I really am.

I'm on this journey that I dont want to stop. Every day is new, full of God's loving grace and power so great that it almost makes me want to cry.

I know that God has great plans for me in the years to come. I pray to Him often and talk to Him as my friend.

My hope is to help people to know who God is, and His amazing power, and how He can change a person and their life for the best life to come.

I am so full of gratefulness, that I want to share it with everyone.

Its great to be sober today.

I must progress foward no matter what.

27 Miles From Houston and a Hundred Miles From Home

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This letter was sent to me by a dear friend and follower of Christ some years ago, and I wanted to post it here today. As a background for you, at the time of this writing, my friend was diligently seeking employment as an NFL assistant coach, and recently his wife had left him and refused to return. I believe you will be touched by what he wrote upon his return from a trip to Mobile, Alabama to attempt to secure a position with the Buffalo Bills.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let me tell you about what happened to me as I came back from Mobile, Alabama yesterday. I had reservations about going to Mobile because, as I had told you, nothing was concrete and I really didn't have the money to go, but I just got this nudging to just go.

Concerning the job, I met with one of the important people there and he simply said that he would do his best. After leaving the hotel on Thursday, I wondered, "Lord why did you bring me here, because I could have heard that on the phone."

Later on Thursday night, I talked to someone real close to the organization and he assured me that the job was mine and the reason why Tom could not say alot. He said, "Reggie, the job is yours."

I was excited about that until he said that it would not be official for about a month. I understand the business and everything happens after the Super Bowl. Still, I wondered why God had brought me all the way there, because He could have told me that on the phone.

Maybe it was to hang out with my fraternity brother and his family. I really enjoyed being there, but was disappointed to find out he was cheating on his wife like crazy.

So why did I travel all the way to Mobile, Alabama?

I left Friday morning heading back to Houston. I thought about my family all the way back. About mid-way back, there was a guy stranded on the highway. He had run out of gas, so I stopped, picked him up and took him and got him some gas.

I was really glad to help him. He had major issues, young black man into money and women, and he had been divorced. I simply told him God loves him. I would remember him later.

Now I know you guys are wondering where I am going with this. Well I was rolling pretty good, I was about to make this trip in record time, everything was great, until I saw the sign that said 27 miles from Houston.

Suddenly I heard a bumping and then the car seemed to drop down on one side. I had had a blow out.

I struggled to get control of the car because I was traveling over 80 miles an hour. I finally got control of the car and pulled over. Unfortunately, I was on a part of the freeway where there was no medium and very little room to the right because they were expanding the highway and they had borders set up. My car was parked barely outside of the right lane so close that I had to get out on the passenger side of the car, and because of the borders I could barely get out.

As I looked up. there was that sign - "27 miles outside of Houston" - and I thought, "Wow, I have come such a long way and this happens 27 miles outside of Houston." It was 5:30 pm when this happened and I simply sat for a while. This was a new tire and that I had no car jack in my car.

Finally, I decided to flag someone down, but with no luck. It was such a tight fit and I was positioned in the curve of the freeway so people came by flying and if they wanted to help by the time they saw me they were going too fast and there was really no where they could park their car.

After standing there for about an hour, I decided to walk towards what appeared to be a truck stop about a half mile down the road. This was difficult because I had to hop over the borders and walk through the all kinds of stuff because they were expanding the highway,

I finally made it to the truck stop, which was not a truck stop at all. Sure, trucks were there, but they were all big Fords and Dodges. I instantly knew I was in the wrong place. This was a gas station, honkey tonk, adult movie store hang out.

As I walked in the red necks simply stared at me, I finally got the nerve to ask them did they have a car jack and the answers were all "No," with smirks and grins. I don't think they were racist or anything, just rough and rugged.

Anyway, I stood out in the parking lot near the gas tanks and asked every person that came in, about a million, if they had a jack and no one had one. At about 7:30 the temperature had dropped and I stood at this "shop." The red necks had left and now the perverts were coming to get their adult movies and no one had a jack. They had truck jacks, they had parts of jacks, they had jumper cables, but no jacks,

I would remember the guy who had the jumper cables. My emotions just took over as I, at that moment, thought about my life. No job, no wife, and stranded 27 miles from Houston and what seemed like a hundred miles from home.

The tears began to fall as I thought, "Where did it all go wrong?" and I could not control myself. I began to just shout, "I hate my life!". I cried for what seemed an eternity. Many people passed by but no one seemed to notice or care.


I finally decided to walk back to the highway and try to figure something out. I was now freezing and back on the highway, the trucks were coming around that curve so fast the car seemed as if it moved every time they passed.

Finally, I decided that maybe I could just drive to the next exit and to a gas station about a 2 miles away. I began to drive the car slowly and finally made it off the ramp. I thought that I would make it to the gas station, but 27 miles outside of Houston and a hundred miles from home the rubber came off the tire and I was riding on a rim.

I stopped the car, and just smiled. I was glad that I had made it off the ramp and, although I was in a very dark spot, I knew that help would soon be there.

Car after car came and passed. I thought maybe they couldn't see me coming off the ramp so I turned on my headlights and put the brake lights on. The emergency blinkers were already on.

As I stood there, there was a pattern to the people passing me up. Some would just look, others would speed up, the worst of them all though were those who would hit there brakes and think about helping but then pull off.

Many people stopped but had no jack; a Drivers' Ed teacher with students, a drunk, several truckers. One guy with a missing head light stopped, but he didn't have all the parts to his jack. He promised he would be back, but I never saw him again.

It was now 9:00 pm and I was still 27 miles from Houston and a hundred miles from home.

I know that you might be wondering, "Why didn't you just call someone to come get you?" I don't have any friends in Houston to call. Plus I knew that sooner or later someone would stop with a jack and I would be moving again.

As I stood flagging down cars, I began to just laugh uncontrollably. I kept saying. "27 miles from Houston, Texas, and a hundred miles from home, 27 miles from Houston, Texas, and a hundred miles from home.

I couldn't help it. I guess I laughed because I didn't want to cry. I was freezing, had no job, had no wife, and I was stranded 27 miles from Houston, Texas, and a hundred miles from home.

I laughed until I realized that my life was a mess and I was so close to Houston but so far away because of circumstances. I thought about it being the same way with Tanisha, how I was so far from home. Then I began to cry, and this time it was uncontrollable.

I was running and falling and felt like I had just lost it. I begged God to speak to me right then. I ran to the car and grabbed my Bible and said, "Lord. please give me a word." He said, "Psalms 40:1."

"I waited patiently on the Lord and He inclined unto me and heard my cry."

I thanked God and I began to sing. I was singing so loud that the people who I was trying to flag down must have thought that I was insane. The song turned into a sermon, and I literally was preaching to myself. The Holy Spirit came, and I could not help myself. I was engulfed in His Spirit right there, 27 miles from Houston, Texas, and a hundred miles from home.

That scripture meant so much to me, it said all that I needed to hear. It spoke to the fact that I was stranded and needed help, it spoke to my finances, it spoke to my marriage, and I thank God for that.

Finally after 5 hours of standing on the side of roads, a guy came who had a jack. His lug wrench did not work, but he had pliers, and we changed that tire.

And I tell you that, 27 miles from Houston, Texas, and a hundred miles from home, the battery now went dead. Don't worry. I drive a stick, and I simply jump started it.

I finally knew why I had gone to Mobile, Alabama.

I got the answer 27 miles from Houston, Texas, and a hundred miles from home.

He Left Us His Example

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like the United States.”

When Rosie O’Donnell made these recent comments, it provoked outrage among many Christians. George Barna even conducted a poll about the comments and its impact upon Americans of various faiths or no faith at all.

In his research, Barna identified that most Americans disagreed with Rosie’s view. He also identified that few Americans felt that her comments were appropriate for a national television broadcast.

Then, in summarizing his comments on the context of the opinions expressed in the survey, Barna concludes with this statement:

“Finally, the fact that so few adults who consider themselves to be Christian felt that they were even owed an apology speaks volumes about the self-image of Christians and the centrality of their faith in their life.”

Does Rosie owe Christians an apology?

It seems that we Christians spend a lot of time asking those who do not know Christ to act in the manner that we believe Christians should. Never mind the hypocrisy that those who do not share our Christian faith see in us at times. Rather, consider for a moment, if you will, Christians standing in their backyards, speaking to their family cat, and saying, “C’mon, kitty. Bark.”

Ridiculous, isn’t it? Just like us expecting people who do not have Christ to act, think and speak righteously. Hey, there’s days when we don’t even act, think or speak righteously. Why are we asking the unsaved kitties in our lives to bark?

Some may say that it’s different with Rosie because she holds such influence in our culture. Perhaps we need to do some of the same soul-searching of our own hearts that some are demanding that Rosie make. Are we more concerned with Rosie’s eternity, or with how she - acting, thinking and speaking in a genuine representation of who she currently is - might influence other people’s opinion of Jesus or “us Christians.” Jesus can take care of Himself. We need to check our egos at the door, and develop the same compassion that our Savior has for Rosie.

I appreciate and respect George Barna and his work. I am not writing about him. I am writing about us - Christians. Those who profess to be disciples of Christ. And so, if you profess to be a disciple of Christ and you disagree with what I have written to this point, I ask you to consider this:

Jesus did not ask anyone for an apology. Ever. Not once. Rather, He prayed that our Father would forgive them. Why? Because they didn’t know what they were doing.

It would be so easy to say that the professional killers who whipped and beat and nailed Jesus to the Cross knew exactly what they were doing. But Jesus didn’t consider their actions, thoughts, or speech. Jesus knew better. He didn’t ask those “unsaved kitties to bark,” even though they were killing Him in an unimaginably painful and humiliating manner.

He left us an example of how we’re to behave, especially when we’re wrongfully accused or mistreated. God’s Word clearly tells us how we’re to behave when things like Rosie’s comments occur in our lives. We’re to behave - just as so many of us who profess to be His disciples say that we aspire to - like Jesus did:

For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.
But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps:
"He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth
When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
1 Peter 2:19-25

So many times in my Christian life, I have not responded in the manner described above. The longer I allowed it to go on in my heart and life, the more He allowed it to break my heart. I still sometimes feel self-defensiveness and pride attempt to rise up within me when I feel that I have been wronged. That’s when I need to go to Jesus, ask Him to heal my heart, and help me to act, think and speak with the same measure of grace that has been given unto me. I am not perfect in this, but I am so humbled by what Christ has done for me that I very much want to be. I am thankful for God’s mercy for me when I am not.

Jesus spoke it so clearly to me, for me. “If you’re not free from the effects of persecution, how can you do what I'm asking you to do?”

Father, I ask You to let me see the potential lamb in front of me whenever I stand before one who is as yet unsaved. Help me to see past their actions, thoughts and speech, as I have needed to ask You to forgive some of my own actions, thoughts and speech. Help me to remember in every moment and every situation just how sweet Your salvation is, and just how precious it is to know You and be known by You. Help me - within the depths of my heart - to truly and deeply desire what You desire; that all would repent and be reconciled unto You.

As I have written this, you have placed a great love in my heart for Rosie. That love is born of You, not me, and I know this. From within that love, I ask You not that You would cause Rosie to stop acting, thinking and speaking as she is. Rather, I ask that You would find a way, if there is any way, to demonstrate Your love for Rosie to her so that she, too, would come to know Your love and walk with You all of her days.

She's just one of Your missing children, Father. Please let her be found, just as You found me.

That You might receive all the glory......

I ask all of this in Jesus’ name......Amen.

Prepared For Service

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He is chipping away at our old man, confronting our deepest fears, purifying our hearts and minds and intentions with fire, molding us in His image, and fashioning us within and without to be all things to all people, that some might be saved.

God preserve us in the journey.

God be glorified in the results.

Missing Children

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I love You, Jesus."

"I love you. I died so that you would have joy. Some of God's children are missing. Go and find them. I will lead you."