A GREATER PASSION

A series of recent events have significantly impacted me and caused me to do some serious soul searching. Honestly, my world has been rocked from its mantle of ease. The exposure of the harvesting of organs by PlannedParenthood/StemExpress, the mass shooting in Roseburg, Oregon, the Paris terrorist attacks and finally the shootings in San Bernardino. (You could probably add so much more to your list as well). Things just aren’t normal any more. Life as I’ve known it has changed. Tragedies abound in our world. They’ve always been there. But for some strange reason these loom greatly upon my mind.  And so, I’ve sat quietly. Refrained from making any opinions, in spite of the ridiculous barrage done by politicians, media and social media. Wrestling to look inside and look up instead of doing my norm of knee-jerk responses. Thinking of the victims. Thinking of the victims’ families. But for some reason, thinking more about the perpetrators. Every news account only drives deeper the

I'll just come right out and admit it – I'm a full-fledged hater.  Although no one has ever called me that to my face - or even over social media – I'm sure quite a few have thought it of me.   I can’t get around the fact. I'm a hater.  It is who I am, to the core of my being. And believe it or not, as a follower of Christ, I really have no problem being known as a hater. In fact, I consider it an honor. My highest honor actually. Stick with me here! To the end. It may blow our mind and cause us all to rethink our current mantra of the day. Scripture tends to do that.  Why do I hate? I hate because God hates. "What?! But isn't God a God of love?" Certainly! In fact, God is love defined (1 John 4:8), but as Love, here’s what He tells us about Himself. " … because they have done all these things and I am filled with disgust against them." Leviticus 20:23 "Arrogant people cannot stand in

If you have found yourself lately with a pit in your stomach, feeling grief and sorrow in your heart over events happening in the world around you - you have your heart in the right place. It’s the heart that God has given you. The consequences of sin is devastating. It not only hurts the one doing it but also the ones around them, even if not directly. It also harms society in general. No one is an island to themselves. The wages of sin is indeed death. Not merely physical death but having repercussions that affect all. Just ask Adam.  It seems in our society, and even in the church, the knee jerk reaction when evil happens is to look for the silver lining in the cloud of despair. It’s certainly easier that way. And far less troubling. Dwelling upon a wrong that happened or is happening is too consuming. When we see that bad things are occurring around us we often drift towards finding a distraction. Caring is far too painful, especially when we think we can do nothing to