Quotes Worth Remembering

Favorite Quotes

The Black Hole Of Sin

I don't know why people make the grace v. works debate so complicated. It's like this: There's a black hole (immense, destructive gravitational force implied) called sin. You were in it and too weak to get out on your own. God reached out his hand to you and pulled you out. He set you in a safe place and told you that as long as you stay away from the black hole of sin you will be safe. He didn't leave you in the hole and put a shield around you; HE TOOK YOU OUT OF IT. You can still feel the gravitational force of the black hole, if you get too close, but all you have to do is hold onto the hand of God and you will not get pulled back in to it. Going against gravity takes a great deal of work. No, you couldn't get out of the hole by your own works alone but now that you have the hand of Jesus to hold on to, you can successfully walk against its' pull. The choice is still yours, let go and be pulled in to death or hang on tight and walk the narrow path of life."
1 John 3:9 " No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed
remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God."

Home School

Who's An Alien?

Having friends and neighbors that come from Mexico has certainly given me a better understanding of the 'alien' debate. That and a study of ACTUAL American history makes me a lot less judgemental and aloof.
I live in a town where I hear almost as much Spanish as English and you know what? I really don't care anymore.
I want to be focused on Gods love and purpose for all humanity. If I waste my time thinking about who doesn't "belong" here I forget that none of us belong on this planet. This is a short stop along the journey and I want to take as many people, of types, with me as possible. I care a lot more about their legal residency in Heaven than how long it took them to become legal here.
It's interesting that everyone loves talking about how good people follow the law but ignore who is making those laws and why. In China the law says that I would have had to murder my youngest two children to prevent over population. That "law" is immoral and unjust and no person following it will have a 'get out of hell free' card just because they were abiding by "the law".
164 years ago America took Texas from the Mexican people. I'm not saying that means we shouldn't have any rights to it but I am saying that it doesn't mean they shouldn't have any rights to it. The history of humanity, including most of American history, is made up of greed, theft, dishonesty and murder. The fact that someones ancestors won or lost a war or were or weren't born in a place should not decide how they are treated today.
If we are truly born again Christians our focus should heavenly citizenship and showing Gods desire to all nations and people.
As a side note I'd like to tell you a bit about a friend of mine who is from Mexico. He came here to find work and start a new life. He found the people who say they will take care of making his citizenship legal. 3,000 here, 2,000 there, promises and more promises and 5 years and 15,000.00 later he still had no papers. Soon after he was arrested as an illegal and it took his wife another 5,000 and 6 months to finally get the papers done by a completely different person. There are a lot of people getting rich off of the desperation of these people.
You can choose to look at it however you want to but if MY children were crying and begging me for food for days at a time, I would go anywhere that I could go to find a better life. Hate all of the "illegals" if you think God supports you in it but I chose to see them as people and have some compassion.

Little Stud

Training Children To Sin

I recently heard a great quote from Voddie Bauchum. He said "Every child is trained, they're either trained well or they're trained poorly."I have pondered on this for several days and find it to be a simple and yet profound truth.
Every parent (baring the extremely neglectful and abusive) have at least a few absolute rules. They usually consist of things that pose an obvious danger to their child; such as not playing with matches, not running into the street, not sticking things in the electrical outlets etc. Even a very passive parent will react strongly when their child attempts to break a life saving rule.
Interestingly, these are the things that even the most unruly children usually won't attempt. Why? Because of the ABSOLUTE reaction of the parent and the ABSOLUTE consequences that follow transgressing.
Let's say that mommy is boiling water for pasta; she turns around just in time to see Johnny reaching for the pot. Does she calmly suggest that although it would not be her preference for him to pull the boiling water onto his head but that she will leave the choice up to him? Of course not. Any normal mom would feel horror shoot through her like an electric shock. She would shout "NO!!!!" "STOP!!" "THAT COULD KILL YOU!!!" As she rushes to grab her son away from danger. Johnny will be startled, afraid, shocked; he will feel her fear and stop. Later, when the hot sheet of cookies is on the table, mom will tell him that the pan is hot and "don't touch it". Johnny will probably think twice but succumb to temptation and reach for a cookie. Johnny will burn his hand and cry out in pain and fear. Mom will rush over to check the burn and treat his wound, and (if wise) remind him that THIS is why he must ALWAYS obey and be afraid not to. When your parent is afraid for you there is a reason. Mommy knows best. A similar story can be told when Johnny is running towards the busy street; mom shouts in terror "STOP!!! "DON'T DO IT!!" THAT WILL KILL YOU!!" She RUNS to snatch him up and protect him.
Children can see when their parents are truly afraid for them.
There are always tragic stories of parental neglect or an untrained child who does the various dangerous things that I have listed, and many others, but generally we all grow up with an understanding that we should avoid traffic, not run with knives, not play with loaded guns or matches etc..
We do not have to be run down by a truck in order to understand that we wouldn't enjoy the results. We don't have to catch our hair on fire or shoot ourselves to believe that doing so would cause a painful death. We don't have to have premarital sex or get high to know that it is sin and SIN KILLS.
If we are capable of seeing even the most rebellious child avoid these pitfalls why do we so many 'Christian' children consistently committing deadly sins that they were 'warned' not to do?
One of the biggest reasons is the lack of fear and passion from the parents that are doing the 'warning'.
When your child asks why we don't wear mini skirts and tank tops, do drugs or lie do we just shrug it off as not a good idea or do we express the horror of sin?
When your son wants to know why dating at age 14,15,16,17 and so on isn't allowed do we give lectures on maturity and emotions or do we show the truth? THAT WILL KILL YOU!! Yes, I said it, KILL YOU. Playing with lust, with sin, with the world is deadly.James 1:15 "Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."
I hear the ridiculous excuses for teen dating, "they will do it even if I don't allow it", "It's only in groups", "They're just having fun", "They know better than to have sex".... Let me ask you this, would you let your child play Russian roulette with a loaded gun as long as they had a chaperone? Would you let them smoke and drink as long as you were with them to watch? How about watch porn as a group? I know there are a lot of sick people out there that would allow a lot of these things but this is for those claiming Christianity.
I want my children to see the same love and fear on my face when talking of premarital sex as when they are reaching for boiling water or running for a busy street because IT IS JUST AS DANGEROUS! This is also true of many sins that Christian parents try to ignore, such as rebellious attitudes, crude language, smoking, drinking and 'social dating'. These things are not harmless, THEY WILL KILL YOU.
If you believe and teach that sin and rebellion are unavoidable, guess what? Your kids won't avoid it.
When you have a teen aged parent living in your home or a bunch of smart mouthed, drinking kids don't say that you taught them differently. If you were not horrified at the sight of sin; if you didn't shout out "THAT WILL KILL YOU" and rushed to pull them from danger, you have taught them that sin is somewhat unpleasant but certainly not deadly.
When it comes to sin we should never hesitate to shout "NO!!" STOP!!" THAT WILL KILL YOU!!"
Romans 6:23
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Gen3:3- "but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"
"The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die!"