I believe you are the coach, now show me the money!!!

I know this has been blogged about time after time, but it just makes me wonder. Whenever I start up a conversation with someone (whether here or in the "real world") I like to think about what I am going to say. I want to see both points of view before I even initiate a discussion. One thing I took away from my required high school debate class was to always be prepared for what the other person might be thinking. If someone asks me a question I am not sure on, I will tell them, " I don't know, I'll get back to you." I see no weakness in admitting ignorance, as long as you try to figure out what the answer is. Which in a round-a-bout way brings me to my point.

I believe in black and white. I believe in right and wrong. I don't think there is a grey area or any middle ground. Am I hard headed or arrogant? I don't know. I always reflect on; does God have a grey area? Is He not sure of a definite right or wrong? If He tells us one thing does it mean we can take it another way? Is abortion o.k. sometimes? Is it o.k. to lie sometimes? As long as it doesn't hurt someone, right? Is it o.k. to live in a grey area with God? Can we tell Him we believe in Him, but live a life where our neighbors wouldn't even know we are christians? Will He tell us "welcome home," as we are peeing on the shrubs outside the Pearly Gates? Why do we take God for granted? Why do we think that He does not require anything else from us? If I went up to the coach of the Chicago Bears and said, "Coach Smith, I believe you are the coach of the Chicago Bears," would he tell me welcome aboard, here is you 2.3 million dollars? NO!!! He would ask me what I have done to prepare myself for his team. Then he would make me show him I have prepared myself. Does God require less of us? Do we not have to prove to Him that we are worthy of His remarkable gift?

God gave us free will for a reason. It is our choice if we want to try to get to Heaven or not. None of us are perfect, but there is definite difference between whether we try to be or not. Does God want us lukewarm? NO!!! He wants us to have zest in our hearts. He wants us to WANT to love Him, not HAVE to love Him. A lot of people think faith will get us to Heaven. The question I ask them is what do you think faith means? Is it the faith of believing Jesus is the Son of God? I don't think so. I think it is the faith of knowing that if we do what God requires of us, then we will see Heaven in all its Glory. If we have this faith, we will be saved. We will be on that narrow path. The reason I come to this conclusion is because God tells us we must do other works to be saved. He tells us we must be baptized. Why would He tell us this if He did not mean it? Is He trying to confuse us? Does He want us to have these never ending discussions? If you believe in God. If you love God. Why would you believe any different? Don't you want to live a life according to His Word? Doesn't it show Him your love and respect? If so, then why debate it? Do you feel guilty? Do you want to feel safe? None of us truly know if we are going to Heaven or not. So, why not do all we can to make our chance a little bit better? If you think I am wrong, so be it. If you live your life according to God's will you will be a happier, healthier person. So, why not give it a shot? I think we owe atleast that to Him.

There it is....

My wife and I went to the doctor Monday morning for our first ultrasound for the baby. We were both quite anxious to see what God would be giving us. They squeezed the gel over her belly and began moving the "thing" over her. It wasn't long before we could see the head. Oh, what a precious little head. Perfect. Then the nurse would move it around a little to show us the legs and the arms, and hey, what was that? There is the belly and the heart. Here is the stomach. "Do you two want to know the sex of the baby?" "YES!!!" It is most definately a boy. Then she showed us the male parts. We had both noticed them earlier, but we weren't sure what exactly we were looking at. Then the doctor came in and went over everything with us again. He too told us it was definately a boy. I honestly didn't care one way or another, but the more I think about it the more excited I get. My wife quietly wanted a boy to begin with. So, she is extremely happy. Now, just five more months before our baby son arrives. Of course, Tuesday I started out buying a new little boy outfit at Baby's R Us and his first little teddy bear. This morning I hung up some decorations on his wall that use to hang in my room when I was little. It is pretty neat. Real neat. Thank you God.

Other things just don't seem as important anymore. Someone broke into our apartment last night when we were out on our honeymoon dinner (year number two) and stole a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff, but it doesn't bother me that much. It sure would have in the past. It is just not that important. No one was hurt, and they are just things. Thank you God.

My Motivation

When I was four, my family moved to a very small town in southern Indiana. My Dad started his own tool and die shop. I was in the morning kindergarten class, so every day after class I would go learn from Dad in the shop. Within the first year I knew how to run every piece of machinery in his shop (yes at the age of five). Of course, Dad was very careful at watching over me and making sure I was not going to get hurt.
One day I was going to practice my welding. Dad gave me the run-down, again, of what to do and to how to do it. He told me the basics.... wear the face shield during the weld, wear my safety glasses at all times, how to hold the stick, what levels to put the machine at, what rate I needed to weld at, and so on and so forth.
I got everything ready. I set the right levels. I put the face shield down and began to weld. It was one of my best welds. Nice and smooth. I lifted up the shield to admire my weld. I now had to knock the slag off of the weld to see if I went at the correct speed or not. Now, in case you don't know, it gets extremely hot when you are welding, so I had sweat running down my face. I knew Dad had told me to wear my safety glasses at all times, but they kept sliding down my nose because of the sweat, and I also wore regular glasses. So, I thought it would be O.K. to take them off. The most dangerous part of the job was completed, so I thought I knew best. I thought maybe this rule wouldn't apply anymore because I was done welding. After my reasoning, I took off the safety glasses and began to knock the slag off of the weld. The slag is like a hot crust that forms over the top of the weld. I took the hammer and started to tap at the weld. A piece of slag shot up into the air like slow motion. I saw it coming, but I couldn't do anything about it. It went right over top of my regular glasses and into the corner of my eye. No damage was done. It scared me more than anything.
The most important lesson I learned that day is that when someone tells me how to do something, I need to do everything they tell me. I can't pick and choose what I believe to be important. There is a reason why I have been told everything. My Dad did not want to just hear himself talk. He had my best interest in mind. God did not give us the Bible to hear Himself talk. He gave it to us to follow and take as His Word. This is why I ask these questions on this blog. I have been asked, "what is my motivation"? This is it. The Bible tells us women should not be leaders in the church. The Bible tells us not to worship statues. The Bible tells us what it takes to be saved. Some people want to leave these things out of the Bible to make them feel better about themselves. Some people just don't think these things are important, so they choose not to abide by them. Some people think they just flat out know better than the Bible.
I was lucky. I was just welding, and I did not get hurt. When we talk about God we are talking about our eternal lives. Our we that arrogant to believe we know more than God to be willing to throw away a possible home in Heaven. I think we all need to read the Bible without our own agenda getting in the way of what God says. We all sin. We all do wrong. The important thing is that we realize our sins and wrongdoings, repent of them, and pray that God forgives us. He will if we are honest in our requests.