The Dream – jackexum.com

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   Dad said, “Jack, my time is over.” It seemed there was no way I could convince him otherwise. He had done so much for others, and now his legs were giving him pain, he had a pace-maker, skin cancers that were periodically being removed. Mom was in the nursing home, and we could not convince him, to move in with us. It seemed like he was just ‘tired’. Giving up was never dad’s way, and I knew this. “You still have a lot that you can do, dad.” I said to him. He just smiled, and said, “Jack, my time is done. It’s time for you and others to continue.”
            I sat and spoke with him about the possibility of a website. One where he could put his books, and over time, make them into e-Books. It would be a site where he could have a blog, and carry on discussions with people all over the world,  and possibly do some counseling with those who needed it. Sounded like a good idea to dad. It was 2010 and we were discussing it a bit more. I didn’t want to push, but I just knew his work was not done. Besides, I told him, “Dad you are so wise, you have so much to offer to so many people. Let’s do something!”
            Dad finally came around to the idea, and we started talking about what to call the site. Dad said, “We have to figure what the site will be about… its purpose.” There were several ideas and thoughts that we discussed:  1.) “Amazing Grace” since over the years, dad had done so much study on the subject. Yes, he wrote about it earlier in his ministry. Yet, time, prayer, experience and study helped him to “grow in grace”. We played with this name, but it was being used quite a bit.  2.) “jackexum.com”, well, he liked that.
            Unfortunately, dad went into the hospital to have his leg operated on to ease the pain form an artery being clogged. It was during this period that things started going down hill. He has a slight heart attack, and after a time, had another, and after a short recovery in the nursing home, had another. He passed away February 7, 2010. The dream was gone… I thought.
            Then after a couple of months, I went to a local web builder who had helped in the past with my computer. We talked about the possibilities, the obstacles and it started. After two years of work, www.jackexum.com was ‘born’. With hundreds of articles by myself and dad, books for free and for sale, pictures, a special teens area, Bible studies, discussions and more. The site continues to be improved, and expanded. All dedicated to the memory of my dad, Jack Exum. Dedicated to keeping his work going, and reaching out to all who want to ‘grow in grace’.

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Rudy

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   Rudy (His full name is ‘Jose Rudy Robertavich Exum’) is  very lucky. We think he experienced ‘divine intervention’. Rudy thinks he is Doberman Pinscher, but he is all Chihuahua. He weighs 10 pounds (maybe more now), is black and tan with cute floppy ears.  
   He is the joy of my brother and his wife, commonly referred to as “ooour baaaby”, (unless someone gets mad at him).
   For two weeks he was a guest at our place since my sister in law was on a trip over seas and my brother was in the hospital. What happened was, Bob came over to pick up his breathing equipment, and when he left, Rudy decided to follow him on the road.  My wife ran after Rudy, but by the time she got to him, he had had his ‘brush with death’. In following Bob, a big truck came from behind Rudy and passed right over him. The wind draft from the truck knocked poor Rudy over on his face, causing him to bleed a bit. When my wife got to him, he was on his side, his legs were stiff and he was shaking, and his mouth bleeding. My wife called me, in tears, saying “Rudy was run over!!!” Well, Rudy survived somehow.
   What went through ‘Rudy’s’ mind as all this happened? Well, since I understand dog-language, we sat and had a man to dog talk, and he told me. “I sure have learned my lesson.” Of course I agreed with him, since it scared everyone. “What made you run after Bob?” I asked. Rudy said, “ I just love Bob.” I asked Rudy, “Do you hold this against Bob?” Rudy said,  “No, I forgive Bob for not seeing me, ‘cause I know he loves me.”
            We can learn a lot about life that will help us. Things like loyalty and faithfulness, love and forgiveness. These are important, but somehow, we miss them and some of life’s greatest blessings.
            Before I forget, while Rudy was staying with us, he and Little Bit (our Datshund) made friends. It took some time to get over the territorial challenges, but they seemed to make a secret ‘pact’ to co-operate and ‘deal with’ Molly (our cat). You may remember Molly from articles that dad wrote. Anyway, they worked together to ‘play’ with Molly. She did not appreciate this at all. They were not allowed to be rough, but ‘they had fun’. Molly would have her ‘sweet revenge’ as well. She would sneak up from behind Rudy, or Little Bit, and pounce on their backs. Rudy lost a pound and a half during the two weeks, running after Molly, but gained it back when he went home! Overall, it was a good two weeks that we all enjoyed.
            In the end when we had to give him back to Bob and Sveta, it was a bit difficult, but now when we go and visit… Rudy always remembers us, and gives us a great welcome.
            Paul said “Love never fails” (I Corinthians 13:8). No, he wasn’t talking about pets, but for sure we can learn to love and forgive from them. Trust me, life will go better when we do.

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One Dollar Bill

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   I went to the store and purchased some things, and when I got change for $20.00 I noticed one particular dollar bill. It wasn’t counterfeit, but was wrinkled, which is unfortunate, because it means it has been in circulation a while. What made this bill ‘stand out’ to me, and what makes it unfortunate?
   Someone had scratched out “IN GOD WE TRUST” and had written “God doesn’t want His name on money” “Oooops! there is no God.” This seems to be part of a much larger problem, as Atheists  are fighting to get all things relating to God removed from the public ‘eye’. Unfortunately, they are succeeding in many areas. Prayer has been removed from schools, children cannot wear clothing with scriptures on them, even Tim Tebow received criticism because he put “Jno. 3:16” under his eyes. “Christmas”, and the Ten Commandments are under attack, and are being forbidden in public schools, and scriptures and Bible dramas. Yet, according to the First Amendment to the Constitution, Government cannot be involved in establishing a religion, nor can it prohibit our freedom of religion.  
   Question: DO WE REALLY WANT A NATION WITHOUT, NOT UNDER, NOT TRUSTING IN, GOD? Maybe our dollar bills should read “IN NO ONE (BUT OURSELVES) WE TRUST”.  The Declaration of Independence says, “… and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them….” and again “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”
   Sure there have been shameful things done in the ‘name of religion’. Yes, suffering, pain and death still plague us!  All of this falls at the feet of SINFUL PEOPLE, not God. God created man with the Right to make choices, and choices have consequences.  Without Satan and sin  there would be no choices! We are not evolved animals or ‘robots’. God does not force Himself on anyone. “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,  I will come in  and eat with that person, and they with me” (Revelation 3:20). It is far easier to accuse God than it is to disprove God. The arguments of DESIGN and DESIGNER of the Universe and it’s Laws did not just HAPPEN ACCIDENTALLY. Evolution takes more faith to believe in than God. Man is not evolving to something better, mankind is morally devolving  because of sin, not God! Two world wars, along with the other conflicts and terrible actions of people against other people, should prove this!
    An angry man asked his preacher, “Where was God, when my son was killed in Viet Nam!” The minister calmly took the broken hearted man’s hands, and replied, “He was right where He was when His own Son died on the cross.”
   If there was ever an argument for God, and the need to come to Him through Jesus, it is the awful condition of man in sin, and the sacrifice of God’s own Son to redeem man.
   David said in Psalm 14:1  “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

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My Little Friend

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   I (dad) am writing these few words while flying to a weekend appointment. There is a passenger on board that did not pay for his fare. I offered to pay it for him, but they refused. He is sitting in the seat next to me. He reclines in somewhat of a mystical “praying hands” position. He is so small he sits unnoticed. His mother is not here. He has never spoken a word. He does not cry. His father is alive today, somewhere on earth. A friend gave him to me to care for. Lunch will be served in a few moments, yet he will not eat. He once had a very strong appetite – but no more. He didn’t lose it, it was taken from him!

   He will never again swim with abandoned pleasure in the fluids of his mother’s womb. She did not love him. He is in limbo. His cry was never heard.

   His “personal choice” to live was cast aside. He was not made a “ward of the court” but to the contrary, all protections, by the courts, were removed from him. He was one of five million who have been wasted by a culture that places a “low self-image on life”.
   The doctors who took the vow to preserve life, deliberately destroyed his. He was not sucked out of the womb in small bits and pieces much like a garbage disposal discharges waste. He was one of the elite who was poisoned with a saline (salt) solution. He did not drink it willingly. It was injected into his little world.
   Now he sits – quiet and still. He is preserved in chemicals, and kept inside a special container – hidden from the eyes of the living. Atrocities of any given generation happen – yet none seems to be aware of them while they are going on.
   We’re now making our decent into New York City. This could have been his hometown, for more of his relatives were aborted here last year than were born alive. I dare not remove him from his hiding place. He would strike fear in the hearts of all the passengers.
   His conception was a personal choice, and so was his death. He is a legal “homicide” yet never threatened anyone with harm. He may have been another Einstein or Edison.
   He is silent yet so eloquent.
   He is naked and defenseless, yet he attacks us – reminds us – shames us!
   We fear him for we have failed to love him.
   We hide from him, yet there is no place.
   Now everyone is departing. Look at them – hugging loved ones – sweethearts embracing. It’s great to be alive.
   My little friend? His life stopped at 20 weeks yet he is perfectly formed. Weight – about half pound – size – a handful.
   On his tomb is placed the saying, “Cold is my grave, but O I love it. For colder were my friends above it.”
   “Personal choice?” We’ve heard from the living, perhaps now we should listen to the dead

     People have many “personal choices”. What to eat, wear, and where to work, who to marry, which church to attend, and on and on. We have “personal choices”. Maybe we need to re-think the “personal choice” of Abortion. What happened to dad’s friend’? Dad had him ‘laid to rest’ in a beautiful place, with a quiet ceremony.

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That You Might Believe – “The Word”

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   Welcome to our continued study of the Gospel of John…
We introduce this lesson with some excerpts from William Barclay’s Devotional on John,  “Before we begin to study (John) in detail, let us try to see what John was trying to do when he wrote it…… Christianity began amongst the Jews; and therefore inevitably it spoke in the Jewish language and used Jewish categories of thought. But although Christianity in Judaism it very soon went out into the wider world. Within thirty years of Jesus death, by AD 60, Christianity had traveled all over Asia Minor and Greece and had arrived in Rome. By AD 60 there must have been a hundred thousand Greeks in the Church for every Jew who was a Christian. Jewish ideas were completely strange to the Greeks. To take but one outstanding example, the Greeks had never heard of a Messiah. The very center of Jewish expectation, the coming of  the Messiah, was an idea that was quite alien to the Greeks. The very category in which the Jewish Christians conceived and presented Jesus, meant nothing to the Greek. Here then was the problem – how was Christianity to be presented to the Greek world?…. As E. J. Goodspeed put it, the question was, “Must a Greek who was interested in Christianity be routed through Jewish Messianic ideas and through Jewish ways of thinking, or could some new approach be found which would speak out of his background to his mind and heart?”….
   Round about the year AD 100 there was a man in Ephesus who was fascinated by that problem. His name was John. He lived in a Greek city. He dealt with Greeks to whom Jewish ideas were strange and unintelligible and even uncouth. How could he find a way to present Christianity to these Greeks in their own thought and in their own language and in a way that they would welcome and understand? Suddenly the solution of the problem flashed upon him. In both Greek and Jewish thought there existed the concept of ‘THE WORD’. Here was something which could be worked out to meet the double world of Greek and Jew. Here was something which belonged to the heritage of both races, something that both could understand.” (William Barclay’s ‘Gospel of John’, Vol. 1 Pgs 2-3).
   Jesus is referred to as the ‘Good Shepherd’ , ‘Lord’, ‘Mighty God’, ‘Prince of Peace’, ‘the way, the truth, and the life’, ‘Light’, ‘first and last’, ‘Alpha and Omega’, ‘Lamb of God’, and ‘Savior’. John introduces him as the “Word”. John’s purpose in writing, is “that all might believe” (John 20:30-31), in Christ, the answer to man’s sin predicament, (John 3:16).

I. “IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD”: “In the beginning God created….(Genesis 1-2:2), John says that “the Word” was there. More than just ‘being there”, we find that He created the worlds (universe) (Hebrews 1:1-3).
   A. Since the Word was “before” all things (creation) – He is therefore eternal.
   B. John records Jesus as saying, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). When Jesus said this, the Jews understood him to be making the claim to Deity, (cf. Exodus 3:19).
   C. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1) is a profound way to begin, and in doing so, he portrays Jesus as the very “reflection of God” for all to see, believe in, and follow.
   D. God did not change! (Just as the Word of god does not change… it like Jesus… is meant to CHANGE US)… Our knowledge of God changed when Jesus came. Jesus said, “If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work” (John 14:7-10).
   E. Paul said, 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known (I Corinthians 13:11-12). The idea being that there are some spiritual things we just can’t clearly see, whereas later we will see clearly. We don’t understand everything about God, and Jesus revealed the Father, but even still, after this life is over, Christians will truly see God. Jesus shows us the Father, in love, character, patience, caring, saving, reaching out to mankind, giving, and much more. This does not compare to what we will see later.

II. “THE WORD WAS WITH GOD – THE WORD WAS GOD”
   Paul said 4″ For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). In the Old Testament one is constantly faced with fields of battle, blood shed, sacrifices, plagues etc… one child was asked about this, and he said, “O that was before God became a Christian.” No there are not two separate Gods, there is One God (Deuteronomy 6:4). The Old Testament does not portray God one way and the New Testament another way.
   A. “HE WAS WITH GOD”
Jesus reveals what God ‘was’ and ‘is’ and ‘always’ will be. John says, 2″ He was with God in the beginning.” (John 1:2). All that Jesus ‘was’ God is. His desires, love, justice, jealousy, feelings and grace are all revealed both in the Old and New Testaments. Jesus (the Word made flesh) came, and showed the same, but he especially came to die on the cross for us (Philippians 2:1-11). Compare what Peter says here, 4″ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,[a] putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;” (2 Peter 2:4)  and “9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9). Same Lord and Savior revealed in both.
   B.  “THROUGH HIM ALL THINGS WERE MADE”
The New Testament has always affirmed – GOD created something out of nothing.
Read John 1:3 3 “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” The writer of Hebrews says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for.” (Hebrews 11:1-2). Do we understand HOW God created everything? No! Can we explain how everything was made? No! Do we believe God made everything mentioned in Genesis 1-2? Yes! This is called faith. Evolution is nothing more than a theory, which is unprovable, and takes more faith to believe in. It has no place in the Genesis record. (An excellent exposition and discussion of this is Gerald Wright’s work on “The Supreme Scientist” which can be obtained through his site at Biblical-Books.com. This link is found on jackexum.com for easy access.
   C. “IN HIM WAS LIFE”
John records these wonderful words, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” (John 1:4). When I was a young child, I was afraid of the dark. I would cry out to mom or dad, and they would come and turn on the light, or bring a light. It lit up the room, and dispelled the darkness. Going through life without Jesus is like walking in darkness. Jesus came and ‘lit up the whole world’. I know of no other who can do this? “He is my everything, He is my all”. Why would anyone turn away from Him?
John 5:40 “yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
John 10:10 ” The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
John 10:28   “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John 5:24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”
John 6:40 “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”
D. LIGHT AND DARKNESS
Studying the Scriptures you will come across words and phrases used in special ways to represent certain lessons. These are not difficult, and john is no exception to this. He writes to the Greek mind in ways which appeal to them, and they can easily understand. The use of LIGHT AND DARKNESS as representing GOOD AND EVIL respectively was a s common then as it is now. Simply put, Jesus is the light of the world. Satan is the ruler of darkness. Due to the Religious leaders of Jesus’ time, (Pharisees, Sadducees etc…) the people of God (Israel) could have no close relationship with God their Father. Jesus often exposed their hypocrisy, and ignored their traditions and ‘laws’ which stood as ‘road blocks’ to walking with God. When Jesus spoke (cf. Matthew 5-7) it was like putting a light in a pitch black room. He spoke “as no one else did” with the authority of God. It was a time of darkness, and sin. Jesus came as the true light of the souls of mankind.
Take the time to read the following passages
John 8:12 “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 12:35-36 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. 36 Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.”
John 12:46 “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”

Next: THE WITNESS OF JOHN

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Abortion – A Personal Choice?

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     As I look at this ‘tract’, I notice that it is a bit old, say probably 15 to 20 years old. Written originally while dad was at his old address here in Lake City, Florida. During this time he handed out hundreds maybe thousands of this little thing. His purpose? It was simply to stop teenagers mainly from making a decision they would most likely regret. Yes, it is a tract for any and all to read, for the same purpose.
   As I write this, I remember when dad showed to me a wooden box with a matching hinged top. It was lined carefully on the inside with soft, red cloth, and it had a brass latch on it which kept the precious contents safe during travel. You may have seen it in one of his meetings with a congregation or group of teenagers. The box was small, it looked like an ordinary box, and created curiosity in the airports he traveled through. What was so important, so precious that it was cared for this way? It was a small six weeks old aborted baby.
   Before you get all excited, understand this little boy was given to dad for a purpose by a friend. The purpose was so people could see that at just 20 weeks, what everyone calls a “fetus” or “a mass” is in fact, a child. I have no picture of this little boy, but memory serves well enough, besides I would should no disrespect to him.
   Now I present to you dad’s tract… word for word…
  
   “Abortion is just another word for death. Whether deliberate or not the results are the same. Two positions have emerged – “Abortion On Demand” and “The Right To Life”.

   According to the supreme court, abortion is just a matter of personal choice. Life for the unborn no longer holds the position of honor and protection, but now is in the broad area of human choice or judgment. The changing attitude toward crime in general continues on the downward slide. The victim is often ignored while the criminal clamors for his/her rights.

                                   SUICIDE IS A PERSONAL CHOICE

   Few people elect this form of demise when someone still loves them. Yet even this last fatal judgement of the mind is not just a “personal choice” when it directly involves others. To “pull one’s own plug” in the twilight of life is hardly compared to a plane hijacker who threatens himself and many others on board.

   Abortion is a personal choice that involves more than the one making it. In America alone, 17 million (unborn) babies were “aborted” in the last 10 years. What kind of “personal choice” is it when I decide to end the life of another person? Such decision was not based on  a threat to the mother’s life or was the pregnancy the result of rape or abuse. Deformity or disease are not involved in the vast majority of “wasting these lives”. A personal choice was!

                                            
                                      MURDER IS A PERSONAL CHOICE

   Abortion is death and the choosing of death is made by one person for another. This law in principle reads, “It is my personal choice (judgment) to choose death for you.” When murder is committed, one (the murderer) chooses death for another (victim). They bury the victim and the murderer is punished.
 
   Aborting a “life” is not the same kind of murder. Yet in principle, they are identical. “I choose death for you!!” Is abortion really just a matter of “personal choice”?

                                              MY LITTLE FRIEND

   I am writing these few words while flying to a weekend appointment. There is a passenger on board that did not pay for his fare. I offered to pay it for him, but they refused. He is sitting in the seat next to me. He reclines in somewhat of a mystical “praying hands” position. He is so small he sits unnoticed. His mother is not here. He has never spoken a word. He does not cry. His father is alive today, somewhere on earth. A friend gave him to me to care for. Lunch will be served in a few moments, yet he will not eat. He once had a very strong appetite – but no more. He didn’t lose it, it was taken from him!

   He will never again swim with abandoned pleasure in the fluids of his mother’s womb. She did not love him. He is in limbo. His cry was never heard.

   His “personal choice” to live was cast aside. He was not made a “ward of the court” but to the contrary, all protections, by the courts, were removed from him. He was one of five million who have been wasted by a culture that places a “low self-image on life”.
   The doctors who took the vow to preserve life, deliberately destroyed his. He was not sucked out of the womb in small bits and pieces much like a garbage disposal discharges waste. He was one of the elite who was poisoned with a saline (salt) solution. He did not drink it willingly. It was injected into his little world.
   Now he sits – quiet and still. He is preserved in chemicals, and kept inside a special container – hidden from the eyes of the living. Atrocities of any given generation happen – yet none seems to be aware of them while they are going on.
   We’re now making our decent into New York City. This could have been his hometown, for more of his relatives were aborted here last year than were born alive. I dare not remove him from his hiding place. He would strike fear in the hearts of all the passengers.
   His conception was a personal choice, and so was his death. He is a legal “homicide” yet never threatened anyone with harm. He may have been another Einstein or Edison.
   He is silent yet so eloquent.
   He is naked and defenseless, yet he attacks us – reminds us – shames us!
   We fear him for we have failed to love him.
   We hide from him, yet there is no place.
   Now everyone is departing. Look at them – hugging loved ones – sweethearts embracing. It’s great to be alive.
   My little friend? His life stopped at 20 weeks yet he is perfectly formed. Weight – about half pound – size – a handful.
   On his tomb is placed the saying, “Cold is my grave, but O I love it. For colder were my friends above it.”
   “Personal choice?” We’ve heard from the living, perhaps now we should listen to the dead.

   Free copies of this tract are available while they last. Just write and let me know.

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Growing Up

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   Being a teenager was tough. Sometimes I thought mom and dad were just not ‘with it’, or didn’t care. (I under estimated them). It’s just that when you are getting made-fun-of because your teeth stick out, and your hair is ‘red’ and your face is covered in freckles, and your chest is not muscular, and you’re just skinny, shy… you just don’t feel right! At least I didn’t. Believe me it was tough. However, even with that, we didn’t struggle with the things you struggle with today. I mean the worst thing kids got in trouble for was smoking behind the gym, or kissing a girl behind the gym, or maybe an occasional fight. When we got in trouble at school, we got in trouble at home. That was ‘capital punishment’ time. Today’s teens stuggle with gangs, and drugs, sex, guns, killings in schools, huge peer pressure, metal detectors, and on and on! I just have a hard time with that. Things have really changed and I will be the first to admit it.
   How to cope and what to do? Well, at least, in spite of the fact that I AM NOT A PROFESSONAL COUNSELOR and am not claiming to be such… I CARE. I hope that our time together will be helpful at least to the extent that you don’t feel alone. You MAY NOT AGREE with some things I say. THAT IS FINE you don’t have to, but it is still a place to come and talk and share. So we begin this adventure together….
   My prayer for you is that God will open up his store-house of blessings and wisdom for you, and that the tough times will be learning and growing times. Which serve to make you better and stronger.
   You can make it through these years, trust me. There is no need to quit, give up, or run.
You are loved beyond belief, by the god of the Universe, and I pray, by your parents. There is where you find you structure, your protection…. If not… there is help. Don’t look to another teenager for it, most times, they are in the same boat, or B.T.D.T (been there done that). 
   More later……. hang in there.

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No Substitute For Victory

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Never Forget

Never Forget

It was a clear day back in September, and I was in the shed just cleaning up a bit. I had the radio on for ‘company’ I guess. Usually listening to talk shows, and usually Glenn Beck, or Hannity or Rush, and then I heard  about a tower in New York City being hit by an airplane. I went into the house and turned on the television, and the tragedy wasn’t over yet. I could not believe what I was watching. I sat on the couch, I couldn’t look away, another plane, another tower was hit. People were looking, pointing at the fatally wounded towers. I was just one of millions, stunned, and shocked by the actions of a few ‘religious’ fanatics. I was angry, very angry, that people would do this to us. Who were they? Why did they do this? What do they want? We (Americans) have helped so many people around the world… now this?!!!  People were jumping from the towers, they didn’t want to die in the flames, so they just jumped. Hearts were breaking, mine was breaking. Tears were flowing, time passed, not much time, but just as I thought things were bad, they got worse, as one tower crumbled and fell, and then the second came down. There were people screaming, crying, running, falling. There were people covered in dust, there were people trying to save people. New York was hit, America was hurt. Where once two tall towers proudly stood and marked the skyline, now an empty space, and smoke. Then President Bush stood, representing a determined America, and promised, “Soon those who did this will be brought to justice.”
   Here it is 2012, we have been at war with Islamic Terrorists for 11 long years. The battles have been and are still being fought. We have not yet won the victory, not yet. We are still being attacked. 911 is still being marked by death of Americans. This is not the time to pretend the victory is won, for it is not. This is not the time to get tired… it is time to remember what the war is all about, and renew our determination to WIN. THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR VICTORY.
   Christians are at war with Satan and all he stands for. Jesus came and beat him when he died on the cross, (Hebrews2:14). Yet we still have to fight. The Christian must be prepared, and wear the ‘armor’ necessary to do battle, (Ephesians 6:10-18). The devil may hit us and knock us down, and even cause us to panic, and think we are defeated, but through Jesus we are not defeated. One person said, “I HAVE READ THE END OF THE BOOK, AND GUESS WHAT… WE WIN!” Until then we must not forget, THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR VICTORY! We cannot make peace with Satan, nor can we make a treaty or have a truce. He doesn’t want that. Satan wants our total defeat. Just like those represented by the ones who knocked down the towers. There can be no truce, nor peace, for that is not what they want. They want us to give in and give up. This, we will never do. Not America! Not Christians! We will fight on, and through our Savior, we will WIN!
   If you are one who is discouraged, or just tired of ‘the fight’… trust me, enduring and persevering will be worth it. Renew your heart in prayer, and study of scriptures, and get with a good brother or sister, and let them encourage you as well. Attend the assembly of the saints, and ‘drink in’ the love and fellowship that God has added us all to.
   Winston Churchill was invited to speak one time at a University. He approached the podium slowly, but resolutely. He was silent for a minute or so, the students waiting for words from the War worn Prime Minister. He cleared his throat, and looked out at the student body and said, “NEVER….. NEVER…… NEVER….. GIVE UP!” Then he returned to his seat.
   That’s all they and we need to hear… and do.

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