Time to call my dad...

I can’t begin to count how many times I have been disrespected by a college student while on duty in my current profession.  These young punks, tap dancing on the wrong side of the law, when facing consequences of their bad decisions will often make comments such as, “I am a law student. I know the law!” or “After I graduate, I am going to earn way more money than you will ever earn!”  Nothing beats the tried and true “You have no authority over me!  Do you know who my father is?”  (In case you were not aware, this statement is one of the several triggers that transforms Officer Friendly into The Incredible Hulk!)  That statement may cause fear in the average Joe but not this woman.  My response is usually something along the lines of, “I don’t care if your daddy is Barak Obama!  You are going to jail today!”

 

The most recent incident in which this statement was uttered caused me to think about the depth of those words.  A child who is in serious trouble will call on the name of his powerful father in an attempt to be given grace and mercy for his transgressions.  A child who had committed a crime that would cost his freedom will call on the name of his powerful father for redemption.  A child who is down and out, at the lowest of low, with nowhere to turn will call on the name of his powerful father to be rescued.  How powerful that father must be that the mere mention of his name can relieve his child’s heaviest burden!

 

As children of The Most High God, how often do we call upon Him to save us from the consequences of our sins?  How often do we stare Satan square in the eyes and say with confidence, “You have no authority over me!  Do you know who my Father is?”  It’s time for us to observe with our own eyes just how powerful our Father is and use His name to get us out of trouble more often. 

 

It is written in Jeremiah 10:6 “There is no one like you, LORD.  You are great and your name is great and powerful.”  Romans 10:13 and Joel 2:32 both state, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  These scriptures illustrate two important facts regarding our relationship with God.  The first and most obvious is that God is great, God is powerful and He cannot be compared to any other being.  God is God, The Creator and Ruler over all that was, is and will be.  No one is more powerful than Him.  The second is that we have the option to call upon His name for salvation.  It does not say we have to be a particular type of person either.  The scripture clearly states that EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord WILL BE SAVED.  Regardless of how messed up you are or how hopeless you feel, God can deliver you from your situation and set you free from the burdens that weigh you down.  You would have to be a complete fool to turn down an offer like that!

 

Let’s resolve today, this very minute, to call on God when we are in a jam.  Do not rely on your own power or even the power of another human.  Rely on God’s supernatural power which can break any earthly chain.  He is the creator of all, the ruler of all, everything on this earth is subject to His will.  Let us surrender all to Him and be redeemed by His Mighty Power!

 

In The Beginning (A New Creation)

As I enter this new year, I am reminded of the infamous “New Year Resolutions” that are typically made and not always carried out.  We all start the year off wanting to improve ourselves and make better life choices.  Some of us have success while others have little or none. 

As I sat and thought of all my personal  issues I would like to resolve this new year, I envisioned myself standing in front of a huge chalkboard, wiped clean, with a piece of chalk in my hand.  That vision led me to imagine what God was up to “In The Beginning”. 

When we think of The Creation Story, it always begins like this: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…”  When we think of that statement on its own, it could be assumed that God was suddenly bored with His infinite existence in a dark, lonely world and decided to pass time by making something out of nothing.  Please know, I do not pretend to know the mind of God however I would like to believe God’s creation was more than just something to do to pass time.

Proverbs 8:22-31 helped shed some light on the subject for me.  The first thing God brought into existence was not the heavens and the earth as we had been led to believe.  It actually caused me to have a “Uh Huh!” moment upon reading this scripture.  Just like I had imagined myself as the master of my life and stood in front of that chalkboard to re-create my life, I began to envision The Creator also standing in front of a chalkboard, pondering what He would create and the effects of His actions.  The first thing God brought into existence was WISDOM.  Before He created a single thing, He crafted it all in His imagination then set out a plan prior to performing any other action.  If I put so much thought into my actions before I carried them out, I may not even have to consider any New Year Resolutions because I would have done it correctly the first time using the first and greatest of all creation!

Now after God came up with His master plan, He carried out that plan and IT WAS GOOD.  After each work day, He marveled at His creation and declared each one, from the largest to the tiniest detail “good”.  God and His wisdom ultimately created something out of nothing.  Not just something ordinary, insignificant or spontaneous.  He created something new, original and extraordinary!  Though humans attempt to imitate God by formulating scientific theories and experimentation, we can never create something that can top God’s craftsmanship.  God performed the impossible by creating SOMETHING out of NOTHING.

With all that in mind, when I step up to that chalkboard with my chalk in hand, I know I will carefully plan my resolutions with wisdom.  I will keep in mind the effects of my actions to ensure they will give me the desired results.  If after careful consideration, I decide my plan is flawed, I can erase and start over with a new plan rather than make a huge mess on top of a huge mess.  Wisdom is awesome when it is applied to daily life! 

When I was “in the world”, my life was in a complete shambles.  When I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, I was born again!  In essence, my messy life was made clean and I was re-created into a brand new person.  It’s like when you were a kid and you received a toy for Christmas that gave you so much happiness and pleasure.  Then one day it became lost or broken or maybe you just lost interest in it.  Then next Christmas came around and you received a toy even bigger and better than the previous one!  It’s the most amazing feeling.  Every mistake from my past was forgiven and God gave me another chance to make better life choices by using His wisdom.  My worst day as a child of God is so much better than the best day in my life as a sinner.  Though I still make mistakes, I strive to be better each day and use the wisdom given to me in God’s word to live a life pleasing to Him.  Since I am so charitable, I take joy in passing on the blessing by spreading God’s love to those I come in contact with each day.  I make it my personal mission to illustrate God’s gift of forgiveness, grace, mercy and unconditional love to those I come in contact with who need it so desperately. 

It is my prayer that if you are not saved, that you become saved and experience the comfort of knowing you are God’s good creation.  And if along the way, you become dirty and broken, I pray you experience the overwhelming joy that comes with being re-created by God’s grace.  Let’s start this new year off right and exercise wisdom before carrying out our plans by doing things God’s way.  After all, He is The Ultimate Master Builder and Father Knows Best! J    

Now, back to The Epic...