Pink Eye

I went to a Louisville Bats baseball game and the Louisville Slugger Museum and all I got was a lousy case of pink eye in my right eye. I need that t-shirt.

I can't believe it. Both of my boys try to get this once a year, but I have avoided it for decades. But now it has happened. I officially have the cooties.

Cooties, pink eye or what eye professionals call Conjunctivitis. They say it is an inflammation of the conjunctiva (the outermost layer of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelids), most commonly due to an allergic reaction or an infection (usually viral, but sometimes bacterial). I was told mine was bacterial.

It spreads through contact. Someone had it and they touched me or something I touched and I touched my eye with the cooties on it and now my right eye looks like I'm back on the hard stuff.

It makes me think about my life and my faith. Is my faith contagious? Does being around me or touching anything I've touched infect other people with a love for Jesus. That is what I and all my siblings in Christ are called to do. We are to represent our Lord and present the Gospel so that when others can come into contact with us they come into contact with THE Savior and find love, eternal hope and redemption in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 1As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

What Else Is Needed?

Psalm 34:1-21
Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left. (1 Samuel 21:10-15)

I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. 2My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. 3Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. 4I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. 5Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. 6This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. 7The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. 8Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. 9Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. 10The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. 11Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, 13keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. 14Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. 15The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry; 16the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. 17The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. 18The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. 19A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all; 20he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. 21Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned. 22The Lord redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.

It Never Gets Old

Today at 12:02 PM (EST) at Panera Bread in Bowling Green, Ky a man bowed his head across from me and was saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. It was an absolute joy to get to be witness to this amazing event. As he prayed his prayer of repentance, I wondered how many people were watching. Of those watching, I wondered how many were confused. I also wondered how many were praying for him strangely urged by the Holy Spirit to do so.

This brother has been prayed for and as we were talking today he was being prayed for by people in several states. There have been many men and women who have shared Jesus with him. He has been in discipleship opportunities. He has been in Sunday worship and at many church events where he had heard the Gospel. But it was today that God sovereignly chose to have this man begin his journey toward heaven.

This never gets old. It's the one Godly thing that we can do here on earth that we won't be able to do in heaven. Sharing our hope in Christ is a joy. It is a great way to grow our own faith. It is God's determined means to communicate His love and saving grace to other people.

What are you waiting for? Start telling people about your faith in Jesus and your journey toward heaven. You only get one life to do that.

What You See Ain't Always What You Get

Click here and watch this.


It makes me think of what they thought of Jesus. You know... the Son of God.

The Scripture said he wasn't real good looking and people didn't think much of Him.

Isaiah 53:2-3 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

People made fun of Him for the town he was from.

John 1:46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.

He wasn't the most educated guy either.

Matthew 21:23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

He took away the sins of the world.

John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Wrong Question Right Answer

John 6:28-29 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” 29Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

The wrong question to ask God is, "What must I do to save myself?" That is the wrong question because there is no answer. There is nothing any person can do to save themselves. We must all be careful because there are those that will tell us that there are things we can do that will save us, but they are not telling the truth.

Even though some of the things that people might suggest we do to save ourselves are good; they are not good enough to provide redemption. The fact of the matter is there is nothing we can do to make up for or to pay for what we've done. We can make amends with other people, but we do not have the moral capacity to make amends with God. There is nothing we have that He needs and there is nothing we can do to take away what we have done. He is a holy God and He cannot and will not tolerate a person with sin in their past. If God did tolerate sin, He would cease to be a holy God. He would then be a God that cannot be trusted and heaven would not be a place of peace.

Because God is God all who sin are dead to God and will die a physical death and remain spiritually dead. Their spiritually dead condition will cause them experience the excruciating and eternal pain of an eternal spiritual death.

So what are we to do? Is all lost? Is there no hope?

Jesus gives us the simple answer to the answer, "what must a person do to be saved?" The answer is, "to believe in the one he has sent.”

Believe what? Believe that Jesus is God. Believe that He died to pay the penalty for your sin. Accept His grace and mercy to be forgiven. Submit to His leadership in your life and allow Him to lead you to live the live He created you to live. You will never live it perfectly, but it will be better than the life you might live on your own.

Don't forget Ephesians 2:8-10. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

When Making Tough Decisions...

I appreciated this today. This was Blackaby's post. You can get the whole thing here: http://www.blackaby.org/ I hope it encourages you, as it did me. As believers, we have a personal relationship with the One who knows all, is all powerful, and is able to do far more than we can hope or imagine. We have a King who cares for us. We have a Lord that is seeking to work in us and through us for His glory. We have a Master who has a plan for His world and we are a part of it.

You, as a Christian, have access to God’s wisdom. God’s Spirit is within you to guide you (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit will open your eyes to the truth of the Scriptures so that you can see things from God’s perspective. Only God sees the future, so only He can accurately lead you to make correct decisions today.

As you allow God to direct your life, those around you will see true wisdom, wisdom not of the world but of God. Others will be confused about what to do in our complicated world, but God will guide you safely to the correct choices for you. Your family will be blessed because you make wise decisions. Your friends will have a wise_counselor to come to for help. Your obedient life will demonstrate the wisdom of allowing the Holy Spirit to be your Guide.