The Wisdom of Don Henley

One of my favorite all time bands is the Eagles and I consider Don Henley as one of the great song writers of our generation. In recent years you can see a change in his spirituality through the songs that he's written; such as these lyrics to the song "Hole in the World":



They say that anger is just love disappointed.

They say that love is just a state of mind.

But all this fighting over who will be annointed

Oh how can people be so blind?


There's a hole in the world tonight

There's a cloud of fear and sorrow

There's a hole in the world tonight

Don't let there be a hole in the world tomorrow.


I believe the cure for that hole in the world would be this:
1John 3:16-18:

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in Him?
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Jonah and the 60 Million Dollar Man

This past Sunday the guest speaker in my church was Father Zakaria Botros, the Coptic Priest who has a 60 million dollar bounty on his head by Al-Quada. Father Botros is the most effective Arab-American evangelist, and has been reaching Muslims with the gospel of Jesus Christ for over 40 years. Since being exiled from Egypt in 1989, he preaches in the Middle East via satellite radio and television, and reaches many here while living in the states.

I thought it was perfectly fitting that this man, who was imprisoned at a time for preaching to Muslims, made his entrance during our worship service while we were singing "How Great is our God".

Before giving us a presentation on understanding Islam and Muslims, Father Botros explained:

"Christianity teaches us to love all man-kind and love our enemies. But by no means does it tell us to be blind to reality and truth, or be misled by misinformation."

Father Botros also made it quite clear that:

"Many Muslims are good constructive members of society, therefore the problem is one of Islam and not of Muslims in general."

So Father Botros' mission is to reach Muslims with the truth by exposing the false religion of Islam. Here are some facts on Islam:

Islam is the only religion that adopts "terrorism"

There are 35,213 verses in the Quran that speak about terror and killing those that are not Muslim

In the West, Islam is viewed as just another religion

Father Botros explained that Islam has 2 faces:

1. Mohammed's character in Mecca:

In 610 A.D. Mohammed started out as peaceful and loving because he was not yet strong
An early verse in the Quran is "Let there be no compulsion in religion".

2.Mohammed's character in Medina:

Now that he has become stronger he spreads his religion by the sword

He also makes claim that Allah told him to kill whoever rejects Islam, primarily Christians and Jews

A later verse in the Quran,"And slay them wherever ye catch them".

Father Botros chose to follow Christ at an early age when discovering some notes in his older brother's Bible after his brother was beheaded by Muslims in 1947 for preaching the truth.

So here's Father Botros in 2010, reaching Muslims by the thousands with The Truth.

Now your probably thinking, "How does Jonah fit into this?"

Well if you can remember, Jonah was extremely loyal to the Jews and God wanted him to go deliver the Good News to the Gentiles(the non-Jews,who Jonah considered to be the enemy). Jonah was reluctant to obey on that one and chose to run the other way. Next thing you know he's inside the belly of a large fish for three days!

Once being deposited to land, and his mind obviously changed about the situation, (which my guess would happen to any of us if we were inside of a large fish for three days)Jonah agreed to declare God's message, and much to his dismay the Ninevites "responded" to God's call.

I think if Jonah knew that it was going to be that easy to reach the enemy with the gospel he probably would have had a different response then running the other way.

Father Botros obviously trusts God as he delivers the Good News to Muslims who follow the Islamic religion. He chose not to run away from the will of God but move forward in response to the call.

So I guess the question for us is: Do we need to spend three days inside the belly of a large fish in order to decide? Or do we follow the example of Father Botros and respond to our call with complete trust in God?

View From The Back Pew

One of the advantages I have of sitting in the back of my church on Sunday mornings while recording the service for podcast, is viewing the congregation during worship.
Yesterday I witnessed:

African Americans
Whites
Hispanics
Asian Americans
Arabic

all worshiping God together in one accord. So when seeing this diverse group of people singing together "Jesus Messiah Lord of All" naturally it struck a cord with, what else?... all of us being in one accord.

"With one accord" means: being unanimous, having mutual consent, being in agreement, having group unity, and having one mind and purpose.

Throughout the New Testament we see the leadership carrying this dominant trait of "being of one accord". Whenever church leaders gathered in Jerusalem they were in unity and harmony with each other and with God.

It's obvious that these leaders were setting an example for the church today,
to put aside our theological differences and work together for the greater purpose: that of reaching others with the gospel through His Word and through His love.


When we sing "Jesus Messiah Lord of All" it really means that God is Lord of all.

Successful Seed

While running on the trails the other day I came across a detour, (yes even in the woods there's some kind of construction these days), the trail I usually don't go on had some interesting nature info signs such as the one in the above picture. Of course what came to mind for me when seeing this sign was the interesting parallel between this seed and the seed mentioned in The Parable of the Sower:

1. Seeds move in many ways to find sun, water, and soil they need to grow and succeed. Some seed gets eaten by birds, squirrels, and other animals.

2. Jesus explains in the Parable that the sower(us) sows the Word of God. Some seed is sown by the wayside and the enemy comes and takes away that Word that was sown.

Then there's seed sown on stony ground where some receive the Word with gladness, endure it only for a time, then stumble when a situation arises.

The seed spread among thorns are the one's who hear the Word but become distracted with the things of the world which chokes the Word and it becomes unfruitful.

Then finally we have the seed that is sown on good ground: those who hear the Word, accept it and bear fruit.

Something of importance in all of this is: that seed (the Word of God) needs to be tended to. It needs to be watered and nurtured in order to grow on good ground.

Oswald Chamber once said,

"God is not saving the world, it is done. Our business is
to get men and women to realize it."

Does God make you feel good? Has He ever turned you down in the time of need? If God is worth having in your life, isn't He worth sharing with others?

I like how one author describes himself,and this sums it up best:
"I'm just one beggar telling another beggar where I found bread."

A Tale of Two Trust's

1. Last week a Manhattan homeless man asked a New York exec for change. The woman didn't have any change but lent the man her American Express Platinum card.

"I asked her for change and told her I wasn't working. She said she only had a card. She said, 'Can I trust you?' I said, 'I'm honest, yes."

Many who witnessed this act of kindness outside a New York restaurant doubted the man would return. A short while later the man returned to the restaurant to return the credit card to the woman, as her friends looked on in amazement. The man only spent $25 worth of goods: deodorant, body wash, vitamin water, and cigarettes.

The woman exclaimed, "What he did was no surprise to me. People kept telling me,
'Why would you talk to him and trust him? But are we only supposed to trust people we know?


2. Over a year ago NFL player Donte Stallworth's car hit and killed a man who dashed across the highway to catch a bus right before dawn. Stallworth was legally drunk, and was arrested,convicted,sentenced, and suspended from football for one year.

What has been overshadowed in all of this, until now, was the fact that Donte ordered his lawyers to accept a plea deal that convicted him of a felon, even when evidence showed he had an excellent chance of being found innocent.

Donte said it was his fault, and didn't want to make the man's family sit through a court trial and relive the man's death.

"Any little decision you make will have a subsequent reaction. Be cognizant of your decisions", Donte now preaches when speaking at kids camps.


In the first story the New York exec's trust and the homeless man's honesty were, in a sense, both rewarded: her's for getting her card back with no real harm done to her pocketbook and the homeless man's honesty and the publicity that came from it may eventually open a door for someone to offer him a job. I think the woman's greater reward is that her act of kindness sent the message for us to approach the homeless with a better view of them as people.
(one sidebar to this story though: in the picture, the man, who had lost his job in real estate, did not look like a homeless man, he was actually dressed okay. In today's economy you do not necessarily need to look the profile of homeless to actually be homeless)


Second, Donte Stallworth was a pretty good guy of integrity and character before his accident: volunteering his off season time working with kids camps. He made one mistake, honed up to it, served a short time in jail, and this season returns to playing football.

"Everything has been challenged. My faith has been tested. My character has been tested. I try to think positive for everybody", Donte exclaims.

Donte was honest with his mistake and placed his trust in his own character as a person.


"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value." -Albert Einstein