Lyle's Blog

Jesus said that if we’re to enter the kingdom of heaven, we have to become like little children. What are children like? Are they perfect? No, of course they’re not. What they have is a desire for a relationship with their father and mother. If they have a need, they ask and actually expect mom and dad to supply it. They trust; they don’t have any reason not to. I remember my son would stand watching me leave in the morning and he knew when I came home. He wanted to see me. Ditto for me other kids. This is how we’re supposed to be with God, looking for his return and can’t wait till He does. Just simple love; that’s what He wants. If He says something we do it. My children knew I wasn’t going to have them do something that would hurt them. God wants us to trust Him that same way. He wants us to laugh and enjoy His company just like little children. We brought little children into the world for our pleasure. God does the same thing. We were created for His pleasure. He wants to bless us and give us life more abundantly. Imagine that God loves us and wants the best for us. It just doesn’t get better than that. So my new goal is to act more like a child, to believe what God says, and trust Him for everything. When you think about it, there is no one else besides Him; it is He we will stand before at our end. Remember that He is our loving father and after that last breath we want Him to know us intimately and tell us “well done”.

Joseph was a man of unusual faith. At seventeen he was sold into slavery by his brothers. Talk about betrayal, that’s as bad as it gets. As a slave he is falsely accused of taking advantage of his employers wife; he’s thrown into prison for thirteen years. Why would a young man have faith in a God who allowed him to suffer so much. I would submit it was because he knew God. Before all this took place he had visions from God of his future position. He walked with God. He heard God’s voice. Jesus said that his sheep know him and hear His voice. God wants to be intimate with everyone; He wants you to hear His voice. The Bible tells us that if we seek God, we will find Him. We seek so many things in this life, all of them perishing. Relationship with Christ is everything; it is the one thing we can hold on to, depend upon in the end. We’ve all heard many voices; everyone’s trying to get our attention. They are seeking us. But hearing from God requires us to seek Him. When we find Him it is then we can endure all the hardships because we know He is real, a real God that loves us and is everything to us. I believe our faith is about to be tested and like Joseph we’ll make it through if while there is still time we’ve developed that intimate relationship with Him.

Living in America blinds us from the reality of what poor really means. Many of our “poor” are obese. They have many of the amenities that the middle class are accustomed to. Naturally a broad pen doesn’t do justice to those that are struggling, but America provides all sorts of programs to deal with our short-comings. Jesus Christ came to preach to the poor. Have you ever wondered why? Could it be that people with money or a program they can turn to, believe they are self-sufficient; they can supply all their needs. When people have nothing, they’re listening. They need answers; they need a miracle. If you have money, it’s hard to conjure up a need for God. Oh maybe some lip service now and then; after all we need to be noticed. But if you’re not poor it’s difficult to be desperate for God. Jesus said to deny yourself; that’s almost impossible for a rich man to do. But as He said, “With God all things are possible.” One other thing He said, “If you try to save your life you’ll lose it and if you lose your life for His sake, you will find it.” I encourage you to wake up to the house of cards you live in and not wait till you’re at death’s door before you realize that you never had the ability to save yourself; it is Christ who saves and He alone. It is far better to humble ourselves and become poor then strive for riches we can not keep, or as it is so aptly put: What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul. And furthermore what will you give God in exchange for your soul? At any moment we enter eternity, at any moment we stand before Him and give an account of our life. I pray we are all ready.

All these many years later Mao is still held in high regard by many Chinese. The indoctrination by the state dies out slowly. Mao’s legacy is democide like all of his ilk. I would imagine your view of a tyrant is derived from which side of the persecution you’re on. However Stalin’s victims in from the gulag mourned his death. These “gifted” leaders parade themselves through the streets, erect their images everywhere, and their people are required to chant the glories of the exalted one. Here we stand today in America with the population of benefactors extolling the virtue of corrupt politicians. Mr. Obama is held in high regard for the same arrogant better then you attitude. Are we to follow in the same footsteps of the other chumps who followed their pied pipers to a hellish life; or are we to remain free?

I used to be a irrigation contractor. I was taught there was a right way to do something. I watched most installers use different methods for gluing PVC pipe. The instructions were on the can but like so many times, men don’t follow instructions. For that matter they don’t even read them. They may “get away with it” believing they have served their customer well. I’ve made repairs twenty years later that shouldn’t have to be made. All because someone had gotten by with not following proper procedures. I believe the same holds true for other businesses and for that matter everything in life. To some extent that explains the poor drivers, parents, teachers, politicians, ministers, etc. that permeate our society. My advice is to deal with people who excel at excellence, those who are humble enough to take instruction, even if it’s on the can.