R.I.P.

You want to truly know what it's like to live? To be alive?

Be diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Every single breath becomes a gift.

Every experience, no matter how small, becomes the most important experience ever.

Food tastes better, love becomes stronger, and you care about everyone deeply.

But here's the thing, no one gets out of this alive.

"Seat belts save lives!'

"Say No to Drugs...to save lives"

I could go on and on about what "saves lives", but nothing that "saves lives" actually saves lives.

It only delays the inevitable which is the unpleasant truth that we will all die.

So why is it usually only those who appreciate life are one's who have been diagnosed with death when we all have been diagnosed with death?

Shouldn't we strive to have every breath to be a gift? Every experience to matter? And for everything to taste better, for us to love strong and care deeply?

Of course we should because you've been diagnosed with death, we just don't know when that time will come.

We burn the days up when we are young as if we will live forever, but we won't.

In fact, I have friends who have been diagnosed with terminal illnesses and many people feel bad for them, however, I have other friends who will actually pass before that person does, heck, it could even be me.

So get up off the couch and live life.

Experience what this life has to offer and help those who have less than you.

I believe that there is a heaven and I believe it will be a better place than here.

So I will continue to enjoy this life and I will attempt to help those with less...so they too can enjoy this life.

Highs and Lows

I love to read.

I love to write.

But sometimes, I feel like I just can't.

It's because nothing interests me at the moment or because nothing has given me that nudge to write.

I'm in that moment write now.

I'm in that moment where I I don't have the patience to read anything.

I barely have the patience to write this entry.

But this time will pass soon enough, it has before and I will go back to reading and writing.

Until then, I will enjoy the nothing that I do.

Because when that time comes again, it seems I cannot get enough of reading and writing.

We Are Not Meant to Live Like That

I love to travel.

I love to travel and do mission work.

Because of those two loves, I work a lot of side jobs to try and raise money to travel without it affecting our usual income.

Next summer, the plan is for the entire family to go to Australia. I usually go by myself on my travels, but while planning this, my wife showed an interest in going and that means our children will go with us.

One of the side jobs I have taken up is working at Amazon in Jeffersonville and it's been a long time since I have worked in a factory.

For the last 20 years, I have taught and coached and I realize how blessed I am to do something that I enjoy, I really do.

But it has been reinforced by walking the aisles of Amazon.

So many of the people there seem to have the "life" sucked out of them by doing what seems like meaningless work.

I look at aisle after aisle of "stuff" that Americans are buying to be shipped to them and wonder what does working here bring to their life?

Money to pay bills?

Extra money to travel?

Or to just exist?

I don't know, each person is different, but I can tell by the conversations I have had and the reactions to people when I say "hello" is that they are no overly happy to be working there.

It would be nice if there were more things that could encourage workers there, but they just do not seem to care about that sort of thing.

So people will work there and quit because human worth is more important than filling some quota.

It's unfortunate, too because Amazon could be so much more.

Their CEO, Jeff Bezos, is worth $150 billion. He has to spend $28 million per day to NOT make money on his already historical sum.

What I would do with that much money would effect so many people.

But who am I to judge?

Maybe he is doing the same things I would do, he just doesn't make it known.

But I can tell you, as a sociologist/psychologist it would help so much the morale of his workers if he did something outrageous because we are not meant to work/live like that.

Fill the Void

“He [God] has also set eternity in the human heart…”  Ecclesiastes 3:11  

“You have made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.”

– St. Augustine 1

“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.”

- Blaise Pascal, Pensées VII(425)

We search for so many things in this world to fill a void that we all have.

We fill it with money, cars, our house, women, men, friends, basketball, drugs, alcohol, work, music, our family, and even church itself.

Yet without a genuine relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we are empty.

Many will deny this until they are so empty that they cannot go on.

From there they look up or they will give up.

Recently, I attended my 30^th high school reunion and there I saw some people that I saw in bars 20 years ago.

They are still doing the same things like the drinking, the pursuing, and the emptiness.

Outwardly, they look like they are having the time of their life, yet when you get on Facebook, you will see that they have been divorced multiple times, they have children by many different women, and they have a DUI or two.

Yet, on Friday, there he is again with a drink in his hand and a smile on his face pretending to fill the God void.

Without God, we continually search for meaning and fulfillment and we may actually have it for a short amount of time, but it disappears; too quickly.

The filling of the void by God will drive you in a way that you no longer feel fulfilled by the world, but by living for Jesus; being his hands and feet and doing the work he created you to do.

2nd No-Hitter...10 Years Old

Brandon threw a no no in a 10U championship game.

#SC2DC18

Spring Break 2018

I Stand with the Copts

Coptic Christians tattoo this symbol onto their children at a young age.

That way if they happen to die, they will be treated as a Christian and not as another religion.

However, that tattoo has recently been used as a symbol to persecute Coptic Christians.

I probably won't tattoo it to myself, but I will put it here...I stand with them.

Thank God for the 2nd Amendment

And the 1st Amendment.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Yesterday there was a national walk out of high school students to show their frustration for many things.

First and foremost their concerns were the current gun laws, but also it was to show their fear and concern that students in schools are being gunned down and it seems very little is being done to stop it.

Their knowledge or lack of knowledge on the current issue should not be the issue, it should be how thousands of children perceive these laws and are tired of seeing students being shot in schools.

A dog died on a plane trip the other day, and the very next day a US Senator proposed legislation to make sure this doesn't happen again, yet we are told over and over that school safety takes time; that the leaders are speaking about it, coming up with ideas.

Meanwhile there are other shootings.

And the students grow more scared and more frustrated at their perception that nothing is being done.

I'm not saying that I agree with every single person who walked out yesterday and why they did it, but I can tell you that I 100% support civil disobedience. 

It seems too often anymore that we don't agree with protests or disobedience unless we agree with the issue that group is protesting and it shouldn't be that way.

Civil discourse is how we talk about our differences and come up with solutions, or at least that is how I believe it should be done.

We see that these students en mass are upset and we should ask "why?"; not attack their wound, but see why that wound occurred.

But I also support a consequence for that civil disobedience.

Agitating and breaking "rules" or "laws" is what brings change. It's that consequence which must be handed out to have effective discourse and change.

Dr. King or Gandhi almost demanded that there be some sort of consequence for any action they took. Agitating the power elite is what motivates the people to examine their way of thinking.

But attacking students because they have a fear of dying (justified or not it's how they feel) and that they perceive that very little is being done is not the answer.

I teach civics and I have tried to get students to understand that we are relatively safe in our school, yet we need to be realistic, and be prepared.

I try to teach students to stand up for what they believe in (an informed belief), but realize there are consequences.

And I try to teach students that they are important and they are the future.

Agree or not, I love the 2nd Amendment, but I also love the 1st Amendment.

For all of us Constitutional scholars, I would hope we could learn to appreciate all of the Constitution and not only those parts we really, really, really agree with or is convenient dependent on our own opinions.

This Past Weekend

But It's in the Bible

What are the main divisions of the Old Testament Law?

by Matt Slick
2/18/15

There are three main divisions within the Old Testament law. Following is a categorization. Please note that occasionally the civil and moral laws overlap.

The main differences between the civil, ceremonial, and moral aspects of the Law of Moses as revealed in the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) are in their purposes.  The civil law deals mainly with relationships between individuals, the settling of disputes, and the description of proper behavior. The ceremonial law deals with the priesthood initiation and the priestly procedures as they related to the various sacrifices through which the people of the Old Testament were cleansed of there sins. The moral law is based on the character of God and extends from the Old into the New Testament. Therefore, as it was wrong to lie in the Old Testament, it is still wrong to lie in the New Testament.

1. Civil - Deals with disputes between individuals.  Expired with the demise of the Jewish civil government
   1. Be just with the poor, (Lev. 19:15)
   2. Cattle, of neighbor (Deut. 22:1-4)
   3. Children, rebellious (Deut. 21:18-21)
   4. Debt (Lev. 23:34-43; Deut. 31:10)
   5. Divorce (Deut. 22:19)
   6. Dress, attire (Deut. 22:5)
   7. Do not hate in your heart (Lev. 19:17)
   8. Inheritance (Num. 18:26; 26:53-56; 36:8-12)
   9. Justice practices (Lev. 24:17-23)
   10. Kidnapping (Exodus 21:16)
   11. Landmarks (Deuteronomy 19:14)
   12. Property redemption (Lev. 25)
   13. Murder and killing (Deut. 21:1-4)
   14. Retain just scales in commerce (Lev. 19:35f)
   15. Robbery, extortion, false witness, and restitution (Lev. 6:1-7)
   16. Sabbath breaking punishment (Num. 15:32-36)
   17. Theft (Deut. 5:19; Lev. 19:11)
   18. Warfare (Deut. 20:1-20)
2. Ceremonial - Expired with the fulfillment of priestly work of Christ (Matt. 3:15)
   1. Cleaning house of leper (Lev. 14:33-57; Num. 5:2)
   2. Festivals (Lev. 23:1-25; Nu. 29:39)
   3. Laws on animals for food (Lev. 11:1-47)
   4. Law of Atonement (Lev. 16:1-28;17:1-16)
   5. Offerings (Num. 29:39)
   6. Priest, consecration of (Ex. 29:1-46)
   7. Priestly duties (Lev. 7:1-37)
   8. Regulations for Priests (Lev. 21,22)
   9. Various sacrificial offerings for sin (Lev. 1,2,3,4,5,6)
3. Moral - No Expiration because it is based on God's character.  "You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy," (Lev. 19:2)
   1. Idolatry (Lev. 26:1-13)
   2. Love God (Deut. 6:4)
   3. Love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18)
   4. Oppress your neighbor (Lev. 19:13)
   5. Stealing or lying (Lev. 19:11)
   6. Sacrifice children to Molech forbidden (Lev. 20:1-5)
   7. Sexual sins: adultery, incest, bestiality, homosexuality, etc. (Lev. 18:20; 20:9-21; Num. 5:12-15)

My Weekend of March 4, 2018

I am a Fraud

I am a fraud.

The life I present to people in the real world is not who I am at home all the time.

The life I present online through social media is not who I am at home all of the time.

I am imperfect.

I lose my temper.

My life from the outside is not as "good" as it may seem by those just perusing my social media life.

I yell too much.

I lose my temper too often.

I am too impatient too many times.

Some people rub me so wrong that I have given up attempting to be close or understand them.

Some people, I wonder if they even deserve more chances to be understood.

And some of you read this and agree with everything I've written, you know I am not what I could be perceived to be.

You have dealt with my impatient side, my side that is short and attempts to be one up all the time.

Others understand and admire that I would be so transparent and honest and complimentary that I have been honest.

Which is part of the problem.

Do I always admit my downfalls in the real world?

I hope so.

Probably not as much as I should.

But I am trying.

Junior Prom...I was 16

How Do We Fix This?

I've been thinking and jotting down notes in the days since the school shooting in Parkland.

I believe that it's a direct result of how sick our society has become, and how we can fix it.

First, I realize that fixing our society will not be easy and many will want to push back because we have changed so much as a culture and many of the ideas I believe in seem archaic.

Second, I also realize that if we were to do this, it will take generations to recover from the gradual slide that our culture has become.

So here are 15 ideas, I believe we can do to "fix" our sick society.

1. Realize that you, me, we are a product of a sick society and we need to fix it.
2. Do not get married unless you are willing to work out your marriage and stay married. Love your spouse.
3. Do not have children, but if you do, love them and be an example of to be better.
4. Do not get a divorce, but if you do, get along if children are involved. Respect and cherish that your divorced partner is the parent of your most prized possession.
5. Do not hit or speak ill to your spouse in front of you children, if you do...apologize and change that behavior.
6. Do not abuse drugs or alcohol...if you have a problem with them, get help.
7. Check your anger issues, get help if needed.
8. Your knee jerk reaction should be to respect authority. Of course, authority should be checked and questioned, but many people in those positions are there for mostly good reasons.
9. Be accountable, allow your children to be held accountable. Let them fail, let them learn, do not swoop in and fix all of their problems.
10. Allow your children to be disciplined.
11. Realize we have been desensitized to death, violence, murder, and sex. Limit how much your children and you see.
12. Realize that there is something greater than yourself. Whether it be religion or visiting poor areas, we need to not be the center of the universe. Be selfless.
13. Teach your children that they are not perfect, that they will fail, that is how we improve.
14. If your child shows mental issues, get them help.
15. Reach out to those who seem to be struggling, it might not help, but it just might.

I Know Nothing

I often see things too simple, I guess. I realize that not any single issue is simple that there are many complexities, but it frustrates me to see what I see are inconsistent beliefs.

Those who are pro-life for the unborn, want to do little to nothing about students being shot in schools.

Those who are pro-choice are outraged at the number of schools shootings which is much, much, much fewer than abortions per day.

The national debt is only important politically to the political party not in power.

We are offended by religion in schools, but sympathize with many issues that really don't need to belong in schools, but can't be helped.

Those that are pro-life do not fight for cheaper adoptions.

Those that are pro-life believe that criminals should be put to death.

Pro-choice people seem somewhat OK with abortion, but do not believe that hardened, heinous criminals deserve execution.

We seem to applaud pornography, which undoubtedly influences young men negatively, but want to punish men for even the smallest (and unacceptable) sexual harassments.

Men who love and admire their mothers and sisters and daughters, seem to think other women are objects.

Illegal immigration is wrong, but so are refugees it seems and yet many Americans are descendants of immigrants or refugees.

Money is what we strive to attain, but it shows over and over that the love of money does not help our situation and often makes it worse.

Our good intentions are hollow or worse, make the situation worse.

We are pro-gun, but blame gun violence on the perpetrator.

Guns don't kill anyone, the perpetrator does, but we don't seem to want to help them.

We want to help, but aren't willing to be made uncomfortable doing so.

So many on social media seem to have the answers, but do zero in volunteering for anything in which they seem to be so vocal.

I have the answer, and I believe that these types of things are made even more aware when you realize there is a "religion" of the United States and compare with our faith in Jesus.

Love...love...not a superficial love, but a genuine love for humankind is the only thing that can save us, but unfortunately there will always be someone or some group that wants more and is willing to do whatever to attain it.

So I will get up today hug and kiss my children and wife, tell them I love them and do the best I can  raising them to be good human beings.

And I will continue to be frustrated, outraged, and sad, but continue to grow and try to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Grow Up

Luke 2:52 “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”

Often times we look at one scripture and we try to apply it to our lives without knowing context or its actual meaning.

In Luke, this simple scripture says much that we can apply to our life without knowing context or actual meaning because it says so much in so few words.

“Jesus grew in wisdom and stature”.

Many of us hit snags in our growth and do not continue on and many of us stay in our place of growth for a very long time.

Many of us attend church on a Sunday, but do not convert the teachings of Jesus to our everyday life.

Following are some simple beliefs about our faith that some of us struggle with. I urge you to grab a Bible and research.

If you believe that women are second class citizens, you are not doing it right. (John 4)

If you believe that people of different races are lesser than you, you are not doing it right. (Galatians 3:28)

If you believe that Christians from other countries are not equal to American Christians, you are not doing it right. (1 Corinthians 12: 12-13)

If you believe that the lost do not deserve our attention (rapists, child molesters, murderers, your atheist neighbor, people from Kenya, Sellersburg, and Iceland, Muslims, ISIS, the Taliban, everyone), you are not doing it right. (Romans 5:8/ John 3:16)

Some of you are reading the above and thinking, some of you are reading it and rolling your eyes.

I teach Psychology and Sociology, I understand how hard it is to overcome our upbringings, our biases, and our surroundings.

But as followers of Jesus, we must feel transformed by the Holy Spirit.

We must evaluate our lives and ask are we setting a Godly example of change?

It’s hard, trust me, I understand.

Because I fail too often.

But by growing as Jesus did, you should be transformed as a believer. Your heart should ache for not just the obvious horrific things that occur, but also for the remaining victims of sinners mainly their family and friends.

We should feel some remorse for the extreme sinner themselves realizing that they lack a relationship with Jesus and have been overcome by the sinful, evil world and are headed for an eternity separated from God in Hell.

I'm Sorry, but Really, I'm Not Sure For What

I remember when I played and my mom told me a story that occurred during a high school basketball game.

Our coach was pretty aggressive and wasn't afraid to yell at us, directly, by name.

He used to have his favorites, and one game he was yelling at a teammate of mine and his mother turned around and looked at my mom and said "If he yells at *** again and doesn't yell at Perry, we will have a problem!"

Like my mom had anything to do with who Coach yelled at or not, but that mother seemed to think so.

I didn't get it really until my own children have played sports and really until my son has aged and become more experienced.

The jealousy never existed of my daughter, well, it did, but not until recently, but my son...

I just don't understand it.

I don't understand because my wife and I have cheered for all other players my kids have played for wanting them to feel success also.

I don't know if it's a jealousy at my son, or if this group of parents think that I am pulling strings (which I don't do intentionally) to benefit my children.

If we do anything, we try to make coaches feel relaxed to bench our kiddos anytime they feel it's needed, to make an example if necessary.

But I realize that some form of favoring could happen because we are supportive parents of coaches, for the most part and those coaches realize that.

But it's not my fault and it sure as heck isn't my kids fault.

What Does This Christianity Thing Mean?

Psalm 82:3 “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.”

This will be the most controversial writing that I have put forth so far. All previous writings when read by the few seemed to relate to them in ways that showed a connection between me and what I wrote about and our faith.

This one may not.

I believe that Psalm 82:3 tells us to love prisoners and has caused me to become anti-capital punishment. I know that theologically capital punishment can be justified, but because of my love of people that I have gained through the love that Jesus has for us, I cannot think of anything worse than stealing away an opportunity for someone to be saved.

I am 100% in support of punishment for a crime, but I believe that by executing someone, we have taken away their chance to be saved. I know they have probably heard The Gospel before, but how many times did it take for you to be saved? For me, it was quite a few times. I am glad I was able to be alive to hear it enough times to accept it.

I believe that Psalm 82:3 tells us to love those who have had abortions. I know we know that, but we have become so anti-abortion that I feel we have forgotten about the victims who felt that this was their only option. That Satan had tricked them into this situation. Yes, the babies are victims, but so are the mothers.

Thankfully, with the work of the church, total abortions are going down in our country, but why is it when a woman and/or male counterpart find themselves in this unfortunate situation that they do not feel they can turn to the church for guidance and help. Or worse yet…they can’t turn to friends or family that will offer alternatives?

I believe that Psalm 82:3 tells us to help everyone. From the poor in our hometowns, to the poor in Nairobi and other slums around the globe, to opioid addicts, to murderers, molesters, Muslims, atheists, and believers who have fallen from their path.

I believe that Jesus calls us to minister to refugees, to illegal immigrants, and to all races and not just to those who look just…. like….us.

Psalm 82:3 is what causes many of my fellow believers to believe that I am some left wing lunatic who doesn’t understand the world.

I am 48 years old. I came to Christ at 32 and deeply grew in my faith the last seven years.

I have been to the worst slums on Earth and some of the worst places in this country.

I have read the Bible and many books about our faith and Jesus.

I know that I may not understand the world, but I know that our thinking should be transformed as Believers so that the world does not understand us.

I know I am a hypocrite.

I know I don’t do enough.

I know I miss church too often.

But I am hoping as I progress that my base belief in my faith as a follower of The Nazarene is that I am either growing or understanding I need to continue to grow.

Because if I am the same today as I am in five, ten, twenty years then I have not gotten “it” and what this Christianity thing is supposed to be about.

And my greatest fear is that I will become a comfortable, lukewarm, finger pointing, hypocrite who quotes scripture on social media and the next post am completely unaware of pain I am causing others by my lack of awareness.