On the way DOWN

My belief

I was sitting on the couch with a few guys up in New Jersey and I was struck by what I saw on TV. I DO watch a lot of TV, but I am very limited in my selection. For the most part all I am usually interested in watching is News or NFL Football. Well, while I was sitting watching a program called Tosh 2.O, which is a celebrity talk show, I was quite disgusted with what I saw. I would guess that 80% of the images and jokes were homosexual in nature. What seemed even more surprising to me was that everyone in the room thought it was hysterical. I think I was particularly sensitive to this because of a sobering sermon that I had just heard from Lon Solomon. The sermon was all about the descent of man and the decay of society. God lays this process out clearly in the last part of Romans chapter 1. Pastor Solomon explains how God has 3 stages in which He “gives man over” to his own sinful nature and allows him to condemn himself to the eternal wrath of God. Sadly, from what I see around us in America I think this process is nearly complete.

Stage 1 Humanism – Where people replace The Creator with what is created. In ancient times people replaced God with animals, the sun, and even hand made idols. Today we have progressed passed this and now we worship ourselves. We worship celebrities, the rich, and the beautiful. We celebrate and praise our own ingenuity. George Clooney and Brad Pitt are our Kings. Britney Spears and Angelina Jolie are our Queens. We revel in the innovations of Google, Microsoft, and Apple. In the hit show American Idol only the talented and beautiful have the “IT” Factor. America’s new god is man.

Stage 2 Embracement of Homosexuality – Where men and women give up the natural way for what is unnatural. Recently President Obama signed the repeal of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell”. Gay’s now serve openly in the military. The U.S. is now in the process of changing American passports to say Parent #1 and Parent #2 instead of mother and father. In my business it is especially normal to be surrounded by gay and lesbian coworkers more often than not. In my opinion America is “out of the closet” and gay is now normal. Pastor Solomon says that any society that has ever made it past stage 2 has never recovered. We are well on the way to repeating the mistakes of the Roman Empire.

Stage 3 The Hardening – Where there is no more right and wrong, and wrong is preferred. I am not sure that America has completed this step, but we are working on it fast. It is now considered good and right for a woman to have the right to choose, or gays to have equal partnership rights to heterosexuals. We are used to people saying “Well, this is RIGHT for me”. In my opinion we are very close to completing this stage of our destruction. Is it any wonder that the worlds largest super power (America) now seems to be riddled with financial and social problems that no one has an answer for.

Scripture

Romans 1:24-25

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Application for Life

America seems to be on the same track that so many other mighty and prosperous nations have been on. Our job as followers of Christ is to be Salt and Light in an ever crumbling world. I feel that so many hearts in our country have become hard and lean on there own understanding. However, there are still some who have not hardened their hearts and are willing to listen to the message that God has to offer. We must continue to preserve our testimony, let people know where we stand, and watch for that person who wants to know more. Anyone who studies God’s word knows that America and our way of life are temporary, but the HOPE that we have is that the next way of life will be perfect and permanent.

Hate to RUN!

My Belief

I really hate to run for exercise. It is so boring! There is nothing to hit or throw. There is no goal to score in or defender to get past. It is really just not my sport. It is just a repetitious monotonous chug along sort of thing where the world passes you by. Even though I hate to run for exercise, I do it anyway. I think it is good to help me build endurance for when I do get to play those other sports that are much more engaging to me. I have only started to run again for about the last six months. I put my headphones on and take my dogs plodding around the neighborhood or I hit the hotel gyms on my overnights, like I did today. I realized something while I was running today. I hate to run, but I love it when I do it. It is always a drag to start off on the cold sidewalk or treadmill, but when I put on my favorite praise and worship music from my iPod things start to change. My body starts to warm up and the music starts to take over my mind. I begin running faster and faster and at times break out into a full on sprint. The songs penetrate my heart and turn my thoughts toward Jesus and his sacrifice for me. The more I like the song the harder and faster I run. Before I know it I have run a few miles and for a decent amount of time. I arrive back at my house or step off the treadmill feeling refreshed like my entire body has just been in praise and worship to the Lord Jesus. I don’t end feeling tired, but alive. My heart is pounding and my thoughts are driven toward God.

I started thinking this dilemma I have with running is very similar to the dilemma I have with God’s word. I start out feeling like I have chores to do and I don’t have time to sit down with that “old book”. There are bills to pay and I don’t have the energy to listen to that “preacher” again. It is always the same old repetitious monotonous stuff. Even though at times it seems like it will be boring and take up my time, I do it anyway. I open the Bible or push play on that sermon and before I know it I feel like my entire perspective on my life has changed. I feel like all those silly chores and bills just melt away and I am left with a renewed energy. I am left with a humbled spirit because of what Jesus has done for me and a great hope fills my heart because of His soon return. I don’t end the sermon or close my Bible thinking I have wasted time, but that rather I know how to make the most of my time. Afterward I can focus and put life into the proper context of what is really important. My stress fades and my worries subside. I know that all these chores and bills are temporary and very soon I will see my savior face to face.

Scripture

Matthew 4:4 ⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’^[a]”

2 Timothy 3:16 ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

Application for Life

It is so important to take care of our mind, body and spirit. Exercise helps us keep our body in shape and God’s word helps us tune our minds to the world around us. By carefully studying the Bible we can know everything that we need to know. We get the answers to where our world has been and where it is going. We can then focus our lives on the things in this life that really matter. Our perspective becomes sharp and we know that we are only passing through. Spend time meditating on God’s word and letting Him speak to you through it. It will allow all your cares to fade and give you a bigger picture of what life is really all about.

               

It’s ALL just a Test

My Belief

Uncle Charlie is a great guy. He is one of the people that I like to chat with most in my family. He is just one of those really relaxed objective people that has been “around the block” a few times. Uncle Charlie is not a Christian but he plays nice with the rest of us in the family that are. I was privileged to get to have a great conversation about FAITH with him over this past Christmas Holiday. I was really praying that God would present an opportunity to share my faith with him as I went over to his house. Faithful as ever, God gave me a perfect opportunity to talk with him alone after Christmas dinner. We went back and forth a bit about science and other stuff that did not really matter much to him. He felt that all of that could be debated either way. One of the biggest problems he has with “Christianity” has to do with fairness. He said to me, “How is it fair that one person is given the chance grow up rich in America and another is given a lousy hand growing up poor and persecuted in the Congo?” Charlie told me that IF there is a God, then He is not a fair or just God.

This is a hard question and the answer to it is found in the same place all of the rest of life's answers are found. Over and over again in The Bible God shows us it is not about “the hand” you are given, instead it all about what you do with that hand. What ever life gives us God wants us to adhere to His principles. He wants us to do EVERYTHING His way. The story that stands out most to me is of Abraham and Isaac. Why would God tell Abraham to sacrifice his son on an alter? The answers is just to see if he would do it. God wants to see will you take whatever you have been given and give it back to the Lord. Are you willing to put God first and in front of everything in your life. This life is short because it is just a test. God is going through time watching who will use the free will that is given to them to choose the Lord over all else. Then He will use that group of people to set up the perfect Heaven on Earth.

Scripture

Luke 12:48

⁴⁸ But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

Application for Life

Even when this life is Great it is still not that great. If you sat on the beach in Hawaii it would be AWESOME…for a minute. After 10 years of sitting on the beach in Hawaii I bet it would lose a little luster. If you had all the money in the world to spend, it would be INCREDIBLE…until you owned one of everything. Then you would be the same as all the other rich people who get in loads of trouble because they are bored. This life is God’s test for choosing his own. No matter how much or little we are given God wants us to put it at His feet. This life does have some High points, but the next life with Jesus Christ will never have a LOW point.

They're STILL talking about it!

My Belief

I was sick this week. It really sucked! All I did for the better part of a week was lay on the couch and stare at the television. As I was channel surfing for days, I noticed a common theme. Simply put, JESUS is everywhere. Steven Colbert’s main story was about how Jesus was liberal or something crazy like that. Bill O’reilly was reporting that his Catholic education of Jesus is more believable than Bill Maher’s bashing of Christians. A few weeks ago I remember a story about the largest statue of Jesus ever being erected in Poland. I also remember on one of my flights a few weeks ago, my flight attendant handed me a magazine that had on it’s cover something derogatory like “Jesus the love machine”.

This is all very interesting to me. Jesus is everywhere - He is on TV, magazines, and on the lips of people everywhere. This leads me to an interesting thought. If Jesus was just a fad or a good man than why nineteen hundred and seventy nine years after his death is everyone still talking about him? I would venture to say that just about everybody in the world at least has an idea of who Jesus is or was. If he was just a good man then why is everyone not also regularly talking about Gandhi, Mother Teresa, or saint Nicholas? If he was just a wise man than why do we not daily continue to discuss Aristotle, Plato, or Einstein? I love the way C.S. Lewis describes Jesus in his book “Mere Christianity”. To sum it up he basically says Jesus did not leave us the option to call Him a good man or good teacher. C.S. Lewis basically says that with everything Jesus said about himself he can only be 1. A raving lunatic, 2. The Devil himself, or 3. The Lord God almighty. You can decide which, but Jesus intentionally did not leave us any other options.

Scripture

Matthew 24:35

³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Application for Life

If you actually look, then you will be forced to concede that Jesus is still everywhere. Whether it is in reverence or jest, his images and and words are littered across our planet. We can’t say this about any other historical figure from any facet of existence. Any objective thinking person would want to at least poke at Jesus a little bit. They would want to sort of dig around and get to the bottom of exactly who this character is or was. I think that just looking at the fact that He is still all over our planet after almost 2000 years begs one to realize that in itself is somewhat supernatural and worth a deeper investigation.

Leadership vs. Followership

My Belief

Not many things will ruin a trip faster than a 3 1/2 striper! This is a First Officer that steps all over the Captain’s leadership. In the rank and file system of the airlines the Captain wears 4 stripes on his uniform and the First Officer wears 3. First Officers that over step their bounds get all sorts of nick-names. “Right seat Captains”, “Captain Co-Pilot” and of course “3 1/2 stripers”.  No matter what you call them, they always conjure the same thoughts to people in the business of aviation. These thoughts include someone who is arrogant, someone who does not respect the Captain’s authority, and someone who is usually in disagreement with even the simplest instructions or decisions. They are usually way more versed on what the Captain should be doing and much less proficient at doing their own job in supporting the Captain. The quality that these particular individuals are missing is called “Followership”.

To be a good follower on the flight deck means to assist the Captain in safely operating a flight and being able to proficiently carry out the tasks that are assigned.  I recently flew with a First Officer that exhibited all the symptoms of a 3 1/2 Striper and it hit me that this is exactly what I and so many other Christians do to the Lord Jesus. How often do I wrap my fingers around the steering wheel of my own life and say, “OK God, I will take it from here!” I and every other Christian are here to carry out the tasks that are assigned to us in the Bible by Captain Jesus and not to direct the course that has been set by God the Father. The most amazing part of it is that no matter how many times I overstep my bounds or think that I know best, God never stops loving me. There are definitely times when the Lord sets me straight and puts me back in my place, and it is always in the interest of improving me. Just like a Captain is responsible to mentor his First Officers, God continues to refine you and I, and make us better followers of Jesus than we were before.

Scripture

Luke 9:23  Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

Application for Life

I continually pray that I would become more a Follower of Jesus and less a Leader of my own destiny. I pray that God would finish the work that He has started in us. That He would mentor us in His ways that we may be a faithful disciple of Christ. By continually studying the Word of God and praying diligently I feel it becomes easier to let go of our own steering wheels and surrender control to Jesus. In doing this we continually strive to improve our own “Followership” ability in the hope that one day we will hear the Lord Jesus tell us, “Well done good and faithful servants”.

                    

It’s Just a Skip

My Belief

                  

Both believers and non believers ask me the same question all the time. They ask me “Why is your faith so strong”. The answer to this is simple. It is the only thing that really makes sense! Knowledge is everywhere. There are arguments for everything. Our world is always in the mode of debating the opposing point of view. It does not matter if that view is right or wrong we just find facts to make the point. What if we stop doing that for a minute and really tested what we know. You can make the case that science supports evolution and you can also make the case that science supports the Bible. Now lets look at what else we know. History definitely looks like it supports the Bible. The more archeologists uncover the more and more the facts of the Bible stand the test. It is hard to make the same claim for evolution or any of the other theories. People try to do it through carbon dating, but there are all sorts of holes in that theory. The Bible however stands firm when it comes to ancient civilization, historic rulers and entire races of people. What else do we know? How about prophesy. God says in the Bible that He is God and there is no other and that He reveals things before they ever happen. This is a way of proving Himself and His book. To answer this you need look no further than the nation of Israel. The Bible specifically says that they would be driven from their homeland and then brought back as the end of the age draws near. This happened exactly as the Bible said it would. The Jewish people were driven out of their land in 70 AD by the Romans and were brought back almost 2000 years later in 1947. There is no other people that have ever been driven away and then brought back centuries later. The Jews still have many of the exact same customs and speak Hebrew exactly the same way now as they did then. Put the Bible to the test! It hold up every time. The Bible is the only puzzle piece that makes sense. It is the only thing that continues to explain all of life’s mysteries with remarkable accuracy.

Scripture

^{Matt 17:20} 

²⁰ He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Application for Life

Once you realize how accurate the Bible is, it give purpose to your life. It empowers you and makes you bold. The Bible holds up to everything that can be throw at it and it quickly becomes clear the main priority in life must be to live for the Lord Jesus. Personally, I realize in this ever crumbling world that the hope provided in the Bible is the only thing I have to look forward to. Look at the big picture. Don’t get hung up on a small rabbit trails. When you compare everything that is known to what is contained in the Bible, your faith will become strong. The things that seem important in this life will lose their luster and Jesus will become brighter with each passing day. When the Bible is compared to what is known, the leap of faith required to believe the Bible will shrink to a small minuscule little skip.

Through…Not Around!

My Belief

Today was a perfect day. It started out perfect anyway… I got a lot done. I fixed the toilet, I paid the bills, I cleaned the house and I even got myself all ready to start another trip tomorrow. It could not have been more routine and it could not have been more well organized!

When I entered my house from running my dogs around the neighborhood, I noticed my phone was ringing off the hook. The caller was crew scheduling. They were franticly looking for me. They said, “Captain where are you? You are suppose to fly in 10 minutes.”  There had been a miscommunication in my schedule. I had made a mistake with my flight schedule. I had been removed from work this week to do jury duty, but I had not realized the last little bit of my "removed” trip was still on my schedule. This was a stressful situation. I was still eligible to do this part of the trip even though I thought it was removed. Now I am going to have to deal with the hassle of explaining to my Chief Pilot and the possibility of being reprimanded for an honest mistake. To top it all off, my wife had a bad day. We are now fighting over the silly things that married couples fight over. My perfect day has quickly turned into a disaster. It is as though a myriad of trials have landed on me all at once and sucked all of the oxygen out of my house. There is only one thing left to do…PRAY.

God always takes us through trials NOT around. He took the 3 boys in the book of Daniel through the “Fiery Furnace”. He took Daniel through the “Lions Den”. He even took Jesus Himself though Satan’s temptations in the wilderness. He never takes us around trials, but He is always faithful to takes us through. The reason for this is 2 fold. One is that it brings Glory to Himself. God would have no reason to show His power if there was no furnace, if there was no lion, and if there is no temptation. The second reason He takes us through is to draw us close to Himself. We need Him to save us from the problems that enter our lives. We need Him to protect us from the flames, silence the roar of the lions, and to guide us away from Satan’s call. Just as God has protect His children so many times through out all of history, He continues to do the same today. When we call on Him in prayer He brings us through the trials in our lives. In the process His Glory is made known and we rely on him even more than before.

Scripture

John 16:33 - 33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

2 Corinthians 1:44 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

James 1:12 -12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

My Belief

The closer I get to my Lord and Savior the more I need Him for everything. I find myself like a child incapable of doing things without His guiding hand. Often I wish the trials in my life would just disappear, but that would not do anyone any good at all. It would do nothing for the Lord, because I could not proclaim His greatness in triumph once again. It would also do nothing for me. I would not see His power in my life and realize I am helpless without Him. Trials will be set before us all of our days and our way out is always the same. By firmly holding onto the Lord’s hand and walking straight through it with Him together.