If the title of this entry offended you, I really want your opinion. I just ask that you read this verse from John, and then leave your comment.

John 3:16 NLT For God loved the world so much that he gave His one and only Son, so that everyone that believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life

You don't have to go far these days to find a religious blog that touches on homosexuality. This is definitely a hot button for most people, and there is no warm or cold on the issue. The same scriptures are thrown out, and the people that scream their point of view yell loud enough that it becomes very intimidating for those that stop to peruse their pages of comments. My concern is that this very vocal and passionate discussion seems to rip the most fundamental idea that I hold of Christ to shreds.

I gather from my limited understanding of the Bible that I am probably a "Gentile." I haven't ever traced my heritage back to anyone past the people that I have seen in pictures, so I can't even validate that claim. I do know this: I had to find Christ, so I was at least a sinner. Even now that I have a stable relationship with Christ, I find myself asking for forgiveness on a regular basis. This reality shows me that I am even now a sinner, saved by grace - daily.

I have been reading the New Testament lately, and am now in Acts (my favorite book.) I am amazed at the beautiful stories of healing and supernatural intervention that take place in that book. People were drawn to Jesus because of what he could do. They might have not known who He was and the significance that His presence on earth held, but they knew of the miracles that preceded his arrival. People would lay in the street to hope to catch even a glimpse of His shadow, seeking the healing that they had been told about. After the cross, they would follow after his disciples with the same zeal.

The common thread that permeates most of the thoughts of homosexuality versus Christianity is that of the definition of sin. I have even thrown my two cents in on occasion and related that this kind of lifestyle is an "abomination." After reading numerous testimonies about people that struggle with this temptation, I am now forced to apologize for my jagged comments. It seems that I am too quick to look past the act that was finalized at the cross. I think that others often get lost in the sea of popular opinion as well, and end up getting swept past the primary cause of Christianity. Jesus died on the cross for my sins. It doesn't mention particular sins anywhere through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that I've read. These four books tell the story from different vantage points of the life of Christ, and all of them mention just one qualifying factor for forgiveness of sins. You have to exist.

Jesus gave himself to the cross for everyone. That includes all of the gays, lesbians, bigots, liars, thieves, prostitutes, and any other un-savory title that we can print up and attach to people. Next we have all of the racial epithets that I could throw out and pollute these pages with, but I hope you are starting to get the picture. I acknowledge that the homosexual lifestyle is identified as a sin, but so is gluttony, greed, hatred, and many other daily practices that are accepted in our society. It pains me to think that my brick wall of protest could block someone out of the kingdom of God. Isn't that the same thing that the Pharisee's did that Jesus stood so vehemently against? Christ was enraged that people were being seen through the veil of laws and restrictions, and His sacrifice was so that we could be seen through a veil of his shed blood instead.

Let me know your opinion, and offer some ways that we can reach out to those that have been rejected under the guise of religion. I think we can start with the thought that all have sinned, instead of just the gays, lesbians, liars, thieves, convicts, prostitutes and bigots. Jesus saved a failure like me, and it would be terrible for me to not want everyone else to experience that same salvation. I guess that the first step is to do this: reach out and feel for the first hand that touches yours. There are a lot of hands that are floating by, reaching out for someone to cling to. If you don't grab them and pull them to safety, who will?

Hurricane Ike really slammed East Texas. The pine trees that give this area so much of the beauty that it is known by are twisted and toppled in many areas of the city this morning. Power lines and poles have been splintered and destroyed, as are many of the homes in the area. I only have minor gathering of limbs when I leave from work this evening, but many of my neighbors are not as fortunate. I went to my house last night to have dinner with my kids and take showers (gas water heater.) The heat was intense, and the mosquitoes were absolutely relentless. I felt a responsibility to my children to stand firm and unshaken in the midst of this terrible storm, but my world was jolted when I saw the devastation around me. The picture to the left was taken from the roof of a co-worker, and shows a couple of the 7 trees that fell on and around 4 homes that were side by side. Imagine for a second that you had 7 trees laying between you, your next door neighbor, and the two houses across the street from you. What would your state of mind be? His wife had just finished washing dishes when the biggest of the 7 fell through their kitchen. She stepped away from the sink and heard the crash. Turning around, she saw the roof compressed to the kitchen counter exactly where she stood only moments ago in time. I can only imagine.

What I saw this weekend showed me the tremendous resilience of the human spirit. During my drive home from lunch, I saw countless droves of people outside that were attacking their landscapes with intense dedication. Trees were being discarded, limbs were being gathered, yards were being raked, and lawns were being manicured. It seems that those that were affected greatly were in a hurry to put the wreckage behind them. They wanted to get on with their lives, and block out the memories of a terrible weekend. Power could be out in my neighborhood until Friday, but that did not stop people from dedicating their time to make things seem normal.

I sat in my driveway and petitioned God for power to be restored to my home. We have three children, and things are chaotic to say the least when we are displaced from our fortress of solitude. I saw neighbors that had power, and wondered with frustration as to why I was not in the a/c. I drove around, complaining to God of how bad I had things when he started to open my eyes. Luke 24:45 says "Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures." The story line of this passage tells of the return of Jesus, days after his crucifixion and resurrection. He came to the disciples and related to them the purpose behind His delivery into the hands of the enemy. I read this passage in the darkness of the evening, and it broke my heart into pieces.

How many times has God told me of the things that are going on around me, and my response has almost always been - huh? I can see with my eyes the rubble and destruction, but what should my heart see? What am I missing when I complain about the heat and strange smell in my house, when people in Galveston have had to combat 17 feet of floodwater? Why can I not thank God that my roof is not freshly ventilated, and my yard is not newly landscaped? Instead of having my little pity party, I should be praying and interceding for those that are not as fortunate. I should use this time to walk across the street and help my neighbor clean his yard, or work at the Red Cross shelter like my cousin - J-Mod - did on Sunday. Being a Christian does not spare you from disaster; it just opens your eyes to see the bigger picture when people around your are all suffering from tunnel vision.

My prayer today is that God will open my mind so that it can understand his words. I pray that I can have the right words to speak when my fellow-man complains about his trashed yard. I can hopefully provide an answer that comes from beyond my reach of understanding when he asks "Why did this happen to me?" In doing that, a little bit of the world that was dark can be reclaimed by the light. Are you willing to turn the light switch on in your corner of the world?

Over 1 MILLION people are being ordered to evacuate the Texas coast ahead of Hurricane Ike. It is said that the storm itself takes up over 40% of the area that is the Gulf of Mexico, and it is shutting down refineries that will likely send gas prices through the roof. Crude oil prices and the mortgage crisis have delivered crushing body punches to our economy, and it's ribs are bruised and bleeding. We have the election, and oh, did I mention this little thing called the "War on Terror?"

As I watched the news this evening, my mind wandered. I wish we were quicker to prevent devastation before it hits our coastal shores. I would like to see a daily commitment to the elimination of poverty in our country that has the same intensity of the relief efforts that are going on now during the hurricanes. I would like to see us be more concerned about the lives that stand in the path of this storm than the oil refinery that is in Houston. This hurricane is bearing down on millions of people, and we are concerned about the price of oil on the NYSE? You have got to be kidding me! When will we learn to focus on the importance of human life and decent morality and let economics fall by the peripheral? Please pray for those in the path of this gruesome storm, their lives and futures depend on it.

MTV had their annual awards show this week, and something very interesting came out of it. I only saw it on the internet, and it was just in a couple of columns. It was the resurgence of the "promise ring." The Jonas Brothers wear promise rings, proclaiming their resolve to save their virginity until marriage. The host for the night made fun of them for that stance, and several celebrities came to their defense. Jordin Sparks and Paris Hilton were two of the biggest names that came to their side immediately. How many of you heard about this on your evening news?

I love that we take care of our hurting physically, and that is absolutely needed. I just wish we were more interested in offering safe harbor spiritually to those that are hurting. I think that we often miss the boat in that respect. We come to our own rescue to help re-build ravaged lands, and we pour obscene amounts of money into efforts that just bring us back to the state we were in. Offering true comfort to those that are hurting costs us nothing. We don't even have to mobilize concentrated efforts to impact our world in a way that would force peace into a hostile environment. We can offer a room to stay for family of friends that are displaced during this time. We can take blankets to the shelters that will be no doubt slammed for the next week. We can offer up a simple prayer that God will see those through that are in the bullseye of danger. We can just offer a few pennies in God's name to the homeless on the street corner - forgetting our hideously arrogant opinion of what they might do with it. God's word says that if you offer so much as a cup of water to a stranger in the name of Christ, it is like offering it to Christ himself (Matthew 25:34-40.) You can do little things that don't cost a dime, and they become contagious if they are done correctly.


I am playing in an event called "the burn" on Saturday morning at 6. I have been a couple of times, and it is absolutely fantastic. I also hope to go to something called "Soma" on Sunday evening. I have high expectations of each, and I hope to be able to blog about them either Sunday night or Monday - assuming Ike will allow it, of course. I hope to start something like this in Longview. If any of you that read this are interested, let's start praying that God can use us filthy vessels to help reach a community that is struggling to stay afloat. I think that it will be interesting to see what can be done with a few simple acts of God-inspired love.

Have you ever failed someone miserably? I don't mean that you let them down, or didn't live up to expectations. I mean have you ever been the person that someone absolutely counted on, and let that person down when it absolutely mattered? Better yet, did your failure impact more than the one person that counted on you? Have you ever dropped the ball and let down hundreds, thousands, maybe more? Maybe you haven't crushed the hopes and dreams of thousands upon thousands. Maybe you just impacted a couple of lives making healing difficult, creating a need for an extraordinary effort by someone else start the mending process. The intent of today's blog is to ask you what you do to bring comfort to someone that has crushed or has been crushed. Connection - to make it super simple. The importance of having it, and the impact of destroying it.

I watched a video on Timbo Slice's blog (sorry Tim, but that is your new nickname) today about Michael Guglielmucci - the dude that wrote the song "Healer." If you aren't familiar with the story, watch the video here to get acclimated. He asked forgiveness for his total fabrication of the last two years of his life. I was at first angry with what this guy was spewing, even though I had already "forgiven" him a few weeks ago. I thought that he offered the story of the addiction to porn to make himself the victim in the situation. The first take on the newest video was to be furious with him. How many views of Christianity did he screw up? How many would need some serious time before they could trust "those lying Christians" again? Man, what damage we do to each other, right?

It was then that I was told something by a friend that left me void of speech. I seriously opened my mouth expecting words to come tripping out over my tongue, but nothing showed up. For those that know me, this is an unusual occurrence. The person that delivered the news didn't hurt me, but it would have been easier if they would have. I could have offered a clumsy "I'm sorry" followed by a half-hearted hug. One of the people that I had hurt was half way across the country, and the pain had been marinating for a couple of days then. The other was half way across town, but the distance seemed too daunting to cover. I was told a story of how two lives that had been very close to me had split into. I don't know what was worse, wondering if a misplaced conversation had hurried the split, or wishing that I could have been there to comfort and possibly heal the split before it started.

Society has created a lifestyle of isolationism by the increasingly terrible ways that we fail each other. It is a learned behavior, and one that is extremely difficult to overcome. We are taught that we can do anything that we put our minds to, and that lesson is for the most part good. The problem is that we promote the idea of rising above our situations with every possible opportunity. Wait a minute, did he just say that? I know what may be thinking, and just hang with me. Hear me out before you click to the next page.

"Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" is a good thing (thanks for the quote, Pastor Carter.) Making the best out of a bad situation is what makes the best feel-good movie script. What I am talking about is simple. Try not to leave everyone behind in a state of absolute desperation when you pull up those bootstraps and start to walk out. People are depending on you, whether you or they know it or not. To prove this point, pick up the tab for a complete stranger on your way out of a restaurant this weekend. To make it even more poignant, buy dinner for a family of five with three screaming kids and two stressed out parents. To identify this situation, look for food thrown about in a chaotic manner and the absence of any other patrons or waitstaff. They usually sit next to the kitchen to mask the noise generated. I know this because I am usually the dad sitting there, rubbing his eyes and repeating: "There's no place like home, there's no place like home." Most of the time, we are quick with phrases like "If you couldn't control kids, why did you go and have three?" Another personal favorite is "You should be ashamed by what you have done to everyone else in this restaurant." We don't have the guts to come out and say these things, but come on and admit it - some derivation of these phrases has probably crossed your mind. They usually run through after a day that has tested your patience to the limits of your sanity. A quick but effective stare with purpose drives home the point. The person on the receiving end of that eyeball missile probably had a day that was just as tough as yours. Keep in mind that your kids (if you have any) probably behaved like little saints, so cut the other guy some slack, will ya?

Sorry to go off on a rant there, sometimes it just feels better to get it all out! Seriously, look around you sometime during your day, or on your weekend. Get away from family and friends, and look at how people react to each other. Some people make each other feel better, and some people make you a fan of being stranded on a desert island. Consider smiling when you walk by someone, or opening the door for a person that has their arms full. You would be amazed at the way a good word improves someones day. The great thing is that words are free! The only investment that is made is the thought before the word is delivered. Act with purpose when you connect with someone, and I am sure that you will see a positive impact. Remember that sometimes the only connection that is needed is that of a glancing blow. Most of the time, this little bump helps to keep the person from careening off of Sanity Boulevard while life sling-shots them forward at breakneck speed. In contrast, think about the damage that a verbal pothole can do to someone that is just at the point of being out of control. Your thoughts give birth to words. Pre-natal care should be used to grow them into something healthy.

Now for the heart-breaking matter of today's post. When you fail the VIP's in your life, how do you recover and reconcile? Is it better to let the pain scab over before you attempt to offer CPR to the relationship? I hope that you are not looking for an answer full of insight because I need an answer to this myself. I have failed many people in my short life span, and I am sick of myself for it. I look at myself in the mirror, and it is hard to stare back at the face full of stupid mistakes sometimes. I know that God is out there, but it feels like He is really out there and out of reach at times. According to many, I have the freedom of choice when it comes to spiritual decisions. Why can't I choose to not make a mess of things? The only good that has come out of this inward-looking evaluation is that the mistakes that I have made with my wife and kids have started to pay off by teaching me some good lessons. I still have a good bit to learn, but progress is progress, right?

To those people that I have failed, let me say this: don't let my failure ruin your view of friendship and connection. We are all vital to each other, and I know this more now than ever. I will not make some crummy excuse that explains away the hurt that you feel, because that would show you that friendship is cheap. Instead, I will admit that I failed you miserably, and I am sorry. If I could cry tears of blood and write a novel with them, I would do so. Please don't see my character flaws as things that are inherent in society. Instead, see that I am just a person that needs to be saved from himself - daily. We all need each other, but the pain of failure comes with that sometimes. We just need the happiness to overshadow those feelings of hurt and pain. I hope that I can offer more joy so that the memories of my failure can be distant. I will not promise to do so, because that promise would be a lie. Instead, I can tell you that my heart should do the talking, because my mouth is absolutely clueless.

Friendship with me will be a job, and I apologize for that. Just know that I don't always fail the people that I care about. However, I wouldn't trust me to hold a bungee chord for you until we prayed the prayer of salvation first. I know He won't drop you.

Please leave your comments, I need some insight from someone.