Forgiven

When John Paul II passed away, speculation began about the next pope.  April 1, 2005, an American “nominal catholic” named Roger Cadenhead registered six internet domain names, ClementXV.com, InnocentXIV.com, LeoXIV.com, PaulVII.com, PiusXIII.com, and BenedictXVI.com in anticipation of the new pope’s name.  Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger was selected as the 265^th pope and announced his new name: Benedict XVI.  Cadenhead was immediately offered thousands of dollars by casinos and pornographers for his domain name, but he refused to sell.  Eventually, Cadenhead received a call from the Vatican inquiring about his domain name.  Cadenhead told them that the pope could have the domain name for free for only three stipulations: three days and two nights at the Vatican hotel where the Cardinals stay, a Cardinal hat, and complete absolution for the third week of March 1987, no questions asked.  I wonder what went on in Rogers Cadenhead’s life the third week of March 1987?!  Hey, do you have any secret sins that you would give anything to have forgiven?  Did you know that you can?  And you don’t need to have a domain name to sell.  Paul said in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  You can have all of your sins completely forgiven by God … including the third week of March 1987.

Used

My younger brother liked to irritate me.  Of course, as the older brother, I probably bullied him.  No, actually, I DID bully him.  But he irritated me.  A split second before I picked up my shirt, he would say “Pick up that shirt” in a commanding voice, and I would.  Then he would laugh.  Then I reached into my dresser to get out my jeans, and he would say (again, in a commanding voice), “Get out those jeans”.  And I would.  As I sat down on the side of my bed and pulled my shoes out, he would say, “Put on your shoes”.  And I would.  Soon, I would jump on him, and the fight would begin.  And he would laugh and laugh at my anger while I went out of control.  Hey, do you know that is exactly how God treats Satan?  Satan thinks that he is in charge of his own actions, but God is using Satan to perform God’s own will!  Satan thought he was eliminating Jesus on the cross of Calvary, but God was using Satan to provide Jesus as the perfect sacrifice to redeem mankind and bring us back to God!  God was using Satan!  Philippians 2:10&11, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven (the angels), and things in earth (that’s us), and things under the earth (Satan and his demons); And that every (all of us) tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  Praise the Lord!  Someday, everyone and everything will confess the awesome power and authority of Jesus Christ!  And everything and everyone are moving towards that great day!  And I am glad that I am on the side of Jesus Christ!  Question: are you?

 

Give It Up!

When my youngest son was in high school, I wanted to build something to have a father-son experience.  I got this idea of building a boat.  So, I bought three sheets of marine plywood, several 2X4’s and boxes of different sizes of screws.  “This will be fun,” I said to my son and to myself.  But I didn’t have boat-building experience nor a plan.  Days dragged on and the boat became MY boat project.  My son was nowhere to be found.  I needed to seal it with water-tight paint that kept peeling off.  One side split and I had to keep adding wood supports and screws to hold it together.  When it was almost finished, I slid it off the sawhorses, but it was too heavy for me to move and too long to fit into the back of my truck.  The excitement of the project soon failed, and days dragged into weeks, and weeks dragged into months.  My son graduated from high school, went off to college, and the boat was still in the back yard … filled with water and mosquito larvae.  I devised a method of turning it upside down similar to the Egyptians building the pyramids.  Every time I looked out the back door, my boat was looking back, mocking me.  Solomon had it right in Ecclesiastes 7:8, “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.”  It is much easier to start a project than to finish a project.  Two years later, I used a circular saw to cut my boat into manageable pieces and throw it into the church dumpster.  Now that you are laughing, have you had a project that turned out to be a failure?  Hey, give it over to the dear Lord, get out your saw, and let it go.